Things I want to know

1. www.dictionary.com defines racism as:

hatred or intolerance of another race or other races (3rd definition)

What I want to know is, does this definition still apply? Or has it changed to just mean white people who hate black people just because of the color of their skin? And if that's the case, what's the word for black people who hate white people for that same reason? And what about hispanics, or arabs, or (fill in the blank)?

2. Why does disagreeing with my President cause some people, including former President Carter, to brand me a racist?

3. Is the current political climate such that we will finally get a rational, independent third party kluged together from the sanest on the right and the sanest on the left, and leave the Dems and Republicans to the fringes and loonies?

4. What if Reagan was really as right as many people say he was? And what if Clinton deserved to be defined by more than just really poor judgment when it came to his (ahem) liaisons?

5. Why won't former President Carter respect the tradition among former Presidents and stop flinging criticism at those who came after him?

6. I'm a conservative, and I espouse conservative principles. When I hear people that disagree with my conservative views, I usually research their position before I automatically decide they're whackadoodle. Why can't everyone do that?

7. A man comes across a little boy stomping his foot.

"What are you doing, little boy?"
"Keeping elephants away, mister!"
"But there are no elephants here, son!"
"See how well it's working?!"

Is that how some people see the last 8 years of no terror attacks? That the actions we've taken in defense of the homeland didn't really help, because the terrorist "elephant" was already vanquished? (This question might be overcome by the events in NY and Colorado over the past coulple of days).

8. There are those who are saying that President Obama is skeptical about Gen McChrystal's memo saying that failure to send more troops to Afghanistan will "guarantee failure". Why is he skeptical? What is he basing that skepticism on? If he only deploys troops when he believes it is to keep us safe in the homeland, why do we still have forces in Bosnia? Kosovo? Is he facing the dilemma that ALL presidents face--that is, making statements during the campaign that can't be supported after all the information is in?

I think that's it for now.