I was flipping around the AM dial this morning and I came across Rush Limbaugh spewing his typical venom to his woefully ill-informed, disillusioned audience. He was pontificating about the Newsweek story and his take boiled down to this:

1) Newsweek hates America and published this despite knowing that it was untrue because they hate America.

2) That this "scandal" was worse than Abu Ghraib.

3) "Let's not forget the Clintons" - That the anonymous source that provided the background on the story is probably some Clinton appointee in the State Department or the Pentagon. (They just can't leave this alone, can they?).

So let's review. Newsweek out to get America. Riots in Afghanistan worse than atrocities at Abu Ghraib. Clinton is responsible. Simply amazing.

The dittoheads and other undiscerning right wing nut jobs lap this stuff up. There are going to accept everything Rush says completely at face value, regardless of the absence of facts, and the right is going to advance the goal to undermine the role of the 4th Estate as a check on absolute political power, something we are witnessing in our time in an alarmingly rapid fashion.

Never mind that a) the story is probably true and similar stories of desecration of the Koran have been out there for over a year or b) the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had published a report which concluded that "indicated that the political violence was not, in fact, connected to the magazine report" or c) that Newsweek, far from publishing this story on in a vacuum, vetted it prior to going to print with the same Pentagon that is now decrying the story as bogus.

So many Americans want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that what is happening in the world is not happening. They want to believe that the intentions of America are always good and therefore are actions are always good. They want to believe that the atrocities at Abu Ghraib were undertaken by a few bad apples instead of a pattern systematic abuse inherent in the system. They want to believe that we went to Iraq to liberate people. They want to believe that oil resources in Iraq would pay for the cost of the war. They want to believe that Islamic extremists hate us for our freedoms and not because of our actions. They want to believe a whole host of very dangerous fanciful things that make the world more dangerous for their lack of understanding but allows them to sleep soundly at night.

All of this is going to home to roost some day, and we are going to have pay a price. One can only hope that the price is not too high or horrible to imagine.

All I want is for America to the best America we can be. I want a America that is respected in the world. I want an America that lives up to the ideals that we so forthrightly espouse. I want an America that leads the world in environmental protection, in human rights, in transparent democractic institutions. I don't want an America that manufactures intelligence to drum up support for war. I don't want an America that eschews international obligations and treaties. I don't want an America that is unnaccountable and above the law. I don't want an America where the media cannot be trusted. I don't want an America that is the worst it can be. America should be the best global citizen, not a global bully. It should be providing a positive example for other countries to emulate, not a negative one that cause people to question us, or even worse, fear us.