The Mysteries of North Korea Revealed - New Heir Introduced

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With one of the largest nuclear arsenals in Asia and at odds with the Obama Administration over a number of issues it is important we understand the nation of North Korea and the future leader of that powerful nemesis. This compilation of information using Korean and UK sources will help us know the people and leaders certain to be at the center of any foreign policy debates in the near future.

The new heir apparent as leader of North Korea is Kim Jong-un, a son of current leader Kim Jong Il. North Korea went to extremes to allow media access to the celebrations introducing Kim Jong-un including opening the Internet to their mysterious country and inviting western media for the first time.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a series of grand celebration activities in Pyongyang Sunday evening, celebrating the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

Kim Ki Nam, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, delivered a speech. "The grand evening gala is a festival of victory and glory in high praises of the immortal feats performed by the WPK," he said.

On the Kim Il Sung Square, there were nearly 100,000 Pyongyang citizens dressed in traditional costumes with flowers in their hands and forming various phalanxes. Fireworks of various shapes and colors burst against the sky.

The evening gala, named "Do Prosper, Era of Workers' Party" was made up of five parts, including "Glory to Mother Party," "Party of Comrade Kim Il Sung," "Country where Leader's Desire Has Come into Full Bloom," "Party is Guide of Victory" and the epilogue "Long Journey following General."

It represented the exploits of the WPK, which has made endeavors in economic construction and improving people's living standards in recent years and is a unique Korean-style gala which reflects the desire and sentiment of the Korean people, the KCNA, the DPRK's official news agency, said.

After the evening gala, a banquet was given by the Central Committee of the WPK at the People's Palace of Culture.

There were also splendid firework galas in Hamhung City, South Hamgyong Province and Kaesong City, North Hwanghae Province.

On Sunday morning, a grand military parade was held on the Kim Il Sung Square. The Korean People's Internal Security Forces, the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and the Young Red Guards took part in the parade. Kim Jong Il, accompanied by Kim Jong Un and other leaders of the DPRK's party and government, watched the parade.

After the parade, there was a military might show which showcased the DPRK's achievements in socialist construction and the DPRK people's love of the motherland, aspiration for reunification and hope for peace.

Until now, Kim Jong-un has been such a secretive figure that the world was not even sure of his existence until he was 20 years-old. The only mention of the younger Kim came in a biography by a Japanese sushi chef who had worked for the Kim household in Pyongyang.

The only other glimpse of the 28-year-old, who was promoted this week to a variety of key positions in the North Korean hierarchy, is a grainy video shot while he was a teenager at boarding school in Switzerland.

Although Kim Jong-il, 68, remains North Korea's leader, he has promoted his third son to be vice-chairman of the Central Military Committee and to be a four-star general. The move places the younger Kim squarely in position to succeed his father.

Leader Kim Jong-il likely to use Workers' party assembly to signal he is choosing youngest son Kim Jong-un as successor.
 

 

Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
Tuesday 21 September 2010 18.34 BST

His grandfather is known as the Great Leader, his father as the Dear Leader. It seems only fair to confer a similar accolade on North Korea's dictator-in-waiting: the Phantom Leader, perhaps.

As the party that has ruled the secretive state for more than six decades prepares to anoint Kim Jong-un as its next leader at a rare gathering of cadres in the capital, Pyongyang, the world is still some way off establishing the facts about communism's crown prince.

So little is known about Kim Jong-un, the third and youngest son of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, that even the characters used to write his name and his date of birth are disputed. Aged 27 or 28, he was born to his father's "favourite consort," Ko Young-hee, a Japanese-born dancer who emigrated with her father in the 1960s. Shortly before her reported death from breast cancer in 2004, the state media began referring to her as the Respected Mother, confirming the theory that she is the closest the country has ever come to a first lady.

Like his elder brother, Kim Jong-chol, he received an expensive education under an assumed name in Switzerland. While his brother attended the International School of Berne, Kim Jong-un is thought to have gone to a school in nearby Liebefeld from 1996 to 2000. After rumours of the younger Kim's anointment began circulating last year, Ueli Studer, the town's director of education, would only confirm that a "North Korean youth" had been on the school's rolls. The pupil had been a speaker of English, German and French, Studer said, as well as "integrated, industrious and ambitious".

Kim Jong-un's expected appearance at the Korean Workers' party assembly next week, reportedly delayed because of concerns over Kim Jong-il's health, will offer the world the first verifiable images of the younger man. The main photograph in the public domain shows a cherubic, smiling 11-year-old with a predisposition for his father's chubbiness.

Now, he is the subject of a propaganda offensive aimed at securing him a place in the affections of the country's citizens amid signs that last year's disastrous currency revaluation and tough international sanctions are fuelling popular discontent with the regime.

The Daily NK, an anti-Kim online newspaper in Seoul, published an internal propaganda document praising Jong-un for his skill at organising a fireworks display and his expert handling of military vehicles. "He is a genius of geniuses," the document said. "He has been endowed by nature with special abilities. There is nobody on the planet who can defeat him in terms of faith, will and courage."

