This photo amounts to a giant raised middle finger to their critics. Oh wait, that's not their middle finger, that's me...
Like the old maid aunt in Elvis Costello's classic song, "I almost had a weakness." I was just about starting to feel bad for the Dixie Chicks getting continuing grief over a couple of stupid comments back in the long ago days before the war. Sure, Natalie Maines was talking foolishness, but people have vandalized their property and made threats and organized boycotts. Damn, people, get a life already.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - Arch Conservative
MMM Casey...why don't you show me exactly where I have so staucnhly supported Bush?
It sure wasn't in this thread.
Mr. Rose.. you need to get over yourself...seriously.
27 - Christopher Rose
Get over myself, Archie? You are totally tripping, mate.
I must say you're doing a fantastic job reining in that vicious streak of yours. I wonder how long you can keep it up? You may actually write something credible if you're not careful...
28 - Jet in Columbus
Chris, haven't you noticed that the lower Bush's poles go the crankier Arch gets.
He's just looking for arch supports and having trouble finding them!
29 - Christopher Rose
I assume you mean polls, Jet, unless Bush has some weird habits I'm unaware of. Wait, didn't he once go to Poland?!
30 - Jet in Columbus
Boy Chris I'm proud of you pal, you pole vaulted right over that one didn't you?
31 - Clavos
Well, he does fish, Christopher.
32 - Jet in Columbus
{:^p~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
33 - Al Barger
Now Chris, I've got a pretty high tolerance for your pinko hooey, but this right here is some nonsense
Anyone who criticizes some smug pinko idiot is "intolerant" and opposed to "democracy." No, it's a public discussion for which the Dixie Chicks have purposely set a hostile and disrespectful tone. If anything, it is the DC and their supporters who are intolerant of any criticism. Why, anyone who would call the DC out publicly for their aggressively disrespectful and, yes, unpatriotic tone is pretty much a Nazi who doesn't believe in free speech. That's some intolerance for you right there.
Now, some few DC critics get a little hostile or bitter, yes. The Arch Conservative here might be accused of being way too damned irritable. That's unfortunate. You might take some of my stuff about the DC being agents of the devil and such as a bit of mockery of some of the critics. The Arch Conservative has allowed Natalie Maines to get his goat. Well, they can't have mine. I'm using it.
But by any reasonable measure, the fault of any of that lies mostly with the DC themselves. They set the aggressively hostile and accusatory, disrespectful tone. They've gone WAY the hell out of their way to poke at not just W, but even Reba McEntire fans, among others. Considering the tone THEY continue setting along with people like you who wish to squelch debate by making any significant criticism out to be fascist oppression, overall the response of critics is mostly pretty moderate.
34 - Christopher Rose
Al, it's VERY hard to discuss politics with you Americans because the whole political landscape there is oddly offset to the right.
If you think that people who speak out against government policies are unpatriotic then you're only two bootsteps removed from fascism yourself...
35 - Arch Conservative
Oddly offsetr to the right?
Maybe Europe is just oddly offset to the left.
WHy must American politics be judged by european standards Chris?
36 - Al Barger
More of your typical foolishness, Christopher. You apparently start out with a pacifist welfare state as the premise, the moderate center.
The Dixie Chicks don't look like any kind of patriots. I've seen in all this no indication whatsoever from any of them in these several years of any interest whatsoever in the security of our nation, nor really even a significant pretense of concern for our troops. It's all about them.
Now, it's out of line to start calling Maines a "traitor" or to lightly throw around the word "treason." Maines doesn't rise to that level.
She's just a spoiled little rich princess that thinks the sun rises and sets in her ass. Her behavior looks more like she's still stuck in the terrible 2s and doesn't really have any awareness that there's a real world outside of her little personal drama.
But of course, telling the world that she's full of it makes me a fascist.
37 - Arch Conservative
Funny how every keeps mentioning me and my support for Bush. I never even mentioned Bush in this thread and you moonbats are going on and on about him.
