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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
March 28, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling high gasoline prices, although most do not blame him for them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Tuesday.
Sixty-eight percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of how Obama is responding to price increases that have become one of the biggest issues in the 2012 presidential campaign.
In the past month, U.S. fuel prices have jumped about $0.30 per gallon to about $3.90 and the Republicans seeking to replace the Democrat in the November 6 election have seized upon the issue to attack his energy policies.
The disapproval reaches across party lines, potentially spelling trouble for Obama in the election, although the online survey showed voters hold oil companies or foreign countries more accountable than politicians for the price spike. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/poll-most-americans-disapprove-obama-gas-prices-214038703.html
Gas prices and irrational "lashing out"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling high gasoline prices, although most do not blame him for them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Tuesday.
Sixty-eight percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of how Obama is responding to price increases that have become one of the biggest issues in the 2012 presidential campaign.
In the past month, U.S. fuel prices have jumped about $0.30 per gallon to about $3.90 and the Republicans seeking to replace the Democrat in the November 6 election have seized upon the issue to attack his energy policies.
The disapproval reaches across party lines, potentially spelling trouble for Obama in the election, although the online survey showed voters hold oil companies or foreign countries more accountable than politicians for the price spike. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/poll-most-americans-disapprove-obama-gas-prices-214038703.html
March 28, 2012
by Chauncey DeVega
The efforts to smear Trayvon Martin by introducing irrelevant information to what is most basically a simple story about white thuggery, and a violation of Constitutional rights, would be a fascinating footnote more worthy of a legal case book than a national drama if not for how conservatives and the glib classes have rallied to defend a murderer.
As I have written about in numerous places, black masculinity is an imperiled identity, one that is forever suspect and at risk. The rights afforded to others do not apply to bodies marked as black and male. Moreover, the obfuscations that are central to an exercise which assumes the criminal culpability and guilt of black Americans in all matters is a script that is centuries old.
The denial necessary to let George Zimmerman walk free, to cover up his deeds, to make excuses for killing innocent people, and to proceed a priori from an assumption that black men are a criminal class that can be killed at will, is evidence of a type of mass White hysteria.
They burned witches in the United States and Europe by the thousands for more than a century using much the same raggedy logic; White people hung and dismembered black women, men, and children and sold their body parts at county fairs using much the same logic; and in the post civil rights moment, Age of Obama, many in the White public skewer murder victims who happen to be black using a logic that assumes black criminality and white innocence in all transgressions--perceived or real--across the color line. .............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/2012/03/smearing-trayvon-martin-salem-witch.html
Smearing Trayvon Martin: The Salem Witch Trials, Mass Hysteria, and the Specter of Black Thuggery
by Chauncey DeVega
The efforts to smear Trayvon Martin by introducing irrelevant information to what is most basically a simple story about white thuggery, and a violation of Constitutional rights, would be a fascinating footnote more worthy of a legal case book than a national drama if not for how conservatives and the glib classes have rallied to defend a murderer.
As I have written about in numerous places, black masculinity is an imperiled identity, one that is forever suspect and at risk. The rights afforded to others do not apply to bodies marked as black and male. Moreover, the obfuscations that are central to an exercise which assumes the criminal culpability and guilt of black Americans in all matters is a script that is centuries old.
The denial necessary to let George Zimmerman walk free, to cover up his deeds, to make excuses for killing innocent people, and to proceed a priori from an assumption that black men are a criminal class that can be killed at will, is evidence of a type of mass White hysteria.
They burned witches in the United States and Europe by the thousands for more than a century using much the same raggedy logic; White people hung and dismembered black women, men, and children and sold their body parts at county fairs using much the same logic; and in the post civil rights moment, Age of Obama, many in the White public skewer murder victims who happen to be black using a logic that assumes black criminality and white innocence in all transgressions--perceived or real--across the color line. .............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/2012/03/smearing-trayvon-martin-salem-witch.html
March 28, 2012
from truthdig:
Health Care Mandate Threatens Progressive Legacy
Posted on Mar 28, 2012
By Bill Blum
Day two of the historic arguments before the United States Supreme Court on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, is a wrap, and it’s hard to see the ultimate outcome being anything less than a total train wreck for the administration and a long-awaited godsend for the American right.
