I wish I could promote this comment. Instead, I'll just have to promote Goldy the Stranger's website, and particular the blog post this comes from...

*five minutes after searching "Rick Perry" on the site*

Holy shit, Dick Perry is so much more of an ignorant, hateful, despicable corporate shill of a fundie rethuglican candidate than I could've imagined! This post in particular got to me, and not just because it involves Switzerland's biggest, evilist bank (UBS) either:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/08/25/rick-perry-wanted-to-profit-on-dead-texas-teachers

"Let's bet on how quick we can tire old teachers into dying and make killer bucks off their hard earned savings, yay!!"


p.s.: Another tidbit of Perryntelligenz: Gay marriage, dangerous and bad. Texting while driving, a-okay.


>> ^bareboards2:

complete blog post from Goldy at The Stranger -- I thought this was great (emphasis added):
One of the more telling moments from last night's Republican presidential debate was when the audience at the Reagan Library broke out in wild applause at the mention of 234 death row inmates executed in Texas on Gov. Rick Perry's watch... no doubt some of whom were innocent.
I can understand why some people might support capital punishment, particularly the families of victims, although I personally oppose the practice on a number of grounds. But I have zero empathy for those who would applaud Texas's prolific rate of execution, as if it were something to aspire to. The brutal vindictiveness of many in the Republican base is never more on display than when they cheer an execution or two (or 234) as if it were a game-winning touchdown.
There is an interesting analogy to be made with the similarly hot-button issue of abortion, where the anti-abortion-rights forces adopted the "Pro-Life" label in order to imply that their Pro-Choice opponents were in fact Pro-Death. Of course, we're not. We're not even "Pro-Abortion" per se. While we may loudly cheer legislative and legal victories that support the right to reproductive choice, I'd wager that nobody has ever heard a round of hearty applause arise at the tally of aborted fetuses. Through improved education, counseling, and access to effective birth control, the goal has always been to make abortion safe, legal, and rare, with no particular extra emphasis on any one of those three objectives over the others. An abortion may evoke in some a sense of relief, but it's hard to imagine that it has ever been a cause for celebration.

One would think that even the most ardent capital punishment supporters (many of whom ironically self-identify as Pro-Life) would be more respectful of the awesome responsibility that comes with government sanctioned executions. But judging from that disturbing moment in last night's debate, apparently not.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Jeb Corliss, wing suit' to 'Jeb Corliss, wing suit, switzerland' - edited by hpqp

Tags for this video have been changed from 'wingsuit, flight, Jeb Corliss, grinding the crack, multi camera' to 'wingsuit, flight, Jeb Corliss, grinding the crack, multi camera, Switzerland' - edited by hpqp

Video added to playlist. Invite sent! Mwahahahaaaaaa (devilish laugh)!!!!!!!!!!!


In reply to this comment by hpqp:
Hello Satan's little helper, I hear you have a Radiohead playlist going, perhaps this darkly atmospheric vid might make the cut?

http://videosift.com/video/Radiohead-4-minute-warning-unofficial-vi
deo-clip

In reply to this comment by Issykitty:
Hail SAGAN! Also, Lucifer lives in Switzerland!!!

Hello Satan's little helper, I hear you have a Radiohead playlist going, perhaps this darkly atmospheric vid might make the cut?

http://videosift.com/video/Radiohead-4-minute-warning-unofficial-video-clip

In reply to this comment by Issykitty:
Hail SAGAN! Also, Lucifer lives in Switzerland!!!

Hail SAGAN! Also, Lucifer lives in Switzerland!!!

Comedic hyperbole aside, he makes some very salient points about the lack of democracy in the EU. Even in Switzerland, which has refused to join the EU and has a certain history of direct democracy, the laws of the EU are being bullied onto the people by the political class with the endless threat of the EU cutting off its economical agreements, a tactic which practically boils down to coercion. A recent example is the imposition of the ECJ's "Cassis de Dijon" principle, the result of which is a general lowering of regulatory standards in the products Swiss people will find in their supermarkets. It's not surprising that a "government" that was created as an economic entity seems mostly interested in protecting/enlarging the "freedom" of corporations to make more money while sidestepping the pesky voice of the citizens.

edit: and then people wonder why the right-wing, xenophobic party has been steadily gaining support, while they were (and are) the only ones consistently against joining the EU.

