The Revolution . . . beginning?

I sense a revolution brewing within our nation. All the signs are there. An unhappy public, legislators who don’t listen . . . and tasks that do not get done.

The revolution I see is not against the Republican Party, or the Democratic Party. It’s against the government; the legislators whom we have trusted to represent our interests and who, instead, represent either their own interests or that of big monied lobbyists. That collective group forms “the government” or, at least, that element of the government that lots of angy Americans are ready to jettison, by whatever means. Revolutions are not gentle things; they are demanding of change. The execution of that revolution can get mighty dangerous and could well lead to violence, not unlike the revolution our nation went through in the 1700’s.

While most of us remember 1776, that was the year we declared our Independence. In fact, there were a number of years where the British Parliament pushed, and pushed, and pushed . . .and did not listen, did not listen, did not listen to the angry colonists. It all began around 1764 when Britain began throwing its weight around and imposing unreasonable restrictions on the colonists. First it was the Sugar Act, then the Quartering Act, then the Stamp Act. The British Government pushed, pushed, pushed and did not listen, listen, listen. The colonists took it. For awhile.

It was not until six years later, in 1770, when violence finally erupted with the Boston Massacre. More and more violence followed and while we declared our Independence in 1776, peace did not come until 1783 when our new Congress ratified the Peace Treaty. Britain was beaten!

A governmental body that push, push, pushes . . . and doesn’t listen, listen, listen. Doest that now begin to sound familiar?

If the federal government wants to avoid another revolution, this one with and within its own nation, it needs to start listening to the people and to respond to the needs of the people. Otherwise, I fear, all hell will break loose. It won’t happen this year. Maybe not next year. But I expect to see another American Revolution within my lifetime . . . at least within the lifetime I have left.

Bottom line: It is time for our federal legislators to start listening, to examine their own integrity as to their representation of the people, not lobbyists, and they need to take action and get meaningful legislative work done. This nation is hurting.

Federal legislators need to wake up and recognize that America is speaking and they are not listening. They ignore America at their own peril. A nation will only hurt so much and then the people will take action. The end result, history shows us, is not always pretty. Think Mussolini. Think Ceacescue.

This Weather Business . . .

WEATHER REPORT:

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in
some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a
report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Ifft, at
Bergen , Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers
all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto
unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions
report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees
29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf
stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by
moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many
points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals
and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals
of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north,
are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few
years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and
make most coastal cities uninhabitable.


I'm sorry, I neglected to mention that this report was from November
2, 1922 as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post ...

Thought provoking . . .

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She
hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see
the world, I would marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her
boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who
was always by their side in the most painful situations.
Life Is a Gift

Today Don't judge people for a mistake made and think about when you were judged when you made one and how good you felt when you were forgiven!

Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't
speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone
who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone
who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went
too early to heaven.

Before whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who
walks the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your
job..

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on
your face and think: you're alive and still around.

Our Psychic Reading . . .

First time I've ever had it done.

We went to our psychic reading today, me at 10am, Evelyn at 11am. It was her Christmas present to me, and a present to herself as well.

While I tend to be something of a skeptic I found myself looking forward to this adventure. It was something I had never done before, but wondered about. I have read a great deal about Edgar Cayce and I suspect there are lots of things "out there" that we don't yet either understand or know about. I'm also aware, however, there are also a lot of charlatans about, eager to take your money on a regular basis.

I recall a local liquor store owner, a Yugoslavian immigrant, who lost about $50,000 or more to a fortune teller. I knew him fairly well and knew him to be a fairly sharp businessman. It surprised me that such a sharp guy could be taken in by a fortune teller. He has now passed on to the Great Perhaps, so maybe he's confirming all the things he was told by his fortune teller . . . or finding it was all a bunch of hooey.

So, I had my guard up . . . but also my pursuit of a possible interesting story, as well as the curiousity aroused by my readings of Cayce, all pushed me forward.

Our psychic is a British gent who lives in Harmony Grove, a spiritualist retreat just outside of Escondido, Ca., where we live. I've known about Harmony Grove for quite some time . . . but have never visited there or looking into their spiritualist activities.

He has a pleasant, unpretentious little home within the compound. A private, comfortable decorated little antechamber where you are seated in a comfortable cushioned chair, facing him. There are many artificats within the room, mostly of Asian origin, several Buddha statues. No music, no incense, no tinkling of bells, Just a nice, quiet, relaxing room.

He provides a tape recording of the session. Advises you that he may ask you a question from time to time and he desires only a yes or no answer.

He advises you that you will be subjected to a standard required (by him) opening commentary (from him) that deals with the adventure about which we are to embark upon, the philosophy behind it and a bit about the working of the spirit, and the spirit world, as he sees it. He also tells you to not take it personally but he will close his eyes during the entire reading.

