The East German secret police were right to be scared of rock'n'roll and all the Western decadence it implied. Concerts given by Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen in Berlin in 1988 could well have inspired a revolution. The Stasi were so concerned they spied on Jackson during his visit. Files kept by the former East German secret police, the Stasi, indicate that they were worried about the concert that Jackson, who died last month, gave in Berlin in June of 1988. This was just over a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall -- but the East German youth were already restive. In a note from the Stasi, found in files revealed by German mass circulation newspaper Bild this week, the secret police were worried that the "youths will do anything they can to experience this concert, in the area around the Brandenburg Gate." And, they noted, "certain youths are planning to (use the occasion) to provoke a confrontation with police."
Files kept by the former East German secret police, the Stasi, indicate that they were worried about the concert that Jackson, who died last month, gave in Berlin in June of 1988. This was just over a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall -- but the East German youth were already restive.
In a note from the Stasi, found in files revealed by German mass circulation newspaper Bild this week, the secret police were worried that the "youths will do anything they can to experience this concert, in the area around the Brandenburg Gate." And, they noted, "certain youths are planning to (use the occasion) to provoke a confrontation with police."
'Birthers' must be stopped - Los Angeles Times
Never underestimate the ability of a tiny fringe group of losers to ruin everything. For the last couple of weeks, we've all been laughing heartily at the wacky antics of the "birthers" -- the far-right goofballs who claim Barack Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii and therefore the job of president goes to the runner-up, former Miss California Carrie Prejean. Also, when Obama was sworn in as president, he forgot to give his answer in the form of a question. And yet, every week, the chorus of conservatives demanding to see his birth certificate grows. It's like they're the Cambridge police, Obama's in his house -- the White House -- and they need to see some ID. And there's nothing anyone can do to convince these folks. You could hand them, in person, the original birth certificate and have a video of Obama emerging from the womb with Don Ho singing in the background ... and they still wouldn't believe it. Your Vote Which raises the question: Why, in this country, is it always the religious right that won't take anything on fait
