The extraordinary divergence between Bush's version of events, and those perceived by most people who read, who think, and are curious to know and understand the world, have an alternate explanation besides dishonesty on Bush's part.

It may simply be that President Bush really sees things that way, and what we are actually hearing are the manipulations and distortions of reality that have been whispered in Bush's ear by Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, as well as others in his administration.

The decision should not be "Go to war unless some definite intelligence proves there is not threat."

Rather, it should be "Go to war as a last resort if we have actionable intelligence indicating a threat."

So, to ask the correct question, go ahead, name one intelligence service that provided clear and unambiguous proof that a WMD thread actually existed in Iraq.

Probably not, and definitely not, in that order.

Michael Lind writes: "The problem is not their existence, but rather the absence of an overarching federal system, modeled on existing state systems but on a larger scale, in which each of the state economic development systems can play a constructive rather than destructive role."

But who is to decide what role is constructive for each state? In pondering the question of how much competition vs. cooperation between the states is good for America as a whole, I'm reminded of part of the thesis put forth by Jared Diamond in "Guns, Germs, and Steel" to explain why European nations dominated the global economy for five centuries up through the industrial revolution. Europe rose while China declined in this period, Diamond speculates, because of the dynamic economic environment of innovation and enterprise engendered by the competition among European states. China, with a huge advantage in power and wealth prior to the 16th century, declined due to the stifling aspects of centralized economic authority.

The lawsuit is not to stop Warren. The lawsuit is to stop prayer as a general principle. There is a distinct difference in this case, and I wish the headline had not implied that the suit was opposing Warren specifically.