Is it horrible for me to wonder if whether she or maybe Bristol are pregnant again?

Ted Stevens is 85 years old. I doubt he'll be waiting around to go after Begich again and he won't challenge Don Young or Murkowski. He'll make the usual rounds of FoxNoise and other conservative talk shows, but that is it.

BTW- Any talk of a liberal conspiracy should be shot down by pointing out it was the continually incompetent Bush DOJ that did it and it was Obama's DOJ that freed him.

Don't you think that Democrats would think the Stimulus was so important that they would work to seat Franken?

I mean, they seated Landrieu and Buchanan. They should not just let republicans hold the line for months and months on this by continuing these lawsuits. Make it provisional until the court case is over.

I don't remember the Republicans being so "bipartisan" when it was a 50:50 tie and Cheney was the tie breaker!

It is amazing to me how quickly the media went from "Obama is great" during the transition, to so confrontational after the oath. Republicans are determined to keep the same business as usual. Although it may be very "Bush-like", with such high approval ratings and political capital, I am thinking Obama should just have a speech to the American people and say

"Republicans are blocking this stimulus bill, but I won, and you voted for the Democrats to control congress, so we will do your work and if Republicans don't want to come along with us, we'll move on without them"

Geez, you guys are really harsh on Patterson and New York. I mean, in all probability, no one will really be talking about this in a few years anyways. Whoever gets appointed will win reelection in 2010 and then we'll all move on.

I am no New Yorker, but I don't think New York "hasn't done a thing but hurt the country". By the way having 23 of 27 seats as democratic is pretty good for the country, don't you think?

I love Stevens as well. I think he should stay for 3 more terms and then in November 2011 announce his retirement. Early enough for Obama to pick a young progressive replacement without the cloud of "upcoming election" over his head.

I know how badly we want to prosecute the uncountable number of crimes committed by the Bush administration. I wish we could have some sort of accountability (such as the congress doing its job the last two years).

But, we literally could be doing it non-stop for the next 4 years. Doing so would have the public wondering if Obama is more focused on revenge and the past, or solving our amazing problems of today. He has the spend the next 4 years just cleaning up the messes of the Bush administration (economy, 2 wars, Gaza, environment, etc) even before he can start thinking about his own agenda. So, perhaps Obama is right to focus on clean up and the future, rather than diverting attention on prosecution.

Hawaii was taken unlawfully in a "coup" by white businessmen. But, things were done throughout U.S. history and we are not going back now. Just as we will not give up U.S. territory to Native Americans or illegally taken from Mexico.

Gitmo will eventually be given back to Cuba. Probably after Cuba changes its government, starts negotiating free trade agreements with us, and we start building high rise hotels on the most inexpensive properties in the Caribbean.

Is it time to give up Guam, American Samoa, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands? I mean, every piece of the United States was acquired by means that today we would consider unacceptable. But, isn't that true of virtually every major country at some point in their history?

But, we are where we are, and Gitmo base is important strategically.

The Panama Canal is a critical world trade and military feature. We DO have an obligation to protect it. We don't know if at some point the Venezuelans will decide to block it to stop "U.S. imperialism", or if in the future the Russian Navy, Chinese, or some unexpected force will try to use it to their advantage. Heck, based on what is happening in the Red Sea, even Pirates might get a good idea to start up there.

Cuba policy is complicated and our imperial actions historically are pretty indefensible. But, you can not argue that the base is not strategically located.

Actually, I think the base still serves an important purpose with its location in the Caribbean, protecting the Panama Canal and all. But, it should not be used as a way to avoid holding prisoners in the US without Habeaus Corpus. What have the Cuban government done to deserve it back? Perhaps when the two governments finally start dealing with each other like adults we can negotiate the future of the base.