Great Quotes II: Source and Context are Key

[Gucumatz]

Again as with LBJ, he probably was a racist - that's not a surprise to anyone who knows them. But compare them to their equivalent ideologue competitors (William Jennings Bryan who I adore, but was far too idealistic compared to Wilson or Kennedy who is widely adored but is in the same boat as a much less effective politician than presented when compared to LBJ) they brought the democratic party into new grounds and led massive innovations in policy unprecedented by any president of their time.

 

[Dachs]

"I will not be responsible for a monstrous slaughter."
-Tsar Nikolai II, 29 July 1914, four days after starting the First World War

"Russia apparently partial mobilization. Extent not yet discernible with certainty. Military districts Odessa and Kiev fairly certain. Moscow still uncertain. Isolated reports regarding mobilization of the Warsaw military district not yet verified. In other districts, notably Vilna, mobilization not yet ordered. Nevertheless, it is certain that Russia taking some military measures also on the German border which must be regarded as preparation for a war. Probably proclamation of her 'Period preparatory to War', proclaimed for the whole empire. Frontier guard everywhere equipped for combat and ready to march."
-Report of German General Staff 'intelligence assessment board', 28 July 1914, three days before any German military preparations began

"Anyone who believes in, or at least wishes for, the maintenance of peace can hardly support the declaration of the 'threat of war'."
-GdI Erich von Falkenhayn, diary entry 29 July 1914, after unsuccessfully lobbying the kaiser for war preparations in response to Russian mobilization

"There was great bustle on the platforrm. The trains were packed with officers and men. This looked like mobilization. We rapidly exchanged impressions and came to the same conclusion: 'It's war this time.'"
-Maurice Paléologue, French ambassador to Russia, memoir recollection of a conversation with Aleksandr Izvolsky, Russian ambassador to France, in the evening of 25 July 1914

Again as with LBJ, he probably was a racist - that's not a surprise to anyone who knows them. But compare them to their equivalent ideologue competitors (William Jennings Bryan who I adore, but was far too idealistic compared to Wilson or Kennedy who is widely adored but is in the same boat as a much less effective politician than presented when compared to LBJ) they brought the democratic party into new grounds and led massive innovations in policy unprecedented by any president of their time.

i too approve of quashing civil liberties, warmongering, business-as-usual imperialism, and godawful foreign policy

innovations for a better america

 

[Gucumatz]

^ All of the above can be argued as well, yes. But compare him to members of the democratic party at the time and he looked like an outright angel. But all of that was a necessary part of the growing pains of America as it emerged truly on the world scene. This was still the party of Cleveland emerging from its shell too and along with Bryan you see the foundations of the party we know now emerge

The League of Nations was ahead of its time and too weak to stand on its own, but it did open the way for bretton woods, the UN, etc and a more globally connected world even if only the idea of it ended up sticking around.

Sometimes the way forward, isn't pretty and the US has had to come to grips with its past now, then, and in the future still

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Why is Bretton Woods being painted as a good thing?

 

[Gucumatz]

You being a communist I can see how you are not a fan. Guessing you are also a fan also of some of the alternatives to things like the IMF being proposed by the Chinese recently?

 

[Hygro]

Cheezy, I invite you to take a step back, release your ego, and look at how you've been responding to everyone starting with your edit angry at Borachio, of all people, for posting the wiki link.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Why is Bretton Woods being painted as a good thing?

You being a communist I can see how you are not a fan. Guessing you are also a fan also of some of the alternatives to things like the IMF being proposed by the Chinese recently?

Actually, non Communists like the Argentine government, most of sub-Saharan Africa, SE Asia don't have too many good things to say about.the IMF and the World Bank. Read John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man... very revealing. Hell, read what that noted lefty David Stockman (former Reagan budget director 1981-1985) wrote in the NYT in March 2013 Sunday Week in Review...

Besides, China and Venezuela's alternatives to IMF lending is starting to exceed the IMF lending and development in Africa...

