Will there be a Reichstag Fire in America?

Background

The Reichstag fire (German: Der Reichstagsbrand) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany
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The day after the fire Hitler asked for and received from President Hindenburg the Reichstag Fire Decree, signed into law by Hindenburg using Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The Reichstag Fire Decree suspended most civil liberties in Germany and was used by the Nazis to ban publications not considered "friendly" to the Nazi cause. source

The results were that the Nazi's took over the government in the next election based on the "national emergency" caused by the Reichstag fire. The horrors of Nazi tyranny soon followed.

Ever since then, the "Reichstag Fire" has been a symbol for using a political emergency as an excuse for seizing totalitarian power.

Recent Developments Heighten my Fear of our Government

For some time I have been thinking about writing this post. However, I didn't want to sound like an alarmist or someone scared by everything that happens. However, some of my fears have become the same fears of the American people.

A recent poll shows that the majority of the Americans feel that the federal government is a threat to their rights. More and more the government is being seen as a threat, as the enemy, as a danger. How very sad and what a legacy of incompetence and evil the leftists, radical Democrats are leaving for history.

Following are the poll results and some interpretations. Notice that this is a CNN poll, so it was no doubt highly biased in how they asked the questions or slanted the types of questions to favor the radical leftists. Nonetheless, they still found a majority of Americans living in fear of their government. If the poll had been taken by a centrist and patriotic organization, the results would have probably showed a much larger percentage of Americans living in fear of their government.

CNN Poll: Majority says government a threat to citizens' rights
Posted: February 26th, 2010 09:00 AM ET
Washington (CNN) – A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government's become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree. source

This is the Most Discouraging Poll I Have Ever Seen

The people of the greatest nation ever to exist are now fearful of their own government. The birthplace of liberty, the shining city on the hill, the hope of mankind has been captured and debased by evil, hateful, people--our radical, leftists Democrats. May God Bless America and grant us the wisdom, courage and strength to take back our Republic; for us and for the world.

Now the Question

Will Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the other radicals create a " Reichstag Fire" in America? Will these radical leftists feel threatened and be so committed to the destruction of America and the formation of a socialist tyranny that they will manufacture a crisis, an emergency, to appear as a serious enough threat to America that martial law and legislation granting suspension of our freedoms and emergency powers to President Obama appear necessary? Will they manufacture a threat so big that enough Americans will go along with a "temporary suspension of liberty" and usurpation of our constitutional system through emergency government powers?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I too fear my government. But, I feel that there is a movement in the land to restore freedom and a government that serves the people, not the other way around. This movement is entirely peaceful and is trying to take back our country at the ballot box. But, will those in power fear the loss of that power and the defeat of socialist tyranny so much that they create an American Reichstag Fire?

Here Is How Socialized Medicine Does Not Work, Never Will

Thousands of Canadians travel to the Unites States to get health care denied to them in Canada. This proves that having insurance and getting health care are two different things. You can have 100% of the population covered by government insurance (socialized medicine) and have huge segments of the population denied health care.

The Canadian invasion of the U.S. to get good health care is not reported by our government press unless it is an unusual case. The one below slipped through the conspiracy of silence of our government and its mouth-organ press (the group-think American MSM).

A high level Canadian government official (roughly equivalent to a state governor here) wanted to get heart surgery without having his sternum and ribs broken to open his chest cavity. There are more advanced and better methods of operating to repair his heart that do not require breaking his bones to open his chest. But apparently they are not available under Canada's socialized medicine. So he came to America for the advanced surgery while it is still available here.

Here are excerpts from the article reporting on this case.

'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery
By Tara Brautigam (CP) – 17 hours ago

An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."

The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn't closing properly, creating a leakage.
He said he was told at the time that the problem was "moderate" and that he should come back for a checkup in six months.

Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.
His doctors in Canada presented him with two options - a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would've required breaking bones, he said.

He said he spoke with and provided his medical information to a leading cardiac surgeon in New Jersey who is also from Newfoundland and Labrador. He advised him to seek treatment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.

