Check out alien_concept's PQ:

http://wtf.videosift.com/member/alien_concept/queued

She's got music in there from Carly Simon, Gilbert O'Sullivan, and the Carpenters. She included the tag "songs your parents used to play" on all three of them. Ha! Makes your bones creak a little just reading that.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'bill maher, real time, terrorism, liberty' to 'bill maher, real time, terrorism, liberty, security, andrew sullivan, naomi klein' - edited by my15minutes

spelling: separation

I'm not sure I care if pastors take a political position "from the pulpit" but I also think the tax exempt status of churches, synagogues, temples, etc is bullshit.

Where I live we have an ever-increasing amount of land being turned into bungalow colonies which are tax exempt as "Religious Retreats". In my county (Sullivan of NY) I'd guess somewhere in the vicinity of a 3rd of our otherwise taxable land has been taken off the tax roll in such a manner. The result is the tax increases for the rest of us and we're not a wealthy area to begin with.

I love this song. it's so versatile!
http://www.videosift.com/video/Baby-Got-Back-Gilbert-and-Sullivan-Style
http://www.videosift.com/video/Baby-Got-Back-Jonathan-Coulton-1
http://www.videosift.com/video/Lounge-versions-of-Baby-Got-Back-Personal-Jesus
just to name a few. I think it may be the Rosetta stone of all musical styles.

Dr. Butler was shot down over North Vietnam in April, 1965 and was brought to the Hanoi Hilton prison, two and a half years prior to McCain's arrival. He spent eight years in captivity. Butler is critical of McCain's habitual use of his P.O.W. story to advance his presidential campaign. "John has allowed I think the media to make him out to be the P.O.W., the hero, and in fact there were over 600 just like him who performed just as well." Echoing a similar assertion from General Wesley Clark two months ago, Butler continues, "I think I can say with authority that the Prisoner Of War experience is not a good prerequisite for President of the United States."

Having lived across the hall from John McCain at the U.S. Naval Academy prior to combat, Butler was a close witness to McCain's famously volatile temperament. "He was very sensitive and touchy and just easy to anger," says Dr. Butler. "John McCain is not somebody I would like to see with his finger near the red button." Butler continues, "John McCain's temperament makes it clear that he is not cut out to be President of the United States."

Butler points to the health risks faced by former Prisoners Of War as another cause for concern about a McCain presidency - a concern publicly heightened in recent days by McCain's selection of a political novice as a running mate. "The data show that the Prisoner Of War group are dying at an earlier age and that we suffer lots of residual things that non-P.O.W. group really doesn't have to deal with. And it's imperative that we have someone who is healthy and can stand the rigors of that job."

Other military veterans agree with Butler's criticism of McCain's exploitation of his P.O.W. story. Writes Brandon Friedman, a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan and author of 'The War I Always Wanted': "To see McCain resort to playing the POW card when answering legitimate questions, in my mind, cheapens that experience. And by cheapening his own experience in war, he degrades all of our experiences in war. He turns the horrific incidents we've all seen, touched, smelled, and felt into a lame excuse to earn political points. And it dishonors us all."

From YT: We are sure this video will draw an onslaught of right-wing attacks, but we bring it to you because it is our job to continue to convey the truth together and give these issues national attention. As Dr. Butler has said, McCain does not have the temperament to have his finger near the red button. Get this video to everyone you know—friends, family members, coworkers, and especially those who don't share your political views. The video is designed to reach them. Get it on your social networking sites like Digg. And get it to every blog, newspaper, and TV station that has ever overplayed McCain's POW story. It is time to fight back with truth!

The mainstream press has already begun to call out McCain for overusing his POW story. And it's cut across all political persuasions. * "Whether he's deflecting criticism over his health-care plan or mocking a tribute to the Woodstock music festival, Senator John McCain has a trump card: the Hanoi Hilton. — Edwin Chen, Bloomberg * "Noun, Verb, POW" — Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic Monthly * "The McCain campaign's constant invocation of the candidate's POW past is weird bordering on irrational..." — Ana Marie Cox, TIME * "I think they are going to it way too many times." — Howard Fineman, Newsweek

Remember how Joe Biden got the press to refer to Rudy Giuliani as "A noun, a verb, and 9/11"? Well, let's actually take Andrew Sullivan's lead here and get the media to boil McCain down to a similar phrase: "A noun, a verb, and POW." Considering how often the McCain campaign invokes his POW story, isn't that what they're already doing?

I win!

Regarding Sarah Palin, I think Andrew Sullivan has it best.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

This is why he is my favorite conservative commentator.

