To just say, 'Why Jeremiah Wright is so Wrong'is to ignore so much: how he is right. (See my post on page 53.)

Joan you don't ever examine the War on Drugs critically. It's like it doesn't exist when you're writing.

That whole Paris Hilton debacle -- you and your staffers were so out of touch it was sickening. The reason why female DUI probation violators get home detention in Los Angeles is because we have 10,000 drug users to babysit every year and there just isn't room for the DUIs any more.

The racial bias in the enforcement of drug laws has done damage to the black community that is probably irreversible.

There won't be much change at all even if the Democrats win, because the Democrats are still going to fight the War on Drugs, almost the same as before.

It's pretty hopeless, actually. If you pay attention it's easy to fall into despair.

Wright could probably have gotten away with "God damn Bush" for the bloody Iraq war if he wanted to, or "God damn Truman" for bombing the Japanese at the end of World War II, or even "God damn the American government!" for its many mistakes. But "God damn America" - that's sweeping. It sounds like it's the idea of America, its fundamental principles, that he's rejecting.

No, it doesn't. I can only guess that you have no clue what Wright was saying, even after his explanation. How willfully stupid are you trying to be?

When RW preachers condemn gay men, are they damning them for being men? No, they're damning what they do---for having sex with one another. A child would know that instinctively. How could Wright be condemning America for being a democracy, when it's so obvious he was condemning it for being an oligarchic, unjust, racist democracy?

Recall that there's a song, "God Bless America," that expresses a certain well-known idiotic "patriotic" sentiment. There's no more succinct or plain way to phrase a contradiction of this sentiment than the way Wright did.

Your alternative of blaming "the government" for its mistakes is unspeakably lame. Our government, to some extent, is us. How long a list of "damns" and administrations and government "errors" would you want Wright to go through? Yes, damn the bomb. Yes, damn the dogs of Selma. Yes, damn the Vietnam war. Yes, damn a lot of things.

Please step back through the looking glass. How is Reverend Wright relevant to our nation's problems...other than perhaps holding up that looking glass to some hard truths (and of some exaggerations, of course) that the American people are once again loathe to face about our role in the world? I know this is so boring and beside the point, but where is the daily outrage over the loss of innocent life in Iraq, where is the 24/7 carpeting of the media with scenes from that outrage?

Basically, Reverend Wright has said that his imaginary friend and the book upon which many, many, many different concepts of that imaginary friend's existence and purpose are based, would strongly disapprove of some of our GOVERNMENT'S actions over time...that seems very clearly to have been his meaning, regardless of what it "sounds like."

Aren't there many more interesting, important and relevant issues to discuss? I'm glad that Salon has entered the punditocracy, but I wish sometimes it had a little more distanced view and didn't seem to be flouting the issues that distract us from more important concerns.

I'm just wondering why Catholic politicians aren't endlessly hammered for their association with child rapists? Why aren't white Protestants held accountable for the official policies of racial exclusion that prevailed in many denominations until recently? Etc, etc.....

It's rhetorical question. I don't find Jeremiah Wright offensive in the least, but I do find the Catholic Church's non-handling of its massive pedophilia crisis to be highly disturbing. That doesn't make me inclined to flay politicians who happen to be Catholic. But I do have to wonder about the blatant double standard.

"Wright is so wrong" - Joan Walsh rushes to declare, Editor-in-Chief of Salon.com, showing us, once again, how narrow her mindset, and indeed, her knowledge and understanding of this country is. This type of early, superficial, nervous reaction clearly comes from Joan Walsh's core beliefs and anxieties, as informed by her own background and prejudice.

Mr. Wright said it like it is, and Joan's reaction is typical of anxious political hacks watching their once inevitable candidate defeated fair and square, unable to rise to the challenge of actually dealing constructively with the multi-faceted reality of this country. This of course is also typical of less cynical, but ignorant fools.

Joan is clearly running among the scared, her up-to-now safe paradigms challenged to the core, unsettled by the emergence of new, DIFFERENT voices on the national scene, and most of all, the open discussion of America's dark side. Folks like Joan seem unable to even hear the truth, let alone "analyze" it for our benefit, paying members of Salon.

The national conversation is fast moving beyond this sort of unthinking tripe, and Salon, under current leadership, continues its descent into mere stupidity. It wouldn't be sexism to get rid of Walsh, it's the rational thing to do, and it makes good business sense.

I'd be surprised if Obama understands Wright either. Raised in Indonesia and in Hawaii where he was a silver spoon fed product of a lily white private school in a state where discrimination is native/Hawaian versus haoloe Barry probably has no more understanding of what Wright was saying than any other white person. He surely went to church there for only political reasons. Now it's blown up in his face and he's continuing to distance himself from the political compromise he made by going to Wright's church. I would still give the benefit of doubt to Obama because of his upbringing. He is an interesting hybrid that appeals to many white voters and me because he is so assimilated. If I were black I would find Obama to have very little street cred.