A friend and I were walking in the mall yesterday and I stopped at the water fountain to get a drink. He was a bit nervous to take a drink, but I assured him that I would keep and eye out and let him get a quick refreshing drink of water.

See the problem is that my friend is a homosexual.

We weren't sure, since the laws have been changed, whether he was supposed to drink from a separate water fountain. Luckily, I also drove so there wasn't any trepidation about taking public transportation and where exactly he'd be forced to sit.

I wonder who's going to stand up from the homosexual community and tell people that they're not going to sit at the back of the bus. That they're not going to drink from separate fountains. They're not going to be told that what they feel is wrong because some people have the misguided notion that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

People are now arguing that the discrimination against homosexuals isn't the same as the discrimination towards African Americans over the course of our history. The defense is that African Americans didn't have a choice but to be born black.

Not only is this offensive to every homosexual man and woman who never had a choice about who they love, but rather just loved. It's also a disgusting way of characterizing the struggle of African Americans in our society.

At a time when our nation has opened its arms to our first black president, we're also jumping in a DeLorean and heading back to 1955 where discrimination and bigotry were commonplace.

It goes along with the culture of fear that has been instilled in our society over the past 100 years and hammered into our heads over the past 10 years since 9/11.

We are to fear everything and not stop shopping. Keep your eyes open because someone, even your neighbor could be a terrorist. Go to the mall, but be on the lookout for suspicious individuals. Fly around the country and see our nations beautiful sights, but don't bring hair gel or nail clippers on the plane. We're not worried about you, but rather the terrorist who is planning on taking over the plane with nail clippers or blowing it up with an aerosol can filled with explosives. Don't forget that the peanuts and soda is complimentary and that if you let men marry men, then your husband will soon be leaving you for another man.

This country was founded on the idea that all men were created equal and that they all reserve the right to decide what is right and wrong in their own lives. It wasn't to promote lawlessness, but rather to give people the choice to live as they desired.

It's freedom.

Today, people in America equate freedom and democracy. The problem with that is that democracy does allow you the freedom to choose, but it's a majority rule. It's a way of living where you can control a portion of the population by securing one more vote than the person who opposes you.

(The obvious exception to this rule is Florida, where you need a 60% approval in order to make changes. Ironically, the bill to change the percentage needed to approve changing the state constitution only received 57% of the vote.) 

The United States should be about granting and protecting the rights of her citizens, not taking them away.

Imagine that you spend 20 years with the person who you know to be the love of your life. Now imagine that person is in a car accident and is unconscious, in a hospital, about to die, and you're not allowed to see them. You're not allowed to hold their hand and let them feel your love as they die. You're not allowed to kiss them on the cheek and tell them how much they've meant to you over the years. You're not allowed to wrap your arms around them and tell them how much you love them and how much you will carry their spirit with you for the rest of your life.

My father is a Vietnam War veteran. He's 63 years old and it's safe to say that he's set in his ways. He's seen the good and bad of mankind. He's seen more than I would ever want to or could ever dream of. His beliefs are set in stone and there isn't a chance that I would be able to make him change his mind. One of the greatest things my father said to me was that he might not agree with what I have to say, but as an American, he would fight to his death for my right to say it.

That's the beauty of the American people.

You don't have to agree with what your neighbor does, but you should stand up and proudly defend their right to do as they choose.

I will stand as long as I have to, so that my friend may drink as much as much as he might possibly want. I will give my seat on the bus so that he can sit. I will fight anyone who wants to fight his freedom to choose who he loves and spends his life with.

The Internet has allowed tens of millions of Americans to be published writers. But it also has led to a surge in lawsuits from those who say they were hurt, defamed or threatened by what they read, according to groups that track media lawsuits.

"It was probably inevitable, but we have seen a steady growth in litigation over content on the Internet," said Sandra Baron, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York.

Although bloggers may have a free-speech right to say what they want online, courts have found that they are not protected from being sued for their comments, even if they are posted anonymously.

Some postings have even led to criminal charges.

***** NOTE: Because some people found a term used in this article offensive, that term has been changed. No other edits have been made. *****

The other day I wrote this to my "Independent" friend Perrie...

Excerpt:

So Franken fits the mold for Cafferty because he went to Harvard? What other schools does Cafferty approve of as breeding grounds for office holders in America? What other professions does Cafferty believe should be excluded from holding office?

You hear leading Republicans say that the U.S. has the best health care system in the world.

They say that at press conferences.
They say that during interviews on cable news networks.
They say that to the Washington Press Corps.

But will a Republican dare say that in front of their own constituents at a live town hall?

Have you ever waited for a day to come? A special day. A day when all would begin to look right in the world once again. My first such day was April 10, 2000… the day the dot-com bubble went pop. The sound was so loud you could hear it from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, and it took quite a while for the country to get the gum out of its collective hair.

It's not that I was gloating, far from it. It's never fun to see your country plunge into a recession during which some $7.3 trillion in consumer wealth would soon disappear. All I'm saying is that on April 10, 2000, I started to understand the world again, and it was a good, safe, calming feeling.

You see, I never went in on the whole "new economy" thing. "There's no such thing as a new economy," I'd said so many times during the years 1997-2000. Someone wanted me to buy furniture.com. I didn't. The company was one of the first to go under. Why? Because, as I suspected, people like to sit a couch before buying it… go figure. I was told to buy Pets.com too, but didn't. Why? Because I suspected that it might be expensive to ship 50 pounds of kibble across the country overnight. Who knew?

During those years I was consulting for companies and I felt like the whole world had gone start raving mad. Companies with no profits were trading for 1,000 X earnings because they were "monetizing eyeballs". Kids, that in my estimation couldn't keep a hotdog stand open over the summer, were now running multi-zillion dollar conglomerates and I couldn't understand how or why. When AOL bought out my client at the time, Time Warner… well, I almost lost the blackened-seared-ahi-on-squaw-bread-with-compote-reduction I'd had for lunch.

So, when the bubble finally popped and it became apparent that the 25 year-old emperor that had been selling the whole monetizing eyeballs story to venture capitalists on napkins, actually was nude… I breathed a sigh of relief, as much as anything else. The madness would finally be over. I'd be considered a smart guy once again.

Well, another one of those days arrived for me today. And again, it felt good, relaxing, like everything in life would soon make sense once again.

Remember back in late 2006 and early 2007? The housing bubble had popped, and that came as no surprise whatsoever to me. The only surprising thing about that bubble popping as far as I was concerned was that it hadn't happened sooner. And by the way, I think that true for most people. Everybody knew that real estate would pull back and take a cyclical dip in the shallow end, perhaps bumping its head and getting a nasty lump as a result. I don't think we saw the total eclipse of the sun coming, as it did, but we knew it was a bubble, and that like all bubbles, it would eventually pop.

