On November 11, 1918, World War I ended with the Treaty of Versailles.

 

It is a day that is now known in America as Veteran's Day.

 

For one who wished to have served, this day I wish to celebrate with all of my friends qho are serving, who have served, or tried to serve.

 

May God Bless You.

Fifteen Years. Nine untill first parole. Maximum sentance: Thirty-three years.

 

Karma.

 

Unless we start to hear stories of Orenthal James Simpson's life in prison on a daily reel, I hope that this is the end of this drama.  I watched the video of him pleading, and frankly, it *IS* sad.

 

Sad for the fact that a man who is a Hall of Famer, still holds the most rushing yards in NFL history. He had a somewhat successful acting career, and also was for a time a very good NFL analyst/reporter gig.

 

Now, justice is served.

 

In the 1994-95 trial, watching that fiasco saw him smirking, and in years to come, he was golfing, even after losing the civil suit, it was like he was laughing at the justice system.

 

I think perhaps the biggest mistake he made prior to the Las Vegas thing, was his attempt to write a theorical tell-all If I Did It, about if he actually committed the crime. That's ego at it's finest. Not.  Stupidity is more like it.

 

Watching him plead "I'm sorry" was so phony to me. Granted, I AM biased here, but just watching him when the sentance was given, I felt sorry for him.

 

To watch an icon like this take fourteen years to fall from grace.

 

May have God have Mercy on a sorry excuse of your soul.

All I know is, my mother told me she was vacuuming when Mr. Cronkite informed the world of the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

 

I totally understand, as it was the 9-11 of the time. His death changed the world.

 

I wonder what the world would have been like if November 22, 1963 never happened.

 

May you rest in peace, Mr. President.

To quote the movie Team America:

 

HELL YA!

 

I seriously do not know what to say, because I didn't see the other telecasts.

 

But I can see why he won.

 

The one that got him the Gold for a clean sweep wasn't just him.

 

His team of three others helped. Watching them work together. Wow.

 

It's like "It's not for us, or our country, but for Michael."

 

Good for you, Michael.

 

I wonder at times, on what our forefathers would think of what America has become, some two hundred-thirty-two years ago, on the eve of presenting the foundation of a revolution.

 

What would they think of the fact that 2008 had not only a woman run for president, but a black man---a slave in their eyes---run for president, and has a good chance of getting elected?

 

What would they think of big oil, and how the crisis is destroying the dream that they fought and died for in their time for us?

 

What would James Madison think of 9-11-01?  He was the last president we had who had to deal with an outright invasion of our nation. The White House burned, as his wife took away priceless artifacts.

 

What would they think of illegal aliens?

 

What would they think of gay rights, or the death penalty?

 

To me, these are personal questions that we each must face for ourselves on this day before the Fourth.

 

In my blood, I have Scottish and Swede blood flow. On the Scot side of my heritage, I have blood that tells me freedom is still alive.

 

What saddens me for those who immigrate to the US is the fact that they don't understand that freedom is not free.  This is especially true to the illegals.

 

My own forefathers moved to the US, via Ellis Island, and via a hurricane on the other side, but became a citizen.

 

What would Washigton, Jefferson, Madison, and others think of my views?

 

When I pass on, I suppose I'll have many conversations with them.

The Olympic Torch passed the the United States via San Francisco to the point that it was given Secret Service treatment to avoid protests.

 

London and Paris authorities pretty much did the same.

 

I do not want the Olympics to be marred with politics.  The lessons of Jesse Owens should prove that fact. Sadly, if things continue the way they are...

 

If we are not careful, the next Olympic Games will be sticks and stones.

 

I gladly hold the Torch for both Freedom and for Peace.

The last time this situation occurred, I was just shy of two years old.  I place this entry in History, because as it was said in Raiders of the Lost Ark, "This is history."

 

Over the years, there have been phenominal runs at perfection in the NFL since the '72 Dolphins in a single season. The 1985 Bears, the 1997 Broncos, the 1999 Vikings (which current Patriot WR Randy Moss was a member of), and the 2004 Colts.

 

Despite the fact that I utterly despise the arrogance that the Patriots have had over this season, the thing I *DO* acknowledge is the fact that if they do it, then they deserve being labeled the best team ever in NFL history.  Going 16-0 for a season is a record.  They tied the '72 Dolphins with 17-0 on their first playoff win (note to non-football fans, the season format changed from 14 regular season games to 16 regular season games in 1978).  Two weeks ago, the Patriots went 18-0 against the Chargers.

