The year was 1992, and Pat Buchanan made "culture war" a household word. The battle was on with socialism.
The term "culture war" blasted upon the American consciousness in 1992 at the Republican National Convention. Pat Buchanan made an address to the GOP that year, and defined this relatively new phrase as a "war for the nation's soul." That year marked the time our nation recognized it was fighting something from within — a pervasive secularism that threatened to create a government of socialism.…
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76 - Roger Nowosielski
I wouldn't worry about the last part, Stan. Even during the Prohibition Era, bootlegging and entertainment were the few industries which stayed afloat. You've got your Foster's; and Canada their Labatt's.
77 - Glenn Contrarian
Roger!
"Foster's"? That's the San Miguel Domestic (NOT Export) of Australian beer...and if you've ever had a formaldehyde-reinforced San Miguel Domestic outside of the Philippines, you'd know exactly what I mean....
78 - Roger Nowosielski
I thought it was Australian originally.
79 - Glenn Contrarian
Foster's has always been Australian AFAIK, and San Miguel has always been Filipino. My comparison was more about the taste that only appeals to those who don't care about how the beer tastes.
80 - Roger Nowosielski
Well, I know one thing. When I was stationed in Germany, their beers were quite different than the imports you get here. Even Heineken's had quite a kick, not to mention some of the local brands people haven't even heard of.
81 - Hope and Change?
Top 10 Reasons President Barack H. Obama Is Nothing Like Travis the Chimp
10. Travis understood TurboTax
9. Obama somewhat less likely to attack Biden
8. Travis never lied
7. Obama's smile not quite as genuine
6. Travis could get through entire day without teleprompter
5. Obama takes more long-term approach to destroying people's lives
4. Might actually be possible to get copies of Travis's medical records
3. Obama much better at taking orders from trainer, David Axelrod
2. Travis really didn't befriend William Ayers
1. Obama only talks your ear off
82 - Roger Nowosielski
Well, Stan,
That's the problem with these bailouts; the banks are getting a jump start with no conditions attached. There's no point.
83 - Dr Dreadful
Foster's has always been Australian AFAIK
It's Australian in name only. No-one Down Under drinks the stuff.
Foster's is to real Australian beer what cheese in a spray can is to... well, you know.
My theory: it's a ruse to make the rest of the world think they're getting Australian beer, while the Aussies keep the real good stuff* to themselves!
* And there are some truly marvellous Aussie beers. You just can't get them outside Australia.
84 - Roger Nowosielski
That's typical. Don't overly refine the vulgar taste of the American consumer. "Cheap products and poorly made" has been the mainstay of American economy for quite some time now. Always look for a sale!
85 - Hope and Change?
Pretty Ironic...dissent to King Barrys plan for the serfs of the kingdom is beginning to grow rapidy..from high school students to public protests to CNBC reporters...
Barry's "I won" = George W's "Mission accomplished"
86 - Baronius
I had no idea what H&C's comment #81 meant until I heard about people protesting the cartoon. Let's face it, it's not unheard of for H&C to be racist.
The cartoon itself is kind of funny. It's not racist at all, because Obama didn't write the stimulus bill. But there are people who see everything in racial terms. I wonder if there will be any BC articles about the cartoon.
87 - Hope and Change?
it's not unheard of for "OTHER BC POSTERS TO PROJECT THEIR OWN RACIST VIEWs VIA" H&C
Funny cartoon and not at all racists...if you recall there were numerous cartoons portraying Bush (big ears, etal)as a monkey....
"I won = Mission Accomplished"
88 - Dr Dreadful
(The problem is that 'monkey' has not historically been a common epithet used to insult white male Texans.)
At first I didn't think the cartoon was about Obama either. But the more I think about it, the more I question the cartoonist's decision to incorporate that particular news story into the cartoon. I think Sharpton has a fair point here, although knowing Sharpton he probably didn't think it through in the same way I just did.
89 - STM
Don't you love hope and change's non-stop one-argument argument?
