"The culture has very little to do with the fascist policies of the Zionist movement."
You say "Jewish people? Who cares?" And then you bring up the "Zionist" boogeyman: a favorite resort of antisemites everywhere. That is a very common antisemitic code-word. There's nothing McCarthyist about pointing out this fact. There is antisemitism out there, alright.(Never mind that you use the word "Fascist" without any regard to its meaning).
" it's an accusation made specifically to silence legitimate criticism.
No, it's just pointing out facts. Irrational hatred of Israel is not "legitimate", however feel free to vent your ignorance and hatred. If I had mod points, I would not mod you down. There is no "specifically to silence" here.
"it's a logical fallacy to assume all criticism of Israel is driven by it."
That is a bogus straw-man. All criticism of Israel is not directed by anti-semitism. Only those who question the Israelis very right to exist (and the right to defend themselves and fight back if invaded: as when Lebanon invaded Israel earlier this year) step over the line into antisemitism. So, even if you showed some legitimate criticism, there'd be no attempt to silence it.
"My criticism of Israel is based on love of Liberty."
A love that won't be served until those scum are wiped off the map, right? How dare they fight back in an attempt to get Lebanon to call off its aggression. The Lebanese government is one of those that does not recognize the rights of Israelis to even eixst.
Do you have anything to back up your false claims? tOr are you having fun with witty insults. Well, at least you are good at that. I see that your definition of "shill" means someone who disagrees with you and backs up arguments with facts. Or perhaps it fits you: you have been lying in order to support a brutal fascist dictator. One example of a blatant lie was that the "Dictator of the Month" (with its skewering of a large number of right-wing dictators) was some sort of "right-wing" site). Me? I dislike dictators, both left and right.
We were talking about the fascist dictator of Venezuela. If you want to talk about Bush as a fascist dictator, feel free to start another conversation item. You can even include your "tampering with the democratic process" claim which (in your case) is typically a sour grapes thing used when your side fails to get enough people to want to vote for it. I've seen a few Republicans make the same sort of sour grapes claim about Democrats cheating to win Congress last week: but like with the Democrats who could not accept that Bush won elections, it is all sore losers who don't respect democracy when it does not go their way.
"even under a contrived "war"
The conflict you are probably referring to meets the definition of war. The contrived and the quotes thing make you look ignorant: as if you think that there are no troops, no battles and no conflicts in Iraq. If there were, there'd be a war, no quote marks necessary, right?
Criticism of Israel is reasonable. What isn't there to criticize? The cuisine is nothing to write home about, and the weather is generally too hot and dry there. Denying that it has a right to resist, or defend itself, or fight back if invaded (as when Lebanon invaded earlier this year) is very reasonable unless you have a rabid hatred of the nations's people. Typically, the straw man of "Israel can do no wrong" first comes from those who don't think that Israel has a right to exist: the antisemites. I've never, ever seen any pro-Israel person claim "Israel can do no wrong".
Never mind. He was just yet another member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce trying to undo all the damage that was done to the city's the first time Drew Carey farted on national TV.
"Considering that 95% of our current infrastructure is dependent on cheap oil"
I haven't seen cheap oil in ages. The price for a long time has been inflated due to control by cartels and special taxes dumped on it. We're way above the actual cost right now, even considering reasonable profit margins. I'd like to enter an era of "cheap oil" first before we leave it.
"I seem to remember that fascism is more akin to socialism rather than capitalism."
It is for the most part. Socialism is all about government control of private (personal) economic matters. What functioning (heh) fascist system would let this one slip by? The differences between socialism and other forms of fascism are really just cosmetic the further you get in.
"You sound very, very confused. Less than 25 countries recognize Taiwan's independence (and the US isn't one of them.)"
You sound very confused. The only reason there is more than one country that does not officially recognize Taiwan's independence is because of extremely strong objections by one particular nation that is a neighbor of Taiwan (China). If not for the pressure from China, everyone would recognize the obvious fact that Taiwan is an independent nation. Also, despite few countries "officially" recognizing it, almost everyone treats it as an independent country (as much as they can without angering the imperial dragon next door).
As I said, some things need fixing. For one, we need to get rid of the company-based health care plans. Don't do away with it: it must be replaced with a raise identical to the value so that the employee can choose whatever plan they want without it being any of the employer's business. The company spends no more and no less before vs after the change. Gets rid of the problem of being stuck in one plan, doesn't it?