 

Here's the difference between the perfect season and the perfect regular season:

 

Perfect regular season means every game before the playoffs are all wins.  You play another game the next week.  Even if you tie with a team in a game, it's not a loss, but that's probably debatable in this instance, and opens up another can of worms for a future time, since the Patriots did not tie anyone.

 

Perfect Season means that if you win every playoff game, and then win the Championship Game (in this case, the Super Bowl).  Basicall, if you win, you go on.  If you lose, you go home.  For the Patriots, they can go home winners or losers.

 

For the New York (Football) Giants, I think this is interesting, and I think Coach Tom Coughlin could learn a lesson from the New England Patriots, and probably has preached this to his team.  Back in 2002, (7 years and 1 day ago), the underdog Patriots beat the heavily favored St. Louis Rams.  This is the year that QB Tom Brady played his first Super Bowl.

 

Either way, history will be made today in my sports world.  Either we have a team being truly perfect, or we have Underdog.

 

The Giants almost beat the Patriots in Week 17, the final game of the regular season.  Rocky Balboa almost beat Apollo Creed in the original Rocky.  In Rocky II, it was a re-match.

 

When the Giants run onto the field, I'll have the Rocky theme in my head.

 

Yo Adrian!

 

Emphatically, no No NO!

 

If anything, as a historian, rank them in particular categories (keeping the Original Seven Wonders list intact:  http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/list.html), but not supplant the ones listed.

 

I mean, preserve the original list.  This article http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1639775,00.html has a listing of what is proposed. 

 

Believe me, things like the Great Wall, the statues on Easter Island, and the biggest yawn this side of Wall Drug (for me, anyhow; not on the (my)hist(e)ory of it, but when I visited it, I was like, so what?) Stonehenge do deserve to be on this list.

 

To me, things like Lady Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and the Sydney Opera House (all I have seen in person) are incredible modern stuctures.

 

Heck, there's SEVERAL on this list I would love to visit, like Easter Island, The Coloseum, The Great Wall (already stood on Hadrian's Wall in the UK, so why not see Grandpa Wall) , and NeusWanstein Castle (least from the picture; and something I never knew about).  Petra.

 

Call me a party pooper on this one, but (as top-whatever ever type lists always seem to do) I'm glad I didn't vote for this.  I'm sure things like Mount Rushmore, that big ball of yarn in Kansas, the field that was used in Field of Dreams, Yorkminster Abbey, Hadrian's Wall, the Empire State Building, Temple Mount, and Versailles, and other places around the world not mentioned.  All got built somehow, and many under unknown or adverse circumstances.

 

But to vote for my favorites, I simply cannot do this.  Not in this context.

 

 

This is an open letter to the Muslims of the world.

 

Whatever the decision of thiis man's fate is, please do not see it as a condemnation of your religion, or your race.

 

If he is considered to die, do no use it as a means of protest.  I'm sure that extremists will use is as propaganda.

 

What they forget is, he was tried in the US.  The trial did take almost five years.  However, the man himself has changed his story, admits guilt.  I ask you (and trust me I am not a student of law or a student of your religion.)

 

How would you handle the case?

 

Me?  I would probably deadlock the jury.

 

I've been to Ground Zero.  July 17, 2002.  I'd love nothing more to see the man die.  But that would give him purpose, and every extremist in the world purpose.  I don't care what religion they follow.  I think this man should get life in prison.  He probably wouldn't last long at all. 

 

This is going to start a firestorm, I'm sure.

 

In the name of Jesus Christ and Allah,

 

May mercy protect us all.

I just finally had a chance to peruse the news of today (was out getting food for my mother, plus finally got my DVD to work with my TV..long story).

 

Today is the 20th anniversarry of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger.  This quite honestly was the first national news story to really affect me.  There was no shooting war going on.  We did have the hostages in Lebanon going on, plus it was the time of Iran-Contra.

 

Now, for you boys and girls who've grown up with insta-24 hour news (and I'll prolly get bitched at for being condescending here, but hey, it's my blog, so SUE me..:))

 

Well, I was working the lunch room at Mitchell JUNIOR HIGH (screw the middle-school moniker..bah!), which is a few blocks north from where I live.  I was serving some chicken dish with veggies (I was on veggie duty that day on the line), when a friend of mine told me about what happened.  Of course, as kids, we didn't believe each other.

 

My class after lunch duty was gym class.  As we dressed in the locker room (and I think Mr. Miller, the principal, waited till after lunch) to announce what happened, and asked for us to have a moment of silence.  Classes were pretty much cancelled for the most part, but we had to be in school.  TVs were in the rooms, and we watched it again, and again.  And again.

