Hugo Chavez’s Embalmed Body Will Be Put on Permanent Display…Here Are Some Gross Details About How That Works

This April 16, 1997 file photo shows Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, embalmed in his tomb on Moscow’s Red Square. Lenin is one of several world leaders whose bodies have been preserved and put on perpetual display, as Venezuela’s government plans to do with Hugo Chavez. (AP)
(AP) — No one lives forever — nor do they last forever. At least not without a lot of tuneups.
As much as it may seem like the bodies of famous world leaders such as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Mao Zedong have been preserved for all eternity, their enduring physical presence is simply an illusion aided by science.
Only the Venezuelan officials who have promised to preserve Hugo Chavez and display his body “for eternity” inside a glass tomb know exactly how they’re going to do it.
But if they were to follow procedures that are used in the United States, the technique might be rather simple: repeat embalming.
“The first thing to remember about embalming as we do it in the U.S. is that it is designed to delay the natural deterioration of the body; it’s not forever,” said Vernie Fountain, a licensed embalmer and owner and founder of the Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills in Springfield, Missouri.
So what does that mean exactly? You might want to put down your sandwich before you read on.
In the U.S., most embalmers use a machine that injects fluid laced with chemicals, principally formaldehyde, into an artery of the body, while the majority of the blood is emptied from a vein. Often a chemical known as a humectant is added, which “helps to fill out the body, some of the hollow spaces, and adds a degree of moisture,” Fountain said.
While he stressed that he has no personal knowledge about the condition of Chavez’s body at the time of his death or when it was or will be embalmed, Fountain said one possible method of preserving his corpse is to follow the embalming process with a periodic injection of humectant or something similar to keep moisture in the tissues. Makeup also helps to cover areas that have gone brown with dehydration.
Just to be safe, Venezuelan officials could take an extra precautionary step and make a face mask, using Chavez’s real face to form a mold that could be placed over the flesh in the future “and keep it looking more like he did when he died,” Fountain said.

A supporter of Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez places a message on the wall of the Venezuelan Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday, March 9, 2013. (AP)
The process of embalming a body for a few days or many years is essentially the same, note Fountain and Camilo Jaramillo, a Colombian embalmer and alumnus of the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service.
“The difference when one wants to preserve a body for a long time is that the doctors apply more-concentrated amounts of the chemicals,” Jaramillo said. “It is a much slower process and must be done very carefully. … Indefinite preservation really doesn’t exist. … It requires periodic maintenance. … But no embalming stops decomposition; it only slows it,” he said.
The time it takes a body to deteriorate varies on the health and weight of the deceased and other environmental factors, including whether the body was refrigerated immediately after death. Regardless, the key is to embalm as soon as possible after death.
Ideally, a body would be embalmed “the very day or next morning, rather than three or five or six days down the road,” Fountain said. “But it’s not impossible. I have embalmed bodies that have been refrigerated for six months.”
Confronted with such a never-ending and unsavory task, why do countries such as Russia, China, Vietnam, and now Venezuela, go to such lengths to preserve their leaders’ remains?
“The decision to embalm Chavez is an attempt to include him in a pantheon of communist deities,” said Nina Tumarkin, a professor of history at Wellesley College and the author of “Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia.”
“It’s a throwback to Soviet, communist times, and it might seem obsolete, but it might be the only pantheon where he belongs. Better to belong to the wrong club than none at all.”

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela’s acting President Nicolas Maduro, second from left, speaks in front of the coffin containing the remains of Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez after a symbolic swearing in ceremony at the military academy where the funeral ceremony was held earlier in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 8, 2013. (AP)
Other socialist or communist leaders embalmed after dying include Russian dictator Josef Stalin, though his body was later removed, and North Korea’s father-and-son leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. But it was the famous display of Soviet founder Lenin in Moscow’s Red Square in 1924 that inspired the custom among left-leaning leaders.
And then there was Evita, the actress who married then-President Juan Domingo Peron and went on to claim a following of millions for her role in securing labor benefits for the working class, founding hospitals and helping women get the vote.
