Category:
General musings
We’re back from Gettysburg. The weekend was totally packed, and I’m pretty exhausted.
I saw something yesterday that absolutely blew me away. At the same time, knowing him, it didn’t come as any huge surprise. We had a bit of free time (not much), and I wanted to see the tree cutting in the Slaughter Pen area with my own eyes, so we did a quick drive through there (more on that in a moment). On our way to meet the gang for the next tour, I had to drive through the Stony Hill area of the Wheatfield fight, and there, leading a busload of tourists, was Ed Bearss, a week to the day after he lost his beloved wife Margie. On one hand, it was kind of amazing to see that he was back in the saddle again so soon after Margie’s death, but on another hand, it came as no surprise at all. Ed’s not the sort to back out of an obligation, and it probably gives him solace to be off doing what he loves. It was great to see him. I wish I’d been able to talk to him, but I was in a hurry, and talking to him would have required me to interrupt his tour, which I wasn’t about to do.
The tree cutting is really remarkable. The whole area around the Slyder farm has been cleared out, all the way to the site of the Timbers farm. I’d only ever seen the Timbers farm site once before, with a guide, and it was a terribly tangled, brambly mess buried in deep woods. It would have been extremely difficult to find without a guide, and I doubt I ever could have found it again on my own. However, it’s now out in the open. We covered the entire advance of the 1st Texas from its starting point to Devil’s Den. The vast majority of it would have been through thick woods until recently. It’s now all out in the open, and you can see terrain features that you would not otherwise have ever been able to see. I came away with a new respect for the ordeal faced by those Texans that day–they marched nearly 2 miles under fire and then had to fight their way up a steep ridge in beastly heat and humidity.
The National Park Service has also re-planted many of the historic orchards that are long gone. So, even though non-historic trees are being removed, historic stands of trees are being re-planted, which is great.
At the same time, though, the Service’s budget keeps getting cut and cut and cut, so there’s no money for routine maintenance. The Triangular Field, which has been been mowed a couple of times per year historically, was not mowed at all this year. Why? No money. The result is that there are several cedar trees growing in the field that are already several feet high, and if that area doesn’t get some attention soon, it will be lost to the trees again.
I also saw two monuments that I never knew existed. One is on the Chambersburg Pike, west of Wisler’s Ridge (and the first shot marker), which commemorates the attempted stand by the rookies of the 26th Pennsylvania Emergency Volunteer Infantry against Jubal Early’s veterans on June 26, 1863. I’d driven by it dozens of times, but never noticed it before. The other is the regimental monument to the 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry. It’s an interesting monument for a couple of reasons: the 21st Pennsylvania did not muster in until August, AFTER the battle. However, Co. B of this regiment consisted of Adams County men formed in a militia cavalry company commanded by Capt. Robert Bell (called, not surprisingly, Bell’s Cavalry), and one of Bell’s men, George Sandoe, was the first Union soldier killed on the battlefield at Gettysburg when he was shot by a member of Lige White’s cavalry on June 26. I think it’s the only regimental monument there to a regiment that did not exist at the time of the battle, and I found that quite interesting indeed.
The upshot of it is that I’m beat tonight, and have a lot packed into four days this week before we go to North Carolina for a wedding next weekend.
Scridb filter
I’ve not been shy about stating my opinions about copyright protection issues, generally in the context of Google’s scheme to engage in copyright infringement on an unprecedented scale.
Many of you are familiar with the site YouTube, where people can post videos on the Internet and where they can be downloaded for free. YouTube is coming under increasing scrutiny due to copyright infringement concerns. While the networks haven’t gone after it yet, that day will come, probably much sooner than later. Here’s an article that appeared on CNet earlier this week:
Another Internet research firm has predicted doom for YouTube’s business model.
Copyright issues that have plagued video-sharing site YouTube since its official launch almost a year ago will mean that “YouTube will get sued. And it will lose,” wrote Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler, analysts for Forrester Research, on a blog posted last week.
Lawsuits will trigger a chain reaction, according to the analysts, in which YouTube will be forced to remove all copyrighted material–and that means excising most of the professionally made content. What’s left will leave YouTube with videos that are “a lot less interesting,” said the Forrester analysts.
YouTube representatives did not respond to an interview request.
The Forrester opinion comes three months after research firm IDC came to a similar conclusion and less than a week after HDNet founder Mark Cuban told a group of advertisers that “only a moron would buy YouTube.” Both Forrester and IDC research companies argue that YouTube will face the same battle fought and lost by file-sharing site Napster.
In a now-famous court case, Napster argued unsuccessfully that it wasn’t responsible for people misusing its file-sharing system to steal music.
