Huma, Mark and Elizabeth. Happy X-Mas...hope you get the Divinity I sent.

Merry Christmas to the hosts and the respondees here. I have enjoyed both reading and posting responses. That's the great thing about America: we can all say what we want without killing one another over it. You can say what you want about a secular nation vs. a religious one but in the end there is less mayhem and death when the two can be peacefully combined. Again, Merry Christmas and may the New Year bring you many good things.

Good time to take a breather, while Sandy Berger is reported as having taken classified documents which might have shed light on the failure of Clinton to combat terrorism. We wouldn't want to have a reasonable discussion about such potentially damning evidence against Clintons, Democrats and MSNBC.

I see we're going to enter '07 the same way we spent '06- blaming Clinton and the Dems for our failures in the GWOT. Maybe we can think of a way he could be blamed for Abu Ghraib, the lack if a US peace initiative for Palestine and Israel for the past 6 years, and GW getting a lump of coal in his stocking from General Abizaid instead of the desired report on the "steady progress" we are making in Iraq.

o! my goodness David..you have an angst free holiday whatever your choices may be. HAPPY! HAPPY! MERRY! MERRY! HOLLY! JOLLY!

David - While I do think that the Sandy Berger story is quite interesting I would be slow to call "conspiracy". I'm not sure why Mr. Berger would take documents from the National Archive and his actions were quite suspicious but I'm not sure I'm ready to claim that it was "potentially damning evidence against Clintons, Democrats and MSNBC." For one, I'm not sure how MSNBC fits into this but, hey, whatever. I know that you said "potentially" and that is true that we don't know what was in those documents but let's not go ape poop over this quite yet.

Fox News Flash : The Clintons are under investigation for providing GWB with alcohol and drugs in his teen years. Resulting brain damage is Clintons' fault.

HappyHolidays all here. Letus remember all those that serve our great ntion: medical folks, law enforcement, fire service, EMTs, the frazzeld folks at the airports, all our members of the finest military in the universe and yes, those folks who put public service as a government offical ahead of personal goals. For all my brothers and sisters of the warrior spirit deployed to harm's way; keep your powder dry, your armor buttoned up and keep your head down.To all, a good night.

All, Anyone want to argue that we'll see an investigation by your leader, Michael Moore, into a possible Clinton connection to al Qaeda? Silence........

To Everyone: If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas. If you celebrate Hannukah, Happy Hannukah. If you celebrate neither, have a nice day:-)

David........Bush is a failure, plain and simple. Learn it, believe it and face it. Because, we are all being forced to LIVE it. Bush's failure to protect the american people before 911 even though he was warned by his own CIA a month in advance, his lies to the press and the public about WMD in Iraq, his failed policies there and the deaths of 3000 American Soldiers aren't Clinton's fault or responsibility. All of it belongs to "W." So, why don't you just suck it up, and take some of the "personal responsibility" that republiCAN'T- CAN'Tservatives are famous for spouting off about. (But, rarely if ever accept.) What I see is that jerks like yourself are going to start off 2007 the same way they started off 2001,2002,2003,2004,2005, and 2006.....trying to divert attention away from the failures of George Bush and the republiCANT party by making accusations about the previous democratic administration which cannot be justified by logic or fact. TO THE CUSTODIANS OF FIRST READ.........okay you went and did it. I'm hooked, this is a great forum from which to obtain information, and in which to discuss the issues of the day. Happy Hannakuh (spelling?), Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Kwanza to all of you. All any of us can ask from "the media" these days is not to glaze over the failures of The Bush admin, which has gotten SO MUCH of a pass from the mainstream press that it isn't funny. Here's hoping that 2007 brings us news coverage from people who aren't afraid to take the "Rove-Monkeys" on. It's time to start telling the truth and stop Soft-Balling about the idiocy of this administration. Too many people have already died because of it, and the lives of many more are at stake. MEERY CHRISTMAS TO ALL...........GOD SAVE THE UNION!

I for one don't necessarily blame the Clinton administration for 9/11 or for that matter the current or previous Bush administrations. I have a novel idea. Let's blame the perpatraitors(sp?). I blame the extremist Muslims for 9/11. Anyway, to echo J. Stanley's comment, I to enjoy this blog. Despite the verbal beating I take on a daily basis I have found this blog to be a great test of my opinions and beliefs. Many on here are obviously very passionate about what they believe and I appreciate that. To all Merry Christmas and may 2007 bring a more stable government and security situation in Iraq and the confirmed death of OBL.

