"First they came for the . . . . . .(fill in the blank)" NEVER AGAIN!

[Bluebear]

I remember that after the election some frustrated members blamed gay marriage as the issue which "lost" it for us. Even Senator Feinstein said "too much, too soon." (Bitch, but I digress.)

Make no mistake. What you are seeing this last couple of weeks is the anti-"liberal" pot being stirred to a furious overboil by Rove and company. Just as Falwell said that gays and abortionists brought the Twin towers down, so Rove said this week that "liberals" wanted to give "therapy" to the terrorists, something that NEVER happened.
As a matter of fact, this country was so united, so galvanized after September 11th, 2001, that even the meekest dove felt outraged and violated at what had happened.

Why did Senator Durbin "have" to apologize for calling the Gitmo situation Naziesque? After all, so much of what is going on is coming exactly from that playbook. You know, we can look back smugly now and say "The Germans should have known." Baloney, or bologna if you prefer. 80% of the country NOW doesn't realize what is happening here, only that the Runaway Bride is making a TV movie and Rob and Amber got married.

We keep hearing that "Christian America" is under attack by the "liberals". We heard just that accusation on the floor of the House this week.

I ramble, but my mpoint is don't blame gays for losing the election, or people of color, or union workers, or women... Don't worry if Howard Dean didn't smack down Karl Rove on a given night on a show which most "Heartland" Americans don't watch anyhow. Just know that this anti "liberal" rhetoric is aimed at ALL of us on this side. We shall surely sink or swim together.

They don't even have the decency to call us Democrats anymore. They blame the "liberals", continuing the poisonous rantings of prescription drug addict Rush Limbaugh who has whipped his listeners into such a frenzy that they DO believe we are unpatriotic and less than human. They are always hopping mad about something, these pudgy-wudgy middle-aged white men who sit in their basements tapping away at their computers about "libby" this-and-that, trying to get through to Hannity's radio show and spitting Skoal all over their keyboards. Ann Coulter suggests taking baseball bats to us. And WE have to apologize? FORGET IT.

====

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.--Pastor Niemoller

[Broken_Hero]

1. True, very true...

WE stand united against this, insane propagana machine, that spits out lies, and false generalizations. We have to fight back together, we can't nit pick anymore, or they have won. I see a few people not liking Dean, which is fine, and dandy because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but we have to stay united behind him, or any democrat that fights back. You can say, well, Dean is that or Dean is this, but I support him, I support Dean, or anyone who is taking the whipping at the moment.

We are under attack, right now, by a Republican Majority that wants to dictate our own lifestlye, gays can't get married, what a joke. I was just debating a woman from Ark, and she is like, i don't mind gays and they can do whatever they want, and i was like, so did you vote for the ban on gay marriage or against? She said against. I was like why, you just said for the past ten minutes how you think they should do whatever they want? She is like, well, i don't agree with that kind of lifestlye, and i was like oh so you were lying to me for ten minutes then, she was like, you misunderstood, and i was like how? I can read, what you said. You said for ten minutes, you don't care, but voted against gay marriage, is that a oxy moron, or hypocrital nonsense?

We have to stand united against this kind/type of opression. Cause if we don't whats next? Can't have a mexican flag on your porch, can't read anti government books? censorship of books/movies, the road that this Republican party is taking us, is very scary, but the scariest thing was the Terry Shiavo thing, dictating what someone wanted/wished, and our government working against that wish, what a fraud, what a damn sick joke. well, Later, Don.

[Bluebear]

2. Thanks Don & good having you at DU

:toast:

[Broken_Hero]

3. Thanks...

Thanks, I'm just sick and tired of this hypocritical machine, that is in the WH, and in power. Its frightening and sickening at the same time. What makes it worse, is that people are embracing at with open arms, well not all people, but the RW's i talk to are embracing it fully, and my brain lacks the logic to understand why they do, it trully does, but i'm still trying...later, Don.

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. I believe the tide is turning- and here is an image of Niemoeller's quote:

(The image may take a few extra seconds to load)

http://img.getactivehub.com.nyud.net:8090/aflcio/custom_images/massjwj/memorial.jpg

(This image was posted in this archived thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3614987)

I like to think that if Pastor Niemoeller had known how far and wide his words would reach, teaching and opening hearts, he would have been comforted that he hadn't failed to speak out after all. No, his words are still speaking out to all of us today, and by god, they're HEARD!!!

And Bluebear, I agree completely with what you say. Sen. Durbin should not have apologized and it is terrible for gay people to be blamed for so much. It's a necessary tradition of fascist governments to scapegoat some groups that can be conveniently labeled as "different" in a way that can whip up fear and resentment. This distracts the public from the horrors that the government is actually bringing about and maintains thee fiction that all "good" people are united in fighting against a frightening and sinister, inhuman foe. It's terrible that this ancient strategy is still working as well as it is.

But I believe that the trend is turning.

Even in Spain, where not that long ago the fascist dictator Franco ruled alongside the powerful church hierarchy and outlawed homosexuals, a law giving full marriage rights, including having children, to gay couples is in the process of being passed. Despite a massive street protest driven by the Church, the bill already passed in one house of their government and is expected to pass the other and soon become law:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x12938

The tide is turning, because most people are better in their hearts than the hate-mongering fascists believe they are. And people of faith have been stepping forward to deny and condemn the hateful anti-gay polemics. The Interfaith Alliance has been around for a while, and just recently a new Christian progressive organization has been formed to oppose the hateful agenda of the Christian coalition:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1873168

Among other interesting things at their web site is this flash presentation, "Reclaiming Christianity":
http://www.christianalliance.org/becountedflash
Among other things, it specifically deplores the demonization of gay people by the radical fundamentalists. I'm not a Christian, but I wish this group well. Surely Jesus, with his revolutionary message of love, tolerance, and generosity would be heartbroken at what the right-wing extremist Fristians are doing in his name.