That's where he was treated by Dr. Joseph Lamelas, a cardiac surgeon who has performed more than 8,000 open-heart surgeries.

Williams said Lamelas made an incision under his arm that didn't require any bone breakage.
"I wanted to get in, get out fast, get back to work in a short period of time," the premier said. source

Where Will Americans Go for Advanced Medical Care if Socialism Ruins our System?

Socialism and everything about it (share the wealth, government owned industry, tyranny, etc.) is a horrible abuse of people by their own government. Deliberately letting people suffer and die to protect a bunch of elite politicians and their power is a crime as well as a sin.

If Obamacare, or any watered down version of it, becomes law it will ruin health care in America. It will stop the engine of private enterprise bringing us new medicines, medical schools and improved teaching, new surgical and other medical procedures, and it will leave millions of Americans who now have the world's best health care without health care. Everyone will have insurance but a growing number will not have health care. No more guaranteed 911 pickup and transport to a hospital emergency room which must accept you and treat you (which provides health care to anyone in America with or without insurance).

Nope this will have to stop to. Treatment type, place, and time will be determined by the government, not by a patient and his physician.

Let Canada be a lesson.

Boston's Great Molasses Explosion and Flood in 1919

What a mess!

A huge cast iron (important because cast iron, although heat tolerant, shatters somewhat more easily than steel) was full of molasses. Now think of this. The 50 ft tall, 90 ft in diameter tank full of molasses explodes in January 1919 in downtown Boston.

All hell broke loose: a blast, flying chunks of cast iron, then a wave of molasses 15 ft high and 160 ft wide travelling at over 30 mph. Sadly, 21 people lost their lives and many more were injured. Property destruction was extensive and it was one hell of a sticky, stinky mess. Below are some excerpts of descriptions and the picture is from the Boston Library.

Here is one short account.

...in 1919, people in Boston's North End were startled by a loud rumbling noise. They watched in horror as a five-story tank broke apart, unleashing a wave of molasses 15 feet high and 160 feet wide. Moving at 35 miles per hour, it traveled over two blocks and engulfed everything in its path. The disaster killed 21 people, injured 150, and caused property damage of more than 100,000,000 in today's dollars. The tank's owners claimed that anarchists had dynamited it as a protest against the American government. In fact, the tank had been hastily constructed and overloaded. Years later, the tank's owner was found liable and ordered to pay compensation to the victims. source

Here is an excerpt from another account.

The United States Alcohol Company owned the largest molasses storage tank in Boston. The steel structure was ninety feet in diameter, fifty-two feet in height and was filled to the top with 2.3 million gallons of molasses. Then, shortly before noon on January 15, the vat exploded with a tremendous roar.

Chunks of metal flew everywhere, piercing into people and buildings for hundreds of feet around. One huge chunk of steel smashed through a massive stone pillar supporting an elevated railroad. A piece of the railway sagged and fell. An alert train driver had his locomotive come to a screeching halt just moments before it would have plunged over.

The disappearance of that huge tank sent out a blast of air that pushed people away. But seconds later a counterblast rushed in to fill the vacuum and pulled them back in.

But most of the damage was caused by the molasses itself. It splashed onto city streets in all directions, speeding as fast as a man could run. The molasses smashed freight cars, plowed over homes and warehouses and drowned both people and animals. A three story house was seen soaring through the air as well as a huge chunk of the shattered vat that landed in a park 200 feet away.

Rescuers were bogged down in the stuff and were scarcely able to move as the molasses sucked the boots right off their feet. Trapped horses coudn't be removed so they had to be shot to death. The black sticky stuff filled cellars for blocks around and it took months for the hydraulic syphons to pump it out. Salt water had to be sprayed on cobblestone streets, homes, and other buildings because fresh water would just wash off the stuff. For months afterwards, wherever people walked, their shoes stuck to the goo. Some people even claimed that on a hot day one could still smell molasses even after thirty years. source

Although it was a tragedy, there were some humorous aspects. It took great effort and innovation to clean up the mess--can you imagine the stink and the sticky mess on everything? As the source above stated, 30 years later, on a hot day you could still smell molasses. And for those who like rum, it resulted in a loss of millions of quarts of rum. Finally, the molasses flood happened just before prohibition was enacted. So, maybe you tipplers didn't lose that rum after all.