 

And God, I went home to watch it..not for the death, but for the fact I quite honestly was mesmorized by it.

 

I cried too.  Mrs. McAuliffe, the first civilian (and teacher) to go into space, along with Dick Scobee,Ellison Onizuka,  Judy Resnik, Ron McNair, and Greg Jarvis, died.

 

They died doing what they dreamed of.  It was supposed to be a simple mission, but...

 

Like Columbia's death (and when I found out about THAT one, I thought it was the anniverssary of this tragedy..I was sleepy), we're in an impasse with NASA.

 

My mom has always been anti-space...use our tax dollars to fix us here.  Which is strange, as she loves JFK and his vision in this subject.

 

Me,  I love exploration.  Movies like Apollo 13 From the Earth to the Moon inspire me.  Because...what's out there?

 

It's wierd, because one of my buddies down in Vermillion, who is extremely creative, loves science fiction gave me a shock.

 

He firmly believes we are the last vestiges of life in the universe.

 

That still boggles me.

 

I'm in the Carl Sagan camp. 

 

GO NASA!

Because of the International Date Line's placement, the furthest Eastern edge of this chain of islands have a distinction of being the first place on each day on this Earth to see the sunrise, as it is recognized by our current reckogning and practicies.

 

One of the most important things I've learned in life is that we all do indeed embrace the New Year.  Western civilization has turned it into an exstrasmaganza.  But, for me, since this is of a time of reflection philiosophically.

 

I was working at Gateway from 1996-2003.  I remember getting off work early.  Being that the Y2K bug was a huge, huge deal (old computers would die, or give problems).

 

My cable company at the time in Vermillion actually got hit by the date rollback.

 

I digress.

 

I was working a split shift, got home, turned on CNN, and saw what is officially considered the New Year.

 

When 2000 rolled around, I literally watched many countries:  Japan, Australia, China, many South Asian countries, the Middle East.

 

What I thought was great was seeing each culture freely express their traditions to the world.

 

Happy New Year

 

And Drink Lots of Beer...Or at least send Scott some lovin.

 

Janis Snugs You All

 

My parents were born at the latter half of the Great Depression.  My grandmother (dad's side) and I were really close.  When I was a kid, I used to walk to her apartment clear across town. Usually, it was where i needed a place to rest.  The mall and bowling alley (two of my favorite places growing up) were my destinations.

 

I'd spend at least an hour with her.  Sometimes, she would give me a soda.  Sometimes, she'd make me a hamburger.

 

She used to tell me stories about the Great Depression, and World War II.  She had photographs from the period.

 

I just discovered an amazing site.  The Library of Congress has colorized photographs from the period.

 

 

It's moving in the fact that it shows how people lived during an incredibly difficult time in our nation's history.  They didn't have cell phones.  They didn't have a television.  They didn't have a microwave.  No TV dinners.

 

Being that I'm a historian by education, it really was a scary time.  The US and the UK were EXTREMELY lucky on having FDR and Sir Winston Churchill, and King George V.  Italy, Japan, Germany, and the USSR had evil men.  El Duce was the weakest. Tojo as well.  The two monsters of course were Hitler and Stalin.

 

Both men were brilliant men, but totally sick.  Hitler was a failed artist.  The best description I've ever heard of him was said by Professor Donald Pryce, who taught World War II history at USD:

 

"Adolf Hitler's canvas was the world.  He painted his vision of the world on it."

 

Stalin was one of those allies of convenience.  Yet, he was more evil than Hitler, in my opinion.  Yes, Hitler wanted to wipe the Jewish community off the face of the earth.  His eternal damnation is well deserved.

 

Everyone knew how evil Hitler was.  But people forget that Stalin had 20 million of his own people killed during his rule of Russia.

 

I'm glad we got lucky with having FDR (who besides JFK and Abraham Lincoln who are heroes of mine).

 

 

Today is the sixty-fourth anniverssary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.  It was the day that led to the United States in an active part of World War II (although, we were smuggling supplies to the British for months.)

 

Honor those who perished on that day.

I watched a documentary today about the "Magic Bullet Theory" concerning the assassination of JFK.

 

Forty-two years ago, I personally think (even though I was not even a twinkle in my parents' eyes), one of the greatest tragedies in US history occurred.

 

This was a good man cut down because of he had a great agenda for our nation.

 

Why has this case been so compelling over the years?  Simple.  Everyone loved John and Jackie.  But appearantly, some people didn't like him.

 

I personally think the Warren Report is garbage.  The documentary I saw today was profound.

