I didn't quite expect California Republicans to be as stupid as their Texan counterparts. Of course, I had forgotten that Michael Savage was from San Francisco.

An antiwar protest was organized yesterday for the commemoration of 9/11 (please, get over it. Some countries have been through worse. Verdun? Auschwitz? The killing fields of Cambodia? Anyone?) Needless to say, the College Republicans waged their usually rhetorical war, calling the protesters "bad citizens (...) [and] bad Americans." You know, the tedious banalities.

Here is my response to Leigh Wolf, their president:

"Oh, Western/American civilization is in peril. No one but us can save it from those degenerates." I find it funny (in a tragic way) to see this slogan used over and over again, and by the same people at that. It is a tactic that dates back to the 1930s (guess from what political group. cf. Atlantic Monthly's article from last year). The American culture will do just fine whether the ISO or the SAW are messing with it or not. Of course, Leigh, I don't expect you to address that. It's not something you could have picked up from Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter or Michael Savage. I will be kind and will not accuse you of plagiarizing/xeroxing their opinions. What I find distressing, rather, is your sidestepping of the issues Alex raises. Do you consider the lives of Americans more important than the lives of the Afghani and Iraqi civilians that were lost as collateral damages? (as an aside, I do hope you will not dismiss those "collateral damages, " since even the US military acknowledged them)

Because, from what I see in those pictures and videos of the protest, that have been posted here, that is a question that stems directly from the events that occurred on September 11th 2001, that is to say the use of a terrorist attack to activate the full American war machine. Was the invasion of Afghanistan necessary? Absolutely, since there was no other way to get Osama Bin Laden. Was the loss of civilian lives avoidable? Yes, for the most part, through the proper investigation of intelligence. Which would have also prevented the invasion of Iraq. Because, quite frankly, most intelligent services knew Saddam Hussein was not in cahoots with al Qaeda. Even I knew that and I didn't have access to that intelligence (but rather, a certain knowledge of Islam).

All of which lead me to question your definition of what being an American and a citizen means. Does being an American preclude the rigorous questioning of how power is being used by the elected government? For all that matters, I applaud the Republicans for trying to impeach Bill Clinton even though I found the reasons completely ridiculous. It was an exercise of democratic power, something that other countries, even France, Germany or the UK lack. So are we to behave like little soldiers because the country is at war? Well, maybe if the United States were a hierarchical country in principle, you know, a country where orders are given in a theological manner, that is to say from a Commander-in-Chief to a lower subordinate and where people dress accordingly to their function. But I doubt many of the protesters would agree with this (would you, Leigh?). For all that matters, maybe those protesters see the United States as a country that could be just and righteous, but reality is getting in the way.

I mean, read the signs, for God's sake. Have you seen any signs that asked for the USA to be dismantled?

Finally, Leigh, I could explain to you quantum mechanics, M-theory, Fourier transform, Darwinian and Lamarckian evolutions, and punctuated equilibrium. However, I don't expect you to understand what I would say.

I do expect Mr. Wolf to ignore my questions and to call me an emotional liberal. What's with people calling me "emo" or "liberal" those days.