Debates
11 Feb 09
11 Feb 09
Originally posted by Bosse de NageA dangerous mind.
Ascent, not ancestry ... although that might be relevant after all, considering that much of his support apparently stems from Russian immigrants.
The influx from Russia and the other former soviet states has not been entirely a blessing for the Israelis. Some pretty rough beasts have shown up from that part of the world.
They show up here, too.
Back in 1992, I was in Moscow and St. Petersburg with my late father-in-law, who needed some company getting around while he was there as a World Bank consultant. We wondered at the time why the Chicago gangster image was everywhere, in the costumes of folks performing at the circus, on posters, in the bars, on the streets.
Well, I guess we know now what we didn't know then. We suspected, but didn't know for sure just about everything we saw was being manipulated by unseen overseers who were no longer in the employ of the State, but rather were well organized criminal gangs.
It is one thing to let them set up money laundries in your cities -- Italian "bakeries" in New Jersey displaying plastic cakes are a kind of iconic tradition up there. It is another to let these Eastern european and russian thugs into your government. For one thing, they are a lot more violent than were the Italians, if that can even be imagined.
There is a lot of organized crime here in the USA related to waste disposal -- so we are close to our colleagues in the criminal enforcement division and hear quite a bit about the way things have changed over the years.
I don't know if this guy is mobbed up -- but I don't like where he's from or the kind of positions he espouses. He looks like a wise guy to me and I think he's completely without scruples about doing violence to those who don't deserve it.
We'll all be better off if he stays out of power -- but he's got a lot of seats, so one worries.
12 Feb 09
1 edit
Originally posted by ScriabinGangsters in the Knesset?
We'll all be better off if he stays out of power -- but he's got a lot of seats, so one worries.
In some ways I think modern Israelis represent a more extreme form of North Americans. (I was going to say 'more advanced', but then I remembered Hitler citing the efficacy of USA propaganda in Mein Kampf -- the propaganda machine that turned a pacifist population of isolationists into raving haters of everything German in 1916 -- according to Chomsky, at any rate. -- Why isn't there a more accurately descriptive construction for the clumsy 'USA citizen' than 'North American'?)
12 Feb 09
Originally posted by Bosse de NageAh, give it a rest already. Fuggettaboutit. chomsky is oversimplifying.
Gangsters in the Knesset?
In some ways I think modern Israelis represent a more extreme form of North Americans. (I was going to say 'more advanced', but then I remembered Hitler citing the efficacy of USA propaganda in Mein Kampf -- the propaganda machine that turned a pacifist population of isolationists into raving haters of everything Ger ...[text shortened]... accurately descriptive construction for the clumsy 'USA citizen' than 'North American'?)
Goering explained it very well, did he not? It is the simplest matter in any part of the world among any people to frighten the hell out of them and bend them as a mob to the will of a tryant.
while we are at it, what do you think about Hugo Chavez, or should we start a thread on his recent antics?
13 Feb 09
Originally posted by ScriabinIt sounds like Nancy Pelosey saying that we are losing a million jobs per day and that we need to pass the stimulus bill as of yesterday. In fact, there is no time for debate!!! LOL.
Goering explained it very well, did he not? It is the simplest matter in any part of the world among any people to frighten the hell out of them and bend them as a mob to the will of a tryant.
13 Feb 09
Originally posted by ScriabinI guess there are Chomskyites around, so Chomsky shouldn't get a free pass.
Ah, give it a rest already. Fuggettaboutit. chomsky is oversimplifying.
Goering explained it very well, did he not? It is the simplest matter in any part of the world among any people to frighten the hell out of them and bend them as a mob to the will of a tryant.
while we are at it, what do you think about Hugo Chavez, or should we start a thread on his recent antics?
I don't know much about Chavez or Morales. Threads about them have degenerated into dreck before but no reason not to try again. This forum is a purgatory after all and the denizens of it self-condemned.