Fidel Castro passes on

_{kairosfocus

November 26, 2016

Academic Freedom, Atheism, Culture, Geo-strategic issues, governance, Politics, rhetoric, worldview}

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Overnight, his brother and successor Raul announced the death of the former longest serving non-royal head of a state. While we must condole with those who mourn, we must also recognise his very mixed legacy, as a Communist dictator leading a state that — per fair comment — has been very un-free and hampered in its development.

Be that as it may, we must recognise this is the death of a former national leader and widely respected statesman. One, who will be mourned not just by family and friends or countrymen, but far and wide across the world.

The development also comes at a pivotal time, when the USA is undergoing its own leadership transition after a very polarised election, and is showing signs of deepening polarisation connected to progressivist ideologies. One issue is that there is a projection of dangerous “Alt-Right” “populism” which is being openly compared to Nazism (incorrectly, National Socialism is a form of Fascism — founded by a leader of the Socialist International — and as its name suggests, is a now dead ideology of the left). The populism smear, as presented by Bloomberg . . and, do not overlook, this is ordinary Americans responding to their National Anthem and/or Pledge of Allegiance:

(In fact, it was plainly the fed-up Rust Belt working classes who previously voted for Mr Obama in 2008 and/or 2012 who delivered the decisive blow to Mrs Clinton — the progressive candidate — in the US presidential election.)

Across the Atlantic, Britain is undergoing a very unstable post Brexit transition (with the decisive blow delivered by the English working class in Labour strongholds . . . a pattern emerges), and Europe as a whole is pondering its implications in light of upcoming elections:

Okay, let’s get some basic stuff on the table, news announcement.

Video announcement:

[youtube lBV88edVd-c]

Added, Daily Mail’s bullet-point head and lead:

Also added, US President-Elect Trump’s brief tweet a short while ago [now being 1341+ hrs GMT]:

Now, on the focal matters for us here at UD.

A useful de-spinning and e-YES re-framing exercise for UD’s readers will be to take time in coming hours and days to observe coverage in the media and reactions of world leaders across the ideological spectrum (insofar as such a LEFT vs RIGHT spectrum has any objective warrant).

In this regard, let us understand that

Marxism presented itself for many decades as an undeniable — and in many contexts, the uniquely “legitimate,” “correct” and even “consensus” — scientific analysis of the world of man in society as determined by base line materialistic factors and laws that play out in a chain of social forms across history;

. . . leading to an evolving pattern of superstructures of economic, social, political, legal, and socio-cultural frameworks, with ideology and particularly religion seen as disguising and reducing the raw necessity of force to sustain oppression:

This of course bears a strong resemblance to how Cultural Marxist, critical theories (typically [Critical] Studies of X) approach their diverse fields of interest and it drives the use of oppressed minority identity politics to wedge apart a broad societal consensus into balkanised polarisation.

That polarisation is used, through Alinsky-style agit-prop activism, to discredit and destabilise those seen as undesirable oppressive leaders — yes, the emphasis falls on personal attacks and name-calling — and to create revolutionary conditions for fifth- column- already- in- the- gates subversion and/or overthrow of the regime in power. So, when such radicals attain power, they have never learned respect for others as made in God’s image, nor the roads of responsible, rational, genuinely objective analysis and reform by reasonable agreement. Consequently, communities and institutions under their domineering misrule tend to marches of folly, to attack and abuse or even murder dissenters, and ironically become just what they portray and project others to be in their base and superstructure analysis.

Yes, self-referential moral incoherence (cf. here) by way of being a mirror image of what such ideologues project unto others in order to supplant them.

Resemblance to the current course of our civilisation is NOT coincidental.

So, let us pose by contrast a much less loaded (while a lot is always wrong, much can be right also), seven mountains of influence perspective as a means of thinking through a more balanced approach to change:

Then also, let us look at [and link on] a model for law, government and leadership that draws out the inherent instability and desirability of a generally democratic, constitution based framework for governance:

. . . duly noting the need for stabilisation in democratic polities.