His induction into the personality cult surrounding North Korean's ruling dynasty has also been marked by the composition of poems and a song, Footsteps, extolling his virtues as a leader. His name is routinely prefixed by the titles Young General or Our Commander.

The authorities will distribute 10m portraits to be hung next to those of his father and grandfather in every home, factory and office once his succession is official. Every one of North Korea's 24 million people will be expected to wear a lapel badge bearing his likeness.

But what of his personality? The more generous accounts tell of a charismatic figure who honed his natural leadership skills during his five years at Kim Il-sung Military University in Pyongyang. Others say Kim Jong-un, who holds a mid-level position in the National Defence Commission, has inherited his father's mercilessness. "He is more engaging with other people, but then others say he can be cruel," says Ha Tae-keung, president of Open Radio for North Korea in Seoul. "He has already purged people in the defence commission he regards as opponents."

Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong-il's former Japanese sushi chef, confirms the image of the younger Kim as a chip off the old block, describing him as the "spitting image of his father in terms of face, body shape and personality".

In his bestselling 2003 account of his 11 years chez Kim, Fujimoto – the name is a nom de plume – recalled meeting a seven-year-old Kim Jong-un, who was dressed in a military uniform: "He glared at me with a menacing look when we shook hands. I can never forget the look in his eyes, which seemed to be saying, 'This is one despicable Japanese guy.'"

The older Kim Jong-un reportedly shares his father's interest in movies – the martial arts expert Jean-Claude van Damme is a favourite actor – can hold his drink and drives around the family's estate in a converted Mercedes.

The son is a keen basketball fan, says Fujimoto, who allowed his ideological mask to slip with his admiration for Michael Jordan, the US player.

Kim Jong-il thought Kim Jong-chul "too girlish" to become leader, while the eldest brother, Kim Jong-nam, ruled himself out when, much to his father's embarrassment, he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport in 2001, claiming he wanted to visit Disneyland in Tokyo.

The gap between Kim Jong-un's anointing and enthronement could be much shorter than the 14 years Kim Jong-il spent preparing for power, a wait that ended abruptly with the death of his father, North Korea's founder and "eternal president", Kim Il-sung, from a heart attack in 1994.

Given the state of Kim Jong-il's health, some observers believe the transition may be completed as early as 2012, the centenary of Jong-il's father's birth, and a year the official media are referring to as a defining moment in the country's history. "Kim Jong-il doesn't look like he'll be around 10 years from now," says Bradley Martin, author of a seminal book on the Kim dynasty, Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader. "Some reports say that he feels pretty low and has a reason to name his successor."The two-day party congress has twice been postponed this month, adding to speculation that Kim Jong-il, who suffered a stroke two years ago, is too weak to attend.

Next week, Kim Jong-un's rise to the upper echelons of the Workers' party is unlikely to be met with universal approval. "It is hard to know what the other party elites have in mind," says Ha, who says he has sources inside the North Korean military and ruling party. Recent reports speculated that disquiet among political and military elites over Kim's choice of successor was the real reason behind the meeting's delay.

"Officially they have to support Jong-un, or they risk being executed," says Ha. "But some are worried, particularly older members who have been loyal to Kim Jong-il, and wonder how his son will treat them."

Confirmation that North Korea has begun the transition to a third member of the Kim dynasty will come with Kim Jong-un's expected elevation to senior posts in the Workers' party, including that of secretary of the feared organisation and guidance department, which monitors senior officials. "If he gets that position he will be at the party's centre and able to pick and choose his minions," says Martin.

Under Kim Jong-un, many analysts expect a continuation of the current military-first policy and, despite the country's frequent dalliances with economic meltdown and pressure for reform from China, absolute adherence to central planning.

As he confronts his own mortality and surveys the impoverished, isolated state he has ruled for 16 years, Kim Jong-il's apparent choice of heir sits easily with the gross egotism of a man who is desperate to ensure it lives on in his image, whatever the economic, social and diplomatic costs.

"Kim Jong-il chose Jong-un because he reminds him most of himself," says Martin. "Some people have high hopes for change because he was educated abroad, but so were Arab oil sheikhs, and it didn't turn them into liberal democrats. He was chosen because to be a good dictator, you have to be a mean son of a bitch."
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Shades of Nixon's Watergate psyche as Obama, Biden & Axelrod Flail at GOP Straw Dogs in Obama's Watergate

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Like many Americans I lived through the Watergate era and it was a sad time in our nation's political history when a paranoid president and his team was so obsessed with foreign money being given to the Democratic party to oppose the incumbent president that evil possessed the president and they went on to violate law after law before the straw dog collapsed as do most straw dogs and the president and his palace guard were disgraced and thrown from the highest office in the land.

It was 38 years ago when the political paranoia overwhelmed the White House and the Watergate was the outcome. There was the paranoid Republican president, Nixon, his top defender Haldeman, and his political operative Erlichman. The target was the foreign money pouring into the Democratic party to beat Nixon through Democratic operative Lawrence O'Brien.

Today we have a complete role reversal as Obama (Nixon) is raising the charges of foreign money pouring into the Republican coffers to defeat him, while Biden (Haldeman) is running around the country screaming foul about the foreign money for his boss, Axelrod (Erlichman) goes on national TV to denounce the foreign money and all three targeted GOP operative Carl Rove (O'Brien) as the villain.

