So many writers have said that the best thing to do is to keep politics off the table. That's undoubtedly the best thing for family harmony, but is it the best thing for the world?

If the political situation were such that the biggest thing at stake was, say, the general approach to taxation and government spending, then maybe.

But right now, you Americans have a government that is mainstreaming torture, that is slaughtering thousands of innocent people (and sending your children to death) in a war that was predicated on a lie and is based on political imperatives and greed.

I'd like to think this can only because so many people politely keep the issues off the table and don't make others actually confront the things they are supporting with their votes.

You don't have to search long or hard to find all the evidence needed to conclude that Mormonism and Scientology are cheap scams. And clearly their beliefs are contradictory and absurd drivel derived from the ego-centric statements of their prophets. But I find it unbelievably frustrating to hear such criticisms from Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or anyone else with a religious belief of their own.

The only difference is that the other religions have 'ancient' texts which make their madness seem somehow more solemn. But they are all invented. They are all the creation of men. They are all products of their own particular environment. And they are all false.

When you boil it down, there really are only two ways of following any religion: 1. be a fundamentalist (a consistent, if mad, position) or 2. be a moderate (a hypocritical and cowardly position).

I suppose you could say there is a third way, which is to pretend to believe because you think the rituals and social structures play an important role in maintaining social order. But that shows a lack of imagination.

So if this world remains a place where religion can flourish, then why not Mormonism? At least pluralism might help beat off the chance of a theocracy. Still, accepting and respecting all bogus shamanism as a way of protecting us from one of them is a pretty weak compromise.

All religion is infantile. It's time to grow up.

The Terrorists hate America because of your freedoms.

RWCBAC says that the lack of any historical evidence for the events in the Book of Mormon is irrelevant (you imply that it is affirming) because all the proof you need is in the Book itself.

Well, my friend, I could write a book that had no connection with reality and contained all of its own proofs. Come to think of it, so could L. Ron Hubbard (not to mention Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - let's leave Judas out of this).

Maybe I should write the book. There's clearly a buck in it and it might help me gets me some more lovin'...

So if I did, would you follow me? What are you criteria?

What do Americans mean when they say they are the "freeest" people on earth? Do they mean anything at all?

My Fell-Oh Merr-i-Kans,

Nigh-en EEE-lev-in, Nigh-en EEE-lev-in, Nigh-en EEE-lev-in, Nigh-en EEE-lev-in. Wah-RRR on TER-rawr, Wah-RRR on TER-rawr, Wah-RRR on TER-rawr, Wah-RRR on TER-rawr. Nigh-en EEE-lev-in.

MISH-en a-kom-PLISHED

Disgust: Yes

Surprise: No

Can't someone arrange for an intern to blow Bush and Cheney so that there will finally be a acceptable grounds for impeachment?

What sort of game is it when a blue dress trumps a forged memo, generic aluminium tubes, and dramatically-produced vial?

I just want to pick up on only one part of CT's advice. If you do keep that journal, write it in invisible ink, keep it under lock and key, and never never never never mention it's existence to anyone else.

Otherwise you may really find out what pain is.

"Bush said the most "disappointing thing about my experience in Washington is the harshness of the discourse; is the zero-sum attitude."

Maybe my memory is faulty, but is this not the same President George Walker Bush who also said: "You're either with us, or against us"?

I'm pretty sure it's the same guy.

"Dale" has it spot on. The myth of the liberal media is surely one of the most brilliant propaganda inventions of the right. There may be some liberal journalists in America, but where are the liberal media organisations?

Of course not all news outlets are as biased and nonsensical as Fox. So when these more moderate outlets report basic facts, and those facts continue to show, time and again, that the neocon agenda is insane, out of touch, and just plain incompetent, then the neocons can either face their folly (not likely) or blame the media.

When the message is so unrelentingly contradictory of the belief, then the ignorant, cowardly believers will always shoot the messenger. The myth of the liberal media makes that act easier.

If neither side of American politics can take a stand against torture, then there really is very little left of your national myth.

When the only politically sacrosanct part of your constitution is the right to bear arms then the US has finally, unequivocally lost all moral authority it may have ever claimed and it becomes just another schoolyard bully - insecure, paranoid, and isolated.

@expatriot writes: "Come on, stop and smell the roses. These people are not murdering your children and burning your village."

Well now, many families in Iraq and Afghanistan may beg to differ.

Fundamentalism is fundamentalism. And fundamentalists vote. And we know who they tend to vote for.