*throws flowers and confetti*

Over time, the name Caesar was used to address the emperor as homage to the first imperial dynasty. This filtered through to the many different cultures that were influenced by Rome, and thus the Russians had a “Tsar”, Germans a “Kaiser”, etc.

Few would remember, but there were two revolutions in 1917. The first was a democratic revolution. Russia ceased to be Empire and became Republic. Few months later Bolsheviks seized the power in a coup. Democracy was over. That was the second one.

Gradually, mainly under Stalin, a new totalitarian system was set up which was pretty much like rule of a Czar, an absolute ruler, much like rule of Ivan the Terrible.

So, while Let purists of the Socialist theory might object, in fact the slogan about “Commie Czars” is not incorrect.

The first use of the term Cszar in American government was during the Wilson administration, but it came into much greater use during the Nixon administration, which was, of course, Republican. Most administrations since then have made use of it, particularly during the War on Drugs during the Regan administration.

And if anyone read all this, I am truly astonished.

The phrase “commie czar” is obviously a play on words: a reference to the far left political leanings (“commie”) of President Obama’s special advisors (“czars”), as well as an allusion to the title of commissar (Russian: комиссар) that was held by certain communist political operatives in the government and military during the Bolshevik and Soviet eras in Russia.

Here’s the Wikipedia article on the subject. It’s a little sketchy, but it gets the point across.

Yeah, right. Cool story, bro.

Commie Czars = Commissars (which came in both Communist and pre-communist varieties – nearly all corrupt).

Appointed political hacks with little qualifications for their jobs, and a license to abuse their power.

And, it doesn’t help that some of Obama’s appointees DO have communist ties.

Anyway, that IS probably what they mean by the sign. Czar=Russia around THAT period, Russia around THAT period=Commies to them.

Actual numbers: 45,000 annually. {http://wwwdotreutersdotcom/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58G6W520090917}

“how about we stop all the frivulous law suits.”

Malpractice amounts to .04% of annual healthcare expenditures. Sorry, I don’t have the cite on that, but I’d welcome your counter cite.

“Food for the undernourished, sounds like a charity thing to me, not a government thing.”

I don’t see how you can assert that any amount spent to defend Americans is justified in one sentence and then say “only against furriners” in the next. It seems inconsistent to me.

“You don’t get terrorism do you? You think that if we just said “well we deserve 9/11″ the terrorist would just stop. We tried that in 93 WTC, the Embassy bombings, USS Cole, even Beruit, and how did that work out for us? ”

I think it’s a dangerous world, and no matter how much money we spend, and no matter how many American service members and foreign people we kill, we will never be able to prevent all acts of terrorism, or aggression by foreign governments. We must use our resources a lot more wisely than we have; “International Terrorism” just isn’t as large a threat as our expenditures would indicate. Plus, killing muslim civilians just acts as a recruiting device for the extremists.

“Yeah internationl cooperation works wonders for our Police. How long did it take to get Polansky (child rapist) back to the United States?”

Oddly, it took just months from the time an LA prosecutor asked for help till the Swiss picked him up. It seems no prosecutor has been following up on the case for years. If the President and Congress had thrown their weight behind the request, France would have delivered him to us decades ago.

I don’t even know where to begin on your party bag of other places to spend money. Universal Health Care is a crock. Both sides are throwing propaganda at it; millions die due to lack of health care a year (really where’s the numbers), all the old people will die if we do universal health care b/c the government won’t want to spend the money. Universal Health Care is not the best option, how about we stop all the frivulous law suits. Also where in the constitution does it say we can NAtionalize Health Care. Food for the undernourished, sounds like a charity thing to me, not a government thing. Anti-smoking, REALLY? If people want to smoke let them, or make it illegal, stop this in-between CRAP!! Possibly we could crack down on drunk driving, however progressives make it hard, b/c everytime there’s a law that’s “too” harsh it gets overturned due to the “cruel and unusual” punishment.

You don’t get terrorism do you? You think that if we just said “well we deserve 9/11″ the terrorist would just stop. We tried that in 93 WTC, the Embassy bombings, USS Cole, even Beruit, and how did that work out for us?

Yeah internationl cooperation works wonders for our Police. How long did it take to get Polansky (child rapist) back to the United States?

Also, if you’ll spend any $$$ amount to save civilian lives, there are more cost effective ways right here at home: universal health care, food for the undernourished, anti smoking measures, and drunk driving prevention spring to mind immediately; together, those causes represent millions of dead Americans annually. That would be a lot more important to me than 2900, once, 8 years ago.

2) Police work only works within our own borders. So how do you propose we use the intelligence in other countries, if we’re within our own borders? Please don’t say rely on diplomacy.

3) I believe your premise is flawed: Yes Americans are dying, however they are trained to fight enemies of the United States. It is their job to be over there. I applaud them for it, I honor them for it, and I appreciate their sacrafices, but they also understand what could be asked of them when they sign up for the job. They are preventing American civilians (except contractors) from being killed.
If you want I can caveate for you: We haven’t been attacked on American soil since 9/11, so the defense spending is helping.

Who is Troll Hugs, and why is he in jail?

1) We are spending a lot more money preventing terrorist attacks than the damage those attacks would cost.

2) Defense spending is less cost effective than a combination of police work, intelligence, and international diplomacy would be.

3) Your premise is still flawed: I submit that Americans killed in Afghanistan and Iraq are still Americans Killed By Terrorism, and therefore your military spending has *not* prevented us from being attacked. It merely displaced those attacks to locations more convenient for Al Quaeda.

That is the question you leave out. So I guess you’re saying a person with cancer does kemo, after kemo cancer is gone, did the Kemo really work? See the FLAW in your logic?

See the flaw in your logic?

I’ve never said Reps or Dems were more fiscally conservative, I just said there are things worth protesting. It just so happens that the proverbail straw that broke the proverbial camels back was a Democrat in office who happened to spend more in one month than his predecsessor did in 8 years. That’s all.

Aremis

Aremis

So why didn’t you bring up the fact that Czar, Tsar, and Kaiser (read Hitler) all are derived from the same word, Ceasar? It would seem to follow nicely along your logic path and it would let you include Hitler in your weak, pedantic argument.

No, your probably right. I’m sure the person holding that sign had no intention of tying the modern media name for modern political advisors with no actual power to the red scare. I’m sure the commie thing was done with full knowledge of the fine-tuned distinction between early twentieth century and early twenty first century English transliterations of Russian titles. Yup, I bet that’s exactly what was on their mind when they got out the magic marker.