J.D. Vance, The Education Candidate

In its entirety, because of the paywall.

On Tuesday, J.D. Vance, author of the bestselling “Hillbilly Elegy” and now candidate for the U.S. Senate from Ohio, gave a keynote speech at the National Conservatism Conference titled “The Universities Are the Enemy.”

In the speech, he told his audience: “I think in this movement of national conservatism, what we need more than inspiration is wisdom. And there is a wisdom in what Richard Nixon said approximately 40, 50 years ago. He said, and I quote: ‘The professors are the enemy.’”

Nixon actually said these words to his then-national security advisor, the Harvard professor Henry Kissinger. He added, in a professorial flourish, “write that on a blackboard 100 times and never forget it.”

This hatred of professors and their universities seems to be a big deal for Vance. On his campaign website, under the heading “Protect Conservative Values,” he complains that “hundreds of billions of American tax dollars” get sent to universities that “teach that America is an evil, racist nation.” These universities “then train teachers who bring that indoctrination into our elementary and high schools.” He doesn’t want any tax dollars going to institutions that teach “critical race theory or radical gender ideology.” Instead, he wants them to deliver “an honest, patriotic account of American history.” Other sections of the website extol the glories of the 2nd Amendment, while ranting about immigrants and COVID-19 regulations.

Vance’s complaint is at least as old as the trial of Socrates in the Athens of 399 BCE. Socrates was sentenced to death for teachings that supposedly corrupted the youth of Athens and mocked the city’s gods. Vilifying professors has been the theme of a certain kind of politics ever since.

Ironically, the same Henry Kissinger who heard Nixon’s 1972 rant about professors made his own academic reputation writing about Prince Klemens von Metternich, the top minister of the Austrian Empire from 1809 to 1848. Metternich was a conservative strongman, perhaps the Vladimir Putin of his day. He didn’t like professors either.

In 1820, Metternich wrote that the main evil of his time was “presumption,” his word for the habit of educated people to question authority. “Experience has no value for the presumptuous man; faith is nothing to him,” he said. Ordinary working people, he said, did not fall prey to these illusions because they were too busy with the hard labor of their own lives. Not so the professors who were his target: the “real cosmopolitans ... men of letters, lawyers, and the individuals charged with public education.”

Just like Vance, Metternich thought the only counterweight to such errors was to be found in “wisdom” — which meant accepting Metternich’s authority and all conservative values with it.

The fascist movements of the 20th century were notoriously anti-intellectual and anti-professor. In a relatively unscripted moment in a 1938 speech, Adolf Hitler said he regretted that his regime still had some need for its “intellectual classes,” otherwise, “one day we could, I don’t know, exterminate them or something.”

Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, was irritated by academics’ tendency to examine political statements for their truth value. But he concluded that “I do not believe that university professors make history.”

Why is it that professors have always drawn the anger of authoritarians? Authoritarians themselves will always claim that academic activity is subversive, unpatriotic and immoral — and thus a serious threat to society. But let’s be real for a moment. Goebbels actually had a point.

The great majority of scholarly publications are read by only a tiny handful of professional colleagues. Academics who somehow reach a broader public audience are usually highly untypical of their profession. As for our nefarious activity in the classroom: I can assure Vance that I could never indoctrinate any student into anything, even if I wanted to. I keep a file of amusing exam answers. To put it gently, students don’t always listen. Any indoctrination I tried would surely backfire.

If Vance were to be honest about who he thinks his enemies really are, he would have to say minorities, immigrants and others who don’t fit into his vision of American values. These are the people hurt by the kind of politics he advances. But it doesn’t sound quite so good to say this out loud.

Professors, on the other hand, are a perfect target, and perfect scapegoats. The work they do is often obscure and mysterious for people outside the academy. They are easy to caricature as out of touch, or worse. Most importantly, they do not have the power or media reach to fight back.

Vance is right about one thing, though. So long as he pursues a politics of division, fear, hatred and mass death from COVID and guns, I will oppose him. I will probably be an ineffective enemy. But I will do my best.

Benjamin Carter Hett is a professor of history at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and the author of “The Death of Democracy” and “The Nazi Menace.”

I Want Every One Of These Nazi Assholes Strung Up!!

#FBIWFO is seeking the public's assistance in identifying those who made unlawful entry into U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6. If you witnessed unlawful violent actions contact the #FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit photos/videos at https://t.co/NNj84wkNJP. https://t.co/iSeA3UMeyz pic.twitter.com/TW7fma4QDE

— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) January 8, 2021

Illinois Nazi:

Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun-Times:

Illinois GOP Rep. Mary Miller apologizes for her remarks praising Hitler at pro-Trump rally  —  Miller: “I sincerely apologize for any harm my words caused and regret using a reference to one of the most evil dictators in history to illustrate the dangers that outside influences can have on our youth.”

