The Lemming Watch

Whatever Happened to Fairness

Members of the socialist left always seem to be crying about being “fair.”

For years we've heard: children should all be given a passing grade because it’s fair; our kids should be allowed to excel in sports even if they don’t because it’s fair; standards for college entrance should be thrown out in favor of a certain class of applicants because it’s fair; and test score standards for public sector jobs should be lowered to allow almost anyone to be hired because it’s fair.

More recently, talk radio stations should allow alternative views to be aired because it’s fair. This is codified as “The Fairness Doctrine.”

But what happened to fairness when we come to liquidating and taking over our industries. Instead of making an equitable and fair distribution of GM’s assets to equity holders via a legal bankruptcy, the Obama administration will hold a kangaroo bankruptcy court and distribute the assets as it best benefits their favorites—namely the United Auto Workers.

The distribution will go something like this (numbers approximate):

- Bond holders who own $27 B – 10% of assets
- UAW which holds $10 B – 40% of assets

And the U.S. Government which, because of now useless bailouts, “owns” some unknown amount of GM but probably more than the company is worth – 50% (controlling interest).

Where are the fairness crybabies now?

It would have been more fair to the taxpayer for the government to cut its losses and just walk away and allow a fair and legal bankruptcy with an equitable distribution of assets.

One wonders what the government will do to viable auto companies to ensure fairness in the auto market.

HJ

HJ is the abbreviation for Hitler-Jugend or, in English, Hitler Youth.

"My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away. In my castles of the Teutonic Order a youth will grow up before which the world will tremble. I want a brutal, domineering, fearless, cruel youth. Youth must be all that. It must bear pain. There must be nothing weak and gentle about it. The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from its eyes...That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human domestication...That is how I will create the New Order." -- Adolf Hitler, 1933. 1)

Fast-forward 76 years:

The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, known as the GIVE Act, was passed in the House yesterday [March 18, 2009] by a 321-105 margin and now goes to the Senate.

Read about it here (this is a must read):

And in the American Thinker:

Clearly, the goal of this program is to involve every single young person in America in a mandatory service program. The "Commission" [to investigate, “Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.”] is a smokescreen. Of course they are going to recommend that there be mandatory service and they will lay out procedures on how to do it.

As for the Hitler Youth program, here are some fragments from the sources cited below::

On December 1, 1936, Hitler passed a law requiring all healthy young Germans . . . “to be educated physically, intellectually, and morally in the spirit of National Socialism.” 3) p.34

To cure unemployment, Hitler looked to Germany’s millions of young people. In them, he saw a strong army of cheap labor. Hitler believed that young people had a “duty to serve,” or Dienstpflichten. He realized the numerous ways that they could serve their country by performing socially useful tasks. [emphasis added] 3) p.62

Hitler was an exciting speaker. His voice captivated his listeners. He seemed to know just the right note, the right word or phrase to rouse the emotions of his audience: 3) p.19

“I can remember the feeling I had when he spoke,” said Sasha Schwarz, who was eleven when Hitler came to power. “ ‘At last,’ I said, ‘here’s somebody who can get us out of this [economic] mess.’ “

Sound familiar?

German young people could join the Hitler Youth beginning at the age of 10. The organization was divided into two categories, one for members ages 10-14 and the other for members 14-18. The organizational structure was based on a military model, with squads, platoons, and companies.

Hitler Youth did not tolerate originality or individuality. Through military drills and marches, the Hitler Youth learned to think and act as one. 3) p. 28

The supreme task of the schools is the education of youth for the service of Volk and State in the National Socialist spirit. 1)

But there was a catch:

Teachers who remained in the college classroom lived under the constant fear they might be denounced by one of their students and wind up in a concentration camp. This insecurity resulted in academic timidity which further lowered educational standards. 1)

Parents who prevented their children from joining the HJ were subject to heavy prison sentences. 1)

In the end, there was chaos and worse:

Despite the strict discipline and regulations that separated boys’ and girls’ camps, some girls became pregnant. Others found themselves at the mercy of Nazi officials, farm owners, and farm supervisors. 3) p.66

Maybe it won’t be that bad in the United States. But, then again, maybe it will. We haven’t heard the end of it yet; in fact, we have barely heard the beginning.

