← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · edward gibbon
Thread ID: 5127 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2003-02-20
2003-02-20 22:48 | User Profile
American academia and media have long maintained a list of proscribed topics that they deny keeping or observing. Please read the below writing and ask if you had seen this before. From my book ***War, Money and American Memory: Myths of Virtue, Valor and Patriotism ***
[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0788184792/qid%3D1022776139/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F0%5F1/102-9675860-7271313]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078...9675860-7271313[/url]
TEL 1-800-782-3833> A former Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Shamir, maintained the Poles sucked in anti-Semitism with their mother's milk. What has never seemed to concern the Jews of Israel was the survival of the Poles who knew of the great slaughter in the Ukraine by the communists of Stalin. This butchery was defended in Poland by many communists of whom Jews were a considerable number. Totally ignored was the assessment of the Jews of Poland by the sainted Karl Marx in 1849: "The Jews of Poland are the shittiest of all races". This comment by one who has been quoted on virtually every subject by the literati of New York City has escaped wide notice within the United States. Does anyone with an IQ over room temperature wonder why?
Ben Bradlee, a shameless useful goy.> **Ben Bradlee, favorite of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and leader of the Nixon lynch mob, wrote of his favorite lie by Ronald Reagan. Mr. Reagan had told the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, that as a member of the Signal Corps photography team he had filmed the horrors of the Nazi death camps. He repeated the same story to Nazi-hunter Weisenthal. According to the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv, Mr. Reagan told Mr. Shamir that he had saved a copy of the film of the liberation of the death camps because he knew the day would come when the world would not believe six million Jews died. Mr. Reagan had not left the United States during the war. What made the account by Mr. Bradlee so intriguing was what he failed to write about through ignorance or through perverse commitment to dishonest memory. This concerned Mr. Shamir's behavior during the war.
Mr. Shamir during the early part of the war was a leader of the Stern Gang in what was then British mandated Palestine. In late 1940 when Germany had occupied much of Western Europe and Britain was fighting alone, the Stern Gang started negotiations with the Axis powers. After an inconclusive meeting with a representative of Mussolini in Jerusalem, [color=blue]the Stern Gang went for the head and dispatched a gang member to Vichy administered Beirut, Lebanon to make common cause with the forces of Hitler's Germany represented by Otto von Hentig, chief of the Oriental Department of the Nazi Foreign Office. Mindful of the Teutonic passion for order and thoroughness, the Stern Gang Jews took care to place in writing their proposals to aid the German war effort. They expressed understanding and sympathy for Hitler's goal of ridding Europe of Jews. They made sure the Germans knew the establishment of a Jewish state in the Mideast bound to Germany by treaty would enable the Germans to strengthen their position in the Mideast. These pious Jews then offered to take part in the war on the German side. After the slaying of Mr. Stern by the British Mr. Shamir assumed command of this terrorist organization. Mr. Shamir, like Mr. Reagan, never left his country to fight the Germans, and he even made much less of a contribution to the Allied victory. This rather trenchant fact has not appeared in the American press, but rather has continued to be ignored. Such has been the power of Jews[/color].**
The criminality of Robert Maxwell.> The American media so watchful when native politicians are concerned have turned their collective head when favored foreign dignitaries are involved. Mr. Rosenthal of the New York Times [color=blue]lauded Mr. Shamir for over fifty years of distinguished service to the state of Israel which had to include his offered services to the Germany of Hitler and solicitous attendance on foreign Jews. When Robert Maxwell was buried in Judaism's most prestigious spot, the cemetery on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives facing the Western Wall, Mr. Shamir attended. [/color] President of Israel, Chaim Hertzog, eulogized Mr. Maxwell as "a man cast in heroic mold". Mr. Maxwell had made himself into a British press baron and once announced he had converted to the Anglican Church. However, late in life Mr. Maxwell once again embraced Judaism and became a stalwart contributor to the state of Israel. So much so that President Hertzog announced, "It is right and proper that he be here at last among us". Among his investments were a majority interest in the daily newspaper, Ma'ariv, which may account for the interest Israeli politicians took in him. As a mark of the favor which Mr. Maxwell enjoyed, one need not look further than the site of his grave on the Mount of Olives. Those selected to be buried there would be in the front ranks of those rising when the Messiah came. Naturally, an extra premium was extracted from those who had earthly success and wished to be buried there so they would have a running start on others whose headstone did not grace the Mount of Olives. Mr. Maxwell died at sea under somewhat mysterious circumstances while his business empire was faltering. [color=red]So hard up for money had Mr. Maxwell become that he looted the pension funds of his employees for capital. The British, not so forgiving or charitable as Americans, when touring the Holy Land, often asked to see the grave of Mr. Maxwell. Once there they spat on the grave and yelled curses at the once great man's bones. [/color] The man did not die without leaving much of himself to his progeny. **
A great compliment for Danny.> One columnist of the New York Times referred to Mr. Quayle as being the preferred man of the neoliberals and neoconservatives because he was more pro-Israel than Yitzhak Shamir. For the neo's this quality of Mr. Quayle qualified him to be president. American conservative writer, Russell Kirk, once described neoconservatives as those who think the capital of America is Tel Aviv.
