Posts by James Bremner
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I got the top comment, and even better it just kept on giving!! Got to love that. Do I get a prize for that? Surely I do?!
Always interesting and enjoyable to interact with people of mostly different viewpoints.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all
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Interesting read from Stratfor on the reasons behind the fall of the wall and subsequent decades in Russia.
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20091109_russian_dilemma
An article that sums things up the inherent faults in communism quite well, including this quote from JFK:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-berlin-wall-15282.
"it is clear that the forces of diversity are at work inside the Communist camp, despite all the iron disciplines of regimentation and all the iron dogmatisms of ideology. Marx is proven wrong once again: for it is the closed Communist societies, not the free and open societies which carry within themselves the seeds of internal disintegration. The disarray of the Communist empire has been heightened by two other formidable forces. One is the historical force of nationalism -- and the yearning of all men to be free. The other is the gross inefficiency of their economies. For a closed society is not open to ideas of progress--and a police state finds that it cannot command the grain to grow."
All Reagan did was ramp up the pressure on the defective system eloquently described by Kennedy until it collapsed. In economic terms he simply increased their costs with a military build up the Soviets couldn’t match, and reduced their income by persuading Fahd to open the spigot collapsing the price of oil, the Soviets only source of hard currency that they needed to buy the grain that their defective system couldn’t produce in order to feed their population. In the end game, Gorby couldn't send his tanks into Poland or East Germany as the loans he needed from the west (due to less oil revenue) in order to buy western grain (that they couldn't produce) would have disappeared. At its core very simple. How could this simple and voluminously documented fact be offensive? As Stratfor article explains Gorbachev was no liberal, he didn’t have a choice, and so the explanation that you occasionally hear that Gorby just woke up one day and thought “Gee, let’s stop suppressing the masses, what a nice idea!” is just bollocks.
As Stratfor frequently discusses, the need for hard currency explains Russia behavior to this day. Russia’s major and vital export is oil, they need oil to be expensive in order to fund the Russian Govt so they are willing, able and happy to do geopolitically whatever they can do keep the price up. Like play all manner of games regarding Iran’s nuke program.
Andin: Millions dying in Cuba? No, just tens of thousands over the years (if I recall correctly it is estimated that 70,000 have drowned trying to flee the worker's paradise over the years.) But it is estimated that 2 1/2 million people starved to death in North Korea in the mid 90s, and who knows how many are dying right now, they have another famine. So, yes, millions.
Just thinking: Yes, I once had the desire to go to Cuba myself, as I found out more about what a totalitarian hell hole Cuba really is, a veritable Caribbean gulag, my desire diminished.
Here is a great article on the Cuban revolution, in the form of a review of Andy Garcia's great movie, The Lost City. It is a lot of fun, a real piss-take on the many Hollywood and media Fidel apologist wankers. Some interesting comparative data points on Cuba v Europe & the US circa 1958 that I bet you have never read before which makes Cuba's current miserable situation after 50 years of Fidel's hell all the more tragic.
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1989 was a good year because the “The Communist government of East Germany resigned” and the “checkpoints were opened”. Just happened all by itself did it? Is that an understatement or misunderstanding or just being casual about one of the most positive events of the last century (or in all of human history)? One hundred million lives and the suffering of billions of people are worth a bit more than such casual detachment aren’t they?
It is a great shame, and a stain on honor of modern society that we don't do much to remember the victims of Communism. Here is some one who is trying to correct that, to some extent.
http://www.reason.tv/video/show/lee-edwards
I have done a bit of reading on the Gulags recently. Hard to comprehend state sponsored suffering and cruelty on that scale.
It is, I think an even greater shame on modern society that we don't spend much, if any time, focusing on the millions who still suffer under the greatest disaster to ever befall the human race, the demented and destructive musings of Marx and Engels. For those poor people their 1989 hasn’t happened yet, their walls are still very much up.