 

Some Australians took many weeks to reconstruct the event.  They had actual bullets from the original lot that Oswald used.  They had a gun from the period.  They made models that were physically accurate.  A sharpshooter managed to make the "magic shot", except..

 

The velocity of the bullet slowed down immensely.  It didn't shatter "Connelly's" wrist, and it bounced off of "Connelly's" thigh.

 

They took the evidence to a doctor who did an autopsy.  He didn't know what the case was about.  He concluded that there were six wounds (entrance to Kennedy, exit, Connelly's back, chest, wrist entrance, wrist exit), but concluded there was no seventh wound (Connelly's thigh.)

 

When he found out what he just wrote an autopsy report about, he said that there had to be a second gunman.

 

I am on the conspiracy side of this issue.  I personally think LBJ was involved.  My opinion.

 

Fact remains, one of the greatest men in our history was murdered.

 

Niuff said.

 

 

If you are able on this day of November 11, 2005, at 11:AM, please take a moment of silence and listen to the twenty-one gun salute, think about all the soldiers, from The Revolutionary War, to the current war on terror.  Think of those who have died.  Think of those who returned home broken, both mentally and physically.  Think of those who are currently serving our country.

 

Perhaps my most moving  memory of Armistice Day, surprisingly was not after September 11.  You'd think it would be, but it wasn't.  It was the day that I was building the portion of my website about visiting Versailles. (now defunct, I'm afraid.. ).  But i will share the memories here, because it is the seventh anniversary of it.

 

Back in September of 1998, I made my first international trip to Europe.  I spent ten days in Great Britain, and three days in Paris.

 

My lone real day of exploring Paris took about five hours total to do, but it was worth it.  Approximately seven miles southwest of Paris proper, is a hamlet named Versailles.  The significance of Versailles is firstly, the greatest king of France, Louis XIV (The Sun King), hated Paris.  the Louvre (yes, the home of Mona Lisa) was the palace before then.  But Louis loved his litle hunting lodge in Versailles, and turned it into something so breathtaking, even the the three HOURS I spent there, I only saw a small bit.

 

Now the Hall of Mirrors is worth noting.  It has been the site for hundreds of years to end European wars.  The hall is massive.  Louis could have five thousand people nightly there at a ball just to kiss his butt.  It's so lavish.  I can understand why it was chosen to end wars.

 

Well, the war that this day is concerned with is, The Great War, or World War I.  The significance is huge.  It is where the Treaty of Versailles was signed on November 11, 1918 at 11AM.  The reason why this is important is because of the following:  (I'm in history teacher mode, so bear with me)

 

1).  The demands on Germany were so harsh, that had World War II not happened, it would have taken up to 1975 for them to repay all the countries they invaded (includes interest).

 

2).  It really is the start of the Great Depression, because, IMHO, since Germany's economy went to hell ten years before it hit the world as a whole (1923, a loaf of bread was around 1 billion Deutsch Marks).  Which allowed a charismatic Austrian named Adolf Hitler, who in that same year was jailed for trying to start a revolution.  He became smart, and worked his way up to where he became Chancellor in 1933.  We know what happened after that.

 

3).  Many Central European countries (Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia, to name a few) basically used to be a part of what was once known as the Austria-Hungary Empire.  And it boiled down to, since certain groups of people spoke a common language, they got lumped into a geographical region.  Now fifteen years ago, we witnessed the breakup of Yugoslavia and Czechoslavakia break into several nations.  And 1999, we had the Kosovo incident.

 

4).  The Ottoman Empire.  Hoo boy.  The current problem.  Same as above.  It was broken up, and similar countries were made:  Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebannon, etc.  Then a few years later, oil was discovered.  1948 saw the birth of Isreal.  Then, old debts from thousands of years ago festered.

 

I've not meant for this to turn into a hard, somber post, but more of an educational post.  I honestly wish people would research some of this stuff.  There was a treaty signed eighty-seven years ago that helped shaped what is going on now.  They thought it best to put people who were living in the same region (read: southeast Europe, Middle East) into the same country, drew their borders, and even created a failed international body called the League of Nations.  In many ways, I personally think the United Nations (and I've toured the building), is following the path of it's predecessor created by Woodrow Wilson.

 

Good intentions, but people and nationalities are just that.  We all fight for our own self-interest, whether it be national, state, local, or personal.  Survival is everyone's ultimate goal.  Human beings, just like all other animals, want to survive.  Unfortunately, we humans have ways to destroy pretty much everything.

 

Sorry if this ended up deep, but I needed to vent it out.  I'd love to see us all get along, but it'll never happen.  We have our cliques on all levels.  The higher up the food chain the more dangerous the power.

 

Nuff said.