Sheldon Czapnik writes: "One wonders how many readers of this blog support the type of medical insurance system prevalent in virtually every other developed country in the world - one which relieves private enterprise of this particular expense." Perhaps Mr. Czapnik wonders where the money for this "particular expense" comes from? It comes from taxes on employment - quite severe taxes, actually (I've worked in Europe, so I know a little bit about it). There is, of course, an alternative system, one which truly does relieve both businesses and taxpayers of the expense of healthcare. It's called the free market.

I'll gladly respond to Dale. The President is the head of state and, as such, he has a duty to uphold the dignity of his office and that of the United States. When he bows - be it to a prince, an emperor, dictator, or mayor - the whole United States bows with him. It is shameful when done before a king or dictator, because it betrays our democratic values. When done before a mayor, it is just plain silly.

He's been programmed by aliens to bow when he sees an "Oriental"-looking person.

All I can say as I look around at the current situation is, thank God we dodged that Sarah Palin for VP bullet.

martin727 - You're conflating this with the story of the man found in a Tierra Verde canal.

Watched it last night. I'm usually a tough audience when it comes to tearjerkers, but by the end I was pretty torn up. My wife only caught the last third, and she was bawling at the end. Kevin Bacon gave a flawless, pitch-perfect performance. If I hadn't known that he was Kevin Bacon, I would have believed that a real Marine had played the part. All of the performances were terrific. One scene that affected me early on was the confrontation with the TSA guy. Bacon was like a coiled spring. All of the pride and dignity of a career Marine came down to a moment of preserving the honor of the uniform. Again, well done.