Think of the millions who still suffer, are imprisoned and / or die in Cuba, North Korea, Burma & Zimbabwe, Marx’s worker's paradises all. And the bleeding hearts sip their lattes, wear their Che Guevara tee shirts (imagine the reaction to wearing a Heinrich Himmler tee shirt?) and ignore the epic on-going suffering and death in those remaining Marxist hold outs while jerking off over the “incredible outrages” of Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, which aren’t even a fly speck in comparison, even if you take the dimmest view of what happened, or is happening in those places. A very firm grip on the wrong end of the stick, in my view. If you are bent out of shape by Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, you ought to be in a paroxysm of rage about North Korean Cuba et al.
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NZ is a truly great place, so beautiful and that beauty is so accessible. While I am happy and settled where I am, every time I come back to NZ I think “Why the hell don’t I live here?” I am a boatie type person, so the accessibility of the coast and beaches in NZ is just about second to none. On the other hand, being a hop, a skip and a jump from the Caribbean isn’t a bad consolation.
When I married my wife, who is from Venezuela, which is a very long way from NZ, I knew I was probably not going to be going back to NZ, which was quite a wrench, as I had always had the “when I go back home …” thought in the back of my mind. Still my wife does really like NZ, so a move back is not completely out of the question.
All countries have their drawbacks, the ones NZ has that stand out to me include: infrastructure. I mean how long should it take to plan, approve and build a road? Way too long in NZ. Cost. It seems to me that NZ has become quite a bit more expensive, especially housing, and interest rates are definitely higher. Combine those higher costs with reduced opportunities due to small size and the consequent lower salaries and that does make things in NZ tougher than they might be.
On the plus side, NZ has become so much more cosmopolitan over the last 15 years. NZ also seems to be losing that old tall poppy anti achievement attitude toward business and entrepreneurs that used to be so prevalent. From my observations business success in NZ is now more likely to be celebrated these days than suspected or criticized with that old socialistic “if you got rich, you must have screwed someone” zero sum game attitude. There are many great business successes in NZ these days; Trade Me, Xero, Peter Jackson etc, NZ wine, the boating industry, dairy just to mention those that immediately come to mind. It is great to see these world class successes in NZ
While no system is perfect, least of all anything involving government of any kind, NZ’s ACC system has a lot to recommend it as opposed to the “Jackpot justice” of trial lawyers and ambulance chasers we have in the US. It is the biggest single problem in healthcare in the US, something like 30% of medical tests run in the US are “defensive medicine”, done for protection in the event of a suit. How can you even pretend to be serious about healthcare reform and reducing costs and insurance premiums without a robust plan for tort reform? The big O sticking it to trial lawyers? Now that is change I could really believe in!!
NZ’s struggles with productivity growth have surprised me. In my estimation, Kiwis are some of the best original and creative problem solvers in the world so productivity growth ought to be a natural outcome of that. The recent discussions on capital depth or lack there of being a major cause, make sense. NZ has to fix this issue or it will continue to suffer relative decline to a lot of other countries which will impact the numbers of Kiwis leaving or not coming back in the future.
Interesting to read a few comments on this thread about the negative views of NZ of some expats being created by the news media. “If it bleeds it leads”, which I think it is fair to say is the modis operandi of all media worldwide and a major factor in many peoples’ negative views and I would say misunderstanding of a quite a bit to do with the USA, as well as screwing up some expat Kiwis views of NZ.
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you just don't know that they wouldn't try this kind of shit.
I was gonna be sarcastic and everything, but meh. Do you actually know strawmen when you use them?
Just read the article
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James, it's probably also worth noting that your figures come from Rasmussen, which is not a particularly reliable polling organisation. It's not described as "the Fox News of opinion polling" for nothing.
As I recall, Rasmussen was the most accurate polling organization in the last 2 elections.
You lefties need to stop blaming the evil Fox News or the Repubs for every setback or problem Obama or the Dems have and consider that maybe either the Dems or the O are making mistakes in their strategy, tactics and communications, or that people just don't like what they see coming down the pike.
Being concerned about more govt expansion after a period of massive govt expansion (TARP, auto takeovers, stimulus porkfest, mega budget etc. cap and trade in the offing ) and being concerned about more govt spending in a time of massive deficits as far as the eye can see are hardly unreasonable view points and perfectly valid reasons to oppose Obamacare and show up in polls on the subject.
