Rasmussen: Just 53 percent say capitalism is preferable to socialism. The younger demographics are even scarier.
I think I’m okay with this new law.
1970s gay porn icon dies. Leaves behind . . . wife?
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine pardons two after DNA testing establishes their innocence.
Man with IQ of 47 gets 100 years in prison for molesting a six-year-old.
Whiny former Bush administration official pens piece attacking Obama for apologizing for Bush’s policies. She’s lucky. He should be doing a hell of a lot more than apologizing for them.
He blames gay marriage! But for . . . mass murders?
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TheAgitator.com
When throwing semen is outlawed, only outlaws will throw semen… Actually, yeah, I guess I’m okay with that.
Wow. Call me a snob, but a judge who uses the word “irregardless”?
Not to disparage my fellow Americans, who so routinely vote for wonderful politicians, but I’d wager what’s left of my 401K that less than 2% of those who took the poll know what ‘capitalism’ or ‘socialism’ is. If they thought we lived under a capitalist system prior to 2008, it’s only because they were never taught what mercantalism is. Perhaps if the question was worded as “Do you prefer an economic system where those with resources can manipulate the market via government force to increase their profits, drive away competition, and otherwise screw over the common man, or do you prefer an economic system that does the same thing, except it also prints some more money to pay for your medical bills and retirement (bringing on hyperinflation a little earlier than otherwise, but hopefully not until you are dead and/or comatose).”
Alright, Michael, you’re a snob.
And so am I, since I was just clicking through to say the exact same thing.
From watching some HBO programs that chronicle the lives of porn performers, there are evidently many men who perform in ‘gay porn’ that live perfectly straight lives behind the cameras. They do it for the money, as men in gay porn make a lot more money than those men who perform in front of the cameras in straight porn.
HBO, so educational….
Not really much to apologize for actually.
I was standing in my city’s main square, with thousands of others, during the “velvet revolution” that ended communism in Czechoslovakia. Soon thereafter I moved to the US to avoid a corrupt government in Slovakia. I returned and started a business there after a pro-business government was elected. I curbed my business activities after Slovakia joined the EU, and all kinds of socialist nonsense started seeping in again. After a socialist government came to power I permanently moved to the US. Now I don’t have anywhere left to run. In a few years, the majority of the US electorate may prefer socialism, and there won’t be anywhere for me to move anymore.
I guess in Texas he’s lucky they didn’t execute him.
Of course, I wonder if death would be preferrable to being sent to the organized gay rape camps they call prisons.
The comments on that Texas molestation article are pretty depressing.
I came in here to make a post similar to what Regarding Liberty did in #3, though my point was maybe a touch different. For the last 10-12 years, we’ve seen the systematic gutting of regulation in support of capitalism; the end result is that we watch Enron and WorldCom and Tyco and Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and GM and Chrysler all collapse. Obama proposes raising the top bracket tax rate from 36% to 39.5% (where it was when Reagan left office), and the howls and cries of socialism can be heard by anyone with a TV, radio, or access to the intertrons.
Most people want stability in their lives. People who have “done everything right” in terms of planning for retirement, or going to college to get a degree to get a better job, and all sorts of other similar things are getting screwed over by a system where we stripped restrictions off of how companies needed to act. It doesn’t surprise me that support for unbridled capitalism is falling. In an ideal world, Bear Stearn’s collapse wouldn’t affect me at all. In all truth, it freezes up the financial markets that were leveraged with debt beyond reason in the ever-moving goal of making that extra buck, and I end up watching coworkers get laid off because too many people promoted recklessness in business while my coworkers tried to keep their jobs.
Capitalism’s getting a bad rap, because we don’t have a truly capitalistic society. People want stability, but it doesn’t make them any happier that we’re propping up failing international banks so as to not strangle our economy any further. In the mean time, we’ve got the GOP screaming cries of bloody socialism at any regulatory bill or tax increase Obama proposes. If I took them seriously, I’d expect Karl Marx himself to be visiting the White House shortly. The government’s not exactly nationalizing the means of production here, but what people see is that he’s trying to stabilize things so that my neighbor doesn’t lose his job because some big-shot banker in London thought it was a great idea to insure crappy mortgage-backed securities for which he had no collateral to pay with while his company’s executives paid him hundreds of millions of dollars. Tie that in with all the cries of socialism, and it doesn’t surprise me that people are less enamored with capitalism.
And let’s face it: the survey results have it 53% for capitalism, 20% for socialism, and another 27% are too ignorant, uninformed, or apathetic to care. That’s not exactly a rousing endorsement of socialism there so much people not having faith in the system.
I often see seemingly intelligent and well read people on this blog argue about definitions of many different concepts (capitalism, socialism, anarchy, libertarianism) without reaching much of a consensus. I think the public at large can somewhat be excused for not knowing either. Personally, I just believe whatever wikipedia tells me.
That said, even if you changed the questions of the survey any way you like, to fit what you believe the questions should say, you might just be disturbed by just how many people still wouldn’t change their answer.