I don't reckon the cartoon's funny in the slightest, for the simple reason that it was a pretty tragic event that left someone disfigured. If that hadn't happened, maybe ... you know, context is everything.
I don't see any race card played there though, and it's stupid for people to go mad about it and find that in it when it doesn't exist.
Still, Doc's right though about white men not traditionally being compared to monkeys.
As for Bush and Obama in the chimp stakes ... Bush actually looked a tad like one if you squeezed your eyes together a bit.
However, in regards to Bush, I thought publicly comparing a US president to a chimp and sniggering about it was a disgrace ... and really, really unfair to chimps.
90 - Dr Dreadful
Stan, there are (or were) actually websites that had Dubya's face juxtaposed with that of a chimpanzee, or even that toggled between them. It was quite uncanny.
Your thoughts on comments 76-80 and 83?
91 - Hope and Change?
If you read the cartoon (which should be easy for most of the left loons in here - one sylable words and pictures) it is calling the government workers....you know.... elected officials, and er...um... HUD employees and all of the other slovenly beaurocrats monkeys....with that said the cartoon is 100% accurate!
"I Won" = "Mission Accomplished"
92 - Hope and Change?
sNiggering!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :O
Hmmmm of all the words to use...looks like a freudian slip!
93 - Baronius
The NYC media market is a strange thing. The city is quite self-absorbed. You can see it on a lot of shows that come out of New York (SNL comes to mind). There's nothing out of the ordinary about New Yorkers telling a story that revolves around them. I'll bet that the paper has had a couple of political cartoons featuring A-Rod, which wouldn't make any sense to outsiders.
94 - STM
I notice the author is a poster girl for tax cuts (surprise, surprise).
Problem is, governments around the world have already realised they can't do it in this climate, especially when it comes to big corporations.
They are already losing many, many billions in tax revenue that because of this crisis is no longer going in to government coffers. The US government is probably in a worse situation than most in the developed world because of the much bigger impact on job losses, company failures and personal financial collapses brought about by sub-prime, the global credit crunch and GFC.
The US is now reaping what it's sown in terms of lack of regulation and unfettered greed. Sadly, though, it impacts most on ordinary people, not the clowns who caused it in the first place.
Cutting taxes at a time when governments need more revenue, not less, would just be another nail in the coffin.
There are other ways of freeing up spending.
Any plan to cut taxes, especially for corporations, large businesses and wealthy individuals, in this climate is, at best, coonskin economics and another classic example of the discredited trickle-down or supply-side theory of economics.
Obama's right to be pouring money into the economy in the hope of getting it moving. It's what everyone around the world has already done, with varying degrees of success.
It's not ideal, but the problem is, NOT doing it might be a whole lot worse. No one really knows.
Unfortunately, it's a case of suck it and see.
95 - Dr Dreadful
Good point, Baronius. Sharpton is a New Yorker, isn't he? One would have thought he'd at least get it - although as I said, his thought process was probably quite different.
I agree with Stan, though, in that the cartoon isn't funny.
96 - Hope and Change?
Al Sharptons protests have more to do with his personal vendetta against the Post which ran the cartoon...he was outed by them last year and has been ties up with the local and federal tax agencies...see below
The move comes after the Rev. Sharpton announced he cut a deal with the Department of Justice to drop a criminal tax-fraud probe in exchange for his payment of back taxes and fines that could amount to as much as $9 million. He's already paid back $1 million, his reps said.
Oh my Cindy!!! Can somone who owes the IRS $9 million in back taxes be a spokesperson for the poor minorities in America? No probably your right that it would be better if the "overweight liberal loon house fraus" spoke on behalf of the underclass...
97 - Roger Nowosielski
Great points, STM. I guess it doesn't hurt being an outsider looking in. I'd such hope that some of the commentators here were more amenable to look at this situation from a wider, hopefully global perspective. It might restore some sanity into the discussion.
98 - Hope and Change?
"governments need more revenue" No They DONT!
