This is a personal account from a friend of mine who was a student and commanded an army unit at the time when the GDR fell, following months of courageous, peaceful actions by their civil rights movement. He now lives and works in the US, and the Occupy movement made him post his personal account on his facebook page. He defied orders to make sure his unit would not inflict violence upon the peaceful civil rights protesters, knowing this would damage his career and personal life.
I asked him for permission to share this here. It is an example of a conscientious, upright decision, and I found it a deeply moving example of how we should act as humans.
Here goes:
Occupation wont work if you have to play by "their" rules, you'll need allies, and mostly the ones that will beat you up in the first place by "following orders". So here is a little History lesson for those who are willing to listen.
In mid 1989 I was still in the SF Paratroopers temporary stationed about 20 miles north of Leipzig, the epicenter of all demonstrations in former Eastern Germany. We received orders to back up the Police and prepare for policing activities in or around Leipzig to control the crowd and if necessary using the means on hand, meaning we were fully equipped and loaded. And as a soldier, you don't question Orders, you obey them, or else........because is was in charge of 4 NCO's and 21 Soldiers, I had to make a decision and maybe risk everything I worked so hard for.
For crying out loud, I studied in Leipzig, played music in clubs, was part of the Student scene and had many friends there, so what is the System asking me to do? To go after my unarmed friends or relatives if things get out of hand by simply using "following orders" as an excuse?
No, not on my watch; so I asked a clear question to everyone on my unit: are you willing to inflict perhaps physical damage to the public? To the people that could be your brother or sister? If your answer is "Yes" then I'll order you to remain at the barracks as a "reserve unit", if the answer is "No" then be prepared that in case of physical confrontation I WILL order you to stand down and back off. Do not engage in physical confrontation unless you are being attacked in other ways than with bare hands.
Since you can't really keep these kind of orders I've given hidden under a blanket, the consequences were significant, it very much contributed to the end of my military career, among other little challenges I had with the Stasi. Needless to say, "the system" pulled me off the assignment and "asked" to resign my commission in October 1989. And thankfully my guys didn't have to deploy because in November or 1989 it was all over, peacefully I might add.
Yes, these were different times and different causes but in the end it comes down to one single point: Germans were supposed to fight Germans.
So essentially, that is the kind of choice which the people in uniform have to make, so put down your pepper spray and rubber bullets and start to listen, make up your own mind. This is not Good versus Evil, it is an insecure and corrupt system trying to use your skills against the very people who will perhaps one day run this country and define our future, be it good, bad or indifferent.......and that's precisely the point that should be discussed. T.W.B.
The spasm of the larynx is a protective reaction of the body to close the airways against incoming liquids.
I am a certified EMT. There is a medical term of "dry drowning": quite some people drown without liquid actually entering their lungs. The occurence of laryngospasms clearly shows that waterboarding does not "simulate" drowning. Physiologically, it is exactly drowning, with all its dangers and dramatic and damaging consequences.
It is not simply "dunking someone's head in the water". It is inflicting the agony of death struggle, and it causes physical and mental harm. It is TORTURE.
Importantly, it also crosses the line of inflicting bodily injury. It could certainly be regarded attempted homicide, and definitely fulfills all elements of crime for causing bodily injury while *consciously accepting* the possibility of killing the victim.
I am not a lawyer, but given these facts it is *impossible under any reasonable interpretation of the law* to consider this practice lawful. Those who wrote the legal memos backing waterboarding as "legal" clearly ignored the law. They cannot defend themselves with "insufficient medical knowledge": the memos had sufficient detail on the medical complications. Plus, it is reasonable to expect that a lawyer writing a legal opinion would seek qualified advice from medically trained professionals.
No more check-in. No more airport security. No more endless airport hallways. No more lost luggage. No more 3 ounce of toothpaste max in a clear zip loc bag BS. No more cancelled flights. No more delays from bad weather, iced wings No more trips to/from the airport. No more missed flights - buy a coffee and jump on the next train 1h later. No more truckload of jet fuel burned just to haul my ass around. No more cramped sardine seating. No more emergency exit seat cushion floating device briefing. No more "Chicken or Pasta?". No more you-can-only-use-that-bathroom BS. No more flight booking weeks ahead.
Finally, legroom and ample space to walk around at will. Finally, we can use our cellphone. Finally, WiFi and power outlets for the laptop. Finally, a restaurant wagon. Finally, seeing the landscape. Finally, connecting urban centers rather than airports out in the sticks. Finally, a smooth, quiet ride. Finally, a train that looks like from StarTrek.
That's the whole point. They lost and need to whine and vent about it.