He then closes his eyes, concentrates for a few moments and then begins his commentary. I noticed his voice pattern changed and he was much more British in his voice inflection than when we first met him. We could recognize his British accent upon meeting, but now it was more formal, more precise, more pronounced.

His opening narration must have consumed a good 20-30 minutes of the hearing. He then began to address me, my past, my present, and my future.

He would ask questions and I would respond.

He pretty much hit the mark on a number of areas, missed completely on several.

He established rather quickly that my dad's spirit was in the room (he died about two years ago) and that we were quite close, that dad was very proud of me, that I had accomplished so much more in life than had dad, and that dad felt badly that he had not shown and expressed more emotion and affection in his earthly life. He did care a great deal about me but found difficulty expressing that affection. (Dad was a farm kid from the old order. It wasn't manly to show affection, or to cry. I think he only told me once, maybe twice, that he loved me. He didn't really need to. I always knew. We were tight. Very tight).

He picked up on mom and I not getting along that well (we fought like cats and dogs), that I had inherited a lot from my mother (I'm stubborn as hell and have a sometimes bad temper . . . and I do not forget slights easily). My mom was in the room and she was telling, through him, that she recognized she had been difficult and had done a lot of things wrong and asked forgiveness and forgave me for any pain I might have caused her.

He then went into my health. He picked up on my diabetes right away, recognizing I had sugar problems (blood sugar). He picked up on me eating food that wasn't good for me, that I needed to get with a nutritionist, that I didn't have great will power, that he saw me living into my mid 90's, provided I get my eating/exercise habits back to the point that I was once again in shape.

He asked about kidney stones (I had one about three or four years ago) and said he was concerned I had too much calcium in my system, much of which was caused by medication that I'm on, that I should re-examine my medication; also, that I may have a re-occurence of this or similar problems. In fact, I'm currently awaiting an ultrasound exam to determine if I have a bad gall bladder (stones) which may have to be removed surgically. For almost three weeks I've had moderate, constant pain around my right-side upper chest and back, radiating from back to front and back again. MD thinks it's gall bladder, awaiting tests to confirm. The psychic had no way of knowing this.

He also recommended I explore accupuncture or accupressure and preferably with an Asian trained in the art(s). (I am open to this).

He recognized that Evelyn and I had been together for eight years (true . . . a bit closer to nine, now), that we had bonded well and that it was a good, healthy match. He later confirmed, during Evelyn's reading, that we had a good, solid match, that I was a stubborn old coot, and that we had each known one another in a prior life (also consistent with Edgar Cayce's readings).

He said he saw that I was an "old soul," that I had been here before in another life, that I had come back as a matter of karma to complete an assignment/mission that I had in a prior life (I have often and long felt this, sometimes reflecting back on a prior lifetime, sometimes having extremely strong feelings of 'deja vu,' that I had been here before in a similar circumstance. He also saw a powder blue aura surrounding me, from head to toe, which signified that I am a healer, that my hands, in particular, had great healing powers (I have never sensed this).

He said my current career was a vehicle through which I could help accomplish my goals and mission in life, and that part of my mission was to educate and spread information to people. (He did not know I edited and published a newspaper).

He missed on a couple of areas. He asked about a black labrador in my life (there is/was none that I can recall) or a German Shepherd (same . . isn't/wasn't such an animal) . . .did I know a William, or Bill, that had passed. I don't. Or a George. I don't. Not that has passed, anyway.

And the hour was over. Evelyn then went in for her reading and I ran a few errands and read while waiting for her. Not sure if she wants to share her experiences or not. That's up to her.

I may study this issue a bit more, perhaps wind up doing a story on it. Just not sure yet. This world is a difficult one in which to get accurate, reliable information. One does not know who is legitimate and who is a wandering gypsy with tales to tale and dreams to sell.

I'll take a few days to think and research, and then decide.

Will keep you posted.

Las Vegas - the memory . . .

A fascinating trip down memory lane . . . from MarkRothman's Blog:

(http://markrothmansblog.blogspot.com/

When Las Vegas was Worth It

The title of this article would imply that Las Vegas is now NOT worth it.
This is an accurate implication.

Las Vegas is now 14 versions of Cirque du Soleil.

Las Vegas is now people lined up around the block 3 times deep to spend way too much to see Celine Deon.

It's Strip traffic that never moves.

It's Siegfried without Roy.

It's a place where someone named Danny Gans is famous.

It's so overbuilt and bloated and mean-spirited that it would be better off if it was robbed of all it's personality (which would be petty theft) .

With all the other places in the country to gamble, I really can't fathom why anybody goes there.
It wasn't always that way.

Now, I'm not talking about the Rat Pack Days.
I'm not that old to remember it, although I'm sure it was everything they say it was.

