That is one of the questions raised in the 1999 German film “Nichts Als Die Wahrheit” (After the Truth). My school sponsors a series of ethics lectures and events each year, and the kickoff event to this year’s theme of media, technology and morality was a viewing and discussion of this movie.

The film centers around the German trial of Nazi leader Josef Mengele, nicknamed “angel of death” for his role in the Auschwitz murders and “experiments.” Attorney Peter Rohm is fascinated with the life of Mengele and researching a book on him when, through a series of strange events, he ends up meeting the man himself in Argentina and flying back to Germany with Mengele in tow.

Once on German soil Mengele is, of course, put under arrest and sent to court to answer for his soiled past. Mengele insists that Rohm serve as his defense attorney, and Rohm is subsequently warned by the judge that this is an incredibly public trial and if he doesn’t defend Mengele to the best of his ability, she will disbar him.

From that point on, the movie is a journey through the dark recesses of the human mind. Rohm brings the Nazis down to the level of everyday humanity, pointing out that doctors routinely euthanize patients (in his modern Germany), sometimes without the patients’ consent; that Mengele saved some people from death at Auschwitz; that medical experiments on unconsenting patients are performed in the modern world as well.

At the end of the movie (spoiler alert, if you want to watch it for the suspense) Mengele is convicted. After doing an excellent job defending his client, Rohm offers his final argument — Mengele is merely a product of his time, and acted in the interests of the medical community. He then sits, and the judge asks for his plea.

After a pause, Rohm answers. Mengele is a monster, he says, who shows no remorse or understanding of the sins he has committed. He is guilty.

“Guilty, and I call for the maximum sentence.”

Mengele then begins speaking, and runs as a voiceover through the closing credits, justifying his actions over and over in the name of science, compassion and the future of the human race. As the credits rolled, I found myself wondering how different the Nazis were, really, from each of us — from me.

Solzhenitsyn said “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties, either, but right through every human heart.” The Nazis didn’t have a monopoly on cruelty in the name of science; it happens all the time in America and elsewhere.

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, in which hundreds of black men were “treated” for syphilis under false pretences while the observing doctors withheld actual, proven treatment to watch the progression of the disease, is just one of countless such forays by American scientists.

And the Milgram study in the 1940s showed that ordinary people are prone to commit acts of cruelty to others when an authority figure tells them to do so.

My conclusion? Nazi-like cruelty is set apart from my behavior by degree, not by kind. I — and everyone else alive — am capable of great cruelty. All it takes is a series of small steps down the slippery slope. But I don’t think that lets Nazi-style perpetrators off the hook; if anything, it reminds the rest of us that the hook is just a few inches away from the back of our jackets as well.

I saw this on GlennBeck.com about the media bias towards the McCain campaign.  I recommend you read it no matter what your political affiliations are. It goes to show that the media thinks of us as nothing more then trainable dogs, no offense Toby.  I would like to know how many newspapers, tv stations, magazines have invested money into both campaigns??

They have us listening to propaganda like this is WWII Nazi Germany comparing candidates to the Feur for his oral aptitude, or for her alleged Book Banning? And yet millions of Americans and citizens from all over the world are listening....  and not all of us are asking the appropriate questions. Why? What are their ulterior motives for these ridiculous statements?

Thank you for the insight Glenn, We would like to see all the data and research. Because I could only imagine how far down the rabbit hole this goes.

Poland's finest to rock Wembley

Bajm were popular across Eastern Europe before the Iron Curtain fell

Eight of Poland's top pop and rock acts perform in front of a 10,000-strong crowd at Wembley Arena on Sunday. Billed as the biggest ever Polish music event on foreign soil, what does it mean for Britain's Polish community?

Crowds of adoring fans will pack Wembley Arena on Sunday to see their favorite superstars perform to a full house.

But it will not be Madonna, Oasis or Jay-Z entertaining more than 10,000 people.

Bajm and Lady Pank may be largely unheard of in the UK but are household names in Poland, where four million viewers are expected to watch the London Live show's highlights on state channel TVP2.

Tabloid hellraiser

Described as Poland's answer to Pink Floyd and Red Hot Chili Peppers, their albums have sold three million copies.

Alongside Bracia's modern grungy-rock and Natalia Kukulska's soulfull R'n'B, the show even has its own tabloid hellraiser in Doda, who has posed for Playboy and courted controversy by spitting on stage.

Stanislaw Trzcinski, president of promoter STX Records, said: "This is like the O2 Festival, except for Polish music."