When she died young from uterine cancer in 1952, the military leaders who overthrew her husband in 1955 were so worried about a death cult that they took desperate measures to hide the body.
For two decades, the corpse was secretly moved around Argentina and then buried in an unmarked grave in Italy. Meanwhile several wax and fiberglass decoy corpses were sent out around the world. The real corpse remained in Rome until it was delivered to Peron’s home in 1971 while he was in exile in Spain.
Now it rests in her family’s crypt in the opulent Recoleta cemetery, a major tourist spot.
Lenin’s embalming process, still seen to this day as one of the finest examples of its kind, was presented to the world as a feat for Soviet science in its quest to preserve a body in such perfection.
But the idea was probably forced upon government officials, who may have feared another bloody revolution after they saw the massive crowds that showed up to say goodbye to Lenin.
More than 3 million people braved the biting winter cold just to catch a glimpse of the body.

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kisses the flag-draped coffin of late Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez during the funeral ceremony at the military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 8, 2013. (AP)
Permanently staving off decomposition is no easy job.
When Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong died in 1976, the Chinese medical specialists tasked with preserving his corpse for permanent display were at a loss. In the middle of a rift with the Soviet Union, they couldn’t ask the Russians for the formula used on Lenin, according to a memoir by Mao’s doctor. Vietnam, which had embalmed Ho Chi Minh, rebuffed them, too, the doctor wrote.
In the end, the Chinese doctors used a formula found in a Western journal in a medical library in Beijing. They added extra doses of formaldehyde to boost the preservative effect. “The results were shocking. Mao’s face was round as a ball, and his neck was now the width of his head,” Li Zhisui wrote in The Private Life of Chairman Mao, published outside China 18 years after Mao’s death. The team managed to restore Mao to a more normal appearance with hours of careful massage and makeup, he said, but, just in case, a wax copy of the body was readied as a stand-in.
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Comments (209)
nesmond
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:43pmQ: What do you get when you cross a penis and a potato?
A: A dictator!
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CatB
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:54pmDi-ck -tator I fixed it ;-)
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dublinthewagons
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:10pmBarack Hussein Obama!!!!! Taters
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spirited
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:20pmspewing spud
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Obama the DICK-tater
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:52pmYou read my mind when I signed up years ago!! = )
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MIBUGNU2
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:54pmToo bad he went down kicking and screaming..so sad !!
he had Billions $$$ still couldn’t save his sorry azz…….
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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:41pmOh that’s priceless, imagine that on your tombstone:
I did not have sexual relations with that tator
Good thing that is a joke, and not a momentary lapse of reason?
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SendTheMeteors
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 9:26pmHey here’s a good one: What do you call a Mexican who flies an airplane? A pilot.
Get it?
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nesmond
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 9:37pmHere’s one for Meteors:
Q: What’s the biggest crime committed by transvestites?
A: Male fraud.
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SendTheMeteors
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 9:52pmnesmond, good one.
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The-Monk
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:01pmHey JZS,
Do miss Billy?
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brother_ed
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 11:35pmWhat do you call someone who graduated last in their class at medical school?
Doctor.
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Maxim Crux
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 12:32amFunny…and true. All this means really is that his body will be around long enough to defecate on by the people he oppressed.
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Luke21
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 1:07amA biblical tribute & fitting end to another despot:
Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.
Proverbs 10:24 The fear of the wicked will come upon him, And the desire of the righteous will be granted.
Proverbs 11:10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; And when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.
Go ahead, do all you can to preserve his carcass – but God will not be mocked.
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RepubliCorp
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 7:52amLets get a jump on it. Embalm that commie BO now…….
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BehindBlueEyes
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 8:26amToo funny.
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gizmo01
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 1:28pmSet the bastard on fire so he can adjust to the flames of hell.
