I appreciate the comments of some citizens recently concerning the historical achievements of past presidents. I think it is interesting how the younger conservative observers think they see history in a more clear light than those who actually lived it. For those who came of age during Reagan’s era they erroneously believe that Reagan single handedly destroyed the USSR. I know how simplistic and comforting it is for blind partisans to believe this but it fails to account for the endless work of the six previous administrations and the 40 year cold war that took place in order to weaken Russia before they collapsed under their own weight. At the same time these partisans ignore the treasonous actions of Reagan and his people in the Iran/Contra crime. I find it comical how some right-wingers continue to twist and distort reality relative to the present imperial presidency and other previous presidencies. It makes one wonder if they truly believe the garbage disseminated daily by the likes of the uneducated blowhard drug addicts like Rush / Hannity or are so naiveté they just don’t know any better. They write letters but fail to see that the thing they criticize is exactly what they espouse themselves. Some have no clue what critical thinking is and make comparisons between errors of politicians that are presently in office with those actions made when some are out of office and the real time consequences of those mistakes on the U.S. The fact that the present Bush Administration (Rice, Cheney, Bush & Co.) failed to heed the specific warnings of 911 months before it happened and the fact that this administration lied repeatedly about WMD’s and going to war with Iraq which had nothing to do with 911is all the evidence one needs too make a judgment of their honesty and discernment skills. Any president under the same circumstances would have gone after Bin Laden. It doesn’t take a cowboy hero to take the country to war but I don’t think many would start an unnecessary war on a country that did nothing to us except horde oil that “w’s” corporate pals want. On a positive note I feel the present administration PR men are masters at manipulating the media and diverting attention away from their endless failures and scandals like no WMD’s, the Downing Street memo and unarmored Humvees for our troops. “w” won’t even ride in an unarmored limo in America much less in Iraq. Why should he ask our soldiers to? During exposure of bad news which comes out daily on the corruption of this administration Rove and the right-wing talk show mannequins are masterful at changing the subject and making the media spend all their air time on gays, Michael Jackson or Terry Schiavo. They truly believe that the best defense is a strong offense. Mumme tried that at UK to no avail and it won’t work now for the Neocons either. Even under previous administrations like Clinton’s, right wingers were successful in diverting attention away from the unprecedented peace and prosperity generated during the 90’s to impeachment because of a trivial affair. Sounds like the little ditty about the Pharisees casting Jesus’ miracles in a negative light doesn’t it? The Clinton administration stopped over 100 terrorist attempts including the millennium bombing plan but received no credit for their achievements. They passed on specific information about terrorist activities and plans when Bush came to office but they ignored it. The results speak for themselves. The media ignore all the lies about going to war and killing over 100,000 civilians unnecessarily. We are less safe today than five years ago with Mint Lee Ill in Korea and the Ayatollah’s of Iran with nuclear weapons as well as unprotected nuclear materials in Russia but all the press wants to talk about is gossip and fluff. I thought this country might wake up after 911 but it appears they just pulled the covers over their heads. This administration has consistently avoided having to answer the tough questions and being held accountable for their actions and mistakes. It’s never too late to begin before they do any more harm.