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Jun 25 2004 on content Crusade |
nice. i like it because it looks like someone is trying to smother him with a star-spangled plastic bag. we can but live in hope. |
| | | Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Jun 9 2004 on content Soviet Arizona |
I’ve been away for a few days working, but I’m back for the day, and hmmm, how interesting. I thought we were talking about the Danish and American social welfare systems. But since your offering to do a little research (how refreshing!) perhaps you could look up some figures on Vietnam.
Maybe you could give us some statistics on the literacy rate under French colonialism, U.S. puppet governments, and now under Vietnamese communism.
Then perhaps you could research a little on healthcare during the same time periods (the number of hospitals, the infant mortality rate, the financial costs to individuals, etc.)
And finally, you could even look into gross domestic product and per capita income. And, hey, how nice it must be for them to actually be able to keep the fruits of their labor, instead of having them carted off to France or America!
But then again, why should I expect you to research anything, as you haven’t so far and don’t seem to be capable.
A few examples, if I may:
USA only wants oil, will propably be your next claim...how much oil is there in afghanistan ??
Well, how about that Central Asian Pipeline? I believe I mentioned it, and here was your reply:
And naturaly the US went into afghanistan for one oil-line...right on.
Well, no. Actually, if you had actually bothered to check, the Central Asian Pipeline is, in fact, a gas pipeline. But yes, there is also an oil pipeline. Central Asia and the former Soviet republics commonly known as the Stans (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, etc.) sit atop what is believed to be the largest natural gas reserve on the planet. They also have oil. These countries have long been under Moscow’s sphere of influence, first as part of the U.S.S.R. and now as members of the CIS.
Control of energy is perhaps THE most important facet of geopolitics. Just look at the Middle East. And Central Asia, since the fall of the Soviet Union, is perhaps THE most sought after geopolitical prize. Russia continues to cling to its influence there. China is making an attempt to move in from the east. And American companies were building what would have been the West’s only means of exploiting the region’s valuable natural resources. At that time there was almost no condemnation from Washington of the Taliban’s human rights abuses and terrorist links. Later, the Taliban pulled support for the pipeline, and less than two years later the United States was occupying the country.
So, yes, the Central Asian Pipeline was a key reason for American action in Afghanistan. As the invasion was kicking off, the U.S. attempted to secure the right to set up permanent military bases in several Central Asian countries. There are now a dozen such bases in the region. And many continue to grow in size now that the Taliban has been defeated. It seems a little strange that, as the administration repeatedly pushes for a reduction in the size and number of overseas bases (the Pentagon recently announced that 135,000 troops would leave South Korea for just one example), it would push for new bases in Central Asia. So yes…right on. (most of this can be found on the World Press Review website)
Moving right along to your comments on the nightmarish reality of life in Denmark.
Despite that fact that our hospital system is the most expensive in the world, its still is no better than the German.
Please explain to me how this could be true. Denmark is a country of six million people. Do you mean, perhaps, that per capita Danish healthcare is the most expensive in the world? Sorry man, but I don’t think so. Denmark actually ranks 4th behind the United States, Norway, and Switzerland. Incidentally, Americans pay almost double what Danes do, and we don’t have a social welfare system that offers that care to all residents. It’s a pay for what you get system, and those that can’t pay, don’t get anything. These stats are from that beacon of international socialism the World Bank by the way.
Now, does the Danish People’s Party publish a manual entitled “How to Construct a Negative Argument Without any Facts” that you perhaps subscribed to? I am a journalist and have a bit more regard for accuracy than you seem to be capable of providing. So, yes, perhaps the word ignorance is applicable here after all. With your rather obvious inability to do basic research, you are making a fool of yourself and wasting all our time. You’ve taken far more of mine than you are worth, I assure you.
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| | | Re: Re: a few clarifications
Jun 7 2004 on content Soviet Arizona |
Yep, thanks. Can you believe it? The class war extends to a wallpaper forum.
We are taking ourselves too seriously.
I'm not a communist. But I am of the 'there's got to be something better than this' school.
Very well written comment, by the way.
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| | | Re: Re: a few clarif
Jun 7 2004 on content Soviet Arizona |
I won't get into your views on geopolitics. I don't think it's really the right venue. But I will comment on your view of the Taliban, as I think it is germane to the discussion. Where exactly do you think the Taliban came from? Did they appear out of thin air after the Soviets left?
Now for some figures from the U.S. Census Bureau on a little town called Douglas, AZ.
Pop. 14,300 (if you count the state prison inmates. the prison is the town's second largest employer)
86% Hispanic
Per capita income: $10,232 (less than half the national average)
36% (largely children) live below poverty level
54% have a high school diploma
9% have a college degree
less than half of working-age citizens are employed
most have no health insurance
I think you missed the point of my message if you think I idealized Soviet communism. But I went to university in Europe (Scaninavia in fact) and the social welfare programs that form the backbone of society have their roots in more extremist socialist philosophy.
Now if you want to continue to complain about high taxes, perhaps we could exchange passports. You'd save a bit on taxes, but risk bleeding to death in an emergency room because you don't have insurance.
In future, please show a little more curtosy in the tone of your messages. My arguments have been polite in tone throughout. Yours have not, and my patience is beginning to wear thin. |
| | | a few clarifications
Jun 7 2004 on content Soviet Arizona |
Well my my. I just checked in to see the comments, and I must admit that I am a little flattered.
To Drashkeev, thank you for your intelligent commentary. Mr. Catch 22, I suggest you read up on the Central Asia Pipeline in Afghanistan and reserve terms like "ignorant" for those that actually fit the definition.
My comments do not necessarily reflect the views of my partner in crime, Mr Wilm. But I'd like to give a little background on why I helped out on this little project.
Yesterday, Ronald Reagan died. And after reading one nauseating unmerited eulogy too many, I felt like venting a little. After all, Mr. Reagan and his ilk made it their mission to destroy this country's vast economic and intellectual potential.
From his beginnings as a union activist with the Screen Actors' Guild, Ronald Reagan went on to betray his friends and colleagues, becoming an informant for Sen. Joe McCarthy and his witch hunt. As president, bankrupted our country financially, created many of the problems this current administration is exploiting for their own gain (after all the CIA under Carter and Reagan bankrolled the Mujahaddin and trained young Osama bin Laden), and brought us one giant leap backward in the area of social welfare programs (ask any of the tens of thousands of mentally ill Americans he turned out on the streets).
As has been stated already, communism is a "dream". But as dreams go, it's a pretty nice one. Full employment, free education and healthcare, society's betterment through social programs...
These are things the richest country in the world should be able to provide. But instead, in 1917, a poor agrarian country with no history of democracy gave it a shot. The shortcomings of the U.S.S.R., and there are of course many, should not automatically invalidate a social philosophy that has never truly been implemented anywhere in the world.
Finally, the former Soviet Union does not hold a monopoly on the Red Star. We got ours from Tito's Yugoslavia, which practiced a form of communism quite different from that of the U.S.S.R.: one that for nearly 50 years held together in peace peoples that for a thousand years had known nothing but bloodshed.
Quite and accomplishment, if you think about it. |
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