Un-American: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the Arizona "Papers Please" law and comparisons to Nazi Germany. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Un-American

Chris Matthews in his segment “Let Me Finish” on April 28, spoke about the use of such words as Nazism and Hitlerism by liberals and conservatives when objecting to laws and policies adopted by the federal or state governments they believe to be un-American.

One of the examples Chris used was the recent law enacted by Arizona relating to illegal immigrants. Chris stated that there is a big difference between what Arizona is trying to do-- preventing people from entering America illegally-- and what Hitler did, killing people who were trying to flee Germany.

There is one basic item that is the same in both policies.

The Arizona police may stop anyone for reasonable suspicion who they believe may be in the country illegally. That is the same tactic used by the Gestapo in Germany, by asking people for their papers, with no reasonable cause, only to see if they had proper identification papers to be where they were.

German citizens had to carry their identification papers with them at all times, which is the same requirement under the Arizona law for its citizens.

There are two other examples I believe come under Nazi type tactics.

A GOP congressional candidate proposes installing microchips on illegal immigrants. Doing something like that, would be a modern day version of Hitler requiring patches to be worn on clothing to identify those Germans who were Jewish, Communists, homosexuals or political opponents.

Then we have Duncan Hunter Jr., who stated at a tea party rally in California, that children born in the United States whose parents came to this country illegally should be deported.

In the 1930s, Hitler passed laws that natural born Jewish Germans weren’t considered citizens of Nazi Germany, and among other things, couldn’t hold public office, be a judge, a doctor or teach in the public school system or universities.

The scary part is Duncan Hunter favors deporting natural born citizens of the United States, even though promoting such a policy is in direct violation of the Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution.

Conservative Republicans, like Duncan Hunter, love to say the Constitution is the law of the land and it should be obeyed, but they sure like to tear it apart when it gets in the way of their ideology.

While the policies enacted and those being advocated are in no way as evil as those used in Nazi Germany, I just feel the basic foundation of those policies are the same used in Germany.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

Scary New GOP Poll: "He may be the Antichrist."

By GottaLaff

Nicholas Kamm, AFP/ Getty Images

Get a load of this. And it is a load:

To anyone who thinks the end of the health-care vote means a return to civility, wake up.

Obama Derangement Syndrome—pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism—has infected the Republican Party. Here's new data to prove it:

• 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.
• 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim
• 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president"
• 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did"
• Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama "may be the Antichrist."

And 100% of rational, thinking, reasonable people think these people need to get an education, get acquainted with reality, and get some therapy. And for godsake, stop making inappropriate, offensive Hitler references.

This poll is the latest and most detailed evidence of the extent to which Wingnuts are hijacking our politics. It should be a wakeup call to all Americans and a collective reminder, as we move past health-care reform, that we need to stand up to extremism.

John Avlon's new book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America is available now by Beast Books both on the Web and in paperback. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.

This is downright scary and very sad. It has to end, and we need to do much more to counter it.

Please go read the whole thing here.

H/t to my pal at the Daily Beast, John McCartney

"I've seen this horrible stuff on TV but never thought I'd be 'attacked' by these sickos"

By GottaLaff

One of our regular readers shared this chilling experience with us in Comments:

Today, Friday 01/08/10 at about 4:00PM Pacific, I took a package to be dropped off at my local Harbor City, CA 90710 post office...only to see 2 males, one white, one black, with a table (set up on the sidewalk directly in front of the walk out the front doors of the PO) covered in the Obama as hitler posters.

I *tried* to walk, head down up a different side walk, only to be yelled at by the white male.

It went down hill from there...he kept spewing facist Obama stuff...Obama is hitler...we're all going to forced prison labor camps...

...I basically just kept saying that they were sick...ignorant of WWII history and the crimes against humanity committed...etc.

The guy finally just turned his back to me...only to turn and yell FACIST at me as I was getting in my car.

Needless to say...I've been shaken since. I've seen this horrible stuff on TV but never thought that I would be "attacked" by any of these sickos.

I'm scared for our country.

And then he added:

I'm tell'n ya...my stomach was rolling, my hands were shaking and I think I was scared.

...if drinking and driving was legal, I would have pulled into Rite Aid and bought beer!

Some of you may remember when Mr. Laffy had a similar encounter.