Performing at Wembley is a great honor Natalia Kukulska

Guests on stage include Jan Tomaszewski, the goalkeeper whose heroics at the old Wembley Stadium in 1973 helped secure a 1-1 draw to send Poland to its first World Cup at England's expense.Mr Trzcinski said: "The name Wembley brings back happy memories for Polish people and it remains a special place, so it was the perfect location."

Kukulska, 32, has performed with tenor Jose Carreras and duetted with British R'n'B star Lemar at the Sopot festival in Poland in 2005.

She said: "Performing at Wembley is a great honor. I hope I will draw energy from the people who have played there in the past."

After picking up influences of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston during a year in the US, she blended them with her own style to sell 2.5 million records at home.

Free tickets

"I'm very excited because this is the first time a lot of artists from Poland are performing abroad together," she added.

Costing almost £1m to stage, the event has been advertised on 30 London buses and is being beamed back to Poland in high definition, thanks to a 100-strong production crew. Tickets were free to those who registered.

More than one million people voted in an internet talent competition giving bands the chance to perform on a second stage outside the arena, where they will be joined by top acts from the UK and Ireland's Polish communities.

The show's arrival reflects the remarkable influx of Poles into Britain.

After the Second World War, the Polish Resettlement Act allowed around 200,000 people to remain in the UK. They were mainly Polish troops, who had fought alongside the British, and their dependents.

By 2001, the census recorded just 60,680 Polish-born people living in Britain.

But since Poland's accession to the EU in 2004, those numbers have swollen to the 405,000 estimated by the government last year, although the numbers arriving has dropped in recent months.

Appetite for rock

At least 100,000 settled in London, with many basing themselves around established Polish communities in western districts like Hammersmith.

There, the Posk cultural centre boasts the largest library of Polish books outside Poland, a gallery, restaurant and 350-seat theatre.

Supermarkets across Britain have started stocking Polish goods and delicatessens have sprung up in many towns.

THE PERFORMERS Bajm: Six-piece rock outfit, formed in 1978, their 13 albums all went gold or platinum Wilki: Hard-rock band, named "Wolves", have performed in New York and London Doda (pictured): Daughter of an Olympic weightlifter, gave up athletics to be a pop tearaway Natalia Kukulska: Began singing aged seven and sold 1.5 million records as a child star Kayah: Was a backing singer before her solo career in soul, jazz and R'n'B took off Bracia: Their grunge-rock style made this band - "The Brothers" - favourites with younger fans Monika Brodka: Her soulful voice was inspired by her idols Erikah Badu and Lauren Hill Lady Pank: These punk survivors formed in 1982, playing 400 gigs to promote their debut album

But Piotr Grzeskiewicz, station director at Hammersmith-based Polskie Radio Londyn, said there had been little to feed young migrants' appetite for rock and pop.

"Hundreds of thousands of Polish people in Britain have limited access to modern Polish culture and this is their best opportunity in many years to see some really big Polish bands," he said.

Organizers hope many Britons will be at Wembley.

However, Mr Grzeskiewicz said: "The language barrier is huge. Only a few of these bands have played abroad and usually only for Polish fans."

Warsaw-based bank PKO BP financed the event to promote its central London branch, which opened last December to cater both for migrants and British businesses investing in Poland.

Branch manager Katarzyna Cal said the move demonstrated the growing confidence in Poland's economy and the number of investors keen to do business in the country.

Meanwhile, Dr Jan Mokrzycki, chairman of the UK's Federation of Poles, admits he prefers the classical works of Chopin to today's rock.

Vibrant

But the 75-year-old said the event would help build understanding between the established and newly-arrived Polish communities.

Initial tensions between the groups are diminishing, said the dental surgeon whose mother - a former Nazi concentration camp detainee - brought him to Britain in 1948 to escape communism.

"A combination of their youth, enthusiasm and education and our knowledge of the laws and customs of Britain is helping integration," said Dr Mokrzycki.

"Cultural events of the old community have been traditional, forged from our experiences of pre-war Poland, so involve mostly classical or folk music.

"The new culture is vibrant with jazz and pop and it's important younger people have access to that." ]]> http://onewords.wordpress.com/?p=243 Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:00:36 +0000 uhawan http://onewords.wordpress.com/?p=243 BICARA soal Bata berarti bicara soal sepatu (dan sandal). Dunia sepertinya sepakat soal itu. Bata adalah "pembuat sepatu bagi dunia". Orang di balik semua itu, Thomas Bata, pada 1 September lalu meninggal dunia. Thomas Bata yang berdarah Ceko meninggal pada usia 93 tahun di sebuah rumah sakit di Toronto, Kanada.