Topping the agenda on the second of three days of arguments was the constitutionality of the legislation’s centerpiece—the so-called individual mandate that requires virtually all Americans not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or their employer to purchase at least minimal health insurance. Supporters of the mandate say it is vital to offset the cost to insurers of some of the act’s protections by forcing people who might otherwise not pay for or need health insurance to buy into the system. The court appeared split 5 to 4 along party lines, with the majority consisting entirely of Republican appointees prepared to overturn the mandate as exceeding the limits of congressional and executive power. Barring an unexpected turnabout from Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is considered the panel’s sole swing vote, the decision the court releases by the current term’s end will have profound implications not just for the future of health care, but for the future of constitutional law generally.
Given the enormous size and scope of the federal government and the abuses of power it sometimes commits, it’s often difficult to remember that the Constitution defines the federal government as one of limited or enumerated powers. To act, the federal government is required, at least in theory, to tether its action to a grant of constitutional power.
The administration sought to uphold the individual mandate as a valid exercise of congressional authority under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which gives the feds the power to regulate commerce among the states. In so doing, the Obama team relied on a long string of Supreme Court precedents, dating back to the 1940s, that have interpreted the clause broadly to uphold a wide array of national initiatives in areas including fair labor standards, civil rights and environmental protection. Along with the power to levy taxes to promote the general welfare (a power also enumerated in Article I and used as the legal basis for Social Security), the Commerce Clause has served as a crucial tool in support of progressive movements aimed at mitigating the meanest features of American capitalism. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/health_care_mandate_threatens_progressive_legacy_20120328/
Health Care Mandate Threatens Progressive Legacy
from truthdig:
Health Care Mandate Threatens Progressive Legacy
Posted on Mar 28, 2012
By Bill Blum
Day two of the historic arguments before the United States Supreme Court on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, is a wrap, and it’s hard to see the ultimate outcome being anything less than a total train wreck for the administration and a long-awaited godsend for the American right.
Topping the agenda on the second of three days of arguments was the constitutionality of the legislation’s centerpiece—the so-called individual mandate that requires virtually all Americans not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or their employer to purchase at least minimal health insurance. Supporters of the mandate say it is vital to offset the cost to insurers of some of the act’s protections by forcing people who might otherwise not pay for or need health insurance to buy into the system. The court appeared split 5 to 4 along party lines, with the majority consisting entirely of Republican appointees prepared to overturn the mandate as exceeding the limits of congressional and executive power. Barring an unexpected turnabout from Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is considered the panel’s sole swing vote, the decision the court releases by the current term’s end will have profound implications not just for the future of health care, but for the future of constitutional law generally.
Given the enormous size and scope of the federal government and the abuses of power it sometimes commits, it’s often difficult to remember that the Constitution defines the federal government as one of limited or enumerated powers. To act, the federal government is required, at least in theory, to tether its action to a grant of constitutional power.
The administration sought to uphold the individual mandate as a valid exercise of congressional authority under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which gives the feds the power to regulate commerce among the states. In so doing, the Obama team relied on a long string of Supreme Court precedents, dating back to the 1940s, that have interpreted the clause broadly to uphold a wide array of national initiatives in areas including fair labor standards, civil rights and environmental protection. Along with the power to levy taxes to promote the general welfare (a power also enumerated in Article I and used as the legal basis for Social Security), the Commerce Clause has served as a crucial tool in support of progressive movements aimed at mitigating the meanest features of American capitalism. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/health_care_mandate_threatens_progressive_legacy_20120328/
March 27, 2012
from Grist:
If you like cool weather and not having to club your neighbors as you battle for scarce resources, now’s the time to move to Canada, because the story of the 21st century is almost written, reports Reuters. Global warming is close to being irreversible, and in some cases that ship has already sailed.
