Comments on: From the Pen of David Horowitz: December 18, 2009

By: Art Cohn

Art Cohn — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:24:20 +0000

The students who led the Vietnam protests are now the professors. So current students are getting a lot of indoctrination into leftist dogma.

By: David Swindle

David Swindle — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:28:21 +0000

http://newsrealblog.com/2009/10/01/hate-mail-of-the-day-understanding-the-crypto-religious-mentality-of-the-left/

I’ve talked with plenty of people like you before. Your ad hominems — calling me a liar and self-righteously lecturing me about not “telling the truth” will not serve you well if it’s your intention to continue commenting at NewsReal.

You’re the one not “telling the truth” about Allende/Pinochet. Horowitz and Collier lay to waste this leftist talking point in “Destructive Generation.” You’re using it as an attempt to slur America — just as leftists always do. It’s such a boring cliche.

By: truthteller

truthteller — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:36:21 +0000

Dearest Laura, Thanks so much for your interest in the truth. Indeed, the USA (and FDR in particular) did indeed ally with the USSR during WWII. But I’m not sure how this proves anything on this site. In fact it’s more like a ‘Leftist’ rebuttal to the Right when the rage against Communism. Concerning your point about redistribution of wealth – your claim that FDR’s policies resulted in a lengthening of the Depression is worth pondering. Economists, in fact, are split on the issue. You can’t say categorically that Depression was lengthened by the introduction of Social Security. It’s at least as likely that the Depression was lengthened by Hoover’s (a ‘conservative’) passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs, which affected 20,000 consumer items, and clearly resulted in punitive responses from other nations. But to avoid cheap political points, I WILL NOT argue that that was the definitive cause of the long Depression. Concerning Obama’s policies, I will only say that I predicted the Crash, that the Crash happened during Bush’s presidency, that Bush implemented a bailout for the wealthy corporations that were responsible for the CRASH, and that Obama has largely followed in Bush’s footsteps and worked to bail out capitalism and protect the wealthy. I don’t see any redistribution of wealth, only a continuation of the decline of the Middle Class of the last 25 years. Of course, the Right complains about CASH FOR CLUNKERS, and calls it COMMUNISM, but this again is childish. In terms of Government spending, I personally believe Obama should have left the businesses to fend for themselves ( I don’t believe in Bush/Obama’s theories of ‘too big to fail’. If they’re too big, they should fail). Please don’t automatically put me in some ‘liberal’ box. The fact is, rich capitalists flew in their private jets to Washington BEGGING FOR BAILOUTS. It’s not the ‘Communists’ who had Obama’s ear. Why doesn’t someone tell the freaking truth around here?

By: truthteller

truthteller — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:24:15 +0000

Don’t be snide, dear Swindle, it is not I who has a major website online, so the onus is not upon me. Furthermore, please show me and the world where I have denied the existence of ‘dictators’ around the world ‘supported by the Left.’ Furthermore, because you are an intellectual of sorts, you can’t conflate the existence of Stalin, on the one, and so-called progessives in America, on the other. Progressives did not institute famine producing measures and gulags in the USSR, Stalin did. Concerning the ‘breadbasket, I suggest people look at their friends the Romanovs, and look at the cause of the Russian Revolution of 1904-5. Massive agrarian uprisings in 60 districts were the direct result of leftover feudal property relations, famine in some areas, Czarist policies, and a stupid imperialist war with Japan over the warm water port of Port Arthur, in China.

And finally, when one mentions ‘support’ for dictators around the world, there’s quite a gap between Horowitz’s poor parents walking around a cold sidewalk with a stupid sign that accomplished nothing, and formal (or clandestine) U.S./CIA support for dictyators around the globe. One quick example, among others, was the CIA war against Allende in Chile, who was democratically elected, resulting in his overthrow, and the subsequent torture regime of Augusto Pinochet. so please don’t just say ‘support’, but rather define the nature of the support, its efficacy, how it was funded (Horowitz’s parents had the right to privately support whomever they pleased, regardless of how meaningless; the CIA, on the other hand, uses YOUR TAX DOLLARS). So really, surely you can do better. Why don’t you tell the truth?

By: James Stretchberry

James Stretchberry — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:10:48 +0000

It is interesting how ignorance continues to prevail… Having spent 18 months in Vietnam int he late 60′s has caused me to give a lot of thought (research) in regards to that war. People need to realize that this war made a huge statement to communism and had a part in the fall of communism in the the USSR. It was not, we lost – they won, it was the West will fight for freedom.

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:38:45 +0000

Hey Truthteller, the President of the USA at the time of allying with Russia in WW11 was a “Progressive” who’s redistribution of wealth policies extended the great depression for years beyond where recovery would have been if it had been left alone !! Then He used WW11 to extend his “Progressive” hold on American Buisnesses. Does this remind you of what the “Progressive ” President of today is doing?

By: David Swindle

David Swindle — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:51:37 +0000

Stalin was supported by people like David Horowitz’s communist parents who identified as “progressives.” If you’re going to style yourself as a “Truthteller” you should at least have the courage to tell the truth about the dictators who “progressives” have defended throughout the 20th century and into the 21st.

By: Truthteller

Truthteller — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:22:10 +0000

Uh, Stalin, a ‘Progressive’? David, check your definitions. And while you’re at it, look at the ‘Breadbasket’ of Russia in 1905 before the Revolution, and its management by your good buddies the Romanovs, who kept the country in relative darkness for years. And in reference to the NYTimes, don’t forget the US made the Soviets allies in WWII. And while you’re at it, why don’t we talk about the conservative support (Henry Ford and Bush, for starters) for Hitler and his band of Merry Men. Why don’t you tell the truth? Or does it hurt that much?

By: Chez Nation

Chez Nation — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:53:15 +0000

20th century was the best of centuries and the worst of centuries

21st – there should be little to no death due to starvation. the global cropland base is well established, and there are still quite a bit of efficiency gains left in the system

we should identify what might cause a reversal, and seek to prevent these factors from emerging, some examples might be:

1. bad government policies which create unintended effects
2. using trade embargoes of food as a weapon
3. trying to expand organic production beyond a niche market
4. promoting environmental policies that constrain agricultural
production

By: therealend

therealend — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:57:36 +0000

But thanks to a politically corrupted media and educational system, their pig-headed pursuit of socialist fantasies goes on.
——————————
See no evil
Hear no evil
Report no evil

By: Walt

Walt — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:42:29 +0000

Many of those progressives had few qualms with what was going on in those places. The few who did kept quiet, or at best only criticized the tactics, rather than the programs of such regimes. Mr. Horowitz has previously described the group pressure one undergoes to conform in such circles. Max Elbaum has gone over this in his writings, even though he is sympathetic.

By: Walt

Walt — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:28:46 +0000

Also, you need to remember that Russia had been industrializing for decades prior to the Russian Revolution. The serfs had been freed in 1863, and many had become landholders. Things really did begin to take off economically after that. In 1914, Russia was at least the fifth most industrialized country in Europe.

Ask the master himself: “The Development of Capitalism in Russia” (1899 and 1908 2nd edition, Vladimir I. Lenin.