I read this article by Robert Fisk. Then I heard him speak today on the BBC. I'm appalled.

I heard John Kerry say this last week: "And we need to rebuild our alliances, so we can get the terrorists before they get us." So we can get them before they get us? Is it this simple? Is this what it comes down to?

I read that Reverend Al Sharpton said this last week:

"The promise of America guarantees health care for all of its citizens and doesn't force seniors to travel to Canada to buy prescription drugs they can't afford here at home.

The promise of America provides that those who work in our health care system can afford to be hospitalized in the very beds they clean up every day.

The promise of America is that government does not seek to regulate your behavior in the bedroom, but to guarantee your right to provide food in the kitchen.

The issue of government is not to determine who may sleep together in the bedroom, it's to help those that might not be eating in the kitchen.

The promise of America that we stand for human rights, whether it's fighting against slavery in the Sudan, where right now Joe Madison and others are fasting, around what is going on in the Sudan; AIDS in Lesotho; a police misconduct in this country."

And that one made me smile.