That's the best summary you've ever read? Why don't you read frigging Animal Farm or a comic book. This article is so full of shit it's amazing that it could have even found it's way into print... Is it a joke? It has humor...

"... However, other Enron-like collapses began being reported with similar disastrous consequences for pensioners and workers. Indeed, a long train of abuses and usurpations took place at a frightening pace in that short 15-month period."

15 month period. HOOOOOHAAAAAAAAAHOOHAAA!!! Yeap, okay dokay...

"This new fascist era was designed and implemented primarily by Republican organizations and individuals who funded, supported and ultimately inserted George Bush II in office. Equally complicit in this atrocity was the Democratic Party, itself having become corrupt and beholden to its own interests. But the greatest tragedy in this horrific turn of events was that the public and media embraced fascism's coming. It should be noted that the Green Party's valiant efforts were too little, too late."

The GREEN PARTY????? HOOOOOOOHAAAAAHOOHAAA!!!

" U.S. laws prohibiting such influence peddling, like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, were overlooked. This hypocrisy and the overarching influence of oil over The State's foreign policy is described in a new book by ex-CIA agent Robert Baer, a veteran covert operator in the Islamic world. He states that he found "that the tentacles of big oil stretch from the Caspian Sea to the White House."

I suppose this happened in 15 months too? HOOOOHAAAAAHOOHAA...

" On the domestic front, clear distinctions between the government and the corporation, and the government and the military evaporated. Government propagandists, formerly corporate propagandists, proclaimed that The State would be an easy brand to sell to the people."

Suppose that JUST HAPPENED too? HOOOOHAAAAAHOOHAA

You know, it's really ashame that these guys chose such a "style" to write this piece of fluff garbage, 'cause there is some serious meat intertwined with the "fat" that makes up most of the dish.

Are there no more journalism schools left?

I would have liked the article a little more if there had been less of a "chicken little" tone to it. The frigging sky is falling, but it has been for quite some time. I get the feeling these guys are suffering from the simplistic notion that "if we scare the shit out of people by publishing a bunch of sensationalistic half-truths, maybe we can get a Democrat back in office and the world will be right again"... Which is total bullshit as well.

As far as the best assessment, that is quite a subjective measure and you are most certainly entitled to an opinion :-)

I'm just feeling a bit "froggy" lately. Whenever I read articles that are meant merely to inflame, it makes me a little angry that this is what it's come down to... If I were a conservative, I wouldn't have read past the first sentence, which is a shame, because a lot of the article is thought provoking and an interesting take on what's happening now. Conservatives need to be in the conversation now, just as always.

You can draw just as many flies with honey as with shit.

I was criticizing the authors' choice of words in many of the examples I used. You are correct, I am taking some liberties and being disingenuous - putting words in the author's mouths. Not very good form on my part in that I am accusing the authors of playing fast and loose with language! I'm guilty.

I still feel this piece is quite biased but didn't mean to create a major ruckus about it.