Friday, November 7, 2014
If You Really Think It Matters Which Party Controls the Senate, Answer These Questions
Via WRSA
Please don't claim anything changes if one party or the other is in the majority. Anyone clinging to that fantasy is delusional.
If you really think it matters which political party controls the U.S. Senate, please answer these questions. Don't worry, they're not that difficult:
1. Will U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast change from being an incoherent pastiche of endless war and Imperial meddling? Please answer with a straight face. We all know the answer is that it doesn't matter who controls the Senate, Presidency or House of Representatives, nothing will change.
Please don't claim anything changes if one party or the other is in the majority. Anyone clinging to that fantasy is delusional.
If you really think it matters which political party controls the U.S. Senate, please answer these questions. Don't worry, they're not that difficult:
1. Will U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast change from being an incoherent pastiche of endless war and Imperial meddling? Please answer with a straight face. We all know the answer is that it doesn't matter who controls the Senate, Presidency or House of Representatives, nothing will change.
More @ Zero Hedge
The Cultural Equality of Man: A Right-Winger Recants
Via comment by Sioux on We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: Patriots Point Nav...
Today I come before the public to bare my soul, confess the evil I have done, and make a clean breast. I will state my crimes as plainly as a drunkard at a recovery meeting, who says, “I am an alcoholic.” In honesty only is there surcease.
My mea culpa: I have, for all my long life, thought some cultures superior to others. I was wrong, deeply wrong, perhaps unforgivably so. Cultures are all equal, as our great and reliable media, notably NPR and the New York Times, have told me.Cultures are just different, not better or worse. How can I have doubted it?
The blame for my rests entirely with me. I will no longer attribute my error to those false gods of the Radical Right: observation, common sense, morality, and an inability to escape the obvious.
For example, I find from Reuters:
Today I come before the public to bare my soul, confess the evil I have done, and make a clean breast. I will state my crimes as plainly as a drunkard at a recovery meeting, who says, “I am an alcoholic.” In honesty only is there surcease.
My mea culpa: I have, for all my long life, thought some cultures superior to others. I was wrong, deeply wrong, perhaps unforgivably so. Cultures are all equal, as our great and reliable media, notably NPR and the New York Times, have told me.Cultures are just different, not better or worse. How can I have doubted it?
The blame for my rests entirely with me. I will no longer attribute my error to those false gods of the Radical Right: observation, common sense, morality, and an inability to escape the obvious.
For example, I find from Reuters:
More @ Fred On Everything
German War Memorials
Via Nancy
These two memorials in Bavaria honor the memory of French Waffen-SS soldiers who were killed at the end of the war by their own countrymen. I will not reveal the exact location of these, since left-wing extremists destroyed the 1st SS Panzer Korps memorial at Marienfels in April 2004. These 12 soldiers (some sources say 11), French volunteers of the 33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne," had been fighting on the Eastern Front but were in a hospital at the end of the war. They surrendered and were moving to a POW area, but were stopped by French forces under Gen. Philippe Leclerc. Declaring them to be "Boche" and traitors, Leclerc ordered them to be shot, which was done just before the end of hostilities. Their bodies were left lying on the ground, to be buried a few days later by American soldiers. A few years after the end of the war, they were reinterred in the local town cemetery. Their sacrifice is remembered each year by their comrades and other veterans. (my sincere thanks to my friend Ralf Hornberger for showing me these sites)
Although the Marienfels 1st SS Panzer Korps memorial has apparently been rebuilt in Fretterode in Thüringen, the first memorial shown below, marking the site where these soldiers were executed and initially buried, was removed in October 2007 by local authorities. There is nothing there now but a bare patch of ground. This is yet another example of the extreme difficulty that Germany still experiences in dealing with its past.
The
photo above shows Gen. Leclerc confronting the prisoners. Below that is the memorial where they were shot and originally buried. The
memorial wreaths bear inscriptions such as "To Our Murdered
Comrades," "If All the Brothers Remain Silent"
("Wenn alle Brüder schweigen"), "When All Become
Unfaithful, We Remain Truly Faithful," "We Respectfully Honor
the Memory of the Brave Heroes of the Waffen-SS," "Their Honor
Was Loyalty."
Like many small towns in the U.S. (especially in the South), many towns and even small villages in Germany have war memorials to their sons who have fallen in battle. These tend to be more prevalent in Bavaria, and they start with memorials to the 1866 war of Prussia vs. Austria (when the Bavarians fought unsuccessfully for Austria). The memorials continue to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 (in which the Bavarians fought on the victorious Prussian side), and on to World War I. Some of the World War I monuments are large and elaborate, featuring sculptures that are both expressive and moving. Many towns later added the names of the World War II casualties to these earlier monuments.
It is instructive to note that in many cases, in contrast to the WWI names, the names of the missing in WWII far outnumber the names of the dead.
