Bravo. Succinct, compelling, and why I -- a registered Democrat -- am voting for Bush this time around.

The appeasment movement of the early 20th century found it's high-water mark among the communists of America and the fools of Europe. Millions of deaths resulted from the refusal to counter a growing military and social force, and that legacy was mirrored in the late 60's when the danger of communism was overlooked in favor of being cool.

The next stanza echos around the heads of the sensitive folk who believe that the murdered civilians of September 11th somehow "deserved what they got", and that there is now a burning need to apologize to the gentle and caring dictators of the world for our "unilateral" decisions.

Fine. Apologize all you'd like. It will make exactly NO DIFFERENCE to the outcome of this war on terror. NONE. I'll tell you what, you with your sandals and soft smiles, the souls of those lost on September 11th and the efforts of the men and women of our military who've sacrificed their present and futures deserve more than your foolishness. You go right ahead and write a poem condemming war, let's see if the Facists in Iraq are impressed. I'll vote for shooting them twice in their furry heads. Which do you think will be more effective in preventing another attack?

Dan Patterson
Winston-Salem, NC

Bill Whittle mentioned in his most recent post (circa Oct 14) that he had received 120,000 UNIQUE visits in the previous seven days. That is, people with DIFFERENT addresses connecting to his previous post, where there were approximately 500 comments from people of various points of view posted in that same period. Vanderleun, your website and others that take the time and effort to weigh and consider ideas and histories available to all of us, have served a valuable purpose. Despite the hubris of people like Chris Matthews, Halperin, Rather, McAullife, et al, there is a huge population of people that have awakened to the manipulation of news and thought that has been going on for decades.

Posts and essays such as yours, and even more importantly, the simple fact that YOU ALLOW dissenting comments, stand in stark contrast to the intellectual bankruptcy and craven gutlessness of the mis-named "Liberal" establishment that makes no attempt any more to even hide its frenzied efforts to suppress dissent and opposition. I thank you for putting so much of your time and energy into the efforts you have made.

David March, animator & fiddler