Let's review: The US Overthrew a murderous dictator who was terrorizing the people of his country and threatening his neighbors including Israel and the US. There was no chance for political and economic freedom while his rule gripped the country. At the point we overthrew this regime, the country could have started immediately on a path towards political and economic freedom but for the terrorists who you say were not there to begin with. So why did they come? Wasn't it their choice to pick a fight there? And how is it that we are responsible for them choosing to disrupt the recreating of Iraq with Democracy? To be clear, al Qaeda et al used Iraq as a battlefield and they themselves declared it the central front in their war against the US and the West. And they lost. We won. And it is not only a military engagement they lost. Their justification for battling the US to begin with is based upon the idea that Allah is on their side. And every time they lose, more and more people begin to question that premise. And it is the assumption that Allah is on their side that helps recruits fighters and especially suicide bombers. If you start doubting the efficacy of your reward in the next life, you are much more cautious about throwing away this life. Such is not good news for the bad guys. But I suspect we are arguing from different perspectives. Mine history only makes sense if you assume we are engaged in mortal combat with Islamic extremists. Yours only makes sense if you believe that such a war is just cover for plunder and looting; that we are not really in danger from Islamists. If my perspective is correct, then we have not only won a great victory against the enemy, we have also freed a whole nation of people. In fact, no matter which perspective you use, this is precisely what has happened.

Well the fact that you want America to go Socialist is fine. And the fact that Obama wants that is fine too. But what is not fine is Obama denying that this is what he wants. He should tell the American people that what he wants to do is transition America to a European-style Welfare State on the way to a Socialist state, not pretend that he is giving people a "tax cut". If he were being up front and honest about his plans, then Americans can decide how they want America to be; Capitalist or Socialist. The problem is that he is hiding his agenda, not his agenda per se.

Chas Yeah, I've heard that too. But I would say that there is rarely one driving factor behind what the market does as a whole. Though you are correct in that one thing the market does do is discount the future. And to too many the future looks like Democrats.

Hi Aurora I agree exactly. If you haven't already, you may want to browse through some of the posts I have in my Global Warming index

Thanks for the info, Charity. If Thompson's still around when our primary comes up, I just may vote for him. Otherwise, I'll just let the club decide who they want because no one else matches so closely to my beliefs. It also looks like I need to update my link to your blog. I'll do that now.