text:
The dismal science Economics |
Economic systems |
Major concepts |
The worldly philosophers |
""Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent [labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry S. Truman[1] |
Socialism is a wide movement proposing a fairly broad set of related socio-economic systems, generally based on social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to individuals personally owning them. There really isn't a strict definition, but at their core "Socialism" is any model where the working classes own the businesses. There's lots of room for interpretation of just who is the "working class" or what it actually means to "own" the businesses, which is why it's so broad. Some forms have the workers own only their own businesses (e.g., the Syndicalists), some forms have collective ownership over everything and/or include the entire population instead of only the people who are employed (e.g., Democratic Socialists). Some view "ownership" as not dissimilar to being a shareholder in an organization, where everyone gets a "dividend" in the form of general social programs via taxes levied on otherwise privately-run corporations (e.g., Social Democrats).
Numerous manifestations of socialism exist, with some forms advocating for voluntary cooperative enterprises within a market economy, while other forms advocate for a more comprehensive transformation with economic planning replacing capital markets and all means of production being held in common. Socialism typically opposes plutocracy yet often emphasizes in some form or another that people who work and produce value in society should be rewarded in monetary terms in accordance to their work-effort.
The question of whether the Marxist-inspired definition of socialism is economically feasible has been ongoing, with social democrats having abandoned this pursuit.
People who believe in socialism are referred to variously as "socialists" or "communists" — the technical difference being that socialists believe in socialism as an end in itself while communists merely see socialism as a "transitional phase" leading into the development of a "communist society", i.e. a classless, moneyless, and stateless form of social organization. Alternatively, the term communism has radical connotations, and is used to describe radical socialists, orthodox marxists, or generally the various groups born because of the 1917 revolution.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the founders of Marxism, a socialist courant, originally made a distinction to differentiate their own theories from previously existing utopian socialist theories.[2] Indeed, Marx wrote in 1875 of the "lower and higher phases of communism" in his Critique of the Gotha Program, but it was Lenin and the Soviets who reformulated this concept as the stages of "socialism" and "communism".[3] In Lenin's 1917 work The State and Revolution, Lenin mistranslated a German phrase of Engels and expressed the concept of the state "withering away" - that is not something that Engels ever wrote in relation to the state. Engels actually wrote: "Der Staat wird nicht abgeschafft, er stirbt ab", which literally translates as "The state is not abolished, it dies [out]".[4] As a matter of fact, both Marx and Engels used interchangeable the words "socialism" and "communism" to describe the classless, moneyless, and stateless form of social organization they advocated. In the aforementioned Critique of the Gotha Program, when describing the lower phase, Marx states that "the individual receives from society exactly what he gives to it" and advocates remuneration in the form of labour vouchers as opposed to money.[5][6] In the "lower phase of communism" (what would be called "socialism"), the state and money are already abolished after the revolution which instead must abolish capitalism and the private property,[note 1] but labour vouchers may be used ("To each according to his contribution") before reaching the "higher phase of communism" in which they are no longer needed and we have what is advocated by anarcho-communists ("From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"). Hence, the "lower phase of communism" is more similar to what was called collectivist anarchism (with anarchist Mikhail Bakunin[7] advocating the abolition of class, money and state while using labour vouchers) rather than to states who claimed to have achieved socialism.
Alternatively, for most conservatives/libertarians, socialism is widely regarded as "when the gummint does stuff".[8]
In the developed world during the Industrial Revolution, workers often felt underpaid for their labour, and dangerous working conditions became commonplace. While this has diminished in the developed world as society has become wealthier, multinational corporations have succeeded in expanding to less-developed countries where there are weaker working-rights laws and/or lower minimum-wages, allowing them to pay lower wages to workers in more primitive factories to potentially increase profits. Socialism has thus always found allies in the labour movement, including trade unions, but often as part of a "minimal program" within capitalism, distinct from socialism's ultimate goal of replacing capitalism with a socialist system.
The first person who theorized of the initial concept of socialism was Henri de Saint Simon, a political, social, and economic philosopher. The term socialism itself was coined in 1832 by a follower of Simon, Pierre Leroux, when describing the system Simon had theorized.[9]
The founders of communism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, played a major role in formulating the first in-depth and scientifically-based description of socialism combined with detailed description on how to achieve it, in comparison or previous versions that were vague or unrealistic. The Marxist-inspired definition of socialism is social ownership of the means of production. This is the dominant and most common definition of socialism accepted by Marxist socialists, many non-Marxist socialists, and capitalists. The vast majority of present-day socialists believe this would be best done by transferring ownership of the means of production and distribution (e.g., factories and railroads) to the working class. What this most often means in practice, however, is the transfer of the means of production to the state (the state, in turn, is supposed to foster the creation of a classless society and in time aid the 'withering away' of the state as the working classes eventually assume the means of production). The fact that this never happens — as states by their very nature exist to perpetuate their own power — is probably the most glaring and obvious internal contradiction in Marxist-inspired socialist dogmatism.
Disagreements with Marx's and Engels' revolutionary approach to achieving socialism occurred outside and then inside the Marxist movement. The most devastating internal condemnation of the revolutionary approach came from revisionist Marxist Eduard Bernstein, who had been a close friend of Marx and Engels and presumed heir apparent of their views, who came to believe that capitalism could be gradually reformed into socialism through reformist parliamentary means and he rejected class conflict. Bernstein's views formed the basis of the beginning of what is now known as social democracy. Among the social democratic parties, attempts to reconcile their reformist efforts with the prevailing post-war economic order, resulted in many of them redefining "socialism" to no longer mean social ownership of the means of production, but to a vaguer conception of "socialism" as support of social justice and acceptance of Keynesian capitalism.
The rise of popularity of neoliberalism promoted by people like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, resulted in a collapse in support of Keynesianism, leaving many social democrats in the political wilderness in the 1980s to mid-1990s. The British Labour Party had a Marxist-inspired definition of socialism until its new leader Tony Blair scrapped this definition and abandoned Keynesianism in favor of a watered-down definition of "socialism" that recognized "social interdependence of people." In the aftermath of the failures in neoliberal economies, the Third Way is viewed with disgust and contempt among many social democrats; many of them desire a neo-Keynesianism or post-Keynesianism, while more radical wings favor a restoration of a Marxist-inspired socialism based on social ownership of the means of production. One fringe ideology is "techno-socialism", the belief in completely robotizing and nationalizing the labor force and equally distributing the wealth.
Before Marx and Engels began writing, it referred largely to those ideologies that they referred to as "utopian socialism." Utopian socialists imagined a perfect egalitarian society, but couldn't figure out how to get there.[note 2]
Historically, most attempts to establish comprehensive planned economies have either collapsed for being politically unsustainable or resulted in horrifying dictatorships. Classical Marxists maintain that socialist planning can only become attainable once technology has advanced to a point where non-market planning becomes technically feasible and that the historical attempts to introduce socialist planning by Marxist-Leninist states in the 20th century happened in places insufficiently developed for socialism to be feasible. In the 21st century, however, a few countries in South America have taken up the socialist mantle again, partly because they began to perceive nationalization of foreign-owned infrastructure and of natural resources as a more expedient way of bringing wealth into those countries than getting more loans from the International Monetary Fund. However, in practice these new socialists (even Hugo Chávez, whose oil nationalization was not unprecedented) have not gone much beyond the social democracy prevalent in mid-20th-century Europe. In the Western world, socialism in a revolutionary sense has become a symbol of rebellion against the capitalist economic order, with radical-chic bohemians and hippies supporting socialist doctrine as an act of rebelliousness and righteous (sometimes) anger but still having difficulty envisioning a post-capitalist economy.
Socialism can be divided into several branches, some of which are enumerated here.
Revolutionary socialism[edit]
Revolutionary socialists view social revolution as the primary way to transition from capitalism to socialism. Revolutionary socialists usually wait for 'revolutionary potential', which the current system of oppression is supposed to lead to.
Utopian socialism[edit]
"Utopian socialism" was used by Marx to refer to those who generally believed in a classless and stateless society but had not hammered out any specific theories for getting there. He analogized the difference between utopian socialism and his own theory with the difference between scientists and engineers: the scientists identify what can be done, and the engineers hammer out how to do it.