J. Merle - "Jerks"??? Remind me never to vote for you. Open your eyes and review ALL the evidence. Your hatred for George Bush and conservative ideas have evidently blinded you.

David, Katy, Tx. You sound like you are not playing with a full deck. If Sandy Berger is guilty of these charges, punish him. But for you to think Wilner, Murray and Zaidi are taking a break to prevent writting about Berger is crazy. And what the heck does Micheal Moore has to do with this story? CRAZY

Gee Dave, your unending worship of an election-stealing felon and First Order Chickenhawk seems a bit "blind," too, but you keep blaming Bill Clinton for everything, because you might be right - Bush is such a puppet, and Bill is rich.... Ryan - keep swinging.

"CONAN vs ONAN" The Independent View. The problem the Republicans have with Clinton is the problem they have with most 'non-insiders'. That would be a 'sexual' problem. Starting from the top. Clinton, arguably America's most 'virile' President since Warren Harding, was villlified by the American Right, chuckled at by a relaxed Europe, and freely admired by the Chinese for his sexual prowess, the requirements of which, were not disclosed. Clinton represents the Classless Lethario of the Rubinesque American Female. A Casanova of that 'Steel Magnolia' woman, who has 'more insurance'. When women look at Clinton, that's what they see. When they look at Dubya...well, someone once said his Dad reminded every woman of her ex-husband. Dubya must remind her of her second ex-husband. America was doin' OK with 'Slick Willie', now everybody is unhappy. Blame it on Clinton? Might as well blame it on our Cro-Magnon DNA. They started it. Remember, behind every insecure Politician, is a relative they swear wasn't a Cave Man.

Ryan, yes let's blame the people behind 9/11. It was Osama bin Laden and al Queda. Thank you for finally stating that. So, I did and do still support the war in Afhganistan. I believe the current administration took us off that course when our country invaded Iraq. Do you believe that? If so, how much more money out of your pocket will you use to continue the war in Iraq. Eventually, the law of economics will not be on that side. And we have an obligation to ask how all that money was spent in Iraq. It was our money, paid through taxes, that went to Iraq. So, account for every penny.

Olivia, my thoughts go out to those in the Gulf Coast, especially to New Orleans. On this December 25th, the lights are still out. If we cannot solve this in our country, why do we profess to know a way forward as expressed by our president?

Steve - I will say that I think what the Republicans did with the whole Clinton sex scandal/impeachment thing was not good at all. It was a waste of time, money, effort, etc. Of course Clinton shouldn't have lied under oath but he wouldn't have had the opportunity if certain Republicans weren't caught up with Clinton's sex life. I think this might be the second time in about a week that Steve and I agree on something. What the heck is happening?! :)

Wow...Ryan and Steve agreeing TWICE in the same week? Now I do believe in Santa Claus!!! :-) To All : Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Day off(atheists) and Tree Day (Druids). Pray for peace on earth and an end to war and poverty.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all. Good Luck with all your endeavors and peace of mind. A gift to all US citizens below. http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm

Desmond - you know I don't believe that the administration took us off course when we invaded Iraq. I guess you could make the argument that we should've focused more on a different country that harbored and financially aided terrorists but I think that with the intel we had from our own agencies as well as British, Canadian, Italian, French, German, Russian, and Isreali agencies we were concerned that Saddam had WMD and was looking to develop more and he clearly had a history of using them. I think that was one of the factors that singled out Iraq over maybe a Syria, Lybia, a group like Hezbollah or even Iran at the time. This is of course where you and I differ. I don't believe that by eraticating al Queda you stop the war. I believe that it is more broad then just one terrorist group. But, anybody who regularly reads these posts knows how I feel about that. Also at some point I believe that you have to throw economics aside to some extent and do things for the greater good and not just do things for the proposed economic benefit. That's not to say there shouldn't be check and balances in the system and to that end I hope the Democrats do have productive oversight hearings because I do want the money spent wisely. I'm dissapointed with Republicans for not doing this in the first place.

"Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Rock"

ya i saw on a religous special about the circumstances of the marriage of mary it was said that as was the custom of the times that she was sold to her husband in an arranged marriage and that she was very young probably early teens and that her husband was about 25. my question is is this correct info and if so what is the religious significance of impregnating(immaculate conception) a 13 or 14 year old slave girl?

