Incredible WWII Escape Story
I love adventure stories and WWII is a great source for true stories of escape and adventure . From every theater, it seems. Everyone knows that The Great Escape was based on actual events. And i'd highly recommend reading the The War Journal of Major Damon "Rocky" Gause, which is a true story about an escape from Bataan.
Here's yet another true WWII escape story, about a soldier from the historic 506th PIR, who took part in D-Day, only to be captured by the Wermacht, escape twice, get captured again by the Gestapo, get beaten and tortured, escape again, flee to the east, take refuge with a Russian tank battalion, fight with them for a month as they headed to Berlin, get wounded during an attack by Stukas, land in a Polish hospital, where he met Marshal Zhukov, and finally make it back to the US embassy in Moscow, where he learned that he had been declared dead. What an amazing story.
Fascist Lefties
Almost every day i see another example of the freakazoid left's infatuation with violence. You may remember i posted my theory on that subject here. i should make it a regular feature to post further evidence of my theory.
In today's Bee, there's a story about how the protesters in my old hometown of San Francisco failed to shut down the biotech live jasmin conference. Some protesters "pushed conference attendees aside and shouted profanities" at them. As the police escorted the scientists and attendees into the Moscone Center (no doubt to protect them from hurled objects as much as hurled invective) the unwashed, jobless retards shouted the following peaceful slogan:
It seems ironic, but i've no doubt that these same people are all bent out of shape over Abu Ghraib.
Reagan Memorial Week, Final Impressions
Whatever else you can say about this week, i think it's been a seven day long commercial for the Republican Party. Tremble Democrats, because countless young people watching the proceedings are almost certainly going to grow up to be Republicans.
Nancy Reagan handled everything with a selfless grace and dignity that should set an example for us all.
i love Michael Reagan. He seems like a really decent and kindhearted man.
When the Democrats act like pessimistic crybabies again, starting next week i should think, your average American will remember the pride he or she felt during the week of Reagan's remembrance.
Looking at the tens of thousands of people who waited 5+ hours on both coasts, just to pay their respects where the President's body lied in state, i was struck by how many hundreds of thousands there were, myself included, who would have done the same if they could.
And looking at the thousands of people who lined the route from Point Mugu N.A.S. to Simi Valley, just to show their gratitude, i was struck by the fact that we may all owe our lives to that great jasmin live man. Maybe there's no way i can prove that, but can you prove it's not true?
President Bush managed to put a former president, a former prime minister and the heir to the throne of Great Britain to sleep. That's power.
I thought Ron Reagan's swipe at President Bush was inappropriate and unfair.
The musical performances at the Cathedral service on Friday were outstanding, particularly the choral version of Jerusalem, both versions of the Battle Hymn and the very moving recessional music.
The two most heart-wrenching moments for me were when George H. W. Bush got choked up for a moment, and when Nancy Reagan, surrounded by her family, said a final goodbye to her husband, who loved her so very much.
Did you see John Kerry whisper something in Bill Clinton's ear before the Cathedral Service, then hold his finger up to his lips? What sort of conspiracy are they cooking up?
Ronald Reagan was both a good man and a great man. i fear that the world owes him a debt that cannot be repayed. i am grateful that he lived, and for his many gifts to us all. But now that he's gone, i don't see anyone that even comes close to his goodness and his greatness. And that makes me afraid for the future.
My Tribute
My first memory of President Reagan is from November 1984. i was seven. My father asked me to take a walk down the block with him. We went into a neighbor's garage where there were little booths set up. People went into the booths and pulled a curtain behind them. i stood in line with my dad as he gave his name to a lady who handed him a live sex chat card. Then my dad took me into the booth with him to watch him cast his vote for president of the United States.
It's fitting that my first introduction to democracy was watching my dad vote for Ronald Reagan.
Another formative experience of my life was the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. Like many children, i watched the launch on television with my class. It was horrifying. i'll never forget how President Reagan spoke afterwards, directly to us young people, sharing our pain and somehow giving us a way to understand that traumatic loss.
President Reagan showed me that courage comes with its own cost. Just as he did with his address on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, which i've heard again this weekend. And later, when i could understand with the hindsight of a history student, Ronald Reagan showed me the meaning of steadfast courage in the face of incredible opposition - when he led Democracy to victory over the forces of Communist dictatorship.
