Opaque Lucidity

Today In History August 1, 2005

World War One begins, 1914

PODCAST #50!!!!!!!!

TRANSCRIPT:

Good afternoon and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is August 1st, 2005. This day is generally recognized as the day World War One began, even though the events leading up to the war began in June, 1914. The war would take the lives of 20 million soldiers and civilians and when it was over more than four years later, the political face of Europe would be changed forever.

The spark that started the War to End All Wars came on June 28, 1914 when Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The man who shot the Archduke was a Bosnian Serb who wanted to make Bosnia and Herzegovina part of the recently independent Serbia. But Bosnia and Herzegovina were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the assassination was blamed on the Serbian government. This was going to be used as a pretense for the invasion of Serbia, but since Russia backed Serbia, the Austro-Hungarians first sought assurances from Germany that it would fight with them in the event Russia came to the defense of Serbia. The Germans agreed and the dominoes were in place.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28. Russia immediately began mobilizing its army as did France, who was allied with Russia. France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3rd. When the German Army invaded Belgium on August 4, Great Britain declared war on Germany.

The death and destruction caused by World War One was completely unexpected in Europe. The continent had never seen fighting on such a large scale and modern weapons made the chivalrous battles of an earlier era seem almost like child’s play.

By the time the war ended in 1918, communist Bolsheviks had taken over Russia, the United States had become involved in the war on the side of Great Britain and France, and a generation of young men had had their ranks decimated. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, not only ended the war, but broke up the Austro-Hungarian Empire and forced Germany to accept humiliating financial and military punishments. These actions laid the seeds for another war that would see even more people killed and, ultimately, help establish a divided Europe that would not be unified and peaceful until the last decade of the 20th century.

That’s it for this afternoon. I have one request. Since it’s a new month, I would ask those of you who voted for this podcast at podcastalley.com to please go there and do so again. If you have not voted, please do so; it’s easy and only takes a few minutes. I would like to see this podcast in the top 100 for the month of August. Thank you.

As always, send me your thoughts at mattdattilo@yahoo.com or visit my weblog at opaquelucidity.com. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can check out Aaron’s weblog at celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Vista Hits Another Wall

You may know by now that the next version of Windows (code-name Longhorn) will be called 'Vista'. Now, Microsoft has announced that this Windows XP replacement will not be out until the last quarter of 2006, meaning that we won't actually see it until 2007. For the first time since I first bought a PC nearly 15 years ago, I don't care.

When MS introduced Windows 95 ten years ago, it was revolutionary. Those of you old enough to remember Windows 3.1 know what I mean. Win98 was an improvement over 95, but it was not revolutionary. Windows 2000 was a great desktop operating system, but most home users never got a look at it.

In 2001 we got our first look at Windows XP. Overall, it has been the best desktop OS Microsoft has ever released. Security has been a problem, but it's much more stable than its predecessors. By the time Vista appears, XP will be more than 5 years old.

So what new features will Vista offer? I don't know; so much has been stripped out of it that I can't think of anything new that's still part of the plan. Vista will undoubtedly have a new, slick interface, but most people I know want something that's familiar and stable; the new features come with new applications.

I'm not trying to start a flamewar or anything, but I think Vista is going to cost MS dearly. After all, OS X is out there with Tiger, a fast, easy-to-use OS that may be available for anything with a processor by 2007. And by 2007, Linux distros will be so easy to use that people who aren't geeks will be using it on their home machines. Vista is going to need to pack a serious punch to compete.

In my opinion, Microsoft has become too large and complacent to be innovative.

Info Overload?

I have noticed the readership for the blog slowly dying off again. I have been remiss in my blogging obligations, often letting the podcast's transcript serve as my post for the day. Should I move the transcript somewhere else or make it an extended entry (This means that you would be given the intro to the transcript and then a link that says "Read Whole Post" or whatever that would pull up the whole thing). I fear I am running people off with my rambling write-ups. Your input is appreciated.

Today in History July 30, 2005

The USS Indianapolis is torpedoed, 1945

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 30, 2005. I have one quick announcement before we begin. If you are a podcaster and would like to have your promo played here, please send it to me at mattdattilo@yahoo.com . All I ask is that, in exchange, you play my promo on your podcast. Your promo will be played at the end of my ‘cast on a first-come, first-served basis. Thank you.

On to the history. At 12:14AM today in 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. The sinking and subsequent loss of life would become the worst tragedy in the history of the US Navy.

The Indianapolis was a heavy cruiser, sort of a small battleship. She was commissioned in 1932 and saw action in every major Pacific invasion during the Second World War. In 1943, she was made the flagship of the Fifth Fleet. This means that the admiral in command of the fleet and his staff used the Indy as their base of operations during training and combat operations.

A Japanese Kamikaze pilot sealed the fate of the Indianapolis when he dived his plane towards her in March, 1945. The damage caused by his suicide mission forced the ship out of war for repairs. Thus, she was in position to be given the most important mission of her career, carrying a disassembled atomic bomb from California to Tinian Island, where it would be assembled and put aboard a B-29. Her crew did not know that their final voyage was going to help end the war.

After delivering her top secret cargo, the Indy was ordered to the Philippines, where she was due to begin training for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, scheduled for November, 1945. She sailed on without escort, an unusual position for a heavy cruiser to be in. Normally, she would’ve been assigned two escort destroyers, but the operations staff of the Fifth Fleet apparently believed that the area was clear of Japanese submarines despite reports to the contrary.

They were wrong. The Imperial Navy submarine I-58 hit the Indy in the Philippine Sea. She sank in 12 minutes. 300 of the 1,200 man crew went down with the ship; the remaining 900 men found themselves floating in shark-infested waters with few life rafts and almost no food or water. A series of missteps led to the cruiser not being missed until four days later when the survivors, now numbering only 316 men, were spotted by a patrol plane. Nearly 600 men died in the water, many from shark attacks.

The United States Navy lost 350 ships in combat during World War II. Of that number, only one captain stood a court-martial for losing his ship. That man was Charles Butler McVay III, the Indy’s last commander. He was convicted of “hazarding his ship by failing to zigzag” despite the fact that an American sub commander called to testify stated that, under the conditions that existed on July 30th, he could’ve sunk the ship even if she had been changing course frequently.

It was not until October of 2000, after McVay’s death, that President Clinton signed legislation exonerating McVay. This was the Navy’s way of saying that McVay should never have been court-martialed in the first place. What the crew had known all along about their captain was finally placed in the public record.

All told, 880 men of the Indianapolis died. Their priceless cargo shortened the war, possibly by years. And even though Winston Churchill would disagree, I can say with all sincerity that never have so many owed so much to so few.

That’s it for this evening. If you liked what you heard, please give this podcast a vote at podcastalley.com; just do a search for ‘Matt’ and you’ll find me at number 34. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can find Aaron’s weblog at celticmusicnews.com. Thanks for staying subscribed and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Did I Miss The War?

I thought the Korean War ended with a truce but, evidently, it was a great victory for the North. Is the rest of the world being lied to?

