To quote further from Ellul, "Direct Propaganda [creates] an atmosphere of favorable attitudes." This is the feel-good news we have all learned to accept. Fox news spins news stories built on a mythical optimism, (Reagan's shining city on the hill). The country would be great if..(there were no Jimmy Carter malaise, and the Liberals who talk about it) Obama's healthcare is stuck because it supposes the system is already broken, and people are dying for lack of care. The GOP has run with this, creating discussions about 'death panels', which reinforces the argument that Democrats are self defeating. In the end the government is forced to deliver real change, because winning false wars (Iraq) and solving a false economic crisis, does not change the real landscape at all. (Are they fundamentally changing the economy so that real improvement is possible. No) That usually means more aggressive methods, (Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine, Poland and France need to be annexed). People want to hear about the V shaped recovery, (or why is there Cramer?) and they want to read about the death of the latest number two in Al Qaeda. Obama is in a bad spot because the GOP controls the dialogue, and he has to dance to their tune.

When it becomes obvious that there was no financial crisis, and there is no health care crisis, (We need to make it better, that's all) they ratchet the propaganda up a notch, set the bar a little higher. It ends when the American people rathet down their expectations, which of course sets the stage for the GOP once more, and the next iteration of Reagan. The GOP is always promising Nazi-style glory, and trying to make the Democrats deliver on that promise. The propaganda game is to win control of the psyche of the American voter, and so far you have to think they are winning.

The case for relative inflation needs to be made. Asset prices are falling faster than the inflation measures. Rents have held steady while home prices have cratered. Likewise energy has actually gone up, while personal income is falling. That is inflation. And no Cola for you, SSN benefits are capped for two years, while investment bankers make obscene profits? I think that's the story here.

A few years ago an exhibit went around the country, exhibiting the art of the Third Reich. Hitler sent the work of the decadent impressionists off to vaults in Switzerland, and replaced it with the work of artists willing to work in social and family value themes. Flash forward to the GOP and the Christian Coalition, you have one point of comparison.

Propaganda must be total. The Propagandist must utilize all of the technical means at his disposal - the press, radio, TV movies, posters, meetings, door-to-door canvassing." Propaganda, Jacques Ellue. Point two of comparison, the 2000 GOP grass roots strategy, championed primarily by Grover Norquist, and Karl Rove.

Point three would the contradictory nature of the Reich's Conservative values, and their Progressive radicalism. The Bush Presidency featured a radical and expansive role of government, the opposite of his stated Conservative values.

Point four would the merging of business and government, In the 30's America was in the role that China currently occupies, the industrial partner to a failed nation. The leading ethnic minority in America at the time were German Americans. There was the notion among German leadership that America would never enter the war because German nationalism in this country would prevent it. Germans would not fight Germans. A near identical sentiment exists between leaders of America and China today, for different reasons, a notion which alolows us to ignore Chinese expansionism; the lending of credence to a rogue nuclear state, North Korea, in their own backyard, and the atrocities in Darfur. China, like America in the 30's is a fledgling expansionist power. Does anyone consider the proposed AMERO, North American Currency anything other than a power grab? How would Americans feel if troops crossed into Mexico to install a new regime, if the current government fails? Would it feel like Poland?

Germany in the 1930's was a failed state with a prominent military, like America today. Democrats represent the appeasement method of dealing with the Fascists, the GOP Neo-Cons, who make policy, believe in world domination. Andrew is only guilty of putting on the kid gloves. Bottom line is the Republican party can be saved, before it consumes us all, but it's not going to happen as long as Fox News and the WSJ editorial board is around. And the secondary danger is that President Obama will feel the rush of power, left from a vastly redrawn interpretation of Constitutional checks and balances, and plunge on ahead. Seems to be happening, even while he peddles the pablum about caring and healthcare, he cuts SSN benefits, and investment bankers make obscene bonuses and profits.

Oil is up because money is up. The stock market is up because money is up. Money is up. When money is down, then oil will be down, the stock market will be down. Money will be down. No one knows when money will be down, so oil goes up, and stocks go up, because money goes up. When money goes down, they all go down.