Friday, October 22, 2010

NPR: Bringing Us Together

Commentary:
"I suspect that if he’d said the same thing to Charlie Rose, rather than on the O’Reilly Factor, he’d still have his radio job."
Yet another "Putney Swope" moment!


Celebrating Stalin in Georgia

Walter Russell Mead:
"Stalin was, without a doubt, one of the two or three greatest, most destructive figures of the twentieth century. Mao might have been responsible for more deaths, and Hitler is in his league, but Stalin did more than any other person to make the twentieth century the darkest, bloodiest and most tyrannical era in the blood-drenched annals of our race.

...Such a career must be studied, remembered, and can never be forgotten; equally, the monstrous social system that he brought to world power deserves a museum and an archival center where the whole ghastly story can be told. There’s no reason that Gori (a modest provincial town in central Georgia with few other claims to fame) shouldn’t host it. The Stalin Museum that currently exists, while it is a must-see for anybody visiting Georgia, isn’t up to the job. With one foot in the old-Soviet celebration of the great proletarian hero and another in a cautious, Khrushchevian reassessment, the museum doesn’t do justice to its real subject: the Great Darkness of the twentieth century and the man who did so much to shape it.
"
Read it all.....

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Sounds about right....

Moe Tucker of the Velvet Underground Sets the Record Straight:
Have you always had conservative views?
To be honest, I never paid attention to what the hell was going on. My always voting Democrat was the result of that.

What are your feelings about the online reactions? Many people seem upset or outraged.

I'm stunned that so many people who call themselves liberal yet are completely intolerant. I thought liberals loved everyone: the poor, the immigrant, the gays, the handicapped, the minorities, dogs, cats, all eye colors, all hair colors! Peace, love, bull! Curious they have no tolerance whatsoever for anyone who doesn't think exactly as they do. You disagree and you're immediately called a fool, a Nazi, a racist. That's pretty f'd up!! I would never judge someone based on their political views. Their honesty, integrity, kindness to others, generosity? Yes. Politics? No!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A bit of perspective, for those who need it....

Blogging Through Georgia - Walter Russell Mead:
"Communism is not the only force that haunts Georgia. Ethnic nationalism, religious conflict, resource wars: in a very small space Georgia is one of those unlucky countries that have it all.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

JUst a glimpse of what an over-regulated economy can become....

Japan Goes From Dynamic to Disheartened:
"Japan used to be so flashy and upbeat, but now everyone must live in a dark and subdued way,” said Masato, 49, who asked that his full name not be used because he still cannot repay the $110,000 that he owes on the mortgage.

Few nations in recent history have seen such a striking reversal of economic fortune as Japan. The original Asian success story, Japan rode one of the great speculative stock and property bubbles of all time in the 1980s to become the first Asian country to challenge the long dominance of the West."