More On The Socialist Scourge

The 13 people who bravely follow this under-promoted and half-assed blog might recall this post of mine, where I talked about American conservatives' recent obsession with the word "socialism". The Rush Coulters and Ann Limbaughs and Mike Yuckabees keep invoking the term with horror in reference to Obama's attempts (which might not work anyway) to prop up their failing little country's deflated economy.

But while conservatives lurk by their cauldrons and chant "socialism!" "socialism!" like a coven of senile witches trying to remember how to cast a curse, reasonable people understand what the wildly-popular U.S. president's actions actually are: disaster relief for an economy that was derailed by the delusional behaviour of its leading investors, CEOs, politicians and apologists.

Enough of these socialist slurs (Salon). Barack Obama isn't a socialist and his administration's massive investment in the U.S. economy isn't socialism. But don't take my word for it. Here's a Washington Post article by Harold Meyerson that lays out the isms and schisms of socialism, and explains why Obama isn't anyone's comrade. A sample:

"But in the United States, conservatives have never bashed socialism because its specter was actually stalking America. Rather, they've wielded the cudgel against such progressive reforms as free universal education, the minimum wage or tighter financial regulations. Their signal success is to have kept the United States free from the taint of universal health care. The result: We have the world's highest health-care costs, borne by businesses and employees that cannot afford them; nearly 50 million Americans have no coverage; infant mortality rates are higher than those in 41 nations -- but at least (phew!) we don't have socialized medicine."

It's smart, fun stuff!

Oscar Shorts

It's hard to care for the Best Animated Short Oscar nominees when barely anybody has access to them. This year, for the first time, I was able to watch them before the Academy Awards and mostly they are a hoot. Funny enough, the Oscar winner, "La Maison en Petits Cubes", is the one downer. My favorite is a kinetic riot that feels like a Michael Bay flick concentrated in two minutes. The stars are two octopi in love, and they are willing to go REALLY far for each other.