What did surprise me was what our politicians and the media started blaming the meltdown on: sub-prime borrowers. Anyone that read me back then knows it well… and if I said it once I said it a thousand times: it's NOT the sub-prime borrowers. At best people were confusing a fuse… with the bomb. Actually, I could easily argue that rising oil prices caused the meltdown as I could sub-prime borrowers. But there was no talking to people… they heard it was sub-prime borrowers and they were not going to be dissuaded by any evidence to the contrary.

Truth be told, it was sub-prime borrowers being blamed that got me writing frequently again, after taking a few years off since writing a book and then traveling around the country picking up speaking fees just to talk about what I had written. When the world started blaming sub-prime borrowers, I knew it was time for me to put pen to paper and start showing others the fallacy in their thinking. My very first article was written immediately following a dinner my wife and I had gone to, at which I had been forced to listen to the sub-prime borrower story of the day. Although it came in many flavors, the story went something like this:

Irresponsible poor people bought houses they couldn't afford using spring loaded loans that adjusted, causing them all to be catapulted out of their homes in foreclosure, and resulting in the meltdown of the financial markets.

Hogwash. Horse Pucky. Total bunkum. It was never sub-prime borrowers that were to blame, it just appeared to be possible and when the banking lobby's PR machine went into gear, people found it easy to accept. I still have a friend who thinks the meltdown's cause had something to do with people irresponsibly buying jet-skis. Some beliefs are hard to let go of, I suppose.

I understand it. I really do. You can see it in my older articles. I was getting a teensy-weensy bit jealous of the "brand-new-home" people towards the end there myself. How could you not? So, when the bubble popped, it seemed easy to accept that some of "those" people were the cause. Not the good responsible ones, mind you, but the ones that never should have been there in the first place… the sub-primers. Come on… let's snub them.

There was even a twinge of racism in the phrase, sub-prime borrower. Almost like it might have been "sub-par human," but someone spruced it up at the last minute to avoid looking too cruel. I hated it, but not only for that reason, I hated it because it was a ridiculous idea. The sub-prime borrowers, in my mind anyway, were less likely to default than others, because sub-prime borrowers really want their houses bad. Sub-prime borrowers pay their bills and lenders usually like them as a result. They pay their bills and they pay high fees and interest rates.

I went to graduate school with a guy who was the president of a large grocery store chain, Food For Less, I believe was its name. And I remember him telling me how his stores were always in low-income areas, but that they had fewer bounced checks than the grocery stores in the wealthier neighborhoods. It seems that poorer people made sure that they lived within their means more carefully than their wealthy neighbors across the tracks.

Even Warren Buffet liked sub-prime borrowers. In fact, Berkshire Hathaway still owns a company that makes largely sub-prime loans on some sort of pre-fabricated housing solution, and that company never did experience the sub-prime meltdown as was being reported by the media.

The main reason it never made sense that sub-prime borrowers were to blame, besides the obvious reason that sub-prime borrowers really want their homes, was the absurd assumption that these lower income people didn't know how much their payments would be a year or two down the road. I simply couldn't believe that could be true in large number. I don't care how poor or uneducated a person is relative to others, they know how much they pay in rent… I mean mortgage payment amount, each month.

Another thing I knew about sub-prime borrowers was that they didn't move into a new home with the idea that they'd lose the house a year or two later and be forced to move. Not knowing the future amount of your monthly mortgage payment, or moving somewhere with the idea of moving a couple of years later sounded more like the way wealthier people might behave than sub-prime borrowers.

Sub-prime borrowers hate moving… especially their refrigerators. They can't afford fancy moving companies who come pack everything up and unpack it at the next homestead. They call friends like me who are stupid enough to always own a truck. The whole experience moving is downright miserable for sub-prime borrowers, so they avoid it whenever possible.

There were lot's of other reason to suspect the sub-prime borrower story, the size of the market relative to the damage being caused, for one. So, anyway… I guess I should get to the point of the article. New evidence has been compiled by Stan Leibowitz, a professor of economics who is the director of the Center for the Analysis of Property Rights and Innovation at the management school at the University of Texas, Dallas.

And as it turns out… can you guess? It wasn't sub-prime borrowers that caused the meltdown, more than their influence, it was zero down financing that created this mess, according to Professor Leibowitz and the actual data. As stated by Leibowitz:

"The evidence from a huge national database containing millions of individual loans strongly suggests that the single most important factor is whether the homeowner has negative equity in a house -- that is, the balance of the mortgage is greater than the value of the house. This means that most government policies being discussed to remedy woes in the housing market are misdirected."

Misdirected? Yea! Yahoo! Oh when the Saints… go marching in… oh when the Saints go marching in…

Go on, professor…

"… the focus on sub-primes ignores the widely available industry facts (reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association) that 51% of all foreclosed homes had prime loans, not sub-prime, and that the foreclosure rate for prime loans grew by 488% compared to a growth rate of 200% for sub-prime foreclosures. (These percentages are based on the period since the steep ascent in foreclosures began -- the third quarter of 2006 -- during which more than 4.3 million homes went into foreclosure.)

Sharing the blame in the popular imagination are other loans where lenders were largely at fault -- such as "liar loans," where lenders never attempted to validate a borrower's income or assets.

Wow… did you read that? It wasn't the liar loans either.

The analysis indicates that, by far, the most important factor related to foreclosures is the extent to which the homeowner now has or ever had positive equity in a home.

The difference in policy implications is enormous: A significant reduction in foreclosures will happen when and only when housing prices stop falling and unemployment stops rising.

This guy is wicked smart. He goes on to explain that the administration's Making Home Affordable program is ill-conceived, and he does so on very solid ground and in an inoffensive way. Perhaps the Obama administration will consider Professor Leibowitz's findings and correct the current course.

Here's the article in yesterday's WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124657539489189043.html
And please forgive me if I sounded arrogant there at the beginning. I was feeling just a little bit taken with myself for a minute or two… so, sue me. I'm okay now.

Sub-prime borrowers… you are about to be vindicated!

Watch what happens next. Other journalists are going to write about the professor's conclusions. After that, the talking heads will be all over it. Before you know it, our country will start to question what's happened here and who really is responsible. And meanwhile, banker after banker will be seen going into court, for one reason or another. All while the foreclosures spread into white middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods from sea to shining sea.