Sorry, but I am physiologically incapable of reading any article that invokes “American exceptionalism” in the first sentence non-ironically.
People who spit on cops will be sex offenders in Oregon.
I can’t say that I agree with that law. And not because I like to throw semen.
My problem is this…When we are writing law we never seem to get it right. We either paint with too broad a brush or too narrow. So now it is more ‘evil’ to throw semen than say blood? Or urine? Gasoline? Is it any semen or just human semen? What if it just looks like semen?
And wasn’t there already a law on the books that could cover this, without enacting new law? What purpose does this law serve other than to appear to be doing something?
According to a website I found in a quick search, there are mandatory sentences in Oregon as follows:
# Assault in the first degree — 90 months
# Assault in the second degree — 70 months
# Sexual Abuse in the first degree — 75 months
I don’t know what 2nd degree Sex Abuse carries, but presumably it is less than first degree.
So instead of just charging someone with assault if they throw cum, we need to create a new law that specifically mandates that it is not assault, but a lesser degree of sex abuse. When in my opinion, it is assault.
We did not need new law. This seems like it is just another show.
Buried in the Rassmussen report: “It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a “free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.”
Obviously people don’t equate modern capitalism with the free markets. I think they more closely associate it with merchantilism, although they probably don’t know what that big word means.
You know the Rasmussen report isn’t all that disturbing to me. Whats been done to the word capitalism is the same thing that has been done to words like conservative, and liberal.
In the modern political dialogue being a conservative means being a bible-thumbing-hate-monger, being a liberal means being a vegan-hemp-wearing-pussy. Partisan politics has made it so that none of these words have anything to do with a political philosophy.
In the same way capitalism means cronyism, the government buying out every company too stupid to be able to turn a profit, and a merger between banks the treasury department. To a lay person this is capitalism, just politicians and CEO’s engaged in mutual masturbation. If this is capitalism then what the hell is socialism and really could it be that much worse?
All that report tells me is that capitalism has been so far removed from the American economic system for so long that Americans can’t really tell the difference between capitalism and socialism.
Some cities and states have laws that prohibit defacing particular structures. They even post the ordinance number on the structure. I’ve always wondered why you need a law just to cover that one structure or monument. Why isn’t the law that forbids defacing other property sufficient.
That’s how I feel about the bodily fluids law.
Also, I don’t particularly like the differentiation of sex crimes or hate crimes from other “lesser” crimes. Assault is assault. In determining the penalty, all that matters is the extent of the resulting injuries and the degree of intent on the part of the perpetrator. A victim isn’t less of a victim because the crime against him wasn’t motivated by sex or race.
I can just see someone being branded a sex criminal for tossing a burning bag of shit on someone’s doorstep and ringing the doorbell. While, a potentially dangerous act, it hardly constitutes a sex crime.
Re: 47 IQ kid.
The torture has only begun for this kid. You’ve gotta really be one sick fuck to rape an 18-yo who is a mental peer with a 1st grader.
Given that prison is filled with said sick fucks, it’s a good thing we send potheads to general population, smoking dope being the violent crime that it is.
/fucking rage
re: Jack Wrangler
I can’t help but think of the Scott Thompson character Wally Terzinsky from Kids In the Hall: Brain Candy.
“Hi kids, where’s your Father?”
“Upstairs masturbating to gay porn.”
“Again?”
Expanding on Ganja’s point, also of note in the Rasmussen report:
“Just 14% believe the federal government would do a better job running auto companies, and even fewer believe government would do a better job running financial firms.”
Sounds like they think they support socialism more than they really do.
If we suppose the guy with the 47 IQ can’t consent to sex, then he definitely has limited options. If he has sex with someone his age who isn’t retarded, his partner could be charged with rape. If he has sex with someone his own age with a similar IQ, he could be charged with rape. If he has sex with someone underage, regardless of IQ, he can be charged with rape.
Anyway you slice it, the guy is fucked.
Disclaimer: Unlike most of my comments, which are based on irrefutable scientific data making argument futile, the above might be total hogwash conjured up out of thin air.
I had the same reaction as Marc at #13. The minute I read the text of the law I thought “well, thats going to be used to arrest someone who yells at a cop and loses a tiny fleck of saliva.” Its not just going to be used for people who actively spit on cops, but anyone who does anything that gets them wet. Its a new nuisance law.
“Just 53 percent say capitalism is preferable to socialism.”
Those must be the same ones who stay home on election day.
Jack may have been gay for pay or, more likely, bi-sexual. But the bi-sexuals haven’t had their day in the media spotlight and tend to get ignored. Talk to your gay/lesbian friends about bi-sexuals and it might be interesting for you (if they are truthful). Maybe times have changed, but I had two bi-sexual girlfriends that got beat up mentally by their gay friends. Hey, it’s all labels anyway…more learnings from the hippies.
Why on Earth outlaw bukkake?
