[Denny]

Lou Dobbs sees that the emperor is naked:
AN interesting but very sarcastic column by Lou Dobbs. See CNN: Its good to be a superpower

Some highlights, stuff I did not know before but am not totally surprised:

We now import around 96 percent of our clothing.

What other nation can afford to dismantle its manufacturing base and export high-paying middle-class jobs overseas to lesser, cheaper foreign labor markets and then buy back the goods those poorer people provide us?

We spend $15-20 billion each and every month to import fuel ...as Vice President Dick Cheney suggests, conservation doesn't work well anyway. So why be bothered with irritating constraints?

Our trade deficit in manufacturing soared nearly 300 percent from 1997 to 2005, surging to $662.5 billion. ... the reversal of what was a $35-billion surplus in high-tech goods to what is now a $44-billion deficit. It's great to be The Superpower.

As to our government's budget deficit, again, that's not a problem. Our federal government keeps two sets of books: one that shows our budget deficit shrank to $319 billion last year and the Treasury Department set that shows $760 billion. ... It turns out that our national debts and commitments actually stand at an incredible $49 trillion.

The federal government uses a quaint accounting system that would be illegal for any large enterprise in America

So what if the U.S. debt rating is heading for junk status by 2025, according to Standard & Poor's.

When it comes to international relations, our superpower status is even clearer. Though admittedly, it is a little embarrassing to watch how easily the United States imposes its will on the Middle East and brings aspiring superpowers like China to heel on issues like human rights and democracy.

Looking back, I'm grateful that we didn't celebrate our emergence as the World's Only Superpower those many years ago. In our current exalted state, it's clear we were wise not to do so.

How did such a great democracy end up being directed down such twisted paths by such supposedly "conservative" people? That is the big mystery here.

[Heineken]

Lou Dobbs is OK, as mass-media talking heads go. With him you get a suggestion of the truth.
I'm surprised they let him go as far as he does.

[MOCKBA]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'L')ou Dobbs is OK, as mass-media talking heads go. With him you get a suggestion of the truth.
I'm surprised they let him go as far as he does.

[Tyler_JC]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MOCKBA', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'L')ou Dobbs is OK, as mass-media talking heads go. With him you get a suggestion of the truth.
I'm surprised they let him go as far as he does.

[NeoPeasant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'I')t would be great to see a man of his importance suggesting to people that buying that next SUV might be a poor choice...

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MOCKBA', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'L')ou Dobbs is OK, as mass-media talking heads go. With him you get a suggestion of the truth.
I'm surprised they let him go as far as he does.

[mekrob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') hope someone clues him [Lou Dobbs] in to Peak Oil soon.

[mortifiedpenguin]

Tell me, who is going to make us pay our massive debt? Hmm?
Yeah, that's right- no one can.

[Loki]

I like Lou Dobbs, though I should say my exposure to him has only come in short clips as I don't get cable. I watched some of his stuff on YouTube this morning and agreed with everything he said.

The Nation mentioned Dobbs in a recent editorial. I usually don't read partisan tripe like this, but someone left the issue laying around work and I read it on my break. The editors are basically arguing that anyone who dares question the massive flood of illegal immigrants is basically a white supremacist, little better than a Nazi. They named Dobbs specifically as being among this group. They gave no solutions to the illegal immigration problem, only hate-filled, race-baiting invective. A nice reminder of why I can't stand most lefties (I hate most righties, too, but for slightly different reasons).

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mortifiedpenguin', 'T')ell me, who is going to make us pay our massive debt? Hmm?
Yeah, that's right- no one can.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Denny', 'H')ow did such a great democracy end up being directed down such twisted paths by such supposedly "conservative" people? That is the big mystery here.

[mekrob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')on't forget, China knows where we live. They'll send knee-cappers if they have to. Razz

[foodnotlawns]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MOCKBA', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'L')ou Dobbs is OK, as mass-media talking heads go. With him you get a suggestion of the truth.
I'm surprised they let him go as far as he does.