Just like Watergate 38 years ago, the charges of foreign money influencing the election in 2010, this time by the Republicans unlike Watergate when the Democrats got the money, are baseless, senseless political drama and those feeding lies into the national debate deserve the same fate as the perpetrators of the Watergate.

Democrats should be just as disgusted as the Republicans and Independents by the insane charges and mudslinging by the highest office holders in the land and Obama, Biden and Axelrod should be shamed that they have resorted to Watergate tactics in a selfish and arrogant attempt to con the American voter and public opinion.
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Miley Cyrus - The Seduction of Money in Entertainment

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For several years we have warned of the lure of money in Hollywood on our young teen stars and the seduction of sexuality that can entrap them. Previously we have written about the dangers to young stars like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift has seemed to manage to control the seduction of Hollywood money to her credit but Miley Cyrus, now just 17, seems to have embraced the seduction in an effort to shock her young fan base and try to compete with the older bad girls who trade off sexuality more than talent.

Here is what Chris Willman wrote about the new Miley packaging for her current album.

Miley's New Video: Parents' Council Would Like To Tame It

Posted Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:11am PDT by Chris Willman in Stop The Presses!

Has Miley Cyrus finally gone so far with her increasingly sensual image that she's been condemned by her own father?

Well, no, not exactly. But her racy new music video, "Who Owns My Heart?," has been slammed by the Parents Television Council. Funnily enough, when you check the list of folks sitting on the advisory board for this conservative watchdog group, the biggest-name celebrity listed there is—you guessed it—none other than Billy Ray Cyrus!

Apparently, Papa Cyrus was not advising the Parents Television Council when they released a statement saying: "It is unfortunate that she would participate in such a sexualized video like this one. It sends messages to her fan base that are diametrically opposed to everything she has done up to this point. Miley built her fame and fortune entirely on the backs of young girls, and it saddens us that she seems so eager to distance herself from that fan base so rapidly."

But by "us," the Parents Council apparently doesn't mean that board member Billy Ray is saddened, too. Or is he, secretly? Even if you don't have any problem with Miley getting so sexy at 17, there's evidence that it's hurting her just on a career level.

Rarely has a song gotten so much media attention and yet been as commercially unsuccessful as Cyrus' "Can't Be Tamed," the title track of her latest album. Even after a series of controversial performances of the song on various TV shows and awards programs, the single quickly flamed out, debuting at No. 8 but disappearing from the Billboard Hot 100 chart altogether after a mere 10 weeks. (By comparison, her 2009 smash "Party in the USA" spent 28 weeks in the top 10.) The Can't Be Tamed album is also absent from Billboard's list of the current 200 bestselling albums, just four months after it came out. It's sold 260,000 copies to date, anemic by the standards of the previous three Cyrus releases.

Given the performance at radio and retail of the current album and previous single, you might have expected the 17-year-old singer to retreat to safer territory for the new video. But maybe you didn't get the message last time around: Miley can't be tamed... not even by failure!

And so "Who Owns My Heart?" pushes the same buttons as the last video. She writhes around on a bed without pants on (though there are only quick flashes of what appears to be black underwear). She gyrates freely and suggestively with both men and women on the dance floor at what no one would mistake for a high school sockhop.

Whether this is envelope-pushing or not depends on your frame of reference. Compared to most other dance-pop videos, it's standard fare, if not downright tame. Compared to the videos being put out by other underage girls and/or stars who still have sitcoms running on the Disney Channel, it's provocative.

The fact that Hannah Montana's fourth and last season is still on the air complicates things—or should, to some people's minds. Although taping for the show wrapped up in May, the season is being stretched out long enough by the Disney Channel that its status as a first-run show won't end till next March's two-part season finale.

With her 18th birthday approaching next month and her status as a tween TV idol months away from officially ending, Cyrus seems to feel that there's no time to waste in attracting a demo of fans that are her age or older. Bit throwing one solidified fan base over for a less certain new one is always a calculated risk at best. And Cyrus may have jettisoned her young-girl support before she had a substitute audience of older teens and adults locked in.

It's easy to see how Cyrus and her team may have thought she'd already graduated to the next level of demographics. Initially, she had a hard time crossing over from Radio Disney to Top 40 because programmers saw her appeal as skewing too young. But "See You Again" was just too undeniable a song not to play, as was "Party in the USA." Then came "Can't Be Tamed," and as a single, it was...deniable. Radio Disney couldn't touch it, and Top 40 didn't care. Her move away from guilty-pleasure rock & roll bubblegum to dance-pop suddenly made her a competitor to Lady Gaga and a hundred other hitmakers, and though it worked with Dr. Luke helping her out on "USA," it didn't with the duller songs on the new album.

And it may have been the very raciness of her new image that sunk her with Top 40 radio. All the outcry about her alleged sexualization at 17 just reminded radio programmers of what a chance they'd taken with their older listeners by throwing her in with more mature artists in the first place.

