tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post3490959548327370352..comments2024-03-23T12:05:23.537-05:00Comments on The Wild Reed: Reality CheckMichael J. Baylyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-17049597705491446402008-06-09T18:33:00.000-05:002008-06-09T18:33:00.000-05:00Well, golly gee whiz. Free sex change operations i...Well, golly gee whiz. Free sex change operations in Cuba. I suggest you go for it. Never mind all Cuba's "technology" was paid by non-socialist research in "market economies." That's the expensive part. Stealing is cheap. So go to Cuba and steal away. Fidel did. May Arenas' ghost of Fidel's crimes past greet you, help you across the troubled waters, and give you what others must pay for. SOMEONE MUST PAY, nothing is free. Not even in socialism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-50806439410192336022008-06-08T22:18:00.000-05:002008-06-08T22:18:00.000-05:00The Gay Species: Cuba acknowledged they were wrong...The Gay Species: Cuba acknowledged they were wrong, and changed their policy. It's not a static society, just like capitalism is not static.<BR/><BR/>Liam: Socialism is relevant, not Stalinism.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-33091626006758080122008-06-08T14:35:00.000-05:002008-06-08T14:35:00.000-05:00The only thing more depressing than wackos like La...The only thing more depressing than wackos like Larry Kudlow are wackos who are deluded by "Marxist truth[s]" (I remember being one of those, say, 30 years ago). How, well, quaint.<BR/><BR/>Socialism is an ownership system. It pretends to be a stewardship system, but it's has all of the problems of an ownership system with insufficient redeeming benefits. It's an illusion that it resolves the problem it ostensibly cures.<BR/><BR/>Socialism is beyond irrelevancy now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-77630453058040244422008-06-08T13:57:00.000-05:002008-06-08T13:57:00.000-05:00Perhaps Reinaldo Arenas' Before Night Falls either...Perhaps Reinaldo Arenas' <I>Before Night Falls</I> either in print or on film, might shake reality into romanticism of Fidel. Until 1989, the U.S.S.R. and China denied either had homosexuals, much less HIV. <BR/><BR/>But if one can get a "free" sex change, what more can someone want? Forced sterilization by voluntary means?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-7229041525247215922008-06-08T01:53:00.000-05:002008-06-08T01:53:00.000-05:00This is a good discussion. Thank you for informin...This is a good discussion. Thank you for informing me.<BR/><BR/>I'm associated with the <A HREF="http://www.marxist.com/" REL="nofollow">Int'l Marxist Tendency</A>, also a Trotskyist group.<BR/><BR/>Gay Species: You are using the word collectivist to muddy up the discussion. Fascism is an outgrowth of capitalism, under certain unique circumstances. Hitler hated Bolshevism.<BR/><BR/>Cuba was incorrect about its position towards gays. It changed its position. One can get a sex change surgery there free of charge.<BR/><BR/>Often after a revolution, people tire and reaction sets in. Stalinism is a nationalist, conservative reaction. Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenov opposed the Bolshevik revolution. Stalin put himself in the middle between Lenin and Trotsky who led, and Zinoviev and Kamenov who hid.<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure why I'm talking seriously to someone who is telling me Franco and Hitler are socialist.<BR/><BR/>Every system has the possibility of dictatorship.<BR/><BR/>You can't have a classless society until capitalism is gone. Both capitalism and socialism are international systems. Those who think capitalism can be national are like Pat Buchanon and Ron Paul. Socialism in one country is the root of Stalinism.<BR/><BR/>A good example of democracy and socialism, is in Barcelona at the start of the Spanish Civil War. In Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil there are movements of occupied factories, after the bosses desert the properties.<BR/><BR/>The fall of the East Europe states, was not the fall of socialism. It was the fall of Stalinism, just as Trotsky predicted. Now with more abundance, there is no reason for a system as Stalinism to exist.<BR/><BR/>On to the topic. I agree with the analysis of the WSWS article. In addition at my blog there is an older post about Obama's economic team being disciples of Milt Friedman. Obama is in some respects to the right of Hillary.<BR/><BR/>I agree generally with WSWS analysis. That group isn't the slightest bit activist. They offer no alternative. For now I'm supporting Cynthia McKenney of the Green Party and the Power To The People campaign. I don't agree with her on everything, or expect her to win. I'm using her campaign as a tool to talk to people.