Why is there a Hannity's America on Fox but there is not a Colmes' America? Talk about control and bias Fox is thy name. Thank God Colmes is quitting this fraud of an org. Politics is all about agenda. Human nature is such that most can only work on so many projects at a time. The agenda setting aspect of politics may be its most important aspect. People argue about what we should be talking about, and the media feeds into that and sometimes does more than just report but tries to change the agenda. Thankfully it appears to me that the agenda being addressed has improved since the November election. PS: I do not beleive that news is controlled by an over arching czar, but by editorial types at all levels, someone must choose what to print, what to read, and what to report, we are incapable or reading and hearing everything.

Show me a guy who makes no mistakes and I will show you a guy who does nothing. It is wisdom to know that your trials and errors, your attempts, your efforts, (all foolishness to some) is what has made you a great person. As Kipling said, "Success and failure are but to imposters", It is the "foolishness" that is the important thing.

Self belief is so much part of advancing a good cause. Be prepared for the slings and arrows that will come your way not just concerning the cause but concerning your self personally. You will have a credibility crises which you must also fight.

Fascism is totalitarian in its intent, the word is based on the Faces or the "stick". Whoever holds the speaking "stick" has the right to dictate. Socialism is not dictatorial or totalitarian in intent but due to its nature of being a consensus may seem that way to some. The same with democracy or the 51% rule. I am glad that we live in a consensus society in America, the consensus changes from election to election but no one holds onto the Faces and dictates forever and ever.

What the hell is compelled compliance Mike talk like a man! Is compelled complicance something like Law, if so say so. Fascism is the right wing opponent of socialim - study the Spanish Civil War. The fascists under Franco were aided and abetted by Hitler and Mussolini against the freely elected Repubilan-Socialists. Capitalism is a democratic from of economics in which free men can amass capital. In the American model capitalism and democracy go together. If you are going to run isms together separated only by commas you should be more careful. I am terribly sorry you feel whipped all of the time, living as you are in what is still considered the best economy and political environment in the world. I think you are derelict in not seeking a better situation for yourself, and just sitting in your misery and stupor all of the time, breathing stupidities that no one can relate to or understand what it is that you are saying.

Sounds like Benedict Arnold!

What did Mike say here that makes any sense at all. He used socialism, fascism, and democaracy all in close enough nexus to give a color of similarity between them. His blather flies in the face of the recent election indicating a choice by a free people. a choice that is breathtaking to most of the world and a choice that shows the US populace to be one who is not bound by the BS that Mike talks about or that Mike is bound with. He always spouts the same thoughtless, unthinking BS rhetoric.

Isn't Reagan the one who signed off on the LUST Tax. (Many thought this was a tax on screwing.) Actually it stood for Leaking Underground Storage Tanks. These conservative so-called guys want to put a fee on everything. The liberals just want one big fat tax and let every body use everything. Every time Reagan and the Bushes ran on and cut taxes they sold bonds and now we are in 10 trillion dollars of debt. "Debt and defict don't matter" says Dick Cheney. If he Reagan and Bushes are correct why don't we just eliminate all taxes and just keep selling bonds.

I think Anonymous got this one correct.

How shallow! Government probably started for defending the group from the other group, for defense. So Mencken is wrong from the very first word just as RBESRQ said. Mencken here blows the idea that he is a serious thinker, if he had of said, "some gov't" he would have fared better with me. He is just being a bombastic propangandist. And you five starers fell for it. Hell you do everytime!

We now pay for heath care everytime we make a purchase. The better companies who have more successfully cornered their markets have the best health plans for their people. Thus an employee of the Big Three for example may have a top notch plan and the guy at your locao repair shop or a self employed guy may have a lousy plan. Others have no plan at all but get free service at clinics and hospitals and we pay for that also. The dirty little secret is that the 47 million uninsured are getting a free ride and the rest of us are paying for that. Insurance is based on big numbers. The larger the base of participation the lower the premium. The risk is spread. Some claim that with a Universal Plan many of our current premiums will come down. I agree with the man from Kalamazoo it is time for common sense in health care. Ps the guy is funny but this kind of funny is not helpful.