So, now, let us discuss these factors here at UD in the aftermath of a death that is bound to trigger a global discussion, and one that will turn in key part on the tendency of progressives to claim scientific legitimacy, imply intellectual superiority and insinuate that those who differ are morally illegitimate. Not only, on the onward path of government in general, but relating to governance of science issues tied to the design controversy and other similarly ideologically freighted studies and controversies such as climate debates.

In so doing, let us also take due note of the foundational issue of worldviews (with their roots and their expression in ideologies) and thus the cultural agendas they lend legitimacy to, with an eye to the significance of first principles of right reason as protective restraints on and guidelines for our thinking. END

Comments

kairosfocus @ 47
DM on UK nationalised health services problems:
You would be well-advised not to rely on the Daily Mail for fair and balanced coverage of this or any other issue. The Mail is Tory paper. The NHS was the creation of a socialist Labour administration, hence the Mail is not necessarily well-disposed towards it. It lists a number of medical errors committed by NHS staff which don't look good and aren't good. What the article doesn't provide is context. Is the NHS significantly better or worse than other health services by that measure? For example, it makes no mention of US statistics which show that medical errors there are the third leading cause of death of patients, just after cancer and heart disease. Why not? Could it have anything to do with Tory ambitions to privatize healthcare in the UK?Seversky_{November 27, 2016
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Kairos @ 24, "Marxist materialist base superstructure." In what universe is the theory of Marx's description of Communism, in any way connected to the greed of capatalism/materialism? Health care? I live in NZ with an almost identical socialised health care system to the UK, Australia, Japan, and almost all of western Europe. Here is some real information from someone aged 50 who has lived in this country, and travelled, all his life: At age six I contracted cerebral meningitis, a hospital stay of six months, drugs, medical procedures, and doctors bills cost my father exactly 0$. In the States I would rot. I have broken my leg twice playing football, and all costs were paid for by the taxes of my countrymen; I am greatful. Do you seriously wants to put up your private user/pay health care system up aganist ours? You're either insane, self loathing, ignorent, or all three. Castro left Cuba with a 100% youth literacy rate; your country? 15,000 highly trained Cuban medical workers work in various regional hotspots to the cost of Cuba; the UN is greatful, the US watches 'Duck Dynasty'. In 2000 the UK sent 100 doctors and health administrators to Cuba to learn how they use every dollar so efficiently. The answer get rid of the administrators. Cuban hospitals are run by doctors and nurses. If you could just get rid of that pointless middleman, insurance, out of yor haelsth care system in the states, and replace it with tax payer funded doctors and nurses, US wastage in health care costs (which is despicable) would plummet.rvb8_{November 27, 2016
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“Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag” Alexander Solzhenitsyn Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion on May of 1983 More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened. Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened. What is more, the events of the Russian Revolution can only be understood now, at the end of the century, against the background of what has since occurred in the rest of the world. What emerges here is a process of universal significance. And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: Men have forgotten God. The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century. The first of these was World War I, and much of our present predicament can be traced back to it. It was a war (the memory of which seems to be fading) when Europe, bursting with health and abundance, fell into a rage of self-mutilation which could not but sap its strength for a century or more, and perhaps forever. The only possible explanation for this war is a mental eclipse among the leaders of Europe due to their lost awareness of a Supreme Power above them. Only a godless embitterment could have moved ostensibly Christian states to employ poison gas, a weapon so obviously beyond the limits of humanity. The same kind of defect, the flaw of a consciousness lacking all divine dimension, was manifested after World War II when the West yielded to the satanic temptation of the “nuclear umbrella.” It was equivalent to saying: Let’s cast off worries, let’s free the younger generation from their duties and obligations, let’s make no effort to defend ourselves, to say nothing of defending others-let’s stop our ears to the groans emanating from the East, and let us live instead in the pursuit of happiness. If danger should threaten us, we shall be protected by the nuclear bomb; if not, then let the world burn in Hell for all we care. The pitifully helpless state to which the contemporary West has sunk is in large measure due to this fatal error: