Tammy Bruce: History Archives

History Archives

History Repeating

A post by Maynard

I'm continuing to read Arthur Koestler's books. His autobiographical works in particular are fascinating, in that he connects his extensive personal adventures in pre-WWII Europe with the essential history of his era. His stories include much astute commentary on why everyone, himself included, allowed evil to flourish.

Koestler's first autobiographical volume was "Arrow in the Blue" (covering his birth in 1905 until he became a Communist in 1932); his story is continued in "The Invisible Writing", which covers the prewar period from 1932 to 1940. Here is an excerpt from that book which, although written in the early 1950's, is so terribly relevant to this day that it must be read. In this modern era of mega-weapons and genocidal maniacs, we cannot afford to ignore and repeat the mistakes of the past.

For seven years [from 1932], the statesmen and people of the West failed to see the obvious, failed to understand the threat to their civilization, and to eliminate it while it could still be done at a relatively small price. The seven-years'-blindness which benighted the West from 1932 to 1939 was one of the remarkable phenomena of History. As if acting under a curse, the various nations and political parties, Right and Left, however opposed their policies were in other respects, seemed to collaborate to bring about Europe's destruction. The attitude of the Conservative forces ranged from inane misconceptions of the nature of Hitler's regime to passive sympathy and active complicity. The various Socialist and Labor parties indulged in rhetorical denunciations of the Fascist danger, and did everything in their power to prevent their countries from arming against it. The Communists exploited the anti-Fascist movement for their own purposes and wound up with a staggering betrayal. It looked as if they were all partners in a secret European suicide pact.

The only mitigating circumstances the West could plead was of a psychological nature. The West was mentally incapable of believing in the gory tales about Nazi atrocities and about their fantastic plans for world conquest which sounded like something straight out of science fiction. When Hitler was beaten, the same psychological block made its appearance with regard to the Stalinite regime and its plans for conquest; the pattern repeated itself with a perverse and uncanny precision. But then, it required exceptional powers of imagination for people brought up in the traditions of the West to accept and visualize the revival of medieval torture and antique state slavery. It required an even greater intellectual effort to believe in the reality of the National Socialist and Communist schemes to enforce the millennium by terror, conspiracy and conquest. This incredulity towards the incredible was the most generalized phenomenon in the Seven Years' Night.

In 1933 and during the next two or three years, the only people with an intimate understanding of what went on in the young Third Reich were a few thousand refugees. In the torture chambers of Columbia House in Berlin, in the newly established concentration camps of Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen, of Dachau and Buchenwald, hundreds of comrades personally known to us were being tortured, murdered, and driven to suicide. For us, the actual deeds and future intentions of this new regime were not a matter of speculation and academic controversy, as they were for the politicians of the West, but an intimate, harrowing reality. This condemned us to the always unpopular, shrill-voiced part of Cassandras. Nobody likes people who run about the streets yelling, "Get ready, get ready, the day of wrath is at hand." Least of all when they yell in a foreign accent and, by their strident denunciations of the alleged aggressive intentions of Berlin or Moscow (as the case may be), increase international tensions and suspicions. They are quite obviously fanatics, or hysterics, or persecution maniacs.

It is doubly painful to write about these seven years at a time when the mood of Western Europe is bent on repeating the same suicidal errors. The lesson of the 'thirties: that an aggressive, expansive power with a messianic belief in its own mission will expand as long as a power-vacuum exists; that improvement of social conditions, however desirable in itself, is not deterrent and no protection against attack; that the price of survival is the sacrifice of a distressingly large part of the national income over a distressingly long period; and that appeasement, however seductive and plausible its arguments sound, is not a substitute for military strength but an invitation to war -- all this should be only too fresh in Europe's memory; yet an astonishing number of British, French, Italian politicians, not to mention millions of common men, seem determined to commit the same errors and re-live the same tragedy again.

"From the danger of war one cannot protect oneself by weapons, one can achieve this only by moving forward into a new world of law...Armaments cannot be fought by piling up armaments; that would be like getting Beelzebub to drive out the devil."

This sounds like a speech by Mr. Aneurin Bevan in 1953. In fact it is a speech by Mr. Clement Atlee, delivered on March 11, 1935 in the House of Commons, in protest against the Government's proposal for a modest increase in rearmament. When he suggested "disbanding the national armies" as a brilliant idea to save peace, he was interrupted by shouts: "Tell that to Hitler." He brushed the interruption aside, as Mr. Bevan and his French counterparts brush similar irrelevances aside eighteen years later. In the same year, 1935, a Peace Ballot on the sweetly reasonable lines that disarmament should start at home, obtained eleven million signatures in England -- more than half of the total electorate.

