Maybe part of the problem is that we have been soaking in leftist paradigms for years. People don't notice them any more than a fish notices it's wet. The conservative victories, or more precisely, lack of defeats, tend to stand out a bit in this environment.

Am I still furious that our current President has either lied or concealed information concerning his reasons for invading a sovereign country that had basically been outfitted and enabled by us over the years? YES.

No one has caught Bush in either lying or concealing critical information. A real lie would be in forty-point type on the front of every paper in America. The best attempt--the uranium from Africa flap--fizzled. The worst one can say is that the information he went in with--the same information believed by most nations and leaders prior to the war--did not pan out as what was actually going on in Iraq. And even that is not a slam dunk.

Iraq has purchased a vast majority of its weapons over the years prior to the Gulf War from the Soviet Union. Followed by France, for what that's worth. Ask yourself where these memes come from. Ask any of your friends where Iraq has gotten all their arms over the years. How many would say the U.S.? Why? Where did they get their information?

Do I trust him to know how to fix the mess that that enabling and his concealment created? NO.

Do you trust him to fix it? Who else? Would Gore have done better? Maybe so, if the criteria is leaving Saddam in power and playing the U.N. game until everyone gets tired and goes home, leaving Saddam to his own devices again. And which current Democratic candidate would you say would do a better job?

Do I think the Iraqis ought to be handed the keys to the burning house and an IOU for a fire extinguisher while we get in our shiny red trucks and drive home? NO.

At least you recognize that the "pull out now" people are idiots. Most reasonable people from across the spectrum feel this way.

Does that mean I support this administration's efforts in the Love It Or Leave It tradition of the Right? NO!

Neither do most conservatives, if you pay attention. Conservatives have been all over Bush on any number of issues, including immigration, education policy, trade barriers, and failing to rein in grossly excessive domestic spending.

If you're just talking about Iraq, I have yet to see a single Democrat come up with workable (key word) alternatives, either to military action in the first place (which most of them supported a few years ago, and in recent congressional votes), or the efforts to rebuild. Invoking the United Nations is a laugh. The idea that Hans Blix was all over the situation before the war was a laugh. So is the idea that somehow we wouldn't be having problems now if French troops in blue helmets were on the scene.

I remind you all: the Left, though it looks forward to a changed society, is basically a reactive movement in this country. It rose in response to myriad abuses of power by capitalists, entrenched political machines, racists and other nationalist bigots. The institutions that the Left labored to turn to their causes have also corrupted them in like fashion. The Right is not necessarily better, but the Left has become worse. Pointing out that your opponent is dirty while standing in the sty is not equivalent to cleanliness.

So if the Left is worse, why do I get crap for my views? Why do I get yelled at for pointing out that the solutions for nearly every policy problem proposed by the American Left (including, unfortunately, the modern Democratic Party) are exactly the same as the solutions that would be given by a full-bore Marxist? I don't want to see Patrick Buchanan running the country any more than you do, but he'd be better than Dennis Kucinich. How many of your friends think Dennis is the man? How many supported Nader and the Green Party?

In point of fact, neither Buchanan nor Kucinich stand a chance, which is a great comfort to me, at least.

This board would be a poorer place without you. If anything I do or say rubs your rhubarb, let me know. Be specific. I can't be responsible for what others do.