Discussion:

Mary Miller / NBC Chicago:   Illinois Congresswoman Who Invoked Hitler in Speech at Rally Issues Statement

Michael Ginsberg / The Daily Caller:   GOP Congresswoman Criticized After Quoting Hitler Doubles Down

Sophia Tareen / Associated Press:   Democrats Ask GOP Congresswoman Who Cited Hitler To Resign

Zack Budryk / The Hill:   Newly sworn-in Republican lawmaker condemned by Holocaust Museum after Hitler quote

PIGS OFF CAMPUS!!

So many yrs. ago no one wishes to remember exact dates, in the mists of time when these United Snakes were only a crypto-fascist nation, the chant of "PIGS OFF CAMPUS" meant university students didn't want the military-industrial complex & other murderous corporate entities recruiting on their campuses.

Ossifer Fields disciplines a student at Spring Valley High for using a mobile 'phone.

Yrs. later, the Age of Irony is over & this is a fully fascist nation where real fascist pigs are all over America's junior & senior high schools, terrorizing the students & transforming what once were disciplinary issues (to be handled by that little Hitler, the vice-principal) to criminality to be handled by the much bigger Hitlers of the criminal justice system.

Congrats to Columbine, Colorado killers Kleebold & Harris for helping to make the schools & society that drove them to madness & murder even more likely to alienate & destroy our young people. Yes, the youth who would indeed be our & your future IF WE WEREN'T GOING TO BE DEAD BEFORE THEIR FUTURE ARRIVES!!! (So what do we care? Après nous le déluge!!)

Threat Or Promise? (You Never Know Until It's Too Late)

At last, the State of Israel has its own little Hitler:

On Sunday, the captain of a youth soccer team in Be’er Sheva wrote on his Facebook page: "send left-wing voters to the gas chambers and clean this country of leftists."

O.K., when the fucking hell can we start talking about scourging the planet? I mean it. (Man.)

I'm fed up w/ reading the same tired iNternet bullshit over & over, from both sides & all divisions thereof. (Yes yes yes, I know it's "always projection." When the hell do we start shooting the lights out of their fucking projectors then?)

Not to ignore the actual & atrocious activities your grotesque species commits in meatspace & wallows in on a daily basis in cyberspace when you murdering torturing apes aren't busy typingflinging your feces at each other & lying like rugs in digital packets.)

All of you loudmouthed assholes: Get your stubby trained-monkey fingers off the keyboards & put them inside a trigger guard where your big mouths already think they are, or just shut. The. Fuck. Up.

If you haven't the intestinal (or artisanal) fortitude to stand up for your moronic beliefs behind a weapon, expect me to use your keyboard to break your fingers & then smash the keyboard over your head, rendering both plastic objects more inert than they already are. (Not a one of you have any idea how awful you are; a species of seven billion chunks of undifferentiated tissue so foolish boring & idiotic that I'm driven to such agonizing ennui I want them all dead & am more willing to act on that impulse as each hr. speeds by.)

Political power (& solutions) come from the barrel of a gun. (Chairman Mao my ass, that's been American gospel since the first American/Incan/Aztec talked back to a Spaniard & had his head blown off for his trouble. As an American, why should I be any different?) And considering the actual problem facing your ugly world of shit & pain is simply that there are far too many rats caged in it, virtually none of whom contribute anything but unintentional & unwitting participation in the oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange, the sooner we start ending this mess the better. Not getting any younger here. (Neither are you, whether you feel/admit it or not.)

So "Bring it on!" & "Suck on this!" (More of the scintillating discourse that's made me fall in mad love w/ humanity all over again. Also fuck you wherever it hurts.)

Fucking Time Warp Or Somethin'?

When & where in the hell am I? In what Möbius-twisted dimension is it news (or information, even) that Hall & Oates are were & will remain a suckfest of inanity & limp crap? I mean, why now? Has anyone anywhere given over three secs. of thinking to them in the last X yrs.? (O.K., the blonde one's webcast/tee vee show isn't actually causing that many suicides, depending on the artiste featured.) Sez Slate:

the Bird & the Bee, who recorded a full album of Hall & Oates tunes, to Alison Brie, whose Brooklyn band performs “Rich Girl,” because of course

Oh. Youth. I hope that's a meteor bound for Brooklyn.

