Tony Bennet was an elderly fellow when I was a child. But he has still got a good voice. Fair to say he's one of America's great showmen.

At 94 he's really quite handsome still.

Who else was going to mention him on Blogster Martin. - It had to be you!

Thanks for your comment my friend!

Now it is Dione Warwick singing "The Theme from The Valley of the Dolls" and next Shirely Bassey singing "I Am Who I Am"!!

Yes, she had a great voice Ms Warwick. I liked the film as well. I saw it years ago. I don't really know too much about Shirley Bassey other than she did one of the James Bond movie songs. Might have been Diamonds are Forever.

She had 4 James Bond movie songs: Never, never, never, Moonraker and Goldfinger plus Diamonds are Forever--this is one of my favorites by here:

https://youtu.be/HMvnCMtGR_I

That is  "........by her!  LOL

FOUR Bond films and a Michael McIntyre Special. it don't get much better than that. I remember her voice much more now. Extraordinary.

And she is still going strong!!

A straight forward question. I wish the answer was as straight forward. 

I'll try to keep this brief but won't be able to. There is a current movement in Germany to see changes made in the constitution because some consider some words or concepts in it a as racist. One such notable word is the word rasse itself. It doesn't just mean race, it also means breed. Now, I don't know everything about the situation because my news sources here are not as good as they would be in Germany. But what I do know is that this movement sprang directly from the murder of George Floydd earlier in the year, and is an equivalent of tearing down the statues of historical bigots, slavers and genocidists. The argument goes that race itself is a racist word because there is only one race (which is obviously a scientific fact to right minded people), and thus the word is superfluous. And offensive because it has been used almost exclusively to oil the wheels of imperialistic genocide and the degradation of indigenous peoples. Personally, I think the word itself is not racist as we could use it legitimately to refer to animals, plants or alien life forms. But in the context it has often been used in historically and today, it has been destructive. So its usage has usually been racist.

On the one hand it seems harsh to condemn a constitution that is almost a model for anti-racism. But tweaking it a little to make it even better does not seem inappropriate. 

So, to the video itself. I chose it because I liked the title and loved the music, but I also related to much of the rapper's lyrics. Essentially, he is doing what all rappers seem to do. He's being a pissed of youth who considers his society hypocritical and bigoted. (But not in a dumb Metal Heart way).

He says that Nazi gold built modern Germany (which is partially true at least) there is institutionalised racism against non-whites (again true to some extent, even in Germany), there is a vibrant Right wing (true), and the West as a whole is racist against those outside of their borders in a paranoid way. (true). He then pleads for young people to show solidarity with each other to oppose those things the stem from past evils that still linger in various disparate forms. Because, if they don't we're all ficked.

Modern Germany (especially certain business, for instance NSU who made military vehicles for the Third Reich and own Volkswagon) benefitted from Nazi grand theft, its hypocritical  that their part in the past goes unpunished. Indeed, as said above, the efficient gathering of their victims resources, from gold teeth to priceless art work, possessions and land, matched only by the mass murder' that accompanied such gleanings, provided incredible wealth that filtered around and down throughout post Nazi Germany.

That always seems to be the way. Empires suck the life and people resources out of vulnerable communities, then future generations of those empires benefit from the financial cushion that it creates. Even when those empires have ceased.

As I have said previously, I don't feel guilt for what earlier Germans have done. But I do believe absolutely in acknowledging the truth of what has happened and do believe that it is our modern day duty to try to help the peoples that our ancestors have injured so profoundly. Especially financially, as our wealth, essentially, was their wealth once upon a time. Germany does go some one to doing that as it is one of the more financially generous nations in the world. But that doesn't alter the most awkward truths.

I must just add, that, whilst Germany's economy was seriously damaged by The Second World War, many wealthy and criminal Germans managed to avoid justice and were later able to slime their way back into the country to become successful business people. But the real reason that German later thrived was down to a fellow called Ludwig Erhard who became known as the Father of Germany's Economic Miracle. But that's a blog for another night. (Its the early hours here, so I better retire for the night). Sweet dreams Scarly!

This is a complex issue that seems to me to be a struggle that only modernised nations are preoccupied with. I recently did one of those DNA test things and the results were not what I was expecting, but also - should I now consider the percentages of that as a personal liability and when does that liability expire?

All nations that I can think of have had periods that they conducted invasions, had slaves or other forms of barbarism. And also these nations - all I can think of have had periods of having this done to them, more or less. 

My father's father participated in WW2, my mother's father in the same war on the other side. My mother's people invaded most of the known world and enslaved those people, as did my father's ancestors. Somewhere in there I also have norse heritage and so should I make reparations to my English ancestors for the Viking atrocities? 

I know it is a bit rediculous to make the last claim or even ones about england and germany since i was not born there or raised under those states. Neither have I participated directly in the plight of aborigines but there I do feel an obligation to make amends, as do most honest people in my country. 

I have mixed feelings about the German issue, and only for me it's a double issue of being half one side and half the other. I'm sure if I was half Jewish or Russian I'd have stronger emotions about it but I don't know. How long should a nation be punished for it's deeds - and is it fair that one is punished and others not?

It is complex. I'm not completely sure about my own views to be honest. Hey, what were your results? You aren't the granddaughter of an Arab princess are you?

You're right. Today's victims are tomorrow's imperialists. But the Norse invaded Britannia a millenium ago, the Holocaust happened last week. Yes working out the expiry date of Responsibility is tricky, but anyone who inadvertantly gains from such evils, or turns a blind eye, is definitely up for Responsibility.