Even the slogans the aggressor employed to hypnotize the victim were the same. The leitmotif was Peace, Peace, Peace. Hitler, like Stalin, sponsored Peace Congresses and Peace Appeals, and never tired of denouncing the "conspiracy of the armament manufacturers" and "the warmongers of Wall Street." Anti-Nazi refugees who talked about the German concentration camps and Hitler's plans for world-conquest were regarded as fanatics and fomenters of hatred, as their successors, the East-European refugees and ex-Communists, are regarded today. If only the Cassandras and Jeremiahs would shut up, we could have peace for our lifetime! After each act of aggression and defiance, Hitler made a gesture of peace which was as eagerly taken at face value as similar gestures by Stalin and Malenkov were later on; and people who warned against such gullibility were accused of deliberately sabotaging the chances of peaceful settlement.

"It is to be hoped that this speech will be taken everywhere as a sincere and well-considered utterance...There are no greater enemies to the peace of Europe than those who would spread an atmosphere of suspicion..." Is this "The New Statesman and Nation" commenting on a speech by Malenkov, or "The Times" commenting on a speech by Hitler? It happens to be the latter -- on May 21, 1935; but the pattern and the arguments are the same. One of the outstanding features of neurotic behavior is the patient's inability to learn from his past experiences. Behind the shallow truism that "history repeats itself" hide the unexplored forces which lure men into repeating their own tragic errors.

The scapegoat of the deluded was at that time not the United States but the "militarism" of France. When Hitler marched into the Rhineland and the French Prime Minister came to London for consultations, he had the same type of welcome that American generals have nowadays in Europe, for it was obvious to all enlightened, peace-loving mean that the real danger to peace came not from Hitler but from the aggressive French. "The St. Vitus" dance of Francophobia and Germanophilia which had seized the Left and the humanitarians in England since the conclusion of the Versailles peace reached its climax. It was the same unconscious desire to evade reality which we observe today; it is so much easier to stand up in a manly way to "French militarism" in 1936 and to "American Imperialism" in 1953, than to the Nazi and Soviet Empires.

There were also the so-called "detached political experts" who disliked the Nazi regime but warned against exaggerating its dangers by pointing out that the Germans only wanted to annex German territories such as the Rhineland and the Saar. The Germans, they went on, were far too intelligent to swallow a foreign body such as Czechoslovakia, which they could never digest. Since 1945, the detached experts have used precisely the same arguments regarding Russia's intentions in Central and Western Europe. The result of all this was that by 1936 the Belgians, Rumanians, Yugoslavs, etc., had become "neutralists" and the system of collective security disintegrated, as the European Defense Community is disintegrating today. The neurotic who each time commits the same type of error and each time hopes to get away with it is not stupid; he is just ill. And the twentieth-century European has become a political neurotic.

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Posted by Maynard · May 13, 2008 01:38 AM · Permalink · Comments (1)
History | Leftists | Maynard Post | Tyrants | War on Radical Islam

Filling In For Laura Ingraham on Monday

**Program Note: If you don't get Laura's show, or if your local affiliate isn't carrying my fill-in, you can hear the show at Talk Stream Live. KRLA in Los Angeles, as an example, doesn't carry my fill-in because I'm talent at a competing station, so choose the other available Laura link. Thanks :)

Once again, I have the honor of filling in for Laura tomorrow, Monday, May 5, 6am-9am PT. Yes, it is Cinco de Mayo. As most of you can imagine, I wouldn't necessarily suggest we all celebrate a Mexican holiday but in this instance it's special. Many think Cindo de Mayo is the Mexican Independence Day. That's not true--it's even better! The 5th of May is the day the Mexican defeated the French who were attempted to invade them. Oh sure, the French eventually occupied Mexico City, but the Mexicans eventually won.

Yes, even the Mexicans have defeated the French, and it is a holiday worth celebrating. So, have a Margarita, and perhaps some delicious Mexican food and offer a toast to the Mexicans who knew Mexico was worth fighting for. Those of us fighting for the border wall still believe that.

Posted by Tammy · May 4, 2008 09:03 PM · Permalink · Comments (10)
Food/Drink | Good News | History | Radio

One of the Best Moments in Baseball History

32 years ago Friday, Rick Monday saved the American flag from being burned at Dodger Stadium. It is another beautiful weekend as it was so long ago, and while baseball has changed, our commitment to the flag and all she stands for has not. (HT Ed at Hot Air).

Posted by Tammy · April 28, 2008 09:01 AM · Permalink · Comments (9)
Hero | History | Patriotism | Sports

New Portraits of Mozart and Bach

The Mozart portrait is a 200-year-old painting of a man in a red coat, only now identified positively as Mozart. The new image of Bach is not old, but new--modern laser technology has been used to build a portrait of Bach using his skull. Both are amazing and show us more of the humanity of men who gave the world the miracle of God's voice in the guise of music.

Rare Mozart portrait discovered

A portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that lay unidentified for more than 200 years has been proved to be authentic, according to an expert on the composer.

Professor Cliff Eisen from London's King's College has spent more than a year trying to confirm that the picture was of Mozart, who died in 1791. He said: "This is arguably the most important Mozart portrait to be discovered since the composer's death." Its significance came to light after it was bought by a US collector in 2005.

And now for Bach:

Bach from the dead - fresh portrait of a decomposer

"This is the most complete likeness of Bach we can achieve from the information we have," says the forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson.