Am I the only one that thinks Chris is an arrogant goon? He never critizises the content of a post he disagrees with. He just hurls insults at the author and reminds evryone how them how superior he is.
It's getting kind of old.
38 - Jet in Columbus
ArchBat not supporting Bush; that's cute I like that. Next thing you know he'll tell us he doens't fantasize about Phylis Schlaffly
39 - Christopher Rose
Archie, whilst it could be theoretically true that it's Europe that has the offset, a swift glance around the rest of the world would soon confirm the inaccuracy of your assertion. I'm looking at American politics through a global eye not a European one; trust me, you're almost as far to the right as Castro is to the left.
Al, you're getting as giddy as Archie. I don't believe I've mentioned the Welfare state, let alone Pacifism.
I think making nasty personal attacks against people for their reasonable political views is simply a mark of the political hysteria which currently consumes America - and not in a good way. You'd do well to avoid to shun it. Latest example, criticising the hugely debatable invasion of Iraq in unpatriotic? Absolute balderdash!
Hmm, both Archie and Al making up stuff and attributing views to me that I don't hold. And they say American politics is healthy...
40 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Re Comment #34, Chris wrote,
"Al, it's VERY hard to discuss politics with you Americans because the whole political landscape there is oddly offset to the right."
Truth is, Al, the American political chicken only has one wing - a right wing. This has been true for about 87 years since the end of WWI when a "red" scare got most left wing parties and organizations in your country banned. The left wing of the American political chicken, never terribly strong to begin with, got chopped off in 1919-20. The death of the Wobblies (International Workers of the World) was the end of the left wing in America. When Sam Gompers of the AFL (no, not the American Football League) chomped on his cigar and said that the goal of the workingman was "more," he killed the labor movement there too, but that was not to take place for another two generations.
By the time people started joining the Communist party in the '30's after a diet of American capitalism run rampant into poverty and starvation, the party was nothing more than the puppet of a foreign power, the USSR.
Yeah, it is a pretty fair statement of reality to say that politics in your country is "offset to the right." With a one winged politcal chicken, how can it be otherwise?
41 - Al Barger
Christopher- WHATEVER. You can claim whatever label you want, but you're always a champion of things on the left end of the dial. Or would you like to join me now in calling for an end to government welfare programs?
I reject the stilted mumble of meaningless use of terminology to try to grab unearned psychic territory, as if I'm some crazed fascist extremist because I'm not buying onto the crappy socialist nonsense that is popular in other parts of the world. It's morally wrong, and it doesn't work.
I, Al Barger, represent the moderate center, and most of Europe is slowly grinding itself into economic dust with their "moderate" socialist welfare states. Plus, y'all Europeans are not only running your economies into the ground, but you depend on US cowboys to defend you.
Israelis are obviously totally capable of defending themselves. That's a question of the WILL to do so. I'll just say that Americans would not begin to tolerate the kinds of nonsense the Israelis have- and I'm glad of it.
Not that we're perfect, for all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God. But in the real world, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the US is way the most successful country in world history by most measures. Big parts of the world depend on the US economy and the US military. That's the facts, Jack.
Plus, we produced the Dixie Chicks. We RULE!!!
42 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, finally a little sanity on this article. Thanks, mate!
Al, you're too stuck into the world of party politics to understand what I'm saying. Just a quick heads up:_ I'm not a socialist of any kind. If anything, I'm into the idea of efficient politics. A shallow leftist/rightist view of the world can never provide that.
I think most of the rest of your comment spins off nto some kind of comedy but it's too self-referential and, well, American to be sure.
43 - Arch Conservative
Yeah I make stuff up all the time Chris.
Like when I quoted you as saying that you didn't vare to heed global population shifts because they were American trends right.
When I said that most major eruopean nations are taxed more and have higher unemplyment rates I made that up too huh.
When I offered crime statistics from Interpol showing there are actually more crimes per 100,000 in most European nations than the US I was making that up too right?
I referred to the aid that the US gave the British and Russians in world war 2 that made it possible to defeat the germans and liberate france.....made that up too..........