People will get mad… and then madder. (It helps to read the next paragraph using the voice of James Earl Jones at the end of Field of Dreams. And if you haven't seen it, see it.)

And by the time the 2010 midterms roll around, people will come, Ray. They'll come to Washington D.C. for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn onto the Beltway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at their voting booth as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course we mind if you look around, politicians will say. It's only $50,000 per person that you all owe. They'll pass over the politicians without even listening to them: for it is America they own and prosperity they lack. And they'll walk out to the mall; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll remember the power they had when they were younger and voted for heroes. And they'll vote for people that will truly represent them and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. Their memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been America. Our nation's banking lobby has rolled through Congress like an army of steamrollers. We need Congress' thinking to be erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and perhaps erased again. But our America will withstand time. This banking lobby's control of this congress and this administration: it's a part of our past, Ray. We'll remember, all of us, what was once good and could be again.

Oh... people will come Ray. People... will most definitely come.

excerpt:
Palin's stunning announcement raised more questions than it answered: Is she bowing out of public life? Is there a more nefarious reason for her resignation after only two-and-half years in office — yet another G.O.P. scandal in the offing? Or is the woman who tops most G.O.P. 2012 shortlists to challenge Barack Obama stepping down to get a head start on her next presidential campaign?

Most media commentary would suggest the answer to this very complex question is yes.

If you were to buy into the conspiracy propaganda circulating the web. Bad banks, preying on under informed customers. Exurbanite fees, sky high default rates.

Government programs that are seemingly tailored for big business. Federal job creation that is non existent. The status quot returning to D.C's inner circle, weeks after promises were made that would seemingly reshape our present world.

Much to worry about !

Once again our brave young president is expressing concern as to the growing rate of unemployment in our nation. seriously, President Obama is concerned that his constituency may be facing ongoing un as well as underemployment. The president says "It's gone on too long."

And then of course, the issue of predatory banking is big in today's news. It seems as though Banks are dumping losses on their performing customers. Folks that have made payments in a timely manor. That's strange, A lending institution that is in business to make a profit. Who ever said banks were fair?

My dear Friends: Obama is not going to fix everything. The Banks are not going to eat their losses. Those that believe that government and banking is the root of all evil, I have a kind suggestion for you.

1. Pull your cash out the bank, if you have any left.

2. Cut up your credit cards, live off cash. Bankrupt your major institutional debt.

3.Burn your social security card. Destroy your voter registration card.

4.Refuse to pay your taxes.

Let me know how that works for you. In the mean time, I'll continue to work with the system that's in place. It's just a matter of time before our economy begins it's slow but steady turn around.

R.Max

Lawmakers sharply criticized the Veterans Affairs Department on Tuesday about why a national scare over botched colonoscopies earlier this year didn't prompt stronger safeguards at the agency's medical centers.

Agency officials apologized for the continued weaknesses and told a House subcommittee they would do better. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said he would be disciplining staffers.

The strong reaction came as the agency's inspector general reported that fewer than half of VA facilities selected for surprise inspections last month had proper training and guidelines in place. That was months after the VA launched a nationwide safety campaign over the discovery of errors at facilities in Miami, Augusta, Ga., and Murfreesboro, Tenn., that could have exposed veterans to HIV and other infections.

John Daigh, VA's assistant inspector general who led the review, said the findings "troubled me greatly."

"We think there are systemic issues," Daigh said.

Providing new details on the mistakes found at Miami's center, for example, the report said workers there didn't know for almost five years that they should have been sterilizing an irrigation part on an endoscope used for routine colonoscopies. They also weren't cleaning a water tube between each procedure as recommended by the manufacturer and were mistakenly attaching the water system to the scope during the colonoscopy instead of before, possibly allowing contamination of sterile components.

The errors — all discovered after the hospital reported in January that it was using its equipment properly — illustrate the potential reach of the problem, not just at VA but in the private sector. Hospitals across the country are using different equipment, training and guidelines. Even as equipment changes, many staffers have continued using the same cleaning practices, James Bagian, VA's chief patient safety officer, said after the hearing.

"You don't know you're wrong until you know you're wrong," Bagian said when asked if the agency is confident that mistakes were limited to the three states that have reported problems.

In February, the VA began warning about 10,000 former patients in Georgia, Tennessee and Florida — some who had procedures as far back as 2003 — that they may have been exposed to infections. Although the VA says the chance of infection was remote, the patients were advised to get blood tests for HIV and hepatitis.

The agency says six veterans subsequently tested positive for HIV, 34 tested positive for hepatitis C and 13 tested positive for hepatitis B. But there is no way to prove whether the infections came from VA procedures, and some experts say most or all of the infections probably already existed.

The VA has said — through self-reporting from individual facilities — that it believes errors were limited to the centers in the three states. But the inspector general report suggests otherwise.

In surprise inspections at 42 randomly selected medical centers on May 13 and 14, investigators found that only 43 percent had standard operating procedures in place for the specific equipment in use and could show they properly trained their staffs for using the devices.

Lawmakers expressed disbelief that administrators hadn't immediately tightened procedures after the safety alert earlier this year.

"You certainly would think that after the initial discoveries and the directive from the VA that medical directors would make sure that all of their equipment and procedures were brought into line," said House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif., who nonetheless praised the VA for being transparent. "There will be a public accounting of this situation."

VA officials struggled to explain the findings and said they would overhaul procedures so that medical centers follow more uniform practices.

After the hearing, Shinseki issued a statement calling it "unacceptable that any of our veterans may have been exposed to harm as a result of an endoscopic procedure."

Along with disciplining staff, he said he would require center directors to verify in writing that they are complying with guidelines.

Several top VA officials with experience at private hospitals said similar discoveries in the private sector would not have been publicized without specific knowledge that a patient was harmed.

Daigh said his investigators tried unsuccessfully to get information about potential problems at private hospitals, and several lawmakers said they think the problem probably extends beyond the VA.

"If this is happening in VA, what is happening ... in our greater health system?" asked Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, the top Republican on the committee.

___

Associated Press writer Bill Poovey in Chattanooga, Tenn., contributed to this report.

I don't recall how I stumbled onto this article last night. I read it and didn't have the sense to back out. I have spent hours today reading every comment, working on numbers and looking at pages, trying to get an idea about the microcosm of ire and discontent displayed in this article and ones like them.

