I was curious, Citizen Moon.
I cursorily googled Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism after your post in the Good Books thread, and was excited to see that its subtitle promised to expose the "Secret History of the Left" but, after not very much more cursory googling, I was disappointed to discover it was all stuff I already knew about Woodrow Wilson and Mussolini. What else does he got?
Doesn't sound very secret.
I was interested in the negative reviews from such sources as The American Conservative and The Mises Institute. But NatRev and the Moonies gave it thumbs up!
Important Tip for Young Comrade Lovers
When your girlfriend sends you a bosom shot in her new steampunk dress she bought at ComiCon twenty minutes before a meeting, do NOT, repeat, do NOT wait until after the meeting to respond.
She'd probably still be ripshiznit, but, fortunately for me, another crisis has presented itself and my "inconsiderate smug asshol"ishness is no longer the topic of contention.
Huzzah!
Completely unrelated, but they mention a couple of places in my commie stomping ground:
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Sister of high school classmate in the news:
Indiana Woman Stops Intruder With Medieval Combat Skills, Sword
I thought medieval combat skills were Pro-Aristocracy certainly not socialist. Isn't it a socialist position to arrest anyone with a weapon like a sword?
:)
Well, most of the troops in the middle ages, as always, will have been Joe Average, stuffed in a gambeson and told to do his duty for King & Country; your average professional soldier was just as likely to be a skilled commoner as an aristocrat (I have rudimentary medieval combat skills and I'm not remotely aristocratic, but that's by the by)
It could be a socialist position to arrest somebody with a sword, it could not be. Depends, as always, what they're doing with it and why.
EDIT: GO, SISTER GO!
Shame it was a katana...
Important Tip for Young Comrade Lovers
When your girlfriend sends you a bosom shot in her new steampunk dress she bought at ComiCon twenty minutes before a meeting, do NOT, repeat, do NOT wait until after the meeting to respond.
She'd probably still be ripshiznit, but, fortunately for me, another crisis has presented itself and my "inconsiderate smug asshol"ishness is no longer the topic of contention.
Huzzah!
see, this is why she lives in Canarsie with me now.
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I know you were joking, but I'd say weapon laws are basically orthogonal to socialism. Socialism is an economic system. It really doesn't have anything to say about such things.
Until you allow rich people to carry weapons but not poor ones. (500 dollar pistol permit anyone?)
see, this is why she lives in Canarsie with me now.Important Tip for Young Comrade Lovers
When your girlfriend sends you a bosom shot in her new steampunk dress she bought at ComiCon twenty minutes before a meeting, do NOT, repeat, do NOT wait until after the meeting to respond.
She'd probably still be ripshiznit, but, fortunately for me, another crisis has presented itself and my "inconsiderate smug asshol"ishness is no longer the topic of contention.
Huzzah!
Well, you'd better start doing your job, Freehold. She called me up last night, stoned, looking for phone sex.
Marx on gun control:
"To be able forcefully and threateningly to oppose this party, whose betrayal of the workers will begin with the very first hour of victory, the workers must be armed and organized. The whole proletariat must be armed at once with muskets, rifles, cannon and ammunition, and the revival of the old-style citizens’ militia, directed against the workers, must be opposed. Where the formation of this militia cannot be prevented, the workers must try to organize themselves independently as a proletarian guard, with elected leaders and with their own elected general staff; they must try to place themselves not under the orders of the state authority but of the revolutionary local councils set up by the workers. Where the workers are employed by the state, they must arm and organize themselves into special corps with elected leaders, or as a part of the proletarian guard. Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary. The destruction of the bourgeois democrats’ influence over the workers, and the enforcement of conditions which will compromise the rule of bourgeois democracy, which is for the moment inevitable, and make it as difficult as possible – these are the main points which the proletariat and therefore the [Communist] League must keep in mind during and after the approaching uprising."
Emphasis added. No word on katanas, though.
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Well, you'd better start doing your job, Freehold. She called me up last night, stoned, looking for phone sex.see, this is why she lives in Canarsie with me now.Important Tip for Young Comrade Lovers
When your girlfriend sends you a bosom shot in her new steampunk dress she bought at ComiCon twenty minutes before a meeting, do NOT, repeat, do NOT wait until after the meeting to respond.
She'd probably still be ripshiznit, but, fortunately for me, another crisis has presented itself and my "inconsiderate smug asshol"ishness is no longer the topic of contention.
Huzzah!
dammit, why did I let her have a phone AND weed? I knew I should have let it be one or the other!