Pyongyang, July 27 (KCNA) -- Papers Wednesday dedicate editorials to the 52nd anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War. Korea wrought a military miracle of having defeated the formidable imperialist enemy incomparably superior in number or in military technique and equipment, reversing the imagination and anticipation of the world, Rodong Sinmun says, and goes on:
The victory in the war is a brilliant victory of the gifted military wisdom and outstanding leadership art of President Kim Il Sung.
The Fatherland Liberation War was the historical event which opened a new turning phase in carving out the destiny of the country and the nation and in accomplishing the cause of global independence. By winning the victory in the war, the Korean People's Army (KPA) and the Korean people fully displayed the invincible mettle of heroic Korea, broke the myth of the U.S. imperialists' "mightiness" for the first time in history, brought about the beginning of decline for them and opened a new era of the anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. struggle.
It is the brilliant fruition of the outstanding and tested leadership of Supreme Commander of the KPA Kim Jong Il that the exploits performed by the President in winning the victory in the war are being carried forward for scores of years and our army and people have won victory after victory on the forefront of the anti-imperialist struggle.
Kim Jong Il, son of Mt. Paektu, is the greatest general and the extraordinary brilliant commander of Songun who has fully personified the character and qualification of a brilliant commander in the highest level.
Thanks to his energetic leadership of the Songun revolution, our army has been strengthened into the invincible and revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu enough to smash any unexpected attack of the enemy at one blow and our people could build the firm foundation for building a great prosperous powerful nation despite all sorts of hardships. Kim Jong Il created the invincible political mode of Songun and built up the whole country as an impregnable bulwark and won a great victory in the struggle to defend socialism. This is the greatest exploit performed by him in glorifying the idea and cause of the President.
None other than our army and people have won victory in the revolutionary war against the imperialists, emerged ever-victorious in the political and military confrontation with no gunfire and firmly defended their own ideology, cause and system. The great exploits in winning victory in the war are the precious and viable treasure of our country and nation and the source of imbuing our army and people with the conviction of certain victory as long as imperialism remains in the earth and the anti-imperialist struggle continues.
The Korean revolution will be ever-victorious as long as there are the greatest-ever commander Kim Jong Il who is revered by the world and leading Korea with his unique Songun politics and the single-minded unity of our army and people rallied around the headquarters of the revolution as firm as a rock.

You've gotta love those Stalinist bastards. They'd be funny if they weren't genocidal maniacs.

Trading The Truck For An RV

After Discovery completes her current mission, the Space Shuttle will be grounded once again. One of the multitude of cameras aimed at the Shuttle showed a piece of foam falling off the orange external fuel tank. I don’t know if it actually hit the Shuttle or not, but it was a similar piece of foam which caused the Columbia accident in 2003. Now, however, Discovery has tools on board to actually fix most problems caused by falling debris during launch and ascent.

Most of the discussions I’ve read in the past day or so center on the belief that our three Shuttles are over the hill and in dire need of replacement. I agree with this, but I also think that the Shuttle fleet was short-sighted to begin with. The Space Shuttles were designed to be expensive freight trucks, hauling people and equipment into low orbit and to the International Space Station. They were successful at this logistically, but they never achieved cost-efficiency due to numerous schedule delays.

It would’ve cost more initially, but I believe that NASA should’ve built a ship capable of orbital duties as well as trips to the moon and even Mars. The Shuttle was sold to the American public as being reusable, but many components are replaced after each flight, so even a partially reusable orbit/moon/Mars craft wouldn’t be a radical departure.

Here’s what I’m envisioning: a modular craft comprised of a propulsion unit, an environmental unit, a living quarters unit, a science unit, an open bay and a command module. It wouldn’t have to be in the shape of a plane; after all, the Soviets mastered landing a capsule on land with nothing more than braking rockets and a parachute. And, maybe, the modules could be launched separately and left in orbit to be used for later missions. For example, consider the propulsion unit. It would be used to achieve high orbit; the command module would contain the de-orbit thrusters. Thus, the propulsion unit would be dropped off in low orbit and could be maneuvered to dock with the ISS for storage. Fuel could be sent to it in unmanned cargo vehicles like the Russians use. After it reached its maximum number of service hours, it would be fired into the atmosphere, where it would burn up. Now, imagine a trip to Mars. Fuel modules, science modules and extra modules could be sent to orbit the red planet years ahead of the manned modules.

I am not an engineer and I know that there are many intelligent people working on the next generation of spacecraft. But I don’t believe shooting very expensive planes into low Earth orbit will ever stir the imagination of the American public. Our trips to the moon were as much about beating the Soviets as they were journeys of science. Unless the Chinese plan on beating us to Mars, we need something worthwhile on which to spend our treasure.

Today In History July 28, 2005

Worst earthquake in modern history, 1976

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 28, 2005. I wanted to address some e-mails I’ve received in the past month, all saying the same thing: this podcast is too centered on American history. You’re right; it is. In fact, I considered making the podcast entirely about American history, but decided against it since I knew that not all my listeners are citizens of the United States.

If you look back over the topics I’ve covered in the last two months, you’ll notice that a) about one-third of the podcasts do not mention the United States at all and b) those that do often only mention it in passing. For example, the signing of the UN Charter, while occurring in the United States, is part of world history. The same can be said about Amelia Earhart; she was an American, but her feats were firsts for ALL women.

I’m sure all of you know that I am an American. I am proud of this fact and I love my country, just as I’m sure most of you love your homeland. American history is and will continue to be where my heart is. Yes, many, many things of significance have happened elsewhere and we will cover those. But if my bias is too much for you, all I can say is that I will understand if you no longer wish to listen. I wish you well.

With that said, let’s move on to tonight’s history. Today in 1976, the worst earthquake in modern history occurred near Tangshan, a Chinese city with a million inhabitants. The quake struck at nearly 4 in the morning local time, so most of the city’s population was asleep and had no time to leave their homes and flee to open areas.

China is situated between two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquake activity. Chinese history is full of examples of the devastation wrought by earthquakes. In 1556, a quaker killed nearly 830,000 people in one province, although there is no way to confirm that number.

The Chinese government was not prepared for an emergency of this magnitude. The 1976 trembler lasted only 23 seconds, but it leveled 90% of Tangshan, killed nearly a quarter-million people and left 160,000 injured. Hundreds of thousands escaped with only the clothes they had worn to bed the night before. Water, electricity and all forms of communication were cut off. The government’s first response was to drop food and medicine into the city. Believing that foreign aid would be seen as weakness, Beijing refused all assistance from other nations.

The Chinese Army eventually arrived in the form of 100,000 soldiers, but they lacked the training and the equipment necessary to rescue people from collapsed buildings. The late arrival of medical personnel in adequate numbers also led to many deaths. There has been much debate over the actual number of deaths from the quake, but many western intelligence agencies believe that more than half a million people died.

Tangshan was eventually rebuilt and is now a city with over two million inhabitants.

That’s it for this evening. Please contact me with comments, questions and suggestions at mattdattilo@yahoo.com. You can read my weblog and a transcript of this podcast at opaquelucidity.com. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can check out Aaron’s weblog at celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Will Strike Again, Sooner Than You Know

Hugh Hewitt's post this evening about the sentencing of Ahmed Ressam, the man who caught in December 1999 with a car full of explosives intended for LAX airport, is sensational. Ressam received a sentence of 22 years, with his 5.5 years in confinement going towards that total. I wanted to reprint here what the judge had to say as he handed down the sentence:

"Okay. Let me say a few things. First of all, it will come as no surprise to anybody that this sentencing is one that I have struggled with a great deal, more than any other sentencing that I've had in the 24 years I've been on the bench.