Utopian socialism is also among the earliest forms of practiced socialism globally. A group known as the Owenites, followers of 19th-century Welsh social reformer Robert Owen, formed several utopian socialist communities organized along communitarian and cooperative principles. The most famous of the communities located in New Harmony, Indiana, was where Owen himself chose to reside. The Owenite communities largely failed in short order (New Harmony's Owenite community only lasted two years). Still, Owenism is largely thought to have been the first socialist movement in American history,[10] and former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both attended his lectures.[11] While the Owenites largely failed in their goals, Owen's ideas on labor vouchers influenced later socialist thinkers such as Daniel De Leon, while the Owenites' most lasting legacy on the socialist movement is most likely the cooperative movement.[12]
Most utopian socialists believed in the term "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his need." This saying was coined by Marx but was a reference to a very similar quote from another revolutionary socialist, Louis Blanqui, which was itself an apparent paraphrase of Acts 2:44-45, which state:
""And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Blanquism is described by Engels as follows:
""Brought up in the school of conspiracy, and held together by the strict discipline which went with it, they started out from the viewpoint that a relatively small number of resolute, well-organized men would be able, at a given favorable moment, not only seize the helm of state, but also by energetic and relentless action, to keep power until they succeeded in drawing the mass of the people into the revolution and ranging them round the small band of leaders. This conception involved, above all, the strictest dictatorship and centralization of all power in the hands of the new revolutionary government.
Marx used the term "dictatorship of the proletariat" to differentiate Marxism from the Blanquist style of socialist dictatorship. This is why he mainly used the term when discussing the Spring of Nations and the 1871 Paris Commune, in both of which Blanquism was pretty influential.
Many Blanquists came to join the First International with Marx after the Commune was crushed, perhaps influencing later events. Specifically, Leninists and Trotskyists are put in a bit of a tight spot by the parallels between the above Engels quote and the unfolding of events during the Bolshevik Revolution; since this event had more of the characteristics of a coup than a popular revolution, the Leninists have a hard time explaining why their beliefs are Marxist and not Blanquist.
On the other hand, Stalinists would argue that these parallels were all fabrication by the oppressive bourgeois media and then send thugs to beat up anyone who said otherwise.
Marx believed that all socio-political orders, except the mythical pure communism, were "dictatorships" in which one class dictated to the rest; the "bourgeoisie" (comprising those who owned their means of livelihood, from free farmers on up to prominent industrialists) was assigned that role in his characterization of capitalism. For Marx, socialism would not be any less a dictatorship, but it would be a "dictatorship of the proletariat" where the workers would dictate to everyone else.
The term "dictatorship of the proletariat" was initially coined to differentiate between Marx's idea of a grass-roots worker-run state and the more elitist ideas of Blanquism; but the "dictatorship" part is not meaningless since he said in the Communist Manifesto that this dictatorship would have to resort to "despotic" measures at first (e.g., control the army to conquer other capitalist territories).
But in his defense, he firmly believed that this despotism would be temporary since, in his view, the state was created by the existence of class differences, and the proletarian dictatorship's actions would eliminate these, thus eliminating the state.
The idea of a dictatorship of the proletariat was denounced by Mikhail Bakunin, Marx's contemporary. Bakunin believed that the state instituted classes rather than the other way around, so he asked his famous rhetorical question, "Over whom will the proletariat rule?" He rightly predicted that this state would grow a new ruling class, with the proletariat still ruled.
Marx used the term "socialism" to refer to this transitory dictatorial phase and the "pure communist" classless and stateless society that he believed would follow it. "Classless" and "stateless" were tightly bound together in Marx's theory, and "stateless" meant that there would be no armies or other extrinsic forms of class oppression in that there would be no armies or class oppression. Marx did not go into depth about what this would look like, presumably because he didn't know either; it would be decided by the workers after a revolution. Unfortunately for him, either the workers have never gotten around to doing this or have done so but have not acted how Marx thought they would.
Although anarchism and Marxism share many common goals and enemies, they diverge on several points. The most notable is that anarchists believe that social classes are created by the state, rather than vice versa, so they aim to destroy the state and "build from the ashes."
Hence, unlike Marxists, they reject any attempt to participate in electoral politics, instead working entirely outside the system. One sometimes hears about anarchists bombing something or other or anarchists inciting a riot.
As opposed to Marx, Bakunin believed in the spontaneity of organization. A revolutionary organization has to come into existence during a crisis with little forethought, while Marx believed in foresight and planning in terms of a collective. Anarchists fault Marxist groups for sitting on their rears while anarchists and other groups are out on the front lines; for example, anarchists note that the Bolsheviks were opposed to workers taking strike action at the time of the Russian February Revolution.[13] Bakunin's view is currently reflected by modern Council Communists. He also believed in secret societies that could just mix with workers and that the people had a natural instinct to revolt, and thus it was not worth educating the workers or organizing them. He, therefore, accused Marx of "ruining the workers by making theorists out of them."
The differing definitions of the state led to disputes over methodology and the "dictatorship of the proletariat," as noted above. For example, Bakunin said, "There are about forty million Germans. Are all forty million going to be members of the government?" to which Marx's response was, "Certainly, because the thing starts with the self-government of the commune," apparently supporting a federated bottom-up system of communes as anarchists proposed.
Bakunin also concluded that under Marxism, the state would be no different than that under capitalism and that Marx simply wanted to make it stronger. This is partly because there are many contradictory views in Marx's writings, for instance, supporting central state ownership and planning from above in the Communist Manifesto, similar to what actually happened in the USSR and the other "socialist" states.
Marx also criticized Bakunin by saying that the latter believed in a universal revolution that included the lumpenproletariat (beggars, etc.) and the peasant farmers and the workers. In contrast, Marx had ruled the first two of these groups useless for revolution. Marx thus accused Bakunin of superficiality: knowing many political phrases but not believing in the existence of false consciousness or making any detailed study of economic conditions.
Bakunin responded by predicting that Marxism would lead to a new despotic "Red bureaucracy" that would be far more dictatorial than a capitalist system; this has been an accurate description of every self-described communist state.
Reformist socialists tend to reject the call for revolution and instead choose to work within the current system in order to change it. Most reformist socialists advocate social democracy instead of full nationalization of all industry while others advocate social ownership (cooperatives) in a market economy.
Ethical socialism[edit]
Ethical socialism is a form of liberal socialism that argues that socialism is necessary because it respects human rights, social justice, and civil rights. The ethical socialist may find capitalism to be an oppressive force and therefore believe that socialism is the best alternative. They are more lenient on private property, however, because of their belief in individual freedom.
Liberal socialism[edit]
Liberal socialists (contrary to claims of the Republican Party) are not opposed to capitalism and tend to favor a mixed economy. They support government intervention in the market and a strong welfare state, and might adopt social democracy as their platform. They differ from ethical socialists by stressing economic growth instead of morality. They may support the Third Way over social democracy.
Market socialism[edit]
Market socialism believes that markets (distributing goods and services according to competition and supply and demand) is the optimal or realistic model of socialism. They believe that the ownership system of capitalism "distorts" the market through surplus value and alienation and therefore should be replaced by cooperatives (enterprises organised democratically) that would operate in the market system instead, in order to have a "freed market". [14] There are many versions, from John Roemer's coupon socialism where everyone has a share in the stock market to David Schweickarts economic democracy which has coops and a "rent" on capital to provide revenue for societal funds [15] to Branco Horvats Illyrian model of market socialism, which is an open and free market,[16] to a "Pluralist Commmonwealth" where Community enterprises, cooperatives and credit unions form the basis of a socialist society[17] . They are some of the economic models pushed by market socialists, with other theorists such as Richard Wolff.
Democratic socialism[edit]
Democratic socialism is not socialism that is democratic, as socialism is intended to be inherently democratic. Democratic socialism is simply socialism that is obtained through democratic means. Democratic socialists advocate for socialization by electing socialist leaders through the ballot box instead of through violent revolution. Democratic socialists believe socialization should happen through an accountable democratic government instead of a dictatorship that claims to have their people's best interests in mind (like the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, etc..). In the beginning of the Soviet Union, the Mensheviks supported a similar idea of socialism being achieved through democratic multi-party coalitions, but they were crushed by the Bolsheviks led by Lenin that prefered a one-party state. The term has often been used to refer to social democracy. Still, they are very different philosophies: social democracy looks to reform capitalism. In contrast, democratic socialism (in the long term) looks to abolish it, specifically by having a mixed economy of nationalized industries to provide for needs and worker cooperatives to provide for things in the market, though some have supported decentralized planning. Bernie Sanders has described himself as a democratic socialist. However, his most advertised tenets (a $15 minimum wage, subsidized college, Medicare for all, campaign finance reform...) are more social democratic than democratic socialism. However, he has supported worker cooperatives,[18] which is a democratic socialist thing to do. Other big-name self-described democratic socialists include Hugo Chávez (who supported worker-owned cooperatives although he did ugly, undemocratic things), Mikhail Gorbachev (who tried to reform the Soviet Union into a democratic state but ended up collapsing it), and Jeremy Corbyn (the British Bernie Sanders who's a bit more explicit in his denunciation of capitalism). Plenty of folks have declared democratic socialist views but have had their views whitewashed with time, including Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, and George Orwell.