Of course, her history of controversy for supposed suggestiveness goes back two and a half years now. Hard to believe, isn't it, that it was April 2008 when news broke about Cyrus, then 15, posing in bedsheets for Vanity Fair? In 2009, she danced around a pole at the Teen Choice Awards in a fashion that made her not every parent's choice. Also that summer, she broke up with model Justin Gaston, when she was 16 and he was 20, to take up with her somewhat more age-suitable Last Song costar, Liam Hemsworth, who is only two and a half years her senior. Hackles were further raised when a secretly recorded video of the 16-year-old performing a risque dance for a 44-year-old producer at the Last Song wrap party was leaked. "It's what people her age do," explained Billy Ray Cyrus.

This year brought her wearing a corset in the "Can't Be Tamed" video in May, followed by Cyrus simulating kissing a female dancer while performing the single on Britain's Got Talent in June. In July, the New York Times published a story headlined "Fans of Miley Cyrus Question Her New Path," which theorized that it was not prude moms who were rejecting the saucy new image but Miley's own tween fans.

There are still some scolds among the older set, to be sure. Hollywood Life, the site run by former tabloid queen Bonnie Fuller, recently ran a story allegedly quoting a "Cyrus family insider" as saying, "We're concerned for her. She's 17 years old, but is the one who makes the money and calls all the shots in the family. No one tells Miley no." Fuller wrote a separate editorial noting how Cyrus has been seen partying into the wee hours in clubs she can't legally enter, and addressed Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus directly: "Your daughter may be a big star but she's still your little girl and that means you need to be her parents."

So far, Cyrus' image change has been a bust, at least when it comes to affecting her music career. Of course, she's only one smash single away from having a chart comeback and having her accelerated maturation perceived as a brilliant career move. The problem is, the smash single that will turn it back around for her probably isn't "Who Owns My Heart," and probably isn't anywhere else on the Can't Be Tamed album.

So her next chance to prove that this sexy-mama thing is working out for her in terms of numbers and not just blogging controversy is the movie LOL: Laughing Out Loud, in which Cyrus' character engages in some very un-Disney-like behavior. That recently wrapped film won't come out till after Hannah Montana has finally concluded its run. But we have a feeling the Parents Television Council will have something to say about it.

Meanwhile, any bets on how many days or hours it'll take until Billy Ray's photo disappears from the advisory board page on the PTC website? Surely, having an organization that he supposedly helps lead condemn his little girl—and, by implication, his parenting skills—is breaking his achy breaky heart.

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SAVIORS OF THE 20TH CENTURY HITLER & STALIN - Poland - Armageddon of WW II

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SAVIORS OF THE 20TH CENTURY - HITLER & STALIN
The war of annihilation between the Nazis and Communists

ISBN 0964599317
LCCN 2004095812

Available worldwide through Amazon Kindle books

http://www.amazon.com/Saviors-20th-Century-Hitler-ebook/dp/B0040ZNU76/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1285077808&sr=1-1

Poland - Armageddon of WW II

Poland, the Armageddon of World War II, the proverbial scene of the decisive battle between good and evil. In the history of civilization it is doubtful any country faced the dire conditions and the deadly consequences faced by Poland from 1939-1945.

Sandwiched between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, it was the only nation to be partitioned without a vote between the Nazi and Communist Empires as a result of the 1939 non-aggression pact between Hitler and Stalin. Poland was a geographic buffer between these two menacing monsters, a buffer that vanished off the face of the earth during the month of September 1939.

Both Hitler and Stalin had reasons to hate the Poles. Fact is both felt justified in ravaging the nation for their own purposes. After World War I Poland humiliated the Germans as a result of the severe conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. Over one and one half million Germans were forced to abandon their homes to Poles because of the treaty.

In 1939 Poland was the fastest growing industrial nation in Europe and was much needed to support the German war machine. Both Hitler and Himmler had rejected their Catholic upbringing and there were more Catholics in Poland than any other country, making it a convenient target for religious persecution. It was also the gateway for the inevitable invasion of the Soviet Union and of vital strategic importance.

More ominously, it was the home to nearly three million Jews before the war. Ever since Catherine II established the Pale for Jews they had moved into Poland and had recently represented nearly eight percent of the population, the most of any nation in Europe.

Earlier in the 20th century, before World War I, there were over thirty million Poles, but four million were killed in World War I, thirty-four times the American loss in the war. Almost all the fighting of that World War took place on Polish soil. Yet deaths were not the only suffering by the Poles. Devastation was astounding as over 1.7 million buildings were destroyed, 6,969 churches, and 40% of all railway bridges and stations during the First World War.

The Soviets also had reason to dislike Poland. When the Communists swept to power in Russia and successfully won the Russian Civil War, the Soviet leaders decided to continue rolling right over Europe with their revolution. The mighty Red Army attacked the Poles in August of 1920 driving to the very gates of Warsaw.

A miracle of sorts happened when the embattled Poles fought back valiantly August 15 in the Battle of Warsaw outmaneuvering the stunned and vastly superior Red Army and routing them on August 18, thus saving Europe from Soviet conquest. It was a setback that reverberated throughout the Kremlin and caused the Communists to slow down the worldwide revolution they advocated. In time it came to be known as the day of the Polish Miracle.

