[nhurto]

So by merely living in this country, I'm promoting arms sales? You do have the Taliban party line down, don't you? Clearly I am guilty and responsible for the death of millions in other countries.

Yes, you are. Part of reaping the benefits of this country is living with blood on your hands. Most Americans don't care that innocent Iraqis and Afghanis are being killed becuase they are the enemy. Watch some BBC news or read the Observer - both reputable new sources from England, our allie. You'll see plenty of articles on just how badly the US trade embargo and bombing of the no-fly zone and are hurting the people or Iraq. They are members of that country, so they are the enemy. It's just a fact of war but it's something that you should think about when you get into your nice car and drive home to a safe house. We trained Bin Laden, we armed Saddam, and we prop up Israel. I don't think you can disagree that our tax dollars go to creating strife in other parts of the world. Like it or not, US bombs, helicopters, planes, and education created modern-day Iraq. The School of the Americas is responsible for training many of today's terrorists - especially those we currently call allies helping us fight the "War on Drugs" in South and Central America.

what about Nuclear weapons, do U feel safe with them around. When we were face to face with the Soviet should the USA just have said we're dismantling them. There isn't much difference from a nuke in the silo and a gun in the drawer simply because a thug is a thug whether it's a country or some scum bag out to rob U. Neither side if I recall used Nukes, it was called mutual deterence. Now this is a little obtuse as a anti-Gun Control arguement granted.

No, I don't feel safe and niether do most humans - which is why MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) was so convincing as foreign policy both in US, USSR, and the rest of the world. You're right, a thug is a thug whether a scumbag on the street mugging old ladies or a spoiled rich kid sending other people's kids off to die(this is both Bush and bin Laden, BTW). Where this breaks down in this debate is in that missiles give enough warning for one side to launch a counter strike, guns don't

I just think Michael Moorer is a pimp for the Democratic party. Anything that doesn't promote Socialism in this country Michael is against.

Pimp for the Dems? Not a chance. Socialist? Probably a moderate one like the Swedish or Canadian model. Say what you like about them, they still have a higher standard of living with less crime and less polution than we do. Socialism is just another way of looking at how the economy works. In some ways it's better than capitalism, in some ways it's worse. (FWIW, the US and the above mentioned are both mixed economies we just lean further away from socialism than they do. However, we all redistribute wealth in the form of non-earned income or services.) Sorry to get off topic but I can't stand the knee-jerk reaction that anything "socialist" is un-American since our economy has plenty of socialist policies benefiting both the rich and the poor.

I love my country, but sometimes our myopic politics really makes me wonder what the hell we are thinking. Fortunatley, as an American I have the right to say so which does make me proud.