Nazi hobbyist as congressional candidate? And it’s OK?
Rich Iott is the Republican candidate to represent Ohio’s Ninth Congressional District, a seat now held by Democrat Marcy Kaptur. But as Josh Green of the Atlantic points out, Iott has had a rather unusual hobby for someone with ambitions of serving his country in Congress.
He likes to dress up in the uniform of the Waffen SS.
GOP congressional candidate Rich Iott, second from right, in the uniform of a Waffen SS officer.
For several years, in fact, Iott was a member of a group calling itself the Wikings, created to honor those who fought in World War II in the 5th SS Panzer Division. The division comprised volunteers to the Nazi cause drawn from outside Germany. As the Wiking site explains:
Nazi Germany had no problem in recruiting the multitudes of volunteers willing to lay down their lives to ensure a “New and Free Europe”, free of the threat of Communism. National Socialism was seen by many in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and other eastern European and Balkan countries as the protector of personal freedom and their very way of life, despite the true underlying totalitarian (and quite twisted, in most cases) nature of the movement. Regardless, thousands upon thousands of valiant men died defending their respective countries in the name of a better tomorrow. We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free.
Idealists, in the name of a better tomorrow, motivated by a basic desire to be free. Lovely.
As the Wiking site goes on to explain, “It is our aim to bring you a bit of actual history behind the men who fought against the “Bolshevik scourge”; volunteers who came from the various Northern European countries allied with Hitler’s Germany who only had a desire to see an end to Soviet Communism.”
Iott explains his former hobby by likening it to Civil War re-enacters, noting that “you couldn’t do Civil War re-enacting if somebody didn’t play the role of the Confederates.”
“I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that here was a relatively small country that from a strictly military point of view accomplished incredible things,” Iott told Green. “I mean, they took over most of Europe and Russia, and it really took the combined effort of the free world to defeat them. From a purely historical military point of view, that’s incredible.”
Iott’s explanation, strained as it is, might be slightly more convincing if he and his friends had chosen to emulate a standard unit of the German Army, or Wehrmacht. The moral culpability of draftees conscripted into the German military is at least arguable.
Instead, they chose to emulate a division of the Waffen SS, a volunteer arm of the Nazi Party that played a prominent role in the wholesale slaughter of 6 million Jews and millions of other “undesirables.” In fact. the infamous Josef Mengele served in the 5th division early in the war, and it was directly implicated in several mass murders of Jewish captives.
Armed with this information, the people of the Ohio Ninth will no doubt cast their own judgment on Iott at the ballot box this November. But what I find fascinating is the reaction to the discovery. Here we’ve got a congressional candidate as a member of a group touting Nazi SS volunteers as idealists fighting for freedom, yet prominent right-wing blogs (here and here and here, for example) are defending Iott as a victim of liberal smears.
Green is creating an issue where one really doesn’t exist, we’re told, because dressing like the Waffen SS is “basically like the reenactors who play the Red Coats in American Revolution reenactments.” This is just another example of “shoddy political hackery” by liberal journalists, a “pathetic attack” by leftists ready to “smear anyone for anything if they think it might help them hold onto power.”
In other words, they’re all right with this behavior, and are willing to defend it.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
763 comments Add your comment
Kamchak
October 9th, 2010
11:04 pm
“If they hated me, they will hate you.” Jesus
And the persecution complex is almost complete.
All that is needed now is for you to nail yourself on that cross that you so longingly wish to do.
Scout
October 9th, 2010
11:04 pm
barking frog :
Yep ……… as you know, each dog becomes special.
“And God said, who will walk with man? And dog said, I will ! And so it was” Author Unknown
Scout
October 9th, 2010
11:06 pm
Kamchak :
I deserve to be nailed to that cross but I don’t have to because He became my substitute.
His last words were an accounting term, “The Debt is Paid” !!
Scout
October 9th, 2010
11:07 pm
Been a long day and the pups have worn me out !
TAPS !
Kamchak
October 9th, 2010
11:07 pm
I deserve to be nailed to that cross…
And there’s your sign.
Doggone/GA
October 9th, 2010
11:09 pm
“And there’s your sign.”
Oh, no…he’s just speaking metphorically
TGT
October 9th, 2010
11:10 pm
AmVet: Ah, the old “Darwinian evolution (D.E.) is the foundation of …blah, blah blah.” That is vague and meaningless. The fact is that D.E. contributes NOTHING to real, everyday science. One can operate in any science–from anesthesiology to zoology–and COMPLETELY IGNORE/DENY D.E. We have gone to the moon, built cars and computers, perform surgeries and developed medicines, and these things have NOTHING to do with D.E.
All D.E. does is attempt to explain the beginning of life while leaving God out of the explanation.
josef nix
October 9th, 2010
11:10 pm
It’s getting late and I want to be rested for the Sunday coffee klatch…g’night
Doggone/GA
October 9th, 2010
11:11 pm
Yeah, I’ve got to hit the sack too…got a long drive tomorrow. Night all.
Craig
October 9th, 2010
11:15 pm
This guy was not just “reenacting WW2″, they picked one of the most vile division of Nazis imaginable, the Waffen SS who were largely responsible for the slaughter of the Jews.
This is absolutely sick and disgusting and should be condemned by everyone.
AmVet
October 9th, 2010
11:27 pm
“That is vague and meaningless.”
Darwin’s Contributions to Marine Science
Theory of Coral Reef Formation: Onboard the Beagle, Darwin composed the theory of coral reef formation. He described three types of reefs: fringe, barrier, and atoll. His illustrations of reef formation and global reef locations are beautifully detailed. Most impressive is that Darwin came up with the theory without ever having seen a coral reef (though he would eventually see one during the Beagle’s voyage through the Pacific). And remember, back then there were no aerial photographs of atolls, etc. But Darwin’s theory of coral reef formation wasn’t found to be correct until 1951, when U.S. government geologists surveying Eniwetok, a Marshall Islands atoll, prior to a hydrogen bomb test there, finally drilled deep enough to resolve the mystery. Scientists immediately erected a small sign next to the borehole which read “Darwin was right”.
