Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has found a friendly judge to hear his argument that recalling him is unconstitutional.
‘Americans between the ages of 18-29 narrowly have a negative perception of capitalism (46 positive, 47 negative), but are positive towards socialism by a 49/43 margin.”
Rick Santurum’s simple plan to eliminate poverty. Simple: Finish high school and get married, and your financial problems are over. Um, Rick, this may have worked for you, but not everyone is eligible for wingnut welfare.
Steve Kornacki, The GOP versus Ron Paul.
I eagerly went to the website discussing young folks looking at socialism favorably,only to find that the article was too brief to be useful, and C U N D Gulag’s (yes, our very own) comment making the only interesting, or even accurate points.
Maybe it will improve.
Thank, Lynne!
And how very convenient for Gov. Puke LieTalker!
This is apparently the new Kochsucker purchased “Justice” system in the newly-formed “Democratic People’s Republic(an) of Wisconsin:”*
“Who’s in the the Court for his hearing?”
‘Just us.”
“OK – YOU WIN!”
Who knew our some of our states would try to mirror the military tribunal system, where the only defense allowed, is what the prosecution allows?
USA! USA!! USA!!!
*As I’m sure all of you know, anything ever named “The Democratic People’s Republic of…” was never for the people, never democratic, and never a Republic.
And who’s Puke LieTalker think he is, the new Kim Jung il?
I agree with CUNDgulag’s comment over at “Washington Monthly”. The cultural warrior’s have distorted the word and concept of “socialism” to the extent that it would be unlikely that the average young person, or the rest of the electorate for that matter, would have a clear definition of it, let alone, any realistic sense of how more socialistic countries function. Hey, I am pretty confused myself.
But, I have long thought that the unintended consequence of labeling every progressive idea from universal health care, financial regulation and the social safety net as “socialism” might be that people, especially young people, might see the obvious benefits and conclude that socialism is a better choice than capitalism. If socialism gets you health care, secure employment and secure ways to invest your money, while capitalism, creates homeless people, who have lost their retirement savings and who face the “free market” consequences of a medical crisis, otherwise known as bankruptcy and death, then the choice isn’t hard to make. Young people are also savvy enough to “check the facts” and find that countries like France have a longer life expectancy, higher literacy rate, lower infant mortality rate and spend roughly half what we do for health care as a percentage of GDP. The comparisons aren’t pretty.
Gulag made the point I was wondering about – what do these young people think of when they think of “socialism”? I guess the numbers are encouraging, nonetheless, particularly the huge number that still reacts positively toward progressivism.
goatherd – excellent point, being, study countries that have adopted (some) form of socialism and see if the results have benefited the majority of the people.
(Of course, proponents of capitalism could care less about the “majority of the people” only caring about a small minority of the people.)
A bit more insightful than the Kornacki article on the GOP vs Ron Paul is Irresponsible Foreign Policy: The Republican Establishment, Not Ron Paul, from some guy at the Cato Institute of all places:
This is what really scares them about Ron Paul. It’s also why, at least one friend of mine, a lifelong Democratic voter, is considering Ron Paul (although realistically, he’ll probably never get the chance to vote for Paul). Paul is one of the few people telling the truth about our Empire that we can no longer afford, and challenging the insane militarism driving both parties.
I guess we’re not doing a good enough job in the high-schools teaching them that socialism is bad. I mean really. The GOP wonders why they’re not getting traction with the younger group, when they try to disenfranchise them and then have NO jobs for them when they graduate from college. What’s not to like about capitalism? Young people are more and more often spending time in Europe and seeing their counterparts not getting into massive debt from school, people who have ALOT more vacation time, health care, guaranteed retirements, and honestly a much more enjoyable life where everything isn’t boiled down to a question of profit margin. And all we have to do is pay some more in taxes and really sock-it to people like Mittens. They’re having a hard time seeing the downside. If you find it, let me know.
