I wouldn't crow too loudly just yet, conditions always change and conservative over-reach will be followed by leftist over-reach. Also, a lot of the current economic problems that are being blamed on "market failure" are actually government failure.
All 278 comments by...
chopper
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Wolf, your post on this is actually pretty good. Although "capitalism" (what I think is more accurately called free enterprise) does involve competition it is much more about cooperation between people and businesses.
Posted to A Freegan World
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There are serious questions about the accuracy of Rigoberta Menchu's book "I, Rigoberta Menchu". She did not come from a completely impoverished family as she stated in her book but one relatively prosperous by Guatemalan standards. This article could have at least acknowledge some of the controversies about the book that made her famous.
Posted to Civil War by Other Means
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"Second and far less important, I have to confess that my own values may be a little different from Hans’. While he criticizes the “radical court majority assailing precedents,” I must say that I’m not a huge fan of precedent nor am I strongly opposed to radical change as such. In fact, there are several radical and highly disruptive Court decisions of the Warren Court (notably Baker v. Carr, the “one man, one vote” case, and Griswold v. Connecticut, which inferred a right to marital privacy from the Constitution and provided much of the intellectual foundation for Roe v. Wade) that …
Posted to God--And Progressives--Save This Honorable Court!
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"I believe that both Gore and Kerry were deprived of the presidency by voter fraud which includes voter intimidation, electronic vote tampering and voter rolls suppression, ala Choicepoint." Beliefs are not evidence, Tigertiger. I've never seen any credible evidence to support any of your allegations. Scorp at least provides a link to Hanson's article. Since you are the one making the allegations you should at least offer some supporting evidence. My belief is that the charges of voter fraud were made by those on the left for partisan political gain. The Supreme Court made the right decision. See, two can play …
Posted to God--And Progressives--Save This Honorable Court!
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"What the left is currently discovering with the Supreme Court is also something they are discovering with the Bush Administration: that their previous attraction to the undemocratic elements of American governance (a strong executive when LBJ was pushing civil rights; the overthrow of precedent when Earl Warren ran the court) is coming back to bite them when they are out of power, as conservatives predicted at the time." Eric, you've pretty much nailed it with this post. Your last paragraph (pasted above) demonstrates the pervasive double standards evident on the left these days. And your point about "fairness" is exactly right. …
Posted to God--And Progressives--Save This Honorable Court!
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"We should not forget the 16,000, mostly young, Americans that died in the most serious epidemic our country has faced before this great humanitarian could utter the word AIDS in public. I was at the event when Reagan first acknowledged the disease and remember the audience booing him after the line, “we do what we can then it’s it God’s hands”. Did he think he was talking to a Baptist convention? Many lives could have been saved by a government sponsored information campaign, which did not happen because the early victims were not his constituency. It appalls me to read the …
Posted to The Enduring Lies of Ronald Reagan
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"Nice try at the spin bulldog, are you on the Republican Party payroll??? Your revisionist history will not fly. I am resistant to your pack of lies. The longest economic boon in American history, 25 of 36 years and still going???? What are you smoking???? As an economics graduate student I will not dignify your crude propaganda and embarass you for your lack of understanding of economic history. The time and space required to refute all of your bogus claims are insufficient here. Suffice it to say, we obviously had very differing experiences in the 1980s. I will always know the …
Posted to The Enduring Lies of Ronald Reagan
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Actually Bulldog, I was responding to Iams712. I copied his post and suggested he refute some of your arguments rather than throw out meaningless insults. And for the record, I agree with you, Reagonomics did indeed work. If Iams712 is indeed an economic grad student, as he claims, I'd like to know the name of the university he is attending so that I can warn my grandson not to attend it. Btw, I'm 56 years old, so if I was in diapers when you started studying economics you started quite some time ago. I take it you missed my comment at …
Posted to The Enduring Lies of Ronald Reagan
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Wolf, I was going to fisk MediaFriend's comments but you've already done so quite effectively. If he thinks "capitalism" (what I prefer to call free enterprise) sucks he should try living in a "socialist paradise". As P.J. O'Rourke stated, "The free market is ugly and stupid. The unfree market is just as ugly and stupid, but there's nothing in the mall and if you don't go there they shoot you."
Posted to The Enduring Lies of Ronald Reagan
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"JFK was right. Reagan was right. W was right. Cutting taxes is a good thing period. All boats rise in a rising tide. The converse is also true: a falling tide strands all boats." This is exactly right. The leftish idea that high taxes promote economic growth has no basis in reality. Reagan's tax cuts actually increased government revenue. The deficits resulted from government spening increasing even faster.
Posted to The Enduring Lies of Ronald Reagan
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I suspect the checkpoints will end when the Palestinian suicide bombers end their efforts to kill women and children.
Posted to The Checkpoint Women of Israel
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"The politicization of sexuality is largely in response to the heterosexual norm which places the gendered body at the center of the sexual experience, which not only places limitations on who you can have sex with but when and for what purpose you have sex." This is "postmodern" philosophy at its most inane. The reason a "heterosexual norm", as you put it, developed is because it is how our species reproduces. If Cro-Magnon man had not developed a "heterosexual norm" we would have died out 35,000 years ago. But then I'm just another right wing think tank knuckle head doing his …
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"Heterosexuality became the norm because the population was under constant threat of extinction. Today the threat is overpopulation, hence the proactive normative alternatives to heterosexuality. Of course, you rightwing think tank knuckleheads would rather react to the problem (than proactively prevent it) with wars, revolutions, famines, epidemics and ecological disasters. After all, it’s the American way." Don't be too sure about overpopulation being the problem. Almost all advanced societies have fertility rates well below replacement levels, with some, such as Japan and parts of Western Europe being in virtual death spirals. European social security programs will be in deep trouble in …
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"Hardly. That the incorporation of the term “Socialist” in the Nazi name was entirely (and so typically) cynical from the outset is an obvious fact. Similarly, the socialist veneer of the Soviet empire was deliberately and quickly removed by Stalin. That the Soviet Union was (like the Nazi regime) socialist in name only was something quickly realized by the extremely perceptive George Orwell (by his own admission, he was a [genuine] socialist), whereas various European left wing elements remained long in denial of the nature of the beast. " This is merely an old leftist rhetorical trick. Merely re-label any regime …
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"Capitalism is an inherently expansionist system while socialism is not. This is due to what Marx discerned as the Laws of Motion of Capital which force capitalism to expand commodity production and its social relations the world over in order to concentrate the world economy in a few hands in pursuit of accumulation without end for its own sake. This has resulted in the far flung US military empire of dozens of bases world wide." This is demonstrably false, just as most of the rest of Marxist theory. To take a major example, Microsoft doesn't depend on our military or military …
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"You forget that the “free markets” that the Microsoft software monopoly operates in were opened by regimes supported by the US military who violently and undemocratically enforce US economic policy preferences. Also, total state control of the economy is only one approach that socialism has taken and not the one supported by most socialists. There is no reason that socialism has to have dictatorial political consequences. This is rightist dogma. Hitler’s regime cannot be considered an extreme form of the US New Deal because it was both undemocratic and was mostly based on total militarization whereby the New Deal stressed infrastructural …
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"Y’all are off topic. Where are the hot lesbians when you need them? :)" True. Now the real trick is to not get caught by the wife!
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"The idea that Nazi Germany’s economy wasn’t on a war time footing until a year before Germany was forced to surrender doesn’t even make common sense. What kind of footing were they on all during the War?" Cabbie, you seem kind of slow on the learning curve there, Nazi Germany wasn't exactly run on common sense principles. It's true that Hitler rapidly expanded the German army (from a very low Wiemar Republic base of only 100,000 men) but he continued to keep the German economy on a peacetime footing until 1944. When he sent troops into the Ruhr in 1936 he …
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"Thanks, Chopper." No Prob.
Posted to Bisexual Healing
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"The hippies didn’t give you any of those things the government did from what I read in the underground press, man" This is an awfully paranoid statement coming from a supposedly "intelligent" person. "And what’s wrong with high divorce rates?" It definitely affects the children involved, and not in a good way.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Thanks for speaking out! And so eloquently!! Trolls like the ones that have been infesting this site ever since I’ve been coming here don’t get it and now they want to beat up on single moms. Like they know what being a single parent in Bush’s Amerika is really like. Not only do you often have to put up with Walmart wages and no benefits or help from absentee dads but now these assholes are up on a high horse stigmatizing people who they don’t even know for not being Ozzie and fuckin’ Harriet. You’re also right to point out that …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Its nice that you can enjoy the Ozzie and Harriet lifestyle" Ok cab driver, in this case I'm not going to bother to redo your entire post. You don't even know what my "lifestyle" is, so it makes your point pretty much worthless. An old but underhanded debating tactic is to take as an example of those who disagree with you the most extreme or disreputable members of that opposition. For instance, your statement about religious believers as those who think the earth is only 6,000 years old. I know a lot of religious believers (I'm one myself) and I don't …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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The Lancet report says 98,000, and gives a confidence level of 95% for the absurdly wide range of between 8,000 and 194,000. The 98,000 is just a mid point, and since the margin of error is so huge it is an almost meaningless number. For your information, I don't even get Fox News, so I can't watch it. Anyway CNN and the NYT aren't exactly unbiased either.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Your figures are way off. There was an article on the Alternet which discussd the Lancet study in detail and they insist on the 600,000 to 650,000 figures." I inadvertantly accessed a previous Lancet study from 2004. That study was obviously flawed, with such a wide confidence interval. There are good reasons for thinking the later one is equally flawed.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I really don’t know what your point was on partial birth abortion. Are you saying that it is never necessary?" Cab driver, partial birth abortion is always medically unnecessary, and doctors have testified to this on the hill. The only reason Pelosi put the proviso in was to create a loophole.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Their wealthy corporate sponsers also see to it that they stay within certain bounds. They’re not that left. They’re just not crackers!!" Frankly, this is an absurd statement. Try reading "Bias" or "How I accidently became a member of the rightwing conspiracy" of you have doubts about the left wing bias of the MSM. It isn't conscious, most journalist just take a liberal-left point of view as the default position. The only reason the MSM doesn't seem that left to you is because you seem to be over on the far left with the Nation. Just because you think so doesn't …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"You are more than just right of George McGovern my friend. You are an ultra-rightist of some kind or another. The MSM is not left at all. The nation is liberal not far left. So is the American Prospect. I read the MSM. It is very cautious and conservative." I freely admit I'm quite far to the right of George McGovern. However, I don't consider myself "ultra-rightist". I don't buy the conspiracy theories that seem to be so prevalent on both ends of the political spectrum these days. “the front line in the war on terror.” This certainly isn't true of …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"The MSM is very much a part of the established order." To an extent, but it is a liberal leftist order. Of course it isn't hardcore left such as The Nation, but poll after poll shows the averager reporter and newspaper editor has attitudes and opinions well to the left of most Americans. Your assumption is correct, I'm not a big fan of Ann Coulter, I think she is needlessly strident, careless with her facts, and tends to assume that people who disagree with her are ill-intentioned. Sort of a Michael Moore of the right. "I suppose this kind of reactionary …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I ask again, is there a tenet within socialist philosophy that clearly favors the born over the not-yet-born? Upon what is it based, in terms of the ideals and values that socialism would implement if it were the guiding principle of a society?" I've never figured out what being pro-life or pro-choice has to do with one's economic philosophy. If you want to find some people who are both rabid capitalists and rabid pro-choicers check out the Ayn Rand Institute. Personally I'm in favor of free enterprise (socialism in practice has proven to be pretty much a failure) and pro-life policies …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"The “just” society described by socialist values is one that is deliberately crafted so as to ensure some basic level of sustenance for all of its constituent members, regardless of their merits or demerits, simply because they are members of that society, no?" That's kind of the problem. Not charity (all of us should perform charitable acts) but a guaranteed existence by the state. Or as they used to say in the Soviet Union, "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us".