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JGraham III
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 6:40pm@ Luke21:
Thank you for putting it so succinctly; truly God is not mocked. Someday, perhaps judgment Day, Chavez’s cows will come home to roost along with all the other totalitarian murderers that chose the wrong god to follow.
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BDM
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 2:00pmThe practice of preserving a dictator like this is the response of those who do not believe in God to the 1.4 billion Catholics who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Church has dozens and dozens of people who have died (some as long as 1500 yrs ago!) that have not decomposed. (many of which are on public display around the world) The Church says that this is the result of their complete love for the Savior. Therefore, He has preserved their bodies to encourage the faithful. The Devil,not to be outdone must present his followers as “incorruptibles” also…Sorry Satan…but you are still just pretending to be God!
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Colorado7972
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:19pmAwesome another “Public access toilet” like the Stalin “Public access toilet” for me to do my business on.
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Arshloch
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:42pmThe offal should be ground up, mixed with the rest of the ‘slops’ and fed to the pigs so hugo could join his kin. Once a pig always a pig.
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dublinthewagons
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:12pmI preferr feeding it to the chickens. They come home to roost
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BetterInformed
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:40pmJust call a good taxidermist. They do this stuff all the time.
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MIBUGNU2
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:00pmPickled Pigs Feet comes to mind, HMMMM !!!
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Quiata
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:34pmIt’s all part of the god-like illusion to fool the masses.
Instead of building massive pyramids or vast tombs with legions of terracotta soldiers, the collectivist corrupticrats keep the image going with pickled pork.
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drs1969
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:48pmTheir Treasuries can’t afford to build those memorials, because they have already been pilfered. All that’s left is stuffing and displaying the thief.
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landmark
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:30pmDoes anyone really care what they do with his body? Outside of his family??
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MIBUGNU2
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:50pmYa’ all the F’N phonies that want to grab his fortune and POWER…
sean penn, Fat mike and all the commie libotards..
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Briancito
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:16pmWhat ever else Chavez’ corpse might prove to be, a tourist attraction comes to mind. Like Lenin today. I think you can find more information on Lenin at Charonboat.com.
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nesmond
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:19pmMaybe they’ll do this to our commie leader. According to that embalming expert, the sooner, the better.
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hawkeyez
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:37pmI agree
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GO-FOR-LIBERTY
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 12:47pmNope. There won’t be enough of him left.
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Aqualung1000
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:17pmSick minds!
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ChildOfTheKing
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 11:33amNot sick, BEEN LIED TO. Foolish minds.
Psalm 14: 1, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”
Chavez has led millions astray and he will be punished BY GOD on Judgement Day, I GUARANTEE THAT. Obama will also have to face God on Judgement Day for LYING TO WE, THE PEOPLE. Sadly, I will not be there, for I am a follower of Christ Jesus so my sins are washed away and I will not have to endure Judgement. But, I DO FEEL SORRY for those who will have to face God on that terrible day. I FEEL VERY SORRY FOR THEM.
James 4:14: New King James Version (NKJV)
14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
……………until JUDGEMENT DAY, if your name is not written in the Book of Life.
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Bargis Tryhol
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:16pmThey could’ve saved alot of time and money using my taxidermist…Nothing wrong with having old Chavez’s head mounted on a plague say, at the Caracus International Airport men’s room right above a wall urinal or maybe some other public place like an amusement park fun house.
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Rayblue
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:16pmTook a big can of DAPtex to fill that hollowed out blimp.
Unlike polyurethane foams, DAPtex Plus will not overexpand, is toolable, moldable and cleans up easily with water. Just poke it straight up any dictators ass and let it rip.
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Captain Crunch
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 9:28pmlol
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EQUALIZER
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:15pmStuffed pigs only last so long. did they remember the apple?
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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:14pm.
I did not know you could embalm a turd. One learns something new everyday…..
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CatB
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:34pmYes .. he was so full of **** .. first they will have to remove that … btw .. why not just freeze dry him .. might be a nice change from the HEAT he is feeling in his new home.
