>> ^renatojj:

>> ^Stormsinger:
Capitalism is virtually guaranteed to become state-sponsored, over the long run, especially in a democracy (or republic, there's little effective difference). When the government has no built-in opposition to the capitalist class, sooner or later, it gets bought.
The big question is how do you build in a negative feedback loop to limit the power of the oligarchs.
I think what truly undermines capitalism is:

- Public education: if you let people be educated by the state, they'll be deprived of the critical thinking needed to challenge it.
- Economic intervention: if government has any power over the economy, those with money will buy that power. Are TV networks and newspapers lobbying government to censor competitors? No, because censorship is unnaceptable in a free speech society.
Oligarchs don't want free markets, they're the ones who built this crony capitalism, where they get to make rules for their own benefit.

- The issue has -nothing- to do with public education. Even the stupidity of our electorate has nothing to do with education...it's that most people don't care about anything past the end of their nose, and are too stupid to actually think about issues in the first place. Education won't change that, it never has. But it makes a nice red herring.


- Yes, of course. The answer to a capture of regulators is to abandon all regulation on the offenders whatsoever...I'm sure that'll make things better. We can obviously count on their better nature to ensure our well-being, once we stop trying to do it for ourselves. Typical libertarian lunacy. You might want to see Somalia for the actual results of that sort of thinking.

A much better answer is to design a system such that those people involved in regulating have an incentive (and the power) to stay opposed to any increase in power of the oligarchs. Negative feedback loops are the time-proven method of maintaining a balance. Designing such a social system is difficult, of course, and implementing it is likely to require a violent overthrow of our current system. But it's going to have to happen sooner or later, if we want an end to these boom-and-bust cycles of the robber barons.

>> ^alien_concept:

>> ^Trancecoach:
I dunno.. he seemed to demonstrate a bit of talent in Sweeney Todd and Hugo.
>> ^Payback:
Cohen is such a talentless whore.


And Ali G and Borat. You can't prank that many people and have someone accuse you of being talentless, whether you appreciate his work or not.


And of course, don't forget hit standout performance in Talladega Nights.

>> ^Trancecoach:

I dunno.. he seemed to demonstrate a bit of talent in Sweeney Todd and Hugo.
>> ^Payback:
Cohen is such a talentless whore.



And Ali G and Borat. You can't prank that many people and have someone accuse you of being talentless, whether you appreciate his work or not.

I dunno.. he seemed to demonstrate a bit of talent in Sweeney Todd and Hugo.

>> ^Payback:

Cohen is such a talentless whore.

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>> ^xxovercastxx:

Dick move by SBC. Seacrest handled it about as well as could be expected.


>> ^MonkeySpank:

Seacrest took it well considering how humiliating it must have been on the red carpet. Shame on Sasha for such a shitty prank. He should pull that prank on the likes of Mike Tyson next time; that would have gone well.


Don't feel bad for Seacrest, he's in on it. Any time Sacha plays a "prank" like this on a celebrity, he gets their permission first. Ordinary people who can't afford lawyers to peruse silly vendettas are fair game.

Your video, Sacha Baron Cohen spills some Kim Jong-il on Ryan Seacrest, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

oh, but they did.>> ^Payback:

Wow. I guess the Oscars might actually be good this time out if they're really not letting this fucktard in...

They're the Seacrest Service.>> ^critical_d:


The security guards hustling Cohen off is over the top....jesus...you would think they were Secret Service.

Right, so..

1.) I never said Ron Paul is some panacea for the world's troubles.

2.) I even admitted that Paul is more or less a racist homophobic religious cuke.

3.) I don't think Paul or any single person should have that much power to begin with.

The fact that we're still stuck with a two-party system in which we vote for one president "in charge of everything"..

..as opposed to 50 governors and local communities making their own decisions for their own goddamn selves is mind-numbing.

Point is:
The immediate effects and sincere discussions that would take place in the wake of such a radical candidate becoming president are the best thing that could happen for the American political process at this conjunction in our history.

For fuck's sake, YOUR AVATAR & GALAXY STAR ARE A GUY FAWKES MASK! You should support a grassroots underdog upheaval like the one Paul represents more than anyone on this site.

