Palin at CPAC 2014

Stalin's Zhukov led the Red Army into Berlin. 

But Ushanka's Zhukov couldn't beat the crowds at CPAC today to see America's Zhukov serve a full plate of red meat.




An excellent end to a great CPAC. 

Guest Post: CPAC 2014, Day 2

Comrade Zhukov sends two sitreps from CPAC:

The first speaker I got to see today was Colonel Oliver North. First joke is about the youth subsidy aspect of Obama care which quickly transitions into a tribute to our military with an accompanying video. Colonel North lists off the sacrifices and the warrior spirit out troops have when he says that our current commander in chief doesn't deserve to lead our military. Ukraine is paying the price for our "leadership deficit disorder". On a shift of topic, Colonel North mentions various 'social' issues such as; abortion and gay marriage and he says they are not social issues, instead they are moral issues and are necessary in the elections.

 Start video at 3:00 mark:

The next speaker is governor Mike Huckabee. He begins by talking about the importance of god in the United States' conception and if we don't let him in we could break up. In a shift toward foreign policy Gov. Huckabee says we don't have a better relationship with any country than we did 5 years ago. He addresses Putin not respecting us and how Putin only shivers when," he's outside in the cold with his shirt off".

No overarching themes so far today. Foreign policy is still a huge topic because Obama's lack of experience and international clout.

--

Rand Paul: the speech of cpac 2014. After looking for a seat for all of 10 seconds it became obvious that it was going to be a standing speech. The room was full. Seats were full. Empty space was full. Then the speech. Senator Paul spoke mostly of civil liberties from government an libertarian red meat policies of smaller, less intrusive government. He mentioned that we should not give up liberty for security now or never. The "stand with rand"ers loved it. rant: The crowd was a slew of Paulbots ready to cheer about anything said from personal liberties to marijuana legalization. The cult of personality the Pauls possess is pretty amazing to see get conservatives, anarchists and hippies to come together. 

People loved the hat when they noticed. Had some stupid bimbos get all uppity and I just told them to read a book. You can keep or remove the rant just thought you'd like to know how the crowd was.

Rand Paul: lovers of liberty. Basically said that he is running for president. Like a 3rd person speech. Had to stand in the back, by far the most attended speaker of cpac so far. Talked against spying. We will not trade our liberty for security, not now, not ever. Be suspicious of government. Rights are from god and no government can take them away. Stand with rand thing. Libertarian red meat.

Thank you Comrade Zhukov!

Book Added to Library: Daring Young Men

We've added another book to our Communism Studies Library at the left.

Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The Berlin Airlift June 1948 - May 1949.

We also added a link to our Book Notes.

It was a different time.  Need proof?  How about this Truman quote:

 ...communism must not spread its tentacles into the western zone.  We shall not retreat from that position.  You can fight communism on November 2nd with a Democratic Vote.

 This is a well-written book about an amazing American story of innovation, determination and good will in one of the first battles of the Cold War.  Highly recommended.

Be sure to see our Candy Bomber post from a few weeks ago!

Guest Post: CPAC 2014 Day 1

Zhukov reports:

Missed Cruz's speech and Paul Ryan's. Saw Bolton, Christie, Rubio, and Jindall. The timings were all messed up on the schedule.

Chris Christie:

Governor Christie came out swinging with his track record on unions with some related jokes and about foreign policy. I really like what Christie had to say on foreign policy because of the vacuum of leadership by the Obama administration. I also really liked how Christie spoke in his manners and voice.

Bobby Jindall:

Governor Jindall went heavy on education in content of his speech. He made multiple references to parents knowing best where to send their children to give them the best chance to succeed. Jindall was also really entertaining to listen to.

Sen. Rubio

Sen. Rubio made no mention to his botched attempt at immigration reform; the reason he is completely off my radar as a presidential candidate. He also spoke about education and made some references to the American dream.

John Bolton:

Walked in at the end of his speech and he was talking about foreign policy and how it should be compared to what it is under Obama. He made references to Reagan foreign policy.

Overall themes: foreign policy and education charters or free trade education.

That's all I have for now as far as updates on speakers.

