Subject: Remember to Breathe
skegley.blogspot.com
Sunday, June 9, 2013
The year was 1955 ... I was thirteen and WW II ended, Sonny!
Did you hear the post office is
thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter?
If they raise the minimum wage
to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.
When I first started driving, who
would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon? Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.
I'm afraid to send my kids to the
movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.
I read the other day where some
scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century.
They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.
Did you see where some baseball
player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President.
I never thought I'd see the day
all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They're even making electric typewriters now.
It's too bad things are so tough
nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.
It won't be long before young
couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.
I'm afraid the Volkswagen car
is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.
Thank goodness I won't live to
see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government.
The fast food restaurant is
convenient for a quick meal, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.
There is no sense going on short
trips anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel.
No one can afford to be sick
anymore. At $15.00 a day in the hospital, it's too rich for my blood.
If they think I'll pay 30 cents for a haircut, forget it.
Know any friends who would get a kick out of these, pass this on!
Be sure and send it to your kids and grand kids, too.
The cup of brandy no one wants to drink ... thanks Ramey H!
The Cup of Brandy No One Wants to Drink
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On Tuesday, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the surviving Doolittle Raiders gathered publicly for the last time.
They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.
Now only four survive.
After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around. Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to launch retaliation, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never been tried before -- sending big, heavy bombers from a carrier.
The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier. They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing.
But on the day of the raid, the Japanese navy caught sight of the carrier. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety.
And those men went anyway.
They bombed Tokyo, and then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia.
The Doolittle Raid sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world:
We will fight. And, no matter what it takes, we will win.
Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story "with supreme pride."
Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona, as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider.
Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness.
Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.
There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death.
As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96. What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.
The selflessness of these men ... there was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that captures the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:
"When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years until her death in 2005."
So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s. They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue.
The events in Fort Walton Beach this week will mark the end. It has come full circle; Florida's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission.
The town is planning to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.
Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice? They don't talk about that, at least not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of thanks. I can tell you from firsthand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are remembered.
The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- sometime this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy.
The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them. They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets…
And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.
We need to remember who America is and be proud!
We ARE exceptional!
They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.
Now only four survive.
After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around. Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to launch retaliation, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never been tried before -- sending big, heavy bombers from a carrier.
The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier. They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing.
But on the day of the raid, the Japanese navy caught sight of the carrier. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety.
And those men went anyway.
They bombed Tokyo, and then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia.
The Doolittle Raid sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world:
We will fight. And, no matter what it takes, we will win.
Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story "with supreme pride."
Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona, as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider.
Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness.
Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.
There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death.
As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96. What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.
The selflessness of these men ... there was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that captures the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:
"When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years until her death in 2005."
So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s. They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue.
The events in Fort Walton Beach this week will mark the end. It has come full circle; Florida's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission.
The town is planning to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.
Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice? They don't talk about that, at least not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of thanks. I can tell you from firsthand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are remembered.
The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- sometime this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy.
The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them. They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets…
And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.
We need to remember who America is and be proud!
We ARE exceptional!
| Cup_of_Brandy.jpg 32K View Share Download |
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Ted Cruz supports flat tax ... tedcruze.org
- Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment
- Repeal Obamacare
- Reduce the Size and Spending of Government
- Defend the Constitution Jobs and Growth Plan
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Sen-Elect Cruz Applauds Rep. Gohmert’s Proposal for a Flatter, Fairer Tax System
December 4, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC — While many in the nation’s capital are pressing hard for billions in new tax hikes, U.S. Sen.-elect Ted Cruz (R-TX) today praised U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) for proposing a dramatically simplified, pro-growth tax system. Gohmert’s flat tax plan was announced at a press conference featuring supply-side leaders Art Laffer and Steve Forbes.
“A flat tax is an ideal antidote to the short-sighted Washington drive to raise tax rates,” said Cruz. “Virtually every school of economics agrees that higher taxes would reduce growth and increase the chances of another recession, and yet that is precisely what the Beltway establishment is pushing for. Without increased economic growth, our Nation will continue to struggle under high deficits and, even more importantly, middle-income workers will continue to struggle to find jobs and better wages.”
“Jack Kemp’s tax cut proposal in 1978 gave Americans a striking remedy for that era’s disastrous stagflation; three years later, under Reagan’s leadership, it passed into law and the economy boomed,” Cruz added. “Today, a flat tax presents a vital contrast to the current era’s obsession with high taxes, spending, deficits, and debt — all of which are frustrating economic growth and killing jobs.”
Sen.-elect Cruz has long advocated for fundamental tax reform such as a flat tax or Fair Tax. For more information, please visit www.tedcruz.org.
###
Amazing video and story- WW II ... Thanks Dr. H!
All pilots will especially love this one. I loved the double fuselage of the P-38, but it must have had tech problems. Brave Amerocan pilots preserving our freedoms, which politicians are now stealing.
SamKat
Achtung! Spitfeur!!
