[general_re]

You'll have to excuse me if I expect someone who gives himself the appellation "the brain" to do more than just provide his unsupported opinion. How about "matthew_the_assertion"?

[CalConservative]

On the other hand, an assertion is still better than posts like VadeRetro makes, where making personal attacks seems to substitute for factual debate. We can argue the "facts" all day and possibly never agree, but civil discourse should be the rule rather than the exception, even where we have strong disagreements.