"During the Vietnam war the US forces tried to defeat the Viet Cong in open battle. As the outcome of any serious fight between American forces and Communist forces in Vietnam was the annihilation of the Communist forces, the Vietnamese knew that their survival required a very different strategy. They were not going to defeat the American army in Vietnam. They were going to defeat the political will in the United States. Their target was Walter Cronkite, not General Westmoreland."

Their greatest supporters were college students, such as those at Kent State University, and most of Hollywood, such as Hanoi Jane Fonda. Now with the Iraq war we have virtually the same type of opposition, such as Michael Moore, George Clooney, Sean Penn (close and personal friend if Hugo Chavez),Rosie O'Donnel (all mouth and no brain)and Jane Fonda again. I report, U decide.

To the liberals that say Exxon has excessive profits. Exxon's profit dollars are huge because they are a huge company with many millions of stockholders. Their percentage of profits is in line with other corporations. In the last 12 months their net profit was 10.4 percent. GE was 13.4 percent, CBS was 9.2 percent, Microsoft was 29.9 percent and there were many more where profit is better and many that are worse.

Increasing the taxes on the corporation will just increase gasoline prices. Put price controls on gasoline and you will have a repeat of the fiasco that occurred during the 1970's with block long lines to the gas stations because there a a shortage of gasoline available at the controlled prices.

Limit their profits and the shareholders would flee to other companies and you wouldn't hve to worry about Exxon charging anything at all. The federal and state governments collect more money for each gallln of gasoline than the company mkes in profit. Any time the government gets involved in the free market you can plan on a disaster.

At the time, 60 years ago, when I operated my own drug store I worked hard to acheive 10 percent net profit. With the onset of severe compettion my net profit dropped to 8 percent and that was enough to put me out of business. At this time Walmart earns a net of about 5 percent. I report, U decide.

If Barack Obama has not been paying attention in church, it is apparent that his wife, Michelle, has. Campaigning for her husband recently, she said that for the first time in her adult life, she is finally proud of her country. In a separate speech, she said America is "a mean country."

Obama is friends with William Ayers, an admitted domestic terrorist with the Weather Underground, which declared war on the United States and claimed responsibility for bombing several government buildings, including the Pentagon and the State Department building, in the 1970s. In an interview with The New York Times, ironically published on the morning of September 11, 2001, Ayers was quoted as saying, "I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough."

Now a tenured professor at the University of Chicago (only in America!), Ayers met Barack Obama in the 1990s. They have remained friends ever since.

We are judged not just by our words, but by the company we keep. The litmus test should not be whether or not everyone a candidate knows is ideal. That is an impossible standard. The true measure of a man is in his ability to choose friends with which he can be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder, not those about whom he must equivocate and for whom he must apologize. i REPORT,U DECIDE

Political correctness is a form of censorship and a tool of cultural communism which we have seen fail. Their aim was to control the beliefs, attitudes and ideas of our citizens and to destroy Western civilization. It now seems that Islam is following the same course.

Democracy and capitalism thrive to the extent that rights and freedoms thrive. The most preciuos freedom is the ability to think and express one's own thoughts.

Political correctness is the strategy of opressors who know that shaming people into silence is control over people. Epithets like racist, sexist, homophobe and bigot are favorite ammunition in the arsenal of the enemies of free speech and free thought. Hate-crimes legislation is the next strategy in criminalizing people for their attitudes and beliefs.

I report,U decide alanrph2@msn.com

A reformed FISA, supported by the president, has been passed by a large majority in the US senate. Even ultra-liberal Sen. Jay Rockefeller has said it's passage is vital.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Inteligence Director Mike McConnel report that we are already losing valuable information due to house's partisan delaying. Speaker Nancy Pelosi refuses to bring it up for a vote, even though a majority of represenatives would vote for it.

House Democrats seem willing to give terrorists protection while allowing some businesses to be ruined by frivolous lawsuits. The House leadership apparently feels that donations from trial lawyers trump national security. You don't bite the hand that feeds you.

I report, U decide. alanrph2@msn.com.