Will someone now dare claim (or at least make it clear to the ignorant youth before we are subjected to any more tribute* albums) that Loggins & Messina blow chunks as well? Seals & Crofts? England Dan & John Ford Coley? Tom & Jerry?

And what's w/ that duo dynamic? I'm no musical encyclopædia, but Google agrees there's nothing. When two white guys collaborate are each other's "testosterones" cancelled? (Can't think of any "hard" rock/metal duos. Certainly no successful/known ones.)

Yet R&B duos (mixed) work: Peaches & Herb, Mickey & Sylvia. Even R&B dudes: Don & Dewey. Now, I don't want to wax Goldbergian, but the "soft rock, limp dick (at a minimum metrosexual)" conclusion is foregone here.

Soon in Salon: "STAR WARS: Y'All Ever Notice Them Prequels Ain't So Good?" & "Hitler: Even Worse Than You Thought!"

---

*"Millions for defense but not one damn penny for tribute" albums.

Another McArdle Item W/ Which We Didn't Want To Deal Right Now

Nonetheless we slogged on. We really should be paid (we could use the money) for wasting our time w/ this garbage.

"Both sides do it," sez she. Because making the current office holder an unrecognizable & contradictory (Affirmative Action TelePrompTer-using dimbulb or gay evil socialist genius destroying Wall St.?) caricature of all that honkies fear & loathe is exactly equivalent to calling a certifiable war criminal & election thief "Hitler."We can not tell you how glad we are we weren't awake to see this.Beyond the tele-crap above, two print items we'd contemplated abusing before, but eventually gave up on because we were sick of seeing the two open tabs (& we had so many open Chrome was using too much memory) so we closed them. But we couldn't forget them. Now we've arsed ourself.

Dumb (OK, ignorant.) bunny Megan had apparently never heard of gangs of vicious teens raiding stores en masse. (It was going on even before every little creep had a damn idiotPhone.) until she saw it somewhere. We most enjoyed the subhead:

Dozens of teenagers mobbing stores for a simultaneous shoplifting spree. How are merchants supposed to defend against this sort of mass attack?

Is it "shoplifting" if the youth go into the temples of commodity fetishism & just grab shit from the shelves w/ no attempt at concealing what they're doing? And it wouldn't be Megan if her concern for the money-grubbers wasn't so touching. "Who will think of the merchants?" Of course, they're 7-Eleven® owners, not "merchants." And "attack" might be a little strong. (Here we could interject something along the lines of "We'll show you an attack, ninny!") Concluding paragraph:

Obviously, I'm not going to suggest that we should all give up cell phones because some teenagers may be misusing them. But I hope that someone is working on some sort of solution for this--technological or otherwise.

2x4s to their heads, Missy? That seems to be your solution to any one threatening the sanctity of property.

No, not over yet. This one's more inane than anything else. Except that after several mins. of scrolling up & down McArdle's Daily Beast oeuvre we can't find it; maybe it was so stupid it was disappeared. Fuck it, should've gone w/ our first instinct, as in the headline.

Also, wavier hair.

Trotsky Thursday: Permanent Revolution, Baby!

Public meetings in Sri Lanka

Seventy years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky: The return of history and the strategy of the world revolution

By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka) 
1 September 2010

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Students for Social Equality (ISSE) will hold a series of public meetings in Sri Lanka on the historic legacy of Leon Trotsky and its relevance to today’s fight for world socialist revolution.

Trotsky was the co-leader with Lenin of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and led the Red Army that defended the first workers’ state. After Lenin’s death, he politically and theoretically led the struggle against the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet state. After Stalin’s betrayals allowed Hitler to come to power in 1933, Trotsky concluded that the Third International was dead and called for the building of the Fourth International, which he founded in 1938.

Trotsky was assassinated in Coyoacan, Mexico on August 21, 1940 by a Stalinist agent. His murder was the culmination of Stalin’s purges that physically eliminated the finest representatives of the entire generation that had carried out the October Revolution.

Trotsky’s life and work has a profound contemporary significance. The global profit system is, once again, mired in a fundamental economic and political crisis. The lessons of Trotsky’s struggles provide the essential political weapons for uniting the working class to abolish capitalism and establish a world planned socialist economy.

In countries of a belated capitalist development, Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution has been repeatedly confirmed by the inability of the bourgeoisie to meet the aspirations of working people for democratic rights and a decent living standard. The quarter century of civil war in Sri Lanka is one tragic example.

We warmly invite workers, housewives, youth and intellectuals looking for a way to oppose war, oppression and poverty to attend our public meetings.

