Campanastan

Leonard Pitts: A Much-Needed History Lesson About Nazis

What with all the people tossing around the word 'Nazi" today, I think it's instructive to reflect upon who the Nazis were and what they did. Perhaps then we won't be so cavalier in branding someone a Nazi.

Leonard Pitts, Jr. hits the nail on the head with his column,We Need a History Lesson About Nazis.

Here's a teaser:

I hope this column makes you sick.

See, we'll be talking about Nazis, something many of us are doing lately. Indeed, just this week a fellow named Joseph e-mailed me about a caller he heard on a radio show. The man, vexed over healthcare reform, likened President Obama to Adolf Hitler. Asked why, he said, "Hitler took over the car companies, then healthcare and then he killed the Jews.''

Said Joseph: "I almost swerved my vehicle off the road when I heard that.''

But the caller is hardly unique. Google "Obama + Nazis'' and you get almost seven million hits. Nor is the phenomenon new. Substitute President Bush's name and you get nearly 2.8 million.

Then there is this passage:

For the record, then: It was Nazis who shoved sand down a boy's throat until he died, who tossed candies to Jewish children as they sank to their deaths in a sand pit, who threw babies from a hospital window and competed to see how many of those `little Jews' could be caught on a bayonet, who injected a cement-like fluid into women's uteruses to see what would happen, who stomped a pregnant woman to death, who once snatched a woman's baby from her arms and, in the words of an eyewitness, `tore him as one would tear a rag'.''

Read on, folks. It only gets better, or should I say, worse.

"We have a Constitution, after all, and it says we can say whatever we want. It doesn't say it has to be intelligent." -- Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Kudos to Armstrong, Collins & Aldrin

Forty years ago today, several other future geologists/hydrologists and I were enthralled by the grainy images we saw on a B & W TV in the basement of the geology building at the College of William and Mary. Amazing!

Just like President Kennedy's assassination I will never forget where I was. It's still as clear as a bell.

And forty years later I am still amazed at what I witnessed.

My hat's off to Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin.

"I believe that the Good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I'm damned if I'm going to use up mine running up and down a street." -- Neil Armstrong

Remember RAPPS, Remember the Fourth

In between the fireworks, auto sales, and barbecues, take a few minutes today to read the Declaration of Independence and the remarkable Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution:

Download const-dec.pdf

If you are an American citizen, thank your lucky stars for those 56 guys who signed the Declaration in Philadelphia in 1776 and started this thing rolling.

While you are at it, give extra thanks for the First Amendment, which guarantees five fundamental rights, which you can remember with the mnemonic RAPPS: religion, assembly, press, petition, and speech.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two giants in American history - friends, then opponents, and finally friends again, both died on this day in 1826. As I get older, I think less of Jefferson and more of Adams.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." -- Declaration of Independence

Memorial Day Reflections

I found this at audible.com.

A Reflection on Memorial Day by Sen. Bob Kerrey

I stand on a bluff in Normandy, France, overlooking the English Channel. The beach below was called Omaha. 9,387 white crosses mark the remains of young Americans killed here or in other places in France following the June 6, 1944, invasion. They're all dead. Another 1,557 names are on a wall here but their bodies could not be found. They're all dead, too. They did not come home to kiss their girlfriends or wives. Their children grew up without them. They did not enjoy the GI Bill. They did not build a new house. They did not see their commanding officer elected President twice. They never heard rock and roll. They didn't grow old.
    Try to remember them today. Try to hear their youthful laughs. Try to know their fear. Try to feel their promise realized in your life, through your actions, your humility, your respect.

Give thanks today.

Listen to Terry Gross' interview with former Marine platoon leader Donovan Campbell, author of Joker One. Remarkable man, remarkable story.

      “Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life." -- Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Savages and Scoundrels: Paul VanDevelder Strikes Again!

A while back I wrote about friend Paul VanDevelder's landmark book, Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial That Forged a Nation. In it, he described the devastating effects of a government water project, the Garrison Dam, on Native Americans in North Dakota.

At the time Paul told me that his new book was on the verge of release, and it is now out: Savages and Scoundrels: The Untold Story of America's Road to Empire Through Indian Territory.

