Our National DNA

Everyone is born with good DNA and bad DNA ... and we unfortunately cannot change the poorly-coded ones ... autoimmune diseases, mental illness, breast cancer, alcoholism, dementia, cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, flat feet, etc. All curse us ... counterbalancing our genetic gifts ... good looks, creativity, robust health, athletic prowess. Some day we might be able to order up the good genes and fix our bad ones ... but, for the nonce, we must live with what we are given in the lottery of life. As Trump would say, “it is what it is.”

Such it is with nations ... all have good history and bad history ... the equivalent of their DNA. And to emphasize our nation’s bad history ... slavery, the trail of tears, Japanese internment camps, segregation ... and down-play our good history ...World War II, our Bill of Rights, emancipation, civil rights ... is as silly as trying to sue your parents for your bad genes. Those that want to remake the United States into a different nation by erasing or rewriting our good history and accenting our errors are either naive or have something more sinister in mind.


STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Another Reader Contribution

" I talked to a man today" — Thank you Earl

I talked with a man today, an 90-year-old man. 

I asked him if there was anything I can get him while this Corona virus scare was gripping America.

He simply smiled, looked away and said:

"Let me tell you what I need! I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for... I need to believe this nation we handed safely to our children and their children...

I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies...that they respect what they've been given...that they've earned what others sacrificed for."

I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there, quietly observing.

"You know, I was a little boy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn't know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war. There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.

And no home went without sacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm's way. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family...fathers, sons, uncles...

Having someone, you love, sent off to war..it wasn't less frightening than it is today. It was scary as Hell. If anything, it was more frightening. We didn't have battlefront news. We didn't have email or cellphones. You sent them away and you hoped...you prayed. You may not hear from them for months, if ever. Sometimes a mother was getting her son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.

And we sacrificed. You couldn't buy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper. EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort. And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort. My generation was the original recycling movement in America.

And we had viruses back then...serious viruses. Things like polio, measles, and such. It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined. We didn't shut down our schools. We didn't shut down our cities. We carried on, without masks, without hand sanitizer. And do you know what? We persevered. We overcame. We didn't attack our President, we came together. We rallied around the flag for the war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win. And we would lose more boys in an hour of combat than we lose in entire wars today."

He slowly looked away again. Maybe I saw a small tear in the corner of his eye. Then he continued:

"Today's kids don't know sacrifice. They think sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country. Today's kids are selfish and spoiled. In my generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped out with single moms whose husbands were either at war or dead from war. Today's kids rush the store, buying everything they can...no concern for anyone but themselves. It's shameful the way Americans behave these days. None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.

So, no I don't need anything. I appreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than this virus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you? Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your tv?"

I smiled, fighting back a tear of my own...now humbled by a man in his 80's. All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my rear.

I talked to a man today. A real man. An American man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will never understand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But we should work harder to learn about them..learn from them...to respect them.

The Basics

Although I was quite young, I think living today is becoming a lot like it was during World War II. And, by that, I mean that life then was just getting through the day without screwing anything up badly ... keeping body and soul together..

During those tough times we struggled to keep our houses warm in the winter without too much concern about all that coal smoke we produced. In the summer, air conditioning was accomplished with lots of ice and a fan. Movies were simpler yet more wistful. Racial tensions and gender politics were not top of mind. Life was just the basics ... food, clothing, shelter, religion.

Oh yes, we now have the internet to replace the morning paper ... and can watch Joe Scarborough froth at the mouth while we sip our coffee. But lots of diversions have now disappeared out of our lives ... at least for a while. No sports ... no going to the movies ... or out to dinner ... more complications in grocery shopping.

I have a feeling that, once this Wuhan virus thing has gone away, our lives will be completely different. We will be far less dependent on China for our manufacturing. Much more of our lives will be on-line. We will have a closer relation with Canada, Mexico, Great Britain ... maybe even Russia. We will have much more effective virus treatments. Unfortunately, many businesses will have disappeared. A lot of people will have new jobs. Carbon dioxide won’t be quite the bugaboo it recently was ... even if our climate actually changes a bit.

We, as a nation, might even start getting behind our president.

Russia

Every time I feel compelled to thank Russia for helping to win World War II, I recall that it had inked a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany before the war ... and, afterward, annexed half of Europe under totalitarianism.

