I suspect that most people would like to believe that societies, no matter how base their origins, become better over time. Unfortunately history belies this notion; societies have often grown worse over time. The United States of America is no exception. It was not benign at its origin and has now descended to a region of depravity seldom matched by even the worst nations of history.

Although it is impossible to find hard numbers to prove that morality in America has declined, anecdotal evidence is everywhere to be seen. Almost everyone can cite situations in which the welfare of people was sacrificed for the sake of public or private institutions, but it seems impossible to cite a single instance of a public or private institution's having been sacrificed for the sake of people. If morality has to do with how people are dealt with, one can legitimately ask where morality plays a role in what happens in America? The answer seems to be, "Nowhere!" So what has happened in America to account for the current epidemic of claims that morality in America has collapsed? Well the culture has changed drastically in the last half century, that's what.

Once upon a time in America, the American character was defined in terms of what was called the Protestant Ethic. The sociologist, Max Weber, attributed Capitalism's success to it. Unfortunately Max was lax; he got it wrong, completely wrong. Capitalism and the Protestant ethic are inconsistent with each other. Neither can have been responsible for the other.

An interesting interview in which the 'news anchors' defend the party line against one of the CIA's more honest alumni, former counter-terrorism analyst and head of the Bin Laden station, Michael Scheuer. He is currently adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies.

Experts on Africa who have traveled extensively in Libya contend that the stories emanating from the Western media that portray Libya's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, as engaging the services of black mercenaries from Sahara and sub-Sahara Africa is a disinformation ploy by the CIA to stoke racist fervor among Libyans rebelling against Gaddafi.

After Western news sources "reported" that Gaddafi had hired black African mercenaries to fight against Libyan rebels, thousand of black African workers in Libya were set upon by angry mobs who believed the Western propaganda that the black workers were fighting for Gaddafi.

The role of President Obama in stoking a CIA-engineered racist response by Libyan rebels has not been lost on a number of African-Americans. One leading African-American activist in Washington, DC wrote in an email: "Not demanding the accountability of a black president will garner us the same things as not holding a white President accountable - nothing."

Western news organization reported that Libyan rebels were "hunting down" black African mercenaries but many of these were merely workers who came to Libya from their economically-depressed nations to seek employment in mainly the Libyan oil services, agricultural, and construction sectors. Ironically, a number of the Africans targeted by angry mobs spurred on by CIA and other Western intelligence planted news stories are from Kenya, the land that Obama claims as his paternal ancestral home.

Clerics suppress report on bankers' greed to save church embarrassment

A highly critical report into the moral standards of bankers has been suppressed by St Paul's Cathedral amid fears that it would inflame tensions over the Occupy London tent protest.

The report, based on a survey of 500 City workers who were asked whether they thought they were worth their lucrative salaries and bonuses, was due to be published last Thursday, the day that the Canon Chancellor of St Paul's, Giles Fraser, resigned in protest at the church's tough stance.

But publication of the report, by the St Paul's Institute, has been delayed in an apparent acknowledgement that it would leave the impression that the cathedral was on the side of the protesters.

According to Ynet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are extremely concerned by the "Iranian threat". Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli leading paper, reported this week that Netanyahu and Barak are pushing for action against Iran.

According to Israeli leading columnist Nahum Barnea the heads of the armed forces - and Mossad are opposed to taking action against Iran at this time.

Former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan had previously stated that an aerial attack on Iran was "a foolish idea" and warned against the disastrous consequences that would follow such action - an all out regional war. As it seems Dagan lost his job for expressing his views on the matter.

It looks as if Israel are preparing the ground for an attack on Iran that would probably escalate into a vile world conflict. Israeli leadership seems to fail to grasp the meaning of it all. This leadership has managed to buy itself the reputation of being impervious to the notion of culpability and responsibility. It basically fails to understand the consequences of it is actions.

Western powers risk causing an "earthquake" across the Middle East if they intervene in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad said, after protesters called for foreign protection from a crackdown in which 3,000 people have been killed.

