Before being elected Pope in 2005, it was Cardinal Ratzinger who headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican department that enforced the rules.

The BBC documentary Sexual Crimes and the Vatican chronicles a 1962 directive from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. “The document reaffirmed the inviolability of the seal of confession, but the BBC film said that it was intended to ‘protect and hide’ abusive priests….There was to be an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest, and any witnesses. The document was revised in 2001 to deal more specifically with sex abuse cases, but it still remained secret. It was sent as a confidential letter to every Catholic bishop in May of 2001.
According to The Observer of April 24, 2005: “It asserted the Church’s right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood.” The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.” Thus Ratzinger made himself an accessory to every act of pedophilia committed by a priest, as well
as confirming that the Church as an institution officially shields pedophile priests.

Apparently the hush-up policy was not “limited” to cases of pedophilia. According to CNN, Father Joseph Feit, confessed to a fellow clergyman that he had raped and killed young women in 1960 at McAllen Texas. Instead of being told to turn himself in, he was shielded and counseled at Assumption Abbey Monastery in Ava, Missouri. Now, after almost half a decade, one of his “counselors” has told the story.

We have heard so much talk in Austria from Bishops Andreas Laun and Kurt Krenn about abortion, which they describe as “murder in the womb.”

According to Laun, if a child is raped and becomes pregnant, the child should have the child. Here’s Laun making comparisons: “Hitler would have been delighted with legalized abortion. May I venture to say that Hitler was not all wrong? For thirty years Austrian children have fallen victim to legalized abortion.” (Laun needs to brush up his history. In the Third Reich performing abortions was a capital crime.)

Yes Bishop Laun, Hitler was a genuine lover of children. So much so, that he had a million and a half murdered in concentration camps.

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Heinz-Christian Strache in Haaretz on March 5th: “The Wehrmacht committed crimes like any other army, and the deserters should be treated like deserters in any other army….Neo-Nazism? It’s just a spirit which “does not really exist.” (1)

Was Austria the victim or the perpetrator in World War II? Or was Austria a combination of both?

It all depends on what you can milk out of the situation. Having your cake and eating it is the best way of dealing with it.

Here’s former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel’s view: “The sovereign state of Austria was literally the first victim of the Nazi regime….They took Austria by force.”(2)

If Austria was indeed “the first victim” of Nazi Germany, then the Wehrmacht was the army that conquered Austria. Those who fought in the Wehrmacht fought in an army of occupation. Thus, the Wehrmacht did not fight for Austria, but rather for Nazi Germany.

Interesting to note, is that Austria, not Germany, pays the Wehrmacht pensions of those soldiers who were Austrian citizens before 1938 and after 1945. Here’s he question of questions: If indeed “Austria was the first victim” of Nazi Germany, why on Earth are pensions and benefits for Austrians, who served in the Wehrmacht and the SS, provided by Austria - and not Germany? Why does the “victim” have to pay?

Well, we know how the “victim” victimized his victims. That’s the story that the Austrian revisionists are diligently rewriting.

The Anschluss is often referred to as the “Rape of Austria.” In my Memoirs of a 39er, I put it this way: “Before being violated, the victim hoisted her skirts and yelped.”

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A contorted “manikin piss,” with the stream directed orally, symbolizes man’s capacity for self-nourishment. It was set up at the Salzburg Festival as art, but its practicality belies that categorization. And the act depicted is not an innovation; Gunter Brus, the actionist, has been doing precisely that for decades.

A platinum skull studded with diamonds - the materials alone valued at 12 million - is another matter. Although the object is modestly estimated at a hundred million, it has been termed extravagant junk by some. They are wrong!

It will be worth every penny of its final price, whatever that may be.

Since cans of Campbell’s tomato soup and comic strips have been declared art, art has been moribund, and now it has been in its last throes.

The diamond-studded skull is its last gasp and symbolizes the death of it.

 * * *

Shenanigans in the Secession and “Freedom of Art”

In February of 2010, the hallowed halls of the Secession were transformed into a Swingers’ Club with audience participation. This is complementary to an exhibit by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel, which includes models exercising in sado-masochistic contraptions.

Yes, ladies and gents, that’s the state of art today.

Gerald Matt, Director of the Vienna “Kunsthalle,” answers the critics of the exhibit: “That’s exactly what was said about the Actionists in the Nineteen-Sixties, and Actionism has long since been established as art.”