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"As far as the Bible is concerned, I don’t understand why conservatives expect it to mention things like minimum wage laws, abortion, nuclear war, and other structural features of modernity. Must be the same reason they don’t get historical change." You brought religion into this by posing it as a WWJD question, implying that Jesus would favor a minimum wage. Why do you think minimum wage laws are a structural feature of modernity? Emperor Diocletian instituted wage and price controls in the Roman Empire back in the late 3rd century. They didn't work too well then either.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"You honestly believe the US political order (which is what I meant) is a “liberal left-wing order.” What planet are you from? I don’t think you get politics my friend. Liberal is not left wing. Liberalism saved the US capitalist system and this is a fact. The Nation is pretty standard liberal fare." Much of the East coast establishment was liberal-left. I'll admit that conservatives have made impressive gains starting with the 1980's, but the MSM never really bought into it. And yes, I consider The Nation to be hard left. Any magazine which is still trying to prove that Alger …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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Cab driver, continuing the last post (I was short on time) much of the academia, the arts, and yes, the MSM is dominated by liberal or leftwing views. They don't dominate the political sphere as they once did, I'll freely admit. "Liberal is not left wing. Liberalism saved the US capitalist system and this is a fact. The Nation is pretty standard liberal fare." What do you mean by liberal? In fact I consider myself a classical, or 19th century, liberal, in that I'm in favor of individual rights, a limited government, and free enterprise. It's the modern incarnation I don't …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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Cab driver, In re-reading my last post I realize you were refering to broadcast journalism, and Walter Duranty was a print journalist. My main point still stands, however.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Thanks for responding. My questions had to do with the very strong association between “leftish” approaches to political philosophy and a tendency to promote a pro-legal abortion agenda (acknowledging that there’s a range of attitudes that exist “on the left"). I want to know the thinking behind the position from a regular citizen rather than a partisan leader or pundit, so I thought it worth questioning the premises that lead up to that policy stance." Thanks, and I hope you don't mind this response. Although I am generally on the right end of the political spectrum (and I'm sure many, such …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Moore is cautioning conciliation and restraint these days and opposes leftist third parties like socialists, Greens, and others and favors support for the Democratic Party. Such unqualified support for one of America’s two big business parties hardly makes Moore a “leftist.” He is what we on the left like to call a “truthteller” and he sure dropped the dime on your boy Bush!!" I haven't heard much from Moore lately, but his movies have used dishonest editing techniques, and he certainly didn't support conciliation and restraint previously. "Oh and Chopper, What was Jesus’s position on the minimum wage? Would he still …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Liberals have always been virulently anti-communist during the cold war." Liberals such as Harry Truman, Scoop Jackson and JFK were. Others such as George McGovern, Jimmy Carter (in practice a George McGovern with a Southern twang) and Dan Rather were at best MIA.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Michael Moore didn’t lie or distort the truth in his movies. He is a very careful documentary producer and backs his claims up with verifiable facts." Frankly cabdriver, this just isn't true. He is a "very careful documentary producer" in about the same way Mel Gibson was a very careful historian in "Braveheart". His scenes are often taken out of context or the timeline is reversed. " The laws of motion of capital lead to a concentration and centralization of the accumulation process which eventually will lead to a political imperative to replace it with a different system." I'm not going …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"The Nation magazine is the USA’s oldest surviving Journal of opinion. It began in 1865 just after the end of the Civil War. The views expressed are pretty mainstream liberalism. Anti-American is a McCarthyite epithet which stigmatizes people and views without addressing specifics. BTW, just because Joe McCarthy didn’t kill anyone doesn’t mean he was harmless. He caused much havoc and ruined a lot of innocent lives without due process. Even President Truman regarded HUAC as unconstitutional. It is generally agreed that the witchhunts violated due process and the very establishment of the committee was done under questionable legal auspices. That …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I am quite familiiar with neo-classical labor economics. If wages exceed productivity or labor is employed beyond the point where the marginal productivity of labor brings diminishing returns unempoyment will result because demand will run ahead of production of goods and services causing inflation and consequent interest rate hikes which will cause a recession and thus unemployment and lowered wages anyhow. But libertarians like yourself carry this around like a dogma which doesn’t fit the reality." Cabdriver, I actually meant the statement in a micro, not macro economic sense. What I mean is if the state mandates a certain rate of …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I agree we are a nation of dummies but our “education president” failed to fund no child left behind and so here we all sit!!" I was never really sold on Bush's education program, in fact I'm not convinced that the federal government (and I mean this regardless of which party controls the White House) is capable of doing much to improve education. I also think that throwing more money at our educational programs will do little or nothing to solve or even ameliorate them. "I’m suprised you don’t know anyone who worked for minimum wage for more than a year. …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Studies for 2005 differ greatly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Dept. of Labor. there were just under 500,000 wage earners who got the federally mandated minimum of just $5.15/hour out of over 75.6 million US employed persons who earn an hourly wage. According to the survey those under and over 25 years of age are divided 60% and 40% respectively. According to other surveys,however, about 7.3 million wage earners get the federal minimum wage about half of whom are between 25 and 54 years of age, a third of whom, according to the Center for Economic …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I also know that American has always been a rigid class society and after a brief respite from this pattern in the immediate post WWII era is reverting to old ways." You should study economic history more. Many of the giants of American industry, such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt came from quite humble circumstances.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Your last post is irrelevant. The old barrons came down because the economy’s structure changed not because America is a fluid society without hard class boundaries." Cabdriver, what is your evidence for this? I've personally known people who've moved both ways. Exceptional people have always been able to move up in American society. I've also known several people who came from upper middle class homes but sank into working class lives once they went into the work force. Of course there can be obstacles, but it isn't any where near as rigid as you imagine. "Marx is still more relevant than …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"There is very little “Marxist dogma” left in third world today. Everywhere free market fundamentalism is the order of the day and everywhere the greatest inequality and poverty exists on an unprecedented scale." Cabdriver, Chile is generally doing quite well since they instituted free market reforms. In Asia the nations that have moved towards freer markets have, for the most part, done much better than those that haven't. If you want an extreme case look at South Korea vs. North Korea. Nations that have remained mired in socialism, such as North Korea and Burma, have not done so well. If the …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I also know that American has always been a rigid class society and after a brief respite from this pattern in the immediate post WWII era is reverting to old ways. Many recent studies have shown this to be true. In one such study close to 45% of the children of those born in the lower income quintile remain there while another 53% move up to any one of the next three. Only 2% move up to the very top. Keep in mind that the second to the highest quintile caps out at about $70,000 annual income which is good, well …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"To the extent that this is even true it is misleading. Are people affluent because they are married or are they married because they are affluent? We all know that being prosperous to begin with is a great way to attract a mate, other things being equal." This is a chicken or egg argument. If people are unmarried because they are not affluent they are still able to attract women enough to have children with them. It somewhat strains credulity to believe that those women wouldn't have married their children's fathers if asked. I've also known people who've gotten married without …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Read I F Stone and Bruce Cumings on the Korean War." Cabdriver, you do realize I'd be automatically skeptical of anything written by I F Stone, much as I suspect you'd be skeptical of anything written by Milton Friedman. Even if the history of the Korean war is exactly as you state it doesn't change the fact that socialist economies mostly don't work very well. Btw, I'm not a big fan of the IMF.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I wrestle with many questions. The thing of which I am most sure is that truth isn’t absolute. This what I find disturbing about religion (and crackers amongst whom I DONT include you after all your reading and writing on the ITT blogsite)" Cabdriver, I'll have to disagree with you on this one, I think there is an absolute truth. However, it is usually difficult to figure out and as fallible human beings we often get it wrong. I don't think any one person knows very much, even the well educated. Sometimes (but not always) learned people forget this & they …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"I guess that people will always continue to attempt new forms of socialism because capitalism is so unacceptable to so many." I've come to this conclusion myself. This doesn't mean I think socialism is a good system, just that the idea of equality appeals to many (especially intellectuals) and that no matter how many times it fails in practice there will always be people trying to re-invent it. There seems to be an inherent tension between liberty and equality, and people who value equality above liberty gravitate naturally to socialism in one of its many forms. My view is that an …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"The Liberty/Equality tradeoff is, in my opinion another dogma." What exactly do you mean by "dogma"? In Catholic theology dogma is a a revealed truth that cannot be changed. I suspect you really mean a false dogma. "It is strange how today, with the most conservative administration is US history, with a government which taxes everyone at an all time historic low and with regulations virtually non-existant, we are on the verge of one of the worst crises ever in history." I have to disagree with a lot of this, in many ways I don't think this administration is conservative (or …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Where is your G-d now, Chopper!! " Where he has always been. It is people who are fallible.
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"It is funny how conservatives want to avoid dealing with Bush by saying he is not a conservative the way the left avoids dealing with the failings of socialism by saying this and that socialist regime isn’t REAL socialism. The people making the criticisms never buy into it. Conservatives must OWN Bush mistakes and all because they supported him and much of what he did, backing down only when they say the writing on the proverbial wall or when the vast majority of people turned agianst it." It isn't a way of not dealing with Bush, it is just that many …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"Chopper, once again you save your most questionable statements for last. Only Soros might qualify as rich AND powerful. Maybe. The politicians you mentioned are not more powerful than the rivals that may or may not outnumber them. The US Congress and Senate, it has been well established, are among the weakest of our political institutions at the federal level. Gates and Turner are rich but don’t have much pull. I find the Michael Moore comment laughable (sorry). You would be suprised who the rightists are calling “elites” these days. I could be anyone who could sieze the opportunity for more …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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"First of all medicare per capita recipient has not been drastically expanded considering inflated medical costs which are running well ahead of both inflation and the rising cost of providing medical services." The prescription program was a drastic expansion, perhaps it hasn't hit yet but it definitely has potential for a catastrophic rise in outlays. I'll agree that medical costs are rising exponentially, in large part because we have no where near a free market in medicine. "They didn’t inherent these problems or a necessarily weak economy although there were serious problems with inflation and stagnation." For whatever reason the economy …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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" It worked briefly under Reagan but is increasingly unviable as more and more economic activity is purely speculative and income is even more concentrated now than it was twenty years ago. Our current situation is quite dangerous" What is your evidence for this? I'm not saying you are wrong but I'd like to know your reasoning on it. As I stated in an earlier post I certainly don't think many of Bush's domestic or economic policies are "conservative" as that term is generally understood, in the sense of being pro-free market. In general politicians of all stripes find it difficult …
Posted to Virginity or Death!: A Conversation With Katha Pollitt
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Christopher Hayes' "substantive reform" seems to be mostly moving towards socialist policies. These generally don't work.
Posted to The Abramoff Babies
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"Mr. Wolf why don’t you think we have well paying jobs for everyone?" We don't have well paying jobs for everyone because the minimum wage is not high enough. It should be raised to $100 per hour and doubled every year to keep up with the ensuing inflation. Those who are unemployable should be hired by the government at double the minimum wage. Then we will all have "well paying jobs".
Posted to White Blight
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"There is only one way in American culture to end de facto segregation, poverty and crime ---and that is to make certain everyone has well paying jobs. The historic and sociological evidence is overwhelming. It is just never going to happen until their is a violent revolution and the capitalist system is overthrown and that revolution has a clarion call for equality along with liberty and fraternity. I challenge anyone to show me where through logic or reason I am wrong." Yes, of course. Such violent revolutions, such as the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions, worked wonders in the past. Of …
Posted to White Blight
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"Not only is the poverty world wide an indicator of the horrendous failure of capitalism, but especially in its extreme form as seen in the USA poverty indicates the inherent failure of capitalism and capitalist ideology." Exactly! That is why living conditions were so much better in Soviet Russia and Communist China than they ever were in the USA. Why, Cambodia during the reign of the Khmer Rouge was nearly a paradise. All the dead bodies were merely capitalist pigs who deserved their fate!
Posted to White Blight
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"Non Sequitur but keep trying . Someday you will say something on topic and coherent" Actually I was just agreeing with your thinking. As you imply, it isn't mentally taxing. Regards
Posted to White Blight
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"In the 1960’s Sweden had a diverse population that included poorer people from Turkey and Yugoslavia and yet they had next to no poverty nor any of the crime, slums, beggary etc associated with poverty. How was this possible? No the real morons in the world are right wing scum who insist that poverty has to exist or that war has to exist or that gross disease has to exit. The world would be a much better place once all of the right wing scum are removed. WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS. " …
Posted to White Blight
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"Only if I think you are worthy of making an argument with, ---which is not the case right now. Based on previous posts I did not see any common ground" Perhaps I appear that way to you because you haven't really made much of an argument yourself. Your reasoning so far has been weak or non-existent. "By the way Sweden has never been Socialist, it is just that in the 60’s and 70’s it had less inequality than other countries due to social democrat policies." You are partially right, they've had a mixed economy with a fairly substantial private sector. Ultimately …
Posted to White Blight
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I voted for $17+. If the minimum wage is such a good anit-poverty policy we should raise it to $100.00. Then everyone will be at the very least upper middle class. And to keep up with inflation it should be doubled every year.
