For many, for decades, it's just been a typing exercise, that sentence. But now it's time. Time for the whining, foolish hypocrites who say President Bush is "not my president" to stop fooling around.

Why? Because the political divisiveness of the past decade has been the deepest, perhaps, in American history. There is hate on all sides of the political spectrum, real hate of those whose opinions are different. Hate is catching on.

And because of this thing we call truth. It's a truth that President Bush won the 2000 election fairly. You can say he got 100-thousand fewer votes than his opponent and that would be true, but it's also true that he won the Electoral College and that's how it works. Period.

You can say it's time to get rid of that venerable institution the College, which essentially protects the heartland from being bullied by the big population centers, but it's too late to change election 2000. Period. That's the truth. 

You can say the action in Afghanistan and, perhaps, Iraq is "not my war" and that is well true if you're not a US citizen. But if you are a US citizen but didn't vote, what do you care? If you don't take part in the electoral process but you complain about the leadership and policies, you're more of a hypocrite than any of the politicians you like to criticize.

I hate to put it this way, but:

If you're among those who feel ashamed of the new US fight (that started, don't forget, with terrorism that killed 3,000) -- feel ashamed because of a lot of unproven assumptions, and if you literally hate those whose opinions differ from yours, then try to open your closed little mind and remember the other typing exercise:

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their neighbor.

-- Mike Shiloh