Your problem Chris.....is that you make these baseless characterizations of Europe and America based on your own narrow opinions and experience and then when someone refutes them with actual facts you personally attack them...... this is the manner in which I expect you to respond to this post as well as al's above mine
You'll probably just ignore everything i said and call me a hateful american or perhaps respond to one thing i said because you were able to muster a feeble argument that made sense to you but no one else with at least half a brain
44 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Al, you need a bit of educating. If you read the book "1929" by William Klingaman, you learn a lot of interesting things.
For example, you find out that in 1929, the Prince of Wales, the fellow who later abdicated to marry an American divorcée (that's what they teach us, anyway), took a trip to see coal mines in his country and the conditions of workers. You can see in the photos in the book the haunted look in the man.
It comes out that this man became an admirer of Hitler. He watched as the government of the UK fumbled and did nothing while Brits starved. He wanted someone who would do something for the British people - and at least Hitler was promising to something for the German people, and when he came to power, he did. I'm not defending Naziism per se, but pointing out that Hitler did improve the conditions of Germans (except German Jews, of course) before blowing it all in war.
In researching this man further, the Prince of Wales apparently hatched the idea of a royal revolution where the king would seize power from the ministers and actually do something for his people, probably a program for economic recovery modelled on that of the Nazis. Ands apparently word of this leaked out. So when Edward VIII abdicated, the ministers wanted him far far away from London.
Also, Winston Churchill, it turns out, ridiculed the idea of deficit spending to deal with the economic depression in his country, and he ridiculed the idea of work programs and the like.
Apparently the British working class did not forget all this. They loyally stood by Churchill while he led the country in defeating Nazi Germany, but then ditched him when the victory had been won. The Labour government then did all the things for the British workingman it should have done 15 years earlier.
You and a whole host of other Americans need to get it through your thick heads that providing adequate health care for the population is a defense and security concern. It is not "creeping socialism" or some such other nonsense. Perhaps the British model of the National Health Scheme is not the perfect model - perhaps the Israeli model would be a better plan for your country. That I can't say. But there are basic elements of social democracy that would make your country an even better and healthier place to be than it is now. Universal health care is one of them.
Al, I don't know what center you allege yourself to be, but the 'moderate center' isn't one of them.
45 - Arch Conservative
You and a whole host of other Americans need to get it through your thick heads that providing adequate health care for the population is a defense and security concern. It is not "creeping socialism" or some such other nonsense.
Ruvy.... the rest of the world needs to get it through their thick heads that we are Americans and we think differently than you do. We will not model our society on your's or europes because you say we should or because you claim it to be superior.
Quite frankly it is insulting to hear you or any other non-american telling us we must do so.
Ruvy, Chris and a host of others keep whining about how America needs to change to be like the rest of the world. Well guess what............ We don't want to. We like doing things our way and don't need some haughty europeans lecturing to us every five seconds on the evils of our society. There's a reason more people want to come to live in America than anywhere else in the world. it's because many people value or values, self reliance, capitalism, individualism etc.. more than they value the values of Europe, collectivism, income redistribution, social welfare.
If you don't undertsand this then you don't belong here anyway Ruvy. So why don't you all stay on your side of the pond in your socialist utopia, keep your stinking pieholes shut, and let Americans run America.
46 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Bing, please do not ever get the idea that I think that Europe is superior to the United States.
I lived in America for many years, was active in American politics for many years - in both major parties - and have a very clear understanding of how Americans think. I know what they learn in school and what they don't. And they don't learn the history of the labor movement in their own country and the difference between syndicalist socialism, trade unionism, state socialism and social democracy.
To most Americans, and I suspect you fall into that majority, it's pinko this and commie that. Your ignorance is profound, deep and pathetic. You can't tell me, "if I don't like it in America, leave." I didn't, and I left, and will not return.
Europeans have made a deal with the devil - they refuse to have children and do the dirty work that needs to be done in their society, and they import cheap Moslem labor to get it done for them. And they are paying the price - in blood.