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Einladung

 Lyrikabend mit Gedichten aus der einzigartigen Sammlung von Herbert Kuhner (Lyriker, Dramatiker, Übersetzer, Poet)

Mit ausgewählten Gedichten bedeutender jüdischer LyrikerInnen (Alter Brody, Else Keren, Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, Tamar Radzyner, Stella Rotenberg, Thomas Sessler, Herbert Kuhner)

Es interpretieren: Rita Dummer, Karsten Rühl, Herbert Kuhner

Republikanischer Club, Rockhgasse 1- 1010 Wien

25.Feb 2010 19Uhr

Rita DUMMER & Karsten RÜHL

This brilliant acting duo will be reading Austrian exile poets,
from collections by Herbert Kuhner
& poetry by Alter Brody, the American Jewish poet,
in German translations by Heinrich Eggerth and others

Rein literarisch: Jüdische Lyrik aus Österreich ist eine der interessantesten Lyrikanthologien, die ich kenne.
- Konstantin Kaiser, Literatur und Kritik

Daß tragische Töne in dieser Anthologie überwiegen, kann nicht verwundern. Mit Sicherheit ist in Österreich seit 1945 kein wichtigeres, kein erschütternderes literarisches Sammelwerk erschienen als dieses.
- Klara Köttner-Benigni, ORF; Die Gemeinde, Wien

Herbert Kuhner hat tatsächlich mit Erfolg subtile Abstraktionen mit kontrollierter Einbildungskraft von einer Sprache in die andere transportiert, und nicht ein Wort hat in der Prozedur Schaden erlitten. Inhalt und Übersetzung sind für Sprachunterricht in beide Richtungen geeignet.
- James Wilkie, Austria Today, Wien

Else Keren
Verloschene Funken

Verloschene Funken

aschentrüb
auf den entlegenen Schienen
streckenweit

Viele Züge fuhren diese Wege

Der entgleiste Wind
ruft
nach den toten Namen

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Father Gerhard Maria Wagner of Windischgarsten, Upper Austria, posits:
“They are God’s punishment for man’s sinful behavior.”

“Hurricane Katrina was a result of spiritual pollution. It is surely not an accident that all five of New Orleans’ abortion clinics, as well as nightclubs were destroyed. It’s not just any old city that has gone under, but a dream city with the best brothels and the most beautiful whores.”

Sounds like it was a great place. Sodom and Gomorrah must have been nothing in comparison. But I guess the Deity didn’t like it much. He’s always been a wet blanket.

Concerning the earthquake in Haiti, Father Wagner ventures: “God does not show us his cards.” And he goes on to say, “It is interesting that in Haiti, 90 percent are followers of voodoo cults.”

I’ve always wondered why such catastrophes occur. I’m grateful to Father Wagner for cluing me in.

In Feb 2009, Pope XVII appointed Wagner as auxiliary Bishop of Linz, but after a storm of protest, Wagner decided to stay in Windischgarsten. What a loss for Linz! - and for Austria.

The people you should know
are the people you wouldn’t want to know.

CNN lags behind Fox in the polls. Why?
The answer is simple: Fox puts on a better show.
Malice always sells well. Morality - less so.

Some say that CNN has an assortment
of carney barkers and kindergarten teachers
that would be more appropriate for Sesame Street
and that the news is presented as a spectacle.

Those detractors are as wet as can be.
Has there ever been a more austere set
of deliverers of bad tidings and gossip?

But no matter what criticism is leveled,
no one could even dream of taking umbrage
with the star of stars, the friendly explainer
whose manifold explanations and exhortations
are not merely delivered orally,
but with sweeping rhapsodic hand gestures
and appropriate facial expressions.

She is so convincing and well-meaning
that you simply just have to agree with her.

Cynics have called her Goody-Two-Shoes,
But they’re merely envious of her following.

She wagged her finger at the Moslem Brotherhood,
those paragons of machismo and misogamy,
as well as advocates of indiscriminate violence,
rebuking them for their attitude towards women.

Morality is her business.
She’s fighting for a better world,
and she’s a paradigm of all good things.

No matter how bad the situation,
she’s in command, enunciating solutions
in her yummy-plummy manner.

Way to go Christiane!

Newscasters

I wondered about the decline in announcers. I thought that it was just part of the deterioration that is occurring in giant strides on all fronts. But there seems to be method to it. A BBC man in Vienna explained it this way: Previously newscasters talked down to you, but now they talk directly to you.

The old-style announcers spoke mellifluous English of either the British or American variety. They had information to convey to you, their descriptions had a literary quality and they brought a warm sense of humor into play. And God knows, humor is needed to make this strife- and war-torn world bearable!

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The Tenth Anniversary of the Schüssel-Haider Tandem Is Upon Us

Here They Are Taking Positions on Bygone Days:

Wolfgang Schüssel: Austria Victim not Perpetrator

Question: Does Austria consider itself as a perpetrator or victim 60 years after the war?
Wolfgang Schüssel: I believe that this question has been decided. The country (Austria) was a victim of aggression, specifically a military aggression. That was proven in the night after the occupation when thousands were arrested. If the Nazi leadership thought that all of Austria was cheering, these arrests would not have been carried out. The entire political elite was de facto cancelled out. There was resistance in all political groups. The allies recognized this…I will never permit Austria not be viewed as a victim. Our country was the first military victim of the Nazis in its identity. But I do not want to create the impression that we intend to minimize or erase the individual guilt of perpetrators in any sense
Question: Does the People’s Party intend to have post-war history researched, as the Social Democratic Party has done?
Schüssel: The entire leadership of the People’s Party (ÖVP) was in concentration camps and were victims.
- Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian Chancellor, Neue Züricher Zeitung, Feb. 15, 2005; Austrian Federal Chancellory Online.

