It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that’s not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all.

Perception is everything. It’s certainty. People love the President because he’s certain of his choices as a leader, even if the facts that back him up don’t seem to exist.

It’s the fact that he’s certain that is very appealing to a certain section of the country. I really feel a dichotomy in the American populace. What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true?…

Truthiness is ‘What I say is right, and [nothing] anyone else says could possibly be true.’ It’s not only that I feel it to be true, but that I feel it to be true. There’s not only an emotional quality, but there’s a selfish quality.   more »

The problem for U.S. citizens who believe in freedom of thought and the separation of church and state occurs when religious activists attempt to force their beliefs on everyone else.

This has been an historical problem in the U.S. education system, even as recently as 1999 when the Kansas Board of Education voted to delete the teaching of evolution from the state's science curriculum.

The controversy was resolved when state voters in 2006 ousted the fundamentalist majority.

However, a sense of continuing conflict -- not to mention the hardly-veiled contempt many educated people here have for the fundamentalists -- is palpable among the New York audiences filling the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway to see a riveting star-studded production of "Inherit the Wind".

The production is a revival of the 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee that tells the story of what came to be known as "The Scopes Monkey Trial".   more »

Using videos posted on the YouTube Web site, Clinton has asked viewers to vote for a campaign song, with the winner to be picked soon. More than 130,000 votes have been cast since mid-May, the campaign said.

The finalists are 'Suddenly I See,' by KT Tunstall, 'Rock This Country!' by Shania Twain, 'Beautiful Day' by U2, 'Get Ready' by The Temptations and Smash Mouth's cover of the Neil Diamond song 'I'm a Believer'.

The search has prompted a chorus of less-than-complimentary and silly suggestions from television pundits, bloggers and Internet Hillary-haters, whose offerings include 'Maneater' by Hall & Oates, 'Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want' by The Smiths and 'Bitch' by the Rolling Stones.

Then there's 'It's the End of the World As We Know It' by REM, 'Before He Cheats' by Carrie Underwood and 'Disaster Waiting to Happen' by Jefferson Denim, bloggers suggest.   more »

The Swan Song for the Democratic Party

The Democrats did us all a favor by giving Bush his Iraq war-money. After all, the Dems have supported the war from the get-go, so why not expose them as the hypocrites they really are?

The truth is, no one is really surprised by Friday's vote. We have one party in America—the War Party---the Dems are merely a junior partner in that system.

It boggles the mind that so many so-called "liberals" continue to be hoodwinked by the Democratic Party. After all, what do they offer---a slight boost in the hourly wage? Better management of foreign massacres?!?   more »

Since 2003, "Iraq" has become synonymous with mass casualty terrorism, catastrophic sectarian bloodletting, American casualties and a failing occupation with no end in sight that's become a nightmare for policymakers.

The debate — both in the media and in Washington — is either "stay the course because the terrorists will win," or it's "how do we gradually withdraw, so we can better fight the terrorists?"

Both views reflect a consensus of what's good for the American empire, and the latter — voiced by the Democrats and other liberals — not only supported the war from the beginning, their "anti-war" stance is nothing more than opportunistic political gain.

The real anti-war movement that sought to head off the 2003 invasion by exposing the Bush administration's false pretexts and organizing mass protests has yet to crystallize around an anti-occupation movement that effectively challenges the underlying pillars of the occupation.

At the heart of the occupation is imperialism. The United States is an empire and that far from the lofty pretensions of liberating the oppressed and spreading democracy, "Operation Iraqi Freedom" was done for self-serving reasons, namely spreading and maintaining hegemony in the Middle East.   more »