I'd also do the same thing with pensions. After Enron, why do we need to encourage putting eggs into one basket like this? Or (to use a better analogy) all of the cookies into one cookie jar?
"It could be a means of saving life on ours. It's called diversifying your portfolio instead of putting all your eggs in one basket. Mars could be a second basket to keep some eggs in. If either goes under, life from the other one can "come back to life a dead planet."
There's probably a UFO/ancient astronauts/etc site that claims that we are in the middle of such a cycle, but don't know it yet.
"To filter out UV and higher frequency things, like our ozone layer does, just use a prizm, or better, a diffraction grating (like a cd), but then you'd end up with a rainbow down on the surface"
Always looking for a way to make real that Martian rave you've always been planning, eh?
One of them will get the blame when there is a slight miscalculation in the adjustment the aim of the solar concentrators and Cleveland is burnt off the map (leaving the rest of the country east of it to be brought the accompanying odor, not unlike burnt armpit hair).
"Actually, houses of yesteryear and today also other things in common: doors, floors, walls, roofs, attics, windows, closets, bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms..."
I couldn't figure this one out, either. I do have a guess as to where he lives.
"It's already turned over to greedy unaccountable ruling elites"
No, most of it is in the private sector. If your insurance company won't pay for something, find another! How many companies are there? Hundreds? If you have the government take it over, there won't be a choice unless you leave the country.
"The corporate overlords are making medical decisions for me already. Why not try something else? I don't even care what. "
Yeah, replace many competing corporate overlords with one single overlord that controls everything. Now, what did THAT solve? Yes, there are problems with it. I don't defend the problems. However, I don't want to stalinize health care.
Saudi Arabia did not commit any attack. Al Queda is illegal there as well. There is nothing "twisted" to know that Lebanon invaded Israel earlier this year. In the late 1960s, the government of Lebanon signed a decree allowing groups such as Hezbollah to operate in Lebanon as long as the groups were working to exterminate Israelis. The government of Lebanon never rescinded this decree. Hesbollah has been doing what the government of Lebanon wants it to do. In addition, the Lebanese government officially does not believe that Israelis have the right to exist: any aggression by Lebanon against Israel is just fulfulling this pro-genocide policy.
" Who would have thought after 100+ years, the only thing a house from 1890 and 2006 would have in common is a lightbulb?"
Yes, indeed. We used to have wooden houses on concrete or stone foundations, and there were actually primitive devices that burned substances or gas for heat. Sure is nice now we have houses made from General Products spaceship hull material anchored to the ground with varying-phase quantum force fields. That is, if you are one of the few without a house floating in the air. And to imagine that they used to have to bring water in and out in pipes????
"In sum, you and we the consumers have so much more power than we think."
Exactly. A corporation that does not serve the public interest gets in big trouble from the public. Government is much less accountable: harder to sue. Also if you refuse to deal with government, it can result in someone coming with a gun and killing you. This won't happen if you refuse to deal with Microsoft or GM.
"which only the US and New Zealand allows BTW."
Shouldn't the consumers have the choice here, and not governments? Hurrah for the US and New Zealand allowing more free speech than the countries that are too fascist to allow this. Geez, if you don't like the ads, ignore them. Problem solved.
"Social Security - it's better than Social Darwinism."
It's actually an example of social darwinism: government has the power to steal huge amounts of money from people as long as they say it is "to help them", so they do it. They end up blowing the money on whatever government wants (anything to enrich and empower themselves, usually). Meanwhile, the system collapses: only due to the time delay effect we won't know about it for 30 years. Anyone who dares to try to repair the collapsed system is falsely accused of "you want to take away people's retirement!!!".
It's just free speech in action. If you don't like the articles and ads, just ignore them. It's nothing to get worked up about. I learned long ago not to easily get "sickened" that someone expresses views I might not agree with.
"Can you even see city hall in most modern city skylines?"
Not much in the free world. In places like the former USSR, you can find such places where government buildings towered over all. Legacies of the time when the supremacy of the leaders was most important (as opposed to supremacy of the people, which tends to encourage private skyscrapers).
Slashdot Mirror
"NONE of which reduces the ethical obligation of the news operation...."
They don't have any such "obligations" in the list you gave. These are not conditions put on the free press or free speech in the Bill of Rights.
"The culture has very little to do with the fascist policies of the Zionist movement."