Tommy Robinson

The English people can be stalwart and noble knights (like during World War II) ... and they can be knock-kneed knaves (like when they turned away from Churchill and toward Socialism after the war). I suppose this Jekyll and Hyde national personality flaw is what inspired our founders to cut the cord to this then power ... otherwise we may be wallowing in an even-deeper swamp than we mow find ourselves.

The current head-scratchier from Britain involves Muslim rape gangs, a resister to this mayhem, Tommy Robinson (a pseudonym), and his attempt to mobilize his countrymen against this degenerative behavior. There is a growing outrage over how the English judicial system is manhandling this patriotic protester ... now labeled from the "far right" (shades of our Charlottesvile reporting.)

In order to fill yourself in on the details of this case, see: Powerline Comments.

And to appreciate the push back that is beginning to develop, see:  Diplomad's Comments who can be  rough on Muslims and their apologists ...which, in this case, seems justified.

Note that, since this reporting, the outrageous press gag order has been lifted.

A Memorial

Interesting numbers ... add them all together and they still don't equal the U.S. Civil War ... 

Racial Slur?

The Pitch: During a meeting honoring the few remaining World War II Navajo "code talkers," President Trump rather clumsily referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren with his per term "Pocahontas" (because she pretended to be an American Indian to get a job at UPenn and Harvard when they were seeking "faculty diversity").

The Swing: Senator Warren quickly accused Trump of making a "racial slur" for using the term "Pocahontas" while in the presence of American Indians. Understandably,Warren's slam quickly echoed through the national liberal media.

The Call: After the meeting, one of the Navajo code talkers said that during the war when they were parachuting out of planes the Army told them to shout "Geronimo!" He added that that they weren't insulted then and they aren't insulted now by Trump. "Your out!"

Next Batter: Senator Warren once again has egg all over her "high cheek-boned" face.

Dunkirk

Saw "Dunkirk" yesterday at a local IMax theater (no, not owned by Apple). It is the story of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from France at the beginning of World War II. It is a big film with not a lot of dialogue  (nor women). But I was actually a little disappointed given the hype it has received. I was expecting a Cecil B. DeMille epic and got a Jennie Craig reduced-down version. Everything seemed too thin. Not enough soldiers on the beach. I expected 300,000. I got maybe 3,000. Not enough airplanes. I expected hundreds. I got maybe a dozen. Not enough small English rescue boats. I expected thousands. I got maybe a dozen. But what was there was very well done ... authentic and convincing.

Also, the Diplomad blog has a very interesting review of this film along with a number of comments which both add and detract from the art and history of this important film ... see: Brexit, 1940. Accordingly, the upsides are the cinematography and aerial combat. The downsides are the lack of a historical perspective, the poor character development, and the singular perspective.

On the singular perspective ... to fully tell a story like this you would need to cover it from 100 angles ... which is impossible to do in one book or in one movie. The best one can hope for is one or two highly polished facets through which to look at this pivotal point in World War II. This movie does do that and so should be seen. But you won't leave the theater loving war or the Germans.

Another Lost Generation

I am sadly coming to the difficult conclusion that the current generation of coming-of-age Americans has been so inculcated with PC hogwash and liberal newspeak that, as a group, their ability to think independently and affirm our nation's traditional values has been irreparably lost. Witness the recent mess at the University of Missouri.

The evidence is rife ... the plethora of popular bubble-headed glitterati, disturbing college campus demonstrations advocating repressive policies, the tidal wave of teenage illicit drug usage, the continued crowding-out of once-basic college education by meaningless feel-good courses, the youth vote helping to twice elect President Obama, the ennui and ignorance of this generation toward American history and our place on the World stage, and their overweening selfie vanity.

Yes, there was at least one previous American "lost generation" ... those born at the turn of the Twentieth Century. This group ushered in the Roaring Twenties and its consequence, the Great Depression. However, this, in turn, brought us to the Greatest Generation which turned our economy around and won World War II. So, all may not be truly lost. The legacy of this current bunch of misguided misfits might well be a reawakening of moral rationality and patriotic energy in those who then follow our current Lost Generation.

I certainly pray so.

Another Juicy Irony

Pacifists in Japan are objecting to Prime Minister Abe's new defense bill which relaxes the restrictions on the militarization of his country imposed after World War II. How have these pacifists expressed these objections? With a free-swinging melee in their parliament, of course ... see: Breitbart Story.