I started going there in the early '70's, and I loved everything about it.
The gambling, the shows, the generosity of the freebies if you gambled, the clean air, the room to breathe....it was really something.
For me, it was what Disneyland is for kids.

And I got to see all the great shows.
And all the cheesy shows.
For free.
And even the cheesy shows had something wonderfully awful about them.

There were two performers of whom it was always said "I know they don't seem like much on TV, but you have to see them live"----Wayne Newton and Shecky Greene.

Well, I got to see them both live in Vegas in the '70's.
And they were both perfectly awful.

Wayne Newton wasn't any less schlocky, and Shecky Greene worked so hard for the four laughs he got over the course of an hour-and-a-half that I really felt bad for him.

But I wouldn't have missed either of them for the world.

Capsule reminiscences:

Elvis. Great. Mostly, you were overwhelmed by the event.

Streisand. Ditto.

Rodney. Always pissing funny. Saw him probably four times. Always different material.

Cosby. Did less than an hour, seated in an easy chair. With no opening act.
Completely phoned it in. Probably just an off-night.

Sammy. I don't know, I just didn't get it.
I've seen him in other contexts, where he was magnificent.
"Golden Boy" on Broadway in the '60's.
Sensational.
He made some great recordings.
He was a wonderful actor.
He certainly was amazingly talented and versatile.
But in this venue, it just didn't work for me.
I was seated in a booth with 3 women I didn't know, and they were just gushing throughout.
I kept thinking "What?!".
I just couldn't get past the phoniness.
I guess I just turned out not to be a fan of Sammy Davis in Concert.
Not his fault.
All these things are subjective.
I went mainly to see Rosemary Clooney, who opened for him.
She was magnificent.

Tony Bennett. Less is more.
He did over two hours, and it felt repetitious after an hour.
Rosemary Clooney used to mock-complain that whenever she was up for a Grammy, she'd lose to Tony Bennett.
But the Grammy voters were right.
Tony Bennett was a much better recording artist, and Rosemary Clooney was far superior in person.

Bob Newhart. Completely professional, polished, genuinely funny, delightful.

Alan King. Ditto.

George Carlin. Always funny, but the material invariably showed up on his next HBO special. He used Vegas to break it in.
And he always had a bad opening act.

Liza. If you sit too close, you could see the sweat pouring off of her.
If you saw her more than once in the run, you were aware that she does precisely the same show every night.
Spontanaiety does not exist.

Rickles. Saw him three times. Invariably disappointing.
I think I kept going back because I figured "It has to be me".
You don't want to sit close enough to the stage to become a target.

Rickles was funny when he was Nobody picking on Somebody.
Or Nobody picking on Nobody.
Or Somebody picking on Somebody.
When he was on Carson or Dean Martin, he was great.
When he's on Letterman or Leno, he's great.
I'm sure when he was a Lounge comic picking on drunks, he was great.
But when I saw him in Vegas, he was this Big Star picking on tourists.

It's overkill, and embarrassing.
The Emmy-winning documentary about him captured it pretty accurately, but there's no reason for him to be proud of it.

Sinatra. Magic. Awesome.
Saw him three times. Always sensational.
One of those times, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald appeared with him.
Permit me a digression: Am I the only one in the United States who doesn't see what the shouting is about with Ella Fitzgerald?
Yes, she's a quite technically proficient scat-singer.
But no better than Mel Torme.
Her attempts at ballads are always sugary, syrupy, and completely devoid of personality.
I've never known anything about this woman through her music, other than her reputation as Madame Queen.
Why other singers and musicians roll over and play dead for her is beyond me.
What am I missing?

Louis Prima. We will never see his likes again, and that's a damned shame.

Harry Belafonte. Ditto.

Buddy Hackett. Easily the most consistently, explosively funny Vegas comedian ever.
Saw him like four times.
One time stands out, for a couple of reasons.
Danny Thomas showed up to watch him, with what appeared to be a thousand-a-night hooker on his arm.
I was with a couple of my less-than-hip friends who couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Mr. Wholesome. Mr. Family Man. Mr. Make Room For Daddy.
I said "Believe it".
One of the friends, clutching at perhaps too many straws, said, out loud, I swear, "Maybe she's a friend of Marlo's".
I swear.

The other reason it stands out is that three days later I was back in L.A., hanging out at the Comedy Store.
This was in it's early days. When it was a breeding ground for Letterman, Robin Williams, really great people.
I saw Richard Pryor there once.

A comedian was announced, got up on stage, and immediately launched into Buddy Hackett's act, verbatim.
The same material I just saw three days previously.
And he was bombing with it.
That only slightly mitigated my outrage.
I felt like standing up and shouting "You're doing Buddy Hackett's act! Badly!".
I restrained myself.
But I made sure to catch his name after he got done.
The emcee said "How about a nice hand for Kenny Kramer, folks".