 Yet there was more, for though the Soviets were a new nation dominated by Jewish-Bolshevik leaders and committed to stopping anti-Semitic actions, they were also committed to driving the opposition Jewish groups from influence, adversaries such as the Jewish Zionist and Bund nationalist parties.

Because of its proximity Poland had become a haven for Jewish outcasts from the Soviet Union after the revolution and civil war - those on the wrong side of Judaism who became enemies of the Bolshevik State. It also was a safe haven for all those fleeing Communist persecution throughout the Soviet Empire. To the Soviets, Poland was a nation harboring many dangerous fugitives and traitors.

Poland also was a hotbed of another faction of Jewish revolutionaries who were committed to the Communist Marxist revolution and the Soviet Bolshevik leadership. Thus some Polish Jews were enemies of the Soviets and many more were allies. Ironically Jewish participation in the Marxist revolution in Poland earlier caused the Poles and Ukrainians to distrust them as well. Active Jewish involvement in the revolutions that swept Europe after World War I would come back to haunt them.

Beyond the desire of the Soviets to save some Jews from Nazis and punish some for opposing the Bolsheviks, the Soviets were also in desperate need of access to the Baltic Sea north of Poland. A treaty with Hitler gave Stalin freedom to overrun the Baltic States and gain that ocean access.

 By 1921 the Polish population dropped to twenty-seven million, then grew to thirty-two million by 1931, the last official census before World War II. It was a diverse population as Ukrainians and Belorussians were the majority, Poles made up one third of the population, and Jews were about eight percent.

Germany and the Soviets announced to a stunned world the signing of the non-aggression pact at the end of August 1939 and on September 1 the Nazi invasion of Poland from the west was launched. It was to be a coordinated attack with the Red Army attacking from the east.

Over 1,800,000 German soldiers poured across the border with 2,600 tanks and over 2,000 aircraft supporting the invasion. Typical of the new German strategy designed by Hitler personally, it was to be a rapid and deadly strike. The Poles, like the rest of the world, were caught unprepared and less than a third of the Polish military was able to mobilize against the Nazi invasion.

Stalin, to the chagrin of Hitler, did not attack immediately as promised but waited to see what kind of resistance the Germans would encounter. He was also wary of the reaction of England and America to the invasion, as he needed Churchill and Roosevelt to be allies if he were to have any hope of defeating Hitler and Germany.

By waiting until the Germans destroyed the Polish army, he could proclaim the Soviets were invading Poland to protect the Ukrainian and Belorussian populations living in Poland from the Nazis, a tactic that infuriated Hitler when he learned of it.

The Soviet war machine finally did roll across the eastern border of Poland September 17 as Hitler's forces had secured the German half of the country and were rapidly moving into the Soviet territory. For a time it appeared as if the former bitter enemies and now allies might start fighting each other as they laid claim to the Polish nation.

One of the most intriguing comments of the dilemma faced by the Poles came from their decorated General Wladyslaw Anders, Polish Commander, speaking to General George Patton later in the war. Anders said:

"With the Nazis, we lose our lives; with the Soviets, we lose our souls… If I found my army between the Nazis and the Soviets, I would attack in both directions."

 

By October 5 Poland could hold out no longer against the onslaught from the Nazis and Red Army, and finally surrendered. Poland ceased to exist. Still in just a few weeks of fighting the Poles inflicted heavy losses on the Germans, 50,000 men, 697 planes and 993 tanks and armored cars, while thousands of Polish soldiers and civilians were able to escape to France and Britain.

The defeat in battle was just the beginning of the Polish suffering. In the 20 years following World War I Poland had rebuilt her industry and railroads. She now had over 5,500 railroad locomotives, 11,350 passenger cars, and 164,000 freight cars. Over 1,250 miles of new railroad track had been laid and Polish highways had been expanded by over 30%.

All of these resources were needed by the Nazis in their ambitious plans to reunite the German Empire. A vast network of nearly 200 concentration camps were soon developed throughout Poland and the surrounding area first for the purpose of providing labor, and later as the sites of the Nazi death camps. The need for industrial output was the priority and over two million Poles were among five million prisoners sent into forced labor.

When the occupation was completed Germany controlled about 13 million Poles including 2.1 million Jews, and the Soviets controlled about 13 million Poles including about 1.2 million Jews. Over 600,000 people fled from the German to Soviet sector including over 350,000 Jews during the next year. Of the total population in Soviet occupied areas about one tenth were Jewish, one third were Poles, and the majority were Ukraine and Belorussian.

Germany immediately threw 1.2 million Poles from their ancestral homes for resettlement in ghettos to make room for Germans who lost their homes after World War I. The Soviets and Polish were bitter enemies and the Soviets captured 230,000 Polish soldiers including 25,000 Jewish soldiers. Millions of Poles died in the hands of the Germans and Soviets.

Before the Nazis were driven out of Poland nearly 2.5 million Poles were murdered in camps and another 500,000 were starved to death. Millions more died during forced labor, resettlement and deportation.