"It is my sworn duty, and as long as there is breath in my body I'll perform it, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We will be in recess."

First, this clown took the occasion to make a pointed political jab at the current administration. What does that have to do with handing down justice to a wannabe terrorist?

Second, this man is a REAGAN APPOINTEE. I can only imagine what the Gipper would be saying about this.

As I stated on Hugh's show a few minutes ago, this sentence is comparable to a US Navy task force finding the Japanese Striking Force early on the morning of December 7th before the planes took off, scaring them away with a warning shot and then filing a complaint with the Japanese embassy in Washington. Do you think that would've happened? I doubt it. Most likely, the task force would've done it's best to, in the words of Churchill, pound the Japanese to dust. They probably wouldn't have been successful (the Striking Force contained six carriers; our entire Pacific fleet had three), but there would've been no doubt that an attempt was made.

This man is an enemy combatant. His attempt was, tacitly, a declaration of war on this nation. He should've been tried in front of a military tribunal and locked up in Gitmo until he's carried out in a pine box.

NY Whitewash

I follow the news from North Korea with great interest, so when I saw this article in the NY Times, I read it immediately. Once I finished reading it, I clicked on the video link to the left. It's sort of a video blog from a reporter who is visiting North Korea.

I smell the beginnings of a whitewash. The man seems duly impressed with the subway system (which is rumored to be a complete fake with only two stations) and the lack of traffic. Do you think we'll get a glimpse of his "handler", the party flunky who will follow him everywhere he goes? Or will he mention that his entire trip was completely arranged for him? And how did he get a visa when it's almost impossible for Americans to travel there?

I feel we're going to see a portrayal of North Korea as a place with problems but, shucks, they're just like us. The people may be, but the regime running the place has the blood of millions of innocents on its hands. I wonder if this is a pre-emptive strike on the White House, just in case we have to go toe-to-toe with the North?

Just a thought.

Today In History July 27, 2005

The Korean War ends, 1953

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 27th, 2005. Today in 1953, an armistice was signed in Korea which brought three years of war to an end. The United States, China, South Korea and North Korea all agreed to cease hostilities and create a demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. The border between the two countries was re-established almost exactly where it was before the war began.

At the end of the Second World War, the Korean peninsula was divided between the United States and the Soviet Union along the 38th parallel. The Japanese had occupied the country for years before the war, so there was no native Korean government waiting to re-emerge as had been the case in the occupied countries of Europe. The original plan was to accept the surrender of the Japanese occupiers, ensure basic services and then hold democratic elections in both the Soviet and the American-held halves of the country.

It was not to be. The Soviets put a Stalinist dictator in control of the North, dashing the hopes that there would be free and open elections in that country. On June 25th, 1950, things went from bad to worse: North Korea invaded South Korea. The United States immediately sought a UN resolution calling for the defense of South Korea. Americans, British, French and many other nationalities fought alongside the South Koreans as they defended their homeland. The Chinese came into the war in 1951 on the side of the North. By the beginning of 1952, the war had become one of attrition with the front line moving back and forth across the old border with neither side able to sustain an offensive.

Dwight Eisenhower won the 1952 Presidential election in the US, promising to fight the war differently. He kept his promise, at least in a rhetorical sense. He let it be known through back channels that he was not opposed to using nuclear weapons if it meant a quick end to the war and a potential collapse of the North Korean government. Eisenhower also secretly encouraged the Taiwanese government to continue their occasional bombing campaign against mainland China, something that previous administrations had tried to stop.

By the time the armistice was finally signed in 1953, both sides had paid heavily for virtually no gain. The nation would continue to be divided, with the North becoming more and more of a reclusive cult while the South has become one of the most successful economies in the world. South Korea lost 227,000 soldiers during the war and endured countless thousands of civilian deaths. The numbers for North Korea are unknown to this day, although it is probably higher than the South’s totals. China lost 132,000 soldiers while the United States lost 54,000, a total almost as high as the number of American soldiers lost in the Vietnam War. The UK, Turkey, Australia, Canada, France, Thailand, Greece, Holland, Columbia and Ethiopia each lost hundreds of soldiers.

The Korean War introduced the world to the concept of the “limited war”. The war was limited to the peninsula and the waters surrounding it; all other areas were off-limits. This led to some strange situations, such as Allied fighter pilots who could not pursue North Korean pilots into China. As a result of this policy, North Korea used many Chinese airfields. My father, a Navy veteran of the Korean War, has often spoken about how strange it was to dock at a pier in Hong Kong and see Chinese warships docked not far away. On the streets of the city, sailors from all nations, some warring and some not, mixed with each other.
This was the way of the future, and fortunately so, for an expansion of the war in Korea could’ve meant the beginning of a nuclear World War III.

That’s it for this evening. If you like what you hear, please give this podcast a vote at podcastalley.com—this includes those of you who only read the transcript. Please feel free to contact me at mattdattilo@yahoo.com. You can check out my weblog at opaquelucidity.com. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can view Aaron’s weblog at celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Homeless

As most of you know, I’m a subscriber to Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code podcast. His ‘cast from Sunday night was a sound-seeing tour, meaning that he recorded his walk around downtown San Francisco at 1:30 in the morning. In 42 minutes, he talked to two or three homeless people and saw many more. He gave those he spoke to money because, much like me, he has trouble walking past people and telling them ‘no’, even if you know they’re going to buy drugs with the money. Curry observed that homeless people don’t seem to be as much of a problem in European cities. Granted, he did say that San Francisco is one of the few cities he has visited in the US where homeless people are found everywhere, not just in the bad parts of town.

I’ve never been to San Francisco, but I’ve traveled to probably 8 of the 10 largest cities in the United States. The only one in which I’ve seen homeless people in numbers is Chicago. To be fair, Chicago is the only city (other than Louisville) in which I have walked the downtown area late at night. During the day, in places where people like me are likely to go, there doesn’t seem to be much of a homeless problem. Of course, I know that this is not the case.

I would like to get the perspective of those of you who are more traveled that I. First, have you seen homeless people in European or Asian cities? How about those of you who live in places like New York and LA---do you see the homeless daily, or only occasionally?

Most of the homeless people I have seen seem to be mentally disabled in some way. I don’t know if it’s a lifelong struggle, or something brought on by drug abuse or the adversity of living on the street. This makes me wonder if some European countries do a better job of addressing mental illness, or is there no connection?

Today in History July 26, 2005

The Suez Crisis begins, 1956

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 26, 2005. Before we begin this evening, I’d like to say thanks for those of you who have voted for this podcast at podcastalley.com. Because of your efforts, this ‘cast is now firmly in the top 200. I’m not sure if that means much, but it sure makes me feel good.

On to the history. Today in 1956, Egyptian President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. The act of nationalization means that the Canal itself and all the equipment associated with it were seized by the Egyptian government from the British and French companies who had been managing the canal. This action marked the beginning of what would be called the Suez Crisis.

