Could we ever have known in 2000 and 2004 that the men who stole our elections were nothing but self-righteous scum? Well yes.
What we probably did not anticipate was VP Scu-- er Dick Cheney would publicly endorse the antiquated Aryan (read: white supremacist) colony Nueva Germania, as an American Sister City to Jupiter Hills, California.
Nueva Germania was a failed experiment in establishing an Aryan Colony outside of Germany, partially to insulate its populous from 'negative' outside influence, and to foster an environment that was conducive to... Aryans.
How exactly does Dick Cheney factor in? Well, according to meeting minutes found on the Juniper Hills, CA Official website, former Councilmember David Woodard brought up the idea to establish a sister city in South America. Woodard, a resident of burdeoning Juniper Hills, was a failed composer, drug-addict, and purveyor of Dream Machines, during his off-time. A rabid fan of composer Richard Wagner (who himself was also a former friend of Friedrich Nietzsche, prior to their friendship ending over Wagner's nationalism), Woodard began researching Elisabeth Nietzsche's Aryan colony in Paraguay, Nueva Germania.
During Woodard's research into the colony, he found it of utmost importance to revive the colony. Though only a half-dozen descendants of the first Nueva Germania colonies remained, Woodard arranged for Hearts to Hearts International to donate $12,500 in medical supplies to the colony. At present, the Nueva Germania is presided over by a native of Paraguay, Mayor Ceferino Zena Duarte.
Woodard thought it important that Americans, American communities (particularly his own) really get behind the colony and offer their support of its aims. He even got Vice President Dick Cheney to endorse Nueva Germania.
Now, let me get one thing straight-- Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Nueva Germania as Juniper Hill, CA's sister city? How exactly did that happen? This is my mental picture...
Dick: Oh, what's this? Someone wants a letter of endorsement for where? Nueva Germania? Oh that sounds like a nice place, where is it?
Staffer: The guy who sent the request says its in Paraguay. It's a real 'family oriented' kind of a place. You know, they support family-values, hard work, and tradition. And stuff.
Dick: Oh, ok. That seems to fit in with my ultra-right-wing conservative agenda... where's my pen? These look like nice, white, Paraguayan people concerned with economic development. Yea, sure, I'll endorse it.
What was going on in politics during August, 2003?
+ Uday and Qusay Hussein had been killed in Iraq in late July.
+ Mammoud Abbas had met with the president.
+ Israeli officials conducted a series of diplomatic visits to the US.
Our mission was on its way toward being "accomplished" in Afghanistan and Iraq. Birds were chirping, the breeze was blowing, all in all a good time in history to begin to foster a relationship with Nueva Germania, a bastion of Aryan, anti-Semitic, right-wing, fundamentalist separatism in Paraguay.
So, I'm still considering moving out of the country. I really want to leave. I stay only because I know at some level, I can help those unfortunate enough to be trapped under the Bush Adminsitration lack-of economic policies and perhaps help a few taxpayers for a few months. It is my greatest aspiration that Bush is impeached, our Constitution restored, and some semblance of the democracy that America was returns to us.
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Oh, yea, here's an excellent article, that I found from a link from on the Banned books article on the ultra-conservative humanevents.org website :http://www.sfgate.com/...
Here's all you need to know about Elisabeth Nietzsche to give you some context:
Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsche (July 10, 1846-November 8, 1935), who went by her second name, was the sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the creator of the Nietzsche Archive in 1894.
Förster-Nietzsche was two years younger than her brother. Both were children of a Lutheran pastor in the German village of Röcken bei Lützen. The two children were close during their childhood and early adult years, but grew apart as Elisabeth increasingly disapproved of Friedrich's philosophy, and Friedrich disapproved of Elisabeth's anti-Semitism.
On May 22, 1885, Elisabeth married Bernhard Förster, a former teacher who had become an anti-Semitic agitator. Förster planned to create a "pure" Aryan settlement in the New World, and had found a site in Paraguay which he thought would be suitable. The couple persuaded 14 German families to join them in the colony, to be called Nueva Germania, and the group left Germany for South America on February 15, 1887.
The colony did not thrive. The land was not suitable for German methods of farming, illness ran rampant, and transportation to the colony was slow and difficult. Faced with mounting debts, Förster fatally poisoned himself on June 3, 1889. Four years later, his wife left the colony forever, and returned to Germany. The colony still exists.
Friedrich Nietzsche's mental collapse occurred in 1889 (he died in 1900), and, when his sister returned for good, he was an invalid whose published writings were beginning to be read and discussed throughout Europe. Förster-Nietzsche took a leading role in promoting her brother, but distorted parts of his philosophy, especially through her edition of Friedrich's unfinished book The Will to Power.
In 1930, Förster-Nietzsche, a German nationalist and anti-Semite, became a supporter of the Nazi Party. After Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Nietzsche Archive received financial support and publicity from the government, in return for which Förster-Nietzsche bestowed her brother's considerable prestige on the régime. Förster-Nietzsche's funeral in 1935 was attended by Hitler and several high-ranking Nazi officials.
Here's the Wikipedia article on Nueva Germania:
Nueva Germania ("New Germania") is a village in rural Paraguay. It was founded in 1888 in a remote jungle as a racially pure, utopian settlement of the Aryan race by Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche (the sister of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche), and her husband, the anti-Semitic agitator Bernhard Förster.
A handful of families (originally five; then fourteen) emigrated from Saxony to this 'New Germany' - envisioned as a fertile paradise in which would blossom a model rural society that demonstrated the qualities of German culture and Lutheran religion. The area's remoteness was thought to allow protection for their unique German culture and allow it to flourish.
The experiment failed. The settlers were unprepared for the hardships of working the land, which was not suitable for German methods of farming. Illness ran rampant, and transportation to the colony was slow and difficult. With the project increasingly mired in debt, Bernhard Förster fatally poisoned himself in a Paraguayan hotel, and Elisabeth returned home.