NEVER believe a poll. I have no doubt that 99% of the people in America, if they understood capitalism, would be against it. But, if they REALLY understood socialism about 99% would be against that. So where does that leave you? I’ve said before the battle is over. We’re headed for socialism and will just bicker about the definition (it’s begun already…even here). Free markets? Capitalism? I guess I will share with Mises that neither of us saw it in our lifetime. People ain’t ready they ain’t ready they ain’t ready and it SUCKS! Maybe when the robots take over…
I want a time machine so I can kick Keynes in the marble bag.
My main complaint about the Gay Marriage/Mass Murder article is the punctuation (besides the fallacy that religion equals morality and secularism is immoral).
There is no reason to run an entire article in quotes, and no matter how many times you put quotation marks around gay marriage it still pretty much means the same thing as it did without the quotation marks.
Reason to hope:
It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a “free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.
A poll about capitalism is retarded. The word has been hijacked to mean anything from the present situation to zero government interference in the economy. The word is worse than useless as a result. You can’t use it in a discussion without explicitly defining it beforehand, and even then, people will usually insert their own definition of it anyways when they process what you say. Better to just say what you mean without the word.
—–
The retarded guy is screwed (pun intended). Societal forces label “evil” anything remotely resembling mercy for anyone doing anything which can possibly connect the words sex and child. Specifics such as the guy having an intelligence of approximately the victim, or the victim’s mother not wanting to press the issue are irrelevant.
Particularly depressing was reading one foaming mouth after another repeat rationalizations to the effect of “he hid therefore he knew it was wrong therefore a lifetime of general population rape is a fair punishment”. I remember my own explorations at a young age, and I hid too. Guess I’m an immoral animal too. I haven’t chanced upon any other kids engaged in exploration either. If only we had even more prisons we might be able to do something about this scourge.
An execution would have been mercy. If I was faced with spending the rest of my life in a prison’s general population, and it turned out to be half as bad as it sounds like from the outside, I’m pretty sure I’d kill myself at the first opportunity. Unfortunately, this guy almost certainly won’t be able to figure out how to do that, even if he comes to desire it.
So, does this make Peter North a criminal? Or any of the millions of people who shoot their ejaculate during consensual sex? If you think a chick wants a facial but she changes her mind?
Thanks Radley for the story about the gay marriage = mass murder. Got me a green on Fark!
[...] to the rising demographic the necessarily reality-referential concepts denoted by those words. (Balko: “The younger demographics are even scarier.”) It is very important to understand that these are [...]
re: Nicolle Wallace
Well, I think I can see why she’d write a foolish article like that one
I’m assuming that those would be the same interviews that exposed Sarah Palin as hopelessly out of her depth once the interviewers asked follow-up questions to her basic talking points?
Should it really be that surprising that someone that clueless is still defending Bush’s policies?
Re: Oregon law. The alleged act supposedly prompting the law would not necessarily be a violation of the law. The law specifically makes illegal propelling [semen] at a person when done for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire. The article describes the incident which prompted the law as being related to a rite of gang initiation. There isn’t anything in the description which suggests the act was intended to arouse or gratify sexual desire; quit the contrary, it was a simple assault. I’d be more satisfied if the Oregon legislature would pass a law making criminal the act of flinging shitty law on an unwary public.
On the other hand, 70% favor free markets to government managed markets.
I’d guess that the capitalism vs. socialism poll has more to do with the fact that decades of Republicans backing mercantilism and calling it “capitalism” has ruined the word than it has to do with any actual change in views.
it’d scare me to see a poll asking what percentage of hs students know who keynes/hayek were and if they have any understanding of their philosophies.
I think many of the people responding to a poll about economics are guessing based on what they saw on cnn…
OTOH, the right is always more than happy to decry the socialism of Europe, so, you know, if you’re defining socialism by those terms (“the system under which everyone gets health care and a 30 hour work week!”) then it’s probably more appealing than it otherwise would be.
In the “Gay Marriage/Mass Murder” article, the author keeps referring to the malign influence of secularism on “weak-minded people,” causing them to commit crimes.
Does he mean Baptists?
I guess the State of Oregon has made the answer to, “Spit or swallow?” a matter of law.
Socialism, eh? Are we talking what the GOP refers to socialism? Hell the GOP has called everything they’ve disagreed with socialism or communism for so long that the terms don’t really mean anything anymore. I wonder how the GOP will split up? It should be interesting.
I don’t think the guy in the article specifically blames gay marriage for the binghamton shooting. I think that in the first part he is saying- and I agree- that society has become unmoored and disaffected with no families and communities grounding people and so forcing them to find emotional fulfillment in brutal videogames and shopping. And he is right.
The second part where he gets into how this ties into gay marriage is when he goes off the rails: If gay people want to be in a loving and committed relationship they should be held up as examples not ostracized.
I love your site, but you just pulled a total “Drudge Report” move:
Your headline:
He blames gay marriage! But for . . . mass murders?
What the author actually says:
“It most certainly is not my intention to blame the epidemic of mass murders on the gay rights movement!”
I support your premise on this issue (that fundamentalists have some pretty outlandish views on the “harms” of lifestyles different from their own), but there is no need to conflate their stupidity, it indicates a weakness in your premise (which is, in reality, not really weak).