It couldn’t happen here in America, could it? Nah.

_____________________________

Sources:
1) Hitler Youth, The Compete History in 5 Chapters,
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/hitleryouth/index.html
2) Hitler Youth, Michael H. Kater, Harvard University Press, 2004
3) Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler’s Shadow, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Scholastic, Inc, 2005

Never Let a Serious Crisis Inhibit Waste

Powerline posted this interesting item the other day: John [Hinderaker] seems to wonder where the money will be used.

I know where much of it will go. As a contractor working on government programs for more than forty years, I was there and saw it happen when the money came in to a new project (or even when an existing project received new funding). My work was primarily in Navy programs; but the same is true of any government operation, for bureaucrats are the same no matter who pays them.

A great portion of the money will go for new equipment to replace existing, perfectly good equipment. Some will go for new laptops—the latest and very expensive models. It will go for new, large computer monitors to replace those measly little 19 and 21 inch screens they now use. It will go for new, large screen projectors for briefings and larger monitors for video conferencing. It will go for new color laser printers to replace or augment the existing ones (most of which will never be used again).

It will go for new furniture, or at least a few new ergonomic (very expensive) chairs.

It will certainly go for trips to conferences, from most of which the attendees will learn nothing of great use; or it will go to host conferences to which people will come and learn little of value.

In some organizations, it may even go for a new automobile for the higher ranking staff (to share of course). Or in others, they will hire new staff or contractors most of whom will do little to enhance the operation of the organization.

Now these items may not seem like much in terms of the dollar amount for each relative to that allocated to an organization; but add these items and others many times over and they can amount to a couple of hundred grand. I will wager that nothing of lasting or useful value will come of these “stimulus” handouts.

This may sound unreal, but it does occur; believe it..

And the lemmings out there in the never-never land that is America will go along and believe that the powers in Washington are doing something to heal the economy.

On Freedom: Some thoughts

America was once a free country.

It was much freer 200 years ago than it is now.

It was much freer 100 years ago than it is now.

It is becoming less free each year.

It has been losing freedom each year for more than 200 years.

Where is the freedom going?

Each law, each tax increase, each precedent-setting decision by a bureaucrat reduces freedom by some more or less amount.

The amount of freedom lost may not be great for any one law, tax increase, or bureaucratic decision; but thousands of theses actions each year add up to a significant loss.  Over the years the loss has been multiplied to the point that:

You may own, but you don't control your property.  Bureaucrats tell you what you may do with it.

You may earn, but you cannot spend your income as you want to.  On the average, you labor until mid-May each year to pay taxes to the govern¬ment.

You may think you are free to do what you wish with what money they allow you to keep after taxes, but you cannot.  Too many laws, regula¬tions, and bureau¬cratic decisions restrict your freedom to do so.

You may think you are a law-abiding system. But you cannot get up in the morning and go out into the world without breaking some law.

You may think you are free to go where you want to and do what you wish, but you are constrained by government from doing so.  Passports and other regula¬tions, including restrictions on money transfer, preclude your freedom.

Your taxes go to support a huge, inefficient bureaucracy that largely thwarts individual action--that is, reduces freedom.

We have been misled by a succession of socialist liberals with perverted ideas of how the government should operate with to control individuals.

We can see (but many will not "see") the loss of freedom resulting from socialist experiments--in Russia, Sweden, Denmark, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Sri Lanka and other regines.

History may well show that Franklin Roosevelt was one of America's worst villains.  While he spoke of freedoms, he gave Americans the concept that they could have something for nothing, made this country a socialist state, and thus accelerated the loss of freedom and put us on the path to tyranny that continues in today’s government.

Think about it and decide what you want to do. You might start by reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.