Actual rational issues are not the point. Even any acceptable world view / religious issues are not the point. That's why _not one_ of the teabaggers can answer the question why they protest - they have no actual reason. Their only point is simple hate, and they cannot admit that to a camera.
They are sore losers, spoiled brats rolling on the floor screaming and kicking. It's one huge temper tantrum.
They cannot be considered reasonable adults. They never grew up to that level.
They are crazy. They are selfish. Their messed-up personalities are hurt. They are angry.
They are the people who create totalitarian governments.
a) make north of $250 K a year (why else would you protest?) and/or b) hate to pay taxes (and are likely to try every shady loophole to avoid paying up).
Just get each teabagger's name and give their tax forms a VERY thorough look.
Is there a better chance to:
- catch the nation's worst tax fraudsters, - generate revenue for the government, - reduce the stupid teabag thing's attendance to ZERO, because all the cowards will stay home, scared shitless?
And who knows, maybe we learn that certain right wing "journalists" are just as creative with their taxes as they are with their reporting?
... fed me through college and has cult status home in Germany.
Was so pleased to find them over here in New England, too.
Usually, I shop at Trader Joe's; they are actually owned by ALDI since 1979, hence all the German candy on their shelves.
Factoid: The ALDI owners , the brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht (ALDI = "ALbrecht DIscount"), are supposedly the two wealthiest Germans, but are extremely reclusive - their latest photos date from about the 70s. Started out with their parents' grocery store and kept expanding. They are said to be pretty spartanic. One owns ALDI-north, the other ALDI-south. By the way, also Adidas and Puma were founded by two German brothers who then split the business.
ALDI buy brand products in bulk and dictate the prices to the producing companies, slap their own label on.
There are websites that tell you what ALDI product is in fact which more expensive brand product.
People love them for that Robin-Hood-stick-it-to-the-corporate-guys-and-give-the-bargain-to-the-people-approach.
... over the last 2 years or so that I have been watching his show. He is getting at Bill Clinton on a regular base, but less so for politics than for the Monica affair; these are cheap shots, I agree.
Jay seems especially hard-hitting at those who caused the economic crisis and make the middle class and poor suffer. Maybe that's related to his background - he grew up in smalltown NY and MA, people here have an amazing no-BS, blue collar, in-your-face attitude.
Looking at his bio (Wikipedia), he seems to be a decent guy. I sure understand that some might find his humor abrasive.
I like him, whether that buys me a DU Tombstone Pizza or not.
I had not expected a scientific study to find such a strong connection between bi-/homosexuality and homophobia!
I was pretty sure there was some correlation such that the most vocal homophobes would be the ones most in fear of being robbed of their simulated heterosexual-only identity. I had not expected a very clear result from a small group of testees though.
Also, I would have expected that those with the strongest conflict between their straight facade and their true homo-/bisexual self would be the most aggressive ones. Then again, that aggression may not be genuine to their personality (which was probably the kind of aggression tested for) but only apply to the specific topic of homosexuality that puts them under such stress.
I wonder if there is a difference in self-hate induced homophobia between religious/conservative and liberal environments. People who are bi-/homosexual in liberal environments should be under less social pressure to keep a heterosexual facade.
I think there is a universal mechanism how fundamentalism grows hate: define a set of rules that condemn certain parts of human nature (e.g. sexuality); the rules are so tight that everyone deviates (sins). Given the consequences (hell, damnation in the afterlife; catastrophic social consequences in the now), this is an existential problem, to be avoided at all costs, requires self-denial to display a conformist facade. The socially inflicted self-image of the individual as 'faulty' leads to conflicts and hate of the 'wrong' parts of one's self. That hated part of the self will likely also be hated in others. It is the part that threatens the individual's security.
Just rambling. I am not trained in psychology, but it all seems to make sense.
... at first, smaller mills (<100 kilowatts?) popped up along their windy coastlines. Our friends there became shareholders in one early on and they broke even in no time at all, after that made tons of $$$ out of it.
Now, the companies have industrialized and optimized the windmill parks into arrays of multi-megawatt generators (that's several 1000 households per mill at peak output!!!) . Denmark generated 20% of its power (!) through wind in 2007.
My little town in Germany was the first one to build a community-owned wind park, and it became a raging success, both financially (big bucks), in terms of image, and we use green energy. Many of our hills (we are inland, 80 miles N of Frankfurt) have generators on them now.
If you stand below them, seeing their futuristic white shapes against the pale-blue sky on a winter evening, turning majestically, they look like beautiful, peaceful things from a better future.
H I G H - S P E E D - R A I L !!! :fistbump: 
I had not expected a scientific study to find such a strong connection between bi-/homosexuality and homophobia!
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radishulous - my producetivity is squashed for the night!!! I should just go to beet. - That's parsley your fault!!! 
