Fuchs,

Your first list reminded me of a comment by William F. Buckley, when he told Johnny Carson that, "to say that the CIA and the KGB engage in similar practices is the equivalent of saying that the man who pushes an old lady into the path of a hurtling bus is not to be distinguished from the man who pushes an old lady out of the path of a hurtling bus: on the grounds that, after all, in both cases someone is pushing old ladies around."

Your list was a good example of the type of equivocation that he was referring to.

Regarding your second list, what are we to conclude when you collect a list of failures and then point out that, ah ha - they're all failures! If I pick a bushel of apples, will you be surprised to find no oranges among them?

Cherry picking your facts does not really further your argument because it is, by definition, not a sample representative of the whole. It is just a sample representative of your view. Thus far, it seems reasonable to remain skeptical that your view is accurate, given your decision to ignore anything that does not fit neatly into it.