Obama Continues His Onslaught Against American Military Power

Earlier, I wrote about the Administration cutting back on the US Air Force air superiority fighter, the F-22. The F-22 is the only US fighter with the ability to penetrate the new Russian air defense system being sold around the world, including to Iran. On Feb. 14, I reported on Obama's efforts to kill our manned space program.

Now it is the global projection capabilities of our Navy. These cutbacks may force us to cede the eastern Pacific to the Chinese and prevent us from keeping our vital sea lanes open. Obama and his socialist lackeys must be voted out of office or impeached at the earliest possible time to prevent the destruction of our military power. America cannot protect us if Obama's efforts to gut the space program, our Air Force, and Navy are successful.

Here are some excerpts from a recent report.

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
Declining U.S. Navy facing Chinese challenge
Fleet's status creates door of vulnerability to other powers, terrorists
Posted: February 13, 2010
10:30 pm Eastern
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A growing Chinese fleet could keep the declining U.S. Navy out of the Western Pacific, according to an expert cited in a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The U.S. also could be faced with new military challenges around the globe because of the projection of power a growing Chinese navy would present.

Yet, the U.S. Navy has cut back the number and type of ships to the level it was prior to the Reagan administration. Indeed, the Navy hasn't been as small since the administration of William Howard Taft, according to naval expert Seth Cropsey.
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"The size, shape and strategy of the U.S. Navy are a critical element of America's position as the world's great power," Cropsey said. "Our ability to protect or rend asunder the globe's ocean-going lines of communication is inseparable from our position as the world's great power.

"But very few outside a small community of naval officers and selected military and foreign policy analysts appreciate the strategic results of American sea power's slow but steady diminution," he added. source.

America's Space Program is Dying

Obama is redistributing the wealth again, and our space program, national security, and manned space science are sacrificed for the Democrat dependency classes living off taxpayer funds. Obama is obsessive in his rush to weaken and destroy America.

Here are some excerpts explaining this devious and evil plan.

Closing the New Frontier
by Charles Krauthammer
By the end of this year, there will be no shuttle, no U.S. manned space program, no way for us to get into space. We're not talking about Mars or the moon here. We're talking about low-Earth orbit, which the U.S. has dominated for nearly half a century and from which it is now retiring with nary a whimper.

Our absence from low-Earth orbit was meant to last a few years, the interval between the retirement of the fatally fragile space shuttle and its replacement with the Constellation program (Ares booster, Orion capsule, Altair lunar lander) to take astronauts more cheaply and safely back to space.

But the Obama 2011 budget kills Constellation. Instead, we shall have nothing. For the first time since John Glenn flew in 1962, the U.S. will have no access of its own for humans into space -- and no prospect of getting there in the foreseeable future.

Of course, the administration presents the abdication as a great leap forward: Launching humans will now be turned over to the private sector, while NASA's efforts will be directed toward landing on Mars.

This is nonsense. It would be swell for private companies to take over launching astronauts. But they cannot do it. It's too expensive. It's too experimental. And the safety standards for actually getting people up and down reliably are just unreachably high.

Sure, decades from now there will be a robust private space-travel industry. But that is a long time. In the interim, space will be owned by Russia and then China. The president waxes seriously nationalist at the thought of China or India surpassing us in speculative "clean energy." Yet he is quite prepared to gratuitously give up our spectacular lead in human space exploration.

As for Mars, more nonsense. Mars is just too far away. And how do you get there without the stepping stones of Ares and Orion? If we can't afford an Ares rocket to get us into orbit and to the moon, how long will it take to develop a revolutionary new propulsion system that will take us not a quarter-million miles but 35 million miles?
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At the peak of the Apollo program, NASA was consuming almost 4 percent of the federal budget, which in terms of the 2011 budget is about $150 billion. Today the manned space program will die for want of $3 billion a year -- 1/300th of last year's stimulus package with its endless make-work projects that will leave not a trace on the national consciousness.
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Fifty years ago, Kennedy opened the New Frontier. Obama has just shut it. source.

