Anomalous Data - scary

Summary of my reading of Mein Kampf...chapters 1-5

Teresa Lhotka — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:56:40 GMT

Volume I:

Chapter 1: Life story, lots of whining and bragging about how tough and smart his dad was, and how tough and smart he was.

Chapter 2: Says that as a Christian, he had a hard time accepting anti-Sematism, but then started to read the works of REAL CHRISTIANS ™ and came to understand that it was his Christian duty to oppose the Jews and their Marxist plot to destroy humanity. He also says he figured out that the secular Jews were only pretending to oppose the Zionist Jews and they were all actually in cahoots together.

Chapter 3: He says reason Germany was great was because there were mostly just Germans there, the reason Austria was having so much trouble was because of cultural pluralism and liberal acceptance of other people’s and cultures and languages. Germans should have been running things in the German language, and all other ethnic groups should have been educated into a German identity and required to conform to German norms.

Also, it was a bad idea to let everyone vote. Representative government is a big joke, because everyone gets to talk. In a representative government, great men are always burdened by what most of the people want. Real leaders can’t really express themselves fully with the great mass holding them back.

The Liberal Press fools people into thinking representative government is good, when it is really just a way to avoid personal responsibility.

The Pan-German movement failed because it tried to defeat representative democracy from within, when it should have been trying to destroy it at it’s foundations. Also, it tried to win over the middle class when it should have exploited the Proletariat.

The Christian Social Movement was successful because it properly exploited the lower class, and won over the Catholic Church.

Chapter IV:

He says that God has created nature such that it is essential for the survival of a group to have numerous offspring. Any attempt to limit the number of births is a crime against God and nature. God has shown us through his creation that the strong produce many offspring, and then they over-run the resources, and have to struggle with other groups for resources. Eternal struggle is God’s way of increasing the human race. Attempts to try to help the unfit survive, attempts to manage resources for the future, or to limit population within the bounds of resources will end in the extinction of “our” race. Also, it is an unpious attempt to thwart the will of God.

Refers to a person who interferes with God’s plan as a”dear little ape of an almighty father”. In other words, such a person thinks he’s an ape and he thinks he’s God all at once.

The German policy of “internal colonization”…that is, encouraging German people to move to other areas of Germany to provide labor for agriculture and to shore up ethnic German presence in areas dominated by other ethnic groups is short-sighted, because it implies that Germany can secure its survival through work and not through conquest. Other European countries make the mistake of creating far-flung empires around the world which are difficult to maintain, and expend too much effort for the gain they provide. If would be more efficient to expand German territory to neighboring countries. Expresses admiration for America's position as having enough land-mass to expolite for quite some time and grow strong before having to join the struggle. Notes that America had no need of colonies, because they could efficiently expand into their own land mass.

He says that a leader should embody the religious values of his people. If he can't do that, he should be a religious reformer.

Chapter V: Contempt for pacifism. Contempt for international commerce. Contempt for social doctrine stressing pacifism. Expresses happiness about the Boer War, because it is a “heroic struggle”. Describes relative peace as “morbid decedance”. Favores isolationism and expansionism.

Expresses joy at the outbreak of WWI because now Germany could (in his view)fight for its existence without limiting its consumption to the limits of its borders, or gaining the difference through trade. Celebrates the end to peace efforts as salvation for the German people.

“And if this struggle should bring us victory our people will again rank foremost among the great nations. Only then could the German Empire assert itself as the mighty champion of peace, without the necessity of restricting the daily bread of its children for the sake of maintaining the peace.”

Describes his transformation into a battle-hardened soldier, and expresses his contempt for “politicians” who were talking about peace, and “the press” who were, in his mind, dampening the citizens zeal for war.

“Shortly after our first series of victories a certain section of the Press already began to throw cold water, drip by drip, on the enthusiasm of the public. At first this was not obvious to many people. It was done under the mask of good intentions and a spirit of anxious care…Instead of catching these fellows by their long ears and dragging them to some ditch and looping a cord around their necks, so that the victorious enthusiasm of the nation should no longer offend the aesthetic sensibilities of these knights of the pen, a general Press campaign was now allowed to go on against what was called ‘unbecoming’ and ‘undignified’ forms of victorious celebration.”

Expresses contempt for “Marxist” (Jewish) intellectuals who had been preaching the liberal ideas to people. Rejoices that they had to retreat in fear at the uprising in national pride. Laments that they were not rooted out and killed while public sentiment would have allowed it.

He advances the idea that the only way to completely eliminate a world view (in this case, what he describes as the Jewish Marxism; pacifism, population control, resource management, commerce, diplomacy) is to kill every last person who adheres to the world-view.

But in order for it to work it has to: 1) have a spiritual and moral basis to get the support of the people (already established earlier that the moral basis should be the prevailing religion of the people, and the most fundimental doctrinal foundation should be stricktly adhered to). 2) advance a positive message of self-defense and talking about what is being preserved more than what is being destroyed. People need to know what they are fighting against, but they should be kept more aware of what they are fighting for. 3) the movement to eradicate the world-view must be absolutely consistent, and there must be NO ideological compromise with the enemy, no room for moral confusion, no grey area, and no hesitancy. There must never be a show of weakness, indecision, or error.

"The best healthcare in the world"

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:06:07 GMT

I got a call from my mom and sister today. My sister got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and she tripped over an ice auger that her husband had left in the kitchen (don't ask).

Anyway, she fell and broke her arm.

Her husband took her to the local ER, and they had to call a doctor in to look at her arm. He was cranky, and brusk, manipulating her arm around and crabbing at her when she reacted in pain. She asked him for pain medication, but he continued manipulating her arm, and told her that if she didn't "shape up" he was going to go home without doing anything for her.

Finally, after getting tired of hearing her express her pain, he gave her a shot, and did an x-ray. She has a horizontal fracture near the middle of the humerous, and a vertical fracture nearer the shoulder.

Later, she found out that the doctor had written in her records that she was "under the influence" and uncooperative (both untrue).

He made a crude sling out of gauze, and sent her home with no pain medication.

For two days, she and her husband tried to call to be seen for the break, and let them know that my sister was in a lot of pain. They were put off repeatedly.

Finally, they drove 2.5 hours to Bemidji, and were seen in the ER. A proper sling was put on, and pain medication issued.

Later, the local hospital called to do a follow-up on my sister, and asked if she still had pain or any concerns about her condition. She replied that she had gone to Bemidji to have the break looked at. The person on the other end responded "Oh! Your arm is broken?"

Apparently, the doctor had merely noted that she came in "under the influence", was uncooperative, and complaining of shoulder pain. Not mentioning the break at all.

This was the same crack medical team that failed to diagnose a cancerous tumor in my grandfather's colon...and instead concluded that he had a heart condition. (a different hospital actually did a hemoglobin test, which I would think would be a standard procedure in someone suffering from weakness and dizziness...and discovered that he had a hemoglobin count of 3).

My in-laws drive down to the cities to get care for my MIL now, because someone in the hospital near THEM let my MIL go through a whole course of chemo therepy without adding one of the perscribed active ingredients.

I'm collecting a string of anecdotes that adds up to "God save me from having to get medical treatment in a rural hospital".

Some places in America have the best health care in the world. Others have something that is marginally better than the 3rd world.

But don't let those "liberals" tell you there are "two Americas".

grump.

Oh, the punchine? My sister makes her living as a violin teacher. Let's just say, that it would probably be better for her family and for the taxpayers if her arm got proper treatment so it could heal properly, so that she could continue to earn a living.

What the world needs now is...more exorcism?

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:07:12 GMT

A while back, I wrote a story that was inspired by something a friend of mine told me about her childhood.

I never published the short story, because it was so completely personal to her, and I took a few liberties with details to fit it neatly into the short story form, and also to set the story in a time closer to the time-period I was most familiar with. This woman was about ten years older than me, the youngest of several children in a Catholic immigrant family.

The family was from Poland. My friend was the youngest because her mother had died while giving birth to her.

The father’s sister came from Poland to care for the children and help their father run his household.

This aunt was apparently a perfectly sufficient care-taker for all of the other children…but she believed that my friend was touched by evil, and possessed by demons, which had killed the mother.

So she tortured the little girl for the duration of her childhood.

I only learned of this story because of my blundering and often insensitive big mouth.

My friend had lost her first child in utero. She had given birth to her second child with great difficulty, and he was three weeks pre-mature and struggled through infancy. Her third child came along and this is where the story actually picks up.

My friend’s little toddler had fallen face-first into the wading pool while her back was turned. Only the quick action of the older child (who was all of four years old) saved the little girl. It was one of those momentary lapses that every parent has, every parent knows they have, and every parent know it is only by luck or provenance (whichever you prefer) that it turns out well.