He forwarded this recent review from a real heavyweight:

Here is a profound dismantling of the whole mythical edifice surrounding the westward expansion that shaped the republic. VanDevelder identifies our historical amnesia about federal Indian policy as a profound moral crisis that needs to be confronted, and after reading his book, it’s hard to argue with him. He’s spent a lifetime exposing some of the ruthless conduct that continued well into the 20th century, and his previous book, Coyote Warrior, really had an impact. Some have called Savages & Scoundrels a Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee for the 21st century, and it’s an apt comparison. With the 1851 Treaty at Horse Creek as Exhibit A, VanDevelder unpacks the consequences of this broken treaty. It’s a shocking and passionate book, but one anchored in impeccable scholarship. [John Eklund]

Here is a synopsis from the book's WWW site:

 

What really happened in the early days of our nation? How was it possible for white settlers to march across the entire continent, inexorably claiming Native American lands for themselves? Who made it happen, and why? This gripping book tells America’s story from a new perspective, chronicling the adventures of our forefathers and showing how a legacy of repeated betrayals became the bedrock on which the republic was built.

 

Paul VanDevelder takes as his focal point the epic federal treaty ratified in 1851 at Horse Creek, formally recognizing perpetual ownership by a dozen Native American tribes of 1.1 million square miles of the American West. The astonishing and shameful story of this broken treaty—one of 371 Indian treaties signed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—reveals a pattern of fraudulent government behavior that again and again displaced Native Americans from their lands. VanDevelder describes the path that led to the genocide of the American Indian; those who participated in it, from cowboys and common folk to aristocrats and presidents; and how the history of the immoral treatment of Indians through the twentieth century has profound social, economic, and political implications for America even today.

You can read more reviews here.

Looks like Paul has another winner on his hands.

"The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives." — Native American proverb

Happy Birthday, Oregon!

Today is my adopted home state of Oregon's 150th birthday, otherwise know to cognoscenti as its sesquicentennial.

Oregon is the only state whose flag has a different picture on each side. Here are the front and back pictures (that's a beaver on the back):

 

One other state I once called home - Arizona - also entered the Union on Valentine's Day, but in 1912.

But the best statehood day of all my former home states is Nevada's: Halloween. Someone had a sense of humor.

I'll never forget driving to Las Vegas on I-15 in 1990. As I crossed into Nevada from Arizona, there was a huge billboard, a relict of Nevada's 125th anniversary in 1989. It had the state seal, with the words:

Nevada - 125 Years of Vision

After struggling to keep my Toyota pickup from going off the road, I thought to myself, "Yeah, that's right: gambling, prostitution, and nuclear testing."

In short, tunnel vision.

But I miss the ol' Silver State.

"Eugene is located in western Oregon, approximately 278 billion miles from anything." -- Dave Barry

Giving Douglas Wilder His Props

L. Douglas Wilder, the first African-American to be elected a governor (VA), ought to get some credit for his prescience over 20 years ago.

Since last November I've head many pundits discuss why and how Barack Obama got elected president. He's often referred to as the "first viable black (or African-American) presidential candidate", and how he had to ensure whites he was "okay".

But I've heard few pundits allude to Wilder's prophetic statement, which, at the time, was derided by some as "dumb":

"The first black president will be a politican who is black."

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 28 August 1963

What 5 Megabytes of Storage Looked Like in 1956

Marty Ennis sent this a picture of an IBM Hard Disk Drive (HDD) in 1956. It weighed one ton and stored 5 MB of data. It was introduced with the 305 RAMAC computer, the first computer with a HDD.

And in case you're wondering what "PAA" signifies, it is 'Pan American World Airways', for many years (from the 1930s till 1991) the USA's principal international airline, now confined to the electronic dustbin of history.

 

"User, n.  The word computer professionals use when they mean 'idiot'."  -- Dave Barry

I Learn Georgian History Through the 'Pankisi Panel'

Georgians are quite proud of their illustrious history. Their country is the land of Jason and the Argonauts, who, in Greek mythology, came here in search of the Golden Fleece. Only Armenia has been a Christian country longer than Georgia.

But a trip to the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park enlightened me as to the very beginnings of Georgian civilization, and indeed, its collective psyche. I encountered the little-known Pankisi Panel, which details how Georgia came to be.  Few outsiders have seen this amazing artifact.

 

Here I am in front of the panel, examining the alien bowhunters who came to Georgia over 6,000 years ago. They bear an uncanny resemblance to those aliens reported to have visited Roswell, NM, in 1947. The animals surrounding the hunters depict their favorite foods - fish, reindeer and elk. But missing are current Georgian game - antelope, skunk, rat, dog, and mountain goat. Why? Did the aliens hunt them to extinction?