The American citizens need more revenue..the last several years many states ran a tax revenue surplus. What did they do? Rather than return it the taxpayers or pay off their debt they expanded government payrolls, entitlement programs and "pay to play".
So if the Government and Banks are the ones who got us into this mess why are we bailing them out instead of the "hard working" citizens who are the innocent victims of these crimes?
If this is Hope and Change..who the F__CK needs it!
99 - Roger Nowosielski
I agree. These banks are anathema and bailing them out just defies common sense.
100 - Baronius
I hate agreeing with H&C, but he's completely right about state budgets. California has a $42 billion deficit. How does a STATE come up $42 billion short?
101 - Roger Nowosielski
By the way, they just arrived at a compromise. Don't forget, though, California is/was the seventh largest economy in the world. A great part of the problem there is - a proportionate amount in any increase in state revenues are automatically allocated to education - so it's almost impossible for them to get ahead. Plus they're stuck with Prop 13 - which serves as lid on property taxes.
Warren Buffet generated a furor there when he dared to suggest that Prop 13 should be overturned.
102 - Hope and Change?
Baronius...thanks...
Using basic logic...the emperical data proves that when states get money they sqaunder it. For the Scamulus Plan to work states will have to someting they have never EVER done in the history of the US...be accountable and responsible for tax payer monies.
So for this to work Barry will have to pull off a Miracle...Todays paper outlined how NJ plans on spending the money and its obvious that it they only jobs created will be low paid teachers aides, a few union jobs and expansion of entitlement programs....more of the same crap that has landed this state in the mess its in.
So befor we get any money its already a failure.
Hope and change " Good Job Brownie...I mean Barry"
103 - Roger Nowosielski
Baronius/H&C:
That's why I want to refer you to the following comment, posted on another thread, addressed to Dave.
"The following is one take on how to view the push towards state sovereignty. I tend to agree with the analysis."
State vs. Feds.
104 - handyguy
California's government has been ruined and crippled by populist ballot referenda. Prop 13 was one of the first.
A 2/3 vote is required for most tax and budgetary votes. Huge percentages of the budget have to be set aside for specific purposes [like schools] and can't be touched, tying the legislators' and governors' hands.
In the assembly, the Dems are very liberal and the GOP is very conservative, so getting to 2/3 is all but impossible.
Since they can't raise property taxes, they depend on income taxes. During a downturn, revenue goes south quickly.
And that's how they run up such huge deficits and why the government is chronically dysfunctional.
105 - Roger Nowosielski
So we basically agree.
106 - Dr Dreadful
That's California in a nutshell, Handy. Outsiders perceive it as some sort of hippy wonderland, but in actuality it's extremely polarized politically. Away from LA/San Diego, the Bay Area/Sac and some of the Central Coast towns, the state is mostly rural and very conservative.
A nonpartisan state government (isn't there one state that actually has that? can't remember which one) would be peachy.
I'm really looking forward to filing my state taxes this year. Yep. It's going to be such fun.
107 - Roger Nowosielski
Well, the good thing still is, they haven't increased vehicle registration fees to the best of my knowledge - not at least since I left 9 months ago. That's one reason why Arnold won hands down in the recall election. Or have they since?
108 - STM
Doc and Rog, et al. The federal government here did away with state income taxes decades ago. The states now stick their hands out as the Commonwealth deals out the money collected federally from income and corporate taxes, although the states still manage to impose a whole raft of indirect taxes. The bigger the state, the bigger the slice of the pie.
New South Wales, the most populous state, is in a similar position to California - in big debt (appropriate because it even looks and acts like California too). They are slugging us every time we move in this city, with high tolls on expressways, parking fines, speed cameras everywhere, land taxes, higher fares for public transport systems that are becoming less efficient, hospitals that are in debt, etc. It costs me more than $700 a year for my motor-vehicle registration and third-party accident insurance. That's on top of the comprehensive car insurance, which costs another $900 a year. Then I have to pay for my wife's car as well.