Happy Holidays to everyone in whatever form you find it. Peace on earth.

Well?..........Merry X-Mas to you, Ryan.

Amen, Desmond! My thoughts also go out to the Gulf Coast, too, especially to New Orleans where they suffered the worst flooding since Katrina yesterday. This received no coverage on NBC Nightly. And as you say, the lights are still out in New Orleans. Remember the brouhaha over North Korea several months ago? Much was made at the time about a satellite photo showing a free, prosperous, brightly-lit South Korea next to Kim Jong Il's poor, oppressed fiefdom, which was completely dark except for a small point of light which was presumably "Dear Leader's" palace. You may be wondering what North Korea would have to do with New Orleans. Well, yesterday I read in USA Today where satellite photos of the area hit by Katrina had been made available to that newspaper. Some showed New Orleans prior to the storm, the others showed her as she looked in April, 2006. In the most recent shots, the port and the French Quarter shine brightly, showing how tourist areas (the "Isle of Denial") have re-opened. Other areas, miles long and miles wide, remain dark, a situation building records suggest has not changed much since the images were taken. I wonder why more isn't being made of these satellite images and why they haven't shown up in the rest of the media. They should--more attention needs to be called to the fact that New Orleans, the rest of Louisiana's ravaged parishes, and the Mississippi Gulf still need a lot of rebuilding help. And the people there need to be in our thoughts...

"WE ARE NOT ENEMIES, BUT FRIENDS. WE MUST NOT BE ENEMIES. THOUGH PASSION MAY HAVE STRAINED IT MUST NOT BREAK OUR BONDS OF AFFECTION. THE MYSTIC CHORDS OF MEMORY, STRETCHING FROM EVERY BATTLEFIELD AND PATRIOT GRAVE TO EVERY LIVING HEART AND HEARTHSTONE ALL OVER THIS BROAD LAND, WILL YET SWELL THE CHORUS OF THE UNION, WHEN AGAIN TOUCHED, AS SURELY THEY WILL BE, BY THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE." ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1865

ndependent News Flash! Some Zoo in, maybe London?...anyhow, I saw it on msnews, has a Komodo Dragon that's laid seven eggs with seven little Komodos growing inside, through...get this..."Imacculate Conception". Wow! No Dad, instead, a Komodo Dragon Angel is the suspected father. Who'da thunk it? If one is born on X-Mas, will that be another signal of the "End Times", or just one more Immaculate Dragon in the world? I guess we'll have to wait and see if Three Wise Iguanas from the East, show up.