The Suez Canal was first opened to shipping on November 17, 1869. Originally, it was run by the Suez Canal Company, a corporation run by the French with the Egyptian government as a shareholder. In 1875, debts forced the Egyptians to sell their share of the Canal to the United Kingdom. This arrangement of ownership continued, more or less unchanged, until the 1950's.

The world changed after the end of the Second World War and the traffic coming through the Canal began to carry more and more of just one item: oil. By 1955, oil accounted for nearly 70% of the traffic passing through. Europe depended on this link to the Middle East for its very survival.

President Nassar was aware of this and he knew that the nations of Europe would gladly pay for the continued use of the canal. Nassar’s government needed the money to pay for the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The US and Great Britain were aiding Egypt in this effort, but withdrew their support when it was learned that the Egyptian military was buying tanks and other armaments from the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations.

What happened next had its origin in secret meetings among the French, British and Israeli governments. Basically, the plan went like this: Israel was to invade the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, which they did on October 29th, 1956. Britain and France stepped in and offered to keep the two armies (Egyptian and Israeli) separated by having British and French troops occupy the Canal Area. President Nassar refused and the allied British and French battlegroups offshore began bombing Egypt on October 31st.

The retaking of the Canal and the land around it was a success in military terms, but was a disaster in the world of diplomacy. The Soviet Union threatened to enter the war on the side of Egypt, leading the United States to force a cease-fire on the British and French governments. This caused an uproar in England, resulting in the forced resignation of Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden. The United Nations eventually sent a peacekeeping force to the area.

The aftermath of the Suez Crisis shook the world. Some historians say that it really marked the end of the British Empire, although the beginning of that end had come long ago. The crisis showed the world that the United States and the Soviet Union really were the two great superpowers in the modern world; threats from them had ended the crisis without their direct involvement. It also showed that most conflicts over the course of the next 35 years, no matter where they were, would be played out as an indirect confrontation between Moscow and Washington.

That’s it for this evening. Please feel free to drop me a line at mattdattilo@yahoo.com. You can check out my weblog and a transcript of this podcast at opaquelucidity.com. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can check out Aaron’s weblog at celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Today In History July 25, 2005

The Andrea Doria sinks, 1956

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 25, 2005. Before we get to the history, I have an announcement and a request. First the announcement: after receiving quite a few e-mails, I have taken the decision to continue to write out the podcast before recording it. The general feeling was that I am much more concise when I read from a transcript. I also received a few e-mails from people who do not subscribe to the podcast at all, but read the transcript on my weblog at opaquelucidity.com. Thanks to those of you who took the time to give me your thoughts on the matter.

I normally mention this at the end of the show, but with the month of July coming to an end, I’d like to ask those of you who have not yet voted for this podcast at podcastalley.com to please do so. As of today, I am still not listed in a category on iTunes, meaning that people will only find my podcast by doing a search for ‘matt’ or ‘history’. Thus, Podcast Alley is the only way I can hope to get any kind of exposure to people who may be interested in this kind of thing. To those of you who have taken the time to vote, thank you and please forgive my constant nagging about this.

Now, on to the history. Today in 1956, the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm collided with each other in the North Atlantic about 45 miles south of Nantucket Island near Massachusetts. The Andrea Doria was an Italian cruise ship; the Stockholm was a Swedish liner. They were two of the dozens of passenger ships that plied the Atlantic between North America and Europe in the decades after the Second World War before transcontinental air travel became commonplace.

On the evening of the 25th, the Stockholm was heading back to Sweden from New York; the Andrea Doria was heading to New York from the opposite direction. The area had been shrouded in fog most of the day, yet the Andrea Doria slowed down only slightly because the captain thought that he could rely on his radar to give sufficient warning in the event another ship entered the area. The captain of the Stockholm intentionally turned north into the west-bound shipping lane in an attempt to save time.

The Andrea Doria saw the Stockholm on radar while she was still 17 miles away. The direct events leading up to the collision have been a source of debate, but suffice it to say that each ship ended up trying to pass the other on the starboard, or right, side, a maneuver that is not normally done. The helmsmen of both ships realized that they were on a collision course at a distance of one mile, but it was too late. The bow of the Stockholm, reinforced so that she could break through ice, smashed into the Andrea Doria, opening seven of her ten decks to the ocean. 46 passengers and crew were killed on Doria; five crewmen were killed on the Stockholm.

The Andrea Doria began taking on water immediately. In a few minutes, she was listing so far to port that the lifeboats on that side of the ship could no longer be used. This meant that there were now only 1000 seats for nearly 1700 passengers. Miraculously, the Stockholm was still afloat and in no danger of sinking, so all her lifeboats could assist in rescuing passengers off the Doria. Several other liners in the area came to assist as the evening wore on. Every living person on the Andrea Doria, 1660 in all, were saved. The Stockholm made it back to New York while the Doria settled on the ocean bottom in 240 feet of water.

In the years since the sinking, the Andrea Doria has become a popular destination for divers. When I was in the Navy, there was a rumor that, in the event of a war with the Soviet Union, the Doria would have to be completely destroyed because her hull and superstructure created a noisy sonar area where submarines could hide.

That’s it for this evening. Please feel free to contact me at mattdattilo@yahoo.com with comments and/or suggestions. You can check out my weblog and a transcript of this podcast at opaquelucidity.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Ooops

I actually forgot to post yesterday. I had all sorts of stuff to talk about, but the day just slipped by.

FYI: I am going to continue scripting the podcast. I received many e-mails from people (well, not many, but quite a few)who enjoyed the concise nature of the pre-written 'cast. While it takes more time, this is what I'll do if people enjoy it more.

Dean Opens The Tent

I never thought I'd type this, but Howard Dean said something this week that actually made sense: that Democrats need to reach out to pro-life voters and candidates.

Don't worry; I'm not worried that this is actually going to happen any time soon, but it IS a start. As I've said here numerous times, I want to see the Democrats once again become the party of Kennedy and Truman, not the embarrassment they are today.

Today in History July 23, 2005

The "Kitchen Debate", 1959

I apologize for the mic problems. Also, no transcript for this one---all is explained in the 'cast.

Responsible Blogging

Michael Gee has been fired from his part-time teaching job at Boston University for a comment he made about one of his students on his blog. I didn’t read the entire post, but the link above provided this quote:

''Of my six students, one (the smartest, wouldn't you know it?) is incredibly hot. . . . It was all I could do to remember the other five students.''

I have to admit that this comment made me draw a mental image of Gee, and you know the type: The Butthead Sports Guy. I won’t describe him here except to say that I’ve known BSG all my life and he acts the same way at 40 as he did at 13. He probably didn’t think twice about what he said until after he got into trouble. Now he says he’s sorry and that his comments were out of line. Hooray.

I agree that Gee’s comments were out of line. But being an asshat is not necessarily a firing offense. While my first impression of Gee is not positive and I would certainly be angry if my daughter was a student of his, I think we need to look at a few things:

1. Did he mention the student by name? (I don’t think he did)

2. Did he post anonymously? (Once again, I don’t think so)

3. Did he send the post from his PC or from one at the University?

Had he mentioned the student by name or it was possible to glean her identity from the post then, yes, I believe he should’ve been fired because this could be construed as harassment. If he made the post, even anonymously, from work, then he should be fired because the University needs to show that they addressed the problem in case a lawsuit shows up later.

