<I have a question for you. Do you consider yourself a liberal or a
conservative? A democrat or a republican? I'm curious, because I
see most of the opposition to this war coming from liberal democrats
or worse. Worse being those people who are really communists or
socialists who despise capitalism and America.>

I consider myself a free thinker and do not categorize myself
as a democrat or republican. Frankly it seems to me that those
two parties have melded into some kind of republicrat at best.
Am I liberal or conservative? Again, I find it hard to categorize
myself. I believe what I believe and vote with whomever happens
to share the biggest part of my beliefs....or in the last few elections
who I felt to be the lesser of two evils.

Now, while I agree with some of what you said about the actions
of SOME of the protestors, I also firmly believe that the right
to dissent is part of what makes America strong. By the same
token there are protestors who are doing so peacefully, just as
there are some being infiltrated to make them look more radical
so police action can happen. I also find it heinous that the
police utilized rubber bullets and/or wooden pellets on some
of the protestors - two pictures I have seen are particularly
disturbing: one being a young woman hit in the face with a bullet
and one being a young man who was hit IN THE BACK while leaving.
I have been to protest rallies, though not regarding this war,
and I believe in Civil Disobedience because I feel at times
it is neccessary. The AIDS movement, for example, was a neccessary
thing. People are alive today because others committed acts of
civil disobedience and protested in the streets until medicine was
available and needs were met. Thank God for those with conscience.
I am thoroughly tired of hearing the very
anti-American response "if you don't like it leave." The freedom
to dissent is one of the very things that makes this country great.
I can disagree with you, or my govenor, OR my president and it's OK.
At least supposedly ok, I don't know now with the patriot act.

In response to your comment regarding "selected not elected" well,
that's over with, no matter how I feel about it. Old news unlikely
to change eh? My problems with Bush have absolutely nothing
to do with that. It would be an exercise in futility to continue
to complain about something that will not be changed. I do, however,
hope that the election process is refined so as to no more be
in question because of that debaucle.

Now, in regards to why I dislike Bush, well my posts have pretty
much summed up my opinions/beliefs.
-I think our "free press" is no longer free and we are being fed
propaganda.
-I think this war has absolutely nothing to do with the reasons
we have been given.
-I think there is enough evidence that can be found by those
who would look to see through the explanations we have been given
but no one is looking.

For example:

GORE VIDAL AND 9/11
According to Kupferberg, the events of 9/11 are about as real
as Soviet submarines surfacing off the coast of Nicaragua in
1954 to ferry arms to the so-called communists of Guatemala.
And it's not just Kupferberg, but many, many others who think
so; take Gore Vidal, for example. Vidal writes:
"Stan Goff (a retired U.S. Army veteran who taught
Military Science and Doctrine at West Point) writes,
'I have no idea why people aren't asking some very specific
questions about the actions of Bush and company on the day
of the attacks. Four planes get hijacked and deviate from
their flight plans, all the while on FAA radar' ...
Incidentally, Goff, like the other astonished military experts,
cannot fathom why the government's automatic 'standard order
of procedure in the event of a hijacking' was not followed.
Once a plane has deviated from its flight plan, fighter planes
are sent up to find out why. That is mandatory law and does not
require presidential approval, which only needs to be given if
there is a decision to shoot down the plane.
"Goff spells it out: 'The planes are all hijacked between
7:45 and 8:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time. Who is notified?
This is an event already that is unprecedented. But the
President is not notified and going to a Florida school to
hear children read. By around 8:15 AM it should be very apparent
that something is terribly wrong. The President is glad-handling
teachers. By 8:45, when American Flight 11 crashes into the
World Trade Center (a FULL HOUR after the first plane is
hijacked), Bush is settling in with children for his photo
ops at Booker Elementary. Four planes have obviously been
hijacked simultaneously, an event never before seen in history,
and one has just dived into the world's best-known twin towers,
and still no one notifies the nominal Commander-in-Chief.
"'No one has apparently scrambled (sent aloft) any Air Force
interceptors either. At 9:03, (ONE HOUR AND EIGHTEEN MINUTES
after the first plane is hijacked) United Flight 175 crashes
into the remaining World Trade Center building. At 9:05
(ALMOST TWO WHOLE HOURS after the first plane is hijacked)
Andrew Card, the Presidential Chief-of-Staff, whispers to
George W. Bush (who) 'briefly turns somber' according to
reporters. Does he cancel the school visit and convene an
emergency meeting? No. He resumes listening to second graders ...
and continues the banality even as American Airlines Flight 77
conducts an unscheduled point turn over Ohio and heads in the
direction of Washington DC. Has he instructed Chief-of-Staff
Card to scramble the Air Force? No. An excruciating 25 minutes
later (ONE HOUR AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES after the first plane is
hijacked), he finally deigns to give a public statement telling
the United States what they have already figured out - that
there's been an attack by hijacked planes on the World Trade
Center. There's a hijacked plane beelining to Washington, but
has the Air Force been scrambled to defend anything yet? No.
"'At 9:30 when he makes his announcement, American Flight 77 is
still ten minutes from its target, the Pentagon. The Administration
will later claim they had no way of knowing that the Pentagon
might be a target, and they thought Flight 77 was headed to
the White House, but the fact is that the plane has already
flown South and past the White House no-fly zone, and is in
fact tearing through the sky at 400 nauts. At 9:35, this plane
conducts another turn, 360 degrees over the Pentagon, all the
while being tracked by radar, and the Pentagon is not evacuated,
and there are still no fast-movers from the Air Force (ONE HOUR
AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES after the first plane is hijacked) in
the sky over Alexandria and DC. Now the real kicker: a pilot
they want us to believe was trained at a Florida puddle-jumper
school for Piper Cubs and Cessnas, conducts a well-controlled
downward spiral descending the last 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half
minutes, brings the plane in so low and flat that it clips the
electrical wires across the street from the Pentagon, and flies
it with pinpoint accuracy into the side of the building at 469
nauts.
"'When the theory about learning to fly this well at the puddle-jumper
school began to lose ground, it was added that they received
further training on a flight simulator. THIS IS LIKE SAYING YOU PREPARED
YOUR TEENAGER FOR HER FIRST DRIVE ON I-40 AT RUSH HOUR BY BUYING HER
A VIDEO DRIVING GAME ... THERE IS A STORY BEING CONSTRUCTED ABOUT THESE EVENTS'."
Moreover, one should not forget that during this entire time,
passengers on all four flights are using their cell phones to
frantically call anyone and everyone they can reach - over one
hundred separate calls are placed over a period of almost two
hours - to tell the world what's occurring - IN DETAIL. And the
government - let alone the president - doesn't take any action
for two hours? Come on now! - it's easier to believe in the tooth
fairy than this "cock and bull" story. People believe it only because
they WANT to believe it, not because it makes any sense

Do I believe Saddam is the good guy and Bush the bad guy? NO
I believe Saddam is an evil jackass of a dictator, but has he
done anything to me? No. Is he capable of doing anything to me?
No.

In conclusion....
So, in order to prove to Iraq/Saddam that the UN is viable
and cannot be ignored we are going to ignore them to wage war in order to preserve
the UN's ability to avert war.

And we cannot afford dissent at home, we must speak with a united
voice against Saddam's failure to let other voices be heard.

We are sending a mighty force there to prove to him that Might does
not equal RIGHT.

A dictator who ignores his own people cannot be left in control,
and if OUR people do not agree with that....we must ignore them.