....."J. Merle - "Jerks"??? Remind me never to vote for you. Open your eyes and review ALL the evidence. Your hatred for George Bush and conservative ideas have evidently blinded you." ..... Yes David, "JERKS." Because only a jerk could/would make yet more excuses for a presidential administration who's policies have cost THOUSANDS of people their very lives. Only a jerk would continue to tacitly deny Bush's responsibility for not protecting the public before 911 (when he was warned by his own CIA). And finally, only a jerk would defend the all out lies Bush told to the American public about WMD, and nuclear weapons in order to justify war against a country that had no such items, in which their were no "terrorists" until we invaded, and a country that wasn't even involved in 911. Open YOUR mind and review the consistant, and PERSISTANT pattern of LIES that have been employed by THIS President and the number of deaths that have resulted from those lies, David. Here are a couple of points for you to ponder my friend; First, in lieu of the fact there were no WMD, nukes, or Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq BEFORE he invaded, WHY did Mr Bush tell us there were, and why did he send 3000 Americans off to die in a country that wasn't "on fire" until AFTER our military got there? Second, (......and this is more an observation, than it is a "question.") being as how you are from Texas, where the explosions, billowing smoke, screams of horror, and the tears of pain and anguish that occured on 911 weren't shared or experienced, but rather VIEWED in the same "entertainment" venue as TV sitcoms are, it's easy for me to understand how you can "guffaw" at we who watched, heard, smelled, tasted and wrenched in our guts about on that horrible day....as it unfolded right in front of us on our own doorstep. To you David, 911 is nothing more than three digits that carry with them no psycological association with regard any of the senses. To us, the very mention of September 11th holds memories of horrible sensations that words neither written or spoken will ever do justice to. 911, to us, is an awful repetative flash of light, a contual plume of billowing smoke, an unextinguished fire, curdling unsilenced screams of anguish & pain, a continuously falling teardrop, and a heartache unhealed. Yes David, these things have BOTH deafened AND blinded me. They have deafened me to listening to anymore garbage republicans spew about preventing another 911, when in fact 911 itself was prevantable if only Mr Bush had listened to his own CIA 35 days before the event occured. They have blinded me towards viewing any of what this administration does as being anything other than for the sole benefit of one political party. Because, all Republicans have done since 911, is use it as an excuse for EVERYTHING except perhaps Mark Foley's emails to underage male pages in the capitol building. You talk about my hate for Bush, David. But you mention nothing about your own loathe of Democrats, The Clintons in particular, that causes you to continue to try to blame them for 911. Even though The Mayor of NY was a Republican; even though the Governor of the State of NY was a Republican; even though the Congress was controlled by Republicans; and, even though the White House itself was occupied by a Republican when 911 happpened. You tell ME to look at "evidence". But, you completely overlook what's happening right now in front of your very eyes. A failed war, an out of control military who's honor has been breached by scandal involving torture and murder, a government more concerned with spying on its' own citizenry than with capturing the one man responsible for its' most horrible of days, and a political ideology that allows for finger-pointing and blaming when something goes wrong, instead of encouraging work to fix the problem. No, we aren't talkling about war-time Nazi Germany. We're talking about today's Conservative Republicans, and the Bush administration in particular. So Merry Christmas to you David, all the way down there in Texas where the sights, sounds, smells, taste, and "feel" of 911 will never permeate through the air the way they STILL do on Manhattan's lower west side; and, a Happy New Year to you as well, in the land where the Bush twins drink margeritas, run around hotel hallways naked, and use the Secret Service to bail their boyfriends out of jail at 2am on Saturday night. While you're enjoying this holiday season, David, I hope you will be thinking about the 3000 or so families who will never see their loved ones again on this or any other holiday. For, if you were to do THAT David, you would then understand my disdain for your beloved republiCANT party and the antics of one George W Bush. Once again, Have a Lovely Holiday Season David, from all of us Bush Haters Here in NY.

Even though I believe it would be wrong to abandon the Iraqis, since we were the ones who cause the current situation, I also believe it was a mistake to go into Iraq militarily. Even if Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, there was still diplomatic options open. There has been reports out of Israel that the WMD were buried in the Syrian dessert. Beyond the original justification and rationalizations about why we attacked Iraq I also wonder what was the reason Bush and company wanted this war? If any investigations were to occur and discover the real reason we invaded Iraq, then we would have an intriguing situation if money was the answer. What is the motives of the Republicans and why are we involved in nation building and destruction?

Y'all have a great Xmas, and never forget that Xmas is all about X. And you guys may want to start thinking about watching your biz. Creepy women out there could be shooting a video cam up your kilt. Up-kilting is now illegal in thirty-nine states.

Bravo, J. Merle! How can it be that the totally clueless Bush and his rubber-stamp "RepubliCAN'T" Congress presided over the twin tragedies experienced by America in the first decade of this century--9/11, which you so excellently covered first-hand, being from the New York area, that I've nothing to add, and Katrina, more than a year after which a beautiful, historic American city with a one-of-a-kind culture found nowhere else in America, is teetering on her last legs? I'm not from New Orleans myself, nor have I visited her since the storm. But I love that city and her people and have kept up regularly with what's been happening there, in Louisiana's other stricken parishes, and on Mississippi's Gulf Coast via the Times-Picayune, the Baton Rouge Advocate, and other Louisiana newspapers online, and MSNBC's blog "Rising from Ruin" which is about Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. There's much more going on in the storm zone than you'd believe if you merely got your post-Katrina news from the mainstream media. And Katrina survivors have been getting a raw deal from a government that, since they're tax-paying Americans who've been paying into the system, some for years, should be helping them rebuild and the communities they're living in repair their infrastructure. Instead many are stuck in FEMA trailers--or, if evacuees from New Orleans, are stuck in places like Baton Rouge, Houston and Atlanta. Occasionally one hears the upbeat story of an evacuee who lands a good job and finds a better home, who understandably doesn't want to return to New Orleans. But this is a lucky break akin to winning the Lotto. More often than not, many evacuees are now homesick--New Orleans is the only home they'd known until being forced to leave--however, because of being unable to afford to rebuild or repair their homes and due to the lack of affordable housing, they're unable to go back. And even worse--the stress of evacuating and living in an unfamiliar place has been taking a physical toll, especially on those who are elderly or otherwise in fragile health to begin with. Many have been "passing" and coming home to New Orleans in boxes--and the number of obituaries in the Times-Picayune, in spite of her diminished population has been the same as it was before Katrina. And that's not all--New Orleans looks worse than Baghdad, with infrastructure (water, electrical, and sewerage systems) in war zone-like conditions. While there have been positive stories lately such as the re-opening of the St. Charles streetcar line and the winning record of the Saints, those are overshadowed by more ominous, canary-in-the-coal-mine stories, such as the "brain drain" of young professionals from that beleaguered city. (In fact, I just read an article that said Louisiana suffered the worst population loss of any state in the union last year, due to Katrina.) And New Orleans' school and health-care systems aren't even up to serving a city even of her lowered population--hardly conducive to attracting returnees or new residents. It would be wonderful if President Doofus would, as he enjoys a sumptuous Christmas feast at his Crawford, Texas ranch--only a stone's throw from New Orleans--take a moment to think about the suffering of the people of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast and wonder how they're celebrating Christmas--but I know even that small kindness would be too much to ask from a disgusting idiot who, when Katrina happened, chose Iraq over New Orleans. I just hope that in the future we don't begin seeing bumper stickers saying, "Bush Lied--A City Died."

