A Controversy... and beyond

Doing a little research on the poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller, I uncovered confusion, an oral history and more than a little controversy. For some time, the poem itself, when translated into Spanish was credited to Bertolt Brecht. Neimoller is the one most often credited with it, but the exact wording remains a bit of a mystery.

The words, as inscribed on the New England Holocaust Memorial at Faneuil Hall in Boston are:

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

In Milton Mayer's book, "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45" (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1955, 1966), p. 168f quotes a German professor in "Kronenburg" (probably Frankfurt/Main) whom Mayer interviewed between 1950 and 1954, as follows:

"Pastor Niemöller spoke for thousands and thousands of men like me when he spoke (too modestly of himself) and said that, when the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing; and then they attacked the Socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but, still, he was not a Socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, and so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing. And then they attacked the Church, and he was a Churchman, and he did something--but then it was too late."

Niemöller was a commander of a German U-boat in World War I. A seminal incident in his moral outlook, as he related in many public speeches later in his life, occurred when he commanded his submarine crew not to rescue the sailors of a boat he torpedoed, but let them drown instead. Niemöller began studying theology in Münster in the 1920s. At this time, and at least until the mid-1930s, Niemöller was a typical Christian antisemite who openly professed his belief that the Jews had been punished through the ages because they had "brought the Christ of God to the cross." In 1931 Niemöller became a pastor in a wealthy Berlin suburb. As a German nationalist he initially supported Hitler, but as the Nazis began to interfere in church affairs, he moved into opposition. In 1934 Niemöller founded first the Pfarrernotbund (Pastors' Emergency League), then the Bekennende Kirche (Confessing Church), a branch of the German Protestant (Lutheran) Church. In 1937 he was arrested because of his outspoken sermons, and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In 1941 he was moved to Dachau, where he stayed until the end of the war.



I bring this tidbit of history up both because of what occurred last week here in Silverton and because of a piece in our local monthly, Our Town.The latter boils down to a quote by Tom Smith, the pastor of the Silverton First Baptist Church, who responded to the events of last week by calling them, "a case of two wrongs don't make a right." He went on to say that "Mayor Rasmussen's personal and public promotion of transgenderism (sic) is contrary to what the Bible teaches. However, the Westboro group's promotion of hatred in God's name is similarly wrong."

In an open letter to Pastor Smith via the editor of Our Town, I wrote--

You may believe that the Bible doesn’t teach transgenderism—although, I would love to see the scripture that explicates that—but Mr. Rasmussen does not promote transgenderism, either personally or publicly. He has made a personal choice. He does not advocate others following his personal choice. Further, Mr. Rasmussen is protected by the laws of the land against unreasonable attacks on his personal freedoms, whether you or Fred Phelps may disagree with them. These are the same laws, by the way, that protect Phelps and his family to demonstrate at funerals for soldiers who died in the service of our country, stand on our flag and spew their hatred in public.

Personally, Pastor, if I were a leader of a Baptist congregation, I would do everything I could to distance myself from Fred Phelps and his family. They give the church a bad name. In fact, many people do not even consider them a congregation, but a hate group. I have to agree with current mayor, Ken Hector, who was quoted in the same article as you, saying, “This group is not a church; it’s a cult that preaches hate. They don’t discriminate – they hate everybody.” Their congregation of 60 spend all their time traveling around the country promoting their hatred and intolerance, taunting people and hoping for a confrontation in order to file a lawsuit. Not very Christian of them, wouldn’t you say?

The people of Silverton voted for Stu not because he is “transgender,” but because he is best suited for the job. Thankfully, they showed vision that you, and the Phelps family lack. I am proud of our community, its diversity and its active show of support for the rights and the dignity of an individual who has chosen, not to hate, but merely to be different.

It wasn’t that long ago that a woman could not vote in this country. Blacks were forbidden to cast a ballot… and now, an African-American is about to be sworn in as our country’s president. We have come a long, long way. Unfortunately Mr. Phelps and his family have not. Let us leave them where hate and ignorance live… in the dark—in the past.