Choice Cuts

Planned Parenthood is showing itself to be a despicable organization ... claiming that they are in the business of providing "women's health" when it really is primarily in the abortion business ... providing over 300,000 of these taxpayer-funded "procedures" a year ... see: Whipping Our Teens into Shape. Not only does it kill these often fully-formed fetuses, but it also now sells the body parts of these fresh corpses for big money.... an illegal business. This is gut-churning reprehensible behavior  ... see: CNN Appology Video and Breitbart Video.

The abortion trade has hidden behind the euphemism of a "choice" for women ... a choice between being "punished with a baby" (President Obama's words) and fulfilling what women's bodies where designed by evolution to accomplish. Now, due to Margaret Sanger's vision for a purer race ... combined with the insidious loopiness of the 1960's radical feminist movement ... vowing to deny a woman's biology, we now have an epidemic of infanticide ... which has further devolved into cutting up the fetal-tissue results of this grisly process in order to sell these tiny organs to get enough pelf to buy an abortion doctor her new Lamborghini.

How very like what we fought against in World War II.

Happy Thanksgiving

Freedom from Want

Thanksgiving ... time to wax nostalgic. With all the harsh words and dastardly deeds swirling around the world these days, we all need to look back on easier times to get a little perspective on our current situation. I use the term "easier" with a little irony for Norman Rockwell painted the above picture "Freedom from Want" in 1942 ... during the darkest days of World War II ... see: Freedom from Want. However, fighting a global war on two fronts against known foes was a piece of cake when compared to what is now called "asymmetric warfare" against possibly millions of anarchists and Jihadists both at home and abroad.

In 1942 Americans were actually lucky to be able to put on a feast like Rockwell depicted above ... because each family had ration books that had little stamps allowing them to buy groceries, gasoline, tires, etc. (Although I was quite young, I still remember the constraints placed on our lives by these ration books ... see: National WW2 Museum Entry.) However, what we then lacked in material goods we made up with good sense. We, as a nation, were pulling together to save the world from tyranny. Yes, there was some griping and back biting, but underneath it all we had a common purpose and ethos.

Only with the actual freedom from want that has washed over our nation during the last seventy years have major dislocations occurred. Greed has too often replaced charity. Hedonism has too often replaced faith. Hubris has too often replaced humility. Ostentation has too often replaced modesty. Reticence has too often replaced valor. And we unfortunately view many of these trade-offs as progress and modernity.

So, to me, it is not too surprising when large swaths of the world revolt against these moral excesses by becoming religious zealots. But like most societal sea changes, charlatans are often the first to take up the flag and lead these revolutionaries to evil ends. But, at least in the United States, I believe there is still an undercurrent of virtue and nobility that needs to be recognized and reawakened ... for else I fear we are doomed.

Therefore, when we choose our next leader, this person should be able to encourage this renewal in us ... at the very least. For that then we could be truly thankful.

D-Day Pathos

First some background … my wife is of Polish heritage although her mother was born in the U.S.A. of a Polish mother and Polish father (here to work in the Pennsylvania coal mines). Her mother’s mother died giving birth to her younger brother and so the father took my wife’s mother, the younger brother and an older brother and sister back to Poland to marry his wife’s sister. When World War II eventually loomed the father sent my wife’s mother (a U.S. citizen and now a young woman) back to the States to escape the war … eventually to be followed by the younger two siblings (also American citizens … the brother eventually was killed as a soldier in Italy.) However, the oldest sister was not born in the U.S. so she tried to escape the war by moving to France … where she eventually married a Frenchman … but didn’t sidestep the war.

Fast forward about thirty-five years … my wife and our two young children were visiting France where we went to stay a few days with this older aunt in a small village west of Arras, France. (She was a fabulous cook.) On our last day there, a few neighbors came by to this modest home to meet us … one was an Englishman and his French wife … he acted as a translator for our backs and forths. Since it was early June and since this village was near to where the D-Day invasion took place, this became one subject of our conversation. One French neighbor woman then broke down in tears telling us that her son had been killed by the bombardment on that fateful day. She added, between sobs, that she held no grudge against Americans since we were just doing what we had to do to liberate France.

