Germany Invades Poland, 1939
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 1939, Germany invaded Poland. England and France, who had remained mostly silent while Hitler built his war machine in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, gave Germany an ultimatum: withdraw from Poland by September 3rd or risk an all-out war on the Continent. The Second World War had begun.
The events of the day...
...actually began the evening before, when SS troops dressed as Polish soldiers destroyed a German facility just over the border from Poland. This event was used as thin justification for the invasion barely eight hours later along a 1700 mile front.
While the history books and most armchair historians point to September 1st, 1939 as the beginning of World War Two, the actual beginning of the war is hard to determine. In reality, the roots of the war go back to the end of the First World War, when the Allied powers, and France especially, wanted to severely punish Germany for making war in Europe. The economic conditions created in the beaten nation made perfect prerequisites for the rise of fascism.
Ten years after the end of World War One, the modern world began to slide into an economic depression. Most countries made drastic cutbacks in their defense budgets. Germany spent the decade of the 1930's building her navy, air force and army into a force the likes of which the world had never seen. Even though nations like France could field armies nearly as large as Germany’s in terms of manpower, their equipment and tactics were no match for the ultra-modern Wermacht.
Hitler’s only concern with an invasion of Poland was the Soviet Union. In order to quell this potential adversary, Germany entered into a non-aggression pact with the Soviets on August 23rd, a mere nine days before the invasion. The pact contained a secret portion promising the Soviets one half of Poland. They took their half on September 17th, when the Red Army invaded from the east. The Polish Army fought bravely, even sending their mounted cavalry against the German tanks.
At 11pm on September 3rd, the ultimatum for withdrawal of German forces from Poland expired. Fifteen minutes later, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, a man who had once stated that Hitler was someone he could work with, informed his nation that the United Kingdom was at war with Germany. France soon followed suit.
Few realized it then, but the war would last for six years and one day (we’ll talk about the surrender tomorrow). When it was over, empires would end, superpowers would rise and the world that was would cease to exist.
I don't like the Kennedys as a group. I know that some of you (especially those of you who live in the Boston area) see them as American royalty, and when you compare them to British royalty, you're right: they haven't worked for generations and they have the morals of snakes. But let me tell you how I really feel.
About the time old Joe Kennedy quit working in order to cheat on his wife full-time and install one of his sons as President, the family turned the corner from unabashed capitalists to socialist wankers with two exceptions. Joe, Jr. gave his life for his nation, so I will not talk about his politics here. JFK was a brave Naval officer and would be considered conservative today. That leaves Robert and Teddy (or, as I like to call him, Theodore "One More For The Road" Kennedy). Robert was a social liberal and would probably have re-made the Democratic Party long before the 1972 election saw them burn down their own fortunes. And Teddy...well, you know all about Teddy.
The grandchildren of Joe K. are now the ones at the forefront of the family. And as far as mouthpieces go, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. takes the cake. Today, he has a column over at the Huffington Post. I'm not going to reprint the entire thing here, just the first paragraph:
As Hurricane Katrina dismantles Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, it’s worth recalling the central role that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour played in derailing the Kyoto Protocol and kiboshing President Bush’s iron-clad campaign promise to regulate CO2.
The column goes on to assert, despite having no firm evidence, that severe hurricanes are caused by our use of fossil fuels and the increased presence of CO2 in the atmosphere. Of course, President Bush is to blame.
I wonder, though, why Robert Kennedy, who is soooo concerned about future, isn't publicly outing Uncle Ted "Give Me The Keys, Woman" Kennedy for coming out against a proposed windmill farm in Nantucket Sound? Wouldn't that help reduce our use of greenhouse-inducing fossil fuels?
What annoys me most about this is that a dirtbag like Kennedy takes the opportunity to use a national tragedy as a weapon to both blame the President and his policies for causing the problem (at least the possibility) and to push his radical environmentalist agenda. Of course, if you read the comments left after his post, you'll see how well crap like this resounds with those people who do things like wait for the 2,000th soldier to die in Iraq because it gives them a nice round number to paint on their signs.
Asshats.
Michelle Malkin has links to stories concerning looters in New Orleans. According to once source, the children's hospital in town is under literal assault by people trying to get in. Many people on dry land but still isolated have formed groups to patrol streets and guard businesses. The update at the bottom of her post is more than a little scary (from Donald Sensing):
Louisiana Gov. Blanco just said live on FNC that she will ask President Bush to send federal troops to conduct law enforcement in New Orleans and environs. It’s hard to see Bush refusing. This step moves the city closer to actual martial law. The president has the authority under Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus when “public Safety may require it.” Historically, suspension of Habeas Corpus has been considered an indicator of martial law, as Abraham Lincoln did in the Civil War.
We’ll have to wait to see what enforcement authority the federal troops will have when they arrive. I am guessing that the units sent will be military police from either or both of the regular Army and the Army Reserve.
I don't know if martial law has been declared in an American city since the Civil War, but it is always a move of last resort. As one resident put it:
"The whole U.S. is looking at this city right now, and this is what they see."
Indeed.
According to Drudge, the Navy is sending what reads like a Marine amphibious group (the Navy part, anyway) to assist in rescue work in the NOLA, Mississippi area:
The Pentagon late Tuesday ordered five Navy ships and eight maritime rescue teams to the Gulf Coast to bolster relief operations as worsening conditions overwhelmed the initial response.
The NEW YORK TIMES plans to report later tonight: One Navy amphibious assault ship, the Bataan, with six Sea Stallion and Sea Hawk helicopters that could be used for search and rescue missions.
The ships will carry food, fuel, medical and construction supplies, as well as hovercraft that can be used for evacuation and search-and-rescue missions.
The Navy was also considering sending the hospital ship Comfort.
In an attempt to preempt those of you who consider yourselves experts on the law (and everything else), let me say that this is NOT against the law. It is unlawful for the active-duty military to take part in domestic law enforcement operations, NOT search and rescue.
Sorry for not posting or podcasting today. However, I wanted to draw your attention to some links to charities that are accepting donations for flood relief in The Big Easy. Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for putting it all in one spot.
If you can spare even a few dollars, please send something their way. I live in a part of the country that has known devastating floods and I don't wish that experience on anyone.
MacArthur lands in Japan, 1945
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 1945, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur landed in Japan. His mission was to prepare for the formal surrender ceremony and to organize the military government that would oversee the Japanese occupation. As he drove himself to Yokohama, thousands of Japanese soldiers lined the route. The shooting may have ended, but the war was not over.
MacArthur was...
...65 in 1945 and the beginning of the Japanese occupation marked the highpoint of his military career, a career that spanned seven decades and three major conflicts. The occupation also made MacArthur one of the most powerful men on Earth. He was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in the Pacific and a virtual dictator in charge of Japan.
MacArthur wasted no time in starting to rebuild the shattered Japanese homeland. One of his generals remarked that he was going to ride Emperor Hirohito’s white stallion through the center of Tokyo. MacArthur threatened him with court-martial. The General understood that the Japanese people would have to see their occupiers as people who respected their culture if the occupation was to go smoothly. To ensure sensitivity among the American troops, strict punishments were drawn up against any soldier who harmed a Japanese civilian. Very few incidents occurred.