But America is running itself into debt and into the ground and refusing to recognize that Americans carry the lightest tax burden on the planet, and are the planet's biggest debtors. You in the States will pay for that stupidity in blood also. The deaths at the Trade Center and in Iraq and Afghanistan were just the down payment. More is coming.
I'm not interested in lecturing you on how to run your society, and very rarely suggest ideas for that reason. I do raise health care because I do know the difference between living with "employer provided health care" - we had the cadillac of Blue Cross/BlueShield plans - and under universal health care. Universal health care is far better by far. Of course there is "pay by yourself without insurance" health care - you can ask Jet all about how wonderful that is. He'll tell you chapter and verse, I'm sure. And for a lot of Americans, including all the restaurant workers I supervised, that was the wonderful system they had.
So smarten up, my good man. You need to broaden your perspectives considerably - it's a matter of saving your life, as well as your way of life.
47 - Christopher Rose
Glad to see you're able to admit it finally!
You actually simply made several unsupported assertions, Archie, plus tossing in some numbers picked out of context.
As I've written before, you're now doing a
finereasonable job of remaining civil, now let's see if you can also get a little common sense working to complement it...48 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Just a side note to Chris here. In American eyes, Europe, all of it, is socialistic. Americans do not learn the concept that the state should be the engine for economic growth that was common policy under Frederick the Great of Prussia (a pinko commie with a crown), and most other countries of continental Europe. To them, that's just socialism.
Even Switzerland, which is a bastion of free enterprise, is socialistic in American eyes, once they realize that the state owns (or maybe owned - this may have changed) a large sector of the infrastructure element of the economic system.
49 - Christopher Rose
Archie, Ruvy IS an American...
50 - Christopher Rose
Thanks for that Ruvy; as I wrote in #34 above, the USA's entire political compass is offset to the right.
People like Archie, and possibly Mr Barger, seem to think it's the whole rest of the world that's out of step with them. That is entirely in keeping with my contention that in terms of its national growth and development, the USA, now in it's 3rd Century as a nation, is still a mere strapping juvenile.
The certainity of being always right that many Americans so desperately cling to is one of the classical signs of this comparatively early stage of development.
51 - Arch Conservative
Obviously you will never understand the American mindset Chris....
We have no desire to be "in step" with the rest of the world... why do you keep insisting that we should?
We are a juvenile in the sense that our nation is very young in terms of age. HOwever in just over 200 years we have grown to be the most dominant nation on earth economically, culturally, miltarily and in just about every other aspect of human culture.
It's not about being right or wrong Christopher. It's appreciating and livng the American lifestyle. I hate the europena lifestlye of collectivism rather than individualism, state social welfare rather than self reliance, your tiny cars and homes, your pacifism. I abhor it all. However that does not mean I think you should change to an American way of life. You like the european lifestyle and it works for you. Fine. That doesn't concern me. I have no desire to tell europeans that they ought to act more american.
But it is you who keeps on insisting that America must change to fit the european worldview. it is you that keeps insiting that America is the oddball in the world and that's somehow inherently bad.
Ruvy I would think you'd better understand the AMerican psyche. You say to us everything is pinko this and socialist that. Well conversely europeans see everything american as greedy this or cowboy that. They certainly exhibit the same level of lack of understanding of our culture as some of us americans do for there's. Wouldn't you agree?
And yes ruvy our current govt hasn't been leading us in the right direction but that's our cross to bear and attempt too rectifyand we don't need europeans telling us who to vote for.
You talk of 911 Ruvy. There is also another distinction between america and europe. When we get attacked we fight back. WHen europeans get attacked such as the train bombing in spain, they roll over for the terrorists. then they blame it on us. if spain didn't want ot send thier troops to aid us they didn't have to. that was thier choice. but blaming us for their terrorist attack is out of line.
Israel is much more like America than europe when it comes to national defense Ruvy. Don't tell me you'd like to have an israeli PM who takes a backseat to the demands of the palestinians and islamic terrorists...what both israel and america need in the face of the current islamic terrorist threat is another harry truman........apparently he was the only man in recent history from any nation who had the stones to get the fucking job done right!