Gee, somehow I doubt that this kind of sick behavior will win followers or change minds. What are they hoping to accomplish? And why did they yell at our Commenter? I'm guessing he wasn't wearing an Obama tee shirt, nor did he make the first move. They were the aggressors.

Publicly bullying a fellow citizen is a cowardly act that should be prohibited by law. How do these people live with themselves?

Rand Paul spokesman praises video likening Trey Grayson to Hitler

By GottaLaff



So the answer to everything now is attaching the name "Hitler" to one's opponent. What a great strategy. It's also utterly despicable:

A spokesman for Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) is getting heat for praising a video likening Paul’s opponent to Adolf Hitler. And he's not apologizing.

The video portraying Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) as Hitler popped up on a Ron Paul message board over the weekend. A spokesman for Grayson primary opponent Rand Paul then posted a reply to the video, labeling it “Too funny!!” with a smiling emoticon.

Yeah, that Adolph. He's a regular giggle machine. If only Last Comic Standing had been popular back in the '30s and '40s, he'd have been a shoo-in.

Now get ready for the walk back:

“The video’s just funny,” Hightower said. “I don’t really think it’s funny to compare Trey Grayson to Hitler; I don’t think that’s funny.”

So it's not the merging of Grayson with Hitler that's funny. Nah, it's the actual video. Video Central. Every day videocity. General subject matter. Overall conceptitude. Wow. Hilarious.

Asked to respond to some opponents who have raised objections, Hightower said: “Some things in life, some people think they’re funny, and some people don’t think they’re funny. I’m not really one to judge that.”

Rand Paul is Ron Paul’s son. Now that's funny.

Oh, and for the record-- and I say this as one who has performed, written, and taught comedy for years-- if your audience isn't laughing, it's not funny. If it's only funny to you, it's not funny. If it's in poor taste and offends your viewers, it's not funny. And hey, Rand, get new material.

"You should go to some city that's a little more Klan friendly"

By GottaLaff

Mr. Laffy went to the market today. As he entered, he noticed a tall, young, blond-haired man and a spaced-out-looking twentysomething woman standing next to a poster of Obama. The poster read, "I've changed", and depicted President Obama with a Hitler mustache. The young man rattled on, saying something about Lyndon LaRouche, but Mr. Laffy was so put off that he cut him short.

One reason (other than the obvious) Mr. Laffy was so taken aback was that this was a highly unusual occurrence in our neck of the woods. The guy wanted to talk to him some more, but Mr. Laffy interrupted with, "I don't talk to people who have pictures of Obama with a Hitler mustache."

Hitler Guy retorted, brimming with wit, "Well, then he should shave it!"

Mr. Laffy SO wanted to mock him with, "Well if you like it so much, why don't you marry it?" But he took the high road.

Instead, Mr. Laffy retorted, "You picked the wrong town to put up a picture like that. You should go to some city that's a little more Klan friendly," and went inside to shop. As he walked away, he heard the blond man say, "A lot of people are listening to us."

Mr. L went straight to the store manager and told him that he hated being accosted like that, and could he do anything? The manager said, "There's no law against it, we can't prevent them from standing there. Maybe if enough people complain to the county supervisor or other local representative, maybe they could pass some kind of law."

While we wait for that to happen, wingnuts continue to hang out at our grocery stores and harass people with their vile hatred.

Happy Saturday.

VIDEO- GOP Tweets clip of Hitler praising Pelosi

By GottaLaff



The Rushpublic continue to prove my earlier point. And hey! Can they ever multi-task! They can put Pelosi in her place while simultaneously showing themselves to be a despicable party! That takes some fancy pageant walkin'!

Someone at the NRCC who, naturally, wasn't trying to compare Democrats to Nazis and Hitler tweeted a link to the above video. Via Politico:

The Tweet: "Funny Video: Moonbattery: Hitler Reacts to ObamaCare Maneuvers" [Laffy Note: The tweet was deleted] [...]

"House Republicans have gone way too far," said Jennifer Crider, spokewoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "The NRCC's despicable promotion of a video comparing Nancy Pelosi's effort to reform health care to America to Adolf Hitler's extermination of millions is a shocking new low that must be condemned. Republican Leader John Boehner should order NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions to immediately remove this vile Tweet and apologize."

NRCC spokesman John Randall:

"We saw the video this morning and thought, like other parodies, that it was funny," [...] In 20-20 hindsight, we realized it was in poor taste and pulled it down... I don't want anyone to think we're comparing Democrats to Nazis and to Hitler."