The greatest contribution MacArthur and his staff made to the success of post-war Japan was the nation’s new constitution that is still in use today. Contrary to legend, MacArthur did not himself do the writing. Two senior officers on his staff, both with law degrees, drafted the document. The finished product recognized the Emperor as the head of state, even though the position is purely ceremonial. It also acknowledged the equality of men and women. The constitution came into official use in 1947, less than two years after the end of the war.
MacArthur handed over power to a newly-formed Japanese government in 1949. In June of the next year, North Korea invaded South Korea and the General found himself once again leading Allied forces into battle. His stunning success at Inchon and the subsequent drive to the Chinese border were classic examples of MacArthur’s strategic genius.
But the world had changed. When China entered the war on the side of the North Koreans in October, 1950, MacArthur suggested to President Truman that the conflict be extended into China. In private correspondence, he even suggested that nuclear weapons be used against targets in the communist country. There was a time when this suggestion would have been taken seriously, but the Cold War meant that the Korean conflict would have to be contained on the peninsula. Truman and MacArthur exchanged heated words on more than one occasion, leading to the General being relieved of command on April 11, 1951. Truman’s critics claimed the President was secretly fearful of MacArthur’s political aspirations.
As was his way, Mac went out with a bang. He gave a farewell address to Congress which was interrupted 30 times by ovations. It was here that he contributed a new truism to American culture: “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”
I'm going to ask a question, and some of you will think it's racist: a s a white man, am I obligated to have some sort of respect for the hip-hop community?
By now, most of you know that 'Suge' Knight is in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound. Famous people are often the target of weirdos or people seeking fame. But this happened in a club full of famous rappers and actors. Evidently, none of them want to help The Man solve the crime. Sure, sure, that makes sense.
If you behave like an animal, you will end up being treated like an animal. A nice car and an expensive suit doesn't cover up for reprehensible behaviour, even IF The Man is keeping you down.
Human beings were not meant to fly. That’s not to say we shouldn’t do it; it’s just not a natural condition for a person to find himself in. When you think about what’s going on when you fly, it’s both miraculous and scary as hell. You and your fellow passengers are packed into a thin metal tube and shot into the sky. Once there, your life depends on two wings which, if you look closely, move quite a bit during the flight.
But, hey, it certainly saves time. Or...
...at least it’s supposed to.
I boarded an S-80 yesterday at 1:30PM Central Standard Time after a few days of business-related travel. The S-80 is a smallish aircraft, larger than a commuter jet but smaller than the “real” airliners like 757s. I sat in seat 22D, one row back from the emergency aisle and right over the starboard landing gear. This will become important later.
When we took off from DFW about 20 minutes later, it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit and partly sunny. Standiford Field (or Louisville International Airport, if your in local government here), my destination, is 733 air miles away, a flight of just under two hours. I can do two hours standing on my head. I had my iPod, some Coast to Coast AM shows and a copy of ‘Wired’ magazine. Two newlyweds were sitting next to me, leaning together so that I had plenty of room for my rather broad torso (normally, I just hang out in the aisle and get hit by the drink cart----OK, OK, I’m fat).
BZZZZZZZ…..
That’s what the flaps sound like. They’re hanging out there on the edge of the wings, right next to where I’m sitting. They change the shape of the wing so that the plane can fly slowly without falling out of the sky. This means we’re getting ready to land. I must’ve slept through the “Approach” announcement.
MMMMMMM….THUD
The landing gear is down. The flight becomes rough now because we’re “dirty”, meaning that we’ve got a bunch of stuff sticking out of the plane that’s making us less aerodynamic. But something’s not right. We’re pitching and swaying a lot more than normal. I’ve flown on S-80s more than any other aircraft, so I know unusual when I feel it. I look out the window. I can’t see anything. We’re flying through a storm. We can’t be far from the airport. I’m guessing that the pilots are flying on instruments. This does not make me happy.
MMMMMMM….THUD
Shit. The landing gear is going back up into the wheel wells. The plane begins climbing.
BZZZZZZ….
The flaps are going up. Bye, bye Louisville.
“Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a line of severe storms stretching from here to Springfield, Illinois. We’re going to head up to Indianapolis and wait for things to clear up.”
That’s not too bad. Indy is only 15 minutes flying time from Louisville. We’ll orbit around up there for 30 minutes or so and then come back. I close my eyes again.
“Folks, were going to go ahead and land in Indianapolis and refuel. As soon as things are better in Louisville, we’ll be on our way.”
That’s bad, but not too bad. We’ll probably be an hour late getting to SDF. No problem. After we land, I call Kelli (who is waiting for me in Louisville) and tell her about the delay. She already knows; the board in the terminal is saying that our arrival time is now 6:15PM EST instead of the original 4:53PM EST.
Nearly two hours later, we leave Indianapolis. The little air nozzle above my head was not working for most of that time. I probably smell like a goat. Once we land in Louisville, it’s after 8PM EST. I and my fellow passengers have been on the plane for almost six hours.
You’re probably thinking that I’ve never written about the times that I arrived on time or even early to my destination. You’re correct. I’m not complaining about the airline; they took the decisions they did for our safety and I appreciate it. But a delay like this is a sudden reminder that all our technology is pretty weak in the face of even a moderate “burp” from Mother Nature.
According to Drudge, it looks like New Orleans was spared a full-on hit by the storm, but things are still ugly. I have trouble thinking of winds of 145MPH; that's strong enough to knock down office buildings. New Orleans is mostly below sea level, so a direct hit could've buried the entire historic part of the city. Somebody was praying hard, I'm sure (of course, I'm sure the people along the coast of Mississippi were praying hard, too; talk amongst yourselves).
Gas prices will most likely hit the roof over this. Look for $3 or more per gallon by this time next week, maybe sooner.
That Segway's looking better all the time.
Lindbergh Dies, 1974
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 1974, famed aviator Charles Lindbergh died in Hawaii. He was 72. Lindbergh’s story is more than just a tale of a flight across the Atlantic. It is the story of a man punished for his fame, criticized for his beliefs, and then embraced by his country when he was needed the most.
Charles Lindbergh was born...
...in Detroit in 1902, the son of a US Congressman and a chemistry teacher. He had a natural mechanical ability that was evident even in his early years. He originally wanted to be a mechanical engineer, but like so many men of his generation, flying became his primary interest in life. He bought his first airplane in 1923, a Curtiss Jenny left over from World War One. In 1924, Lindbergh entered training to become a US Army aviator. He graduated first in his class and soon found himself delivering airmail on the St. Louis line.
Many people mistakenly believe that Lindbergh was the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic. In fact, that feat was accomplished in 1919, when two British fliers flew non-stop nearly 2,000 miles from Newfoundland to Ireland. A month later, Raymond Orteig, a Frenchman who made his money owning hotels, put up a $25,000 prize to any flier or group of fliers who made it non-stop from New York to Paris, at distance nearly twice as far as the 1919 flight. This was the goal Lindbergh hoped to reach.
After convincing the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce to underwrite his efforts to the tune of $15,000, Lindbergh accepted the offer of Ryan Airlines Corporation to build a single-seat aircraft for the journey. The Sprit of St. Louis, as the plane was called, had a giant fuel tank in the front of the aircraft, meaning that the pilot’s only front view would be through a periscope. To save on weight, the ship had no radio, gas gauge, navigation lights, navigation equipment or parachute. The pilot’s seat was made of wicker.
