Christian

"What, in your mind would a classless society look like? And would it ever happen? Isnt Cuba supposed to be a good model - in that it has a good health service etc?"

Well, you're asking us to tell the future. Really, we don't know.

Marx spoke very rarely about what Communist society would be. His true genius resided in the fact that he so eloquently and powerfully ripped apart the inherent faults in Capitalist society.

Is Cuba a good model of a classless society? No.

Is Cuba a good model for a revolutionary power which has taken control of the country and made things better for the people than what they had before? Yes.

The problem with the "Communist" societies we've seen in the world is that they happened in pre-industrialized societies. Marx figured that Germany or England would be the first countries to have a proletariat revolution, because they were the most technologically advanced at the time of his writing.

Note that Marx was NOT anti-Capitalist. He felt that Capitalism was a necessary evil and that it in fact had many good aspects and was certainly better than all the historical models which had come before.

Communist society could only exist AFTER Capitalism had transformed the society enough that it would be possible to have a classless society.

Russia and China and Cuba, etc. these countries were very "backwards" when compared with "Western" Europe or the United States. They weren't ready for a Communist Party.

If you look at the history of those countries, you'll see why it was very easy for Communism to turn into a Totalitarian system and eventually fail.

You need a country with a strong, literate working class who has ideas of (at least semi) working Democracy before you can hope to institute an idea like the Dictatorship of the Proletariat without it evolving into an ever-growing Statist system.

There are a large number of religious voters who are swayed by Bush's rhetoric. They don't like his foreign policy, they're suffering under his economic mismanagement and outsourcing of jobs, but yet Bush talks real pretty about his relationship with God and his church, he's anti-abortion, anti-gay rights. These are big issues amongst these voters who vote against themselves because of these "single issues votes".

Another thing to take into consideration is that every President is very vocal about their Christian faith, whether Democrats or Republicans.

"To be serious: You can't equate the two, because I'm not occupying another people's lands or oppressing them because of my beliefs."

Of course, I, on the other hand, am doing this.

It's not that the rest of world supports Israel or even ignores the cause. In fact, there has been an increase in anti-Semitic attitudes in Europe in recent years caused by the racist policies of Israel.

U.N. has pressured Israeli policy a number of times with votes, but of course, the U.S. has double-veto power, so it's always gone and forgotten.

Oh, Mike? I just realized I didn't thank you for your "Lucifer" series. It's been one of my true reading joys each and every month. It's certainly been my favourite Vertigo book since 2000, and I'm going to miss it. Grand work!

Looks like a mythological inspired cover.

I liked the last two better.

I see Denise Mina is now an ACCLAIMED author.

I can't tell his characters apart.

Yeah, it's a damn shame but most of these "Legends of the Dark Knight" stories that I thought were pure classics don't hold up anymore.

"Going Sane" is the only LOTDK story I've re-read that still has the same impact for me.

......uh, yeah. I'm thinking Way didn't bother to read Millar's run.

"Wolverine:Origins"....ah, that brings back memories of an action book. Rich boy sits around a Victorian mansion pining after red-headed girl.....

"- don't Marvel have any talking-heads-based books they could put him on"

No, Marvel don't have any of these books anymore. "Son of M" and "Generation M" are probably the closest Marvel gets anymore.

Although, nothing ever really seems to happen in Peter Milligan's "X-Men" either, now that I think about it.

Anyway, I think Marvel are just picking up random names along the way and putting them on random books and hoping they sell, as Marvel's books look like a real mess when you look at most of the creative teams.

Pat McGreal has been here!

You know, I was initially looking forward to this series, although hesitantly, since Millar was the writer.....

Now, seeing that it looks like "E.T.", I'm getting less and less interested.

There's flash fiction, short-short, short story, novelet, novella, novel, tome

It's partly autobiographical. I describe it as "Leaving Las Vegas" meets "Tender is the Night". It's a bleak story with very little light (well, there are many moments of love and passion), all the characters are unlikeable in one way or another. They have redeeming characteristics, sure. Topics include alcoholism, mental problems, dependency, alienation. Lots of sex though! The most likeable character is having an affair. The most unlikeable character is the one based on me, naturally.

"We're not gonna take it! No! We ain't gonna take it! Weren't not gonna take it, anymore!"

This thread has gotten surreal!

"I'd hardly count anything by Image or Wildstorm as indy. Been a long time since that was the case (if indeed it ever was)."

No, I agree with you. But this still begs the question of who the hell counts as an indy superhero team!

"I will say that I loved the Peter Kupperburg, pre-Morrison Doom Patrol. They were completely disfunctonal, and it was great. Niles' wife was obsessed with finding her dead husband, Negative man and Negative woman were going to kill each other over the negative energy, and Cliff Steele was only there because he had nothing better to do."

-You are a very sick man.

Indy superhero teams? Who the hell is an indy superhero team?

Doom Patrol?!

You're not counting Image or Awesome or WildStorm as indy....

"1 more so far than Rogan."

HA!

Now we both are ahead of Rogan.

....I'm not sure it's something to be proud of though....

------------------------------------------------------------------------

You know, it's 1 a.m. here right now. The night crew of the STH is working. We tend to get very weird and crazy and lonely.

I'm thinking when John McMahon gets on here after we've gone to bed, he wonders what the hell is going on every day, you know?

Shite! All these choices make me feel like I'm living in America instead of the Soviet Union!

I voted for Alpha Flight, because no one else in a hundred years ever will! :lol:

Hey! Where the fuck are my Defenders?! Steve Gerber, J.M. DeMatteis, some hippy guy....who's had better writers than that???

Which X-Men team are we talking about? I'll vote "X-Men" if it's Claremont's original "all new, all different X-Men".

Which Avengers? Because EVERYONE has been an Avenger....even non-super powered people like Jay Leno, even non-Marvel characters like Batman, hell, I've even been a member at one time!

It's ok, because they're laughing at you, not with you!

(hey! This is starting to sound like the Monkey Paw's Game now!)

"Have any of you tried writing a long story?"

What do you mean by a long story?

I'm working on a novel, currently. My motivation stopped for a while, but I made it to around page 175.

I have at least two short stories that stretch a little past the 100 page count.

That self-defecating humour can get pretty messy!

"I don't go to church because he told be those evil gay people would come"

I see he's doing his job!

Didn't they recently release a sequel to "Jumangi" or something.....?

Sue(with an accent straight out of Dickens): "He's a beaver! He shouldn't be saying anything! He should be doing my tax returns!"

Information Technology - IT [ 1 ] [5.26%]

Advertising [ 1 ] [5.26%]

Government Service - tsk, a civil servant [ 2 ] [10.53%]

Insurance [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Practicing Profession (.. hanging a shingle of sorts) [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Consulting [ 0 ] [0.00%]

Creative Works (Painter, Writer, and the like...) [ 5 ] [26.32%]

Etc .... [ 10 ]

We have FIVE people working in the creative dept., ten people who voted "etc.", which I'm guessing means "unemployed"....I'm thinking we've got a hell of a lot of poor people hanging around these Forums! :lol:

No way! That isn't possible!

Video games don't hold my interest anymore. The only game that got me excited in 2005 was "X-Men Legends 2" (which is an awesome game).

In 2006?

Only Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess

No, that doesn't explain anything, inca.

Just admit you were a fatty! The girls won't think any less of you.

We're talking about a drug that could erase memories, although the discussion has been divided between the "erase a bad memory completely" or "I'd dampen the pain associated with a bad memory".