President Bush has often used the term Islamic Fascists. Here is a short and though-provoking video that challenges Americans to examine its own national character according to a 14-point fascism analysis (based on the writings of Lawrence Britt). The video was create two years ago, as America entered Bush's second term.
Click here for the video of the recent ABC undercover investigation showing the kinds of things army recruiters are telling potential recruits these days. To check out the President's outlook on this issue, check out this article by Tim Grive of salon.com. Here are statements made by President Bush today at…
Debate goes on, seeming forever, about the issue of religious belief in a secular society. The validity of sacred texts becomes grist for the mill and sides line up over What Would Jesus Do bumper stickers. We see competing fish on cars–Darwin fish with feet in answer to the unembellished christian fish symbol, then a bigger fish labeled Truth swallowing the diminutive Darwin fish, and on and on.
What is really at issue here hasn’t got one thing to do with who believes in god or evolution. Belief is a self-contained, private matter. The issue that gets lost in all the polemic is very simple: behavior.
Those who would sap the poison from the “inerrant word” crowd are defending their assumed right to live the way they want. One might argue that belief in god doesn’t really limit people, and as far as it goes, that is true. If you, as an individual, choose to believe in god, then you have elected to reform your life according to the tenets of your new faith. You may adopt whatever modest or byzantine traditions and habits you wish. After all, you have chosen this, you get to do it.
What you don’t get to do is tell everyone else to behave accordingly, and that’s where the meat of the issue lies.
Because fundamentalists–and we’re talking about fundamentalists here for the most part, of any stripe–do not adopt such an extreme view of faith out of intellectual curiosity or even spiritual need. They …
Check out this article and video posted on Think Progress. Don't forget to read the citations to "stay the course" and the comments. Hey! Somehow, this man is still in charge of our country. Really, time kick this fratboy out of the oval office before he accidentally (or intentionally) launches a nuke.
Paul Rieckhoff hits the mark again with this comment on Huffpo:
As a veteran of this war in Iraq, I am sickened by the consistently flip nature of the President in the face of deadly serious issues. His ridiculous banter reflects poorly upon all Americans . . .
[W]ith nukes in North Korea, perverts in Congress and 140,000 of my brothers and sisters in uniform bound to serve another four years in Iraq, I’d rather have a statesman than a frat boy.
Rieckhoff is the Founder and Executive Director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). He is also the author of a book I’ve struggled to read for the past two months: Chasing Ghosts (2006). Would you like to know what it would be like to be a soldier during the early months of the Iraq occupation? Rieckhoff’s book is the place to start.
Rieckhoff is not your typical soldier. After graduating from an Ivy League college, he signed up for the Army reserves in 1998. While serving in the reserves, he took a high-paying job on Wall Street. After the attacks of 9/11, he volunteered for active duty and he volunteered for the invasion of Iraq, to the dismay of his father. “I wanted to fight the good fight. I wanted to be a hero.”
Rieckhoff had heard Dick Cheney assure everyone that we would be “greeted as liberators.” Cheney told the country “all we had to do was take out Saddam and his regime …