By Steve Weissman, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

A frightening tale from Iraq shows how Mr. Bush's call to "democratize" the Middle East has already bogged down in the graveyard of impossible choices. The story first appeared in the Arab language press, then in the Times of London in a powerful article by Catherine Philp.

As Ms. Philp tells it, some university students in the southern Iraqi city of Basra were having a picnic at a local park, when dozens of armed men came running at them. The men were members of the Mehdi Army, ...   more »

(How different are our own religious enforcers from the Iraqi religious enforcers?)

By JOHN C. DANFORTH, The New York Times

St. Louis — BY a series of recent initiatives, Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians. The elements of this transformation have included advocacy of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, opposition to stem cell research involving both frozen embryos and human cells in petri dishes, and the extraordinary effort to keep Terri Schiavo hooked up to a feeding tube.

Standing alone, each of these initiatives has its advocates, within the Republican Party and ...   more »

By David Morris, AlterNet.org

Organized religion elevates superstition to an entirely new level, so let's call its institutions by their proper name: superstition-based institutions.

… [B]y definition, religion requires faith and faith renounces evidence. Taking a proposition "on faith" means to consciously and willfully refuse to examine the facts.

There is a word for this type of thinking: Superstition…

Organized superstitions might be more socially supportable if their creed included a provision accepting the organized superstitions of others. Unfortunately, modern religions do not practice tolerance. For example Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore gained widespread fame and even adulation when he ...   more »

(Why Republicans win and Democrats don’t)

By BILL BRADLEY, The New York Times

FIVE months after the presidential election Democrats are still pointing fingers at one another and trying to figure out why Republicans won. Was the problem the party's position on social issues or taxes or defense or what? Were there tactical errors made in the conduct of the campaign? Were the right advisers heard? Was the candidate flawed?

Before deciding what Democrats should do now, it's important to see what Republicans have done right over many years. When the Goldwater Republicans lost in 1964, they didn't try to ...   more »

AZCentral.com

There is a con man's technique that politicians sometimes use to manipulate the public and never has it worked better than with Terri Schiavo.

The scheme involves making a very big deal about the plight of a single person to get us to ignore the plight of hundreds, thousands or even millions of others.

Two-bit hustlers use distraction and diversion techniques to lift your wallet or empty your bank account. Political flimflammers use the tragedy of a single family to distract you from the horror they are inflicting upon your friends and neighbors.

And it works. Dozens of e-mails ...   more »

In the long run, Schiavo case could get spun to Republicans' advantage

by James Ridgeway, Village Voice

WASHINGTON, D.C. It's beginning to dawn on gloating Democrats who hoped the GOP had gone too far in the Terri Schiavo case that the spectacle may turn out to be a plus, not a minus for conservatives in the larger ongoing values debate…

Did the GOP overreach in the Schiavo case? Just as soon as the Supreme Court denied Schiavo a hearing, the Republicans shifted to a new spin. "It was not a partisan issue. It was one of conscience," said Virginia ...   more »