Otto Habsburg Comes into the Picture:

“Again and again there are shameful discussions concerning Austrians having been accomplices or victims. This makes it imperative for me to say that there is certainly no country in Europe that can more adequately describe itself as a victim than Austria!…When there’s a great commotion somewhere, many people will come to cheer. If you mention the
crowd of 60,000 at Heldenplatz (Heroes’ Square) - there are 60,000 fans at every soccer game.”
- Otto Habsburg, the Austrian Parliament Commemorates the „Anschluss”, March 11, 2008

Kurt Waldheim Presents His View:

Saying farewell to the concept of having been nothing but a victim is essential, yes that is a necessity for Austrians. It was the basis of our spiritual equilibrium after 1945, as well as for our reconstruction and our post-war identity.
- Kurier, March 5, 2006, p. 3

Jörg Haider on Our Soldiers:

“Our soldiers weren’t perpetrators. The perpetrators were elsewhere…. I have said that the Wehrmacht soldiers made democracy, as we find it today in Europe, possible. Had they not afforded resistance, had they not been in the East, had they not been in a confrontation, then we would have…  (Haider is interrupted by two astute Profil editors.)  (1)  I have stated that the struggle soldiers were engaged in helped stem the communist menace, and that is an undeniable fact.(2)   Their sacrifice must not have been in vain. Without their valor, we would not have the freedom in Western Europe that we take for granted. (3)   In these unsettling times there decent individuals with character, who stick to their beliefs despite strong opposition and remain true to them today as well. That is a good basis, my dear friends, for us younger people to inherit. (4)   Your sacrifice for the Europe of today, men and women of the military generation, should not have been in vain.(5)    It is incomprehensible to me that our grandfathers and fathers should have been criminals… I espouse this generation, the dead as well as the living. (6)  The Third Reich had managed to implement a competent employment policy.” (7)

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Thumbs Down on Blair!

Opposition to Blair (as President of the E.U.) centers on his support for the war in Iraq. The war was mishandled and misbegotten - but if Blair had abandoned the United States, there would be little left of the Trans-Atlantic Alliance that was the rock on which the E.U. was built.
- Roger Cohen, “Giving Europe a Voice,” New York Times, Oct. 19, 2009

Bush, Cheney and Blair liberated Iraq and tens of thousands of Iraqis from life, as well as thousands of American and British soldiers. They invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, thus removing the buffer to Iran, making the United States and Israel more vulnerable. After pushing the Taliban back in Afghanistan, Bush & Co. let the country go to pot, increasing the danger to the Western World.

Blair did not simply go along with the invasion of Iraq. He passionately and eloquently made the case for it. He claimed that secular Saddam Hussein was in a tandem with sectarian Osama bin Laden, which was pure and unadulterated mendacity.

Those responsible for the senseless deaths of thousands belong in the dock in the Hague.
 

Buying from Blair

When Bush and Blair declared their aims concerning Iraq,
I wasn’t buying anything from Bush, but I lent my ear to Blair.
Blair’s eloquent casus belli was a rousing call
that brought King Harry’s Agincourt speech to mind.
I didn’t quite accept it, but I couldn’t quite reject it.
I was more than sceptical about the affiliation between bin Laden and Saddam
which Blair claimed was tightening.
But all-in-all, I could fathom the MPs voting for Blair’s resolution.
It would be hard not to.
Robin Cook’s resignation from the government got me thinking.
His actions look good in retrospect, and they look even better
after death silenced his voice.

At any rate, Blair threw me off track.
I sat on the fence.

I had Bush, Cheney and Condi figured out,
but I still didn’t have a handle on Blair.

He looks well meaning and sincere,
and he hasn’t tripped himself up with his own quotes.

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Harry Congratulates the Champion!

from The Grey Haze/Der blaue Dunst

There are thousands, millions, billions of chimneys
polluting the atmosphere of the world
that are producing nothing but inane expressions on faces.

The Man in the Windbreaker
The man in the Windbreaker became the symbol for the new activity. The cult poster showed James Dean walking through a Broadway puddle on the Boulevard of Broken Wind. The hit tunes were Wind is in the Air; All You Need Is Wind; I Can’t Give You Anything but Wind, Baby and Wind is Sweeping the Country. The Anthem became Today the Nation, Tomorrow the World. Men insisted that breaking was masculine and was part of the tough guy image. But women, not to be outdone, made it their own. Feminists declared that breaking represented liberation. Women not only smoke at kaffee klatsches but did is openly on the streets.

The new craze displaced chain-smoking, gum-chewing and -snapping as well as screeching walkman headphones. It simply became the thing to do. Intellectuals would look at you serenely and dreamily as they broke. It seemed to inspire high flights into the cerebral stratosphere. Workers broke on the job, claiming that it improved their speed and efficiency. In restaurants, breakers would come to sit at your table and break without asking, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do (which it was). Some would even go as far as to break in your face.

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