Those are excellent links and elaborate my sparse prose. Much appreciated. I'll add them as is to the web page that accompanies the article:

http://tinyurl.com/2konn5

Thank you!

"Critics have called Mr. Bush's ever upbeat message delusional" From the New York Times article- http://tinyurl.com/2y64wk

Now the NYT finds him delusional. How about before the war? Or when, in 10/2004, they discovered but spiked the domestic wire tapping story?

The citizens are not stupid. 40% stay home on election day in protest. Many of them would say what I've just said, and they'd be right.

The public in general has turned on this war without even the slightest bit of help from the corporate media. How did that happen? The public sought out alternate information sources and realized it was a set of lies.

Clinton and Obama think they're cute with this say until 2013 act. Edwards joined last Wednesday when he refused to contradict them, refused entirely. He had a visit from The Money Party paymaster lately, we can be sure of that.

At some point, soon I suspect, there will be a rallying point - a leader (not in the game now) or and event - and that will begin the demise of these crooks. It's about time. They produce nothing except one disaster after another. I'll add to what I said, it's welfare for both the rich and the incompetents who serve them.

...and keep asking that question. One fairly simple approach is to buy locally as much as you can, particularly in the area of financial services - and let the locals know why you're doing it. There's always the danger that they're aspiring oligarchs too;) Banking is one service, local stores, etc. At least you see the person you buy from and can have some influence.

The main task now is to get people educated - it's anti war, not anti Iraq war; it's get rid of all forms of political bribery now, not later; it's "Oh please, you must be kidding" when professional liars like Obama and Clinton pontificate that 'it will take 12-24 months to get out of Iraq' and then six weeks later say it will take five years. How different are they, and Edwards who was silent, than their ultra right wing counterparts?

Maybe we ask the Republican and Democratic candidates how they plan to sleep at night while Americans and Iraqis die in those extra years they keep adding to the conflict.

These people are simply dreadful. They deserve very hard questions and no respect whatsoever - it's a law and order approach to people who spit on the law and sow disorder.

Rules need to be in place requiring a written pledge by public servants that they will obey all laws and avoid nepotism or other conflicts. They need to agree to extensive random, audits of their finances. Violations of the anti corruption pledge would require an automatic punishment - prison plus fines. That should take care of any need for term limits. Only the highly motivated would serve. The financial incentive would be gone. Half measures won't work.

The courts would be a problem for any real reform. The US Supreme Court consists of three election thieves plus two new members who lied to Congress about a steady course on civil rights laws. "Retirements" are a must for that crime family. If not, impeachment.

That's just the structural approach. There are changes necessary related to social justice, rights to health care, etc.

There's no reason to tolerate the incompetence of the current leaders much longer.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/checkup/

SICKO: There are four times as many health care lobbyists as there are members of Congress.

* According to the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org), in 2005 there were 2,084 health care lobbyists registered with the federal government. With 535 members of Congress, that's 3.895 lobbyists per member.

SiCKO: Drug industry money to members of Congress, and the president, who led the effort to pass the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan.

* "The health industry gave $14 million total to the eleven elected officials largely credited with negotiating the bill. Pharmaceutical company PACs, employees, and their families gave more than $3 million in campaign contributions to (those) eleven elected officials." Buying A Law: Big Pharma's Big Money and the Bush Medicare Plan, Campaign Money Watch, January 2004.

http://www.ourfuture.org/docUploads/donnelly$_1-15-04.pdf

SiCKO: Health industry companies accused of wrongdoing in Sicko.

* Aetna: "Aetna Inc. … settled with the plaintiffs, which include the medical associations of California and Texas. Aetna agreed to pay the plaintiffs $120 million." Milt Freudenheim, "Class-Action Status Is Upheld for Doctors Suing Insurers," New York Times, September 2, 2004. See also, Susan Beck, "HMO Postmortem," American Lawyer, October 10, 2003. Settlement Agreement,

http://www.aetna.com/provider/agreement_with_physicians.html

* Blue Cross/Blue Shield: "Sixty-seven Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies across the nation have paid the United States a total of $117 million to settle government claims that Medicare made primary payments for health care services that should have been paid by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield private insurance companies, the Department of Justice announced today." "Blue Cross/Blue Shield Companies Settle Medicare Claims, Pay United States $117 Million, Agree To Share Information," Department of Justice News Release, October 25, 1995.

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/October95/551.txt.html

* Cigna: "Cigna Corporation, [has] settled with the plaintiffs, which include the medical associations of California and Texas. … Cigna agreed to pay $85 million." Milt Freudenheim, "Class-Action Status Is Upheld for Doctors Suing Insurers," New York Times, September 2, 2004.

* "HCA Inc. (formerly known as Columbia/HCA and HCA - The Healthcare Company) has agreed to pay the United States $631 million in civil penalties and damages arising from false claims the government alleged it submitted to Medicare and other federal health programs, the Justice Department announced today. … Previously, on December 14, 2000, HCA subsidiaries pled guilty to substantial criminal conduct and paid more than $840 million in criminal fines, civil restitution and penalties. Combined with today's separate administrative settlement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), under which HCA will pay an additional $250 million to resolve overpayment claims arising from certain of its cost reporting practices, the government will have recovered $1.7 billion from HCA, by far the largest recovery ever reached by the government in a health care fraud investigation." "Largest Health Care Fraud Case In U.S. History Settled; HCA Investigation Nets Record Total Of $1.7 Billion," Department of Justice News Release, June 26, 2003.

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/June/03_civ_386.htm

SiCKO: Executive Compensation

* Michael B McAllister earned $3.33 million in compensation as CEO of Humana. "Forbes 2006 Executive Pay list," April 20, 2006.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/12/AG0Q.html.

* John W Rowe earned $22.2 million in compensation as CEO of Aetna. Rowe has since left Aetna. "Forbes 2004 Executive Pay list," April 21, 2005.
Link

* Bill McGuire has stock options worth $1.6 billion at the end of 2005, as CEO of UnitedHealth Group. Robert Simison, "SEC Investigates UnitedHealth Over Stock-Options Practices," Bloomberg News, December 27, 2006; Michael Regan, "Business 2006: Who Won, Who Lost," Associated Press,December 26, 2006.