Caracatus

Monday, 7 December 2015

Plotting Hitlers Death

Plotting Hitlers Death - The German Resistance to Hitler 1933-1945 by Joachim Fest.

An incredibly well researched and well written book. In fact the title is misleading in that it covers only resistance to Hitler in the German Military.

It is fascinating in that it the covers no just Operation Valkyrie, the most well know assassination attempt against Hitler, but also other attempts that failed. It considers the actions and motives of the key people involved in the military resistance, both were complex. It gives a clear guide to their world view and the many reasons why the attempts were often cancelled or unsuccessful.

In the end the motivation became

It is a book with unexpected heroism - two plotters telling the Gestapo nothing for 6 days despite unimaginable torture. Other plotters gave themselves up either naively thinking they would be put on trial or just showing by surrendering that they disagreed with the Nazis, something the Nazis found almost incomprehensible.

Thursday, 26 November 2015

Agent orange

I was seventeen - just a teenage kid,
The year that I enlisted.
I can't remember why I did;
My mom said, "I insisted".
I had some strange idea then,
That Uncle Sam was right.
Oh, momma cried, but she signed the card,
And then I went off to fight.

Got off the plane in Vietnam;
It didn't seem like war.
With all I saw, I started to wonder
What I had come there for.

Some officers got drunk at night,
And cheated on their wives.
And the peasants on the other side,
Were just strugglin' for their lives.

Oh, the Army tried some fancy stuff,
To bring them to their knees;
Like Agent Orange defoliants,
To kill the brush and trees.

We'd hike all day on jungle trails,
Through clouds of poison spray;
And they never told me then,
That it would hurt my health today.

But I got the news this mornin',
Yeah, the doctors told me so;
They killed me in Vietnam,
And I didn't even know.

I tried hard to forget the war,
Like everybody did.
Settled down, got married;
Even had a couple o' kids.

Well my children both have birth defects,
And the doctors had their doubts;
They never could understand it;
But I think I figured it out.

'Cause I got the news this mornin',
Yeah, the doctors told me so;
They killed me in Vietnam,
And I didn't even know.

This Agent Orange from Vietnam,
We carry it with us, still;
It stays inside for years and years,
Before it starts to kill.

You might get cancer of the liver;
You might get cancer of the skin;
You can file for disability,
But you might not live to win.

Oh, I got the news this mornin',
Yeah, the doctors told me so;
They killed me in Vietnam,
And I didn't even know.

Oh, the doctors said I've got some time,
Trying to be kind;
I've never been a radical,
But this has changed my mind.

Oh, I'd be so proud to hear my kid say
"Hell no, I won't go",
Because you killed my dad in Vietnam;
And he didn't even know.

Yes, I'd be so proud to hear my kid say
"Hell no, I won't go",
Because you killed my dad in Vietnam;
And he didn't even know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk8umoqfz14

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Camerons Arse from Elbow problems

David Cameron has just denounced Peers of being composed of the unelected and unelectable.
(understandably missing out the criticism usually levelled that they are major party donors and cronies)

Cameron has appointed 246 Peers since becoming Prime Minister - that's more than any other Prime Minister and almost 1/3 of current peers.

Here's a guide for the PM, your elbow is the bit you don't talk out of.

Monday, 19 October 2015

the state shouldn't fund religious schools

https://humanism.org.uk/2015/10/13/jewish-state-school-ordered-to-stop-selecting-children-based-on-details-of-parents-sex-life/?utm_source=BHA+E-Bulletin+2014&utm_campaign=238df7a9c6-BHA_e_bulletin_2015_09_079_2_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_18eb1c5509-238df7a9c6-263754141

where have all the scroungers gone ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3279222/How-13BILLION-benefits-not-claimed-year-including-half-people-dole.html

Benefits worth more than £13billion are going unclaimed every year, including almost half of jobless people missing out on the dole.

The vast amount in unpaid income support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, housing benefit and pension credit is more than the entire sum George Osborne is trying to cut from the welfare budget.

More shocking evidence, yes I know its the daily Mail but it is from an official Government reply, huge numbers of people not claiming the benefits to which they are entitled. From people I talk too, claiming job seekers allowance is made particularly unpleasant. Lets not pretend that most of this is because people can afford to go without the money.