New Testingstan

Oxymoron wrote: Anyway, I'm curious Chocs : from your point of view, what makes Chavez and his potential successor(s) "Dictators" and not merely your average, run of the mill president of a developing country's democracy ?

Socialism.

adr wrote:yea, and what i'm predicting is most the mainstream media will be the same kind of stuff as bakustra's quotes, despite the fact that thatcher is certainly a controversial and divisive figure at home and abroad!

There's one from Nick Clegg I really like, just because of how clear it is he wants to say she was a scumbag but can't; and says literally nothing actually positive whilst managing not to sound like it:

Margaret Thatcher was one of the defining figures in modern British politics. Whatever side of the political debate you stand on, no one can deny that as prime minister she left a unique and lasting imprint on the country she served. She may have divided opinion during her time in politics but everyone will be united today in acknowledging the strength of her personality and the radicalism of her politics.

Most of the quotes from labour and non-english politicians are like that, actually.

EDIT: Actually, no, they just seem to be arranged in order of fawningness. I've got to the brilliant ones;

George Galloway wrote:Margaret Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist". I was there. I saw her lips move. May she burn in the hellfires.

Gerry Adams wrote:Margaret Thatcher did great hurt to the Irish and British people during her time as prime minister. Working class communities were devastated in Britain because of her policies. Her role in international affairs was equally belligerent whether in support of the Chilean dictator Pinochet, her opposition to sanctions against Apartheid South Africa; and her support for the Khmer Rouge. Here in Ireland her espousal of old draconian militaristic policies prolonged the war and caused great suffering.

Morrissey wrote: Thatcher will only be fondly remembered by sentimentalists who did not suffer under her leadership, but the majority of British working people have forgotten her already, and the people of Argentina will be celebrating her death. As a matter of recorded fact, Thatcher was a terror without an atom of humanity.

Reminds me of that "choose your own adventure" comic who I think it was either Bakustra or Akhlut shared on SDN's Testing a while back. I don't know if I still have it... *quickly checks* Nope. What a shame, it was pretty funny.

Oxymoron wrote:Reminds me of that "choose your own adventure" comic who I think it was either Bakustra or Akhlut shared on SDN's Testing a while back. I don't know if I still have it... *quickly checks* Nope. What a shame, it was pretty funny.

It's called "You are Maggie Thatcher: A Dole-Playing Game", Uraniun shared that, and I can't find any postings of it that are publicly viewable.

I'm just glad Mandela outlived the old cunt.

hah good old george galloway never fails to amuse me

Bakustra wrote:

Oxymoron wrote:Reminds me of that "choose your own adventure" comic who I think it was either Bakustra or Akhlut shared on SDN's Testing a while back. I don't know if I still have it... *quickly checks* Nope. What a shame, it was pretty funny.

It's called "You are Maggie Thatcher: A Dole-Playing Game", Uraniun shared that, and I can't find any postings of it that are publicly viewable.

>:3 to the rescue ?

I have it saved to my desktop, actually. Someone tell me a place to upload it and I'll see what I can do.

There's one from Nick Clegg I really like, just because of how clear it is he wants to say she was a scumbag but can't

if the tories can get away with cashing in on the deaths of five children in a fire to say 'this is why we should cut benefits', surely Nick Clegg can say something against Thatcher

Infinity Biscuit wrote:I have it saved to my desktop, actually. Someone tell me a place to upload it and I'll see what I can do.

You could always try DropBox. Sure it requires you to sign-up, but on the other hand every other file sharing site require you to do such.

At least DropBox doesn't send you spam, and I trust it enough to put personal files - it doubles as a cloud / archive service.

Oxymoron wrote:I don't know how it is on the other side of the Channel, but apparently here it has become quite usual for common soldiers to not be paid for one or several months, forcing them to get into debts just to continue to feed their families.

A situation which began with the previous, right-wing government(s).



