[Sir Taliesin]

I'm not sure that information was false. We have done some pretty terrible things in Central America. We are not innocent, but then as Larry pointed out neither is anyone else. At some point this crap of supporting dictators has to stop. And if you look at the US record over the last twenty years, that type of stuff as abatted somewhat. Many times the US "encourages" Dictators to move on and set up a democratic government. Haiti is a prime example. We were able to remove a Dictator peacefully (but a the point of a gun) out of power and install a democratically controlled government. One that is socialist in nature, I might add. Another country that we "eased a dictator out of was Panama" (that was truely at the point of a gun!!!). Panama is now a democracy. The Phillipines also come to mind as well. that was a case where we had supported a dictator, but we withdrew our support once the people of the Phillipines decided to throw him out. We could have easily kept him in power had we wanted to. There are still some governments that we tolerate out there (Guatamaula being one of them). Hopefully one of these days we'll stop supporting them as well.

Back to the original subject though. Jimmy Carter has done a Primo job since he left office (he even managed to become a somewhat decent carpenter) with the things this counrty has asked him to do. I think Carter was the most honest and moral president this country has seen in a long time, but he was a terrible president.

I have to say that his presidency set the tone of my political mindset. When he was elected, there should have been no problem with his agenda. The Democrats controlled everything; the White House and both Houses of Congress. But the Democratic leaders in Washington weren't going to let some "low-life peanut farmer" come in there and tell them how to run the country. It's a shame when the US President can't get his own party to back him up. The Democratic leadership in Washington refused to back him up. I'll never forget that and it has soured me on the Democrats ever since.

I don't think leaders have to be moral or ethical to lead. But it sure helps! Someone also said that only leaders that win wars are considered great. Well that's true. But usually that is the greatest challenge a country faces. Not always, but usually. Thnaks to all of you that hung in there til the end of my post. It was rather long and rambling.