CDR: Re: Shunning, lesbians and liberty

[Kevin Elliott]

At 23:35 -0500 10/2/00, Jim Choate wrote:
>On Mon, 2 Oct 2000, James A.. Donald wrote:
>
>>  James A. Donald:
>>   > > Famines in Africa are caused by communism and socialism, notably
>
>>    At 0233 PM 10/1/2000 -0500, Jim Choate wrote
>>   > Again, a simple-minded answer to a very complicated issue.
>>
>>  So give an example of an important twentieth century famine not caused by
>>  socialism or war.
>
>Um, changing the rules in the middle of the game are we...
>
>How did war get in there and why should I accept it as a synonym to
>communism? It is clear that war has more causes than communism or
>socialism.

Because the causes of war are suffeciently diverse and unpredicatable 
that including war in the pool muddies the waters enough to make 
things unclear.  However I'll bite by asking the inverse of the 
question- name one large scale famine that occurred in any country 
not under some form of "forcible rule" (forcible rule being defined 
as some sort of communist, socialism, or dictatorship, for the 
purpose of this question).  A less precise way of putting this is 
present one example of a country in which free election are/were 
taking place for a reasonable period of time, during which that 
country experienced mass starvation of a significant portion of it's 
population.
-- 

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both 
instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly 
unchanged.  And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware 
of change in the air--however slight--lest we become unwitting 
victims of the darkness."
-- Justice William O. Douglas
____________________________________________________________________
Kevin "The Cubbie" Elliott 
<mailto:kelliott at mac.com>                             ICQ#23758827