Libertarian socialism[edit]
Libertarian socialism is the most anti-authoritarian form of socialism. It's often used as a synonym for anarchism. However, not all anarchists subscribe to socialist thought and some self-described libertarian socialists, such as Daniel De Leon, reject elements of anarchism. Libertarian socialism often takes elements of democratic socialism, such as decentralized planning and self-managed workplaces, to their extreme while also opposing things such as police and prisons, hoping for a community-run "restorative justice" system, and hoping to make as many decisions as possible through consensus by assemblies and councils. The former British Labour Party leader Michael Foot described himself as a libertarian socialist in a 1965 interview where he stated that he believed in socialism that was designed to "get the greatest (amount of) freedom for individuals".[19]
It is claimed by anti-Soviet socialists that the Soviet Union under Stalin was a departure from socialism, on account of the means of production being in the hands of the state instead of the workers. It is occasionally referred to as "state capitalism," "bureaucratic state despotism," or a "degenerated worker's state," by Trotskyites. Anarchists, most of whom were opposed to Lenin's takeover from the outset, would also refer to Lenin's Russia as "state capitalist"; even he himself did. In fact, the system in use in the Soviet Union was a form of "State Socialism", which they officially called "Marxism-Leninism". This system has some similarities with "State Capitalism", with the latter being used primarily by those that are critics of the Soviet kind of Socialism.
Recently, the right wing in the US has been trying to redefine the term "socialist", with the desired meaning being, "a person who flouts the Republican party line on more than two issues."[20] U.S. President Barack Obama has become the poster-boy for this sort of "socialism" (despite having no socialistic tendencies, except for advocating a state owned health care option), as also discussed below, though he does not stray too far, too often from the Republican Party Line considering he's a New Democrat.
Technosocialism is a belief held by some futurists. It is the belief that eventually, we should socialize the entire economy (duh), but unlike other forms of socialism, says that instead of a human workforce, the entire economy should be automated, and the output distributed equally through universal basic income.
National Socialism[edit]
While one might assume that the Nazis are socialist based on their name alone, there's a huge piece that prevents this from being so; Nazi ideology includes the existence of "slave-races" who would perform all the menial tasks a society would need, while the "superior" Germans would have generous social welfare and careers for themselves only. While social welfare is indeed a key aspect of Social Democracy and it's indeed possible to have a stratified society in most versions of socialism, the core concept is that everyone has some "ownership" over their place of employment, whether that's via the workers owning the business directly or everyone getting a share of the profits via taxes and wealth redistribution. Nazism lacks even this most rudimentary requirement. In theory, Nazi ideology would have all the slave-races exterminated eventually with only the Germans remaining, at which point one could argue that the Germans would live in some bizarre form of Social (non)-Democracy and thus be some bizarre/vile form of socialism... until they just declared that the grey-eyed and/or strawberry-blonde Germans to be insufficiently German and they are back to slavery again.
Socialism and political parties[edit]
Socialist International[edit]
The Socialist International is a worldwide federation of socialist political parties, mostly consisting of democratic socialist, labor, and social democratic parties. Over thirty nations are governed by a Socialist International member-party, such as France, Iceland and South Africa. These parties are in practice social democratic or even Third Way/liberal and in recent years have experienced spectacular collapses in the face of polarization.
Communist internationals[edit]
There have been a number of communist internationals. The First International was founded in the 19th century, but dissolved in the midst of the Bakunin-Marx infighting; the Second International followed, but dissolved in the midst of infighting over support of World War I; the Third International (Comintern) was a Soviet-funded body dissolved in World War II. The Fourth International, a Trotskyist organization, still exists.
American Democratic Party[edit]
Some people say that the Democratic Party in the United States are socialists, specifically Barack Obama and the 2008 version of Hillary Clinton. The Democrats are centrists, at most center-left. If they moved left enough even to approach socialistic beliefs, even so far as such factions as the right wing of the Socialist Party USA, they would start being ignored by the Biased Conservative Media.
Why are the Democrats not socialist? Well, it's quite simple. Rather than going into every single way in which they're not, let us look at possibly the most important aspect of socialism, i.e. common ownership of the means of production and thus the abolition of class. The Democrats do not support this, hence are not socialists. At the very most, they would support a welfare state.
The only mainstream American politician approaching socialism on the federal level is Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who self-identifies as a democratic socialist, although he does caucus with the Democrats out of convenience.
Some Democrats, such as former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich (notwithstanding his swing to the right in recent years), may adhere to social democracy. Social democracy being a "middle-way" between democratic socialism and capitalism (the stuff you see in Scandinavia).
British Labour Party[edit]
Historically, the Labour Party were social democrats, or 'reformists', and Labour governments have made some lasting changes in terms of universal welfare, especially the founding of the National Health Service.
"New Labour" (Tony Blair etc.) were arguably conservatives in all but name, and indeed much has been said about the similarities between their policies and those of Thatcherism.[21][note 3] Clause IV of the Labour Party's constitution, which expressed a long-term commitment to redistribution of wealth and common ownership of the means of production, was rewritten in 1994, under Blair's leadership, as a more vague expression of striving for equality, causing some internal conflict and outrage from "Old Labour" socialist members of the party. In 2015, many social democrats won Labour Party contests, signaling a return to the left; there was only one actual socialist who was elected to leadership, however, although being the leader of the party, he (Jeremy Corbyn) does have a lot more say in party policy. In the run-up to the 2017 General Election the party published a report entitled Alternative Models of Ownership which tried to envision economic and business models without traditional capitalists; even though it ran its most left-wing campaign in years, envisioning more state-run corporations, universal welfare programs and public services, the party stopped far short of actively railing against capitalism in general, and in fact tried to court some businesses over Brexit.
What is socialism?[edit]
Where do the means of production go?[edit]
Even with non-dictatorial forms of socialism, when it comes to redistributing the means of production, "working class" has in practice generally meant the government; indeed, socialists have been found protesting the sale of government-owned companies to their workers, as in the worker buyout of the British National Freight Corporation under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.[22]
In their defense, these privatizations were simply the sale/distribution of shares of stock to the workers, with nothing preventing the workers from then selling the shares at a higher market price to a conventional capitalist later on (which almost invariably happened). The predominant form of "privatized socialism" would be cooperatives, under which workers own the firm for which they work and cannot sell or transfer their ownership -- it's tied to their job.
Financing entrepreneurship[edit]
It is an axiom of socialism that on Day 1 of access to power by a truly socialist government, the stock exchanges would be burned to the ground, and all the brokers would forfeit their dishonest monetary gains and be sent to the streets to beg.
This raises the question of how useful entrepreneurship would then be financed. The obvious pragmatic answer is that community-run (mutual) banks would store and lend credit for investment in said community, which would operate as a not-for-profit and be managed democratically, as opposed to profit-driven banks run by shareholders. The standard answer is that, if people have investment money to spend, it should be funneled through a state-maintained industrial fund, that would decide where to invest the dosh in the best interests of society as a whole. The opportunities for corruption in such a system are too obvious to be worth detailing. In practice, the sad truth is that entrepreneurship based on disparities in social power does not thrive under socialism, except as a part of the black market.
The forms of socialism and/or anarchism that advocate for the abolition of the money system entirely would find this problem non-existent for the most part, but a system like that would require either extreme isolation or a global socialist revolution. The former isn't possible or even remotely beneficial for other aspects of society, and the latter tends to go south about four seconds after it begins.
Socialism and religion[edit]
Marxism explicitly criticizes religion, with Marx referring to religion as "the opium of the people"[note 4] to which a pre-socialist state of existence has given rise. Communists have made heavy persecutions of churches when in power, and in some cases even banned religion altogether. Anarchists are also known for their anti-clerical church-burning activities (although not all anarchists perform such behavior, and some are actually Christians themselves).
