"Heresy" (Rush)

All around that dull grey world
From Moscow to Berlin
People storm the barricades
Walls go tumbling in

The counter-revolution
People smiling through their tears
Who can give them back their lives
And all those wasted years?
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

All around that dull grey world
Of ideology
People storm the marketplace
And buy up fantasy

The counter-revolution
At the counter of a store
People buy the things they want
And borrow for a little more
All those wasted years
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

'nuff said.

Obama and his ilk would say, "for thee, but not for me".

I just wanted to pass along some funny anecdotes that are similar in vein when talking about Russkies over here.

Back in the 90's I was Chief Geologist of a producing gold/silver mine in western Nevada. We conducted many, many tours for visitors of all kinds including foreign dignitaries. For a while there after the "collapse" of the USSR we were entertaining some former high level Soviet officials that were now part of private consortiums trying to attract western technology and capital into Russia.

So, we toured them around the minesite and the offices with advanced modeling and design software and then broke for lunch in the conference room. Old Boris (yes, Boris) had a translator who was kept quite busy interpreting back and forth. Poor guy, every time he lifted the sandwich to his mouth he had to stop and translate. So, everybody backed off the serious chatter to let people eat. Well, it got too silent. Old Boris broke in and the translator interpreted: "Don't stop talking. There is an old Russian saying that whenever there is a lull in the conversation a KGB agent is born!"

What laughter in that conference room.

And then our pompous mine manager went on to tout how efficient we were in the mining industry with frugality of expensive resources. Haul truck tires even back then were around $35,000 apiece. Three times that now. So he went on with how frugal we were by running all haul truck tires to ruin by switching the worn out ones to the rear axles and let them finally fail. Old Boris interjects with translation: "That means nothing to us. We do that with our private vehicles all the time"

More laughter - at our mine manager. He didn't get it.

Here is a joke that I believe is from 1970-era Eastern Europe.

There is a rumor that meat is available, and a long line forms outside the meat market. At 8:00 in the morning the market door opens, and man steps out. He announces, "There is not enough meat for everyone. If you are Jewish, you might as well go home." Several people leave.

At 10:00 the door opens and the man steps out and says, "I'm terribly sorry, but there is not enough meat. If you are not a Party member, you might as well go home." Most of the people leave.

At 4:00 PM the man appears again and says, "I'm so terribly sorry. There isn't any meat at all." One Party member turns to another and grumbles, "Isn't that the way it always is? The Jews get the best of everything!"

I had a friend who had a couple from Russia visit some years ago. The woman cried when he took her inside a Walmart. She could not believe there could be so much food in one place.

I might suggest that everyone would be well served by viewing a film called "Moscow On The Hudson" particularly the grocery store scene where Robin Williams, playing the main character sees so much variety that he faints.

Iz better to have people wait in "Ketchup Line" than to waste valuable resources manufacturing shelves that will only be emptied in a few hours. And empty freezer bins are better because they use less electricity... Weren't you paying attention during that lecture, Comrade?

Because of my family's affiliation w/the NHL, I had the opportunity while growing up, to meet some players, quite a number of whom were from soviet bloc countries. One was a newly signed player from the Czech Republic. While showing this new player around town, and taking him to a grocery store, he was in utter shock that he could go to a meat department and buy meat, any day of the week. He kept loading the shopping cart with packages and packages of meat, only to be told he didn't have to do that. There would be meat tomorrow, and every day. He went back every single day for a month, just to make sure that was true. This was 1990.

I find that am seeing this socialistic style of control creeping into every aspect of our lives. It's stealthy and insidious. I also would love to find out his perspective on what he thinks of the current Stalin-esque leader.

The utopia that the Rockefellers have in store for us, but not them. How deplorable.

Ok as long as they, the Elite are exempt.

Evidence is right in front of us all, but it is ignored!

This is the image I have some days when WalMart has certain bare shelves, likely from employees not showing up. This is what the UN has in mind for all of us with their Agenda 21. Non-sustainable items include red meat, refrigeration, any food produced at farther than 100 miles from our homes. Pretty easy to control a population when you control food to that extent. Our young people have never lived with such limits, wonder how they will like what they now support? If they read history, they would know of how Khrushchev starved villages who opposed his rise to power. It will not matter if you supported Obama or opposed him, the UN and the global elite will limit the food of all but themselves.

Perhaps there will be a video similar to that 20 years from now.
In the middle of the store will be a statue of Obama with broken off ears yet his arms and hands will be spread as if he is giving us something.
At the base of statue words are inscribed: El glorioso Una qe difunden la riqueza alrededor.
Twenty years from now will all be speaking Spanish.
Google translate translated: The glorious One who spread the wealth around.
So blame Google if the Spanish is wrong.
You see, Obama taught me how to spread the blame around also.

I bet that the majority of the people don't see anything
much better, now! -- j

I'll have to pick that one up, Herb. I love Robin Williams, he was a tragic loss to humankind. I am still not convinced that he committed suicide, but he was very political so who could've blamed him if he had. RIP Mr. Williams!

I wonder if this was a better or worse than average. I'm guessing this was their average store.

It's amazing people were worried about the communist system spreading. It clearly did not work.