Commissioned by the Bach Haus museum in the musician's home town of Eisenach, Wilkinson has spent a month reconstructing the "true face" of the maestro at the Centre for Forensic and Medical Art in Dundee, where - apart from archaeological recreations of Pharaoh Ramses II and Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) - she is usually involved in crime cases, rebuilding faces out of remains found everywhere from back gardens to war zones.

Using a bronze casting of Bach's skull (made by the Leipzig anatomist Wilhelm His a century ago), and a portrait painted four years before his death in 1750 at the age of 65 - as well as documents hinting at his health, weight and fondness for beer and schnapps - Wilkinson has created the most definitive image of the composer yet. It is, she believes, about 70 per cent accurate: his friends, apparently, would have recognised him right away. "We made a laser scan of his skull," says Wilkinson. "From there, we recreated all the muscles of his face, taken from our muscle database. Using the detail of the bone, we then recreated his facial appearance." Documents describing Bach's eye problems, including what were possibly cataracts, allowed medical artist Caroline Needham to add the final touches that give Bach a human look.

Neeto.

Posted by Tammy · April 12, 2008 10:45 PM · Permalink · Comments (1)
Art | History | Music | Science & Technology

John Adams

A post by Maynard

Has anybody been watching the current HBO mini-series about John Adams? It's based on the biography by David McCullough. This series is an agreeable way to be reminded of our fundamental history. The environment conveys a compelling aura of authenticity.

A couple of quick comments... The first engagements of the Revolutionary War were the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Tensions in the American colonies had been rising, and the British decided to disarm the local militias. Troops marched from Boston to seize weapons, but the colonists were warned (by Paul Revere and others). Rather than turn over their arms, they shot back, and the British retreated.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.

Do you suppose the Founding Fathers were thinking of this incident when they penned the Second Amendment? These people had firsthand experience with a despot's need to disarm the people.

Also, in the context of our founding, it must be understood that Virginia was the powerhouse of the era. The American economy of the day was agricultural rather than industrial, and the balance of power was strongly tilted towards the plantation states. New England was cold and rocky, and it was not anticipated that the North would ever be in a position to challenge the dominance of the South. So the Southern interests in general and the Virginians in particular were destined to be in the forefront of this part of our history.

Some people express anger because the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution did not abolish slavery. In fact, although many of the Founding Fathers were abolitionists or regarded slavery as a sinful institution, the political reality was that the colonies could not come together if abolition were part of the equation. So the struggle over slavery was postponed.

Posted by Maynard · April 8, 2008 04:36 PM · Permalink · Comments (11)
History | Hollywood/Films | Maynard Post | Second Amendment

The Brits Want Thatcher Back

So, the Germans elect conservative, pro-America Merkel, the French elect conservative, pro-America Sarkozy and now the English want Margaret Thatcher back.

And the Left wants you to think the world hates us, as Obama and Clinton keep talking about 'repairing our image with the world.' I like it the way it is, thank you very much.

Margaret Thatcher 'would win election today'

Margaret Thatcher at her peak would sweep to power in a general election held today, according to an opinion poll for The Daily Telegraph.

The YouGov survey emphatically confirms the enduring political appeal of the country's first woman prime minister, who left office undefeated 18 years ago.

Baroness Thatcher comfortably surpassed Tony Blair when people were asked who they would pick to lead the country at the height of their powers if they had the choice. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, trailed far behind both - but was still ahead of Gordon Brown.

Almost two thirds of Tory voters said they would prefer Lady Thatcher to the current party leader...the Thatcherite legacy continues to shape Britain. It shifted the political axis from state-centred collectivism to private enterprise and the free market, forcing Labour to abandon old-style socialism.

Brava. And the world thanks and owes you a debt of gratitude, Lady Thatcher.

Related Link:

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

Posted by Tammy · April 6, 2008 11:12 PM · Permalink · Comments (10)
Good News | Hero | History | Politics

Charleton Heston Has Died

He was one of the good ones, a man reminding us of an era when being proud individualists and being an American First was what defined us. We're working to bring that back and we can point to men like Heston, John Wayne and Ronald Reagan for inspiration on our journey.

Charleton Heston, 83, Actor Played Larger-Than-Life Figures

Charlton Heston, the Oscar-winning actor who achieved stardom playing larger-than-life figures including Moses, Michelangelo and Andrew Jackson in historical epics and went on to become a best-selling author, a contentious Hollywood labor leader, an unapologetic gun advocate and darling of conservative causes, has died. He was 83.

Heston died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home, his family said in a statement. In 2002, he had been diagnosed with symptoms similar to those of Alzheimer's disease.

With a booming baritone voice, the tall, ruggedly handsome actor delivered his signature role as the prophet Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 Biblical extravaganza "The Ten Commandments," raising a rod over his head as God miraculously parts the Red Sea...

"I don't seem to fit really into the 20th century," Heston said in a 1965 interview. "Pretty soon, though, I've got to get a part where I wear pants with pleats and pockets."

Heston stunned the entertainment world in August 2002 when he made a poignant and moving videotaped address announcing his illness.