I know this is off topic (but it certainly qualifies as a folly) but I recently heard that the state of Virginia will require potential voters to sign a loyalty oath before they can vote. Anyone else heard this?
I would imagine that by the time the young people got to the point where they could think intelligently about socialism, their view of it has been corupted by an education system that teaches it as something bad. I know in my case it was the Soviet Union and everything related to it( Socialism) that was drummed into my head from my earliest experiences that created a bias wherein Socialism, or any form thereof,brought with it a negative conotation. Not everybody overcomes that bias so easily.
If it’s not freedom, liberty, democracy, or independence..it’s bad! That’s all there is to it.
Oh, and God bless America!
Love that term — Kochsucker & I’m gonna steal it. Gov. Walker is going down and Kasich is next & I’m gonna help!!!
Felicity,
If you’d asked me a little over a decade ago, I’d say that, much as I don’t believe in that, I would hope that the ‘Oath of Loyalty” they had to sign was to the US Government and Constitution.
Now, I don’t think I’d mind if their f’in oath was to Virginia, because I’m hoping more and more that some of these state’s full of religious morons wants to secede.
And if they want to, I think we need to vow that they can and we’ll let them, and make them sign an oath that they’ll let the normal people out, and won’t hold them hostage.
This is no longer America – part of it’s “Deliverance” country. And let them have their own country. Just leave us the “f’ alone, and don’t ask anything of us, or bother us.
Bye!
Felicity, my daughter told me about this when I arrived at her house for a visit yesterday.
I can’t imagine how Virginia thinks it can get away with this idea.
I got a “senior fellow” for the homphobic clown Santorum!
Frankly, I hope Scott Walker prevails in his bid to thwart the Wisconsin Constitution. The move to exclude the organization that collected the recall signatures is a move to deny them ‘legal standing’ which would make it impossible for them to appeal a decision that they were not a party to. (That’s assuming the judge rules to throw out the recall.)
If Governor Kochsucker (hat tip to C U N D) pulls this off, how can the Justice Department NOT get involved? An issue in Wisconsin which most voters are oblivious to, becomes the ‘Pearl Harbor’ event in the presidential and congressional races. Candidates will have to declare sides on an issue which illustrates that the democratic process is under attack. Republicans will either take a partisan position which declares your vote or signature a joke, or they will break with the tea Party & uphold the sanctity of the vote. This is the watershed event we want – so that even the most dimwitted voter can see how twisted the GOP has become.
I see where Newt supposedly teared up talking about his mother…Classic anthropomorphic thinking to believe that he cried..Everybody knows reptiles don’t have tear ducts. Newt was probably reminiscing about some inheritance money he got cut out of, or that extra .2 million in Freddie Mac bucks he could’ve had if he had stayed at the trough a little longer.
I think newts are amphibians. Do amphibians have tear ducts? But, anyway, newts are hatched from eggs and I don’t think their mothers raise them, so I don’t know what Newt would have to cry about.
My daughter explained to me that the Virginia oath of loyalty was a promise to vote for the winning Republican candidate in the Presidential election and not to change one’s mind after the primary. (I guess she meant not to vote for Obama). Crazy
Would that be an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, then?
Yes, Virginia, there is a Southern victory!
Callista looks like a Madagascar kestrel.
The only reason that sociopath Newt would ever cry would have to relate to himself.
So my guess is he either saw the latest poll numbers, or spotted some babe in the crowd he wanted but realized that ‘Lil’ Nukey-Newt And His Raisinetes’ have shrunk and shriveled and are no longer up to the challenge of trying for an upgrade, and he’ll have to settle for his now obsolete and aging WIFE 3.0 system.
My money’s on the latter.
Poor baby. He successfully performed a ‘Double Newt,’ but will never have a chance to land a ‘Triple Newt.’ Besides, if he tried, Callista would cut his Raisinete’off – that is one cold-eyed bleached-blond Cyborg!
