Tracy,

>Fernando I have enjoyed your posts and appreciate your viewpoints. Isn't it great to be able to say how you feel openingly!

I learned thru the years (at least I tried <s>) to respect other's opinions, even if they radically different from mine. That doesn't mean that I'll not fire my guns <s>

FYI, I was in the US during the beginning of the Vietnam war (1964-1965), living in a state (Alabama) where the racial problems were very very hot at that time. I was living in Montgomery (AL) and the state governor was George Wallace (of course you know his fame!). I was in high school (Robert E. Lee High School, and there was the confederate flag in the school gym, not USA flag!). I had many school friends in Brazil that were blacks, and I couldn't understand why it should be different in the US. That was a very different reality from what I'd experienced before (I was at the age of 15).

My father was a Brasilian Air Force colonel taking courses at The Air University (at Maxwell Air Force Base), that's why I was in the US at that time. I use to say I had 18 years of military service (after the age of 18 I left home - by the time I entered in the university), my father was a very tough military, if you know what I mean.

In Brazil we had just experienced a revolution that put in chage the military as the new presidents for the next 20+ years.

I've worked as a systems support in an american computer company (Sperry-Univac, now Unisys) and in a brazilian bank associated with an american bank (Bankers Trust), so I had chance to exchange ideas and to learn a bit about americans.

Today I live in a condo where most of people living there are jews (I'm not jew), and we have all a happy living (if anybody can have a happy living in a condo <vbg>). Each of us respect other's costumes, individualities and religions.

I'm telling you this for you to understand some of the mixture of experiences I've experienced and still am experiencing, and for you to understand that I think life should be preserved at any cost, and that I don't think war is by any means a solution. We are not all "equals", and that must be preserved and respected.

We, in Brazil, are facing many problems, most of our people is poor and a war, even very far from us, will make life of our poor people much more difficult. Many people in Brazil may die because of Iraq war, not by guns, but by poverty and hungryness that will agravate.

You live in a rich country and perhaps is very difficult for you to understand some of the problems other countries have and how they could be affected by the politics of the rich countries.

The only way things may change is thru peace, respect and friendship, albeit that's very hard to achieve, IMHO.

Wish you understand what I'm telling here (of course you do!).

Have a nice weekend!

Fernando

PS. isn't great to have such nice fellows, like we have, to love!