the belief that the defense of peace depends not on stout hearts and steadfast men, but solely on the nuclear bomb… Today’ s world has reached a stage which, if it had been described to preceding centuries, would have called forth the cry: “This is the Apocalypse!” Yet we have grown used to this kind of world; we even feel at home in it. Dostoevsky warned that “great events could come upon us and catch us intellectually unprepared.” This is precisely what has happened. And he predicted that “the world will be saved only after it has been possessed by the demon of evil.” Whether it really will be saved we shall have to wait and see: this will depend on our conscience, on our spiritual lucidity, on our individual and combined efforts in the face of catastrophic circumstances. But it has already come to pass that the demon of evil, like a whirlwind, triumphantly circles all five continents of the earth… In its past, Russia did know a time when the social ideal was not fame, or riches, or material success, but a pious way of life. Russia was then steeped in an Orthodox Christianity which remained true to the Church of the first centuries. The Orthodoxy of that time knew how tosafeguard its people under the yoke of a foreign occupation that lasted more than two centuries, while at the same time fending off iniquitous blows from the swords of Western crusaders. During those centuries the Orthodox faith in our country became part of the very pattern of thought and the personality of our people, the forms of daily life, the work calendar, the priorities in every undertaking, the organization of the week and of the year. Faith was the shaping and unifying force of the nation. But in the 17th century Russian Orthodoxy was gravely weakened by an internal schism. In the 18th, the country was shaken by Peter’s forcibly imposed transformations, which favored the economy, the state, and the military at the expense of the religious spirit and national life. And along with this lopsided Petrine enlightenment, Russia felt the first whiff of secularism; its subtle poisons permeated the educated classes in the course of the 19th century and opened the path to Marxism. By the time of the Revolution, faith had virtually disappeared in Russian educated circles; and amongst the uneducated, its health was threatened. It was Dostoevsky, once again, who drew from the French Revolution and its seeming hatred of the Church the lesson that “revolution must necessarily begin with atheism.” That is absolutely true. But the world had never before known a godlessness as organized, militarized, and tenaciously malevolent as that practiced by Marxism. Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions. Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot. The 1920’s in the USSR witnessed an uninterrupted procession of victims and martyrs amongst the Orthodox clergy. Two metropolitans were shot, one of whom, Veniamin of Petrograd, had been elected by the popular vote of his diocese. Patriarch Tikhon himself passed through the hands of the Cheka-GPU and then died under suspicious circumstances. Scores of archbishops and bishops perished. Tens of thousands of priests, monks, and nuns, pressured by the Chekists to renounce the Word of God, were tortured, shot in cellars, sent to camps, exiled to the desolate tundra of the far North, or turned out into the streets in their old age without food or shelter. All these Christian martyrs went unswervingly to their deaths for the faith; instances of apostasy were few and far between. For tens of millions of laymen access to the Church was blocked, and they were forbidden to bring up their children in the Faith: religious parents were wrenched from their children and thrown into prison, while the children were turned from the faith by threats and lies… For a short period of time, when he needed to gather strength for the struggle against Hitler, Stalin cynically adopted a friendly posture toward the Church. This deceptive game, continued in later years by Brezhnev with the help of showcase publications and other window dressing, has unfortunately tended to be taken at its face value in the West. Yet the tenacity with which hatred of religion is rooted in Communism may be judged by the example of their most liberal leader, Krushchev: for though he undertook a number of significant steps to extend freedom, Krushchev simultaneously rekindled the frenzied Leninist obsession with destroying religion. But there is something they did not expect: that in a land where churches have been leveled, where a triumphant atheism has rampaged uncontrolled for two-thirds of a century, where the clergy is utterly humiliated and deprived of all independence, where what remains of the Church as an institution is tolerated only for the sake of propaganda directed at the West, where even today people are sent to the labor camps for their faith, and where, within the camps themselves, those who gather to pray at Easter are clapped in punishment cells–they could not suppose that beneath this Communist steamroller the Christian tradition would survive in Russia. It is true that millions of our countrymen have been corrupted and spiritually devastated by an officially imposed atheism, yet there remain many millions of believers: it is only external pressures that keep them from speaking out, but, as is always the ca se in times of