When Lindbergh ferried the aircraft from Ryan’s San Diego factory to New York in May, 1927, he set a new record for the fastest transcontinental flight. Bad weather delayed the trans-Atlantic flight until May 20th. Lindbergh got no sleep the night before the flight due to nerves and a loud reporters’ poker game going on nearby. On takeoff from Roosevelt Field, the aircraft was so heavy that it barely cleared the telephone poles at the edge of the field.
33 and a half hours and 3600 miles away, an incredibly tired Lindbergh landed in Paris and was greeted by a cheering mob. President Calvin Coolidge dispatched a Navy ship to bring the hero home for a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan and awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was the first human being to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Lindbergh’s life took a turn for the worse in 1932 when his infant son was kidnapped, held for ransom and then later found murdered not far from the Lindbergh home. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was tried, convicted and executed for the crime in 1936. Today, there is substantial doubt that Hauptmann committed the crime.
Before the US entry into the Second World War, Lindbergh was one of the leading voices in support of isolationism. There is also evidence that he had at least a passing respect for the fascist regime in Berlin. He visited Germany at the behest of the US Army Air Corps to gather information about the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe. While there in 1938, Hermann Goering offered him a German medal, which he accepted. The started a groundswell of criticism in the United States. Lindbergh defended his action, saying that to not accept the medal would have been a mark of disrespect to the German leadership.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Lindbergh attempted to put his isolationist past behind him and re-join the Army Air Corps. Several of President Roosevelt’s advisors thought this would be a bad PR move, so he was denied a commission. He did, however, help the war cause by becoming a civilian consultant to aviation companies and the government. During the war, he would fly over 50 combat missions in the Pacific, all as a civilian. His wartime service was not officially recognized until 1954, when President Eisenhower made Lindbergh a Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserve.
Lindbergh spent his last few years living in Hawaii, where he is buried.
You fight because you believe in something. Sometimes, that something may not be noble, but it's what matters. When the battle starts, you are not motivated by grand ideals, but by the brotherly love of the men next to you.
I tried to stay out of the fight as long as I could; I wanted peace in our time. But I realize that the sides were drawn without me. So I will stand on the side of those who have shown me loyalty, not the loyalty of convienence but the loyalty of honesty.
We will never all agree on everything, but what unites us is often stronger than what divides us. If this were only true with everyone.
Laura Ingraham has a link on her site to a piece by Melanie Morgan, a local talk show host on KSFO in San Francisco. In the interest of full disclosure, Morgan is a chairman of Move America Forward (the website is down as of this writing).
Morgan and 14 other talk show hosts and journalists traveled together to Iraq to see firsthand what’s going on there and to talk directly to the men and women in harm’s way. I have reprinted her entire article below. Please take a few moments and read it.
According to Ingraham’s website, the San Francisco Chronicle expressed an interest in Morgan’s write-up of her visit to Iraq. However, once they read her story, they backed away from publishing it. It makes one wonder.
Here’s the article in its entirety:
RIDING SHOTGUN ALONG THE HIGHWAY OF DEATH
We finally broke away from Camp Victory, where 8,000 troops are stationed north of Baghdad. After asking repeatedly to go into Baghdad and away from relative safety, Central Command (CENTCOM) relented, and we were on our way.
Thus began a trip to Iraq sponsored by Move America Forward to tell the story of war on terrorism directly from the men and women serving in our armed forces. With five other talk show hosts, we were determined to get the truth out without the normal liberal bias that seems to cloud coverage by the mainstream media.
CENTCOM clearance to move into Baghdad came only because of the direct intervention of Captain Daniel Green, a quirky cigar-smoking Atlantan with a quick wit, who enlisted the aid of his Commanding Officer Lt. Colonel Robert Roth. Roth cut through all the red tape because he’s angry at the obvious disconnect between the situation on the ground in Iraq and what is coming out of the mainstream media. He wasn’t hesitant to say so for the record. He wanted us to tell the world about the good works his troops are doing and how the Iraqi army is making dramatic strides in training with U.S. forces.
Captain Green choppered into Camp Victory to meet us personally, and escort us back to Camp Prosperity in Baghdad, which is actually one of Saddam Hussein’s many palaces. It’s called the Four Headed Palace, because there were four marble heads of Hussein, perched on top of the marble turrets, visible for miles. All were blown off in the bombing of the palace during the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
We shot pictures of the headless Husseins lying on the palace grounds.
We bonded instantly with the garrulous Dr. Green, one of only four surgeons assigned to the Iraqi theatre. All medical aid is generally given by medics and PA’s, or Physician Assistants. The most badly wounded (including Iraqis) are given life-saving treatment and then flown immediately out to Germany where the wounded receive state- of-the- art medical care.
We set off for Camp Stryker, the staging area where the military shuttles contractors, army personnel and other visitors into the Green Zone. Those of us who opted for the ride into the Green Zone were subject to intense security precautions, including a frightening middle-of-the-night, high speed, lights-out ride in heavily armored buses along the Highway of Death.
Our convoy leaves in the middle of the night to reduce the chances that suicide bombers or sniper fire will kill us. Our convoy was lead by HumVees, manned by soldiers barely 20 years old. These young men were making life and death decisions one minute and playing X-Box games the next hour to pass the time.
Our transport buses motored to a stop at a security checkpoint. We all got a chance to use our satellite phones to report back to the United States as we drove into the sleeping city of Baghdad. Next, we hopped into an open- air truck where I did a live report at 7:00 a.m. (6-p.m. California time) for my radio station in San Francisco, KSFO, as the wind cooled us from the 105-degree temperatures.
With little sleep and intense heat, I found the tactical control room to nap for an hour on a couch. Giant video monitors straight out of a Star Wars set displayed all the ‘hot locations’ in Baghdad and computers hummed away, directing patrols and gathering intelligence. As fascinating as this room was, it didn’t discourage me from getting a little rest.
The company Public Affairs Officer, Major Alayne Conway, soon shook me awake. She assigned me to accompany an ‘up-armored’ HumVee patrol.
An up-armored vehicle is a HumVee that has been re-fitted for extra steel plates on the underside and outside to protect the soldiers inside.
The HumVee is the next generation Army Jeep from World War II, never designed for the kind of war we are fighting in Iraq where cowardly terrorists blow up people, mainly their own countrymen, innocent civilians.
Congressional critics and the “Blame America First” crowd made big headlines months ago- for criticizing the Army’s lack of ‘up-armoring’, However, we find this yet another myth the mainstream media is perpetuating. No patrol is allowed to leave base without the extra protection. It’s the rules and the rules are strictly followed.
The truth is that a remarkable job was done to turn the “21st century jeep’ into an armored vehicle in short order.
My fellow talker Michael Graham of WMAL in Washington, D.C. headed out with another HumVee patrol. Our destination: Route Irish, also known as the Highway of Death.
Graham, a former stand-up comedian, dished out all the gallows humor with a rapid-fire delivery… hitting the punch line every time. Our escorts belly-laughed.