As for Poles living in the Soviet lands, 1.6 million Poles were deported to the gulags and prisons of Russia including over 130,000 Jews sent from the Soviet occupied area of Poland to Siberia as "enemies of the state." Ironically this deportation probably saved them from the Nazi holocaust. In addition to the Polish citizens imprisoned or forced into labor camps the Soviets murdered many thousands of Polish military.

Soviet treatment of the Poles changed only when Hitler violated the non-aggression treaty and attacked the Soviet Union using Poland as the launch point in June of 1941. This action caused some positive events to take place in the midst of the carnage.

On August 12, 1941, with the German army advancing on Moscow, the Supreme Soviet granted amnesty to all Polish citizens and released all Polish prisoners from gulags and prisons in order to help in the fight against Nazi Germany. The millions of Poles sent to Soviet prisons were now free, unlike the fate of most Russian citizens sent to the deadly Soviet gulag prison system.

A total of nearly six million Poles died (civilian and military) during the war, ranking Poland third behind the Soviet Union and Germany for the most deaths in the European sector of World War II. This represented nearly 22% of the entire Polish population before the war.

When the dust finally settled on the deadliest conflict in history over fifteen million people had died in Polish concentration camps. Most were Soviet and Communist prisoners captured when the Germans overran the Soviet occupied Poland, the Ukraine and western Soviet territory extending all the way to Moscow. Tens of millions of Soviet military and civilians, Communists and Communist sympathizers were exterminated. Poland once again lay in ruins and it was to remain a Soviet state for the next half century.

As destiny would have it, Poland made history in quite another way. On the very same day as the Polish Miracle, May 18, 1920, when the Poles stopped the mighty Soviet Red Army and captured Kiev, in Poland a baby boy named Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born.

This young boy grew up and helped organize a secret theater group during the Nazi occupation. By 1944 he became a Catholic priest in a secret order in Poland. Soon the equally murderous Communists under Stalin drove out the murderous Nazi regime.

The priest became a Cardinal, and then the Cardinal became the first Polish Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II. In time he would use his influence as Pope to help the Solidarity movement in Poland oppose the Communist rule, and would help lead the Polish people out from under the shackles of Communism into a new life of freedom.

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Obamaville October 11 - Is the President an Ivy League Spoiled Brat?

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Never thought I would write such a headline and especially when I was one of the millions of Americans who hoped our first African American president would be successful. Like most Americans, I knew our political system was broken two years ago.

When Obama got elected I waited patiently while he learned firsthand the difficulty of being president and commander in chief. More than anything else I wanted him to start the healing process of the nation like he promised, and focus on the immediate national problems we faced like jobs, the economy, the deficit and unemployment.

I'm still waiting. Obama has proven to be more like an old style politician than any shining light for the future. Along the way he has not only forsaken healing the country but has actually increased the political polarization and class warfare undermining our political system.

On the campaign trail this fall he acts like an embittered candidate for office rather than the incumbent. His strategy of blaming Bush and Republicans for all his woes defies logic and reflects ignorance of the facts. At times he acts like a spoiled Ivy League kid whose integrity has been questioned.

In response he attacks with less logic and more bitterness making idiotic claims with no substantiation designed to divert attention from his dismal performance and lack of leadership. At what point, I wonder, did Obama lose sight of the fact he is the president of all the people. Since when were our presidents above criticism, especially when there are so many things to criticize.

The lies and attacks he and his gang spout on the campaign trail are unbecoming the leader of the western world and are making a mockery of the prestige of the office of president. Even he liberal media are tiring of his whining as the New York Times said there is no proof or evidence that foreign money is being funneled into the midterm campaigns of the dastardly Republicans as Obama and Axelrod, his resident hit man, have claimed.

You would think after all the finishing schools he completed he would have learned how to take criticism, how to take responsibility for his actions, and how to act like a man and president rather than a spoiled brat. Mr. President, stop campaigning. It is becoming an embarrassment to you and the nation. Our leaders have always risen above partisan politics, isn't it about time you start acting like a leader and lead instead of tearing us apart. Give us a president we can be proud to call our own.
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10 - 10 -10 Draws Thousands to Marriage Vows

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More than 40,000 couples in America and 31,000 couples in Britain got married yesterday, 10/10/10, to take advantage of the rare calendar occurrence.

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Kentucky Born Johnny Depp Stuns British School Kids

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There is a reason Johnny Depp remains one of the most popular box office stars in the world.  He has never lost touch with the people as shown in these two clips of Depp answering a letter from a British student in person and in character as Captain Jack Sparrow at a school assembly in England. 






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Secretariat Movie Must See for American Pride

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This past weekend Disney films released a true story of the greatest race horse in American history and it is a must see for families and those seeking something to be proud about in America.  The family movie opened in third place, a surprisingly strong opening considering the obsession of American moviegoers with greed, corruption, vampires and fantasy.

Secretariat had what BoxOfficeMojo.com called a “decent start” at the box office when opening weekend estimates indicated that the Walt Disney Co. motion picture had generated $12.6-million in box office receipts to rank third among all films and second among those released October 8.

The early returns bode well for Secretariat becoming a profitable film. With a budget of $35-million, it is already more than a third of a way to that figure, and there does not appear to be much competition the weekend of October 15 from new films.
 

