A Fancy 400 lbs posted:

Where did people get the idea that a government functions economically identically to a nuclear family? I've never understood that.

redmercer posted:

And the "home security system" is actually a shotgun, ski mask, roll of duct tape, extra thick plastic sheeting, some corpse-grade lime and a shovel. And pipe bombs.

Hobnob posted:

And we spend at least half of the "home security" money repeatedly shooting up some other guys house on the other side of town.

crime fighting hog posted:

I wonder what the context of this photo is, because I'm drat sure it was way before the Tea Party protests but perhaps after 9/11.

ultimatemike posted:

http://shii.org/knows/Get_A_Brain_Morans

ultimatemike posted:

http://shii.org/knows/Get_A_Brain_Morans

spankmeister posted:

"Civilian weapons inspectors"
"A hostile crowd of roughly 75, flag waving, pro-war protesters"
"silent peace protesters"

I don't think that article is entirely neutral.

spankmeister posted:

"Civilian weapons inspectors"
"A hostile crowd of roughly 75, flag waving, pro-war protesters"
"silent peace protesters"

I don't think that article is entirely neutral.

Orkiec posted:

Crazy Email posted:

"After America , There is No Place to Go"



By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.

I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.
Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education.
Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare: When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.
As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
"Mercy Killing" Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws: Next came gun registration... People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria ... Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria. Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians.
This is an eyewitness account. It's true...those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away!
"After America , There is No Place to Go"

Please forward this message to other voters who may not have it.
IN GOD WE TRUST

When the people fear their government there is tyranny. When the government fears the people there is liberty. Thomas Jefferson

Anschluss posted:

Devoted to remaining independent but under considerable pressure from both German and Austrian Nazis, Austria's Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg tried to hold a referendum for a vote on the issue. Although Schuschnigg expected Austria to vote in favour of maintaining autonomy, a well-planned coup d'état by the Austrian Nazi Party of Austria's state institutions in Vienna took place on 11 March, prior to the referendum, which they canceled.

They transferred power to Germany, and Wehrmacht troops entered Austria to enforce the Anschluss. The Nazis held a plebiscite within the following month, asking the people to ratify the fait accompli. They claimed to have received 99.73% of the vote in favor.[4]

Beerdeer posted:

I've given up on this guy. He clearly lives in a different world than me. Or he's trolling beyond Poe's wildest dreams.

cheerfullydrab posted:

Please don't say anything that even slightly excuses the behavior of Soviet troops or Soviet authorities towards the people they occupied in the 40's. I don't like how what happened is used as a blunt instrument against communism, but I can't excuse the events that literally occurred and were supported from the highest levels of Stalin and his inner circle.

Glitterbomber posted:

Sit ins are often silent, they were dressed as weapon inspectors in a parody of the lead up to the war in Iraq and I dunno about you but I think a crowd with 'there are too many Iraqis, keep making missiles' would be a scootch hostile?

spankmeister posted:

"Civilian weapons inspectors"
"A hostile crowd of roughly 75, flag waving, pro-war protesters"
"silent peace protesters"

I don't think that article is entirely neutral.

Armyman25 posted:

Why is it that the right wing folks who are so afraid of government control of their lives, of black helicopters and storm troopers, are the first ones to advocate agains their political opponents?

Sarion posted:

That and they'll spin poo poo so that granting freedoms to one group is really just an infringement of their own rights. For example, our oldest son came home a week or so ago from school, saying that some of his friends said that Obama was forcing people in the military to perform gay marriages. This was after the DADT repeal went into effect, and they said military chaplains that wished to do so could perform gay marriages in States where gay marriage was recognized.

Obviously lovely, second hand conservative grumblings going from the parents to their kids to our son, but it still shows a kind of mentality where allowing gays to marry means some loss of religious rights by straight couples; even though no one is suggesting that churches will be forced to preach a pro-gay message or carry out gay marriages. So suddenly an issue that should be about expanding the rights of citizens becomes an issue of taking away rights from [real] Americans.

quote:

Editor,

Has America become the land of special interest and home of the double standard?

Lets see: if we lie to the Congress, it's a felony and if the Congress lies to us its just politics; if we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black person dislikes whites, its their 1st Amendment right; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it is wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don't burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of communist and socialist threats by renaming them progressive; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; if you protest against President Obama's policies you're a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st Amendment right.

You can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it is wrong to use an animal.

We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don't want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help.

