If I may further impose...

It is the part about sustainable capitalism that I am most interested in. I am a layman, to be sure. But it seems to me that without some kind of vision of how a market economy can function sustainably, both internally and with respect to resources, the environment, etc., then we're basically fucked.

Is anyone working on the problem?

And they censor comments without rhyme, reason or explanation. I don't go near them anymore.

Looking forward to Part 3

(after your nap, natch)

Obama: The illusion of a lesser evil

See how the desire to charge Bush and Cheney with war crimes is equated with the summary execution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed!

Marvel at how a three month investigation into the ACLU with no charges being filed is put on par with Scooter Libby's conviction.

Incredible? Unbelievable? You betcha! Step right up, folks. You'll find our new hall of mirrors just past the Mighty ACORN ride, and opposite the Jeremiah Wright terrorist chapel.

Fun for the whole family!

not sure about the LBJ comparison. It is also conceivable that the Repubs will run with a Palin type ticket again to scare the bejesus out of the general public while firing up the conservative base. The result: Obama gets voted back in (because the fear of a Palin presidency is too great to nitpick on Obama's failings) and we get four more years of kindler gentler civil liberties erosion.

co⋅gent

  /ˈkoʊdʒənt/[koh-juhnt]

–adjective

1. convincing or believable by virtue of forcible, clear, or incisive presentation; telling.

2. to the point; relevant; pertinent.

true dat. You live up to your name.

I find your posts valuable and I appreciate the way you express yourself. In re: your post about inflation in a now-closed comment thread, I was struck by how what you said was predicated on continuous economic expansion. Does this have to be the case, particularly in places like Western Europe which are approaching zero population growth? Isn't the imperative toward continuous growth what's killing the planet and us along with it? And, if you would satisfy this bit of my curiosity, I would be oh so appreciative:

Is there no economics department at any university anywhere in the world that bothers to study the idea of "Sustainable Capitalism" or is that simply an oxymoron?

How many more times will Nobbie appear in this thread only to be smacked down and disappear before reappearing in a new thread like he was right all along?

4? 8? 12?

Winner takes the pot.

You are so right. Because all those liberal crybabies all over America -- which is to say, anyone using the term "war criminal" to apply to Bush/Cheney -- are not simple expressing a wish (a wildest dream fantasy?) that the pair might one day find themselves defending themselves in front of the Hague, or a U.S. Federal Court (or hell, even Judge Judy). No, as your 4 points so loopily illustrates, when these people employ the phrase "war criminal" they are seriously advocating that the former Prez and Veep be taken behind the White House and executed in front of a firing squad, isn't that right? Oh sure, some of the more enlightened of them -- in a magnanimous gesture that I think you might appreciate -- actually believe they should first be presented to Salonista tribunal (presided over by Glenn Greenwald and Joan Walsh) and then figure that if Salon finds them guilty, then they should be fitted for concrete shoes and dumped in San Francisco Bay without delay.

So, in that sense, I can see where that and what you want to see happen with KSM are completely analogous.

maybe the U.S., Saudi Arabia AND Uzbekistan can all issue a joint statement condemning China's human rights record. How effective that would be!

as long as we're discussing what's appropriate and what's not on this comment thread, what's the deal with joshfulton who does nothing but promote his blog here, apropos of the discussion or not?

Germany's rule of law and the KSM show trial:

A legal team is going to New York to prevent the use of evidence provided by Germany in seeking a death penalty. Berlin wants to ensure that promises made by the US are kept if the suspects are found guilty.

A team of observers from the German government is going to New York to oversee the trial of five suspects accused of orchestrating the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

The federal trial of the suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants was announced on November 13 by the US Justice Department. The government also asserted that it intends to seek the death penalty if the accused are found guilty.

Germany, which does not have a death penalty, provided evidence for the trial on the condition that it could not be used to support a death sentence. Several members of the al Qaeda cell that planned and executed the attacks of September 11 were previously based in the northern German city of Hamburg.

"In this case we will observe very closely that the given assurances are kept," Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said.

However it was unclear exactly how evidence from Germany would be distinguished from evidence procured from elsewhere.

The defense lawyer for one of the accused, Ramzi Binalshibh, said that a conviction of his client would "scarcely be possible without evidence from Germany."

link@sig

Both Lithuanian and European institutional safeguards are relatively young, and came into existence in NATO's shadow (or, if one prefers, under NATO's umbrella).

Or, if one prefers, under NATO's fist.

We're here to talk about how a small crappy country, the kind that the U.S. needs to throw against a wall every once in a while just to show the world we mean business, gets the cheek to go off on some hair-brained rule-of-law thing, and what the consequences of that might be.

Focus, people!