Posted to What range do you think the federal minimum wage should be?
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Ayers and Dohrn weren't activists, they were criminals. Its unfortunate that they aren't serving long prison sentences.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"Thank God for decent people like Dohrn and Ayers. Unfortunately America is not blessed by many more people like them. But unfortunately Fascism is on the rise still though --- it has meet with a bump on the road. In some respects we on the left also have to be thankful to Bush and Chavez. Bush is an easy person to attack because he is inept and repulsive and Chavez gives us hope that change in possible" No, Dohrn and Ayers are criminals. They were part of the Weather Underground, an organization responsible for a series of bombings in the early …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"It is a shame that Chopper is not serving a very very long prison term." This is a very good example of how much of the left now disdains concepts such as freedom of speech.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"I apologize for the profanity. You’re not a dickhead. You’re a sanctimious dickhead." Yeah, whatever. I've noticed that people usually start using profanity when their reasoning is weak or non-existent.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"“the Left” " More accurately I said much of the left. I realize this is not a universal trait of everyone on the left, and there are many people on the left who I respect quite a bit for their integrity even if I disagree with many of their positions. Nat Hentoff comes to mind, for instance. "The extreme right in this country has definitely been pushing back freedom of speech far more than the left ever has. Here is a typical example of their method of attack." If you don't believe that much of the left is now anti-free speech …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"The guy’s a dickhead, a sanctimonious dickhead and simply too stupid to understand why anyone would become angry after reading his idiotic posts. No one’s infringing on your freedom of expression, Floyd. But when you make provocative statements ("Its unfortunate that they aren’t serving long prison sentences."), you deliberately invite a provocative response ("It is a shame that Chopper is not serving a very very long prison term."). To pretend to be offended by your correspondent’s contempt, which you provoked to begin with, is the height of hypocrisy. To conclude therefore that “much of the left...disdains...freedom of speech” is an unmistable …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"Thanks for the response. You may be right that on a certain level the left does it as well, I have no way of either knowing or checking from abroad. I just follow the news from various sources, and over the years criticism of the extremists in government has been silenced using various truly ignoble methods, albeit smart rhetorical methods. And that is what the link I left shows. I am speaking of the rhetoric." You're welcome, and thank you for carrying on an elevated discusssion, even if we disagree with each other on many issues. I realize I was pretty …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"Major major is correct in his response." Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"it is difficult to understand where dohrn and ayers were coming from in the 60"s unless you were alive and able to get honest information about american genocide in vietnam. for many of us, the obscenity of the american genocide in vietnam, left us feeling powerless but outraged." Dohrn and Ayers put themselves above any law or morality except for what they decided they were personally going to follow. Their excuse was certain government officials were violating laws or moral norms. Since in any age it would not be too difficult to find evidence of corruption in some government agents this …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"More evidence that right wing scum ought to die," Fascinating logic. I guess in your world insult = reason.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"For example: The students at Columbia University were correct to storm the stage on which the minutemen were talking and unfold their banners. Further it it is not an argument that the speech was sponsored by the College Republicans and therefor was protected and sancrosanct political speech. The Republican Party is a Fascist criminal organization and should be characterized as such." Yes, those facist Republicans should be violently suppressed for daring to disagree with all of us politically correct leftists.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"William Blum estimates that right wingers are responsible for killing some 30 million people in the “Cold War”. People have to understand that right wingers are murderers even if they killed no one personally." Who is William Blum? And why should we care? During the Cold War leftwingers excused, denied, and even actively supported the mass killings of Communist and other leftist regimes. Best estimates are that various Communist regimes murdered at least 100 million people in the 20th century. People have to understand that left-wingers are murderers even if they killed no one personally.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"The best capitalist is a dead capitalist" This statement says it all. It, or similar sentiments, are the justification for every mass murdering tyrant that has ever lived. Robespierre, Stalin, Hitler, Mao-Tse-Tung, Pol Pot, would all be proud of such a sentiment. If you perceive you have the plan for heaven on Earth, and you see others as standing in the way of that plan, it is only a short step in logic to having all those you see as in the way killed. You should be careful about what you wish for Spinoza. Revolutions tend to eat their children, and …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"If you want to see how evil capitalism is compare the indices of health in China and India from 1950 to 1980. Despite the Chinese Famine caused by the cultural revolution. The death rate in India was higher due to inequality! Further, if you want to see the dramatic difference in poltical ideology and death rates compare the state of Kerala in India to the rest of India. Kerala had democratic government which was dominated by Socialists and Communists during that period and all of the health indices are higher there. Life expectancy is over ten years higher in Kerala than …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"The inequalities are persistent. Three studies in Amsterdam showed higher mortality rates in the poorest neighbourhoods. That was in true in 1972-1976, true again in 1977-1983, and true again in 1986-1991. Another study found the same pattern in the four largest cities of the Netherlands: mortality rates in prosperous neighbourhoods were as much as 24% under city average, mortality in the poorest neighbourhoods was up to 32% above average. Probably these inequalities are much older. Amsterdam statistics for infant mortality can be related to social class, as far back as 1854. Although perinatal and infant mortality fell sharply, the inequalities remained." …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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Wow MM, do you work on being incoherent or does it just come naturally? Let's see, communism = facism = capitalism, yeah, right!
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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">>>Chill out, Chipper. No one’s gonna kill you.<<<< Yes they are. They are going to crawl out of his modem and cut off his penis. Therefore no more capitalists." Yeah, whatever. I see we are back to the insults, & just when I thought you were making real progress. I guess playing the toady to MM is just too much for you to resist, however. Too bad, I hope you recover from your relapse.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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">>>Chill out, Chipper. No one’s gonna kill you.<<<< Yes they are. They are going to crawl out of his modem and cut off his penis. Therefore no more capitalists." Btw, you're too late for this, I've already reproduced.
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"No, Dexter. Communism and fascism are intersecting subsets of capitalism. The intersection contains all the other forms of political ideology used to justify capitalism." Hey MM, I can understand the insults. They at least make more sense than your incoherent political philosophy. Is Dexter supposed to be another insult, or is your memory just failing you? Any way keep it up, I find you to be entertaining. Regards,
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"Apparently, you don’t understand the political “philosophy” or the insults. In fact, your responses indicate that you don’t understand much of anything at all." Hey MM, the political "philosophy" (you did well to put it in quotes) you spout is juvenile and incoherent. Communism sprang from Marx's diseased philosophy. To call it an intersecting "subset" of capitalism is absurd. Your insults are equally juvenile. Regards,
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"Well I’m coming across this 12 months late - I can understand why people dislike Americans - Chopper - you just want to believe you are superior and you go about trying to prove that your point of view is superior. You don’t even present an argument. You’ve completely missed the point of how the weather underground saw themselves and in retrospect reflect on their efforts. Say what you want - you ideas are borrowed and long dead." Pray tell, Mr. D, why does it matter how the weather underground "saw themselves". What is more important is what they did, which …
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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"you just want to believe you are superior and you go about trying to prove that your point of view is superior. You don’t even present an argument." This is interesting, since your entire post is almost completely free of any content or argument. You didn't bother to say how I saw myself as "superior" or what ideas of mine are "borrowed and long dead". Regards,
Posted to Debunking the 60s with Ayers and Dohrn
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However correct this article is in its premises (and I would agree that many in our culture are infected with narcissism) its solution in collectivism is exactly the wrong course to take. Collectivism, which disregards the importance of the individual, leads directly to narcissitic personalities gaining control of the political machinery. It often ends in mass murder. Obvious examples that come to mind are the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, and Communist China. All fell under the control of Narcissitic personalities who, convinced they knew the way to a better society, committed mass murders on a huge …
Posted to Narcissists Rђ Us?
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"Granted, totalitarianisms are to be avoided. On the other hand, there is nothing more utopian than unfettered, “free-market” capitalism, a la Randian ideology. As in the U.S. today this concentration and centralisation of wealth and power merely devolves into a state-capitalist oligarchy. As has been pointed out, this is simply “socialism for the rich”." Our economy, with extensive government interference and interventions, is nothing close to any free-market ideal. In fact government intervention in the economy often leads to "concentration and centralisation of wealth" that those on the left wrongly blame on the free market.
Posted to Narcissists Rђ Us?
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"Israelis do clearly seem to be firmly behind this ‘war’ as the article states, what it doesn’t state is how Israels behaviour has vastly increased Lebanese support for ‘Hassan’s gang’ even amongst the Christian population despite the bombings, threats and other more silly attempts at undermining Hezbollahs support such as randomly telephoning the Lebanese population with a recorded message none too flattering about Nasrallah. With the rockets still landing and the Israeli’s still losing troops only a couple of miles from the border after a month you’ve got to wonder how much longer this near blanket Israeli support for their leaders …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Wait a minute...now...quick over view chopper...europeans of the Jewish faith...many of them with Zionist ideas...forcefully immigrant (invade )into the region , declare a soveriegn Isreali state...intern the existing population into refugee camps for decades , claim fanatical chosen by God status....and have “ kidnapped upwards of 9000 none military Palestinian personnel...as many as 1000 of this number are children.... By the way soldiers cannot be kidnapped , they are prisoners of war....perfectly legal under the Geneva Convention...but civilan captives are in fact illegal under the Geneva laws governing combatants… Now chopper if someone was screwin over you like this...Redhorse guesses you’d …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"kidnapped upwards of 9000 none military Palestinian personnel..." You mean known terrorists. I guess in your world self-defense is okay unless it is Jews defending themselves.
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Don’t forget to give your 10% so you wont got to HELL! no matter the preacher drives a Cadilac,and you ride a moped...." Completely irrelevant to the discussion.
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"What causes terrorists? Oppression of course.And a good dose of propaganda. Didn’t England think of the revolutionarys as terrorists after the Boston Tea Party?Those terrorists went on to form this country.Terrorism is a last resort for a desprate people,who have been ignored,or taken advantage of by a “greater” power.Hezbolla held seats in the democratically elected Lebanese Govn.They should be recognized as a legit political party! They fight like an army,with army type weapons.The real terrorists are the ones holding the power in the world,who paint any resistence to their plans of world domination as terrorists.A nice label to direct the hate …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Following your VAIN of illogical thought chopper.. one would guess that all those Jews interned in Nazi prison camps during WW2...were also known terrorist and provocateurs....especially the children.... In the world of the Redhorse....if I’m chillin in my stable....munchin on some hay and carrots....and some ass-hole Jack of Asses invades my barn yard ,ridin on some fuck’in loud ass chopper....trespassing on my soveriegn land....AND THIS FOOL ON THE CHOPPER CLAIMS....SELF DEFENSE......"how long have you felt this way chopper ?”...cause in the real world...you wrong… Isreal has no moral ground to stand on....scripturally or historically...to claim self defense....this Zionist state called Isreal …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Chopper, you crazy.~ In one sentence you say “ Their ideology grows out of a religious conviction that Muslims should dominate the world” then in the next : when I ask “isn’t this really about religion?” Your short reply is,"No It isn’t. So I’m confused,didn’t you just say it was? maybe it is you who is confused....hmmm " It might be about THEIR "religion", but its not about religion. Sorry you are so easily confused. Hope that clears it up.
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"chopper....What is obscene and profane is your justifications for genocide....times change ; but the script is still the same.... Look chopper if your going to be an imperialist...you can’t be so sensitive.... War profiteering is a dirty business............" I'm not sensitive or offended, just mildly amused at your combination of arrogance, obscenities, and self-righteousness. Please keep up the good work!
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"now it’s the dreaded terrorist...." 9/11 actually happened. So did 7/11 in Britian. To dismiss terrorism as an "ignorant superstition" means denying reality. "If they (the Jews) all gather in Israel it will save us the trouble of going after them on a worldwide basis" Nassan Nasrallah, Shi'ite cleric and leader of Hizbollah.
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Redhorse imagines that the choppers mild humor is a sign of an even milder sense of reality....." Yeah, whatever...
