A few things:

“Apparently, President Bush has never done one thing right, from what I gather on Salon. So I was merely musing on the vicious attacks against him, I suppose you know someone who has all the answers. Let me ask you a serious question. Do you think President Bush has done anything right in his 6+ years? If so, what is it?”

Okay, I admit it, you’ve finally stumped me. However, even if his intentions were benevolent, the disaster he has created outweighs any possible "good intentions." By far.

“Yes, I had and do crave a strong father, don't you? I don't expect my earthly father to have all the answers but I do hope and wish for one who will strive to do his best, and to point me to the Perfect One.”

I think the mistake you are making is in substituting Bush for Jesus. I’m the last person who will knock Jesus. I just think Bush is a pretty sorry substitute.

“You say there is no such person with all the answers. Have you considered Jesus?”

Yes. My point is that you are looking for a human who has all the answers, since Jesus is in heaven, according to you. If he were here today, I guarantee you he would not be advocating the bombing f anyone. While you are at it, why don't you give us a Biblical reference where Jesus advocates any sort of warfare.

“I'm sure the books you present are sincerely written, but I could easily put as many books on the table that you would dismiss outright. Too bad, I have to make a living, I wish I could respond all day (and no, that's not a cut on my esteemed Salon colleagues, all I am saying is I wish I could respond all day.)”

Once again, the mistake you are making is that the books you present would be as scholarly, and as thoroughly reseached and tested as the ones I offered. "The Pet Goat" is not the same as "Profiles in Courage."

“You have submitted to the dogma of anything goes (except Christianity)”

That is just pure non-sense. How on earth can “anyting goes” be dogma? By definition, dogma is “a specific tenet or doctrine authoritatively laid down, as by a church...” Even if I subscribed to “anyting goes,” which I don’t, it would be the farthest thing from dogma.

I’ll leave you with this, Bill.

----------------------

While in custody during the Nuremberg trials, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goerring was interviewed by a psychologist named Dr. Gustave Gilbert. Gilbert recorded Goering's observations that the common people can always be manipulated into supporting and fighting wars by their political leaders:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

He's high.

The question was regarding "civil war." I don't imagine anybody's asserting that there's a civil war currently going on in Iran. He obviously meant "Iraq" when he said "Iraq."

When people don't use a nickname, I assume they're serious. My bad.

"Now there's nothing but lawyers and rich kids living off their daddies and pretending to be hip."

Wow, tell us how you really feel! I've lived in Austin on and off since 1981. Yes, things have change dramatically. But it's still Austin. For every good thing that's gone, there are new good things to replace it. If you look hard enough, you can still see the small town that's rough around the edges. One thing I actually like about Austin now vs. then, is that it's not as insular, incestuous and cliquish as it once was. A new guy can come to town and fit in much faster and more easily now. That's a plus to me.

"Practice Compassionate Impeachment"

A lie repeated often enough eventually becomes a "point of view."

As Glenn predicted, this false quote will become an example, as is Intelligent Design, Iraq + Saddam = 9/11, and supply side economics.

It looks like they've taken Gaffney's Feb 13 op-ed off, and now the link goes to a slightly less offensive Feb 6th op-ed.