If anyone here has read 'American Theocracy', a book critical of U.S. foreign policy and practice, you may recall the author's arguments that the U.S. military, one of the world's largest consumers of oil, has been co-opted in many ways as a sort of 'security firm' for Big Oil.

Getting off the roller coaster ride is no mean feat and trying to succeed in an economy that swings wildly from total anarchy to total monopolism isn't easy for anyone. So don't be suprised that an extremist minority of ambitious economic monopolists will attempt to exploit the nation's shift away from economic policies that favor nations that don't exactly play fair with us.

Brick TeeVee is a preview of the Sunday Talking Head Shows beamed across America by Corporate Media, plus some good progressive radio and who will be on which show. Blog about what you see and hear on the Sunday Gab-fests. And post stories about the outrageous claims made on Sunday. Post anything you find to debunk the CRAP you hear on Sunday Talkie CorporoMedia!

So, with no further ado, I present to you This Week's Brick TeeVee entry!

As a commercial bank, Bear Stearns was not eligible for the assistance it got from the Federal Government yesterday. Even though the rescue was manipulated so the money came directly from JP Morgan Chase, it was our tax dollars.

I'm torn (always on the fence!) - on one hand, I agree that letting one of these banks fail is probably going to cause a real panic. On the other hand, I don't want my tax dollars funding the risky behavior that is making people millionaires - they need to take their losses. Except for, in the end, it might be my 401K that ends up going with it.

Most core Republican Party special interests, with a partial exception for some elements of the Religious Right, essentially believe in Social Darwinism. They heap high praise on “The Individual” because they usually are, as individuals, heaped high with special privileges. If not they are wealth groupie wannabes. Which is why Mike Huckabee meets with such disdain from the Republican establishment – he sometimes gives a nod toward right wing populism.

The Asbury Park Press, the sole remaining newspaper in this part of the state, published Hermann Winkelmann's Saga.

At age 65, Hermann Winkelmann is still a formidable character, bigger than life, from the top of his Stetson to the tips of his boots.

...

The Five-Dollar Bill will turn purple on March 13, 2008.

Honest Abe gets colorful on $5 bill to fight counterfeiting
Dec. 13, 2007, 8:54PM By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
Associated Press via Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON — Cue the hues for the Great Emancipator.

A new $5 bill, with splashes of color surrounding Abraham Lincoln will go into circulation March 13, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Federal Reserve announced today.

She’s been the target of Republican attacks for 25 years now. They have mercilessly criticized her character, publicly questioned her patriotism, and spent a hundred million dollars of public funds to try to find something - anything, they could use to stop her progressive march towards equality and justice. And today, she still stands strong, leading the national polls, and poised to become the first female president of the United States.

I just read a very disturbing article.  Here is the jist of it -

Forecast: U.S. dollar could plunge 90 percent

RHINEBECK, N.Y., Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said.

"We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen," Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a "Panic of 2008."

I'm always curious what makes a Republican tick-- especially these days. What makes them stay in the dark corridors of that cold, malignant party that morphed from conservatism into... unrecognizablism. I have a casual friend that I used to work with, a very wealthy casual friend, who is regularly generous and thoughtful amongst her family, friends, and associates. But who has this... other side.

We'll call her 'Carolyn'.