There were a few other small bizarre mishaps, which I don’t even recall exactly what they were now, ten years later.

A few months later, my friend was stalled in a residential neighborhood. Her old van had stopped running, and she had no idea why. Her two children were sleeping in the back seat, and there was a house right there. So my friend decided to ask to use the phone. (this is before cell phones were as ubiquitous as they are now) The woman who answered the door said “Is that your van that’s burning?”

My friend turned, and sure enough, there was smoke and flames shooting out from under the hood of her van.

She managed to pull her children out, they were treated and released from the hospital, the fire was put out, and except for some minor concerns associated with smoke inhalation, the kids were OK.

I couldn’t believe her run of bad luck. We were sort of sitting around doing the “Now that everything’s OK, let’s try to make light of it to make ourselves feel better” thing, and I said “If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was some supernatural force after your kids. It’s like the last few months it’s been one freak accident after another.”

She looked as though I had slapped her hard across the face.

Now, in my defense, this was completely in keeping with the tone of “I can’t believe it, how bad can my luck get” quipping that SHE had set for the conversation, and I had never had an inkling that she was tortured by a religious nut for her whole childhood…

…but the whole story came pouring out then and there.

Some of the most horrifying things I’d ever heard. And the last thing was that apparently this evil aunt had told my friend that if my friend died first, the aunt would urinate on her grave…and if the aunt died first, she would haunt my friend and make her life miserable because of the pain and evil she had brought to the family.

So, you can see why it sort of bothers me to read this story.

The punch-line is, of course, that my friend’s husband is a Protestant Fundamentalist, and they send their kids to a Catholic school.

I don’t understand people sometimes, and I don’t know why someone who was tortured by religion, who’s misery was caused by superstition, who felt shame and terror over some bizarre belief that she was responsible for something she had no control over, would ever subject her children to the same philosophy and raise them with the same view…

…or why huge segments of the population would turn away from reason and make a mad-dash back to the Demon-haunted world.

Then again, some run the other way, and thank goodness for that.

LOLFundies I can haz Skinner Box?

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:33:28 GMT

I’ve discovered a remarkable text (where else?) on the internet.

It perfectly embodies the perfect Fundigelical upbringing!

I’m going to start with Chapter 1 and give you an overview. Periodically, I will overview another chapter. I’ll try to give you time to recover in between. The piece is written by one Jack Hyles, of blessed memory. (from the website: Jack Hyles was the pastor of First Baptist Church, Hammond Indiana from 1959-2001. He died Feburary 6, 2001 but his influence lives on.)

From Jack Hyles: How to Rear Children

We will begin with his premise that people need training in self-restraint. Mere knowledge is not good enough, after all, because knowledge itself does not bring wisdom. OK, I’m pretty much there with him. Then again, there’s this:

To be sure, the intellect is a part of the mind. There is, however, another part of the mind that is far too often overlooked - the will. For the intellect to be trained and the will to be untrained is dangerous. Susanna Wesley said she disciplined each of her children until his will was broken. The wise parent starts when the child is and infant in the training of the will.

Uh-oh.

The training of the will means the child is taught to do right by constant practice so that the mind rises to action by reflex just like the body. When the will has been brought into subjection to do that which is right the child learns to make his decisions by mental reflex. This is accomplished by applying a certain stimulus to the child and having him practice the proper response. For example, when I was a boy my mother used to have me practice standing when a lady would walk into the room. I would be seated; Mother would go outside and reenter. As she entered I would stand. She would go out again; I would stand again. Over and over this was repeated until it became almost a reflex for me to stand when a lady entered a room. This was continued day by day until I never had to decide to stand when a lady entered the room I stood by mental reflex. Hour after hour Mother would practice with me on giving a lady my seat when there were no others seats available.

No really, Oh-oh.

But at least this intensive training will lead a kid to develop useful habits that will always result in constructive and helpful behavior…right?

Recently, on a given Sunday I baptized over 100 people. When I baptize a convert I raise my right hand in the air and say the following words: “In obedience to the command of our Lord and Master, and upon a public profession of your faith in Him, I baptize you, my brother (sister), in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” I said those words over 100 times. After the service I went home. The phone rang. I picked up the receiver with my right hand, but every time I had raised my right hand that morning I had said, “In obedience to the command, etc.” When I used my right hand to raise the phone to my ear I said, “In obedience to the command of our Lord and Master, and upon a public profession of your faith in Him, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, and the Son. . .” Then I realized what I was doing. By reflex after practice I said those words when I raised my right hand.

So, here we see that a proper Fundagelical upbringing will result in crazy and inappropriate phone ettiquitte.

But that’s not all:

Not long ago I was going to go to the store. It is only four blocks from my house. I got in the car but was thinking about church work, etc., so naturally I found myself driving to my parking place at the First Baptist Church. I had driven three or four miles along the usual route that I take to the church and did not realize where I was going until I was sitting in front of the church. I have taken that route so much that when the subconscious took over I ended up at the church, not at the store.

Unsafe driving habits, time-wasting mistakes, and disorientation.

I take natural vitamins and minerals. I keep several jars of vitamins in a drawer in my office. From the first bottle of vitamins I take four tablets a day. From the second bottle, which contains Vitamin E, I take two tablets a day. One day I opened the drawer and did not realize that the Vitamin E was in the wrong place. It was the first in line. By force of habit, I took four vitamin E tablets (which, by the way, is not a good idea). The subconscious had taken over. I had taken four tablets of the first bottle for so long that I didn’t notice which bottle was in the first position.

WARNING! A Fundigelical upbringing can be an important factor in a number of preventable health risks!

I was going to cut this up more, but I just can’t bear to. It’s too perfect. Apparently, God is B.F. Skinner, and the path to heaven is conditioned response:

The above illustrations show how the will can be trained to react by reflex. This is good only if we teach our children the proper good reaction to certain stimuli until the decisions of life are made by mental reflex and good is done subconsciously. This means the child will do right by habit, for basically, character is learning the proper habits.

And you silly secularists and “liberal theologians” thought that character was about consciously making carefully considered choices, thinking about outcomes, weighing pros-and-cons, and doing what you believe will be best for yourself and others in the long run, even if it is hard. But no. Character is about making snap decisions and undertaking thoughtless actions that your parents have drilled into your head while you were wishing you could go out and play baseball with the normal kids.

It is learning to do right without voluntary action. It is the subconscious doing of right. This can be done only by practice and more practice and more practice. The wise parent will make a list of the things he wants his child to do under certain conditions and influences. He will then require the child to practice the proper response to each condition and stimulus. When my children were little I made a list of all the things I wanted them to learn to do by mental reflex. Some of these things were: answering the phone properly, shaking hands properly, walking, sitting, using correct posture, paying bills, having respect for elders, and many others.

Good God Almighty

Each evening we would spend some time practicing each of these things until they became natural. This is the way a child learns to walk, to eat, etc. This is the way an athlete learns to be successful. When I was a child my mother would often ask me this question, “Son, would you like a cigarette?” I would say, “No!” Over and over again she would ask the same question and I would give the same answer. She was trying to get me to associate the word “No” with cigarettes. She did the same thing about liquor and other temptations. She would hold up cigarette ads in front of me and say, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Then she would ask me to do the same thing. I would look at the cigarette ad and say, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” until the two words “cigarette” and “no” became associated indelibly in my subconscious mind.

No really, Good God Almighty.

Every great nation, whether her philosophies were right or wrong, rose to greatness using this method of teaching. Such discipline made America a great nation. She is now crumbling because of the lack of it. All strong nations were made strong by such training of the will. Such programs had been added to their schools. Every nation that has crumbled did so when such discipline was deserted.

Is it just me, or does this guy seem like, instead of viewing the Stanford Experiements as a dire object lesson, would view them as an excellent tool for teaching dinner-table etiquette?

The wise parent, the wise pastor, the wise coach, etc. will produce the proper decisions by constant repetition until the child has learned to do right without voluntary action. Hence, the will has been cultivated to make decisions by principle. The making of decisions by the child, or the adult for that matter, will have less chance of being wrong when the doing of right has become habit!

Are you F#$%$%^$# Kidding me?

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:47:31 GMT

I can't wait to hear how the apologists for the worship of the almighty dollar (The Church of Wall Mart) make this OK.

Seriously. Stealing the compensation a woman got for having her brain ruined? They can do that?

Note to self: Don't sign any F#$%$^%$^ thing without having a lawyer look over it first, and also, just for good measure, have it doused in holy water, buried in consecrated ground under a full moon, left there for a month, and then have a voodoo priestess clear it of evil spirits.