Scientists have been saying for a while that we have until between 2015 and 2020 to start radically reducing our carbon emissions, and what do you know: That deadline’s almost past! Crazy how these things sneak up on you while you’re squabbling about whether global warming is a religion. Also, our science got better in the meantime, so now we know that no matter what we do, we can say adios to the planet’s ice caps.
Here’s what happens next: Natural climate feedbacks will take over and, on top of our prodigious human-caused carbon emissions, send us over an irreversible tipping point. By 2100, the planet will be hotter than it’s been since the time of the dinosaurs, and everyone who lives in red states will pretty much get the apocalypse they’ve been hoping for. The subtropics will expand northward, the bottom half of the U.S. will turn into an inhospitable desert, and everyone who lives there will be drinking recycled pee and struggling to salvage something from an economy wrecked by the destruction of agriculture, industry, and electrical power production. ..............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/list/climate-scientists-its-basically-too-late-to-stop-warming/
Climate scientists: It’s basically too late to stop warming
from Grist:
If you like cool weather and not having to club your neighbors as you battle for scarce resources, now’s the time to move to Canada, because the story of the 21st century is almost written, reports Reuters. Global warming is close to being irreversible, and in some cases that ship has already sailed.
Scientists have been saying for a while that we have until between 2015 and 2020 to start radically reducing our carbon emissions, and what do you know: That deadline’s almost past! Crazy how these things sneak up on you while you’re squabbling about whether global warming is a religion. Also, our science got better in the meantime, so now we know that no matter what we do, we can say adios to the planet’s ice caps.
For ice sheets — huge refrigerators that slow down the warming of the planet — the tipping point has probably already been passed, Steffen said. The West Antarctic ice sheet has shrunk over the last decade and the Greenland ice sheet has lost around 200 cubic km (48 cubic miles) a year since the 1990s.
Here’s what happens next: Natural climate feedbacks will take over and, on top of our prodigious human-caused carbon emissions, send us over an irreversible tipping point. By 2100, the planet will be hotter than it’s been since the time of the dinosaurs, and everyone who lives in red states will pretty much get the apocalypse they’ve been hoping for. The subtropics will expand northward, the bottom half of the U.S. will turn into an inhospitable desert, and everyone who lives there will be drinking recycled pee and struggling to salvage something from an economy wrecked by the destruction of agriculture, industry, and electrical power production. ..............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/list/climate-scientists-its-basically-too-late-to-stop-warming/
March 27, 2012
from Consortium News:
Are the GOP Justices Political Hacks?
March 25, 2012
Exclusive: The “Obamacare” debate will test whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s five Republican justices are political hacks. After all, a right-wing think tank devised the individual mandate, which was embraced by GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, but it’s now anathema because it was passed by a Democratic president, Robert Parry writes.
By Robert Parry
Does anyone doubt that if a Republican president had enacted the Affordable Care Act – with its individual mandate devised by the right-wing Heritage Foundation and with Mitt Romney denouncing “free riders” not paying their share of health care costs – the U.S. Supreme Court’s Republican majority would be lining up to declare it constitutional?
Indeed, if the Heritage Foundation, which did dream up the individual mandate, were submitting supportive friend-of-the-court briefs – instead of denouncing its own idea – and if Romney were still deriding those “free riders” who palm off the costs for their emergency health care on others, the odds would be that the Court would vote overwhelmingly for the constitutionality of the health reform law.
After all, the Commerce Clause – upon which the Affordable Care Act is based – represents a virtually unlimited authority for Congress to enact laws to regulate interstate commerce, a power which can require individuals and companies to either do something or not do something.
For instance, in a Nov. 8, 2011, legal opinion affirming the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, conservative U.S. Appeals Court senior judge Laurence Silberman recognized this legal reality (even though he might not politically like “Obamacare”). ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/03/25/are-the-gop-justices-political-hacks/
Robert Parry: Are the GOP Justices Political Hacks?
from Consortium News:
Are the GOP Justices Political Hacks?
