tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post1877280048825680810..comments2024-02-10T18:19:36.406-08:00Comments on Newspaper Rock: "Real America" = white?Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01478763837213733775noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-62582276180441663512008-10-30T04:08:00.000-07:002008-10-30T04:08:00.000-07:00As I said the last time you wrote "Love the fact s...As I said the last time you wrote "Love the fact some white guy is writing about native issues" or the equivalent, Anonymous, I'm glad you're amused. Now why don't you stop repeating yourself and start saying something useful?<BR/><BR/>For what it's worth, here's a list of countries that are officially socialist:<BR/><BR/>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_socialist_countries<BR/><BR/>For more on the subjects raised here, see <A HREF="http://www.bluecorncomics.com/2008/10/republican-hypocrisy-on-socialism.html" REL="nofollow">Republican Hypocrisy on "Socialism"</A> and <A HREF="http://www.bluecorncomics.com/2008/10/how-america-turns-fascist.html" REL="nofollow">How America Turns Fascist</A>.<BR/><BR/>P.S. Slight correction to the posting above. Hitler was a Christian, not an atheist.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01478763837213733775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-30971486979371990422008-10-30T04:03:00.000-07:002008-10-30T04:03:00.000-07:00Clearly you're equating "socialists" with the hand...Clearly you're equating "socialists" with the handful of rulers (Mao, Stalin, Castro, et al.) who have tried to implement communist versions of socialism. But that's flatly ridiculous. Hundreds of millions of people in Europe and elsewhere have called themselves socialists. They're doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, artists...all the way up to multimillionaires and Nobel Prize winners. They believe in "spreading the wealth" entirely through democratic means.<BR/><BR/>So no, most socialists are <I>not</I> "nasty." McCain is stupid and ignorant to use that term to slander Obama. And anyone who listens to McCain is just as bad.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01478763837213733775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-14068352533966128942008-10-30T03:53:00.000-07:002008-10-30T03:53:00.000-07:00I guess you're including Hitler on your list of so...I guess you're including Hitler on your list of socialists, DMarks? Well, here's the scoop on him:<BR/><BR/>http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitler.htm<BR/><BR/>Many conservatives accuse Hitler of being a leftist, on the grounds that his party was named "National Socialist." But socialism requires worker ownership and control of the means of production. In Nazi Germany, private capitalist individuals owned the means of production. ... Hitler's other political beliefs place him almost always on the far right. He advocated racism over racial tolerance, eugenics over freedom of reproduction, merit over equality, competition over cooperation, power politics and militarism over pacifism, dictatorship over democracy, capitalism over Marxism, realism over idealism, nationalism over internationalism, exclusiveness over inclusiveness, common sense over theory or science, pragmatism over principle, and even held friendly relations with the Church, even though he was an atheist.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01478763837213733775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-50482113412283510982008-10-27T09:57:00.000-07:002008-10-27T09:57:00.000-07:00You might have a bit of a point, except that we we...You might have a bit of a point, except that we went entirely on a tangent on this post, and none of the comments have anything to do with Native issues.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-21647151064132164292008-10-27T08:46:00.000-07:002008-10-27T08:46:00.000-07:00Just stay on your hillbilly side of the river and ...Just stay on your hillbilly side of the river and things will be fine. Love the fact some white guy is writing about native issues and riling up the natives...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-86108465361909372662008-10-26T10:36:00.000-07:002008-10-26T10:36:00.000-07:00"England, France, Germany, Norway, Finland.."Those..."England, France, Germany, Norway, Finland.."<BR/><BR/>Those countries are only a little more socialist than the US (despite right-wing rhetoric about how awful Sweden is). Even in these countries, most of the economy remains in the hands of the people, not the rulers. They are not like countries where socialism is the rule rather than the exception (North Korea, etc).<BR/><BR/>Socialism is a variety of fascism.<BR/><BR/>Socialist economic power structure helps dictatorial power grabs since it centralizes the economy in one place under one authority. Makes it very easy to grab.<BR/><BR/>China is still a socialist nation, despite the free-market reforms. The supremacy of the ruling class remains unchallenged.<BR/><BR/>"because we're not used to seeing socialism employed from the top-down, as in plutocratic socialism."<BR/><BR/>When is socialism not employed from the top down? It requires strong control to even "work" at all.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-6588309150283687712008-10-26T09:33:00.000-07:002008-10-26T09:33:00.000-07:00the U.S. is a far cry from the "free market capita...<I>the U.S. is a far cry from the "free market capitalism" descriptor...but closer than many other situations.</I><BR/><BR/>Closer than many, yes, but not the closest. I think China is closer. Their cutthroat free-market is far more like the Milton Friedman free-market than the U.S.gaZelbehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17091242140761349678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-42495027705146478312008-10-26T09:30:00.000-07:002008-10-26T09:30:00.000-07:00Socialism rarely does that, actually.England, Fran...<I>Socialism rarely does that, actually.</I><BR/><BR/>England, France, Germany, Norway, Finland...I could go on. They are all pretty good examples of that actually happening. Poor people in those countries have far higher standards of living than the poor here.<BR/><BR/><I>Socialism has proven to be the most successful way for the powerful rulers to get even more power.</I><BR/><BR/>Actually fascism is by far the most efficient path to power. Socialism doesn't really help or hinder, I think. Stalin employed power by taking socialism down an autocratic path, as has Bush. But its common to not call the U.S. model socialism only because we're not used to seeing socialism employed from the top-down, as in plutocratic socialism.