(And yes, I know a laywer and a voodoo priestess. Although for efficiency's sake, I think I should find a lawyer who IS a voodoo priestess. Anyone know where I can find some decent holy water at a discount?)

Then, leave the contract lying somewhere uninhabited, take off, and nuke the site from orbit. (it's the only way to be sure).

[Update: They couldn't just be happy with Dead Peasant Policies? Evil I say. Wall Mart is evil]

Quiz

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:51:29 GMT

Many entities benefit greatly from Global Climate Change Denialism.

Can you tell the difference between two of them?

ExxonMobile and brain-eating ameobas.

(Hint: Though they both strive to affect your brain, one funds denialist propaganda, and one is an opportunistic parasite).

[Hat Tip: Pharyngula]

Inappropriate behavior?

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:32:22 GMT

It's been pointed out numerous times that people do not always make rational decisions. That feelings and emotions have a much more substantial hold on our decision making than reason does. Even people carefully trained in reason and logic can be motivated to do unreasonable things.

Take this case, for example.

A surgeon, presumably someone who has at least brushed up against something resembling reason, kills his wife and spends the rest of his life in prison.

As he nears the end of his life, he finds himself more and more willing to confront what he did. He HAD maintained his innocence all this time, but now, he makes statements that border on confession:

“You look back, you know, it’s you can’t believe how sometimes things happen that you did that it was completely unnecessary,” Dr. Friedgood said in a recent interview from prison. “If you don’t want to be with a woman anymore, you divorce. You know, you don’t have to resort to murder. So 32 years later, I begin to realize how stupid you can do things.”

There's not enough information in the article about why he chose murder over divorce. Probably a little bit of lots of different reasons. He would have gotten more money out of getting away with murder. He wouldn't have to suffer the public shame of divorce either. And certainly, he would rather be the sympathetic character of a bereaved husband; than subject to the derision of society as a man who divorced his invalid wife.

But how does a man who is, at the very least, of average intelligence, who has superior mental training and education, come to the decision that it is better to kill your wife than divorce her? And what sustains someone for decades and decades in prison, still able to claim innocence until the very end, where even so, the best he can muster is an admission that killing his wife was "unecessary" and "stupid".

The article seems to think he should be paroled to save taxpayers money for his medical expenses, and because he's old. I'm thinking that he needs to stay in there as long as he merely sees murder as an "inapporopriate" alternative to divorce.

Just trying to make the world a better place.

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:37:40 GMT

Reader Ben (and blogger at Eclecticsanonymous) recommended this video. He wasn't wrong. It comes in five parts on Your Tube. Here they are:

AWESOME!

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:04:41 GMT

For those who wondered why we are here, in the decade of the double aughts, and you don't have your personal flying machine yet...WAIT NO LONGER.

Tony - This one's for YOU baby!

Anti-abortion Victory?

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 23:40:16 GMT

Pro-life forces are trumpeting their victory. The Supreme Court has ruled, sustaining a ban on a procedure that is reportedly performed 10 times per day in the US (estimated).

I was recently involved in an internet discussion on a blog, and was surprised that the "partial-birth abortions" that I had heard so much about were the pro-lifer's name for the D & X procedure.

People go on and on about the "Partial Birth Abortions", but their descriptions of it were so outlandish that I thought they were making it up. Turns out, they kind of were...as the descriptions of PBA that I was told (admittedly by rank-and-file pro-lifers) bear only a passing resemblance to the reality of D&X.

Apparently, the procedure is primarily used to remove babies from the mother's womb after fetal death in-utero, to remove fetus' from the womb who are so deformed that they cannot live outside the mother's womb, or when a continued pregnancy would endanger the mother's life, or vital bodily functions.

I've just really started looking into this, but it does not appear that this decision will actually prevent any abortions, as there is another procedure that is still legal which can be used if a late-term abortion is necessary for the woman's health, so it is unlikely that this ruling by itself will prevent any abortions.

The main reason why I question if this is a victory for anybody is just what I've learned from reading up on this subject over the last day or so.

From what I can tell, the situations under which women find themselves considering a late-term abortion are situations that leave a word like "choice" sounding hollow and meaningless. The "choice" to abort the baby you wanted to save or prolong your own life, the "choice" to forgo a treatment that the doctors can't give you if you are pregnant, the "Choice" to try to live as long as you can with your pregnancy, but very likely not survive? Some "choice".

And what about "life"? The situations described seem to offer very little in the way of "life" for either the mother or the fetus.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to inject themselves or their politics into the kinds of decisions these women and their families have to face, or why anyone would call gaining public involvement into a terrible and private decision like this a "victory".

Three bad things that go badly together.

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:14:45 GMT

I hate spam.

I hate Hitler.

I'm not a fan of pronography, particularly artless, badly written pornography.

So when I repeatedly get spam messages that appear to spam Hitler porn...I block the sender.

What possible purpose could someone have for sending out such stuff?

Ugh.

Precautions.

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:38:15 GMT

Just a reminder, women, bring your drink with you when you leave the table.

Gross.

It seems like such a simple thing, but it is easy to forget that information like this, which was drummed into us older women can drop off the radar and not be passed on to the next generation.

I'm just glad that other women were observant and looking out for their fellow human kind.

You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Teresa Lhotka — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:02:54 GMT

Anne of Boker Tov, Boulder! fame has dubbed this guy as a "liberal".

I skimmed it once, and then read it through again, and while he sounds sort of academic in tone, his structure is haphazard and muddled. While he mouths some liberal-sounding platitudes, (Not all Germans should be demonized by Nazi behavior) his ultimate message appears to be a luke-warm justification for the right of people to deny the Holocaust.

While he seems to claim that people should not be demonized by race, he does blame most of the modern world's problems of Jews...although not directly. No, he's careful to not come right out and say it. Yet he tried to tie acceptance of Holocaust denial to the possibility of solving the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. As though somehow, if we give legitimacy to the Holocaust deniers, it will free us from our preconceived notions about the root of the problems in the Middle East . (In other words, he’s implying it’s all the Jews fault).

He also has some sort of weird notion that the primacy of the Holocaust in our minds as an example of evil run amok somehow minimizes the sufferings of other people who have suffered similar fates throughout history. Claiming that there is more evidence and more legitimacy to these events, and that somehow, Jews have wrongfully diminished these events by making the Holocaust so important. How twisted is that?

Like so many disingenuous right-wing revisionists, whether you are talking about the supposed "harms" of fluoridated water, the pleas for "honest debate" from the Intelligent Design crowd, or the assertion that the U.S. was founded as a "Christian Country"; he claims that all he wants is "open debate" of the controversy.

One give-away to his intellectual dishonesty is where he asks what's the harm in demanding evidence of gas chambers. Implying that there is no evidence, without having the balls to actually claim it. How much evidence do you need? They found the vents for the gas in the ruins of Auschwitz (Thanks, Ben at EclecticsAnonymous for the link). I have personally stood inside the "shower rooms" at Dachau , and saw it with my own eyes. He says there are no photographs of the rooms. I have some. They are in my photo album. Come on, only people who desperately need to deny the lessons of the Holocaust will believe this sort of thing.

He plays disingenuous word games with the numbers of people dead from the Holocaust, by claiming that they were not all executed, but died by other means...what, like starvation, disease, and neglect of basic human needs, and no opportunity to attempt to flee to areas where they could better meet their needs? Really. As soon as you wall people up and take control of their surroundings, and you control their access to everything they need to live, you become responsible for their lives, you schmuck. It doesn’t matter if you shoot them, burn them, starve them, or just let them get sick and die while the doctors watch. You killed them.

And like so many other topics, the debate has happened. It's over. There is a consensus, and your side lost, you wing-nut. No matter how many of your lame-ass arguments we refute, you'll just keep recycling them with new terminology. No matter how much evidence we bring to the table, you'll just make your bizarre conspiracy theories more wild and paranoid.

All these attempts to change the accepted facts surrounding the Holocaust, to make it "mean" this thing or that thing does nothing to shed any light on our current situation. Too many people want to take a terrible, monstrous, injustice and warp it into something that supports their particular ideological view of the world.

But what I get out of it is this: If you can view a group of people as not being human; when you can see all members of a group being of a uniformly inferior quality; when you can blame them for (or somehow tie them to) everything that goes wrong in the world; when you can justify the necessity of their complete destruction (even if you don’t come out and say it in so many words); when you can split hairs about how many were killed due to this cause, and how many were killed due to that cause as if it absolves you of your responsibility; and when you can minimize and denigrate their suffering – there WILL be tragedy.

All the psudo-academic faux-logic and in the world can't worm it's way around that.

This guy is no more liberal than the Discovery Institute or any of the other wing-nut revisionists who share his tactics.