March 25, 2012
Exclusive: The “Obamacare” debate will test whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s five Republican justices are political hacks. After all, a right-wing think tank devised the individual mandate, which was embraced by GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, but it’s now anathema because it was passed by a Democratic president, Robert Parry writes.
By Robert Parry
Does anyone doubt that if a Republican president had enacted the Affordable Care Act – with its individual mandate devised by the right-wing Heritage Foundation and with Mitt Romney denouncing “free riders” not paying their share of health care costs – the U.S. Supreme Court’s Republican majority would be lining up to declare it constitutional?
Indeed, if the Heritage Foundation, which did dream up the individual mandate, were submitting supportive friend-of-the-court briefs – instead of denouncing its own idea – and if Romney were still deriding those “free riders” who palm off the costs for their emergency health care on others, the odds would be that the Court would vote overwhelmingly for the constitutionality of the health reform law.
After all, the Commerce Clause – upon which the Affordable Care Act is based – represents a virtually unlimited authority for Congress to enact laws to regulate interstate commerce, a power which can require individuals and companies to either do something or not do something.
For instance, in a Nov. 8, 2011, legal opinion affirming the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, conservative U.S. Appeals Court senior judge Laurence Silberman recognized this legal reality (even though he might not politically like “Obamacare”). ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/03/25/are-the-gop-justices-political-hacks/
March 27, 2012
from In These Times:
Earlier this month, Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, complained that House GOP members were blocking the release of a National Labor Board Relations Inspector General’s report. The report, which Miller’s office was eventually able to obtain and release late Friday, shows that GOP NLRB Member Terence Flynn broke ethics rules by trading private NLRB case information for personal gain to anti-union law firms when he worked as chief counsel to GOP NLRB Member Brian Hayes during the 2010-2011 period. (President Obama appointed Flynn to the NLRB in January.)
The report (PDF) found that Flynn funneled sensitive information to Mitt Romney’s labor policy co-chair—former GOP NLRB member Peter Schaumber, who left the independent federal agency 2010—to be used in political attacks on the Board. And it recommends the Department of Justice investigate his actions.
"Given Mr. Flynn's position as a chief counsel and his years of service, he knew, or should have known, that he had a duty to maintain the confidence of the information that he received in the performance of his official duties," the report states. According to the Inspector General’s report, Flynn passed on “lead case lists, pre-decisional votes and positions of the members, the identity of counsel assigned to a case, the status of cases, the researching issues in cases, the deliberation of the former Chairman in [a case], the desire of two members to press forward in [a case], and the analysis of the Board’s resolution on” a proposed rule currently in the process of rulemaking.
Some of this information was used by Schaumber as part of a public campaign against the NLRB. The Inspector General report states that Flynn’s computer was used to edit a business plan for Peter Schaumber’s law practice to be used when he left the NLRB in 2010 (it doesn't assert that Flynn himself did this editing). The plan said that Schaumber would develop a law practice “in part by leveraging my Agency connections and focusing the attention of senior management on the likely priorities of the Obama board and strategies to respond to them.” ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12943/gop_nlrb_member_passed_sensitive_information_to_romney_campaign/
GOP NLRB Member Passed Sensitive Information to Romney Campaign
from In These Times:
Earlier this month, Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, complained that House GOP members were blocking the release of a National Labor Board Relations Inspector General’s report. The report, which Miller’s office was eventually able to obtain and release late Friday, shows that GOP NLRB Member Terence Flynn broke ethics rules by trading private NLRB case information for personal gain to anti-union law firms when he worked as chief counsel to GOP NLRB Member Brian Hayes during the 2010-2011 period. (President Obama appointed Flynn to the NLRB in January.)
The report (PDF) found that Flynn funneled sensitive information to Mitt Romney’s labor policy co-chair—former GOP NLRB member Peter Schaumber, who left the independent federal agency 2010—to be used in political attacks on the Board. And it recommends the Department of Justice investigate his actions.