When I started this morning the article had 17 votes and 382 comments. About 90% were what I'll call green-boxers. When you look at the conversation box, there are rows of anonymous little green heads. After much non-scientific research, I figure that the commentary ran about 53% Republican/Conservative/I Just Hate Obama, 23% Democrat/Liberal/I Just Love Obama, and 24% Independent/Moderate/Who Knows/I'm Sick of it All. Overall, there was no shortage of hate, vitriol, racism, personal attacks and slurs. What was accomplished? Zero. Any ideas exchanged? None. You know what they say at Newsvine…Get Smarter Here. I did. I fell into the trap and posted my own angry rant. Pointless. Angry. Stupid. I just added to the stew of resentment and rage that has permeated our nation for the last 7 months. I also learned that while I still love America, I am starting to lose faith in its people. That's why I typically don't get into these threads, however the headline seemed pretty innocuous: President, first lady dine in The City of Lights. More fool me.

Below are some of the comments from the thread. Some are redacted so as not to reveal any names. One or two are a part of a post, but do not take away from the theme of the entire post. I think the comments say more about the direction of the country than what they are commenting on. My moronic comment is first.

The lot of you need to get a calendar, a calculator and a glass belly button. @!$%#, @!$%#, @!$%#. I am so sick of your cry baby pissing and moaning. Get over it. If you don't like it, talk to your legislators, write letters, fix your (&%damn party! DO something! But stop your CONSTANT complaining. Grow the F*$^ UP!

I really hope they both get serious food poisining whic is nomral with frog food.

And whores (including skanky hollywood whores), convicts, criminals (this includes Acorn), porn stars, welfare cheats, crack heads, drug dealers, etc are all left-wing, liberal democrats.

I can't wait till about another year goes by and things still aren't going well. Maybe then the press will not be all glowing and he will start staying out of the limelight for that reason, and he we don't have to see him and his fat-ass ugly, low-class wife anymore.

I wish someone would enlighten me about how this is any different from what any previous president has done on foreign trips? If our current president had an "R" after his name instead of a "D", would there be all this hate and vitriol spewing from the right? I don't think so. You'd all be gushing about what a swell job he's doing!

It is interesting to me the type of commentors here seem to move in packs...and feed off one anothers' negative rages... Who will you natter about when our President succeeds?

; it's funny how the GOP right wing refuses to be accountable for anything bad that happened under their control. But let something good happen and it's "all them". Unfortunately nothing good has happened and that's why they are extra bitter. Oh well. We're suffering from Bush's mess. They better deal with it as it sunk their party permanently.

The voters elected him. We're going to have to learn to live with it. Maybe four years will go by quickly. But who to replace him?????????? And what kind of a mess will there be in four years?

thankfully he will get another 4 years because the repugnuts are out to lunch while the president is having a modest french dinner. this place isn't that deluxe. repugnuts are the biggest bunch of whiny pissy pants. grow up -- you are retired and still act like infants.
your not knowing every dinner in paris isn't 200. a plate just further shows how much we need to spend to fix the education system in red states.
snark is not a virtue. and as my grandmother used to say -- if you can't say something nice shut the frick up.

So Obama goes to France as part of an annual tradition performed by EVERY POTUS to commemorate D-Day, and as is usually the case, the spouse of the head of state comes along. And oh my God, he had the audacity to actually eat a meal while there!
If Obama had stayed home, the haters would no doubt @!$%# and moan about him dissing the D-Day ceremony. Damned if he does, damned if he don't. Doesn't leave much room for rational discussion.

Racist???? LOL, typical liberal. If someone doesnt agree with you they are a redneck, racist, radical right winger.. well I am all of the above. So kiss my azz and come call me that to my face.
This country needs an enima. We have too many illegals, welfare lifers, and liberals. Once we flush all the garbage out this country will get back to what our founding fathers intended it to be. A free society where everyone can follow the American dream and be a Christian without being persecuted for it. I am discusted that we have this many morons that still believe Obama is the savior. He has bankrupted the country, utlity bills are about to rise, illegals are ALL going to get amnesty, and inflation is going to skyrocket. I didnt spend my life serving the millitary for these idiots and I will be the first one to slam the door in their ass when they get kicked out.

(redacted) both parties are equally worthless, and the fact you are so inept, by taking either side shows your limited education. Neither party care about the working person, they only care about making it past 1 term, and filling up their pockets, before they get ran out. VOTE Against republicans, and democrats, it is high time we send the message "WE DO WANT CHANGE".

You can't wait? What exactly are you hoping for? I don't understand how one can hope for America's downfall just so they can say "look I told you so" because they don't like the President.
Regardless of who the President is and my feelings about him, I will never hope to see America and my fellow citizens flounder. Is it really America you care about?

Are you that dumb and naive or do you have downs syndrome? Yo ureally really cant be that stupid. Helen Keller could see through this sham.

(redacted), so you reply with stereotyping and name calling. Shows your one notch below on the scale. Obama is not good looking, is skinny, cant speak unless he is reading the teleprompter, and their are many white women that could/would beat his ass. As far as his wife Patrick Ewing... she is not good looking at all... sorry. I guess your standards are far below the average person... and mybe you should stop with the farm animals and sister jokes since you obviousley have settled for less. By the way... get off welfare and get a job.

Stop whining, be part of the solution, open your big yaps and TELL the government what to do. If your elected officials won't do what you want, vote them out the next cycle. Why do we seem to be the only country that has no established vote of no confidence between elections, or can't recall someone if they are so unsatisfactory? If you're lucky enough to live in the mid-Atlantic states, organize and march on Washington. Jesus Christ, people in other countries riot, smash and burn. We could at least have marches for the causes we believe in, if we'd get off our fat asses and away from the computer or the latest reality show on TV. March on your state capitals if they're easier for you to access.

This is copied from a Department of Homeland Security memo and can be found at:

http://www.tdbimg.com/files/2009/04/30/-hsra-domestic-extremism-lexicon_165213935473.pdf

(U) Definitions

(U) aboveground

(U//FOUO) A term used to describe extremist groups orindividuals who operate overtly and portray themselves as
law-abiding.

(U) alternative media

(U//FOUO) A term used to describe various information sources that provide a forum for interpretations of events and issues that differ radically from those presented in mass media products and outlets.

