Merry Christmas

[Conquer or Die]

And happy holidays

[Bankotsu]

More Bolivar, fewer presents for Christmas: Chavez

CARACAS — President Hugo Chavez has suggested that Venezuelans should end the gift-giving "insanity" of Christmas and concentrate instead on reading children stories about independence hero Simon Bolivar.

"For the love of God, let's halt this, let's put the brakes on this consumerist, capitalist insanity, that leads us to lose our spiritual values," said Chavez.

"Let's sit with children and tell them stories of Bolivar, of the motherland," the firebrand leftist leader said, speaking at a public event late Wednesday broadcast on government television.

Chavez called on Venezuelans to reject buying toys "that as mothers and fathers we are practically forced" to buy.

"Why do we have to buy new clothes each December?" he asked. The sales do not benefit the small merchants, but "their owners, the wealthy, the big distributors that make a bundle squeezing people."

Chavez added: "I make this appeal from my heart to put aside these vices."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i37qnoxq9ReSSYUT-H4nhN8d0N2A

[Bankotsu]

One-Dimensional Man is a work by Herbert Marcuse, first published in 1964.

One-Dimensional Man offers the reader a wide-ranging critique of both contemporary capitalism and the Soviet model of communism, documenting the parallel rise of new forms of social repression (both public and personal) in both these societies as well as the decline of revolutionary potential in the West.

He argued that "advanced industrial society" created false needs, which integrated individuals into the existing system of production and consumption via mass media, advertising, industrial management, and contemporary modes of thought.

This results in a "one-dimensional" universe of thought and behaviour in which aptitude and ability for critical thought and oppositional behaviour wither away...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-Dimensional_Man

Herbert Marcuse
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/marcuse/index.htm

Anti-consumerism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-consumerism


"For the love of God, let's halt this, let's put the brakes on this consumerist, capitalist insanity, that leads us to lose our spiritual values," said Chavez.

"Why do we have to buy new clothes each December?" he asked. The sales do not benefit the small merchants, but "their owners, the wealthy, the big distributors that make a bundle squeezing people."

[AvanteRedGarde]

http://raimd.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/global-christmas.jpg

[Havet]

Christmas has some resemblance with voting

I don't ask anything for christmas, but I got presents

I don't vote for any party, but receive a government

[Bud Struggle]

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Meridian]

Merry yuletides. Have fun celebrating satan ("santa") by hanging up lit pentagrams at the top of pyramids ("christmas trees") in your living rooms, celebrating the joy of materialism just like Lucifer intended. Yes, even dance around the pyramid, worshipping your false symbol, I truly hope "christians" are enjoying these times! :laugh:

[Sasha]

Shouldn't That Crucifix Be Baby-Sized?

Posted by Paul Constant (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=17693) on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 4:30 PM

Christian retailer Boss Creations (http://www.bosscreations.net/) is going to put the Christ back in Christmas by shoving a giant fucking crucifix into your Christmas tree.
http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2009/12/21/1261432322-screen_shot_2009-12-21_at_1.50.25_pm.png
Now, I'm of course not a religious man, but isn't there something really gross about that? Like bringing a tiny coffin to a baby's birth?

source: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/12/21/shouldnt-that-crucifix-be-baby-sized

[Bud Struggle]

^^^I thought it was a joke--but those people are serious.

Truth stranger than fiction.:rolleyes:

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Darrr. Fucking hangovers.

[danyboy27]

happy holiday to all! enjoy this free time and have fun!

and for all of those who are still able to see a reason to launch their own political or religious message that day, fuck you.

its a freaking day off, enjoy it.

[Havet]

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7193/lovethread.jpg

[mykittyhasaboner]

fuck christmas

[rednordman]

Merry X-Mas everyone. Make sure you celebrate santa claus properly:lol:. Seriously, someone at work asked us if we celebrated Santa in this country. No-one knew what to say.

[ls]

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7193/lovethread.jpg
:lol: Isn't revleft wonderful sometimes.

[Qwerty Dvorak]

fuck christmas
Do you commies EVER stop WHINGING.


Merry Christmas ;)

[mykittyhasaboner]

Do you commies EVER stop WHINGING.


Merry Christmas ;)

Stick it up your ass. I don't take kindly to people who talk about merry christmas spirit and the whole gift giving thing when people are starving in the streets. Sorry I actually care about people who are perpetually fucked by the system.

[Richard Nixon]

Merry Christmas to all.

[danyboy27]

Stick it up your ass. I don't take kindly to people who talk about merry christmas spirit and the whole gift giving thing when people are starving in the streets. Sorry I actually care about people who are perpetually fucked by the system.

hey man, he never actually mentionned nowhere that he supported that whole xmas tradition has a whole.

Xmas is mainly a reason to get off work time. its up to individual to decide what to do with this time.

