"To me, the outcome of the Iraq war was utterly clear before it even began. The USA plowed full steam into bin Laden's trap for us better than bin Laden could ever have hoped for. Bush emerged as a kind of mirror image of bin Laden - a fundamentalist full of hate, devoid of scruple, prosecuting a religious 'crusade' and indifferent to indiscriminant killing. Bush was able to resonate with the worst elements of the American character - bloodthirstiness, desire for massive revenge for 9/11, and proving that the USA is still #1 despite ominous trends in the global economy. 'Shock and Awe' indeed.

"Since the USA failed to learn the moral lessons of Vietnam, we are doomed to repeat the colossal mistakes. I feel shame, and am increasingly troubled by paying Federal taxes which contribute to the murders of huge numbers of civilians

"In terms of personal emotional low-points, I have to say that, for me, Bush's re-election was rivaled by the Supreme Court's appointment of Bush in 2000. That crushed me - the one leg of the three legs of our democracy where I had hoped, perhaps child-like, to find some basic integrity.

"Reading the per curiam unsigned decision in Bush v. Gore was horribly informative. The arbitrariness and the multiple gaps in logic are plain for even the untrained to see."

Trayton Jay [JayT@meau.mea.com] agrees that short-term financial mind-sets must change, but wonders about the alternatives:

"Regarding American business, the challenge may be finding a suitable alternative. There is risk in following any new or existing business strategy, and it seems that only those in private companies have the option to operate with a long term view.

"While those in a public company may know 'in their hearts' that they are 'doing the right things for long term success', this does not become proven to shareholders, board members and other managers until positive financial results manifest.

"In a public environment, how would one handle interim judgment about performance on strategies that takes several years to manifest significant positive results? What are your ideas on suitable alternatives to the current model?"

Don Hudak [buckhill1@hotmail.com] is compassionate about the differences between human lives:

"All human life does have equal value - equal as having equal inherent worth. And yet all of us are different. We have different talents, different behaviors, different lots in life. Some don't even make it past childhood. Some go on living well into old age. Some are born and live life with incredible advantages (genes, parents, freedom, luck, etc.) and others have lives of tremendous disadvantages (poor health, abusive homes, no education, etc.)

"Equal value and yet with huge differences in life are not contradictory. It is the human condition. Nor should it be our collective mission to make everyone have the same lot in life. It should be our collective mission to love one another and have tolerance for our differences. Love can be helping and comforting. Love can also be accepting.

"We struggle when confronted with the many inequities of these differences, but the nobler challenge is to love and learn from each other."