Leslie Tenenbaum dari pihak Bata tidak menjelaskan penyebab kematian Thomas Bata. Namun, yang pasti, Bata dan perusahaannya saat ini membuat 300 juta pasang sepatu setiap tahun bagi dunia. Dan, semuanya berawal dari Zlin, Cekoslowakia, pada awal tahun 1900-an.

Saat Bata lahir di Praha, 17 September 1914, ayahnya sudah memproduksi sepatu sejak tahun 1894. Thomas secara bertahap terlibat dalam bisnis keluarga ini. Dia mulai terlibat penuh setelah ayahnya wafat dalam kecelakaan pesawat tahun 1932.

Sonja Sinclair, penulis biografi Thomas Bata, Bata, Pembuat Sepatu bagi Dunia, menyebutkan, saat Eropa terancam invasi tentara Nazi Jerman, Bata mulai memikirkan memindahkan industrinya dari Eropa. Dia memilih pindah ke Kanada dengan alasan yang sangat sederhana.

”Semata karena kisah romantis soal wilayah barat yang liar dan eksplorasi di utara (Kanada) yang sering dibacakan ibunya saat dia kecil,” tulis Sinclair, mengutip Bata. Kanada saat dia tiba tahun 1939 ternyata tertinggal dibandingkan dengan Eropa.

Namun, Bata sudah telanjur cinta Kanada. Kantor pusat didirikan, alternatif dari kantor di Ceko. Awalnya, Bata tidak terlalu didukung. Dia hanya boleh mengimpor 100 pekerja sepatu dari Zlin dari 250 yang diminta. Kanada saat itu mengalami pengangguran akut.

Batawa

Pabrik dibangun di tenggara Ottawa. Pabrik dan produknya bernama Batawa, singkatan dari Bata dan Ottawa. Merek ini menjadi seri pertama dari produk keluaran Bata di seluruh dunia. Saat Perang Dunia II, Bata ikut berperang bersama tentara Kanada.

Perang membuat semua pabrik Bata di Eropa hancur. Pabrik di Zlin relatif utuh, tetapi diambil alih pemerintah. Namun, segala aset penting tetap dikuasai keluarga Bata. Situasi pascaperang membuat Bata memikirkan melebarkan investasi ke seluruh dunia.

Asia dan Afrika menjadi incaran utama. Di Afrika, Bata kadang harus berunding dengan para pemimpin yang fasis, seperti Idi Amin di Uganda. Bata harus menutup pabriknya di Afrika Selatan atas desakan Pemerintah Kanada berkenaan dengan kebijakan antiapartheid.

Bata kini punya 40.000 pekerja di sejumlah pabrik di 25 negara. Kini Thomas George Bata, putra Thomas Bata, meneruskan pengelolaan.

Thomas Bata masih sibuk mengurusi pabrik di usia lanjutnya. Di kartu namanya tertulis ”Pemimpin Penjual Sepatu”. Dia bahkan berencana tur ke Eropa. Rencana yang tinggal rencana.

Sumber : Kompas, Sabtu, 6 September 2008

Very clever my darling!

Film footage taken by the French Resistance at the liberation of Paris from the Nazi's. Some historical audio from Chamberlain and the BBC and a Pink Floyd track as soundtrack

How do we know he's not Mel Torme?!?

Met a girl named Sue - she knows just what to do!

Shop at Macy's and love me tonight!!!

I got a gun rack in my Chevy!

Oh Baby...I promise I'll even be nice to your mama.

Trailer for the movie Top Secret with Val Kilmer

Best clips from the funniest movie of all time

A RABBIT was caught by park police in Hampshire distributing leaflets which allegedly glorify right-wing politics, last week.

The rabbit - whom we at the Chronicle have dubbed: 'Nazi Rabbit' - was originally spotted touching himself while stapling the Nazi propaganda to oak trees in the forest. He later denied all charges, claiming, "I was taking them down, not putting them up!" However woodland authority group, 'Forest Justice Team Go Squad' have since found a DNA match from traces of semen spattered unkindly (but plentifully) on some of the leaflets.

Nazi Rabbit's lawyers spoke for the first time today since their client went into custody, stating: "Our client is obviously upset by the accusations, but we remain confident that justice will be served."

In a dramatic turnaround, it has since been reported that certain vigilante groups in the area are taking justice into their own hands. A small collection of stoats recently marched into said rabbit's hutch throwing outdated insults and day-old faeces, sparking new fears of civil disorder in woodland political circles.

Nazi Rabbit goes on trial on Monday 8th September.

CLICK HERE to check out the Master Archive for any of the New World Order Family Circus cartoons you might have missed!