But if Gee did not mention the student by name and made the post from home, then I believe that he should be allowed to keep his job. I’m not saying that he has good taste, but I have trouble seeing how this would damage anyone. Also, keep in mind that the woman in question is of college age.

I’m curious to see how you feel about this. To be clear, I do not have a daughter; if I did, I might feel differently.

Historically Ignorant

Things such as this are the reason why I started a podcast about history. This is the worst kind of historical revisionism. For example:

"Impressing Russia was more important than ending the war in Japan," says Selden. Truman was also worried that he would be accused of wasting money on the Manhattan Project to build the first nuclear bombs, if the bomb was not used, he adds.

If Truman wanted to impress Stalin, a atomic bomb could've been detonated in the middle of the Pacific. As for wasting money, the price of the Manhattan Project ($2 billion)was a drop in the bucket compared to what the war cost American taxpayers. For example, this nation built DOZENS of aircraft carriers during the war. What did that cost?

These Catholics Must Be Stopped!

It took 48 hours for the MSM to hone in on the fact that John Roberts is Catholic. The LA Times has even stooped to writing an entire article about the anti-abortion work of Roberts' wife. Why is this relevant? Let's have the Left Coasties explain:

A spouse's views normally are not considered relevant in weighing someone's job suitability. But abortion is likely to figure prominently in the Senate debate over John Roberts' nomination. And with his position on the issue unclear, abortion rights supporters expressed concern Wednesday that his wife's views might suggest he also embraced efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

So let me see if I understand this correctly: since Roberts has never expressed a firm belief for or against abortion as a judge, we'll just investigate what his wife believes and draw our conclusions from there. Am I missing something here? Does this reek of desperation, or is that a corpse I smell?

Let's look at this from another angle:

Senator Joseph Lieberman was nominated to be Senate majority leader today. Many leading Republicans are worried because Lieberman's wife, Haddasa, belongs to several groups which are suing German companies for Holocaust reparations....

Would you ever see that paragraph in the LA Times? If you say yes, then you're lying to yourself.

The bottom line is that anyone of any faith is suspect to Left unless that faith is in the godless religion of liberal activism. The Catholic Church is attacked over the rest of Christianity because it is traditionally against all the things liberal embrace: abortion, gay marriage, etc.

This is the most disgusting form of journalism I have ever seen. If you are a person of faith, let there be no doubt: the line has been drawn.

Once Again

It looks like there have been more terrorist bombings in London, but not as serious as the ones two weeks ago. More later.

Today In History July 21, 2005

The First Battle of Bull Run, 1861

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 21, 2005. Today in 1861, Union and Confederate troops clashed in the first major land battle of the American Civil War. The Union called the battle the First Battle of Bull Run after a stream that ran through the battle area. The southern Confederates called it the Battle of First Manassas after the Manassas, Virginia railroad junction.

By July of 1861, the Southern insurrection that would later be called the Civil War was three months old. Union commanders were eager to bring the war to a quick conclusion by making an offensive drive into northern Virginia. The Confederate capitol at Richmond, Virginia was barely one hundred miles from Washington, DC and capturing it would, it was believed, quickly bring the rebel states back into line.

The first mistake Union military planners made was underestimating the strength and abilities of the Confederate Army. Union General McDowell rode into Virginia with 34,000 troops, most of them hastily assembled and poorly trained militia. It didn’t take long for the south’s Generals to learn of the Union plans; they prepared to meet McDowell with 29,000 troops under the command of Generals Beauregard and Johnston. The Confederates had high morale and excellent leadership on their side.

On the morning of July 21, as the two forces closed in on one another, civilians from all over the area gathered to watch the battle. This may seem odd to us today, but it’s important to remember that romantic notions of noble combat ruled the day. Very few living Americans had seen combat between two large armies—the last war fought by the United States had been in Mexico, a distant land to 19th century Americans living on the eastern coast of North America. People came from as far away as Washington; some even brought picnic baskets.

But it wasn’t to be that kind of day. Before the sun set, 5,000 men lay dead: 3,000 Union and 2,000 Confederate. The Union forces beat a chaotic retreat back to Washington, where Union war leaders were forced to rethink their plans for a quick and decisive victory. The casualties that day horrified the nation and brought home the realization that not only was the war real, but that it would be costly for both sides.

There is an interesting side note to this day. We tend to think of battles as taking place in large, open areas, in thick forests, or deserts, or jungles. The fact is that much of the Civil War took place on private property and one man, Wilmer McLean, played host to both the first and last battles of the Civil War.

McLean was a retired Major in the Virginia militia by the time the war started. Too old to go back into the service, he spent his days as a sugar broker not too far from Manassas, Virginia. The battle of Bull Run raged so close to his home that a shell came down his chimney and exploded in a pot of stew. The Confederates even used his barn as an aid station for wounded soldiers.

Alarmed by the closeness of the battle and knowing that his farm was between Richmond and Washington, McLean moved his family to central Virginia. His move was also an economic one: his job required him to spend a lot of time in southern Virginia. He bought a home at Appomattox Court House and hoped to live out the war there in relative peace. The war left McLean and his family alone until April 9, 1865, when a Union officer asked him if there was someplace nicer than the practically unfurnished Court House for General Grant to meet with General Lee and discuss the terms of the south’s surrender. McLean offered the man his parlor. Thus, the Civil War began in McLean’s yard and ended in his living room.

That’s it for this evening. Please feel free to contact me at mattdattilo@yahoo.com . My weblog as well as a transcript of this podcast can be found at www.opaquelucidity.com. Podcast Alley is crying for you to vote for me; please go to www.podcastalley.com and do so. I know their site is slow and is often down; please try again. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can read Aaron’s weblog at www.celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Strong And Curious

Ann Coulter doesn't seem to think much of the Roberts nomination. I understand her reasoning, but I don't agree with her. One thing I think Coulter is overlooking is that this man is going to be on the Court for an entire generation; the focus has to be wider than the bickering politics of the present. To think only of the immediate is to fall into the liberal trap.

Bow Shot

It took less than 12 hours for Democrats to formulate their plan of attack against John Roberts. Senator Chuck Schumer fired the opening shot (HT: Hugh Hewitt):

"There's no question that Judge Roberts has outstanding legal credentials and an appropriate legal temperament and demeanor. But his actual judicial record is limited to only two years on the D.C. Circuit Court. For the rest of his career he has been arguing cases as an able lawyer for others leaving many of his personal views unknown. For these reasons it is vital that Judge Roberts answer a wide range of questions openly honestly and fully in the coming months. His views will affect a generation of Americans and it is his obligation during the nomination process to let the American people know those views. The burden is on a nominee to the Supreme Court to prove that he is worthy, not on the Senate to prove that he is unworthy. I voted against Judge Roberts or the D.C. Court of Appeals because he didn't answer questions as fully and openly when he appeared before the committee. For instance, when I asked him a question that others have answered --to identify three Supreme Court cases of which he was critical, he refused."

