Goldwater

Was cruising various blogs while taking a break from mowing and came across this site mentioned at Maggie's Farm: The Living Room Candidate with Presidential campaign commercials from 1952 through 2004. MF's post pointed out the Barry Goldwater ads from the 1964 election. In your heart, you know he's right (and well, he was).

It is worth a few minutes to mosey over there and watch a few of Senator Goldwater's ads and think about how they apply to us today and the perils we face.

In my reading pile, I have a copy of Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative and I am going to move it up in the queue and work on it some tomorrow after I get the yard finished.

While you are at Maggie's Farm, check the link to the hilarious Ikea ads too!

Heh

From Theo Spark's site, The Last of the Few:

I thought you would want to know about this e-mail virus. It appears to
affect those who were born prior to 1960.

Symptoms:
1. Causes you to send the same e-mail twice.
2. Causes you to send a blank e-mail!

Read the rest over at Theo's

Karma

Forgot to mention that I got a call today from a friend who said she just had to call me because she stopped to pick a lost dog up and was able to find her owner. The pooch was running loose on one of the downtown exits to Olympia and my friend pulled over and got the lost dog to come to her. She loaded her up and took her back to the office and started making phone calls. The number listed on her collar had been disconnected so she got creative and searched the state's email contact list and found someone with the same, unique last name who was related to the dog owner. Pooch and a very worried and grateful owner were soon reunited and everything was good.

She told me that she had heard the story about me rescuing Sage years ago from me or another friend at work and she just wanted to let me know that she was thinking of me when she saved that dog.

That totally made my day, heck, it totally makes my year.

RIP Harvey Korman

The world is a sadder place today with Mr. Korman gone. Mom sent the YouTube link below and I totally remember watching it as a kid and laughing so hard I couldn't breath. The look on Mr. Korman's face during the sketch is absolutely priceless. Rest well.

USMC

Saw this over at Theo's - awesome.

WW I Memorial

Just saw in the Daily Zero that they are going to recondition the World War I Memorial on the capitol grounds. It is truly a magnificent display ( see the pics below) and I am glad they are going to clean it up - original color was a deep, rich, brown. It was dedicated on Memorial Day 1938 and cost $100,000. Read more here about the monument.

Memorial Day 2008

Made a trip to the various veteran's memorials today at the state capital and paid my respects. Lots of people there leaving flowers and notes for their loved ones. I took a few pictures:

World War II Monument

World War I Monument

World War II Monument


World War II Monument

Personal monument by base of stone next to World War II Monument

When I got home, I was curious about the USS New Orleans after seeing that small monument and wondered what happened on November 30, 1942.

The history of the USS New Orleans can be found on this WikiPedia page.

The USS New Orleans was at dock, without power, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, she also participated in the Battle of Coral Sea, The Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Extreme acts of heroism were performed by her crew in all battles. Here is some detail from the wiki page on Pearl Harbor:

Moored in Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941, New Orleans was taking power and light from the dock, her engines under repair. With yard power out during the attack, New Orleans' engineers fought to raise steam, working by flashlight, while on deck men fired on the Japanese attackers with rifles and pistols. The crew was force to break the locks on the ammunition ready boxes as the keys couldn't be located and because the ship was taking power from the dock the 5" 25 AA gun had to be aimed and fired manually. The gunners topside were ducking machine gun bullets and shrapnel, training their guns by sheer guts and sweat, they had no ammunition other than the few shells in their ready boxes. The ammunition hoists did not have power making it nearly impossible to get more ammunition topside to the gun crews. The 100lbs shells had to be pulled up the powerless hoists by ropes attached to their metal cases. Every man with no specific job at the moment formed ammunition lines to get the shells to the guns. A number of her crew were injured when a fragmentation bomb exploded close aboard. The New Orleans suffered no severe damage during the attack.

The picture below is from the WikiPedia page with information on the Battle of Tassafaronga that took place on November 30, 1942. The WHOLE front 1/4 of the ship (150 feet long) was blown off by a torpedo.

With the repaired carrier, New Orleans sailed to Fiji early in November, then proceeded to Espiritu Santo, arriving 27 November to return to action in the Solomons. With four other cruisers and six destroyers, she fought in the Battle of Tassafaronga on the night of 30 November, engaging a Japanese destroyer-transport force. When flagship Minneapolis was struck by two torpedoes, New Orleans, next astern, was forced to sheer away to avoid collision, and ran into the track of a torpedo, detonating the ship's forward munition magazines and gasoline tanks which severed 150ft of her bow just forward of turret #2. The severed bow, including turret #1, swung around the port side and punched several holes in the length of New Orleans' hull before sinking at the stern and damaging the port inboard propeller. A fourth of her length gone, slowed to 2 knots (4 km/h), and blazing forward, the ship fought for survival. Individual acts of heroism and self-sacrifice along with skillful seamanship kept her afloat, and under her own power she entered Tulagi Harbor near daybreak 1 December. Camouflaging their ship from air attack, the crew jury-rigged a bow of coconut logs, and worked fervorously clearing away wreckage. 11 days later, New Orleans sailed to replace a damaged propeller and make other repairs including the installment of a temporary stub bow in Sydney, Australia, arriving 24 December. On 7 March 1943, she was underway for Puget Sound Navy Yard, where a new bow was fitted, interestingly enough with the use of Minneapolis's #1 Turret and all battle damage repaired as well as a major refit and overhaul. The Battle of Tassafaronga, although being a tactical victory for the Japanese, it was a strategic victory for the United States as it was the last effort the Tokyo Express made to resupply their troops on Guadalcanal.

I wept when I saw the little monument today and was almost overcome when I saw the families putting flowers down next to the personalized bricks that surround the various displays. The lone gentleman in the long coat, white hat and cane could be my grandfather's twin brother - when I first saw him I had to do a double-take. I watched him slowly walk around the monument and I tried to comprehend what he was remembering and thinking of - life, war, family, friends, love - and the enormity of it all had me gibbering like a little baby with tears running down my face.

I don't even think I could ever say enough to express the gratitude and respect I feel for these men and women who have served and those who gave it all. To the men like the old gentleman in the overcoat and to my grandfather who flew a B-29 in the Pacific who spend this day remembering their lost friends, brothers, sisters and loved ones - Thank You and God Bless you.