Colombo
Venue: New Town Hall
Date and Time: September 12, 3.00 p.m.

Kandy
Venue: Janamadura Hall
Date and Time: September 23, 3.00 p.m.

Jaffna
Venue: Co-operative Hall
Date and Time: September 26, 2.00 p.m.

Main speaker: SEP General Secretary Wije Dias

WSWS.

12 March: Hitler Annexes Austria, FDR Takes Over Banks In Fireside Chat: Any Difference?

Today is Friday, March 12, the 71st day of 2010. There are 294 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.
Today's Highlight in History:
On March 12, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.

On this date:
In 1664, England's King Charles II granted an area of land in present-day North America known as New Netherland to his brother James, the Duke of York.
In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to the rank of general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln.
In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the Girl Guides, which later became the Girl Scouts of America.
In 1925, Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen died at age 58.
In 1930, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.
In 1938, the Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries.

In 1939, Pope Pius XII was formally crowned in ceremonies at the Vatican.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman established what became known as the "Truman Doctrine" to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.
In 1963, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to grant former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill honorary U.S. citizenship.
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, but Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota placed a strong second.
In 1980, a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)
Illinois state's attorney Bernard Carey
In 1985, conductor Eugene Ormandy, director of the Philadelphia Orchestra for more than four decades, died at age 85.
In 1989, some 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American flag placed on the floor as part of a student's exhibit.
In 1990, Exxon pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay a $100 million fine in a $1.1 billion settlement of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Also in 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk introduced legislation to revise land tenure laws and end racial discrimination in land ownership.
In 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in as the nation's first female attorney general. More than 250 people were killed when a wave of bombings rocked Mumbai.
In 1994, the Church of England ordained its first female priests.
In 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin died in Berlin at age 82.
In 2000, in an unprecedented moment in the history of the church, Pope John Paul II asked God's forgiveness for the sins of Roman Catholics through the ages, including wrongs inflicted on Jews, women and minorities. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar scored a major victory in general elections.
In 2001, six people, including five Americans, were killed when an errant bomb from a U.S. Navy fighter jet exploded at an observation post in Kuwait.
In 2002, The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution endorsing a Palestinian state for the first time. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking after Israeli raids killed 31 Palestinians, declared that Israel must end its "illegal occupation" of Palestinian land. That night, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire. And in 2002, the Boston archdiocese said it would have to sell church property, take out loans and seek donations from wealthy supporters to cover the $100 million in settlements of lawsuits against priests in sexual abuse cases. Homeland security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a color-coded system for terror warnings.
In 2003, Elizabeth Smart, the 15-year-old girl who'd vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters. Also in 2003, the premier of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic, died after being shot by assassins.
In 2004, millions of Spaniards protested the Madrid train bombings of the day before that killed 191 and wounded more than 1,000 others. Marcus Wesson, the domineering patriarch of a cultlike clan he'd bred through incest, surrendered to police who found the bodies of nine of his offspring, all but one minors, at their home in Fresno, Calif. (Wesson was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.)
In 2005, Brian Nichols, who had slain a judge and three other people, surrendered to authorities in suburban Atlanta after holding Ashley Smith hostage in her own apartment. (Nichols was later sentenced to life in prison.) A gunman opened fire at a church service being held at a suburban Milwaukee hotel, killing seven people before taking his own life. Bode Miller became the first American in 22 years to win skiing's overall World Cup title, in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Iran rejected Washington's willingness to offer economic incentives if the Islamic state gives up its nuclear program.
In 2006, Iraq violence claimed at least 70 lives, including nearly 50 who died in six car bombings in Baghdad's major Shiite stronghold. Hundreds were wounded.
In 2008, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned two days after reports had surfaced that he was a client of a prostitution ring. He was succeeded by Lt. Gov. David Paterson, New York's first African-American (and legally blind) governor.