However, re-reading my previous blog post on the details of the Omaha beach invasion (see: A D-Day Recollection), I noticed that U.S. bombers could not see the details of their coastal targets because of clouds and mist so, fearing hitting their own men, they dropped their ordinance a number of miles inland.

Now, I can’t help but wonder if this overcast weather is why this French neighbor’s son lost his life?

Ike

There is a proposed memorial to Dwight David Eisenhower (Ike), our 34th President (1952-1960), that is now under discussion to be erected on the mall in Washington, D.C. (see: Powerline Critique). There is clearly not unanimity of the selected design ... in fact David Eisenhower, Ike's grandson, has resigned from the memorial commission to protest this decision.  I concur.

Prior to his Presidency, Ike was instrumental in winning World War II in Europe and exposing the genocidal atrocities that occurred therein.  I think the historical perspective is that Eisenhower wasn't a great President ... but he was a damn good President ... something we have had a dearth of in the ensuing years.  He championed the interstate highway system, ended the Korean war, helped rebuild Europe, desegregated public schools, and kept Israel from being swallowed up by its belligerent neighbors.

I have my own personal memorial to Ike.  It is a letter he wrote to my mother after she had written to tell him that her 3rd grade student, David Eisenhower, had told her why he wanted his grandfather to be re-elected in 1956.  She had related that David had answered her question with, "Because I want to swim in the White House pool for another four years."  Here is the content of that letter that Ike returned to her:

                     The White House

                         Washington

                               November 10, 1956

Dear Mrs. Burns:

I cannot tell you how delighted I was to receive

your letter.  One of the most compelling reasons

that I decided to stand for re-election was the

hope that I might be able to contribute in a small

way to a better world for David and his class-

mates, and children like them all over the world.

And, too, I hope that David's next four years

bring him no more serious problems than when

he can next swim in the White House pool!

Mrs. Eisenhower joins with me in deep appre-

ciation of your prayers and good wishes.

                                 Sincerely,

                       Dwight D. Eisenhower (signature)

The Party of War

There is a popular myth that the Republican party was the belligerent during most American armed conflicts.  If one looks at who was running the U.S. when we have sent our soldiers into battle, this clearly proves wrong, viz:

First World War -- Woodrow Wilson (D)
Second World War -- Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
Korean War -- Harry S. Truman (D)
Vietnam War -- John F. Kennedy (D)
Vietnam War Escalation -- Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
Bosnian War -- William J. Clinton (D)
Kosovo (Monica's) War -- William J. Clinton (D)
Kuwait War -- George H.W. Bush (R)
Afghanistan War -- George W. Bush (R)
Iraq War -- George W. Bush (R)
Afghanistan War Escalation -- Barack H. Obama (D)
Libyan Incursion -- Barack H. Obama (D)

Even the Spanish American War, although started under William McKinley (R), was really instigated by the Democrat congress at the time (see Spanish-American War.)  So, we see, popular myths are often just that.

Afterthought:  I (conveniently) forgot about Ronald Reagan's (R) incursions into Granada and Panama.

Old Europe

For hundreds of years we have opened our shores for many millions of old-Europe emigrants to find a better life here in America.  We have fought many wars (and spilled much blood) for (or against) them while they spent much of their discretionary national incomes over the last sixty years on social welfare and beautiful infrastructure ... instead of their own self defense.  We have provided a super-expensive ICBM/nuclear shield for them throughout the cold war.  We spent considerable Marshall-Plan sums clothing, feeding and rebuilding them after World War II. 

Despite (or because of) their not having to spend very much of their GNPs on national defense, they have instead created a cradle-to-grave welfare culture that has sapped much of their national initiative. We have also spent hundreds of billions funding the U.N. that lavishes much this money on their poobahs' luxuriating in Geneva, Rome and Brussels five-star hotels and restaurants.  And throughout it all, we have listened to their derisive sneers and holier-than-thou preachings with general humility.  Recently we have apparently spent many more hundreds of billions of Federal Reserve dollars (that we clearly don't have) shoring up their banks, see the Yahoo! story.  And Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy are queuing up behind Greece to get their financial rewards from Brussels for their fiscal mismanagement.  And rumor has it that Uncle Sam will be a banker at this porker poker party.

And what has the United States received as recompense for all this selflessness?  Croissants, truffles, Rick Steves' travel logs, and spaghetti carbonara.