Why not? The U.S. government supported the overthrow of Allende and Pinochet's subsequent installation.

Readers like enervated liberal are naive if they think the Bushies are somehow fundamentally different than Pinochet and his henchmen. There is a difference of degree, not of quality. America has not (yet) sunk to the level where it will tolerate an outright dictator. However, as evidenced by the Bush administration's attempts to exempt itself from the rule of law, we certainly have our totalitarian tendencies here in the good ol' USA. It remains to be seen what the Democrats will do (if anything) do reverse this trend, but for the last six years Congress has completely abdicated its co-equal status in our government in favor of an imperial executive.

More than anything, it's the apathy of both elected representatives and average citizens toward Bush's power grab that does not bode well for the health of the republic. After all, a substantial percentage of citizens (Christian fundamentalists) believe that Bush's "win" in 2000, which involved the illegal disenfranchisement of thousands of mostly-minority voters in Florida, was God's will. If that doesn't get you, I don't know what will.

Americans need to get used to the idea - and this will be a big change for our narcissistic culture - that we're no longer in any position to dictate terms to China, or many other countries for that matter. The Chinese are in the process of completing a stunningly successful transition from a dysfunctional communist economy to one that is able to generate great wealth and, increasingly, provide a decent standard of living to its more than one billion citizens.

Reality check: China owns a huge percentage of U.S. national debt. If they sold only a fraction of their dollar assets, our currency would go into a downward spiral. Yes, one can argue that they're as dependent on us as we are on them, but this situation definitely produces a constraint on U.S. unilateralism, at least in East Asia.

The Chinese continue to display great intelligence with regard to world affairs. While we in the U.S. choose to spend our national treasure on idiotic misadventures like Iraq, the Chinese are busy investing in themselves. Unless changed, sooner or later our profligate financial ways, including our quest for empire, will come back to bite us in the form of devalued currency and lower standard of living.

What does all this have to do with adoption? Only that it's one small manifestation of how the Chinese don't care what we think - and don't have to. They'll set adoption policy to suit themselves and tell us to take a flying leap, regardless of how loudly and obnoxiously Americans bleat about their entitlement to a Chinese orphan. Those days are over.

I remember watching the vice-presidential debate in 2004, hoping that Edwards would put the screws to Cheney. Not only did it not happen, but Edwards came off looking like a hopeless lightweight. Granted, Cheney is the Darth Vader of American politics, but Edwards is no Luke Skywalker. He has that glib, networking lawyer air about him - like you expect him to chase the next ambulance that speeds by. The perma-grin, the hair, the trying-too-hard affectation of boyishness is just a little much. Edwards is a 50-something year-old man; that act doesn't work.

We should wipe the slate clean for 2008. No Gore, no Edwards, and above all no Kerry. That election could have been his if he'd actually cared enough to a) defend himself against the scurrilous Swift Boaters, and b) spend all the money he had in his campaign chest and go for broke. He deserved to lose.

The only candidate I've seen so far whom I can even remotely be excited about is Obama. I'm sure he's no saint, but the guy has charisma, which is the single-most important quality in electability. Hillary may not in fact be a humorless harridan, but she sure could fool me. (Bill would be a great First Husband, though.) Obama holds the promise of being able to change the political dynamic in the country. A tall order, yes, but I'm willing to gamble on him.