52 - Jet in Columbus
ArchBat you've deluded yourself into thinking that your mindset is the American mindset, and the pathetic part of it is that you know you're wrong and won't admit it to yourself or anyone else.
I feel really sorry for you
53 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Bing,
I did not compare America to Europe. You and Chris are fighting that battle. That is not my issue. I want you to see two things.
One, is that American politics is heavily influenced by the fact that what is normally called "the left wing" in political thought is absent in the United States. The American labor movement is virtually moribund because of the stupid tactics adopted by Samuel Gompers in the mid-twenties of the last (Christian) century. Americans have no understanding of any other economic system other than the one they live under and such provincialism is not fitting for a people that would aspire to keep the greatness it has won by the dint of its hard work. You need to comprehend that there are other economic systems and the reasons for their existence, and both their strengths and weaknesses. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Switzerland has a plural executive, for example. Germany elects half of it lower house based on proportional representation. Both these ideas could possibly benefit America, if adopted. But that would be for you to decide and to discuss.
That is the primary reason you need to understand these things. I'm not telling you to adopt a European lifestyle, and I'm not telling you to adopt their economic system. But fail to learn from the mistakes of others, and you will certainly lose the greatness you have now.
Two, is that universal health care for all Americans, no matter how you define them, is a matter of national security. A healthy people is a strong people, and a strong people makes for a strong nation. There are economies that can be implemented to make hospitals less expensive to run, and there are methods of delivering health care that are a lot cheaper than what you are now paying, and a lot more comprehensive. Europe has several models to look at and Israel has an excellent model to look at.
You write,
"Don't tell me you'd like to have an Israeli PM who takes a backseat to the demands of the Palestinians and Islamic terrorists..."
That is exactly what we have, Bing. That is what we have had since Yitzhak Rabin took office in 1992. The giving in to Arab terrorists and the giving in to fear of Arabs has gotten progressively worse in this country for the last 14 years.
Read my articles and my comments, Bing and you would understand that. It hurts to say that. But it is unfortunately, the truth.
54 - Al Barger
Ruvy, based on comment 44, it would appear that you're supporting socialistic welfare state programs, and just labeling them "defense" spending. Your logic would seem to be that if the government doesn't provide the appropriate free stuff, then the citizens won't be able to get health care or take care of themselves. They'll be starved, diseased animals and become crazy Nazis.
I have a somewhat different outlook these things, but this story certainly isn't the place for it. Affairs of state need to be discussed, but they have nothing to do with the main important thing: nekkid Dixie Chicks. It's kinda ludicrous to even pretend to have a serious political discussion of any kind based on the childish rantings of these girls.
Still, Natalie sure is cute when she's mad.
55 - Arch Conservative
Jet more poeple in America share my views than yours. Sorry to have to break it to you.
Ruvy..........Sharon never struck me as the type to cave to the palestinians and islamic whackjobs but then I'm sure my knowledge pales in comparison to yours regarding the situation.
What do you think it will take to rectify the problem? The way I see it, there is no hope of the jews and palestinians ever living side by side in peace. I believe the palestinains and thier ilk would seek the destruction of israel no matter where it was locted in relation to the palestinians. It seems as if the more radical elements of islam are at war with the world while those who aren't look the other way.
What do you think of a Harry Truman solution Ruvy?
I wonder why society has such an aversion to a weapon that would kill many thousands in the blink of an eye but seemingly no such aversion to allowing violence to go on for years and years with an actual death toll which is higher. Is one so much worse than the other? Or maybe humans just like their misery in small doses.
56 - Jet in Columbus
Arch, what are Bush's approval ratings at the moment? Polls mean NOTHING to you unless they agree with you.
Get your head out of your ass and smell the coffee. That's what you want from me isn't it, to keep goading me till I lose my temper and you can sit there naked at you keyboard giggling at the monitor?
You got your wish, now go get a paper towel and shut up
57 - Al Barger
Now Jet, you play nice, or we'll make you sit in the corner.
