Comments on: What’s A Socialist, Mommy? http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/ Firedoglake weblog Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:38:03 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: sona http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1551495 sona Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:54:27 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1551495 <p>perhaps an American doctor does not know how to - I spent four years seconded to the UN from the Australian Public Service (APS) in the USA after three years in Geneva with the OECD, again as an APS employee, but I had to come back - my daughters are here and so is the sun and there is so much work to do even in a country that has not got boxes about socialism, marxism, communism, etc, etc……</p> <p>but we threw howard out of Parliament and that was a small step</p> perhaps an American doctor does not know how to – I spent four years seconded to the UN from the Australian Public Service (APS) in the USA after three years in Geneva with the OECD, again as an APS employee, but I had to come back – my daughters are here and so is the sun and there is so much work to do even in a country that has not got boxes about socialism, marxism, communism, etc, etc……

but we threw howard out of Parliament and that was a small step

]]> By: Justina http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550835 Justina Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:14:14 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550835 <p>Australia is a great country. I had my first shocking taste of socialized medicine there in a Sydney emergency room due to a motorcycle muffler burn incurred in the Cook Islands. It festered and upon arriving in Sydney, went straight to the E.R. where a lovely doctor fixed up my wound, then offered us a cup of tea, which she made.</p> <p>After she handed me a bottle of antibiotics, I asked her for the bill. She was shocked. “What bill? There are no bills here.” I was astounded. No American doctor had ever made me tea!</p> Australia is a great country. I had my first shocking taste of socialized medicine there in a Sydney emergency room due to a motorcycle muffler burn incurred in the Cook Islands. It festered and upon arriving in Sydney, went straight to the E.R. where a lovely doctor fixed up my wound, then offered us a cup of tea, which she made.

After she handed me a bottle of antibiotics, I asked her for the bill. She was shocked. “What bill? There are no bills here.” I was astounded. No American doctor had ever made me tea!

]]> By: sona http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550715 sona Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:33:01 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550715 <p>some of us live in Australia</p> <p>seriously, having grown up, till age 30, in the UK, conservatives across Europe, the UK included, are more left than any sitting Democrat in the House or Senate with the exception of Kucinich - did you know the UK public voted Marx to be the most influential philosopher of the 20th century?</p> <p>Australia is not socialist but we chucked Howard out and Rudd is a control freak who loves the tin bells and whistles stuff apart from speaking mandarin and is attempting to recover from the delusion that all of Asia east of the Arabian Sea speak it too</p> <p>We do have good health care and enjoy the longest average life expectancy after Japan and the seas are warm, surf’s great and the sands are pale gold - corals are beautiful too if we can keep them</p> some of us live in Australia

seriously, having grown up, till age 30, in the UK, conservatives across Europe, the UK included, are more left than any sitting Democrat in the House or Senate with the exception of Kucinich – did you know the UK public voted Marx to be the most influential philosopher of the 20th century?

Australia is not socialist but we chucked Howard out and Rudd is a control freak who loves the tin bells and whistles stuff apart from speaking mandarin and is attempting to recover from the delusion that all of Asia east of the Arabian Sea speak it too

We do have good health care and enjoy the longest average life expectancy after Japan and the seas are warm, surf’s great and the sands are pale gold – corals are beautiful too if we can keep them

]]> By: Ian Welsh http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550689 Ian Welsh Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:21:44 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550689 <p>Front page stories aren’t supposed to be that obviously biased. Cracks like that should be in the columns or editorials.</p> Front page stories aren’t supposed to be that obviously biased. Cracks like that should be in the columns or editorials.

]]> By: Watson http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550652 Watson Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:07:32 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550652 <p>‘Liberal ideology insists that a society in which conscious solidarity is the dominating attitude/approach is impossible, because humans are primarily and perpetually motivated by individual material incentives. </p> <p>‘ … the “Bolivarian Revolution” is challenging the core liberal tenet that narrow self-interest is the immutable human condition… [that] humans can come to value social solidarity if institutions are designed to facilitate and not to penalize cooperation.’ </p> <p>Empirical Study of Venezuelan Cooperatives, Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, Monthly Review, November 2007 <a href="http://www.monthlyreview.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.monthlyreview.org/</a></p> ‘Liberal ideology insists that a society in which conscious solidarity is the dominating attitude/approach is impossible, because humans are primarily and perpetually motivated by individual material incentives.