[Bluebear]

5. Your words are uplifting, NWH

May we all get through this nightmare and hold each other up.

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. We will, Blue. You put your finger on the key - we support one another,

and when the darkness and despair start closing in and sap our hope, we turn to one another. It's all too much to bear for an isolated person. But together we are strong. Some of us can rest and replenish while others carry on with the fight. And there is great energy and inspiration in connections to other people who share hopes and goals.

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
–Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, and musician (1875-1965)

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
—Albert Einstein

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. Kick - we should all remember Pastor Niemoeller's words.

He DID speak out at he last, and we are still learning from what he said.

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. kick n/t

[Bluebear]

10. :)

:hi:

[Nothing Without Hope]

14. Back atcha, Blue!

Glad some other people have discovered this thread.
:toast:

[iconoclastNYC]

11. Here is the USA 2005 Version....

"First, they came for the terrorist suspects, And I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a terrorist suspect. Then they came for the foreigners, And I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a foreigner. Then they came for the Arab-Americans, And I didn't speak up, because I wasn't Arab-American. Then they came for the radical dissenters, and I didn't speak up, because I was just an ordinary troubled citizen. Then they came for me, And by that time here was no one left to speak up for me."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/crisis/05/015_bw.html

[understandinglife]

12. Anyone who has not read Haffner's "Defying Hitler" should read it ...

.... ASAP.

And, be sure to read Kevin Zeese's interview with Ret Col. Sam Gardnier:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Zeese0623.htm

Members of Congress, from left to right, Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) head down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, June 16, to deliver petitions demanding President Bush tell the truth on Downing Street Memo evidence that he lied to sell the Iraq war to the American people. http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7266/1/275/

"... we sent our young people into harm's way without leveling with the American people." - Congresswoman Pelosi before Congress, 16 June 2005

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - One question, my fellow Americans, "Why is Bush not already in jail?"

[Sequoia]

22. Excellent book and so is this one:

Five Marks, by James Jess Hannon

WWII, American trooper gets picked up by Germans, he escapes, walks across Poland, see's the factories built by Nazis for the train loads of Jews, and tells about it, people in Germany can turn in someone for $5 marks. People in Poland said the ashes were so bad they could not eat anything out of their gardens and wouldn't go outside. Germans soliders happily ate the cabbages they grew in the death camp garden.

[roseBudd]

13. And then the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Deja Vu...

and I didn't say anything because I don't frequent tittie bars and now there is nothing on TV except Touched By An Angel

Seriously I think we can alarm some male Bush supporters over the thought of what a comservative court may mean to their porno and strip clubs.

edited to add link:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050622/NEWS01/506220393/-1/all

The case was a test for an appeals court that has grown more conservative with President Bush's appointees.

The 6th Circuit split 7-5 in the Deja Vu case, with all four of Bush's appointees voting with the majority.

Republican presidents appointed all but one of the judges in the majority, while Democrats appointed all five of the dissenters.


The 6th Circuit's ruling applies only in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee, but its decision could influence federal courts elsewhere. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that some regulation of adult clubs is constitutional, but lower courts have wrestled with how much is acceptable.

[Alpharetta]

15. "NEVER AGAIN" rings hollow for me

After Rwanda, and now the genocide at Darfur, it seems "Never Again" is some sort of vow to protect your own but ignore the slaughter of others.

[Bluebear]

16. I'm sorry you feel that way

I don't even have a voice in my own country anymore, it seems. How can I influence Darfur?

[Alpharetta]

18. I didn't mean it personally

I meant it just in terms of the impact of the phrase.

It used to have weight and resolve. A world committed to never letting something like that happen again.

[Gloria]

17. The Flag burning Amendment is now positioned for 2006...they

just keep coming up with things they can use to divert America from the real issues.

All the more reason for getting more into their collective faces. Durbin didn't have to apologize the way he did....he could have turned it against them instead of looking like he was going to cry....

Esp. now that we're hearing about how the UN is calling the US on stonewalling about what's going at Gitmo....

[Mairead]

19. It would be good to get Niemöller's statement right

Pastor Niemöller knew the order in which the groups were attacked, and although his exact words have not yet been uncovered, it had to have gone like this:

First they got rid of ('beseitigten') the Communists, and I kept quiet ('geschweigen habe') because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they got rid of the 'incurables' ('Unheilbaren', into which group the Nazis tossed both the disabled and the 'medicalised' like queers), and I kept quiet because I was healthy.

Then they came for the trade-unionists, and I said nothing because I wasn't a union member.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

And finally they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out.

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. Thank you for this. I have never seen it in German, only in the

"standard" English translation, which I now see is significantly modified. If you have a link to a fuller version in German or could cut and paste it, I'd like to have it to keep. (I see from your comments that his exact words are unknown.) Your point is important - The Nazis condemned to extermination more groups than most Americans are aware of, and we need to remember.

Some of those groups are the very same ones the neocons and their extremist Fristian enablers are attacking now. When such historical horrors are repeated, we need to be very loud in our shouting about it.

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. kick n/t