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"chopper...you sound like some rookie...like this type of thing never happened before..... The US response and occupation of Iraq and the Isreali attack on Lebanon...are two heads of the same coin of disproportionate reaction to a precognition of a terrorist treat ; that in fact do not exist....." "rookie"?? Is that the best you can muster for an insult? Are you getting soft? Iraq and Lebanon are two different cases. The attacks on Israel were coming directly from Lebanon. The Lebanese government plainly lacked both the means and the will to bring a non-governmental armed force under its control. The cease …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"All of these goals will require active and forthright engagement by the rich and strong countries, and this will include commitment of peacekeeping forces and therefore an investment of blood as those peacekeepers face attack by an increasingly desperate Hezbollah. Talk is and always has been cheap. If the world (esp. its rich states) really wants to be of help, they better just decide to get their hands dirty and offer something other than diplo-babble and 24-hour news coverage." UN peacekeeping forces have proven uniformly unwilling and or unable to take any action against Hezbollah's violations of cease fires and disarmament …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Erm...UNIFIL had no mandate to do so, they were introduced in 1978 to confirm ISRAELS withdrawal from Lebanon under resolution 425 which the Israelis obviously proceeded to ignore for 22 years. It was never intended to enforce resolution 1559, even if it had been how exactly was such a small U.N force supposed to disarm Hezbollah when the IDF has so singularly failed to do so? Ask nicely? I mean going by your ‘logic’ why didn’t they take on the Israelis during their illegal occupation of Lebanon? It would have been more in line with the mandate they were actually given." …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"chopper....only in the world of the Rothchild bankers...and the little Zionist piglets that troll for there interests...does your post make any sense....In the other 99.999 % ad infinitum of the world...your post is pure 365 degrees of...all around BULLSHIT....... " Wow redhorse, good to see your self-righteousness, arrogance, and obscenities coming back. I was getting worried there for a minute. How did you get such an impressive statistic (99.999%) and when did any percentage become infinity? And to top it off you went 5 degrees beyond a complete circle. Most impressive!
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Utter bollocks, admittedly they’re often hamstrung by the mandate which they are given but in many countries i.e El Salvador, Cambodia, Mozambique, Cyprus, East Timor...I could go on, they’re extremely successful, do you have any clue in how many countries the United Nations puts itself between trigger-happy combatants around the globe? Obviously not, as a typical right wing American you’ll cherry pick a few failures and claim this represents U.N peacekeeping efforts as a whole when in fact it does nothing of the sort and you’ll make no mention whatsoever of the massive amount of humanitarian assistance they supply around the …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Most , if not all UN debacles are CIA strong-arm centered...most so-called third world dictators are CIA informants...." Do you have any evidence for this? "Now the other thing you talked about is that lefties like ineffectual organizations...the UN being the example of ineffectualness..... The concept of unity is basic to a more progressive...sane...reasonable society...too be drawn to unity is in fact good mental health....." This is rather vague, if not downright gaseous. Exactly what are you driving at? "The dynamic of the neo-con is quite opposite...drawn to devious and shifty behavior...the hawkish God complex many adhere too...believing that only they …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"What Redhorse is saying is you lack mental stability and are delusional...." As I stated above, trying to "psychoanalyze" someone based on their political leanings usually results in a bad joke. Thanks for helping me to make my point. "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man “..." By John Perkins. Saw him do an interview. I found him less than impressive. "The Final Call newspaper ran a photo of Bush 41.....back when the man was president.....He was seated on a couch in Panama , next to Manuel Noriega , at the time of the photo Bush 41 was the CIA director.....Now later …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Yeah.....you are right chopper , all of your examples have a numb-nutt nuckleheaded leader or military figure that brought about the demise of their respective nations...." And what does the above mean? Anything? Are you saying all alliances are between numb-nutts, or all of them have a numb-nutt in there some where, or alliances are best avoided? Inquiring minds want to know. "Just like your buddy Bush.... " Don't know him personally... "Isreal has stated that this whole operation , at best… was a draw....not understanding that Hezbollah fighters would not back down....All Isreal has accomplished is too raise the stock …
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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"Doggerel...that’s pretty good.......funny..... The chopper says my verse is sloppy...but misspells Dogger-a-l.........ok...." "“Isreal has stated that this whole operation , at best…" Doggerel, Doggeral, Isreal, Israel...I guess we all have our misspellings....
Posted to Israel's September 11 Effect
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“But, in exchange, the public should get a stake in the ownership of the companies, an agreement on promises for domestic production, and protection of both workers’ right to organize and standards of living.” Or leading more accurately to a real fascism, unlike the faux fascism the left is continually saying we are about ready to slip into. It is amazing how "progressives" of all strips want more government control over the economy, no matter how disastrous such policies have been in the past. Although it isn't clear that we can have liberty with a free market economy, it is increasingly …
Posted to Delphi Dodges Union Contracts
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"I think we’re all over-analyzing her racism. She’s just another redneck asshole." It's good to see I'm not the only person who has driven you to vulgarities. Please, keep posting. You are quite entertaining!
Posted to If Ken Lay Was Black
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Wolf has it exactly right. Freedom of speech doesn't mean anyone has to sponsor this absurd show.
Posted to Disclaimer
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Well, as one of those "reactionary conservatives" that Epistrophy seems to be afraid of, I'd like to know what kind of censorship he feels he is being subjected to. Freedom of expression doesn't mean that any third party or my tax dollars are obligated to support whatever it is he thinks should be supported. If he can't get public funding let him find other sources if he can. Forcibly using my tax dollars to support his expression means my freedom is being curtailed.
Posted to Disclaimer
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Epistrophy, "reactionary conservative" is your phrase, not mine, which is why I put it in quotation marks. "violence, intimidation, and manipulation to stifle anyone who is opposed to their narrow and ignorant view of the world" is your projection of what you imagine conservatives to be rather than what most of them really advocate. In fact just such tactics are used today against conservative students on some university campuses. Also, some groups still lionized by some on the left used such tactics historically, such as the Black Panthers. You really didn't answer my question, are you really being censored or are …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"One thing is for certain. You will not find too many artists who are conservatives. You cannot expect them to support the inherent plurality of the arts, with its openness towards free thinking and cultural diversity. This is antithetical to the conservative who remains entrenched in an intellectual, ideological, and spiritual vacuum. " This statement is a hoot, considering what often passes for art these days. I'm all for anyone being able to produce whatever art they want to produce, but if they can't find anyone willing to subsidize it or purchase it, tough.
Posted to Disclaimer
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"insists on screwing the world with its right-wing infatuation with fascism masquerading as democracy." And since we are living under "fascism" I suppose you are expecting the dreaded knock on the door any moment now?
Posted to Disclaimer
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Major Major, I see you are quite liberal in your use of the word fascist. The left tediously uses this word to smear anyone they don't like. Do you even know what real fascism is? Hint: in a fascist state even now the secret police would be tracking back your post to identify you and then throw you into prison. Somehow I don't think this will happen.
Posted to Disclaimer
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"what does wolf do for a living? most likely, he uses hocky sticks up young school boys for fun. keep those comments coming wolfy. you are one bright fellow." Is this how the left shows its "free thinking and openess to diversity"?
Posted to Disclaimer
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Gee Major Major Major Major, what IS your point?
Posted to Disclaimer
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Major Major Major Major (& David) if you want to fund covering the Washington monument in a huge condom, go for it. Let's see if I've got this straight. If the taxpayers object to funding art they find offensive, stupid, or merely boring they are being fascist? Right, got it. Who do they think they are, not defering to liberal elites.
Posted to Disclaimer
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xianne - I have no problem with offensive artists. I rather like Dali, Gaugin, and Monet but don't care much for DeKooning. If someone wants to produce art that many people find offensive, more power to them. My only beef is with forcing people or institutions who find a work of art offensive to subsidize it. In fact, I find such coercion much more "fascist" than the state or a business cutting off funding for art they don't like.
Posted to Disclaimer
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"as i have said before, the issue raised by gomez-pena’s article is not about decency or taste—the issue is politics, and whether the government should be allowed to substitute itself for the role of curator, sponsor, art critic, etc, etc, especially in the dubious name of the holy war on terror. the issue of politics shouldn’t be conflated with the question of decency—they are not the same. " In practice the difference is often not so easy to see. It is very easy for an artist to say an offensive work has a political purpose. In the event, why would I …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"to object to the use of your tax dollars to fund art that you don’t like is like objecting to the use of the money you pay to eat at a restaurant just because there are certain items on the menu you don’t like. the tax dollars you pay to fund art pays for all kinds of projects, just like the money you pay to the restaurateur pays for all kinds of entrees. it’s really absurd to insist that the owner remove a particular entree you don’t like on the grounds that you don’t want your money used to keep it …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"whether any particular entree remains on the menu or not is comepletely up to the restauranteur, and that’s regardless of whether it’s popular or not. if you don’t like the entree and have no interest in eating it, why should you care? there is a term for people who worry about whether other people might be enjoying something they don’t like—that’s watb—aka “whiny ass titty baby”." I don't care. And I don't care about what kind of art other people like. But defunding art is not "censorship". On a more basic level you seem to be unable to distingush between public …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"1) “I don’t care. And I don’t care about what kind of art other people like.” ... unless you think you’re paying for it! doth protesteth too much." This statement is just screwy. You mean you can't see a fundamental difference between someone enjoying something you don't care for and you being forced to pay for it. Personally I'd like to buy a plane. Using your logic you shouldn't mind helping me pay for it.
Posted to Disclaimer
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Chipper and Woof remind me of John Scalzi’s description of a Conservative: someone “who would rather shit on a freshly-baked cherry pie than share it with anyone outside the [clan].” Well, Major Major Major Major, I don't mind sharing, I just mind being forced to subsidize an endless list of worthless programs. Like most leftists you wouldn't understand freedom if it bit you in the ass.
Posted to Disclaimer
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""Well, Major Major Major Major, I don’t mind sharing, I just mind being forced to subsidize an endless list of worthless programs. Like most leftists you wouldn’t understand freedom if it bit you in the ass.” national debt = $8.366 trillion, or $27,994.53 owed per person. the national debt is increasing at a rate of $1.75 billion per day, or $585.59 per person. (source: national debt clock) iraq war = $285.919 billion, or $956.75 per person, climbing at a rate of $172.90 per minute. (source: cost of war register) white house fy 2007 budget for nea = $124 million, or 41.5 …
Posted to Disclaimer
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""You are saying that waste in one place justifies waste everywhere. Because we are less free in some areas it means we should just gradually surrender until the state confiscates everything and we live at the government’s whim. Now that would be a leftist dream come true!” i’m saying you’re a fucking crybaby for whining about 40 cents a year, and your’re a crybaby for perpetuating a debate that you lost 30 years ago. but do keep coming back: your idiotic persistence is proving most entertaining. wah wah waaaah!!! " You are big on insults but not much in the way …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"awww, did the big bad leftie hurt little schnookums feelings? i’d feel bad but it’s obvious you’re not just a crybaby—you’re also some kind of masochist who can’t stand not getting the last dig in, even if it means getting his bankrupt butt handed to him. repeatedly. with extreme prejudice. wah wah waaaah!!! you’re making this way too easy. next time bring an actual argument with you—oh, waitaminnit, that’s right, you don’t have any. well, i’ll be here anyway. " No, you responded pretty much the way I expected, and as I stated above, I actually enjoy the entertainment. Especially your …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"When governments, or cultural institutions, or the media, withhold funding from, or exposure to, the arts because some of it is offensive (read “critical") to those institutions, then you know you’re living in a police state, where any dissident expression is either repressed or overtly denounced as unpatriotic or obscene. I hesitate to use the word “fascist” because Chipper might become offended, once again, and attempt to lecture me on the politically correct connotations of “real” fascism, something he seems to have derived from his own “authentic” experience, where the stormtroopers break into your house and murder you in your bed …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"whoopsie!! my bad. looks like someone else on the board did say something similar, though i don’t see anything about “forced contributions to marginal artists whose real agenda is to destroy the institutions they are criticizing”. but hey, that’s just me. that’s not my post, but real men admit their mistakes. score one for chopper! almost forgot: wah wah waaahhh!!! " Well, what can I say. Underneath that crusty old leftwing exterior you present is probably a pretty decent guy. Anyway, this thread is probably pretty much played out, I'll catch you on another one. And thanks for the wah wah …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"Other than that, your oversimplified synopsis is remarkably accurate. I do indeed believe that government grants given to artists whose agenda is to destroy the institutions they criticize is necessary to avoid a fascist society. Institutions such as racism, sexism, homophobia, class discrimination, militarism and religious extremism are the very institutions which define the foundations of a fascist society, and the sooner they’re destroyed the better it will be for all of us. Including yourself, Dumbo." Hmm, right, so now all the standard leftwing curse words are now institutions? Somehow I don't think a rigid racial quota system, exclusion of religion …
Posted to Disclaimer
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"NUKE ENERGY IS good for the nuke energy companies. No-one else. we can do better than that shit." Uh, yeah, like how? Solar, geothermal, wind etc. is never going to be able to supply more than a small fraction of our needs. All things considered nuclear is much cleaner and safer than coal or oil (nuclear reactors actually put less radiation into the atmosphere coal fired plants). Or are you just for returning to the middle ages?