Obama Seeks to Weaken and Destroy America

Obama does not want the US supreme in any area that's worthwhile or of scientific and military significance. The 2011 budget contains $4billion for the thugs, crooks, and vote-rigging in Acorn. But we cannot to continue our space program even at a tiny level. Instead, Obama redistributes the wealth from the space program to the thugs and crooks and welfare bums. Once the funds are in handouts to these Democrat dependency classes, will they ever return to science and space exploration? Not at all likely.

Earlier Obama and his lap dog Sec. Defense Gates killed US supremacy in air superiority fighters. We are also the only major nuclear power failing to upgrade and improve our nuclear deterrent. Even France, the UK, Russia, and China see the need for a viable nuclear deterrent. Obama winks and nods as the Islamic Republic of Iran races to get one, but the US cannot. Again, our national security is de-funded to satisfy the growing dependency classes, the something for nothing Democrat Plantation.

National security is the president's main constitutional responsibility. How can we stand by and let him abrogate the responsibility?

Illegal Alien, Undocumented Entrant, Undocumented White House Guest

When is an illegal alien not an illegal alien? Never.

When are White House Guests Undocumented? When they sneak in.

This video shows the hypocrisy of Obama. The White House can be guarded to protect his Precious. But we mere citizens cannot have our border guarded to protect us. Heavens no, that wouldn't be politically correct.

Enjoy the video.

America's First Line Air Force Capability Being Lost?

I Suspected this all along. Obama and his sycophant, Defense Sec. Gates, cancelled the first line, air superiority, stealth fighter, the F-22 in favor of a cheaper airplane, the F-35. You guessed it, another bad decision that will hurt America and prevent us from penetrating Iran's air space should we be forced to in the future.

The F-35, a one size fits all "money saver", is behind schedule and over budget. Meanwhile the F22 production will end due to "budget cuts and savings". I found some good links to Investor's Business Daily at Common Cents. I advise you to stop by Common Cents and check out this informative blog.

Here is the Information on the F-35

Defense: The administration decision to scrap a proven aircraft in favor of a supposedly cheaper, more flexible replacement is proving to be an expensive mistake. We may wind up defenseless and broke.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that was supposed to be America's frontline fighter for the foreseeable future is in big trouble. Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the general in charge of the program this week amid concerns of spiraling costs and program delays.
Gates also announced he is withholding $614 million in fees from the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. Daniel J. Crowley, one of Lockheed Martin's project managers, has acknowledged that the program is running at least six months behind schedule.
Gates was questioned about the program at a Senate hearing on Tuesday. He said he was unaware of a report by a special Pentagon assessment team in late 2008 that found development of the plane could be delayed by 2 1/2 years with $16.6 billion in cost overruns. Judging by his decisions, he is not unaware that the F-35 program, designed to fill the needs of all three services, is in trouble.
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The Raptor is perhaps the only plane that could evade the sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system Russia has contracted to sell Iran. "Only the F-22 can survive in airspace defended by increasingly capable surface-to-air missiles," declares Air Force Association President Mike Dunn. source

Some Say Incompetence and Some Say Deliberate

The Obama reverse Midas touch continues. Everything he tries to do fails, and it fails at the expense of the American people, our taxpayers, and our national security.

Is it incompetence or deliberate weakening of America as part of redistributing the wealth and paving the way for socialism in America?

The Value of a Free Press (more or less)

Mexico is a failed state. The governments of Mexico and America might deny it, but unlike in America, there is a free press in Mexico, and they report the barbarism. While our government press paints rosy pictures and writes tear-jerker stories about illegal aliens, the press in Mexico reports the facts and statistics. I wonder how long Obama, Pelosi, and Reid would last if our country had a free press?

Here is an example of the level of barbarism, murder, and crime destroying Mexico, and flowing across our borders. No patriotic American could support amnesty and illegal immigration and help bring more of the vicious killers, kidnappers, and beheading monsters here to America. Watch for Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and McCain to put on a full court press for amnesty and keeping our borders open before the end of this year.

