There are two sides and only two sides to every “debate” – the Beltway Democratic establishment and the Beltway Republican establishment. If those two sides agree on X, then X is deemed true, no matter how false it actually is. If one side disputes X, then X cannot be asserted as fact, no matter how indisputably true it is. The mere fact that another country’s behavior is described as X doesn’t mean that this is how identical behavior by the U.S. should be described. They do everything except investigate and state what is true. In their view, that – stating what is and is not true – is not their role.

Under Bush, half the country was trained to recite all sorts of dangerous propositions about how important it is to vest The President with all sorts of powers to keep us safe, how vital it is that he keep things secret to protect us from the Terrorists, how we can trust in our leaders to exercise in ways we don’t understand because we know he’s good at heart.

And now, with Obama, a significant portion of the other half of the country is being trained to recite the same things.

link

One of my co-workers found this little nugget of genius in our codebase today.

One of the principle functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder and symbolic form) the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies.

from Brave New World

There are three ranks of those who are being saved. The first kind are like slaves who do what is good because they fear the judgment. This is what David means when he says, Nail down my flesh with the fear of Thee, for of Thy judgments am I afraid. [Ps. 118:120]

The second kind, who are like hired servants, are those who are eager to serve God because of their desire for the reward of good things, as David again says, I have inclined my heart to perform Thy statutes for ever for a recompense. [Ps. 118:112]

But if they are of the third kind, that is, if they are sons, they keep His commandments out of love for God. This is what David means when he says, O how I have loved Thy law, O Lord! The whole day long it is my meditation; [Ps. 118:97] and again, with no mention of fear, I lifted up my hands to Thy commandments which I have loved, [Ps. 118:48] and again, Wonderful are Thy testimonies, and because they are wonderful, therefore hath my soul searched them out. [Ps. 118:129]