Liberals dominate the media....this has been announced by Rush Limbaugh. And Thomas Sowell. And Ann Coulter. And Rich Lowry. And Bill O'Reilly. And William Safire. And Robert Novak. And William F. Buckley, Jr. And George Will.

And John Gibson. And Michelle Malkin. And David Brooks. And Tony Snow. And Tony Blankely. And Fred Barnes. And Britt Hume. And Larry Kudlow. And Sean Hannity. And David Horowitz. And William Kristol. And Hugh Hewitt.

And Oliver North. And Joe Scarborough. And Pat Buchanan. And John McLaughlin. And Cal Thomas. And Joe Klein. And James Kilpatrick. And Tucker Carlson. And Deroy Murdock. And Michael Savage. And Charles Krauthammer. And Stephen Moore. And Alan Keyes.

And Gary Bauer. And Mort Kondracke. And Andrew Sullivan. And Nicholas von Hoffman. And Neil Cavuto. And Matt Drudge. And Mike Rosen. And Dave Kopel. And John Caldara.

The mainstream media in this country are dominated by liberals. Look at how they all gave Bill Clinton a pass on the whole Monica Lewsinsky affair. Remember? It was never in the news. We never heard any of the salacious details.

"Things aren't always what they seem, skim milk masquerades as cream."
-Gilbert and Sullivan

"But by and large those are the definitions that are used within the political sphere right now..."

In the United States. There is a world outside of the USofA.

"it's hard to present oneself to the public as fiscal conservative with social liberal leanings. It's impossible."

What are you talking about? What's wrong with "I'm a fiscal conservative with social liberal leanings."?

By the way, liberal and progressive are by no means interchangeable terms.

Andrew Sullivan is an imbecile. He thinks ABC News is left-wing, and until recently he was one of the biggest apologists for Bush. I don't think conservatism has anything whatsoever to offer society.

But by and large those are the definitions that are used within the political sphere right now, one can't just hope for it to change anytime soon. People are people and as a whole the population loves encapsulation of set of ideas and ideals within narrow definitions, it's hard to present oneself to the public as fiscal conservative with social liberal leanings. It's impossible. At the same time no one is willing to listen to nuance and understand ones position, because of the way people make judgments.

I agree however that conservativism as it was defined or rather referenced by those in power in the last couple of years is a fallacious lies, focusing on fear mongering, social and religious postulations that play no role in wider social and foreign policies sphere, basically saying and doing anything they please while calling themselves conservatives.

Small government as a core of the conservative movement was a bullshit lie, we all seen how the Bush administration has created the largest no bid privatizations of the government, believing that all of society could be 'fixed' if only left to the private market. Their ill performance in Iraq and Katrina further exemplify their inability to actually lead.

As David Brooks points out "You go to Capitol Hill — Republican senators know they're fucked. They have that sense. But they don't know what to do. There's a hunger for new policy ideas."

I believe however that it is useful to understand why the conservative movement did gain such a momentum post Clinton and going into Bush eras. At the same time to see where the movement will go after this, I believe Sullivan has a idea of recovering the so called 'Conservative Soul' his own definition of it is very interesting, at which point I recommend you watch the video.

I suggest you read the studies you cite before you propose that conservatism is a form of 'mental illness', the study itself was carried out to link a hypotheses to the idea that conservatism shares common treads as a whole or independently with regards to rigidity, inequality and unwillingness to be open to new ideas.

"Our first assumption, too, is that conservative ideologies – like virtually all other belief systems – are adopted in part because they satisfy some psychological needs. This does not mean that conservatism is pathological or that conservative beliefs are necessarily false, irrational, or unprincipled."

Never does it claim conservatism is a form of mental illness, the study states itself that it is not judgmental with regards to political spectrums. Was Theodore Roosevelt mentally ill? Margaret Thatcher? Dwight D. Eisenhower?

Furthermore different political stands are psychologically more comfortable depending on the situation, post 9-11 it was psychologically more comfortable to become politically conservative due to the psychological motivators of fear and threat kicking in becoming more rigid and reactionary against threats that appeared and an effort to return to the 'good old days'. Claiming Bush is a conservative is laughable, since he is not a conservative, he is a religious right wing authoritarian.

I think saying one political sphere is better then another is rather silly, each persons political stance is highly nuanced beyond simply labels such as democrat, republican, liberal or conservative. Andrew Sullivan can be called a religious conservative, but he is pro-gay rights, and is supportive of Barack Obama. Where is his mental illness then?

The tune is "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" from the "Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert and Sullivan.

*sports and *british for Ronnie O'Sullivan

*british for Ronnie O'Sullivan