It’s a gift.
The guys who took us on patrol are quite simply the most amazing young men I’ve ever met- Sgt. Jay Perkins, PFC Adam Smith, and Staff Sgt. Matthew Miller. Smith is a 20-year old veteran of these dangerous patrols and has been wounded twice, and awarded two purple hearts. Miller was hit twice, too.
As PFC Smith turned the key and warmed the computers, Sgt. Miller announced “Lock and Load”…all rifles at the ready.
Then, panic broke out.
“Where is she? Smith, what did you do with her?”
Miller responded, “did you lose her? You were supposed to watch her!”
Confused, I looked around. Were they talking about me?
“Perkins, what happened to Beaver?”
Now I’m really lost.
Reaching down under the seat, Smith hauled out a stuffed toy, a Beaver.
Everyone had to rub it, including me.
“Our fuzzy Beaver brings good luck. We never leave for patrol without petting her, and that way we don’t get killed”, said Perkins.
The fuzzy beaver lost and now found allowed us to proceed.
When we turned out of the gate from Camp Prosperity, we headed north and back the way we came in only hours before.
The mercury had now soared past 125 degrees. We rolled along slowly, with the gunner swiveling his weapon in the turret in a continuous sweep through the hot desert air.
I peppered my patrol escort with questions about whether it was worth it—the cost of lives, the excruciating heat, the time away from their families. I demanded they give me bad news—I wanted to know how they really felt about their service.
To the man, all were proud to be doing the job they signed up for. I couldn’t trick them into any criticism of the War on Terror. All were re-enlistees.
They explained to me they want the American public to understand that if ‘we find and kill insurgents here, we won’t be fighting this kind of war at home where all of our families would be at risk.’
Just a short way into the ride, I could hear small arms fire. And then a bus of Iraqi men broke down in front of us. That’s when the talk stopped, and everyone went on heightened alert. Sirens blaring and yelling through the loudspeaker, Sgt. Miller instructed everyone to get off the Highway. “Do it, do it, do it now. I’m having a FINE Wednesday and I don’t want to have to shoot y’all.”
The HumVees ahead and behind did U-turns in an evasive action, in case the Iraqi’s were planting IED’s, or improvised explosive devices.
Miller and Perkins jumped out of the vehicles with rifles ready to shoot anyone who made a suspicious move. After securing the area, they jumped back in and we started rolling again. Every bump to the undercarriage made my stomach lurch. Was it a rock, or a bomb?
The patrol seemed to last forever, although we were on the road for an hour. We pulled into our Forward Operating Base where the ride was over -for now. Petting the Beaver seemed to have worked again.
BLONDE ON BASE
The word spread quickly that I was in the area. Suddenly soldiers were everywhere, talking to me and telling me their stories. When a member of the California National Guard Unit arrived, he asked me to walk over to NightStalker, the Guard’s headquarters.
Lt. Cameron Murphy of San Jose, California rushed over to shake my hand. He thanked me profusely for coming. His wife e-mailed him about the “Voices of Soldiers” Truth Tour, and he e-mailed all of his troops asking them to come talk to me.
Everyone had something important to say. Poignant, searing and thoughtful insights about why they are here to fight, die and make peace.
The California National Guard has the highest rate of casualties of all Guard Units. Many of these men had friends who are now dead, crippled or recovering from their wounds.
A wall-sized map of Baghdad was displayed in the conference room. A list of humanitarian projects was posted next to it, with the dollar amount spent on each re-construction effort. The list was too long to remember, but I do recall the total spent in their area of responsibility--$1.3 billion dollars.
Sewer systems, bridge repair, hospital improvements, electricity, and more made the list.
Not sexy headline news for the mainstream media, but it made a deep impression on me. Our military was actually improving and stabilizing the economy, healthcare systems, schools and the everyday lives of Iraqi’s, just as the critics of the war had demanded following the early success of the war effort.
Lt. Murphy dragged me over to his laptop computer and sat me down. He pulled up these amazing photos of a small girl named Hara. He told me that she was caught in crossfire between the insurgents and American forces. Her sister was killed. She was badly wounded. Her parents took her to Iraqi Doctors who bandaged her and sent her home to recuperate. As her leg wounds healed, they fused together. Back to the Iraqi Doctors who broke her legs, leaving her in searing pain.
He told me how her parents then flagged down his patrol, and they rushed her to American Doctors. These Doc’s gave her the first rate medical treatment she needed, and she began months of rehabilitation with some of the finest Physical Therapists America can offer. She is slowly learning to walk again. The NightStalkers have adopted her and her family, sending money and hope that her life and that of her family will get better.
The photos showed the American hospital personnel hugging her and crying when she finally was well enough to go home. I cried.
Lt. Murphy, a muscled 6’5 inch trained killer—brusquely wiped his eyes.
I asked him to write a narrative about this story –the kind we don’t read enough about in the elite newspapers of this country—and I promised to post it on our website, (www.ksfo.com) and shout this good news to everyone I can think of.
He pumped my hand up and down in gratitude.
BUSTED
As I gathered my tape recorder, papers and bags to leave, Lt. Murphy’s Commanding Officer came over. A burly guy with a ready laugh and a southern drawl, he started capping on Lt. Murphy. “Tell her, tell her Murph, about your Purple Heart.”
Lt. Murphy turned bright red and shutdown.
The Captain explained that Murphy was out on patrol when an IED exploded under his HumVee, setting it on fire. He dragged the gunner out of the vehicle, badly injured. Murphy received a searing leg burn while saving the life of his fellow soldier.
As we headed out the door, Lt. Murphy asked me for a favor. He explained that he was no hero; the soldier he saved was the REAL hero. His friend is still in rehabilitation, and facing very long odds of walking again. Murph didn’t want any publicity. He practically begged me not to share this incredible story of valor.
Reluctantly, I promised.
I owe Murph an apology. Because I can’t keep that promise.
People need to know.
That’s the purpose of the Truth Tour--to report on the stories that you don’t otherwise hear coming out of Iraq. Because these stories of good deeds, of accomplishments and of successes in Iraq are every much a part of the truth as are reports of car bombs and terrorist insurgents.
People need to know the work our military is doing. And why they are proud to be doing it, each and every day.
Seeing the good work our fellow Americans are doing to help make this a safer world, and to make a brighter future for those people whom under Saddam Hussein had no future, changes you.
I am a different person today than when I left 10 days ago. The 14 people who came with me on this amazing journey all are different now, too.
Our group, the talk show hosts, the staff of Move America Forward – the photojournalists, and the documentary film producers, we all have a greater appreciation for the sacrifices that are being made by the people who a few months ago were your neighbors, or the man who stocked shelves at your grocery store or serviced your car at the gas station.
Now those same people wear the Uniform of the United States military and they endure practically unbearable heat and dust storms to serve their country. They risk injury and face the prospect of a violent death, and they see their friends die. Still, they attend to their duties with the highest professionalism you could imagine. And they make these sacrifices because they believe in what they are doing, and they are committed to defeating those who would use terrorism to target innocent civilians and undermine Western civilization.
I am extremely grateful and proud to be an American.
Our sons and daughters are doing what we asked of them, and they do it willingly and with little complaint, and not nearly enough pay.
