Discourse between parties that don't see eye to eye can be civil or not so civil. Here are recent examples that are downright ugly.

European newspapers' publication of cartoons, some of which denigrated the Islamic prophet Mohammed. One showed him with a hat shaped like a bomb. Muslims say just depicting the prophet is a slap in the face of the faithful; rudely caricaturing him is a kick to the shins.

The response of some Muslims in Europe and the Middle East to the cartoons, which included rioting, setting vehicles and buildings aflame and threatening violence to nonbelievers.

The reply that Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, gave to Oliver Finegold, of the Evening Standard newspaper. As the mayor left a meeting, the reporter asked him, "How did tonight go?" Livingstone's answer: "What did you do before? Were you a German war criminal?" Finegold, who is Jewish, answered that he was not, "and actually, I'm quite offended by that," whereupon the mayor referred to the newspaper as "a load of scumbags and reactionary bigots."

A campaign by the Center for Constitutional Rights not to engage President Bush regarding his policies but simply to impeach him. Citing the "the Iraq war, indefinite detentions around the world, torture, domestic wiretappings and more," the center contends that any one could be grounds for impeachment. As a whole, a statement said, these policies "constitute something far more sinister, a plan to significantly weaken if not destroy our democracy."

Vice President Dick Cheney's remark to Sen. Patrick Leahy, in response to the Vermont Democrat's earlier reference to defense contractor Halliburton's alleged war profiteering. Cheney was CEO of Halliburton until he resigned in 2000 to become George W. Bush's running mate. During a congressional photo session, Cheney told the senator: "Go [expletive] yourself."

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