Chopin

Hare: I stumbled across your insightful comments on "Why women gladly date ugly men (and probably even prefer them)" and your heartfelt soliloquy on "Sex and the American mom: 1 in 3 report getting action on the side" ... To be or not to be, ... I have no particular insights to share, but I read your comments, and the movie "The Bucket List" crossed my mind. It's a heartwarming movie, and you might enjoy it! Good luck! (5/15/2008)


... thoughts on some timely hot issues, from an irrepressible banned commenter ...


4/11/2008

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH ADMITS: "I APPROVE OF 'ENHANCED INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES' " ---
GATEWAY TO FASCISM, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND FALL OF EMPIRE

It will be recorded in history for all eternity, that George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States of America, approved of torture of prisoners-of-war, (or whatever euphemistic labels were used to evade commitments to laws, treaties and conventions). By his actions, he broke with all prior traditions in American history. He aligned his legacy, his government, and his nation with the ignominious company of universally hated names as Adolf Hitler, Josef Mengele, Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler.

When George W. Bush is out of office, and no longer has the trappings of power, it will be easier to see him through the lens of history, -- what a sorry eternal indictment on such a pitiful, mean little malformed human being !!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/11/george-bush-i-was-aware-o_n_96294.html

If there is any lingering doubt on the true nature of the monstrosity he is capable of during his remaining time in power, read the chilling insights of a prominent Washington psychiatrist;
http://www.google.com/pda?hl=en&q=bush%20on%20the%20couch
or the incisive insights of the unique Molly Ivins;
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/102-5592627-4543323?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&a=0375757147&%2Aentries%2A=0
on what makes GWB tick, --- the one person most likely to give the "Go!" to start World War Three: (not rhetorical, but for REAL! --- Admiral Fallon was appointed to be commander of CENTCOM less than 12 months ago, on March 16 2007. Fallon said emphatically that a war with Iran "will NOT happen on his watch!" On March 11 2008, "the only thing standing between the Bush Administration and war with Iran" ... was "retired" from active duty (--- for his outspoken opposition to initiating war with Iran). ... Now he's gone. You figure it out !
http://images.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/11/fallon_retiring/
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/01/12/iran/index.html

George W. Bush will be compared with that hated, despised, and the worst Roman Emperor Commodus !!! (remember in the movie "Gladiator"?)
http://www.google.com/pda?hl=en&q=emperor%20commodus

The cold hard fact is not only that torture is inhumane and contrary to our national character, laws and interests. The chilling clinical truth is that an act of inhumanity sanctioned at the highest level opened a "gateway" to all atrocities to follow, while the people stood by and acquiesced in silent consent.

In the final dramatic scene of the 1961 movie classic "Judgment at Nuremberg":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_at_Nuremberg
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=judgment+at+nuremberg&btnG=Google+Search
Inside his prison cell, face to face with the dignified Chief (American) Judge Dan Haywood (played by Spencer Tracy), who had sentenced him to life imprisonment, the genuinely contrite Nazi judge Ernst Janning (played by Burt Lancaster) said with great anguish:
"I NEVER knew it would come to that, ... those millions who died in concentration camps. You MUST believe me!"
With firm serenity, Judge Haywood told him the shattering truth:
"The first time you sentenced a man to death that you knew to be innocent, it had come to that!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Looking through history, people ask in wonderment: "Against the systematic inhumanity in Nazi Germany, were there no 'good Germans' who opposed the evil regime?" Future generations in the whole world will ask the same question: "Were there no 'good Americans' who opposed that evil regime?"

It took Nazism about a decade to gestate in Germany until it came to power in 1933. After 5-6 years of rapid militarization, it launched wars of aggression in 1939. Its final downfall began with Germany's declaration of war against Soviet Union and USA in 1941, until its total destruction in 1945.

Between you and I, and all those bearing the burden of a troubled collective conscience, I wonder if fascism in America has metastasized for too long to be curable.

If war breaks out between USA and Iran in 2008, by Pentagon's design, (read Seymour Hersh's inside report)
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/04/17/060417fa_fact#
under the order of George W. Bush, and with the acquiescent complicity of the American people,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/12/iran-top-threat-to-iraq-u_n_96356.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041101606.html?nav=rss_world/mideast/iraq
it would unleash incalculable and unprecedented destructive forces which would seal the doom and ultimate destruction of the aggressor, and probably drag the rest of humanity with it into a new "Dark Ages" --- just as Nazi Germany's overreach in launching Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union and declaring war on USA spelled its doom.