A few days after his dramatic announcement, Heston would sit down for an interview in his beloved Coldwater Canyon home, which he always said "Ben-Hur" had built, and faced the uncertain future with brave resolve and a sense of humor.

"The world is a tough place," he said with a chuckle. "You're never going to get out of it alive."

Late in life, Heston's stature as a political firebrand overshadowed his acting. He became demonized by gun control advocates and liberal Hollywood when he became president of the National Rifle Assn. in 1998...

A 'darling' for us, indeed, but the loss of a man who fought for everyone's civil rights is a loss for all, whether some understand that or not. Thank you Mr. Heston, and God rest your soul.

Posted by Tammy · April 5, 2008 09:51 PM · Permalink · Comments (14)
Hero | History | Hollywood/Films | Inspiration

Arthur Koestler

A post by Maynard

Arthur Koestler has lately caught my eye. He is best known for his anti-totalitarian novel, "Darkness at Noon", which you may have read in high school. Koestler's personal odyssey broadly echoes Tammy's: Struggling with emotional issues in his youth, he was drawn into the political Left with its utopian dream of paradise by command.

Koestler was born in central Europe in 1905. In the post-WWI turbulance, it seemed the day of the individual had passed, and the future would be built upon a collectivist foundation. Therefore, a 1930's-era European liberal must choose between socialism and fascism and communism. Koestler embraced the latter and fled from Hitler's Germany to Stalin's Russia. After witnessing the Soviet "experiment" up close, he began to realize the terrible consequences of his generation's well-intentioned mistakes. His dead-on lament from his (sadly out of print) autobiography, "Arrow in the Blue" sounds a vital warning for our time:

We fought our battle of words and did not see that the familiar words had lost their bearing and pointed in the wrong directions. We said "democracy" solemnly as in a prayer, and soon afterwards the greatest nation of Europe voted, by perfectly democratic methods, its assassins into power. We worshipped the will of The Masses, and their will turned out to be death and self-destruction. We regarded capitalism as an outworn system, and were willing to exchange it for a brand-new form of slavery. We preached broad-mindedness and tolerance, and the evil which we tolerated demoralized our civilization. The social progress for which we fought became a progress towards the slave labor camp; our liberalism made us accomplices of tyrants and oppressors; our love for peace invited aggression and led to war.

He continues, rather chillingly:

As I am writing this, more than twenty years later, the storm is still on. The well-meaning "progressives of the Left" persist in following their old, outworn concepts. As if under the spell of a destruction compulsion, they must repeat every single error of the past, draw the same faulty conclusions a second time, re-live the same situations, perform the same suicidal gestures. One can only watch in horror and despair, for this time there will be no pardon.

Hello? Is this thing on?

Koestler was a student of various disciplines, ranging from rigorous science to kooky spirituality. He wrote on many topics, always seeking to connect the dots. Earlier in his autobiography, in discussing his time in Paris in 1929, he offered an interesting interpretation of the mindset of the Parisian prostitutes that voluntarily placed themselves under control of abusive pimps. Why do people degrade themselves like this? What inner demons drive humanity towards self-destruction? Koestler speculates as follows:

The secret of this pathological relationship seemed to lie chiefly in the pimp's brutality to his women. It is a calculated and nauseating kind of brutality which has its own ritual and cant. There are, of course, other factors which vary from case to case, but brutality is the common denominator, and its obvious function is to satisfy the tramp's craving for punishment — a craving the more consistent as it is unconscious. "I will punish you" is a favorite expression in the pimp's vocabulary, and the threat alone seems to have the required effect. "Punishment" consists mostly in slaps, kicks or mere verbal abuse; overtly sadistic practices hardly ever occur. They would defeat the purpose of the whole relationship, which is based on the axiom that the punishment is an act of justice which the victim deserves for being "bad". In short, the prostitute creates her own ritual of penance; the kick on the shin and the slap in the face represent the act of absolution; the unsavoriness and repellent physique of the protector and avenger are a logical part of the pattern.

The experience of that period taught me a lesson of which I only became conscious later. It was a meeting with the sense of guilt in its crudest, most primitive and tangible form. It was startling to see how powerfully this complex guilt acted upon creatures apparently devoid of any sense of moral responsibility. It was even more startling to discover that the sense of guilt and craving for atonement did not procure them grace, but drove them even deeper into perdition.

Individuals destroy themselves, just as nations destroy themselves. It's a phenomenon that seems to make no sense on the surface, but we observe it time and time again. We see it in street prostitutes; we see it in the films coming out of Hollywood: An "understanding" of why others hate us and want to do us harm; an endless mea culpa that we somehow owe the world. A plea for punishment at the hands of our adversaries. Why do we do these things? Tammy has had a lot to say about her experiences and observations in regard to the politics and psychology of masochism. As you can see, this battle has been going on for a long time. We must persevere, even while understanding that the war is not going to end anytime soon.