58 - Clavos
Jet,
Bush's admittedly low polls only reflect the public's disapproval of GWB's governance, they do not invalidate conservatism as a school of political thought. Plenty of conservatives remain firm in our belief in conservatism while rejecting much of what W is doing. A pretty good argument can and has been made that Bush has strayed well away from conservative priciples during his incumbency. Give me a good conservative candidate in '08, and I will vote for him/her in a NY minute.
59 - Al Barger
Bush's low poll numbers are precisely NOT because he's "too conservative" but because he's not very conservative acting at all. The only way his numbers could get anywhere NEAR this low is by his conservative base turning against him. If he were gung-ho conservative, he'd have at least 40% approval or so.
Maybe Natalie Maines should run for president. I'm sure she'd have some great insights to share with eager voters.
60 - Jet in Columbus
Fair enough Al and Clavos, I used to be proud to call myself a conservative until the Repbulican party sold it's soul to the religious right in order to win elections.
Now they're nothing but a parrot to Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
61 - Al Barger
Jet, when was it that the Republicans supposedly sold their souls to Falwell and Robertson? It would actually appear to me that the religious types have somewhat LESS influence than they did, say, during the Reagan administration.
OTHER than gay marriage (on which topic I don't see any more real support from the Democrats), on what issues are these religious types having their way?
I wonder what Natalie Maines thinks about this. This is a story about Natalie...
62 - Jet in Columbus
Abortion, the supreme court, rights to privacy, rolling back personal freedoms in favor of a religious police state Just to name a few.
and you right, it was during the Reagan elections that I switched from Republican, to Independant to Democrat. The era of Jerry Falwell's "Moral majority" and Anita Bryant.
You've really got to do something about this obssession you have with Natalie Maines, you're going to either get your monitor screen all wet, or start posting comments about Marilyn Monroe!
63 - Arch Conservative
[Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor]
Until you respond to something I actually said instead of whining about Bush's po;; numbers I'm ignoring you.
64 - Jet in Columbus
At that's where you went for so long, you were fantasizing!!!....my bad!
65 - Jet in Columbus
Who's bitching about Bush's poll numbers??? I think they're great and currently 64 out of 100 americans agree with me!
66 - Clavos
..."currently 64 out of 100 americans agree with me!"...
Now now, Jet, keep that ego under control. Shouldn't it be you agree with 64 out of 100 Americans?
67 - Jet in Columbus
Oh I'm sorrrrrrry 36 out of 100 Americans agree with ArchBat. How's that?
68 - Clavos
Dunno. Shouldn't you ask the 36 first?
69 - Jet in Columbus
What the 36th first transvestite batalion paratroopers from Billings Montana in their perfect makeup and hair?
Why encourage him, his meds are just now kicking in.
70 - Clavos
Nice try, Jet, but he said in #64 he's ignoring you.
71 - Jet in Columbus
Oh he must've gone back to do more fantasizing...
72 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Al,
Health care is a matter of national security, just as a good interstate system is. The interstates were all built under the rubric of national defense - a system of rapid troop transport over the highways. You write,
"Your logic would seem to be that if the government doesn't provide the appropriate free stuff, then the citizens won't be able to get health care or take care of themselves. They'll be starved, diseased animals and become crazy Nazis."
I don't take the logic as far as you would indicate. I don't need to. The standard of living is falling in your country. Fifty years ago, by and large, one person could generally provide for a family's needs. Now it takes two, by and large. Dance and sing all you want; if it takes the income of two people to support a family where it used to take one, that is a drop in the standard of living.
First of all there is no such thing as "free stuff." There is always a cost somewhere and there must always be a way to pay without writing IOU's on the grandkids.
Medical care has become a lot more expensive than the five dollar house call and the two dollar penicillin shot I remember as a child. This has happened for various reasons - one being the natural inflation of the price of personal services (physicians), a second being the cost of use and throw needles and equipment, pajamas, etc., etc. instead of the sterilizing laundry that used to be used. A third might be the pathetic overpricing of medicine in America as drug companies try to make back R&D costs for their trips into the Amazon jungle to gather plants...