Barnacles: Back from the Beagle but still sitting on his theory of natural selection, Darwin began a study of barnacles that lasted eight years (photo of Darwin’s barnacle slides). He was first to identify and coin the term “dwarf males” (paired with a female barnacle lacking all male organs) and “complemental males” (housed within a hermaphrodite barnacle). His taxonomy of barnacles is still in use today. Lots of barnacles are named after Darwin
http://scienceblogs.com/shiftingbaselines/2008/02/darwins_contributions_to_marin.php
And this piece is the best I’ve yet found recommending that you take up your science-free assertion with the scientific community that you so distrust…
The theory of evolution is no longer just a theory; an overwhelming amount evidence has accumulated since Darwin. Darwin’s theory has never been successfully refuted. Darwin discovered a law just as surely as Copernicus, Galileo and Newton discovered laws: natural laws. Just as the earth is in orbit and has come to be and is depended on the force of gravity, a natural law.
The theory as presented in Darwin’s The Origin of Species, I should say, was not new to the world and it cannot be attributed to Darwin. The theory, contrary to popular belief has been around since Aristotle and Lucretius. Darwin’s contribution is that he gathered indisputable evidence, and he set forth a theory on how evolution works, the theory of natural selection.
http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Science/Darwin.htm
Fang1944
October 9th, 2010
11:44 pm
This takes me back to the time Reagan decided to put a wreath on Waffen SS graves in 1985, explaining that those monsters were really victims, also. And then you have Russell Pearce out in Arizona and his buddy-buddying with neo-Nazis.
Moderate Line
October 9th, 2010
11:51 pm
AmVet
October 9th, 2010
9:38 pm
Abortion is not murder.
Not according to the dictionary, which is the final arbiter of the meaning of words.
+++++++++
The dictionary gets to decide. The dictionary is written by a person. So what your saying is the people who write the dictionary get to decide what is murder. LOL
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
12:16 am
No, Moderate the law gets to decide. And this is a nation of lawS, not of people who make up their own definitions. LOL, right back at ya!
Mick
October 10th, 2010
12:47 am
amvet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHjeXqTuxlo
TnGelding
October 10th, 2010
1:40 am
Heil Sarah!
Spokesman: Candidate Iott no Nazi – UPI.com | Conservatives for America
October 10th, 2010
1:55 am
[...] As A Nazi (PHOTOS, VIDEO)Huffington PostIott Nazi controversyFOX Toledo OnlineBoston Herald -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -Lez Get Realall 190 news [...]
JamesNYC
October 10th, 2010
2:47 am
I would need to know more about these re-enactments and how it comes to be decided who plays what side, but I’m not prepared to call the guy a Nazi or a racist just because he played a Nazi in a war re-enactment. If someone was an actor and they played a Nazi in a play, I wouldn’t assume anything about them as a person. I would only have an issue with this if he had some sort of unhealthy fascination with playing the Nazis or something like that.
Seeing that he participated in re-enactments of numerous wars, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt unless I see a reason to think it was anything other than a nerdy hobby.
As a dyed-in-the wool Democrat, I don’t want the Republicans to win this year, but I have to admit that this smells like a cheap political trick. Racism is not something to cry wolf about, it’s way too serious.
JamesNYC
October 10th, 2010
2:58 am
Oh crap I just checked out the Atlantic article. This does sound like it just might be the sort of unhealthy obsession I referred to in my post above. The quote from the website of this re-enactment group was more than a bit creepy:
“We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free.”
Basic desire to be free?? Free to make “breathing space”??
I’m still not prepared to call him a racist without knowing more about him but bloody hell, him and his friends sound pretty weird, best case scenario.
Finn McCool
October 10th, 2010
3:55 am
I’m sure there’s a group of serial killer reenactors somewhere.
barking frog
October 10th, 2010
5:08 am
The Waffen SS eventually got what they deserved. I think
this guy will too.
larry
October 10th, 2010
6:43 am
Where do the Republicans find these folks ?
Something i have never been able to understand …………………..
Why would anyone want to re-enact a war of any kind ? Why ?
Tamika
October 10th, 2010
7:13 am
Democrats call thier opponents “whores” and and are endorsed for it. Is that OK with Jay? Is that language just part of the salty lexicon of what it means to be a progressive?
carlosgvv
October 10th, 2010
7:35 am
If a Republican or Democrat does something wrong, all of the opposition comes out with things like “what did he know and when did he know it”. The other Party remains silent. This is American politics and I doubt it will ever change in our lifetimes.
Jefferson
October 10th, 2010
8:05 am
If Deal played with vodoo dolls, some boneheads would still vote for him because they don’t think, they are told what to do, and they do it.
Southern Comfort
October 10th, 2010
8:30 am
Isn’t being an American Citizen grand? I don’t know of any other countries where you can do this and it be legal and somewhat accepted. He has the right to dress as such, however, I can see how different people would have different reactions to this. If it’s re-enactment related, are there some in the same group who dress as allies? Do they have a group that they interact with who dress as allies?
Personally, he could wear a pink tutu for all I care. I don’t have to vote for him. I recognize his right to peacefully assemble, even if it’s in a less than desirable uniform.
Normal
October 10th, 2010
8:42 am
SoCo@ 0830,
Well said, my friend…
Bummer about ‘Bama…
Bob
October 10th, 2010
8:49 am
Is he running for Robert Byrds seat ?
Normal
October 10th, 2010
8:49 am
Any of you IT types out there. I need some advice. I keep getting what I would call unsolicted slut mail, mainly from Yahoo and Hotmail. I can’t block them because I have friends who use them, too. Is there a way to block all except who is in your address book?