What the panel also fails to explain is why these aliens, who came to the South Caucasus from the planet Zocor in the Andromeda Galaxy , would use such a primitive weapon as bow and arrow. I mean, these guys had FTL drive, but bows and arrows?

This conundrum is indeed at the heart of Georgian culture itself, and readily explains the difficulties faced by Georgians today.  I am honored to have been introduced to the Pankisi Panel and its central place in Georgian culture. It made my trip all worthwhile.

Well, that, and seeing "Big Joe" himself!

"The cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet." -- Georgian proverb

 

Remember the Fourth, Remember RAPPS

In between the fireworks, auto sales, and barbecues, take a few minutes today to read the Declaration of Independence and the remarkable Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution:

Download const-dec.pdf

If you are an American citizen, thank your lucky stars for those 56 guys who signed the Declaration in Philadelphia in 1776 and started this thing rolling.

While you are at it, give extra thanks for the First Amendment, which guarantees five fundamental rights, which you can remember with the mnemonic RAPPS: religion, assembly, press, petition, and speech.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two giants in American history - friends, then opponents, and finally friends again, both died on this day in 1826. As I get older, I think less of Jefferson and more of Adams.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." -- Declaration of Independence

Scott McClellan to Endorse New Line of Sunbeam Wafflemakers

Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary whose book What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception has generated much controversy, has been selected by Sunbeam International to be the spokesman for its new line of upscale wafllemakers, the WafflePro.

The selection was announced today by McClellan's agent, Dewey Cheatham, and Hugh Jeego, spokesman for Sunbeam International.

"We are thrilled to have someone of Mr. McClellan's stature promote our new line of upscale wafflemakers, the WafflePro line", said Jeego, who continued: "We intend to remove the stigma attached to waffles - a food long associated with toothless, six-fingered, moronic, unkempt crackers from Georgia or Kentucky who consider Waffle House haute cuisine, or worse, Belgians." 

Jeego added that McClellan, whose Texas family includes some bona-fide crackers, is perhaps the best-known waffler of our time, even more so than George 'Slam Dunk' Tenet.

Agent Cheatham chimed in: "The American public will readily identify him as a waffler extraordinaire, and we expect sales of WafflePros to skyrocket because of Scott."  

Jeego also introduced the beginner model of the WafflePro, a microprocessor-controlled device that will "create the perfect waffle" each time for only $250. "Since McClellan is the 'perfect waffler' himself, we expect the product recognition to be huge," said Jeego.

More expensive versions will have built-in MP3 players, TVs, WiFi, and XM satellite radio receivers.

Cheatham added that McClellan's fees will be donated to a new nonprofit self-help group he has created, Wafflers Anonymous. Someone known only as 'George S.D.' has already become the first member.  

40 Years Ago Today

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in Memphis on this day in 1968. He had gone there in support of the Memphis sanitation workers' strike. The night before his death, in his famous "I've been to the mountaintop" speech, many believe he foresaw his imminent death.

Download ive_been_to_the_mountaintop.pdf

He has now been dead for longer than he was alive.

It is fitting as we mark this somber anniversary, an African-American has a real chance at becoming our next President.

Read Taylor Branch's remarkable trilogy, America in the King Years, which should be required reading for all Americans. Hear more on NPR's Fresh Air and other NPR shows.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from the Birmingham jail", 16 April 1963.

International Women's Day: Garments, Conflict, Engineering, and Barbie

I was remiss in failing to mention that yesterday was International Women's Day. Visit the WWW site for inspirational stories.

Read and listen to this morning's Weekend Edition on NPR, especially the description of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company's factory fire in New York City in 1911. In that conflagration, 146 workers, predominantly women, died in about an hour.

The fire spread so quickly that many workers were found still sitting at their sewing machines.  Many women jumped to their deaths.

The miserable working conditions helped galvanize the drive for better working conditions in the women's garment industry, which, at the time, was headquartered in New York, producing about 69% of all women's clothing. Many of the workers were 13-14-year-old Jewish and Italian girls who worked six days per week in sweatshop conditions. 

Ultimately, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which was founded in 1900, emerged from all this as a strong organization that spoke for the workers and was grudgingly recognized by the company owners.

