in the Lounge today is disgusting. 1. There are very intelligent, well informed and reasonably open minded people of good intentions who are on the opposite side of you on most issues. If you can't understand them as other than simple minded, ill informed, unthinking or malintended then that is a reflection of your deficiencies, not theirs. Read that again; if your conclusion about the other side is that they must somehow be deficient, then clearly the deficiency is yours. There are good reasons (generally different assumptions, priorities or choices of logic trains) why people disagree with you (not necessarily well articulated by whomever you are debating). If you can't figure those reasons out, try harder rather than shouting louder. Wise up you numbskulls and this will be a more informative board. 2. Every one of you, EVERY ONE OF YOU, who wrote a post today complaining about how the Democrats or Republicans look the other way when it's their guy or scream bloody murder when it's the other guy DO THE SAME THING WHEN THE SITUATION IS REVERSED. Every bloody time. This game is sooooo mind numbingly repetitive I want to puke. 3. I know that the internet chat room is a poor place to look for social skills, but damn. I wonder if some of you are continually surprised when people react badly to you in the real world or if you just save your social ineptitude for here. If that's the case and since I won't see you in the real world, would you mind switching that strategy? Please use this forum to practice at least a rudimentary ability to communicate effectively with humans. For those of you who can't figure out what that means, here's a starter: Posting an absurd caricature or blanket insult about the other side will NEVER lead to thoughtful discussion. Why is that so hard to understand? Oh, here's another one: People with whom you are debating do occasionally make good points and sometimes they are better than yours. Conceding those will make them much more open to what you have to say too. Come on people, this ain't rocket science so why can't you do it? 4. And yes, I have deficiencies too. Please don't use that as your excuse. I'll try to do better. How about you? Hugs and kisses. BEV