Book Excerpt: The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

[whopis01]

Source: Time

Not long before our nation launched the invasion of Iraq, our longest-serving Senator, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, stood on the Senate floor and said: "This chamber is, for the most part, silent—ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing. We stand passively mute in the United States Senate."

Why was the Senate silent?

A large and growing number of Americans are asking out loud: "What has happened to our country?" People are trying to figure out what has gone wrong in our democracy, and how we can fix it.

To take another example, for the first time in American history, the Executive Branch of our government has not only condoned but actively promoted the treatment of captives in wartime that clearly involves torture, thus overturning a prohibition established by General George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1622015,00.html

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Finally someone who is willing to confront the problems that we really face!

My favorite quote:

The persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy, even in the face of massive and well-understood evidence to the contrary, seems to many Americans to have reached levels that were previously unimaginable.

[windy252]

1. K & R n/t

[WCGreen]

2. Run Al, run...

Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run
Run Al, Run

[Zenlitened]

3. Have had it on pre-order for months. Can't wait 'til it arrives!

:bounce:

[Kurovski]

4. K&R. Another quote...

"We must stop tolerating the rejection and distortion of science."

[whopis01]

7. Both that and your sig quote are great! n/t

[Kurovski]

9. I loves my sig!

thanks. :hi:

[MrPrax]

5. Anybody in particular, Al?

For example, hardly anyone now disagrees that the choice to invade Iraq was a grievous mistake. Yet, incredibly, all of the evidence and arguments necessary to have made the right decision were available at the time and in hindsight are glaringly obvious.

Time same as OP

Smackdown!

[kestrel91316]

6. Start up the chant: Al Gore, Forty-Four!

[lildreamer316]

8. Didn't even think of that, Cool!

Thanks!

[bananas]

10. k&r nt

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

11. Be still my heart. Laying this out in clear historical context, without

yelling, calling names or making it up on the fly.

:loveya:

MKJ