(U) anarchist extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who advocate a society devoid of government structure or oownership of individual property. Many embrace some of the radical philosophical components of anticapitalist, antiglobalization, communist, socialist, and other movements. Anarchist extremists advocate changing government aand society through revolutionary violence. (also: revolutionary anarchists)

(U) animal rights extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who ascribe equal value to all living organisms and seek to end the
perceived abuse and suffering of animals. They believe animals are sentient creatures that experience emotional,
physical, and mental awareness and deserve many of the same rights as human beings; for example, the right to life and freedom to engage in normal, instinctive animal behavior. These groups have been known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their extremist goals. They have targeted industries, businesses, and government entities that they perceive abuse or exploit animals, including those that use animals for testing, human services, food production, or consumption. (also: animal liberation)

(U) antiabortion extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who are virulently antiabortion and advocate violence against providers of abortion-related services, their employees, and their facilities. Some cite various racist and anti-Semitic beliefs to justify their criminal activities.
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) anti-immigration extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who are vehemently opposed to illegal immigration, particularly along the U.S. southwest border with Mexico, and who have been known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism to advance their extremist goals. They are highly critical of the U.S. Government's response to illegal immigration and oppose government programs that are designed to extend "rights" to illegal aliens, such as issuing driver's licenses or national identification cards and providing
in-state tuition, medical benefits, or public education.

(U) antitechnology extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals opposed to technology. These groups have been known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their extremist goals. They have targeted college and university laboratories, scholars, biotechnology industries, U.S. corporations involved in the computer or airline industry, and others. (also: Neo-Luddites)

(U) Aryan prison gangs

(U//FOUO) Individuals who form organized groups while in prison and advocate white supremacist views. Group members may continue to operate under the auspices of the prison gang upon their release from correctional
facilities.

(U) black bloc

(U//FOUO) An organized collection of violent anarchists and anarchist affinity groups that band together for illegal acts of civil disturbance and use tactics that destroy property or strain law enforcement resources. Black blocs operate in autonomous cells that infiltrate nonviolent protests, often without the knowledge of the organizers of the event.

(U) black nationalism

(U//FOUO) A term used by black separatists to promote the unification and separate identity of persons of black or
African American descent and who advocate the establishment of a separate nation within the United States.

(U) black power

(U//FOUO) A term used by black separatists to describe their pride in and the perceived superiority of the black race.
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) black separatism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals of black or African American descent who advocate the separation of the races or the separation of specific geographic regions from the rest of the United States; some advocate forming their own political system within a separate nation. Such groups or individuals also may embrace radical religious beliefs Members have been known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence directed toward local law enforcement in an attempt to advance their extremist goals.

(U) Christian Identity

(U//FOUO) A racist religious philosophy that maintains non-Jewish whites are "God's Chosen People" and the true
descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Groups or individuals can be followers of either the Covenant or Dual Seedline doctrine; all believe that Jews are conspiring with Satan to control world affairs and that the world is on the verge of the Biblical apocalypse. Dual Seedline adherents believe Jews are the literal offspring of Satan and that nonwhites, who are often referred to as "mud people," are not human beings. (also: Identity, CI, Anglo-Israel)

(U) Cuban independence extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who do not recognize the legitimacy of the Communist Cuban Government and who attempt to subvert it through acts of violence, mainly within the United States. (also: anti-Castro groups)

(U) decentralized terrorist movement

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who pursue shared ideological goals through tactics of leaderless
resistance independent of any larger terrorist organization.

(U) denial-of-service attack

(U//FOUO) An attack that attempts to prevent or impair the intended functionality of computer networks, systems, or
applications. Depending on the type of system targeted, the attack can employ a variety of mechanisms and means.
(also: DoS attack)

(U) direct action

(U//FOUO) Lawful or unlawful acts of civil disobedience ranging from protests to property destruction or acts of violence. This term is most often used by single-issue or anarchist extremists to describe their activities.

(U) Christian Identity symbol.
adl.org
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) Green Anarchism symbol.

(U) environmental extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who use violence to end what they perceive as the degradation of the natural environment by humans. Members have advocated or engaged in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their extremist goals. They target industries, businesses, and government entities that they allege are engaged in habitat destruction, citing urban sprawl and development, logging, construction sites and related equipment, and man-made sources of air, water, and land pollution. (also: ecoterrorism)

(U) ethnic-based extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who are drawn together and form extremist beliefs based on their
ethnic or cultural background. Members have advocated or engaged in criminal activity and have plotted acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their extremist goals.

(U) extremist group

(U//FOUO) An ideologically driven organization that advocates or attempts to bring about political, religious,
economic, or social change through the use of force, violence, or ideologically motivated criminal activity.
(U) green anarchism (U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who combine anarchist ideology with an environmental focus. They advocate a return to a preindustrial, agrarian society, often through acts of violence and terrorism.

(U) hacktivism

(U//FOUO) (A portmanteau of "hacking" and "activism.") The use of cyber technologies to achieve a political end, or
technology-enabled political or social activism. Hacktivism might include website defacements, denial-of-service attacks, hacking into the target's network to introduce malicious software (malware), or information theft.

(U) hate groups

(U//FOUO) A term most often used to describe white supremacist groups. It is occasionally used to describe other
racist extremist groups. (U) Jewish extremism (U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals of the Jewish faith who are willing to use violence or commit other criminal acts to protect themselves against perceived affronts to their religious or ethnic identity. en.wikipedia.org

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) leaderless resistance

(U//FOUO) A strategy that stresses the importance of individuals and small cells acting independently and anonymously outside formalized organizational structures to enhance operational security and avoid detection. It is used by many types of domestic extremists.

(U) leftwing extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals that embraces anticapitalist, Communist, or Socialist doctrines
and seeks to bring about change through violent revolution rather than through established political processes. The term also refers to leftwing, single-issue extremist movements that are dedicated to causes such as environmentalism, opposition to war, and the rights of animals. (also: far left, extreme left)

(U) lone terrorist

(U//FOUO) An individual motivated by extremist ideology to commit acts of criminal violence independent of any larger terrorist organization. (also: lone wolf)

(U) Mexican separatism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals of Mexican descent who advocate the secession of southwestern
U.S. states (all or part of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas) to join with Mexico through armed struggle.
Members do not recognize the legitimacy of these U.S. states, including the U.S. Government's original acquisition of these territories.

