Gee! A foreign nation helping finance candidates in a national election! How terrible! Is that like the US funding Calderon? Or like the US funding Capriles in Venezuela? Or the US funding opposition parties in Russia?

If you are appalled by the foreign policy ideas of Romney, why aren't you appalled by those of Obama? They are virtually the same. We have the US funding known terrorists to overthrow governments in Libya and Syria, the US wantonly murdering people in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere by remote control, undermining the governments of nations who are allegedly our friends, like Pakistan - how much worse will it be? Sure John Bolton is more apt to say something nasty than Hillary Clinton, but their foreign policies are almost identical. If we want a government that will stop intervening in other countries, drop the size of its military to a rational level, and use the money saved to make the lives of its people better, we don't have a candidate in this election, at least not one with any chance of winning.

Truly the only reason to vote for Obama (or virtually any other Democrat) is that they aren't as bad as the other guy. This is not a winning strategy.

Perhaps you should take a look at this article in Foreign Policy, which states clearly that "Despite his campaign rhetoric, Romney would be quite comfortable carrying out President Obama's foreign policy because it accords so closely with his own."

So if the F-35 is an example of wingnut Republican waste, why is the program still alive after 3 years of Democratic rule? The military is a bipartisan boondoggle and we have a Democrat running for re-election who boasts of the accomplishments of his military and refuses to cut "defense" spending. Let's not lay this at the feet of the wingnuts and use it as an excuse to get more Democrats into office to do the same thing.

While they recall that 20 years ago the proposals and policies of the Obama Administration were being made by Republicans, they should also note that 20 years ago no Democrat would have been caught dead supporting these ideas. Actually you have to go back at least 30 years to get a real perspective - back when a Republican President established the EPA! Back when a Republican President was calling for a health care plan that was better than Obamacare because the Democrats were behind single-payer. The Republican Party isn't the only one that's moved to the right. If the Democrats hadn't followed them off the deep end, we might have a very different America today.

Since obviously the TBTF banks and the plutocrats aren't stupid, what exactly is their game? Did they engineer the Greek debt crisis in order to sink the Euro and thus prop up the dollar as a hedge against China? What are they really trying to do? More to the point, how are they succeeding?

Convincing evidence that the leaders of both parties are lying jerks and know full well that they are lying. Vote for one, vote for the other, you get the same lies.

What hope is there in the President's response. We all know there will be no cuts in the military, the intelligence agencies (and there are hundreds of them), or in the Homeland Security Gestapo. The cuts will be in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, education, etc. A President who actually took his job seriously would insist on tax increases for the upper echelons and massive infrastructure spending along with drastic cuts in military and intelligence spending, an end to the idiotic drug war and the bailouts of financial criminals. We don't have such a President and we won't be getting one soon.

Apparently if you think Hillary Clinton would make a good President you are on the same "medication" as Pat Caddell et al. Unless we somehow get a Presidential race between Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul, the eventual of both parties next year and for the foreseeable future will be a tool of the corporations and banks that are funding the campaigns and own the Congress.

The role of the Republican Party is to convince the unintelligent to vote in the interests of the 1%. They do this by pandering to so-called culture war issues like abortion, homosexuality, school prayer, etc. The role of the Democratic Party is to convince the intelligent to vote in the interests of the 1%. They do this by pretending to support progressive, pro-labor policies while always voting (under alleged duress) with the same corporate masters. Focusing on the Republican primary charade is a waste of time. Neither this gang of clowns or their Democratic opponent will do anything significant to advance the economic, peace and justice interests of the 99%, so they should be collectively ignored.

In 2008, there was a "historic" shift that gave the White House, the Senate and the House to the Democrats with solid majorities and a clear electoral mandate. It would be hard to imagine a better situation for the party to demonstrate it's commitment to those who placed it in control of the government. That had every conceivable incentive to move this nation to the left - end unpopular wars, create a strong stimulus package, re-regulate the financial industry, pass real health care reform, etc., and they accomplished little more than half-measures. There's no reason to believe a big Democratic victory in 2012 (which is highly unlikely) would be any more productive. The system is broken and providing incentives is not going to make it work again.

