n/t

not that Bush & company stole Ohio (or FL in '00). The real problem (as pointed out by my 18 year old son) is that Gore & Kerry both ran such inept campaigns that Bush was able to get close enough to steal both elections by supressing a few thousand votes each time.

Instead of blaming Jeb, Blackwell, Diebold or Nader, we should look at our candidates and ask why they weren't able to administer a well-deserved electoral ass-kicking to an blatantly unqualified and inept candidate/president.

Evidently there's some fondness out there for this execrable, Hollywood dress-up version of Carroll's classic - don't ask me why, I've never seen another Alice this lifeless or flat. The first tip-off it doesn't have a clue how to tell the story is Alice screaming as she falls down the rabbit hole (well, it *is* an Irwin Allen production); everyone knows she has a very sensible conversation with herself while floating down into Wonderland.

My favorite Alice: 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," a 1972 all-star British version (Michael Crawford as the White Rabbit, Dudley Moore as the dormouse, Peter Sellers as the March Hare, etc.) beautifully photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth with music by James Bond composer John Barry. It's easy to find crappy pan 'n scan, public domain dubs of this in 99-cent DVD bins, but hopefully someday an official, first-generation widescreen version will be released.

1) Invite the yahoos to send of their number up onto the stage for a one-on-one debate with whichever senator/representative is hosting the event. It'll silence the mob for a bit until they realize their own person is making fools of them - & it'll be fun to see that person flail around when s/he's challenged to back up their assertions with some hard facts.

2) If that fails, have a super-loud bullhorn or loudspeaker system on hand to drown out the idiots once they get rolling.

No, hjb, No matter what you might hallucinate, Americans are for the most part are definitely not "happy with their health care and doctors, and don't want change;" the last poll I saw had 71% of the public in favor of changing the current system.

Reality check No. 1: Americans with health care do not have a one-on-one relationship with the doctors; a private health insurance - whose corporate mandate is to maximize its profits to benefit its shareholders and has screwed over far too many sick people - stands between them; and

Reality check No. 2: All your yelling and screaming is over the possibility that Obama's plan offers people a choice between private insurance and a government-run plan - not over imaginary government plans to euthanize old people, etc. The mere possibility that people might abandon private insurance in droves to sign up for a plan that's not out to profit off their sickness is what's motivating those companies to whip up the hysteria you've fallen for. (Of course, there's always the possibility you haven't fallen for anything, that you're working for the same propaganda artists who are trying to stop this decades-overdue reform.)

My apologies - I was responding to a posting from LuchAAA (of course) which was headlined with your initials & stupidly thought you were the poster. From now on I read the fine print at the bottom.