[IcarusAngel]

1. Achieving the Impossible by Lois Marie Gibbs; Published by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (www.chej.org (http://www.chej.org/)) is an inspiring collection of short stories about how ordinary people have risen to meet the challenges of toxic pollution confronting their families and communities. The author herself rose from the Love Canal controversy in Niagara Falls, New York to lead a grand national grass roots organization.

2. Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope In An Insecure Age (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0520261372?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0520261372&adid=13Q3WXFM58P6VC3SH1ET&) by Steven Hill (University of California Press, 2010.) His thesis is that Western Europe treats its people better in many ways than the United States does its people, and not just in social insurance and services. Read, wonder and galvanize!

3. Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in A Two-Party Tyranny (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1595583947?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1595583947&adid=0J0PVQZR6MRTQDV166F7&) by Theresa Amato (New Press, 2009.) My former campaign manager weighs in with an indictment of the two-party barriers to a competitive electoral system, candidate ballot access and voter choice. Partly personal memoir of her battles in 2000 and 2004, part history about the decades long ago when third parties could get on the ballot easier and make a difference and part a series of reforms that only an outraged public can make happen.

4. Priceless Money: Banking Time for Changing Times by Edgar S. Cahn is a revolutionary elevation of traditional assets in how time can become a currency—a means of exchange that is beyond price—that does not allow market price to define value. It is a limited edition booklet you’ll never forget, free. Send two first class stamps to TimeBanksUSA, 5500 39th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20015.

5. Empire of Illusion (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1568584377?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1568584377&adid=0ZZ43WACRX5H5XQ4PZYV&) by Chris Hedges (Nation Books, 2009) The Pulitzer Prize winning war correspondent turned prolific author and lecturer, Mr. Hedges goes to the core of a culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion. He “exposes the mechanisms used to divert us from confronting the economic, political and moral collapse around us.” In gripping, memorable concrete prose that resonates the moment we let ourselves think.

6. The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591842859?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1591842859&adid=0ET3KCHZQZTHF6QEQ1DV&) by Josh Kosman (Portfolio Hardcover, 2009.) Think it is all about the brand names of a corrupt, reckless Wall Street? Try the entirely unregulated private equity firms that acquire and strip mine them under the guise of saving them, then leave behind debt time bombs and mass layoffs as the value of these leveraged buyouts is sucked out by the corporate bunccaneers. Kosman predicts a coming private equity-caused big bubble crisis.

7. Ordinary People Doing the Extraordinary: The Story of Ed and Joyce Koupal and the Initiative Process by Dwayne Hunn and Doris Ober. This husband-wife team “just ordinary people,” in their words, started out powerless and in over a decade, largely in the seventies, built Initiative power to qualify reforms on the California ballot for the popular vote. A story for the ages that strips away excuses steeped in a sense of powerlessness. This small but invigorating paperback can be obtained from The People’s Lobby (peopleslobby.hypermart.net (http://peopleslobby.hypermart.net/)) for $15, including shipping. California St., Unit 201, San Francisco, CA 94109.

8. Getting Away With Torture: Secret Government, War Crimes, and the Rule of Law by (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1597973874?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1597973874&adid=1QP641ZVC97WHFES9GMD&) Christopher H. Pyle (Potomac Books, 2009) A former captain in army intelligence and Congressional staffer, now teaching constitutional law at Mount Holyoke College, Mr. Pyle shatters our belief in the rule of law before the unconstitutional government of Bush and Cheney in waging war crimes and torture, while seeking Congressional amnesty to those responsible for implementing their rogue, secret regime. Veteran constitutional law specialist, Louis Fisher asserts these practices have “left American weaker politically, economically, morally, and legally.”

9. It Takes A Pillage (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470529598?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0470529598&adid=09MM2NRZGPMEZR2WWJ5G&) by Nomi Prins (Wiley, 2009.) A former managing director of Goldman Sachs, who quit Wall Street, and now is dedicated to educating and mobilizing the American people so that they press for reforms to prevent myopic greed from bringing down our economy again and to hold the speculators and crooks accountable. She “gets inside how the banks looted the Treasury, stole the bailout, and continued with business as usual,” in the words of one reviewer.

10. Censored 2010: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008-09 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/158322890X?tag=commondreams-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=158322890X&adid=07PSKGTMM525A2H31270&) edited by Peter Phillips and Mickey Huff with Project Censored (Seven Stories Press, 2009.) This book contains investigative pieces on important topics too often neglected by the mainstream news organizations. Read this book, it will make you angry and then it will energize you to take on a significant societal problem in the New Year.



Notice how all the books deal with market tyranny or 'privatization' in one way or another.

[Bud Struggle]

Stick it up your ass. I don't take kindly to people who talk about merry christmas spirit and the whole gift giving thing when people are starving in the streets. Sorry I actually care about people who are perpetually fucked by the system.

Right.

You care about power like everyone else. :)