Posted to Do you think the benefits of nuclear energy can outweigh it's risk?
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The "libertarian right" if you want to identify them that way, is essentially correct in this matter. A right to property it the guareentee of all other rights.
Posted to Imminent Domination
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GhostRabbit, Your last post has a lot of name-calling. It has nothing of substance, however.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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If he did it must have been very early, as he fled Germany in 1934, as opposed to Heidegger (who seems to be a darling of some leftists) who did become a Nazi.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Conservatives do not comprehend Irony". Rabbit, leftists don't comprehend humor at all.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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The last statement is not really fair, as most blanket statements are not. I was responding to an absurd blanket statement that Rabbit made. Obviously, some leftists comprehend humor, just as many conservatives comprehend irony.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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Well Rabbit, I suppose you are writing about the Patriot Act (certainly not flawless, but not nearly as bad as some of the more hysterical would have us believe) and Chavez and Venezuela. Bush hasn't actually threatened to remove Chavez, Chavez just keeps saying he has. For the record, I didn't like Seinfeld, I thought Benny Hill was great, and real leftists I've actually known are generally a humorless lot. And it is truly ironic that the only American source your "soulmate" reads was founded by an aging Stalinist. Communism will never die, because no matter how bad it is in …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous beauty- Au Contraire, I never considered that I had any wounds to lick. I don't think whatever organizations you are involved with are floating abstractions. What I think is a floating abstraction is the anarchist idea (either of the right or the left) that government will eventually go away, or be abolished.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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Ok Rabbit, what source do you have that shows that Bush has threatened to overthrow Chavez or invade Venezuela?
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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So far, no I haven't linked to anything you posted, for some reason I'm not able to click on your links with the browser I have. I'll have to write down your links & put them in the address bar. Ayn Rand was not an anarchist, she believed in a strictly limited role for the state, sort of a nightwatchman role. I agree that private property cannot be protected without some sort of state, also, I don't see how a socialist society (in the leftwing version of anarchism) can exist without coercive power. I agree that lessening the coercive power of …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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Thanks. I know about pasting, but I didn't think it would work for this.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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Rabbit- I was going to to your "christian facists" post point by point, but it is so absurd I'm not going to bother.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous beauty- Re: The statement I made about the enduring existence of antisocial personalities, I don't consider it nihilistic or cynical at all. In fact I think all of us have the capacity for evil, in religious terms it would be called original sin. Human nature hasn't really changed over the millenia, which is why I think utopian schemes to redo society are doomed to fail, sometimes disasterously such as the French and Bolshevik revolutions.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous- Yes, we have the capacity to improve ourselves, not others, not if they don't want to be improved, and none of us are going to reach perfection. I agree we should all make the attempt, a few will make heroic efforts (exceptional people, such as saints and those who make extraordinary achievments), some will make more modest efforts, and many will just try to get by. And there will always be those who are actively evil, and even the rest of us will continue to have our failings. I'm working on myself but I still backslide. If I didn't think …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous- Part of my thinking was well stated by George Orwell (not generally considered a rightwing fanatic) who once said "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." He also said. "On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time." I don't think either of these conditions will ever change. I imagine after this post you'll consider me more hopeless than ever!
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous beauty- Yes, I know Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) was a leftist, and he & I would undoubtedly have disagreed about many things. He was, however, by all accounts a remarkably honest man, and he had a clear eyed view of the Soviet Union when most on the left were gaga about it. His book "Homage to Catalonia" about his experiences in the Spanish Civil war gave a vivid account of his time there. He joined a Trotskyite milita, mainly because it happened to be operating in the area he was in. This eventually got him in hot water with …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous beauty- Perhaps, but I don't thing human evil will ever disappear this side of the Second Coming. And I don't really expect to be around in 500 years unless some of the more visionary folks at Tech Central Station are right!
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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I don't have problems with anyone anywhere until they do something destructive.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous beauty- Well, I did say most. I've got other problems with the Trotskyites and Anarchists (as I generally do with leftists), but at least they weren't involved in the truly horrific mass murders that the various communist parties indulged in, which actually exceeded those of the Nazis.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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luminous beauty- Actually I did say most a couple of sentences earlier, and that is what I continued to mean. I probably should have been clearer about it. I'm not speaking for those that didn't like the book, I think it is well documented that many, or most (but certainly not all) leftists (such as Lillian Hellman, for instance) really did hate the book. Actually I picked it up at a wargame convention, one of my more unusual hobbies that will probably properly disgust you. It has nothing to do with whether or not I respect those on the left. I …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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Rabbit- Your post makes some rather unwarrented assumptions, in fact I think my last post makes it rather clear that I wasn't happy with the way history was taught to them. Either you are a careless reader or your mean streak is getting the better of you. As for the Bush = Hitler equation, it is absurd on its face. Whatever his faults, he is not trying to exterminate an entire ethnic/religious group. But then the whoever = Hitler equation has generally become a substitute for thinking by some on the left.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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'Chopper, you need to go back to school and learn to read. Rabbit did not say “Bush = Hitler”. He said: "Rabbit points out only that Bush has become more hated and known for evil than hitler, in his own lifetime."' No, he did not directly say it, in fact you could read his post to mean Bush is even worse than Hitler. It was still a comparison to Hitler.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"If you wish to give more credence to horse’s asses like Horowitz, Cristol, D’Souza and the like, that is your privilege. Don’t expect me to give you a pass on it, though." I could just as easily say Ward Churchill and Noam Chomsky are horse's asses, which they are of course.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"On a personal level, I have many conservative friends who are fine people in spite of being confused and blinded by the simplistic Reaganesque posturing that passes for political discourse in this country" Luminous Beauty, none of this is meant personally, I have no doubt that you are an outstanding individual, even if I perceive that you are the one who is confused.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Why would you think I would begrudge you your little hobbies? One of my mates is like you of German Catholic heritage. He’s a great fan of war lit., a real scholar of WWII, and an expert on all kinds of weaponry and armament. He despises paint-ball, though, which I think is good and cathartic juvenile fun. He just reminded me that his step son is a Creative Anachronist, a group for whom I’ve done considerable craft-work. When I was younger I lived and worked at Sturbridge Village, Mass. and helped with Revolutionary War re-enactments. That was a lot of fun. …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Scorpy can you give us a single one of the 14 which doesn’t also apply to the present US government?. You are once again shooting your foot off, it has before been pointed out you are in the same league as those others you mention." Most of them don't apply, unless you are a blind leftwing ideologue.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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Rabbit- The 14 points 1. Rampant & Continuing Nationalism- I actually see relatively few flags, and none of the people I know actually wear flags or display them on their vehicles, including the political conservatives I know. 2. Identification of enemies/scapegoats. Bush has gone out of his way to state we have no quarrel with Islam itself. He has identified terrorists as enemies, perhaps understandable in that they actually have attacked us. There is a Muslim Mosque that openly operates in the city I live in, & I live in a city in a fairly conservative area. 3. Supremacy of the …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"It’s a real sign of progress that the wing-nuts are attacking Chomsky after years and years of totally ignoring him. As famous as he is (for a scholar) internationally, he’s long been a virtual non-entity in his own country. It’s undoubtedly news to most US citizens that there even exists a field of scientific enquiry called Cognitive Science much less the central role Chomsky has played in it’s development. I liked this line in the Rense article: “Again the kindest thing you can say about Reagan is that he probably didn’t know what he was saying.”. That goes in spades for …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"What is relatively few? You are living inside your bubble and have no reference with which to make comparisons on this or indeed several of the claims such as this which are based on an objective analysis. Rabbit see’s one Aussie flag on average per day, which is because on his way to work he ‘usually’ drives past a particular house who has a flag pole. That is as many as most Aussies would see. In Denmark, where Rabbit lived for five years, there are flags everywhere and the Danes have a healthy amount of National pride, but it is nothing …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"There is a HUGE and growing body of evidence which much more clearly PROVES US government complicity in 911. Not even half of Americans believe the official theory, and those of us who are informed KNOW it is all lies" Let's see Rabbit, I'll bet you also know that OJ didn't kill Nicole (must have been those Columbian drug dealers OJ promised to find), the moon landings were a hoax, Lee Harvey Oswald was a CIA agent, the man kept in Spandau as Rudolph Hess was really an imposter, the US government has alien bodies at area 51, Alger Hiss was …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"you say Bush says you have no quarrel with Islam." Now your confusing Bush with me. Get a grip.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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Let us keep it simple, The US Military Budget for 2005 $420.7 billion. “ The US military budget is almost as much as the rest of the world’s. The US military budget is more than 8 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender. The US military budget is more than 29 times as large as the combined spending of the seven “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) who spent $14.4 billion. "It is more than the combined spending of the next twenty three nations. The United States and its close allies account for …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"This only says that you are a male, and in denial. What is that old favorite which sells every product under the sun? Begins with an ‘S’, could it be SEX? You are inside the bubble Chopper, so maybe don’t get this one either, but the rest of us will chuckle at your expense. hee hee " This post says more about you than it does about me. When you can point to actual examples of homosexuals being persecuted by the government then I'll take your post seriously. The above is just crap.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"“Often in very harsh terms” in whose opinion? If they called for his immediate arrest for crimes against the state and against humanity, it would not be too harsh you clown. Don’t call Rabbit an extremist either, he is fairly level about it." Ok, you're not an extremist. You're delusional.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Ever heard of the Downing Street Memo’s?" In a word, yes. However, you are still delusional.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Rabbit ignores all this as being twaddle, A few names dropped which mean nothing to Rabbit but the format suggests he is trying to sound intellectual. Rabbit would prefer to refer the matter of American Intellectualism and the arts, to his “foreign” compadres......... shared snigger..........and use just ONE single American treatment of one of the classics of modern Satire, which even the BBC was able to turn into a Classic film with a few thousand dollars. This is in itself enough to seal the case for the dearth of intellectual depth to the American Psyche. Actually Rabbit will also mention Jerry …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"10 down and four to go, maybe you just want to accept the last four out of hand? Most do." No, I just haven't gotten to them yet. This whole list is carefully designed to put a leftwing spin on a view of facism. It leaves out some essential features of facism, such as extensive control of the economy, and includes some others that are marginal or just off-base. Facism historically was pretty secular. Mussolini was a socialist, and never really abandoned socialism. None of this changes the fact that you're delusional, however.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"The two people who were most successful in bringing the cold war to a close were Osama Bin Laden, and Michel Gorbachev. Despite Reagan." Further evidence that Rabbit is delusional.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"As for the militaristic society, you are obviously so shocked by those figures yourself that you almost threw in the towell on that one, now admit it. Or don’t, we can read and see your reaction for ourtselves." I already knew the figures Rabbit. Another way to look at them is that as a percentage of GNP they are lower than what we spent on defense just before the Pearl Harbor attack. In themselves they mean nothing as far as whether we have a militaristic society or not. They may mean we are wasting too much on defense spending, just as …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"How exactly could Ronald Mc Donald, oops sorry, Rabbit meant Ronald Reagan, be given credit for ending the cold war? Exactly how? As Rabbit recalls Reagan was busy setting up an inpossible dream at the time “star wars” and various other atrocities were being carried out in anticipation of many more decades of war. The USSR, led by Gorbachev, shocked the world with it’s own internal collapse, and History shows it was bled to death by it’s military, especially the sharp drain on morale and economy represented by the WAR in Afghanistan. That is not delusional Chopper, it is history and …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Well Rabbit cannot oblige you here. He has never seen any need to raise the issue of homosexuality on this thread. Not the first time you raised it nor this one. So if this is the weird and wonderful test of integrity you have set the Rabbit, perhaps he must accept he will lack integrity with such an one as Chopper" In the "rampant sexism" point "homophobia" and "anti-gay legislation" were specifically mentioned, as was opposition to abortion. Looks like I wasn't the one that raised it Rabbit. You lose on this one.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"So the Pope and Reagan did it now?" Yeah, that's what I said the first time
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Yes Rabbit had already agreed your government are a bunch of bum brothers, it is a part of Skull and Bones lore. Not in the “normal” sense of our homosexual brothers and sisters, but rather as a deliberate act of perversion. It is an important issue to those who hold fast to the Bush. Of course it is. But does it occur to Chopper that one can be a Homosexual and a pervert as well?" Your point?