Normal
October 10th, 2010
8:57 am
TGT & Scout,
From last night…
You, of course, will believe what you want and I will believe what I want,
but I stand by my call that you are NOT pro life. You are just pro fetus. You do not want to take responsibility for the “life” you are trying to “save”.
And another thing, It doesn’t have to be the government to take care of them. You “pro-lifer’s” could chip in and start the medical, educational, foster homes, and adoption services yourselves. All y’all have to do is care a little…just saying, that would be the Christian thing to do.
Mark in mid-town
October 10th, 2010
9:11 am
Wow! The Democratic Party says jump, and Jay Bookman and the other Democratic Party sycophants in the media jump and tow the party line strategy of making ridiculous personal attacks on Republican candidates. What an absolutely despicable strategy by the Democratic Party to try and hold onto power, I can’t say I expected better of you Mr. Bookman, as I didn’t.
stands for decibels
October 10th, 2010
9:22 am
And it’s OK?
Jawhol! Apparently.
stands for decibels
October 10th, 2010
9:23 am
jawhol? jeez. need coffee.
Normal
October 10th, 2010
9:40 am
Well, Y’all continue to fight the good fight. Me and my lady are going to the mountains on the bike. Sunday is a good time to go visit the mountain trees, all good friends of ours. Have a great day all y’all!
Gator Joe
October 10th, 2010
9:43 am
Jay,
Interesting how these extremists seem to gravitate towards, and find a home in, the Republican Party. Down here, when I see a Confederate flag on a vehicle, or flying over a home, I’d bet the farm that the person who placed it there votes Republican and receives their news from Fox.
TGT
October 10th, 2010
9:55 am
AmVet: On the Theory of Coral Reef Formation:
Darwin’s work on coral reefs has nothing to do with his theory of evolution. In other words, the structure and formation of reefs has nothing to do with creatures changing into other creatutures over millions/billions of years. The same is true for studying/classifying barnacles. (I never said that Darwin himself contributed nothing positive to science.)
The fact is that modern science began to flourish and advance long before Darwin and no practical advancement in science (where testing and verifying ideas in the present leads to the production of useful products) since Darwin rests upon his Origin of Species theory that all living things evolved from some simple life form billions of years ago.
As another has noted, “Many historians (of different religious persuasions—including atheistic) have shown that modern science started to flourish only in largely Christian Europe. These historians point out that the basis of modern science depends on the assumption that the universe was made by a rational Creator. An orderly universe makes perfect sense only if it were made by an orderly Creator.” Many “fathers of modern science” were, what today would be considered, “fundamentalist Christians.” They took a quite literal view of the Bible. From Pascal to Newton to Faraday to Pasteur to Carver, history is littered with committed Christians whose work has given us many of the advances we enjoy today.
For example, operating from a biblical worldview (rejecting Darwin’s theory), Louis Pasteur, a strong opponent of Darwin’s theory, did amazing work in a variety of scientific areas. Pasteur, a microbiologist and chemist, who, along with giving us the process of pasteurization, disproved the theory of spontaneous generation (which put him at odds with Darwin and his work) and was a pioneer in the battle against infectious diseases (leading us to the process of vaccination).
Normal: As I have demonstrated here before, Christians (and conservatives in general) are much more generous with their own resources than are non-believers (and liberals in general). Now, this does not mean that most Christians should not be doing more than they are, but in general, Christians are the most generous people in this country and the world over.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
10:09 am
anyone every read (not see the movie, READ) the book “Jarhead” (written by Douglasville, GA native, and former USMC scout sniper Anthony Swafford)? reading is important to the success of a Republic such as ours, not because words = fact, but because words create debate and words offer alternative views. but I digress. in the early portion of the book, Swafford and his fellow Marines are prepping for deployment to the middle east (Gulf War). during their down time from training they are fed a steady diet of “war movies” like Full Metal Jacket, Sands of Iwo Jima, the Green Berets, The Longest Day, etc. Swafford determines these films are “pornography for soliders”. I see re-enactors in general and the Wikings in particular extensions of this mindset. those who “honor” and “respect” something as base and primal as war/killing; OR those “idealists” who who embrace the killing of others as honorable, simply because the “others” held a different ideological or theological take on life. that’s all war is, folks. it’s a bunch of ignorant, “saps” (see: Sonny Corleone telling his brother Michael, the men who enlisted after Pearl Harbor as “saps” because they signed up to fight somebody else’s war – Godfather II. and before you yammer about patriotism and Pearl Harbor, consider the context – it was a worl of ficition). back to message. does this guy’s masturbatory fascination with the Waffen SS or the eradication of Bolsheviks and Communists (from Europe in the early/mid 20th Century) render him unfit for office? technically, no, but these guys (politicians) love to parse words, so unless the people of Ohio want a pathetic, adolescent, war-worshipper as their Congressional representative, I would “hope” they vote for somebody else.
wet wiccan
October 10th, 2010
10:47 am
paleo – *I see re-enactors in general and the Wikings in particular extensions of this mindset. those who “honor” and “respect” something as base and primal as war/killing; OR those “idealists” who who embrace the killing of others as honorable, simply because the “others” held a different ideological or theological take on life.*
I tend to agree with you. I don’t claim to understand it, but I’ve seen it. We have our very own “Dr. Strangelove” on this blog. I have not read Jarhead, but I read Johnny Got His Gun, which was written by Dalton Trumbo after WWI, and that really made an impression on me.
BADA BING
October 10th, 2010
10:53 am
Returning to the Chilean miners earlier on this thread…….when they bring them up the tube in the escape capsule, I reccomend liberal use of WD-40 !!