Hardly anybody was there.  We sat in the dark auditorium. Bigger exhibit hall than last year too. Not as busy as last year attendance wise.

See our CPAC 2008 posts:
Roadtrip to CPAC 2008
CPAC 2008 - Main Report
CPAC 2008 - Supplemental Report
Roadtrip from CPAC 2008

How it is Done

Liz Wahl, formerly with RT America:

Photo of the Day

Our dear leader and at least 18 of his commissars discuss the urgent matter in Ukraine four months after the crisis begins and Russian invasion forces dig in. 

We found:

socks

shoes

twizzler

Zakof

Baghdad Bob

teleprompter

Wikipedia

I can't figure out the photo on the teleconference screen.

And how did they photoshop his feet off of the table?  Top editing skills there, Caleb!

What else did I miss?

Found at Twitchy.


A few trivia questions for you:  In 1991, what country did the US president say Iraq could not have?  How long did it take that president to decide:  1 day, 1 week, 1 month, or 1 year?  Liberating that country from the world's 4th largest military took 100 hours, 100 days, 100 months, or 100 years?  Any guess what political party that president belonged to?



Few posts past couple days due to capitalist endeavors.  Ya, we cling to the past.

Gun Control Run Amok

We may look back and say this was the calm before the storm.

The body count in Connecticut's recent gun-control legislation is currently:

Citizens: 0

Law Enforcement: 0

The Connecticut legislature could repeal the unconstitutional laws now and step away from the brink.  They could end the cycle of violence, before it begins.  The ball is in their court, and no revisionist history, including taking Ushanka offline, will be able to hide the fact that the next move will be theirs.  Either way.

And they won't be able to say they weren't warned of the risks.  Just today:

Comrade Bob Owens walks us through the first confiscation,

...you’re overwhelmed by a tidal wave of explosive sounds and feel the first bullets rip into your body. There are stars, so many stars, winking and suddenly, everything goes silent and black and your last conscious thought is a feeling of falling.

Firearms Instructor, James Yeager, walks us, and them, through the options.  All of them.

Yeager's instructor, Reid, filters out the diplomacy from Yeager's statement:




Bob now tells us that New Jersey in considering a gun ban on .22 rifles.

Anyone want to bet a Commie Obama hat that the New Jersey Governor, the Republican speaking at CPAC this coming weekend, will veto this bill if comes to his desk?

UPDATED 3.4.14 10am:

WOW!!!  Comrade Mr. B is offering free storage for CT guns for as long as it takes to overturn the tyrannical laws there.

Let me just say:  I can count the number of people I would trust with my guns on one hand, and Comrade Mr. B. is one of those guys.

This is worth the drive to Indiana folks!  Once you're fully disarmed, you can head up to North Chicago for some Italian Beef (w/ hot peppers) and a cold bottle of Old Style!

UPDATED 3.4.14 11am:

Watch these two CT bureau-douche-rats explain how the state won't pass any more gun-control.  It reminds me of Pol-Pot telling the city residents he moved to the countryside that they'd be back in their homes within 3 days.



U/T: John Cinque and MoonBattery

Movie: The Act of Killing

I just watched The Act Of Killing, a 2012 2-hour movie about the 1965 slaughter of a million people (movie) 500k killed (wikipedia) in Indonesia.  It was very interesting, but I can't recommend it as part of our Communism studies because the movie did not cover the political angle of the time.

This is a documentary.  They bring together several killers from 1965, who are all free today and were never punished, and have them talk about what they did, how they did it and their motivations.  While their targets were "Communists," there was nothing said about the political environment.

You'd think a movie about the murder of Communists and suspected Communists would include politics, but this one does not.  Further, it is implied that to those who killed in 1965, "Communism" was synonymous with "Chinese."  The killers, who are the focus of the movie and who explain their activities in 1965, are seen as having negative feelings toward the Chinese.  The troubling part of this is that all of the Chinese shown in the movie are merchants with their own shops.  In other words, the "Communists" depicted in today's Indonesia by the 1965 killers... are Capitalists.