But Marx did not advocate the banning of religion, instead saying that it is simply a way to cope, and to see something bright at the end of the tunnel when one is faced with the injustices of feudal and capitalist society, and says that the criticism of religion is thus the criticism of the conditions that breed it.
There are also currents of religious socialism, as will be mentioned right now.
The first socialist?[edit]
We'll give you a few hints: he is generally portrayed as a tall, blue eyed white man with long hair, wearing a flowing robe, or nailed to a cross, although he was more likely short, had short hair, brown skin, brown eyes and would have never worn a robe, as it would have been a terrible hazard in his carpentry work. A few quotes:
Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
- Matthew 19:24 (KJV)Do not store up your treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
- Matthew 6:19-21No man can serve two masters. For a slave will either love the one and hate the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
- Matthew 6:24Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.
- Matthew 19:21Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
- Matthew 25:34-40The love of money is the root of all evil."
- 1 Timothy 6:10
As recounted in Acts 2:44, the early Christian church practiced a form of religious communism with "all things common." Today, there are many Christian socialist throughout the world, particularly in South America, which hold that the teachings of Jesus Christ and Marx line up nicely, and see Christ as a great social reformer and the first socialist agitator. However, these people have been criticized for equating the poor, spoken of at length by Jesus, with Marx's proletariat; specifically, Jesus said, "For the poor always ye have with you" (John 12:8), while Marxism aims to do away with the proletariat altogether. There are also small Christian groups such as the Hutterites who also practice a form of voluntary religious communism. Monasteries and other similar religious institutions may also do so.
Oddly enough, his message has been largely ignored by some of his North American followers, who seem to think he was actually ye olde Ronald Reagan or a long-haired John Galt. Cognitive dissonance sure is great, isn't it? Although in their defense, Jesus never said give your money to the poor through government. He talked about private self-decided socialism. Of course, they don't do that either.
Socialism and patriotism[edit]
Socialism and patriotism/nationalism are typically in opposition and socialists are generally against the concept of nations, seeing them as an unnecessary division. Many socialists instead strive for "internationalism." To quote Eugene V. Debs, early leader of the SPUSA (he started as a social democrat, and then turned to socialism along the lines of De Leonism. He ran for President while locked in jail for protesting against the first World War), "I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world." They often view patriotism and nationalism as simply ways to divide the working class, like racism and sexism.
This has, unfortunately, led to some people using socialism as a front to push hatred of whatever ethnic group they can paint as coterminous with whatever class of people are judged to be the "oppressors" this week; the bloodiest example of this was Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. It is also seen in some left-wing anti-American sentiment, as criticized in the Euston Manifesto.
On the flip side, many leaders of "actually existing" socialist countries have promoted nationalism however. Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, for instance, as well as probably most other Latin American socialists, has definitely played on nationalist appeal.[23] Gamal Abdel Nasser promoted Arab nationalism.
Socialism and revolution[edit]
While socialism is revolutionary, in that it seeks to change the mechanisms of society, it does not necessarily require violent revolution. Many socialists support a revolution through the ballot, while others, such as De Leonists, advocate both industrial and political organization (although they may still think that "where the ballot is silenced, the bullet must speak").[24]
Interesting facts[edit]
While it may appear surprising to some, there are many socialist economic models, with socialist central planning only being one of the many.
Ricardian/Smithian socialism[edit]
There's a socialist economic model which relies on free markets, inspired by the teachings of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. It's known as Ricardian socialism. In this case, a free market economy exists, with the means of production being owned by those who use them to produce products and services. That is - the employees of the firms own and operate the firms, kind of like cooperatives. Even Marxian economists, like Richard D. Wolff, advocate this model.[25]
The Lange model[edit]
Another example of market socialism,[26] the Lange model, takes its name from the Polish economist Oskar Ryszard Lange (1904-1965).[27] In this system, the state operates a market economy. In other words, the state owns the means of production, but they operate according to the laws of the market – prices are set freely, and efficiency is maximized. This means that there would, hypothetically, be no shortages and long waiting queues (such as occurred in Soviet-type economies), since the price mechanism would re-establish the equilibrium of supply and demand. The main advantage of such an economy is that the state can easily use the entire profits of the industry, as well as its budget, to make massive investments into the economy, research and development, and medicine, presumably leading to high rates of economic growth, high scientific and technological innovation, and growing life-expectancy. One major criticism of the Lange model suggests that governments, regardless of political orientation, tend to allocate resources on the basis of political power and expediency, rather than on the basis of market forces, so it is highly dubious that the massive investments presumed to be made under this system would be effective or efficient allocations. Another critique states that state ownership of the means of production can only be enforced by the continuous use of force by the state. For example, any time an individual started any private enterprise, such enterprise must either be seized by the state, or shut down, or individuals must be prohibited by threat of force from starting any private enterprise for such a model to function.
Decentralized planning[edit]
Then, there's decentralized planning. Basically, it is pretty much what its name suggests – economic planning performed in a horizontal, more democratic and decentralized manner.
Computer-operated economies[edit]
Socialist economic models which rely on supercomputers to do the planning have also been proposed. The author of this section had talked to an economics professor about the feasibility of such a model, with the response being that the research in this area was abandoned in the late 1980s, when it was shown that planning a modern economy using supercomputers would require around 20 years (with the use of Leontief's input-output model), using the computer technology of that time. The professor questioned said that he got this information from a lecture given by a Polish professor of economics in the late 1980s. However, the processing power of supercomputers had increased by a factor of over ten thousand since then, so such models can now be considered as being more realistic.
Notable proponents of socialist theories[edit]
- George Orwell; British author
- Nelson Mandela
- Jeremy Corbyn; British Labour party leader, considered hard-left by his party standards
- Bernie Sanders; (self proclaimed socialist, though often considered a social democrat)
- Eugene Debs
- Noam Chomsky
- Jean Jaurès
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon
- Olof Palme
See also[edit]
- Anarchism
- Communism
- Charles Fourier
- George Orwell
- Socialist Alliance
- Fun:Socialism with Biden characteristics
- ↑ In The German Ideology, Marx describes communism not as "a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence [i.e. capitalism]" (see "Karl Marx. The German Ideology. 1845 - Part I: Feuerbach"). Marx further wrote that "the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves" (see "The International Workingmen's Association, General Rules, October 1864"). Indeed, The Communist Manifesto proclaimed: "The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property". However, note that while in capitalism, private and personal property are considered to be exactly equivalent, in socialist, Marxist, and anarchist philosophies the distinction between private and personal property is extremely important:
- Personal property includes "items intended for personal use" (see "Eight myths about socialism—and their answers"), e.g. clothes, homes, vehicles, and sometimes money (see "African Socialism". p. 25). It must be gained in a socially fair manner and the owner has a distributive right to exclude others.
- Private property is a social relationship between the owner and persons deprived (not a relationship between person and thing), e.g. artifacts, factories, mines, dams, infrastructure, natural vegetation, mountains, deserts, and seas. Marxism holds that a process of class conflict and revolutionary struggle could result in victory for the proletariat and the establishment of a communist society in which private property and ownership is abolished over time and the means of production and subsistence belong to the community. In this context, private property and ownership means ownership of the means of production, not personal possessions.
- To many socialists, the term "private property" refers to capital or the means of production, while "personal property" refers to consumer and non-capital goods and services (see "What is the difference between private property and possession?" and "End Private Property, Not Kenny Loggins").
- ↑ It has been suggested that Marx and Engels did not improve upon that state of affairs.
- ↑ On the other hand, they dramatically increased the level of public expenditure. Following the 2008 recession, the proportion of public spending in the economy hit 50% of GDP. How this level of state intervention in the economy can be considered "conservative" is anyone's guess (then again, see Dubya).
- ↑ Some context: in Marx's time, opium was seen (and actually is) a very effective painkiller, and at the time there was nothing more effective that opium, so he's not saying that religion is a dangerous drug, but rather a painkiller used to cope with pain.
- ↑ Rear Platform and Other Informal Remarks in New York by Harry S. Truman (October 10, 1952) Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, National Archives.
- ↑ "The Socialist Industrial Union Program of Daniel De Leon".
- ↑ Vladimir Lenin. "The State and Revolution — Chapter 5". Marxists.org.
- ↑ Friedrich Engels. "Friedrich Engels - Die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft - III"
- ↑ Karl Marx. "Critique of the Gotha Programme".
