First the Superconducting Super Collider, now the James Web Space telescope?

On 25/08/2011 06:44, Chris.B wrote:
Britain has seen an increase in Physics and science students. They
think this is due to a popular astronomy and science, TV programme
headed up by Dr Brian Cox. He was young, good fun, prepossessing,
passionate and obviously highly intelligent. Not a grey old boor
mumbling down to his captive audience. People could relate to Cox and
absorb what he said and showed on his global travels.

Communist dictatorship denies good men the right to question the evil
they see everywhere in the crude and totally corrupt system of
control. Communism values control above all else to allow its corrupt
hierarchy to milk the people of every right they were born with. A
social pressure cooker waits to explode. Or a grey world of misery
where drunkenness and bribery rule.

Religion denies good men the right to speak out about the evil they
see everywhere in this crude and corrupt system of control. Western
religions value wealth above all else. They will use their evil
influence to build obscene property folios and treasures. In poverty-
ridden Greece the church owns a very large fraction of the entire
country. Why?

Nationalism denies good men the ability to speak out about the evil
they see all around them. To do so means that a flagpole will be used
to beat them into silence. Knee jerk national loyalty, auto-religious,
mumbo jumbo and flag waving are precisely where America fails. Its
crippling Achilles heels denies it the ability to progress beyond the
worship of money. The Dream is a nightmare for tens of millions.
Meanwhile you have locked your voting system into he with the most
advertising money, the most nationalism and the most religious
bull****. It doesn't seem to be working for most of you. Does it?

You have a massive illegal drugs culture and it pays far better to
sell drugs than to study. Or to steal instead of working. Rather than
work for minimum wage for an untaxed billionaire. One who stashes his
wealth offshore to avoid ever paying his way like everyone else has
to. Has reducing taxes for the rich provided more jobs? European
billionaires are publicly demanding to be taxed more. As have some
American billionaires. So much for the ultra-selfish here who spout
their demands for dictatorship and brain damaging of the poor by
beating them into silence with flag and cross. How about offering just
a little respect and self respect for ordinary men and women in
exchange for the taxes which are handed straight to the rich?

One's nationality and religion are purely accidents of birth.
Deformities which can be utilised to crudely control the masses. While
the world's elite live the lives of Egyptian Pharaohs. Untouchable by
taxes, daily concerns and even quite ordinary justice. They enjoy
global diplomatic immunity entirely as a result of their wealth.
+1

Quadibloc:
The People's Republic of China is a dictatorship. Thus, terrible
things happen there to innocent people all the time, and there is no
recourse; and to survive there for any length of time, one has to be
willing to be complicit in that.

The PRC is a dictatorship of predatory capitalism (is there any other
kind?). The greed of capitalists has no limits, and their willingness
to enslave and murder in the pursuit of profit is unbounded. Pretty
much like what the right wants for the USA.

Despite economic progress, life behind the Bamboo Curtain in Hu
Jintao's China is still a nightmare, just as it was in Khruschev's and
Brezhnev's and Andropov's and Chernenko's Russia in addition to
Stalin's Russia.

I have been in the PRC and I would not go so far to say that life there
is a nightmare in general, at least no more than one would expect from
the most extreme form of capitalists that run the place.

Those who have the good fortune to live in a country where freedom and
justice reign, where injustices can be openly discussed, so that the
people can work to right them... should not throw that away.

Yes, I used to live in a country like that. Now, however, those who
favor freedom (of or from religion, e.g.) and justice are vilified.
"Not real Americans." "America haters." "Want the terrorists to win."
"Socialists." "Communists."

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:12:24 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
wrote:

The People's Republic of China is a dictatorship. Thus, terrible
things happen there to innocent people all the time, and there is no
recourse; and to survive there for any length of time, one has to be
willing to be complicit in that.

Terrible things happen everywhere. I'm not defending dictatorships,
but they can be very efficient forms of government, and I don't think
China's is a particularly "evil" one. Individual freedom is China is
nearly as broad as in the U.S., so long as you don't choose to stir
the political pot... and few care to. On the whole, Chinese people
seem happy and comfortable with their situation... more so, perhaps,
than Americans. That's an important indicator of societal success.


Those who have the good fortune to live in a country where freedom and
justice reign, where injustices can be openly discussed, so that the
people can work to right them... should not throw that away.

Well, Americans are currently throwing these things away in our own
country. Choosing to live and work in China is not necessarily
throwing anything away. Doing so doesn't require changing one's
citizenship, or prevent one from leaving if they don't like things.
But I've read several accounts of Westerners living for extended
periods in China, and they haven't found themselves in any sort of
nightmare. Indeed, most seem to develop a respect for a system that is
working pretty well for most of its citizens. That doesn't mean there
isn't a lot of room for improvement... but in what country isn't
there?

"Quadibloc" wrote in message
...
On Aug 24, 6:00 pm, Chris L Peterson wrote:
I did read a synopsis online, but if I
understand it (and you) correctly, I can't really agree with your
assessment.

The People's Republic of China is a dictatorship. Thus, terrible
things happen there to innocent people all the time, and there is no
recourse; and to survive there for any length of time, one has to be
willing to be complicit in that.

Despite economic progress, life behind the Bamboo Curtain in Hu
Jintao's China is still a nightmare, just as it was in Khruschev's and
Brezhnev's and Andropov's and Chernenko's Russia in addition to
Stalin's Russia.

Those who have the good fortune to live in a country where freedom and
justice reign, where injustices can be openly discussed, so that the
people can work to right them... should not throw that away.

John Savard
==========================================
The USA is a concealed dictatorship. Thus, terrible things happen in
Guantanamo Bay to innocent people all the time, just as they did
when Andrew Jackson committed genocide on the aboriginal people,
and there is no recourse; and to survive there for any length of time,
one has to be willing to be complicit in that. They have the weapons
of mass destruction that nobody else must have, and they make war
for oil on the pretence that Iraq has weapons it did not have. The
dictators are invisible, they always use a front man that the people are
fooled into voting for, and he is called a president, but the real power
behind the charade is still the Church, as it has been for 2000 years.

Despite economic progress, life behind the Plastic Curtain in Barack
Obama's USA is still a nightmare, just as it was in Jackson's and
Wilson's and Reagan's and Kennedy's USA, in addition to Hitler's
Germany.

Those who have the good hope to live in a country where freedom
and justice reign, where injustices can be openly discussed, so that the
plebeians can work to right them... should keep on looking for Utopia.