Hello Socialism

The US House of Representatives passed the Democratic-sponsored Health Bill. The GOP criticized the reform plan as the end of capitalism in America. Far-right demagogues Glenn Beck and Russ Limbaugh asked their followers to protest this swing to the left. President Obama responded to their outcry by promoting the bill to the Senate, where his party has enough votes to enact the measure as long as Sen. Joe Lieberman remains true to his constituency.

If so then the USA will take a small step in dismantling an antiquated double-tier health program in which the insurance companies act as a buffer between patients and medical care. The GOP are marshaling their their forces in hopes of filibustering the Health Care Act, but judging from the shouts of 'Wall Street Sucks' from the hundreds of thousands of Yankee fans gathered to greet their World Series champs along Lower Broadway, they seem to have misjudge the country's love of capitalism.

Another job well-done

Happiness is Not Only a Warm Gun

It's not difficult to make a woman happy.

A man only needs to be

1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynaecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
44. compassionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:

45. give her compliments regularly
46. love shopping
47. be honest
48. be very rich
49. not stress her out
50. not look at other girls

AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:

51. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
52. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
53. give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:

54. Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes

HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY

1. Show up naked

2. Bring alcohol

This entry is thanks to Comrade Pollack.

The revolution will only be videotaped.

GOODBYE LENIN - Movie

Communism is dead, but the 2003 comedy GOODBYE LENIN brings back the good old days for a young man's mother, who has coming out of a coma after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She had been a loyal party member and the doctors fear that she couldn't handle the new reality, so her son recreates the old world for her.

A good fun film for anyone who can read subtitles.

Fun with Communism

In 1988 I had a series of dreams about nuclear annihilation. The first one was situated in New York. the sirens sounded the alarm and thousands of east Villagers headed to the subway for shelter. There wasn't room for all of us. Someone pointed to the sky and I could see a black missile falling earthward.

White flash.

The next was in Moscow. The populace filed into trains with calm order and got off at the next station to allow other passengers to continue their hopeless exodus.

White flash.

The third was at a Siberian airfield. I was making love with a Red Air Force female pilot. The sirens sounded once more. She excused herself from my embrace and ran to her bomber parked outside the dacha. I watched her take off moments before mushrooms clouds rose over the tundra.

White flash.

I liked the last dream best, but I always thought you weren't supposed to die in your dreams.

Guess I was wrong.

Party Hat by Slavoj Zizek

To read this great opinion piece about the collapse of communism go the following URL.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/opinion/09zizek.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=global

The Fall of Berlin Wall 1989

"Ich bin en Berliner."

These words were spoken by JFK before the grim barrier in 1961.

I stood at the wall in 1982. Its shabby concrete was graffiti-splattered on the Western side. The other side was a no-man's land of mines, dogs, and guard towers. I crossed over to East Berlin via Checkpoint Charlie. I was immediately struck by the amount of parking available on the streets. Beer was plentiful and cheap. food was good and even cheaper. There was nothing to buy in the shops, so I spent my deutschmarks on beer for the locals. They grumbled 'danke' like they were stuck with communism for the rest of their lives.

Hope sprung anew with Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan gave this speech at the UN.

"We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Nothing happened that day and no one expected the Berlin Wall to fall. Its missiles were pointed at the USA and the West. They numbered in the thousands. The hard-liners refused to grant any liberties to the masses. George Bush was more concerned with the Contras in Central America than the Kremlin. Americans were geared for another 50 years of Communist rule over Eastern Europe, yet in one night a faceless bureaucrat shrugged off the iron curtain draped over East Germany and ordered the Berlin Wall to be open for passage between the two worlds at war.

The domino effect was instantaneous. East Germans flocked to the West in wonder. Poland was liberated by Solidarity. The Balkans fought off the old guard and Russia splintered into pieces.

Communism was dead.

George Bush and the GOP claimed the victory.

Democracy was safe.

But even safer was capitalism and as Slavoj Zizek wrote a brilliant opinion piece in today's New York Times celebrating the end of communism in Eastern Europe while recognizing that the collapse of communism was not complete and neither was the triumph of capitalism a victory for the people of the world.

The richer got rich and then got richer.

Both in the New East and the Old West.

So today I'm wearing an old Moscow Dynamos Hockey shirt.

My keys are on a communist key chain.

And my heart is a little pink, but not hued by the blood of Stalin.

Communism failed because there never was communism.

Not in Russia and not in China.

And never in the USA.

Not even under Obama.

But the revolution lives on.

No matter what anyone says.

Even me.

No More Oak Beach Inn

Oak Beach was a small marshland community at the end of the Jones Beach Causeway. Access to the tidewater island was strictly by boat. The houses were constructed during the 30s and 40s. Electricity was an option.

Across the causeway was the Oak Beach Inn. A large clam shack serving the drunk drivers from everywhere but Oak Beach. On the weekends the parking lot was packed with fast cars and the inlet between Jones Beach and the outer shore barrier island was buzzing with even faster boats. Most of the boaters were drunk too.

There was great friction between the two groups, although none of it mattered to me, since I would only go there on my old 1907 Yamama XS 650. An ugly bike. Still it ran better than most and I loved riding the causeway to the Oak Beach Inn. I'd have a beer and watch the action on the water.

Near-misses were frequent. Boaters regularly ignored the inlet's speed limit. Most of the non-locals didn't realize the speed limit was to prevent boaters from running into shifting sand bars or hidden submersibles. I saw two boats slam into a sand bar within five minutes of each other. The second driver ignoring the first stranded boat. The best was the time a Scarab throttled into the inlet full power. Everyone on the deck expected him to execute a showy stop, but the boater kept coming. So fast it was too late for anything to happen other than a collision. People stepped away from the edge of the deck. Luckily the boater didn't miss a sunken deadhead and split the prow of his speedboat.

A good laugh for all, since no one was hurt.

The Oak Beach Inn is now closed.

The residents of Oak Beach are happy.

And maybe that's for the best, because boats are only faster now. And people are bigger assholes.