Hey Bill, don't just dress up as a melting polar ice cap, man. Go do something useful like clubbing some seals to help the poor, starving, polar bears in Alaska.

They can't get food stamps anymore!

yes ... it should read, "Liberty, Equality & Justice for All"

However, by virtue of legitimizing the first two attributes, the third becomes a virtual impossibility.

The Best Case Scenario for The People -- will always be in maintaining our System of Checks & Balances.

The Left learned this lesson when Mr. Clinton & Company attempted to Go To Town with the gov't after 1992 -- when they lost both Houses of Congress. The duller thinking Right led by Mr. Dimthinker & Co. still seem to have no clue about the Election Lesson of 2006 when they lost both Houses.

We are a Nation that continues to lurch into the voting booths and pull half the Left leavers and half the Right leavers, leaving almost 50% of the voters as whimpering Loozers with axes to grind.

Our Government is in its Healthiest State when the White House and Congress are run by two different sets of Squabblers.

But whenever one party of Squabblers takes hold of both branches --- look out. For such scenarios always have resulted in such Tar Babies as WMDs, Hillarycare, and Teapot Domes.

Because that will do as much for them as Bill Maher.

Best way to control the people is to render them powerless, forever in a catatonic state of fear and trembling; doing nothing.

And regarding Bill Maher ringing doorbells on All Saints Eve and yelling "Tricks or Treats" dressed like a polar ice cap. Bill, you'll look more like a post nasal drip puddling for treats. Not the best way to prove a point.

Immigrant control?...We can build fences around ourselves to keep out the "bad guys" who once were the good guys when we needed to use, abuse and now want to lose them...no more need for cheap labor?

We assume we are the most responsible for proliferations of nuclear weaponry...yet we lost track of a few in the Minot Air Force Base incident summer of 2007; and the Navy submarine returning from Pacific tour of duty - USS Hampton - failed to do safety checks on its nuclear reactor; falsified records. How do we sanction ourselves for the irresponsible use of nuclear power?

We can build fences and create sanctions on all others; playing god, which will make us the loneliest nation on earth if we don't accidently shoot ourselves in the foot beforehand.

"After the first terror people were helpful to each other...the pride of getting through tough times...when snow fell in June we felt a kind of pride in our "unusual weather" and joked about the wild geese migrating south, quaking over the fourth of July presidential honkings...until hunger of the next year, they came to their senses and began to kill each other." "Nuclear Winter" by Thomas McGrath, the late, great, plains poet 1938-1988

beryl k gullsgate

Well written Shannon and thank you.

I would like to mention that it is psychologically and physically rewarding according to a study published in Neuron, when we choose to act in a "HUMANitarian" way. I hope that we don't need another Depression or the actual environmental disaster (before things hit critical mass)to remind us that we are a Democratic nation, and that is what we need to remember as we rebuild and heal our communities and the environment. Of course with a new, bold, HUMANitarian administration; Are you hearing me Barack!?

Maybe we should call him "Mah-bad-Mood" and leave it at that.

However, it's interesting that the demonization is totally built on one erroneous translation of one tiny phrase.

Mah bad Mood never threatened to "wipe Israel off the map."

First, he was quoting "Kow Meenie" and he never used the Farsi words for "wipe", "Israel" "off" or "map". It's just pure fabrication, repeated so often that it's a truism.

Here's a comprehensive review of the actual statement:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=NOR20070120&articleId=4527

No Iranian official has ever advocated an attack on Israel. Period.

... a writer writes -- "liberals are obsessed with equality" -- which quickly brings to mind the conservative's own psychotic obsession ... liberty.

"LIBERTY & EQUALITY" -- is the great american mantra that establishes our own unique national identity.

It has been huffed & puffed by Our People continuously in every political, social and economic debate since 1787.

The perplexing motto, however, also highlights the peculiar doppelganger nature of The American Citizen -- one that forever pits him at war with himself --

The ampersand ought to be removed -- for the words "LIBERTY" and "EQUALITY" in fact represent two very different worlds -- ideals --- in the human psyche.

And so it is -- in our Great Debate -- that the social engineers of the Left will forever keep their eyes on the 'equality' issues while the libertarians on the Right keep the focus on 'liberty' in check.

it is a good balance --- one we should be pleased with --- one that must be maintained, --- regardless of The War now being waged by the minority Lunatic Fringes of the Far Right and Far Left who wish to control the rest of us with their self-centered, scatter-brained 'theories' of Reality.

Is occupying New York City??

Is that your position?

Jeebus, the political right is losing it's mind.

Here's what happened---some crazy losers got in a lucky sucker-punch. Then we went over & blew the crap out of them.

That should have been the end of it, except Bush inc decided they wanted the control all the worlds oil, so we invaded & now occupy Iraq. & are making noises about doing the same with Iran, since Iraq has been so successful.

I don't know whom I fear more--a few thousand crazy losers in the middle east--or a few million crazy whack-jobs right here in the good ol US of A.

Utter nonsense. I too think we can hold Chareston but we did not hold NY too well. Those incompetent terrorists managed to bring down a couple buildings with their incompetence. What a lame brain way to frame it. It is a matter of attacking technological prosperous countries with non-technological solutions. Didn't we learn that yet? That is the correct framing.

Oy yeah, let's ignore those attacks in Bali, Spain and England. I guess they gave up.

But NOOO let's plan for global warming. That is a winner for us. We can feel better by changing our light bulbs. At least we've done something. Of course a GRB, a volcano, a meteor, oops can't do anything there. Bill can you address that solution?

Don't bother just dress up as one of those 6 bears that died in a blizzard. OOOps you forgot to mention that!