For those thoughtful people who cannot envisage fascism in this country becoming more virulent than in Nazi Germany, here's a sobering comparison of some of the causes:---

1) Destruction of the currency and middle-class security:--

The punitive Versailles Treaty in post-WW1 German Weimar Republic, amidst social turmoil, led to hyper-inflation and destruction of the (Deutschmark) German currency of the Weimar Republic. That led to fear, resentment and extreme desperation among the German middle-class. Those conditions provided the hotbed to promote Nazism.

Fastforward to a post USA-Iran regional war scenario:--
Oil would soar above $200 per barrel. (see chart of crude oil priced in US$)
http://futuresource.quote.com/charts/charts.jsp?s=CL&o=&a=M&z=800x550&d=medium&b=CANDLE&st=
Gasoline would soar above $10 per gallon.
The Federal Reserve would borrow heavily to pay crippling war debts.
China's central bank, like any rational banker, would balk at financing further devalued ("junk bond" status) US debt, and would aggressively unload their holdings of US debt (in Treasury Bonds) and US$ (over US$1 Trillion in their US$ holdings). When a politicized central bank like the Federal Reserve can find no willing lenders, domestic political pressure would push it onto a very slippery slope that accelerates on a downward spiral to oblivion -- towards total loss of control and global confidence in the US$ as a world reserve currency. Its final descent into the vortex of hyper-inflating the currency would end in simply printing extra zeros on dollar bills !!! That would ensure destruction of a devalued currency. (See history of money, banking and the Federal Reserve):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYZM58dulPE&feature=related
US$ would plummet precipitously 50%-90%. (see chart of US Dollar index);
http://futuresource.quote.com/charts/charts.jsp?s=DX&o=&a=M&z=800x550&d=medium&b=CANDLE&st=
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-keiser/us-dollar-euthanasia-whil_b_97371.html
while (the inverse dollar value of) gold would soar 1000% from year 2000, (see chart of gold in dollars per ounce).
http://futuresource.quote.com/charts/charts.jsp?s=GC&o=&a=M&z=800x550&d=medium&b=CANDLE&st=
"USA's balance of payments deficits is so strong and irreversible, that we must accept that at some future date there will be a run against the dollar, probably the kind of disorderly run that precipitates a global financial crisis." --- Dr. Paul A. Samuelson in 2005, Nobel Prize winner in Economics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n3g5lUgkWk&feature=related

OPEC countries collectively would convert oil price quotations into Euros (led by Iran, Venezuela, Indonesia, Nigeria, and others). They would take this policy shift because:
-- first, it would be a matter of self-interest to demand fair market value for their scarce resource, and the value of the Euro keeps pace with the value of oil; (see chart of Euro -- in Dollars per Euro)
http://futuresource.quote.com/charts/charts.jsp?s=EC&o=&a=M&z=800x550&d=medium&b=CANDLE&st=
-- and second, as a powerful world cartel, they no longer could be intimidated by a terminally over-extended imperial power.

A de-industrialized US economy -- with little manufacturing base, yet heavily dependent on automobiles and foreign oil, would be unable to absorb such a shock, and would be catastrophically paralyzed into a ghostly image of the collapsed Soviet Union. Its nuclear arsenal would be as useless as the Soviet military machine at the demise of its empire in 1990.

2) Rabid racism and scapegoating political ideologies:--

Racism and scapegoating ideologies became virulent in Nazi Germany, as can happen here in USA.
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

3) Imperialistic hubris:--

In Nazi Germany, Hitler justified the Nazi imperialist aggression as Germany's right to take "Lebensraum" (living space) from other countries (primarily eastward into the Soviet Union).

In USA, Bush enunciates the neocon-PNAC ideology of "America's right as the sole superpower" to seize oil and instal regime-change and "democracy-at-gun-point" wherever and whenever it pleases. This is neocolonialism. Read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins to understand how it works.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=confessions+of+economic+hitman&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8

If faced with such dire circumstances as a hyper-inflating currency, a collapsing economy, high unemployment, and multi-front wars of aggression, this nation would show the true ugly nature of a predatory militaristic empire, and use brute force to grab what it wants. A great majority of nations of the world would be allied against it, out of self-preservation as well as principle.