[Update: A commenter at Boker Tov, Boulder said this:

"In my experience, right wing lug-nuts deny the Holocaust ever happened, left wing nutzos are glad it happened. They can both go to hell. It's the middle of the roaders who scare me. One cannot be middle of the road about genocide..."

I asked her who was left if the left-right and center were her enemies, and she said it was decent people who stand up to bigots.

But I want to know...what on God's green earth possesses someone to believe that liberals are glad the Holocaust happened? Seriously, can anyone think of a single solitary liberal who is glad the Holocaust happened? Where do people get these bizzare ideas?]

"Christian Identity"

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 04:55:17 GMT

Yesterday I posted an entry where I mentioned the White Supremacist who lamented that the White Nationalist movement couldn’t get “normal leaders”. Here’s that quote, because it’s just so emblematic of the “reasoning” of this group of people I have to quote it again:

"Why can't we have so much as one single leader who is just simply NORMAL ? Why must there always be these weird little kibbles and bits, these little oddities, these little bits of quirky behavior lurking in the background of everything we do?" the E-mail from "Peter Dromgoole" to Bill White's website asks plaintively. "Why do we even bother? Is this really, truly, THE BEST WE CAN DO?"

My implied answer is that in order to be a member of their movement, you have to be completely divorced from reality. In order to become a LEADER in that community, you have to put yourself forward enough to stand out and attract followers in a community of fanatically individualistic people with a paranoia against any kind of authority. Which means that you have to have, in addition to a deluded view of the world, a megalomaniacal streak a mile wide. The next thing you need is tons of charisma. How is it that anyone could hope for a “normal” leader who is delusional and megalomaniacal?

In fact, what kind of person is this a psychological profile for? To recap: Delusional and paranoid view of the world. Delusions of grandeur and persecution. Tons of charisma.

It is practically a definition that you cannot have a “normal” leader rise to the top of that population. They HAVE to be sociopathic. So yes, Mr. Dromgoole, this is the best you can do. Your community self-selects for sociopaths, and only the “best” ones get to the top. And Pedophiles are the poster children for that particular disorder. That and serial killers.

In order to promote your world view, you have to re-write history (these are just a few examples from the “mainstream” of what I’ve seen while looking into it):

· Christian Identity white Supremacists like the KKK believe that they are the “true” lost tribes of Israel , and that modern day Jews are actually descendants of the devil.

· They also believe that the U.S. was founded as a “Christian” nation. In order to support this, they use falsified (“unsubstantiated”, or strategically ellipsed, or out-of-context) quotes from various founding fathers. One famous source of these types of quotes is David Barton. ( He claims that when he spoke to Christian Identity groups in the ‘90’s, he didn’t know that they were racist and anti-semitic.)

· Holocaust denial, ranging in scope from denying that it happened at all, to claims that it was exaggerated, to claims that Jews themselves were actually responsible for the atrocities (engaging in “anti-German” behavior, making it necessary to exterminate them in “defense” of the German people).

· Claim that the right to privacy, the right to habeas corpus, and separation of Church and State were never intended as effects of the constitution because they were never specifically mentioned as being guaranteed. These claims also have variations where they were never meant to apply to non-whites or non-Christians.

· Claim that African slaves brought in bondage to America were better off in America as slaves than they were free in Africa .

You have to re-write religion. While White Supremacists can belong to a variety of religions, they have in common the tendency to pervert or distort those religions almost beyond recognition. Those that subscribe to the Christian Identity movement believe:

White people (Aryans) are the “real” descendants of Adam and Eve.
Modern Jews are the descendants of Eve and “the serpent” (i.e. Satan).
Adam and Eve were, the first white people. All non-Whites are the offspring of Cain (son of the serpent, with Eve) and the people mentioned in the Bible, to whom Cain fled after God put his mark on Cain and banished him. Christian Identity followers refer to non-whites as “mud people”.
The Armageddon spoken of in Revelations will be a race war where “real Christians” will triumph over “false Christians” and non-whites.
Christian Identity subscribes to the idea of a theonomy, or a ruling body based on Biblical Law. Their idea of Biblical law is Mosaic law, or Old Testament Law. This is why they are so rabid to push the Ten Commandments into the courtrooms. But it would not stop there. The whole of Old Testament law would be followed, including the death penalty for homosexuality and adultery.
One of the most vocal CI voice boxes, R.J.Rushdoony asserts that slavery is part of the natural Biblical order.
That the message of Jesus was one of conquest and vengeance. That Jesus wants those who bear false witness and follow false doctrines to be executed.
Believe that Jesus was not a Jew, but was Aryan.

You have to re-write science:

Misappropriating concepts of Evolutionary Biology as indicating the “superiority” of races or ethnicities where there is no information supporting such ideas, and such ideas are in direct conflict with the scientific consensus.
Or (in the case of Christian Identity) just flat-out denying science even has any validity and subscribe to the idea that God made White people superior to begin with.
Misappropriating and reinterpreting social science data to reflect poorly on other races, blatantly ellipsing out or inappropriately dismissing data that disproves their desired conclusions.
Attacking science and medical consensus as a government plot to bring down the “white” race. Denouncing the use of birth control as “ethnic cleansing” against whites. Denying the link between inoculations and the elimination and control of disease epidemics. Denying that sex education is more effective at reducing teen pregnancy than abstinence-only.
Fluoridation is a government plot to poison us all and give us cancer, and has no bearing whatsoever on tooth enamel.

You have to believe that the whole of our modern society is the result of a liberal Jewish communist plot to destroy you and people like you.

Feminism is supposedly a plot against White supremacy because it causes women to identify with their gender rather than their race, distracts them from their primary purpose of having white babies, and because it removes the necessary social controls for women’s behavior, opening the door for a loss of “sexual purity”.
Immigration is supposedly a plot to swamp White Americans in a sea of brown faces so that the White Race can be destroyed.
Tolerance and multiculturalism is supposedly part of the plot as well. If White people accept others, it is just opening the door for destruction, because other races are out to demean and destroy us. Or worse, perpetrate “mongerlization” with us.
The “homosexual agenda” is supposedly a plot to destroy the White Race, because we need white women to marry white men to have more white babies.
Our federal government is supposedly in the clutches of the black police and the Jewish bankers. Eventually, that government will turn on white people and try to eradicate them.

They have to home-school their children just to keep them in a bubble tight enough for the world-view to hold together.

With this level of reality denial, paranoia, and sense of complete divorce from the thoughts of the mainstream of humanity, it is incredible to me that anyone could possibly be surprised that the “leadership” of these groups are destructive, mentally ill, and criminal people. And yet, as more and more and more of them are arrested, exposed, and found out, the membership continue to either be surprised, or to reject the charges as being part of the “conspiracy”.

If you want to do your own research on this area, here are some places to start: Chalcedon (Christian Reconstructionism); Christian Identity.

I compiled a list of select quotes from people connected to this movement here. Some of them are from Randall Terry, who you might recognize as the head of Operation Rescue, and also as the spokesman for the family of Terry Schaivo. While Randall Terry dos not have any direct affiliation with the Christian Identity movement, he exposes many of their ideas, and pushes a large portion of their agenda.

This is why these people bother me. If they were just a fringe group who caused the occasional abortion clinic bombing or assassination of an abortion doctror, or the tragic events of Waco or Ruby Ridge, that would be one thing, but many of their issues and arguments have achieved mainstream promotion. Worse, people arguing against these ideologies have been demonised and mischaracterised by voices from the "mainstream" right.

It Starts

Teresa Lhotka — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 22:25:14 GMT

I KNEW it would only be a matter of time before they started burning books. The anti-immigrant rhetoric, the "Liberals hate America and Western Culture" rhetoric, the T.V. Presenters saying "We need more white babies" as if that sort of crap is OK and mainstream, The promotion of the assumption that "we" need to defend ourselves violently against "bad ideas"...all the repugnant "Christian Identity" crap that normal everyday people have picked up and parroted as though it made any sort of sense at all...

...it all creats an environment that emboldens these guys and leads directly to this. Bastards.

Neo-Nazi group's plan to burn Jewish books in the Twin Cities draws protests

BY EMILY GURNON

Pioneer Press

A group of religious leaders and government officials are denouncing plans by a neo-Nazi group to burn copies of Jewish books in the Minneapolis area.

The book-burning will take place Saturday at an undisclosed place and time, according to website of the Minneapolis-based National Socialist Movement.

Alan Silver, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said the choice of Saturday for the book burning was obviously no accident, since it is the anniversary of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. The day is now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Attorney General Lori Swanson said only a concerted effort by those who oppose hatred and prejudice would quell the efforts of neo-Nazi and similar groups. She wanted to participate in that, she said.