Main reason for invading Iraq - Oil, plain and simple. Blood money to be made. Buried WMDs? Yeah, buried under the cover of the dense foliage in the Syrian Desert, our spy satellites couldn't see through the tree branches. Destruction then rebuilding = money for Haliburton and their kind.

"happy Druid Tree day" - what a lovely sentiment! for those of the non-Christian, non-Jewish faith, Happy Yule and Winter Solstice - the holly king returns! i gotta say, this is one of the most intelligent general-public forums i've seen. Steve and Ryan, great debates - although i'm fairly certain that you guys agreeing - twice, no less! - corresponding with the virgin birth of komodo dragons has got to mean something. are the planets aligning any time soon? best of the season to all.

I doubt very much that the Assad family would let Saddam bury his A-Bombs in their country. The rumor sounds bogus. Israel wouldn't let Saddam have a Reactor, why would they let him have nuclear weapons? They took out his reactor with a couple of air strikes. Had such an a-bomb threat existed, the Isreali's could've handled it and in a much smoother way. One more sore spot on Dubya's current war.

Merry Christmas, all!!! May God bless you with peace and health.

Kate...I had 2 reasons for referring to Tree day. One is in reference to the probability the Christmas Tree may have originated by the Druid tradition of decorating trees in their celebration of the winter solstice........ The other is much more of a personal reference. Our 'ferocious' guard dog Brutus (all 7 lbs of him) has been an annual lover of our Christmas tree. He has taken it upon himself to see to it any real tree we get is 'well watered'. I defeated that necessity the past 3 years by the use of an artificial representation...UNTIL the current Christmas season. My daughter returned from college and decided she missed the scent of 'real pine', so unbeknownst to me, she bought some pine scent and liberally sprayed our tree. Now, old Brutus is back to his Christmas Spirit of younger days and has been happily watering our 'tree' multiple times daily! .......Sorry no politics in this blog, just a weird little holiday story for all of you out there....May all have a wonderful, happy and safe Holiday season (However you prefer to define it!) I prefer Merry Christmas, but you can all pick your own..

Steve, you forget that Assad is a Suni Bathis. For More reading on the Story check out www.debka.com

