I had no idea Scott Walker was so popular

[DaShi]

Translation: I am left-wing and you are right-wing.

I and others have pointed out on several occasions HC's lack of substance where he acts as if he's an expert and doesn't deliver.

Afterall, I know everything about this topic and everyone else's posts are laughably ridiculous. I'm just not in the mood to enlighten them.

But, jag. Glad your here to offer your input, for what it's worth.

[Ben Kenobi]

So let me get this right, Britain and France not protecting the Czechs gave them no choice but to capitulate, but they'd have beaten the Germans anyway? So they just chose to give up their country for fun, right?

If you have France as your ally? No hope.

Actually, the Nazi documents after the Sudetenland, showed that they were surprised at the strength of the fortification and they said that they would have lost had they tried to take them.

Can you imagine that? Germany defeated by the Czechs! Do you think anyone would take them seriously after that?

The mistake you're making (and you're far from the first to make it) is that you're judging the situation of the time with the knowledge of what came after.

True, but I'm a firm believer that you stick with your allies. Especially if they are the weaker party. It's not a question of 'was it complicated', but rather 'do we stand behind our word.' Do you know how thrilled Hitler was that he was getting everything he asked for and he didn't have to invade?

Chamberlains mistake was to assume that Hitler was playing politics in the manner of a modern politician rather than a conqueror of a century or more previously. Daladier apparently did understand, but let Chamberlain persuade him to negotiate.

Churchill understood too. It's not a matter of being unable to interpret the clues properly, but him being willfully blind. I'd agree with you that the we can't foresee everything, but when other people who were in similar positions of authority come to the same conclusions based on the same information (or less), than Chamberlain possessed, that leads credence to the argument that Chamberlain didn't see the evidence that other folks can and did see.

I have no doubt that he sincerely believed that he had secured peace, and that this was Hitler's last demand, but there were many who argued with him that he should have stood behind the Czechs.

I'm no fan of Chamberlain, but to understand his decisions you have to understand that he led a country that had in living memory fought a world war beyond anything the world had seen and lost over a million of her sons. To start a SECOND such war when avoiding such seemed perfectly possible was considered insanity.

Agreed. I understand his qualms over another war, which is why he was willfully blind in favor of any solution that would not lead to war. Even if it meant dishonoring his word to Czechoslovakia.

It's also important to remember that Hitler lied, and did so with impunity. Despite what you might think about politicians, such bare faced lying by the head of a government and the signing of treaties with the full intent to break them often just months later was far from typical.

Oh, certainly, but it's the job of Chamberlain, as the representative of the British people, to serve their interests. Many others saw through Hitler. Why didn't Chamberlain? He can't say it was above his pay grade.

Go and read about the age of the Railway Barons and come back and tell me about how wonderful unfettered capitalism is.

So terrible that Britain built an Empire off of it. Hasn't been the same thing since they stopped believing themselves.

[Zevico]

Chamberlain made many mistakes, but presuming he should have been able to predict Hitlers insanity is equally foolish.

Hitler's insanity was the insanity of a nation marching to war and pushing all who stood in its path out of the way. Churchill and others saw that immediately. Chamberlain didn't lose the prime ministership because he'd had his turn. He was revealed as an incompetent who sacrificed British interests for nothing. That's why Churchhill--the same man who knew war would come and warned of it for almost a decade, who later saw the rise of the Iron Curtain for what it was--replaced him. It really is amazing to see an apologist for the greatest apologist of them all.

[DinoDoc]

This is the reason Walker's reforms were important:

In their opening round of teacher contract negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has demanded reduced class sizes, higher taxes on the city's richest residents and a whopping 30 percent salary increase with little accountability in return. Think about what they are calling for. At a time when 10.2 percent of Chicagoans are out of work, the CTU is demanding a pay increase that would bump the average Chicago teacher salary up to $92,606 from $71,236. That's nearly twice the amount of the $46,877 average annual income of a family in Chicago. The teacher salary figure is only for 9 months and also omits the generous benefits and perks that have been negotiated into the contract over the past years.

