Other questions arise. If Britain endured six years of war and hundreds of thousands of dead in a war she declared to defend Polish freedom, and Polish freedom was lost to communism, how can we say Britain won the war?
-Pat Buchanan, The Death of the West
So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. - Peter Drucker Working Wounded Blog: Baby Boomer Bye-Bye
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Who cares, indeed, Pat? Last Supper before 'Nuclear Option'
In the Bush vs. Putin debate on World War II, Putin had far the more difficult assignment. Defending Russia's record in the "Great Patriotic War," the Russian president declared, "Our people not only defended their homeland, they liberated 11 European countries."
Those countries are, presumably: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia (thanks to the Soviet Union cancer it no longer exists), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Finland.
To ascertain whether Moscow truly liberated those lands, we might survey the sons and daughters of the generation that survived liberation by a Red Army that pillaged, raped and murdered its way westward across Europe. As at Katyn Forest, that army eradicated the real heroes who fought to retain the national and Christian character of their countries.
I mean, the Sudeten Germans wanted Hitler, right? So they were better off than the Czechoslovaks, who had Stalin's tyranny imposed on them. Oops!
• I've seen this answer before -- in more ways than one! Did FDR and Churchill sell out Eastern Europe? You're damn right they did. [In the sweatshops of Africa and Asia, workers toil for meager pay to sew clothes for the rest of us. Better than whoring or picking garbage, perhaps, except Defending Sweatshops ; Steven Levitt aims to show us the freakish truth about the way the world actually is, whether we like it or not. Freak Out!]
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• · · Former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Jim Wright sees the battle brewing over renewal of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act as "one of the most fundamental in defining [our] national character" and cautions against a willingness to give up "essential" liberty out of fear. This Op-Ed column originally appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on April 10 Former Speaker of the House Cautions Against Giving Up Liberty for Safety ; I'm innocent, says baggage handler ; He calls himself a humble garbage collector, but police know Michael Hurley as organised crime's head honcho. Michael Hurley and Les Mara have been as thick as thieves, literally Slipping the net: the life and crimes of Mr Big
• · · · If you have trouble remembering the last time someone debated Vaclav Klaus, you are not alone Klaus is the one-man debate king ; When does a president's personal opinion become public policy? Whom does Vaclav Klaus serve?
• · · · · This guy probably came as close as he could come without getting shot out of the air Confused Fliers Trigger Capital Scare ; Blogger Ernest Miller argues that Michigan appellate court's decision involving a joke-telling penis represents "a serious attack on the First Amendment": You can access his post, at Corante's "The Importance of..." blog. As regular readers may recall, I have long predicted that important First Amendment rights would end not with a bang, but with a joke-telling penis How Applealing: Howard Bashman
• · · · · · Extreme sports is big business in the West. One firm is betting on the Czech market to explode. High risk ; We're talking about drugs making the difference between life and death Who gets to see politicians and doctors first, you or the drug industry?