CAUTION: This post contains graphic photos.

I have been following the health care debate, if you want to call it that, and find myself increasingly disturbed and disgusted by the lack of decorum and common sense.  While I was quite amused by the ways in which the manipulative and disingenuous ways of the political and religious right were playing themselves out on the national stage, I have grown increasingly alarmed by the dangerous rhetoric that has emerged over the last few days. I would like to believe that the political elements powering this monster are unaware of the inevitable ramifications of going down this road will lead us to. However, I am jaded enough to know that they are keenly aware and even intend for such destructive outcomes. So, I am throwing my commentary into the pot!

I come from the country that actually had concentration camps and gas chambers – Arbeitsdorf, Bergen-Belsen, Berlin-Marzahn, Bretenau, Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenbuerg, Hinzert, Kauferin/Landsberg, Langentein-Zweiberge, Malchow, Mittlebau-Dora, Neuengamme, Niederhagen, Ohrdurf, Osthofen, Ravensbrueck and Sachsenhausen.

I come from a country where more than 6 million, Jews, blacks, Roma and other ethnic groups were murdered because they looked, believed and acted differently from the desired norm. I come from a country that to this day persecutes people who are different, a country in which the NPD (Nationalist Party Germany aka Neo Nazis) continues to feel empowered to wreak havoc on religious and ethnic minorities. Why shouldn’t they? Our political leaders and law enforcement rarely feel inclined to condemn or curb their actions.

The country I came from did this:

…and this:

ohhh…and this:

Those of you who liken Obama to Hitler and compare this Administration’s attempt to provide all Americans – rich and poor, young and old, white, black, latino, asian, mixed – with access to quality health care, to the policies and “services” provided by the Nazi regime, are reckless, deplorable, and vile!

I try not to write blog posts when I am angry. Experience has taught me that it rarely ends well. But, I am angry and I am going to break this rule tonight. The escalating lunacy leaves me with few other options, at least viable ones that will allow me to sleep at night. Can we even call this insanity a debate? At first the grand standing at town hall meetings seemed predictable, silly, pathetic. It clearly smelled of the beltway machine, not grass roots mobilization.  And then came the references to Nazi German, Pol Pot, Stalin and the like. If this weren’t extreme enough, these lunatics begin to show up at town halls armed with semi-automatic weapons. Has the world gone mad?

Yesterday, a woman asked Rep. Frank, a Jew, why he was supporting Obama’s Hitler-esque policies. Not like the semi-automatic fun slinging, hate speech shouting tantrums weren’t enough, but this really does go too far! You wave your bibles and guns but have no sense of decency, propriety, core values, morals, ethics,…common sense! You need to think before you allow for such stupidity to leave your mouth. At least contemplate (if not comprehend) the ramifications of your words and actions. Tens of thousands of Americans are living survivors or descendants of survivors and victims of the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge, Stalin’s Gulags. You cannot even begin to comprehend the suffering countless human beings endured under these abominable creatures.

I am most disturbed by the lack of condemnation coming from the GOP camp.  Their silence, and at times approval, of these fear tactics and lies, will eventually lead to disaster. It is not a question of “if” but “when”! This will not remain an exercise in rhetoric of violence, but will eventually escalate to violent acts. When that happens, the GOP will be to blame! Get your people under control before someone gets hurt, or worse yet, is murdered.

First it’s this:

And this:

Left unchecked, it will turn into this:

and…this:

With that being said, let me tell you a bit about Nazi Germany! Obama doesn’t want to kill grandma, your second cousin twice removed or your dog named Buddy! There are no death panels, abortion mandates, or forced sterilization. I came  from a country that did this, got a slap on the wrist and still, without any ramifications, still discriminates against people within its borders who look, believe and act differently from what has been put forth as authentically German.

The right would like to scare everyone into believing that the intent of the Obama Administration is to replicate this.  Such notions are abominable and reprehensible! If anything, the right is using  chapters out of Hitler’s book – inciting fear, condoning hate speech and violent rhetoric. It isn’t a far leap from this to committing violence against an imaginary and artificially constructed enemy! What other message can be construed from bringing an automatic weapon to President Obama’s town hall meeting?

Now, before the NRA gets bent out of shape – I grew up in a house with guns. My dad is a hunter and has a fairly extensive collection.  I support the notion that law abiding citizens (without criminal records) who have a license to carry, have the right to purchase fire arms. I don’t condone their use as a symbolic threat against the President of the United States, or any other human being for that matter. There is a direct connection, in the US and in Germany, between symbolic, verbal and phychological terrorism and the actual performance of a violent act. So, don’t tell me that you are packing heat as a mere exercise of your constitutional right to do so! This is disingenuous at best!

I am going to call this for what it is – Bullshit!  This is political terrorism, plain and simple!

I am about to launch a series on hate groups and activities in the US and Germany! Stay tuned, I am far from being done with this!