[Matt Holcomb]

I apologise for starting what I knew was a contentious thread. But I didn't think anyone would reply given the tone of my writing.

I'm sure I have made some enemies this evening (this morning for most of you), but I had to get a few things off my chest -- I had to share my pain with some of my fellow countrymen, which, as you could appreciate, is quite hard to do in the southern hemisphere. Thank God for the Internet! Well, some of you may not agree!

In case any of you are wondering, I'm not a self-hating American. I found it quite difficult to scan my passport in for the purpose of buttressing my disaffection. But I stand firm; Cheney and Bush are a virulent and destructive duo, although I agree with David Dorion -- Bush isn’t smart or self-aware enough to be described as a Machiavellian president. If Bush the marionette retains the presidency and Cheney the marauder retains the vice-presidency, I strongly believe that one day a chronically divided, dispirited and insular America -- a shadow of its former self -- will be attributed by historians to two troubled men whose shared philosophies were rooted in self-loathing.