Hitler Explained

Peter Ross Range, who grew up in Athens and went on to a career as an international journalist (Time, U.S. News & World Report) is coming back through here on a tour promoting his new book, 1924: The Year that Made Hitler (Little, Brown). After 70 years, Hitler’s Mein Kampf is available in Germany again, and that motivated Range to produce this book, which comes with exquisite timing as Americans are newly wondering, “Could it happen here?”

Range, who is fluent in German and has spent a lot of time in that country, takes us through the political, economic and social conditions in Germany leading up to the pivotal 1924, during which Hitler served a cushy year in jail, writing his book and firming up the philosophy that would launch his political career, based on the promise to make Germany great again.

Range will discuss 1924: The Year that Made Hitler on Monday, Mar. 28 at 11:15 a.m. in the Special Collections Library auditorium, 300 S. Hull St. on campus (parking in the Hull Street deck) and again on Tuesday, Mar. 29 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Children of Israel, 115 Dudley Dr. Both appearances are free and open to the public.

Sausage and Egg Biscuits To Go

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Strickland's biscuits are fluffier than this one, and their sausage is spicy but not greasy.

On an early run to the airport last week, we stopped by Strickland’s (opens at 6 a.m.) out on the Atlanta Highway, almost to the Hwy. 78 turnoff. A couple of to-go coffees and fluffy biscuits crammed with sausage and egg made the drive toward Monroe a delightful dining experience. We hear a lot about nouvelle Southern cuisine these days, but this is the real thing where it all started. I’d weigh twice what I do now if I ate it every morning, but once in a while, it is a happy experience to be reminded just how good a biscuit can be and what real sausage tastes like.

Strickland’s was a fixture downtown for 20 years where the French restaurant is, and it has been out on the Atlanta Highway for that long now, proving that people will find good food no matter where it’s located.

Do As We Say, Not As We Do

Don’t get me wrong. Some of my best friends are Republicans. I don’t mean to make the mistake of lumping them all together, as if they all believe the same way on every issue. And careful readers of this column will surely recognize that I myself am some form of liberal, possibly even the kneejerk kind, except of course for the fact that I am also a small businessman, who has to meet a payroll, pay taxes, make ends meet and keep the lights on.

But look: What is the one, bedrock issue that the Republican Party is built on? The Constitution, right? And the Constitution requires the president to fill vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court as they occur, and it requires the Senate to consider the president’s nominees for those vacancies, right? I mean, there’s no leeway there for interpretation, like, say, the Second Amendment. So, what the hell? This present charade is just the most transparent evidence yet, after seven years of such, that the Republican Party is based squarely on a hypocrisy so blatant that it sinks to the level of that king with no clothes on.

Sorry. I know this column should be more locally focused. There are plenty of people to decry the Republicans’ (white)manhandling of the Constitution.

Let’s look closer to home and recall state Republicans slicing and dicing Athens-Clarke County to break up our Democratic vote. Remember now state commissioner for insurance companies Ralph Hudgens’ scheme to split Athens into two halves, each grossly outvoted by the surrounding rural areas? The Republican argument on that one was that it would give the University of Georgia two state senators, instead of just one, to look after its interests. Of course, both of those senators—who happen to be Frank Ginn and Bill Cowsert at present—are elected by the country people who dominate their districts. That was painfully obvious when both senators voted in favor of allowing students with permits to carry concealed weapons into their classrooms. Our two senators representing the interests of the University of Georgia voted that way in spite of the overwhelming opposition to campus carry among students, faculty, administrators and the chancellor’s office. That’s a textbook illustration of who is always going to come first with Ginn and Cowsert or anybody else who occupies those rural-dominated senate seats.