You’ve got to hand it to Chuck---he knows when to leave out the facts of an argument. While it’s true that Roberts has only spent two years on the D.C. Circuit Court, this is not the extent of his judicial experience. He served as Associate Counsel to the President during the Reagan Administration, a position which required him to advise the President on Constitutional matters. In private practice and later as Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States, Roberts argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court. From his biography:

“Mr. Roberts has presented oral arguments before the Supreme Court in more than thirty cases, covering the full range of the Court’s jurisdiction, including admiralty, antitrust, arbitration, environmental law, First Amendment, health care law, Indian law, bankruptcy, tax, regulation of financial institutions, administrative law, labor law, federal jurisdiction and procedure, interstate commerce, civil rights, and criminal law.”

While I am certainly not an expert on matters regarding the judiciary, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Roberts has sufficient experience to be on the Court. Please keep in mind that nominees to the Supreme Court do not have to be sitting judges; in fact, they do not even have to be attorneys.

Schumer and his ilk have this funny idea that nominees are under an obligation to answer any question put to them by the Senate. Nothing could be further from the truth. The role of a Justice is to interpret law---nothing more and nothing less. If he asserts his commitment to this, then his opinions on current law are moot. In fact, it used to be considered bad form for a nominee to answer questions about theoretical cases he may face on the Court. Have no doubt that this will become an issue here.

What is evident here is the difference in how those on the Right and those on the Left view the responsibilities of the bench. More and more, those on the Left see judges as capable of legislation when the people and their elected representatives reject liberal laws. We’ve seen this time and time again with the issue of gay marriage: it can’t get passed a ballot box, but yet it’s legal in Massachusetts and elsewhere because of rulings from the bench. That’s why it’s so important to Democrats to hear Roberts’ opinion on every issue under the sun.

Roe v. Wade is a case in point. According to some abortion rights groups, John Roberts tried to have Roe v. Wade overturned while he worked for George H.W. Bush. Roberts even wrote, “We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled." According to the Washington Post:

Pressed during his 2003 confirmation hearing for the appeals court for his own views on the matter, Roberts said: "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. ... There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."

To me, this is no contradiction. Roberts does not agree with the Roe decision, but he respects the fact that it is, at least for now, a law. If he had a chance to vote it down, he would; but until that time, he will respect the decision of an earlier court.

To the liberal mind, separating personal belief from interpretation of law is unthinkable. This explains why Democrats will insist on quizzing Roberts on everything from abortion to the war in Iraq. If he doesn’t answer, as is his right, the media will treat him as if he has committed some sort of crime. I fear the Dems will be successful in normalizing this kind of treatment of nominees, but I hope not. Roberts is the kind of man we need on the Court for the next generation.

Today In History July 20, 2005

Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon, 1969

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 20, 2005. Today in 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the moon. His steps were the culmination of a quest that began soon after the end of the Second World War and was brought to national attention by a young, energetic President in May, 1961 with these words:

“I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”

The space program was about much more than scientific discovery and exploration. President Kennedy’s word made the quest for space an issue of national pride. Our astronauts would prove to the world that America’s work ethic and technological know-how were not to be challenged.

But there is more to the story. The space race was also a product of the Cold War. By the beginning of the 60's, the United States lagged behind the Soviet Union in almost all areas related to space travel. The Soviets were the first nation to up a satellite into orbit and the first nation to send a man into space. Early American efforts were fraught with failures. A proposal to beat the Soviets to the moon seemed like a long shot, but it was the kind of challenge that the American people loved.

The American race to the moon occurred in three primary stages. First was the Mercury program, which focused on sending one man into low Earth orbit. Next came Gemini, which used two-man capsules and introduced the challenge of both space walking and bringing two separate vehicles close enough to dock with one another. The docking maneuver was critical for use in the final of the three stages, Apollo. The Apollo capsule could hold three men and enough provisions for more than a week of travel between the Earth, the moon and back home again. This capsule, called the Command Module, took with it a smaller ship called the Lunar Module. This small, otherworldly craft was what actually touched down on the moon.

The Apollo program met with disaster in January, 1967. An Apollo capsule sitting atop its Saturn rocket caught fire during a manned launch-pad test in Florida. All three astronauts inside the capsule died.

After making some design and operational changes, NASA got back to the program. In December, 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned vehicle to orbit the moon. Apollo 9 and Apollo 10 both tested the equipment needed to make the moon landing. By July, 1969, the rehearsals were over: it was time to go.

Apollo 11 took off for the moon on July 16. 240,000 miles and 76 hours later, Armstrong and crew were in lunar orbit. On the afternoon of July 20th, he sent the historic announcement to Mission Control in Houston:

“Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Armstrong did not climb out of the lunar module until six hours later. History records his message before stepping off the lunar module’s ladder onto the surface as:

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Armstrong later claimed that his message was garbled and that what he meant to say was:

“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Five more Apollo missions would land on the moon, but none would capture the world’s attention the way Apollo 11 did. Upon their departure from the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a small plaque. It’s most likely still there tonight, maybe a little dusty. It simply says:

“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon–July 1969 A.D.–We came in peace for all mankind.”

That’s it for this evening. Please feel free to contact me at mattdattilo@yahoo.com. My weblog can be found at www.opaquelucidity.com. Podcast Alley will gladly accept your votes for this podcast at www.podcastalley.com. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can visit Aaron’s weblog at www.celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

And So It Begins

It's going to be a long, long few weeks. We will be discussing the Roberts nomination very often over the next month or so. I know this is not what some of you would call interesting, but it is my belief that Supreme Court Justices have as much effect on our lives as almost anyone in government. Roberts could serve 30 or 35 years on the Court and I think it's important to give his nomination the attention it deserves.

In the morning, the attacks begin. Bring some halon.

Roberts?

Drudge and a few others are reporting that the President is going to nominate John C. Roberts for the Supreme Court. Roberts is seen as a solid conservative and a private, measured man. This is a positive: fewer quotes means fewer problems.

More importantly, he is supposedly for overturning Roe v. Wade. If true, then the President is intentionally picking a fight with this nomination. As we all know, pro-abortion beliefs are pretty much a requirement for any nominee if we are to avoid a bloody, prolonged battle.

If Roberts is the man, then the President did as his conscience dictates. No more running; this is where the line is drawn.

The "Nadagate" Problem

I don’t know when it happened, but at some point in the last 60 years, the mainstream media in the United States become a political organization. Some would call it a party, but that would require that it diversify itself from the Democrats. Sadly, the MSM is so inexorably intertwined with the Party of the Left that we must view it as more of a PAC (Political Action Committee) for the Democrats.

It seems, at least to me, that the present media bias began in a time when the American public was first beginning to have serious doubts about the overall honesty of government and the people who run it. In that way, the media that covered Vietnam and Watergate was part of a populist movement. People on the street knew that something wasn’t right about the information coming from the Pentagon and, later, from the White House. The Woodwards and Bernsteins of the world were welcome in most circles because they challenged unquestioned authority. And, in a way, they proved themselves correct: crimes WERE being committed and the American people WERE being lied to.