Anyway, I'm curious Chocs : from your point of view, what makes Chavez and his potential successor(s) "Dictators" and not merely your average, run of the mill president of a developing country's democracy ?

Well he was a violent Socialist activist who spent time in prison after a failed putsch. Unlike that mad Austrian, he didn't write a book from his minimum security balcony. Folk hero of the people, check.

He allowed foreign companies to develop natural resources Venezuelans could not and then "nationalized" them, i.e. stole them from the producers of wealth with predictable reductions of output and revenue. Thieving bastard, check.

Venezuela, an oil-rich country, still suffers from frequent electrical blackouts and power outages. You reap what you sow, check.

Strong ally of Fidel Castro and Manuel Noriega. Butt buddy to other tinpot "Socialist" dictators, check.

Ahmadinejad ally. Dickhead, check.

Railed against America but kept selling Venezuelan Citgo oil to America. Hypocrite, check.

Murder rate in Venezuela tripled over his administration, with Caracas having the highest murder rate in the world. Predictable outcome, check.

Adherent of a political ideology that has caused more deaths than any other in modern history. Scratched CD playing the same off note over and over again, check.

Fuck that fucking fuck, and good fucking rifuckddance.

Venezuela has the resources and climate to be a wonderful place to live. Maybe now, with Cha-fucker-vez dead, it will improve. Maybe. I hope.

By the way, Venezuela has been an independent republic since 1845. It's a bit fatuous of you to characterize it as a "developing country."

"Developing country" in the sense that it is on the way to reaching first-world level of economic prosperity and freedom, but it still has a way to go (I'd say forty years, give or take a decade).

That's why I said "developing" and not "third world". Personally I make a difference.

Anyway, thanks for your input.

The term 'third-world' has completely lost its original meaning and should probably be retired anyway.

Indeed.

Given the meaning it has taken, "underdeveloped" would seem like a better word choice.

Like Chavez, Margaret Thatcher was an overrated political figure for rightwing idiots instead of leftwing idiots. I can see that the death of Angela Merkel in two to four decades time would illicit a similar polarising reaction from Europeans who suffered or prospered from the EU debacle.

You can easily criticise Thatcher's awful stance on the profoundly racist, untenable Apartheid, however Nelson Mandela was on US terrorist suspect list as recently as 2008. Also his movement had a practice of putting car tires around people's necks and setting them alight...

But on the bright side Iain Banks, suffering terminal cancer, must be happy from hearing of Thatcher's demise.

Is it hard trying to sound so profoundly and rationally moderate or does it just come naturally to you?

I find it kind of funny that you've associated Mandela with his movement lynching people. Wasn't he in solitary for decades?

Big Orangutan wrote:Like Chavez, Margaret Thatcher was an overrated political figure for rightwing idiots instead of leftwing idiots. I can see that the death of Angela Merkel in two to four decades time would illicit a similar polarising reaction from Europeans who suffered or prospered from the EU debacle.

You can easily criticise Thatcher's awful stance on the profoundly racist, untenable Apartheid, however Nelson Mandela was on US terrorist suspect list as recently as 2008. Also his movement had a practice of putting car tires around people's necks and setting them alight...

But on the bright side Iain Banks, suffering terminal cancer, must be happy from hearing of Thatcher's demise.

Do you live in terminal fear of having an opinion

Aaron wrote:I find it kind of funny that you've associated Mandela with his movement lynching people. Wasn't he in solitary for decades?

Yeah, necklacing began after Mandela was imprisoned, though his ex-wife endorsed it in a controversial speech and later the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that she ordered the murder of at least one person. Of course, they separated within a few years of his release and Desmond Tutu later called on her to admit her mistakes, so using her to condemn Nelson is a little odd.

Mandela himself was leader of MK before it became the paramilitary wing of the ANC, but they focused on minimizing casualties while he lead them, so...