(@Peroxide Your point being? You do know he's a comedian I hope)

*blocked in Switzerland (why???)

These are laughable. Universal education is a failure?! Uhh, on what planet? Despite the enormous problems universal education faces today in the US, it's a hell of a lot better than the last time we left education up to the private sector only. It also put the US on the road towards becoming an economic and military superpower. Social Security has been a failure? How exactly?! The US was not an economic superpower until AFTER SSI began, and amazing, we've been a superpower ever since. Not that SSI caused our ascendance, but it clearly didn't hurt at all. The Post Office is a failure?! A few money issues doesn't change the fact that the post office still delivers mail to anywhere in the US for a nominal charge.

Now, and here's the most laughable thing I've seen WP say yet. That everywhere there's socialism, there's cronyism, corruption, poor standards of living, and routinely oppress people. Uhh, dude, we're more capitalist than virtually every European country, and you're saying there's no cronyism, corruption, standards of living are good for everyone in the US, and we oppress people less than France, Britain, or Germany?! Completely laughable.

And do you know how many failed, corrupt mainly market economies there have been?! Do you understand that the US has suffered two massive recessions (1929 & 2008) after structuring itself missing very basic regulation required along with proper enforcement, right? Oh, of course you don't. Somehow, socialist agendas somehow caused each.

For every Switzerland there's a bad socialist economy. Ok, how about this? Name a single thriving economy that isn't a mixed economy.

Socialist agendas are not aimed at creating bureaucracies for the sake of bureaucracies, and advocates are not selfish. I'm a pragmatist who favors what works. I know for example a well run public education system and wide access to normal people for college educations (first introduced to average Americans en masse in the GI Bill) radically changed society for the better. It's absurd to even argue against that. The US's rise to global superpower came as generations began being generally educated. I know the Tennessee Valley Authority, a New Deal program, laid the foundation to industrialize that region of the US, which helped to produce war material to win WWII, improve the quality of life for people in that region with wide availability of electricity, and lots of jobs. It was originally one of those evil gov't socialist programs you so despise.

We can fix public education without privatizing it, btw. Across the US, there are shining examples of top notch schools that are public schools that outperform private schools, even though private schools get their proverbial pick of the litter. Across the US, there are lots of examples of bad private schools. I went to a public school, and here I am, on my second successful career, intelligent, thoughtful, and in demand by employers. I attended a public university, and I don't regret it at all.

>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:

Socialized medicine…only failing because of a lack of funding
Oh of course. Socialism never fails. Instead, socialism just doesn’t have enough money. Just keep on pouring taxes into the meat grinder, and finally socialized (whatever) creates the perfect sausages… Except it never does. War on Poverty. Great Society. Socialized Medicine. Universal Education. Social Security. Post Office. Shoot – take it all the way down to Food Stamps. No socialist program ever has ‘enough money’.
Social medicine fails because socialism is not designed to help people. Socialized systems are designed 100% to create large bureaucracies, which in turn exist only to self-perpetuate in the form of increasing year-over-year budgets. Helping people actually decreases a program’s budget-line, so they work to deny services (or waste them) as aggressively as possible so they can use it as leverage to lobby the government for more money and power. That’s the reason why the UK system (or any socialist program) routinely denies more and more ‘care’, while at the same time costing more and more money.
Guys like BS Bill brag about how wonderful socialist systems are. They ignore the reality. Socialist nations are rife with cronyism, corruption, poor standards of living, and regularly oppress their people. Socialist governments are the perpetrators of the worst tragedies of all human history. Historically, for every Switzerland there are a hundred North Koreas. Even the modern Euro socialist lite nations only work because they have capitalist wealth-creation engines to support (barely) their corrupt and inefficient socialist programs. The US is not failing because it is too capitalist and giving too much to the rich. It is failing because heavily socialized programs are doing what they always do… Collapsing because of internal corruption.
At its heart – socialism is nothing more than laziness and selfishness. People see a problem in society. They feel bad. They think, “Gee – someone should do something…” At that point you have a couple choices. 1. Be a capitalist and solve the problem yourself. 2. Be a socialist and vote for someone who PROMISES to solve the problem for you. That’s the trick of socialism. It preys on people who are well-intentioned, but who are also selfish, lazy, and a bit stupid. Socialists want to ‘help’, but are too selfish and lazy to actually do something about the problems they see. Therefore they become stupid and fervidly believe any liar (like Obama) who says they will solve the problem for them using taxes. It is stupid because there is no evidence that taxes EVER solve social problems.
Examples of lies that socialists believe…
“Aw – you feel bad when there are poor people… Vote for me and I’ll create The Great Society and eliminate poverty!”
“Aw – you feel bad about people who have medical needs… Vote for me and I’ll tax the ‘rich’ so you don’t have to pay for your medical expenses!”
“Aw – you get sad when you see pictures of polar bears… Vote for me and I’ll tax all carbon emissions and change the global climate!”
“Aw – you want children to get an education… Vote for me and I’ll create free universal public education!”
And do these systems work? Of course not. The Great Society didn’t make a dent in poverty. Social medicine denies more care than it provides. Carbon taxes don’t change the climate. Kids that go to public schools come out stupider. But the SOCIAL PROGRAMS created to address these problems? Oh – of course – they just need ‘more money’ and THEN they will start working!
Socialism. The lazy jerk’s way of destroying society while telling themselves they are ‘helping’.

Socialized medicine…only failing because of a lack of funding

Oh of course. Socialism never fails. Instead, socialism just doesn’t have enough money. Just keep on pouring taxes into the meat grinder, and finally socialized (whatever) creates the perfect sausages… Except it never does. War on Poverty. Great Society. Socialized Medicine. Universal Education. Social Security. Post Office. Shoot – take it all the way down to Food Stamps. No socialist program ever has ‘enough money’.

Social medicine fails because socialism is not designed to help people. Socialized systems are designed 100% to create large bureaucracies, which in turn exist only to self-perpetuate in the form of increasing year-over-year budgets. Helping people actually decreases a program’s budget-line, so they work to deny services (or waste them) as aggressively as possible so they can use it as leverage to lobby the government for more money and power. That’s the reason why the UK system (or any socialist program) routinely denies more and more ‘care’, while at the same time costing more and more money.

Guys like BS Bill brag about how wonderful socialist systems are. They ignore the reality. Socialist nations are rife with cronyism, corruption, poor standards of living, and regularly oppress their people. Socialist governments are the perpetrators of the worst tragedies of all human history. Historically, for every Switzerland there are a hundred North Koreas. Even the modern Euro socialist lite nations only work because they have capitalist wealth-creation engines to support (barely) their corrupt and inefficient socialist programs. The US is not failing because it is too capitalist and giving too much to the rich. It is failing because heavily socialized programs are doing what they always do… Collapsing because of internal corruption.

At its heart – socialism is nothing more than laziness and selfishness. People see a problem in society. They feel bad. They think, “Gee – someone should do something…” At that point you have a couple choices. 1. Be a capitalist and solve the problem yourself. 2. Be a socialist and vote for someone who PROMISES to solve the problem for you. That’s the trick of socialism. It preys on people who are well-intentioned, but who are also selfish, lazy, and a bit stupid. Socialists want to ‘help’, but are too selfish and lazy to actually do something about the problems they see. Therefore they become stupid and fervidly believe any liar (like Obama) who says they will solve the problem for them using taxes. It is stupid because there is no evidence that taxes EVER solve social problems.