The troops told me over and over again that they read the newspapers, they see the news, and read the polls of slipping support in this country for their mission.
I think the least we could do is to muster the same patience and endurance as our men and women serving overseas, and offer them support, supplies and backing they need to get the job done.
And trust me—if we give them our backing, these men and women will continue make us all proud and do our world a great service.
Melanie Morgan
KSFO, San Francisco
Chairman, Move America Forward
Here's a partial look at the Iraqi Constitution as it stands today. It will be voted on later this week. It's certainly not the document we use (or used to use, according to some), but ours took some getting used to. Ask Jefferson Davis.
HT: Hugh Hewitt
Vesuvius Erupts, 79
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius erupted. The volcano, located in southern Italy, was responsible for the destruction of two Roman cities and several small villages located near the Bay of Naples. The cities, Pompeii and Herculaneum, were nearly perfectly preserved by the volcanic ash and mud that covered them during the eruption that lasted an estimated 19 hours.
Much of what we know about the eruption...
...of Vesuvius comes to us from Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the action firsthand and recorded his observations in a letter to the historian Tacitus. Only 17 at the time, his detailed description rivals news reports that we might hear today about a volcanic eruption.
Vesuvius had been active many times before the 79 eruption, but history suggests that it had been quiet for generations by the time the Romans began building in the area. There was a very destructive earthquake in the Bay of Naples area in the year 62, but the Romans did not understand the connection between earthquakes and volcanic activity. People lived on the slopes of the mountain, which was home to gardens and vineyards. Although the mountain we know today has a humpback shape to it, the Vesuvius of the first century had a single peak.
When Vesuvius came to life again on August 24, it ejected a column of gas and ash that was 20 miles high. Ash, hot cinders, pumice and rock showered the area. There was so much debris in the air that the townspeople needed torches in order to see. It wasn’t long before people began suffocating because of the thick ash and poisonous gases in the air. Pompeii was buried under 10ft of tephra, which is the generic term for air-fall products from a volcanic eruption. Those who survived but remained in the city were killed the next day by a cloud of gas which descended from the crater.
History remembers Pompeii, but the smaller city of Herculaneum was actually much harder hit. Since it was closer to the crater, Herculaneum was buried under 75ft of ash and fast-moving mud. The intense heat of the eruption also claimed many lives there. Most of the inhabitants of the town made for the town’s boatyard. It was not until the 1980's that hundreds of bodies were uncovered there. All told, more than 10,000 people probably died in the Bay of Naples area.
The Romans did not rebuild any of the towns destroyed by the eruption. Except for looters and people who tried to dig up their personal belongings, history forgot about the two cities. It was not until the 1700's that a well digger unearthed a marble statue near the volcano. Excavations were started and abandoned a few times in the area , but it was not until 1927 that real archaeological work began on the site.
Vesuvius has come to life many times in the past 19 centuries, most recently in 1944. Today, more than 700,000 people live within the shadow of the volcano.
It didn't take long after 9/11 for the Left in this country to wheel out the division card. You may not be conscious of it, but you've heard it: the President is dividing the nation by invading Iraq, pro-life people divide the nation because they want to make abortion illegal again, the Swift Boat vets divided the nation because they told the truth about John Kerry.
Now, we hear about the division the President is creating by not crucifying himself in front of the Sheehan-less mob assembled in Crawford, TX. Their non-thinking, emotionally-charged protest is not the reason for that division, for if it was, the media would have to rethink the division that all those hippies created during their favorite war, Vietnam (they like that war because we left, just like they want us to do in Iraq---and look how well that turned out).
Division in society is good, and I'm getting sick and tired of everyone, including many conservatives, telling us that the nation needs to come together and heal the hurt or forgive the past or cry over beer or whatever. You may think it's crazy to suggest, but the very lifeblood of this nation and democracy in general is rooted in division. Consider:
-Without a serious division between 30% of the colonists and the rest of North America, the US would still be part of the UK.
-Without the division caused by Winston Churchill while he was still "in the wilderness", so to speak, Great Britain might very well have lost the Second World War in Europe.
-Without the division caused by Ronald Reagan between himself and the Democrats in Congress, Soviet tyranny would still be alive and well.
As I've said before, peace is not the absence of conflict. The protestors in Texas and elsewhere have the right to do what they're doing. But to claim that the President needs to meet with them in order to heal some sort of division is not only childish, but it speaks to how liberals think: unless you agree with us, you're divisive and wrong.
German-Soviet Non-Agression Pact, 1939
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Sorry, no transcript tonight.
Sorry about the lack of posts over the past couple days (other than the podcast transcripts, of course). I have spent all my free time this weekend working on one (ONE!!!!) very, very messed up PC which belongs to a co-worker. Finally, I was able to convince her that the machine needed to be reformatted and have Windows XP re-installed.
I am off to Nashville in the morning for what will, hopefully, be a one day trip to our office there. Then, on Thursday, I will be off to Dallas for an office move from one of the "mid-cities" to another. I'm staying down there for the rest of the weekend. Good times will ensue.
I'm telling you this because posting and podcasting this week will probably be slim and possibly non-existent after Thursday. Thanks for reading and subscribing; please stand by.
San Francisco...this is what happens when the looney left takes over a large city.
There are two groups in this country I despise: lawyers and journalists. Even though it sounds like it, I don't mean my condemnation of these groups to be univeresal. I personally know lawyers who are good people, and I know of many journalists with whom I would enjoy spending time. But these small numbers give the rest a bad name.
More and more, lawyers seem to serve no function in American society other than to disassemble it via wealth redistribution. They invent nothing, they produce nothing. They are parasites.
Journalists are much the same. They are merely cynical observers, throwing rocks at the real people in the ring of life who, right or wrong, have chosen to put on the gloves and fight instead of hiding behind a pencil and a press pass.
I'll save lawyers for another night when I'm angry, but I have a great example concerning journalists. Take this story: the President went bike riding with Lance Armstrong. Twice in the story, the reporter felt the need to mention that Armstrong is not a political supporter of the President. Big deal...half the country doesn't support him. This has been true of every President in modern times when taken on average.
But then there's this paragraph:
But some of his critics view his exercise obsession as an indulgence that takes time away from other priorities.
Among them is Cindy Sheehan, the Vacaville, California, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, who until late last week was camped out down the road from Bush's ranch seeking a meeting with him to discuss her opposition to the war.
Sheehan, who left her vigil on Thursday to tend to her sick mother, has said she believes Bush should take fewer bike rides to have more time to focus on the "the nation's work."
Are we talking about the President and Lance Armstrong, or Cindy Sheehan? I know this is a Reuters piece and that I shouldn't expect much, but can we at least stick to the topic? Did Caren Bohan miss the day they taught that in school?
During the Presidential campaign of 2000, Dick Cheney's health was a big issue. He could have another heart attack, they said. And what if something happened to Bush? This man with a ticking time bomb in his chest would be running the country. Oh my.
Now, five years later, we have a President who is healthier than almost everyone his age and is probably healthier than most Americans of ANY age. But "critics" say that he's spending too much time exercising. Should he stop? Would it be better if he spent his time getting blowjobs from interns?
They are the hollow men.