Wow, wow, back up the assumption train here people. I'm not condemning the overall pretty moderate Nelson Mandela who mellowed out after his decades long imprisonment, but the more unsavoury elements of the ANC that Mandela was part of and I can easily see he would've easily been tarred from association and deemed a terrorist at the time, even if he disowned his deranged wife. Especially from the point of view of a deeply myopic Mrs. Thatcher who presided over some pretty ugly race riots in mid 80s London. I'm still puzzled why Nelson Mandela was still on the US terror watch list for many years after his release and Margaret Thatcher eating her words by shaking hands with him at Number 10? And one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter - Thatcher was pretty fond of using Loyalist terrorists as hitmen in Northern Ireland...

Big Orangutan wrote:Wow, wow, back up the assumption train here people. I'm not condemning the overall pretty moderate Nelson Mandela who mellowed out after his decades long imprisonment, but the more unsavoury elements of the ANC that Mandela was part of and I can easily see he would've easily been tarred from association and deemed a terrorist at the time, even if he disowned his deranged wife. Especially from the point of view of a deeply myopic Mrs. Thatcher who presided over some pretty ugly race riots in mid 80s London. I'm still puzzled why Nelson Mandela was still on the US terror watch list for many years after his release and Margaret Thatcher eating her words by shaking hands with him at Number 10? And one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter - Thatcher was pretty fond of using Loyalist terrorists as hitmen in Northern Ireland...

plz dont troll

Count Chocula wrote:

Oxymoron wrote:I don't know how it is on the other side of the Channel, but apparently here it has become quite usual for common soldiers to not be paid for one or several months, forcing them to get into debts just to continue to feed their families.

A situation which began with the previous, right-wing government(s).



Anyway, I'm curious Chocs : from your point of view, what makes Chavez and his potential successor(s) "Dictators" and not merely your average, run of the mill president of a developing country's democracy ?

Well he was a violent Socialist activist who spent time in prison after a failed putsch. Unlike that mad Austrian, he didn't write a book from his minimum security balcony. Folk hero of the people, check.

He allowed foreign companies to develop natural resources Venezuelans could not and then "nationalized" them, i.e. stole them from the producers of wealth with predictable reductions of output and revenue. Thieving bastard, check.

Venezuela, an oil-rich country, still suffers from frequent electrical blackouts and power outages. You reap what you sow, check.

Strong ally of Fidel Castro and Manuel Noriega. Butt buddy to other tinpot "Socialist" dictators, check.

Ahmadinejad ally. Dickhead, check.

Railed against America but kept selling Venezuelan Citgo oil to America. Hypocrite, check.

Murder rate in Venezuela tripled over his administration, with Caracas having the highest murder rate in the world. Predictable outcome, check.

Adherent of a political ideology that has caused more deaths than any other in modern history. Scratched CD playing the same off note over and over again, check.

Fuck that fucking fuck, and good fucking rifuckddance.

Venezuela has the resources and climate to be a wonderful place to live. Maybe now, with Cha-fucker-vez dead, it will improve. Maybe. I hope.

By the way, Venezuela has been an independent republic since 1845. It's a bit fatuous of you to characterize it as a "developing country."

At least he was better than Reagan.

I almost forgot about the Venezuelan election with all my sailor moon addiction, but there just was one, and it looks like Vice President Maduro, of Hugo Chavez's party, won, but by a pretty close margin, much closer than Chavez himself a few months ago. But, still, looks like the voters don't want to change course.

http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3 ... 4&start=40

http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3 ... =5&t=12523

I love this to pieces.

Their favourite liberal punching bag/Stockholm Syndrome victim Winston Smith gets himself banned for mocking religion.

Then in the Boston bombing thread people get pissy because he passed on his condolences on the tragedy to one of his friends there to be posted.

They also planned to hassle him over FB until he was in ideological compliance or some shit:

http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3 ... a&start=20

Is it meaningfully possible to parody these guys anymore? Where do you go from here?