Tom, here's the deal on your idea of research. From what you post, your research reeks of partisan spin. How about the two of us buy plane tickets to Kuwait, steal across the border by paying exorbitant sums to some Iraqi entrepreneur, and go roam the streets of Baghdad (outside the Green Zone) getting the true facts. Because, until either of us do exactly that, or we can both agree on some source there (which will be a cold day in Hell), your frigging facts or any I can dig up are no more than a damned hunch.

You can quit the "do the research" stuff now because it will continue to be ignored. My experience in life has taught me that research consists of more than just finding some resource to quote and analyze because there's always a human factor and to tell you the truth, you have no clue about how to understand that part. Because to truly understand that factor in any equation, you have to be humble enough to find the basic human faults within yourself and learn to watch for them in others. Your sources always have this glaring credibility gap when they come out with upbeat Iraq conflict news because it brings their ideology power and wealth and tons of it.

Whether you believe it or not, I read and watch news from all sides and require all of them to establish overwhelming credibility before I take those ideas as my own. In most cases though, I don't need to even listen to the various sources. I can see the truth in the political speeches, the movements of Wall Street, the price of energy, and gut instincts that have NEVER failed me in my life. I can look around me at the drivers I interact with on the streets during rush hour. I can see where the entertainment choices of the American public are trending.

Tom, there's a big picture you just don't see and you'll never see it. You've become that lone guy in traffic that I see from time to time with the "Bush/Cheney in 04" bumper sticker still on their car. I don't know whether to flip them off or just laugh at the irony of it all.

Art