homerlaw posted:

The Von Mises institute asking for donations is dangerously close to Socialism, isn't it?

Armyman25 posted:

Made in USA denotes that 70% of the value of the item originates in the USA. Made in America doesn't mean anything.

muscles like this? posted:

It could also mean made in a no regulation sweatshop in Guam.

quote:

Once the ultimate globalization success story, the island of Saipan now faces one of the fastest economic collapses in history. After suffering a harsh history of military struggles as well as a temporary economic boom after becoming a U.S. commonwealth, the island now stands devastated. Scores of factories remain empty, rotting shopping centers litter the country, and former factory workers turn to the sex industry for survival. Adam Yamaguchi visits Saipan to document the rise and sudden collapse of a tiny piece of America.

Lady Gaza posted:

From this hilarious website

http://capitalismis.com/

The questions get better.

syntaxrigger posted:

This is legit scary, waiting for the straight up Libertarian Jihad.

I almost applied to work with these yahoos!

muscles like this? posted:

It could also mean made in a no regulation sweatshop in Guam.

Misandrist Duck posted:

Saw this on my way home from work tonight

the2ndgenesis posted:

black metal hugbox posted:

That is from Zendik, an old commune still kicking around that has some pretty coercive practices. They send kids out to sell those bumper stickers and shirts, then they return to work the farm for free. It is pretty lovely.

Houston Euler posted:

The typical schedule of a Congressperson

"Call Time" = fundraising

rear end cobra posted:

Capitalist, Swordsman and Karateka

McDowell posted:

Quoting Ayn Rand and then talking about fundamental obligations to society. She's spinning in her grave.

lancemantis posted:

Just wait until you learn his views on women/minorities!



http://conferencequotas.com

http://jamellebouie.net/blog/2013/1/6/diversity-thats-for-racists
http://tommorris.org/posts/8019

lancemantis posted:

Just wait until you learn his views on women/minorities!



http://conferencequotas.com

http://jamellebouie.net/blog/2013/1/6/diversity-thats-for-racists
http://tommorris.org/posts/8019

quote:

Do not fear these changes! Like other similar socialist leaders and thinkers before him—Marx, Lenin, De Leon, Debs, Trotsky, Chavez, and others—Obama seeks to destroy only the most successful among us. You, as a member of the honorable and patriotic middle-class, will only benefit from these changes so that all Americans can enter the middle-class and all equally receive entitlement from our benevolent Socialist government.

tastethehappy posted:

Andy Rutledge is the worst. He's good at what he does, but he is a colossal shitheel. He wasn't that outspokenly horrible until 2008. Then he kinda freaked out about Obama.

He used to do theoretical site redesigns, which were pretty good and informative. Then he started posting ones like the one he made for USA.gov:

http://www.andyrutledge.com/usa-dot-gov-redux.php

Mister Bates posted:

I would unironically support a US government that wanted to make that website a reality. Also, I really wish an actual, honest-to-loving-God socialist would get elected to any high office in the United States soon, just to get right-wing dumbasses to stop calling everyone to the left of Mussolini a 'socialist'.

http://imgur.com/1zsCn

http://imgur.com/zgKYf

e: timg-ing these images was resulting in them not showing up for some reason, and I don't want to get probated, so here's links to them instead.

tastethehappy posted:

Andy Rutledge is the worst. He's good at what he does, but he is a colossal shitheel. He wasn't that outspokenly horrible until 2008. Then he kinda freaked out about Obama.

He used to do theoretical site redesigns, which were pretty good and informative. Then he started posting ones like the one he made for USA.gov:

http://www.andyrutledge.com/usa-dot-gov-redux.php

Donkwich posted:

That was a fake quote from Obama.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/change.asp


The banner for Canada Free Press, a bizarre Canada-based right-wing news website with a fetish for the United States.

Black Griffon posted:

Never believed it was a real one, but it exemplifies what people like Rutledge thinks. People really do believe that the US is the greatest country in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujODgbwToYY
(Memorial concert for July 22, just to clarify)

Black Griffon posted:

It wasn't a very good show, but this is a very good scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zqOYBabXmA

serewit posted:

Fundamental obligations to society? Psh, not in our Capitalismland!

quote:

If “radical” is defined as challenging existing structures of power, Jane Addams was the least elitist and the most radical of the American philosophers of her era. Addams consistently took and eloquently supported inclusive positions that sought the benefit of society. While pragmatists typically advocated for social progress, Addams radicalized the extent of that social progress. Rather than defining progress by the achievements of the best and the brightest, Addams advocates the betterment of all in what she calls “lateral progress.” For Addams, lateral progress meant that social advancement could not be declared through the breakthroughs or peak performances of a few, but could only authentically be found in social gains held in common. Addams employs metaphor to explain the concept:

The man who insists upon consent, who moves with the people, is bound to consult the feasible right as well as the absolute right. He is often obliged to attain only Mr. Lincoln's “best possible,” and often have the sickening sense of compromising with his best convictions. He has to move along with those whom he rules toward a goal that neither he nor they see very clearly till they come to it. He has to discover what people really want, and then “provide the channels in which the growing moral force of their lives shall flow.” What he does attain, however, is not the result of his individual striving, as a solitary mountain climber beyond the sight of the valley multitude, but it is underpinned and upheld by the sentiments and aspirations of many others. Progress has been slower perpendicularly, but incomparably greater because lateral.