A Review by Colin J. Edwards

Published by Crown Publishing, Hard cover 544 pages $29.95.

How to lose the largest empire the world has ever seen, in three decades.

 I have the highest regard for Pat Buchanan. He is arguably the best president America never had. As a writer, he is a victim of modern technology. His prose in Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War, is closer to a blog than a literary work, and his dependence on Lexis-Nexis, is apparent on every page. That said, Buchanan is a journalist, and as a journalist he has written a short history of the world from 1914 to 1945.

If the thought of ploughing through a history book fills you with foreboding, let me assure you that Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War, is a page turner par excellence. In all the 544 pages, you will not find a wasted word or a superfluous phrase. But be warned: you must read the entire book. Buchanan is guilty of overstating his arguments for and against as the work progresses. Depending upon your particular sympathies, there are chapters that will cause you to defenestrate the book in a moment. But as you progress, your own particular point of view will be addressed.

Fundamentally, Buchanan postulates that America by design and Sir Winston Churchill as a consequence, destroyed the British Empire.

The planks of his platform are that Britain did not have to enter the war against Germany in 1914, but because they did, they escalated a German/French squabble into a world war. He essentially says the same thing about WWII.

His position is that as Kaiser Wilhelm was closely related to Queen Victoria, and wanted to be friends with Great Britain. He uses a similar argument with Fuhrer Hitler. Indeed there is a similar suggestion that Hitler respected Great Britain and went out of his way not to antagonize her.

This places Buchanan’s total thesis on very thin ice. It fails to appreciate that Great Britain is an island, and as such is paranoid about hostile forces occupying the continental coast 21 miles away across the English Channel. Once a hostile power can compete with the Royal Navy, and blockade Great Britain, they are finished. Both the Kaiser and the Fuhrer were intimidated by Britain’s maritime supremacy.

Of course Great Britain could have turned a blind eye to Prussian aggression, but it would have had to build up its defences and wait for a Teutonic Europe to crush arrogant little Britain. Surely it was smarter to fight them in Flanders in 1914 than the Wield of Kent in 1925?

Buchanan contends that dear old Adolf was misunderstood, and only wanted to regain the land taken from Germany at the Versailles Conference in 1919. Does Buchanan seriously believe that Britain (like America), should have stood by while Germany occupied (and destroyed), all of Europe, murdered all the Jews, and enslaved everyone east of Bratislava?

He further suggests that Great Britain’s declaration of war against Germany was tantamount to suicide. And it was. Churchill knew that Great Britain could only fight for three years, and then she would be bankrupt.   He also knew that someone had to have the guts to stand-up to the Nazi hordes. What he didn’t expect, was that America would exploit the situation, and shake Great Britain down, and financially screw her into the ground. Roosevelt’s plan was derailed when Hitler declared war on America. Had that not happened, America would have sat it out while Russia and Germany tore themselves to pieces on the Russian Steppes and our courageous Dough-Boys could have occupied what was left.

Buchanan seems to favour this Mafioso foreign policy. An analogy might be standing by as a hoodlum attacks and robs an old lady, and when they have run off, stealing her shoes.

There are occasions in life when the honorable thing to do, does not pass the Enron test of business efficiency.

It is suggested that the genesis of Britain’s problems was giving up a treaty with Japan at America’s insistence. Buchanan seems to think that an alliance with Britain had some kind of calming effect on the war-like tendencies of warrior nations. A Japan/Britain alliance would have gentled the Japanese condition to the extent that occupying Manchuria and China would no longer hold any attraction for them. A similar alliance with the nice old Kaiser, would have seen Germany writing loud music, and slapping their Lederhosen for the rest of the millennium.

Too much of Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War, relies on quotes from other writers to support a given thesis. These are opinions not source material.   However, Buchanan comes into his own in the final chapter where the mirror of old Europe generally and Great Britain in particular is reflected on the United States of today.

Whether you are American or British, this book is tough to read – but you must read it. For, in the words of George Santayana:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

End

Yesterday, I felt overwhelmed with good fortune. Today however, my luck needed to be balanced.

Usually when I get on the bus, be it morning or evening, the driver simply glances at my buspass and lets me walk on by to sit down. They rarely pay special attention to any validity the card may have, it's somewhat of a silent agreement between passenger and driver. Kind of a mutual trust, they trust we don't sneak on the bus, and we trust he won't drive us off a cliff because he's having a bad day.