Instead of a nation of 60 million with a fearful, angry, resentful and desperate middle-class, as in Nazi Germany, USA is a nation of 300 million, under many similar conditions! Those are relentless driving forces.

The one saving grace would be the growing power of positive hope inspired by Obama to gather enough momentum to prevent the forces of evil from opening the pandora's box of a wider regional war with Iran.


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4/05/2008

TRUTH & JUSTICE IN AFTERMATH OF THE 2008 ELECTION -- 4 OPTIONS:--

There is little likelihood of impeachment during the remaining days of this administration in office. It is time to consider the broader issues of truth and justice in a new administration and a new Congress.

More than likely, the architects and executors of the criminal policies and deeds of this failed administration will wrap themselves in legal immunities and judicial pardons upon leaving office. Sadly so far, Congress has been a pushover enabler, even with a slim Democratic majority. However, the people will have plenty of precedents in American law and international law in the pursuit of truth and justice. Here are some of the options, legal frameworks and judicial precedents a new administration might consider:

1) TRUTH & RECONCILIATION OPTION:
-- the "Nelson Mandela South African Model"?
-- the "Nixon-Watergate Model"?

2) CRIMES & MALFEASANCE IN HIGH OFFICE -- NO PARDON, NO STATUE OF LIMITATION OPTION:
-- the "Pinochet Chilean Model"?
-- the "Nuremberg Trials Model"?

3) NO-QUARTERS-GIVEN "NUCLEAR OPTION":
-- the "Tsar Nicholas Russian Model"?
-- the "Ceausescu Romanian Model"?
-- the "Mussolini Italian Model"?
-- the "String-them-up American Frontier Justice Model"?

4) GOLDEN PARACHUTE OPTION:
-- the "Crime is business; business is good; those who have the gold make the rules; American Amnesia Model"? ... a pensioned retirement in Dubai, with consulting contracts from Haliburton?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

How does a nation heal itself after a terrible sickness, and restore itself to health? I think two inseparable things are necessary -- truth and justice. They go hand in hand. There is no truth without justice, and vice versa. Truth cannot take root in people's consciousness and thrive without justice; and there is no justice without knowing, understanding, accepting, and acting on the truth.

Truth, like justice, is a process. Truth is a process of opening eyes, ears, hearts and minds. Justice is a process to keep them open and to stay vigilant. Truth sets you free. But justice KEEPS you free!

One of the most traumatic seminal watershed events in the last 50 years was the political assassination of President Kennedy. An objective observer of contemporary American history would notice that that defining event ushered in a whole raft of far-reaching upheavals that radically changed the socio-economic-political dynamics of the nation, not for the better.

In the aftermath of the assassination in November 1963, the Warren Commission promulgated the "lone gunman" official conclusion. An overwhelming majority of adult Americans with any historical memory of that national trauma remain incredulous of the official conclusion. The official secret records and evidence surrounding that tragedy, by law, remain sealed and unavailable to the public for 75 years!!! Truth suppressed is justice denied. Justice denied metastasizes into hubris, criminality and cancerous institutionalized collective evil, like racism and wars of aggression!

In the wake of that event, a whole spade of toxic events and developments have ensued:--
-- the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X in the late 1960's;
-- the tragic folly of the US-Vietnam War (1963-73);
-- the abandonment of the monetary gold standard and the floating of the US Dollar currency as a commodity by President Nixon in 1971; ... and the subsequent decades of unending turbulent worldwide currency fluctuations;
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nixon+gold+standard&btnG=Google+Search
-- the "Watergate" (1972-74);
-- the illegal Nicaragua-Contras War (1980's);
-- the US-Iraq war & occupation (2003-??);

The complex and arduous task of making logical connections among all those interwoven events and dynamics is better left to political historians. But the CONSEQUENCES of those convulsive events are evident everywhere. Their destructive impacts reach far into the future, deep into peoples' individual lives, and cut a wide swath of destruction of institutions. This downward spiral is inextricably linked with the breakdown of truth and justice. Today, whenever the American people seriously discuss fundamental and sweeping socio-political reforms, the fear of political assassinations is never far from their subconscious minds.

With the advent of a new administration and a new congress in 2009, some of the most crucial defining actions will be how they deal with the criminality and the criminal cabal that have brought such misery to the nation. How they resolve the momentous and thorny issues of truth and justice will determine if the nation takes an upward path of recovery and redemption, or continue to stumble on the downward spiral of regression, misery and destruction. Their choices of the options will define the character and destiny of the nation.

