Peter Lang Australia is a society not an economy, we develop our society then the economy will follow.

Obama a pacifist - oh puleez!

He did not curtail or shut down any aspect of the warfare/surveilance state initiatives etc put in place by Bush. In fact he extended most of them and has been responsible for untold numbers of killings too.

But then again it is now almost impossible to shut down any aspect of the warfare/surveilance military-industrial state which has an almost unstoppable momentum. Indeed the USA is now effectively a permanent warfare state - see TomDispatch.

What is interesting about the book that I referred to in my first post is the fact that one of the authors is a "scholar" at the AEI which is an influential player in what David Brock called The Republican (repugnant) Party Noise Machine, an outfit which helped to create the situation described and criticised in the book.
As indeed did/does shrill harpies such as Ann Coulter.

But of course the situation described in the book has been completely obvious for years.
What is also interesting that most/all of those on the right side of the culture wars here in the land of Oz are staunch enthusiastic advocates/supporters of the GOP. This of course includes Tony Abbott. Abbott's (mister NO) attack dog style has of course been borrowed from the said GOP noise machine.

Daffy, I'm glad you mentioned Tom Dispatch.

It's great to think that some Aussies get their news from sources other than the Daily Telegraph and Fux News!

Well done!

Both Obama and Romney are owned and controlled by the Banking Military Industrial Complex. http://www.globalresearch.ca/ They are both war mongerers and believe the West's New World Order of Global Imperialism can be achieved.

Arjay,
The difference between the two candidates was slight to be sure, they're both equally despicable but the U.S is now a single party state, a lot of right wing people correctly predicted the Obama win and pointed out that from this point on, due to racial and demographic factors the future election of another Republican president is now impossible.

for Peter Lang:

I don't think professors of politics (in my case a former one) are any more immune than anyone else from being affected by the appearance and style of a candidate. I thought Romney got better and better as the campaign progressed, but he doesn't have the charisma of Obama.

But my saving grace is that I was not eligible to vote anyway! If I were, than I would have a large and different set of worries.