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AppleAnnie
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 11:09amJust a passing piece of news…it is alleged that Chavez made his peace with God, through the sacrament of reconciliation / annointing of the sick. So, maw friends. he may not be burning in the firery abyss. It’ is disappointing isn’t it? We will hope but will never know which direction he went.
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billrow
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:11pmI bet he smells like sulphur
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WykkedWiggz
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:25pmIts been a while since I smiled about something tragic that happened in our favor. DNRIP
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SaturdaysWarrior76
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:53pm@Billrow: No doubt he’s burning in Hell right now, while Satan laughs with delight!
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:11pmBottom line – what matters is that Chavez is room temperature and no longer alive.
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BigSky
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:10pmNo one lives forever and no one gets out alive.
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Mapache
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:22pmNot even God….
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sealoquesea
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:36pmSo, Abby Martin on RT just did a story on Hugo, why people (especially libertarians) watch this I have no idea, I watch to see a different point of view, not because they put a few libertarians on and let it stroke my ego. But the point is the English chick she had report commented on how the US has wanted him dead and accusing Obama of doing do, which makes no sense whatsoever. But the most pathetic part is right before how she was saying everytime Hugo went out to publicly speak millions would show up and because there’s so much live in the country he never had to worry about security threats………… Ummm, sweety, if we wanted him dead he would have been dead at one of these totally non-threatening public events, we wouldn’t need to invent a way to pass cancer onto him. Oh, and please let president Ortega, Morales, etc know that western medicine has concluded that excessive alcohol is bad, and even worse excessive tobacco and exposure to the sun can cause cancer;) if they are that against believing everything we suggest they might not live as long as they like.
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barber2
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:09pmChavez begged them not to let him die . Guess making him a tourist attraction is their answer to his plea.
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texasbornandraised
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:08pmWhy are commie so scared of being in the ground? First Lenin, Mao, Stalin and Hugo.
Is it that they see themselves as being so great the can’t be with normal people?
Well you aren’t that great!
Washington had at cripped build for him under the capital rotonda. He refused it. Washington wanted to be buried like a normal preson. Why because he was that’s what made him great. He had no illusions he was a superman. He was a mortal man doing the best he could at the time. He had no grand idea he was any thing other than what he was.
So why are all the “great humble” leaders so scared of being forgotten?
Is it because they know that all their are power hungry, thieves, and murders! Not a leader that people will follow if they have a choice and are able to see past all the grand promise and lies told to them. So the Dear Leader, the Great one, or what ever name they cook up can have power.
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dublinthewagons
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:20pmBarry has a cripped built by kohler. Its an oversized toilet. His head will be wedged in it tightly and mounted in the senate shower room. RIP
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drs1969
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:53pmWashington believed in a deity higher than himself. These guys think they are god.
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darkknight91
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 4:22amDRS, right you are. Just like the pharaoh’s.
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zapparules
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 10:23amSo do you feel that same way about St. Bernadette of Lourdes?
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Rijkstra
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 12:28amCripped build? What’s that, a gangsta physique?
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BlasberryStrat
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:08pmHmmm…no comment from KEATONC666 yet. My guess he’s grabbed a box of tissues and on his way to “hang out” at the casket.
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pissantno.10
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:56pmrunnied keatons and a bunch libs sex life.
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crackerone
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 9:02pmKeaton gets Saturday nights off. You can probably find her at a women’s basketball game with her wife followed by Saturday night bowling. She’ll be back tomorrow.
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blinknight
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:07pmI think it’s sort of funny the way some on the left renounce Chavez and act like his death was a good thing. They celebrated his first election and defended him to the hilt for years as people predicted, accurately, that he would turn in to precisely the sort of monster he turned in to.
Then there’s the portions of the left, mostly the rich and famous, who still behave as if he was something other than a monster.
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BlasberryStrat
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:06pmHEY..great news for Oby and his Hollywood crew! Now they can all stand over the casket and masturbate over and over and over again. The guards will have to watch out for S. Penn though…he doesn’t believe in the “1 hour rule”.