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Posted by Maynard · February 29, 2008 10:53 PM · Permalink · Comments (8)
Books | History | Leftists | Maynard Post

Narcissists in History

Trivia by Maynard

The Republicans had launched a long, bloody war. The Democrats advocated a negotiated settlement that would respect the independence of our adversaries. The conflict was going badly, and it looked like the Republicans would lose the next election. There were riots and protests; New York was brought to a standstill. Rebellious opponents of the Administration were jailed, in open defiance of their Constitutional rights. An actor worked to effect regime change in Washington. Morale was low and the economy was shaky. Money was in short supply, so the government printed more.

(This was the Civil War, by the way.)

Coins were hoarded, so Congress authorized various new denominations of fractional currency (that is, paper money worth less than a dollar). The 5-cent note was to display a portrait of William Clark (of the historical Lewis and Clark expedition).

William Clark looked like this:

But the 5-cent bills that went into circulation, as Congress eventually discovered to its surprise and chagrin, looked like this:

Lincoln's Superintendent of the National Currency Bureau (now the B.E.P.) was a man named Spencer M. Clark. It seems that Superintendent Clark, upon seeing an order to honor the historical Clark, thought it meant he was supposed to put his own picture on the money.

Congress screamed, but it was too late. Millions had been printed. (You can see them on eBay.)

Thus do narcissists pass into history, while the rest of us are forgotten.

There's a lesson in there somewhere, but I hesitate to dwell on it.

Posted by Maynard · January 28, 2008 06:13 PM · Permalink · Comments (2)
History | Humor | Malignant Narcissism | Maynard Post

The Real Grapes of Wrath, When It's Not Virgins You're Getting

Probably 72 in this bunch, I'd say.

Was Muhammad really a foodie? Grapes or virgins...virgins or grapes. Well, they do have one thing in common, once you have them they're not what they used to be. (HT Pat S.)

The Lost Archive

On the night of April 24, 1944, British air force bombers hammered a former Jesuit college here housing the Bavarian Academy of Science. The 16th-century building crumpled in the inferno. Among the treasures lost, later lamented Anton Spitaler, an Arabic scholar at the academy, was a unique photo archive of ancient manuscripts of the Quran.

The 450 rolls of film had been assembled before the war for a bold venture: a study of the evolution of the Quran, the text Muslims view as the verbatim transcript of God's word. The wartime destruction made the project "outright impossible," Mr. Spitaler wrote in the 1970s.

Mr. Spitaler was lying. The cache of photos survived, and he was sitting on it all along. The truth is only now dribbling out to scholars -- and a Quran research project buried for more than 60 years has risen from the grave.

Quranic scholarship often focuses on arcane questions of philology and textual analysis. Experts nonetheless tend to tread warily, mindful of fury directed in recent years at people deemed to have blasphemed Islam's founding document and the Prophet Muhammad.

A scholar in northern Germany writes under the pseudonym of Christoph Luxenberg because, he says, his controversial views on the Quran risk provoking Muslims. He claims that chunks of it were written not in Arabic but in another ancient language, Syriac. The "virgins" promised by the Quran to Islamic martyrs, he asserts, are in fact only "grapes."

Don't you hate it when that happens? Especially when you're hungry for something else.

Posted by Tammy · January 14, 2008 03:49 PM · Permalink · Comments (5)
History | Religion

The Untold Christmas Story

I has it.

Want moar? Get buckit full heer.

Posted by Tammy · December 22, 2007 10:34 AM · Permalink · Comments (7)
Animal Issues | Faith/The Divine | History | Humor

Map That Named America Goes on Display

Am I the only one surprised by whom the mapmakers give credit? I'm worried I might be having a Dana Perino Moment.

Map that named America is a puzzle for researchers

The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name America goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers.

Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovered the Pacific?

"The actual shape of South America is correct," said Hebert. "The width of South America at certain key points is correct within 70 miles of accuracy." Given what Europeans are believed to have known about the world at the time, it should not have been possible for the mapmakers to produce it, he said.

The map gives a reasonably correct depiction of the west coast of South America. But according to history, Vasco Nunez de Balboa did not reach the Pacific by land until 1513, and Ferdinand Magellan did not round the southern tip of the continent until 1520...

The mapmakers say they based it on the 1,300-year-old works of the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy as well as letters Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci wrote describing his voyages to the new world. But Hebert said there must have been something more.

Mapmakers from 1507 credit, in part, Ptolemy. For a map of the Americas. When did I miss that?

Posted by Tammy · December 10, 2007 10:24 PM · Permalink · Comments (5)
History

Suddenly Dana Perino Isn't So Attractive

Cuban Missile Crisis? Huh?

When she first came on the scene, and then when she took over as White House Press Secretary, I always noted on my radio show that I would "listen" to her with the sound off, primarily because she simply didn't sound very smart, or like she knew what she was talking about. She was, however, pleasant to look at.

Then, I gave her a pass when she flattened Helen Thomas at a briefing. I promised to never speak flippantly of Perino again, I was so impressed.

Well, I spoke too soon. This little remark reverses the 'Helen Thomas Pass' I gave her, and sets into stone my initial impression. Color me sad. Very.