You say "Jewish people? Who cares?" And then you bring up the "Zionist" boogeyman: a favorite resort of antisemites everywhere. That is a very common antisemitic code-word. There's nothing McCarthyist about pointing out this fact. There is antisemitism out there, alright.(Never mind that you use the word "Fascist" without any regard to its meaning).
" it's an accusation made specifically to silence legitimate criticism.
No, it's just pointing out facts. Irrational hatred of Israel is not "legitimate", however feel free to vent your ignorance and hatred. If I had mod points, I would not mod you down. There is no "specifically to silence" here.
"it's a logical fallacy to assume all criticism of Israel is driven by it."
That is a bogus straw-man. All criticism of Israel is not directed by anti-semitism. Only those who question the Israelis very right to exist (and the right to defend themselves and fight back if invaded: as when Lebanon invaded Israel earlier this year) step over the line into antisemitism. So, even if you showed some legitimate criticism, there'd be no attempt to silence it.
"My criticism of Israel is based on love of Liberty."
A love that won't be served until those scum are wiped off the map, right? How dare they fight back in an attempt to get Lebanon to call off its aggression. The Lebanese government is one of those that does not recognize the rights of Israelis to even eixst.
Do you have anything to back up your false claims? tOr are you having fun with witty insults. Well, at least you are good at that. I see that your definition of "shill" means someone who disagrees with you and backs up arguments with facts. Or perhaps it fits you: you have been lying in order to support a brutal fascist dictator. One example of a blatant lie was that the "Dictator of the Month" (with its skewering of a large number of right-wing dictators) was some sort of "right-wing" site). Me? I dislike dictators, both left and right.
"That's the whole point of this Bush thing."
We were talking about the fascist dictator of Venezuela. If you want to talk about Bush as a fascist dictator, feel free to start another conversation item. You can even include your "tampering with the democratic process" claim which (in your case) is typically a sour grapes thing used when your side fails to get enough people to want to vote for it. I've seen a few Republicans make the same sort of sour grapes claim about Democrats cheating to win Congress last week: but like with the Democrats who could not accept that Bush won elections, it is all sore losers who don't respect democracy when it does not go their way.
"even under a contrived "war"
The conflict you are probably referring to meets the definition of war. The contrived and the quotes thing make you look ignorant: as if you think that there are no troops, no battles and no conflicts in Iraq. If there were, there'd be a war, no quote marks necessary, right?
Criticism of Israel is reasonable. What isn't there to criticize? The cuisine is nothing to write home about, and the weather is generally too hot and dry there. Denying that it has a right to resist, or defend itself, or fight back if invaded (as when Lebanon invaded earlier this year) is very reasonable unless you have a rabid hatred of the nations's people. Typically, the straw man of "Israel can do no wrong" first comes from those who don't think that Israel has a right to exist: the antisemites. I've never, ever seen any pro-Israel person claim "Israel can do no wrong".
Never mind. He was just yet another member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce trying to undo all the damage that was done to the city's the first time Drew Carey farted on national TV.
"Considering that 95% of our current infrastructure is dependent on cheap oil"
I haven't seen cheap oil in ages. The price for a long time has been inflated due to control by cartels and special taxes dumped on it. We're way above the actual cost right now, even considering reasonable profit margins. I'd like to enter an era of "cheap oil" first before we leave it.
Typically, those that aren't pro-Israel hate the place because it is "full of Jews". Antisemitism has everything to do with being anti-Israeli.
"I seem to remember that fascism is more akin to socialism rather than capitalism."
It is for the most part. Socialism is all about government control of private (personal) economic matters. What functioning (heh) fascist system would let this one slip by? The differences between socialism and other forms of fascism are really just cosmetic the further you get in.
"You sound very, very confused. Less than 25 countries recognize Taiwan's independence (and the US isn't one of them.)"
You sound very confused. The only reason there is more than one country that does not officially recognize Taiwan's independence is because of extremely strong objections by one particular nation that is a neighbor of Taiwan (China). If not for the pressure from China, everyone would recognize the obvious fact that Taiwan is an independent nation. Also, despite few countries "officially" recognizing it, almost everyone treats it as an independent country (as much as they can without angering the imperial dragon next door).
"Most employers offer one insurance plan."
As I said, some things need fixing. For one, we need to get rid of the company-based health care plans. Don't do away with it: it must be replaced with a raise identical to the value so that the employee can choose whatever plan they want without it being any of the employer's business. The company spends no more and no less before vs after the change. Gets rid of the problem of being stuck in one plan, doesn't it?
