<HTML>I <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">>Santorum Says Homosexual Acts a Threat >Am I just oversensitive, or is American public life descending even >deeper into stupidity, bigotry, and violence? >Doug</BLOCKQUOTE> ^^^^^^^ CB: On the other hand, in a thread that is going simultaneously with this one, Wojtek is being chastised for expressing frustration at Americans, in general.  I suppose "American public life" is not synonymous with the life of rank and file Americans, but leaders like Santorum are rife ( someone asked something to the effect of how could an "idiot" like Santorum get to be Senator; I say  name one Senator who is not an idiot), and they don't get elected without mass , if not universal, support. And afterall, Brad D. has recommended that we be truthful and not politic. There were lots of truly good people , probably a majority, among the Germans in the 1930's , I am sure. They were overworked and lied to too. The scary thing is that there is some kind of feeling that American life _is_ descending , despite the many good Americans. The many good Americans don't seem to be able to stop the slide.  Perhaps that is my subjective viewpoint, but if several people are expressing that as the truth as they see it, that becomes intersubjective, and moves away from the anecdotal, begins to become more generally empirical and objective. But then , what is to be done ? We can't give up. To the picketline, the march, the rally !  Pessimism of the...optimism of the... ^^^^^ From: Gar Lipow <lipowg@sprintmail.com> You have long been a prejudiced ranter. I think you just passed over into troll territory. I've opposed every war the U.S. has fought in my 43 year lifetime. (Yes I was involved in anti-vietnam-war activities at the age of eight.) But you provoke a strange atavistic urge to wave a flag in each hand while shouting at you "America, love it or leave it!". Charles: OK, just as long as you don't have an urge to join the Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha. New York Oberserver - April 28, 2003 Off the Record by Sridhar Pappu -clip- In her story, Ms. Miller disclosed that in the course of reporting her piece, she agreed to several conditions set forth by the group interviewing the scientist-the Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha (M.E.T. Alpha), the U.S. military unit in charge of finding evidence of weapons of mass destruction. </HTML>