I am a little shaky on how the state module works. I was just curious if the below line is a universal white list i.e. equivelent to iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT
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iptables -A INPUT -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
The only other possibility for state is INVALID, so while your rule is not semantically a universal whitelist, it is practically equivalent for all ordinary purposes.