That journalistic success created a standard, a gold bar for each succeeding generation to reach for. But it soon became obvious that not every young reporter would have a Vietnam or a Watergate to report on. More importantly, those who inhabited the halls of the Manhattan journalistic elite came to realize that they could not only report on scandal, but could use scandal to shape public policy and elections. This realization went hand-in-hand with a change in journalists’ education: it was no longer about reporting the news, but about changing the world.

And so agenda-driven journalism was born. If you don’t think that the MSM has an agenda in its coverage of the news, you’re not paying attention. The last 20 years (and especially the last five) have seen an explosion of embarrassing incidents which uncovered media bias and attempts to cover up or change the facts of a story. NBC rigged tests on GM trucks, making them appear to explode in certain types of crashes. Jason Blair made up interviews during his stint at the NY Times; the paper later revealed that they knew what was happening but kept him on because he was black. CBS passed off knowingly falsified documents concerning the President’s Air National Guard service. NBC was taken to court over the GM debacle and eventually had to admit to their deceit, but it took years.

The last two examples cited above only came to light because of the blogosphere. Imagine CBS news passing off forged documents in 1984. Would anyone have questioned their authenticity? No, because you would never have seen them. And how many reporters have faked stories for the NY Times? We’ll never know, because Jason Blair just happened to come along in the age of instant information and factual confirmation.

Now, we are beginning to see a new low from our media: creation of scandal where none exists. Memogate and the Rove non-Affair are just the beginning of this trend. It is now obvious to anyone who pays attention to such things that the MSM has had this administration in its sights since 2000. Attempt after attempt has been made to discredit the President and those around him. Much to their dismay, the American people re-elected G.W. Bush anyway. Why? Because there are more options than ever when it comes to news sources. The gatekeepers are irrelevant; we’ve just gone around them. This is, perhaps, the cruelest slap in the face of the Old Guard in the MSM.

We long ago knew they were biased; now they are not only irrelevant but are losing their ability to shape public opinion. If you doubt it, pay attention to the upcoming debate over President Bush’s Supreme Court nomination. The standard-bearers will not be the networks and the fish wraps, but the “little” people who have been doing their homework on potential nominees for weeks now. More power to them.

Today In History July 19, 2005

The Rosetta Stone is found, 1799

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 19, 2005. Before we get to the history tonight, I’d like to say a special hello to those of you who found the podcast because of the promo on Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code. If you have subscribed, thank you; if you haven’t, please consider doing so.

Our first item of history today actually occurred on July 18th. As many of you are aware, I actually do this podcast in the evening of the day before the actual date we discuss. Occasionally, something pops up during the day that would’ve made it on the previous evening ‘cast if I had known more about it. Well, today is one of those days. The lovely Mrs. Dattilo sent me a gem this morning, and I thought it was worth sharing.

July 18th is President Grover Cleveland's birthday. He would be 168 years old.. His presidency was remarkable in many ways, but we’ll just cover two of them here. First, he is the only President to serve two terms non-consecutively; he was both the 22nd and 24th President. He is also the only president to be married in the White House. At the age of 49 he married Frances Folsom, who was 21. Imagine the Washington Post and New York Times covering that relationship today.

Now on to today’s business. On July 19th, 1799, a black stone slab was discovered by a French soldier near the Egyptian town of Rosetta. The slab, known today as the Rosetta Stone, held the key for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, the symbolic language commonly found on and in ancient Egyptian ruins. It is not an overstatement to say that this one find changed Egyptology in a fundamental way.

The Rosetta Stone is written in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. Demotic was basically a shorthand version of the hieroglyphic script and was used by most of the citizens of Egypt when the stone was carved in 196 B.C. Greek was present because, at this time, Egypt was under the rule of a Greek pharaoh and was, thus, the language of the royal family. The hieroglyphs were there because this was the script used by the Egyptian priesthood on all important documents.

The only language found on the Stone that was fully understood by European scholars of the 18th century was Greek. The Egyptian language, and the scripts associated with it, were lost during the time of the Roman occupation of Egypt. The Romans only allowed the use of Latin and some Greek in all facets of Egyptian life. Within a century of the Roman conquest of Egypt, the hieroglyphics were no longer understood. In fact, for centuries, many scholars did not think the hieroglyphs represented a language at all.

By the early 17th century, there had been some attempts at determining what the hieroglyphs were. That work met with some success, but there was no common link between the symbols and a commonly understood language. The Rosetta Stone changed that. Jean Francois Champollion , a French Egyptologist, was finally able to “connect the dots”, so to speak, because of his knowledge of the Coptic language, a language of the Coptic church that used the Greek alphabet and several symbols from the Egyptian demotic script.

The Rosetta Stone has been kept at the British Museum since 1802. In 2003, the Egyptian government demanded that the Stone be returned to Egypt. As of now, no plans have been made to move the Stone.

That’s it for this evening. Please feel free to contact me at mattdattilo@yahoo.com. You can check out my weblog at www.opaquelucidity.com. And yes, I’m going to beg you to go vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley if you have not yet done so for the month of July (www.podcastalley.com). Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can check out Aaron’s weblog at www.celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

Hugh Hewitt stated a great truth on his show this evening. To paraphrase, there are two ways to lose a war: don't fight it at all, or fight it the wrong way.

Rebulican Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado is willing to fight it the wrong way. On an Orlando, Florida radio station, Tancredo said the following (transcript courtesy of Fox News):

Talk show host Pat Campbell (search) asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.

The congressman later said he was "just throwing out some ideas" and that an "ultimate threat" might have to be met with an "ultimate response."

Let me be clear about something. I do not believe that the Islamo-facists represent a small fringe group of Muslims. While most Muslims are not willing to take up arms against the West, I believe that many of them would do little or nothing to stop a genocide against non-believers.

But be that as it may, no American can ever target a religion and hope to win a war. To target a holy city because it is a holy city is to invite those Muslims who are on the fence to join the facist, 14th century cause of the terrorists. Tancredo knows better.

Was he just shooting off his mouth before thinking? Probably, but that doesn't excuse it. Most conservative blogs came down hard on Senator Dick Durbin when he compared the camp guards at Gitmo to the guards at Aushwitz and the Soviet gulags. He eventually apologized (if you want to call it that; the MSM does so they dropped the story) on the floor of the Senate. Rep. Tancredo owes an apology as well.

Something you will notice if you look around is how many conservative bloggers are on Tancredo's back about this. Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin and Stones Cry Out are just three examples. I'm sure I could list 100 lib blogs that will be calling for Tancredo's head by Tuesday morning. Hey, guys where was your outrage when Dick Durbin was calling Americans soldiers Nazis?

I know, I know; they're liberals so I can't expect much. But it angers me still. Disgusting hypocrites. Go back to making up crimes to pin on Karl Rove, you whiny, gutless children.

Today in History July 18, 2005

Volume One of Mein Kampf is published, 1925

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 18th, 2005. I thought we’d try something new today: talking about two events in the same podcast. I’m not planning on doing this every podcast, but I’m going to begin mentioning a second event when time permits and there’s something worthy of note.

Today in 1925, Volume One of Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf was published. Hitler wanted the title to be “Four and a Half Years of Struggles against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice.” The publisher of the book, a fellow Nazi, thought the title too long and shortened it to Mein Kampf, meaning My Struggle.