Citizen Anklebiter,
Please forgive me the intrusion to your thread. I admittedly have not had the time to peruse the volumes that have been put forth thus far, but the concept of social-ism is intriguing.
What is the practical limit of social-ism? Is it the willingness of an individual to participate in the process, or the government to enforce participation?
At what point does the liberty of the individual become subsumed to the 'Greater Good'?
How do you envision socialism in the years ahead emerging as a positive force versus the sometimes checkered past that it has?
Thank you for your time in advance...
You just gotta love Bernie.
How do you envision socialism in the years ahead emerging as a positive force versus the sometimes checkered past that it has?
as opposed to capitalism's record of land conquest, genocide, arm sales, wars for profit, slavery....
It really doesn't matter what economic system you say you're using. When someone accumulates a lot of power and can use that to get themselves more, they use it.
Activist Friends of Comrade Anklebiter's In the News
Bernie Sanders Isn’t Socialist Enough for Many Socialists
Communique New England being quoted in Bloomberg News?!? (Even though they got his nom de plume wrong.)
That there's some deep shiznit, Citizen the Learner. I'm not really up for deep shiznit at the moment. Putting links up about my friends and talking about my hawt commie girlfriend are more my speed these days.
Speaking of which, La Principessa was crying all last night and again this morning. Wtf are you doing to her, Freehold? I knew Canarsie was a bad idea.
That there's some deep shiznit, Citizen the Learner. I'm not really up for deep shiznit at the moment. Putting links up about my friends and talking about my hawt commie girlfriend are more my speed these days.
Speaking of which, La Principessa was crying all last night and again this morning. Wtf are you doing to her, Freehold? I knew Canarsie was a bad idea.
I took away the phone AND the weed. I'm trying to figure out which one to give back.
Citizen Anklebiter,
Could it then be argued that you've fallen into the fascist/capitalist/technologist trap and the luxuries they are offering are preventing you from realizing your true revolutionary fervor?
And could it be that your 'hawt commie girlfriend' is feeling your pain for you, aided perhaps by the removal of said electronics and alchemicals from her lifestyle?
S' possible, I suppose.
Although, I'd hasten to add that La Principessa infrequently indulges in alchemicals in her lifestyle.
She sure loves that phone, though.
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S' possible, I suppose.
Although, I'd hasten to add that La Principessa infrequently indulges in alchemicals in her lifestyle.
** spoiler omitted **
She sure loves that phone, though.
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Comrades of Mine in the News
First-Ever March for Free College Expands to Nearly 100 Campuses Nationwide
When I first met Comrade Axelbank, I tried telling him about his namesake in "Order of the Stick" but he wasn't particularly interested.
About fracking time... College tuition NEEDED reform of some sort.
two concerns though:
1- If this is all now going to come out of the tax payer's pocket, then how much more are we going to have to pay?
2- This should drive applications to colleges WAY up. With limited slots only the best and brightest will get in. Is this fair to the poor, who are now effectively paying for everyone else's kids to get educated while their own can't get in because they came from an underperforming public school?
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About fracking time... College tuition NEEDED reform of some sort.
two concerns though:
1- If this is all now going to come out of the tax payer's pocket, then how much more are we going to have to pay?
It really shouldn't cost people anything. Your taxes are more or less set. The taxes on corporations and millionaires on the other hand, need to come up to at least the levels that other people pay.
2- This should drive applications to colleges WAY up. With limited slots only the best and brightest will get in. Is this fair to the poor, who are now effectively paying for everyone else's kids to get educated while their own can't get in because they came from an underperforming public school?
as opposed to the poor who are already paying for it AND can't send any of their kids to school whether they're smart or not?
Wait BNW you are wrong on a couple points.
Taxing corporations only hurts the economy. If you tax companies it drive their wages down and their prices up. The poor get poorer and the rich stay rich. Taxing the rich works, but will that be enough to replace the trillions generated by tuition? At a certain point the rich will just say NO, and since they own both parties that it end it there.
Also the poor are only paying for college if they send their kids... And often if their kid is truly smart they ride through on grants and scholarships anyway. So the parents of the smart poor already don't pay...
Wait BNW you are wrong on a couple points.
Taxing corporations only hurts the economy. If you tax companies it drive their wages down and their prices up.
It does not.
Corporations maximize profits by paying their people as little as they possibly can and charge consumers as much as their elasticity allows. Neither of those are set by employee wages or taxes. If you lower taxes corporations pocket the money. if you raise taxes they eat the loses. If firing employees would have gotten the corporation more profit they already would have done it: they have no reason not to.
The only negative effect would be if the taxation put the company out of business. Given the massive amounts of their profits, this is clearly not the case.
