Little Hawk, kudos to the in-depth analysis. For those of us a bit too young to have seen the ugliest of the propaganda wars, it is a good primer to the time, and the ugliness that the good 'ol U S of A perpetrated.

A quick observation in that vein: A couple years back, a TV station went to fill some dead air after a movie with some Popeye Cartoons (typical, and not uncommon). The scary thing was, the one 'toon they showed was from '42-43, and it was obviously not done by the Max Fleisher Studio (you can tell by the style of the brushstrokes). The scariest thing about it was when Popeye foiled "the Japs", ate his Spinach, and started to kick some serious @$$, the "impact bubbles" (think "Biff!" on the Batman series) were not your typical jaggedy-explosiony-thingies, but swastikas... I was slackjawed staring at this, and amazed that those cartoons were still in the vaults of a TV station, let alone being aired at 4:50 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. Talk about tasteless, those swastikas flying all over the place, and all of the sterotypical Japanese charicatures (Glasses, big teeth, I'm sure you've seen it before) were the most disgusting display I've ever seen, and I still haven't quite forgiven our Government for ever producing that garbage.

Back to the "Nazi" issue, I wanted to add one more thought for the day, from our good buddy, Mr. Sun Tsu (and re-iterated by Mr. Machiavelli). This is dedicated to all those who have suffered some type of horror, whether it be Internment, Concentration Camps, Death Squads, or other unpleasantries, who have faced the demon, have survived, and are moving on with their lives. It kind of goes hand in hand with the "Forgive, but never forget" motif, and has worked marvelously for me on all levels. It reads:

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer".

Don't be traumatized by words, but allow them to help you understand your opponenent.

Understand them, and you can defeat them. As you meet the Metzgers, the Hitlers, the swallowers of bile, the vermin that plague sense and reason, listen, think, reason, and act. You will find that the only people that believe that crap are those that have no real opinions of their own, and ususally have no real grasp of self-worth. As you understand them, you can correct them, and hopefully, they may listen...

...but always keep your hand on the bat.... :)

And lastly, the one statement that never gets heard enough, and I want to thank Praise for it's brevity and clarity:

"I expect complete individual responsibility..."

My God, I want this tattoed on my forehead, and made into a neon sign over my house.

Thank you Praise, I think I'm going to translate that into Latin, and make a banner of it for taking out to the Renaissance Faires, I like it, I like it, I like it... :)

(Stepping off Soapbox)

Domenico/Mongo