Southern Comfort
October 10th, 2010
11:05 am
Normal
Yesterday was a bad day. I knew we’d eventually lose one, but I didn’t expect them to get manhandled like that.
radiowxman
October 10th, 2010
11:07 am
NOTE: This guy is an idiot, as well of all of his Nazi-sympathizer ilk. He deserves to be shunned.
But, if he gets elected and serves in Congress until he’s 90, succeeds in bringing tons of pork into his state, spouts some nice lines about Shakespeare, the bible and Roman History, and endorses a Jewish person for the presidency, you’ll (OK, your grandson) can write about how his career is “the story of America.”
http://bit.ly/cr5i2k
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
11:13 am
TGT, one last attempt:
The theory of evolution, formalized by Charles Darwin, is as much theory as is the theory of gravity, or the theory of relativity. Unlike theories of physics, biological theories, and especially evolution, have been argued long and hard in socio-political arenas. Even today, evolution is not often taught in primary schools. However, evolution is the binding force of all biological research. It is the unifying theme. In paleontology, evolution gives workers a powerful way to organize the remains of past life and better understand the one history of life.
His world-changing theory is one of the very greatest contributions *ever* made to science. This is not even disputable and can be confirmed by reading across a wide range of related publications, which state so. And after 150 years it has never been refuted or countermanded.
150 years.
Which is why I give the liberal-loathing-at-all-costs AGW crowd a bit of a break.
They’ve only had thirty or so years to come up with innumerable red herrings, straw men and other fallacious arguments that cannot pass even basic peer review. Contentions that the overwhelming percentage of acknowledged experts in the related science fields discount as failing to adhere to even the rudimentary scientific method. And since I cannot presume that most deniers even know what that is:
scientifc method – noun
a method of research in which a problem is identified, relevant data are gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from these data, and the hypothesis is empirically tested.
So, you’ve made your points and I’ve made mine.
And I have always and will always stand with the legions of the highly educated, most informed experts in these matters. Who are driven by a desire to constantly learn and improve man’s knowledge. NOT the ideologically-driven, science-ignorant who, even a century and a half later, STILL foolishly try to make these basic and affirmed understandings offensive, atheistic and blasphemous.
ncgreybr
October 10th, 2010
11:21 am
Ya gotta luv it! Dusty can’t say anything bad about a Republican even if he’s dressed as a Nazi! But she can turn it around and blame Bookman. Pathetic as usual.
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
11:33 am
SoCo, it seems as though every year, a great team will have a bad Saturday. And no matter how poorly they play, if they win, even by one point, all is forgiven. With that said, I doubt that the Tide will drop more than to about sixth or so, because SC was ranked fairly high.
And anything is possible of course, but it is gonna take more than a few miracles now for them to try and win back to back titles.
Here’s hoping that Ohio State falls next…
TGT
October 10th, 2010
11:47 am
AmVet: Obviously there are many (though, admittedly not a majority) “highly educated” experts, both Christian and non-Christian (just as with AGW) who have significant problems with Darwinian evolution (D.E.). Otherwise, the debate would not continue to rage as it does!
Also, simply saying that D.E. is the “binding force of all biological research” or “the unifying theme” does not make it so. In what way does believing that all life evolved from some single-celled life billions of years ago “unify” all of biology? Again, it is a nice and powerful thing to say about biology, but it is virtually meaningless and purposefully vague.
As I’ve already noted, that a person can operate in ANY field of science and completely reject Darwinian evolution. As PhD cell biologist (and “creationist”) Dr. David Menton put it, “The fact is that though widely believed, evolution contributes nothing to our understanding of empirical science and thus plays no essential role in biomedical research or education.”
Even evolutionists realize this. Dr. Philip Skell, Emeritus Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry at Penn State University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, in 2005 stated that “my own research with antibiotics during World War II received no guidance from insights provided by Darwinian evolution. Nor did Alexander Fleming’s discovery of bacterial inhibition by penicillin. I recently asked more than 70 eminent researchers if they would have done their work differently if they had thought Darwin’s theory was wrong. The responses were all the same: No.
“I also examined the outstanding biodiscoveries of the past century: the discovery of the double helix; the characterization of the ribosome; the mapping of genomes; research on medications and drug reactions; improvements in food production and sanitation; the development of new surgeries; and others. I even queried biologists working in areas where one would expect the Darwinian paradigm to have most benefited research, such as the emergence of resistance to antibiotics and pesticides. Here, as elsewhere, I found that Darwin’s theory had provided no discernible guidance, but was brought in, after the breakthroughs, as an interesting narrative gloss.”
Darwinian evolution is, as Ernst Mayr, one of the 20th century’s most influential evolutionists, put it, a “historical science.” In other words, Darwinian evolution is a belief system about the past–the untestable past.
Reenactor Democrat
October 10th, 2010
11:53 am
As a Democrat I am appalled by the antics of other democrats, I am a reenactor and have reenacted with Wiking. Political views are not even an option for this group. They are one of the more authentic groups I have had the pleasure of reenacting with.
This basically shows that any kind of smear campaign will work in this country. I am appalled plain and simple.
Matti
October 10th, 2010
12:08 pm
This basically shows that any kind of smear campaign will work in this country.
Unless you try to smear somebody by claiming to be one of them and embracing something SICK and REPUGNANT. Then nobody believes you.
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
12:09 pm
TGT, and hence the beauty of science. It does not require any dogma or superstition.
Again, it is completely incontestable that the overwhelming number of experts across the globe fully accept the basic premise that “populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. His exhaustive studies presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution.”
And it is perfectly natural that not everyone agree with most theorems.
It also irrefutable that for every expert that denies Darwin’s *immense* contributions to mankind’s knowledge and understanding – in many scientific disciplines – there are dozens and dozens and dozens who do.
And why?
Because they have found no other superior scientifically accepted explanation.
Even after fifteen decades!
And that is how science works.
Trump it, or go home and b*tch about it.