Maybe this post will get posted. After reading David's response I took off the gloves and went after David. But I must have been to harsh since they did not print it. People like David just burn me up. Instead of talking about what is happeining today, they cherry pick the past to find some little item to justify their views. I ask you David, by bringing up Clinton, does that solve any of today's problems. What are you trying to do by dredging up the past. You want to talk about who did what to terrorist's. Then David we will have to bring Ronald Reagan in. This persident did more to arm today's terrorist's than anyone else. Did you notice David that at Saddam's trials they are prosecuting him for incidents that did not involve gassing Iraq's. Why, because we supplied the Iraq with all of it;s conventional,biological and chemical weapons. Funny, Reagan is never brought up for arming the Taliban also. While they waged their vietnam style war against Russia, we were sending them weapons. So David, If you want to play history 101 then lets get it on. How about Iran/contra scandal. Funny a Light Colonel in the marine corps was able to do foreign policy business with drug runners and Iran. So they could get weapons to the contra's. Oliver North was in chage and the republican party endorsed this even though he broke the law. Funny 6 years earlier Iran was holding Americans hostage, but Reagan and North had no problem working with Iran. Republicans have a higher calling then the american public. As long as you preach your loyalty to the party the party will take care of you. Remember how close Olive North got to winning the senste seat in Virginia. Thankfully a fellow republican: John Warner, did not back and actually was telling the VA people not to vote for a known criminal. Today he makes a good living preaching republcian views. As typical of right wing neocons like David they never want to debate. They just keep smearing and fearing like his reference to Michael Moore. All republicans can do is create boogie men. George HW bush used crime and drugs to create the boogie man for 1988. Remember the black man that was pardoned and then killed again. The republicans ran extensive ads and extensive radio coverage to blame Michael Dukakis. Even though he had nothing to do with it. By 1992 the republicans had pretty much ran out of boogie men until the got control of congress. Then the republicans went on the largest witch hunt in history to try to inpeach someone over what "is " is. This also goes to you Ryan, What the hell does someone private life have to do with running the country. Before you answer, how would you like it if someone goes through your own personal life, questions every thing that was done as part of your job. How much scrutiny do you want in you personal life be used for your professional life. So if you want to debate issues, I will debate you tooth and nail. But if you try to smear and fear, I will call you out as a hate mongering republican who can not debate issues. There is so much more to write about Reagan just like you write about Clinton, Now have we come up with any solutions for today or are we going to see who can keep comming up with useless facts from the past. David, what year are you living in. Why don't you join us here in 2006,add some quality information that pertains to today, and quite bringing up dead crap from 10 years ago. In other words: grow up.

Bobf - Why did Sandy Berger steal documents from the National Archives and eventually shred them? That seems very, currently relevant to me. Blaming Bush is easy if you are relying on hatred, conjecture, inaccurate reporting, circumstantial evidence and comments taken out of context. You are the one who needs to grow up.

Here's more post-Katrina news that probably won't show up on nightly newscasts or elsewhere in the mainstream media. The bad, first. I previously mentioned that Louisiana had the greatest population loss in the nation last year--she lost 5%, and this means she'll lose a seat in Congress. Louisiana is taking a tremendous hit--already she is politically weak due to her congressional delegation's lacking clout. And here's a new FEMA atrocity: in spite of the fact that Louisiana was much harder hit by Katrina and Rita, she will get from the federal government only $75.4 million for more-permanent disaster housing such as "Katrina cottages." In contrast, neighboring Mississippi, which suffered less destruction, is getting almost 4 times as much. So again, poor Louisiana and her people are getting the shaft. Now to close on a positive note: Democrats are interested in forming an investigative panel similar to the 9/11 Commission to investigate who was responsible for the levee failure during Katrina and to probe the government's efforts to repatriate and rebuild devastated New Orleans. This is wonderful news, and, in light of the fact that Louisiana has been robbed of rebuilding aid she has a right to be getting, does not come at a moment too soon. Louisiana Rep. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, said he would welcome a new commission because "anything that causes more attention to be focussed on the Gulf Coast is a good thing."

These good folks have been generous in allowing us to post here. Nonetheless, I kind of doubt the people in the pictures are calling the shots. My guess is that the decisions are made rather subjectively by whichever intern draws the short straw that day. People complain here about being censored for being un-PC or too rude and yet the most atrocious stuff makes it through sometimes. David from Katy has been brutalized here by a couple of folks although bobf suggests that one or more of his submissions were not posted because they were overly critical. I doubt it. As intelligent and educative as reading this blog can be, there is a great inconsistency in clarity, grammar, insight, and sensitivity. My theory is there is some young man or young woman dumping whatever comes in at the convenient moment onto the blog and blowing it off before the end of the shift. Like an abstract expressionist painting made of different colored splatters, First Read is wildly diverse in quality but nonetheless engaging. Certainly you folks provide an excellent entertainment value as well as an opportunity for expression, no matter how abstract or obscure, for those of us who are shut-ins and otherwise limited. Thanks for writing, thanks for printing my splatter, and thanks to the lowly intern who dumps the paint on the blog. Happy Holidays to all!