Perino's Confession

"Appearing on National Public Radio's light-hearted quiz show Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me" the Washington Post says White House press secretary Dana Perino "got into the spirit of things and told a story about herself that she had previously shared only in private: During a White House briefing, a reporter referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis -- and she didn't know what it was."

Said Perino: "I was panicked a bit because I really don't know about... the Cuban Missile Crisis. It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure."

And this is the woman the president trusts with understanding and conveying information to us. One more indication of the president's lack of judgment when it comes to the people with whom he surrounds himself. God help us all.

UPDATE:

Oh Gawd, there's even more. Big Head DC has more of the exchange. Note the end of his post recounting what Perino said to her husband about the issue:

“I came home, and I asked my husband,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Wasn’t that like the Bay of Pigs thing?’ His response: “Oh, Dana.”

Further revealing that she also has no idea what the Bay of Pigs was. But then that makes sense. If you know what that is, you'd also know what the Cuban Missile Crisis refers to. The last example of how vacant this woman may really be: she had no clue that this is the sort of thing one might want to keep secret. For crying out loud.

Bottom line: I think she should be fired. Not because this revelation damages the country directly, but because we need people we can trust in her position based on the fact that they understand what's happening around them. I'm not so sure she can with this lack of intellectual curiosity and general comprehension.

UPDATE:

Hot Air has the painful audio.

Posted by Tammy · December 10, 2007 09:00 AM · Permalink · Comments (17)
History | Just Plain Stupid

Pearl Harbor--Never Forget

Image courtesy of Home of the Heroes.

I've noted a number of times how we owe Europeans, and especially the English, a deep apology for not intervening sooner in World War II. Until the strike on Pearl Harbor, we allowed so-called Pacifists and isolationists to determine this nation's (non)reaction to genocide and naked aggression. Some attitudes haven't changed. Thank goodness we as a nation have. So much for 'pacifism' and 'peace.' Because we waited and did nothing as the Axis powers raped the world, millions died. Of all the things we learned during World War II, from its beginnings in 1933 when Japan invaded China, it is to never mistake not being at war for peace.

Today is the 66th anniversary of that tragic day when the disease of fascism attacked us at home. Eventually it always does and on December 7, 1941 our looking away emboldened the enemy as they struck without warning. That, like September 11th, was a day of murder forcing our reluctant nation into war.

Here are some details of that day which lives in infamy:

The dead from the attack numbered 2,390 Americans, including 1,177 on the battleship Arizona.

Japanese commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who led 184 bombers and fighters over Oahu, sent the message "Tora! Tora! Tora!"

The translation: "Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!" -- which means the attack has caught the enemy by surprise.

Avoiding hits from Japanese planes, the USS Detroit headed into the Pacific in search of the enemy. And at war's end, it was among the first ships to steam into Tokyo Harbor when Japan formally surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945.

As we all remember this date, each year there are fewer survivors to tell the tale. Here's one of them, recounting what it was like when all hell broke loose:

Day of Infamy: 'I was one of the lucky ones'

With the day that would live in infamy unfolding a few hundred feet below him, Army Air Forces Lt. Roy Reid dismissed his buddy's initial assessment of what was going on in this place called Pearl Harbor.

"That black smoke below, it wasn't cane sugar burning," Reid told Lt. Roy Taylor. Bullets hit the plane, and the cockpit filled with smoke. Reid would have to land the B-17 bomber amid pandemonium.

Seconds later, with the front half of his airplane on fire, the back half of it missing, and that black smoke now everywhere, Reid did what he'd been trained to do: He hit the brakes..."What I saw shocked me. At least six planes were burning fiercely on the ground. Gone was any doubt in my mind as to what had happened. Unbelievable as it seemed, I knew we were now in a war. As if to dispel any lingering doubts, two Japanese fighters came from our rear and opened fire.

"Lieutenant Schick, who had been hit once while in the plane, had managed to get out, but a bullet fired from a Japanese plane had struck him in the head. He was picked up by an ambulance and taken to the hospital but died later that day.

"We then ran for the protection of the nearest hangar. Inside the hangar, a sergeant had just opened a door counter in the supply section and was laying out .45- caliber automatics and loaded ammunition clips. We each grabbed a gun and a couple of ammo clips and headed for the back door. The sergeant yelled at us to come back and sign for the guns. One of us hollered back something along the lines of, "Forget it — there's a war on!"

For all of you who have served and are serving now: we will never forget. My generation, we 40-somethings, know we live the extraordinary lives we do because of your courage and sacrifice. Do not be concerned--we will make sure your work, your success, and your legacy will continue. Thank you all for wearing the uniform. And to the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, at Pearl Harbor and throughout that horrific war and the wars that followed, thank you for your gift to this nation, and a free world.