- ↑ "The Gotha and Erfurt Programs".
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Mikhail Bakunin.
- ↑ https://youtu.be/rgiC8YfytDw
- ↑ https://www.etymonline.com/word/socialism
- ↑ https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030362721/cu31924030362721_djvu.txt
- ↑ Rowland Hill Harvey (1947). Robert Owen: Social Idealist. University of California Press. pp. 99–100.
- ↑ http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/143150/files/weavers.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm2zSSg4Y5rV3zYlNxXbdy4Fw5QoCQ&nossl=1&oi=scholarr
- ↑ "An Anarchist FAQ – Appendix 4.1 – Appendix — What happened during the Russian Revolution?".
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ "Worker-Owned Businesses".
- ↑ https://youtu.be/gYgXS1GqKfs?t=186
- ↑ "Some Conservatives Push a 'Purity Test' for GOP Candidates".
- ↑ "Thatcherism and New Labour: "The similarities between Thatcherism and New Labour are more important than the differences".
- ↑ "The Impact of Privatisation: Ownership and Corporate Performance in the UK".
- ↑ See Chávez in some sort of goofy flag costume.
- ↑ See "The Socialist Industrial Union Program of Daniel De Leon".
- ↑ "Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism".
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on market socialism.
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Oskar R. Lange.


text: Jed Birmingham's library began with his William Burroughs collection. After he obtained all the books, he started to research and obtain any periodical that Burroughs contributed to, but quickly realized that the small press culture of the little magazines was just as interesting (if not more) than Burroughs' contribution, and that's how our little magazine, Mimeo Mimeo, got started. The poets, artists, printers, paper, collating parties, distribution, associations, manuscripts, postcards, and, letters are all part of the overall aesthetic and culture of the Mimeograph Revolution, brilliantly documented in Steve Clay and Rodney Phillips's A Secret Location on the Lower East Side. There are few people who take the art of mimeo as seriously as Jed, whose attention to detail is more common amongst bibliophiles specializing in incunabula and antiquarian books. In addition to sharing his research, he also shares aspects of his collection and others online in the Bibliographic Bunker at Reality Studio. Check out the Floating Bear archive, for startes, which includes a free, downloadable spreadsheet mapping the recipients of Di Prima and Jones' legendary mimeo magazine.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Create a contact form using shortcodes. The advanced contact form options let you to define an unlimited number of fields and add them to the forms you want. Customize the error messages, set required fields and much more.
No form fields created. Go to: "Settings > Contact Form"
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- (string) (Optional) The message subject
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- (string) (Optional) A confirmation message shown after sending.
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- (string) (Optional) Set to "yes" to include CAPTCHA validation.
- fields
- (string) (Optional) The alias of the fields to include in the form. This can be a comma separated list. Only fields created in the theme settings can be used.
Contact form with custom options:
[contact_form to="email@example.com" subject="Message Subject" thankyou="Thank you message" button="Text for Button" captcha="yes" fields="field-1,field-2,field-3"]


text:
Disposition Options with Cremation
With cremation, you actually have more choices for a final resting place than with a typical earth burial.
With interment, you can choose burial in the family plot, church garden, or other memorial site. You can also choose a columbarium, which is an arrangement of niches, indoor or outdoor, with memorial identity plaques. This is also sometimes referred to as an urn garden.
Graveside Services
You can choose to have memorial prayers and religious rites performed at the graveside with cremation, just as you can with a typical earth burial. You can also choose to have a marker or monument as a permanent testimony to the life and the history of the deceased, and as a place of pilgrimage for loved ones to visit.
With cremation, you also have other options that aren't available with a typical earth burial.
Scattering the Cremated Remains
Options with scattering remains include scattering within a memorial garden or cemetery; with the comfort of identifying marker, plaque, or memorial book entry to memorialize the loved one; or over water or in some other site loved by the deceased.
You can also do partial scattering, in which some of the cremated remains are scattered and the rest are retained in an urn for interment.
Multiple Urns
Cremated remains can also be placed in two or more urns. This offers the comfort of interment near more than one family member when families are divided by great distances.


text:
Fibics IncorporatedOffering FIB oriented solutionsOur goal is developing applications using a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) microscopy in the fields of metallurgy, materials sciences and semiconductor industry. Since acquiring its first FIB in 1997, Fibics has developed an international reputation for its work in both metallurgy/materials science and semiconductor device modification (microsurgery) as well as in TEM specimen preparation, "nanomachining" and analysis. |
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text:
Many are aware that during this religious holiday commemorating the Hebrews' exodus from Egypt, Jews eat matzo instead of bread. What else distinguishes foods that are kosher for Passover?
Observers refrain from eating chometz during the weeklong holiday--that includes barley, wheat, rye, oats, and spelt. (Leavening is also avoided.)
Some surprising foods and beverages may contain chometz ingredients, even in trace amounts related to processing. Among them: Soda, dried fruits, marshmallows, milk, and raw veggies.
"Kosher for Passover" indicates both ingredients and manufacturing practices aligned with the dietary specifications of this holiday.
Throughout the year, any food labeled "kosher" was produced under the supervision of official certifying agencies. The most common symbols include a circled letter U (certified by the Orthodox Union) or a K - both pictured below for reference. The letter P sometimes indicates that a food is kosher for Passover.


text:
Following the death of a family member, you may find yourself needing to sort through many possessions accumulated over the deceased's lifetime. An estate sale is one way to distribute those items that you do not want or need quickly and efficiently.
While selling someone's furniture, jewelry, artwork, antiques, and other belongings yourself can mean a great deal of time and effort on your part, there are companies that help families sell items. An estate sale company will do all the work in exchange for a percentage of the proceeds — typically anywhere between 25 percent and 50 percent. The company usually handles organizing the inventory, staging the house, appraising the value of items and setting prices, promoting the sale to the public, and hiring workers to run the sale. You may need to pay a separate fee to the liquidator for cleaning up following the sale, including donating or disposing of any goods that do not sell.
Keep the following in mind when getting ready for an estate sale:
- First ensure that you have the legal right to sell the property. There cannot be any unresolved estate issues. Companies may request legal documentation showing that you have the right to dispose of the property.
- Remove from the house anything you want to keep before calling in the liquidators, but avoid throwing too much away – one person's idea of trash might be another person's treasure.
- There is no regulatory body that oversees the estimated 15,000 estate sale companies in the United States, so before hiring one of them, rely on a referral from a trusted friend or family member and do some research. You can search the website of the American Society of Estate Liquidators, a trade association that requires its members to meet certain requirements and abide by an ethics code.
- Check your local Better Business Bureau and Yelp for complaints about companies you are considering, or attend a sale run by the company.
- Make sure your liquidator carries insurance in case there are any accidents while buyers are at the estate sale.
- Ensure the company offers a written contract.
- Ask any prospective liquidating company how it handles security, what happens to goods that do not sell, and what type of clean-up is included.
- Note that many companies discourage families from being present during the actual sale.


text: This beautiful sparkly pendant is truly is an alluring gift for yourself or a loved one. The ribbon design is embellished with dainty cubic zirconia, leading your eye down to the 7mm round cut Cubic Zirconia. Crafted with 14k White Gold over Stainless Steel, this necklace dresses up any occasion. The adjustable oblate cable chain allows the necklace to be worn at 18" to 22" in length. Product Dimensions: Height: 0.8" (20mm) x Width: 0.4" (10mm) 7mm cubic zirconia 18"-22" adjustable oblate cable chain with lobster clasp.


text:
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Shoulder Length Hair
- 1 hr1 h
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Cancellation Policy
To cancel or reschedule-- please contact us at least 2 hours before your appointment time. If you fail to do so there will be a charge. It will be the price of the service you failed to cancel.
Contact Details
2302 West Glen Avenue, Peoria, IL, USA
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text:
Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Cape Wind edges closer, geological testing begins
Credit: By Sara Brown | Vineyard Gazette | October 5, 2012 | www.mvgazette.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Cape Wind, which began more than a decade ago as the nation's first offshore wind farm and has since been enmeshed in legal battles, political wrangling and untold miles of red tape, is inching closer to the day when 130 wind turbines will be in operation on Horseshoe Shoal in Vineyard Sound.
The project's progress is tangible: out on the water, two barges have been in operation, performing geological tests on the ocean bed in preparation for the turbines.
