Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Friday, June 8. 2007

Not Dead Yet: Socialism

Chart is from an extraordinarily lucid piece by Kling on The Great Tug of War between Capitalism and Socialism/Communism. I thought that tug of war was over, but I guess, in some people's minds, it's not.

There are two utopias - the womb, and Heaven (if you can get in there before they close the door). Life is bracketed by utopias, but in between we must toil and strain and sometimes suffer. It's "the way things are", as the mice say.

It's interesting to contemplate how distrustful and contemptuous of human nature and of human enterprise the anti-Capitalists are. What's that all about? If human nature is so dark, then what would make "policy-makers" any better than business people? I have never seen any evidence that policy-makers are angels.

And, without the money generated by enterprise and commerce, where would the anti-Capitalists hope to get money to run things their way? Who would create the wealth that the policy-makers take from us to do what they want?

Issue

Pro-Capitalist

Anti-Capitalist

Market Prices

valuable signals

corrupt

Our Behavior in Markets

rational, ethical

greedy

Solve Social Problems

spontaneous order

deliberate planning

Social Heroes

entrepreneurs

policymakers

Wealth Acquisition

positive-sum

zero-sum

Business Success

largely deserved

comes from exploitation

Business Failure

necessary

disastrous

Posted by The Barrister in Politics at 07:43 | Comments (8) | Trackback (1)

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It is a theme on this blog to think about the things that people hold most dear and the things they hold to be sacred. I tend to judge such things based on people's behavior, not on what they say. I tend to believe that God should come foremost in my li
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Tracked: Jun 10, 11:10

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Allow me to add some insight into the thinking and influences surrounding FDR's administrations and the turn this country made toward socialism. I will try to make this brief but as Walter Cronkite said of the 22 minutes he had to deliver the nightly news there's always "distortion by compression"

First lets take a look at the 1930's. Depression, 25% unemployment,no rural electrification,Stalin in power and the Soviets economy humming. Thanks to the lying reporter for the NYT Walter J. Duranty failed to inform the American people that Stalin was starving the people of the Ukraine(20 million) to export the grain they raised so he could get hard currency....the west ate up communism. Eleanor Roosevelt thought it was nirvanna.
But if you examine the data we were coming out of the Depression before the advent of the Alphabet Agencies that FDR pushes through Congress that set up the skeleton of gigantic government controlling everything we have today. In other words they weren't need and were make work programs. WWII saved the country financially and gave it cohesion. But prior to that communism in the US in the 1930 was all the rage among the intelligensia.
We now know through the release of the top secret Venona Papers that FDR's administration was highly infiltrated by Soviet agents. Most have heard of Alger Hiss.
Many are familiar with Harry Hopkins, FDR's top advisor (today Chief od Staff). He is referred to in the Venona Papers, which were FBI intercepts,etc, as agent "19"..their you go. The man influencing FDR on a daily basis was an NKVD Soviet agent. Dexter White at Treasury. The list is available now for all to read.

Bottom line is FDR was a willing dupe whose vanity played into the hands of Stalin at the various conferences, Tehran, Yalta ect. FRD believed (ego here) that he could "charm" Stalin into reasonable agreements. In so doing he even went so far as to make jokes about Winston Churchill at dinner parties to ingratiate himself with Stalin..Churchill once simply left the room instead of enduring this treatment.
Well at Yalta, following the advice of Harry Hopkins and Alger Hiss FDR "gave away" the sovereignty of the Baltic states, Estonia ,Latvia ,Lituvania,Poland for nothing. General Geo Marshall also is mentioned in the Venona Papers. These papers are from an operation the FBI ran from the 1920's until the 1950's and much of it is just now being researched by historians..but what I have stated we know right now...FDR's administration was pro Soviet,due to it's massive infiltration at State and other departments of Soviet fellow travellers ... it's all there all you have to do is go read it.
So, it is not unreasonable that even today we have a residual pro Marxist ideology hanging around. How many times have we heard Hillary say how her roll model is Eleanor Roosevelt? She even claims to "talk" with her. Harold Ickes one of Bill and now Hillary's top advisors father was neck deep as an agent of Stalin.
If you are reading the words Venona Papers for the first time you're saying ,"this can't be.FDR saved the country" etc. Just read the history that is now coming to light.

Joeseph McCarthy may have been a bully in conducting his Senate investigations but the names he named are all in the Venona Papers..he was a bully ,but he was right.
The HUAC, House UnAmerican Activities Committee work turned up similar innformation that was all buried by a sympathetic press.
The aforementioned Walter J. Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Soviet Union at the very time when Stalin was killing tens of millions of his own people and enslaving millions more in Siberia and other hell holes. Duranty was aware of this but chose not to report it.

Scholars such as Robert Conquest and Sally J. Taylor, have criticized Duranty for his deference to Joseph Stalin's and the Soviet Union's official propaganda in Duranty's news stories. Conquest has written any number of books from the 1970s onward including The Great Terror and Harvest of Sorrows which have been critical of Duranty's reporting from the Soviet Union. Taylor wrote a book in 1990 called Stalin's Apologist : Walter Duranty: The New York Times's Man in Moscow ....

All in all the record on the establishment of socialism in this country and it's continued love by the Left (Democrats) is the story of the infiltration by the NKVD,KGB into FDR's administration and the web it spread throught our society.

I could go on but .....
#1 Habu on 2007-06-08 09:21 (Reply)
Agree with all of the above.
#2 The B. on 2007-06-08 10:40 (Reply)
What we just defeated was the tippy tippy top of the iceberg.