YouTube says much the same thing. Most of the material on YouTube is homemade, meaning that the video’s creator is the same person who posts it to the site. However, some YouTube fans violate copyright law by sharing video of copyright material from movies, music videos and TV shows.
YouTube executives immediately pull down any clip once a copyright violation is brought to their attention. The company, which sees more than 16 million visitors per month, is also creating technology that will help identify and block pirated material.
San Mateo, Calif.-based YouTube has proven that it’s not at odds with some of the most influential entertainment companies by cutting marketing and advertising deals with the likes of Warner Music and NBC.
But that won’t be enough, said Forrester.
“You may tell me that companies like Warner Music are happy to work with YouTube, just as Bertelsmann was willing to work with Napster,” the analysts wrote. “But for every company that wants to do a Warner-type deal, there will be others like Universal that won’t stand for it.
“It only takes one unhappy media company–Disney, Sony, CBS or News Corp. for example–to force the company’s hand. And the cases on this point, from Napster to Grokster at the Supreme Court, are clear.”
Here’s a link to the Grokster decision, handed down earlier this year by the United States Supreme Court. In Grokster, the Court addressed a challenge to the system of downloadable file-sharing of copyrighted music and film files on a peer-to-peer network. These ubiquitous networks have led to a proliferation of copyright infringement by permitting the distribution of copyrighted material for free. In short, the complaint against Grokster and its kind is that the copyrighted material is distributed for free, with no compensation to either the artist of the record company.
The U. S. Supreme Court found that “the unlawful objective is unmistakable,†and held that “one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties. We are, of course, mindful of the need to keep from trenching on regular commerce or discouraging the development of technologies with lawful and unlawful potential. Accordingly, just as Sony did not find intentional inducement despite the knowledge of the VCR manufacturer that its device could be used to infringe, 464 U.S. at 439, n. 19, mere knowledge of infringing potential or of actual infringing uses would not be enough here to subject a distributor to liability. Nor would ordinary acts incident to product distribution, such as offering customers technical support or product updates, support liability in themselves. The inducement rule, instead, premises liability on purposeful, culpable expression and conduct, and thus does nothing to compromise legitimate commerce or discourage innovation having a lawful promise.â€
There’s not much doubt in my mind that the same thing will hapen to YouTube if and when there is a challenge. And that day will come, probably much sooner than later.
My point in raising all of this is that as someone who is intensely worried about protection of my intellectual property rights, I’m glad to see that the tide seems to be shifting a bit in favor of the owners of intellectual property. I will be waiting to see what the outcome of the Google litigation is, but I am very hopeful that Google will lose and the intellectual property rights of authors and artists will be further protected, even in this digital age.
Not surprisingly, by the way, Google is apparently trying to acquire YouTube.
Scridb filterThe ONLY thing sweeter than beating the Dullass Cowboys is beating the Dullass Cowboys AND completely shutting down big-mouth Terrell Owens and driving him to intense frustration, so much so that he was screaming at people on the sidelines.
The Eagles are 4-1 and in undisputed possession of first place in the NFC East. Life is good.
Scridb filterHere’s a prime example of political correctness run amok:
From the October 4 issue of the Tennessean newspaper:
Rebel flag, guns not wanted at battle event
Franklin officials cite safety and sensitivity
By KEVIN WALTERS
Staff Writer
FRANKLIN — A Confederate battle flag and the crack of rifle fire were two of the sights and sounds Civil War soldiers faced 140 years ago.
Yet top Franklin officials contend those things, each fraught with modern symbolism and conflicts, should not be present during a Nov. 30 ceremony to commemorate those killed during the 1864 Battle of Franklin.
Mayor Tom Miller is urging that a color guard planned for the event not fly the Confederate flag. Police Chief Jackie Moore wants re-enactors to keep their rifles away from the ceremony.
“In the strongest terms possible, let me suggest that flag not appear,” Miller told officials Monday night during a committee meeting to approve funding for the event.
Afterward, Miller acknowledged he might face criticism.
But he said he wants to avoid controversy that might come from flying the flag. Moore said he wants to keep rifles away because of security issues. “I do have serious concerns about the safety and our being able as a police department to vouch that firearms used and borne in this event are safe,” Moore said. While both men say they want to avoid conflicts, their stances have raised thorny issues about race and history.
Some say flag simply reflects history
A leading advocate for battlefield preservation, Miller stressed that the flag doesn’t carry any baggage with him personally, but that others might feel differently.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” said Miller about the Confederate flag. “I accept it for what it is. It’s a historic emblem. But to a lot of people, it is an anathema. And we don’t need anything that could potentially polarize our community like that could.”
Miller’s stance drew immediate support from the Rev. Denny Denson, an African-American pastor who believes the planned event would garner little support from black Franklin residents.