What this nation needs now is wise and courageous leadership and the people's unshakable resolve to demand truth and justice.


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3/22/2008

OBAMA-CLINTON: "DREAM TEAM 2008? OR ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE?"

Is a forced union of Obama and Clinton on a presidential/VP ticket "The Dream Team 2008", or "The Ultimate Nightmare"? Let's take a close sober look.

"I want to unite these United States of America, to fulfill its promise, to achieve its destiny!" This is the simple message Obama brings. It is simple. It speaks the truth. It is the simple truth that the people of America wants. It's about US! When truth speaks to power, truth IS power! Obama is the prophetic messenger, and the rightful leader of our time. "E pluribus unum" -- Out of many, one!

"I am in this to win!" This is the essence of Hillary's message, so clearly and emphatically delivered at her campaign announcement. It is about Hillary. Her need to emphasize her psychological motivation may come from insecurity or hubris. Whatever her underlying motivations, they have the effect of shifting her campaign focus to be about Hillary Rodham Clinton. That misplaced focus destines her candidacy to be constricted to the conventional wisdom of old politics. The candidate Hillary is not showing an inner wherewithal to transcend the (Republican) agenda of fear that mires her campaign in mudslinging.

A presidential election should be an unmistakable affirmation of the shared aspirations of a people and a nation.

Which is an extraordinary aspiring national dream? ... and which is an ordinary haunting personal nightmare?
Which embodies a national yearning? ... and which reveals a personal egocentric drive?

In 1960, the idealistic and courageous JFK hitched his and the nation's fate to the wily bully and consummate politician LBJ. Was it a dream team in its time? Yes, it was, in the conventional wisdom of short-sighted expediency in electoral politics of the time -- not unlike today's scenario of a potential match-up of Obama and Clinton. No, it was not, in the full historical context of the tragic saga that followed:--

In his farewell speech to the nation in 1961, President Eisenhower had presciently warned the nation against the pernicious effects of unrestrained growth of the military-industrial complex on the civic life of the nation.
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

On November 22nd, 1963, a day which will live in infamy, the perfidious institutional forces reversed JFK's policy of disengagement from Vietnam, and installed a zealous advocate of massive escalation of the Vietnam tragedy. The rest is history.
http://www.history-matters.com/vietnam1963.htm

JFK picked LBJ as VP to have a "regional balanced ticket". The historical tragic irony was that his fateful choice had the unintended consequence of providing the back-door through which his power was usurped, his Vietnam withdrawal policy was nullified, and ultimately cost him his life, and brought on the greatest enduring contemporary national tragedy that had befallen America in the last half century.

It was the wise and thoughtful JFK that saved America and the world from the brink of mutual nuclear annihilation with the Soviet Union. It was the horrendous misfortune of America and the world that LBJ, the polar opposite of JFK in character and temperament, was responsible for the tragic folly of launching the US-Vietnam War.
http://www.amazon.com/March-Folly-Troy-Vietnam/dp/0345308239

Fastforward 45 years, and connect the dots in the socio-economic-political context in America today. Has Eisenhower's warning been borne out in spades? The imperial militaristic war economy is firmly embedded in almost every congressional district, in 6000 stateside military bases
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0115-08.htm
and in over 700 foreign military bases strung worldwide.
http://www.google.com/pda?hl=en&q=number%20of%20american%20military%20bases

Now there is loose talk of a "Dream Team 2008" of two INCOMPATIBLE personalities and philosophical worldviews:--

One summons our better angels by articulating an audacious vision that WE ARE the change that we seek;
http://www.google.com/pda?hl=en&q=audacity%20of%20hope
and wisely warned against the folly of the Iraq tragedy. This is at heart a Democrat, who has a unifying philosophy, is spiritually in touch, and is politically astute and successful in reaching out. The evidence is in his early work in community organizing, and in his current success in building a mass movement, and re-envigorating a 21st century broad-based bottom-up Democratic Party. This is a uniter in thought, word and action.