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"Rabbit; It is a deliberate act of coercive sexual domination, much like rape. Consensual perversion is relatively just silly play acting. Not too surprising that chopper doesn’t get the point. He is such a punk." Rabbit's rather incoherent post had a pointless insult in it. To the extent that I can decipher it he was saying that Bush and his administration are a bunch of preverted homosexuals (sort of a redundancy there). What ever criticism one has of Bush or his administration, there is no evidence for this. Btw, thanks for the gratuitous personal attack. Let me remind you that it …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"You should be glad we prefer to settle disputes with words instead of your first and prefferred method. Obviously you think you are better at Wars than we are, but being the first choice for you doesn’t make it the one you are most likely to win either. We can beat you morons to porridge with words or whatever. OOH OOH OOH! " Now who is the one making unwarrented assumptions? I don't recall starting any wars lately. I'm not too worried about your words. You are good at throwing out stupid insults, nothing else.
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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"The sad reality is that there is no way to convince these brain-washed believers that there may be something more to the story of 9/11 than what they have been told. That’s not too surprising, since most of these people still buy into the Bush/PNAC reasons for invading Iraq. They blindly accept whatever they are told and close their minds tightly to any other information, no matter how factual. They cannot be reached. There is simply no way. The disease is far too endemic to treat with any ordinary approach. They believe as they do, and that’s all there is to …
Posted to A Fundamental History Lesson
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You are right Rabbit, we have a budget deficit that is worrisome, to be sure. However, I don't think the picture you present of Europe is quite so rosy as you imagine. They are plagued with budget deficits themselves, and their guareenteed existence by the state is going to come to a rough end in the coming decades, primarily for demographic reasons. Btw, we do have a safety net, in the form of social security, unemployment compensation, and welfare. It isn't anywhere near as extensive as Europe's to be sure, but it is still large enough so that we are facing …
Posted to The History of a Bad Idea
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Interestingly this article leaves out the fact that Wilde converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before his death. It would be hard to see this as anything other than a repudiation of his previous lifestyle.
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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Well Major Major, are you including yourself in "Everybody"? And what about Scorp's question? Are you related to Major Major Major Major from Catch 22?
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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Good points scorp. What everyone (or more accurately certain liberal elites) seem to forget is that people they call "fundamentalist Christian conservatives" have views on homosexualty that were just considered mainstream a couple of decades ago. They (conservative Christians) generally aren't proposing that we jail homosexuals or harass them. They just don't agree with a radical homosexual agenda that wants "gay marriage" given legal status. In fact, that is still the majority view of Americans today outside of some liberal elites.
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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Yes Major Major, that is the typical reaction from those on the left, any hint of opposition to "gay marriage" is immediately equated to racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, etc. Try looking into the attitudes of ordinary blacks, however. They tend to be more socially conservative than ordinary middle-class whites.
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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That however, Major Major, is a seperate issue, and should be argued seperately.
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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eka99- Are we supposed to be entirely non-judgemental? There is no difference, for instance, between a bank robber and a man who goes to work every day to support his family? Most Christians, or for that matter most people don't want to persecute gays, throw them in jail, or deny them jobs or the right to vote. What they do object to is granting things such as "gay marriage" equivalent status to marriage between a man and a woman, the norm for the last several millenia. Also, homosexuality is behavior specific in a way that the other things are not. …
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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I don't even see it as an issue as equal rights, gays can get married presently, it just has to be someone of the opposite sex, just like everyone else. Marriage wasn't instituted just for the benefit of the two people concerned, it was primarily instituted to provide a stable structure for the rearing of children. You post about the beliefs of society, but this is an institution that is in virtually all cultures and societies. And it is not clear that attitudes are changing except among certain mostly leftwing elites. No, I wasn't equating the gay population to bank robbers. …
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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Leftist, or Lefty, whatever you are going by these days, your response to me is a complete nonsequitur. Post some evidence for such an absurd claim! As usual most of your posts are filled with insults and taunts, and little substance.
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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Lefty, on further reflection, I think you are actually a misguided rightwinger who is trying to make leftists look bad.
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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Lefty, who is Michael Hardesty? You continue to throw out mindless insults. Why don't you grow up?
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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Liz, I can assure you I'm not Michael Hardesty. My name is Joe Lammers. Chopper is a college nickname, which came from lambchops, a play on my last name. Inevitably it was corrupted until it became chopper.
Posted to Wildes Second Coming Out
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docjohnson- And just how do we provide reparations to slaves and indentured servants, since they are all dead? The rest of your post is basically a call for socialism, something that in practice usually is an abject failure. The article is rather absurd. This has nothing to do with race, it is economics. Most of us don't have "access" to private jet ownership either.
Posted to The Whiteness of Wi-Fi
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Ibyland- "crumbs for the of us"? You seem to think wealth and resources are just something laying about on the ground, and human effort and enterprise have nothing to do with it. Reading something such as Thomas Sowell's "Basic Economics" would clear up a lot of your misconceptions.
Posted to The Whiteness of Wi-Fi
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docjohnson- Do you have any real evidence to support the paranoid fantasy in your last post?
Posted to The Whiteness of Wi-Fi
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docjohnson- I briefly visited both ojcoverup.com and suppressed-evidence. ojcoverup.com seemed to be one of many paranoid websites that one can find on the internet. Suppressed-evidence seemed to deal mostly with refuting claims against evolution. Not sure what that has to do with your somewhat bizarre fantasy about OJ. Regardless, I don't reject paranoid fantasies to sustain my ego. I reject them because they have no basis in reality. The extreme right used to have the market cornered on improbable conspiracy theories (trust me, I grew up around them, & I say that as one who is a conservative) but I've noticed …
Posted to The Whiteness of Wi-Fi
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Whatever doc. You are entirely predictable yourself. Best wishes.
Posted to The Whiteness of Wi-Fi
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al-Dakari- 100 million people have already been sacrificed to the false god of Marxism. That isn't enough for you?
Posted to End it Already
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Common Dreams is hardly centrist. It's more like far left. I don't consider myself centrist either (I definitely lean right) but you should at least follow "truth in advertising".
Posted to Will Withdrawal Make Gaza a Frontier Ghetto?
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John Franis Lee- Yes, I consider both articles leftist in their perspective. "Pax Americana and Christian Values" contains a caricature of conservative and libertarian views. I could go into detail about the difference in the world view between Hayek and Ayn Rand, for instance, but that would be way off topic. The author's implicit admiration for European social welfare spending and social engineering gives no hint of the many problems such things cause. Of course we are not doing much better because Bush has actually drastically increased domestic problem, leaving us, like the Europeans, saddled with huge under funded programs that …
Posted to Will Withdrawal Make Gaza a Frontier Ghetto?
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Hmm, maybe I shouldn't post at 2:30am after just waking up, domestic problem above should be domestic spending.
Posted to Will Withdrawal Make Gaza a Frontier Ghetto?
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Lee- I grant you that both these men worked for worthy causes, however the quote above was from the article, and the article I thought was definitely left wing. I could enlist all sorts of historical figures to support my positions, it wouldn't change the fact that my views are to the right. The articles, like the magazine overall, leans left.
Posted to Will Withdrawal Make Gaza a Frontier Ghetto?
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Thinking we'd be better off with the fanatical terrorists who run Iran being armed with nuclear weapons is not an example of clear thinking. If there must be a hegemon, we should be it.
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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volvillaian, you should have read my post more closely. Nowhere did I accuse all Muslims of being fanatical terrorists. What I said was that the rulers of Iran WHERE fanatical terrorists. They've given ample evidence of this. You are assuming they will behave rationally. They won't. I didn't even say we should be a hegemon, I merely said if there has to be one we should be it. As for your personal attack (the usual all purpose tiresome charge made by those on the left) I did try to enlist in the Service many years algo. I was rejected for medical …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillain, I'm not saying we should necessarily be a hegemon, at least not in the sense that we should attempt to dominate every other nation on earth & take action against them every time they do something we don't like. And I stand by my statement that the mullahs running Iran are fanatics. Certainly they are cunning & would be smart enough to avoid a direct nuclear attack against us (but they may directly attack Israel). They are known supporters of terrorism and I find it entirely crediable that they would help a terrorist organization detonate a bomb in the United …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Matilda, if 9/11 didn't warrent a military response, then what does? It was an act of war that killed 3,000 people. You immediately jumped to the conclusion that because I posted that that I also think we should have invaded Iraq. For the record, I was not in favor of the Iraq war, I actually thought it was a distraction from fighting terrorism. I do think we were justified in invading Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda's base, and destroying it. If we hadn't done that I think there is good reason to believe there would have been further devastating attacks on US soil. I …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillian, what is this fixation on Saudi attacking us? I realize most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi's but there is no real evidence that the government of Saudi Arabia had a hand in the planning. There are many things about the Saudis I don't like, but I don't think they were directly responsible for 9/11. The argument about "blow back" is way overdone. Your definition is so huge that almost anything could be listed as "blow back". I think a fairly good argument could be made that we should have stayed out of WWI, and that the allies and the …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillian, I would say a conservative (and I'm not entirely satistifed with the word, it has been overused and abused, just as the word liberal has) is someone who believes that human nature doesn't change much, traditions are there for a reason, (although we shouldn't become slaves to tradition) and the government can't solve all problems, and may make them worse by attempting to do so. Also, life is inherently unsafe, none of us really knows as much as we think we do, and some people aren't going to like you (or will actively hate you) no matter what you do. …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillian, I don't see how snatch and grabs in Afghanistan would have worked. I really don't think we had any other options there. Iraq is a different story, but now that we are there we can't just pull out and leave it in chaos.
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillian, both you and Matilda mentioned the Saudis, perhaps Matilda made the more explicit accusation and you may have just mentioned them in passing (it's getting late & I'm about ready to go to bed soon, I'll re-read the posts tomorrow). I'm also well aware of why we cut off oil and scrap metal to the Japanese (in fact I think we were right to do so), but it did precipitate their decision to attack us. A war with Japan was probably inevitable at some point anyway. We were also allied with the Soviet Union during WWII, in spite of that …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Lefty, why don't you try engaging in actual debate instead of throwing out mindless insults? Even though IsThisThingOn and Matilda both (IMHO) go over the top sometimes at least they mostly stick to the issues.
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillian, why should we be supporting the World Court's ruling against Israel? The United States is a soveriegn nation, we aren't bound by World Court rulings as we would be by an act of Congress or a Supreme Court ruling, and I see no particular reason why we should blindly follow what has proven to be in many cases an anti-US body anyway. As for the Israeli wall, it has proven effective in reducing terrorist attacks, concessions and negotiations with the Palestinians has not. Israel has a right to defend itself, even though the European left is always upset that she …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Matilda, Hitler did not claim to be Christian, in fact the Nazis were almost as anti-Christian as they were anti-Jewish, they just didn't have the ability to move against Christianity in the same way the moved against the Jews. Also you state that Bush "instigated the killing of more civilians than Usama Bin Laden, the Columbine shooters, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, or the IRA". It is interesting how you frame that statement, our military actually takes pains to minimize civilian deaths more than probably any other military in history. It is also interesting that you didn't through Franklin D Roosevelt in …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Interesting Volvillian, I checked out the Daily Kos and had much the same reaction to it that you had to little green footballs.
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Actually Matilda, by your interperation of Scorps logic it would make more sense for us to invade China than China to invade us. China is a dictatorship without freedom, we are a democracy with still a large amount (but diminishing) freedom.
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Lefty, what is "corporatism"? How is it the same as facism"? (A much overused word by the left). What evidence, if any, do you have for your accusations? Hitler's economic program was actually similar to the New Deal. Do you consider FDR to have been a facist?
