At a sufficiently high level of abstraction... we are turtles and trees are lakes... and the crap you are swimming in is your own tailing pond that needs to be contained a bit better than it has been. Heh, and your evil twin d_r, identical stones you two are, he just needs more time in the rock tumbler.

And you voted for them in the election? That's okay. You are perfectly welcome to stick with the same old thing. I just find it amusing when you say you're against something that you're obviously not, while saying I'm for it. I believe this is the definition of the word "projection". And yes you were pimping them as somehow better, that changing the color of the suit will make a difference. And of course dismissing out of hand anything that doesn't suit your lifestyle is as natural as breathing, but it is your monkey trap. You just can't let go of what you have for something better. The people you are pushing are no different from any other politician. They have proven their "moral turpitude" by taking the same money and pushing the same austerity. That does not require me to supply you with "alternatives". I am simply pointing to the sign that says "bridge out". Ignore at your own peril, and continue to play the victim card. The system cannot work without a submissive, non-thinking crowd who believe they have no alternative.

Google is a "non-traditional source"?

No, you only argued for putting Ted Cruz's and friends name on the doorplate in the same fashion you were pimping McCain and Romney, like that is going to make a bit of difference. The perceived lack of alternatives does not make any of those people look any better.

...that wasn't theatrics that had me rolling in sweat in Afghanistan in 2011.

No, but it is business. The morality angle is the theatrics to sell it to the public, and it worked, I can't argue with success. I am sorry that that you thought your assigned role was for a different movie.

And you have provided no "resistance" to speak of. You are under the belief that a different face in front of the camera is all that's needed. You are retransmitting mass media content. Your "alternatives" are not.

:-) I guess some things are just beyond your willingness to comprehend. Some other time perhaps...

No, the ideal is the abandonment of man's authority over man. Forced conformity is your bag. Okay, cool. Then let's make sure everybody is treated the same, under the same rules. I was simply being a bit more pragmatic in a world where people who see equality as a threat to their privileged status and lifestyle want to take us back to the dark ages.

He paid Dice 25 cents

WOAH! I'm goin' to the movies!

Well, as long as we are to have a government, and while it does have this authority over who can sign a marriage contract and distributes related benefits, I will insist that it treats everybody equally until all such legislation is off the books. It's not complicated.

If you like all this high drama, you can keep all this high drama. That's all you've showed me so far. To paraphrase: The business of policy is business, and that includes war. Instead you focus on Madison Avenue theatrics. This is what I've always been talking about, you and your blogs are being strung along by mass media (and such a "liberal" one, no less!), and you swallow and regurgitate it like a bulimic starlet. "Embarrass"... Give it a rest. The only people who should be embarrassed are the ones who find any of it believable. Your "diplomats" are laughing it up over cocaine and martinis, while you throw bricks at the TV announcer because obviously he's responsible.

I would like to see the numbers that point to such a conclusion.

Yes, foreign policy is exactly about trading commodities and making contracts and securing markets, and guess who's still way ahead of the crowd. The ideology is much ado about nothing, it's like taking professional sports seriously, but it is very useful as a motivational tool, That is its purpose, after all. It keeps people occupied... talking gibberish.

Foreign policy is set and judged by the Commerce Department, not the State Department(Damn! I wish I could remember where I just saw that). Its job is to sell, and the market has been very good to them.

I guess if you wish to continue to frame it as some John Wayne cold war flick, yeah, it looks pretty bad, doesn't it? But don't you fret, business is good, everybody's happy.

No, but the numbers point in exactly the opposite direction of such a ridiculous notion. American foreign "policy" is as robust as it ever was. Most people want to buy American, even when it's made in China.