Whatever happened...?

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Revolution!

(Unless you mean a nice little tortoiseshell cat who I dearly miss...)

Red Rosa

(The preceding comment will make no sense to you. Suffice it to say that we had a number of pets named after famous Socialists, one being Rosa Luxemburg who was a dear little tortie cat. I miss her.)

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Co-operative Commonwealth is good...

Our Forgotten Tradition

That darn S word!

I think that this will be a great book to read...

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You know,

despite the fact that I think the Internet and WorldWide Waste of time might not be the best thing for Cuba, I can't help but applaud this.

Venezuela, Cuba outfox U.S. with fiber optic cable

America has to get out of the cold-war 60s and into the new century. Good grief!

(Yeah, yeah, I know. Fidel is going to arm all his people and invade the U.S. in an attempt to restrict their freedoms by imposing Godless Communism. Yeah, right...)

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An interesting (short) interview...

The Books Interview: Terry Eagleton

Socialist nostalgia...

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No, not that Marx, THAT Marx!

Thoroughly Modern Marx

That Marx!

The empty promise

of British Socialism...

The Failure of Socialism

(The original article is here.)

"Lest anyone think that I am advocating the Republicans, I'm not. I think they're just about as corrupt, greedy and manipulative as can be.

Any political system is only as good as the people in it. The real culprits are the old demons of greed, lust, ambition and lying.

What the West needs is not a change of politicians, but a change of heart. Only humility, repentance, a reliance on grace and a desire to love God and others can change our world."

I think I've said before how much I enjoy Fr. Longenecker's blog...

T'was ever thus...

Hugo Chávez Versus Human Rights

While the authors state that the evils that are attributed to the regime in Venezuela are not as bad as they are made out to be, at the same time I don't believe any of us have seen a Communist/Socialist eden that hasn't involved secret services, military bullying and violence, and worse. It doesn't matter. No matter what the political stripe these things happen. It's the human in the equation...

The anniversary of the birth,

in 1887, of John Reed, the American journalist who wrote "Ten Days that Shook the World" and upon whose life the film "Reds" is based.

John Reed

This is the anniversary of his birth. He died at only 33...

Of interest

Posting about the Mining Strikes in Colorado brought to mind a historical figure of interest:

'Big Bill' Haywood

A colourful character, a socialist, an industrial unionist and someone who never shied away from a fight. His biography is intersting...

On this date, in 1878,

Upton Sinclair was born.

Upton Sinclair: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An American writer and socialist...

An interest in China

The expatriate

"Around the time of the Chinese Revolution in 1949, a small crowd of foreign sympathisers came to help build the Maoist dream. Sixty years later, one of them is still there. Michael Donohue meets Sidney Shapiro."

Anger, anger, anger...

Socialist Forces in Ecuador Desecrate Eucharist

I have a theory about the revolutionaries in South America and other Equatorial areas, too long to go into here...

The violent lunatic fringe of any 'ism' is always frightening and anything but liberal...

Interesting

Gorbachev signed JP II KGB death warrant

I wonder if this has any credibility. I find it a bit difficult that there would be a 'death warrant' for the assassination of a major religious figure done by any country...

How difficult

to stand firm in your position when fanatics are threatening you with death...

Venezuelan bishop feels "honored" by attacks from Chavez supporters

Good for them

Venezuelan bishops call for end to blockade against Cuba

Naturally, Hugo Chavez seems to be his normal, unusual self. Why am I not surprised?

More Chavez

Venezuelan archbishop calls for Chavez to stop posturing and address urgent problems

The Archbishop is right. And Socialism is as much of a disaster as a political system as Capitalism is. Still, in Latin America, you didn't hear this sort of hue and cry under right wing governments. I think the Church leaders knew that if they spoke out they'd end up like Msgr. Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez.

Forgive my generalities and cynicism and, as always, I'm open to correction, but I don't believe there has been this sort of vocal criticism under right-wing dictatorships whose leaders have been trained by the School of the Americas. Perhaps church leaders are becoming more courageous. I believe Msgr. Romero is a saint.

Oh, my!

Hugo Chavez is certainly known for "infamous diatribes" but I don't think he's in any position to say who will or will not end up in Heaven. Certainly the Archbishop's temperate response to Chavez's outright personal insults and provocations leads me to believe that the outcomes of their lives may not be what he expects (though I have no real idea either, of course). The one leader I think of, when I hear Hugo Chavez, who demanded the total adulation of everyone around him is Ida Amin. Not a great role model.

Venezuelan bishop responds to Chavez’s latest attacks on Church

So even though he wants to be Pope of his own church (and perhaps deity?) we should pray for him as we'd prayer for any other political leader.

Too much!

Calling Jesus a socialist is going just a bit too far even for the usually bombastic Chavez.

Church and Chavez Clash in Venezuela

I do hope that the Bishops, who rightly protest the loss of freedoms, protest likewise when right-wing dictators do the same thing. The horrible fear of 'godless communism' often provides a fertile ground for embracing supposedly god-filled fascism. South America has been filled with supposed God-fearing dictators who committed atrocities of their own.