Assad's warning came ahead of Syrian government talks on Sunday with the Arab League aimed at starting a dialogue between the government and opposition and ending violence which has escalated across Syria in recent days.

Activists said Syrian forces killed more than 50 civilians in the last 48 hours and one activist group said suspected army deserters killed 30 soldiers in clashes in the city of Homs and in an ambush in the northern province of Idlib on Saturday.

Assad's suppression of the seven-month uprising has drawn criticism from the United Nations and Arab League. Western governments have called on him to step down and imposed sanctions on Syrian oil exports and state businesses.

Western countries "are going to ratchet up the pressure, definitely", Assad told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"But Syria is different in every respect from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen. The history is different. The politics is different."

"Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake."

Jacob Hornberger is understatedly upset about the recent murder of the 16-year-old Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, the son of Anwar al-Awlaki.

Hornberger writes:

There are several things that are especially fascinating about the U.S. government's assassination of this American teenager, who apparently traveled to Yemen looking for his father before his father was assassinated:

First, the U.S. government has assassinated a minor.

Second, no one except the assassins knows why they assassinated the boy.

Third, the people who planned and carried out the assassination - from President Obama, to the Pentagon, to the CIA - aren't talking.

Fourth, nobody can force them to explain why they killed the boy.

Fascinating indeed.

After driving home the fact that nobody knows why this innocent 16-year-old American was murdered, Hornberger concludes:

But one thing is for sure: The assassination of 16-year-old American Abdulrahman al-Awlaki confirms that we now live in a country whose government has the unfettered authority to assassinate anyone it wants, adult or minor, foreigner or American, and remain mute about it.

GOP Tries To Raise Campaign Bucks by Tarring Occupy Wall Street

Is the Jewish congressional representative from heavily Jewish Long Island, Steve Israel, "standing with those calling for the killing of Jews"? Does the Jewish representative from heavily Jewish Florida, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, "agree with various calls for Jews to be 'run out of the country' and to oppose and 'destroy' the State of Israel"?

Sean Spicer, who holds the title of communications director of the Republican National Committee, apparently thinks these are reasonable questions. Or perhaps he merely thinks that some Jews are sufficiently stupid to think that they might be. But most likely, he thinks that if he can tar the protesters at Occupy Wall Street with the taint of these anti-Semitic statements, and condemn certain Democrats as guilty by association, he can gin up contributions to the Republican Party as he simultaneously weakens Jews' instinctive identification with the Democratic Party.

Spicer is joined in this effort by something called the Emergency Committee for Israel, a group co-founded by neoconservative William Kristol, conservative Christian agitator Gary Bauer and Rachel Abrams, wife of disgraced neoconservative politico Elliott Abrams (convicted of lying to Congress during the Reagan administration), daughter of neoconservative activist Midge Decter and stepdaughter of Decter's husband, former Commentary editor Norman Podhoretz. They have produced and distributed a video that asks, "What is happening at the Occupy Wall Street protests?" only to cut to a gentleman who is holding a "Hitler's Bankers" sign and can be seen screaming, "Jews control Wall Street." This is followed by a shot of a nasty kid shouting at a Jewish man, "You're a bum, Jew," with another protester explaining that "the small ethnic Jewish population in this country, they have a firm grip on America's media.

Col. Gaddafi is dead and details of his murky deals with Western leaders have been buried with him. But Gaddafi's son is safe and reportedly ready to surrender to the International Criminal Court, where he may spill secrets of his father's regime.

The court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said on Friday he is in contact with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi through intermediaries. He has reportedly crossed the border from the Libyan desert into Niger. If he does eventually stand a trial, he could spill some of the secrets of the regime's hidden dealings with the same governments that helped topple his father.

From the perspective of Blair, Sarkozy and many others, Muammar Gaddafi was a man who knew too much. Expediency dictated that he be buried along with his secrets.

What's so patriotic about the Patriot Act? Tonight: Assaulting the Constitution, and resisting the assaults.