“I agree with him totally,” Denson said. “The Civil War means one thing to the majority culture. It means another thing to African-Americans.”
Plans call for members of the Huntsville, Ala.-based Olde Towne Brass band to divide its 14 members into two bands dressed in Union and Confederate uniforms and serenade the crowd gathered in Franklin’s downtown square with songs popular in that era.
They would unite and play American anthems while the Confederate flag is lowered and the American flag raised, all by the light of 10,000 votive candles.
Bob Baccus said his band stays out of politics, doesn’t fly flags and wants to educate.
“We try to be historically correct in everything we do and everything we play. We try to stay out of politics,” Baccus said. “We want to play the music the way it was played 150 years ago. We try to educate our audience.”
Black and white members of Franklin’s Battlefield Task Force that designed the ceremony, as well as re-enactors, politicians and others, fired back at Miller’s suggestion to keep flags away.
“If you’re doing a ceremony where you’re honoring men of two sides and you do away or ban the symbolism of one side, what does that do?” asked committee member Robin Hood, who said he dislikes how the Confederate flag has been used by hate groups who have “sort of kidnapped that flag” for their own uses. But erasing it from the event will cause only more problems, he feared.
Pearl Bransford, a longtime resident and committee member, supported the group’s plan because it presents both sides of the fighting — and is a reminder of that war’s hard-won, bloody lessons.
“Don’t be afraid to talk about the Civil War,” said Bransford, who is black. “It had a lot of ugliness in it. Out of that ugliness came freed people. There were people in bondage. … The Civil War freed me and my people. If it wasn’t for the Civil War, I would be somebody’s slave. And those days are over.”
Meanwhile, Miller’s comments left Williamson County Civil War re-enactor Ronny Mangrum, 49, outraged enough to reconsider his donation to help the city buy battlefield land in Franklin. Mangrum is known by many for his barefoot marches from Columbia to Franklin on the anniversary of the battle.
“How can we properly honor these men who fought and died for this flag because we’re not allowed to carry one today because of political correctness?” Mangrum said. “My God, what in the world is happening to our town?”
Chief cites safety issues
Moore’s problem with the events stems from the historically accurate guns that might be brought to the event by re-enactors and enthusiasts.
“My concern is for the safety of the re-enactors and anyone else who happens to be in attendance,” Moore said. “Weapons, no matter what age they are, were designed in such a manner as to kill human beings.”
Instead of re-enactors carrying rifles or firearms during the ceremony, Moore wants attendees to stack the arms beforehand outside the public square.
Moore’s recommendation left Franklin Alderman Dana McLendon incredulous. “They’re six feet long and 200 years old,” exclaimed McLendon. “We’re not talking about people walking around with Glocks and AK (47)s.” Final approval for funding the ceremony, as well as a permit to hold it, has to be given by city officials.
These discussions may be inevitable as Franklin searches for new ways to mark the 1864 battle.
“The first year of trying to get the elephant up and dancing there are going to be these kinds of problems,” said Joe Smyth, president of the nonprofit Save the Franklin Battlefield Inc.
“This is a matter of working it out with officials and staff. I would expect these issues.”
Let’s recap, shall we? There’s an event to commemorate a Civil War battle on the actual battlefield. The battle was an especially bloody affair wherein fifteen Confederate generals were casualties, including six killed, and was a critical moment in Hood’s 1864 Tennessee Campaign. Yet, they want to prohibit the Confederate battle flag and they want the re-enactors to stack their weapons and not carry them.
Good grief. Talk about political correctness run amok…..
Will it ever end?
Scridb filterSince posting about the unscientific poll on favorite Civil War battlefields on the CWDG web site last night, we’ve had 15 more votes, presumably from some of you.
Here are the updated results, as of 7:51 PM on Monday, October 2:
Antietam 9.64% (8)
Chancellorsville 1.20% (1)
Chickamauga 9.64% (8)
Fredericksburg 3.61% (3)
Gettysburg 55.42% (46)
Petersburg 1.20% (1)
Richmond 0.00% (0)
Shiloh 3.61% (3)
Vicksburg 3.61% (3)
Other–tell us what! 12.05% (10)
Interestingly, the percentage of folks voting for Gettysburg has dropped slightly, but it still remains the overwhelming favorite. I doubt that will change.
I will continue to update the results here until we close the poll in a few weeks.
Scridb filterWe regularly run polls on the Civil War Discussion Group. We probably don’t change them often enough, but we come up with some interesting and sometimes unexpected results. Other results are precisely what I expect. What makes these unscientific polls interesting is seeing the results that come in and the comparing them wtih my expectations. Some are easier to predict than others.