(U) militia movement

(U//FOUO) A rightwing extremist movement composed of groups or individuals who adhere to an antigovernment
ideology often incorporating various conspiracy theories. Members oppose most federal and state laws, egulations, and authority (particularly firearms laws and regulations) and often conduct paramilitary training designed to resist perceived government interference in their activities or to overthrow the U.S. Government through the use of violence. (also: citizens militia, unorganized militia)

(U) neo-Nazis

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who adhere to and promote Adolph Hitler's beliefs and use Nazi symbols and
ideology. Subjects subscribe to virulently racist as well as anti-Semitic beliefs, many based on national socialist ideals derived from Nazi Germany. Neo-Nazis may attempt to downplay or deny the Jewish Holocaust. (also: national socialists, Nazis)

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) patriot movement

(U//FOUO) A term used by rightwing extremists to link their beliefs to those commonly associated with the American
Revolution. The patriot movement primarily comprises violent antigovernment groups such as militias and sovereign
citizens. (also: Christian patriots, patriot group, Constitutionalists, Constitutionist)

(U) Phineas Priesthood

(U//FOUO) A Christian Identity doctrine derived from the Biblical story of Phinehas, which adherents interpret as justifying inter-racial killing. Followers of this belief system also have advocated martyrdom and violence against
homosexuals, mixed-race couples, and abortion providers.

(U) primary targeting

(U//FOUO) Plans or attacks directed by extremists against parties that are the focus of an organized campaign.

(U) Puerto Rican independence extremists

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who engage in criminal activity and advocate the use of violence to achieve
Puerto Rican independence from the United States.

(U) racial Nordic mysticism

(U//FOUO) An ideology adopted by many white supremacist prison gangs who embrace a Norse mythological religion, such as Odinism or Asatru. (also: Odinism, Asatru) (U) racialist (U//FOUO) A term used by white supremacists intended to minimize their extreme views on racial issues.

(U) racist skinheads

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who combine white supremacist ideology with a skinhead ethos in which "white
power" music plays a central role. Dress may include a shaved head or very short hair, jeans, thin suspenders, combat boots or Doc Martens, a bomber jacket (sometimes with racist symbols), and tattoos of Nazi-like emblems. Some are abandoning these stereotypical identifiers. (also: skins)

(U) radicalization

(U//FOUO) The process by which an individual adopts an extremist belief system leading to his or her willingness to
advocate or bring about political, religious, economic, or social change through the use of force, violence, or
ideologically motivated criminal activity.

(U) Phineas Priesthood
symbol.
adl.org

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) rightwing extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of rightwing groups or individuals who can be broadly divided into those who are primarily
hate-oriented, and those who are mainly antigovernment and reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority. This term also may refer to rightwing extremist movements that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration. (also known as far right, extreme right)

(U) secondary targeting

(U//FOUO) Plans or attacks directed against parties (secondary targets) that provide direct financial, logistic, or
physical support to the primary target of an organized campaign, with the goal of coercing those parties to end their
engagement with a primary target. Secondary targets can include customers of or suppliers to a primary target or
employees of a primary target organization.

(U) single-issue extremist groups

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who focus on a single issue or cause—such as animal rights, environmental or
anti-abortion extremism—and often employ criminal acts. Group members may be associated with more than one issue. (also: special interest extremists)

(U) skinheads

(U//FOUO) A subculture composed primarily of working-class, white youth who embrace shaved heads for
males, substance abuse, and violence. Skinheads can be categorized as racist, anti-racist or "traditional," which
emphasizes group unity based on fashion, music, and lifestyle rather than political ideology. Dress often includes a shaved head or very short hair, jeans, thin suspenders, combat boots or Doc Martens, and a bomber jacket.
(also: skins)

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) sovereign citizen movement

(U//FOUO) A rightwing extremist movement composed of groups or individuals who reject the notion of
U.S. citizenship. They claim to follow only what they believe to be God's law or common law and the original
10 amendments (Bill of Rights) to the U.S. Constitution. They believe they are emancipated from all other
responsibilities associated with being a U.S. citizen, such as paying taxes, possessing a driver's license and motor vehicle registration, or holding a social security number. They generally do not recognize federal or state government
authority or laws. Several sovereign citizen groups in the United States produce fraudulent documents for their
members in lieu of legitimate government-issued forms of identification. Members have been known to advocate or
engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their extremist goals.
They often target government officials and law enforcement. ( lso: state citizens, freemen, preamble citizens, common law citizens)

(U) tax resistance movement

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who vehemently believe taxes violate their constitutional rights. Among their beliefs are that wages are not income, that paying income taxes is voluntary, and that the 16th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution, which allowed Congress to levy taxes on income, was not properly ratified. Members have been
known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their
extremist goals. They often target government entities such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. (also: tax protest movement, tax freedom movement, antitax
movement)

(U) tertiary targeting (

U//FOUO) Plans or attacks against parties with indirect links to the primary target of an organized campaign.
Tertiary targets can include employees, customers, investors, and other participants in a company (the secondary target) that does business with or provides support services to the primary target; or parties who provide direct financial, logistic, or physical support to the secondary target. (U) underground (U//FOUO) A term used to describe clandestine extremist groups, individuals, or their activities.

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(U) violent antiwar extremism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of
violence and terrorism in an attempt to voice their opposition to U.S. involvement in war-related activities. They often
target the military, seats of government power, and defense industry personnel, facilities, and activities.

(U) violent religious sects

(U//FOUO) Religious extremist groups predisposed toward violence. These groups often stockpile weapons, conduct paramilitary training, and share a paranoid interpretation of current world events, which they often associate with the end of the world. They perceive outsiders as enemies or evil influences; display intense xenophobia and strong distrust of the government; and exercise extreme physical or psychological control over group members, sometimes isolating them from society or subjecting them to physical or sexual abuse and harsh initiation practices.

(U) white nationalism

(U//FOUO) A term used by white supremacists to emphasize what they perceive as the uniquely white (European) heritage of the United States.

(U) white power

(U//FOUO) A term used by white supremacists to describe their pride in and the perceived superiority of the white race.

(U) white separatism

(U//FOUO) A movement of groups or individuals who believe in the separation of races and reject interracial
marriages. Some advocate the secession of specifi cgeographic regions from the rest of the United States.
Members have been known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their extremist goals.

(U) white supremacist movement

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who believe that whites—Caucasians—are intellectually and morally superior to other races and use their racist ideology to justify committing crimes, acts of violence, and terrorism to advance their cause. Some advocate racial separation/segregation.

White supremacists generally fall into six categories:
Neo-Nazi, Ku Klux KlanUSPER, Christian Identity, racist
skinhead, Nordic mysticism, or Aryan prison gangs.

White supremacists have been known to embrace more thanone of these categories

Speak out against the Government in any way you run the risk of being labeled a "Extremist". Act on you convictions and you may become a "Domestic Terrorist". Consider yourself warned...

Now that you have read them here is the question of the day: Which categories would describe you?

A man was murdered in a house of worship yesterday. Some people want to excuse it or justify it because the man performed a legal medical procedure that some disapprove of because the procedure violates their moral and/or religious beliefs.

I can understand how they feel to some extent.

