". . . little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver . . ."

(William Shakespeare's Othello, I.iii.88-90)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

And Then There's This

Speaking of fascism, consider this:

"A lawyer involved with legal action against Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) told a House Judiciary subcommittee on March 19 The New York Times had killed a story in October that would have shown a close link between ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign because it would have been a 'a game changer.'” (Source)

And then go read some more about Mussolini at Wikipedia, where you will find observations such as these:

"As dictator of Italy, Mussolini's foremost priority was the subjugation of the minds of the Italian people and the use of propaganda to do so; whether at home or abroad, and here his training as a journalist was invaluable. Press, radio, education, films—all were carefully supervised to create the illusion that fascism was the doctrine of the twentieth century, replacing liberalism and democracy."

"All teachers in schools and universities had to swear an oath to defend the fascist regime. Newspaper editors were all personally chosen by Mussolini and no one who did not possess a certificate of approval from the fascist party could practice journalism. These certificates were issued in secret; Mussolini thus skillfully created the illusion of a 'free press'. The trade unions were also deprived of any independence and were integrated into what was called the "corporative" system. The aim (never completely achieved), inspired by medieval guilds, was to place all Italians in various professional organizations or 'corporations', all of which were under clandestine governmental control."

"Mussolini launched several public construction programs and government initiatives throughout Italy to combat economic setbacks or unemployment levels. . . . He also combated an economic recession by introducing the 'Gold for the Fatherland' initiative, by encouraging the public to voluntarily donate gold jewelery such as necklaces and wedding rings to government officials in exchange for steel wristbands bearing the words 'Gold for the Fatherland.' . . ."

"Mussolini pushed for government control of business: by 1935, Mussolini claimed that three quarters of Italian businesses were under state control. That same year, he issued several edicts to further control the economy, including forcing all banks, businesses, and private citizens to give up all their foreign-issued stocks and bonds to the Bank of Italy. In 1938, he also instituted wage and price controls.[31] He also attempted to turn Italy into a self-sufficient autarky, instituting high barriers on trade with most countries except Germany."

"After the March on Rome that brought Benito Mussolini to power, the Fascists started considering ways to ideologize the Italian society, with an accent on schools. Mussolini assigned former ardito and deputy-secretary for Education Renato Ricci the task of 'reorganizing the youth from a moral and physical point of view'. Ricci sought inspiration with Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, meeting with him in England, as well as with Bauhaus artists in Germany.The Opera Nazionale Balilla was created through Mussolini's decree of April 3 1926, and was led by Ricci for the following eleven years. It included children between the ages of 8 and 18, grouped as the Balilla and the Avanguardisti."

Okay, I'm done. Time to go back in to denial mode and pretend all of this isn't happening. Heard any good jokes or seen any good movies lately?

4 comments:

Susan said...

What God ordains is always good.
He is my Friend and Father.
He suffers naught to do me harm
though many storms may gather.
Now I may know both joy and woe;
someday I shall see clearly
that He has loved me dearly.



I'm in denial. Nice to have you join me.

Take they our life,
goods, fame, child, or wife,
let these all be gone;
they yet have nothing won.
The kingdom ours remaineth.


Oh then rejoice that through His Son
God is with sinners now at one!
Made like yourselves of flesh and blood,
Your Brother is the ETERNAL GOD.
What harm can sin and death [or govt] then do?
The true God now abides with you.
Let hell and Satan rage and chafe --
Christ is your Brother; you are safe!

Elephantschild said...

I have a special filter;
I put it in my ears.
It turns off dear Obama
and saves me many tears.

I use it when I watch the news,
or ride along in cars,
for if I do not use this tool
I gorge on chocolate bars!

mz said...

Going to the tea party? If the weather's nice enough baby girl and I are going to train it down there.

Not that anyone in Washington will care, but still. I'm going to exercise my right to peaceably assemble while I've still got it.

Cheryl said...

Susan and EC, thank you both for your inspiring words, which represent seemingly different but in actuality quite complementary approaches. I think I'll put on my Obama filter and go sing some hymns.

Kelly, we are going to the tea party this summer in Chicago. It's on July 4 at Navy Pier. Is that the one you are attending? Anyone else out there want to meet up?