2 millions educated, middle class, and wealthy left Iraq and will probalby never return. Women had more freedom in Iraq under teh seculare government of Sadamm than they do now under new religious leadership in Iraq. This is not progress.

I disagree with Brooks statement that our military is pretty good at fighting insurgency. I recently saw some coverage of soldiers in Afghanistan. The U.S military was behind a bunch of rocks and they just kept kept shooting but you could not even see the enemy. Sometimes they just stayed down held up their automatic weapons and shot a rounds of ammunition. I guess they wanted to show they had fire power, but It was such a waste of amunition. Why not wait until the enemy is within range to fire. It looked like a piss poor strategy to me. The other insane stratgy is having soldiers who no nothing about a culture, and do not speak the language running around villages trying to make friends with the Afghans. How confident would you feel with strangers from anther country, with large guns waking around your kicking in doors.

It's all a very insane strategy.

I think Brooks has a crush on Obama too.

Glenn what is your opinion on Afghanistan. Brooks wrote his opinons. All you have doe is cut and paste in his writings over the years. Let' hear some original ideas from you to counter his opinion.

It' the result of dumb down syndrome of the Christian right.

Their priciples are pretty scary principles. Of course our military is full of the Christian right warriors now. Just look at picture of those purity balls, Many of the dads are in military dress uniforms.

We all know David Brooks is a conservative. Why shouldn't the NYT have another point of view. It gives one a better perspective of how all sides look at a particular situation. Brooks is no far right fanatic ether. I don't agree with him most of the time, but he is worth reading.

Most of you would be better off reading Brooks article yourself and not just depend on Glenn's perspective on Brooks writings.

There is no easy solution to Afghanistan. There is no right or wrong. I do think we are spreading our troops to thin, but I don't agree with adding more. Every time I see a piece on Afghanistan I think how stupid it is to have soldiers, who know nothing about this culture, running around with guns trying to win over the Afghan people. We need a deadline.

Obama as the' anti Chrsits" is racism, as the 'anti Christ' is promoted by the Christian Identity movement whchis based on racism. Remember the far right Christians and their milita were stock piling for 2000.

If the end comes it will have nothing to do with God or the second coming. It will be man blowing up the world with 'weapons of mass destruction' or a global climate disaster.

The most recent NYT/CBS poll shows while many American do not understand what changes are going to happen in the current health care reform proposals, 65% responded they were in favor of a public health option similar to Medicare.

Keep calling your House representatives and Senators to urge support of the public option.

"For the record, Darwin himself was deeply Christian and saw no inherent contradiction between evolutionary theory and Christian doctrine."

As is with most other Cristian religions.

I attended a Catholic High school. I was taught evolution in Science classes and and we discussed evolution in our theology class. Catholics except the science of evolution, but beleive at some point in the evolutionary cycle God instilled man with a soul.

I believe man's soul is his mind, or man's mind is his soul.

Maybe that is why the Christian right seem to lack soul, it seems they have lost their minds.

written by man and It is not based on fact, but faith. Science is based on fact finding and proof.

Do you walk on your knuckles?

-- Old Joe

I'm Old Joe does walk on his knuckles.

When I first learned the pledge when I started school in 1950 there was 'no under' god in it. Conservatives in the 50s 'commie scare tactics insisted it be inserted into the pledge out of fear of the 'godless communist. I continue to say it the way I first learned without the 'under GOD' it as it is so much more powerful.

Darwin called it a theory because that is how scienifitifc research is conducted. I guess you were home schooled and missed out on science.

Christianity our ant other religion has NO place in our public schools,unless they are taught as a comparative history.

There was no 'under God' in the pledge before the mid 1950s. There were no bibles in the public schools. There were no 10 commandments in the public schools, There were no Christian prayers in the public schools. This all started in the late 80s early 90s when the Christian right began a camapaign to destroy Democracy and replace it with their version of a Christian Theocracy.

Darwin's theories of evolution have been proved over and over again and continue to be proven everyday scientific research and with factual evidence.

If the Chrisitian right want to dumb down their own children, let them, but lets' not allow them to dumb down our public schools.

Wing nuts keep you out-of-the-main stream Christian religion in your churches, your homes, your Christian schools, and keep them out of our public school system.