Priscilla, did you know about the unsolved mysteries from Nazca and other places in South America, that make you think about some super advanced civilizations? From these civilizations, it seems, the Natives did not learn to be warmongers against people they did not understand.

If Natives were thinking as nowadays US Republicans, the Earth would be long gone. You want to blame Natives for not being Republican-like? I mean, it is not that hard to think like a Republican: have guns, look for wars, ban abortion to have more soldiers, preemptive strike anywhere, be the most powerful nation in the world even if other countries would suffer from that, don’t be cooperative for the good of other nations, be unlimited rich and powerful, be religious in a weird ways – in a word : don’t be moderate for it looks like socialism.

A lot of totalitarian things that were done in the communist countries had model from the US. Just a few examples : Concentrations camps models from Native American extermination, Communist Propaganda models from Commercial adds, language and culture coercion model from “Melting-pot”…

Sure, Democrats are not better, ain’t they?

Although the idea that the Native Americans could have developed torpedoes in the 15th century in order to avoid all of this is intriguing. I blame them.

Should we push the meltdown further back?

TK/Valdo , I am not, and was never a big Bush fan. But I am less of an Obama fan, and here is why….the man has outsourced his leadership to the left wing of the Democratic party, and they have been drunk with the power of their huge majorities in Congress….majorities which have done them little good, because many, if not most Dems are way more moderate than their current leadership (and that includes Obama, even though he has tried to duck responsibility for the current logjam on healthcare). You may think Bush is a moron – I would not go that far – but he was able to work very effectively with most of the Democrats in Congress, until the war became his political millstone.

The blame game may feel satisfying, but ultimately it is useless and even destructive.

And yes, I give Obama credit for accepting the GOP invitation to meet……I think it is telling that he never did this before the Massachusetts election, but it’s a good start. If he continues to be open to this sort of give-and-take, I’ll certainly change my take on him.

I also think yesterday’s pow-wow with the Republicans, as contentious as it was, can only be a good thing. Obama should be dialoguing more often with the opposition — including his own party. As TK noted, he’s not having an easy time with the more ideologically driven Democrats. (To me, that proves Obama’s moderate credentials.)

And no, I’d never kick you off the committee. There are people who take political disagreements personally, and people who don’t. I think we fall into the latter category. Besides, I need someone on the committee who can remember Mrs. Chang.