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upadastra
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:06pmAll idolization, an utterly primitive custom but not unlike what the Catholic church used to do with monstrances containing bones of saints. This habit has been absorbed by the left as even though they preach agnosty they have made a religion of their socialist cult and need the same symbols to impress their followers.
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Blahahahaha
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:05pmHope it molds!
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spirited
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:19pmor explodes ?
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Oath-keeper
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:00pmMeanwhile since he has denounced Christ his soul is hanging out with Hitler, Stalin, Mao in the brimstone of hell. Wonder if our dictator has similar plans?!!!
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blinknight
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:05pmHitler never denounced Christ. Hitler was not an Atheist.
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Oath-keeper
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:07pmWho cares? Point was is our dictator planning immortality…
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blinknight
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:10pmThe point is that if you’re wrong. Hitler was quite firmly in the camp of the theists. There’s a reason he outlawed the largest atheist organization in Germany at that time you know. The guy was a monster, but he was a monster that believed in god.
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barber2
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:29pmBLINK: Hitler believed in the National Socialist Party/ government which was his God -just like our Chicago radical Democrats. After Hitler acquired power he persecuted Christians as a threat to his power and described Christianity as ” a fairy story invented by the Jews.” Hitler Blamed the Jews the way our Obama-nites Blame Bush / Blame the Rich / Blame Capitalism ( which also sounds similar to our radical Left today and their hatred for Israel ! ) They share the scapegoating and the targeted hatred.
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YOURSENSEI
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:06pmThis is what you must know:
I suppose it’s too late to do this to Reagan. Too bad. He’d look great propped up next to Glenn’s blackboard. Maybe a chalk dispenser.
it is so.
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drs1969
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:02pmHitler was Germany’s antl-Communist.
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DIR
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:51pmIt is to bad Reagan isn’t around ! He’d dice and slice, more effeciently than a veg-o-matic, Barry in to pieces so small you wouldn’t recognize the marxist. Plus, one would be able to conveniently flush Barry down the toilet. Now, Barry is just one huge load of stinking BS that even roto-rooter couldn’t get rid of. One thing about Barry though, when he finally pass on, he won’t need to be stuffed. He’s already full of it.
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RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 4:57pmI know some taxidermist in this area who could do a great job on him. They could have him standing on a log with a snarl on his face ready to attack a capitalist. Would look natural.
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STREBOR
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:20pmAdd some horns and teeth just like a jackalope!
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DIR
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:41pmOf course he will have to be extra manly for purposes of his legend, so his handlers/taxidermist will probably replace his current manhood with a hickory farms 10 oz all beef summer sausage. Then have it smartly displayed with proper positioning in his military slacks, by Al Gore’s photo specialist Naomi what’shername. If hickory farms is smart they’ll set up a concession stand near the Chavez display and sell the treats as a ‘have your own piece of Hugo. It’s like having your cake and eating it to.’ In this case it’d be having a piece of Hugo and eating it too. It’ll be a huge crowd pleaser especially when you are allowed to cut the cheese, in honor of the emperor, some havarti, and enjoy the two together. Truly a fun and fitting display for the whole family.
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RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:44pmSTREBOR, Even better!
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The-Monk
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:25pmHi RJJ,
Did you notice in the photo of Lenin his right hand is in a fist?
Wonder if that was done on purpose like the commie fist?
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RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 7:14pmHi MONK, I have noticed, and have wondered the same thing too.
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spirited
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 8:33pmStrokes caused Lenin’s right side to be paralyzed.
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The-Monk
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:11pmHi Guys,
I guess we know what he was holding when he died….
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The-Monk
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 10:15pmOops.. I meant to say, stroked out. LOL
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zoro51
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 4:57pmB F D hes dead why continue to honor a SOCIALIST who killed his own people and more.. he who hated america WHY even bother reporting this ****…IUS THE BLAZE PINKO NOW???
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resme
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 4:55pmLOL, This is just creepy…
Bring out errrr DEAD! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs
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