Olivia, I do not agree with your assessment. I have been through the storm ravaged areas of LA. and Miss. At least in N.O. there was debris to clean up. In Miss the debris was washed out to sea. I saw the bare coast where Biloxi once stood and the scene was the same from Biloxi to the state line of LA. If it were not for the flooding N.O. would have been spared. Just about everything south of I-10 in Miss was wiped out. Refrigerators and ovens up in trees, large shrimp boat along side the highway. The I-10 bridge outside Pensacola Fl. has been out and temporarily patched for over two years. It is not just N.O that has been ignored, but the whole Gulf Coast from Beaumont TX to Panacea FL. Being from the area I have always wondered why N.O. received most of the media attention when Mississippi was much more devesated. I guess flooded houses were beter TV than the Mississippi landscape void of any structures.

30,000 Americans dead or wounded. May God forgive you George.

Mark Thieme, Daly City, CA - Your post is sincere. I pray that God grant you peace and health. I pray that God grant us all peace and health. If I may, please read Philippians, chapter 4, verses 4 thru 9, from the Bible. Paul's words are encouraging and timeless. Know that the people Paul was writing to were being/about to be, persecuted beyond our imagination.

You have protection under the U.S. Constitution to choose your religion and even if you choose to be an atheist it is your constitutional right to be so. We argue that there must be separation between church and state. Then, would it not be unconstitutional to force someone to swear by the Bible in which they do not believe in? If the Koran is someones sacred book, then, according to constitutional guarantee,it is his right to be sworn in by it. The U. S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land and should withstand any and all misinterpretations and misapplications. No one should be forced to swear by the Bible, be it in court or elsewhere and for whatever reason. I as a cristian am exempted in the courts not to swear by the Bible because it is my belief and knowledge that it is prohibited by Gods' law. The courts have an alternate phrase for those who do not believe in swearing, to make sure that your yes is a yes and your no is a no. We must remember that the law of the land is our constitution, not the Bible. The Bible instructs us to obey the law of the land. In this case, we must argue that the constitution supports the congressmans' right to be sworn in using a book which he holds holy. I do not know if it is alright and in accordance with his religion for him to be sworn in using the Koran, but I do know that according to our constitution it is his right. We as cristians might not be in agreement and some ignorants might find it distasteful, but remember that the law of this land is not our Bible nor our cristian beliefs are a way of this land. As long as there is constitutional law and not biblical law, we cristians must face the fact that this nation is not Gods' nation. It wanted separation of church and state and must endure the conflicts that this separation brings. Imagine the consequences Israel would have faced if it was ruled and guided by the law of the land and not Jehovas' law. I, as a law abiding citizen, must respect this congressmans' wishes. I do not support his religious beliefs, but I do support his constitutional rights. This is a dilemma that has been created by those ignorants that purport to know why we must have separation of church and state yet are in a stupor for they do not recognize what consequences we must face for having it this way. If we are Gods' nation, then let's have the Bible for our nations supreme law, not some set of laws that separate us from our cristians beliefs and sets us apart from God.

Notr sure anyone noticed but George W. Bush is not conservative, at least not defined by any definition linked to the traditional American conservative movement. Frankly, I think Bush is too stupid to link to any political movement but regardless, for the record Bush is not a conservative. If anything he has betrayed conservative ideas as has most of the GOp leadership of the past 5 years. Barry Goldwater must be turning over in his grave. Yes, Bush's presidency has been an abject failure. Further, on a personal level, Bush and his VP are despicable people and I have to believe they would do anything, and I do mean anything, to get their way. I do not detest conservative ideas but I do detest Bush/Cheney's perversion of such ideals.

Olivia, I agree with TEC in Texas. It's all bad, but Mississippi's Gulf Coast and up to Highway 20 was a much bigger area hit by the storm. But, then as I've heard some people say before on this site, "Who wants to live in Mississippi?" or "Even Mississippi looks good" when you have a blizzard elsewhere. Merry Christmas from a place I guess no one else wants to live in.

David, gross neglegence in both Iraq and N.O. just can't be swept aside by accusing people of "relying on hatred, conjecture, inaccurate reporting, circumstantial evidence and comments taken out of context. " ..... In fact, it's a pretty good description of how we got into Iraq. Sorry - you're just all alone in this - Bush has failed you, but as we learned from Homer Simpson: "Marge, it takes two to lie - one to lie and one to listen." Consider my Christmas gift.

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