I had to create an account, but that was a simple process. There was a point where they ask for a SSN, but they give you the option of providing it offline (which I thought was a nice touch).

Afterward, they asked me to submit any kind of record that shows that I lived at that address (which I did) and it was a done deal. In theory, I should get my money in a while. I will update this page at that time.

President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But
the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq .

Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one
his father fought for in WWII. It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The
country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still
believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had
elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those
leaders.

Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied
behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them
or not or whether the war was going badly or not.

And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as
it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than
we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The
people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty.
Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to
win that war.

Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in.
Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for
the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy
stamps for war bonds to help the effort.

Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or
condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their
work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from
gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little
complaining.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the
President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat
actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators
of hostile countries and complain to them about our President.
Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the
troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off
with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our
troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots
in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum
damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were
doing to catch spies.

A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had
complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by
being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation
by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.

There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected
to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity
in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope
pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of
terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the
courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still
the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.

It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and
Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11,
but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country
would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They
believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not
convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over
three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists
cause…Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many
potential recruits.

So…we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall.

Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

Publicly, partiallly because of social norms, and partially because of lack of publishability I expect. Now, even the lowliest citizen can get on a blog and speak their mind and this is a good thing, not bad. It doesn't necessarily follow that because there wasn't much public complaint that it means that the people were supportive of our country and the war.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President.
Our president then was Roosevelt who worked hard to fix the ills of common people gonig so far as to have weekly radio "fireside chats" where he shared his opinions with the public, inviting scrutinty and feedback. His new deal programs lowered unemployment from 20% to 9% in just 4 years (preceeding WW2 since that created many new jobs not related to Roosevelt's work). He was a pioneer in civil rights and made several concrete advancements in society and the military for minorities. "Roosevelt has been consistently ranked as one of the greatest U.S. presidents in historical rankings" (Wikipedia).

On the other hand, we have Bush. His signing statements challenge more federal laws than than all other presidents in history combined. He has elevated our national debt more than all other presidents in history combined. He has been the champion of laws that remove our personal privacy and freedom in the name of national security such as the Patriot act and the Military Commissions Act. He has told us that we should allow violations of the law in the name of national security and to challenge him is to be a "traitor" or "unamerican". His office "loses" critical evidence, his appointees are awash with scandals, he uses torture, but won't call it torture, and he even commuted the sentence of his friend who had been convicted of a crime.

Of course there will be a difference in the radio coverege.

And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!

I think that supporting the troops and teaching the factual reasons why we should support our country and what makes it great is critical and a current hole in our education system. To imply that the pledge of allegiance and prayers accomplishes this is false.

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage.
Good point.

No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.

Which is why terrible abuses of power and persecution of innocents occured and still occurs. These practices always need to be questioned especially in the cases where torture and imprisonment are used without proper cause (such as the case with the Japanese internment camps and recently with Guantanimo). No reasonable person cares what we do to actual terrorists to get information, but stop pretending it's not torture.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism.
I can't agree with this. I think he's made many, many mistakes.

It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

This assumes a lot. There happens to be a vast amount of people in America and the vast majority are still honest, decent people. We united and are still united in that terrorism must be stopped and that there's no justification for the killing of innocent people. However, we are divided in what it takes to accomplish that. There are some who say "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" - Benjamin Franklin.

For real progress, for true advancement of our nation and a reversal of the slip-slide we've seen in the last generation, we need to make our country something to be proud of again. We need a leader who will hold government agencies to task for abuses, not encourage them. We need someone who has the guts to veto laws he doesn't agree with instead of just passing them and issuing signing statements. We need someone who knows what a good law is when he sees one.

We need leadership in congress that's not so stuck up their rears about getting reelected and worrying about their bank account to do the right thing. People who will impeach a President for his crimes rather than threaten and bluster, but never actually take any action. We need laws that protect the interest of normal people rather than big businesses. We need government agencies to be funded when they work, and dismantled when they don't.

We need schools to be based on learning, not on testing. We need kids to be taught more about the world and our own country so they can see for themselves what makes us great and where we are lacking. We need to teach them that we don't have to (and shouldn't) accept incompetent courts, congress, or exectutives that all of these things can and should be challenged.

We are a nation of the people, though our nation seems to have forgotten that for the most part. To attacking detractors and those those who speak out is the very definition of traitor in my book. There is no word more vile than "heritic" for it means it's wrong to think and to question.