BTW, have you ever read On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life?
I have. And would whole-heartedly suggest you do as well. It is both entertaining and enormously informative. It resides proudly on my bookshelves along with other such masterpieces as Jules Verne’s The Outline of History and Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind.
Noesis
October 10th, 2010
12:12 pm
Hey Jay, I see you are marching lockstep with your Journalist (or whatever they are calling it now days)orders.
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
12:14 pm
Normal, if you’re using Outlook for your e-mail, you can go to Tools, then Rules and Alerts to build a set of circumstances that will only accept e-mails from those in your Outlook address book. You can then store or delete all others.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
12:16 pm
Reenactor Democrat. get a f***ing life! interesting you use the phrase “smear campaign”. is tactic not from the Nazi (SS) playbook? I have noted this before, read Herman Goering’s take on how a state (ideology) wages war; or more accurately, gets ‘the people to do its bidding’. “antics”? that’s another good use of a word. a bunch of middle-aged teenagers “playing war” and couching the whole pathetic endeavor as some sort of historical exercise, or tribute to those who have killed others in the name of god and country. you want to reenact war, here’s a quote from a true warrior, the late Col. David Hackworth; “We were simply the dayd-to-day custodians of someone else’s suspicions and fear; we were just two soliders trapped into hating each other by the roles our countries had ordered us to play.” – About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior.
you’ll not find a better definition of war.
Catherine
October 10th, 2010
12:20 pm
Again, let’s make something out of nothing. Would you be as upset if the candidate dressed up as a Confederate re-enactor? I seriously doubt it…you probably consider that to be normal. How about a British soldier from the Revolutionary War period? Again, you’d consider that to be normal. Yet, those examples have both been our enemies but are “glorified” by re-enactors everywhere. Get a grip and deal with some serious issues for a change.
Summer
October 10th, 2010
12:22 pm
Robert Byrd use to dress up as a Klan’s men.. oh wait, he was in the KKK.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
12:26 pm
TGT and AmVet, I have referred to this before, but do not have “chapter and verse” at hand. last year I read an piece in Smithsonian about Darwin, “natural selection” and the erroneous application of the the concept of “survival of the fittest”. while Darwin accurately observed and documented that “life” tends to adapt and modify to “survive”, this does not necessarily guarantee the “survival of the fittest”. the adaptation or introduction of a new predator, germ or parasite (or asteroid, if you believe some) within an ecosystem can mean the end of even the most “fittest” of species. some secular humanist believe there is no greater evidence of this theory than homo sapiens. and from a completely secular/naturalist position, it could be argued that “any man’s death dimishes” the species, to include everything from war, the death penalty, homicide, and abortion. if you remove “god” from the equation, abortion, like AGW/climate change are themselves “naturally” occuring phenoms. if there is a Creator or Intelligent Designer, IT created abortion, rape, cancer, war, etc., and in the absence of any supreme being, these “challenges” to humanity are the product of mankind’s efforts to adapt and adjust to the environment. do not polar bears eat their young? ditto some primates. the only difference between homo sapiens and primates/polar bears is technology (the human mind). happy Sunday!
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
12:30 pm
The more I look at that picture of those tools in Nazi garb, the more I just have to shake my head at how otherwise ostensibly educated Americans can be such jaw-dropping idiots. And frankly, scumbags.
These murderous, insane Germans were the very worst of the very worst of modern mankind.
And sadly, but not at all surprisingly, there are those bloggers here who give them a free pass for glorifying the people who implemented those mass atrocities and the genocide that resulted in tens of millions of human deaths. And untold suffering.
And then attempt to justify it, by making irrational and disgustingly weak comparisons.
I wonder if these apologists here are not die-hard Party First, Party Last, Party Always, Republicans.
Nah.
Is it any wonder at all then, that American Jews vote by enormous margins against them?
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
12:30 pm
It is no longer amazing the depths that liberals will sink to in demonizing a person’s private life when that person runs for public office.
Tell me again what someone does for a hobby (which is no different from playing a villain in a local playhouse) in any way affects the way he or she will govern if elected? Do we brand him a killer if he plays the heavy in a summer stock production of “Rear Window”?
Do real issues matter anymore?
JEM
October 10th, 2010
12:31 pm
Going after military re-enactors now?
What about all the people in the Obama administration who wish to emulate the policies of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Guevara? Those three were responsible for 10 times the deaths the Germans were
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
12:46 pm
JEM, see above. Please show us where the Obama Administration “emulates” the policies of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot and Che Guevara.
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
12:49 pm
Carlinist, see MY comment above. Please try to answer that honestly.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
12:50 pm
Dave R, I did – twice, but it is “awaiting moderation”.
Southern Comfort
October 10th, 2010
12:51 pm
who wish to emulate the policies of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Guevara? Those three
You should first learn how to count before you pass judgement. Just sayin…
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
12:56 pm
“And sadly, but not at all surprisingly, there are those bloggers here who give them a free pass for glorifying the people who implemented those mass atrocities and the genocide that resulted in tens of millions of human deaths. And untold suffering.
And then attempt to justify it, by making irrational and disgustingly weak comparisons.”
And then, right on cue…
“What about all the people in the Obama administration who wish to emulate the policies of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Guevara? Those three were responsible for 10 times the deaths the Germans were.”
Truly sickening.
WTF? Do you clowns not comprehend standard, written English?
Lott was a member of a group calling itself the Wikings, created to HONOR those who fought in World War II in the 5th SS Panzer Division. The division comprised volunteers to the Nazi cause drawn from outside Germany.
We salute these idealists; no matter how unsavory the Nazi government was, the front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS (in particular the foreign volunteers) gave their lives for their loved ones and a basic desire to be free.
Salute???
Unsavory???
To be free???
Wow, what bravery it took to call the greatest maniacs and murderers in modern world history “unsavory”!