And why would he cry about his poll numbers? Newt’s book selling tour has been even more successful than the Pizza Philanderer’s was.
The negative view of capitalism is due to the fact that capatilism has been badly corrupted.The real owners have captured the markets and the government, so the market is manipulated at will, and the “elected officials” will enact rules that make it easier for the owners to make even more profits, milking the cows until they bleed.
A family I know is visiting from Holland; I asked them how things are going back home re: the economy, Euro, etc.
Holland has a great social safety net (had).
They have a great health care system, but that is changing. Private, for profit health care insurance companies are gaining a foot hold. Hollanders complain that they no longer have control of which doctor they see, and the doctors have stricter guidelines regarding proceedures.
Their educational system is also under assault; in the past, a talented student WAS PAID to go to university. It is now moving toward the USA model, where a graduating senior is faced with crippling debt. The Hollanders put much of the blame on immigrants, mostly from Turkey, who are putting a strain on their social service system.(sound familiar?)Oh yeah, and the reason for Europe’s woes is that those pesky Greeks (and Italians and Spaniards) are way too prone to striking
The Hollanders also told me that gas is costing around $4.00 per LITER!
We would have a shooting war in the streets of the USA if gas was about $16.00 per gallon here.
Sadly, that day may be coming.The European Union and the Euro are in grave danger of collapse.
When things get tough, many people look where to hang the blame.
Usually, the blame lies squarely on the people themselves, who DID NOT pay attention to the way things were trending during the boom years.
People bought into the “free market” bullshit line. We allowed our jobs and industry to be offshored, allowed collective bargaining to be squashed, settled for a Wal*Mart economy, bought the line that the Federal government is evil (except the “heroes” in the military), and anti-intellictualism is a good thing.
As far as Ron Paul goes, the knives are out.
Unless he slaps on a Yarmulke, prays at the Wailing Wall, and performs a sex act on BiBi, he’s toast.The Neocon faction in the Republican party will squash him like a gnat; it’s already started.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/virginia-politics/post/virginia-republicans-to-require-loyalty-oath-for-primary-voters/2011/12/29/gIQABeTuOP_blog.html
Doug: While I appreciate the political impact of Scooter’s over reach, I can’t have Scott Walker as governor for another day, let alone three more years. My retirement is now on the line.
Erinyes: My point would be that it is impossible to have a capitalistic system that is not corrupted. We are way beyond even a corrupted system and to full-scale out and out thievery, with the help of our elected officials (as you point out). A fully functioning capitalistic system requires a vigorous gov’t that can police and enforce competative rules. The market does not correct itself, unchecked capitalism tends to eventually put the power and money into the hands of a few, which is what we have now (I’m not actually claiming that you said all of these things, just kind of ranting about our broken, capitalistic system).
Thanks, Lynne. I can’t imagine how this could pass constitutional scrutiny – however, given the present SC, nothing would surprise me.
Swami – so that’s it. She also, obviously, goes to the same stylist as Trump. I’m certainly no prude, but a woman who carries on a five-year affair with a married man (and parades herself around as some sort of virginal scepter) should not be First Lady. (I can imagine what the right would do to Michelle Obama should she have had Callista’s past.)
I meant specter. (I’m into anagrams these days?)
Felicity,
Callista’s hair is an engineering marvel.
I think it’s based on stealth plane technology. Only blonder.
I kinda liked “scepter” – it fit!
Felicity ..I agree with you 100%. Maybe I’m just old fashioned but, Callista doesn’t appear to me as having the moral character I’d look for in a First Lady, or any lady for that matter. Five years of deceits, lies, fornications, adultery and trespass allowed Callista plenty of time to correct her moral compass but she didn’t care enough for the sanctity of another woman’s marriage to mend her ways. It’s not hard to see her true character…and with Newt they’re like two peas in a pod.. they feed off of each other’s immorality..