The last I remember (2000), a visit to the pediatrician cost $80. That was just the visit. I had insurance, but when I was a little pisher hiding under the covers trying to avoid the penicillin shot that seemed the inevitable result of doctor's visits, my parents didn't have to worry about medical insurance to pay for the house call.
All these little factors show up in the economy - people who ignore their health because they have to, less energy in people, less initiative, etc. etc. Add to this the forced abuse of emergency rooms by people who cannot afford regular medical care, and you have a problem. I'm not even going into all the details because I don't have time to.
You seem to want to shuffle the problem off to charity and pretend it doesn't exist. Meanwhile the country's health system and health declines as crisis after crisis besets it. Others have been wiser than this.
In imperial Germany, that flaming socialist and pinko commie, Otto von Bismarck, put in place the 8-hour day, workmen's compensation, and unemployment insurance - all this before being forced out of office by the one-armed emperor of idiocy, Wilhelm II in 1890. He also laid the groundwork for Germany's present system of healthcare. You think Germany was regarded as the most civilized state in Europe because they listened to Wagner? It took the Great Depression to get acceptance for anything like this in the States.
Why do you think Bismarck did all of this? He didn't do it because he went to sleep each night lustily singing "The Internationale". If he thought he could have gotten away with banning the Social Democrats in Germany and jailing them, he would have. He did it for two basic reasons. One was the concept in German statecraft (laid by Frederick the Great, another pinko commie with a crown, no less) that the State leads the way for industry to develop and has a responsibility to do so. The other was to deprive the Social Democrats of their basic issues. For him, it was a win-win situation.
A "conservative" political alignment in the States can do the same thing, for nearly the same reasons. Richard Nixon had Bismarck as one of his models, and if you remember, he proposed a negative income tax many years ago to deal with the welfare problem in America.
So you need to look to the "conservative free enterprise" folks to get a universal health care system going in your country. When you are coughing your guts out or going blind, and can't afford the treatment to take care of you, doctrinnaire considerations get put to the side, and continuing to live in good health comes first.
Finally, a "frontal assault" by some naked girls is always fun to see...
73 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Bing writes,
"Sharon never struck me as the type to cave to the palestinians and islamic whackjobs but then I'm sure my knowledge pales in comparison to yours regarding the situation."
and asks,
"What do you think of a Harry Truman solution Ruvy?"
Short answers, Bing. I don't want to hijack an article about naked girls challenging your government's policy.
Everybody figured that Sharon would settle the Arab's hash and end the busllshit. That's why he defeated Ehud Barak in 2001. But he didn't. He kicked out Barak and folowed his policy, under a different name. He was Israel's equivialent to Henri Pétain.
I've written extensively about these issues on Blog Critics. Go to my articles on Israeli politics, the piece called "Lo Nora," my review of the book "Warday" and my comments talking about how the Wahhabis and their spoor have hijacked Islam. I there, you'll see how I view a "Harry Truman" solution.
74 - Dave Nalle
Jet does seem to have gotten the whole religious right thing a bit backwards. More than the GOP catering to the relgious right we see the GOP using the religious right for their own purposes. It's hardly a one-way street.
Dave
75 - Al Barger
Ruvy, you're just wrong by almost any actual practical measure on the ground to suggest that our standard of living in the US has fallen in 50 years. We have more stuff, better stuff, cheaper stuff (relative to income levels), more availability, FAR better medicine, etc.
However, you do certainly have a legitimate point here: "Fifty years ago, by and large, one person could generally provide for a family's needs. Now it takes two, by and large."
This is true- but the main reason that it's true is that now governments at all levels suck up about half of people's income in taxes one way or another in order to pay for all the free stuff. Besides the economic boom that would undoubtedly result, if we just eliminated income taxes, a whole lot more people could afford to be single-earner households.
I wonder what Natalie Maines thinks about a single-payer health care system? This is a story about Natalie...