The First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, 1858
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 1858, the first of the Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in Illinois. The seven debates, when taken together, probably represent better than any other written or spoken works the issues that divided the United States in the years immediately before the Civil War. Mostly, the two men debated the issue of slavery. Douglas was a Democrat; Lincoln belonged to a new party whose members called themselves Republicans.
Abraham Lincoln, born in 1809, was...
...the son of Kentucky farmers. Early in life, he moved several times with his family; most of the moves were forced relocations arising from court battles over land . As a young man, Lincoln witnessed a slave sale in New Orleans. Some historians believe that these two events shaped Lincoln’s future as a lawyer and an anti-slavery politician.
By the time of the debates, Lincoln had served four terms in the Illinois State House and one term in the US House of Representatives. He was a tall man with a gift for words, two qualities that undoubtedly helped him create a successful law practice.
Stephen Douglas was born in Vermont. His father, a doctor, died soon after Stephen’s birth. Douglas was raised by an uncle until he was fourteen, when he set out on his own. After studying law, he settled in Illinois and was admitted to the Bar at the age of 21. At the time of the debates, Douglas was a United States Senator. The debates came to be because his Senate seat was up for grabs in November, 1858. While Douglas can not be termed pro-slavery in the way we think of the term today, he definitely embraced a more hands-off approach to the issue. It is believed that he did this in order to gain Southern voters’ confidence for a planned Presidential run in 1860, an election in which he once again faced Abraham Lincoln.
Douglas was often called “The Little Giant” because of his short stature but broad shoulders and large chest. He had a loud, clear voice, but many onlookers said that his delivery was not as smooth as Lincoln’s.
The debate between these two masters came down to the issue of slavery in the territories that were then being formed in the western portions of the United States. Douglas believed in what became known as popular sovereignty. This was the idea that each territory, as it was admitted to the Union, should be allowed to be slave or free based on the vote of the citizens of that state. Lincoln opposed slavery in any of the new territories. He did not mention banning the institution outright, but believed in containing it in the American south with the hope that it would die out on its own.
While there was no clear winner in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas did retain his Senate seat. But Abraham Lincoln became a player on the national scene because of the debates, allowing him to beat Douglas and a Constitutional Union candidate in the 1860 Presidential election. The election of an anti-slavery Republican was the last straw to many in the South; the firing shot of the Civil War was fired a month after Lincoln was sworn into office in March, 1861.
The USS Constitution earns a nickname, 1812
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I'm not going to comment on this except to say that if there was ever a time for a guy to go postal, this is it.
Thoughts on "Mainstream" vs. "Indie" podcasts.
Sorry, no transcript for this one...just me and my rattled little mind.
I have been blogging since June, 2002. I moved to this site through the kindness of some friends in September, 2003. While I was certainly not in the first wave of people who considered themselves bloggers, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve put a lot of words out into the ether.
There have been times...
...when I have had a larger audience for this blog than I do now. If you were around the blogosphere when Rathergate occurred last year, you know that it was the blogs who first broke the story of the fake documents. I was there; I just happened to catch the thread on Free Republic that talked about the potential fakes. Because I was linked several times on the front of Hugh Hewitt’s site that month, my readership skyrocketed and remained high through the Presidential election.
With the election over, the crowds moved on. I don’t write as much as I used to, mainly due to work considerations. There has been a small spike lately from people who have subscribed to my podcast, since about five times more people listen to that than read this blog. I try to be politically neutral on the podcast, since the focus is history and not my personal interpretation of events. But people who may love history may also disagree with me politically. When they visit this site, I can imagine that some of these people see more than they bargained for.
I mention this because, in the past month, I have received several e-mails from listeners to the podcast chiding me for my political views. Words like “reactionary” have been used. I love e-mail because it tells me that people are not only reading and listening, but care enough to take the time to disagree. But I believe that the time has come for me to explain some things.
First, I am reactionary. Most of my posts are written quickly with little or no editing. That’s the way we live life; I don’t think my posts should be any different than if you and I were talking about an issue over a cup of coffee. You don’t rehearse what you’re going to say, so neither do I. I am not a journalist, as some bloggers claim to be (and some really are). I would be considered a pundit, someone who takes the news and puts a spin on it. You only have to read a few posts to know what that spin is.
Second, I make few apologies. There have been several occasions in which people have pointed out that something I wrote was needlessly critical or bordered on tastelessness. On those occasions I have read over my post and changed a word or phrase so my meaning would not get lost. But when I take Howard Dean to task for stupid comments about Iraq, I mean what I say---he is damaging the Democrats in ways that will take a generation to fix, and he deserves to be criticized harshly for it. When Ted Turner visits North Korea, I really do wish he’d stay there. I think it would do wonders for his outlook to see how cruel socialism/Marxism/Juche can be. Maybe he would stop pouring his money down the UN sinkhole.
Finally, you have a right to respond. If you don’t like what I say, leave a comment. But be warned: single line runaways and idiots on soapboxes will be treated harshly by me and by others who post here regularly. But if you stick around long enough, you will find that there are thoughtful, well-reasoned people who disagree with me but whose posts are well-written and worth of consideration. Their voices are welcome here.
Hess flies to Scotland, 1941
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Today in 1987, Rudolf Hess was found dead in his cell in Berlin’s Spandau Prison. He was 93. Hess was the last surviving member of Hitler’s inner circle. He had served the Fuhrer faithfully for over 20 years. His actions during the Second World War read like something out of a bad spy novel.
Like most of the future leaders of the Nazi Party...
...Hess served in World War One. He first heard Adolf Hitler speak in 1920 and was immediately drawn to him. He soon rose to the command of an SA battalion, the forerunner of the SS. After the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, Hess escaped to Austria but soon returned voluntarily to serve his prison sentence. He spent his 7 months in prison acting as Hitler’s personal secretary. He took dictation from the future leader and edited his long-winded diatribe, Mein Kampf.
By the time Hitler came to power in 1933, Rudolf Hess was deputy party leader and only third in the line of leadership behind Hitler and Hermann Goering. As the decade wore on, Hitler took more and more power for himself, leaving Hess with little more than a title and privilege. Things became even worse for Hess once the war began in 1939 as Hitler’s generals stole the spotlight from the senior Nazi Party members. Some give this as one of the reasons for what happened next.
On May 10th, 1941, Hess stole a Messerschmitt Bf110 and flew to Scotland. He parachuted out of the aircraft south of Glasgow, breaking his ankle. Hess’s stated mission was simple: negotiate peace with Great Britain. He wanted to meet with the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, a man whom Hess believed was opposed to Winston Churchill. Hess refused to negotiate directly with Churchill because he held him responsible for starting the war in the first place, despite the fact that he was not Prime Minister in 1939.
Hess was armed with the same peace proposal that Hitler had tried to broker before the start of the war: Germany would leave England alone if England agreed to let Germany have free reign over Europe. It soon became apparent that Hess did not represent anyone other than himself. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for the duration of the war.
Hess’s stunt stunned Hitler and his inner circle. They quickly spread the word that Hess was insane and had acted on his own. He was quickly replaced in the Party.
