Who said anything about tolerance for Ahmadinejad? I think the guy's a scum bag but pretty much a dog that just barks loud. My guess is if we simply left the region alone to evolve they'd eventually mellow and dump guys like that. It's our bluster that gives jerks like this credibility.

Even if Iran got a nuke I'd put the odds at them using it against us or one of our allies low enough to not lose a single hair over. I can't say that about our own government and military though. It was completely understandable that we showed restraint during the cold war with Russia when their use would have brought devastation upon us as well but now we're in that position again when the rationalizations are starting to be put out in public. It's a little easier now that our possible opponents are so vulnerable and can't fight back.

Oh, we now have these specialized nukes who's sole design is bunker busting and those scary Iranians have their nuclear processing facilities buried so deep there's no other solution but to nuke em. How convenient. Of course there's justification - 9/11, 9/11, 9/11. Crap, I'm so tired about hearing about an event that occurred 6 years ago. Yeah it was stunning then and gave us the right to find the terrorists responsible and destroy them. It didn't give us the right to brand the rest of the fucking world with that label and turn their lives upside down.

You seem amazed that we find Bush so reprehensible but I find it amazing that nearly everyone around you isn't telling you exactly the same thing. Just about every human I meet hates the man to the core and worries about the damage he's done and is still capable of and I'm rarely the one starting those conversations. Complete strangers just start blasting at the man when his picture comes on the TV.

But then you make a point about how free we really are and the relative impunity we have to speak our minds and slander our leaders. Yes Tom, today we have that but history shows that the slope from freedom to to gulag turns sharp the moment people like me and Lindy shut our mouths and simply trust those above us to always act in our best interest. With your reasoning the patriots that founded our country should have simply embraced the fine lives they had and been assured that King George had only their best interests in mind. I mean let's face it. There were savage Indians in the mountains around them much worse people than he was. Why he was a God-fearing Christian man.

I notice you never engage your tag-along Lee in conversations Tom scolding him for posts like the one below. Am I to assume tacit approval of his message?

Art