"I think it's important for public officials to stand up and say, in our Minnesota, we don't tolerate hatred and bigotry," she said.

The neo-Nazi group's site states participants in the "Great Minnesota Book Burning" will "torch degenerate books such as the Talmud, and other anti-American and/or anti-White books."

It's almost like they're cursed.

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:19:40 GMT

From the Southern Poverty Law Center, an article about how Kevin Strom, founder of National Vanguard (a white supremacist organization) has been arrested on charges of child pornography.

One quote I liked from the article goes like this:

"If Kevin's genuinely guilty," one extremist wrote on the racist Stormfront web forum shortly after the arrest, "then the credibility of his work -- indeed the credibility of all intelligent White nationalist work -- will be severely crippled, and we shall be reduced to apologetics for years to come."

I'm amazed that anyone can say something like that with a straight face. Kevin's "work" never had any credibility. There is no such thing as "intelligent White nationalist work". It's always been severely crippled, and I don't think it's RISEN to the level of apologetics yet, and it never will. These people are so demented, they actually think they have credibility to lose.

Also, April Gaede, mother of the twin girls that form the band "Prussian Blue" (I've mentioned them before) gets in on the act with a (surprise, surprise) conspiracy theory. These white supremacists DO like their conspiracy theories.

One other woman spoke up, too. April Gaede, a long-time National Alliance activist who quit that group to help Strom form National Vanguard, told the VNN web forum that Strom had called her in March 2006, four months before he took his mysterious leave of absence. Strom "told me that [Elisha] had found some porn on his computer and that it was of adult females but that she freaked out and called him a pervert," Gaede wrote. "Then he told me that she had threatened to 'get even' with him and that he was afraid that she would plant something on his computer." (emphasis mine)

Even more priceless, is a heartfelt plea from one of the membership for a nice, normal hate-filled fascist paranoid conspiracy-minded racist leader for their demented little group. Is that too much to ask?

Yes, indeed, the silly pedophile "quirk" is such an inexplicable inconvenience.

Quotes to curl your hair.

Teresa Lhotka — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 05:50:39 GMT

(quotes below from: http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/profile )

"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society." --D. James Kennedy, leader of Coral Ridge Ministries.

"The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit to the eternal sanctions of God ... must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel ." --Gary North

“The first strategy and in many ways the most important strategy for evangelicals is secrecy. Sun Tzu says that’s what you have to do to be effective at war and that’s essentially what we’re involved in, we’re involved in a war. It’s not a war fought with bullets. It’s a war fought with ballots.” --Ralph Reed

"In winning a nation to the Gospel, the sword as well as the pen must be used." --Gary North

"I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe." --Dominionist Pledge of Allegiance, recited at 2004 conference Reclaiming America for Christ.

Here’s a quote I have had for a while, and don't recall where I got it from:

"Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ -- to have dominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.
     But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice.
     It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.
     It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.
     It is dominion we are after.
     World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less...
     Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land -- of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ ."

--George Grant, former executive director of Coral Ridge Ministries

"Let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good.... If a Christian voted for Clinton , he sinned against God. It's that simple.... Our goal is a Christian Nation... we have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want Pluralism. We want theocracy. Theocracy means God rules. I've got a hot flash. God rules."

-- Randall Terry, Head of Operation Rescue, from The News Sentinel, Fort Wayne , Indiana , Aug 15, 1993

(All Randall Terry quotes from this site: http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2002/03/randall-terry-quotes.php)

"When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we will execute you. I mean every word of it. I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed... If we're going to have true reformation in America , it is because men once again, if I may use a worn out expression, have righteous testoserone flowing through their veins. They are not afraid of contempt for their contemporaries. They are not even here to get along. They are here to take over... Somebody like Susan Smith should be dead. She should be dead now. Some people will go, "Well how do you know God doesn't have a wonderful plan for her life?" He does, it's listed in the Bible. His plan for her is that she should be dead."

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, at the Aug 8, 1995 U.S. Taxpayers Alliance Banquet in Washington DC , talking about doctors who perform abortions and volunteer escorts

"Intolerance is a beautiful thing...There are people that are politically correct that want to say the cardinal sin of the hour is intolerance and I think that is a bunch of junk."

--Randall Terry, Operation Rescue

"What it is coming down to is who runs the country. It's us against them. It's the good guys versus the bad guys. It's the God-fearing people against the pagans, and some of the pagans are going to church."

-- Randall Terry

"Our goal must be simple. We must have a Christian nation built on God's law, on the ten Commandments. No apologies."

-- Randall Terry

"We want our nation and all its institutions to be self-consciously built on the laws and principles of God's Word...We are at war -- a cultural civil war, a war of allegiances. If righteousness is going to prevail, if paganism is going to be turned back, then we must move to restore this nation to being a Christian Nation."

--Randall A. Terry

"While it is true that the United States of America was founded on the sacred principle of religious freedom for all, that liberty was never intended to exalt other religions to the level that Christianity holds in our country's heritage...Our founders expected that Christianity -- and no other religion -- would receive support from the government as long as that support did not violate peoples' consciences and their right to worship. They would have found utterly incredible the idea that all religions, including paganism, be treated with equal deference."

--The Family Research Council

Rushdoony quotes are from this source: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_RRushdoony.htm

God in His law requires the death penalty for homosexuals.

-- R.J. Rushdoony

Christianity is completely and radically anti-democratic; it is committed to spiritual aristrocracy.

-- R.J. Rushdoony,

Biblical law permits voluntary slavery because it recognizes that some people are not able to maintain a position of independence . . . The law is humane and also unsentimental. It recognizes that some people are by nature slaves and will always be so. (pp. 286, 251) [R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law]

All who are content with a humanistic law system and do not strive to replace it with Biblical law are guilty of idolatry. They have forsaken the covenant of their God, and they are asking us to serve other gods. They are thus idolaters, and are, in our generation, when our world is idolatrous and our states also, to be objects of missionary activity. They must be called out of their idolatry into the service of the living God.

--R.J. Rushdoony

"The Christian community has a golden opportunity to train an army of dedicated teachers who can invade the public school classrooms and use them to influence the nation for Christ."

--D. James Kennedy (Coral Ridge Ministries)

-- D. James Kennedy (Coral Ridge Ministries)

New Doublespeak Lexicon

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:23:28 GMT

Got this from Ben at EclecticsAnonymous.

Seems a teacher (Deb Mayer) was following school curriculum (using Time For Kids to cover current events), and answered a child’s question regarding a peace protest covered in the curriculum.

The teacher insists that she only discussed the right to dissent, the right to protest, and techniques for peaceful resolution of conflict.

Another kid complained to their parent, and the hysterical parent bullied the school into censoring the teacher, saying that she was no longer allowed to say the word “peace”. In the end, the teacher lost her job when she said the word peace again and the same child complained again.

This more complete article details how the school’s annual “Peace Month” celebration was cancelled shortly before it was to start. Peace Month involved a series of activities designed to teach children how to peacefully resolve conflicts. The story also mentions that complaints were filed that accuse the teacher of sexual harassment (quote follows):

Even though it was typed on an official sexual harassment document, the actual complaint against Mayer accused her of “harassing” children because she would put up her hand to silence a child if the child had interrupted a conversation between herself and another student.

“The parent had signed it, but nobody on the school administration has signed it,” she said. “When we tried to find out who did it, nobody admitted to it.”

The National School Board Association has issued a brief stating that there is no such thing as Academic Freedom or Freedom of Speech for K-12 teachers.

In her response to the brief, the teacher insists that she was teaching the curriculum (AKA doing her job).

Unless something is missing in the coverage of this story, the story seems outrageous to me. Time for Kids is a common classroom tool, and part of the approved Current Events Curriculum for many schools across the country. The teacher was leading a classroom discussion based off of commonly accepted materials, presumably required and approved by the School Board.

The right of Americans to protest and dissent is a FACT of American life, and American freedom…not the personal opinion of the teacher.

Unless the teacher was telling students that they were wrong if they agreed with the war, or if she was requiring them to protest as part of the class, or if she was telling them they should object to the war, she is well within bounds.

The irony? This teacher has a son serving in Afghanistan …fighting for our freedom.

Tools.

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:08:03 GMT

Let's get this straight people.

These guys need more tools to hunt and capture the terrorists. Our civil rights get in the way of these fine, men doing their job, and we need to give up some of our rights to help them protect our freedom.

We can trust them to handel the power responsibly. Really.

Follow the link to Pharyngula, where you can watch a video of American police officers bravely firing rubber bullets at a peaceful, unarmed female protester, hitting her in the leg, and shooting through her tagboard sign to hit her in the face. In all, they hit her with four rubber bullets, as well as firing into the crowd and causing panic.