Former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, a liberal Ohio Democrat who challenged big business, died near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at age 90. Space shuttle Endeavour docked with the international space station, kicking off almost two weeks of demanding construction work. Lance Mackey won his second consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, completing the 1,100-mile journey in just under 9 1/2 days.
In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history. A 17-year-old youth, who felt "no one recognized my potential," killed 17 people at his former school in Winnenden, Germany, including nine students. The alleged shooter died in a police gun battle. The Iraqi journalist who'd thrown shoes at President George W. Bush received a three-year sentence. (Muntadhar al-Zeidi ended up serving nine months.) Insurance broker Willis Group Holdings announced that Chicago's Sears Tower would be renamed Willis Tower. Lindsey Vonn became the first American woman to win the super-G season finale at the World Cup finals in Are, Sweden. Philanthropist Leonore Annenberg died in Rancho Mirage, Calif. at age 91.
Today's Birthdays: Playwright Edward Albee is 82. Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young is 78. Actress Barbara Feldon is 77. Broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 74. Singer Al Jarreau is 70. Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 64. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is 63. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 62. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is 62. Rock singer-musician Bill Payne (Little Feat) is 61. Actor Jon Provost ("Lassie") is 60. Author Carl Hiaasen (HY'-ah-sihn) is 57. Rock musician Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) is 54. Actor Jerry Levine is 53. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 53. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 50. Actor Titus Welliver is 49. Former MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry is 48. Actress Julia Campbell is 47. Actor Aaron Eckhart is 42. ABC News reporter Jake Tapper is 41. Rock musician Graham Coxon is 41. Country musician Tommy Bales (Flynnville Train) is 37.
Born On This Date Also: Pioneer automaker Clement Studebaker (1831); New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs (1858); actor/singer Gordon MacRae (1921); novelist Jack Kerouac (1922); & astronaut Wally Schirra (1923).
March 12 In Entertainment
In 1955, saxophone player Charlie "Bird" Parker died in New York of heart failure. He was 34. He's known as the inventor of bebop.
In 1958, singer Billie Holiday was given a year's probation on a narcotics possession charge. She died the next year of alcohol and drug abuse.
In 1969, Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman were married in a civil ceremony in London.

Also in 1969, "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel was named Song and Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards, beating out "Hey Jude" by The Beatles.
In 1974, John Lennon got into a fight with a photographer outside a club in Los Angeles. Lennon and Harry Nilsson had been heckling comedian Tommy Smothers and had been thrown out of the club.
In 1987, the musical "Les Miserables" opened on Broadway.
In 1998, Cathay Pacific airline banned Liam Gallagher of Oasis from its flights after he threatened to stab a pilot.
Thought for Today: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams, American president (1767-1848).

Not Only Would It Be Irresponsible Not To Speculate, It's Irresponsible Not To Imagine The Craziest Shit Possible & Then Be Totally Outraged By It

Honest to fucking ...

Undoubtedly, those on the Left will use the president's delivered remarks to raise doubt about the initial concerns conservatives had with his original intentions. They will say the president had no designs on indoctrinating America's youth, and that his speech was merely an innocent way to energize students on what is, for many of them, the first day of school.

There is no way for anyone to know for sure what the president's original speech included, or what his intentions were. It is clear, however, that the White House was forced to rethink how it handled such an important address. If the revisions to the education secretary's lesson plan is any indication, the president's speech may very well have gone from being an attempt to recruit new patrons for a floundering political agenda to a lesson on the importance of conservative values.

Our emphases, of course. Because the speech as given was entirely non-controversial boiler-plate certainly doesn't mean the original wasn't a call to America's children to turn in any parents who aren't politically correct. Just like it was in Stalin's Germany & Hitler's Russia. You remember.

And what is this indoctrination thing? They can't really believe that in twenty minutes of blather any President (or Hannah damn Montana, if you want to bring up someone interesting to the youth) is going to "recruit new patrons" (Squirming students happy not to be in class, but still bored by some old guy lecturing them. Prime recruitment material, huh?) for that floundering political agenda. Can they?

Maybe they do believe it. It is what this episode of Right-Wing Monster Chiller Horror Theatre boils down to: The Dusky Svengali stealing their children's precious minds. The Prez couldn't get a health care insurance/reform bill passed by the running dogs of Congress before the August recess, as he wanted, but give him twenty mins. of tee vee time w/ their children & America is ruined. No, they can't possibly believe it.Wrong again. They can & do believe it.

20 July: Operation Valkyrie Fails; Americans Hit Moon

By The Associated Press | July 20, 2009 Today is Monday, July 20, the 201st day of 2009. There are 164 days left in the year. AP. A/V. UPI Almanac. Today's Highlight in History: On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon after landing their lunar module. As he set foot on the lunar surface, Armstrong spoke his famous line, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Aldrin, who followed, described the scene as "magnificent desolation."Neil Armstrong: "the Eagle has landed." Neil Armstrong: "one small step for man" The AP covers it, text-wise. [Fuck 'em if the link doesn't link. — Ed.] On this date: In 1810, Colombia declared independence from Spain.

