"A guy as intelligent and inquisitive as you, Kevin, was bound to sort it all out. Sure there was frustration at the time but for me it was the frustration of people losing their lives over something that was invented for profit. That was difficult to cope with and I lost my temper at times...or a lot. In the end I think in times like that it was fine to argue and had you and others not expressed some sort of opposing opinion here we probably would not have reached as deeply into the subjects we covered. "

Thanks, Reg, I was hoping you would have something to add here because you were definitely on my mind when I was writing what I wrote.

The idea that the war was for profit seemed utterly ridiculous to me...we're America...we'd never do that or so I thought. While I did think there was an obvious securing of Iraq's oil fields aspect to the war, I had no clue of the outright profit component to what was playing out. Rachel Maddow does an excellent job of putting together the pieces of that puzzle in her segment, Hubris. I'm sure most here have seen it but I'll post the video at the end of this.

I'm hesitant to engage Pat when he says that I was never a conservative. That's just so ridiculous that there's little point in arguing it. I absolutely was but I'm so far removed from my former self that it's somewhat shocking as well as refreshing.

I like to think I'm more astute than I was than to turn over my critical thinking skills to the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity or even Beck at one point but I wasn't. These guys are very good at painting with a broad brush and appealing to a person's animal instinct rather than their real intellect. I questioned so little of what they were saying, content to remain in my comfortable bubble of how I felt the world should be despite a real disconnect between what I was hearing from their words and the real world around me.

The problems we face as a country are so much deeper than the least common denominator examples they like to use...the kind that cause one to say "yeah, you tell 'em, Rush!" I shake my head in disgust now at the Christian-right who have become so co-opted by the nationalism and fascism of our time. They're either so far in the tank or too stupid to see how they're being used. It's so disappointing to witness.

I do thank you, Reg. I thank you for the dialog over all those years and for at least engaging me when I was so lost in a world of propaganda I'd entered into.

My one regret in all of this is that my father-in-law only knew me as a staunch conservative. He was a democrat from Minnesota's iron range who was all about the working man and the middle-class. He died before I saw the light.

Kevin g