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Happy Thanksgiving

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I was going to post something about the right-wing theories about the Puritans being failed socialists -- what will they think of next?! -- but this is a much nicer way to contemplate the holiday. Link to the Times story above.

Comments

  1. James FergusonNovember 24, 2010 at 9:57 PM

    Love the image.

    Sadly, just when I thought the whole red state/blue state thing may finally be behind us, the country now appears more divided than ever before. Recent polls have shown that Republicans and Democrats differ in opinion on pretty much everything from climate change to their favorite television shows. There seems to be less and less crossover.

    I thought it fascinating that some frustrated Wisconsin man blew out his television set when Bristol Palin advanced to the final round of Dancing with the Stars. Mercifully, she came in third. I suppose this was one of the few shows that gained a crossover audience.

    Meanwhile, TLC offers up Sarah Palin's Alaska. There was an internet petition going around to press the Discovery Company to drop the show, but to no avail. Ratings dropped off 40% after the first episode.

    Stuff like this takes all the flavor out of Thanksgiving.

    ReplyDelete
  2. James FergusonNovember 25, 2010 at 4:37 PM

    I guess this is one thing to be thankful for,

    Jury convicts Tom DeLay in money laundering trial

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101125/ap_on_re_us/us_delay_trial

    ReplyDelete
  3. avrdsNovember 25, 2010 at 4:57 PM

    Yes, every once in awhile, the system works.

    When I heard his comment about it being political, it reminded me of Helmsley's comment that only the little people pay taxes. I guess in their world, only the little people have to pay for their crimes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. James FergusonNovember 25, 2010 at 5:09 PM

    I suppose it is more the means in which he funneled money to state Republican candidates than it is the intent, especially now that the SC ruled that corporations have individual rights just like citizens.

    I couldn't stand the guy. He is the quintessential corrupt Southern good ol' boy. I would love to see him put away for life, but more likely he will get a reduced sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  5. TripplerNovember 26, 2010 at 2:25 AM

    ''Puritans as failed socialists''

    Great comment. But when you think about it, the only time capitalists fail is when they don't get government subsidies. If anything, those companies that fall apart from lack of taxpayer handouts are the true 'failed socialists'.

    Tell that to a Republican and they walk out of the room.

    ReplyDelete
  6. James FergusonNovember 26, 2010 at 2:25 PM

    I don't know about the Puritans, but how else to think of religious colonies like the Harmonists and the Shakers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. avrdsNovember 26, 2010 at 4:07 PM

    I was going to try to explain this myself, but it gives me a stomach ache just thinking about it. This is the argument made by the Limbaugh/Beck crowd. Read at your own peril....

    http://forum.isi.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3830054552/m/1850052092

    ReplyDelete
  8. avrdsNovember 26, 2010 at 4:58 PM

    And as you were saying....

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/opinion/26krugman.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. MartiNovember 28, 2010 at 1:39 AM

    Oh my, that ISI forum! The guy with the last post on the page thinks that humans won't work if they can eat for free. I suppose he also thinks that workers need to be laid off and that those who still have jobs are to be whipped?

    ReplyDelete
  10. avrdsNovember 28, 2010 at 2:44 AM

    Sorry Marti! I tried to warn you. It's a very weird way of looking at the world, but that is the other side's perspective.

    Bill Barich has a new book out that revisits Steinbeck's America:

    http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-bill-barich-20101127,0,1317644.story

    From the sounds of it, he doesn't like what he sees out there either.

    ReplyDelete
  11. avrdsNovember 28, 2010 at 2:47 AM

    Note, too, that ISI stands for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. That's sort of like calling the elba forum the International Institute for Intelligent Political Discourse (IIIPD).

    ReplyDelete
  12. MartiNovember 28, 2010 at 12:51 PM

    I just downloaded a sample of Barich's Long Way Home. Looks interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  13. RickDecember 11, 2010 at 1:46 PM

    I'm reading Susan Jacoby's "Alger Hiss and the Battle for History." I read another book of hers, "The Age of American Unreason," about a year ago and liked it.

    The Alger Hiss book explains many things about the why's and wherefore's of right and left wing values.

    ReplyDelete

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