Say cheese
2.6.04 03:31


Lessons of D-Day




My fascination with D-Day began when I was a boy, when my dad took me to see The Longest Day at the local drive-in theater. Ten years ago, I convinced my wife that we should vacation in Normandy, having sold her on the scenery, the horses, and the cuisine.

I left out the part about Omaha Beach, and she was probably wondering if I was concealing some profound psychological disturbance as I stood blubbering in the American National Cemetery at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, quite possibly the most beautiful corner of Europe. Row upon row of gleaming granite crosses, and untrammled, perpetually mowed grass covering the graves of the honored dead.

I knew what happened on that beach. As a boy I devoured Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, and every other book hidden in the shelves of the Kalamazoo Public Library even remotely connected to June 6, 1944. And now I was hiking up and down the same bluffs that confounded the 1st and 29th divisions 50 years earlier. I squatted on the pebbly sand at the edge of the water, and stared across the channel, trying to imagine what 6,000 ships coming my way would have looked like. I couldn't. No one can.

It's easy to romanticize an event as pivotal and unique as D-Day, which will forever exist in the popular American imagination as the quintessential act of selflessness by America and Americans. It's all that and more. Like the ghost armada that I wanted to see but couldn't, the real meaning of D-Day also remains hidden, both by the silent cannons of time, and our own perceptions of a changed political landscape.

Christopher Endy at History News Network tackles the very thorny, and very touchy subject of the lessons of D-Day, and gets it just about right:
"When it comes to remembering World War II, Americans should be more like the French -- yes, the French. French memories of the war are more inclusive and accurate than our own. Americans have lost sight of the fact that even World War II's "greatest generation" could prevail only with substantial help from its allies, including the Soviets, British, Canadians, Chinese and many others. When Americans ignore this lesson, as they have in Iraq, the result is a world that resents, rather than admires, the United States."
If I wanted to be impolitic so close to Memorial Day, I would say it's time for Americans to grow up. Yes, we're still important. Yes, we're still the leaders of the free world, our culture touches every corner of the known universe, and our military is second to none. But we can't do it alone. World War Two is proof.
3.6.04 04:13


Subtle as a brick




If I was a Republican, and wanted to discourage people from voting Democratic in the fall, then I couldn't do any better than producing and showing this video.

At some point, John Kerry will need to deliver his own "Sister Souljah" speech against the rabid anti-war left, whose hatred of all things W is turning off millions of foks who might otherwise be persuaded to vote Democratic.


Quote of the Day

"Bill Clinton must watch Kerry on the stump the way Yo Yo Ma would listen to an out-of-tune garage band." – Mike Crowley at Opinionduel.


Impotence
3.6.04 20:07


I'm outta here

I'm off for a weekend of camping with the Heraldblogettes, Natalie and Christopher. We'll be spending Saturday and Sunday at a YMCA camp near Plymouth, Wisconsin. Should be nice weather. I'll be back Monday.
4.6.04 22:35


Did they eat smores, too?




My favorite part about roasting marshmallows is the way they catch on fire and make a sizzling sound. A flaming marshmallow on a stick can serve as a torch for chasing ogres away from the campground, too.

And in case anyone was wondering:
"Marshmallow candy dates back to ancient Egypt where it was a honey-based candy flavored and thickened with the sap of the root of the Marsh-Mallow plant (althea officinalis). Marsh-Mallow grows in salt marshes and on banks near large bodies of water. It is common in the eastern United States. Until the mid 1800's, marshmallow candy was made using the sap of the Marsh-Mallow plant. Gelatin replaces the sap in the modern recipes."
6.6.04 20:24


Easy answers




There's an email floating around regarding the American general John J. "Blackjack" Pershing, and his unique solution for dealing with Islamic terrorists. The story goes that he ruthlessly suppressed a Muslim insurrection in the Philipines around 1910 by executing the terrorists, then defiling their corpses with pig carcasses. Muslims, the email informs us, believe that pigs are unclean, and any Muslim who comes in contact with a pig or pig byproducts will not be allowed into Paradise. Then the author of the email tells us that after Pershing's demonstration of American will, there was not another Muslim terrorist act for 42 years. The email ends on a touching, plaintive note: "Where can we find another General Pershing?"

A quick check with snopes.com confirms that this apocryphal little story is not worth a bucket of pork rinds. The author assumes that all terrorists commiting murder in the name of Allah are devout Muslims, when just the opposite is true. And even if a Shahid was contemplating mass murder, but was reluctant to have his casket lined with pork chops, a simple fatwa from the local imam, declaring that the bodies of martyrs are so pure that they needn't even be washed before burial, would vanquish any porcine worries.

It is natural for humans to seek simple solutions to complex problems. It's also lucrative, as evidenced by the miracle weight loss plans and get rich quick schemes that populate the net. But simple solutions can also be counterproductive, especially when they are embraced by policy makers and authority figures. The recent outrages at Abu Ghraib prison were also born of a desire for easy answers. Muslim men, the reasoning went, are easily shamed. So let's stack 'em up like cordwood. Naked! That'll send the message that Americans are here to help.

In a pig's eye.


New Terror Warning



Holy Ashcroft, Batman!
8.6.04 16:52


A now, a message from Karl Rove




From the Christian Exodus website message boards:
"Well on one hand I kinda favor a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. But should homosexuals speak up, they should be deported, sanctioned, or held in jail," said one person, discussing whether their new 'country' should endorse or permit lifestyles they believe go against biblical teachings.
Other visitors had ideas on what laws might be applicable in their new South Carolina home. "No alcohol sold on Sundays at all. All entries into the town would be policed with random checks for alcohol abuse, breathalyzers mandatory. No places of business open on Sundays. All schools, public, private or otherwise would teach creation, have the Ten commandments placed and say prayer before classes start. No landlords allowed to rent to couples just living together ... Abortion would not be legal in any circumstance."
That sound you hear is Ronald Reagan spinning in the Capitol rotunda.

Christian Exodus advocates populating South Carolina with like-minded religious zealots, and then seceeding from the Union. The resulting state would look something like pre-9/11 Aghanistan, only with fewer beards.


Ask Snoop

How did we ever get from Bill Cosby to Snoop Dog?
9.6.04 15:23


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