Then, you can keep watching the video and see them laughing and joking about it and congratulating each other.

Like I said. Tools.

UPDATE: Here is an article that goes more in-depth: http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=2296783&page=1

It is brought to you by my friend, Karen: http://alenaae.blogspot.com/2006/08/abuse-of-power.html

Wow. Just...wow.

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 22:13:15 GMT

Here's a link to a story defending the right of an employer to dictate an employee's sexual behavior in her own home.

As much as I am comitted to religious freedom, I am beginning to see the point that we would be better off without these people and their poisonous ideas. I realize that this is a little-known regressivist e-rag...but the fact remains that a woman was ordered by her employer to get married to her live in boyfriend, leave him, or quite her job.

AND, IT WENT TO COURT.

AND there are people who feel the court should have upheld the employer and not the wronged employee.

These people are enemies of the right of conscience, the right to free thought, the right to personal freedom of every kind. They are enemies to your right to live on your own terms as a human being.

They have the right to believe whatever they want to believe, but no matter what they believe, that right ends when their beliefs infringe on the rights of others to live as they choose, according to their conscience.

UPDATE: There are seven states with anti-cohabitation laws: Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia. So, if you want to live together with someone and you aren't married to them, don't do it in any of these states.

On a lighter note...

Teresa Lhotka — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 04:11:49 GMT

What is wrong with you people? I’m talking to YOU, you people who got to my blog through the following searches:

“sims 2 how to make whoopee?”

And

“Alcoholic chaos confusion”

Also: the two of you people who came to my blog searching for “Wilfred Brimley”? You frighten me.

Almost as much as the people who get here via the search term “wookie scrota”

Really...who goes to log on to the internet, and goes to the trouble to bring up Google, and types in "Wilfred Brimley"?

What, in the name of all that it holy or even just plain innocent, is wrong with you people? (I ask again, because it bears repeating).

I’d like to fickin’ know.

BTW…the copious quantities of Margaritas previously mentioned?

Underestimated.

That is all. Goodnight.

"Yippeee-kiiii-yeay"

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 18:06:18 GMT

Ever idly wondered what the world will look like when well-armed self-righteous idiots really get to run the show the way they want to, and have NO ONE with enough power to stop them or hold them the least bit accountable?

It’s a pertinent question, with the Patriot Act’s defenders insisting that government and law enforcement need “greater latitude” and “more power” to prosecute the “War on Terror”, it seems fair to see how well the various law enforcement agencies are coping with their current level of power and accountability in “The War on Drugs”.

Here’s a website with a small preview. It includes a map showing incident locations and type, as well as a text run-down of incidences of excessive and irresponsible use of paramilitary police units. (Yeah, I know…it’s the CATO institute. Scary, huh? But the entries are attributed, and hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.)

Most of these incidences seem to involve “wrong door” occurrences, where police entered the wrong apartment or house or whatever. Many others involve warrants obtained on the word of unreliable informants with no corroborating evidence. An appalling number of the cases that actually yielded drug arrests involved small amounts that did not warrant charges, or merely in misdemeanor possession charges, and hardly seem to require the use of a SWAT team.

It’s the equivalent to using a SWAT team to subdue a Jaywalker.

Some of the incidences involve people whose extraordinary circumstances have required them to take suspicious quantities of pain killers…enough to raise suspicion that they are dealing illegally in prescription drugs.

What I found most disturbing, was that most civilian casualties seem to be attributed to the police officers failing to identify themselves, and the occupants using guns to defend themselves from what they believed to be intruders; resulting in the officers firing on the occupants. Clearly, a situation where having a gun for “home defense” is a bad play. There are a number of incidences where an innocent person with a legal permit to “conceal and carry” has been shot and killed by police in a case of “wrong door” occurrences.

A significant number of deaths and injuries seem to result from “misfiring” or “accidental firing” of weapons, as well as officers mistaking the noise of “flashbangs” as an assault by a suspect, and firing in response. Whether these incidences are truly accidents or not, it seems arguable that an over-reliance on, over-use of, and lack of accountability for the actions of paramilitary units in these cases makes these situations more dangerous for everyone involved.

Some incidences described clearly show why some people believe that the “War on Drugs” is just code for “War on Minorities, Especially Blacks”).

In short, this is an excellent and graphic object lesson of how the execution of the “War on Drugs” is a costly failure that has taken a horrible toll on our freedoms, public safety, public purse, and the state of justice in our nation. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that people should abuse drugs, and I think it’s bad for them and for society if they do. However, I think it’s valid to question if this is the cure.

And one more thought comes to mind. In a country where stuff like this can happen, and very little is done to hold officers, departments, local, state, and federal governments accountable for the results of their actions…why are we so shocked that there are allegations that misuse and abuse of power keep cropping up in the “War on Terror?”

In all, between 1985 and the present, the Cato Institute lists 291 raids where there is reasonable suspicion that paramilitary police units were excessive, negligent, incompetent, unprofessional and/or outright criminal in the course of drug busts. The website cites 292, but one of them is Waco . You can decide for yourself if that is a valid entry in the list. I’m not so sure, myself.

What I DO know, is that it was a mistake to read all 292 entries. It’s depressing as hell. I don’t recommend it.

Here’s some that stood out (all below quoted from the Cato Institute Site):

The Bel Aire Sunflower Raid.

September 6, 2005—KS

In September 2005, police in Bel Aire, Kansas raid the home of the town's former mayor after mistaking sunflowers in the mayor's backyard for marijuana plants. Police took pictures of the plants, and showed them to a district attorney, who showed them to a judge. All agreed that the photographed plants were marijuana.

The sunflower, incidentally, also happens to be the state flower of Kansas .

Source:

"Bel Aire police mistake sunflower plants for marijuana," Associated Press, September 17, 2005.

Estelle Newcomb.

October 26, 2001—VA

In October 2001, 50-year old Estelle Newcomb hears her dog barking. She looks out the window to investigate, and seeks a Middlesex, Virginia drug task force storming toward her home. The officers break down her door, force her to her knees, and train their guns on Newcomb and her 80-year-old aunt.

Police soon realize they've targeted the wrong home. They had miscommunicated with an informant. The investigating officer tells the Associated Press, "I knew this was not right. To be honest with you, it was sloppy police work - not being thorough enough."

The previous July, the same task force, along with the National Guard and state police, conducted a raid on a suspect they thought was growing marijuana. Those plants turned out to be tomatoes.

Sources:

"Drug bust targets wrong house," Associated Press, October 30, 2001.

The Tulia Raids.

July 23, 1999—TX

On the morning of July 23, 1999, police execute SWAT-style raids all over the small town of Tulia , Texas . In all, they arrest 46 people, 40 of whom are black, representing about half of the town's adult black population. Of the 40, 19 would later be sentenced to prison, with sentences of up to 99 years. The next day, the town's newspaper ran the front page headline, "Tulia's Streets Cleared of Garbage."

Police found no drugs or weapons in the raid. Instead, the entire operation and ensuing convictions were the result of testimony from Tom Coleman, an undercover operative who had spent 18 months infiltrating the town's black community. Coleman had no witnesses for the drug deals he says went down, nor did he wear a wire or provide for video surveilance. For his work in Tulia, he was named "Texas Lawman of the Year."

Coleman's testimony began to fall apart when some of the accused began to produce records proving they were miles away from Tulian when Coleman says they engaged in drug activity. As more and more witnesses came forward, Coleman grew less and less credibile. One judge said Coleman had committed "blatant perjury," and declared him to be "the most devious, nonresponsive law enforcement witness this court has witnessed in 25 years on the bench in Texas ."

In August 2003, Texas Governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 defendants convicted or charged in the Tulia raids. In March 2004, the city of Amarillo -- which helped run the narcotics drug task force responsible for the raids -- paid a $5 million settlement to those arrested in the raids. The settlement included disbanding the task force. In January 2005, Tom Coleman was convicted of perjury, and sentenced to probation.

Sources:

Jen nifer Gonnerman, "Tulia Blues," Village Voice, August 1, 2001.

D. Lance Lunsford, "Coleman Convicted of Perjury," Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, January 15, 2005.

Adam Liptak, "$5 Million Settlement Ends Case of Texas Drug Sting," New York Times, March 11, 2004.

Betsy Blaney, "Perry Pardons 35 Convicted in Tulia Case," Abilene Reporter-News, August 23, 2003.

Jessica Raynor, "Newly Uncovered Evidence Frees Defendant in Tulia Drug Sting," Amarillo Globe-News, April 10, 2002.

Edwin and Catherine Bernhardt.