What have Chicago residents received in return for a spending per-pupil amount of more than $13,000? A graduation rate of 56%, an average ACT score of 16 (compared to the state average of 21) and an unsustainable pension system that is crowding out money for classrooms.

http://www.illinoispolicy.org/blog/b...cleSource=4685

All of that in a system $700 million in debt.

[Al B. Sure!]

I and others have pointed out on several occasions HC's lack of substance where he acts as if he's an expert and doesn't deliver.

Afterall, I know everything about this topic and everyone else's posts are laughably ridiculous. I'm just not in the mood to enlighten them.

But, jag. Glad your here to offer your input, for what it's worth.

He takes after KH.

[giblets]

I remember him complaining about his mexican neighbours throwing trash in his backyard. And only the Mexicans.

Clearly tacos aren't for Dinner.

You have a tendency to misinterpret what people say.

[KrazyHorse]

He takes after KH.

Have fun backing that up, ****.

[DaShi]

He takes after KH.

KH is right to call you a ****. He frequently backs up his arguments. Sure he's arrogant and an ******* about it, but he knows what he's talking about.

OK, that's enough flattery for him.

[notyoueither]

Because Chamberlain was a ***** and sold out Czechoslovakia. Seriously. Hitler would have been PWNT by the Czechs, and that would have been the end of that.

If Britain had stuck by her friends and allies, she would not be in the position of defending herself alone. Good thing we colonials stuck up for you unlike what you did for the Czechs.

Same as always, the Brits get in a war, and the colonies bail her out. We suffered, died and bled out under your leadership, and only turned things around to finally break the Hindenburg line. So y'all should be very thankful for us.

Confusing two world wars is always a sign of competence.

[notyoueither]

I actually hope he does, he seems like a nice enough guy. The idea that he's going to end up rich enough to ever benefit from the GOP style of politics is extremely unlikely however. That's the problem I have with Americans, they act as if becoming rich is a natural outcome for everyone and then even when its obvious its never going to happen they still stand against their own interests. I just see Albie as one of the pensioners on medicare screaming at TP rallies about the evils of government.

You can come across as a smarmy know-nothing who seeks to lecture from a position akin to BK's.

This a moment when the world is watching in disbelief and horror as Europe blows itself up economically, along with the global economy possibly, due to rampant incompetence.

Tell us exactly how a polity figuring out how to pay its bills at the same time as its teachers is an assault on civilisation when most of Europe is about to implode due to an inability to do so?

I'm not trying to be nasty, but I want to point out that what Wisconsin is doing is likely far less than what Europe is forcing on Europeans. I just think you'd have bigger fish to fry when it comes to people coming to rue thier earlier support of government and policy.

[Kuciwalker]

He wasn't confusing them, I believe.

xpost

[Ben Kenobi]

Confusing two world wars is always a sign of competence.

Which is why Hitler rained V-2s on London with Zeppelins. Alas, the allies had nuclear dreadnaughts that turned the course of the entire war when the u-boat carriers couldn't interdict.

He ended up signing the surrender papers in the same railroad car as the French. After he shot himself and the Russians defiled the body. Then Stalin, and Churchill signed the treaty of Versailles dividing Europe between the two of them, screwing over De Gaulle. Just like Wilson proposed.

[notyoueither]

He wasn't confusing them, I believe.

xpost

I believe he did.

The subject was the Second World War. He sited an episode from the First while not mentioning a single specific episode from the subject being discussed. A failing grade is warranted.

[Ben Kenobi]

He wasn't confusing them, I believe

Probably the largest concern for Chamberlain is that he received stuff from the colonies saying that they wouldn't back up a war in Europe over Czechoslovakia, given what they went through in the meatgrinder of the first.

[Kuciwalker]

I believe he did.

The subject was the Second World War. He sited an episode from the First while not mentioning a single specific episode from the subject being discussed. A failing grade is warranted.

I didn't realize the poster was BK. I have since updated my priors.