And as a little aside--do you know what happened on December 7, 2001? The Taliban surrendered at Kandahar in Afghanistan. Yes, we will win wars, but unfortunately the world will always cough up another fascist enemy. And because of the example of those who came before, our boys defeated that beast called the Taliban on the same historic day. And as this war continues, we know we fight in the name of everyone who has died for this nation.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Related Links:

BBC's Coverage from December 7, 1941

National Geographic: Remembering Pearl Harbor

National Pearl Harbor Survivors Association

A note by Maynard

When in Hawaii, be sure to visit the Arizona Memorial. There is a platform in Pearl Harbor built over the USS Arizona, which still lies where it sank in shallow water on that terrible day. The harbor is so calm and beautiful that it's almost beyond imagination that our ships were once in flames, and the sky was filled with enemy aircraft. That's why you need to see the sunken ship, which is the tomb of so many sailors. (Most of the ships caught at Pearl were eventually patched up and put back into service, but the Arizona was beyond repair.)

« Close It

Posted by Tammy · December 7, 2007 12:06 AM · Permalink · Comments (7)
History | Military | Tyrants

Beowulf

"Did you bring a search warrant?"

Maynard goes to the movies

Beowulf is a movie based upon the eponymous epic poem dating back to the 8th century, and describing events in 5th-century Scandinavia. It's an ancient tale of illegal immigrants and terrorists.

Although mainstream media scrupulously avoids use of the "V-word", we all understand that modern terrorism is mainly perpetrated by marauding Vikings. In a twist of terrible irony, this story begins with a reprisal raid against the Vikings by Grendel, an illegal immigrant and anchor baby whose family had long been persecuted by the Danish monarchy. The ACLU and San Francisco Supervisors had declared Heorot a sanctuary, and an uneasy peace prevailed for a while. Then the immigrants raised objections to the Danish practice of drinking mead and making merry with barmaids and interns. This provoked an unfortunate wave of decapitations. King Hrothgar, an evil old pagan lecher, summoned Beowulf, a merciless mercenary, to put down the uprising and prop up his brutal regime. Thus the stage is set for a great conflict.

In spite of the sordid subject material, Tammy expressed an interest in seeing Beowulf after hearing a rumor that Angelina Jolie is depicted nude. I don't want to crush anyone's illusions, but this claim is false. Angelina does not appear nude. The alert observer will note that she is in fact wearing high-heeled shoes. This is, after all, a PG-13 movie (don't ask me how they pulled that one off), and certain standards must be maintained.

But seriously, I enjoyed the film and would recommend it. Reviews have been mixed but tilting positive (see Metacritic). Don't click to the following Wikipedia sites until after you've seen the film, unless you're unconcerned about spoilers, but here's a rundown on the movie itself as well as the epic poem.

Let me say a word about Robert Zemeckis, the director. Zemeckis has a hugely impressive record, and anything he does is worth checking out. His films tend to be on the absolute leading edge of cinema technology. And, even more notably, they aren't just about special effects. He uses the newest tools to tell a story as it should be told and not just to show off. In that sense, he's a visionary and a trailblazer as well as a crowd-pleaser.

"Beowulf" is rated PG-13. Much of the material is violent or playfully bawdy, leaving me wondering how they avoided the R rating. I'd say it's suitable for today's (forgive the oxymoron) mature teens, but it's close enough to being over the line that concerned parents might want to check it out first before sending in the young ones. Note that it is screened in 3D in some theaters.

Posted by Maynard · December 4, 2007 07:04 PM · Permalink · Comments (5)
History | Hollywood/Films | Maynard Post | Satire/Absurdity

Teachers and Staff Told Thanksgiving is for "Mourning"

Killing off a nation's heroes and stomping out tradition are essential strategies in the Left's efforts to destroy this nation. Make no mistake--attacking Thanksgiving and Christmas are part of that effort of destruction.

Now, Multiculturalists in the Seattle school district have sent out a missive explaining how Thanksgiving for "Native" Americans isn't necessarily a good thing because it represents "500 years of betrayal."

Yeah, I get it--I, too, mourn not returning to the mid-Western plains, sleeping on the ground, in the tee-pee, during November, as you plot about how to scalp your enemy. It's obvious how much much better that is than pesky Civilization. To say nothing of having absolutely no room in your wigwam for all those scalps.

School says Thanksgiving is for 'mourning'

Seattle school officials are telling teachers that Thanksgiving actually is a time of "mourning" since it represents "500 years of betrayal."

The message to all "staff" in the Seattle Public Schools comes from Caprice D. Hollins, the director of "Equity, Race & Learning Support," and other officials including Willard Bill Jr. of the "Office of Native American Education."

"With so many holidays approaching we want to again remind you that Thanksgiving can be a particularly difficult time for many of our Native students," the letter said.

The school letter refers educators to a website, Oyate, run by an outside organization that promotes Indian culture, and recommends teachers explore it.

"Here you will discover ways to help you and your students think critically, and find resources where you can learn about Thanksgiving from a Native American perspective," the letter said. "Eleven myths are identified about Thanksgiving, take a look at No. 11 and begin your own deconstruction."

"Fact: For many Indian people, 'Thanksgiving' is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, 'Thanksgiving' is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship," the website describes.

Gee, last time I checked, hostilities really got off to a great starts when Indians decided they could be bribed and joined the British during the Revolutionary War. Yeah, hooking up with the enemy and shooting at us also really mucks up the 'friendship' thing.

