Oath of Office for Congress

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will SUPPORT and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Not obliged to abide.

Nels

Politicians take an oath to uphold the laws whereas a person testifying in court takes an oath to tell the truth. So, politicians agree to support but not abide.

DDay

Your point that the Right's moral superiority is disingenuous is spot on. They have coopted the tenets of the truly religious to sway their favor and votes. The scary part is this religious front has begun putting up their own candidates who do hold these religious views.

s.b. have fallen prey.... not...and fallen prey. sorry

The fundamentalists and the conservative right have sought to be the arbiters of public morality and values for some time now. Whether it is reproductive rights or sexual preference, there has been nothing too personal, private, or sovereign to be off limits for their pronouncements of judgment. The individual liberties of self determination and free will are sacrificed to the ideological tenets of unfettered capitalism and religious dogma. I believe that the Right's true allegiance to religious piety is less sincere and fundamental, otherwise there would be much more emphasis on being honest and truthful. Lying and shading the truth have become both science and art as mastered by the Right. What is lying, but, stealing the truth? Nine out of the Ten Commandments concern theft. Bearing false witness is given prominent billing except for by the Republican Right-wing.

That people will lie and cheat to achieve there selfish goals is nothing new in history. What sets this time apart is threefold: First, the organized, scientifically crafted, effort to manipulate or deceive as practiced by organizations like The Heritage Foundation. Secondly, The Internet and other forms of information technology which disseminates massively and universally. Finally, and most concerning to me, is the dumbing down of public tolerance of falsehoods and other perfidies. Why do we tolerate so much dishonesty? Why isn't telling a lie more shameful? Why do we punish liars so infrequently and in such an arbitrary way? John Edwards cheats on his cancer afflicted wife and he is done...but John McCain and Newt Gingrich cheat on their sick wives and are still going strong, Why? Howard Dean is recorded making a silly "rebel yell" and he is toast, while David Vitter is discovered visiting prostitutes who dress him in diapers as per his requests, and he is forgiven with standing ovations from his fellow Republican senators.

Before we permit our opponents to lecture us on ethics and morality again, we should insist first on zero tolerance for lies or "half-truths" either. This is a ultimatum that only the people as a whole can issue. While the political right is primarily responsible, the Democratic Party has lost it's authority to cast stones. Too many in positions of power and fallen prey to the temptations of the influence of money to be able to avoid being called a hypocrite if they point fingers. Until the majority of the voting public no longer tolerates lying and extracts a toll for doing so by their elected representatives and others, this insanity will continue and little of importance will be accomplished. Endless debate, will be our fate, with little increase in understanding, because, we cannot even agree on rational truth as being the reasonable standard on which we all can agree. This a perfect environment for the rise of mutant forms like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Glen Beck and other oddities. They can only survive and flourish in an environment where lying has been dumbed down. Who's running this zoo?

Jefferson said it better: "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

@mstaggerlee

I quite agree with you - the news media has never been interested in fair. All they're interested in is (and I borrow from Michael Douglas' speech in "The American President) "...making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it." Of course, that didn't actually refer to the media itself, but I think it still applies.

'A Penny for Your Banker Holiday' Proposed!

One penny out of every dollar spent in the United States of America in 2009 went for salaries and bonuses at Wall Street firms, prompting demands for a new federal holiday.

"We awarded ourselves $140 Billion in salary and bonusses in 2009," explained one investment banker, "That's about 1 percent of the $14 Trillion U.S. GDP. An accomplishment like that deserves a federal holiday. We call it 'A Penny for Your Banker Day!'"

Pundits cheered this accomplishment, "Every time you buy a 99 cent hamburger, what happens to that other penny?" one asked. "Don't worry, it's not lost! One way or another, it will end up safely in the pocket of a Wall Street banker!

"For example, if you spend $100 on groceries, a dollar of that goes through a complicated network of financial finagling to the people who helped collapse the economy. If you spend $10,000 on a used car, that's $100 for Wall Street - almost enough for a champagne lunch or half an hour with a moderately-priced hooker. If George Washington gets a holiday for something he did over two hundred years ago, why shouldn't Wall Street bankers get a holiday for something they're doing right now?"

Congress is expected to act quickly on the proposal. "There's an election in November," said one campaign manager, "And we all know that a happy Wall Street banker is a generous Wall Street Banker!"

http://rewinn.blogspot.com/2010/02/penny-for-your-banker-holiday-propose...

I propose that we start using a more accurate term to describe the corporate Republicans: Corporate Royalists. (Unfortunately, this applies as well to many Democrats as well.)

Like the Royalists of old, they prefer the authority of a non-democratic elite to that of the people. Some conflate Corporations with Religion to make their allegience to an "Ultimate Authority." They are much more comfortable with Corporate Religious leaders, those who make millions of dollars and have mammoth congregations, than they are with smaller, service oriented church leaders. (Think of their hatred of Aristiede—and Jimmy Carter.)

"Supreme Court Republicans Of The US - I call them SCROTUS cos Democracy just got Teabagged."-John Fugelsang

@9 -

In case you hadn't noticed, GM did not simply shut down production of the Pontiac Vibe at the NUMMI plant - they've shut down the entire Pontiac division. The Pontiac brand name is now extinct!

Part of GM's problem was that they were spread too thin - too many divisions with insufficient differentiation, cutting into one another's market segments. It was an unsustainable situation. Chevy & Caddy seem fairly solid, but I think the jury may still be out regarding whether or not Buick can survive over the long haul.

Well Thom, I thought your interview with Mr. Lopez was rather superficial. You were intent on attacking the Japanese manufacturer Toyota while leaving out the fact that GM (who jointly operated the plant with Toyota) pulled the manufacturing of the Pontiac Vibe out of the plant last June. Where's your criticism of GM for leaving pulling out of that plant - leaving it for Toyota, apparently, to be criticized for pulling the one to turn out the last lights? Toyota might have benefited the most from Cash For Clunkers, but GM got bailed out by us taxpayers. I don't recall you criticizing GM for leaving that plant, did you?

Also, apparently, the land that plant is sitting on is being eyed by major league baseball's Oakland Athletics franchise.