You apologist sleazeballs are just damn lucky that your families did not get to taste this “unsavory desire to be free”, like mine did.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:00 pm
testing 1-2-3. is this mike “on”?
RW-(the original)
October 10th, 2010
1:02 pm
Wow, you libs sure are milking this poutrage. Here’s a list of WWII movies so you can go through the casts and find more people to demonize
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
1:06 pm
RW, even for you, that is disgusting.
Those movies did not HONOR the Nazis.
The people involved in their making did not SALUTE the Nazis.
The did not moronically EMULATE them as agents of freedom.
And that you feign not seeing that HUGE difference is extremely telling…
Pete
October 10th, 2010
1:06 pm
What a bunch of poorly-researched and out-of-context crap.
I happen to know Rich Iott personally, because one of my hobbies is to portray an historically-accurate WWII Soviet frontovik and we participate in some of the same events, although on opposite sides of the battlefield.
Oh, I can hear the rusty gears turning in your brain: you have already discounted what I have to say, because you can see that I “obviously” must be a card-carrying Communist, right? But allow me to help round out your impression of me — I have also engaged in historically-accurate protrayals of Pirates (some of the most ruthless torturers and killers ever known to mankind) and American Confederate Soldiers (so, I obviously must espouse slavery, right?).
“Moderate Line” and “RW (the original)” both quoted the disclaimer on the Wiking homepage — a glaring and extremely biased omission on your part. A similar disclaimer is contained in the Bylaws of the Parent Organization ( http://www.worldwartwohrs.org/By-Laws.htm ), specifically excluding members of any “controversial political or illegal para-military organization.” But these facts are irrelevant, right?
Our school system is failing. America is falling behind, as the rest of the world gains and surpasses our former excellence. And yet we have people – like Rich Iott – who actively spend some of their weekends educating the public with much-needed lessons on geography and history using dynamic hands-on techniques that far surpass anything used presently in our school systems. But you condemn that. Oh, please tell me more about who you think I should vote for, because you obviously know what you are talking about.
It is apparent that you do not cast your vote according to a candidate’s platform, but you rather seek to dredge up irrelevant minutiae in order to create misinformation, prejudice and hate-mongering. Sadly, this is exactly the sort of disgusting mud-slinging that has contaminated this year’s political campaigns. I wish to personally thank you, Jay Bookman, for helping destroy America. For the record, I strive hard to vote AGAINST the sort of irrelevant mud-slinging that you espouse.
Let’s apply your biased bad reporting and poor deductions to Rich’s opponent, shall we? Hmm… Marcy Kaptur is a Roman Catholic. Ahh — that means she is a member of a group accused by historians (David Kertzer among others) of encouraging centuries of anti–semitism; the one-time leader of this fanatical religious movement, Pope Pius XII, has been accused of not doing enough to stop Nazi atrocities (Emily Eakin, New York Times: 9/1/2001). Do I need to add the perceived atrocities by the Roman Catholic Church in 1204, if not throughout recorded history? Perhaps most condemning of all is that the present leader of Marcy Kaptur’s faith, Pope Benedict XVI (nee Joseph Alois Ratzinger) was a member of the Hitler Youth!
The ONLY conclusion that can be drawn from these irrefutable facts is that Marcy Kaptur is herself a Nazi! She doesn’t merely dress up like one and admirably educate Americans on World War Two history, but by not condemning her religion and religious leader, she is condoning the horrible things (not the least of which was the WWII genocide of Jews and Poles) that were done by others before her!
You want something (slightly) less sarcastic? Okay… Nancy Kaptur voted against Stem Cell Research and the North American Free Trade Agreement, and consistently supports military spending bills! Oh, we obviously do not need to investigate her platform or political stance any further, as these facts prove that Kaptur firmly believes everyone with dementia, paralysis or any illness at all should be euthanized, and she clearly supports a full-scale nuclear war with all other countries in the hopes of destroying life as we know it. So, don’t vote for her, okay??
If the knowledge of the average American is to be any measure, Soviet Russia was America’s second biggest foe during World War Two (between Germany and Japan) — and Italy was always among our Allies. People like Rich Iott are actively working, through their personal hobbies, to help correct such historical misinformation that is prevalent among the public. People like you, Jay Bookman, are among those who prefer to allow the “Skinhead” (Neo-Nazi) movement to spread their propaganda that the Holocaust never existed. Shame on you, Jay Bookman — however, the greatness of America is that even Anti-Semitic hate-mongerers like yourself are allowed a platform to voice their opinions.
And why are you going after Rich Iott? Aren’t you aware that the current Governor of California is actually a time-travelling cyborg who was sent back from the future to kill the mother of the unborn future leader of a resistance that will ultimately win victory of humanity over the machines? Because – as we all have learned from your example – if he portrayed a particular role for entertainment, edification or enlightenment, he must actually be the real thing in real life, because there is no separation from fiction and reality.
As I said, I know Rich; he happens to be a very nice and sincere human being with strong and admirable values. I have met with him and talked with him (and shot vintage WWII firearms at him!) on multiple occasions. Please tell us, what were your impressions (or perhaps any specific quotes) from your personal interview with him? Wait — I just re-read your pseudo-article again, and you actually give the impression that you have never met the person. How can that be possible? To me, that indicates you are wholly ignorant about the subject you are discussing. Ah, but once again, the Great Country of ours allows you to voice your wholly uneducated and ignorant position.
My advice to you, Jay Bookman (and now I drop any hint of sarcasm) is don’t ever apply for a position as an investigative reporter — because you don’t have what it takes.
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
1:08 pm
AmVet, please provide any proof whatsoever that Mr. Iott had any responsibility for the written content on that website.
Then, and only then, can you have an issue with those words.
Actor, AmVet. Someone has to play the heavy, otherwise the re-enactment is pretty boring, wouldn’t you say?