This is far from over folks. This was round two of a heavyweight fight that will be very tough. The powers that be want to create the North American Union, a borderless north american of Mexico,the USA, and Canada. Accords have already been signed, commissions set up and the groundwork is well under way.


Folks, this is not a benign, "lets just get together" move. This is the nascent stages of a dissolution of the US into a loss of sovereignty.



Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SSP), which celebrated its first anniversary in March 2006, "provides a framework ... to advance collaboration in areas as diverse as security, transportation, the environment and public health," according to the March 31, 2006, White House news release "The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: Progress".

Representatives:

Originally, the SPP was "headed by three top cabinet level officers of each country. Representing the United States are Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Representing Mexico are Secretario de Economía Fernando Canales, Secretario de Gobernación Carlos Abascal, and Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Luis Ernesto Derbéz. Representing Canada are Minister of Industry David L. Emerson, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety, Anne McLellan, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Stewart Pettigrew." [1]

Working Groups:

Canada: Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
Mexico: Alianza para la Seguridad y la Prosperidad en América del Norte, Secretaria de Economia.
United States: Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, U.S. Department of Commerce.
[edit]Implementation
The SPP countries—Canada, Mexico and the United States—agreed March 23, 2005, to (as stated June 27, 2005):

North American Trusted Traveler Program.
All three countries have agreed to create a single, integrated program for North American trusted travelers by 2008. Individuals applying for trusted traveler status would be able to apply for the program and pay relevant fees in one transaction. Enrolled participants would have access to all established trusted travel lanes at land crossings, airports and marine programs. A single North American Trusted Traveler Program embodies the intent of the SPP to establish optimum security goals while accelerating legitimate cross-border trade and travel. The U.S. will also be working cooperatively to identify Western Hemisphere travel document standards required under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.
Preparedness and Incident Management Systems Integration. The United States, Canada and Mexico have agreed to transform North American preparedness for response to large-scale incidents by establishing protocols for incident management that impact border operations within 12 months. Protocols will also address maritime incidents, cross-border public health emergencies and cross-border law enforcement response. ... also committed to ensure interoperable communications systems and to participate in preparedness exercises that will strenuously test these protocols. In addition, the three countries will participate in a preparedness exercise in anticipation of the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics.
Border Enforcement. The United States and Mexico will form joint intelligence-sharing task forces along the U.S.-Mexico border to target criminal gang and trafficking organizations and reduce violence along the border. ... The United States and Canada will coordinate maritime enforcement programs to address the huge volume of boat traffic in our shared waterways.
Facilitated Flow of Legitimate Cargo and Travel Across Land Borders. The United States, Canada and Mexico have agreed to review our transportation and border facility needs, in partnership with stakeholders, and develop a plan to prioritize future port-of-entry-related infrastructure investments.
Shared Watchlists and Integrated Traveler Screening Procedures. The United States, Canada and Mexico have agreed to strengthen information sharing related to terrorists and criminals. ... also agreed to establish compatible screening standards for land, sea and air travel to identify and prevent high risk travelers and cargo before they depart for North America. Additionally, recommendations will be made on the enhanced use of biometrics in screening travelers destined to North America.
Maritime and Aviation Security. The SPP countries will also be working toward comparable standards for hold baggage and passenger screening, implementing no-fly programs throughout North America, and developing new protocols for air cargo inspection. ... working to develop compatible maritime regulatory regimes and to strengthen information sharing and coordinated operations in the maritime domain.
#3 Anonymous on 2007-06-08 10:45 (Reply)
The above on the North American Union and the SSP is by my hand. Apologies for the Anon.

SSP has it's own website if you care to look at it. It's all very benign sounding ...it is a three card Monty play for suckers...and the intelligensia once again see us, hoi polloi as the suckers.

Well they just don't understand Maggies Farm very well do they?

Thanks Bob


Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
#4 Habu on 2007-06-08 11:00 (Reply)
Habu, I greatly appreciate your energy & expertise in clarifying some of the fog around this, an issue of the ages.
#5 buddy larsen on 2007-06-08 13:04 (Reply)
Thanks Buddy,

You may have noticed that within the already established framework for this North American Union, uner the SSP area is the *North American Trusted Travellers Program*.....one has to wonder that if we have such a program we will in essence have no borders. We will not be able to keep those with forged documents(easy to get) from entering and staying. And it will be the US taxpayer who will foot the bill for the non existent Mexican medical model and the glacially moving socialist Canadian model...they'll all come here for treatment and Hillary will make damn sure they get it from our pocket...it's THE perfect bloodless Marxist revolution and it will be over before the average American is even aware of it. From medical treatment it's just a walk across the streeet to an American school where we are already REQUIRED to educate illegals..REQUIRED....each desk costing the US taxpayer somewhere in the neighborhood of $15,000.
#6 Habu on 2007-06-08 14:07 (Reply)
Habu, you do know that the Kyoto language, in attempting to explain why the treaty is good even without signatories such as China, India, and Brazil, says that the effect will be to "level the playing field" among the signatories.

Meaning, natch, that the Tranzis can only see to bring USA down, rather than to raise ROW ('rest of world') up.
#7 buddy larsen on 2007-06-08 15:07 (Reply)
The "nation-state", you see, is responsible for the world's ills.

Once the One World Borg is in "full" control, there'll be no problems at all (especially for those running the place).
#8 buddy larsen on 2007-06-08 15:13 (Reply)

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