because of the dominance by and homogenization of "corporate interests" which trump the "regional interests" that used to keep voters tuned in.

Whether by design (or by slavishly following the GOP model), the democratic party seems to have adopted the "unitary executive" pyramid that has been unsuccessful in achieving that undemocratic, quite hideous "party discpline" that has made the republicans such a juggernaut.

I'm no longer wondering where the "moderate" or "principled" (i.e. not-crazy) republicans are ... they're hiding in the closet with the "moderate" moslems and the "brave" and "principled" democrats. Yes, the MSM was a big part of the problem by instantly marginalizing all outliers from their "story line".

Environmental and other disasters are likely to result in a resurgence of regional competition. We are going to pay a heavy price for the sins that bought the last 20 years of globalizations's "peace and prosperity" dividents -- (for us, anyway) and the somnolence we have "enjoyed."

Americans hate politics ... and that works out really well for the folks in power, particularly the dynasties with their name-recognition ... bread and circuses work every time.

If only one of them would simply stand up on the floor of the House or Senate and tell us all everything they know about torture and illegal surveillance. The Constitution gives members of Congress absolute immunity from prosecution for anything they say in Congressional debate. They could, therefore, not be prosecuted for revealing classified information. They could spill it *all.* Possibly they'd be censured; possibly they'd never be re-elected; surely they'd never get any committee assignments involving access to classified information again. But so what? The Republic is now at stake. Someone has to have the guts to break down this wall of silence and complicity that is threatening to wall off the Constitution and the rule of law.

Plenty of solutions! Shouldn’t somebody be dismissing all of these suggestions as ‘unserious’? Surely there is no need to do anything ‘radical.’ After all, it’s only habeas corpus and torturing people- no radical changes happening there. Surely the same paradigm that we have been operating in for the last few decades will suffice to correct the problem.

People are dying, but things aren't really that bad

Speaking for myself only: that sure is not what I said or think.

As long as the consensus here at UT and in the country in general tends to be "things may be bad, but a few tweaks will take care of it,"

And again, speaking for myself only: that sure is not what I said or think.

The conversation here today (as it tends to frequently be) leans toward the ideas that a) the problems we perceive are a fairly recent vintage and b) getting the "right" people into power will undoubtedly provide the necessary correction.

There is nothing small or simple about the problems we face. I think we all know that. And their is no "undoubtedly" solution that I know of. And even though much of what we've seen since this administration came into power it is not news to me that there is little that is new under the sun.

No matter how monumental the problems are or how deep they run there is still only one solution though it involves many pieces. Whatever exactly it is it consists of doing what we can as hard as we can and as methodically but promptly as we can.

Whether or not one thinks that means taking it to the streets or doing something perhaps less dramatic or somewhere in between does not mean that the non-dramatists aren't just as aware of how awful things have become as the 'storm the castle' folks are. The idea that I don't necessarily see storming the castle as the answer does not in any way mean that I don't see a tremendously deep and despairing situation facing our country and, consequently, the world.

The CIA leaking this to the Post I mean. Now the NIE comes out with a report contradicting the Administrations possition on Iran. Perhaps there is hope for this country after all. I would read the other letters on this article if I wasn't in such a hurry to read the article on Bush losing the military. Maybe I'll come back later.

One one hand I could happily point out that the cries of illegal, secret, and that our President did everything on his own have been wrong.

Or I could point out that our leaders are human, and did what they thought necessary for the nation in a situation with little or no real understanding of the consequences.
It is very easy for the Ivory Tower Ethicists to absolutely denounce actions in hindsight.
It is very easy to denounce actions while far away from the process.
It is very easy to denounce actions when there's no participation in the outcome.
Perhaps it's finally time for the moralists here to consider that all the people involved in decisions you find distasteful, were willing to do absolutely everything possible to protect the nation, hell or high water.

Since most here seem to lack the imagination to consider the burden of responsibility for 300 million people, let's bring the situation down to manageable size. Imagine if you will, that your children have been kidnapped and one has been killed as warning to do what the kidnappers want. Also imagine that you find yourself in a room with someone you believe to have participated in the kidnapping, at your mercy.

What do you do? Surrender to the extortion and pay the ransom hoping they will honor the bargain? Ask a few polite questions? Or, would you as mother/father do whatever it takes to make the perpetrator tell the truth?
Yes imagine YOUR child being threatened, and what you would do to save that child. Can you imagine a mother sitting back and doing nothing? Would YOUR mother do that if it were you threatened with death?

Consider that in 2002 that was the situation leadership was in. For the first time Americans were killed by foreigners on our soil, who cared so little for life, they threw away their own.
There was no place to point the finger of blame, no obvious people to attack. To NOT do everything possible was unthinkable. No matter what it was.

So here we are years later judging the actions of a terrible time, with cold calculation and cruel absoluteness. Some may condemn the human impulse to cross boundaries in the preservation of those dear to us, but it was necessary.

We now understand the enemy better and have explored the possible responses immediately at hand. Torture has been banned, invasion is behind us, and the enemy better understood. It's been an ugly experience, but considering the worst case scenarios for ALL concerned, there are much worse things possible.