One hundred and fifty years ago, in 1859, American baseball fans were charged an admission fee for the first time when 1,500 spectators each paid 50 cents to see Brooklyn play New York. In 1861, the Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Va. In 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation as a Canadian province. In 1881, Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops.In 1917, the draft lottery in World War I went into operation. In 1942, the first detachment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In 1944, an attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb failed as the explosion at Hitler's Rastenburg headquarters only wounded the Nazi leader. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

In 1945, the U.S. flag was raised over Berlin as the first U.S. troops moved in to take part in the post-World War II occupation. In 1951, while entering a mosque in the Jordanian sector of east Jerusalem, King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist. In 1954, the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into northern and southern entities. In 1976, America's Viking 1 robot spacecraft made a successful, first-ever landing on Mars. In 1977, a flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa., killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage. In 1982, Irish Republican Army bombs exploded in two London parks, killing 11 soldiers, along with seven horses belonging to the Queen's Household Cavalry. In 1988, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis received the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Atlanta. In 1990, a federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's Iran-Contra convictions. In 1989, U.S. President George H.W. Bush called for the United States to organize a long-range space program to support an orbiting space station, a moon base and a manned mission to Mars. [Say, good idea. Which is why his no-account son proposed the same thing, w/o any funding attached either. Fucking jerks, both of them. This country would have been much better off if H. W. had died when his plane was shot down. — Ed.] Ten years ago: After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was lifted to the surface. Five years ago: Former national security adviser Sandy Berger quit as an informal adviser to Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign after disclosure of a criminal investigation into whether he had mishandled classified terrorism documents. Iraqi militants freed a Filipino truck driver after the Philippines government gave in to their demands to withdraw troops from Iraq. The head of slain American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr. was found in a raid in Saudi Arabia. The U.N. General Assembly demanded that Israel tear down the barrier it was building to seal off the West Bank; Israel vowed to continue construction. One year ago: Pope Benedict XVI wrapped up a six-day World Youth Day Festival in Sydney by challenging young people to shed the greed and cynicism of their time to create a new age of hope for humankind. Padraig Harrington became the first European in more than a century to win the British Open two years in a row. Today's Birthdays: Actress-singer Sally Ann Howes is 79. Rockabilly singer Sleepy LaBeef is 74. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., is 73. Actress Diana Rigg is 71. Rock musician John Lodge (The Moody Blues) is 66. Country singer T.G. Sheppard is 65. Singer Kim Carnes is 64. Rock musician Carlos Santana is 62. Rock musician Paul Cook (The Sex Pistols, Man Raze) is 53. Actress Donna Dixon is 52. Rock musician Mick McNeil (Simple Minds) is 51. Country singer Radney Foster is 50. Actor Frank Whaley is 46. Rock singer Chris Cornell is 45. Rock musician Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) is 43. Actor Reed Diamond is 42. Actor Josh Holloway ("Lost") is 40. Singer Vitamin C is 40. Former baseball catcher Charles Johnson is 38. Actor Simon Rex is 35. San Francisco Giants catcher Bengie Molina is 35. Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen is 34. Actress Judy Greer is 34. Actor Charlie Korsmo is 31. Supermodel Gisele Bundchen is 29. Rock musician Mike Kennerty (The All-American Rejects) is 29. Actor Percy Daggs III is 27. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Troy Smith is 25. Today In Entertainment History -- On July 20th, 1954, Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black performed in public for the first time, billing themselves as the Blue Moon Boys. They performed at the opening of a new drugstore in Memphis. In 1965, Bob Dylan's single "Like A Rolling Stone" was released by Columbia Records. In 1968, Jane Asher announced on national TV in Britain that her engagement to Paul McCartney was off. McCartney reportedly was watching and was surprised by the news. Iron Butterfly's "In-a-Gadda-da-Vidda" debuted on the American pop chart. In 1975, "Miami" Steve Van Zandt performed for the first time in concert as part of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in Providence, Rhode Island. Thirty years ago, in 1979, the Electric Light Orchestra took out ads dedicating their newly-released song "Don't Bring Me Down" to Skylab. Twenty-five years ago, in 1984, reigning Miss America Vanessa Williams was asked by pageant officials to resign because of nude photos of her that appeared in "Penthouse" magazine. She gave up her title three days later. In 1986, "Sid And Nancy," a film biography of the Sex Pistols, premiered in London. Gary Oldman played Sid Vicious. In 1996, actor Robert Downey Jr. was arrested after authorities say he left a court-ordered drug rehab center. It was his third arrest in a month. In 1998, actress Jodie Foster gave birth to a boy in Los Angeles. She refused to say who the father was and how she got pregnant. In 2006, actor Haley Joel Osment, who was 18 at the time, was arrested for drunk driving and marijuana possession outside Los Angeles when his car hit a mailbox and flipped over. Thought for Today: "The regret on our side is, they used to say years ago, we are reading about you in science class. Now they say, we are reading about you in history class." -- Neil Armstrong, American astronaut (1930- ).