I am a woman. I am a mother. I've been pregnant twice in my life. I've given birth to two healthy baby boys. I've been very fortunate: Both pregnancies happened when I wanted to be pregnant. I had no fertility problems, I had no unplanned pregnancies. I was very lucky.

That isn't the way it works for all women and I understand that, too. I held a friend's hand while she waited for the results of a pregnancy test when she was 17 and scared to death of how her parents would react if she was pregnant. I cried with another friend when she got the news that her third round of in-vitro had failed.

I believe babies are a precious gift and a blessing to a family that wants them.

I believe birth control is the responsibility of every sexually active person who is capable of becoming pregnant or impregnating.

I also believe a woman's body is her own and decisions that affect her body should be between her and her physician.

What I cannot understand, however, is how anyone can call themselves "pro-life" and silently welcome or applaud or justify the murder of another human being.

I think it's time to get honest, and more precise, with the terminology we use. I propose "Pro-Birth" instead of "Pro-Life." What good is it for every pregnancy to lead to birth if there's no meaningful life after birth?

I believe people who were truly Pro-Life would support life at all stages, not just up to and including birth. I believe pro-life people would support children who needed safe places to live and to play and to learn, real education to prevent teen pregnancy instead of "just say no" which has been such a dismal failure and led to so many abortions, they would support programs that supported a culture of life instead of a culture of blame, failure, anger and more blame.

If you're pro-life, support life, all life, especially that life which has already been born. If all you really care about is birth, at least be honest and call yourself pro-birth.

UPDATED MONDAY June 8, 2009 2:00 PM

Notice to all:

Thank you for visiting this topic and commenting. I've learned a lot, gotten to know some great people, and I hope you have as well.

I was happy to keep this thread open but I have a life outside of newsvine, as I imagine you do as well, so I am closing this to comments so that I can get back to everything else as I should without leaving comments neglected.

Many topic suggestions were made in the course of this discussion and I sincerely hope some of them will see the light of day as Newsvine discussions in the future.

With only a tiny handful of exceptions, and you know who you are (unless you were banned in which case I hope you're not reading this), I've enjoyed your comments whether we share an opinion or see things from totally different perspectives. I do honestly learn more from people who see things differently than I do than from those who see things exactly as I do. It's not about changing minds, it's about opening them and, most importantly, using them.

Thanks.

Regular duties are suspended for three days at Fort Campbell, which leads the Army in suicides this year, so commanders can identify and help soldiers who are struggling with the stress of war and most at risk for killing themselves.

Along with the repeal of the 17th Amendment and changing the wording of the 16th amendment to provide for a reasonably equitable system of taxation ( a flat tax) I would like to suggest that the following be considered:

Proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

Article 1.
No person, legal or natural, may contribute money, services or any thing of value to the political campaign of a candidate for any public office, in the United States, its territories and jurisdictions, unless the donor is properly eligible to cast a ballot in the election of that candidate who is the intended recipient of the donation.

Article 2.
No candidate for any public office in the United States, its territories, and jurisdictions may accept any donation to the political campaign of that candidate of any service or thing of value, or amount of money, from any person, legal or natural, unless the donor is properly eligible to cast a ballot in the election of that candidate who is the intended recipient of the donation.

Article 3.

(a) All records related to the expenditure, distribution, preservation or conservation of any and all donated services or things of value, or amounts of money shall be accounted for by making a physical record which shall then be filed for record with the office of the Secretary of State of the state in which the candidate campaigned for office.

(b) All such records shall be designated public records and made constantly available for viewing by the public as governed by 5 USC 552 entitled the Freedom of Information Act or the current applicable statutes to effect the ready examination by any and all members of the public.

(c) Upon leaving the office campaigned for, or failing to be elected, the person receiving such political donations shall relinquish all remaining portions of any donations to the Treasury of the State in which the candidate campaigned. Such relinquished donations shall become the sole property of the people of the State to which it was relinquished and shall be immediately available to be used for the benefit of the people of the said State.

I believe that this minor change would produce some rather remarkable effects.

I go from column to column… post to post… thread to thread… reading the diverse views from left to right… I truly enjoy it… learn from it… care about it… see its potential and sing its praises to others. Being a bit of a dreamer, I suppose, I wonder if what we are involved in here on the Vine can someday change the world.

Am I nuts? I can't be sure. Am I alone? I'm pretty sure I'm not.

If you're with me so far… I'd like to try something a little different… something that might change some things… or maybe not, we'll just have to see.

We're all entitled to our own opinions, but we're not all entitled to our own sets of facts. And right now would be one heck of a good time for a large number of Americans to agree to some degree on at least a few facts and positions. Still with me? Then let's get to it…

The twelve statements of fact and/or position that I've offered below were written carefully. Don't add thoughts or ideas that aren't there, don't read between the lines. The statements are only and exactly what they are, nothing more.

Like the waiter said to the table of Jewish mothers having lunch: "Is anything okay?"
(And I'm Jewish, remember, so it's cool.)

So, the question is, can we ALL agree on anything?

1.Our country, and in fact much of the world is in terrible shape economically speaking. The current crisis is worsening and there is cause for concern, if not alarm. And, many of us should probably be more scared or worried than we are.Agree Nope

2.The crisis WAS NOT caused by sub-prime borrowers. Many factors contributed to today's crisis including: inappropriate decisions made by lenders and borrowers, the use of complex derivatives and credit default swaps, inappropriate "AAA" ratings issued by bond rating agencies, new GAAP accounting regulations that accelerated write downs by banks, inadequate regulation and oversight of the markets, lenders, and quasi-government agencies like Freddie & Fannie, inconsistent policy by Treasury that bailed our one and left another to go under, and additional factors if you'd like.Agree Nope

3. As related to mortgages, although there were certainly those who acted irresponsibly, there were also many that didn't realize that they were doing so or did so to lesser degree, and it was certainly not easy to see an economic collapse coming around the corner. In other words, many that look irresponsible in hindsight, might not have fallen into such a group, had other factors not occurred along the way.Agree Nope

4.Regardless of how our crisis started, it is a global problem today, and the worse things are allowed to get, the more people will be swept into it. In fact today, the number of prime mortgages going into default exceeds the number of sub-prime, and the major cause of defaults today is unemployment, not "bad" loans.Agree Nope

5.Both borrowers and savers are being seriously harmed by the crisis. Even the most qualified borrowers can't access credit adequately, and savers have seen their savings cut almost in half in many cases. In a world where you can't borrow and it doesn't pay to save, there is little hope for economic stability. Agree Nope

