Are you paying attention?

While it may seem that I'm big into conspiracy theories, I'm really not.  On the other hand, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.  More than ever we need to be paying attention to what is going on in our country.  And I do not mean we need to just be listening to what B.O. is saying because it doesn't have much to do with what actually is happening - but he makes it sound good.  Anyone who disagrees with him has apparently been brainwashed by Rush Limbaugh, since B.O. must believe it's impossible for us to actually hold to thoughtful, logical, ideologies that differ from his on our own.  I'd always thought it was a hallmark of a sociopath (at least the few I've known) to neutralize/marginalize opponents by seeking first to use charm and charisma to dissuade them of their "wrong-headed" assumptions.  If that fails they will work to discredit the dissenters; failing that they'll be bent on their destruction.  Apparently it's a more broadly used approach than I'd realized.

When B.O. says he doesn't favor reinstatement of the fairness doctrine I'm pretty sure he just means it won't be called that and it will happen incrementally.  He says he doesn't want or intend to nationalize banking, but today they added Citigroup to their nearly-nationalized bank roster.  He says he wants to help individual states keep operating but states taking so-called stimulus money will have to expand their welfare and unemployment programs and lower requirements.  If they don't take the money they'll still have expand their unemployment programs to include unemployed part-time workers and figure out how to pay for it on their own.  And to make sure the money is not spent foolishly he's appointed fall-guy, ur, I mean VP Joe to oversee how the states are using their cut of the pork.

I've been trying to find a good definition for "socialism" but discovered that there isn't one.  There are more "types" of socialism than there are shades of blue and there are sub-types and variables within each classification.  Some consistent points seem to be:  nationalization to some degree of the economic system, the education system, the means of production (business), universal healthcare, media control, and the redistribution of wealth - often by taxation.  It's always couched in the language of helping the poor, the needy or "for the greater good of the people" so to disagree presupposes greed and heartlessness - not to mention being unpatriotic.  Does any of this ring a bell?

It is the antithesis of free enterprise (capitalism) and it's coming to a country near you - watch for it.