 
This is a hearty warming story, all true, with an amazing cast led by Diane Lane, a favorite of the CPT.  But it is the story of Secretariat, whose heroic deeds at a time of national despair, in the middle of the Watergate scandal, brought to an end a 25 year wait for the next Triple Crown winner of horseracing's crown jewels.

The powerful horse astoundeed the experts and caught the imagination of the world as he came from dead last place to set a blistering record in winning the Kentucky Derby.  In the Preakness the horse changed tactics and moved from last to first place on the first turn of the race to win handily.  In the final leg, the Belmont, Secretariat again changed tactics and was in the lead from start to finish leaving the entire field an astounding 40 lengths behnd in record time.

But his story is far more than the Triple Crown and that is why you should take the family to see the meaning of a true legend and hero.  I got to see Secretariat several times in Kentucky and he was just as powerful a force in person as on video tape.  You can see the three historic triple crown races at the following link:

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/secretariat-greatest-champion-of-all.html

You can also check out the following links for reviews and stories of this amazing champion.

Reviews:

Entertainment Weekly says Disney successfully turned Goliath into David.
Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert gives the film four stars.


The Lexington Herald-Leader pans the movie.

New York Times review says the horses outshine actors in "squeaky clean" film.
Time calls Secretariat "a feel-good movie to be proud of." 


Salon.com's Andrew O'Hehir calls Secretariat "A gorgeous, creepy American myth.".


Ebert provides a rebuttal to O'Hehir's "bizarre" review.


O'Hehir responds to Ebert's response to O'Hehir's original review.


CBS says Diane Lane "dazzles" as Penny Chenery.


Louisville Courier-Journal also charmed by Lane as Chenery.


Forbes.com says Secretariat won't match The Blind Side.


HuffingtonPost.com calls Secretariat "corny."


And so does FoxNews.com.


Boston Globe calls Secretariat a wire-to-wire winner.


Philadealphia Inquirer calls Secretariat "workmanlike sports inspirational."

Philadelphia Daily News says film is "A Bit Off Track."


The Kansas City Star tells readers to rein in their expectations, gives movie two stars.


Salt Lake Tribune: "Secretariat runs a well-trod course."


THOROUGHBRED TIMES Senior Staff Writer Frank Angst reviews the film.


THOROUGHBRED TIMES correspondent Phil Janack reviews the film. 


From the Baltimore Sun, Turf writer Sandra Mckee's take on the movie, called Seeing is Believing. 


Early reviews from LimeLife. 
Review from Kansas City Star. 


Daily Racing Form's Steven Crist gives his take on Secretariat. 


NY1's Neil Rosen says Secretariat "comes up a winner."


Feature Stories:


From the Palm Beach Post, Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps recalls his family's role in Secretariat's story.


Sheknows.com talks with Director Randall Wallace about his casting choices.


Andy Beyer revels in Disney introducing Secretariat to a new generation.


From the Baltimore Sun, the Preakness Stakes' role in Secretariat.


From the Las Vegas Review, the film may help attract new fans to horse racing.


Roger Ebert was particularly impressed with Secretariat's Belmont Stakes (G1) performance. (Warning: coarse language)


From Lexington Herald-Leader, Secretariat filled with Kentucky.


Penny Chenery tells South Mississippi Sun Herald that movie is 'wonderful, feel-good show'.
The Hollywood Reporter on Disney marketing film to faith-based audiences.

The New York Times profiles Penny Chenery and her role in the film.

Washingon Post sports columnist Leonard Shapiro on the film's D.C. ties.


On the web:


PhotosByZ at the Lexington premiere of Secretariat.


The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) page for the film.


RottenTomatoes.com ranks the film.
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Watching the Media - CNN Struggles for Identity While MSNBC Embraces Left

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The only thing more fun than watching politicians sell out their principles in an effort to align themselves with the latest polls is watching the news networks sell out to the ratings game. With just three weeks left in the midterm campaign come Tuesday last minute adjustments are being made by the media but will they do any good at this late stage?

Take CNN for instance, the last cable network close to being fair and balanced until they moved left winger Rick Sanchez into an anchor role, then into prime time, and now have fired him. Did CNN move too far to the left? Of course, and when CNN wanted to introduce a new liberal program with co-hosts former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer with co-host Kathleen Parker, a show called Parker Spitzer (how creative) Sanchez had to go.

So far the television critics don't like the show nor the fast pace that means we get sound bites, not in depth discussion of issues. That is all we need on cable, more sound bites and less news. But then why CNN chose to revive the career of the discredited Spitzer who was force out as governor of New York because of a prostitute scandal, when there are surely others not involved in sex scandals in politics is hard to understand.

CNN seems to have temporarily lost their mind when it comes to programming. In their exclusive coverage of saving the miners trapped in Chile for 66 days they didn't even realize it was an American drilling team that was responsible for providing the drill and team that reached the miners two and a half months ahead of schedule. It wasn't until late in the coverage they finally realized it, even though the Americans were beside the President of Chile when he made the dramatic announcement.

