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In article m,
"Cato" wrote:

As a "dumbass Canuck" I just have a few things to say. Some people
here seem to think that Communist countrys simply have a "different
system of government and economics", as one poster has said. If you
think that that is all it is, then maybe you should read "The Gulag
Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. No nation's government has
enslaved or murdered more of its own citizens then the former
U.S.S.R., well, except for, perhaps, The People's Republic of China.
No the U.S., and the rest of the western world aren't perfect. We
get some jerky leaders sometimes. A lot of us take our freedom for
granted, and because of that, we are slowly losing our freedom to
gradual, creeping socialism of one sort or another. It's happening in
Canada. We had more freedom forty or fifty years ago. It's also
happening in the U.S., but they aren't as far along the road as we
are. But if things keep going the way they are, we will all eventually
lose all our freedom.
But our western way of life is a hell of a lot better then
anything in any Communist or Fascist, or Islamic country, or in any
country that has some sort of totalitarianism. And although the U.S.
has its problems and isn't perfect, it's a hell of a lot better then
any of those dictatorial countrys. And none of the rest of us are
perfect either. But hell, if it wasn't for the U.S., our countrys
would all be Communist countrys controlled from Moscow a long time
ago. And we would all be brainwashed slaves to our "comrade great
leader", or slowly dieing in concentration camps, or already dead. So,
for this, all freedom loving people in the world, owe the U.S. a huge
"Thankyou".
Oh yes, someone said that the U.S. dropped H bombs on Japan??? No,
they didn't! Look it up.

You seem well-informed...a pleasant surpise. Others here are not. "In the land
of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." You are correct on the last point you
have made. I was incorrect (i.e. wrong) on that point. On your other comments,
I'd wouldn't comment w/o reading up on those country's histories, which I will
soon be doing. I took a course in Russian history in college many years ago and
remember so little. Still have the textbook. But you are wrong about the U.S.S.R
and the U.S. There was never an International Communist Conspiracy committed to
taking over the world...that myth was invented by the U.S. since we always need
an enemy. Heard of PNAC???? Every time workers in the U.S. tried to unionize,
they were accused for being communists and were simply crushed by our government
when necessary. A declassified UK memo (1968) stated that the U.S.S.R. never
intended a limited or general war with European nations and that the U.S.S.R.
tried very hard to maintain open communications with the west. And I believe it
was in the 1970's that the U.S.S.R. offered to dissolve the Warsaw Pact if NATO
was dissolved. The U.S. flatly turned them down w/o any negotiations. I actually
remember this happening and wondered "what the hell?". The Cold War was
prolonged by the U.S. Even now the U.S., wants to put missiles in Poland, with
Russia the obvious target. In addition, Bush signed in Oct. 2006 a "Space
Policy" (_not_ a treaty), that states that the U.S. can use space for any
purpose including militarization w/o any interference for any reason and that no
other country enjoys that privilege. All this stuff can be Googled up. Nobody in
the U.S. bothers to read newspapers or follow current events--the consequence is
that people here are easily manipulated and cannot intelligently discuss
anything. Once again, I say "read Blum's books". They are well documented.

It's difficult to determine whether Stalin was paranoid or simply responding to
the attempts by the west to overthrow him and destroy his country. I think
probably both were factors in _his_ brutality. Similarly for China, the west was
constantly trying to overthrow that government. Neither government knew who to
trust. Bush trusts only his inner circle. Of Solzhenitsyn's books, I've read
only "The First Circle". Currently, even young Russians debate whether a full
democracy is right for their country...the have no history of democracy. China
is becoming more "free" and "open". As my HS history teacher noted, it seemed
likely that the U.S. would become more like the U.S.S.R or China and they would
become more like us. I believe that to be true. It turns out that a Democracy
can be corrupted just as badly as Communism, Fascism, Socialism, or whatever.
That we are losing our freedoms is due not to a single political party or
ideology. In the U.S. the Republicans hit us from one direction, Democrats from
the other. The effect is the same...loss of freedom. All governments lie and all
become corrupt.

For brutality, read about Vlad The Impaler (i.e. Dracula or "Son of The Dragon),
the real life person who was the model for Bram Stoker's "Drcula". Short, but
very interesting read. At:

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_k...d/index_1.html

MM