After the end of the war, Hess was put on trial at Nuremberg and was found guilty of crimes against peace. He was given a life sentence. From 1966 on, he was the only prisoner in Spandau Prison. He was guarded by a multi-national force from the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Rumor had it that, after years of confinement, Hess had gone insane.
When his body was found today in 1987, authorities immediately ruled it a suicide. It seemed like an open and shut case of self-strangulation with an electrical cord. It didn’t take long for the neo-Nazi movement in Germany to make a martyr of Hess and the story began to circulate that he had been killed. No evidence to this end has ever been found.
From the Washington Times:
Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" yesterday, the fiery former Vermont governor said, "It looks like today, and this could change, as of today it looks like women will be worse off in Iraq than they were when Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq."
I'd like to dedicate this quote to all of you who keep voting for Democrats because they're "fur the workin' man" or whatever the hell it is that keeps you happy. Dean is now your man...aren't you glad he represents your party?
Oh, and don't tell me that you don't belong to the party. If you vote for the man the party nominates, you belong to his party. Here's your sign.
SEOUL (AFP) - CNN founder Ted Turner arrived in the North Korean capital Pyongyang, North Korean official media reported.
"Robert Edward Turner, chairman of the Turner Foundation INC. of the United States, and his party ... arrived here," said the Korean Central News Agency, monitored here.
South Korean officials said Turner was visiting the Stalinist state to discuss a project to turn the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas into a nature reserve.
He will visit an international environmental forum on the project here early next week, they said.
With any luck, he'll stay there.
"You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," Sheehan declares.
Cindy Sheehan, the woman who is holding a vigil/protest outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, has moved on from her role as the grieving and angry mother of a soldier who died in Iraq last year. Now, she also feels...
comfortable spouting off about US foreign and Israeli domestic policy.
I have run out of sympathy for Sheehan. She has a right to protest the war that killed her son. She even has a right to speak out about American foreign policy. But the only reason anyone gives a damn about Cindy Sheehan is because one of her sons died in Iraq. Without that terrible event, she would be just another middle-aged American woman with uninformed opinions.
Sheehan is being used by the media and by the Left. Do you think it just occurred to her to start making statements about Israel? The linking of Israel’s domestic policies to the continuation of terrorism around the world is the stuff of Michael Moore and his ilk. It reeks of anti-Semitism, something that liberals don’t seem to have a problem with when it furthers their agenda.
Sheehan is taking the advice of those who would grant the schoolyard bully his wishes in the hope that he would leave them alone. Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda members only mention Israel as just one of the reasons they are pursuing the course they are; they also want all of us to become Muslims. I guess that’s just a little side detail.
After 9/11, more than one friend told me that we need to understand why “they hate us so much.” When someone punches you, are you worried about why he hates you? If you’re like me, you’re busy trying to kick his teeth in. If you beat him hard enough, he’ll stop hitting you---and damn his reasoning.
I may be wrong, but something tells me that Cindy Sheehan’s son understood that.
The Berlin Wall is built, 1961
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 1961, the East German government began construction of the Berlin Wall. The Wall would become a physical manifestation of the Iron Curtain, the term first used by Winston Churchill to describe the physical and political boundaries which separated the Eastern Bloc from the Western democracies.
After the Second World War...
Germany was divided into four zones of occupation. The three zones in the western half of the country were controlled by the United States, the UK and France. The eastern half of the country was controlled by the Soviet Union. Since Berlin was in the eastern half of the nation, the city itself was divided into four zones.
Until 1961, it was fairly easy for citizens of East Berlin and other parts of the East Germany to cross over into West Berlin. As a result, more that 2.5 million East Germans crossed into West Germany, mostly by going from East to West Berlin. East Germany was losing her best and brightest to the promise of the freedom and opportunity outside the sphere of Soviet domination.
The building of the Wall actually began on the evening of August 12 when East German soldiers began stringing barbed wire through the heart of the Berlin. The next morning, East Germany began closing the access points into and out of the eastern half of the city. On the 15th, the barbed wire began to be slowly replaced by tall concrete barriers. One of the most famous pictures from that period is of Conrad Schumann, a 19-year old East German soldier who leapt across the barbed wire barrier with his rifle slung over his shoulder. The Berlin Wall would eventually become over 100 miles long and would not only cut the city in half, but would surround almost all of West Berlin.
Twenty-eight years later, with East Germany crumbling from within, the communists announced an easing of border enforcement between the two halves of the city. So many East Berliners sought access to the West that the border guards just opened the gates and let people out. On November 9, 1989, with the world watching, citizens of the both East and West Berlin took sledgehammers and began dismantling the Wall. Germany became a unified nation in 1990 and parts of the Wall, once a symbol of communist tyranny, have found their way to the four corners of the globe.
Hirohito records surrender, 1945
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito recorded a message to the Japanese people announcing the nation’s surrender. The speech was broadcast the next day at noon, Japan standard time. The speech was spoken in formal Japanese that was only used in the Imperial Court. It was the first time a Japanese Emperor had spoken to the common people, either directly or, as was the case here, via a recording.
The Japanese War Council...
had submitted a formal declaration of surrender to the Allies on August 10th. But fighting continued until the 15th as the Soviets pushed into Manchuria and invaded the northern islands of Japan itself. Off the coast of Japan, aircraft carrier raids continued against airfields, roads and bridges as a precursor to an invasion that would never come. Even the Japanese continued fighting after submitting their surrender—a Japanese submarine sank two American ships off the coast of Okinawa on the 12th.
When radio stations in Japan announced the forthcoming proclamation, over one thousand Japanese soldiers attempted to overrun the Imperial Palace. Their goal was to seize all copies of the Emperor’s recording and destroy them, thus delaying the surrender announcement. The attackers were repulsed by troops still loyal to the Imperial Court.
The next day, the Japanese people heard their leader’s voice for the first time. It was not the voice of a god, but the voice of a man whose fate was still uncertain. He said that the nation would have to bear the unbearable and endure the unendurable. The war that had ruined the nation island nation was over, and the unthinkable had happened. Japan and her citizens had nowhere to go but up.
Have you ever read a story that was so moving that you couldn't stop thinking about it? I'm reading such a story now. Called "Screened Her Going Down", it's the story of the USS Hammann, a destroyer that was sunk with the USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway. The story starts with the ship's commissioning in 1939 and ends with her sinking in June, 1942. The author, a man named Norman Shaw, served on the ship.
There is one part of the book that sent chills down my spine. During the Battle of Coral Sea in May, 1942, The USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier, sustained heavy damage and was starting the sink. Her escorts began launching boats to pick up the men in the water, but soon it became evident that more help was needed. One by one, the escorts pulled alongside the stricken vessel as men climbed down from the flight deck using cargo nets.
When it was the Hammann's turn, the Lexington was listing (leaning) so badly that the ship was in danger of capsizing. The destroyer's captain, a man named True, went next to the carrier anyway, gently pushing his ship's bow against the Lexington. All I could picture is this hulking ship leaning over this tiny (by comparison) destroyer as the men on the deck pulled their fellow sailors aboard. Any moment, the Lexington could've rolled over on the destroyer and crushed her.
I always wonder what I would do in a situation like that. Were those men scared? You bet. But they did their duty anyway. The captain of the Lexington even did a stem-to-stern inspection of his dying ship before he would leave (he was the last man off) so as to make sure no wounded crewmen were left aboard.