Just today, Sunday, CNN host T J Holmes was doing story on a university study showing divorce rates for different women's occupations. Believe it or not two male reporters did the story, no females, and CNN has plenty of capable females. CNN's Robin Meade or Soledad O'Brien could have done a much better job.

Of course the whole story was stupid as the highest divorce rate was among dancers and choreographs, at around 33%. There was no explanation of what kind of dancers. Do ballet and pole dancers have the same divorce rate? And since 50% of all marriages wind up in divorce, it made no sense what so ever.

CNN is still stringing out the long overdue retirement of Larry King and the segments get weirder by the day.

Anderson Cooper is one of our favorite CNN reporters and he is now appearing on CBS 60 Minutes and other networks. Will he be the next to leave? They really don't need to lose any more good reporters.

Then there is Elizabeth Hasselbeck, the sole conservative on the liberal frenzy called The View (ABC) with Barbara Wawa, Whoppie Goldberg et all. She has won a new and coveted spot on Good Morning America, the ABC morning show, where she will finally get to finish a sentence without liberal interruption.

Finally, MSNBC has added yet another left wing show with host Lawrence O'Donnell who has been a political analyst for MSNBC for over 10 years. As he said, "I've had a part-time job at MSNBC for 14 years. Now that the network and I have gotten to know each other, I'm thrilled to be going full time." f course the quality of his new show can be seen by the fact his second show featured the resident idiot from Alaska, Levi Johnston, the high school dropout who got Bristol Palin pregnant. Seems O'Donnell could never get Sarah Palin on the show so he chose to go for the vulgar dimwit to try and hype his ratings. Now that was some intellectual presentation.

Entertainment is news in America...
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Nebraska Closes in on Number 1 Ohio State

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As I said in my report Friday on the last Nebraska game I expect the NCAA national championship to be fought out between Nebraska and Ohio State and over the weekend a number of steps were taken toward that goal. It all began with South Carolina knocking off number 1 Alabama while Nebraska pounded previously unbeaten Kansas State.

As a result Nebraska moved up in the national polls to 4 in the coaches poll and 5 in AP. It is only a matter of time before they jump to number 2 and await a final confrontation with Ohio State. Ironically next year Nebraska jumps to the Big Ten, the same conference as Ohio State, and they will be playing each other during the season.

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Spirits in the Sky - John Lennon

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Today is the 70th birthday of John Lennon, born October 9, 1940. 







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American Pride is Back in Chile No Thanks to Obama and Washington Politicians

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At 8:30 this morning history was made when a rescue shaft reached 33 trapped miners in Chile who have been entombed over one half mile underground nearly two months. No miners have ever survived for two months underground and it was 33 days ago the rescue drills began a race to reach the 33 men. Ironic isn't it that the drilling to save 33 men took 33 days, that same number of years Jesus walked the earth.

Of course the American media with the exception of CNN completely missed the rescue and Obama and the American politicians were too busy tearing each other apart to recognize the importance of this event to America and America's place in the world.

You see the miners would have remained trapped in their tomb until Christmas if it had not been for the effort of a small American drilling company, Center Rock Inc., from a small town in Pennsylvania. When owner and President Brandon Fisher first heard it would take until Christmas to save the trapped miners he knew he had the equipment and technology to save them much faster and he contacted the Chile government.

Brandon began coordinating an international effort to get his equipment to the site and in use. With the help UPS who shipped it for free and his international contacts the equipment arrived and saved 2 1/2 months of the drilling time needed to reach the men. As they are pulled to freedom this weekend it will be the efforts of Brandon Fisher and his team working with the Chile government that made this possible.

There was no involvement by our haplessly incompetent government and our politicians were too busy trashing each other to take notice but in the end, it was the pride, skill, innovation and organization of Americans that helped save the miners in South America.

The government of Chile, by stepping in and taking charge of the disaster immediately rather than sitting back like the Obama administration did in the BP disaster, and by reaching out to the best people in the world for help unlike our BP experience, in which our government did not, that the potential of America was recognized and achieved.

Chile did a masterful job, Brandon Fisher and his Center Rock company team showed the world what the politicians could not, and the people of Chile now have a miracle. Nothing could highlight the power and importance of small business and innovationi in America more than this nor show it's value to the outside world. By the way, NASA specialists also provided valuable help to the rescue effort and Obama has gutted the NASA budget.
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CuChulainn Deo Irie - His Spirit will Live Forever

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On Wednesday of this week I lost a great friend and inseparable companion of over seven years when CuChulainn Deo Irie, my Irish Wolfhound nicknamed Coolin, died in my arms after fighting valiantly for ten days against a deadly infection.

Coolin was of the Super breed from Ireland and stood 40 inches at the shoulders, was 7' 3" from nose to tail, and weighed about 250 pounds. There could be no more loyalty, love and companionship given by one of God's creatures than what Coolin gave me.

While his Gaelic name stood for the Warrior Spirit of Ireland, the Irish Wolfhound are truly the gentle giants of the canine world with a history dating back 3,500 years. I once wrote an article linked below about Living with an Irish Wolfhound.

They are a mystical, spiritual and magical breed and he will be missed.

Click below for more.

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-life-with-irish-wolfhound-cuchulainn.html

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