Stalin B. Goode

What's wrong with wishing Stalin a happy birthday? I don't know. Right now I'm singing the Beatles song "Birthday" to celebrate.

"Happy Birthday Stalin!
(drum break - I'm banging on my desk)
Yes we're going to a party party."

But the Russians have beaten me to it. Why have sour grapes about killing a couple of million people? You can't make an omelette as great as Russia without breaking a few eggs right? We'd like to believe you can be in charge and still be a namby pamby wuss. It doesn't work! Not in Russia. They don't have liberal media over there.

So let's give Stalin his props. The fact that he has fans in Russia tells you all you need to know. Guy in this article worked on the space program, so you know he's smart, and he would spit right in your face if you don't dig Big Joe.

Plus...history isn't written in stone you know. It's like when the say the Constitution is a "living document" as they're trying to get rid of some of these pain in the ass civil liberties. Let's move on. And while we're at it maybe we can work on some of those Ten Commandments too.

Supporters of former Communist dictator Josef Stalin laid flowers on his grave Tuesday to mark the 131st anniversary of his birth in a show of support at a time when his legacy is hotly debated in Russia. A crowd of about 500 mostly elderly citizens waved red hammer-and-sickle flags gas and cheered as speakers denounced Kremlin moves to balance Stalin's hero status with reminders of the oppression and violence that marked his rule.

"Again we reaffirmed that Stalin's era was the most productive, victorious and unique in the history of our state," Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov said.

For the nostalgic supporters who filed onto Red Square on Tuesday, Stalin remains revered for his almost 30-year rule when he led Russia to the status of a great power and defeated Nazi Germany in World War II. He died in 1953.

"I spit in the faces of anyone who talks to me of de-Stalinisation," said Vladimir Markov, a doctor who worked with the Soviet space program.

"Stalin was our atom and our universe. Stalin was our path to the stars. My generation has him in their blood. You see wisened, courageous faces of these old people."

[Reuters]