I'd also do the same thing with pensions. After Enron, why do we need to encourage putting eggs into one basket like this? Or (to use a better analogy) all of the cookies into one cookie jar?
"It could be a means of saving life on ours. It's called diversifying your portfolio instead of putting all your eggs in one basket. Mars could be a second basket to keep some eggs in. If either goes under, life from the other one can "come back to life a dead planet."
There's probably a UFO/ancient astronauts/etc site that claims that we are in the middle of such a cycle, but don't know it yet.
"To filter out UV and higher frequency things, like our ozone layer does, just use a prizm, or better, a diffraction grating (like a cd), but then you'd end up with a rainbow down on the surface"
Always looking for a way to make real that Martian rave you've always been planning, eh?
One of them will get the blame when there is a slight miscalculation in the adjustment the aim of the solar concentrators and Cleveland is burnt off the map (leaving the rest of the country east of it to be brought the accompanying odor, not unlike burnt armpit hair).
"Actually, houses of yesteryear and today also other things in common: doors, floors, walls, roofs, attics, windows, closets, bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms..."
I couldn't figure this one out, either. I do have a guess as to where he lives.
"It's already turned over to greedy unaccountable ruling elites"
No, most of it is in the private sector. If your insurance company won't pay for something, find another! How many companies are there? Hundreds? If you have the government take it over, there won't be a choice unless you leave the country.
"The corporate overlords are making medical decisions for me already. Why not try something else? I don't even care what. "
Yeah, replace many competing corporate overlords with one single overlord that controls everything. Now, what did THAT solve? Yes, there are problems with it. I don't defend the problems. However, I don't want to stalinize health care.
Saudi Arabia did not commit any attack. Al Queda is illegal there as well. There is nothing "twisted" to know that Lebanon invaded Israel earlier this year. In the late 1960s, the government of Lebanon signed a decree allowing groups such as Hezbollah to operate in Lebanon as long as the groups were working to exterminate Israelis. The government of Lebanon never rescinded this decree. Hesbollah has been doing what the government of Lebanon wants it to do. In addition, the Lebanese government officially does not believe that Israelis have the right to exist: any aggression by Lebanon against Israel is just fulfulling this pro-genocide policy.
" Who would have thought after 100+ years, the only thing a house from 1890 and 2006 would have in common is a lightbulb?"
Yes, indeed. We used to have wooden houses on concrete or stone foundations, and there were actually primitive devices that burned substances or gas for heat. Sure is nice now we have houses made from General Products spaceship hull material anchored to the ground with varying-phase quantum force fields. That is, if you are one of the few without a house floating in the air. And to imagine that they used to have to bring water in and out in pipes????
"In sum, you and we the consumers have so much more power than we think."
Exactly. A corporation that does not serve the public interest gets in big trouble from the public. Government is much less accountable: harder to sue. Also if you refuse to deal with government, it can result in someone coming with a gun and killing you. This won't happen if you refuse to deal with Microsoft or GM.
"which only the US and New Zealand allows BTW."
Shouldn't the consumers have the choice here, and not governments? Hurrah for the US and New Zealand allowing more free speech than the countries that are too fascist to allow this. Geez, if you don't like the ads, ignore them. Problem solved.
"Social Security - it's better than Social Darwinism."
It's actually an example of social darwinism: government has the power to steal huge amounts of money from people as long as they say it is "to help them", so they do it. They end up blowing the money on whatever government wants (anything to enrich and empower themselves, usually). Meanwhile, the system collapses: only due to the time delay effect we won't know about it for 30 years. Anyone who dares to try to repair the collapsed system is falsely accused of "you want to take away people's retirement!!!".
".... and pro-Israeli tendencies that it had when he was in charge"
You'd rather that the Telegraph were antisemitic?
I know of too many British guys with the first name "Laurie" (not Lori). Here's a celebrity example.
It's just free speech in action. If you don't like the articles and ads, just ignore them. It's nothing to get worked up about. I learned long ago not to easily get "sickened" that someone expresses views I might not agree with.
"Can you even see city hall in most modern city skylines?"
Not much in the free world. In places like the former USSR, you can find such places where government buildings towered over all. Legacies of the time when the supremacy of the leaders was most important (as opposed to supremacy of the people, which tends to encourage private skyscrapers).