The dishonest mendacious American media now take America into a war, most certainly not in our national interest, but not one person of national stature will challenge them. Is it possible to sink any lower as a nation than our present level of meek submission?
2003-02-21 05:52 | User Profile
Originally posted by wintermute@Feb 21 2003, 04:44 ** Though the Empire of Lies in the West is quite powerful, in the East it is overwhelming. One day it will be widely known what happened there. **
How?
I'm not cracking on you or any of that. You bring up a curious point. If Poland is going to get the fair shake from history that eluded Egypt and Babylon, I'd like to know how.
Ed:
The Poles certainly know they were used, and the part of my family which is Polish and Czech and Hungarian have been wondering: What if the fall of the wall was the worst thing that could have happened? Poles close to me especially are beginning to think Western materialism -- especially television -- will be worse in the long run than the Evil Empire. Families under the old regime stayed together because they had to. Now they don't. Transmitting vital cultural data sub rosa was easy under the Soviets because they were stupid. It's far different when consumer capitalism gets rolling.
2003-02-21 21:16 | User Profile
wintermute: On October 5, 1988 Ronald Reagan made the below remarks at cornerstone laying ceremony at Holocaust Museum.> **We who did not go their way owe them this. We must make sure that their deaths have posthumous meaning. We must make sure that from now until the end of days all humankind stares this evil in the face...and only then can we be sure it will never arise again.
Source: Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, Remarks at the Site of the Future United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, October 5, 1988.**
William Jefferson made the below comments when the Museum was dedicated on April 22, 1993.> The Holocaust began when the most civilized country of its day unleashed unprecedented acts of cruelty and hatred abetted by perversions of science, philosophy, and law.... Millions died for who they were, how they worshiped, what they believed, and who they loved. But one people -- the Jews -- were immutably marked for total destruction. They who were among their nation's most patriotic citizens, whose extinction served no military purpose nor offered any political gain, they who threatened no one were slaughtered by an efficient, unrelenting bureaucracy, dedicated solely to a radical evil with a curiously antiseptic title: The Final Solution.
Then Elie (the weasel) Wiesel while making his remarks turned to Clinton and asked why American troops were not in Bosnia. He compared that to the Holocaust.
Reagan on April 11, 1983 did make a speech to American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. The following is the speech.> **Remarks to the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors April 11, 1983 President Meed, Chairman Wiesel, the other distinguished leaders of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, participants in the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, members of the second generation, friends, survivors:
Tonight we stand together to give thanks to America for providing freedom and liberty and, for many here tonight, a second home and a second life.
The opportunity to join with you this evening as a representative of the people of the United States will be for me a cherished memory. I am proud to accept your thanks on behalf of our fellow Americans and also to express our gratitude to you for choosing America, for being the good citizens that you are, and for reminding us of how important it is to remain true to our ideals as individuals and as a nation.
We are here, first and foremost, to remember. These are the days of remembrance, Yom Hashoah. Ours is the only nation other than Israel that marks this time with an official national observance. For the last 2 years I've had the privilege of participating personally in the Days of Remembrance commemoration, as President Carter did before me. May we take a moment to pause and contemplate, perhaps in silent prayer, the magnitude of this occasion, the millions of lives, the courage and dignity, the malevolence and hatred, and what it all means to our lives and the decisions that we make more than a generation later.
Would you please join me and stand in a tribute to those who are not with us for a moment of silence.
[At this point, the audience stood for a moment of silent prayer.]
Amen.
In the early days of our country, our first President, George Washington, visited a Hebrew congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. In response to their address, he wrote them a now rather famous letter reflecting on the meaning of America's newly won freedom. He wrote, ``All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.''
