Conscientious objections to pathological liars (Lokeman OpEd: Kansas City Star)

[struggle4progress]

By RHONDA CHRISS LOKEMAN
Posted on Sat, Oct. 06, 2007 10:15 PM

... Recently the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded the White House hand over two secret memos from the Justice Department in 2005 that authorized the CIA to use harsh interrogation methods the White House claimed it did not condone. As usual, Alberto Gonzales’ fingerprints are all over this scandal ...

“After telling us and the world that torture is abhorrent,” said Chairman Patrick Leahy of the Senate Judiciary Committee, “it appears that under Attorney General Gonzales, they reversed themselves and reinstated a secret regime by, in essence, reinterpreting the law in secret.” ...

Rush Limbaugh whined about “phony soldiers” who criticize the war. What about the phony patriots who sacrifice our troops in foreign wars and jeopardize international relations over oil? ...

“Some people are born deaf, some are born blind or whatever,” Vonnegut wrote. “This book is about congenitally defective human beings of a sort that is making this whole country and other parts of the planet go completely haywire nowadays. These are people born without consciences, and suddenly they are in charge of everything.” ...

http://www.kansascity.com/273/story/305271.html

[Simeon Salus]

1. new link (old one doesn't work)

http://www.kansascity.com/279/story/305271.html

Pretty out there for Kansas!

[ixion]

2. kicked and recommended

Vonnegut was spot on. As a nation, we should be ashamed of ourselves for letting this happen, and further, for allowing it to continue for 8 years.

[Stevepol]

3. We've let it happen by not challenging what allowed it to happen:

the election machinery, voting machines, ex-felon lists, caging lists, and dozens of other dirty tricks and schemes.

And very few people, not enough anyway, to challenge the obvious loss of democracy as a result.

It's not the American people as a whole who are at fault but those in a mid-range of power, and some at the highest levels of power in the Dem Party who refuse to deal with what is the most important issue of the day: the voting machines.

Until the vote is counted fairly, there's nothing the American people can do. When the vote is counted in secret without verification, it's impossible to have a democracy.

[Judi Lynn]

4. The article disappeared from the Star pages, but appeared elsewhere on the internet at this link:

http://www.creators.com/opinion/rhonda-lokeman/conscientious-objections-to-pathological-liars.html

Thanks for posting this, struggle4progress.

On edit:
Too late to recommend, sorry...