Ron Paul represents the chance to reclaim our Foreign Policy from Warmongers; our Economics from Speculators; our Health, Safety, Labor, and Ideas from Robber Barons.

But then again, he did stereotype blacks as fleet-footed so.. I guess you make a good counter-point.
>> ^NetRunner:

Hah. No. Of course not.

I'd liked to remain as status quo-y and entrenched in my beliefs as the Conservative Republicans I like to gripe about.

But it's okay cause I wear & cheer lead for the blue team while I do so.


>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:
You got any solutions, bro?
Or just more fallacious arguments?

My friend, the government is already beholden to the rich. Always has been. But today, you can argue that the rich have not had more influence over our government since the robber baron days. Especially since the Citizens United ruling.

So why not make them pay for it? They get the benefit of living at the top of the heap in the best nation on earth. Why not at least pay the same rate a working stiff has to pay?>> ^lantern53:

Wouldn't it follow that the more the rich carry everyone else's burden, that the more the gov't is beholden to them?
I don't want to be owing the rich anything.
I think they should pay the same as everyone else.
THAT would be truly fair.

Possibly one of the worst trailers ever. Is the movie better than the trailer? or do they just nominate anything Scorsese does?

Annoying music, Forced comedy, and a shamefully wasted use of a talent like Sacha Baron Cohen
Prat falls, cake in the face, and groaning dogs? seriously Oscar worthy?

Not to mention set in Paris and all the characters have random combinations of American and British accents.

At least in russia they know how to handle their oil barons, they just lock them away..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky

>> ^shagen454:

That is an interesting piece of info I did not know about. I never really understood why they went with Lynch for Dune, either. Not that that was a bad idea, I know a lot of people complain about Lynch's adaptation but I liked it a lot. I bet Jodorowsky's version would have been absolutely insane and even less on point with the Dune novel. I can only imagine all of the shit Jodorowsky could shove into that.
wiki: "he planned to cast the surrealist artist Salvador Dali as the Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, who requested a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming.[23] The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's own son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd, Magma, Henry Cow and Karlheinz Stockhausen"
Damn, man has some fine taste in music. And yep, looks like it would have been insane.
>> ^poolcleaner:
>> EDIT: oh yeah, it's all there on IMDB but I won't spoil it for anyone.

That's because Dan O'Bannon recruited Giger for the alien creature design after working with him on Jodorowsky's failed attempt to make Dune.



Weird times. The days of hiring directors like Lynch to take over a science fiction epic are over. It didn't work and it's not what people want to see.

If Jodorowsky had made Dune, it would have given a handful of people hard ons and Rocky Horror would have fallen to the way side as the midnight movie standard. All in all, I think there'd be less trannys and Hedwig and the Angry Inch would never have been made.

Frank Herbert, Dan O'Bannon, Jodorowsky, Dali, Welles, and Pink Floyd all under one roof? The entire movie would have been one big water of life spice orgy. Pregnant women viewing the movie would've given birth to abominations possessed by Orson Welles.

That is an interesting piece of info I did not know about. I never really understood why they went with Lynch for Dune, either. Not that that was a bad idea, I know a lot of people complain about Lynch's adaptation but I liked it a lot. I bet Jodorowsky's version would have been absolutely insane and even less on point with the Dune novel. I can only imagine all of the shit Jodorowsky could shove into that.

wiki: "he planned to cast the surrealist artist Salvador Dali as the Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, who requested a fee of $100,000 per hour. He also planned to cast Orson Welles as the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who only agreed when Jodorowsky offered to get his favourite gourmet chef to prepare his meals for him throughout the filming.[23] The book's protagonist, Paul Atreides, was to be played by Jodorowsky's own son, Brontis Jodorowsky. The music would be composed by Pink Floyd, Magma, Henry Cow and Karlheinz Stockhausen"

Damn, man has some fine taste in music. And yep, looks like it would have been insane.

>> ^poolcleaner:

>> EDIT: oh yeah, it's all there on IMDB but I won't spoil it for anyone.

That's because Dan O'Bannon recruited Giger for the alien creature design after working with him on Jodorowsky's failed attempt to make Dune.