These monuments are the sites for annual memorial ceremonies, very similar to Memorial Day in America. These services take place on two Sundays in November - Volkstrauertag and Totensonntag (the last two Sundays before Advent).
These two memorials in Bavaria honor the memory of French Waffen-SS soldiers who were killed at the end of the war by their own countrymen. I will not reveal the exact location of these, since left-wing extremists destroyed the 1st SS Panzer Korps memorial at Marienfels in April 2004. These 12 soldiers (some sources say 11), French volunteers of the 33rd SS Grenadier Division "Charlemagne," had been fighting on the Eastern Front but were in a hospital at the end of the war. They surrendered and were moving to a POW area, but were stopped by French forces under Gen. Philippe Leclerc. Declaring them to be "Boche" and traitors, Leclerc ordered them to be shot, which was done just before the end of hostilities. Their bodies were left lying on the ground, to be buried a few days later by American soldiers. A few years after the end of the war, they were reinterred in the local town cemetery. Their sacrifice is remembered each year by their comrades and other veterans. (my sincere thanks to my friend Ralf Hornberger for showing me these sites)
Although the Marienfels 1st SS Panzer Korps memorial has apparently been rebuilt in Fretterode in Thüringen, the first memorial shown below, marking the site where these soldiers were executed and initially buried, was removed in October 2007 by local authorities. There is nothing there now but a bare patch of ground. This is yet another example of the extreme difficulty that Germany still experiences in dealing with its past.
***************************************
It is instructive to note that in many cases, in contrast to the WWI names, the names of the missing in WWII far outnumber the names of the dead.
These monuments are the sites for annual memorial ceremonies, very similar to Memorial Day in America. These services take place on two Sundays in November - Volkstrauertag and Totensonntag (the last two Sundays before Advent).
More @ Third Reich In Ruins
“Tea Party to Scott Brown, Walt Havenstein, and NHGOP: YOU LOSE. Marginalize us, and you will continue to lose – it is that simple!”
The tea party movement in New Hampshire is claiming two scalps in a battle with the Republican establishment that reflects a broader civil war poised to escalate if GOP leaders of the House and Senate compromise with President Obama on key legislative issues, including immigration and Obamacare.
In the wake of this Tuesday’s midterm elections, the New Hampshire tea party is drawing attention to the defeat of two GOP candidates the Republican Party establishment had backed heavily. In a wave election in which the GOP enjoyed historic gains, Walt Havenstein ran unsuccessfully against Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, and Scott Brown lost to sitting Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
More with videos @ WND
Ted Cruz Warns: Republicans Might Pass Internet Sales Tax After Election
Via avordvet
Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) warned that some congressional Republicans hope to cooperate with Democrats in passing an internet sales tax after the elections.
Cruz said party leadership could take up the bill in the lame-duck session, when recently-defeated Democrats would be able to support the bill.
“There are some voices in Washington who want a lame duck precisely so they can engage in corporate welfare and blame it on the Democrats,” Cruz told National Review Online. “One of my greatest concerns during a lame duck is that we could see leaders in both parties pushing through a nationwide internet sales tax. That is one of the favorite causes of the corporate lobbyists on K Street, to jack up taxes on millions of mom-and-pop internet retailers. Now, that helps all the big businesses at the expense of the little guy.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) warned that some congressional Republicans hope to cooperate with Democrats in passing an internet sales tax after the elections.
Cruz said party leadership could take up the bill in the lame-duck session, when recently-defeated Democrats would be able to support the bill.
“There are some voices in Washington who want a lame duck precisely so they can engage in corporate welfare and blame it on the Democrats,” Cruz told National Review Online. “One of my greatest concerns during a lame duck is that we could see leaders in both parties pushing through a nationwide internet sales tax. That is one of the favorite causes of the corporate lobbyists on K Street, to jack up taxes on millions of mom-and-pop internet retailers. Now, that helps all the big businesses at the expense of the little guy.”
More @ National Review
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place: Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War
Via Carl
This version of the "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" music video was created by Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum as part of its ongoing effort to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The men who are featured in the video are all Vietnam Veterans who have helped to build the exhibit. "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" was one of the most requested songs by United States Armed Forces members stationed in South Vietnam during the war.
The music video was filmed in the museum's Vietnam Experience Exhibit. To learn more about the museum and our commemoration efforts please visit our website www.patriotspoint.org or visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/patriotspoint.org.
This version of the "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" music video was created by Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum as part of its ongoing effort to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The men who are featured in the video are all Vietnam Veterans who have helped to build the exhibit. "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" was one of the most requested songs by United States Armed Forces members stationed in South Vietnam during the war.
The music video was filmed in the museum's Vietnam Experience Exhibit. To learn more about the museum and our commemoration efforts please visit our website www.patriotspoint.org or visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/patriotspoint.org.
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