The people of Massachusetts should elect their next senator.  The Democrats changed their law to prevent a Republican Governor from appointing a person to the US Senate.  Now, they want to change the law back so that the Governor can appoint a person to the Senate.  Our American political process is supposed to be for the "people", not political friends.  I support the Washington Post in its below article that supports the current law of having the voters of Massachusetts in electing their next senator.  The Democrats must not turn Senator Kennedy's death into a third-world political effort.

IN 2004, FEARING that Republican Gov. Mitt Romney would appoint a fellow Republican to replace Sen. John F. Kerry should he become president, the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts legislature changed the law, mandating a special election. Now, fearing that the push for health-care reform could be weakened by the absence of a 60th Democratic senator, that same legislature wants to change the law again, allowing the governor -- now a Democrat -- to make a quick appointment. With all due respect to the wishes of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, this isn't how lawmaking is supposed to work. It smacks of political expediency and can only breed cynicism.

Our view is that voters ought to be able to choose their senators. The current Senate helps show why. Illinois's governor treated Barack Obama's seat as property to be sold to the highest bidder. Joe Biden's seat in Delaware has been handled like a family heirloom, Hillary Rodham Clinton's was given away in an opaque and unbecoming process. On Friday, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) named his former chief of staff to warm the seat for him, assuming that Mr. Crist will be elected to the seat next year. Throw in Colorado (whose Ken Salazar became interior secretary) and Texas (where Gov. Rick Perry is on deck to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison) and you get 26.6 percent of Americans represented by a senator for whom no one voted. If Massachusetts is added to that roster, the proportion bumps up to 28.7 percent. This is undemocratic and shouldn't continue.

Under a Massachusetts law enacted in 2004, the special election to replace Mr. Kennedy must be held 145 to 160 days after declaration of the vacancy. Maybe that's too long -- though if you make the time too short, you give an unfair advantage to insiders with big money chests and name recognition. Now Gov. Deval L. Patrick (D) says he would sign legislation to give him the power to fill a vacancy with someone who vows not to run in the special election -- though such a promise not to run probably can't be legally mandated. This plan was proposed to Mr. Patrick by Mr. Kennedy in July and revealed last week.

Massachusetts state Rep. William Straus (D), who chaired the Joint Committee on Election Laws, which devised the 2004 law, has a better idea for the governor. "Stay out of it," Mr. Straus advises. "It's time for the governor to just pick election dates."

Let the people decide who will represent them, not the back-room politicians.

Why does Israel exchange terrorists who are alive for dead soldiers?  It would be more effective for Israel to tell Hamas that they will exchange living soldiers for living prisoners.  Hamas captured two soldiers and murdered them and then wanted to exchange their bodies for terrorists that were locked up in Israeli jails.