And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who's at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.

What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?

- Ken Huber
Tawas City

WeaponGradeSadness posted:

Yeah, a friend of mine on Facebook posted not too long ago some crazy Catholic blog (Politically-correct rear end-covering here: I've got no problem with Catholics, the person who made the blog was just a lunatic) about how the movement to let gays get married infringes on Catholic Americans' rights. Because Catholicism doesn't like homosexuality, so allowing them to get married infringes on a Catholic's right to...not have anyone do something the Catholic doesn't want them to do, I guess? It didn't even have the "churches will have to provide gay marriages, it will be the law!!" aspect to it, just "these people are doing something I don't agree with even though it affects me in no way at all! MY RIGHTS!! " It's amazing how far a conservative can fit their head up their own rear end to come up with ways that they are really the ones being oppressed.

WeaponGradeSadness posted:

Yeah, a friend of mine on Facebook posted not too long ago some crazy Catholic blog (Politically-correct rear end-covering here: I've got no problem with Catholics, the person who made the blog was just a lunatic) about how the movement to let gays get married infringes on Catholic Americans' rights. Because Catholicism doesn't like homosexuality, so allowing them to get married infringes on a Catholic's right to...not have anyone do something the Catholic doesn't want them to do, I guess? It didn't even have the "churches will have to provide gay marriages, it will be the law!!" aspect to it, just "these people are doing something I don't agree with even though it affects me in no way at all! MY RIGHTS!! " It's amazing how far a conservative can fit their head up their own rear end to come up with ways that they are really the ones being oppressed.

Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:

This was in an email about Rick Perry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5CuoDpJNDs

Jesse Couch- Follow A Leader

A tribute song/spiritual hymn about electing Rick Perry.

Horrible lyrics and use of vocal samples.

Jesse Couch- Follow A Leader

Dr Christmas posted:

Can someone tell me what the Catholic church would think of a practicing Catholic getting a divorce, and then marrying another divorced Catholic? I'm pretty fuzzy about what happens there. What about marrying someone outside their religion?

Anyway, the point is that despite the fact that there is not, nor has there ever been, any restrictions on divorcees getting new marriage licenses, the government has done absolutely nothing to make Catholic compromise their position on divorce and marriage, so gay marriage isn't going to change that.

Dr Christmas posted:

Can someone tell me what the Catholic church would think of a practicing Catholic getting a divorce, and then marrying another divorced Catholic? I'm pretty fuzzy about what happens there. What about marrying someone outside their religion?

Anyway, the point is that despite the fact that there is not, nor has there ever been, any restrictions on divorcees getting new marriage licenses, the government has done absolutely nothing to make Catholic compromise their position on divorce and marriage, so gay marriage isn't going to change that.

Chunk posted:

This classic just popped up on my facebook feed a few times. Are there any statements that aren't just rank bigotry or false equivalencies?

quote:

if we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black person dislikes whites, its their 1st Amendment right

Thenipwax posted:

Does the Catholic church charge to do an annullment? I thought I heard that, but can't be certain. Anyway, it's disgusting how blatantly the Church craves nothing but money and power.

quote:

if we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black person dislikes whites, its their 1st Amendment right

quote:

we don't burn books in America, we now rewrite them

quote:

we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea

quote:

if you protest against President Obama's policies you're a terrorist

quote:

You can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas

quote:

we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it is wrong to use an animal.

quote:

We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don't want to work

quote:

we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology

quote:

we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct

quote:

And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who's at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.

WeaponGradeSadness posted:

Yeah, a friend of mine on Facebook posted not too long ago some crazy Catholic blog (Politically-correct rear end-covering here: I've got no problem with Catholics, the person who made the blog was just a lunatic) about how the movement to let gays get married infringes on Catholic Americans' rights. Because Catholicism doesn't like homosexuality, so allowing them to get married infringes on a Catholic's right to...not have anyone do something the Catholic doesn't want them to do, I guess? It didn't even have the "churches will have to provide gay marriages, it will be the law!!" aspect to it, just "these people are doing something I don't agree with even though it affects me in no way at all! MY RIGHTS!! " It's amazing how far a conservative can fit their head up their own rear end to come up with ways that they are really the ones being oppressed.

Sarion posted:

Korean Border: 2.5 miles
US/Mexican Border: 1969 miles

Math is amazing!

Zuhzuhzombie!! posted:

We're also not at war with Mexico