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Matilda, in one of your posts you state (more or less accurately) that the Nazis would kill 10 civilians for every German soldier killed by the resistance in occupied France (the accomplishments and depth of the French Resistance in WWII have been way overblown, but that is for another day) & then you say that is what George Bush has done in Iraq. Do you have ANY evidence for this? That US troops are executing 10 civilians chosen at random for every American casualty? Your analogy seems absurd. If you can back up your charges I'd like to see the evidence. …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillian, do you mean that the building of the wall is creating Palestinian ghettos? What exactly is the Israeli government supposed to do? The wall works. Concessions didn't. It is not at all comparable to what the Nazis did. The left and most of Europe gets upset with everything Israel does, even when they target known terrorists. Dead Israelis don't seem to bother them at all. I also take issue with your "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" statement. I don't believe Ethan Allen deliberatly targeted women and children. Perhaps I'm wrong about this, I haven't studied his campaigns …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Volvillian- Agreed, Ethan Allen very could have been hanged as a traitor if the Revolutionary war had turned out differently, but that doesn't make him a terrorist. Terrorism doesn't relate to the cause one is fighting for but the tactics one uses, ie. specifically targeting non-combatants. That's not the same as what is now called "collateral damage" (which happens in every war). Some of the tactics the "Islamists" or "radical Islamists" or "facist Islamists" (I don't want to accuse all Muslims of supporting such people) such as suicide bombings (especially when the suicide bombers are youths or women brainwashed or forced …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Mitilda- Actually I don't think that speech by Hitler settles the debate at all. Hitler also made some specifically anti-Christian statements later in his career (read Alan Bullock's book "Hitler, A Study in Tryanny"). Also, the historian Paul Johnson considers Hitler to have been anti-Christian. Probably like many politicians Hitler spoke out of both sides of his mouth depending upon who he was trying to win over. In 1922, when he made that speech, Hitler was leading a small party whose prospects were not at all promising in a nation that was at least nominally Christian. The idea that that speech …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Matilda- First, apologies for mis-spelling your name in the last post. Actually, I think I did get your posts, I just disagree with them. Perhaps the Iraq war "didn't need to happen" as you write, but that still doesn't put George Bush on the same moral plane as Nazis who executed civilians at random, not when our military takes pains to avoid civilian casualties. I agree that in practice Stalin and Hitler had many similarities (people forget that Nazi stood for the National Socialist party), I just don't think they really have much similarity to conservatism (which is by no means …
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Lefty- with the left's program of state control over the economy, I'd say they fit the definition of facism pretty well.
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Matilda, in your post you stated "you guys" (from the context I take it you mean IsThisThingOn, Scorp, & myself) are ignorant, but your post itself betrays at best a superficial understanding of what facism and Nazi Germany were about, and what "conservatism" in the US today is about. To write that the invasion of Iraq is as bad as the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 is absurd, and I write this as one who was not in favor of our invasion of Iraq. It is not at all clear that Bush "lied" about WMD in Iraq, since …
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Matilda- As you rightly point out in one of your earlier posts, Hitler was financed by some German industrialists who thought they could control him once he got into power. This illustrates a common phenomenon with big business, which often actually welcomes or encourages state regulation and protectionism, which gives them (big business) a compartive advantage against foreign and smaller competitors. This leads to muddled thinking by liberals/leftists, whose solution is even more control over business (facism, if you will) or outright state takeover of business (socialism). The real solution is to reduce econmic decision making by the government, and get …
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Matilda- I noticed you posted a statement from Michael Parenti above, he calls himself a "libertarian-socialist" which is in fact a left-anarchist, such as Noam Chomsky. The "libertarian-socialists" or leftwing anarchists advocate socialism without a state. There are also "anarcho-capitalists" who advocate capitalism without a state, such as Murry Rothbard and Milton Friedman's son. Neither position makes much sense to me.
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Volvillian- I read the article in Counterpunch that you referenced, the author brings up some interesting points but I definitely remain somewhat skeptical about it. He basically presents a picture of Israeli intransigence vs. Palestinian victimhood. But Palestinian leaders when talking to their own people still call for the destruction of Israel and, in a disquieting development, Israel is getting no credit for pulling out of the Gaza strip in Palestine. Instead this is being touted as a victory by Hamas terrorism ("Martyrdom operations" as they call them), so instead of leading to greater peace this may merely lead to more …
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Scorp- Good point about "international law", there is no Supra-national body to enforce anything such as "international law". Sorry Matilda, but a statement such as "in the eyes of international law..." is a pretty vaporious statement.
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Ibyland, what exactly is woods point? Some of it is improbably conspiratorial, some is incoherent, and some of is pretty vague. To what acts of terrorism that he is accusing "Christian-Americans" of is he referring? What does he mean by a lack of effort by the right to curb domestic terrorism? Is he referring to criticism of Clinton (that was justified) of Clinton's lame attempt to link Timothy McVeigh's actions to talk radio?
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Well Liberal, your not posting any evidence for your statements. Trying to make a connection between O'Reilly, Limbaugh, or Liddy and Timothy McVeigh's action's is more than a bit of a stretch. None of them has ever advocated violence, at least not when I've heard them (If you can point out an instance when they did so, please share). And where have they advocated hating any group? As for riling people up or making them "feel angry" that is at least as prevalent on the left as it is on the right. A good deal of the left's agenda runs on …
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Matilda, yes I did read the quote by William Dodd, by itself the quote doesn't prove much. Did you read where I pointed out that the word Facism comes from Mussolini's Facist party? Mussolini started his political career as a socialist, and he never renounced his socialist ideals. In spite of what you would like to believe facism and socialism share many similarities. What we are arguing about is partly semantics, when the state and business become closely entertwined the results are usually not good, not for business, the state, nor the people. A select few will prosper but it is …
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Yes, wwoods, I realize that ELF (so far) has managed not to actually kill anyone. But they have caused ten's of millions of dollars in property damage through large-scale vandalism. What would you call them, "activists". They continue to make threats, so yes, they are terrorists. So, where is your evidence that when we had a Republican administration that the federal government did nothing to investigate illegal activity by militias? Was there any evidence that federal laws were being broken during this time period? Or were they breaking state laws and the state authorities weren't investigating?
Posted to Give Iranian Nukes a Chance
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Matilda, we supported Joseph Stalin during WWII, his regime was worse than any of the one's you mentioned (with the possible exception of Pol Pot on a per-capita basis). Why didn't you mention him?
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wwoods, I realize that it is popular on the left to compare Fundamental Christians to Islamists, but the few that commit acts of violence are usually individual nuts or small groups that are repudiated by the rest. Their acts of violence are relatively small scale and directed at specific targets. I want to make it clear that I in no way condone such activities, they should be hunted down and punished to the fullest extent of the law. Having said that, however, the actions of Islamist terrorists are several orders of magnitude greater, they kill much larger numbers of people, and, …
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wwoods- With the toll of ELF vandalism and destruction reaching into at least tens of millions of dollars (and probably greater) it goes a little beyond "childish". Those caught committing such crimes should get long prison terms. They are not just some sincere environmentalists who got a little carried away. I didn't take it that you were saying all Christians were terrorists. In fact, hardly any of them are, and for that matter, most Muslims aren't terrorists. However, there is still a difference of degree that is so large that it becomes a qualitative difference. Muslim terror is much greater, more …
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wwoods- A long prison term would depend upon the circumstances, but 5-10 years wouldn't be excessive for what a lot of them did. I didn't watch the HBO special, as far as punishing people for posting names on the internet, I'm not sure, it seems as if freedom of speech issues would come into play. I would tend to agree that something should done to stop such activities if addresses are also being posted, it seems an obvious invitation to promote harrasment or even assassination. As for a lot of Islamists being motivated to attack us, I've thought about this for …
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wwoods- Re: your comments about socialists. Neither socialism nor facism has proven viable in the real world, in fact they actually share similarities (I know Matilda disputes this, she has what is really a simplistic world view, if it is good it must be liberal and if it is bad it must be conservative, with the terms being somewhat ill-defined). Both are based on increased power of the state at the expense of the individual, the family, and private and religious organizations. The hatred of Hitler and Stalin for each other was much like the hatred between two rival Mafia Dons. …
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Matilda- In your posts contrasting liberals and conservatives you make such general comments that they are almost meaningless. The gist of your argument is everything good is liberal and everything bad is conservative. Unfortunately in spite of what you think (conservatives lie and liberals don't) there is ample evidence of mendacity and tendentiousness on both sides of the isle. Cynthia McKinney and Michael Moore, for instance, aren't exactly models of truthfulness. Also, you seem to be lacking knowledge of some basic economics and facts. National health care in Britian, for instance, is far from an unqualified success. In another post you …
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So Ammonia D, you equate economic freedom (without which there is no other freedom) with Nazism. Hitler's economic policies were remarkably similar to the New Deal. Does that make FDR a Nazi? Or are you just ignorant about that part of history?
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BTW Matilda- In your first post mentioning Hitler you posted that he SAID he was a Christian. In a follow up post you stated that he "BELIEVED" he was a Christian. I think I've pretty well refuted your second claim. I know you like to repeat over and over that anyone who disagrees with you is a conservative, and that all conservatives are liars and out of touch with reality. It's just that it is getting harder and harder to take anything you say seriously.
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wwoods- The military is a special case, even Milton Friedman would say it is a natural function of government. The system doesn't work so well when you try to use it to produce or distribute goods. Even military equipment is produced by private enterprise, and much more effectively than a government bureaucracy could. You are right, the extensive social welfare states of Europe today aren't the murderous communist or Nazi governments of an earlier era (& they still have private enterprise, even though often much shackled by our standards). However, Western Europe is plagued by high unemployment (about double ours) low …
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wwoods- your statement on those supposedly "victimized" by capitalism. Without free enterprise most of us would be medieval peasants. Do you really think that would have been a superior outcome?
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Actually wwoods, it is a special case. Militaries aren't known for operating economically, which a business must do to survive if it is in a competitive market. When you eliminate private ownership and/or competition several bad things start to happen. People start caring less about breakage and waste, because, after all, it isn't "theirs". Without price inputs what to produce or how much becomes difficult or impossible to determine. Since there is no competition quality, both in goods and service, becomes unimportant. Militaries themselves illustrate this to an extent. During long periods of peace, with no obvious enemy, they tend to …
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Btw wwoods, what do you mean by "We've almost perfected the idea of democracy"? Do you equate democracy with socialism? I don't consider democracy and liberty to be synonomous, and in practice I would prefer liberty to democracy.
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Okay wwoods- where does socialism actually work? I mean, as a system for an entire nation? And the army is a special case. It doesn't even produce its own weapons, they are produced (much more effectively than the state could) by private industry.
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wwoods- What is your definition of socialism? All of those countries still have large private sectors. It is true that they have more extensive social-welfare benefits than we do, and most of them (I'm not sure about Switzerland) have, in effect, socialized medicine. Generally, in Western Europe one can live of off the state if that is one's choice. However, Europe is also plagued with low to no economic growth and twice the unemployment rate that we have. As for their social security systems, they are headed for train wrecks (as are we) due to declining birth rates and increasing longevity. …
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wwoods- Yes, this is becoming a dead thread. That is the only thing in your post about which you are right. You never did give a clear indication of what you mean by socialism. Contrary to what you seem to believe, there are not some relatively minor problems the Europeans need to live with, but major structural defects that are going to cause them serious problems in the coming decades. Growth and wealth is produced primarily by the private sector, not by the state. This is true even in Europe. It is just that much of their industry is heavily shackled …
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wwoods- As far as getting off topic, you are right. I don't think you can blame scorp or myself for that entirely. You were a willing participant in the debate moving in this direction.
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wwoods- In your one post, in which you state that nothing works with a 100% effectiveness, I see a glimmer of hope. Whether you realize it or not this is a profoundly conservative statement. Most leftists believe in a utopian future, in which all societal problems will be solved once their vision becomes reality. A more conservative view is that nothing is perfect, and life is a series of trade-offs, and an attempt to make a heaven on earth could very well end up making a hell on earth (such as pretty much all communist societies became).