"Given Mr. Flynn's position as a chief counsel and his years of service, he knew, or should have known, that he had a duty to maintain the confidence of the information that he received in the performance of his official duties," the report states. According to the Inspector General’s report, Flynn passed on “lead case lists, pre-decisional votes and positions of the members, the identity of counsel assigned to a case, the status of cases, the researching issues in cases, the deliberation of the former Chairman in [a case], the desire of two members to press forward in [a case], and the analysis of the Board’s resolution on” a proposed rule currently in the process of rulemaking.
Some of this information was used by Schaumber as part of a public campaign against the NLRB. The Inspector General report states that Flynn’s computer was used to edit a business plan for Peter Schaumber’s law practice to be used when he left the NLRB in 2010 (it doesn't assert that Flynn himself did this editing). The plan said that Schaumber would develop a law practice “in part by leveraging my Agency connections and focusing the attention of senior management on the likely priorities of the Obama board and strategies to respond to them.” ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12943/gop_nlrb_member_passed_sensitive_information_to_romney_campaign/
March 27, 2012
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Most German airports were hobbled Tuesday morning by a round of public sector strikes, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, news reports said. Workers at the Frankfurt airport, the nation's busiest, were expected to return to work at mid-afternoon, reports said, while stoppages were also planned at other key hubs, including Munich and Berlin. The warning strike was called by the Verdi trade union ahead of further negotiations, which are set for Wednesday.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/german-airports-crippled-by-warning-strikes-2012-03-27
German airports crippled by warning strikes
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Most German airports were hobbled Tuesday morning by a round of public sector strikes, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, news reports said. Workers at the Frankfurt airport, the nation's busiest, were expected to return to work at mid-afternoon, reports said, while stoppages were also planned at other key hubs, including Munich and Berlin. The warning strike was called by the Verdi trade union ahead of further negotiations, which are set for Wednesday.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/german-airports-crippled-by-warning-strikes-2012-03-27
March 27, 2012
from YES! Magazine:
How Boulder Freed its Electric Company
Running their own utility means sun and wind energy instead of coal.
by Valerie Schloredt
posted Mar 26, 2012
The city of Boulder, Colo., has won the right to take its power supply—and carbon emissions—away from corporate control. The change for Boulder came in November when voters passed two ballot measures that allow the city to begin the process of forming its own municipal power utility.
The city’s current electricity supplier, Xcel Energy, is a large corporation that sources more than 60 percent of its power from coal. Colorado climate activists tried for years to persuade Xcel to transition from coal to renewables, arguing that the state’s plains, mountains, and 300 days of annual sunshine give it abundant potential for the development of wind and solar power. But they found Xcel’s take-up of renewables was frustratingly slow. Xcel is investing $400 million in its coal-powered plants, and its plans for renewables stops at just 30 percent in 2020, with no further increase until 2028.
Boulder has long cherished the goal of becoming a leader in tackling climate change. In 2002, the city council passed the Kyoto Resolution on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2006, residents voted for the nation’s first city carbon tax to achieve those targets.
“Municipalization”—the legal process whereby the city would form its own utility company—has been on the table since 2004. When Xcel countered with the offer of an ambitious city-wide smart grid in 2008, Boulder accepted. But Xcel and its partners didn’t do a cost-benefit analysis prior to starting the project, and the portion of the costs consumers would pay rose from a projected $15.3 million to (at last count) $44.8 million. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/9-strategies-to-end-corporate-rule/how-boulder-freed-its-electric-company
How Boulder Freed its Electric Company
from YES! Magazine:
How Boulder Freed its Electric Company
Running their own utility means sun and wind energy instead of coal.
by Valerie Schloredt
posted Mar 26, 2012
The city of Boulder, Colo., has won the right to take its power supply—and carbon emissions—away from corporate control. The change for Boulder came in November when voters passed two ballot measures that allow the city to begin the process of forming its own municipal power utility.
The city’s current electricity supplier, Xcel Energy, is a large corporation that sources more than 60 percent of its power from coal. Colorado climate activists tried for years to persuade Xcel to transition from coal to renewables, arguing that the state’s plains, mountains, and 300 days of annual sunshine give it abundant potential for the development of wind and solar power. But they found Xcel’s take-up of renewables was frustratingly slow. Xcel is investing $400 million in its coal-powered plants, and its plans for renewables stops at just 30 percent in 2020, with no further increase until 2028.