Examples of lies that socialists believe…

“Aw – you feel bad when there are poor people… Vote for me and I’ll create The Great Society and eliminate poverty!”
“Aw – you feel bad about people who have medical needs… Vote for me and I’ll tax the ‘rich’ so you don’t have to pay for your medical expenses!”
“Aw – you get sad when you see pictures of polar bears… Vote for me and I’ll tax all carbon emissions and change the global climate!”
“Aw – you want children to get an education… Vote for me and I’ll create free universal public education!”

And do these systems work? Of course not. The Great Society didn’t make a dent in poverty. Social medicine denies more care than it provides. Carbon taxes don’t change the climate. Kids that go to public schools come out stupider. But the SOCIAL PROGRAMS created to address these problems? Oh – of course – they just need ‘more money’ and THEN they will start working!

Socialism. The lazy jerk’s way of destroying society while telling themselves they are ‘helping’.

Dude, you clearly can't comprehend what was said. He said European Socialism works, not that Europe is socialist. He then pointed to socialist programs in Europe, such as universal health care, paid for college tuition, pension programs, etc. How are those programs not socialist? Hint: THEY'RE SOCIALIST PROGRAMS! There's no two ways about it. How idiotic can a person be who proclaims socialism is bad, but they send their kids to public school, or they collect unemployment benefits, or draw social security, or they live in the Tennessee River Valley and appreciate the fact they have electricity, or they have an affordable federal gov't backed mortgage, or they safely assume the food they eat won't kill them, or that they can safely assume the house they live in won't fall on their heads because of government safety code, or their tires won't blow out driving down the road, or they can still get medical care if they become poor, or...

Guess what? Every single one of those above are examples of either direct gov't intervention into the economy, or were outcomes from a time when the government did. That's direct opposition to free market principles. And before anyone says it, YES, IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT SOCIALIST SOLUTIONS DON'T ALWAYS WORK WELL. We know that. But it's absolutely positively ridiculous to suggest socialist ideas and solutions NEVER work. It's absolute bullcrap to the extreme that you can see everyday in your life that it does make everyone's life better.

This editorial is spot on. It's what I've tried hammering home with no effect to QM and WP that there are too many examples of ideas within the US that have or did work that were socialist in nature. Socialism isn't a dirty word. It's one approach of several economic philosophies that can help solve problems, just as free market ideas can work. Neither work 100% of the time, so stop with the ridiculous notion that neither is the be all end all of all economic ideas. Every industrialized nation is a mixed economy. A completely 100% free market economy doesn't exist, and would fail if it did. (Ditto 100% true communist economies.)

>> ^conan:

WTF has any one of you actually an idea what socialism means? This rant of Bill is just useless. "European socialism"? The last socialist country was the DDR (east germany) back in the 80s. I just can't stand it anymore. Stupid throwing around of buzzwords. Socialism is a specific form of government. Switzerland is NOT a socialist country. Germany is NOT a socialist country. Sweden is NOT a socialist country. Get your facts straight and read a book from time to time!

WTF has any one of you actually an idea what socialism means? This rant of Bill is just useless. "European socialism"? The last socialist country was the DDR (east germany) back in the 80s. I just can't stand it anymore. Stupid throwing around of buzzwords. Socialism is a specific form of government. Switzerland is NOT a socialist country. Germany is NOT a socialist country. Sweden is NOT a socialist country. Get your facts straight and read a book from time to time!

I keep looking for the origin of this quote: "Nothing is a pure as the cruelty of a child."

To think back at the type of bullying I was subjected to as a kid, as how much worse it was for others I knew... I wish I had the presence of mind to fight back then, not only for myself, but those who had it worse. When I had found the niche that was comfortable for me to deflect the teasing, I settled into a switzerland-like state in which I avoided bullying quite effectively, and yet, like Switzerland, I stood by as others continued to be subjected to it...

I suppose regrets are a part of reflection on our childhoods, but I always find myself apologizing when I meet one of these people later one in life, be it facebook or in person, I always say something along the lines of: I will always be sorry I didn't stick up for you.

The positive side is that I do now. I don't put up with any such shit and I'll definitely get in people's faces if I see anything remotely like what I saw as a kid. Or at least I try to...