... that, between gay marriage bans, and banning flag-burning by Constitutional amendment, Congress has managed to find so many shiny objects to wave in front of the somnambulant American voter as a distraction from the messes of war, poverty, class disparity, racial, sexual and religious inequality and bigotry, and lack of access to medical care and quality education that could be occupying their little minds.

You see them stumbling around on CSPAN, and they look so dorky and incompetent. But when you stop to think about it, they're really quite clever and diabolical, aren't they?

~AS~

Overblown conspiracy theories, served up by a first-class loon who hasn't even finished going through puberty yet! Just doesn't get any better than that, does it?

What on earth is the purpose for giving these whack jobs a platform? There is so much legitimately questionable about the events of 9/11 (as well as the events leading up to them, and the events that occurred as a result of them), why must Salon give credence to an idiot like Avery?

Smoke and mirrors, people... smoke and mirrors....

~AS~

It isn't just a matter of whether Salon and Mr. Manjoo have a "right" to cover the fanatical nutjobs whose weird theories and delusions distract from daily issues of greater importance. Of course, they have the right. But don't kid yourself. Every day, Salon's editors make decisions as to what they will and will not cover, based largely on what will garner the largest readership. That means that some stuff is deemed by the editorial staff to be of more importance than others.

This is the hitch. In a day and age when young people are dying, educational and healthcare systems all over the country are crashing and burning, and torture is the order of the day, why on earth would a bunch of (I assume) well-educated, well-informed journalists waste precious time discussing these crackpot ideas, rather than continuing the fight against disinformation and deflection that this Administration is famous for.

There's a big difference between having the "right" to publish the story about fairies at the bottom of the garden, and making the journalist decision to piss away precious space actually doing so.

~AS~

BombayGirl wrote: "Consider, however that conservatives are the ones who also try to limit the role of the government, keep them out of the family, rather than move towards a Scandinavian style welfare state where the state increasingly tries to play the role of the parents."

To which conservatives to you refer? Certainly not those same conservatives who put forth legistlation banning gay marriage and flag-burning, set aside the requirement of health insurance plans to subsidize the cost of contraception, and work diligently to restrict a woman's access to abortion all over this fine land. Did you mean those conservatives? Or perhaps you were referring to those other conservatives who have passed massive tax cuts and shelters (in essence a form of "welfare") that benefit only those in the uppermost 2% of wage earners in this country.

I'd just like to clarify which conservatives we're discussing here. Because I think maybe even conservatives are a little confused about that.

~C~

"I think that our laws, I mean, I look at how the law originated, even from Moses, the 10 Commandments."

So, I guess that makes the United States a Jewish nation.

Wow. Thanks for clearing that up, Katherine.

~A~

An anonymous letter writer said:

"Mostly I hear a big, fat deafening silence from Christians when someone is spewing the most hateful stuff on their behalf and apparently on behalf of their god."

Never have I read this stated better. This... THIS is the reason that I stopped being a Christian. Over the last nearly seven years, it wasn't Bush and his brand of whackassed version of Christian imperialism that turned me off to a belief in Jesus Christ. It was the cowering mealy-mouthed deference from supposedly "mainstream" Christians to the hatemongering, racism, sexism and fascism that that particular brand of worship breeds.

I never thought I'd see people who claim to worship Jesus Christ and his teachings sit quietly by in such huge numbers while their White House and their President not only condones, but wholeheartedly embraces torture, unwarranted surveillance, illegal search and seizure, and several violations of the 1st, 4th and 5th Amendments of the United States Constitution (a document most Christians profess to love nearly as much as their precious scripture).

I walked away from my church on my 46th birthday, November 2nd 2004, when "Christians" -- full of hatred and fear and just every bad thing possible -- voted to reelect a liar and a criminal as their President.

They can have him. And they can have their god. And they can have the fiery little room in Hell that comes with both.

~AS~

Well, if it weren't for that "gutting the education budget and turning nurses and teachers into the Anti-Christ" thing...

I mean, other than that....

Who the hell is Chris Thompson and what was he smoking when he wrote this piece? Bipartisan? Oh, please. He's a Bush-lover from way back. He's accepted more special interest money than any governor in recent memory, mostly from the oil and energy corporations.

He's Unipartisan... He's all for the Party of Schwarzenegger and everything that entails, including selling out public education, alternative energy source and any meaningful stem cell research (I don't care what tune he's humming now).

~AS~