Tim asks:
"DA, i am somewhat confused when you said, "Anarchy isn't a picnic and I am not advocating it. But blindly following the self-anointed is a proven recipe for war and destruction. "
i dont get how that relates to anything you were saying before that...."

Sorry for the lack of clarity. I didn't want anyone to misinterpret my remarks to mean that there should be no authority, ie anarchy, because authority is a known evil. I think both authoritarianism and anarchy equally likely to lead to bad acts.

Tim wrote:
"yes, conservatives support the war effort because they support their country."

What you wrote is absolutely true and absolutely grotesque. You are essentially saying, as I did, that god and country is the way to inspire normal people to commit or support horrific acts.

Tim wrote:
"we support a free world, apart from dictatorships, and equality for all people."

We do not. That may be the operative line in public relations releases and propaganda but it is clearly and easily proven to be untrue. Here is just one example among many.

In the 1950's Iran, by democratic election, put into its presidency a gentleman by the name of Dr. Mohammad Mosadek. Do you know what happened to the leader of their democracy? The CIA did him in. That isn't political propaganda. The United States proudly announced and took credit for his demise. Who did the US replace him with? A totalitarian dictator. And why you might ask would the beacon of democracy have overthrown the elected leader of another democracy? He tried to give his impoverished people a larger share of oil revenues. I hope this gives you pause to think about why I revile blind nationalistic jingoism. It usually is intended to hide an ugly truth. We care more about oil company profits than equality or freedom and the rest.

There is no threat in Iraq other than the one we, ourselves, created. It is time for you to stop repeating empty public relations slogans and use those neurons between your ears.

Your first homework assignment is to answer this question:

Given that we overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran ... why should anyone in that region believe us when we say we are killing people to bring them democracy?

Start your education here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran/History
read the section following:
"United States and the Shah"
Then use google, yahoo, etc. to learn more of the truth.

You have been lied to. Plain and simple. If you accept the truth you can do something to change it and make the world a better place. If you mindlessly repeat the public relations slogan more bad things will happen and you will be guilty of supporting them.

DA Morgan