You have good points there Steve. What worries me is that left seems to be wedded to techniques they have been using, or trying to use, for the last 60 years or more in spite of the fact that those techniques evidently aren't working. We want to do grassroots organizing as though people still gathered in local civic organizations and had courteous intelligent discussions of the issues of the day. We want to have protest marches and carry signs and dress up in clever costumes as though such events were still carried on the major media and would provide an opportunity to get our message to a wider public. We still want to write letters to the editor and to the corporate representatives in Congress presenting them with facts supporting our viewpoint even though most of the population doesn't even believe in facts or doesn't know enough of them to place ours in context. We need new strategies, new methods, and new techniques that will resonate with modern Americans and that transcend the phony left/right mantras of our political system. The key question we have to ask about any idea for a movement or a political action, is "Will it work?" Is there some rational chance this will make a difference? If not, then let's try something else.

We sure could solve a lot of problems by legalizing popular drugs. No more expensive and intrusive searches and people dying from ingesting bags of dope - you could just put in in a box labeled "Cocaine" and ship it direct and pay duty on it. Maybe with the money we save on the phony drug war and the money we gain from taxes and duties on the stuff, we could actually pay for proper regulation of the big pharmaceutical companies.

I don't disagree with any of your points, but can any of you outline a practical, politically feasible strategy for getting any of these reforms implemented? We certainly will not be able to enact any of the political reforms by petitioning the elected officials of the two major parties who benefit from the current system. We will not be able to enact any of the domestic reforms while we have a Congress rife with lobbyists and corporate cash and a White House full to the brim with ex-lobbyists and Wall Street insiders. Ditto the foreign policy reforms. How about discussing what we can do now? A decade from now, we may no longer exist, the world may no longer be habitable, and there may be no right to dissent.

You've asked the $64T question - what's to be done? Perhaps if we could create a Tahrir Square situation on the Washington Mall (which would require millions of people), we could scare the powers into taking some minimal corrective steps. Or perhaps, such a mass action would tip us over into a fascist military dictatorship. Only one way to find out. If you're young enough, I recommend leaving the country ASAP. For the older citizens, lay in a good supply of booze for drowning sorrows.

It would seem to me that both are crazy. The Republicans for their absolute refusal to compromise, and Democrats for continuing to favor compromise even when it means abject capitulation to the Republicans. One side is crazy and the other is stupid.

Also your family like most, probably makes a distinction between borrowing to finance the kid's education or pay for needed medical care or purchasing a home and borrowing to buy a new Hummer or a 3D TV. Sometimes spending is a good investment in the future and sometimes it is a stupid waste of money. Of course the stupid wastes of money provide profits to campaign contributors (aka the owners). That's another distinction we don't hear made too often.

I only wish the police worked a bit faster on other crimes like torture, wholesale securities fraud, and starting wars of agression. Maybe Strauss-Kahn will tell french voters to Look Forward not Backward.

What I find amazing is the far-right that is so dedicated to following the exact letter of the Constitution never has an objection to blatant, outrageous violations of their revered Founding Document when it comes to "national security". How can someone oppose Obama's putrid Health Industry Bailout Bill on Constitutional grounds but then applaud an invasion of another country to murder someone who is only suspected of a crime? As Ted Rall wrote this week, with the murder of Osama, Obama has become the Jack Ruby of 9/11. We will never know what Bin Laden might have told us about that horrific attack and the others who planned and funded it. Of course, he might have been able to tell us a few other things that would be very embarrassing to the government.

When you consider that Christmas is itself a rip-off of the pagan solstice festival, this critique falls flat. I love choral music and great hymns (a remnant from my believing days) and for the most part, I don't mind just shutting out the ridiculous words and going for the music. That works when the music is up to the task, but the maudlin sentimentalism of a lot of Xmas music just isn't worth it. Yep, if you want to change the lyrics to Silent Night, or Little Town of Bethlehem or Jingle Fucking Bells, then mazeltov! If we non-believers and non-Christians have to be assaulted 24-7 with crappy music at least spare us the dumbass mythology and let us have some fun with it.