Great reading.

I've sat across from hundreds of people, and told them the "truth" as I saw it. I've said, sez I, "You and I are looking at the same set of facts. I believe one thing and you believe the opposite."

"And we'd both pass lie detector examinations. We have come to different conclusions from the same facts, honestly and sincerely."

Where I think the conservatives and I agree is that the WTC, for instance, was an atrocity, not excusable even if, and that's "if", understandable. The perps and the people who funded them should be shot. Don't wait until sunrise. That's a "truth".

AND, WTC does not excuse doing the same thing to other innocent people. NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT. And after a while, when friendlies and innocents are repeatedly killed, it's easy to tell there aren't enough precautions taken. Legitimate military actions become terrorism. And in those instances the US is at the level of al-Qaeda. That's not their "truth".

As an example of that "truth". Let's get personal. There are a couple of people on this board who really don't know anything other than foul-mouthed ad hominem attacks. Can't do anything else. Don't understand issues, can't articulate issues. Minds don't stretch that far, their characters don't know how to be decent. Not their fault if it's hard to find a worth to them. What they used to call "breeding".

Would I be better than they if I became as foul as they, for instance. If I stalked them with ad hominem attacks, not understanding the difference between an issue and a personality?

Nope. Not at all. I'd have let them drive me to their level. Sort of the way the US has let happen from time to time. The former Yugoslavia, for instance.

One of the people on this board and I get into it personally from time to time (every 1.3 hours, but who's counting) AND it's usually peripheral to some world-shaking issue the UN is waiting for us to resolve. (We've resolved NOTHING, yet. Except the Rs are greedy jerks, but the other guy doesn't realize that, yet. My hope springs eternal on rational shoes.)

And, again, where we differ is that I believe terrorism is terrorism, whether practiced by an army or not, whether there is a cover story or not. And "our" terrorism is just as ugly as theirs.

And while there is personal frustration exhibited by one or the other or both of us, it's associated with an issue. My "truth" is not his "truth", even though we have access to the same information.

Arf (and I don't pollute myself with Limbaugh, Hannity, et al. That would do in any mind.)