Or stupidity.

And in truth, the condition that Shenkman seems to be anatomizing is not so much stupidity as malleability. Americans are very good, he says, at being manipulated and lied to (to buttress his point, he offers a brief history of political ads) and we're equally good at lying to ourselves. Is it any wonder, then, that our current president was able to ram such an ill-advised war down our throats?

We have been taught to be malleable from the day we become aware of ourselves. WE MUST RESPECT AUTHORITY! We are taught to have faith in our parents, our elders, our police, our teachers and our government. we then get older and the powers that be know they can treat us like mushrooms (keep us in the dark and feed us shit) and they can do so without question.

As late as the spring of 2004 a clear majority remained unaware that experts such as Hans Blix (head of the UN weapons inspectors), David Kay (the former head of the Iraq Survey Group), and Richard Clarke (the national coordinator for counterterrorism) had firmly concluded that Iraq lacked WMD at the time of our invasion, even though their findings had received wide publicity.

And news to many others I would wager. If you didn't dig around the internet and read press originating outside of the U.S. I contend you would have been hard pressed to find this in the so called MSM. It may have been covered but it was fleeting compared to the pro war drum beat.

is what Joan did with Tweety's balls. She has him right under her thumb anytime she appears on Hardball.

Do you have them in a glass case setting on your mantel Joan?

the sharp rise in oil prices this year and last is due to the oil companies conceding the control of the country to the Democrats. They know the Dems will seriously look at our oil consumption and make changes accordingly. They will also likely impose windfall profits taxes (finally) and strip them of of there subsidies. They're gettin' it while they can (hat tip to J. Joplin).

Hoping Hip-Hop signed a DNR order.

"We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

I vote we hang the bastards!

I'm so mad I'm missing the second S in congressional! Damn I'm mad!

Please don't feed the trolls (bucks4mccain).

the author of the diary, Mr. Stone, that Glenn sited. I've never seen him before (I'm not an avid reader of Kos, more a casual one). But for one of the best over there, if not the best, read Hunters submission http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/21/1545/63989

need to be given to Representative Johnson(R)from Illinois for standing up to his party and giving the lone nay vote on the Republican side. I'm sure he will catch hell for that vote from the other Troglodytes.

Russia or China engineer a human with abilities far beyond normal men? A superman if you will, bred to be a warrior and fight the battles of the 21st century. Will we say no it's not something we can do because of religious dogma and become enslaved or will we meet the challenge and breed our own supermen. What say ye god fearing people that are even against biotechnology that can save lives? Would you concede your beliefs to save your culture?

Flooding nearly always have the Army Corp of Engineers cited somewhere in them. It almost seems like they build things sometimes just to have something to do. I say we volunteer their services to our foes around the world, killing two birds with one stone.

to see how Obama governs in office. He will have all the pressure any "first" has ever had plus the destruction left by the Bush crowd to deal with. We're in for "interesting" times.

we live in after Republicans are elected to "trickle down" on the peons for 8 years we endure the same crisis, bailout of financial markets. It happened after Raygun (savings and loan scandal) and now we have similar problems under Bush. I'm sure in another 10 years or so after a couple of terms of responsible leadership the collective conscience will forget and elect another bunch of fools to do it all over again.

"The nation's most cited and preeminent legal scholar."

Really? We are totally fucked.

I listened to the debate on Democracy Now and was disappointed that Glenn got his head handed to him.

I'm not sure you listened to the same debate I did, Glenn tore him up. I don't see how someone "nudges" the direct questions out of the way so they can get to their tired rhetoric wins an argument.

I'm listening to your interview of Ellsberg and his sound leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know how you are connecting but I listen to several podcasts that use Skype and the audio is usually clear as a bell.

I must say you bring a level of hilarity that is unequaled by any poster I've ever read.

Please digg this article, that front page on digg is starting to look like Free Republic.

punch of Greenwald and Somerby is truly poetic and devastating to the media naarative. If only more would listen,sigh.

You guys are my heroes.

One Two punch not on. I don't need spell check I need grammar check.

Will it never end? How can anyone feel like an informed citizen in a supposedly representative democracy when the media is so obviously corrupted?

More like delusional. How did he ever in a million years think he could run for president and keep this hidden? If there is even a chance that the child is his this denial of paternity will just make him look worse.