The Real America: Bitter, Clinging Birthers

Dave Weigel, previously referred to at our other location, seems to like guns. He's made some photos he took over the wknd. available at the Washington Independent, under the title "Scenes From the Real America." Sarcasm? Who can tell?

Gun enthusiasts of all stripes were there — from the National Rifle Association and sportsmen to militia members to white supremacists and Obama birthers.

That's quite a spectrum of stripes there. Wasn't just any old gun event either, but a Machine Gun Shoot! Dave types: "Some of the better merchandise from the exhibit tens [sic]. This one says “Prepare for Obama’s Citizen Army (ACORN + Nation of Islam)”Plenty of Nazi/Hitler memorabilia, right next to the "Obama is Hitler" merch. This takes the classic "I'm not saying Hitler was right, but I'm not saying he was wrong, either," to a new level.

The editorial staff has never been so ashamed to be over-weight, middle-aged, Anglo (more or less) & of the middle-class. This is why:"The Birthers had two sets of petitions, one just for members (or retired members) of the military who wanted to join Orly Taitz’s legal actions against Obama. Taitz is the blonde woman with the pink nametag, obscured slightly by Theresa Padget, the woman in the sweatshirt." And here are the Obama Youth Michelle Bachmann is in a tizzy over.SS hat & AmeriKKKan flag shoulder patch. Get used to it, chumps. Tomorrow belongs to us!!

Big Time Ninny

We're anxiously waiting for rodeo clown Glenn Beck to turn himself in & do his time for having been a booze n' blow abuser. C'mon, Glenn, do the right thing. As you said:

America doesn’t mind if you make a mistake, just admit that you made a mistake. If you break the law, pay the penalty. 

We're inclined to doubt if he's really off the rock. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, though. Perhaps he just snooted so much that paranoia is now irreparably hard-wired into his noodle.

Do you really believe that Barack Obama is leading us toward socialism and that we are in danger of becoming a totalitarian state? I believe that he’s not leading us there, he’s led us there. Check the cover of Newsweek magazine, “We’re all socialists now.” We’re there. However — again, some context — I said these things under George Bush with the beginnings of the bailout. You don’t do this in a free-market society. I’m afraid that we are headed toward a state that is controlled in Washington and by these global corporations. We’re headed toward statism where these gigantic corporations and government are in bed. That was one of my main problems with George W. Bush.

That's why so many of Beck's programs, radio & telebision, were devoted to the cause of increasing regulation & oversight during the Bush administration's, shall we say, lax, enforcement of Beck's precious laws. (By the way, is this what the right means when talking about "respect" for an office? As long as their guy's in office, you have to respect the office. The minute their despised by 75% - 80% of population toad is out, it's "Who? Him? Never liked him. Not a real conservative.") 

Also amusing are Beck's & others' reactions to that Newsweek cover. Blood pressure medication & Depends® sales must've leaped that wk. 

After all, not just any magazine would brazen its cover with the canard “We’re All Socialists Now,” as Newsweek did in February. Though we’re not all socialists, that their editors have always been sympathetic to the movement is a given.

Yes, it's the same guy who called Newsweek "a roach’s den of radicalism." But back to Beck.

You seem to have said that Al Gore has used Nazi-like propaganda tactics to promote the idea that global warming is a man-made threat, is that correct? Yeah, the argument that he was making was the same kind of tactic used by the Nazis. I don’t believe Al Gore is trying to gas or round up Jews, I don’t believe the result is going to be the same thing. Just understand that the tactic used was a device used by the Nazis. For instance, we have him on tape during the convention or during the inauguration where he was talking to 12-, 13-, 14- and 15- year olds, and he said “Look there’s a lot of things you understand instinctively but your parents don’t understand those things because they’re just too trapped in old thinking.” Well, gosh, I mean, I know he’s not going to be rounding up Jews any time soon but that’s called the Hitler Youth where you turn the children against the parents.

Or "give the children an education," sometimes they call it that too. 

"OK, Johnnny, if your father says there wasn't a cure for the clap when he was your age, then I guess there isn't a cure, penicillin or not."

Really, how does this crap go on & on? It's never going to stop, is it?

