I may be a pedant, but I am getting tired of people, including those who really should know better, misusing the word Fascist. Yes, it's an affective debating tool to label your opponent such a person, but in my view (and it's open to debate) Fascists and Fascism are NOT synonomous with Bushism or Thatcherism etc etc as keeps on happening.

First of all, I'd like to explain that in my view all types of government is measured by their power/control. So, for example a Right Wing government maintains control through money. It will operate a free market economy, have a small or non-existent welfare infrastructure and has a policy of little or no public spending. Because they operate a free market economy, they are called Capitalist as they are only interested in the control of money - CAPITAL. The only control is over how people make their money. In all other aspects of society they have no interest. In this sense the USA is Right Wing.

A Left Wing Government is maintains power by controlling society. Hence the Socialist label. Socialist governments are characterized by high taxes, public spending, a controled economy and industry, a welfare state, public services and more legislation than you can shake a stick at.

In my opinion, Nationalism is a characteristic of a country and it's style of leadership, not necessarily it being Right Wing, for example:
Soviet Russia maintained rigourous control over every aspect of society, government spending was high and all markets and industries were controlled. Communism is often regarded as Left Wing as possible and quite rightly. However, Soviet Russia was also violently nationalistic, imperial and militaristic, things usually expected to be at home on the Right.
The Nazis (short for National Socialist German Workers Party) were also violently nationalistic, racist, imperialistic and militaristic - but was it a Right Wing government? The Nazis also kept close control over German society spending a huge amount of public money on roads, public transport, producing the VolksWagen (a very Socialist notion) and deciding exactly what is taught in schools, who to and what people do in their spare time. In my opinion this makes them much more a Left Wing government then a right wing one.

It is for this reason that people often say that the political spectrum is not a horizontal plane but a circle - both the Nazis and Societs share so much in common that they are not in fact opposite but twins. Another example of this would be the answer to the question 'Is Hate the opposite of Love?' The answer is No, because they share more in common with each other than Indifference for example. And we all know that the Nazis and Soviets absolutely hated each other.

Fascism was pretty much invented by Mussolini and was at the time very specific to Italy. In my view Fascism can be described as a type of National Socialism. Yes it was imperial and nationalistic but was more Socialist than anything else as the Fascist party, far from withdrawing government control as a Right Wing Capitalist would do, set about trying to reform his country from the top down. It may be symptomatic of a Capitalist society to have a Middle Class, but CREATING one like Hitler and Mussolini did is the activity of a Socialist.

So, back to the USA. The USA is a Capitalist country. It has a free market, very little welfare, is pro big business and is more interested in CAPITAL than anything social. It's massive spending on the military, it's harsh judicial system and anti-immigration laws are not features of Capitalism but is reflective of its STYLE of government, not its FORM.

Benjamin Disraeli once said (paraphrased) "The British Empire does not have friends, only interests." This sums up the USA. It's militarism and religio-political style does not mean it is Fascist, it is merely trying to control CAPITAL - Oil, the military industry etc etc.

Many of you will disagree, and are welcome to, but I hope you get my point.

From the Beatles most psychadelic era, the lyrics of I Am The Walrus has confused students, fans, censors and Mods for over three hundred years. For your convenience, I will show you what Lennon and McArtney were on about as they tripped off their tits on acid.

I Am The Walrus by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.
The first line of this song refers to the usual feeling of 'oneness' that is experienced when on powerful drugs. The second two lines is what happens when you forget what you were talking about.

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.
I am the eggman (woo), they are the eggmen (woo), I am the walrus,
Coo coo, kachoo.
If you ask the right people, what happened in the first line of this verse actually happened. They had ordered a pizza when they got the munchies and were waiting for it with some impatience. On arrival, instead of tipping the delivery boy, they pelted him with eggs.

Mister City P'liceman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row.
See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run.
I'm crying.
I'm cry, I'm crying, I'm cry, I'm crying.

After the incident with the pizza boy and the eggs, Ringo became massivly paranoid that the police were going to take him away. This was his contribution to the song.

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye.
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,
Boy, you been a naughty girl and you let your knickers down.
I am the eggman (woo), they are the eggmen (woo), I am the walrus,
Coo coo, kachoo.
I spoke to Lennon about this in July 1999 and he told me this is what Yoko used to feed him, hence his faked death.

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.
If the sun don't come, you get a tan from
Standing in the English rain.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
Coo coo kachoo ka coo coo kachoo.
Disappointingly, this lyric needs very little explaination and is not exciting in the slightest. It was written by McCartney.

Expert texpert choking smokers,
Don't you think the joker laughs at you? (ho ho ho, he he he, ha ha ha)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snide.
I'm crying.
Ringo still having problems with reality. He also tried expressing himself in the film 'The Magic Christian' that also failed to have anything solid to say about anything.

Semolina Pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower.
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna.
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
Coo coo kachoo ka coo coo kachoo
The only really good lyric in this song, written by George Harrison. Semolina Pilchard represents the late 60s - Semolina is a desert made from Duram Wheat and milk while a Pilchard is a small fish. The Eiffel Tower is a landmark in Paris, France.
Elemantary Penguin is a juxtoposition of two seemingly unrelated words, which is cleverly positioned next to 'Hare Krishna' that at the time was the most powerful nuclear weapon in the Soviet Union's armoury.
Edgar Allan Poe was kicked to death. He suggests we should have witnessed this as George Harrison was actually quite a violent person encouraged by his sinful smoking habit.

(Juba juba juba, juba, juba, juba, juba, juba, juba juba. Juba juba.....
(speaking)
The last line was written after Ringo collapsed and someone needed to keep time.

