One of my annual diaries (when I remember to do them) is honoring the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during WW II, which happened to coincide with Hitler's birthday in 1943. I happen to feel that it was a particularly good birthday present for Hitler: the defeat of his elite force by a bunch of half starved, barely armed Jews. In 1943, it also coincided with Passover. This year the anniversaries don't coincide quite so well as they did last year, but they are still close and still significant.

I can think of no better expression of the Passover tradition than the Warsaw uprising against Nazi Germany. My appreciation for this is heightened by the fact that I am currently in the middle of the book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Though I am only in 1942 so far, I find my knowledge of the history of the period is greatly enhanced and my appreciation of the 1943 Warsaw uprising even greater.  read more »

Change is in the air! Today, one of the worst eras in American history will come to a close (lasting legacy of economic depression aside), and a new, almost certainly MUCH better era will begin. It is time to celebrate.

How will you celebrate the end of the Bush regime and the beginning of the Obama Presidency? With the passing of one very depressing era, and the start of a new, very hopeful one, I am considering several ways to commemorate the event.

Perhaps it is time to show my pride as a liberal American. Be PROUD to be a liberal American. Our nation was founded on liberal principles and we should remind everyone around us that it is PATRIOTIC to be liberal.

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On March 5, 1946, in a speech in Fulton, MO, Winston Churchill stated, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

Recently, with the passage of the FISA bill, an iron curtain is descending over America. Churchill went on to say, "The Communist parties ... are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control." Clearly, the neo-Communist parties in America -- known as Republicans and Democrats -- are seeking to obtain totalitarian control over us.

The time has come to discuss a second American Revolution.

Freedom is not lost overnight. Freedom is peeled away, layer by layer. Freedom is dissipated, just slowly enough that most people don't notice the difference.

And freedom, once lost, is extremely difficult to regain. But it is entirely worth the price. We can hope that the price will not be paid in the blood of Americans, with a full-fledged Civil War. But if such a war is to be avoided, we must spread the word.  read more »