Let's start simple.

Simple but positive.

First off, there is no place for intolerance in this world. Every human being goes though a different path in life, some of it chosen, some of it forced upon it from its surrounding environment. And that combination is what determines who the person will become. And the uncontrollable parts, such as where you grew up, the culture your parents and local society taught you, the pop culture broadcast to you, these parts are not the fault of that human being, but rather their parents' responbility to fix over time. Thus a black man growing up in the ghetto with zero opportunities laid out before him and a white man born to a wealthy family have a whole different set of problems they deal with, and its unfair to say one is better than the other. Same with the Palestinians and Israelis. One's weapon is a tank and an army, another's is a rock. Different backgrounds, difference opportunities, but all people nevertheless.

Why do you think people get offeneded when Ahmadinejad speaks of getting rid of Israel? True he never actually said to 'wipe Israel off the map' but they also on puposely don't state the obvious: that the people of Israel are a wonderful people, yet they have a corrupt government that is systematically oppressing the Palestinians and who's government is rooted in racism: that there should such thing as a Jewish state.

Just as there should never be a state just for Muslims, there should never be a state just for Jews. The government's role must be to protect all its citizens, jew or not, muslim or not. The government needs to play no role in ultimatly defining their citizen's identity. The SHOULD promote some certain lifestyles, but be honest about what they are doing, and make the message universal.

For example, smoking is legal in the US for 18 and above, but the government has permeated (successfully) a culture that is against smoking. No one was forced to think this way, and no religious reasons are given to not smoke, but they simply stated the obvious (i.e. smoking can kill you and those around you) in interesting ways that made people think and decide for themselves that Smoking is not something they want in there culture. Just like that the governments of both Israel and Iran need to take a step back and redefine themselves. If they really want their way of thinking to survive, they have to understand that the days of dictating a culture to the people is no longer valid. We must embrace diversity and learn to live with those different that us.

But they wont change; why? Basic answer: religion is the opiate for the masses. Without this organized state-sponsored religious ideology, those in control will lose their control over the population. Its just a power-high, such a great feeling to get people to go your way; some people kill just to get that feeling; others convince their congregation that they know God's words; they know what be meant by some of the ambiguous thing that He's said. They know. They know. And the people don't bother to fact-check or further investigate. Why not believe such a charismatic person?

Charisma can kiss my ugly ass. Its been a great ride, but seriously Charisma, get the fuck out. Bush can be a great buddy buddy neighbor, but that is NOT the criteria we must use to elect a president. The President needs to be a genius, he needs to be better than me in every intellectual way, not necessarily COOLER than me. He needs to think with reason and logic. He needs to embrace diversity.

I'm out.