Boulder has long cherished the goal of becoming a leader in tackling climate change. In 2002, the city council passed the Kyoto Resolution on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2006, residents voted for the nation’s first city carbon tax to achieve those targets.
“Municipalization”—the legal process whereby the city would form its own utility company—has been on the table since 2004. When Xcel countered with the offer of an ambitious city-wide smart grid in 2008, Boulder accepted. But Xcel and its partners didn’t do a cost-benefit analysis prior to starting the project, and the portion of the costs consumers would pay rose from a projected $15.3 million to (at last count) $44.8 million. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/9-strategies-to-end-corporate-rule/how-boulder-freed-its-electric-company
March 27, 2012
from YES! Magazine:
A DIY Civilization
Can we create the machines of modern life sustainably, cheaply, and close to home?
by Colleen Shaddox
posted Mar 26, 2012
A baker’s oven, a backhoe, a well drilling rig. According to social entrepreneur Marcin Jakubowski, these are a few of the 50 machines essential for any society to sustain a modern, comfortable lifestyle.
But these machines are not only essential, explains Leifur Thor, they’re also expensive, hard to repair and designed to be obsolete in a few years. Thor volunteers with Open Source Ecology, a non-profit Jakubowski founded to develop the Global Village Construction Set. The set will comprise durable, modular machines that people can build and maintain themselves with sustainable, locally available materials—often scrap metal. OSE will give the plans away to anyone who wants them. The money a farmer would have sent to a large corporation to buy a hay cutter will stay in the community. The environmental impact of shipping heavy equipment long distances will disappear. These machines are designed to cost roughly a fifth of what factory-produced models do.
"We’re obsessed with the idea that whatever we’re creating is going to have the maximum benefit, for the lowest cost, for the longest time," says Thor. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/a-diy-civilization
A DIY Civilization
from YES! Magazine:
A DIY Civilization
Can we create the machines of modern life sustainably, cheaply, and close to home?
by Colleen Shaddox
posted Mar 26, 2012
A baker’s oven, a backhoe, a well drilling rig. According to social entrepreneur Marcin Jakubowski, these are a few of the 50 machines essential for any society to sustain a modern, comfortable lifestyle.
But these machines are not only essential, explains Leifur Thor, they’re also expensive, hard to repair and designed to be obsolete in a few years. Thor volunteers with Open Source Ecology, a non-profit Jakubowski founded to develop the Global Village Construction Set. The set will comprise durable, modular machines that people can build and maintain themselves with sustainable, locally available materials—often scrap metal. OSE will give the plans away to anyone who wants them. The money a farmer would have sent to a large corporation to buy a hay cutter will stay in the community. The environmental impact of shipping heavy equipment long distances will disappear. These machines are designed to cost roughly a fifth of what factory-produced models do.
"We’re obsessed with the idea that whatever we’re creating is going to have the maximum benefit, for the lowest cost, for the longest time," says Thor. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/a-diy-civilization
March 27, 2012
...... is very blunt, bleak and sobering, but this is well worth a watch.
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/13006/Why+America+Failed+The+Roots+of+Imperial+Decline.aspx
"Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline"
Morris Berman
Morris Berman talks about the third book in his trilogy on the decline of the American empire. Mr. Berman argues that self-interest trumping the common good has led the U.S. astray. This event was hosted by Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Los Angeles.
In case you missed this on BOOK TV, Morris Berman's assessment of America......
...... is very blunt, bleak and sobering, but this is well worth a watch.
http://www.booktv.org/Watch/13006/Why+America+Failed+The+Roots+of+Imperial+Decline.aspx
"Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline"
Morris Berman
Morris Berman talks about the third book in his trilogy on the decline of the American empire. Mr. Berman argues that self-interest trumping the common good has led the U.S. astray. This event was hosted by Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Los Angeles.
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