God blesses America, so the song goes. He (or She) doesn’t hate it.

In the spirit of the holiday season I wish you Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All.


p.s. You will note I do not--and will not--refer to Fred Phelps as a pastor, reverend or anything else.

Collage created with credit to Google Images

Can You Imagine?

It is one thing to come to our peaceful little town and mislabel Stu Rasmussen as a transvestite. It is much worse to mock the loss of a soldier at his or her funeral. But it is unconscionable to even imagine staging a protest at the funeral of Barack Obama's grandmother. Where is the capacity in the human mind to conjure such evil? And, in the name of Christ! One of Fred Phelp's misguided granddaughters carried a sign yesterday proclaiming Obama to be the antichrist. Fred has 13 children and countless grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He has sired an army of despicable hate. But even that cannot explain the thought process that comes up with such twisted thinking so as to protest the death and decent burial of Madlyn Payne Dunham. The Baptist church needs to come out and take a stand to distance themselves from these horrible people. From their action yesterday, their lawsuits, their website and their manifesto, they are nothing less than pure evil. They abuse the constitution and flaunt their protected freedom. Git-Mo should remain open and functioning if only to house Reverend Phelps and his sick inbred spawn.

Neither will I share the vile words they have used against Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, nor will I devote any more time to the WBC. Reverend Phelps recalls the N word in bright flashing neon. He out-nazis the Nazis and should be treated appropriately. The framers of the laws of this land certainly did not have him or his "congregation" in mind when they created the protections of the constitution and its amendments.

It's time to move on...

Why I love Silverton-- Oregon, part one

Word came out that the not quite right Reverend Fred Phelps was planning a little excursion to Silverton to let his feelings be known about our town electing Stu Rasmussen mayor. Now, I've written about Stu. He is, to be kind, a free spirit. He was also duly elected. He may not make the prettiest woman, but he has done nothing to the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka Kansas-- certainly, nothing to deserve being called a "60 year old pervert. Nobody else will just tell him to STOP! Everyone else (i.e. besides Westboro Baptist Church) despises him so much that they will gladly watch him morph himself into a snaggle-toothed old witch because they know they are all guilty of the same or worse sins." These words of love and acceptance come from a church...

A church that reaps the reward of media attention-- the same media that they call "FAG MEDIA SHAME" on one of their day-glo signs. A church that benefits from non-profit religious institution status while standing on the flag during their protests. A church where the word LOVE is never uttered. They are clearly and openly, the Church of Hate. Their website is www.godhatesfags.com-- go figure.

I hemmed and hawed a bit about participating in a protest. I thought it best to ignore them-- not give them the attention they so desperately thrive on. Well, I was persuaded, by one of my new best friends-- a longstanding Silverton resident, who reminded me, as the 150 or so people who turned out reminded me, why I love this community. The support and solidarity that was shown to Stu and to our town and the democratic principles we live by--and fight for--was overwhelming. I talked to Stu at the end of the event, after the pathetic pariahs of hate crawled into their rental Lincoln and motorvated on down the road. He was touched by the show of support. The crowd was empowered.

Overall, it was a good day... the good guys won. And we did a good thing.


Back in the day, you'd get your ass kicked by hardhats and hawks for doing shit like standing on Old Glory. Now, you do it in the name of Jesus and you guarantee your place in heaven. Hmmm. I'd gladly go the other way.


One child grows up to be
Somebody that just loves to learn
And another child grows up to be
Somebody you'd just love to burn


They came from Albany and Portland, The Dalles and even Silverton.


Me, Stu Rasmussen and Tom Levy

And Now For Something Completely Different. . .

Dustin Pedroia--last year's AL Rookie of the Year was named AL MVP yesterday. In all objectivity, I cannot think of a more deserving player. Even in November, the Boys of Summer inspire.

Oh yeah... and Coco is headed to Kansas City.