persecution and suffering, the awareness of God in my country has attained great acuteness and profundity. It is here that we see the dawn of hope: for no matter how formidably Communism bristles with tanks and rockets, no matter what successes it attains in seizing the planet, it is doomed never to vanquish Christianity. The West has yet to experience a Communist invasion; religion here remains free. But the West’s own historical evolution has been such that today it too is experiencing a drying up of religious consciousness. It too has witnessed racking schisms, bloody religious wars, and rancor, to say nothing of the tide of secularism that, from the late Middle Ages onward, has progressively inundated the West. This gradual sapping of strength from within is a threat to faith that is perhaps even more dangerous than any attempt to assault religion violently from without. Imperceptibly, through decades of gradual erosion, the meaning of life in the West has ceased to be seen as anything more lofty than the “pursuit of happiness, “a goal that has even been solemnly guaranteed by constitutions. The concepts of good and evil have been ridiculed for several centuries; banished from common use, they have been replaced by political or class considerations of short lived value. It has become embarrassing to state that evil makes its home in the individual human heart before it enters a political system. Yet it is not considered shameful to make dally concessions to an integral evil. Judging by the continuing landslide of concessions made before the eyes of our very own generation, the West is ineluctably slipping toward the abyss. Western societies are losing more and more of their religious essence as they thoughtlessly yield up their younger generation to atheism. If a blasphemous film about Jesus is shown throughout the United States, reputedly one of the most religious countries in the world, or a major newspaper publishes a shameless caricature of the Virgin Mary, what further evidence of godlessness does one need? When external rights are completely unrestricted, why should one make an inner effort to restrain oneself from ignoble acts? Or why should one refrain from burning hatred, whatever its basis–race, class, or ideology? Such hatred is in fact corroding many hearts today. Atheist teachers in the West are bringing up a younger generation in a spirit of hatred of their own society. Amid all the vituperation we forget that the defects of capitalism represent the basic flaws of human nature, allowed unlimited freedom together with the various human rights; we forget that under Communism (and Communism is breathing down the neck of all moderate forms of socialism, which are unstable) the identical flaws run riot in any person with the least degree of authority; while everyone else under that system does indeed attain “equality”–the equality of destitute slaves. This eager fanning of the flames of hatred is becoming the mark of today’s free world. Indeed, the broader the personal freedoms are, the higher the level of prosperity or even of abundance–the more vehement, paradoxically, does this blind hatred become. The contemporary developed West thus demonstrates by its own example that human salvation can be found neither in the profusion of material goods nor in merely making money. This deliberately nurtured hatred then spreads to all that is alive, to life itself, to the world with its colors, sounds, and shapes, to the human body. The embittered art of the twentieth century is perishing as a result of this ugly hate, for art is fruitless without love. In the East art has collapsed because it has been knocked down and trampled upon, but in the West the fall has been voluntary, a decline into a contrived and pretentious quest where the artist, instead of attempting to reveal the divine plan, tries to put himsef in the place of God. Here again we witness the single outcome of a worldwide process, with East and West yielding the same results, and once again for the same reason: Men have forgotten God. With such global events looming over us like mountains, nay, like entire mountain ranges, it may seem incongruous and inappropriate to recall that the primary key to our being or non-being resides in each individual human heart, in the heart’s preference for specific good or evil. Yet this remains true even today, and it is, in fact, the most reliable key we have. The social theories that promised so much have demonstrated their bankruptcy, leaving us at a dead end. The free people of the West could reasonably have been expected to realize that they are beset · by numerous freely nurtured falsehoods, and not to allow lies to be foisted upon them so easily. All attempts to find a way out of the plight of today’s world are fruitless unless we redirect our consciousness, in repentance, to the Creator of all: without this, no exit will be illumined, and we shall seek it in vain. The resources we have set aside for ourselves are too impoverished for the task. We must first recognize the horror perpetrated not by some outside force, not by class or national enemies, but within each of us individually, and within every society. This is especially true of a free and highly developed society, for here in particular we have surely brought everything upon ourselves, of our own free will. We ourselves, in our daily unthinking