Look, Julia,
This is , as you put it - an American obsession. Let it be. And for some of us who joined into the brotherhood of obsessed individuals it is the way of life.
Do not judge!
And do not preach - the socialism is an old book. For the superior intellectuals like you and Ira , and Lina, it should be quite obvious - we are just simpletons.... and want to be let alone.

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Global Cooling for the next 30 years!!! - Does not expire!!!

Look,
1- I can totally shut up and not say anything and then you will just enjoy a monologue:-)
2- who said anything about socialism? - total misperception of the concept.
3- nobody ( at least not myself) is preaching... people are here to express and exchange ideas. Don't like others ideas - understood, nothing personal, there is no need to say "you" every time. We discuss ideas, not personalities...
4 - not sure about others, I personally never claim any superiority in anything, humbled enough by life to do so....If you perceive my statements as statements of superiority, it is total misconception.
would be nice to have those principals as platform for debates:
- mutual respect,
- listening with an open mind to other' perspective,
-not bunching all people into a common label,
- trying to learn from others

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Happy New Year to all! Virtual hugs!

To every single one of the participants, who claim - these are theirs or new, or other "ideas":
All of these "ideas" - are from the "old country". They may be called different names - "one payer system", "national standard", "international norms", etc...all of it either European or Soviet Socialism.
This is a "new" world. It has it's constitution, and nobody is going to change it. Not until the proper steps are taken. The people who are in power right now and who do not uphold the constitutional principles - are corrupt. Most of the Washington is corrupt. Thus giving the opportunities to demagogues like the current leadership to come to power.

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Global Cooling for the next 30 years!!! - Does not expire!!!

The main reason they are in power is - the people are not politicallycharged. They go about their lives, not paying much attention topolitics.
The local issues are dealt with by the local governments... etc.
Untilthe current power grab majority of the population would not give a damnabout any of this. Just lets see what happens in November.

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Global Cooling for the next 30 years!!! - Does not expire!!!

Neoconservatives got all the attention for the last ten years or so as a consequence of being seen as the biggest cheerleaders for military adventurism in the Middle East.
I think the next movement deserving a lot of publicity and focus is Neocommunism.

Neocommunism isn't full-force Communism, but it definitely embraces the redistribution of wealth through the mechanism of coercive state action. Taking control of private sector healthcare would be a good example.
We should call the members of this group the Neocommunists. Or, for short, the Neocoms.
Hunter Baker

Arrests of militia members in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana: ********tinyurl.com/ydtcsvl
Is the raise in political extreimsm the result of Fox News fueling the rage? Is this what US Conservatives want?

Alexey, at this point it's unclear whether it's a raise of militia activity or government's decision to crackdown on something that was always there.
Does anybody find it strange that those people are easily called Christian extremists in the media, but no one dared to call bombing in Moscow a case of Muslim terrorism?

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Хочу лето (или нормальную зиму)

Oleg, I think it is close to being clear, as the number of organized militia organizations rose significantly in the last 2 years. I can dig out the data, but it was something like 100 -> 500 militias (I've heard it on the radio driving in to work this morning)...

what a double standard to be concerned now about extremism.. 8 years of Bush we had tons of the crazy extreme left demonstrators, protesters or just plain artists writing books about Bush assassination, making movies about it, or called him Hitler, fascist on a regular basis.. conservatives often being attacked on college campuses by "peacenik"-students.. now all of a sudden it's Fox's fault.. and those who are blaming it don't even watch it..

I'm not very familiar with the subject and don't want to argue. However, the raise in militia activity may be real, or due to the change in government's classification.

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Хочу лето (или нормальную зиму)