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-85649200173698562272008-06-07T23:29:00.000-05:002008-06-07T23:29:00.000-05:00Barack, I fear, is much more of a symbol and an il...Barack, I fear, is much more of a symbol and an illusion than a "savior." His principal theme is "change" and "reform" of politics as usual, but as the Rezko conviction in Chicago suggests, Mr. Obama denounces insider influence only in places (like Washington) where he does not have a stake. Curiously and sadly, he has never denounced and disassociate himself from corrupt Chicago politics.<BR/><BR/>I fear that his election will lead only to deeper disillusionment and cynicism.kevin57https://www.blogger.com/profile/01681985465980196347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-25058088612047316662008-06-07T20:48:00.000-05:002008-06-07T20:48:00.000-05:00F. v. Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" should qualm any s...F. v. Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" should qualm any socialist idealism. No collectivist system has ever "permitted" the freedom of expression, because it lacks efficiency, that only the socialist model presumes to correct. Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, are all collectivists, along with Fidel in Cuba (who quarantined HIV, since it was "efficient," which not even Ronald Reagan could sanction).<BR/><BR/>The "markets" work, but only within the "sphere of regulated parameters," and outside of government dominance of the particular producer. Look at what damage the Keynsian Farmer Model of Richard Nixon has wreaked. Sure, we can feed the masses on corn, simple carbs that a single ear or maize turns into "fuel" of our Priuses, but then starves humanity, and pollutes the environment with "shit," toxic waste, and "bottled water."<BR/><BR/>The market works beautifully, BUT only within parameters. The ONLY politician in recent memory who understands this dynamic is Obama. Hilary sought to "tax and spend," dominate and dictate, while the Republicans went back to their CATO Institute of "unfettered markets" of Blackstone, Blackwater, Haliburton, and Wall Street went half cocked with subprime. War is efficient, just not very moral, whatever the economics.<BR/><BR/>The basic question is whether humans have a CHOICE, or whether all choices are to be made for them, as ALL socialists insist necessary. Socialists prefer to allocate the choices according to their calculus, like Fidel, who thought HIV too pricey for his totalitarian government to tolerate, so he quarantined HIV gay men in camps (if he did not kill them). <BR/><BR/>Not even Ronald Reagan, the so-called "conservative" liberal, could embrace his own Right Wing's call to quarantine. But why not? The socialists are right. It's efficient. Alan Greenspan, the former Fed Reserve Chair (and NBC spouse to Andrea Mitchell) insisted 'efficiency" is what is best.<BR/><BR/>Just as Mao, Stalin, Hitler -- ALL SOCIALISTS, Michael -- thought themselves efficient. You bet, gulags, Auschwitz, quarantine, subprime, Wal-mart, are all terribly efficient -- TOO EFFICIENT. Guess who is "inefficient?" Slavs, Jews, Homophiles, and HIV. But then you may prefer they rule over all hope of your choices, and they will gladly accommodate you. You are as disposable to collectivists and child labor is to unfettered capitalists, and New York Governors play both sides against each other.<BR/><BR/>Freedom is meaningless without CHOICE, and SURVIVAL in a gulag ain't any better than in a gas oven. But when bureaucrats of the Federal Reserve (Greenspan), or of the Congress (whose "expertise will fit us in next years Mao clothes"), or of "experts" in knowledge establish the a priori, not by parameters, but by their Utilitarian (Socialist) Calculus, that the greatest good is achieved by the greatest number, don't be surprised when Gays, Lesbians, Blacks, and Slavs are just "inefficient" and expendable as any "inefficient" group.<BR/><BR/>You may praise Jesus, but we curse him, Marx, Mill, and all collectivists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-90649389620275538812008-06-07T19:59:00.000-05:002008-06-07T19:59:00.000-05:00This kind of rhetoric is over my head, Michael. Ca...This kind of rhetoric is over my head, Michael. Can you make it clear? <BR/><BR/>Is there a successful model for a classless, democratic socialist republic?<BR/><BR/>Does the organization Martin belongs to know how to get from where we are to where he wants to be?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com