selfishness, are pulling tight that noose… Our life consists not in the pursuit of material success but in the quest for worthy spiritual growth. Our entire earthly existence is but a transitional stage in the movement toward something higher, and we must not stumble and fall, nor must we linger fruitlessly on one rung of the ladder. Material laws alone do not explain our life or give it direction. The laws of physics and physiology will never reveal the indisputable manner in which the Creator constantly, day in and day out, participates in the life of each of us, unfailingly granting us the energy of existence; when this assistance leaves us, we die. And in the life of our entire planet, the Divine Spirit surely moves with no less force: this we must grasp in our dark and terrible hour. To the ill-considered hopes of the last two centuries, which have reduced us to insignificance and brought us to the brink of nuclear and non-nuclear death, we can propose only a determined quest for the warm hand of God, which we have so rashly and self-confidently spurned. Only in this way can our eyes be opened to the errors of this unfortunate twentieth century and our bands be directed to setting them right. There is nothing else to cling to in the landslide: the combined vision of all the thinkers of the Enlightenment amounts to nothing. Our five continents are caught in a whirlwind. But it is during trials such as these that the highest gifts of the human spirit are manifested. If we perish and lose this world, the fault will be ours alone. (World copyright ©1983 by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn; translator: A. Klimoff; reprinted by kind permission of the author.)
Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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KF @47: Interesting but very discouraging article. In a hypothetical communist society -as far as I remember from my studies- the NHS described in that article would have been minimized, because everybody would do their best to use their time, energy, skills, talents, for the benefit of the society. In return everybody would have their needs* satisfied. Perhaps that's one reason why the societies that were trying to reach that 'ultimate' stage of society called 'Communism', first had to build a totally new person --which the soviets would call "nasta-yashy komunisticheski chelav-yek"-- highly altruistic, unconditionally dedicated to give their best for the sake of the rest of the society, expecting nothing in return, except the full satisfaction of their needs*. But that final socioeconomic stage also required a tremendous development of the productive forces in order to guarantee the satisfaction of everybody's needs. Needless to say that no country ever reached that goal, not even close. They never reached the required production levels and obviously were never able to create the dreamed new person. All the countries that were allegedly on that path remained in the transitional stage called 'socialism' were the 'official' distribution of the national wealth was not according to needs, but according to the work people did, or according to their relative position in the socioeconomic structure. Unofficially it was as in Orwell's Animal Farm, where some folks were more equal than others. :) http://msxnet.org/orwell/animal_farm.pdf What went wrong? Perhaps Alexander Solzhenitsyn gave us a hint. See the next post. (*) whatever that meant. :)Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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DK @53:
What action might that be?
I can't answer for KF, but I'd put the seemingly "trolling" comments in a queue awaiting moderation. Then run a referendum here to see what percentage of commenters want the allegedly distracting "trolling" comments back. That would be a democratic solution. Some folks here can't afford to squander precious time on nonsense. BTW, the trolls I saw in the Norwegian fjords last summer were much nicer than the ones we encounter online. All the tourists wanted to take pics near them. Actually, if I had moderation power like KF I would put a few more comments in the moderation queue and wait for a democratic referendum to decide how to dispose of them. I definitely lack the patience and tolerance KF has. :)Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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bb @50:
Yes, but that doesn’t make it equivalent.
Huh? Who said anything about equivalence? I'm sorry if my convoluted writing is hard to decipher. :) You may want to take some time to digest the comments before responding or ask me to clarify my questions if they are not clear. It happens sometimes. I'm still learning to write. Anyway, I've done the "knee-jerk reaction" too. More than once. Join the club! I just wanted to comment on the last word you wrote @38. You seem to know more than I do about this topic, hence wanted to asked you a few things. Basically wanted to ask if their alleged founder used a few twisted references to scripture passages or characters (the Christian Bible cannon had been compiled around two centuries earlier, right?). Was he trying to persuade the Jewish merchants in the area to accept his newly brewed messages but they did not buy it? How else one could explain that they were described in nice terms first and then trashed later in the same book? What happened that triggered such a radical change? Besides, is Jesus presented in their main book as the only prophet who performed miracles? Do they make any reference to the scripture passages saying that Jesus made their founder and everybody else? Sorry I've digressed far off topic.Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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There is here an accusation of treason. There had better be solid warrant for it or I am taking drastic action against AK. KF.
