I'm fully aware of the real issues, GUEST. I can read, I can listen, and I can cruise the internet as well as anyone else. But I can also think. You start with a few facts (a fair amount of what you say is true), and the conclusions you draw from those facts, plus a lot of stuff you pull out of thin air, make things look far worse than they really are. God knows, they are bad enough as is. I am reminded of the excesses of some of the more vocal activists during the Sixties. Things were a mess, but the gross exaggerations of these people made the rest of the activists look like a bunch of asses, so many folks just didn't pay attention to anything activists said, considering them all a bunch of raving, wild-eyed kooks. Barfing out this rampant paranoia is not helping.

Also, I think you get your rocks off by repeatedly telling other people how stupid and ignorant you think they are compared to your own worldly wisdom. I'm older than dirt, I've been through a lot of crises, and I've met your kind before.

Don Firth