JamesNYC
October 10th, 2010
1:11 pm
David R, I thought the same as you when I first head this story, but it’s a little more like if someone specialized in playing Nazis at plays, and also did you read the quote from their website? It does sound like it goes beyond normal re-enactments to unhealthy admiration for this SS unit. I mean it goes so far as to say that SS people and the foreigners that volunteered for it were “fighting for freedom”. In Nazi paralance “fighting for freedom” meant enslaving all the slavs and killing all the Jews.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:12 pm
let me try this again. Hitler was not an actor (I believe he was a painter). Triblinka, Dacchau and Buchenwald were not sound stages or film locations (ditto; Normandy, Hiroshima, Dresden and Hamburg).
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 10th, 2010
1:16 pm
This confirms it, the world has truly gone crazy.
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20101001/NEWS01/101001039/Follow+your+dog+on+twitter
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
1:16 pm
“AmVet, please provide any proof whatsoever that Mr. Iott had any responsibility for the written content on that website.”
Puerile and red-herringed nonsense.
That he associates with them – in amy manner whatsoever – is proof to me that he is either enormously ignorant of their words – created to honor those who fought in World War II in the 5th SS Panzer Division – or that he choose to simply ignore, justify, apologize, etc.
I will break my own rule this one time about the dangers of absolutism and state that to me NOBODY with a shred of human decency would voluntarily choose to be even remotely associated with such an organization that HONORS and SALUTES the holocaust agents.
The great news, is even with the apparent plethora (How else does a sh*tbag group like this ever get started?) of disgusting right-wing apologists in this country, I would wager a ton that that POS will not ever get elected.
Selah.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:18 pm
Pete, and I have a BA in History, with extensive formal and self-education in 20th century military history. If you and your friends want to host seminars or conduct lectures for high school student, undergrads or even John Q. Public; “cross-dressing” is not required. this is the difference between history (documenting fact) and politics (editorializing, or cherry-picking certain facts, and removing context from the discussion).
RW-(the original)
October 10th, 2010
1:20 pm
amvet,
Bluster all you want but you still haven’t shown one scintilla of evidence that these reeanctors are misrepresenting the history to glorify the nazis.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:21 pm
RW, what part of “honor” do you not understand? (note: I didn’t use the word freaking).
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:24 pm
JamesNYC, excellent post. one man’s freedom is another’s enslavement. as I noted earlier, do the Wikings also “honor” the Mujhadeen and al Qeada fighters who came from other countries to fight the Soviets (”Communists”) in Afghanistan in the 1980’s?
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
1:27 pm
JamesNYC, my 1:08 applies to you as well.
Actor. No different than playing a villain on TV.
AmVet
October 10th, 2010
1:28 pm
“…misrepresenting the history…?
?????????????????
My gawd man, you truly are the “gross misrepresentation” (hat tip JB) spin-meister.
WTF? What decent human being even cares if their representations are spot on or not?
Their stated goal – as an organization – is to HONOR and SALUTE those Nazis.
This salient fact seems to escape you.
Why?
And I see that I’ve been reduced to small letters again. You can be so childish.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:29 pm
Pete, so the Wiking thing is about “entertainment, edification, and enlightenment.”? your honor, I rest my case. FYI, I think Terminator Writer, Director, Producer James Cameron “created” the T-1000 cyborg (character portrayed by the current Governor of California) to demonstrate or illustrate the shirt-comings of blind loyalty, nationalism, etc. to wit; the “enlightenment via entertainment” of the Terminator franchise isn’t exactly “honoring” anyone.
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
1:29 pm
AmVet: “Puerile and red-herringed nonsense.”
Short for – “I can’t answer that one Dave. You caught me with my mouth writing checks my a$$ can’t cash AGAIN”.
Not Chicken Little
October 10th, 2010
1:32 pm
The left is not going to give up smearing people. Why don’t we hear anything about Robert Byrd who was a real Klansman? Why don’t we hear about all the Dems indicted and convicted or under investigation for fraud, lying, stealing and cheating?
I guess anyone who’s ever dressed up in a German soldier uniform, or a Confederate uniform including Hollywood actors should get the same treatment from this hack jour-no-list?
@@
October 10th, 2010
1:34 pm
2008–LITTLE ROCK — Lake Charles State Park is hosting a World War II battle re-enactment at 1 p.m. Saturday in a weekend of free events intended to bring history alive and honor veterans.
About 80 German and GI re-enactors and a 30-mm cannon will be part of the staged battle.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/jun/19/powhatan-lake-charles-host-world-war-ii-r-20080619/?threerivers
Isn’t Governor Beebe a Democrat? The re-enactment was hosted by Arkansas’ State Parks!!??!! Does that make the government complicit in nazi atrocities? Is the governor a nazi sympathizer? He’s been the governor since 2007.
This is disgusting! DISGUSTING, I tell you!!!!
Separation of Democratic governors and Nazi re-enactors.
Schnirt.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:35 pm
Dave R., here’s another suggested reading; Dispatches by Michael Herr (a narrative history of Vietnam). there is a particularly poignant passage in which Herr recalls a Marine on a helicopter after being extracted from a bad firefight. the Marines screams; “I hate this &%#$ing movie!” actors, movies and plays are fiction. they don’t exist and never did. again, Vietnam, Hiter, the S.S., Auschwitz, the Viet Cong and Iwo Jima were not works of literature or film. they were actual events, in which millions of actual humans died at the hands of other humans.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:40 pm
Not Chicken Little, the Byrd/KKK connection has been noted. the difference” Byrd apologized or accepted responsibility (sincere, or not), BUT when is the last time you saw Byrd, or any other Democrat “reenact” the murder of three civil rights volunteers in Mississippi? when is the last time you saw a Democrat or liberal reenact the bombing of a church in Birmingham? when is the last time you saw Byrd or any other Democrat post a disclaimer on his website averring; “…racism, murder, anti-semitism and xenophobia aside, we just like to “honor” the sacrifices of the KKK members who simply wanted to be left alone and raise their families in a white, Christian nation.”?