Nah, nobody would ever want to do that.

Obama poster angers Holocaust survivor

The man's a frigging hero who faces fourth degree assault charges. Wonder if the wussy LaRouchers really have the cojones to press charges against a 70 year old man. Much more about Mr Gasparian here.

EDMONDS, Wash., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A Holocaust survivor facing assault charges in Edmonds, Wash., says he clashed with two people over a poster that portrayed Barack Obama as Adolf Hitler.

The Seattle Times said Thursday that Henry Gasparian, 70, admits seeing a poster featuring the U.S. president with a Hitler mustache ignited an emotional response in him due to his personal experiences during the Holocaust.

Gasparian describes his Sept. 5 clash with two supporters of perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche as an attempt by "an old man to say you cannot insult the president with this outrageous campaign."

(snip)

He said the poster criticizing Obama's healthcare proposals was simply too much to tolerate.

"I saw Hitler's soldiers. I saw swastikas every day. To call Obama stupid, even criminal -- OK, that's politics. But Hitler? It's hurting to anyone no matter who is president," he told the Times.

VIDEO: Former Reagan/Bush consultant equates teachers unions with Hitler Youth leaders

By GottaLaff

BuzzFlash found this one for me. Whoa::

The notion of government organized and funded community service volunteerism has no shortage of enemies on the right side of the political spectrum. [...] But no Republican politician can or would match the rhetoric Judith Reisman employs to denounce AmeriCorps programs.

Reisman, a former consultant for the Reagan and both Bush administrations says that government community service programs are not dissimilar than those employed in fascist or communist regimes to brainwash the young.

Old-timers naturally recall Communist, Fascist and Nazi youth brigades as severing children from their parent's religious traditions and beliefs.

In her WorldNetDaily column she has special animus for gay tolerance groups like the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, and for the American Library Association and National Education Association. [...]

Reisman, a former producer for Captain Kangaroo, is founder of the Institute for Media Education fighting what she considers fraudulent sex scientists, sex education and the power and effect of images and the monopoly media to alter human behavior. She says the special emphasis of her work has been and continues to be the negative influence of these change agents upon children and society. Her primary target is the groundbreaking sex research of Dr. Alfred Kinsey which she believes promulgated “a growing and proselytizing international academic pedophile movement”.

She served as a consultant for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education for the Reagan and both Bush administrations. She also claims that she was awarded a grant by the Justice Department to serve as the “principal investigator of an $800,000 grant to investigate Kinsey's role in child sexual abuse and the link to children appearing in mainstream pornography, Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler.”

Go here for more.

Indiana Republican election clerk distributes letter: Obama is 'young, black Adolf Hitler'

By GottaLaff

I'm happy to see that all that repudiation by Gramm-pa McCain is taking effect. See how civil his supporters have become? So docile, so kind, so inclusive:

A Republican county election clerk distributed copies of an apparent chain letter referring to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as a ‘‘young, black Adolf Hitler’’ to two employees but later told police she intended it to be a joke.

I've seen better senses of humor at cock fights.

The employees, who had voted for Obama in Indiana’s Democratic primary, discovered the letters at their desks after returning from Labor Day weekend, Deputy Sheriff Doug Cox said in a police report made public this week.

One of the workers complained, and surveillance video showed Johnson County Clerk Jill Jackson placing an item one worker’s desk at 5:27 p.m. on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, Cox said. [...]

Jackson told police she had intended to speak with the workers upon returning to work but forgot.

"D'oh! I just exhibited the worst kind of bigotry, passed it off as a sick, demented joke, and that pesky apology slipped what's left of my vile, filthy, deranged, shriveled little mind."

The letter does not mention Obama by name but makes references to his ties to a Chicago church whose pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, adheres to black liberation theology. It is heavy with racial references, criticizing the candidate’s parentage with such comments as, ‘‘He is proud of his ’African heritage’ (a father who got a white girl pregnant and deserted her)’’ and asking, ‘‘Where is the pride in his ’White heritage?’’’

I'm sure Obama's ailing grandmother would appreciate the sentiments.

The unsigned letter urges readers to send it to everyone they know.

‘‘The U.S. citizens are just not ready to give up their country to this young, black 'Adolf Hitler’ with a smile, poor direction and absolutely no experience!’’ it said.

I can't write any more. Feel free to say anything you want-- anything-- in Comments.