We also know that, in the violence of the overthrown of the previous leader of the country and its aftermath, had we waited before establishing any kind of diplomatic relations and had not had people on the ground, the Libyan transition to some form of government, representative of the popular struggle within that country, would have come about without any loss of American lives. The right to self-determination is something that needs to be honored, regardless of what interested parties in Washington think. When other countries look at the U.S. and see and hear the very frequent gridlock and disfunction of a government which is burdened by the cost of a basic lack of commonality due to the diverse beliefs of its citizens, they can not help but be convinced of the necessity of such commonality in beliefs. As long as the U.S. is caught in circumstances where some pluralistic interest is a justification for intervention, we risk the cost of it.

My thought processes, actions and social interaction have never been so determined by TV programming that the irresistible temptation rendered me handicapped. The advantage of digital TV in the country is that the signal is frequently so dissatisfying (the patchwork quilt syndrome) as compared to analog that, coupled with the inane content of most, current programs, there is little motivation to give more than a cursory run-through of the various channel offerings to see if somehow, though I least expect it, someone with a degree of sanity has perceived the need to revert to the idealism of the 50s, 60s and 70s. I have had my fill of bodies being dissected, minds being analyzed and crimes being committed. Reality TV sucks, to put it blun

Look at it this way. Not knowing and not having the need to know, we can't even assume that, given the wisdom and ways of the professionals in the military there is any truth to this whole thing. What can be proved? The factors which create conditions which necessitate treatment, medically, are borne of the atmosphere. Some people react differently from others. Some smokers smoke all their lives and never get cancer. Others can not. Mortifying the flesh is a matter of personal choice and there is no standardized way to do it. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Maybe it is just a story for the media to publish and make money with. If the conclusion is that it is not an intelligence matter, does it require more or less intelligence to keep it personal and private rather than very public? If personal and private equated to "secret" or "confidential" are these simply matters of personal choice related to discretion? People are victims of discretion all the time.

People in government represent the great divide between the experience of the common man and those who are affected by the halls of wealth and power. It is the air they breathe that distorts their perception of reality. Sadly and, perhaps tragically, for the nation his policies--whatever they represent--are a false hope born and borne of the deceit of debt. The "peace at any price" mentality of the 60s is what has formed and tempered the generation which strangely reveres the memory of him who said, "bear any burden, fight any foe" and indebtedness if both the burden and the foe. What these people have in common is a degree in law. They don't even know what law means.

" a president is not to be held accountable to his promises and past record and that his past record is no indication of his future behavior." Come to think of it, this does sound like a Wall Street analysis for the option and future of black crude !

Combine the concept of personal "freedom of choice" with "situation ethics" and you pretty much have liberalism in a nutshell or a nut case, as the person may be. If success and failure are not the criteria by which we, in the analysis of others, determine that their beliefs or philosophy or principles are flawed, we are probably members of organized crime who have not been caught.....yet, or members of a vast, right-wing, fundamentalist-Christian conspiracy that is out to virtually enslave the world. So, while desiring the equality of the fruits of success, they detest and reject the means and representatives of the means by which success is achieved. Why? It is incongruous. You're right. "Maybe they are just that dumb."

The history of women's liberation, from the deception of Eve in the garden by the wicked serpent and the resulting murder of Abel by Cain, to the contemporary omniscience, omnipotence and media-effectuated omnipresence-ability of the current Secretary of State and the murder of the U.S. Ambassador in Benghazi, really indicates that, in spite of all the distracting trappings of modern society, not much has change relative to the consequences of a "woman's right to choose." Don't they wish they had stuck to a personal privacy regarding all the various problematic and intimate issues involving the egg? Why all the politicization? What does it really get them? Attention?

Ah, yes, voter suspension of common sense along with democratic encouragement and use of "legitimate fraud" should do the trick.

From what we know and don't know about the current administration, situation ethics seems to be the experiential guiding light, or "the edge of night," if you prefer, forming the basis of their political strategery. Maybe we are overwhelmed by the implications of the changes in technology with which we are finding it difficult to keep up. As for global warming, isn't it just possible that all the political hot air that is being bantered about is the real cause?