6.At this point, we cannot let the U.S. banking system fail, as the impact would cause significant harm to our country and untold millions of Americans, and significantly hamper businesses already struggling, which would lead to a deeper recession at best. The most important issues to address now are: fostering recovery by creating jobs, stabilizing housing markets, the adequate capitalization of banks, and restoration of credit markets.Agree Nope

7.According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), before President Obama spends dime one, we are facing a $1.2 trillion deficit, which is projected by to reach almost $2 trillion in 2009. Unemployment is forecasted to exceed 9% in 2009, and some forecast double digits in 2010 & 2011.Agree Nope

8.The crisis is costing ALL Americans a great deal, through lost home and/or savings values, and if allowed to worsen significantly, could cause harm on a level from which many would never recover. There is nothing to be gained by punishing homeowners, or businesses, especially if that "punishment" prolongs or deepens our economic problems. At this point, solutions are what matters most. So, if a foreclosure can be prevented, it should be.Agree Nope

9.President Brack Obama appears to be trying to do positive things. He has alienated some on both sides of the aisle, but overall he appears to be trying to take steps to stabilize our economy, create jobs, and increase bipartisan cooperation in government. He may be wrong at times and right at others, but he is trying.Agree Nope

10.Things today are worsening. The banks are again going to need capital, and without adequate capital, lending cannot resume at appropriate levels. Unemployment is rising at a faster pace. Over 500,000 jobs were lost in December alone, and 100,000 lost during the last week of January 2009. So, with consumers unwilling and/or unable to spend, and businesses cutting back production as a result, there is a need for some level of government spending to get things back on track.Agree Nope

11.The Fed has almost exhausted its ability to cut interest rates. And even if further cuts were made, it would make little difference as long as our other problems continue unabated.
Agree Nope

12.Our nation feels too divided along ideological lines and it seems to be hampering our ability as a nation to properly govern ourselves. The "far left" and "far right" need to come in a bit, and all need to recognize the need for and value gained by consensus and compromise. Yesterday's gone. Tomorrow's not here yet. What matters is now.Agree Nope

And there you have it.

Can you agree with any or all of those statements as they are written? If you can, please say so. And if you can't, please let me know why… and as specifically as possible if you don't mind. If your disagreement is thoughtful and meaningful, I'll likely modify the statement to get you on board.

If, however, you're planning on destructive flame throwing from EITHER the left or the right… I'll tell you right now… save it… don't bother… I'll simply delete your attack crap immediately if not sooner. This isn't the thread for that… I'm not saying you can't disagree by any means... I just don't want the stuff that starts someone on one side or the other getting mad at one side or the other.

We need a baseline from which to move forward productively. Otherwise, we'll just continue to rehash the same points over and over… on article after article… seed after seed… until we won't even need to comment anymore… we'll just see a certain topic and then paste in the comments we've made previously. And won't that be fun?

And who knows... maybe we can actually agree on enough to create a statement in the form of a petition that can be signed by millions and sent to our representatives... who knows... it could happen...

Stephen Colbert's, Colbert Report had a great segment last night about the stimulus package. A lighter look at a heavy subject

Despite initial "hopes for co-operation" the Vatican has fallen out with President Obama just days after his inauguration, accusing him of "arrogance" for overturning the "global gag rule" or ban on state funding for family-planning groups which facilitate abortions overseas.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said that with "the arrogance of someone who believes they are right",

It takes a brave soldier to do what Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge did in Iraq.

It takes as much bravery to do what he did when he got home.

Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.

"It's part of our profession ... nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said of mental health problems among troops returning from America's two wars.

"I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now," said Blackledge, who came home with post-traumatic stress. "We need to be able to talk about it."

As the nation marks Veterans Day on Tuesday, thousands of troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.

As many as one-fifth of the more than 1.7 million who have served in the wars are estimated to have symptoms. In a sign of how tough it may be to change attitudes, roughly half of those who need help are not seeking it, studies have found.

Despite efforts to reduce the stigma of getting treatment, officials say they fear generals and other senior leaders remain unwilling to go for help, much less talk about it, partly because they fear it will hurt chances for promotion.

That reluctance is also worrisome because it sends the wrong signal to younger officers and perpetuates the problem leaders are working to reverse.

"Stigma is a challenge," Army Secretary Pete Geren said Friday at a Pentagon news conference on troop health care. "It's a challenge in society in general. It's certainly a challenge in the culture of the Army, where we have a premium on strength, physically, mentally, emotionally."

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked leaders this year to set an example for all soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines: "You can't expect a private or a specialist to be willing to seek counseling when his or her captain or colonel or general won't do it."

Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, an Army psychiatrist heading the defense center for psychological health and traumatic brain injury, is developing a campaign in which people will tell their personal stories. Troops, their families and others also will share concerns and ideas through Web links and other programs. Blackledge volunteered to help, and next week he and his wife, Iwona, an Air Force nurse, will speak on the subject at a medical conference.

A two-star Army Reserve general, 54-year-old Blackledge commanded a civil affairs unit on two tours to Iraq, and now works in the Pentagon as Army assistant deputy chief of staff for mobilization and reserve issues.

His convoy was ambushed in February 2004, during his first deployment. In the event that he since has relived in flashbacks and recurring nightmares, Blackledge's interpreter was shot through the head, his vehicle rolled over several times and Blackledge crawled out of it with a crushed vertebrae and broken ribs. He found himself in the middle of a firefight, and he and other survivors took cover in a ditch.

He said he was visited by a psychiatrist within days after arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He had several sessions with the doctor over his 11 months of recovery and physical therapy for his injuries.

"He really helped me," Blackledge said. And that's his message to troops.

"I tell them that I've learned to deal with it," he said. "It's become part of who I am."

He still has bad dreams about once a week but no longer wakes from them in a sweat, and they are no longer as unsettling.

On his second tour to Iraq, Blackledge traveled to neighboring Jordan to work with local officials on Iraq border issues, and he was in an Amman hotel in November 2005 when suicide bombers attacked, killing some 60 and wounding hundreds.

Blackledge got a whiplash injury that took months to heal. The experience, including a harrowing escape from the chaotic scene, rekindled his post-traumatic stress symptoms, though they weren't as strong as those he'd suffered after the 2004 ambush.

Officials across the service branches have taken steps over the last year to make getting help easier and more discreet, such as embedding mental health teams into units.

They see signs that stigma has been slowly easing. But it's likely a change that will take generations.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita Baldor contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Information on veterans health care: http://www.warriorcare.mil

Military Health System: http://www.health.mil/