More Info, More Often

Internet pal "g" asks: "I didn't realize Hugo Boss was that old a corporation. Is it?" in reference to our previous reference/link. Here's more from the Michigan Journal:

Clothing manufacturer Hugo Boss also worked for the Nazi Party. He designed the all-black uniforms for the SS Army and Hitler Youth. The clothier, now reputed for constructing some of the most chic business attire for men, just recently learned of their connections to the Third Reich after the names of prominent Hitler supporters were released. Hugo Boss, the company's founder, was on the list. Boss execs paid for further research on the company's Nazi connections to be conducted. Sure enough, the business relationship was confirmed. Hugo Boss's son, Siegfried Boss explained that it wasn't hard to believe that Boss, being a German company, had connections to the Third Reich. ''Of course my father belonged to the Nazi Party. But who didn't belong back then?" Siegfried Boss said in an interview with Austrian newspaper Profil.

We might ask son Ziggy the difference between "connections," "prominent Hitler supporters" & actually designing shit for the Nazis, not that there's a link to the list, or any indication of what "prominent supporters" means in this context. We will state that we will never purchase any Mitsubishi products, as their aircraft were used to try to kill my father (and others, also) during the Japanese sneak attack at Pearl Harbor. Anyway, thanks to "g" for providing us w/ a question that we could blather about today. (The well is drying up here.) Hugo Boss, the corporate entity, may not be that old, but it looks as if Hugo himself was. Just Another Blog™, having co-invented the "jeans & t-shirt" fashion category in the late '40s (w/ Neal Cassady & Jack Kerouac) doesn't follow the fashion world that much, but we had thought Hugo Boss was an Italian corporate entity, & had no idea that there had been an actual Hugo Boss. (Trust us, we know from made-up names, & "Hugo Boss" sounds like one.) Never occurred to us that Krauts would run a fashion outfit (Who invented lederhosen?) but then again, as the guy on Dragnet said to Sgt. Friday, "Y'all a buncha Nazis, you just don't dress as sharp."

Damnable Popery w/ the Former Chief Inquisitor of The Holy Church

That general ickiness & desire to tighten your puckery parts (on the part of men & altar boys, at least) may be due to Pope Hitler-Jugend (a/k/a: Ratzinger, a/k/a: Pope Benedict XVI) being in the country. Here are a couple of photos of his patriarchal holiness, one when he still dressed like a man:or at least a Hitler Youth,and an imaginative composition from monkeydotnet:Well known suck-up George W. Bush ran out to Andrews AFB to kiss the former Nazi's ring. (Dig the red pimp loafers. Those Italians can make some shoes, can't they?) His popiness blathered platitudes on the flight over about pedophile priests, yrs. late & $millions short. Here's a clue, Benny: Stop enforcing celibacy on yr. "sacred ministry," then religiously indoctrinated gay guys won't think that the church's "It's OK to be gay, but don't do anything gay" policy is gawd's way of calling them to the priesthood. Of course then the number of priests, already declining, would really hit bottom. (Pun actually not intended, but it's a good one, huh? Seriously, we were going to go w/ "dry up," but suddenly "hit bottom" came from the keyboard. Just Another Blog™ cannot take responsibility for its subconscious.) It's not easy being pope.

Hitler Youth Update

Pope when he still dressed like a man. (Courtesy World Religions.)
Pope in delicious drag & pal. (Courtesy monkeydotnet.)
Shorter Pope: The rest of you mother-fuckers are going to hell, where G-d's less successful intelligent designs will poke fiery hot pitchforks into your intestines for all eternity. Nyah nyah nyah.

Day of Memory And Sorrow

"I was born in the concentration camp in Latvia. We were there with my mother. I recollect only fascist boots and mouth-organ sound since then. When we were released in 1945, I was three. June 22 for me is the Day of Memory and Sorrow and difficult recollections of my childhood," Antonina Gureyeva, former under-aged prisoner of a fascist concentration camp, said.
The gathered laid wreaths of live flowers to the monument and paid tribute to those killed in the Great Patriotic War with a minute's silence. After that everyone could approach the Pantheon of Glory and lay flowers.

PHOTOS:

Beneath: Veterans of the Great Patriotic War at the Krasnoyarsk Victory Memorial. ©2007 NEWSLAB

Top: Hitler Youth chuck rocks at Soviet tanks, Berlin, April 1945, as the Great Patriotic War comes to its historically inevitable end, which now appears to have been a ruse or scam of some sort.

66 yrs. ago, 20 million of our socialist sisters & brothers dead, and now it looks like the fascists won despite the sacrifice, & (apparent) victory.