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wwoods- Interestingly, that is how I see myself, as a libertarian with conservative leanings. Your idea of socialism seems to be along the British/Clement Atlee model, which I don't think is viable over the long run. Agreed, many things about this administration I don't like, they are spending too much money, their new prescription drug benefits is going to be a train wreck in a few decades. Incrediably, however, the Democrats problem with it was they weren't spending enough! When you write libertarian, do you mean as commonly understood, such as typified by the Cato Institute, or more along lines of …
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wwoods- On Right vs. Left. In my experience the left really isn't any more concerned with people than the right. In my view government should be strictly limited. Most leftist programs in practice are based on a elitist view of society, that certain wise people (Harvard and Yale grads presumbly) should be taking care of us and running society, as the average person (Joe sixpack) is too uneducated, racist, or ignorant to run his own affairs. My view is none of knows as much as we think we do, we know our own affairs best but when we try to run …
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The best antidote for "republican corporatism" is reducing government control over the economy.
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Rabbitvoz- What is your evidence that the elections in 2000 were "stolen"? You might have some OP-ED pieces (such as the hysterical ravings by Krugman) but I doubt you have any real evidence. In fact some newspapers that recounted the ballots the way that Al Gore was arguing they should be counted in court concluded that Bush would have won anyway under that recount. hkray- Do you think we should have just ignored the attack on Pearl Harbor? Japan attacked us because we cut off their oil and scrap iron. We cut off their oil and scrap iron because of their …
Posted to Hiroshima: The Falsehood Fallout
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Maria- What is your source for the 30,000 disappeared? From what I recall the number was much lower (around 2,000 is what I remember), but I'm not a 100% sure. And btw, Russia (more accurately the Soviet Union) lost 20 million people in WWII, not 6. And whatever the nature of the people of Russia, its Soviet regime was evil, in fact probably more evil than the Nazi regime of Germany. Are you saying we shouldn't have fought against Japan in WWII (they did launch a suprise attack against us, I haven't heard of any country whose propaganda didn't go at …
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Maria- The Soviet Regime was evil sounds ominous to you? You've got to be kidding. If it wasn't an evil regime, what was? Next you are going to say the Nazis were merely misunderstood, after all they opposed us so they must have been doing something right. I'm not "justifying" our foreign policy, I was pointing out that you seem to think we are somehow the most evil regime on earth, and this is not borne out by the facts.
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reddragon696- Our sanctions didn't "push" Japan in a militaristic direction, they moved that way on their own. In fact our sanctions were a reaction Japan's aggression in China. But I suppose you are right that the Japanese government had no choice but to align itself with Germany and Italy. Where else could a facist, militaristic, & murderous government go?
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reddragon696- There was a book first published in 1971 named "Japan's Imperial Conspiracy" written by David Bergamini, a Rhodes scholar who is fluent in Japanese. Bergamini's thesis is that Emperor Hirohito was much more active in Japan's government before WWII than is commonly assumed, and that he was the primary factor in pushing Japan in an aggressive and militaristic direction. I don't think even today most historians would subscirbe to this interpertation, however Bergamini definitely did a lot of research on this and cannot be dismissed lightly. I first came across it while I was taking a course in Far Eastern …
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One factor that may have influenced Bergamini's judgement is that his brother was a Marine who was killed in the Pacific theatre fighting the Japanese in WWII. Not sure, but it possibly made him a less than impartial researcher.
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reddragon696- You might also want to watch some of Kurosawa's films, such as "Seven Samurai" (from which the western "The Magnificent Seven" was taken) for insight into traditional Japanese culture. He also made a couple of films based on Shakespeare but transferred to a Japanese setting, such as "Throne of Blood" (based on MacBeth) and "Ran" (based on Lear). His films are in Japanese but it is easy to get them with subtitles. "Seven Samurai" is so visual that you could almost get the story without a translation. It's one of greatest action flicks ever made, even though it is black …
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luminous beauty- Uh, like where have I supported a "blindly nationalistic justification of war"? Maria did state that my characterization of the Soviet Union as an evil regime was "ominous", going by her own standards she cannot then characterize us as evil for supporting Pinochet. After all, the number of people slaughtered by the Soviets was many times greater than 30,000. And in spite of leftist propaganda, I've never seen any real evidence that the School of the Americas taught people to torture or murder. Did some graduates of the School of the Americas go on to commit human rights violations? …
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luminous beauty- As a follow up, Maria posted human rights violations the Pinochet regime committed. She didn't establish any connection between those atrocities and the United States.
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luminous beauty- unfortunately I can't access the link you posted in my viewer. You were right, I mistakenly conflated Argentina and Chile. My bad. Maria stated directly in her post that the School of the Americas supported the massacre of an entire generation of Argentinians. Let me remind you that it was she that first injected "the Russians" into the debate. She also listed a whole series of nationalities that we supposedly stereotype, apparently from watching some films made in the United States. She seems to be confusing films made in Hollywood with official government positions. Perhaps she is unaware that …
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Maria- You made some serious generalized charges against the US government, some of which I don't find credible (mind you, all governments lie to an extent, I'm not naive in this regard)and you are trying to find "common ground"? Anyone who disagrees with you is thinking with a "small mind"? Somehow we approve of "aggression, poverty, war, and disregard for others".? Show me any statement of mine that shows I approve of those things. I can assure you I don't. What I think are the best means to avoid them may differ from what you think are the best means, but …
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luminous beauty- I'll try to find the article and read it. Your post would make more sense if Maria had stuck to Argentina in her initial statement, but she didn't. As I wrote earlier, she injected the "Russians" into the debate, and yes, you are correct, the Soviet Union did, I'm sure, perform some good deed here and there, but it was basically, as Reagan stated, an evil empire. My point about the Soviets was that during the cold war the US wasn't a 100% perfect and the Soviets weren't a 100% evil, but there was a stark difference between the …
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Ok, luminous beauty, we are really going off on a tangent here, but by 1800 the Indian population of what is now the present day United States and Canada had already declined to about 600,000. (Source, "American Colonies" by Alan Taylor, hardly a rightwing fanatic). As early as 1620 Plymouth colonists in New England commented on depopulated Indian villages due to plague. Clearly the disease microbes brought over by the Europeans had already done a lot of their work. I'm not trying to excuse or justify what was done in the past, or say that the US was anywhere near just …
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BTW luminous beauty, my forebears were German Catholics who immigrated in the mid to late 1800's, not WASPS, so they may be your ancestors, but not mine.
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Do you mean 25 million surviving to 1700 or to 1800? I'd find it hard to believe that 25 million survived until 1800 (and by that I mean in North America north of the Rio Grande), or for that matter even to 1700.
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Re "the dark side of US foreign policy" it often seems to me that to those on the left the "dark side" is all there is to American foreign policy. I'm not sure I buy the article's premise that the main reason we dropped the bomb was to renege on a wartime deal with the Soviets, and I certainly don't buy the implication in the article (not stated directly but clearly there) that the cold war was mainly engineered to benefit defense firms and Washington politicians, ie., it was primarily our fault.
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luminous beauty- I have to leave on a business trip for 3 days tonight & don't have the time to give your post the attention it deserves. Briefly, a lot of leftist ideas have been implemented in this country, such as high & progressive taxation, extensive government regulation of business, a fairly extensive social welfare state (admittedly not near the level in most of Europe), abortion on demand, and there are others but time is limited. Politicians for the most part, whatever they call themselves, tend to do things to get them elected (and re-elected). Nations tend to act in their …
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It helps me understand the thinking of the "progressive left" (I assume you are a more or less typical representative). The "self-interest" of those "controlling" the state usually revolve around getting re-elected. It is true that authoritarian governments that are in trouble often go looking foreign adventures (Russia in 1905 with the Russo-Japanese war, Argentina in 1982 with the Falklands). Your statement about a "paternalistic monarchy" is interesting. In fact leftist governments often do become something like "paternalistic" monarchies, and often outright non-paternalistic dictatorships (most communist governments). In practice what you see as "accomodation, compromise, and co-option" I see as often …
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luminous beauty, re: your point about my "short list" of leftist ideas possibly being enforced even by a "benovelent monarchy". All of these have been advocated by those on the left, & I would argue that all have been, on balance, more or less destructive. I would admit, however, that extensive regulation of business by the state would be regarded by any true leftist as merely a first step on the way to the complete takeover of the economy by the state.
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luminous beauty- Come on now, you can do better than that. I didn't say Stalin was the only true leftist, (show me where I wrote that, you won't be able to) just that I don't subscribe to egalitarianism, and that his purge of the kulaks was motivated by the fact they were the more successful peasants. Yes, I believe in liberty and justice for all. They can't be achieved by trying to enforce some kind of artifical equality of circumstances, which seems to be the main goal of the left. Such attempts usually make everyone worse off, poor especially. If you …
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To go back to an earlier statement you made, "The Cold War was not very benign to the left", it would seem to be obvious that something that ended in the disintegration of a system that brought poverty and brutality to millions (Soviet communism) would be welcomed by everyone. Are you really saying you aren't happy with the way the Cold War ended?
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luminous beauty- I would say that you are making a lot of straw man arguments yourself. What I wrote was that a true leftist would want a complete takeover of the economy by the state. I didn't say it would be of the central planning type of Stalin. (Or Lenin either, it was actually started before Stalin took power). You yourself imply that, by writing Capitalism (which is the private ownership of business) is on shaky ground, that you don't want private ownership of business. If you actually mean something else, what is it? Are you saying the left has abandoned …
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A bit of the common Babbit? Isn't that a bit old fashioned? Actually, I'm nowhere near being as wealthy as Croesus & (barring winning the lottery) will probably not get there. Yes, I know about all the (well, most anyway) different strands of leftist thought, just as there are many different strands of conservative-libertarian thought (of which you seem to be unaware). And there are anarchists on both sides of the spectrum, the socialist anarchists (such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Parenti, who now call themselves libertarian-socialists) and anarcho-capitalists, such as Murray Rothbard and David Friedman. I think both are floating …
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Re: European statistics. I realize that different methodolgies can give different results, I'll have to further check the unemployment stats. As for their population, however, it is imploding, their birth rate is well below replacement levels. They are going to have a large retired population supported by a diminished working age population. In fact, if current trends continue, Europe could be majority Muslim by the end of the century. At that point I would argue that Europe, as we know it, would cease to exist.
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Let's see if I've got this right, if I disagree with you I'm being "simplistic" & "fearful", while you are thoughtful and nuanced? Right, got it. I can also tell from your answer that you don't really know much about libertarianism, there actually are anarcho-capitalists such as Murry Rothbard and David Friedman that I described, they actually want to abolish the state and have free enterprise with no government at all. As I wrote however, it is a floating abstraction, almost as much as the clueless junk that Noam Chomsky puts out. Maybe you shouldn't have outgrown your conservatism, whatever it …
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"You whine about politicians ‘buying’ votes with support for Social Security," No, just pointing it out. It goes back to the ancient world, I don't expect it to change anytime soon. "Fear and Greed are what drives conservatism," Thanks for making my point about Marxism. "No, you’re the straw man, man.’ What’s the problem with having ‘vulgar’ roots, anyway. You don’t have any ‘vulgar’ roots? Vulgar originally meant ‘of the people’ and I’m damn fine with that." I know what the root of vulgar is. Are you saying vulgarity is a good thing?
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luminous beauty said "Nothing leads to an inevitable conclusion with adequate attention and foresight. Your attitude is so fatalistic. Whatever happened to that Yankee can do? It’s been replaced with a lot of cynical can’t do that. When progressives point to real problems that aren’t being addressed, they’re accused of cynicism. Told, “Why do you hate America? You only see the dark side” Horseshit." "Fatalistic"? What the hell are you talking about? How does thinking that private individuals and voluntary organizations are better able to accomplish many things (see Wal Mart's response to Katrina vs. the federal government's response) translate into …
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Many government workers undoubtedly are highly motivated, but from what I've experienced, as a group, many are not. Another good example of a false dilemmma fallacy is either I think government is the best solution or I must be fatalistic. One of my subordinates is often late for work, or coming back from lunch. I know from experience there are many different reasons why he is late, and often new and more inventive ones. One thing I can count on, however, is that he will have always have a good and entertaining story of the disasters that befell him thus causing …
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Actually the story was mostly just for amuesment, it was prompted by your example of "Mark is late for work", and I was showing that I have personal experience of someone who apparently has innumerable reasons for being late. Even though his behavior is often flaky and exasperating (and personally often self-defeating, he is in a dysfunctional marriage) he is technically very good and handles some of our largest customers very well, so I've learned to tolerate defects that would be intolerable in a lesser employee.
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Btw, I liked your story about the young couple trying to get wed at the pearly gates.
Posted to Hiroshima: The Falsehood Fallout
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