"The Federal government isn't a first responder; never has been, shouldn't be. If Rudy Giuliani had been mayor of NO the whole Katrina script would have been different."

That's just silly. If you've ever lived in New Orleans, you would know just how little the local and state agencies are capable of. It's up to FEMA to be aware of what each given locality in risk areas are capable of handling, and then being prepared to take up as much slack as is necessary and possible.

And to "joe": I was in Los Angeles for the Northridge earthquake, too. I was lucky enough to have a full tank of gas to get me back to San Francisco later that morning. But to compare that earthquake (and how FEMA responded then), to how Katrina and how FEMA responded last year, is nothing short of ludicrous.

Los Angeles and New York are light years beyond New Orleans in terms of funds, know-how, etc. For people to just throw their hands up and say, "It's not the federal government's fault that the Gulf Coast can't carry it's own weight," is cruel and inhumane. It shows a profound ignorance of the culture and economic conditions in that region.

Katrina was such a monumental storm, and the Gulf Region was so incapable of handling it, that even if FEMA had responded as fully and competently as imaginable, it still would have been a horrific disaster. The bottom line is, FEMA should have been better prepared, and should have done more, and done more, quicker.

There is not an honest bone in that man's body.

the 2006 season of Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants? Thank God there won't be any re-runs.

I think the problem is that there aren't any easy answers to this mess in Iraq, nor are there any good ones.

Folks are dancing all around the subject because it's one huge unsolvable puzzle. Keep doing what we're doing, and it will get worse. Leave, and it will get worse. Who wants to hear that message? Who will get elected with saying that?

The other choice is stay and do things differently. But then that gets complicated, as the Senator's press release proves. But I don't care if it was written in Latin. Anyone who has watched the performance of the Bush Administration over the last six years should know that sticking with the Republicans is insane. How can anyone still back them? Because Democrats write wordy unintelligible press releases sometimes? Give me a break.

I blame Bush to a great degree, but I hold the people who voted for him--especially the second time--in even greater contempt. Americans always go for the easy answers and solutions. And we'll be dealing with the consequences for the rest of our lives.

When we would speculate if Reagan was going senile because of his often puzzling comments and behavior? It's high time we began speculating about John McCain, too.

A "miracle" in the sense that it's so unlikely that it could have all gone so spectacularly wrong?

is bliss, for sure.

Vacation is no time for discussing weighty topics, right? In Bush's mind, you can't "tag him" while he's "safely on base," so to speak.

It all makes sense if you just look at it through the eyes of a child.

“unsympathetic” is quite the understatement! War is much easier to swallow when you have that much contempt for those invovled, isn’t it? When it’s only those “poor slobs” (Goering’s words) who are the ones fighting and getting killed. I understand how you sleep at night, now.

Right after the election, I had an argument with my Republican brother, who happens to be a graduate of a prominent seminary. When I asked him how he felt about the men and women who were killed in Iraq, his reply was, “Well, that’s what they get. At least when there’s a war on, they’re actually earning their pay.”

No, I didn’t strangle him right then and there. Probably should have, though.

And to "unsympathetic": I read your letter twice before I posted my letter. I heard you loud and clear.

What justifies this woman's, and Cindy Sheehan's case is that this war is unjust. They don't want to discuss the relative merits of war in general. They want to discuss the (il)legitimacy of THIS war. Their point is quite valid, and they have a right to confront him. If he has time to talk with folks who agree with him, then he has time to talk with those who don't, too.

Just because Ann Coulter is bat-shit crazy and offensive doesn't mean she should be ignored. Every time War Room posts something regarding her, people say she should be ignored. Yet they give no credible reason why, nor any examples when such a strategy has been successful before. (Sounds like Bush and Rumsfeld logic now that I think of it, but I digress)

Ann Coulter is the puss head of a very huge boil. How will it heal without digging down to the root and lancing the heart of it?

I thought the show was over... but Heather mentions "four more hours..." Does that mean there will be a four episode mini-series in the future? What gives? I haven't heard anything. Does anyone know?

Is that HBO didn't necessarily "cancel" it, but that creator David Milch didn't want to continue, and chose to work on a new project for HBO. That much I knew. Thanks for clearing up the future stuff.

I mean, southern voters don't necessarily hold it against candidates who have a propensity for saying weird stuff like Biden does.