I'd love to hear a list of things that I bring up on here that I'm not willing to have some give and take over.

There's a real difference Tony between pleading your case and promoting what you believe and forcing them down someone's throat.

When I first came on here, if I had a philosophical difference with someone, I made sure I attempted to persuade them of my thoughts, trying to show a different way of thinking. I used terms such as "I understand your rationale but you might not be looking at this side of things....". Every time Tony that I did that with guys like Tom, I ended up having these little zingers thrown back at me, not just additional facts and figures but these labels and derisive insinuations, the terms like "cut and run", "communist", "radical environmentalist", "unpatriotic". There was never an acknowledgment from them that the other side of the aisle might be caring about someone other than themselves. It was always an us vs. them thing, a win at all costs argument for them.

And Tony, I'm a student of politics. It engulfs my life which means that when a talking point from any party hits the light of day, I'm pretty much aware of it. With the Republicans, they're carefully disseminated and coordinated with all their media outlets especially the vast radio network controlled by Clear Channel. They're often gross distortions of the truth or they hold this tiny piece of true data that overlooks the big picture and gives a very false impression of the topic. Every day I come on here, one of these guys is parroting one of these piece of propaganda and for the most part you guys just sit back and let them get away with it under the pretext of allowing the free flow of ideas. Well that's bullshit Tony. I have no problem with the free flow of real ideas that people come up with on their own but this crap is not only out and out lies but malicious as well.

Now of course the left does this too but guess what? They suck at it. As a group they're this bunch of feisty independent thinkers that don't herd well. If a talking point is released, by the time it hits the public, it's in 30 different versions and grossly diluted.

So please, spare me the lectures. I tried to play well but got burned every time. The same thing happened to ER and he's brighter and more street-smart than all the rest of you combined.

So the gloves are off every time I see some flaming title like "Hey! Middle Class! Here's your tax cut!". The day that son of a bitch shows some humility is the day I'll consider backing off. In the meantime, if you don't like the way I'll reply I'd advise you not to read my posts.

Art