in the early 90's i taught english in shanghai, and in the course of a lesson, pointed out that china was the leading society in arts and technology until the 1700's. one of my students said: "since then we've been backward, i'm tired of that."

i assured him that conditions would change, and china would lead the world again. they have clearly been listening. in future, when beijing speaks, washington will listen. has to happen, as americans have forfeited the advantages of youth, without accumulating the wealth of age.

it's true that america owes china so much money that china must guard the greenback, but they can sell down slowly, and destroy the american economy. it just has to be done with patience. they're very, very, good at that. so i think in future american officials will learn to be attentive and deferential. they may even learn mandarin, as the australian prime minister has done. they'd better.

she puts on professional clothes. there are female welders and shipfitters, they wear the same exterior clothing as their male colleagues.

female media personalities, on the other hand, trade on their female attributes. is it possible they invite being treated as dollies because they dress as dollies? just a thought...

to replace the commodus. still, it'll be nice to have a sane and sensible emperor for a while, a pause in the decline and fall of the american empire.

do send him a email, saying he better not start a war, it doesn't work so close to the bush years. in fact, it never works.

they set law and policy with citizen initiative, and select administrators with election, subject to recall if unsatisfactory.

in the usa, the civilians watch a variety show, and select the best liar by election, and hand the keys of the nation's treasury and the rule of the nation's soldiers to a single person who turns out to be an incompetent sociopath.

or not. sometimes a sane competent person causes little harm. but this is like playing russian roulette with the lives of 300 million people. obama may well be sane and competent. but he is only keeping the seat warm for the next dubya.

there will be a next dubya, and each one does damage that can never be repaired. real change is change to the constitution, establishing democracy.

what is lacking is the political will to keep the rich and would-be rich from gaming the mugs.

when the nation is run by a small distinct group, let's call it an 'oligarchy', the benefit of the oligarchy and their supporters and sycophants comes ahead of the interests of the majority on the outside.

economics is not chess, or high energy physics, it's the financial aspect of the struggle for power. rational analysis begins with the knowledge that ethics melts quickly when not supported by inspection and the real prospect of severe retribution. greenspan is a fool, or is a disingenuous liar when he says he never imagined people would take advantage of deregulation.

america is a nation of fools for bearing this government of rotten pollies and bureaucrats.

golly, fella, weren't you proper eddicated? this is amurrica congratulating itself on having one reasonable candidate fer prez, instead of the usual difficult choice between 'bad' and 'also bad'. sing, dance, prance, shout hosannah!

but don't lift the scab of actual american history, nobody likes someone who looks in the review mirror, cause the view is so often different from the john wayne story.

powell is a great american, says so everywhere you read. he backs obama, just as he backed every prez at the right moment. you don't get to be a washington general without flexibility and timing.

as for mylai, it almost didn't happen, it was a mistake, those rice farmers threatened amurrican freedom, and powell was visiting his sainted grandma when his overexuberant 1st looie publicized american war policy in a way not necessarily to american advantage. so do be quiet, there was only a few hundred of them, and calley did have his library card taken for a coupla years.

one thing though: the powell endorsement is valuable, not as a moral quality, but as a coldly pragmatic sign that the windvanes believe it's time to be a democrat.

"we'll keep you in reserve, in case the next dubya wants to run things from the vice presidents office."

a nation that elects dubya twice, that keeps the republicans within 10 points of obama, is not well placed to laugh at governor palin. she is clearly much more competent than george w bush. her only weakness is lack of money and connections in the republican establishment. if dubya can get elected, so can she. it just needs some cheney figure to provide the connections now lacking.

so stop laughing. the only fools here are the people who go on supporting plutocratic oligarchy. that would be you.

one such as astrology, numerology, and phrenology. it is not not now, nor will it be then, a science. apologies to astrologers, who average more sensible, and more useful.

voting is an irrational act. they're right about that. it is a displacement activity, an empty symbolism, which allows the oligarchy to disguise itself as a kind of democracy.

but humans need empty symbolism if they can't have actual democracy. having to admit you are two legged tax cattle is a heavy psychological burden, one much relieved by the charade of elections. little wonder that the middle class votes- the alternative is public shame in the international community.

the poor know they don't count, so they don't have to cover shame by voting. the rich know they win regardless of elections, but vote anyway to maximize their power. only the middle class takes it seriously.