That last victory, his greatest, was not easy. And it was not certain. Reagan didn't stumble his way into it either. Victory in the Cold War was the almost uniquely held vision of this one great man. He alone among the post war presidents had the courage to say: "Let's win this thing. We can win this thing." When Nixon and Carter were trying to figure out how to co-exist with the Communists, when Ford was denying the Soviet domination of Europe, Reagan alone seemed to know that we would win, because we were better.
And he got us to believe it too. And we did win. Despite all the nay-sayers (funded from behind the iron curtain, by the way) who were shouting "nuclear freeze," Reagan rolled back the nukes, doing it from a position of strength and leaving our nation infinitely safer than if he had listened to the peaceniks. And when the left shook their heads after Reykjavik, saying we had blown our chance for peace, Reagan, by his courageous stand on principle, led us to the lasting peace that only victory could win.
I've been weepy all weekend. i, too, loved Ronald Reagan. i'm proud to have been alive while he was president. i'm proud that i'm a Californian, a Republican, an American, and he's a large part of those things. i've heard it said, and i fully agree, that if Ronald Reagan were president today, he'd know exactly what to do. i wish that were possible. But in a way, i'm glad he didn't realize how much trouble we've gotten into since we lost the blessing of his stewardship. He would have been deeply disappointed.
Or, perhaps i'm wrong about that. Ronald Reagan was an eternal optimist. And one of the great things about all the tributes of the past few days has been the long overdue recognition of his optimism. We should honor his optimism, by remembering it, and re-igniting it. What President Reagan said at the 1992 Republican Convention has been quoted often in the last few days, but i don't think it can be repeated often enough.
God Bless you, Ronald Reagan.
The Capitol City
Last week has not been easy. On Friday i moved into a room in the four bedroom house with my other new housemates Colleeen and Mike. Mike is a real sweetheart, very easygoing and funny. Colleen, i had forgotten, has a personality that tends to the negative and she can be a moody bitch a lot of the time. On Monday, for some reason, she decided she was going to be snippy to everybody, and i began to think i had made a mistake by moving in. But on Tuesday, she was back to normal. Weird. But i'm determined not to let her get to me. The house is great. The fourth housemate will be moving in tomorrow; it's another first year named Sherry or Shelly, i cant remember.
The Capitol City is like a small town with a few tall office buildings. After living in S.F. and L.A., i'm a snob. This is the provinces. But the people seem nice, and life is definitely slower than in L.A., if not the Bay Area too. On Tuesday, i started work at the local office of the law firm i've been at for the last couple of years. This is the third branch office i've worked at. They must like me. This operation is very small, only 5 attorneys, and i'm to be their part-time paralegal to help the full-time girl, who's going on maternity soon.
I still haven't seen Schwarzenegger, but i'm looking out for him. There's a few things i need to say to him regarding his job performance thus far. Some good, some not so good. The office had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe the other day and i was joking about Arnie's failed venture with Willis and Stallone. What was it called? i don't even remember the name of it. No, i'm talking about the restaurant, not California. Overpriced hamburgers, bad service. Just like the Hard Rock. Damn, i can never remember the name of it.
I miss my family and Jason terribly. i feel weird, like i don't belong. i guess i'll get used to being here eventually. i'm planning to go back home for Father's day though, and i'm so looking forward to that.
Blogging is hard these days, because i work in a small office and the boss is always nearby. At home, i don't have a computer yet and i don't want to blog from my roommates' computers. It sucks. i really wanted to blog about Clinton's speech, which i saw last night. He was smooth wasn't he? Damn, that guy is good. Slick Willie, for sure. i plan to buy his book, by the way.
Gotta go, the boss is back.
Realize Your Womanly Qualities Through Better Handwriting
So when Sister Mary Margarita kept smacking my knuckles with that ruler in first grade, she was really only trying to help me fully realize my womanly qualities.
The "top" expert who examined CBS and Dan Rather's forged documents -- the only document expert they have identified, who has said that he cannot authenticate the memos without examining the originals, who never saw any originals because even CBS doesn't have the originals, and who has since been told by CBS to stop talking to the media -- is not even an expert on the very issues that prove the documents are forgeries.
Instead he's apparently some sort of New Age handwriting guru.