Evangelicals are absolutely guilty of this, speaking as a semi-Evangelical type (semi- because I am rather horrified at some of the positions my fellow churchgoers appear ready to justify, such as that torture poll yesterday) myself. The idea that we are being persecuted on a behalf of a belief system that is a effing litmus test to be POTUS is absolutely absurd. It must be a kind of defense mechanism. Nobody likes to think of themselves as the oppressor, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

"they have an actual mental illness, and society must spend some money diagnosing and identifying it-- it's costing us trillions of dollars and hundreds of millions of lives. We have to stop trivializing the problem these individuals present."

So what kind of solution would you suggest, reallynow? Perhaps a kind of "final" solution?

Bachelet is is a socialist! Chile is ruled by Socialists! That's why their economy is in a freefall, because of damned socialism! Can't you see that socialism is the path to ruin!?

Fuck off already. The Supreme Court of the United States said we are bound by Geneva Common Article Three. You've been told this a million times already. You can read the case for yourself. You're stupid or a liar or both.

Sure you are. I'm Santa Claus. You're getting a lump of coal this year.

I appreciate the sentiment, Mr. President, but have you heard the rhetoric coming from the right? They aren't interested in working with you on anything, least of all actions taken by their lord and savior Cheney. Torture should never have to be a bipartisan issue, but it is right now. More proof that our nation is off its collective rocker, morally at least.

Why would OLC have memos containing intelligence information we received? Lawyers would be entirely uninvolved. Are we supposed to be releasing CIA memos with classified information on them? Revealing sources and methods? Either the memos could never come out without legitimately jeopardizing security, or they don't exist. Either way they won't come out. Probably because they don't exist. Oh, and speaking of all the useful information we got by torturing -- We already know KSM broke after 90 seconds of waterboarding, remember? Which is exactly why we had to waterboard him 200 some odd more times, because we got so much damn useful information from torture.

and mr gut - your inability to perceive the difference between a hostage situation and detention is just amazing. you should probably go back to grade school.

"We are the Death Star. This is the Empire."

True. Is that a good thing for you? Also, I'm a grad student, but I'm not taking a break from porn. Was a good line, though.

The best thing about the movie Elephant is that it provided no explanation. There is none.

Sure; we can do anything we need to do in order to preserve this great country, including things that are indistinguishable from what Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany did. The evidence is in plain sight; you have to be dumb or morally bankrupt to not see it.

If anybody, regardless of station, told me I could beat the crap out of a defenseless opponent, I would be pretty incredulous. However, I'm very happy they opted for so few redactions.

If there happens to be an age difference between two people who are engaged in an authentic relationship, fine. But the cougar label is demeaning, and gender equality means that I can look down on a should-be mature man dating / taking advantage of a younger and dumber woman, as well as a mature woman doing the same with a younger and dumber man. The fact that all parties in every case are getting what they want...

(older men: sex and ego stroking; older women: basically the same, as well as the appearance of youthfulness; younger men: sex; younger women: geesh, who knows...money and security?)

...doesn't make it any less pathetic. Fundamentally selfish relationships. I suppose its the American way.

There's no such thing as right-wing radical behavior to these people. By its very definition, the term can only refer to the left wing. Therefore, any government mention of right-wing radicalism must be political persecution. Don't worry, wingnuts, the government is here to protect you. Now speak a little more clearly into the phone, the boys at the NSA can't hear you well enough.

God gave you functioning brains. He doesn't want you to be stupid. In completely unrelated news, our "Christian" ex-president authorized torture as official state policy. But I'm sure teh gays made him do it.

This is just fucking absurd. Have you seen the movie? Have you seen any of the movies you listed? Can you enjoy anything? I say this as a person who loves going to the movies and talking about movies and even disagreeing or arguing:

I am so glad I've never had to go to the movies with you. Ah, Salon--where film discussion goes to die.