Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.
Tomorrow is the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, and you can expect the usual breast-beating about how unutterably evil we were to target Japan’s civilian population. Here in Marin, a “Hiroshima survivor” is going to read poems and speak about her experiences. I freely acknowledge that this survivor
Continue readingSeasickness. It’s an utterly vile condition, worse, I think, than any other type of motion sickness. When you’re seasick, your entire body is rebelling against you. Worse, there’s no escape. You’re trapped in the middle of an endless ocean, feeling about as bad as it’s possible for a human to
Continue readingTed Bromund is worried that Obama, by going to both Buchenwald and Dresden in the same trip is about to do something symbolically awful. Buchenwald, of course, was one of the infamous Nazi labor camps located right in Germany itself. It was not a death camp, and was not used
Continue readingPaul Begala wrote an article at HuffPo contending that, following WWII, Americans executed Japanese as war criminals for water-boarding. While I’m certainly willing to concede that water-based tortures numbered amongst the myriad tortures the Japanese used against POWs, it is absolutely ridiculous to believe that these Japanese soldiers were executed
Continue readingIn a comment to my earlier post about talk with an ideological foe being dangerous, Gringo mentioned a classic anti-Nazi piece of Hollywood propaganda (made when Hollywood viewed America as the ally, not the enemy). I found it at YouTube (of course), and share it with you. [youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=mZiRiIpZVF4[/youtube] And for
Continue readingI bet if I say “The Great Escape,” you instantly have that melody (see below) running through your head. The real great escape, though, was much more than a melody or a movie. Check out this interactive web site to see the amazing tunnel those POWs dug. [youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=EYjnMfgzgcM[/youtube] Hat tip:
Continue readingI didn’t know about it, but in 1945, a celebrated dogfight occurred over Germany, with an American pilot, James Finnegan, shooting down Germany’s top ace, Gen. Adolf Galland. Here’s what happened in the air 63 years ago: In an interview Mr. Finnegan gave 12 years ago for a Web site
Continue readingThe Progressives are crying for our boys to come home, but these seem to be crocodile tears, designed to hide a desire to harangue and insult them when they do return. After all, whether you’re looking at the Ivies’ refusal to allow military recruiters on campus or Code Pink’s assault
Continue readingAlmost exactly a year ago, I did a post I entitled Manly men, Girly men and Peter Pan. In it, I tried, ineffectively, I admit, to figure out America’s cultural trends regarding men. There’s the manly trend, exemplified by the Marines and much admired in certain romance novel genres; the
Continue readingDid you hear the story about Irving Berlin’s lunch with Winston Churchill during WWII? It’s a very funny story, it’s true, and it’s part of the larger and very wonderful story of Irving Berlin’s musical This is the Army. Berlin wrote This is the Army both to boost American morale
Continue readingDecember 7 marks the 66th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is certainly a day which will live in infamy, but it’s also a day that the free world should remember with gratitude. Up until December 7, while America had been helping England in sub rosa fashion,
Continue readingThere is an extraordinary story hidden behind the latest album Swedish soprano Anne-Sofie von Otter is releasing. The album itself should be lovely and moving, because it’s a collection of songs from Terezienstadt, including lullabies a nurse composed for her charges in the days (weeks?) before she and they were
Continue readingDuring any other war, the following list that Vasko Kohlmayer complied would show treasonous conduct. In this War, it’s politics as usual: • They have repeatedly conceded defeat in Iraq with Harry Reid claiming ‘this war is lost;’ • They purposefully downplay any and all American military successes; • They
Continue readingThere’s a new movie out about “homegrown religious fundamentalists who kill in the name of God” — and Manolah Dargis, who writes movie reviews at The New York Times really wants to like it. You’ve got to admire Manolah. After all, who in America doesn’t want a solid documentary about
Continue readingNote: I originally posted this bit of family history in August 2006. I’m reposting it now, inspired by two things: Ken Burns’ excellent “The War” (I swear the man’s a conservative) and Ahmadinejad’s pretending that the Holocaust’s historical reality is open for some sort of debate. I think both —
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