Cape Wind first applied for a permit in November 2001. Since then, it has been undergoing a lengthy permitting process at the state and local level. Cape Wind received its final permit in August when the Federal Aviation Administration determined that the project would not pose a hazard to aviation.
It also has been the subject of repeated lawsuits, including from a group forcefully opposed to the project, the Alliance for Nantucket Sound. Opponents have cited concerns about property rights and private gain in public waters, and the impact to ocean life, migrating birds, tourism and fishermen.
The proposed wind farm would be situated in 24 square miles on Nantucket Sound, with the three-blade wind turbines measuring 440 feet tall at the tip of the topmost blade. Transmission lines would connect to a mainland grid.
The turbines will be designed for 25 years, after which they could be re-licensed and extended, Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers said. If not, they will be decommissioned and removed.
The project also has been political: as Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney was opposed to the project. In 2010, secretary of the interior Ken Salazar approved the project.
More locally, Cong. William Keating and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren support the project, while Mr. Keating's challenger, Christopher Sheldon, and Sen. Scott Brown are opposed to Cape Wind.
Regardless, about an hour away from Falmouth Harbor by boat, two weeks ago two barges were engaged in environmental testing. The work is being done by Fugro, a Dutch-based engineering and geoscience consulting firm.
With Oak Bluffs, Edgartown and Chappaquiddick visible to the east, a yellow barge was performing a seabed cone penetration test during a media trip to Horseshoe Shoal. On the barge, a cone was lowered about 50 to 60 feet into the sea floor at a controlled rate, Fugro vice president Tom McNeilan said.
A number of sensors are on the cone, he said, which will indicate the sea floor's resistance. This helps to determine the sea floor's properties, with this information used to design wind turbine foundations.
"The resistance tell us a lot about the engineering properties of the soil," Mr. McNeilan said. "It's the fundamental most important piece of data relative to the design of the foundations for any marine project," he said.
The barge is testing for every location where there will be a turbine, he said, at water depths between 25 and 30 feet.
The data will then be used to construct the bases of the wind turbines in the sea floor.
Turbine foundations will be about 80 feet below the sea floor, Cape Wind project manager Rachel Pachter said, with the driven steel monopiles made of hollow steel and five metres in diameter.
On the way to the second barge, a 200-foot tall wind turbine was visible in the distance. This is a scientific data tower installed in 2002, Mr. Rodgers said, which has provided data, recording an average wind speed of 19.5 miles per hour at the altitude of the rotors.
"It tends to be windy out here because of the sea breeze affect," he said, as wind is created from the interaction between land and cooler water. "That's something sailors know."
The second stop was a red drilling barge pinned to the sea floor, looking like a four-poster bed sitting on the surface of the water. The four legs were pushed into the sea floor hydraulically, Mr. McNeilan said, and the positioning above the water offers more stability.
Crew boats go back and forth every 12 hours for shift changes, with the typical barge crews ranging between six and eight people, all required to have offshore survival training. Mr. McNeilan pointed out someone named Kevin carrying around a sample tube.
At this barge, a specialized sampling system was underway, where a drill takes samples of the sea floor "that you can physically look at and analyze and evaluate," Mr. McNeilan said.
While tests on the first barge determine how the soil behaves, the second barge's work shows the consistency of the soil: primarily sand and layers of clay, but also glacial materials dating before the last ice age and outwash materials.
"The site's a very interesting site geologically," Mr. McNeilan said.
Between the data from the two barges, "you really have a good set of information you can use," Ms. Pachter said. Samples are sent back to the lab in Houston and analyzed.
The work being done on the barges is the conclusion of four phases of field work, Ms. Pachter said, starting with a marine survey to map the sea floor acoustically. The second phase was the sediment sampling of the upper part of the sea floor. The cone penetration test, completed at the end of September, was phase three, and the fourth phase, the testing from the "jack-up" barge, started in mid-September and is expected to continue for three more weeks.
Mr. McNeilan said Fugro largely does work in marine energy and has been part of the development of European offshore wind energy. Similar barge testing work has been done in Turkey, Mozambique, and throughout Europe, from Scotland to Denmark.
For the Cape Wind project, workers are subcontracted from the Cape and the New England area, he said.
"Offshore wind as an industry has a tremendous opportunity for economic development in the U.S.," he said, adding that it diversifies the country's "energy portfolio."
"So Fugro really is excited to be part of this first U.S. commercial offshore wind farm. We believe bringing a lot of our experience in Europe to this site is useful, some of our people aboard those vessels have worked over in Europe," he said.
"We're pleased to be part of this pioneering effort," Mr. McNeilan said as the boat headed back to Falmouth. "Being part of a pioneering effort is challenging, but it's a lot of fun. It's a tremendous opportunity."
While this preliminary geological testing work is underway, it is now several years past the time when Cape Wind thought the wind farm would be up and running. Mr. Rodgers told the Gazette this week that he recently saw a document calling for construction in 2005.
"That was optimistic," he said.
But he sees an end in sight. "We are complete now with the permitting phase, we have the federal and state permits," Mr. Rodgers said.
Cape Wind is now working with Barclay Capital on financing and raising capital, he said, though he declined to comment on how much progress has been made or what the target number is.
Time-wise, Cape Wind aims to complete financing by mid-2013, he said, and hopes to begin cable work in 2013 and ocean construction in 2014.
Start to finish, construction would take two and a half years, Mr. Rodgers said.
The organization does not yet have a contractor for the construction phase, he said, and will do that in the coming months.
He also said the project can begin even if there is pending litigation.
"Our lawyers have looked at this closely," he said. He also said the opponents to the project are challenging "what is the most complete review of any energy project in the history of the Northeast U.S."
In the end, Mr. Rodgers called the years-long scrutiny of the project a good thing.
"In what ended up being a 10-year-review, there certainly weren't any short cuts," he said.
"We are proud of the fact that by developing the first project in the U.S. . . . the federal government has developed regulatory guidelines and process for review and approving and monitoring offshore wind farms.
"This means a more predictable and certain path for future projects."
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar "fair dealing" provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
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text:
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This page (together with the documents referred to on it) tells you the terms on which we supply any of the products (Products) and courses, workshops, lectures and seminars (collectively, Events) listed on this website (our site) to you, whether we conclude the contract for such supply electronically or by telephone. Please read these terms of supply carefully before ordering any Products or Events from us. You should understand that by ordering any of our Products or Events, you agree to be bound by these terms of supply. Please understand that if you refuse to accept these terms of supply, you will not be able to order any Products or Events from us.
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2. If you purchase an Event for which we provide you Event materials, we hereby grant you a non-transferable, non-exclusive licence to use those materials strictly for the purpose of participating in the relevant Event and for your own educational, noncommercial purposes.
3. You shall ensure that such course materials are only made available to and accessed by you in accordance with clause 10.2 and you must not make available, copy, reproduce, disseminate, retransmit, sub-license, distribute, sell, publish,
broadcast or otherwise supply in any medium and in any manner any such materials (or any part of them) to any third party.
8. Warranty
1. We warrant to you that:
a. any Product purchased from us will, on delivery, conform in all material respects with its description, be of satisfactory quality, and be reasonably fit for all the purposes for which products of that kind are commonly supplied; and
b. we will perform our obligations under the Contract with reasonable care and skill.
2. All other conditions, warranties or other terms which might have effect between you and us or be implied or incorporated, whether by statute, common law or otherwise, are hereby excluded to the fullest extent allowed by applicable law.
9. Data Protection
1. In relation to any personal data provided to us by you or on your behalf, you agree that we may use such personal data to perform our obligations and enforce our rights under any Contract.
2. Furthermore, you agree that any such personal data will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Policy (as amended by us from time to time).
10. Our liability
1. Nothing in these terms of supply excludes or limits our liability for:
a. death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
b. fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
c. any other matter for which it would be unlawful for us to exclude or attempt to exclude our liability.
2. Our maximum aggregate liability in respect of any claim arising out of any Contract, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise, shall not exceed the total sum paid for the particular Product and/or Event giving rise to the claim.
3. We will not be liable in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty or otherwise for losses that fall into any of the following categories:
a. loss of income or revenue;
b. loss of business;
c. loss of profits;
d. loss of anticipated savings;
e. loss of data;
f. loss of goodwill;
g. loss of contract;
h. waste of management or office time; or
i. any special, indirect, consequential or pure economic loss which arises out of or in connection with these terms of supply even if we had been advised of the possibility of such loss.
4. We shall have no liability for any failure or delay in the performance of any of our obligations where any such failure or delay is due to any act or omission by you or any third party.