You like to threaten people, don't you? What action might that be? ___________________ Mr King, your behaviour is enabling of reckless false accusations. The above, which I responded to, clearly constitutes an accusation of treason; which was offered almost as though it is a right to make such a grave charge without grounds. I challenged the accuser to ground, on pain of appropriate action against false accusation. That you see this as a "threat" while apparently not seeing the significance of a capital crime accusation tossed off as though it needs no warrant and is a right, speaks volumes about you, and not in your favour. Good day sir, KFDaniel King_{November 27, 2016
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TWSYF, I doubt there is a justification, only an argument of lesser of evils in a horrible situation. I also tend to be a tad skeptical of claimed wonderful alternatives when in fact the atomic bombings nearly were not enough. Yes, there was a faction that was trying to fight on and it took the unprecedented act of a recording broadcast by Hirohito to order the surrender of Japan. Anyway, this is now well off topic, and we need to come back to focus. KFkairosfocus_{November 27, 2016
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bb @ 43: The fact that you are JUSTIFYING the killing of 100,000 civilians makes my original point. I call it mass murder. You call it...what? Here is something for you to think about: "Careful scholarly treatment of the records and manuscripts opened over the past few years has greatly enhanced our understanding of why the Truman administration used atomic weapons against Japan. Experts continue to disagree on some issues, but critical questions have been answered. The consensus among scholars is that the bomb was not needed to avoid an invasion of Japan. It is clear that alternatives to the bomb existed and that Truman and his advisors knew it." See Chapter One, Note 2 in the book "Worse Than War" by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (2009).Truth Will Set You Free_{November 27, 2016
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Dionisio,
Didn’t it borrow ideas from or made references to biblical passages or names?
Yes, but that doesn't make it equivalent. Europe borrowed ideas for paper, gun powder, the printing press and paper money from China, but that didn't make it China. Counterfeiters borrow currency designs from mints, but that doesn't make their product cash. Satan himself, tries to imitate God, in his twisted way. Even Satan quotes the Bible. But alas, he isn't God.
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose
-William Shakespearebb_{November 27, 2016
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Seversky @40:
The failures of socialism are not so much a fault of the ideology but rather of human nature.
socialism? ideology? human nature? Which socialism? Scandinavian - known as Nordic Model? Or something else? What exactly? What ideology? What about the human nature?Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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Seversky,
What was done to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was terrible. There is no way round it. But was it the lesser of two evils confronting the Allied planners? What would you have done if you’d had to make that choice?
I think Truman did the best he could with what means to weigh costs that he had. Post-hoc analysis with modern tools is irrelevant because he didn't have the resources we have today. His motivation wasn't genocidal, and it certainly wasn't to subjugate the Japanese in order to keep them under his thumb for decades to feed his personal power trip and greed the way Castro did to his own people. TWSYF is playing an equivocation game. If dropping the bomb meant destroying enemy ability to build arms, a quicker end to the war, an end to American casualties, and fewer deaths overall in the end, I would have done the same. But how does one accurately evaluate all that using WWII tech? I think the morality of the decision before God matters most and leads to the best decision in the end. I can't hide my intent from the God that can see right through me in every respect. I'm obviously not the moderator, but I propose we focus on the real subject, Castro, his murderous and tyrannical regime, and the possibility of history repeating in societies that are somewhat free only for the moment because many of our leaders admire a thug. It indicates that they don't have the morality necessary to judge rightly. Hiroshima is a distraction and just a big tu quoque.bb_{November 27, 2016
