This.

Everyone is talking about WMDs, but this is the *real* reason. Saddam Hussein announced he was going to open an oil bourse denominated in Euros, which might have hurt the value of the USD. Forcing everyone to buy USD in order to buy oil helps maintain the value of the USD. So, to keep those petrodollars flowing (instead of petroeuros), we invaded, and now Iraq has no choice but to trade its oil in USD.

If the Bush administration had used this as their rationale, no one would have supported it. The average person doesn't know what an oil bourse is and doesn't give a shit what currency oil is traded in, but you can be sure that Dick Cheney knows. Mushroom clouds, on the other hand, are scaaaaaary.

In 2008, Iran opened an oil bourse trading with non-USD. The only reason we haven't invaded Iran over it is because it would damage our relationship with China, which has some leverage over the value of the USD - they hold a large amount of T-bills; they tie their currency to the USD; and, of course, we have a huge trade relationship.

That isn't the problem. The problem arises when the true believers try to force their beliefs (through legislation or otherwise) on those of us who disagree.

"Fine, then no more tax exemptions for churches." I think that is a bad idea. If churches are forced to pay taxes, it opens the door for them to demand more say in how tax money is spent. As I am biased against organized religion, I have no desire to see them have any more influence on people than they already have.

Windows 7 seems like a more refined XP to me. I skipped Vista so I can't make a comparison there. I installed it on a 5-year-old mb and 2.8GHz P4 and 1GB RAM and it runs fine. The only serious issue I've had is that if I move a window which is playing video (e.g. VLC or WMP) off the top of the screen it locks the video card up, but that's almost certainly a driver issue (XP video drivers are the only ones available). I had a minor issue with mIrc, but the Help-system-suggested resolution was actually relevant and correct. So far it seems to run everything I want just fine, but there's nothing really compelling about it over XP. And, no, the chess game and Mah-jongg don't count.