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Two notable events happened on this day in history. In 1864 Atlanta fell to General Sherman in the Civil War, and in 1939 Germany invaded Poland – starting World War II. The nice thing about history is that it doesn’t go away even if we forget it or ignore it. Important events can serve to remind us about the real world and human nature if we pay attention.
Read MoreA Wall Street Journal editorial opened with a bang again yesterday as it reported an Obama claim followed by the paper’s total refutation of that claim. In “Dukes of Moral Hazard, Re-default rates are 55%…
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The three men with Illinois connections who made it to the White House were born in 1961, 1911, and 1809 – representing a century and a half of American history.
Read MoreBy Andrew C. McCarthy: On the misguided notion of “virtuous” jihad (from “The Dictatorship of Relativism.”)
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Recently I watched an old black and white movie – the title escapes me – that opens with a World War I aerial dogfight where one of the pilots keeps checking his watch to see if the war was over yet. In the opening minutes of the film a couple of planes get shot down, men are killed, and then the hour arrives and they cease firing. The combatants salute each other and fly their separate ways.
The events portrayed fictionalize what actually took place ninety years ago today.
Read MoreJack Kelly writes that Barack Obama’s attempts at soaring rhetoric include historically false statements. After the North Carolina primary, Obama said this in defense of his intent to meet with America’s enemies without preconditions:
“I trust the American people to understand that it is not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but to our enemies, like Roosevelt did, and Kennedy did, and Truman did.”
Read MoreA few quotes from Abraham Lincoln:
“Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much.”
Read MoreI’ve alluded to the failed political communications trench warfare mentality previously. My attitude isn’t all that different from General John Pershing’s when he arrived in France in mid 1917 and surveyed the progress of World…
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One huge example of the failings of our public school system is seen when you ask most Americans to tell you what they know about important events in our history such as the Meuse-Argonne battle.
The Meuse-what?
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Historian John Keegan writes that on July 4, 1917, elements of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) paraded in Paris. A year later some of those men were to fight and die in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the biggest and most costly military campaign in America’s 232 year history. Sadly, too few people have even heard of it.
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Visiting places of incredible bravery, sacrifice, and seeing the final resting place of so many thousands of Americans is a powerful experience. Walking on Omaha Beach, between the white marble crosses at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, or in a Belgian forest just outside Bastogne brings an incredible sense of awe – even for someone who has never had a problem feeling pride in his country.
Read MoreFrom the Chicago Tribune last week (March 3, 2008): Army struggles with rising suicide A soldier’s tale illustrates the prevention battle inside the service as 2007 set a new high for troops taking their…
Read MoreThe sniffling anti-McCain conservatives meeting at the annual CPAC conference had better blow their noses and wipe away their tears and wake up to their failures when it comes to building a real political…
Read MoreWe recently finished posting a series of “Notes on the War in Iraq” to show how much information is available to anyone seeking it. You would think, of course, that our Illinois Republican Congressional…
Read MoreWorld War II, which saw almost 300,000 Americans killed (and over 670,000 wounded), was not as controversial as one that has so far taken a small fraction of that terrible toll.
Previous eras saw a resolve, toughness and realism that is sorely lacking today. People understood then that being at war with Hitler’s Germany and Hirohito’s Japan meant that many of our fighting men would die or be wounded.
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