‘ … the “Bolivarian Revolution” is challenging the core liberal tenet that narrow self-interest is the immutable human condition… [that] humans can come to value social solidarity if institutions are designed to facilitate and not to penalize cooperation.’

Empirical Study of Venezuelan Cooperatives, Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, Monthly Review, November 2007 http://www.monthlyreview.org/

]]> By: ekunin http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550650 ekunin Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:06:30 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550650 <p>They are social democracies, better than anything the US has come up with, but they are still hierarchies.</p> They are social democracies, better than anything the US has come up with, but they are still hierarchies.

]]> By: Justina http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550592 Justina Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:36:38 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550592 <p>And some socialists get to live on the shores of the Caribbean — in Venezuela — which is tropical, like Hawaii. Some socialists, like me, get to live in the beautiful Andes mountains of Venezuela, where the climate is moderate and the milk and cheese is delicious.</p> <p>Add to that free public education to the Ph.D. level, with monthly stipends for student living expenses, free medical care, government subsidies for cooperative and small business start-up costs, subsidies for home purchases and government-subsidized food markets known as “mercals” for everyone, and government-subsidized restaurants where full course meals cost under a dollar and… oh yes, gas is 14 cents a gallon.</p> <p>No, Venezuela is not perfect. There is street crime, bad city traffic. a long-entrenched bureaucracy, and not everyone has adequate housing as yet. But Chavez is working on those problems, in the face of a an often violent and frequently destabilizing opposition, which is generously funded by the Bush-Chaney administration. </p> <p>It is not easy to change a society from capitalist individualism and consumerism to socialist humanism, but that is the goal here. It’s working.</p> <p>And, if the American public has finally had enough of socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the rest, maybe you folks wouldn’t have to move anywhere to live in a socialist paradise. Si, se peude — if we work at it.</p> And some socialists get to live on the shores of the Caribbean — in Venezuela — which is tropical, like Hawaii. Some socialists, like me, get to live in the beautiful Andes mountains of Venezuela, where the climate is moderate and the milk and cheese is delicious.

Add to that free public education to the Ph.D. level, with monthly stipends for student living expenses, free medical care, government subsidies for cooperative and small business start-up costs, subsidies for home purchases and government-subsidized food markets known as “mercals” for everyone, and government-subsidized restaurants where full course meals cost under a dollar and… oh yes, gas is 14 cents a gallon.

No, Venezuela is not perfect. There is street crime, bad city traffic. a long-entrenched bureaucracy, and not everyone has adequate housing as yet. But Chavez is working on those problems, in the face of a an often violent and frequently destabilizing opposition, which is generously funded by the Bush-Chaney administration.

It is not easy to change a society from capitalist individualism and consumerism to socialist humanism, but that is the goal here. It’s working.

And, if the American public has finally had enough of socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the rest, maybe you folks wouldn’t have to move anywhere to live in a socialist paradise. Si, se peude — if we work at it.

]]> By: blueindigo http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550548 blueindigo Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:55:47 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550548 <p>I read that article in the Austin Statesman; the whole thing was totally snarky towards the whole convention and those who attended. However, that wasn’t the total coverage; there was something in the paper every day and most was objective.</p> I read that article in the Austin Statesman; the whole thing was totally snarky towards the whole convention and those who attended. However, that wasn’t the total coverage; there was something in the paper every day and most was objective.

]]> By: SouthernDragon http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550543 SouthernDragon Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:51:55 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550543 <p>edit - didn’t <strike>come</strike> succeed</p> edit – didn’t come succeed

]]> By: SouthernDragon http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550541 SouthernDragon Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:50:43 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/whats-a-socialist-mommy/#comment-1550541 <p>Yep. I think Lenin was a poor choice as leader. Trotsky was a great organizer and writer but I don’t think he’d have made it either. Trotsky’s <em>1905</em> and <em>History of the Russian Revolution</em> are great reading if one is a history buff. <em>1905</em> is particularly good. It’s too bad the revolt in 1905 didn’t come succeed.</p> Yep. I think Lenin was a poor choice as leader. Trotsky was a great organizer and writer but I don’t think he’d have made it either. Trotsky’s 1905 and History of the Russian Revolution are great reading if one is a history buff. 1905 is particularly good. It’s too bad the revolt in 1905 didn’t come succeed.

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