Well, certainly our country doesn't have a spotless record, but our fundamental beliefs, the ones that inspired Washington when he penned that letter, are sound. Our whole way of life is based on a compact between good and decent people, a voluntary agreement to live here together in freedom, respecting the rights of others and expecting that our rights in return will be respected.
But the freedom we enjoy carries with it a tremendous responsibility. You, the survivors of the Holocaust, remind us of that. Good and decent people must not close their eyes to evil, must not ignore the suffering of the innocent, and must never remain silent and inactive in times of moral crisis.
A generation ago, the American people felt like many others in the Western World -- that they could simply ignore the expanding power of a totalitarian ideology. Looking back now, we must admit that the warning signs were there, that the world refused to see. The words and ideology of the Nazis were rationalized, explained away as if they had no meaning. Violations of religious freedom, the attacks on Jewish property, the censorship, the heavy taxes imposed on those who wished to emigrate, even the first concentration camps -- all this ignored, as was the incredible expansion of Germany's war machine.
A few brave voices tried to warn of the danger. Winston Churchill was driven into the political wilderness for speaking the unpleasant truth. There were also those who in their sincere desire for peace were all too ready to give totalitarians every benefit of the doubt and all too quick to label Churchill a warmonger. Well, time has proven that those who gloss over the brutality of tyrants are no friends of peace or freedom.
Tonight, let us pledge that we will never shut our eyes, never refuse to acknowledge the truth, no matter how unpleasant. If nothing else, the painful memory we share should strengthen our resolve to do this. Our Founding Fathers believed in certain self-evident truths, but for truth to prevail we must have the courage to proclaim it.
Last week we reaffirmed our belief in the most meaningful truths of our Judeo-Christian heritage -- Passover and Easter. These two religious observances link our faiths and celebrate the liberation of the body and soul. The rites of Passover remind us of the freeing of our common ancestors from the yoke of Pharoah's bondage and their exodus to freedom. And today, you bear witness to a modern-day exodus from the darkness of unspeakable horror to the light and refuge of safe havens -- the two most important being America and what soon became the State of Israel.
As a man whose heart is with you and as President of a people you are now so much a part of, I promise you that the security of your safe haven here and in Israel will never be compromised. Our most sacred task now is ensuring that the memory of this greatest of human tragedies, the Holocaust, never fades; that its lessons are not forgotten.
Although so much has been written and said, words somehow are never enough. If a young person, the son or daughter of a neighbor or friend should die or suffer a terrible illness, we feel the sorrow and share the pain. But how can we share the agony of a million young people suffering unspeakable deaths? It's almost too great a burden for the human soul. Indeed, its very enormity may make it seem unreal. Simon Weisenthal has said, ``When a hundred people die, it's a catastrophe. When a million people die, it's just a statistic.''
We must see to it that the immeasurable pain of the Holocaust is not dehumanized, that it is not examined clinically and dispassionately, that its significance is not lost on this generation or any future generation. Though it is now a dry scar, we cannot let the bleeding wound be forgotten. Only when it is personalized will it be real enough to play a role in the decisions we make. Those victims who cannot be with us today do a vital service to mankind by being remembered. But we must be their vessel of remembrance. This reunion is part of our duty to them.
Ben Meed, by serving as the catalyst for this historic event, you exemplify the meaning of good citizenship. America is lucky to have you. Elie Wiesel, you have done so much for so many years now, for all you've done, thank you for your noble effort.
Americans can be proud that with the help of these two men and many others, we're moving forward to build a Holocaust Memorial, a living museum here in the Nation's Capital. And it is being financed, as is this gathering, by voluntary contributions by Jews and Gentiles, by citizens from every walk of life, of every race and creed, who grasp the importance to our soul and to our well-being of seeing, of understanding, and of remembering.
Imparting the message of the Holocaust, using it to reinforce the moral fiber of our society is much more than a Jewish responsibility. It rests upon all of us who, not immobilized by cynicism and negativism, believe that mankind is capable of greater goodness. For just as the genocide of the Holocaust debased civilization, the outcome of the struggle against those who ran the camps and committed the atrocities gives us hope that the brighter side of the human spirit will, in the end, triumph.
During the dark days when terror reigned on the continent of Europe, there were quiet heroes, men and women whose moral fiber held firm. Some of those are called ``righteous Gentiles.'' At this solemn time, we remember them also.