These are the cards we have been dealt. Mailer would never make a politician. Again, again, and again how many times must we be reminded that this is a land of compromise, not of truth and absoutism. Those who want truth and absolutism should move to Cuba or North Korea, where there is always one answer to everything and it is always the right answer. I'll take the consensus society anytime. While there is truth in what Mailer says we should not go off the deep end with it and make a philosohy out of it therefore I only give it one star.

Which ethics is of the higher good. I often sense the use of this strategem from individuals, hell look at the last election, all those means used to get elected now McCain is buddy, buddy with the guy he called a socialist and terrorist sypathizer. Since the means did not work and Obama got elected any way what the heck might as well be friends with the guy you lied about!

PS: Waffler's statement above is certainly a description of the errant sensibilities of the man from NYC. F^%& those old timers he mentioned and let us be free of them once and for all. Free at last, free at last thank God we may be free at last. Now that is liberty!

State borders should be eliminated. They are really just a wast of time.

No Mike that is not the mission statement emblazoned over all facets of current government. Now you know, Get your head out of the sand. I don't think you know anything about my rating system and certainly nothing about pragmatism.

You are wrong Jim. Right and left of course are only relative terms. In Europe the communists were the left and the Nazi's and Fascists were the right. Nazism worked hand in hand with the corporate elites. The communists killed the corporate elites. If you researched it I think you will find that the west, France, England and the US aided and abetted these guys in the early years '20s-'30s just because they spouted anti-communist rhetoric. The Communist Russian mantra was "international socialism", these guys the Nazi's and fascists spouted "national socialism" but they were steadfastly in league with the corporate industrial complex.

This guy has a Russian last name. Last night Lou Dobbs dissed a current Russian commentator who has predicted that the USA, the Union will dissolve into six regional entities or nations. Dobbs said that some of this guys arguments were interesting but then criticized his total lack of understanding of USA culture, politics, history, legal foundation, sentiment etcetera. that encompasses the term and legality known as "The Union". Could that also be a description of your sensibilities Eric or lack of sensibilities.

Did he mean this as an observation of truth or as a planned policy? As an observation I think it has a lot of truth. Since recorded history and prior we can see evidence of certain individuals setting themselves up as leaders or as "the state" and marshalling large groups for "political interests" or personal aggrandisement or to exalt the self, or simply because they looked down upon or sneered at some others whom they felt were wasting their lives due to lack of initiative. Thus we have warrior kings, pyramids, etcetera all examples of "state political interests".

This crap was all generated or created to combat the so called specter of internationalism communism and it was aided and abetted by the west which allowed the Fascists and Nazis to rise to power to combat the red scare of the October Revolution. Under the disguise of Benito and his prodigy Hitler corporations were allowed to take over their countries and democracy was extinquished. Sort of like that guy was he from General Motors who said, "What is good for big business is good for America". Yeah right!

Right wing fascist pig! Last night I heard that a far right organization in Italy has offered a substantial dollar prize to anyone who would name their child after this guy.

I think legally your err Dear Eric. Nice to hear from you by the way but you and I are free to travel throughout this country of which we citizens. We are not Kansans first (that is where you live is it not) or Floridians first, we are Americans. I have never taken an oath or pledged allegiance to any state of the union and I have lived in five of them. My citizenship and allegiance is to the Union. I have no allegiance to my city, county, or state or I only reside in them. I daily observe a plethora of RV's of snow birds leaving the northland for the southland (Florida) throughout the fall. They have no allegiance to either place but only to the nation and Union as a whole. You are correct I am sure about the pledge not being in the Constitution but neither is Alsaka, Hawaii or the great west in there either, so whait is your point!

RBSRQ you are right about Good and God. For many the words mean the same thing. Thus Kennedy could have said, "On earth Good Works must be done by man."

Mr. Woods without looking up definitions my opinion is that circumspect means to be aware of your surrondings and the effect of your actions and carefully considering the total ramifications of what action you are about to take. It is concerned with others and the world outside of the self. Introspection concerns the inner self, one might feel quilty for his actions. Thanks for your observation however, maybe I should have said both "circumspect and introspect". An introspective perspective may lead us to do away with the death penalty because Lord knows we are all evil to some extent. A circumspective perspective might approve the death penalty because of the need to effect the world around us for what we consider to be good.

Hey Lou some times in life just as in cooking we have to correct mistakes by adding this or that. Often we have to pick up the pieces and continue and do not have the option to start completely new.