The NPR site also has many other IWD-related resources. The site notes that Saudi Arabia is the only country prohibiting women from voting.

Oddly enough, the show also notes that today is the 49th birthday of Barbara Millicent Roberts, aka Barbie.

And speaking of Barbie, you can watch the documentary Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. Todd Haynes' 1987 cult film, a biopic shot entirely using dolls rather than actors, charted the anorexic pop singer's tragic demise — with Barbie in the leading role. Music-rights issues keep the film out of public circulation but it is available online.

Here is a story about women from 45 countries meeting in India to discuss women's role in conflict resolution.

And here is another excellent CSM article - this one describes the re-engineering of an engineering major at a women's college: Smith College.

But whatever you do, celebrate International Women's Day.

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Reflections on the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - How Far Have We Come?

On this day when we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., it's appropriate to look back and reflect on the civil rights progress that has been made since that fateful day in 1968.

The Christian Science Monitor did this in its 18 January 2008 edition, which you can access here.

Here are some samples from the article.

How often blacks say they face discrimination in:

• Applying for jobs: 67 percent
• Renting an apartment or buying a house: 65 percent
• Dining out or shopping: 50 percent
• Applying to college: 43 percent

How well blacks say they get along with whites:

• Very well: 20 percent
• Pretty well: 49 percent
• Not too well: 20 percent
• Not at all well: 4 percent

Give it a read and draw your own conclusions.

If you want to get remarkable, chilling, perspective on Dr. King and the civil rights movement, I recommend Taylor Branch's superb trilogy:

• Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63
• Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65
• At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68

"That is a boy. I am a man" -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., pointing to his son Martin Jr., after being addressed as " boy" by a white policeman.

Genghis Khan: Bum Rap from the West

Today's post is near to the heart of the Republic of Campanastan, which has its roots in the steppes of Central Asia.

If you're about the same age as Campanastan's President-for-Life, your schooling likely taught you that Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes were little more than barbarians who periodically swept across the steppes to pillage, rape and wreak havoc on "civilization". That's what I was taught. Now I realize that portrait of Genghis Khan and his people is little more than proof of the verisimilitude today's quote (see below).

I just finished a remarkable little book by Jack Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. In it, Weatherford documents Genghis Khan (born Temujin, 1162; died, 1227), the rise of his empire, his death, and the fall of his empire after his death. He also describes some of the aspects of the modern world that can be attributed to this far-sighted man of the steppes.

He also notes how the West has promulgated a distorted view of the man and his people, and how the Asia of today is recognizing his legacy. Even the Japanese at one time claimed Genghis Khan was a samurai warrior who escaped to Mongolia after a falling out with a Japanese warlord.

This map, from Wikipedia's entry on the Mongol Empire, shows the extent of Genghis Khan's empire at the time of his death.   

After his death, the empire stretched all the way to eastern Europe and southward to encompass what is now modern-day China. They never really conquered the Arabian peninsula, India, or north Africa.

 

This map, from the same source, shows, in white, the approximate maximum extent of the Mongol empire, 1300-1405. The gray area is the Timurid dynasty.

Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan, is the one who received Marco Polo.

Genghis Khan and his successors were not just a bunch of warriors who reveled in making life unpleasant for others. Some their empire's common precepts were ahead of their time. Consider these principles:

• paper money
• freedom of religion
• primacy of the state over the church
• diplomatic immunity
• international law 

The Mongols did not force their culture on the people they conquered. Contrast that with the Romans, British, Spanish, et al. In fact, they were famous for combining the best aspects of their vanquished and spreading them throughout the rest of the empire.

Women also played a substantial role in the administration of the empire. Who do you think ran the empire when the men were off on military campaigns? Wives and mothers, that's who.

The Mongols' military tactics are still emulated in modern times. Weatherford suggests that the German's concept of blitzkrieg was taken from the Mongols' mode of attack. And the Russian campaign against the Germans in World War II (and perhaps Napoleon, too), where they "drew" the Germans deeper and deeper into Russia till their supply lines were too long, is lifted from the Mongols' successful tactics against the Russians along the Kalka River in 1223. Turnabout is fair play.

So my view of Genghis Khan has done a "180" since reading Weatherford's book, similar to how my view of Tamerlane changed after reading Justin Marozzi's book.

Maybe I should read about Attila the Hun next.

"Until lions have historians, hunters will be the heroes." -- Kenyan proverb