February 9, 1999—FL

On February 9, 1999, police in Hallandale , Florida , dressed in black jumpers, body armor and face masks, raid the home of Catherine and Edwin Bernhardt. Edwin, whose job requires him to get up at 4 a.m., is asleep. Catherine is on the couch. Police bust open the Bernhardt's window and jam an assault rifle inside. Edwin Bernhardt wakes up, and runs downstairs in the nude to investigate the commotion.

Officers then push Loretta Bernhardt to the floor and handcuff her at gunpoint. Mr. Bernhardt is subdued, handcuffed, and forced into a chair while a police officer clothes him in a pair of his wife's shorts. He is arrested and spends several hours in jail, still clad only in the underwear, until police realize their mistake and drive him home.

The search warrant was for an " Apartment 17 ." The Bernhardts lived in " Apartment 1 ." There was no " Apartment 17 ." Police were at first apologetic. But when the Bernhardts later file suit, the city of Hollandale grows stubborn. City attorney Richard Kane tells the Miami Herald that citizens should expect such tactics as the price of the Drug War. "They made a mistake. There's no one to blame for a mistake," Kane said of the police. "The way these people were treated has to be judged in the context of a war." When asked to comment on the suit, Fort Lauderdale police Capt. Tom Tiderington adds, "There's no perfect formula for success. It could happen at any time."

The Herald reports that similar "wrong door" raids had recently taken place in Seminole County (twice), Largo , and Tampa .

A year later, police in Hallandale would again mistakenly conduct a "wrong door" raid.

Source:

Vanessa Bauza, "Couple files suit in raid gone bad; Officers stormed the wrong house," Miami Herald, April 17, 1999, p. B1.

Tonie and Samuel Heflin, the Holland Family.

April 16, 1996—CO

In 1996, a SWAT team in La Plata County , Colorado dressed in black hoods and camouflage descends on a ranch owned by Samuel Heflin. They're looking for evidence -- a cowboy hat, shirt, and a pack of cigarettes -- related to a bar brawl.

On the way into Heflin's home, police force an eight-year-old and a 14-year-old to the ground at gunpoint. They then train a laser-sighted assault weapon on Heflin's four-year-old daughter as she runs screaming into the house. Upon asking to see a search warrant, Heflin is told by SWAT officers to "shut the fuck up."

Heflin would later be acquitted of misdemeanor charges related to the bar brawl.

Source:

Peter G. Chronis, "La Plata County Family says SWAT team pointed guns at children," Denver Post, February 5, 1998, p. B6.

National Guard Marijuana Raids in Oklahoma .

September 3, 1992—OK

The Drug Enforcement Administration sends military-style helicopters into McCurtain County on a drug raid. Drug officers and National Guard agents in battle fatigues slide down ropes from the helicopters, into the purported marijuana fields below.

Agents later concede they'd been told to exaggerate the number of marijuana plants they found in order to secure more federal anti-drug dollars for the state. A former agent recalls a DEA class on cultivated marijuana in which the instructor "told the whole class, 'Stats. We need stats for you guys to get money. Without stats, no money. Stats mean money.'"

Sources:

Kevin Johnson, "Across the USA , drug enforcers uproot a bumper marijuana crop," USA Today, October 8, 1992, p. 12A.

Paul English, "Agents Say Drug Reports Exaggerated," The Saturday Oklahoman, December 7, 1991, p. 01.

Annie Rae Dixon.

January 29, 1992—TX

84-year-old Annie Rae Dixon, a bedridden paraplegic, is shot and killed after police officers from the nearby town of Kilgore break into her Tyler , Texas home.

They have the wrong address.

Police later say one raiding officer's weapon "accidentally" discharged, firing the bullet that struck and killed Dixon . A jury would later acquit the raiding officers of any wrongdoing.

Sources:

Carol J. Castaneda, " Texas community again divided; Shooting ignites new racial tension," USA Today, August 21, 1992, p. A10.

Robert Suro, "Police Shooting Focuses Black Anger in Texas City ," New York Times, August 10, 1992, p. 10.

"Jury refuses to indict officer in black woman's death," United Press International, July 11, 1992.

"Operation Ready-Rock."

November 2, 1990—NC

Officers from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and 45 local police conduct "Operation Ready-Rock," essentially a massive paramilitary drug raid on entire street in one predominantly black Chapel Hill neighborhood.

Police armed with assault weapons and dressed in camouflage and black hoods kick down doors and enter homes unannounced. Police block off the area shortly before the raid begins, and allow white citizens to vacate the area.

The four-hour raid yields 13 arrests for minor drug offenses, but no one is ever formally charged. The remarkable warrant indicts an entire street of people, and even predicts the future, stating, "there are no 'innocent' people at this place. Only drug sellers and drug buyers are on the described premises."

A court would later find the warrant unconstitutional. In 1996, the participating jurisdictions would pay $200,000 to settle lawsuits associated with the raid.

Sources:

Christian Parenti, "SWAT Nation," The Nation, May 31, 1999, p. 16.

"Lessons of Graham Street ," staff editorial, Chapel Hill Herald, February 25, 1996, p. 4.

Joyce Clark, "Suit over drug raid settled for $200,000," Raleigh News and Observer, February 22, 1996, p. B1.

Loofah-gasmic. It's not a word, but it SHOULD be.

Teresa Lhotka — Mon, 15 May 2006 13:54:46 GMT

As a progressive, a liberal, an (at the very least) apostate, and as a (for lack of a better party to represent me) Democrat...

I repudiate the views of Larry Darby

For those who don't know, he's:

1) A Holocaust Denier

2) A white-suprem...uh..."White Pride Advocate"

3) a bizzare kind of Athiest

4) advocates the murder of illegal immigrants

5) a bunch of other stuff.

Ben (a regular reader) sent me a link to a story about him, and as this is the fourth time this week I've heard about him, I just had to say something. There is a link to his Athiest Law Center over at Pharyngula as well. The article in that last link identifies him as the Democratic candidate for Alabama Attorny General.

This is one repugnant human being. It's like he is a walking caractature of everything conservatives want to believe liberals are.

It's like he sprung fully-formed from one of Bill O'Reilly's loofah-gasmic fever dreams.

Of course, I see on This Website that he is running as a Libertarian...which is far, far afeild of being a Democrat. Strange.

It's almost as if the "Liberal Mainstream Media" want to falsly associate the Democratic party with a lunatic-fringe candidate with extrememly unsavory and unpopular ideas.

When Hitchcock calls and says he want's his bird back...

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 09 May 2006 21:20:12 GMT

Me: You know what I hate?

You, the dear reader: Organized religion?

Me: No, watching someone repeatedly and compulsively perform

damaging , self-destructive behavior.

Y,TDR: Are you sure it’s not organized religion?

Me: Nope, I don’t hate organized religion. Although I can see how you

might get that impression, especially if you’re sensitive.

Now, can we move along?

Y, TDR: OK.

Me: Shiney. Well, it all started this morning when…

I got up and found that there was a robin standing on my deck, looking in at me. It paced back and forth, occasionally cocking its little head and getting it’s eye right up to the glass and peering around. Every once in a while, it would peck at the glass. Then, it started flying at the glass, pulling up at the last second, and smacking into my sliding glass door. It did this several times, and then took a break to march back and forth again for a while…and then started up again with the flying into the glass.

I figured that it was seeing its reflection, and attacking it or whatever, so I tore apart a magazine that was laying around, and taped the pages to the sliding glass door, and went to the gym.

Now, I’m back, several hours later, and here is that dumb bird repeatedly flinging himself against the picture window. Not “Thunk!” as in, “I didn’t know the glass was there, and ran into it full-force, head-on, and now I’m dead…but “Thup!” as in “I know the glass is there, and it bothers me, so I’m just going to keep bumping it ‘till it goes away.”

I would have to hike through the rattlesnake-infested woods to Gerry’s house to borrow a ladder big enough to get me up to the second story picture window in order to tape papers over that window. Then, one whole side on my house would look like trash, and the stupid bird would probably move on to another window.

That’s it. When the kids get home, I’m taking them out somewhere. I can’t stop this bird slowly bludgeoning itself to death on the window, but I don’t have to watch it either.

And for those of you who are wondering, no, this is not some clever metaphor for any of the people in my life. This is a straight story about a ‘sure-nuff Robin that is speeding through life on the short bus.

March Madness.

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 15:52:14 GMT

This has been my week for talking to crazy people. Just got off the phone with a casual acquaintance who started talking to me about his dog’s health. Well, first he wanted to know if I knew where he could get an industrial sewing machine.

Then he was talking about how his dog was a “negative discipline dog”. See, some dogs are “positive discipline dogs” and some are “negative discipline dogs”. Once you know how to discipline them, you can teach them anything.