But today the busdriver decided to scrutinize my pass. He noticed that the date I had written on it didn't correspond with the date that had been stamped on it. These dates are stamped on the first trip you take with a new card. I told the driver; "I know they don't correspond, they never do." I went on to tell him every busdriver who ever stamped my card has never stamped the current date. He then went through all my old passes and said "None of these stamps correspond", I told him again.. "I know. They never do!" He found it fair to confiscate my card, due to his colleagues screwups, which have apparently gone unnoticed for years, as he is the first one to point this out.

Based on this experience I have come to the conclusion that busdrivers are complete idiots, who can't do their jobs right. And the one person who did do his job right, decided to be a dick about it.

Thank you karma for balancing my luck, you prick.
Let me finish this off with another haiku.

Useless busdrivers
Tomes of pure incompetence
Do your god damn job

Awalnya game Wolf3D yang beredar di kantor ini berupa shareware yang saya dapatkan dari komputer salah seorang pegawai..... episode "Escape from Wolfenstein" yang terdiri dari 10 level dan 1 level rahasia ini memang sangat membius.... bahkan beberapa orang berkompetisi untuk mendapatkan poin tertinggi..... :-D   maklum sebelumnya game2 yang banyak dimainkan masih berupa arcade game.....

Beberapa waktu kemudian ketika saya main ke Gramedia Matraman, secara tidak sengaja saya mendapatkan full version dari game ini..... terdiri dari 6 episode : The Original Trilogy: "Escape from Wolfenstein", "Operation: Eisenfaust", "Die, Führer, Die" serta The Nocturnal Missions: "A Dark Secret", "Trail of the Madman", "Confrontation"...... dasar cerita game ini adalah percobaan meloloskan diri William 'B.J.' Blazkowicz yang merupakan karakter yang kita mainkan dari benteng penjara NAZI Jerman saat Perang Dunia II..... masing2 episode terdiri dari 10 level dan ada beberapa level rahasia..... saat2 yang mendebarkan adalah ketika menghadapi para Big Boss yang harus ditaklukkan pada setiap level terakhir.... berbagai taktik digunakan karena untuk melumpuhkan mereka dibutuhkan banyak amunisi serta tingkat kebugaran yang senantiasa harus 100% dari karakter Blazkowicz ini.....

http://www.week.com/news/local/27829794.html?video=YHI&t=a

http://www.week.com/news/local/27829794.html
One Peoria neighborhood is stunned after they awoke this weekend to hate leaflets thrown in dozens of their front yards.

We want to warn you the nature of the letter is very offensive.
I spoke with dozens of residents in the quiet neighborhood just off Glen Avenue in Peoria. Many were appalled when they learned of this racially charged leaflet and some were fearful.
A quiet neighborhood on Woodview Avenue was rocked this weekend as dozens awoke Sunday morning to a racially offensive message.
The leaflet was folded and inserted in a plastic bag weighed down by sand. Many of the residents were appalled and angry.
"We would just like to make sure everybody knows we have a nice racially mixed neighborhood, and we don't appreciate this garbage...keep it outta here. Keep your racist thoughts to yourselves and everybody will be happy. That's all I have to say...this is insulting," said resident Mike Martin.
Martin says he saw several of the bags in front yards and driveways while walking his dog Sunday morning. After speaking with a dozen residents in the neighborhood, most declined comment for fear of retaliation.
The note was purportedly from the National Socialist Workers has disturbed a community many say is pleasantly diverse.
The headline of this note reads "Monkeys Escape from the Zoo."
The letter that is covered in racial slurs, makes reference to fighting and violence that has gone on in Peoria, and blames it on African–Americans.
The Peoria Police Department is currently looking into the matter.

_____________

Sarah Palin met with pro-Israel lobbyists to express her support for U.S.-Israel ties.

Palin, the Alaska governor who was tapped last week by Sen. John McCain to be his vice-presidential running mate, met for 45 minutes Tuesday in the Minneapolis area with several leaders of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Also in attendance at the AIPAC meeting was U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), the McCain campaign’s most prominent Jewish backer.

McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb said Palin spoke about “the relationship between Israel and American national security, and the threats to Israel from Iran and others.”

“She was extremely well received,” Goldfarb said, noting that Palin was interrupted by applause twice.

AIPAC also praised the meeting.

” We had a good, productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Gov. Palin expressed her deep, personal and lifelong commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel,” the group's spokesman, Josh Block, said in a statement. “She expressed her support for the special friendship between the two democracies and said she would work to expand and deepen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Israel.”

Block also praised the Democratic ticket.

“Now that both the Democrats and the Republicans have determined their respective tickets, AIPAC is pleased that both parties have selected four pro-Israel candidates,” he said. “In so doing, they have reaffirmed the broad bipartisan support that exists in our country for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Source: http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/110192.html