The movie's absence of political drivers led this viewer, with no historical knowledge of Indonesia political history, to conclude those killed were victims of gang violence rather than political violence.  The interviews start with the killings rather than the motive(s).

Indonesia's Political History

There was a failed coup in 1965, which was blamed on Communists.  The Communist Party in Indonesia was the largest non-ruling Communist Party in the world until it was "crushed" in 1965 and outlawed in 1966.  From this coup attempt Suharto came to power and ruled for 31 years until 1998. 

Movie Criticisms

NY Times, March 1:

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The American director of the chilling Indonesian documentary “The Act of Killing” has won dozens of awards so far for the film and could add one of the movie industry’s most coveted honors Sunday at the Oscars.

But so far, the director, Joshua Oppenheimer, has not succeeded in accomplishing what he considered a greater goal — jump-starting a debate in Indonesia that will compel the government to finally open a formal inquiry into one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century.

South China Morning Post (Jan 21) reports Chinese social media is reacting to this movie - the first most Chinese have heard of the 1965 slaughter of mostly Chinese.

Voice of America (Jan 27) tries to explain why anti-communism is still strong in Indonesia.  I want to think there is more to the hatred of Communists than this.  Could it be anti-Chinese racism instead?

The anti-communist fervor persists, in part, because Indonesia never officially came to terms with this dark period in its history. The government has never apologized to survivors of the massacres, nor prosecuted the perpetrators, including those shown in the documentary.

The commies at Workers.org have posted their side of the coup story, which was the losing side.  The undated article's title:  The Bloodbath.  (Why don't Communists use words like "Bloodbath" when they tell the stories of the Gulag, Hungary, Poland, the Great Leap Forward or Khmer Rouge?  Or Ukraine?)

Other Thoughts

For over 8 years we've been saying here at Ushanka that all organized violence is started by Communists.  We corrected the record recently when the freedom-fighters in Ukraine proved an exception.  God bless them.  We are thinking this rule does not apply to 1965 Indonesia either.

You'll see the Pancasila Youth throughout the movie.  They are a paramilitary group that operated the death squads in 1965.  The killers in the movie were members.  The group is between 4 and 10 million strong today.  It is this group, and the absence of political discussion, that tells us the murders in 1965 were more of a turf war between gangs than a political campaign.  Since the murders were a means to a political end, Suharto, one could also suggest that the anti-Communist forces took a purge page out of the Communist's book.  If so, it worked.

Religion.  It isn't anywhere in the movie other than a mention of "God" here and there.  I'd like to know more about Indonesia's Islam as it compares to the Marxist Islam that exists nearby in Pakistan and Afghanista, etc.  Are Indonesian Muslims anti-Marxist, or just anti Chinese-Marxist?

Six Contradictions of Socialism

By Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta.  Brilliant:

1. America is capitalist and greedy – yet half of the population is subsidized.

2. Half of the population is subsidized – yet they think they are victims.

3. They think they are victims – yet their representatives run the government.

4. Their representatives run the government – yet the poor keep getting poorer.

5. The poor keep getting poorer – yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.

6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about – yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

Saturday Afternoon Cigar

One last chance before the next ice age.  Today's cigar: a Rocky Patel Edge.

We're still reading about the Berlin Airlift.  It is amazing that the US, specifically Truman, had complete knowledge of the evil within the Soviet Union just a couple years after WWII. We knew Stalin showed a lot of his cards in the talks at Yalta and later, but we recall from our readings that only some (Churchill) saw him for the tyrant he was while others (Roosevelt) saw him as an ally.

Our Lend Lease material found its way in the Gulag system, and we never were paid for that billion in hardware.  And war fatigue obviously played a huge factor in how we would respond when the Soviets cut us off from 2 million in Berlin. 

I haven't read anything about ideas or proposals to take on the Soviets shortly after WWII, albeit the generals, especially LeMay and Clay, we enthusiastic anti-Communists.  We are reading about a tough Truman, but we also know he turned a blind eye on the accusations, later proved true, of Communist infiltration within the US government. 

Can anybody point me to a general or politician who argued for an aggressive posture towards the Soviet Union?  Someone who argued that risking war with the Soviets then would be better for everyone?