The Treacherous Deal Treacherously; The Treacherous Deal Very Treacherously

About two weeks before we invaded Iraq, MY PRESIDENT held a rare press conference. It was a scripted event wherein he was able to trot out all the reasons we had to fear Saddam Hussein in a Post 9/11 World. The press went along, raising their hands as if they all had an equal chance of being called, lobbing MY PRESIDENT soft-balls about his faith and the inevitability of war, not challenging his linking of Saddam to 9/11, nervously laughing as they participated in this charade but participating nonetheless.

This one event is really indicative of the role the media have largely played for this regime. They've mostly taken dictation. That's an unfortunate stance for the press to take in a democracy. Maybe I should say that's not a stance the press can take in a democracy. But that's what they did. Instead of functioning as an institution of oversight and accountability the media were largely the PR arm of this administration's case for war. Jerks.

Bill Moyers will have a special on PBS tonight about this very thing. You should watch it.

It bothers me that Christians have played a similar role. Not the same role. Christians weren't, or aren't, primarily responsible for spreading propaganda. Instead we blessed it and the actions it supported. Either actively or passively, we approved so much that we should have instead protested. We married ourselves to an agenda and people that domesticated our prophetic witness or hoped that concentrating on personal holiness would somehow spread to the highest offices. I guess we can pretend that this isn't, or wasn't the case. Or we can pretend that this is how things are supposed to be. We can be good at pretending.

My posts have felt pretty gloomy lately. I feel pretty gloomy lately. I feel like we've done something. Something that requires we publicly confess and repent but I don't know where to begin. Or how.