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More poll info on Obama and healthcare, not positive for the Big O.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_re_us/us_ap_poll_health_care
Ordinarily you would blow off the article below as too paranoid, but these guys in D.C today are just so left, they are hot for Card Check, stripping people of a secret ballot, an utter abomination and it is dear to their leftie hearts, you just don't know that they wouldn't try this kind of shit.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574400571702189240.html
AP gives the O a bit of a hard time fact checking his speech. That is unusual.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_fact_check
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A good summary of a lot of opinion polling on the healthcare issue.
One of the key points is that of the 85% of the population (307-45/307) that has health insurance, 70% rate it highly (only 6% rate it poor). Not many believe Obama when he keeps saying the current health reform proposals will lead to lower costs and better care. So the vast majority who are happy with their current situation believes that the proposal on the table will make their situation worse. That is a hard sale at any time.
People want lower costs and better access for themselves and for those uninsured, but not at the risk of ending up worse than they are now. Hardly an unreasonable position.
Here is a good analysis by Michael Barone of why the Congress and Obama are out of touch with mainstream America on healthcare, cap and trae, card check etc They are not of mainstream America, they are way left of the mainstream. This growing realization is hurting Obama, who was supposed to be the great bipartisan healer (according to his campaign anyway). That all went out the window with the stimulus and it has been downhill from there. Not much fun feeling had, as more people apparently are.
As for this being a make or break for Obama, whatever it is, it is a big deal, Obama himself has made it so. He has said that healthcare reform is his number one priority, and he is screwing it up, making some pretty basic mistakes, like not having his own plan that he can explain, repeating statements that few people believe, and Dems calling people who disagree with them Nazis etc. Not smart. (it seems like such a short time ago that dissent was the highest form of patriotism!!) If you can’t get your number one priority through with the majorities he has, he will have diminished authority.
The US system is designed to be checked and balanced. The founding fathers spent most of their time trying to figure out how to stop the seemingly inevitable slide of govt into tyranny so they designed a system full of checks and balances that makes making changes difficult. It is messy, but it was designed that way, for better or worse. I think for better, as Mark Twain said, “When Congress is in session, your liberty and property are in peril!!” Too true!!
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A Rasmussen poll showing people really don't feel good about the healthcare proposals being offered by Obama and the Dems
Article describing how Obama got himself into the pickle he is now in. Not very skillful one has to say.
In other words, no matter what legislative package Congress passes, a radical restructuring of the nation's health-care delivery system threatens a status quo in which eight out of 10 people are perfectly happy with their own situations.
So that puts me right in the majority position with 80% of Americans. I am happy with my healthcare, but I see the need for changes to make things better for me and for others. But first things first, I must be satisfied that the changes proposed will makes thing better, not worse, and I and don't see Obamacare meeting that basic standard. Hardly an unreasonable position.
The thought of bureaucrats and politicians, like those at the Army Corp of Engineers who can’t design a simple levy, the City and State govts of LA, and FEMA who all screwed up so badly getting more involved in the healthcare system through more involvement or a Government plan leaves me cold to say the least. Again, hardly unreasonable.
A rather tougher article on Obama's competence and the fact that those who run the House and Senate are far to the left of the average American, which is a big part of the current healthcare circus. These schmucks just can't understand why Americans aren't buying what they are selling.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/08/amateur_hour_at_the_white_hous_1.html
The potential cost of the Dems’ proposals is also a major issue. This builds on top of the major concerns about the spending of Bush and the Repubs when they controlled the purse strings that have only been compounded by the cost of TARP, the "Stimulus bill", the GM & Chrysler bailouts, Obama's budget etc. No one believes Obama's claim that his package will be deficit neutral (even after massive tax increases).
Obama's budget projections have massive trillion dollar deficits off into the future, Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt fast (much sooner after the recent market downturn) and we need another massive Govt program that will only cost much more than budgeted? Sure, what a good idea.
Be very interesting to watch how it all pans out.
As for coming along and posting every now and again, and then disappearing for a while, I don’t have an interest in many of the topics, and I don't have the time to post that many of you apparently do!! I have wondered from time to time; what the many frequent posters do for jobs, because whatever they do apparently allows them a lot of time for non-work related activities!!
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$22k for a pregancy is not anything like normal. I can't remember what my wife's 2 cost, single digit thousands of which we paid about $1000 out of pocket.