Doug, if the GOVERNMENT knew half of what it is up to it wouldn't have the storage space.

I am continually mused at the conspiracy theorists who believe the Government is hiding some huge secret. They forget that the government is made up of simple people with the same motivations as the rest of the human race. If Technician A thought that revealing the secret would get him: a) more money; b} prestige; c) laid or; d) all of the above, then that secret would be blown wide open. And there is no way to hide funding for some huge secret in the Federal Budget. There are too many people looking at it and with their fingers in the minutiae of producing it. But it makes for exciting movies....

Our founding fathers took a very radical step. But we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking they were doing it for purely liberal reasons. They were business men and the king's laws were strangling their trade. And their trade meant jobs and money for the people in the colonies.

My own definition of liberal and conservative is very simple, perhaps oversimplified but I find it works. Liberals focus on people and social ills. Conservatives focus on business, money, and a restrictive viewpoint.

Thus, liberals tax and spend the money on wastrels who mooch off the government. Conservatives, on the other hand, tax and spend the money on businesses in the form of tax breaks and "incentives". Liberals set up things so people can live their lives free and unfettered. Conservatives set up things to deregulate businesses. Liberals do not concern themselves withthe private lives of individuals. Conservatives look into the personal lives of groups of people to make sure they are living correctly.

It's no wonder that Democratic office holders have sex scandals and Republican office holders have money scandals.