As an American in the UK, I frequently have the piss taken out of me. Sometimes it's based on Ugly American stereotypes. Somtimes it's because our president is a bonafide idiot. Sometimes it's just because of my accent.

Here's the thing: none of those things even remotely describes me. I'm by no means an ugly American. I never voted for our idiot president, but if I'm responsible for every stupid thing he's done, does that make a British person responsible for Blair's disastrous decisions as well? (Of course not.) And as for my accent, it's actually quite mild, especially compared to the butchered English typically uttered by the uneducated yob who typically takes the piss out of me in this fashion.

I didn't always have this kind of understanding, and when the piss was first taken out of me, I felt hurt and offended. It took years to take full stock of myself -- as well as taking stock of the type of person who seeks to make others feel bad about being themselves -- before I realized that I don't have to play this game. Now, when some yob tries to insult me, I laugh. Often, he laughs back, and if we're at a pub, we continue getting drunk together.

...you pathetic piece of shit. You're lucky it's no worse than it is; some surely feel that you deserve prison time and/or execution for your collusion with BushCo.

And as for this:

Novak declared that the news media is overrun by liberals and that it's pretty much impossible for conservatives to get jobs in journalism anymore.

Tell that to Glenn Beck, who has one of the worst rated news shows on the air, but still gets individual face time with the president.

Like most authoritarians in our midst, once they're caught, they're always the victim. I can't wait to hear Bush's squeals of protest when they cart him off to The Hague.

"I tried to ask him questions. You know I am an Iraq vet who served my country and he can't give me a few minutes of his time, and he wants to walk off. I think that's really disrespectful," he said.

You mean to say that, after a soldier has made his great contribution, and has nothing left to contribute to Candidate Mitt (including a good photo op), that the candidate isn't really interested in the soldier or his contribution? Wow! Who knew??

Seriously, if the troops could really understand exactly how they're being taken for a ride, how their contribution is only valued inasmuch as it can advance a callous politician's personal agenda, I think we could even achieve world peace by emptying the US military of its cannon fodder.

Where do I go on Salon to find the condemnation for the bloodthirsty savages who orchestrated these senseless truck bombings?

Elephantman, the truck bomb was an atrocity. There, does that make you happy? I've spelled out the obvious for you.

However, unless the truck bombs were orchestrated by our own democratically-elected representatives, then it doesn't much matter what we think about them, does it? It's not like the terrorists are gauging US public opinion of their deeds, and making adjustments to please us.

On the other hand, the actual catalyst for all this violence -- the US' invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq -- is actually being orchestrated by our own democratically-elected representatives (vote rigging notwithstanding). Therefore, if you believed what you were taught in high school civics class, the most productive focus for those of us dissatisfied with the current state of affairs is on our representatives who are responsible for this shit.

So how do we bear NO responsibility, Elephantman?

Mentioning the concept of responsibility (for anything) to an authoritarian like elephantman is like unleashing a mouse in front of an elephant. A roar, the trampling of hooves, and then silence.

Standard Republican tactic: If the opposition is saying something you don't like and can't refute, change the topic to one you can defend. Or at least work with.

It's called a strawman argument, and it's always reserved for people who are defending the indefensible. Understand the strawman argument, and you can successfully decode every pro-Bush, pro-war argument out there.

I've never been a big fan of Hillary, and I'm concerned about how many people hate her. However, if her "hate base" consists of imbeciles like "Hitlery," then I'm not sure there's so much to worry about. These guys tend to make their own arguments look foolish, simply through their own personal style, obviously hate-fill nature, and raw lack of intelligence. In a head-to-head matchup between Hillary and the Hitleries of the world, I'm sure the old gal can hold her own.