Usher's new single "Let's Make Love in the Club" is a popular but complex new RnB/Dance hit from the United States. Here I will display and comment on the more confusing and sometimes metaphysical aspects of his lyrical genius. I hope you find it helpful.

"You see you searching for somebody that'll take you out and do you right.
Well come here baby and let daddy show you what it feel like."

Here Usher explains that he is the person that the heroine is seeking. He compares himself to her father, suggesting that paternal incest is not only common but is in fact desirable. The phrase "do you right" is a rather intimate and unsubtle reference to sex which, if used in regular 'I am not Usher' circumstances would result in a well deserved palm-related rebuttle.

"You know all you gotta do is tell me what your sipping on? Eh
And I promise that I'ma keep it coming all night loooooong."

Here Usher asks to by the female stranger a drink, but in a way that is not cliched and boring, like if one of us would do it.

"Looking in your eyes,
While you on the other side, hey
(and I think that shawty I got a thing for you yeah)
Doing it on purpose, wind it and work it.
I can tell by the way you looking at me girl."

Besides this verse being almost completely indecipherable gibberish, one can acertain a couple of things: That Usher is sure this female stranger is acting somewhat familiar in his presence. The presence of so-called Shawty could be referring to a friend who would like to 'twos up' on her, but in my view is actually a nick-name for Usher's unremarkable member which this song attempts to make up for.

"I wanna make love in this club.
In this club
In this club
In this club
I wanna make love in this club.
In this club
In this club
In this club"

Now that this unnamed female has been plyed with alcohol and made to lap dance, Usher reaches an obvious conclusion. Beautifully conceived and expertly expressed, Usher explains in the subtlest way he knows how what his true intentions are. He wants to have sex with her without bothering to leave the night-time establishment. Andrew Marvell would be proud. Again, most females you or I might encounter would be appalled by such a suggestion, but Usher, being the stud he is can not only make this suggestion but repeat it at the top of his voice.

"Listen, if you got some friends rolling with you baby then that's cool.
You can leave them with my nigga's, let 'em know that I got you. Eh
If you didn't know,you're the only thing that's on my mind.
Cuz,the way you staring makes me want to give it to you all night."

Marriage is clearly the next step in Usher's mind.

"Baby close our eyes and it'll just be me and you"

Usher's experience and tenderness towards women is expressed in this lyric where he reassures the dancing stranger (clearly worried that having sex would do nothing for her reputation) that if she can't see people, they can't see you.

Young Jeezy:
"I'll be like your medicine, your take every dose of me.
It's goin down on isle 3,I'll bag ya like some grocery's."

It's been well established in Hollywood for some years now that this is the kind of comparison that women love.

"Have you ever made love to a thug in a club with his sights on, 87 jeans and a fresh pair of nikes on. On the couch, on the table, on the bar, on the floor."

They're chavs. Which IS sexy, in a way.

"If you wanna give me a kiss, we can keep touching like this
I know you scared baby, because you don't know what we doing.
It's ok, you can touch right here, keep doing that girl and I swear.
I'ma keep doing it to you non-stop."

Here Usher's refers back to the time he called himself 'daddy' at the beginning of the song. This kind of pillow talk is required in order to get someone to sleep with you when they know they really really shouldn't.

"And I dont care, who's watching watching watching watching watching Oooooh In this club on the floor
Baby lets make love"

And finally in a beautiful moment at the end of the song, Usher, Shawty and Young Jeezy cum all over her face, presumably 'on the floor' is the dance floor. Apparently the proprietor, the bouncers or even the other clients don't seem to mind this wanton display of mysogeny.

Hope this has been helpful.

Just posted this to a group, but thought I'd like to hear other opinions.

Was attempting to have a discussion the other day about Capital Punishment (that old chesnut). Here's the deal:
Is it more ethical to keep someone alive in order for them to serve punishment for the rest of their life in a prison, or to simply execute them?

It seems to me that a large part of the argument against Capital Punishment is the idea that we do not have a right to take away someone's life (outside of war and self defence). However, the alternative - giving somebody life imprisonment - seems just as extreme. There has been a whole spate of programs on TV about the world's hardest prisons. Are these places actually helping? They are certainly not rehabilitating the offenders.
So the conclusion is (and the person with whom I had the discussion admitted this freely) that we keep them alive because 'death is too easy.' Call me naive, but I was under the impression that civilization and 1500 years of the English Judicial System came to more than simply physically retaliating in this way towards offenders.
There is the argument that the reason for the abandonment of Capital Punishment is due to the seculrisation of this (and other) countries. That is, because there is not that strong belief in the after-life, punishments dealt to offenders must be carried out in THIS lifetime rather than the next. Previously, had a horrific crime been committed than the person was sentenced to death, given the chance to repent then executed.
What do you guys think? Recent polls in this country seem to suggest that people DO want a return to Capital Punishment, the main argument against it being the devastation if/when a mistake is made and an innocent man is killed.

Not usually political but
GOrdon Brown's Labour Government has suffered the worst local election results in NINETY YEARS. Good. What a bunch of crooks. They're the kind of people that need permanently demoting.
Do you remember in one of the Hitchhikers Guide books, an advanced planet decides that it doesn;t want to deal with all the useless bastards anymore and sends them off on a doomed mission into space to find land? Sounds fun. (Let's ignore the fact that these turned out to be our ancestors and that everyone on their home planet died of a disease, thanks to the lack of telephone sanitisers). This government is so piss-poor its actually funny. But not.