coComments related to VD

Obama's IQ probably works out

2008-09-18T11:46:26.451+02:00

Obama's IQ probably works out to around 116, based on the average Harvard LSAT score less the average affirmative action bonus given black students at elite universities. Obviously, averages don't necessarily apply to individuals, but this is a reasonable estimate based on the available information. One can see how it's worked out here if one likes.

That said, I don’t really w

2008-07-09T18:27:55.865+02:00
That said, I don’t really want to have the discussion of whether Fascists are socialists (small “s” or big “S”) in this particular comment thread No problem. Just note that Mussolini is being quite specific there, he's criticizing the concept of class struggle inherent to Marxist socialism, not socialism itself. Hence my point about him substituting the nation for the proletariat, etc. One wouldn't argue that Marx wasn't a socialist because he attacked the Fabians, after all. Anyhow, what is your opinion on the mandated service proposal? I'm with Bainbridge and the "pox on both houses" brigade myself; I don't see why forced volunteering is any better than a draft, except you're less likely to get killed.

You know, John, calling Fascis

2008-07-09T18:00:27.921+02:00
You know, John, calling Fascism "right-wing" is quite literally the Stalinist line. But nationalism aside, you'll find it hard to find another "right-wing" aspect to it, in theory or in practice. Now, today's neocon-dominated Republicans are certainly neo-fascist as they are guilty of the same "cult of the state" phenomenon that Giordano Bruno Guerri - an Italian socialist - describes in his Fascisti. But then, Democrats are also prone to la sacralizzazione della politica that both Guerri and Gentile considered to be the primary aspect of Fascism. Fascism wasn't a refutation of socialism, it was a simply a revision, a nationalist one which substitutes the nation for the working class. Hence its being known as "the Third Way" between Communism and liberal democratic capitalism. And if you want to see fascism in action, come visit Europe where the antidemocratic fascists in Brussels are doing their thing, lacking only the uniforms. Unsurprisingly, it is the Socialist parties that are the most enthusiastic about the new Eurofascism. So, while Fascists weren't Socialists, they were definitely socialists. I don't, however, think that Barack Obama is any more a neo-fascist than George Bush or John McCain.

3rd test

2008-06-05T11:16:54.203+02:00
3rd test