[Laughs_Last]

Time-Warner includes AOL, CNN, HBO, Cinemax, TBS Superstation, Turner Network Television, Turner Classic Movies, Warner Brothers Television, Cartoon Network, Sega Channel, TNT, Comedy Central (50%), E! (49%), Court TV (50%).
"They" are a publicly owned company. As of July 28, 2006, there were approximately 3,974 million shares of common stock and approximately 93 million shares of Series LMCN-V common stock outstanding. "They" are just about everyone.

From the Time Warner website "If you would like to purchase shares in the Company, please contact your broker."
Now, in reality Time Warner companies are equally beholden to their advertisers. Advertisers such as Boeing (public), Dow Chemical (public), Lockheed Martin (public), BP (public), ConocoPhillips (public), and a whole bunch of other publicly owned companies.
If you own stock in just about anything, or buy brand name products, then you are "They".

[Cloud9]

Obviously, you don’t know this but the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a complete fabrication. It was fabricated to meet the needs of a specific political agenda. Those that subscribe to this kind of fantasy are of the same mindset that went around Europe during the great mortality murdering Jews because they decided the Black Death was caused by some old Jew who had poisoned the wells. Those idiots were one step above the flagellants who beat themselves bloody to appease an imaginary god.

Conspiracy theorists drive me nuts. Honestly, have you ever met a person or a group of persons smart enough to create all this crap. On the one hand you imagine Bush is a bumbling idiot than cannot find his way out of a closet and in the very next fantasy you imagine that he and his Neocon buddies are in league with the puppet masters that run everything.

Give me a break, government in the best of times is a bumbling stumbling bureaucracy. In the worst of times, it cannot even tie its own shoe laces. For those that don’t believe this, the weakness of local, state and federal authorities should have been amply demonstrated during Katrina.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Laughs_Last', ' ') "They" are a publicly owned company. As of July 28, 2006, there were approximately 3,974 million shares of common stock and approximately 93 million shares of Series LMCN-V common stock outstanding. "They" are just about everyone.

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MOCKBA', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'L')ou Dobbs is OK, as mass-media talking heads go. With him you get a suggestion of the truth.
I'm surprised they let him go as far as he does.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Laughs_Last', 'I')f you own stock in just about anything, or buy brand name products, then you are "They".

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Loki', 'I') like Lou Dobbs, though I should say my exposure to him has only come in short clips as I don't get cable. I watched some of his stuff on YouTube this morning and agreed with everything he said.

The Nation mentioned Dobbs in a recent editorial. I usually don't read partisan tripe like this, but someone left the issue laying around work and I read it on my break. The editors are basically arguing that anyone who dares question the massive flood of illegal immigrants is basically a white supremacist, little better than a Nazi. They named Dobbs specifically as being among this group. They gave no solutions to the illegal immigration problem, only hate-filled, race-baiting invective. A nice reminder of why I can't stand most lefties (I hate most righties, too, but for slightly different reasons).
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mortifiedpenguin', 'T')ell me, who is going to make us pay our massive debt? Hmm?
Yeah, that's right- no one can.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Laughs_Last', 'I')f you own stock in just about anything, or buy brand name products, then you are "They".

[threadbear]

No invisible hand? No wily tree shrews taking advantage of the bumbling dinosaurs of institutions, they inhabit? Those who don't think there are forces who have infiltrated and worked their will through the establishment, particularly govt. are completely foolish. But don't believe me, listen to the words of John Kennedy. You think he didn't know a thing or two?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlEqtaWpKEU


Food Not Lawns, You think you've pealed away the veil of illusion, with your "Jewish banking conspiracy"? All you've unveiled is your own bigotry masquerading as "special knowledge". No one ethnicity, or religion is responsible for turning the US into a pre-fascist nightmare. If you want to blame anyone--blame the ACLU, who focussed on gender issues for the last 20 years while pulling emphasis away from basic human rights. They helped create a fertile breeding ground for the deterioration of your country, by default.