Mark. your points are all valid and no this country is not under Islamic rule though I can cite a
number of instances where we have bent over backwards to avoid "hurting their feelings". If the
issue is if the Iraq offensive is a valid use of our defense efforts than there is a point of
discussion and certainly open to dissent. The NWP repairs are but a little bit of the thousands
of expenditures well beyond the scope of government and I certainly agree with "Ben" that dissent
in this area is required. My only real bone of contention is that for one to sit and say that the
Islamic threat is manufactured and over stated is a prime example of "ostrich" politics and I think contrary to the purpose of the government. You quote the Federalist Papers and I can assure
you that those papers NEVER envisioned "professional" politicians and in fact wanted to avoid them
at all costs. This is what we're stuck with at the moment and in the case of the NWP while probably well intentioned this project is close to being the ultimate "Money Pit". Sure it can be
made to run again but we could rebuild the Rio Grande Southern but as in the case of the NWP, why?