The other mocks "this vision thing", appeals to people's baser instincts through ruthless no-holds-barred Rovian "end justifies the means" electoral dirty tricks; and cynically triangulates for personal political gains by subscribing to not ONE, but TWO war authorizations. -- The "Kyl-Lieberman Resolution" has yet to play out its ominous potential implications for the nation and humanity, in expanding to regional war with Iran. This is at heart an authoritarian, manipulative controller, who practises "divide and conquer" to foster a top-down anti-democratic plutocracy. ("Plutocracy is the rule or power through wealth or by the wealthy. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low.")
http://www.google.com/search?l=en&q=plutocracy&btnG=Google+Search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy
The evidence is in the words, campaign organization and management, but is most revealing in the long trail of lies, half-truths, innuendos, deceit and secrecy.

America is once again in the grip of hyped up frenzy and fear of another "-ism".
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html
Though the faces have changed, the cast of characters on the political stage this election year, with Obama and Clinton, is eerily reminiscent of the JFK-LBJ era.

Historical analogies and parallels range from the mythological Trojan Horse of 3000 years ago, through the JFK-LBJ match-up in 1960, to today's Joe Lieberman among Democrats. Take your pick.

Now, Bill is clearly laying the groundwork to stampede (Democratic) public opinion into the noose of an Obama (Pres) - Clinton (VP) matchup.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/08/bill-clinton-a-clinton-obama-ticket-would-be-unstoppable/

Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew were a compatible team. So are Bush and Cheney. Contrariwise, so were FDR and Truman. JFK and LBJ were a tragic mismatch. At a deeper core level, Obama and Clinton are not compatible. Policy differences may merge or diverge between Clinton and Obama, but core values (character and judgment) do not change so easily. On how their core values respond to such crucial questions as war and peace, civil liberties and electoral campaign tactics rest the fate of the nation and humanity

Is an Obama-Clinton match-up "The Dream Team 2008", or potentially "The Ultimate Nightmare" -- an eerie tragic historical deja vu?


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3/24/2008

ELECTION AGENDA: President of USA = Commander-In-Chief ONLY ???

Who says that electing the President-Of-The-United-States is the same as electing the Commander-In-Chief? Yes, the president is the C-in-C. But that is only ONE of the many roles the president takes on.

Who sets the agenda to tout experience in commanding in time of war as the supreme requirement of a president? A president is not only a warrior-in-chief, unless you believe we are in the business of war, and business is good!

Democrats are losing the initiative to set the presidential election agenda. So now there are two candidates vying to be the toughest SOB on the block. Pick ME -- I'm experienced and tough! No, pick ME -- I'm the toughest and the meanest SOB on the block! I'll go through the gates of hell and hang tough through a hundred-years war! --- one is "Bush-didn't-do-it-right" and one is "Bush-wannabe". No, Democrats look to the future, and leave him be with his nostalgia. There HAS BEEN a hundred-years war. That was in the 20th century!

Has anyone noticed the latest newsflash (3/27/2008)?: A shower of rockets arched into the middle of the Green Zone, 5 years into a cakewalk Iraqi occupation. It's reminiscent of a prelude to the Tet Offensive, or the Saigon rooftop helicoptor evacuation! Will the entirely surrounded Green Zone in Iraq be America's Dien Bien Phu?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dien_Bien_Phu_Battle
How did this country come to that, one whole year into a presidential campaign?

There's a tragic air and putrid smell surrounding this Iraq misadventure caught in a deathwish spiral. The protagonist GWB has cocooned himself in a self-induced state of mental, spiritual and moral paralysis. Do you all see that mental image of the Decider -- a man sitting in the corner, withdrawn and staring into the void with eyes glazed over, for an interminable time? ... while people are DYING!
http://www.fahrenheit911.com/about/stills/showphoto.php?cnt=01
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/09/bush-gets-emotional-tuesd_n_95918.html
The latest "Maliki's miscalculation" and reports of American troops amassing on the Iranian border show an ominous quickening pace of events. Connect the dots from the "shock and awe" boastful beginning to today's tattered state of interminable daily carnage. Set that trajectory of events against the background of the presidential election. Add the Rovian penchant of Bush and Cheney for a "wag the dog" exit strategy from their predicament. Then one gets a sinking feeling of an impending opening salvo of World War Three.

