A few points that won't go away.

[fshrink]

1- If you believe in a fantastic construction (e.g. shadows created the earth 269 years ago) you can be made to believe in ANY fantastic construction (e.g. Bush is a leader). Any religious belief is delusional and, if not contained within the privacy of personal fantasies, will systematically lead to a defeat of intelligence, and eventually to death and devastation, as it has done all along our history.

2- The vast majority of Americans are delusional. They also are uneducated, essentially meaning that they lack 2 major components of a decent education: critical thinking, which is brought about by the study of philosophy (no, not religion, philosophy) and history (no not religion, history), which brings about a depth and a breadth within which events can be situated in a context. The vast majority of Americans consciously endorsed themselves, in the person of a delusional and uneducated individual.

3- Senator Kerry, it was not a good idea to "get over" the events of 2000. Because what happened then was not just a bad day in US history. It was, I contend, immensely worse than 9/11. This was the sign that something is SERIOUSLY wrong in our institutions, democracy and society as a whole. The sign that the most powerful and rich country in the world is going through a fundamental crisis, which foreign government know and watch. The sign that the time to fight extremely difficult and profound battles had come. Battles worth losing if they make you gain grounds or some tactical advantage. This is what we get by pretending to "get over it": a completely useless loss.