Wow.
IBM introduces its PC, 1981
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From Drudge:
FAMILY OF FALLEN SOLDIER PLEADS: PLEASE STOP, CINDY!
Thu Aug 11 2005 12:56:21 ET
The family of American soldier Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004, has broken its silence and spoken out against his mother Cindy Sheehan's anti-war vigil against George Bush held outside the president's Crawford, Texas ranch.
The following email was received by the DRUDGE REPORT from Cherie Quarterolo, Casey's aunt and godmother:
Our family has been so distressed by the recent activities of Cindy we are breaking our silence and we have collectively written a statement for release. Feel free to distribute it as you wish. Thanks Ð Cherie
In response to questions regarding the Cindy Sheehan/Crawford Texas issue: Sheehan Family Statement:
The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect.
Sincerely,
Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.
Cindy Sheehan, the woman who is staging a silent protest near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas has now become the focus of a media whirlwind. She’s sort of a female Michael Moore, standing there until someone starts answering her questions. And lest you believe I want her to shut up, let me say that it’s her right to protest, to speak her mind, to want some sort of response to her queries.
But I read an article...
in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning that made me wonder about what’s really going on with Mrs. Sheehan. One line stands out:
And nobody -- not even the activist group scheduling her interviews at precise 15-minute intervals -- knows what's going to happen next.
Activist group? Schedule? Really? Upon reading that, I suddenly realized that Sheehan is not a lone woman on a plot of grass in Texas, but the point of a spear made up of anti-war groups, anti-Bush liberals and their fellow travelers in the media.
Cindy Sheehan is the ultimate protest weapon---a woman who has lost a child in the very war she is protesting. None dare question her sincerity or honesty lest they be called insensitive or worse. The questions she is asked in interviews are softballs which present her with an open stage on which to spout her pre-written monologues. Since she now has handlers, I can’t help but wonder if she is being coached. After all, some of the phrases she uses sound very, very familiar.
We don’t often hear from people who still support the war after losing children, so I can’t say whether or not Sheehan’s opinions represent a majority. But I do know that her actions and words cheapen her sons death. She is being used as an exclamation point at the end of an old sentence that has nothing to do with saving other mothers’ sons and everything to do with hatred of this Administration. Shame on them all.
Chris Pirillo’s latest podcast is about Vista, the next generation of Windows which is now in closed beta. For those of you who aren’t computer geeks, a closed beta is a program which allows certain people (software developers and the like) to use a pre-release version of a software package. Pirillo also included audio comments from other beta testers.
The overall opinion seems to be that Vista offers very little in the way of new and exciting features. Microsoft has promised many new features in the next beta release, so it’s probably not fair to write off the product just yet. But there are a few things we know for sure.
First, PCs with mediocre video cards will not be able to fully take advantage of the new interface. That means that all those business PCs with 1 or 2 MB integrated graphics that run XP without a hitch will probably not make the upgrade to Vista without some upgrade work.
Second, the interface does not seem to be radically different from what we’ve become used to in the past 10 years. While I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing (after all, a user interface can only be so efficient and it can’t be a complete change from the last one), it may have an effect on retail sales. You can talk about security and stability all you want, but people want something new to look at for their money.
Finally, there is the release date issue. As of today, Microsoft is talking about a release window of Q4 2006. That’s a long way off in the world of software, especially when you can buy incredibly slick operating systems (like OS X) right now. By the end of next year, there will be a new generation of Linux distros out there (like Suse 10.0) that will make that OS more user-friendly than ever. For the first time in a long time, there will be two mature operating systems already available to hammer on Vista the day it’s released.
If I were Steve Jobs, I would be doing back flips. This is a golden opportunity to get the x86 version of OS X into as many hands as possible in the next 18 months. Here’s what I would do:
1. Put OS X out on store shelves and unlock it so it can run on any x86 machine.
2. Partner with someone (Lenovo?) to put a cheap PC running OS X in stores like Wal-Mart. I know that makes the Mac faithful cringe, but if you want to be the people’s computer company, you have to reach out to people who buy cheap and easy.
3. Keep selling Mac hardware; as I’ve said before, Apple does a great job of selling cool. Concentrate on high-end laptops and workstations and dump the Mac mini and eMac. They are good machines, but they would not be able to compete with cheaper x86 hardware.
4. Start an ad campaign focusing on spyware, viruses and the age of Windows XP.
5. Embrace the open source community. You have a –nix OS; admit it, love it, live it.
Alcatraz opens to federal convicts, 1934
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today in 1934, the first group of civilian inmates arrived at Alcatraz Island. These prisoners were considered the most dangerous men in the US federal prison system. The penitentiary on Alcatraz was high-security, state-of-the-art and considered escape-proof.
Alcatraz was given its name by Juan Manuel, a Spanish explorer, in 1775. The full name of the island was “Isla de los Alcatraces” or Island of the Pelicans because of the huge number of sea birds that congregated there. The name was eventually shortened and anglicized until it became the name we know today.
The Spanish were first people to build fortifications on the island because it was a natural spot from which to defend the inner harbor of San Francisco. The US bought the island from Spain in 1849 and immediately began construction of a lighthouse there, the first one on the coast of California. The US Army began using the island as a fort in 1859.
At the beginning of the Civil War in April, 1861, Alcatraz was under the command of Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. California was by then a state and the population was made up of both southern and northern sympathizers. Johnston, a Southerner by birth, did his duty as a Union Army officer and kept the peace in the San Francisco area as new troops arrived to train at and to garrison the island. He later resigned his commission and joined the Confederate Army. There’s a man who took his obligations seriously.
After the Civil War, it soon became apparent that Alcatraz’s life as a military fort was coming to an end. Artillery was becoming more accurate and deadly, meaning that even a well-built structure would not stand for long in an all-out fight. Slowly, the island became a place for military to send men who were deserters or who had otherwise disobeyed orders. During the Indian Wars of the latter half of the 19th century, several Native American leaders were held on the island.
In 1907, Alcatraz officially become a US military prison. As the decades passed and the island’s population grew, the prison became more and more of a headache. The Army left the island in 1933, leaving 32 of the worst prisoners for the Bureau of Prisons to take care of.
Alcatraz was closed in 1963 and is, today, a destination for more than a million visitors a year.
Chris Martin, the man who heads up the band Coldplay, has refused to meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair at the PM's home. According to the article, Martin is afraid that his fans who disagree with UK’s involvement in Iraq would be offended by such a visit. Despite the snub, Martin claims to like Blair.
I could almost understand if Martin turned down the Prime Minister’s offer as some sort of act of defiance or whatever. I think that would be childish, but at least Martin could say that he is doing as his conscience dictates. But not going because you’re afraid of upsetting the fans reeks of Clintonesque marketing. Why doesn’t he take a poll? If the majority says they will still buy the band’s music, then he could go.
When what’s-her-name from the Ditsy Twits spouted off about how embarrassed she was to be from Texas, I called her on it because she made that statement in a foreign country knowing that an American audience would’ve booed her off the stage. But at least her statement was genuine. Martin is handling this as if he were being instructed by a PR firm.
So much for the free-wheeling artist.