<BR/><BR/>And incidentally, the fusion of corporate power with state power is how Mussolini described fascism, which is obviously the system we see in the U.S. today. I don't know if I would use the label fascist yet, if it even matters, but we're getting there.gaZelbehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17091242140761349678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-20034481970609514912008-10-26T09:06:00.000-07:002008-10-26T09:06:00.000-07:00"Instead of using governmental authority to buttre..."Instead of using governmental authority to buttress the economic status of the lower classes, i.e. the common man, the U.S. has at least for the last century, primarily used its authority to buttress the economic power of the upper classes, i.e. the wealthy and the corporations. "<BR/><BR/>Also, in the US. the "wealthy and corporations" pay a significant proportion of the taxes, and the lower classes ("common man") have much more wealth and power than they do in fully socialist countries.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-91343298193094008282008-10-26T08:59:00.000-07:002008-10-26T08:59:00.000-07:00"Instead of using governmental authority to buttre..."Instead of using governmental authority to buttress the economic status of the lower classes"<BR/><BR/>Socialism rarely does that, actually. So the difference you describe is really not much of a difference at all. Socialism has proven to be the most successful way for the powerful rulers to get even more power.<BR/><BR/>"U.S...its a far cry from the "free market capitalism" descriptor that most people like to throw around."<BR/><BR/>But closer than many other situations.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-38958454103943673702008-10-26T08:47:00.000-07:002008-10-26T08:47:00.000-07:00The U.S. is actually a very socialistic country wi...The U.S. is actually a very socialistic country with one major difference from those countries we normally describe as "socialist". <BR/><BR/>Instead of using governmental authority to buttress the economic status of the lower classes, i.e. the common man, the U.S. has at least for the last century, primarily used its authority to buttress the economic power of the upper classes, i.e. the wealthy and the corporations. <BR/><BR/>State economic control is the hallmark of socialism. It might be more accurate to describe the U.S. system as "plutocratic socialism". Either way, its a far cry from the "free market capitalism" descriptor that most people like to throw around.gaZelbehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17091242140761349678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-78157433548385097032008-10-26T07:12:00.000-07:002008-10-26T07:12:00.000-07:00dmarks - With all due respect,you sound like a McC...dmarks - With all due respect,you sound like a McCain apologist afflicted with a bad case of "waiver-itis" regarding the good, bad and ugly as to the true nature of socialism as economic theory.<BR/><BR/>I am compelled to state that the U.S. is fairly socialist already given certain "entitlement programs" that are virtually non-existent throughout most of the world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-91518532886148169832008-10-26T04:54:00.000-07:002008-10-26T04:54:00.000-07:00"Socialists aren't "nasty." Generally they are: of..."Socialists aren't "nasty." <BR/><BR/>Generally they are: of the worst human rights violators and genocidal monsters of the 20th century, all but one (Mussolini) were socialists.<BR/><BR/>The NATO allies and countries in Europe such as Sweden are not really that socialist. Most of the economy is controlled by the people, not the state.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-75240441132983591102008-10-26T01:35:00.000-07:002008-10-26T01:35:00.000-07:00Conservatives have a tendency to demonize all the ...Conservatives have a tendency to demonize all the people I listed. "Minorities are responsible for the mortgage lending crisis." "Gays want to teach same-sex marriage in schools." Etc.<BR/><BR/>I didn't say that every conservative demonizes every group on the list. Some demonize terrorists, communists, and socialists; some demonize Jews, blacks, and homosexuals; and some demonize both.<BR/><BR/>P.S. Socialists aren't "nasty." Several of our democratic allies in NATO have socialist or partly socialist governments.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01478763837213733775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-24852773088142553602008-10-25T10:17:00.000-07:002008-10-25T10:17:00.000-07:00Demonizing the nasty folks in the first group (""t...Demonizing the nasty folks in the first group (""terrorists, communists, socialists") does not necessarily mean demonizing Jews, blacks and homosexuals.dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-27075880496754614942008-10-25T09:12:00.000-07:002008-10-25T09:12:00.000-07:00Jews, blacks and homosexuals have long been demoni...Jews, blacks and homosexuals have long been demonized by major socio-political-religious movements worldwide (e.g., Nazi Germany, the KKK, and evangelical Christians), hence their presence on this list of "undesirables." <BR/><BR/>But throughout my 55 years of existence, I have known individuals across all of the so-called "spectrums" who hate Jews because "they are greedy"; "they killed Christ"; "they are really into their criminal enterprises"; "they control global finances"; "they really fucked over the Palestinians"; "they rule the world of porn." <BR/><BR/>I have heard individuals espouse their hatred of blacks as essentially "very lazy, dirty, criminally-oriented, over-sexed and of sub-human intelligence." <BR/><BR/>And I have heard people everywhere rail energetically against homosexuals as: perverted; diseased; always on the make (and that they hit on people "hella hard!"); dedicated to "turning people out" (which is to render, by some mysterious process, straight people "queer"). A cop in Philadelphia even told me years ago that gay males consume human feces ("It's just somethin' that fags do.") <BR/><BR/>These are just some of the beliefs that the haters of the aforementioned groups hold to be the "gospel truth."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29769707.post-52675646821842355202008-10-25T08:29:00.000-07:002008-10-25T08:29:00.000-07:00Not sure why you lumped bad groups "terrorists, co...Not sure why you lumped bad groups "terrorists, communists, socialists" with "Jews, blacks, and homosexuals"dmarkshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07269773990064736457noreply@blogger.com