Metal Reviews

They should hold a 100 million dollar funeral, bill everyone in the country 50 bucks and invite only the most wealthy and elite.

Seriously folks, I don't think the Oligarchial tradition of peasants and kings ever ended. I think they simply adapted so people didn't feel so obviously outraged, which usually results in forceful revolt Now that the majority seems to be completely distracted and don't give a flying fuck based on their knowledge of how ripped off they are, they are simply transitioning back to serfdom for the masses.

Any country that demands a lot of startup capitol to even have a chance of success is going to result in people giving their money to the rich slowly but surely.

I could (and probably am in a few months, btw) open a business for 10K that will make a half million in 5 years. If I go work for someone else doing the exact same thing, I would not even make the rent in a studio apartment. Apparently the American Dream is only for people that have enough money to live it to begin with.

When I was a child, I would not have expected that the USA would turn into a state where people worked for basic sustenance (Food, water, clothing, shelter, which is the definition of slavery) with absolutely no hope for a better future, but that is the reality for a lot of people. Basically the service industry is about to become a situation where people are no longer allowed to work full-time and will be forced to work at two or more places for 15-25 hours a week which will lead to conflicting schedules among other problems which will ensure that people remain at the bottom with a constant turnover.

I thought you found a job, worked hard, were recognized for such and sooner or later, they would think you have what it takes to help others into being the best and getting the most out of their job.

The last time I worked at a restaurant it was all backstabbing and jockeying for position. I had 3 people deliberately giving me conflicting tasks so that I was perpetually "not doing what i'm supposed to" along with petty bullshit, like "find something to do" for that 7 seconds after completing a ticket until the next one arrives. I have worked at over a half dozen restaurants and was always recognized as the absolute best person they could have there doing the job. I don't imagine this snake in the grass mentality has gotten better since 2007.

Well, Lenin's policies were by and large the cause of the White / Red civil war, the great famine, jailings and executions of those that opposed the Revolution, and so on... I read something like 5 million dead, plus he advocated global revolution, presumably by force if necessary... but, yes, Stalin really took off with it.

When you say 'fucked up the country', you do mean fucked up the striking miners? Coming after the general screwups of Callaghan, Thatcher left the economy in far better shape than she found it. Of course, she didn't always do this in a way that avoided unnecessary pain, and things like the Community Charge and the milk cancellation were just foolish. Replacing state monopoly with private monopoly is kinda missing the point of liberal economics too - it took til Major to fuck up the railways. Obviously the sensible choice in the early 80s would have been the Liberal/SDP Alliance, but thanks to an awful voting system that wasn't to be. All in all, she did a lot of economic good without considering the consequences, and effectively ruined the far-left in this country, which is the real crime to them. That Blair and Brown both thought highly of her and followed in her footprints kinda sums it up.

I actually think the death toll for Russia is far higher than 20 million, but that's just according to my old professor who lived during that epoch of time.

I wouldn't doubt that it is.

Absolutely incredible.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110510/ap_ ... aiming_aid

Pathetic comes to mind.

And foolish. It'd be better to demand a partial refund from Haiti, because we all know what happened to those relief donations...

Fucking retards in the government bureaucracy that can't do their jobs, now demanding a return on their mistakes from average everyday people who needed the funds. What a bunch of bs..

what is amazing, knowing the complete inefficiency, indifference and incompetence of this government, is that there are some that feel we need to give them MORE authority, power and control (e.g., obammycare)... yeah, like I always say: what could go wrong?

That's a problem with the internal administration of the government, not with the principles of social health care and the like.

I just read 25 books on Stalinism in a course I just took, so I'll mention a few things.

Lenin wasn't opposed to terror, this is true. A difference between Lenin and Stalin was that Lenin allowed debate within and Lenin did not kill his comrades in the Communist party. Lenin also instituted NEP--the New Economic Policy, as Communist policies for collectivizing agriculture and purging old technical specialists were simply untenable with the fallout from the Civil War. NEP was a compromise with the old order, and naturally preferred by the peasantry and old elites.

The argument now seems to be whether Lenin (or Trotsky or Bukharin, for that matter) would have continued NEP had he lived, or would he have gone down the drastic road of Stalin's First Five Year plan in 1929 which forced collectivization and helped cause the famine. It is a fascinating debate, and one that doesn't seem resolved.

I don't see Lenin (or Trotsky or Bukharin) orchestrating "The Great Terror" like Stalin did: Stalin was obviously dangerously damaged personality. That said, I would say that a Stalinless Soviet Union would still have been a very bad place to live, and still would have curtailed freedoms, and still occasionally would have engaged in violence against the populace, and so forth.

Did Lenin cause Stalin? No, I don't think so. But the system was set up to favor a Stalin's rise to power.

Cool story.

Of course you have so little to say, you have altars to them in your closet don't you, comrade?

No. I don't.

Edit: I don't mind Bernie Sanders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXt-jfl ... ded#at=163

Just heard about Greece. Thoughts? Similar cuts and policies have been implemented across the globe through the IMF's structural adjustment plans and other protests have happened but Greece being European the media has picked up on it more so it seems. I don't have cable so is it being framed as a bunch of unruly commies being undemocratic?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011 ... e-minister

Greece is offended by creditors demanding their islands as collatoral. Things must be really serious for it to have gotten this far, although I'm sure Germany would love to have some new oceanfront property

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/nyreg ... ml?_r=1&hp

The guy is (well, was) the front-runner for the presidential election next year... It's not the first time he tries "funny" things with women, he's famous for this, but an assault ??? Wow. He obviously has a problem. If the story is true, I hope he'll do some time.

We tried paratroopers; didn't work.