Spanish King Tells Chavez to "Shut Up"

Spanish King Tells Chavez to "Shut Up"

The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Chavez, who called President Bush the "devil" on the floor of the United Nations last year, triggered the exchange by repeatedly referring to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist."

Aznar, a conservative who was an ally of Bush as prime minister, "is a fascist," Chavez said in a speech at the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. "Fascists are not human. A snake is more human."

Spain's current socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, responded during his own allotted time by urging Chavez to be more diplomatic in his words and respect other leaders despite political differences.

"Former President Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a legitimate representative of the Spanish people," he said, eliciting applause from the gathered heads of state.

Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, but his microphone was off.

Spanish King Juan Carlos, seated next to Zapatero, angrily turned to Chavez and said, "Why don't you shut up?"

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Hillary Quotes

1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004

2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the Few, and for the few...... And to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity." - Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007

3) "(We) ...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something Has to be taken away from some people." - Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007

4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... In order to create this common ground." - Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007

5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed." - Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007

6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most Profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched." - Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005

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Young Socialists - "Workers of the world unite"

News for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa

A new group at Roosevelt High School discusses socialism every Thursday morning. Not everyone is comfortable with the Young Socialist Club's views, but federal law says school districts must allow all student organizations.

The Young Socialists Club at Roosevelt High School is looking for new members. Their flyer asks for students to quote "Come explore the vast realm that is socialism." But also on the flyer is a picture of Karl Marx, who is best known as a revolutionary communist. One of his famous quotes, "Workers of the World Unite," is printed boldly on the handout. But Roosevelt Principal Don Ryswyk says those references do not concern him.

He says, “At Roosevelt we have young Democrats club, we have the young Republicans club and they were asking for a young Socialists club and so I saw it as an equity issue and the students talked to me about some of the things they were going to research and I also saw it as an educational club.”

“We love to see kids involved in clubs because they get involved in school, they make friends, and we know that kids when they get involved in school they make better students,” he says.

But he says if a club harms students, or is based on hate, it will not be accepted.
Ryswyk says, “I'm not going to allow a club into my school that's gonna be harmful or hateful or anything like that and there needs to be some good.”

A member of the Socialists group says they will discuss all forms of socialism which includes communism, but they are not a communist group. Student run clubs are appointed a monitor and Ryswyk says the socialist's club monitor has not had any concerns.

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Canadian hipocracy

Her "spokesman" is a LIAR. She doesn't use the Canadian system "when needed", she didn't use it when she needed it. Doublespeak. Also, why bring her children into it?

Funny, this came out more than a month ago, and it caused not much more than a blurb. Guess the media really loves the much-vaunted socialized health care system, eh?

The rest of us can die in waiting rooms.

TheStar.com | Canada | Stronach travels to U.S. for cancer treatment

Belinda Stronach, the MP for Newmarket-Aurora and former cabinet minister, travelled outside Canada's health-care system to California for some of her breast cancer treatment earlier this year.

It is unusual for a federal politician to travel outside Canada for private medical treatment, especially given the hallowed status of the Canadian, publicly financed health-care system in the realm of political debate.

MacEachern stressed that Stronach's decision had nothing to do with her confidence – or lack of it – in Canada's cancer-treatment facilities or public health care.

"In fact, Belinda thinks very highly of the Canadian health-care system, and uses it when needed for herself and her children, as do all Canadians. As well, her family has clearly demonstrated that support," MacEachern said.

"This was about a specific health-care procedure, unrelated to any views about the quality of Canadian health care, a decision based on medical advice and a referral from her Toronto physicians, and just one part of several areas of treatment. Belinda has nothing but praise for the community of health-care professionals in Toronto who supported and treated her throughout the last six months."

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Democratic Socialism

CFP: Democratic Socialism: Not My America - Not on My Watch! by JB Williams , 10/03/07

Taken directly from the Democratic Socialist of America web site

Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically--to meet public needs.

Democratic Socialists do not want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy. But we do not want big corporate bureaucracies to control our society either. Resources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to meet human needs. Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives.

In the short term we can’t eliminate private corporations, but we can bring them under greater democratic control. The government could use regulations and tax incentives to encourage companies to act in the public interest and outlaw destructive activities such as exporting jobs to low-wage countries and polluting our environment.

Most of all, socialists look to unions to make private business more responsible.

Although no country has fully instituted democratic socialism, the socialist parties and labor movements of other countries have won many victories for their people. We can learn from the comprehensive welfare state maintained by the Swedes, from Canada’s national health care system, France’s nationwide childcare program, and Nicaragua’s literacy programs.

We are not a separate party from the Democratic Party. Like our friends and allies in the feminist, labor, civil rights, religious, and community organizing movements, many of us have been active in the Democratic Party. We work with those movements to strengthen the party’s left wing, represented by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Although capitalism will be with us for a long time, reforms we win now--raising the minimum wage, securing a national health plan, and demanding passage of right-to-strike legislation--can bring us closer to socialism. Many democratic socialists actively work in the single-issue organizations that advocate for those reforms. We are visible in the reproductive freedom movement, the fight for student aid, gay and lesbian organizations, anti-racist groups, and the labor movement.

Schools, Colleges and Universities are important to American political culture. They are the places where ideas are formulated and policy discussed and developed. Being an active part of that discussion is a critical job for young socialists. We have to work hard to change people’s misconceptions about socialism.

We call ourselves socialists because we are proud of what we are. No matter what we call ourselves, conservatives will use it against us. Anti-socialism has been repeatedly used to attack reforms that shift power to working class people and away from corporate capital.

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John Stossel - Control your own health care

Townhall.com::Control Your Own Health Care::By John Stossel

If people paid their own bills, they would likely buy high-deductible insurance (roughly $1,000 for individuals, $2,100 for families) because on average, the premium is $1,300 cheaper. But people are so conditioned to expect others to pay their medical bills that they hate high deductibles: They feel ripped off if they must pay a thousand dollars before the insurance company starts paying.

But high deductibles may be the key to lowering costs and putting you in charge of your health care.

Five years ago, the Whole Foods grocery chain switched to a high-deductible plan. If an employee has a sore throat or a sprained ankle, he pays. But if he gets cancer or heart disease, his insurance covers it.

Whole Foods puts around $1,500 a year into an account for each employee. It's not charity but part of the employee's compensation. It's money Whole Foods would have otherwise spent on more-expensive insurance. Here's the good part for employees: If they don't spend the money on medical care this year, they keep it, and the company adds more next year.

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An Open Letter to Socialists

http://kendersmusings.blogspot.com/2007/08/open-letter-to-socialists.html

I love this post.

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