What is posted in this string is why I have dramatically reduced my postings. It seems one tactic of the conservatives/righties/republicans when attempting to make their point is to abuse their opponent with insults, mischaracterizations or just a plain twisting of the comments their opponent writes.

For once I'd like to hear a conservative out there say, this is what I know instead of, if you disagree with me you are anti-American or unpatriotic. I would like to have a conservative point me to literature that is well researched, documented and lacking in political hyperbole that verifies their claims. (It gets so old hearing the right's response to great journalism found in places such as PBS or NPR as liberal biased, instead of asking, "Well, is it true." Take Joseph Wilson's wife's outing as a CIA agent. The right cried that he was a Democrat supporter - so what? The real question is, is what he claimed about uranium from Niger true?) I would like to have a conservative enter into a debate with ideas instead of resorting to a debate of attacks to make his or her case.

There is a lot of wonderful information out there in regards to Iraq and our march to war, unfortunately, for whatever the reasons, it is being overlooked by not only the majority of Americans but also the American media. For example, in the Jan/Feb 04 issue of The Atlantic there are two articles of interest. (On a side note, the Atlantic used to be edited by Michael Kelly. He was a journalist killed in Iraq and was a harsh critic of Clinton. If one recalls, he was also the editor of the New Republic at one point).

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/pollack.htm

Also, the article "Blind Into Baghdad." (The Atlantic will not let you read this article online at this time.

At the most reduced level, "Blind Into Baghdad" tells of how the current adminstration wasted great opportunities. Now, those on the right will say this is my spin, but after reading numerous articles and watching several documentaries on this issue, one set of facts is clear. Cheney/Wolfowitz and their underlings created a special unit in regards to Iraq. In this unit they collected all of the intelligence and cherry picked what they liked and threw away what they disliked. They excluded the wisest of career intelligence officers and disregarded their input. The New Yorker magazine and articles by Seymour Hersh point this out.

To top this off, this same crowd ignored the Post-War strategy developed by those in the know.

I suggest for more information writings such as these be sought out.

Now, what is the response of the right in all of this? Well, in the conservative Weekly Standard they have a writer named Stephen Hayes (I think that is the correct spelling) who wrote a long article "Case Closed" that says Iraq and al Queda are joined. The right is saying this article is being ignored. This article is so poorly researched and the data so flawed that Rumsfeld's Pentagon issued a press release about it. This is not a lie. The press release is out there. And guess what? Guess who was touting this article just the day before yesterday? Dick Cheney. How disingenous is that? And is it any surprise members of the CIA are leaking information that is damaging to the White House?

Again, those on the right will discount this as "my spin." But as I said, point me to an area where the research has been completed instead of partisan filler. In my life, I have never seen a group of power seeking officials such as the current bunch in the White House and would love to hear/join a debate on that with honest terms...

For example, where is the concern of Dick Cheney duck hunting with a justice of the Supreme Court when a case involving Cheney is set to be heard? Not only that, both of them were flew to their hunting spot by a privately owned jet owned by an energy corporation? Can one imagine the outrage if a defense attorney went hunting with a judge over a murder trial?

What about the re-districting in Texas? We all know that re-districting is supposed to occur every ten years, but here, the Republican's in Texas broke a long standing agreement.

What about the current scandal in the Senate where the Republican's were peeking at the emails of Democrats because of a computer glitch?

During the State of the Union the other night the current occupant of the White House, when discussing civil unions stated something like, "Courts are issuing court orders over the will of the American people." Well, the philosophical debate here could begin with, aren't you conservatives forgetting Florida in 2000? Or, aren't you conservatives supposed to be about "state's rights?"

My point in all of this, is that there all sorts of avenues to intelligently debate, however, those on the right seem so quick to toss insulting comments to make their points and it gets very old indeed.

Best to all,

Eric

ps....and pick up a copy of Paste Magazine dammit......also, there is another decent music mag out there called "Tracks"....the new first issue should still be on the stands...