I doubt I would ever stand behind Bill O'Reilly on any point, but.... isn't a person who has entered this country illegally already guilty of commiting a crime? Okay, so it's not manslaughter, but still, and whatever the motivation, it is a deliberate criminal act.

I was glad to see that Salon, in its subhead to this article, used the phrase "illegal aliens" instead of the current morph, "illegal immigrants." It's a very clear distinction, one which the immigrants rights proponents need to embrace. I have nothing against immigrants. All but one of my grandparents were immigrants. They committed no crimes, so far as I know, even when they were jumping through the quite numerous hoops that were then a part of the legal immigration process.

...the hell cares?

"This isn't just about simple withdrawal now. Because of the situation Bush has put us in, we have an unstable country with a valuble assent (Oil), and this needs to be acounted for."

Excellent point. People (and politicians) in this country must get over the silly idea that the world arranges itself into tidy little packages that can be summed up in soundbites. "Victory" vs. "Failure." "Terrorists" vs. "Freedom Lovers." Switch on any news outlet for more of the same, ad nauseum.

Until the world's economies are no longer based on petroleum, the resources of Iraq are going to be in play, and any American policy toward this kluged-together country has to take that into account...but from a national perspective, not from the Dick Cheney/corporate profit point of view, which is partially what got us into this mess in the first place.

And about Edwards and his view that Iran wouldn't want a million refugees pouring over its borders....well, gee...that wouldn't be a problem for Iran if those borders were to suddenly shift, would it? Bush's arrogant ignorance is one thing. Let's not replace it with dumb naivete.

...is this one:

"A superpower -- especially the world's only superpower -- can be either respected and admired or despised and feared. "

If the Bush administration had actually planned and executed their war in Iraq with even a hint of rationality and skill...and pulled it off...maybe, maybe America would be despised and feared.

But do we honestly think any of our enemies truly fear us now? The mighty American army has been bogged down, and quite possibly defeated. What's to fear?

Now there is only hatred, and yet another vast training ground where it can be practiced and deployed.

Thanks, George. You have proven your ability to fail, yet again.

...unlike the spineless Pelosi and other so-called "leaders" who wouldn't know a check from a balance if either were shoved up their backsides.

"By restoring our sense of awe about the Earth, and our connectedness to it, Weisman takes us out of the merely political and into a deeper realm."

That, I believe, is the crux of the environmental debate. Western society, unfortunately, was saddled with some seriously off-kilter baggage when ol' Yahweh handed us the earth on a platter.

As others have stated here and elsewhere, the world could be just fine with people among its residents. In fact, it did quite well for an awful long time until we started breeding like rabbits and filling every damn niche we could find (after pushing out or ripping up whatever might have been there first).

But we've got to get over this "dominion over the earth" business and redefine ourselves as just one more cog in a very complex machine. Otherwise...

There Will Come Soft Rain

Sarah Teasdale

There will come soft rain and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree

If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,

Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Anonymous, I hit the publish letter too soon! One comment on Sarah Teasdale's "there will come soft rain"...

This, unfortunately, is also tainted by the whole "earth as Eden" mentality that colors western views of nature. The idea that you take mankind away and suddenly all is sweet and wonderful gets in the way of realistic environmental thinking. It's a nice thought, and a beautiful poem, but it's b.s. from a natural science point of view.

The earth without humans would be the same tooth and nail struggle for survival it is with humans. There would just be a few more ecological niches opened up and a little less global change going on. Lions wouldn't stop ripping zebras to shreds, cows wouldn't stop farting methane, and those pretty birds wouldn't cease pulling worms out of the ground and swallowing them alive.

"Trying to impeach Bush is a waste of time..."

The problem I have with this line of reasoning is that it assumes Bush's successor will be keen to give up the new imperial powers this regime has bestowed upon the presidency. Seriously, what are the odds of that? Republican or Democrat...power is seductive, and Bush has amassed more dictatorial power than the white house has seen since Franklin Roosevelt was in office. You think Rudy Giuliani would pass on that opportunity? Or John McCain? Or Hillary Clinton? Please! Impeachment is required now, not because we must "get" George W. Bush. It's a necessity because Congress has a constitutional duty to reestablish some semblance of balance in our tripartite government. It disgusts me to no end that people like Pelosi (and my own congresswimp, Adam Schiff) fail to understand that basic principle.