I decided to remember that name and that face.
I was already in a position to decide who to cast or not cast on the sitcoms I was working on, and he was never to get in the door.

Cut to: The '90's. Seinfeld's show became popular, Entertainment Tonight sought out the real Kramer.
The one the character was based on.
Or, more likely, he sought them out.
They interviewed him.
Hopefully you are ahead of me at this point.
Yes, it was Kenny Kramer.

He was trying to cash in on Seinfeld's success by conducting guided tours of Seinfeld haunts.

It was very nice to see him not doing too well.

Welcome to America!

by lyle e davis

It seems to me we’ve been going about this problem with illegal immigration all wrong.

There has to be a better, more efficient way to both run and protect our country and, at the same time, extend a warm welcome and a helping hand to those qualified individuals who want to become part of our country, even if ony temporarily.

Barack Obama, George W. Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, and those presidents who preceded them, were not the first president to face a full-blown immigration crisis on the US-Mexican border.

What if we turned our policies around and worked at welcoming immigrants to America? Legal immigrants, of course. Immigrants who have been checked by our Immigration and Naturalization Service and found to be fit to permit entry into our nation. Chances are, if we diverted a lot of our ICE personnel to a task of vetting and welcoming new, qualified immigrants, we could do a whole lot more with the budget than is presently being done.

What if we had a large, nationwide organization called “Welcome to America?” Or, “Bienvenidos a America?”

And what if we helped legal immigrants enter our country? Immigrants who had gone through the formal process and waiting period? Immigrants, perhaps, that had talents our nation needs? Or labor skills we need? Or strong bodies to work in the fields and manufacturing plants?

What if?

Well, there already is an organization that is designed and equipped to do just that. We just need to make more use of it. It is called Welcome toUSA.gov and is found on the Internet at: http://www.welcometousa.gov/

This program is administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and is the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States.

We’ll come back to this program later in this commentary. How would we deal with those illegal immigrants who are already here?

President Dwight David Eisenhower handled that task quite decisively and quickly 55 years ago when the newly elected president moved into the White House. America's southern frontier was as porous as a spaghetti sieve. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points beyond.

President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents – less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol.

Bill Chambers, who worked for a combined 33 years for the Border Patrol and the then-called US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), says politically powerful people are still fueling the flow of illegals. During the 1950s, however, this "Good Old Boy" system changed under Eisenhower – if only for about 10 years.

Eisenhower was a man of decisive action. He had just led the successful prosecution of a major world war in Europe. He was used to giving orders and then delegating the responsibility for enforcing those orders to people who he needed to get the job done. He saw a problem, developed a strategy to solve it, then executed the strategy.

In 1954, Ike appointed retired Gen. Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing, a former West Point classmate and veteran of the 101st Airborne, as the new INS commissioner.

Learn what "Ike" and General "Jumpin' Joe" Swing did to solve the illegal immigration problem then - and perhaps consider that policy as a guide for the problems we face today.

It's all outlined in this week's cover story of The Paper. Just go here:

www.thecommunitypaper.com

'It dawned on me. It's freedom.'

Kitty Werthmann is a conservative speaker, and while she is making a bit of a case for her political agenda, the story is compelling. At first I suspected she was making a comparison between Obama and Hitler, but this was published in 2003, well before Obama was a nationally known political figure.

THIS IS WELL WORTH THE TIME TO READ!

'It dawned on me. It's freedom' by Kitty Werthmann

For the
Argus Leader
published: 3/11/2003

Kitty Werthmann, 77, of Pierre, is president of the South Dakota Eagle Forum. She lobbies the state Legislature on family issues. She has lived in the United States since 1950 and has been a U.S. citizen since 1962.

Kitty tells this story of her arrival in the United States:
"I was processed in New York. I stayed in a hotel the first night, and the next morning asked the concierge for directions to the nearest police station. I asked if it was in walking distance, and it was.

"I walked in and told the desk sergeant I wanted to register. He said, 'What are you talking about?' I said I wanted to register, so they'd know where I was. How would they find me if I broke the law? He said don't worry, they'd find me. And then he said, 'Lady, get the hell out of here.'

"I walked outside and it was a January day with a blue sky. 'It dawned on me. It's freedom'

America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don’t Let Freedom Slip Away!


This is her story



What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or will ever read in history books.

I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide – 98% of the vote. I’ve never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.

In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need.. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.

The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna, Linz, and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.

We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler..

We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.

After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.

Hitler Targets Education – Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag.. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang “Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,”and had physical education.

Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.

My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established.. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps.. At the same time, a full-employ-ment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna. After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full.. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

“Mercy Killing” Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van.. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesick-ness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.. No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.

After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria. Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn’t destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth.. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn’t, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.

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