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
1:40 pm
So ten in your absolutist world, Carlinist, we can no longer film any movies with N a z i s in them, right? Because war is real and movies are not?
Maybe we should ban the playing of “The Enemy Below”, where the German captain and crew were shown to be just as human as the Americans were?
Actor. No different than playing a murderer on the stage.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:43 pm
@@, it is “disgusting” and it underscores what somebody said earlier; this is not a democrat/republican or even liberal/conservative thing. this is a fantasy/reality thing, or at the very least, a poor excuse for those who claim to be students of history. do you think, in 50 or 100 years there will be 9/11 reenactors?
TELLITTOTHEDEMOCRATS
October 10th, 2010
1:45 pm
The Democrat always supports the status quo of Big Labor Big Government and Urban Ghetto Life also known as slavery-to-the-state. In the United States of America the generic Democrat party is the party of state-enforced penury/slavery. The Democrat always says how much he “cares for the people” but what he really cares about is power and living large. More and more people are discovering what it means to be a slave on Ole Massah’s Citation Plantation. The Big Labor Big Government Democrat loves devising new ways to impose slavery-to-the-state, enforced by confiscatory bureaucrats of Big Labor Big Government. And you think the Democrat cares about you? Don’t be a chump.
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
1:46 pm
Now the lib throws out the 9/11 card. What a joke!
War, Carlinist. Two competing sides. Ish.
Your only responses are akin to “But he’s a Republican!”, and the ONLY reason you’re poutraged about this guy.
Pete
October 10th, 2010
1:46 pm
AmVet said: “Those movies did not HONOR the Nazis.The people involved in their making did not SALUTE the Nazis. The did not moronically EMULATE them as agents of freedom. And that you feign not seeing that HUGE difference is extremely telling…”
The movies honored, saluted and emulated the men, no the Nazi Party or its ideals. And so does Rich Iott and his Wiking . Your feigning not to see that they are the SAME THING is telling, and your implication that Rich and his colleagues are espousing National Socialist ideals is even more telling.
You also wrote: “I will break my own rule this one time about the dangers of absolutism and state that to me NOBODY with a shred of human decency would voluntarily choose to be even remotely associated with such an organization that HONORS and SALUTES the holocaust agents.”
Your intentional misrepresentation of the fact is, to use your own words, “Puerile and red-herringed nonsense.” You should hold steadfastly to your rule because, like Jay Bookman, you don’t know what you are talking about.
Lazarus Long
October 10th, 2010
1:47 pm
One of the most despicable political smear jobs I’ve ever seen.
I hope you’re proud of yourself, Jay.
RW-(the original)
October 10th, 2010
1:48 pm
And I see that I’ve been reduced to small letters again.
Good God man, get a firm grip on that fainting couch of yours.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:50 pm
do you understand the difference between a film and a bunch of white, middle aged men (many overweight, which is not historically accurate, as the Waffen SS was a lean, mean, fighting machine), “honoring” one of the most ruthless and viscious killing machines of all time? as I said, dramatic fiction requires viewers to “suspend reality”. it’s why they’re called “feature films” and not “documentaries”. did you see the Ken Burns documentary “The War”? check out the guy whose unit liberated one of the Nazi death camps. he wasn’t a Hitchcock creating or Steven Speilburg character. He was a real human being who “saw it with my own eyes”. this why I studied History, and not art. this is why I read books on History and Sociology, as opposed to the latest Tom Clancy, John Grisham or Oprah recommendation.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:51 pm
Dave R., I am trying to respond, but my screeds are being moderated.
Jay
October 10th, 2010
1:52 pm
RW, “not one scintilla of evidence that these reeanctors are misrepresenting the history to glorify the nazis?”
Really? So history shows that the Waffen SS were, as the Wiking site claims, “idealists” who fought “in the name of a better tomorrow” and were “motivated by a basic desire to be free?” Is that why they killed Jews wholesale?
Did you watch that “recruiting video,” with the music and Teutonic typography? You don’t think that was glorifying Nazis?
Jon Carry
October 10th, 2010
1:52 pm
I saw a shocking documentary that proves Sean Connery was a Communist submarine commander. Proof positive!
He was in uniform!
Jay
October 10th, 2010
1:54 pm
Paleo, your post is freed. Believe it or not, I suspect it was the word Hitchcock, because of the second syllable. I’ll try to fix that.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:54 pm
9/11 card? did not the POTUS refer to the 9/11 attacks as “acts of war”? did not the media and others refer to 9/11 as “Pearl Harbor”? did not the POTUS initation a “global war on terrorism” in response? were not al Qeada fighters who perpetrated 9/11 “recruited” from other countries on behalf of Islam? I want you to tell me how al Qeda is diffent from the Waffen SS.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:55 pm
JB and other bloggers, please excuse the redundant posts.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 10th, 2010
1:56 pm
JB, yeah, I guess that second sylable was the root of one of the “seven words”
Dave R.
October 10th, 2010
1:57 pm
Jay, please provide any proof whatsoever that Mr. Iott had any responsibility for the content of that website you love to quote. Or any statement from HIM that agrees with it.
Any. Any at all.
Only then, can you associate Mr. Iott with the ideals espoused with that group. Otherwise, you’re just poutraged over absolutely nothing of consequence.
As usual.
RW-(the original)
October 10th, 2010
1:58 pm
Jay B,
I haven’t seen any of their reenactments, and I doubt you have either, so I really don’t know if they misrepresent history or not.
I haven’t got any speakers on this computer so watching your recruiting film would probably be pointless, but I’ll go have a look anyway.