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Obama the realist. Not the pragmatist. Certainly not the idealist. Realism as a doctrine: The principal purpose of U.S. foreign policy SHOULD be to manage relations between states, rather than to alter the nature of states. U.S. foreign policy shouldn't be in the business of nation-building.

G.W. Bush, 2006, National Strategy to Internationalize Efforts Agaiinst Kleptocracy, Pledging to Congront High-Level, Large-Scale Corruption by Public Officials and Target the Proceeds of their Corrupt Acts (!! hypocrisy !!)

Critics of capitalism often argue that any form of capitalism would eventually devolve into corporatism, due to the concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands. A permutation of this term is corporate globalism. John Ralston Saul argues that most Western societies are best described as corporatist states, run by a small elite of professional and interest groups, that exclude political participation from the citizenry. Corporatism has been supported from various proponents, including: absolutists, conservatives, fascists, progressives, reactionaries, socialists and theologians. In the United States, economic corporatism involving capital-labour cooperation was influential in the New Deal economic program of the United States in the 1930s as well as in Fordism and Keynesianism.[36] In the post-World War II reconstruction period in Europe, corporatism was favoured by Christian democrats, national conservatives, and social democrats in opposition to liberal capitalism.[37] This type of corporatism faded but revived again in the 1960s and 1970s as "neo-corporatism" in response to the new economic threat of stagflation.[38] Neo-corporatism favoured economic tripartism which involved strong and centralized labour unions, employers' unions, and governments that cooperated as "social partners" to negotiate and manage a national economy.[39]

Our society may simply disintegrate if the rich win the battle in Congress. The top 1% of the national income strata, having bought up just about all depreciating assets at bargain basement prices, will have increased its portion of total national marketable wealth from about half of it to all of it. This is not a desirable situation at all.

"Yeldan, Erinc On the Nature and Causes of the Collapse of the Wealth of Nations, 2007-2008: The End of a Façade Called Globalization Publication Date: 3/17/2009"

Individual and Group Blogs, National and International Blogs, Blog Directories, Video Blogs, Blog Surveys and Awards

Dave Weigel, now of The Washington Post, becomes the latest to observe the core similarity between the Obama and Bush/Cheney approaches to civil liberties, Terrorism and national security.

If anyone still believes we must drill, baby, drill offshore -- aside from Bill Kristol, that is, who wants to sink wells even closer to precious coastal wetlands -- then perhaps it is time to consider again the potential benefits of nationalization. After all, there is one country that has established an unrivaled record for environmental safety while exploiting its offshore petroleum reserves. That would be Norway, which created the company now known as Statoil Hydro as a fully state-owned entity and still controls nearly two-thirds of the company's "privatized" shares.

The U.S. spends 50% of total of all global military spending. War oligarchs are in control of the nation.

Crisis? What Crisis?Cheer up, America: Our nation won't default, nor is our government dysfunctional.

...the modern right wing, as Daniel Bell has put it, feels dispossessed: America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion. The old American virtues have already been eaten away by cosmopolitans and intellectuals; the old competitive capitalism has been gradually undermined by socialistic and communistic schemers; the old national security and independence have been destroyed by treasonous plots, having as their most powerful agents not merely outsiders and foreigners as of old but major statesmen who are at the very centers of American power. Their predecessors had discovered conspiracies; the modern radical right finds conspiracy to be betrayal from on high.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Goldstone Report Finds Israeli Military Guilty of War Crimes in Gaza The Independent reports that a United Nations fact-finding inquiry has found that Israel committed war crimes during its attack on Gaza last winter, as did the Palestinian Hamas. The lion's share of blame in the report, however, falls on Israeli forces, which stand accused of planning out a disproportionate use of force, the punishing of a civilian population, and reckless disregard for civilian lives-- all of which are war crimes in international law. The report suggests that some Israeli actions may have gone beyond being mere war crimes to being crimes against humanity. The report will go to the UN Human Rights Commission, which will likely accept it. The findings could in theory drag Israeli officials before the World Court in the Hague, though in practice this outcome is highly unlikely. Both the Israeli government and Hamas rejected the report as biased, which is a pretty good indication that it is even-handed.

Senator Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said, "Last year, I opposed legislation that stripped Americans of their right to seek accountability for the Bush administration's decision to illegally wiretap American citizens without a warrant. Today, I am pleased to join Senator Dodd to introduce the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act. We can strengthen national security while protecting Americans' privacy and civil liberties. Restoring Americans' access to the courts is the first step toward bringing some measure of accountability for the Bush-Cheney administration's decision to conduct warrantless surveillance in violation of our laws."

Films are national / international. Film topics include: 9/11 investigative efforts, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, peak oil and oil wars, corporatism, financial industry fraud, civil rights violations, Bush-Obama torture and detention policies, animal protection, Assassination Documentaries Financial Reform Documentaries Election Fraud Documentaries Environmental Documentaries Female Focused Documentaries George Bush Documentaries Globalization Documentaries Health Documentaries Human Rights Documentaries Media Documentaries Politician Documentaries Religious Documentaries Slavery Documentaries Societal Documentaries War Documentaries