by Ron Gaudio
Albert Speer was a talented, young architect in Germany when he caught the attention of a charismatic politician named Adolph Hitler. The star-struck Speer was drafted to be a part of Hitler’s inner circle. Hitler, once an aspiring architect himself, greatly admired Speer’s ability. When Hitler came to power, Speer was put to work building the structures that represented the Third Reich such as the Reich Chancellery. To Speer, this was a dream come true. His parents tried to warn him about this new, charismatic leader, but they didn’t understand that opportunities like this present themselves only once in a lifetime.
When the war started, Speer realized that sometimes war is necessary to protect the welfare and honor of a country. He thought about the recent threats to the Germany, both internal and external. Hitler’s political enemies burned the Reichstag. The Polish army destroyed a German radio station on the border. (Of course, we now know that both of these events were false flag operations perpetrated by Hitler himself.)
When the war intensified, Hitler pulled Speer off of architecture and put him in charge of armaments and munitions. This was an area that he had little experience, but he would do anything for his Fuhrer. After all, Hitler had the safety and security of the Heimatland (translated “homeland”) in mind. It also made sense to round up those undesirables — Jews and others — who were a threat to the liberties of the German nation. It was appropriate for them to be put in work camps so that they could contribute to the German cause. Speer was in charge of this forced labor. There were rumors, of course, that terrible atrocities were occurring there, but Speer had no time to verify these and besides, one should not believe every rumor, especially in time of war.
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January 30th, 2010 | Posted in Web-Only Content | Read More »
by Ron Gaudio
Jan 20th, 2010
Davy Crockett (1786-1836), was an American legend, remembered especially for his bravery in the battle of the Alamo. But there was a far more significant battle that he fought to preserve the liberties of American citizens, back in the time when politicians took the Constitution seriously.
One day, when Davy Crockett was serving in the House of Representatives, a bill came up to appropriate money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. As usual in Congress, flowery speeches were made, not so much to convince the House, since most felt that it would pass easily, but to afford the opportunity to connect ones name with the popular bill. Before the Speaker called for the vote, Representative Crockett arose and what he said surprised his colleagues:
“Mr. Speaker — I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. This government can owe no debts but for services rendered, and at a stipulated price. If it is a debt, how much is it? Has it been audited, and the amount due ascertained? If it is a debt, this is not the place to present it for payment, or to have its merits examined. If it is a debt, we owe more than we can ever hope to pay, for we owe the widow of every soldier who fought in the War of 1812 precisely the same amount. There is a woman in my neighborhood, the widow of as gallant a man as ever shouldered a musket. He fell in battle. She is as good in every respect as this lady, and is as poor. She is earning her daily bread by her daily labor; but if I were to introduce a bill to appropriate five or ten thousand dollars for her benefit, I should be laughed at, and my bill would not get five votes in this House. There are thousands of widows in the country just such as the one I have spoken of, but we never hear of any of these large debts to them. Sir, this is no debt. The government did not owe it to the deceased when he was alive; it could not contract it after he died. I do not wish to be rude, but I must be plain. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much of our own money as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.”
January 20th, 2010 | Posted in Print Edition | Read More »
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