Alexander Rozlan and his wife, for example, now live in Clearwater, Florida. But during the war, they lived in Poland, and they hid three Jewish children in their home for more than 4 years. They knew the terrible risk they were taking. Once, when German soldiers searched their home, the Rozlans kept serving wine and whiskey until the troops were so drunk they forgot what they were looking for. Later, Rozlan's own son was in the hospital with scarlet fever. The boy hid half of the medicine under his pillow so he could give it to the Jewish children his family were hiding, because they, too, had scarlet fever.
There are many such stories. The picturesque town of Assisi, Italy, sheltered and protected 300 Jews. Father Rufino Niccacci organized the effort, hiding people in his monastery and in the homes of parishoners. A slip of the tongue by a single informant could have condemned the entire village to the camps, yet they did not yield.
And, of course, there was Raoul Wallenberg, one of the moral giants of our time, whose courage saved thousands. He could have remained in his native Sweden, safe from the conflagration that engulfed the continent. He chose to follow his conscience. Yes, we remember him, too.
I would affirm, as President of the United States and, if you would permit me, in the names of the survivors, that if those who took him from Budapest would win our trust, let them start by giving us an accounting of Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg and others who displayed such bravery did not consider themselves heroes. I understand that some of them, when asked about why they risked so much, often for complete strangers, replied, ``It was the right thing to do.'' And that was that. It was just their way.
That kind of moral character, unfortunately, was the exception and not the rule. But for that very reason, its a consciousness we must foster.
Earlier, I described our country as a compact between good and decent people. I believe this, because it is the love of freedom, not nationalistic rituals and symbols, that unites us. And because of this, we are also bound in spirit to all those who yearn to be free and to live without fear. We are the keepers of the flame of liberty.
I understand that in Hebrew, the word for engraved'' is charut. It is very similar to the word forfreedom,'' cheyrut. Tonight, we recognize that for freedom to survive and prosper it must be engraved in our character, so that when confronted with fundamental choices we will do what is right -- because that is our way.
Looking around this room tonight I realize that although we come from many lands, we share a wealth of common experiences. Many of us remember the time before the Second World War. How we and our friends reacted to certain events has not faded from our memory. There are also in this room many young people, sons and daughters, maybe even a few grandchildren. Perhaps some of the younger ones can't understand why we're making so much of a fuss. Perhaps some of them think we're too absorbed by the heartaches of the past and should move on.
Well, what we do tonight is not for us; it's for them. We who are old enough to remember must make certain those who take our place understand. So, if a youngster should ask you why you're here, just tell that young person, ``because I love God, because I love my country, because I love you, Zachor.''
I can't close without remembering something else. Some years ago, I was sent on a mission to Denmark. And while there, I heard stories of the war. And I heard how the order had gone out for the Danish people, under the Nazi occupation, to identify the Jews among them. And the next day, every Dane appeared on the street wearing a Star of David.
Thank you all, and God bless you.**
Following is the official proclamation.> **American Jews have made significant contributions to every phase of American life. They have served this Nation by fighting for her freedom, building her industry, working for her goals, and nurturing her dreams. They have brought distinction to every field of American endeavor and have participated in the cultural development, economic growth, and spiritual progress of America.
The Jewish people remain dedicated to ancient and revered traditions which have been severely tested over the centuries. From the observance of Passover, which tells the story of the passage from bondage to freedom and rekindles the hope for all who are oppressed, through the participation in the National Days of Remembrance honoring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust and the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Jews pay tribute to their past.
Each spring, the American Jewish community remembers its struggles, celebrates its achievements, and renews its commitment to a future of continued advancement. It is during this time that American Jews renew their common heritage with Jews throughout the world by celebrating such occasions as Israel's Independence Day and Solidarity Day for Soviet Jews. In particular, these Jewish traditions have been honored in 1983 by the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors.
In recognition of the special significance of this time of year to American Jews, in tribute to the important contributions they have made to American life, and in tribute to the cultural diversity of the American people, the Congress of the United States, by House Joint Resolution 80, has authorized and requested the President to proclaim April 17 through April 24, 1983, as Jewish Heritage Week.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning April 17, 1983, as Jewish Heritage Week. I call upon the people of the United States, Federal, State and local government officials, and interested organizations to observe that week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and reflection.**
[url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/speeches/1983/41183c.htm]http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/spee...1983/41183c.htm[/url]