The British did apalling things. But they won. So they are the good guys. As did the Americans. Then, when they should have been Denazifying German industry and science, they turn a blind eye to some and recruit others to work for ghe USA via Operation Paperclip. Hypocrisy isn't the word. 

Good call, Scarly! I agree entirely. I feel for the victims of the Nazis and you feel for the victims of the British in Australia. I think we have the right attitude. 

Same here. Half German, half Yankee. Stalin murdered plenty of Jewish people himself. He was the same kind of shit as Hitler. but he won, and only the winners write history. Sucks. And its not fair.

Oh my goodness! That's terrible when that happens!

I actually think Nordic is pretty cool. Interesting. Like we German folk, they were never conquered by the Romans. (As a result the roads in Norway are terrible though). So their history, which overlaps with Northern Germany's has a cultural integrity to it. OK, the only reason the Romans never got to the Norse is because we chopped them in to little pieces in the Teutenberg Forest on their way there. And the Vikings always bore that in mind after. They went to Britain, Russia, America even wound up in the Med somehow. But they largely gave their Germanic neighbours a wide berth. Though Just between you and I, all this testosterone based history kind of bugs me, as martial conflict must have respresented a nano-fraction of what really went on in past peoples lives. But it is also a bit of a guilty secret of pleasure of mine that the Germanic peoples always seemed so hardy and often so brave. Century after century. And even in the modern day.

America is killing itself, which breaks my heart, my father's land. Germany is rock solid. Other than the odd slight disagreement. And then Bierfest arrives and all becomes almost forgotton. Then Christmas arrives and All Germans love all Germans. It is not a perfect society. The rapper of last night showed that. Though I will take issue in a blog at some point with his attack upon our economic model, as it is a model that has worked tremendously well, in Germany and also some Scandanavian countries. The Social Market Economy. Which is essentially Capitalism that turns many of its resources towards levelling up society. So there is a big empahsis on welfare and equality.

Taking on the massive debt of Eastern Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall meant that the average standard of living of Germans dipped significantly. Though most West Germans wanted re-unification and were prepared to take the hit. I wouldn't be surprised if the rapper is an East German. Many in the East start at a lower standard of living than those in the West. Though a much higher standard than they had before The Wall fell. I remember years ago meeting former East Germans who had nothing good to say about the united country. I asked them were they better off under Communism, and without exception they became very emotional and almost screamed "Absolutely no way!". They hated their present, but adored it compared to their past. 

It takes time to create massive social changes. It takes time to unravel the opression that was Communism in Eastern Germany. It takes time for Eastern Germans to evolve from entirely supressed people, who are then given the free speech to moan about everything that they have been saving up all their lives to moan about when they might be imprisoned for moaning before the wall fell. Literally. Anything you said against the state could land you in jail. Then all of a sudden they had freedom. They had every right to moan.

I don't think we should ever settle for the status quo in any society (the sole Conservative policy that exists it appears), but Germany is a modern country with modern, progressive values and actions. And it is a world leader on so many fronts. Yet most Germans you meet seem like very nice people. Same with those ex-Vikings of Scandanavia. And that chunk of Europe,  Germany and Scandanavia, is the most successful and developed part of the continent. Always going forward, whilst France stays static and Britain falls behind. Two self-centered nations, all about themselves, with their Brexit and their Front Nationale. 

The Romans called us barbarians. The Vikings were called barbarians. Yet today it is the "barbarians" who set the most civilised example in Europe. And we should be fully proud of that. But we can never rest on our laurels, because disaster is always waiting just around the corner. 

I bet you are wishing I'd clicked the window off now as well. HaHa. I promised myself that I'd avoid anything political when I came here. But our lives are alway so constantly political. It is hard to be disciplined. 

At least we are both blondes. Who both change our hair color. Cleopatra would have been a brilliant eyebrow to stem from. She was probably one of the earliest feminists in recorded history. A top chic. 

Not sure any extra Mongol juice is needed with you though. You seem well capable of rding fast and firing several arrows in the direction of worthy dummkopfs. (Which you probably label as making a Blogster comment.)

Its the darned truth. The loser doesn't just lose the war. They lose EVERYTHING. Germany was just another combatant in the Great War. They didn't start it, they were no more guilty than Great Britain, France or Russia for it. But the Versailles Treaty raped the nation for one simple reason. Germany was about to become a major economic power to rival Britain and France. And those two nations served themselves rather than justice. Consequently World War Two became inevitable as massive resentment, understandably grew amongst the starving Germans who had their economy obliterrated by war reparations. If it hadn't had been Hitler, it would have been Schultz, or Steiner, or Morwitz. Versailles created the climate that guarenteed German Survivalism. Which morphed into National Socialism. And someone, somewhere, would have had the brains and oratory skills to have been a Hitler who would lead a rebellion against such gross injustice. 

Like I said before. Todays victims become tomorrows imperialists. '

And I reiterate that I make no excuses for Nazism. Not because it is expedient to do so, but because I hated that shit for what it was. Cowardice. Evil. The End of Humanity. The end of us all. 

But that doesn't mean the winners were innocent when they created the monster themselves. 

If it is all down to the individual as you say in the end. Then cheers, Scarly. You are a fine individual. 

Sorry though. I get passionate about these things. I should do, but I should handle them better I feel. 

I'ma have to get back to you on this, I need to go out, it is really nice to have discussions on the Internet though, rather than arguments. Thank you <3

I agree! There is so much in the universe to talk about. Much more than there is to argue about, I think.

I'm glad troll. They are considered a crossover band, so not really pure rap. But I find regular rap a little samey personally. Their name Kafvka is a nod towards Franz Kafka.

Hmm, yerself, Mister! HaHa!