The poor get poorer and the rich stay rich. Taxing the rich works, but will that be enough to replace the trillions generated by tuition? At a certain point the rich will just say NO, and since they own both parties that it end it there.
There are more not rich people, and they can say no to the system as well. They WILL do so if it gets bad enough.
Also the poor are only paying for college if they send their kids... And often if their kid is truly smart they ride through on grants and scholarships anyway. So the parents of the smart poor already don't pay...
They do already pay,
Social security (which is just an income tax on anyone making less than 100,000 dollars, is dumped into the general fund via economic shenannigans, and not spent on poor people who frankly don't live long enough to collect)
Property taxes (either directly or through rent) which fund the county governments which pay for community colleges
Sales tax/sin tax: which pay for state colleges
Wow what a pessimistic view of the work place! Corporations pay based on skill and availability of workers to set a fair rate. That is way more than "the minimum" especially if you have important skills you can command a sizable wage. Lowering profits will alter this balance if it is across all companies.
My second point stands. If you prefer change the language to read The poor will be paying more for other people's kids to go to school while theirs can't.
I personally think there must be a better way to fix tuition without making we the people pay for it. Perhaps a little socialism would be better; placing government controls on how much a college can charge, without making it totally free.
Wow what a pessimistic view of the work place!
The more depressing i get, sadly, the more accurate I get.
Corporations pay based on skill
Really? Do you think Donald trump or the CEOs like George Bush and Mit Romney are THAT much more skilled than anyone else?
and availability of workers to set a fair rate. That is way more than "the minimum" especially if you have important skills you can command a sizable wage.
If you have a rare and valuable skill then what it takes to get you in the door because other places are offering you more cash IS the minimum. But note that nowhere in the equation do you see how much profit you're making after taxes. If your company needs a thermodynamic engineer you get one. If you need two you get two whether you're being taxed at 5% or 25%.
Lowering profits will alter this balance if it is across all companies.
It will not.
My second point stands. If you prefer change the language to read The poor will be paying more for other people's kids to go to school while theirs can't.
We are already wringing the maximum amount of blood from that orange.
I personally think there must be a better way to fix tuition without making we the people pay for it. Perhaps a little socialism would be better; placing government controls on how much a college can charge, without making it totally free.
We already do that with community and state schools. The fact is that the current model for college with a building and people sitting in the seats and books and tests is bleeping expensive.
Online learning is an alternative. part of the problem is it doesn't work quite as well
Skipping the first two years of college as "highschool the sequel" would just about halve the cost.
Mandating college textbooks to come in PDF rather than absurdly expensive limited printings of the professors own ramblings of "my life investigating the wonders of stomata"
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Taxing corporations only hurts the economy. If you tax companies it drive their wages down and their prices up.
This is a common claim, but doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
In 1952 corporations payed 33% of federal taxes. Now they pay 9%. Have you noticed the massive reduction in price of goods? The poor getting better off? The end of income inequality?
Me neither.
In reality, corporations cannot simply raise their prices to offset taxes. If they did so they would become vulnerable to competitors not subject to the tax... either because they are smaller or in another jurisdiction. For example, if Ford raised car prices to cover taxes then you'd see a lot more Toyota's on the road. If Monsanto charged more for produce then local farmers markets would take off. Et cetera.
Thus, the effect of increased corporate taxes is simply decreased corporate profits and increased government income... which means that taxes on other payers can be correspondingly reduced.
Put another way;
The percentage of taxes paid by corporations has gone down
The percentage of taxes paid by the rich has gone down
Total government spending has gone up
Ergo, the percentage of taxes paid by the poor and middle class... has gone up. Cutting taxes on corporations does NOT help the economy. Just the corporations.
If you are an American, YOU ARE NOT LIVING IN A SOCIALIST COUNTRY.
Government programs do not equal socialism.
If you are an American, YOU ARE NOT LIVING IN A SOCIALIST COUNTRY.
Government programs do not equal socialism.
goblin babies think the U.S. is a very socialist country, just skewed very heavily for corporations, with the actual flesh & blood citizens induced to fight over the leftovers.
Which reminds me: The Anklebiter clan grew by one when the Black Goblin and His Libertarian Wife successfully reproduced. Little Ezekiel James was cross-eyed, wrinkled and ugly when I met him. I hear that's the way all you pinkskins look when you start.
Anyway, because they are crazy hillfolk (or goblins, take your pick), The BG and HLW did a home birth and, later, HLW made a fruit smoothie out of her placenta.
There may pictures one day. Of the baby pinkskin, not HLW eating her placenta.