Next thing I know, he’s telling me how he is training his dog to talk. That probably explains why his dog is neurotic as hell.

Next thing after that, he’s talking about how he saw the “higher level”, and if I ever need to know what to do, look for the “straight gait and the steep path and go forward fast and don’t stop, because they’ll pull you back. Unless you’re not ready to die yet.”

Um. What do you say to that?

I said “Fred*, it’s nine-thirty in the morning, and I’m sober. I’m not prepared to have this conversation.”

Fred: “Oh, OK, but I just want you to know, it’s beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Golden Spires upon golden spires. That’s why they can’t paint it.”

Me: “OK, good to know.”

Fred: “Well, I gotta let you go here. Goodby and God bless.”

Fred’s wife tells me he smokes a lot of pot. I do believe that’s true…but he’s also insane. But he seems to be mostly harmless as his delusions are of a light and fluffy nature, unless you’re a dog that can’t talk. Otherwise, the most dangerous thing about him is he’s a Republican and he votes.

Sunday night I came out of a public building after an activity to find another casual acquaintance standing there waiting to talk to a mutual friend.

This guy acted like he was on speed. He was very talkative, (for him…which means he wasn’t babbling as much as you would expect someone on speed to be talking…but there you are) He was nervous and fidgety, shifting his weight, turning to walk away, and then walking back, hands in the pockets, hands out of the pockets, hands back in the pockets again. Occasionally, he would turn and dash away, and then come back and talk some more. He couldn’t follow the normal flow of conversation.

He was doing everything but sweating profusely, but I suspect that had more to do with the fact that he was wearing a sweatshirt (no coat) outside after dark in Minnesota in March.

Talked to the mutual friend later. No doubt about it. This guy’s in a bad spot. Hopefully, he will find his way out of it. I wish him well. I can’t think of any appropriate way to help him.

What’s with all the crazy people lately? End of February, beginning of March was the Time of Sickness and Dying…looks like end of March, beginning of April is the Time of the Crazy People. Maybe April-May will issue in the Time of Happy Puppies and Huge Lottery Winnings?

A girl can hope.

*Fred is not his real name.

Viking Kung Fu?

Teresa Lhotka — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 03:11:06 GMT

Came across this in the “Forum” area of the Prussian Blue website:

i recently started "sparring" or training with some of my fellow Skinheads around here. i also took up ground-fighting. its the best type of fighting technique when you have your opponent on the ground. it comes in handy around here, as well

[another poster added:]
Good, we need to form these types of serious Fight Clubs. Not just to mess around and spar, but to teach our brothers and sisters how to win.

I would suggest that you perfect your striking skills. Although most fights do end up on the ground, the ground is where it gets very dangerous.

You cannot keep track of multiple attackers on the ground. This is the biggest danger. To be a well rounded fighter, you need ground skill. But I would get real good at your striking while you are also practicing the basics of ground work. I would split your time about 70% striking practice and 30% ground basics.

You should also look into reclaiming internal methods such as Stav. Stav is the much older Norse version of Tai Chi Chuan. Also known as Viking Kung Fu.

These martial methods are a great part of our heritage adn they shoud be reclaimed as much as our lands and history. IMHO.

Good luck. and don't forget to incorperate knife and firearm techniques. Most attacks happen with a weapon. Club, knife, gun, pool cue, some type of weapon is used.

OK, back to me now...Hello...Viking Kung Fu? Nodic Tai Chi??? The writer above claims that it is an older art than Kung Fu and Tai Chi…but this site claims that Stav is approximately 1500 years old…which is the most common estimate for the age of Kung Fu.

Weird. Never heard of it. Still, those Vikings were tough SOB's and probably had some kick-ass training methods. I’d think about learning it, Except I don’t want to get into a group of martial artists who are…uh, what are the words I’m grasping for here? Oh yeah...fucking insane.

Good. God. Almighty.

Don't look the other way.

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:27:58 GMT

From Jason Bock’s blog, I get a link to this site.

[Editor's note: The links to the Prussian Blue site no longer work. This is the case with Jason Bock's links from his entry as well. No matter. If you want to see the site, go to Google and type in “Prussian Blue“. Then, go to the lyrics page or the forums and see for yourself. These people (meaning whoever is misleading and misusing these children) are cowards whose ideas can only thrive in darkness...and they know it.]

Here’s a link to the Lyrics page of these beautiful young girls. It’s hard to believe that they could have such ugliness inside them.

Go there, read the forums. If you think that prejudice and hate and bigotry are gone, you have another think coming. If you think that irrationality, emotional thinking and promoting an inventive world-view that requires a sense of us-vs.-them, a sense of victimization and embattlement is harmless crackpottery…just take a look at this.

If we allow this sort of thinking to go unnoticed and unopposed, this country WILL be destroyed.

I don’t think these girls should be censored, in fact, I think that it’s important that people who would rather look the other way see what is going on. The ideas that they promote have a certain wide-range acceptance that is starting to unnerve me. The lauguage has changed from foaming-at-the-mouth racism to “white pride“. White Nationalism is not a positive white pride thing. Make no mistake, it isn't just about it being OK to be white. It ASSUMES the superiority of the white race, and it DEPENDS on and REQUIRES the subordination of non-whites. It devides the world into “us” and “them”, and assumes the inevitability of conflict and subjugation between the two groups.

I don't know about you, but I qualify as what these people call “muds“. My guess is, most of us do, although a lot of “white” people might not realize that they are not “white” enough to actually be in the club. Sure, you might be now, when they need to recruit as many people as possible to gain power...but if they ever got the world they wanted, you'd be off to the gas chambers with the rest of us “muds“. And boy, wouldn't you feel dumb then?

It’s pretty clear that these ideas will never go away. No matter how far you drive them underground, they will always be there…waiting for an opportunistic moment to express themselves. If we are not alert and on guard against them…if we become complacent in our victory, then they might gain enough power to become a real problem...and the world doesn't need that kind of tragedy again.

Corn Feed Sluts

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 04:23:22 GMT

Bit of conversation I had with Sue today:

Sue: “I’ve never been to a Corn Feed before.”

Me: “Ha! You were a Corn Feed virgin.”

Sue: “Yep. Been to a few Smelt Frys, though.”

Me: “No Smelt Frys for me, but I’ve been to lot’s of Corn Feeds. I’m a Corn Feed slut.”

Sue: “Huh. What about Pancake Breakfasts?”

Me: “Oh. Well…that’s different. See, I’ve never actually made it to a Pancake

Breakfast. I always by the tickets, but never actually make it all the way there.”

Sue: “So…you’re a Pancake Breakfast tease.”

Me: “I guess.”

Sue: “What about Spaghetti Dinners?”

Me: “Ugh. Not for me. I’m a Spaghetti Dinner prude.”

So, what do you all think? Am I disturbed…or deeply disturbed?

But if you think that’s bad, you should hear the things we say when we’re playing racquetball.

I have evil children

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 22:20:53 GMT

So Grasshopper ( the eight-year-old) comes in and asks me:

“Mom, is there REALLY a first time for everything?”

I said, “Yes, although some things haven’t had their first time YET.”

He said “You mean, like your head falling off?”

I said “Sure.”

Evil Giggle “That would be a first time AND a last time all at once wouldn’t it?”

“I suppose”, I said.

More evil giggling as he runs out of the room.

Who gets appointed to the Supreme Court is the least of my worries.

Disgusting behavior maquerading as news? On Fox? Really?

Teresa Lhotka — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 02:17:05 GMT

Follow the link. Just do it. Nothing you have to face today will seem that bad.

http://www.oliverwillis.com/node/view/1862

And again I say ... Ew.

If you EVER get a chance at an internship at FOX...run. Run away as fast as you can. beofre you end up helping to report all the news that's fit to lick.

Personally, I'm going to my happy place...and that is any place where I can be as far away from mental pictures of Brit Hume's tongue as possible.

The baddies are getting bolder

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 03:35:02 GMT

This is from Rick's LJ: Thought it merited a little more attention. Because well...obviously SOME people in the world are starting to think that it's 1955 again.

You couldn't make up shit like this. Even if you tried.
I just got home from work. Ten minutes ago, on 35W heading south, I passed a great big white pickup truck. In the back window of the cab were two stickers. The one on the passenger side proudly stated "Sportsmen For Bush 2004".

On the driver side was another one, one I'd never seen before, nor even imagined. It was drawn and lettered all in white; a crude sketch of a tree with a stick-figure man hanging from the limb of the tree with a noose around his neck, in the manner of lynchings from the (supposedly bygone) bad old days.

The lettering said "Coon Hunter."

...and Cassie Banning said, "Y'know, some days I just fucking HATE human beings."

Not all of them.

Just the bad ones.