Peat vs Pete

I figured I'd just turn into the skid.

If I may employ another ethnicity's colorful invective, oy vey ... that was fairly embarrassing.

Look, fair enough on the dates the Irish joined the EU. The more apt critique (& honestly what I'm more concerned about when it comes to these super unions) is that in any free society a "crisis" is inevitable. Be it national security or economic you can bank on some pressing problem to arise, it's the nature of the beast. However, as a standing member in the EU, Ireland has demurred a portion of what is (was) their exclusive right to deal with such crises as they see fit. The idea that the head of the EU Parliament even feels comfortable suggesting out loud that a free, sovereign nation "suspend" general elections until their fiscal situation is cleared up to the collectives satisfaction is indeed a "brave new world." The moment I heard this I instantly flashed to Emperor Palpatine, "I will lay down these powers as soon as the rebellion is suppressed." And speaking of Emperors, I was hoping someone would hit on the Gibbons line of my last post title (see: Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire).

In other news ...

"Net Neutrality." The congress rejected this, on its' face. But the FCC is going forward with a vote on a modified plan December 21st. I wonder why that week, huh? Perhaps the nation will be preoccupied? This would be the literal policing of Internet speech. It's the Fairness Doctrine for the web. So lets say you google something Beck said, and it leads you to The Blaze. Instantly, as you click on a story contained therein, a bubble will pop up with an alternative argument of someone whom disagrees with Beck. Nice huh? I wonder, will the bubble open with "Gutentag!"

And speaking of "fascism", will someone please define this word for me? I hearken back to a professor's quote that I read once: "We've all agreed to use the phrase without agreeing what it means." You can get variations all over the web. The most common one I've heard is that while "communism" is the take over of private business by government, "fascism" is the take over of government by private business. The latter of which makes no sense whatsoever, to me. If it does to you, then name a nation state in history that is an example of that definition. Germany? Are we kidding? THAT was private business usurping government authority? Not to mention, the authority of the National Socialist Workers Party? I don't think so. I understand that "communism" is a socio-economic theory, who's implementation always comes at the end of a gun because it denies the basic nature of man, so we naturally associate the word communism with oppression - and history has born this out, to the tune of hundreds of millions of lives. But is anyone to tell me that Josef Stalin didn't employ fascist tactics? That the KGB didn't act much like the Gestapo? So what is fascism? I contend it is another catch all phrase like despotism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and so on, in which the natural Rights of the individual are oppressed by/in favor of the state, or an oligarchy. If one was to refine it any further, perhaps it would be apt to say it is an authoritarian state in which private business remains technically private.

Thoughts?