The book sold less than 10,000 copies in it’s first year of publication. If you’ve ever thumbed through a copy, you understand why: the book, originally sold as an autobiographical work, is actually a rambling monologue about Hitler, German destiny and the superiority of the Aryan race.

Hitler did not “write” Mein Kampf; rather, he dictated it to Rudolph Hess while in prison. Hitler was in prison for his leading role in what was called the Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt to gain control of the Bavarian government in 1923. Although sentenced to four years, he only served nine months. He dictated the rest of the book to Hess at an inn in Berchtesgaden.

The second volume of the book was published in 1927. Anyone bothering to read the book today would see an amazing blueprint for the conflict that would become World War Two. Hitler believed that Germany had a right to “living space”, which meant expansion into Russia. He also believed that France had to be punished for her desire to dismember Germany after the First World War.

Even more frightening are Hitler’s diatribes about Jews. In his ranking of the races, the Jews were last. Hitler believed that Jews were controlling the civilized world through conspiracy and deceit. This, he claimed, was what kept the Aryan race from claiming their rightful place as master of the Untermenschen, or racially inferior peoples of the world.. His writings laid the foundation for public expression of anti-Semitism not only in Germany, but in the nations later occupied by the German Army. His plan for elimination of the Jewish race was put to paper more than a 15 years before the beginning of the Holocaust.

When Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, sales of the book rose to unheard of heights. It became a custom to give a copy of Mein Kempf as a present to high school graduates and newlyweds. By the beginning of World War Two in 1939, there were very few homes in Germany which did not contain at least one copy.

Also today, but in the year 64, a fire began in Rome that would result in nearly two-thirds of the city being destroyed. The emperor at the time, Nero, had the city rebuilt in the Greek style, including a new, massive palace. This is the Rome that we have come to know from movies and from pictures of ruins. While he certainly didn’t fiddle while Rome burned (he wasn’t in the city at the time of the fire and the violin had not yet been invented), it does seem as if Nero took advantage of the calamity to blame Christians for setting the fire. He later launched the first persecutions of the early Church.

That’s it for this evening. Please feel free to contact me, as always at mattdattilo@yahoo.com Check out my weblog at www.opaquelucidity.com. And, yes, I’m still crassly begging for votes at www.podcastalley.com. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake. You can view Aaron’s weblog at www.celticmusicnews.com. Thank you and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Today in History July 16, 2005

The first test of an atomic bomb, 1945

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

TEXT:

Good evening and welcome to Today in History. I’m Matt Dattilo. Today is July 16th, 2005.

We’re going to break format a little bit tonight. Normally, I do the podcast for the next day’s date. However, July 16 is a very important day in history, so I don’t think we should let it go by without comment.

Today in 1945, the first atomic bomb was detonated at Alamogordo, New Mexico, the culmination of years of wartime research and experimentation. What began as a $6000 research grant in 1940 became, by 1945, a $2 billion project involving thousands of people.

In the 1930's, physicists were only beginning to understand the forces that hold atoms together. Two men, Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, understood earlier than most that the energy released by nuclear fission could one day be harnessed and used for the creation of electricity or could be used as a weapon more devastating than anything ever devised by man. Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt in 1939 explaining the potential for a nuclear weapon. He began the last paragraph of the letter with this ominous observation:

“I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over.”

After the United States entered the war in December, 1941, the research into nuclear energy took on a much more urgent tone. Brig. General Leslie Groves was put in charge of what would soon be called the Manhattan Project, so named because some of the early research by Fermi and others was done at Columbia University. Late in 1942, a controlled chain reaction was achieved at the University of Chicago.

It soon became evident that the work of constructing an atomic bomb would have to be carried out in a remote location. First, there were safety concerns: a large radiation leak or a runaway chain reaction could threaten an entire city. Second, there were concerns about espionage. By 1943, the Allies knew that the Germans were working on their own atomic bomb. What was not known was how far they were in the process. Since most of the people working on the project came from academic backgrounds, they were used to discussing their ideas in an open manner. The only way to keep them from talking to people outside the project was to remove them from everyone except their co-workers. There would always be rumors (some of them true) about a few of the scientists’ loyalties. Robert Oppenheimer, the lead researcher, would later have his career ruined by speculation that he was a communist sympathizer.

By the time of the Alamogordo test in July, 1945, the war in Europe was over. There was a significant debate among the project scientists as to what should be done with the weapon now that it was finished. We all know, of course, what happened: two atomic bombs were used to end the war in the Pacific.

The 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima is coming up on August 6th. Since that is a Saturday, I will be doing a longer podcast looking at the events of that day. I will also be discussing what might’ve happened had the United States NOT used atomic weapons to end the war. I’m sure I’ll be answering some e-mail about this one.

One final thing: starting tonight, I’ll be posting the text for this podcast at my weblog with any related links, just in case my nasally droning isn’t enough for you.

That’s it for this evening. Please stop by www.podcastalley.com and put in a vote for this blog. Just do a search for “Matt”. As always, feel free to contact me at mattdattilo@yahoo.com. Check out my weblog at www.opaquelucidity.com. Our theme music is provided by Aaron Drake; check out Aaron’s weblog at www.celticmusicnews.com. Thanks and have a good evening. We’ll talk again soon.

Yet More Shameless Self-Promotion

As of this morning, there are 103 people subscribed to my podcast. This isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's not bad considering that I'm all but invisible on the iTunes directory. For some reason, I'm on there but not assigned to a category. Thus, unless you do a search for "matt" or "history", you'll never see my podcast. I've written to Apple; we'll see what the next week brings.

If you haven't done so in the month of July (you can vote once a month), please, please, please take a moment, go to www.podcastalley.com, search for "matt", find entry #34, click it, then click "details" and find the voting link. The Podcast Alley site has been loading slowly as of late, but it WILL load if you give it a minute. A vote means more exposure.

I'm crass, but I'm honest.

Today In History July 15, 2005

Juan Garcia sends his first communique, 1941

The URL for Matt's Today in History podcast is:

http://mdattilo.audioblog.com/rss/tih.xml

Skeletons In The Cubicle

During World War Two, there was a story about a guy who received orders to a ship. Arriving at the ship's home port, he was told that the ship had changed home ports. He traveled to the new home port, only to learn that the ship had sailed to a forward base. He received transportation via cargo ship to the forward base, only to learn that the ship had been deployed as part of a task force. He got a ride aboard a tanker going that way, only to discover that his new ship had been sunk in a battle. Since the sailor had orders to a ship that no longer existed, he just drifted around for the rest of the war, going where he pleased. The Navy was so busy fighting the war that it never discovered the man was "adrift". He's probably still out there, I guess, with a long, grey beard and a dress blue uniform, orders in hand.

This is a poor comparison, but do you think this have ever happened to anyone on hold? Are there people out there, in cubicles in large buildings, holding phones to their ears because the call is too important to hang up? Are there skeletons holding phones in old, condemned warehouses?

I say this because I have spent the better part of this afternoon trying to talk to a human being who works for the state of West Virginia. I am convinced that, in some little town in the hills, there is a giant switchboard with a million hold buttons attached to it. That's where I was parked. I'm willing to bet that there are people from the Depression still on hold.

I love state gubment.