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DM on UK nationalised health services problems:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3974988/Potentially-life-threatening-errors-happening-NHS-day-details-blunders-emerge.html Potentially life-threatening errors are happening in the NHS almost once a day as details of blunders emerge * Doctors are making errors including giving the wrong type of blood * They were also shown to perform surgery on wrong part of body * Errors called ‘never events’ by NHS because they should not happen * Damning incidents were revealed by a Mail on Sunday investigation By Stephen Adams Health Correspondent For The Mail On Sunday Published: 02:03 GMT, 27 November 2016 | Updated: 02:19 GMT, 27 November 2016
KFkairosfocus_{November 27, 2016
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bb @38: Does the last word you wrote in your comment refer to a religious belief that apparently appeared in the 6th century (i.e. 5 centuries after Christianity)? Didn't it borrow ideas from or made references to biblical passages or names?Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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Seversky, fair warning. One of those over 100 millions was an unofficial but very real aunt of mine, murdered in her shop because of poisonous agit-prop targetting and blaming shop keepers for "hoarding" during an undeclared civil war. A civil war where Cuban-trained and armed brigadistas were a very relevant force; so yes, my aunt is one of Fidel's death toll. I, for cause, have an extremely low tolerance for Socialist rhetoric, policy proposals, activism and agit prop. I have already laid out in outline my substantial -- processor architecture -- reasons for rejecting government driven socialisation of the economy and/or its major sectors. If you have something to say on substance, say it. I will not tolerate agit prop and evasive rhetoric, not on this topic. KF PS: I see we are more or less on the same page regarding the nuke bombings. This needs to be extended to what we now know, WW II was a nuke threshold war and the Allies were not sure of how advanced either Germany or Japan were. A significant part of the aerial bombardment hampered Germany's progress and may have bought critical time for a ground campaign to bring things to a halt before nukes went off over London, Moscow and New York.kairosfocus_{November 27, 2016
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TWSYF @33: Interesting commentary. Heartbreaking poem. It points to the cruel reality of wars in this spiritually lost and blind world.Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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TWSYF, Your equivocation still doesn't work. Maybe you can offer some definitions so that we're sure to be speaking the same language.bb_{November 27, 2016
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DS, i do not live in the USA and am subject to UK style libel law, just tolerating something on what I have some authority over is enough. And, frankly, the issue still obtains even if there is no legal penalty. There is here an accusation of treason. There had better be solid warrant for it or I am taking drastic action against AK. KFkairosfocus_{November 27, 2016
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bb @ 35
Was it Wrong to Drop the Atom Bomb on Japan?
Is there any simple answer? Prior to dropping the bombs, one study had estimated that a conventional invasion of the Japanese home islands would have cost 1.7 - 4 million American casualties and anywhere between 5-10 million Japanese fatalities. What was done to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was terrible. There is no way round it. But was it the lesser of two evils confronting the Allied planners? What would you have done if you'd had to make that choice?Seversky_{November 27, 2016
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kairosfocus @ 21
Seversky, The global death toll of socialism is north of 100 millions in the past century, and it has consistently been a massive economic failure. Even in Venezuela, sitting on a pool of oil. your mockery on raising crucifixes verges on gross disrespect including to God as well as to people, and you need to take a time out to reconsider your language and arguments. Good night. KF
In the eyes of many in the US, to label something as "socialist" is to demonize it and cast it beyond the pale of serious consideration. The idea behind socialism is that society as a whole should own the means of production and distribution so that society as a whole should enjoy the benefits thereof, not just the few with the skills to manipulate the system to their advantage. The failures of socialism are not so much a fault of the ideology but rather of human nature. In the notorious cases, they professed socialism but practiced despotism. The states fell into the hands of dictators and the thugs that supported them. Absolute power corrupted absolutely. And should God, if He exists, find anything I have said to be disrespectful, He is welcome to take the matter up with me directly. I'm sure that, as Supreme Being and all-powerful Creator, He is quite capable of taking care of Himself.Seversky_{November 27, 2016
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bb @ 35: You just made my point. Mass murder is ALWAYS justified by the perpetrators and their followers. The 100,000 murdered Japanese civilians had as much control over their government as you do over yours. None.Truth Will Set You Free_{November 27, 2016