He has not taught his contemporaries to climb mountains, but he has persuaded the villagers to move up a few feet higher (AML 175).

Whether one refers to them as “robber barons” or “captains of industry,” the rise of commerce in the United States was defined by the winners of the game: those who amassed wealth. The wealthy enjoyed tremendous progress in healthcare, education, and material well-being. Addams was not satisfied with narrow social development and redefined progress according to the common person's experience. This redefinition continues to elude us today as class disparity in the United States continues to grow. Ironically, Addams is often chastised for expounding middle class values, which was her point of reference as she started Hull House, but Addams’ experiences pushed her to more fully understand and appreciate the immigrant poor in the neighborhood.

Addams applied the idea of lateral progress to numerous issues. When she discusses the role of labor unions, she argues that in their attempt to improve conditions for all workers, unions are fulfilling a vital function that society has abrogated. Addams, who had a track record of supporting labor, makes it clear that she does not view collective bargaining as an end in itself. Addams views unions as trailblazers who obtain working conditions that eventually benefit everyone in society: “trade unions are trying to do for themselves what the government should secure for all its citizens; has, in fact, secured in many cases” (FSS 456). Addams is not interested in improving the lot of one group of workers over another. “Any sense of division and suspicion is fatal in a democratic form of government, for although each side may seem to secure most for itself, when consulting only its own interests, the final test must be the good of the community as a whole” (FSS 461). For Addams, unions are important in as much as they improve working conditions, raise wages, reduce hours and eliminate child labor for all Americans—lateral progress.

Although the first chapter of Addams' Democracy and Social Ethics is ostensibly a critique of charity workers and their preconceived notions of the needs of the destitute, it also reveals Addams’ disposition toward the poor and the oppressed. She decries the historical position of blaming the victim: “Formerly, when it was believed that poverty was synonymous with vice and laziness, and that the prosperous man was the righteous man, charity was administered harshly with a good conscience; for the charitable agent really blamed the individual for his poverty, and the very fact of his own superior prosperity gave him a certain consciousness of superior morality” (DSE 11-12). Such a judgment serves to separate the wealthy from the poor. Accordingly, the rich can make progress intellectually, materially, technologically, etc., while the poor are thought to be left behind largely due to their own actions. Addams argues that the poor are often victims of circumstance and that it is the responsibility of society to first understand those who are marginalized and then develop means for their participation in lateral progress.

Charity, although a good, is not lateral progress. A temporary transfer in wealth, while noble, does not constitute real progress in alleviating economic disparity. Addams never viewed herself as a charity worker nor did she characterize the work of Hull House as charity: “I am always sorry to have Hull House regarded as philanthropy” (ONS 45). What Addams sought was a lateral progress that could be brought about by the collective will and manifested through social institutions. She believes there would be no need for settlements if “society had been reconstructed to the point of offering equal opportunity for all” (ONS 27). Addams is not advocating a laissez-faire capitalism version of equal opportunity that is abstract and rights based. Free market economics influences modern understandings of democracy as merely assuring the adequate opportunity to participate. Addams’ approach to equal opportunity is set in a context of active democracy where citizens and social organizations look out for one another because they all have a stake in lateral progress or what today might be termed democratic socialism.

Orange Devil posted:

This is a good clip except for the last one and a half minute when it goes into total fantasy land. Pretty much none of the things this guy says the US "used to be" or "used to do" are true. Sorry guys, it's always been poo poo, it's just that pretty much everywhere else used to be pretty drat poo poo as well.

rear end cobra posted:

To add to this, here are a couple of songs from the anniversary concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NR9kuMvJ4o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lZkWD6-G5M

rear end cobra posted:

And a non-Andy Rutledge image:

Black Griffon posted:

"We live in the greatest nation in the history of the world..."

You know, this is what pisses me off about these people. The idea that the US is in any way, shape or form "the greatest nation on earth", or that their constitution is divine in its perfection is so loving harmful and delusional that I don't have words for it. Their other stupidity and ignorance makes me want to laugh or cry or do some kind of combination, but the "greatest country in the world" horseshit pisses me off.

It wasn't a very good show, but this is a very good scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zqOYBabXmA

The idea that saying "The US is not the greatest country in the world" is some kind of incredible moment that should provoke surprised gasps from the audience of a talk show on a show about a newsroom on HBO is loving depressing.

I live in an amazing country. We have free healthcare, free education, low crime-rates one of the worlds most humane prison-systems and more. Saying "Norway is the greatest country in the world" leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because I know that despite all those things, we still have work to do. I don't want to think that I live in the greatest country in the world; it brings me no pride to think that, and it shouldn't do that for Americans either, because it's pure, delusional ignorance.

Humboldt squid posted: