gandalf: As I mentioned before, I didn’t vote for Dubya in either election. My wife is from Texas, and watching his handling of that state was enough for me. I don’t think of Bush as a conservative or Republican in either sense of the word. I feel the same way about McCain. I respect him personally, especially his suriving his experience in Vietnam. However, his various contortions as of late show what it takes to get elected.

Speaking of the internet: My dad was a former aerospace engineer and had a DARPANet address waaaay back in the day (1970s). He was connected to Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore Labs and Stanford University. I always have to laugh when people talk about how the internet came into being, without realizing that it had its beginnings as a defense project to maintain communications during a Soviet nuke first strike. I love the egalitarian nature of the internet and completely agree that this should be preserved.

I think Hillary started her campaign truly believing it would be a walkover. By the time she tumbled to the fact that Obama was for real, it was too late. He did run an extremely effective and very well organized campaign, and got out the vote the old-fashioned way: He hustled for it.

I think the Republican Party needs a serious enema. We need to return to our roots, both as a party and in terms of philosophy as well. As a soldier Gitmo horrifies me. At the same time, we need to do something relative to capturing and holding terrorists and suspected terrorists. Often missed in the discussion is the importance of nailing down the information that the supporters of terrorists provide. By supporters, I mean those responsible for logistics, funding, etc. I also know that torture is not the answer, nor is rendition. Both not only cheapen us a country, but they do lessen our prestige and standing in the world. So what is the answer? I have thought long and hard on this, and I don’t have what I consider a viable alternative. Does Obama? Does McCain?