The show goes on. And on. Sickening.

I remember how it felt working on Obama's campaign. All that hope, all those promises. Now? Like one liberal guest on a talk show said not too long ago, "We may be witnessing the most colossal bait and switch in American history."

A thought this morning about the statement "we are a nation of laws, not of men." Is this true?

I was reading "American Theocracy" by Kevin Phillips which has a huge section on religion and argues that the English Revolution of the 1640's, the American revolution and the Civil war show religion as a major factor. And religion is a major factor in voting behavior. The history of the decline of main line churches has been going on since the 1700's in the USA and the new groups are more free form, hence, less tied to reason.

Al Gore's forgotten book, "The Assault on Reason" in 2007 describes what has happened here.

The law of contradiction is a foundation of reason. If reason declines, then contradictions loose their sting.

In mathematics it only takes one contridiction to destroy an argument. In society it seems that there are no limits to the number of contradictions that are needed to overturn an argument.

It is bad enough that our culture does not even notice them in the first place, but even worse when they are pointed out and shrugged off.

Most, if not all, of the people quoted in the post would stand firmly opposed to anything that smacked of "moral relativism": the wishy-washy, gray-areas thinking that suggests one should take the broader context of any situation into account when judging its rightness or wrongness.

Could there be anything more "morally relative" than the idea that what matters is not what was done, but who was doing it?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment 1, U.S. Constitution

• (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
• (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 20 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Article 21 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Unarmed assemblies and marches may be freely organized, provided that no violation of the foundations of Islam is involved.

Article 27, Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Q [John Dean]: Is this characteristic of authoritarians, to open themselves up to being easily discredited by what they say? Or something pathological about DeLay?

A [Bob Altemeyer] : I try hard not to call people pathological. Why has he let himself be so easily discredited in this and the other cases? I think it's because he knows his audience, which will be mainly authoritarian followers, who would never doubt what he says, nor check his stories against other accounts. Studies show that authoritarian leaders can say almost anything, and their followers will believe them.

Evidence of Tom DeLay's Authoritarianism:

A Question-and-Answer Session between John Dean and Dr. Bob Altemeyer About DeLay's New Autobiography

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20070406.html

I throw up a little when I see Thomas Friedman on the TV. All I can think of is "Suck. On. This." An interesting turn of phrase that he obviously had prepared in advance.

No contradictions on civil rights

Right. Those criticizing Obama for not "doing more" to intervene in Iran are motivated by the rights you've cited. They've proven that over and over.

they are deeply embedded throughout govt and media, but we can never have an honest, decent govt until these people are gone.

"The U.S doesn't Torture."

it is truly disturbing

"I'm not for fomenting violence, nothing except to say that America's position in the world is one of moral leadership. And that's what America is all about. And frankly, it's not only about what takes place in the streets of Tehran but it's also about what takes place in America's conscience. . . . The fact is that America has been and will be the beacon of hope and freedom."

So says the 'foreign policy expert' and attention-seeking serial Presidential-wannabe.

Bomb-bomb McCain would do well to shut his ignorant pie-hole, and his equally unqualified and ill-informed daughter might consider that same advice as well, lest she wants to suffer further embarrassment, such as she did when Paul Begala put her over his knee on Real Time.

Iran Had a Democracy Before We Took It Away

by Chris Hedges

Iranians do not need or want us to teach them about liberty and representative government. They have long embodied this struggle. It is we who need to be taught. It was Washington that orchestrated the 1953 coup to topple Iran’s democratically elected government, the first in the Middle East, and install the compliant shah in power. It was Washington that forced Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, a man who cared as much for his country as he did for the rule of law and democracy, to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. We gave to the Iranian people the corrupt regime of the shah and his savage secret police and the primitive clerics that rose out of the swamp of the dictator’s Iran. Iranians know they once had a democracy until we took it away.

The fundamental problem in the Middle East is not a degenerate and corrupt Islam. The fundamental problem is a degenerate and corrupt Christendom. We have not brought freedom and democracy and enlightenment to the Muslim world. We have brought the opposite. We have used the iron fist of the American military to implant our oil companies in Iraq, occupy Afghanistan and ensure that the region is submissive and cowed. We have supported a government in Israel that has carried out egregious war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza and is daily stealing ever greater portions of Palestinian land. We have established a network of military bases, some the size of small cities, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait, and we have secured basing rights in the Gulf states of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. We have expanded our military operations to Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Egypt, Algeria and Yemen. And no one naively believes, except perhaps us, that we have any intention of leaving.

Continues at:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/22-0#comment-1232813