5. You assume sole responsibility for the selection, suitability and use of any Products or Events.
11. Import duty
1. If you order Products from us they may be subject to import duties and taxes which are levied when the delivery reaches the specified destination. You will be responsible for payment of any such import duties and taxes. Please note that we
have no control over these charges and cannot predict their amount. Please contact your local customs office for further information before placing your order.
2. Please also note that you must comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the country for which the products are destined. We will not be liable for any breach by you of any such laws.
12. Written communications
Applicable laws require that some of the information or communications we send to you should be in writing. You accept that communication with us may be mainly electronic. We will contact you by e-mail or provide you with information by posting notices on our site. For contractual purposes, you agree to this electronic means of communication and you acknowledge that all contracts, notices, information and other communications that we provide to you electronically comply with any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. This condition does not affect your statutory rights.
13. Notices
All notices given by you to us must be given to us at firstname.lastname@example.com. We may give notice to you at either the e-mail or postal address you provide to us when placing an order, or in any of the ways specified in clause 12 above. Notice will be deemed received by you and properly served on you immediately when posted on our site, 24 hours after an e-mail is sent to you, or three days after the date of posting of any letter to you. In proving the service of any notice, it will be sufficient to prove, in the case of a letter, that such letter was properly addressed, stamped and placed in the post and, in the case of an e-mail, that such e-mail was sent to the specified email address of the addressee.
14. Transfer of rights and obligations
1. The contract between you and us is binding on you and us and on our respective successors and assignees.
2. You may not transfer, assign, charge or otherwise dispose of a Contract, or any of your rights or obligations arising under it, without our prior written consent. In particular, you may not transfer to anyone else your place on an Event.
3. We may transfer, assign, charge, sub-contract or otherwise dispose of a Contract, or any of our rights or obligations arising under it, at any time.
15. Events outside our control
1. We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under a Contract that is caused by events outside our reasonable control (Force Majeure Event).
2. A Force Majeure Event includes any act, event, non-happening, omission or accident beyond our reasonable control and includes in particular (without limitation) the following:
a. strikes, lock-outs or other industrial action;
b. civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack, war (whether declared or not) or threat or preparation for war;
c. fire, explosion, storm, flood, earthquake, subsidence, epidemic or other natural disaster;
d. impossibility of the use of railways, shipping, aircraft, motor transport or other means of public or private transport;
e. impossibility of the use of public or private telecommunications networks; and
f. the acts, decrees, legislation, regulations or restrictions of any government.
3. Our performance under any Contract is deemed to be suspended for the period that the Force Majeure Event continues, and we will have an extension of time for performance for the duration of that period.
16. Waiver
1. If we fail, at any time during the term of a Contract, to insist upon strict performance of any of your obligations under the Contract or any of these terms of supply, or if we fail to exercise any of the rights or remedies to which we are entitled
under the Contract, this will not constitute a waiver of such rights or remedies and will not relieve you from compliance with such obligations.
2. A waiver by us of any default will not constitute a waiver of any subsequent default.
3. No waiver by us of any of these terms of supply will be effective unless it is expressly stated to be a waiver and is communicated to you in writing.
17. Severability
If any of these terms of supply or any provisions of a Contract are determined by any competent authority to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable to any extent, such term, condition or provision will to that extent be severed from the remaining terms, conditions and provisions which will continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law.
18. Entire agreement
1. These terms of supply and any document expressly referred to in them constitute the whole agreement between us and supersede all previous discussions, correspondence, negotiations, previous arrangement, understanding or agreement between us relating to the subject matter of any Contract.
2. We each acknowledge that, in entering into a Contract, neither of us relies on, or will have any remedies in respect of, any representation or warranty (whether made innocently or negligently) that is not expressly set out in these terms of supply.
3. Each of us agrees that our only liability in respect of those representations and warranties that are expressly set out in these terms of supply (whether made innocently or negligently) will be for breach of contract.
4. Nothing in this clause limits or excludes any liability for fraud.
19. Our right to vary these terms of supply
1. We have the right to revise and amend these terms of supply from time to time.
2. You will be subject to the policies and terms supply in force at the time that you order Products or Events from us.
20. Law and jurisdiction
Contracts and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) will be governed by English law. Any such dispute or claim will be subject to the nonexclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.


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Starting January 1 at 0.00 hours we will offer all our paid accounts free blogging in our new tiki/wiki.
Great offers on dedicated servers wil be reveiled as well as offers on co-lo.
Our SMB offers will treat your business as if you were a multinational with a price level that is suited to your needs.
Watch this space!


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Souffle De La Mer - White Gorgonia on a stainless steel frame
This is a unique piece
- Artist Maritime Objects
- Category Shelf objects
Creation year 2020
- Dimensions 110 x 30 x H 90 cm
Description White Gorgonia on a stainless steel frame performed and polished by hand
This piece is in stock and ready to ship
Signed with certificate of authenticity
This work includes a certificate of authenticity
Regular price € 1.647
Shipping worldwide.
Changed your mind? If you are a consumer you
may return the purchased artwork within 14 days.
Returns are not possible for custom items.
Questions about this piece?
ASK THE SELLERShipping, Returns & Payment
Open tabOur shipping methods are determined by item size, type, fragility and specific characteristics. Shipping costs are calculated based on carrier rates, delivery distance and packing complexity.
Return Policy
On items eligible for returns, consumers have 14 days from delivery to submit a return request. Returns are not eligible for custom-made items. Read our terms of sale
Online Payment
Fp Art Online accepts the following payment methods:
Buyer Protection Guaranteed
We want you satisfied. If you're not happy with the way an item arrived, we'll work with you and the seller to reach an optimal resolution. Read our purchase protection
Maritime Objects
Thanks to the experience gained in the maritime sector, where the utmost professionalism and attention to detail are required, a line of furnishing accessories in stainless steel and with natural elements was born, made, and polished entirely by one hand. Every single item becomes alive thanks to the skilled hands of our Genoa designers.
Fp Art Online is a one-of-a-kind art marketplace specializing in distinctive artworks and the stories behind them. Driven by the belief that a life well lived means surrounding yourself with beauty and soul, we source sculptures, artworks, paintings, quality photography and crafts from around the globe and seamlessly deliver them right to your door.
Our original stories, collections, and guides ensure you know who's who and what's what in design culture past and present.
Here is a collection of precious maritime beauties, hand-picked for you.


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Alcatraz Closes
Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay closes down and transfers its last prisoners. At it's peak period of use in 1950s, "The Rock, or ""America's Devil Island" housed over 200 inmates at the maximum-security facility. Alcatraz remains an icon of American prisons for its harsh conditions and record for being inescapable.
The twelve-acre rocky island, one and a half miles from San Francisco, featured the most advanced security of the time. Some of the first metal detectors were used at Alcatraz. Strict rules were enforced against the unfortunate inmates who had to do time at Alcatraz. Nearly complete silence was mandated at all times.
Alcatraz was first explored by Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775, who called it Isla de los Alcatraces (Pelicans) because of all the birds that lived there. It was sold in 1849 to the U.S. government. The first lighthouse in California was on Alcatraz. It became a Civil War fort and then a military prison in 1907.
The end of its prison days did not end the Alcatraz saga. In March 1964, a group of Sioux claimed that the island belonged to them due to a 100-year-old treaty. Their claims were ignored until November 1969 when a group of eighty-nine Native Americans representing the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the island. They stayed there until 1971 when AIM was finally forced off the island by federal authorities.
The following year, Alcatraz was added to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is now open for tourism.


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Essay question type
The essay question type is intended for short answers of a paragraph or two, that one often finds on exams. For longer essays, Online text assignment or Upload a single file assignment are better choices.
Question set-up
- Choose a category
- Give the question a descriptive name - this allows you to identify it in the question bank.
- Enter the question in the 'question text' field
- Select an image to display if you want to add a picture to the question. For the student, it appear immediately after the question text.
- Set the 'default question grade' (i.e. the maximum number of marks for this question).
- Moodle 1.7+: Add 'General Feedback' if required. This is text that appears to the student after the question is graded.
- Add feedback if required. This is text that appears to the student after he/she has answered the question. Also see 'General Feedback' above if using Moodle 1.7 or higher.
- Click Save changes to add the question to the category.
- Make sure there is only one essay per page - the rich text editor will only appear for the first essay question on a page.