How long do you think it is between execution murders in Mexico? A week, a few days, a day, or every 48 minutes? If you guessed every 48 minutes you would be correct.

El Universal (Mexico City) 2/4/10
An execution-style homicide every 48 minutes
The war carried out by organized crime in Mexico has already resulted in the death of 1,000 persons this year, an average of one death every 48 minutes. Statistics kept by this paper show that, in 2005, it took until September 11 to reach the same number of victims; by 2006, the date had moved up to June 30; in 2007 it happened earlier yet, on May 14; in 2008, on April 22, and in 2009, on February 20. The rest of the article goes on to report the number and locations of the very latest assassinations around the country, including eleven in Tijuana within the last 48 hours. source, 5Feb2010

Scary Stories for Friday

Scary facts.

Soon there may be so many government workers and programs that they will become more of the economy than the private sector. Only 54% of the economy is in the private sector now. I hope you find this downright scary. Why? When it tips over and the government part of the economy is larger than the than private sector's part, who will support the government?

The government makes nothing, produces nothing, and thus, lives off the private sector. What happens to America when there is more of the economy in government than in the private sector? Shortages? Hyper-inflation, war? I guess many things could happen, none of them good.

The United States had 2.3 state and local government employees per 100 citizens in 1946 and has 6.5 state and local government employees per 100 citizens now. In 1947, Hodges writes, 78 percent of the national income went to the private sector, 16 percent to the federal sector, and 6 percent to the state and local government sector. Now 54 percent of the economy is private, 28 percent goes to the feds, and 18 percent goes to state and local governments. The trend lines are ominous. Source

The Top 10 Songs of the 1950s: Nos. 7-10

The Top 10 songs (plus one) of the 1950s as rated by LomaAlta from the Desert Highlands, Baxter Dogg from Along the Great Divide, and Cash Box.

This post contains top hits numbers 7 –10 of the best Rock n Roll songs of the 1950’s. Subsequent posts will start with the 1960’s.

Video performances of these songs are in the links at the end of the descriptive paragraphs.

Somewhere during the 60’s Rock n Roll became just “Rock”. But remember the 1950’s is when it all started, a significant cultural development that was new and unique. Rock n Roll spread American culture around the world and along the way became Rock.

Who Wrote The Book Of Love
The Monotones 1958, Rank: 7
It wouldn’t be the fifties without some doo-wop. This song was the only one by the Monotones to make the charts so they are considered a one-hit wonder. Groups like the Monotones were characterized by multi-part harmony with the back-up singers carrying the melody with nonsense syllables. Shoobie-du-wa-doo-wop.
Here

Jailhouse Rock
Elvis Presley 1957, Rank: 8
OK, here’s another song by Elvis, but after all, he did dominate the decade. This is another song that the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame lists among the “500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll”. While most of his contemporaries were building their careers by touring the frozen heartland for live performances at high school gymnasiums and National Guard armories, Elvis took a much different route. He introduced many of his new songs in movie musicals. This song has also been covered by a long and diverse list of performers – Mötley Crűe to ZZ Top.
Here

Rock Around The Clock
Bill Haley & His Comets 1954, Rank: 9
Rock-n-Roll is a blend of Rhythm and Blues with Country and Western. Bill Haley is from the Country side of the marriage. On his 1951 cover of “Rocket 88” his backup group was The Saddlemen. But “Rock Around The Clock” was another important song in establishing Rock-n-Roll as a unique music style, and it came at the dawn of the era.
Here

That’ll Be The Day
Buddy Holly & The Crickets 1957, Rank: 10
A line John Wayne used often in “The Searchers” inspired this song. Buddy Holly is another of the pioneers who established Rock-n-Roll. Paul McCartney readily acknowledges the influence Buddy Holly had on the Beatles. “That’ll Be The Day” is the first song the Beatles recorded as a group. Holly also influenced many other major stars from the sixties and seventies. And as John Milner said in “American Graffiti”, “Rock-n-roll has been going downhill ever since Buddy Holly died”.
Here