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I think you're going to find this interesting!Achtung! Spitfeur!!For anyone who loves flying or is interested in WW2 history, this is a very special and very nostalgic little story. Extremely well done.This is a great story and very touching with the pilot's response at the
Prayer at commencement ... Roy Costner IV Liberty HS valedictorian
Public school valedictorian recites Lord’s Prayer at commencement to raucous cheers [VIDEO]
The Daily Caller – 4 hrs ago
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Meet Roy Costner IV, this year’s valedictorian at Liberty High School in Liberty, South Carolina.
At the school’s commencement ceremony on Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum on the campus of Clemson University, Costner defied pressure to keep religion out of the public-school event in a fairly epic way.
He walked to the podium with his school-approved speech in hand. Then, in front of the crowd, he tore the thing up, reports local NBC-affiliate WYFF.After speaking for a bit, the senior cut to the quick.
“Those that we look up to, they have helped carve and mold us into the young adults that we are today,” Costner
said in his speech. “I’m so thankful that both my parents led me to the
Lord at a young age. And I think most of you will understand when I
say…”
Costner then proceeded to recite a full-length version of the Lord’s
Prayer, the pivotal Christian prayer that is attributed to Jesus in the
both the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew.The audience members began to cheer tentatively and then heartily once they realized what Costner was saying. The applause eventually became so loud that it drowned out Costner’s voice.
At the end of the prayer, after Costner says, “Amen,” the audience breaks into another round of wild applause.
The people sitting behind Costner — presumably school officials, teachers and the like — did not clap.
A local man, Brian Hoover, provided some background about what provoked Costner to pull his stunt, and what caused the crowd to react so strongly.
“From the ACLU sending FOIA requests to every district in the state this year after the Chesterfield County case, then the Freedom From Religion Foundation
sent us a complaint about religion at board meetings and some other
issues as well.” Hoover told WYFF. “That is why the reaction to the
prayer at graduation was loud.”
Watch:Follow Eric on Twitter and send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.
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Public school valedictorian recites Lord's Prayer at commencement to raucous cheers [VIDEO]
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Cal Thomas 6-5-13 Columbus Dispatch
Columbus, Ohio •
Jun 05, 2013
• 80° Partly Cloudy
Cal Thomas commentary: Life lessons can be learned from watching the spelling bee
Also in Opinion
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The winner was Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Bayside Hills, N.Y. Mahankali is the first boy to win the title since 2008.
There is a lesson to be learned from the success of these young people, including the ones who came close to winning but didn’t. It is the value of persistence. Mahankali won this year by spelling the German word knaidel. He lost the bee three times before and was eliminated from competition in 2011 and 2012 on German-derived words. Recognizing his weakness, Mahankali repaired his deficit. And his strategy succeeded.
History teaches the value of persistence. Abraham Lincoln lost several elections before winning the 1860 presidential race. He never gave up. Inventors of the telephone, airplane and motorcar refused to quit after repeated failures. Regardless of one’s background or circumstances, persistence can make any life better.
My favorite lesson on persistence comes from a 2006 film called Akeelah and the Bee.
The movie is about an 11-year-old girl (wonderfully played by Keke Palmer). Akeelah attends a middle school in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles. The school is a failure factory and so devoid of resources it can’t afford doors on bathroom stalls. Akeelah’s father was murdered; her mother (played by Angela Bassett), works as a nurse and struggles to raise her daughter and Akeelah’s brother, who keeps company with neighborhood hoodlums.
Akeelah has a gift for spelling. The school’s principal introduces her to a spelling coach, brilliantly played by Laurence Fishburne. Akeelah wins her school’s spelling bee and goes on to the next level, pitting her against children unlike herself and forcing her into an unfamiliar world. Many of Akeelah’s friends accuse her of being a “brainiac” which, along with the charge of “acting white,” discourages her from achieving her true potential.
Akeelah persists and, in the end, triumphs. The route she takes to get there is part of the incredible story. I’ve seen the film five times and tear up each time I watch it. It’s about overcoming, not settling.
Unfortunately, this film and the participants in the real-life spelling bee represent a disappearing America. We don’t want to persevere. We seldom teach it to our young. Persistence takes far too long. Instead, too many envy what others have and believe that the successful “owe” the unsuccessful. Far too many promote a culture that values greed and excess. Hard work, personal responsibility and persistence are vanishing faster than integrity in Washington.
And many politicians like it that way. They encourage government dependency because it sustains their careers. The more they’re thought to be needed, the likelier they are to be re-elected. We appear to have moved from “you can do it for yourself” to “you can’t do it without us” — “us” being the federal government.
A new Quinnipiac University Poll found that “only 3 percent of voters trust the federal government to do the right thing almost all the time, while 12 percent say they trust it most of the time; 47 percent say some of the time and 36 percent hardly ever.” That’s hardly a glowing endorsement.
Big government has become a modern “false god.” We bow in its direction while ignoring evidence that it is incapable of responding to our worship. The coming “train wreck” of Obamacare — Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus’ words, not mine — will be the next example.
It is only when we rediscover ancient virtues and apply them to today that we will see much more of the type of success experienced by Arvind Mahankali and others like him. He, not the latest video game or teen idol, should be the next generation’s role model.
Cal Thomas writes for Tribune Media Services.
tmseditors@tribune.com
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