Whatever happened to the days when the primary purpose of journalism was to hold our government accountable for its stupid actions, like when the US Navy, for example, strays into the territorial waters of an Islamic nation at the worst possible time?

Just how long and deep America has snorted from the cracked mirror of imperial power, intoxicating the nation with delusions of grandeur and exceptionalism, was nowhere more apparent than this week in the Fox News studios where five pugnacious pundits cheerleaded for a full-blown clash with Iran (the Full Metal Jacket moment starts around the 3:10 mark).