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Dionisio, "Was it assumed back then that they had in mind Judeo-Christian framework?" None other, though I doubt that any I mentioned were Christian. They still embraced the Christian idea of natural moral law, which is basically what is laid out Biblically. Based on that standard they had contempt for Islam.bb_{November 27, 2016
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bb @32: Insightful commentary. Thank you. Regarding the text you quoted: Was it assumed back then that they had in mind Judeo-Christian framework?Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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daveS
–Obama might have been secretly behind the Orlando shootings.
If you're equating AW's opinions with that sort of thing, then I think you're on to something here. Yes, indeed.Silver Asiatic_{November 27, 2016
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TWSYF, Your equivocation doesn't work. There is a big difference between war with a nation that attacked you first and mass murder. Was it Wrong to Drop the Atom Bomb on Japan? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmIBbcxseXMbb_{November 27, 2016
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KF @24: Sobering timely warning. Thank you.Dionisio_{November 27, 2016
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Mass murder is always justified by the perpetrators and their followers. Most Americans are completely comfortable with Harry Truman ordering the use of nuclear weapons against two Japanese cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) during the summer of 1945...killing over 100,000 civilians. Here's a poem to consider: Hiroshima by Sherwood Ross I am the Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto A graduate of Emory College, Atlanta, Pastor of the Methodist Church of Hiroshima I was in a western suburb when the bomb struck Like a sheet of sunlight. Fearing for my wife and family I ran back into the city Where I saw hundreds and hundreds fleeing Every one of them hurt in some way. The eyebrows of some were burned off Skin hung from their faces and hands Some were vomiting as they walked On some naked bodies the burns had made patterns Of the shapes of flowers transferred From their kimonos to human skin. Almost all had their heads bowed Looked straight ahead, were silent And showed no expression whatever. Under many houses I heard trapped people screaming Crying for help but there were none to help And the fire was coming. I came to a young woman holding her dead baby Who pleaded with me to find her husband So he could see the baby one last time. There was nothing I could do but humor her. By accident I ran into my own wife Both she and our child were alive and well. For days I carried water and food to the wounded and the dying. I apologized to them: "Forgive me," I said, "for not sharing your burden." I am the Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto Pastor of the Methodist Church of Hiroshima I was in a western suburb when the bomb struck Like a sheet of sunlight.Truth Will Set You Free_{November 27, 2016
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CY, That was the first proverb that came to mind when I heard of Castro's death. Though they didn't specify any, Adams, Jefferson and Washington all thought religion and morality were essential to self-governance and self-governance essential to liberty.
Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, They may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies.
-John Adams, Letter to Zabdiel Adams (21 June 1776)bb_{November 27, 2016
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PM Trudeau, who I cited above @ #23, isn’t the only one who has developed (or inherited) amnesia about recent history in Cuba. Here are a couple examples from the U.S. GregGutfeld @ greggutfeld commented before he retweeted Geraldo Rivera: “U can see the "but" coming 90 miles away.” Rivera had tweeted: “RIP #FidelCastro Yes, a despot who ruthlessly suppressed dissidents. But he defeated a dictator & was the premier revolutionary of his time” https://twitter.com/GeraldoRivera/status/802639263938605056 Rev Jesse Jackson Sr @RevJJackson “In many ways, after 1959, the oppressed the world over joined Castro's cause of fighting for freedom & liberation-he changed the world. RIP” https://twitter.com/RevJJackson/status/802503336280858624 The political left is even more out of touch with reality than I thought it was. That’s scary.john_a_designer_{November 27, 2016
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KF,
AK, you just used this thread to accuse the President-Elect of the USA of treason most foul. You will either substantiate with adequate evidence of a quality that would stand up in impeachment and onwards in a trial for his life, or else withdraw and apologies for your remarks.
It would be great if this principle were applied evenly! To be clear, I don't mean to throw any accusations your way, KF. It's just that we (in the USA) have become used to this sort of rhetoric over the last several years. For example: --Obama founded ISIS. --Obama might have been secretly behind the Orlando shootings. --The George W. Bush administration either orchestrated the Sept 11 attacks, or deliberately allowed them to happen. etc.daveS_{November 27, 2016
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