Posted by Tammy · November 19, 2007 01:13 PM · Permalink · Comments (20)
Children | Education | History | Just Wrong | Leftists

Hero Paul Tibbets, Pilot of Enola Gay, Dies

Paul Tibbets

Then-Colonel Paul Tibbets with the Enola Gay

Paul Tibbets, the man who helped to end World War 2 by piloting the plane the dropped the bomb on Hiroshima has died at the age of 92. Tibbets remained throughout his life a man who knew the importance of his act, and had no regrets. Thank you General Tibbets and may God rest your soul.
Pilot of plane that dropped A-bomb dies

Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted for six decades after the war that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night.

Tibbets' historic mission in the plane named for his mother marked the beginning of the end of World War II and eliminated the need for what military planners feared would have been an extraordinarily bloody invasion of Japan. It was the first use of a nuclear weapon in wartime.

And they had reason to fear. You know how we cringe, appropriately, at the over 4,000 troops lost since the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq. In the one month battle for the Japanese island of Okinowa, the United States and our allies (the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) suffered these stunning casualty numbers:

12,513 dead or missing,
38,916 wounded,
33,096 non-combat losses,
79 ships sunk and scrapped,
763 aircraft destroyed

12,513 dead in one month. For one island. Yes, invading Japan would have been a human bloodbath beyond comprehension. The dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved truly countless lives, on both sides.

Here is a clip from the video "Atomic Cafe" featuring Paul Tibbets and his recounting of his mission piloting the Enola Gay.

Posted by Tammy · November 1, 2007 01:39 PM · Permalink · Comments (5)
Hero | History | Military

I, Claudius

A post by Maynard

For them that are interested in such things, I'll put in a word about one of my very favorite mini-series of all time. That would be the 1977 BBC 13-episode Masterpiece Theatre production of I, Claudius. It's based on the books by Robert Graves (I, Claudius and its sequel, Claudius the God), and can be purchased at Amazon (note the many favorable comments) or rented from Netflix. A video trailer is here.

Posted by Maynard · October 30, 2007 02:40 AM · Permalink · Comments (3)
History | Hollywood/Films | Maynard Post | Tyrants

The Second Temple Wasn't There

A post by Maynard

The former mufti of Jerusalem claims there never was a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, and so the Western Wall (the "Wailing Wall", generally accepted as a remnant of the Second Temple and one of the holiest sites of Judaism) was really part of a mosque. From a Jerusalem Post article:

"There was never a Jewish temple on Al-Aksa [the mosque compound] and there is no proof that there was ever a temple," he told The Jerusalem Post via a translator. "Because Allah is fair, he would not agree to make Al-Aksa if there were a temple there for others beforehand. The wall is not part of the Jewish temple. It is just the western wall of the mosque. There is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews."

Palestinian leaders, most notably the late Yasser Arafat, have consistently denied Jewish claims to the Mount.

A summary of accepted history:

The First Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century BCE, and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was built 70 years later, enlarged during the first century BCE by Herod, and destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aksa Mosque were constructed on the Temple Mount site in the late seventh century.

Jerusalem is claimed as a Muslim holy city, but this is also a matter of historical revisionism. Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Koran (in contrast to hundreds of references in the Hebrew Bible), and it was generally ignored by Arab leaders while it was under Arab rule from 1948 to 1967.

The Temple Mount mosque was named the "Farthest Mosque" as a matter of political expediency. The Koran speaks of Mohammed's "Night Journey" on a flying horse from Mecca to the masjid al aksa (the farthest temple). However a geographic location is not specified, and many scholars consider the "farthest mosque" to be a transcendental metaphor rather than a real place. The builders of the mosque figured they could put their outlying turf on the map by giving it the name that would nail down the endpoint of Mohammed's dream. So we now face a Twilight Zone alternative history in which this is Islamic holy territory and nobody else's. During the period of Jordanian control from 1949 to 1967, Jews were denied access to the Wailing Wall (for the record, a violation of the 1949 armistice).

If I may be so bold as to editorialize...Okay, everybody is entitled to their fantasies. We'd all like to think we're richer than we are, sexier than we are, more important than we are...whatever. So I'd be happy enough to leave people with their kooky illusions as long as those kooky illusions aren't malignant. The problem with these Islamist kooky illusions is they tend to encourage acts of mass murder, and that's carrying the jest a tad too far.

Bad Girls, Then and Now

A note by Maynard

Some observers wring their hands at the West's ever-rising tide of in-your-face depravity. Certainly a civil society has never seen anything like this before!

If it makes you feel any better, celebrity misbehavior is nothing new. Britney Spears, pictured above left, ventures into town wearing boots and a shirt but no pants. But Britney is merely following the lead of old-school feminist Daisy Duck (right), who pioneered the pantless style 'way back in the 1940's.

Life imitates art. And the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Posted by Maynard · October 19, 2007 10:31 PM · Permalink · Comments (5)
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Teachers and Staff Told Thanksgiving is for "Mourning"

Hero Paul Tibbets, Pilot of Enola Gay, Dies

I, Claudius

The Second Temple Wasn't There

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