I am going to wait two or three more days before I send in my absentee ballot and I would like anyone who cares to do so to encourage me to vote one way or another.

The problem is this: I am convinced that the system is at least partially "broken" and I don't want to support either pary. The Democrats have proven to be gutless lapdogs when opposing this administration and I hate giving them any support. The Republicans absolutely have to be stopped, however, and our structurally-imposed two-party system doesn't give us much of an alternative. In my district I coud vote Greens or the Peace and Freedom party, I suppose. My representatives (Dianne Feinstein for the Senate and Jane Harman for distr. 36 in California) are both Democrats and both voted against the torture/detainee bill. That vote might make them electable. Can anybody suggest a resource where I can read up on how they did during the debate on that bill or how they did on other human rights votes? Who gives them their campaign money?

My impression from this report on the torture bill debates and votes is that the whole scene was a national humiliation. The coverage on CNN International was, based on the little I saw, a joke. I can't believe we can do this without even a serious and heated national debate.

Watch this funny routine from an Iranian-American comedian.