Penelope’s Loom

Overview:  In 1947, Joseph McCarthy was elected to the United States Senate.  He came from the important mid-western state, Wisconsin. An unknown on the stage of national politics, Joe came, quietly, onto the scene.   At first, the junior senator was at odds, trolling around looking for a cause.  He wanted to escape obscurity--which wasn't easy for the new kid on the block.  An important bill to be supported? Brown nosing with the other members of his party? Nope, not sexy enough.  It was not long before his sights locked on potentially combustible subject:  ferreting out so-called "Fifth Columnists,"  or other suspected subversives.  This had been the main mission of the so-called House Unamerican Activities Committee...since the late 1930s..  No, I am not kidding about the name  Joe was able to maneuver his way on to this body. So.  Where oh where would one look for miniature Stalin wannabes? Well, anywhere: radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and schools.  Anyone

Hey...one quick word before we begin... This is a tragic story, filled with unspeakable actions.  And, worse, there are no happy endings.  Not even for the victorious...  What I find most objectionable about Lenin, Shabby, and Scooby, is their complete lack of either hubris or compassion.   My treatment of these Bolshevik dickheads, is both irreverent and sarcastic.  I want you to know that I am appalled by the mass murders of this regime.  So, read the following with an open mind, and compassion, OK? So, out with Nicholas, and in with Lenin.  Wait.  What?  How did the F&*k did that happen? Let's try these things: World War One, a stupid king, and a shitload of Russian men and women who were tired of living in the fourteenth century. Now, back to our coup. Various calamities, created a perfect storm of events that (after more death and carnage), ended with the Bolshevik Communists taking control of the government.  Lenin, returned from exile in Germany (where he lived quite com

 Did you know that Stalin was only 5 foot four? No! Seriously! 5 foot four!  He looks so big in those paintings. He looks so cute in those monolithic sculptures and busts. Truthfully, he looks like Superman. But then he always did but go by the moniker MAN OF STEEL. I just love irony, don’t you? No.  Wait.  Sorry.  That's the true man of steel.  I mean, we can't say "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Stalin!" Can we? How could this small, relatively quiet snake (oops! I meant man), rise to the pinnacle of power in the Soviet state? Kill them.  Maim them.  Butcher them.  Starve them.  And, if all else fails, KGB them--although the spy guys used to go by different initials back then. Boy, the twentieth century sure was the age for dictators.  Think about it:  Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and Franco in Spain, Mao Tse Tung...and about a hundred others.  Jesus, what a rogue's gallery.  What was it about that time (not so far distant, fo

OK: Hitler and sex...uck. gag. We never, ever, EVER think about Hitler as a sexual being. His public image always embodied an uncomfortable juxtaposition of virile masculinity, and asexuality. But, is it now possible to understand something of the private life of this infamous freak? Look at these: or, how about this one: I know, I know. This one is hysterically funny. And, finally... Well, father of the country, or sex maniac? Honestly, no one really knows. What follows in this post, are the speculations (gossip???) about, what I think we can both agree, is an icky subject. Alright. Let's begin . In all the propaganda, Hitler's body was shown as that of an extraordinarily virile man: an ideal for Germans to both emulate, and admire. Any photograph taken during his tenure as dictator, were carefully choreographed. No truly candid photograph of Hitler exists, to my knowledge. Well maybe this one... Incredible , isn't it? On one thing historians and contemporar