[b9]

there exist in all the world only three true bastions of faith in the state-planned economy. Those three diehards are the totalitarian rulers of communist North Korea, the aging dictators of communist Cuba, and the left wing of the Democratic Party of the United States. The only difference, it seems, is that our homegrown socialists were freely elected, albeit with the advantage of hard-ball tactics and relentless media bias.

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Ping to excellent, sobering article.

[2nd amendment mama]

Excellent article - thanks for the ping.

[Finny]

Good ping, good catch.

Reminds me of an old boyfriend who was part of the Merchant Marine. He worked on those big freighters that went all over the world carrying cargo from here to there. He'd be gone for months at a time, and always had great adventures to relate when he came back. His ship once got stranded in the USSR, and the crew had to hunker down in one of the big port cities for several weeks.

He said it was the most horrible, bizzare nightmare one could imagine. Everyone -- all ages, all types -- was drunk, he said, all the time, day and night. There were no pretty women in the clubs or bars where they passed their time -- all were hard, ugly, grim, and desperate. He said that the KGB watched every American to the point of laughable excess. Anywhere, everywhere, he went, he'd turn around and look behind him and some official dogging his steps would awkwardly dodge behind a tree or a corner.

This article made me think of that ol' boyfriend's stories and how much he hated having to deal with cargo anywhere near the USSR.