"White House Sings Deutschland Űber Alles to Visiting Pope"

"Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope, do you think he's a fool?" --Geezer Butler, lyrics from Black Sabbath's "After Forever" ("Master of Reality," 1971).

1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington D.C.--This was incredible. It was Pope Benedict XVI's birthday today. French tourists could be seen crying off in the distance of Lafayette Park, a favorite meeting-place for crackheads, the police, and spies posing as tourists, police, and crackheads.

The band chimed in today with a Sousa-like version of "Deutschland Űber Alles"--don't worry, the Pope knew all the words. He's 81. Why do I think my grandfather shot him in-the-ass at the Battle of the Bulge? I certainly hope so. My family is on my mother's side is German-American with an Anabaptist background. Unlike the Pope, my grandfather didn't enlist during WWII: he was drafted. As we all know, the Pope enlisted whole-heartedly into the Nazi cause. Because of this, the band also played the "Horst-Wessel-Lied," national socialism's greatest hit. Don't worry, he knew all the words.

While I'm not a practicing Anabaptist, I can safely say that we were the first to call for an ending of military conscription and for a separation of Church and State. Somehow, even though my family stopped being Anabaptists over 150-years-ago, the values remained as part of our familial culture. Pope Benedict XVI reminds me that Dr. Strangelove lives. Auf Deutsch und Englisch (aus http://german.about.com/library/blmus_deutschland.htm):

Germany, Germany above all,

Above everything in the world,

When always, for protection,

We stand together as brothers.

From the Maas to the Memel

From the Etsch to the Belt -

Germany, Germany above all

Above all in the world.

German women, German loyalty,

German wine and German song,

Shall retain in the world,

Their old lovely ring

To inspire us to noble deeds

Our whole life long.

German women, German loyalty,

German wine and German song.

Unity and law and freedom

For the German Fatherland

Let us all strive for that

In brotherhood with heart and hand!

Unity and law and freedom

Are the foundation for happiness

Bloom in the glow of happiness

Bloom, German Fatherland.

[Ed.-The Nazis added this stanza. It was removed after WWII.] Germany, Germany above all

And in misfortune all the more.

Only in misfortune can love

Show if it's strong and true.

And so it should ring out

From generation to generation:

Germany, Germany above all,

And in misfortune all the more.