Question grading
The essay question will not be assigned a grade until it has been reviewed by a teacher and manually graded. Until that happens, the student's grade will be 0.
To grade a student's answer in a quiz, use the manual grading tab on the Results section of the quiz. When manually grading an essay question, the grader is able to enter a custom comment in response to the essay and assign a score for the essay.
Essay questions in a Lesson
To grade lesson essay questions, first click on the name of the lesson in your course page. If there are essay questions to be graded, there will be a link saying "Grade essay questions". This link will open a screen showing how many ungraded essay questions there are. Ungraded essay questions will be in listed in red. Click the link for the essay you wish to grade.
The essay grading screen shows the title of the question, the student's essay response, and a place you can write optional comments and give the essay a score. Click the Submit grade button to record your score and comments. Graded questions will be displayed in green. Repeat the process to finish grading. Click the "Email graded essays" link to email your responses to your students.
See also
- Using Moodle Student adding an image to their answer forum discussion


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Fire Damages Restaurant in Washington, DC Area
Restaurant Rises From the Ashes
For decades, L'Auberge Chez François has been one of the leading restaurants in the metro Washington, D.C., area. Known for its exceptional French cuisine and impressive service, the restaurant is a longtime favorite of Washingtonians celebrating anniversaries, birthdays or other special occasions.
An electrical short in a $50 vent fan above the kitchen ignited the two-alarm fire. Smoke and water also damaged the 85-year-old structure. Retaining their first-class employees was the top priority of the owners, who hired Adjusters International to help them rebuild the premises back to its exact pre-loss condition.
- As a four-star restaurant, it was extremely important that L'Auberge Chez François retain their world-class chefs and well-trained service personnel. They needed to convince the insurance company to pay these people during the recovery period.
- The aged building faced many costly codes and ordinance upgrades that had to be addressed with the reconstruction.
- The furniture and art fixtures throughout the restaurant needed to be restored or replaced.
- Because the restaurant was so deeply entrenched with tradition, it was extremely important that the reconstruction be exact.
Solutions Applied
Adjusters International negotiated with the insurance company to have the staff paid an agreed-upon sum per week until reopening. They argued that a four-star restaurant needs its perfectly trained service staff. If the staff didn't return, the owners couldn't resume normal operations after rebuilding. Revenues would be diminished and the insurance company would have to pay more for the business income loss. The insurance company agreed with the argument.
Adjusters International brought in several mechanical engineers to work with the various contractors to oversee all of the mandated upgrades to the building during the reconstruction.
Adjusters International hired a world-class moving and storage company to care for the extensive collection of artwork, furniture and fixtures. When the building was repaired, all of the items were returned in their pre-loss condition and no further business delays were experienced.
Using photos of the premises, the owners wanted everything rebuilt and repaired exactly as it was, including the placement of each and every fixture. Adjusters International communicated constantly with the contractors to ensure that every detail was exact: reproduced at the right size and in the right place.
At the reopening nearly six months after the fire, guests to the restaurant commented that they could not tell that a fire had ever taken place, and the restaurant quickly reestablished its prominence as an elite establishment in the Washington, D.C. area.


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Officials at Aussie mining company IBDH (India Bore Diamond Holdings) were surprised to learn that many of its signature "Ellendale" fancy yellow diamonds are displaying an extremely rare purple fluorescence when placed under ultraviolet light.
This is extremely unusual because violet or purple fluorescence is normally associated with blue diamonds.
The anomaly came to light when the Perth-based Delta Diamond Laboratory began taking a closer look at the alluvial diamonds found within the L-Channel at the Ellendale diamond field in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. The lab quickly discovered that the yellow diamonds from that source were unlike any others.
"The purple color came as a complete surprise and may indicate that a new primary source of diamonds is nearby," said IBDH spokesperson Patrick Stringer. "So far, we know that these special diamonds are contained within a specific area known as the L-Channel. We have a very detailed understanding of the L-Channel deposit, but we never expected to discover that brilliant fancy yellow diamonds would fluoresce purple."
The miner explained that fluorescence occurs in about 30% of natural diamonds and more than 95% of these fluoresce blue, with yellow and green representing just a few percent.
Since 2002, the Ellendale Diamond Mine in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia has produced some of the world's highest-quality yellow diamonds. According to the miner, Ellendale fancy yellows have been featured in the cases of the world's leading luxury jewelers. During its operation, Ellendale produced about half of the world's fancy yellow diamonds, according to IBDH.
While the Ellendale hard rock mines were shuttered in 2015, a nearby alluvial was discovered by IBDH in 2017. The miner claims that the L-Channel deposit is estimated to contain 1.3 million carats of diamonds, including the world renowned Ellendale fancy yellows.
In January of 2020, IBDH exported its first batch of yellow diamonds to Antwerp for evaluation and appraisal by some of the world's leading diamantaires.
Beyond the famous Ellendale yellow diamonds, IBDH has also sourced fine diamonds in a rainbow of other colors, including green, red, pink, brown, blue, grey, purple and violet.
The mining area is located 120 km east of Derby in Western Australia.
Credits: Images courtesy of IBDH.
The post Miner Surprised to Learn Its Fancy Yellow Diamonds Display Purple Fluorescence appeared first on Diamond Designs | Orange, CT Jewelry Store.


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Stamped Concrete Contractor Oceanside
Advantages & Disadvantages
The areas around a property such as a patio, driveway or walkway should be beautifully designed and appealing to every visitor who comes around. So choosing the designs will involve aesthetic considerations and durability because these are areas that are frequently used by everyone. The most common choice is the stamped concrete because it has features similar to the higher priced finishing materials such as bricks and stone pavers. Out company, the best Stamped Concrete Contractor in Oceanside will help you choose the best option for your project. Before concluding, you should understand the value you will get by using the stamped concrete. This is why we will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of stamped concrete.
Choices and Aesthetics
There are a variety of choices regarding stamped concrete so you will see some designs that will suit your needs. These stamped concrete finishing look like the marble or stone finishing, and they are durable, so it is a win for you. It is also an affordable option that improves the aesthetic appeal in homes or commercial properties.
An advantage of the stamped concrete is that it is easy to install. The process only requires mixing the concrete and stamping on the areas to be covered. Rather than the labor-intensive process of moving the heave paving stones to the site. The concrete mixture is basically a standard mix of cement and water done in a way to avoid rough edges which will lead to a poorly finished work. Making a mistake of mixing too much water will cause some problems during stamping.
When compared with other higher grade finishing, the stamped concrete has a lower capacity. It tends to crack easily, and it is prone to scratches. However, it can be easily cleaned and maintained to look beautiful. For areas such as the driveways and parking lots, it is best to avoid using stamped concrete in those places because they tend to crack over time.
Cracks and Repair
Weather changes and differences in settling can cause cracking of the concrete. This might not be a problem in the Mediterranean weather conditions, but in areas where the weather is harsh with unpredictable fluctuations, the stamped concrete will definitely be prone to cracking. Cracks can be patched, but there will be inconsistencies in the pattern when patching is done too frequently. It might also be too expensive over time if you decide to patch every crack which appears on the stamped concrete finishing.
There are other surface finishing options such as the interlocking pavers which cost more than stamped concrete but they last longer and the surfaces do not wear out under pressure from cars. The interlocking designs also do not have a crack because they are smaller units merged together. However, they tend to become loose if the work was poorly done but this issue can be easily sorted out by replacing the loose pavers. No need to worry, we will help you make the right decision for your residential concrete or commercial concrete project.
Our highly skilled team of professionals are here to ensure that your concrete project gets done to your satisfaction and goes beyond your expectations. This makes our company the best Concrete Contractor in Oceanside. Call us today for a free estimate. We can assist you with all of your concrete needs in City of Oceanside and East County Oceanside California!


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Welcome to the blog that has been specifically designed for Comprensión Lectora en Inglés – Course CLECV Plus 1 – administered by Idiomas Católica.
This blog aims at providing opportunities for participants to exchange information related to the course. Although our reading course is not meant to develop oral or written communication skills, we have noticed that many of you can and wish to "have your say" in English about issues that we look at in the course. Your participation in this blog can award you up to 5 points in the assessment area labelled Tareas de Evaluación Continua.
Ready to begin? It is easy. The questions on the next message are waiting to be answered! You may want to participate twice. The first time, just write your answers to the questions. The second time, you are supposed to reply somebody else's answer.
Enjoy the experience!