This One's For You

You know who you are. Yeah, you. Listen up and listen good. And pass this on to Tom Adkins and whomever else you think agrees with the bizarre notion that racism and hate are a thing of the past in this country. White guilt was not assuaged on November 4th. Unfortunately, just the opposite. The market's down but hate is on an upward spiral, spinning out of control. The feel-good election is being reacted to with the ugliest forms of prejudice and hatred.

An editorial ran in today's Oregonian. It was entitled, "A colorblind society? Not yet." Not by a long shot:

"... a bus full of schoolchildren from a conservative community in eastern Idaho got caught last week chanting "Assassinate Obama" during their ride. These children were too young to understand what they were saying, as the district spokeswoman pointed out. 'They only old enough to soak up whatever they hear.'"

The editorial also stated that, "Law enforcement around the United States is seeing an unprecedented number of threats against a president-elect, as The Associated Press reported this week. Referrals to the FBI and Secret Service are up. Supremacist propaganda is up. Web traffic to white nationalist sites is way up. The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented 200 hate-related incidents triggered by the election, including various cross burnings, and public incitements to hang Obama."

I am not going to belabor the point. Actually, I wanted to move on. Write about something else, like Fabio the rooster who is hell-bent on drawing blood every time I enter the poultry pen. But I can't. Not yet, anyway. Newsweeklies and pundits are drawing comparisons to our president-elect to Lincoln and FDR. A lot of what is coming to the surface feels like the 60's-- both in the best of ways and the worst of ways.

I want to move on. You should, too. I know how corny it sounded when Beatle John first sang it, but it needs to be sung again... and heard. "Give Peace a Chance."

Hate cannot exist in a vacuum.

Inauguration Deficit Disorder

Can't you people wait?

I guess you're going to have to. The Facebook Freaks who are demanding Obama's impeachment realize he can't be ousted from an office he has yet to be sworn into. But the minute he takes the oath, they're there to relieve him. What grounds, you ask? What difference does it make? He's a Marxist. He's a Socialist. He's a schvatzah. He's not like us. He's this. He's that. He's too cool. He's too black.

Like the cop at the scene says. Okay, folks, move it along. There's nothing to see here. Just history being made. Go back to your ramshackle white trash homes. Lock the doors behind you. The show's over. Don't stand in the doorway. Don't block up the hall.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Dont stand in the doorway
Dont block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
Theres a battle outside
And it is ragin.
Itll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And dont criticize
What you cant understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin.
Please get out of the new one
If you cant lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin.

Why has it taken so long? Get out of the way, you pitiful fools. You have no idea how to deal with such a watershed moment. Your labels don't fit. And your vile protestations are so last century. Put Obama's head on a brown shirt flag waver. Sticks and stones. You're lucky he's so cool and so magnamimous. Otherwise, it would be the pillary for y'all. Even liberals/progressives or whatever the fuckin' label you want to throw on the thinkers of this not so perfect union is. We have limits and goddam, if you push us, there will be payback.

The Bush Legacy

I'm thinking that maybe the President George W. Bush Presidential library will be housed in an I.M. Pei designed Johnny-on-the-Spot. But the guy can't wait. He thinks he still has capital and he's spending it right up until he's shooed out of office and shipped back to Crawfish.

Here it is...

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and
Snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - world
Serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs. Feed
It off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, ladder
Start to clatter with fear fight down height. Wire
In a fire, representing seven games, a government
For hire and a combat site. Left of west and coming in
A hurry with the furies breathing down your neck. Team
By team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped
Look at that low playing! Fine, then. Uh oh,
Overflow, population, common food, but it'll do. Save
Yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs,
Listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture and
The revered and the right, right. You vitriolic,
Patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty
Psyched

It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign
Towers. Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself
Churn. Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood
Letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a votive. Step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh, this means no
Fear cavalier. Renegade steer clear! A tournament,
Tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions,
Offer me alternatives and I decline

(chorus)
It's the end of the world as we know it (it's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (it's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine (it's time I... )

© REM


... how often can you post a pile of shit and make it serious?