First, let me wish you well. I've enjoyed your writing. To believe that Clinton or by default a Democrat can wrest evil from the political nightmare of George Bush or any Republican is a bit naive for such a mind as yours.

The problem, Mr. Blumenthal, is about the American people and their simple minded complicity in all the events that have led us to this current state of political self-immolation.

Our current belief system won't allow a real power shift. We'll vote for the prettiest face, best presented (from the standpoint of marketing, not real issues affecting us and the world), and continue on with our entertainment driven mindlessness.

Ms. Clinton is just another version of an already sick and dying system. Better you dress in a clown suit and do tricks with a seal than rush willy-nilly into this political circus that cannot sustain meaningful change.

Too bad you're going to do this, Left or Right...it's a sham.

...and practicing Catholics are the most ridiculous example. I don't give a hoot about the book or the movie. Enjoy!

What sickens me is yet another Roman Catholic picking and choosing what is to be used in everyday practice of the faith. I have a family of these whining Catholics who chastise those of us who took the stand that this religion is for nothing.

At least we are decisive: Roman Catholic=vast superstition and fear mongering. My family, like the author, though, stands at the smorgasbord of dogmatic choice, and pick the one's that fit personal lifestyle. That is the mark of weak faith and a dying religion.

It is really sad that Catholics, in their amazing hubris, pick and choose and tell us all what is right and wrong via their selective faith.

I'll have none of it.

This interview further supports my view of the absence of God. The largest issues here are under the surface. Our need to extinguish the fear of being part of the continuum is so very evident.

As beings with ego, we found it very necessary to create a complete world, create a god in our image and find a meaning and purpose for suffering. Without it, we'd have gone mad or become a society of animals set on killing each other. There is no doubt our immature requirements of a loving Father leading us to salvation is all that has kept the world from more Hitlers and random shooters. We have to come away from this requirement.

To me, faith as well as atheism is orthodoxical bullshit. A true scientific position is that of the agnostic, which states what is obvious to all: there is no way of knowing.

My 82 year old father has seen it all and lived a quiet, peaceful and loving life without the presence of God. At the age of 19 he was a death camp liberator. He witnessed a great deal in a short time, witnessed enough to sense there wasn't a man in the clouds to pray to for mercy. This prayer is a drug to opiate us all.

What he does believe is that life, at least for now, is a mystery. "I believe in the mystery...that's all...there is something, but what that is I cannot say." I am with him on this matter.

I agree, the housing and credit crunch are a formidable one-two punch in the economic gut, but it is deeper...much deeper.

I have mentioned here before that American is no longer fueled by production but the use of consumer credit. If you couple the massive use of consumer credit along with inflation and stagnant and declining wages we have a scenario that is leading us to ruination.

The very corporations that outsource our jobs still need our individual credit to drive the necessary sales that lead to profit. Well, we can't add any future debt to our personal credit buckets when those buckets are overflowing now. Individual consumers are sinking, over-spent, under employed and we are about to pay.

Corporate greed and the same from the consumer who wants everything for nearly nothing has led to the loss of jobs, income and personal financial crises.

We might not get out of this one. We are not willing to see it in these harsh terms, but this is the big one.

I understand GK's desire for that clean open space, fresh beginnings and such. I should follow along and do the same. I have piles of magazines, CD's unlistened to and literally thousands of books stacked on shelves, under beds, in nooks and crannies--but I think I am going to keep them all. Why?

This political environment is really not any different than the one we are running from with such enthusiasm, and rightly so. America does need to hit the brakes and veer hard to avoid the collision with our own minuscule understanding of world affairs.

We've squandered decades on masturbatory behaviors and turning America into a giant video game for our individual amusement. No wonder we cannot attract candidates any better than these: there simply aren't any. As long as you have some media persona, you can make it here...and then, of course, pander to the money people.

I'm keeping my books, GK, and my music too. There will be a day when I can no longer take it, or it is all taken from me by the money grubbers and I will have my books to read and music to listen to again until time overtakes me. There won't be much left other than good words from the past.