Thank goodness Obama proved his bona fides as a member of the "reality-based community" regarding the putative Israeli raid on Syria and further sabre rattling against Iran.

First, the Syrian scenario reeks of the manufactured skullduggery portrayed in "Wag the Dog" (There is no B-3 bomber!).

Second, any Senator who will blindly authorize the use of force against any other sovereign nation soley on the "intelligence" provided by the Bush/Cheney regime -- at this late date -- should lose all credibility as a Congressman, much less as a candidate for president.

Obama proved he not only was right about the Iraq war, but that he won't be stampeded into another debacle on cooked, cherry-picked, stove-piped "intelligence" from proven liars.

Many Democrats seem much too credulous to be taken seriously.

Isn't it odd that the moron who said:

"The more the Europeans attack me, the stronger I am in the United States."

Is apparently totally oblivious to his Iranian doppelganger's:

"The more the Americans attack me, the stronger I am in Iran and the Islamic world."

Any "Democrat" chosen by Fox News to represent the progressive/liberal viewpoint would not be chosen for his/her persuasiveness or ideological purity.

The Fox definition of "Good Democrats" are those who find themselves in frequent agreement with Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.

You know, like Joe Lieberman.

Perhaps we can clarify for our politically retarded opponents on the right:

Casually killing innocent civilians in order to accomplish some political/economic/military objective -- or supporting such actions -- makes one a "Nazi" in the popular parlance.

Running a political ad that doesn't resort to lies, or publicizing some demagogues' own words in order to embarass them and shame their supporters does not a "Nazi" make.

For Right-Wing Authoritarians, "Nazi" has apparently come to mean any political speech or activity they disagree with.

To think that a great nation that won two world wars has been reduced to such pants-pissing hysteria by 19 guys with boxcutters and an audacious plan is literally beyond belief.

Considering the thousands of needless deaths and maimings and the trillions of dollars wasted in Iraq, and the trashing of our democratic constitutional traditions, the neocons and George W. Bush have done more damage to America than Al Qaeda could ever imagine.

And now they want to blame their failures in Iraq on Iran (surely more Shock & Awe is on the horizon)? If only we had a political opposition in this country.

much of the Beltway's acquiescence to the administration's lawbreaking and radicalism is due to their sheer inability to comprehend and internalize just how extreme it all has been

It's difficult enough to analyze "the big picture." It's even tougher when a truthful assessment can have adverse career consequences.

We must face the fact that America is now a Pornocracy.

Our so-called "main-stream media" has been consolidated under the control of six huge corporations. Seeing what happened to Dan Rather, Ashleigh Banfield, Phil Donahue and others who have dared to attempt to tell the truth has had a chilling effect on press freedom. The lesson: Better to play dumb and keep your job.

Even worse is the disgraceful scrambling for cash by our elected officials. There are few politicans willing to put their country's interests ahead of their own. Can there be any other description for these politicians than "whores"?

Many of our congressmen would surely share our outrage at the criminality of the Bush regime. They're just too busy raising money for their next campaign to pay that much attention.

And who's the ultimate beneficiary of all that campaign cash that our politicians have to whore themselves for? Big media: those vapid, information-free campaign commercials provide a semi-annual bonanza for all the TV networks.

Only a Constitutional Amendment establishing that money does not equal speech and mandating free TV time for qualified candidates can begin to fix the slow-moving train wreck that brought us the Bush regime.

The Right has championed ridiculous Amendments (flag burning, marriage, etc.) for a generation. Here's an Amendment for our side -- and one that could defeat the Pornocrats and restore our constitutional democracy.

The overall situation regarding the nexus of Israel, Neocons and the Religious Right is this:

1) The very existence of Israel is threatened by the possibility of nuclear weapons in the hands of jihadists. One or two nuclear weapons could completely obliterate the Jewish state. But would jihadists with suicase bombs sacrifice the Palestinians in order to destroy Israel? Possibly, although it doesn't seem likely.

2) American Neocons, primarily Jewish and liberal on other social and foreign policy issues, are committed to protecting Israel against all potential existential threats. Hence, Iraq was destroyed and now Iran is in their gunsights. Neocon policies support their misperceived Israeli interests at the expense of US interests, and as in the case of ADL's Foxman, make for some mighty strange bedfellows.

3) Once Iran has been reduced to ruin, Pakistan and then Syria and Saudi Arabia will have to be "dealt with." The Israeli tail is wagging the American dog into unprovoked wars not seen since WWII.

4) The American Rapture Right (aka Christian Zionists) will support all this because Israel must exist in order for their biblical prophesies to be fulfilled and for Jesus to return. All other considerations are immaterial to them.

It is a great historic irony that the concentration of a large Jewish population in Israel -- meant to be a homeland and safe haven after the Holocaust -- has become an even greater danger of genocide in the era of nuclear weapons.

One has to wonder what Israel's security situation would be like today if the Irgunists had not ultimately triumphed over the Haganah and their policy of "restraint."

Israel can continue its slide into theocratic fascism -- or not. Hopefully not.

But the real question is this: Why are American taxpayers still subsidizing this prosperous, armed-to-the-teeth, sovereign state?

Too lame to think-up a moniker?