It's time we the people MUST take matters into our own hands, and replace this deathwish spiral with hope in choosing the next president. Let's face the central issue head-on. This nation is electing the "PRESID-ENT" --- one who PRESIDES ... over a council of wise, dedicated, experienced, competent cabinet officers to formulate and execute policies to solve a host of massive interlocking problems for the whole nation. The President is not a warrior-in-chief, commander-in-chief, diplomat-in-chief, executive-in-chief, economist-in-chief, ... or any-other-in-chief. The President is "All-Of-The-Above", eventhough the Neanderthal-Cons living in bygone centuries want to push the war agenda on the rest of the nation! What George W. Bush and his Neanderthal-Cons have created in Iraq is a classic "Gordian Knot".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_Knot
He and his cohorts are saying to the next president and the people: "Here, YOU solve it!"
If we the people don't have a creative Barack "Alexander" Hussein Obama, we truly would have to INVENT one! YES, WE CAN ! YES, WE WILL !!!

A successful president of USA over the next ten years will call for character traits that combine high levels of quiet inner confidence, transcendent intelligence, wisdom, courage, empathy, integrity, and an innate sense of justice. The time calls for a person with extraordinary communicative skills in persuasion and diplomacy, incisive judgment of people, accurate assessment of risks and uncertainties, comprehensive appreciation of cultures, and panoramic understanding of historical trends. ...

Most important of all, the next president needs to have an unerring inner moral compass and a profound spiritual dimension. It's the kind of substantive intangible quality and strength of character that can resist the "bomb bomb bomb" mindset of the military-political establishment. This personal spiritual dimension is the wellspring which will suffuse the people with a renewed spirit of the US Constitution. Such a president will change the paradigm of "might-makes-right" to "right-makes-might". That paradigm shift will set in motion a process of renewal to uplift the people, re-energize the democracy, re-consecrate the Constitution, heal the wounded pride and restore the dignity of a just nation.

The era of Cowboy-ism is OVER !!!
The past half-century of unlimited acquisition of imperial military power and unrestrained use of force in global relationships must come to an end. It can happen by wise voluntary choice, or be forced by calamitous consequences of the excesses -- such as a precipitous collapse of the US dollar like a house-of-cards.

It will take a transformational leader. Such a leader will not cede initiative to the neocons to define this presidential election as the hiring of an experienced C-in-C. A transformational leader will seize initiative to redefine a transcendent presidency within bounds of the US Constitution. Such a leader will successfully explain the compelling reasons to jettison the cowboy philosophy in international relations, and to replace the "YOYO" (You're-On-Your-Own) economics. Such a leader will ask the people for an overwhelming mandate to chart a new course with a new social compact, set a new trend in global collaboration, and mobilize the people to participate in a renewed American democracy based on hope, understanding and collaboration, instead of the neocon-PNAC nightmare world driven by fear, ignorance and aggression.

Just examine this stark array of undeniable facts:-

1) This 2 to 3 trillion dollar ($2 - 3,000,000,000,000 !!!) American war in Iraq is busting the total national debt to beyond bankruptcy levels. (Interests payments on the total national debt of over $10 trillion will consume almost ALL discretionary social expenditures in the federal budget! ... i.e., the true state of the federal budget is tantamount to an UNDECLARED BANKRUPTCY!)

2) The worldwide credit bubble is bursting. This crisis is looming larger and deeper than the complicit central bankers and establishment economists would admit. (Estimates of the total size of the global credit bubble of highly leveraged debts at stake run as high as $500 TRILLION --- $500,000,000,000,000 !!!)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56872

3) A huge bulge of millions of babyboomers will be approaching retirement age in the coming 10 years. ( 1945 + 65 = 2010 )

4) The rapidly depreciating US dollar is approaching the worth and status of other (hyper-inflated) defunct currencies at the demise of the Soviet Empire in the 1990's, the Weimar German Republic in the 1920's, and the Roman Empire at its terminal decline and fall in the 5th/6th centuries. ("A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.")

5) The rapidly warming global climate is within a window of 10 years of exceeding some indeterminate "climatic tipping points", before careening out of control towards irreversible climatic catastrophes, according to irrefutable consensus of world climate scientific judgment.

The concurrence of these major crises require globally integrated national solutions with international cooperation. The necessary solutions all but predetermine the kind of American president and world statesmen needed to succeed. It's time for the American people to come together, and assert ownership of its government and the identity of a mature nation with a moral core and a spiritual purpose.

Perhaps the Brits observed accurately the essential difference about the US presidential election this time, in The Economist Magazine (Apr. 19-25, 2008):
"... This election is not just about who wins the White House, but about whether an entire political era is drawing to a close."...YES!...Y_E_S...W_E...C_A_N !!!
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11050128