 

[Gucumatz]

Yea in part it was an instrument of Western foreign power and early models and production prerogatives of structural adjustments especially hurt African states. You'll find quite a lot of states unsatisfied with the effects related with adjustments required to take funds for their states. These effects of course were undesirable but not to be too harsh were/are sort of irrelevant to the point of the structural adjustments in the first place - the potential effects of IMF associated money were already known beforehand if a state was not properly equipped to deal with its demands or its national production couldn't afford such strains.

 

[Dachs]

^ All of the above can be argued as well, yes. But compare him to members of the democratic party at the time and he looked like an outright angel. But all of that was a necessary part of the growing pains of America as it emerged truly on the world scene. This was still the party of Cleveland emerging from its shell too and along with Bryan you see the foundations of the party we know now emerge

Cleveland didn't need to "emerge on the world scene"; he provoked a war crisis with Great Britain over Venezuela.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

You being a communist I can see how you are not a fan. Guessing you are also a fan also of some of the alternatives to things like the IMF being proposed by the Chinese recently?

I don't know about them, to be honest, but I can't imagine they're much better. It would have to be drastically different, a true flow of wealth into the developing world, which I'm not convinced China is either capable of, responsible for, or entirely interest in any more.

Cheezy, I invite you to take a step back, release your ego, and look at how you've been responding to everyone starting with your edit angry at Borachio, of all people, for posting the wiki link.

I realize my last post was in that area, yes, but the world is not equal,and this is an uphill battle.

 

[Borachio]

“I like threesomes with two women, not because I'm a cynical sexual predator. Oh no! But because I'm a romantic. I'm looking for "The One." And I'll find her more quickly if I audition two at a time.”

Russell Brand

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

You know what, Hygro is right. I owe you guys an apology. I've had a lot of stress and aggression in my life lately, and I'm sorry it's wearing off on my relationships with you guys. I'll be back to normal in a few weeks, I promise.

 

[classical_hero]

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. -Edmund Burke

 

[Borachio]

You know what, Hygro is right. I owe you guys an apology. I've had a lot of stress and aggression in my life lately, and I'm sorry it's wearing off on my relationships with you guys. I'll be back to normal in a few weeks, I promise.

No problem.

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

Robert Herrick

 

[Kyriakos]

Turning and turning in the widening Gyre

W.B. Yeats

 

[Borachio]

“Walk on air against your better judgement.”

― Seamus Heaney

 

[Arakhor]

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. -Edmund Burke

I’m going to assume that the recent Australian High Court ruling inspired your posting of that quote, so I’ll just take a moment to note that the below should apply equally to governments and churches alike:

"The church must be where there is need, and homosexuals have suffered innumerable discriminations. If the church doesn't free people from oppression, what purpose does it serve?" ~ Dr. Jacques Gaillot, Titular Bishop of Parthenia

 

[Gucumatz]

"Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything."

- Colbert

 

[Phrossack]

You know what, Hygro is right. I owe you guys an apology. I've had a lot of stress and aggression in my life lately, and I'm sorry it's wearing off on my relationships with you guys. I'll be back to normal in a few weeks, I promise.

Wow. This is rare on the Internet. It takes a strong character to admit a mistake and apologize. I doff my hat to you, sir!

And I apologize to you for being a bit testy to you in the Mandela thread.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

“We pay too much tribute to a few human insects when we let their wrong-doing paralyze our faith in humanity. It is a lie of the cynics that says ‘all men are ungrateful,’ a companion lie to ‘all men have their price.’ We must trust humanity if we would get good from humanity. He who thinks all mankind is vile is a pessimist who mistakes his introspection for observation; he looks into his own heart and thinks he sees the world.” - William George Jordan

Wow. This is rare on the Internet. It takes a strong character to admit a mistake and apologize. I doff my hat to you, sir!

No one is perfect. Best to be honest with yourself if you ever want to grow.

And I apologize to you for being a bit testy to you in the Mandela thread.

No worries. It was a high-tension thread. Notice its spiral into ridiculousness since we left though!