Sorry for responding to something this far back, but I have just now come back to see responses to my post.

BigJohn & Jorge - What I find amusing is how people with their own agendas maintain close minds and do not consider all points of view before dismissing them as Partisan.

Fellow members had put something out there as fact, so I posted a link to someone's analysis that made a very solid case for why those assertions were ill-informed. Rather than say "hmmm...I've used this argument before, but it may not be entirely correct. Perhaps I should do some research for myself to make sure that the points that I am making are valid." (yes, I know that you guys didn't make the assertions), what you guys do is take the easy route and simply write off what you have read as partisan bunk.

This is no longer directed at you two guys.....I've said it before that I used to be your garden-variety bleeding heart making arguments based upon sound-byte statements/positions of others. That changed in time as I began to realize that I couldn't maintain those arguments when faced with someone who had facts to support their positions. After this rude awakening, I began to hold back on arguments until I had actual facts to back up my positions. In the process of doing this, I began to realize that my original positions didn't in fact have sound factual backing to support them. I had bit hook line and sinker on someone's line of BS and then in turn propogated that message. In then end, the biggest lesson I learned is not that the Left or Right are full of crap (though they are )....it's that one should always question any and all assertions made by others. As in science, no conclusion should be accepted as truth until it has going through the necessary scrutiny/peer-review. This is an understanding that a large segment of our society is lacking. Our politicians are fully aware of this fact and use it regularly to disperse misinformation and distortions.

Is Michael Moore allowed to do the same?....of course. But, when people make a concerted effort to clarify his disceptive and unfounded assertions, you should be spend less time attacking them for doing so and focus more on the fact that you perhaps bought into those disceptions and then consider how you can avoid being deceived in the future.