This is an OpEd that is long overdue. Just in case I disappear or meet my unexpected demise, I would like to get a few things off my chest while I have the clarity of mind (my opinion) to do so. I am sure that the following opinions are not unique to this native NY'er of Italian and northern European descent born in the age of the "baby boomer". Here goes;

To all the right wingnuts that believe they have a "lock" on the answers to all the world's problems by blaming everything on the "Liberal Left", let me clue you in on a few things. First of all, patriotism and love of Country is not something that only the right can claim. I was in the military for almost 21 years and I met great many career soldiers that had liberal left wing views. Also, we are not claiming that we are being "defeated" by insurgent's riding in Toyota 4-Runner's shooting 20 year old RPG's. If the United States had truly been attacked by Iraq on 9/11, you can bet your bottom dollar that every left wing "liberal" would be crying for their heads, and we would not leave Iraq until every member of every insurgency were dead or in jail. Yes, you would still have people against the war, but those would be the pacifists that are against war for any reason. The fact is, Iraq was NOT behind 9/11 and Iraq was NOT a threat to this country. Your mentally ill, right wing President caused this War by lies and deceit, and he is now experiencing what happens to leaders that lie and deceive their countrymen. The only people he is still managing to convince are the brainless right-wingnuts that will believe any Republican President. This is because they listen to and unfortunately believe, brainless half-wits such as Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Michael Reagan, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Neil Cavuto, and all the rest of the scum that preach lies and hate and anything else that will make their ratings higher.

The left does not, contrary to right wing opinion, believe that this war is not winnable. Do you really believe that the greatest power on Earth could not defeat these insurgents if we had the will to defeat them? Don't be ridiculous. The truth is that this war is not worth the money to continue, or is it worth the loss of life that it would take. The only people that would benefit from a conquered, occupied Iraq are the oil companies of which your President has vested interest in. To fund a never-ending occupation of Iraq is not in the average American's best interests. If we were to bring back the draft, and station one million soldiers in Iraq, and control the movement of every Iraqi, your gas prices at the pump would still be higher. All the profits from this war would go to the shareholders and CEO's of the petroleum companies. We control the flow of oil in Iraq now. How much have your gas prices or heating oil prices dropped? Stop being marks in this national con job your right wing government is playing on you. They look at unquestioning patriotism as stupidity and as a license to steal from you.

As long as we (well, me) are talking about the things I want to say in the event I'm not here tomorrow, let's take religion out of the closet. Contrary to what these born-again, fire and brimstone preachers have been telling you, the founding fathers meant exactly what they said about the separation of church and state. They didn't say one thing and really mean something else like I have heard over and over in South Carolina. They said what they meant, that is why they wrote it down. They were being persecuted in the places that they came from, and that is one of the reasons that people took that dangerous, treacherous trip across the Atlantic to scrape out a new life over here. They did not want religion to be a part of our government because they did not want this country to persecute anyone for their religion, like they had been persecuted. Does that make any sense? This utter crap that the United States was meant to be a Christian country is just crap. This is a secular nation. You have the complete freedom to worship any god that you want, but you don't have the right to shove your particular religion down anyone's throat. That means that if a Congressman wants to take his oath on the Koran, it's just as good as taking it on the Bible. This is the Law of the Land. If you disagree with it, then move to another country!

The United States of America is just one country out of many on this planet. We have no right to tell any other country what government they should have. We have a right to believe that everyone should live under a democracy, but we have no right to demand it of any nation. What they do is their business, just as what we do is our business. We don't rule the world. If you believe that we do...get over it. This President is not hated because he is a right wing conservative. He is hated because he has made this nation contemptible in the eyes of the world. He is hated because he started a war based on lies and deception. He is hated because he has scrapped most of the freedoms that were given to us by our founding fathers and The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. He is hated because he has caused a hundred thousand of our best and brightest to either die or become disabled. He is hated because he is primarily responsible for this war in Iraq that has left upwards of 700,000 Iraqi men, women and children dead. He is hated because he listens only to his own counsel and will not listen to his fellow countrymen.

He is going to ask for more troops to escalate this war this evening. He does not remember the events that took place in Vietnam because he was drunk or on drugs during that time. This is an evil man. He should be removed from office regardless of what anyone says. I believe that he is traitor to what this country stands for, and he should be removed from office. I don't make this stuff up. I only wish I did.