So what happens this week? A new minister of state is appointed to state cabinet, and his staff decide his city office needs a $500,000 makeover, and his office at State Parliament, literally two minutes' away, needs a $200,000 makeover. Nearly a million bucks when you get into the inevitable budget overruns for those kinds of projects. What a joke. The media is running hot on that one. I can't wait till the next state election to tip the bucket on them.
As for the efficacy of dropping taxes to give more Americans more money according to H&C's grade school economics theory #101, it's probably worth noting that a) that kind of thinking has got you to exactly where you are right now (in a dangerous recession that threatens to upend the entire world, with America first, and b) check out both trickle-down economic theory and that hoary old tax-cut chestnut, the Laffer Curve to see why it doesn't work.
109 - Roger Nowosielski
Except that I love California, STM; and I'd bet that Doc loves it too. For all that bullshit, it's still God's country - as no doubt New South Wales or New Zealand must be too.
110 - STM
I love California too. I feel at home there. San Francisco is very similar to Sydney, except not as hot.
Geez Roger, I don't know about New Zealand ... that's a foreign country.
They speak funny over there, and it takes three hours flying over the Pacific to get there.
They do have a Union Jack in the corner of their flag, though ...
You need to get them Atlases out mate!
111 - Roger Nowosielski
We'll do, STM. I hate being embarrassed so every time I open my mouth about the land down yonder.
112 - Dr Dreadful
I love bits of California - most especially the Central Coast around San Luis Obispo and San Simeon. (They grow better wine there than in Napa, too.) San Francisco is in my top five favourite world cities. I've got a lot of time for San Diego, too - some family there, so spend quite a bit of time in the area.
The part where I live, unfortunately, is flat and boring - although the Sierra Nevada is less than an hour away, which is some compensation.
113 - trent1280
America IS a socialist country, and has been for many years. It is, however, a socialism unknown in Europe, and unrecognizable to Marx or Mao.
We practice a form of socialism which benefits the very rich, the major corporations, and the status quo. Ms Redwine seems utterly oblivious to these simple facts.
US-style socialism provides gold-plated heath care to members of Congress, but none at all to some 46 MILLION of our people.
We grant vast tax, import, licensing, copyright, R&D and similar subsidies to the rich, but none dare call it socialism. Thousands of lawyers on corporate payrolls spend entire careers defending the tax privileges of their employers.
I have noticed that, as long as people are convinced that these practices are 'incentivized capitalism', they are content. Call it for what it is, and suddenly one is accused of practicing 'class warfare'.
Beyond the sheer childishness of such shoddy name-calling as practiced by apologists for US-style socialism, there is another phenomenon.
The ONLY people who actually engage in class warfare are those who benefit most from its outcome. Everyone else is too busy trying to get beyond minimum wage jobs, blue-collar layoffs, and waiting lines.
Pres Obama seems to understand that the majority of Americans are fed up with subsidies to crooked promoters, incompetent managers, dishonest and greedy brokers, car companies going bust because they prefer the dole to honest innovation and first-class competition, and the Bernie Madoff-believers -- all those who believe it is right and righteous to go for the fast, un-earned buck.
Significant change is coming, to be sure. The paradox? It is largely driven by the greed, excess, moral anomie, and sheer selfishness of those on the right. For once, the quality of their fiscal bankruptcy is roughly equal to their moral bankruptcy.
Few will shed tears. Those of Ms Redwine are utterly misplaced.
114 - STM
"Get the F out of the country, if saying the pledge of alligence bothers you"
Typical right wing bullshit. We love the constitution and free speech, except when when we don't agree with you.
As for the "liberal" commentator, as unpopular as TARP and the continuing bailouts and stimulus packages have been, the US government is only doing what the governments of every other major western democracy has also done in the hope of staving off the global financial crisis.
They've used the lessons of the Great Depression, when governments did nothing ... and so far, it's worked.
If you think things are bad now, the concensus is that they'd be a lot worse had these things NOT been done.
In a way, as bad as you think these things are for America, in reality they're not ... you probably should be thanking both the Bush and Obama administrations for having the balls to push these things through in the face of public outcry in the US.