The current poll, which has now been up for about a month, is completely unscientific. The question is a simple one: what’s your favorite Civil War battlefield. There are a number of specific choices, and there is also one that says “other”. Anyone wanting to respond to the poll simply has to click the button and the vote registers. To date, we’ve had 68 votes, which is actually significantly less than what I would expected when we posted the poll. Here are the results to date:
Antietam 10.29% (7)
Chancellorsville 1.47% (1)
Chickamauga 8.82% (6)
Fredericksburg 2.94% (2)
Gettysburg 61.76% (42)
Petersburg 1.47% (1)
Richmond 0.00% (0)
Shiloh 2.94% (2)
Vicksburg 2.94% (2)
Other–tell us what! 7.35% (5)
42 of the 68 votes cast to date have been for Gettysburg. Nothing else even remotely comes close. The next highest number of votes is 7. I fully expected Gettysburg to come out on top, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so lopsided. I was the vote for Chancellorsville, by the way.
So, even though it’s an informal poll, it still substantiates what I’ve always know, which is that Gettysburg seems to occupy a disproportionate place in the hearts and minds of Civil War afficionados. I have always believed that the emphasis of Gettysburg is misdirected, and that there were other battles that were just as important, if not more so. However, few seem capture the public’s attention with anything even remotely resembling the fascination with which people hold Gettysburg.
Scridb filterMost of my regular readers know that I was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. I grew up a fanatical fan of Philadelphia’s professional sports teams. I stopped caring about the NBA when Julius Erving retired, and still don’t care. However, I remain a die-hard, life-long fan of the Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers. Every time my team has a game, I always skip my casino games at DaisySlots and start betting on my team to win or lose. I don’t really care.
For the City of Philadelphia, 1980 was nearly the greatest in the history of professional sports. We came within a hair of having all four professional championships in Philadelphia that year. The Phillies won the the World Series. The 1980-81 Eagles lost in the Super Bowl. The 1980 Flyers had a still unequalled 35 game unbeaten streak that year, and lost to the Islanders in the Stanley Cup finals. The 76’ers lost to the Lakers in the NBA finals in 1980. And, just for good measure, the University of Pennsylvania made it to the Final Four in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Unfortunately, rooting for Philadelphia’s professional sports franchises is an exercise in frustration. Although they have lost the Super Bowl twice during my life, the last time that the Eagles won an NFL championship was about three months before I was born in March 1961. The Flyers have won the Stanley Cup twice in my lifetime, but that was in 1974 and 1975. It’s been 31 years since the last time. The 76’ers won the NBA title in 1967 and 1983, but they also posted THE mark for futility in professional sports, going 9-73 in 1973.
The Phillies have been to the World Series five times (1915, 1950, 1980, 1983, and 1993) in the nearly 110 year history of the franchise. Their record is 1-4 in the Fall Classic. I was 19 when they won it all in 1980, something I will remember clearly for the rest of my life. It was one of the happiest moments of my young life. They have not been in post season play since the 1993 World Series.
Even though the only thing consistent about their play this year was their inconsistency, I genuinely believed that they had a real shot at making the playoffs this year as the National League wild card. They put on a concerted push during the second half of the season and were in the race until today, with a record of 85-76. That with crappy starting pitching and a lot of turmoil on the team, with wholesale changes being made mid-season. However, they have two of the finest young players in the game–Ryan Howard (58 HR’s and 149 RBI in his first full season in the majors) and Chase Utley (leads the NL in hits, hitting .312, and with his second straight season of 100+ RBI)–and an excellent 22 year old left handed starting pitching prospect named Cole Hamels.
However, the Phils were eliminated today. They now have no chance at all of making the post season, and their season ends tomorrow. This now makes 13 years since the last time that they competed in the post season. It’s going to be a long winter, yet another year of frustration and foiled hopes.
I think I will root for the Tigers to win it all this year. They’re a team largely built from within without much in the way of expensive free agents, and they’ve had quite a run; two or three years ago, they were, without doubt, THE worst team in the major leagues, and now they’ve won 95 games so far this year. And rooting for them is consistent with my policy of rooting for whoever plays the New York Yankees (sorry, Michael).
Nevertheless, it’s going to be another long and frustrating winter waiting for opening day and yet another chance to have my heart broken by this team that has broken it so many other times over the last 45 years.
Scridb filterThe Detroit metropolitan area is huge. So huge, in fact, that there are five different Civil War Roundtables, if you count the one in Ann Arbor. Months ago, I was invited to speak to the Israel B. Richardson CWRT, which is on the northeast side of town. The CWRT meets in a Barnes & Noble store, and it’s the largest B&N store I’ve ever seen. I’m told that it used to be bowling alley.
I agreed to accept the invitation largely because Susan’s got family in the Detroit suburbs. Her aunt and uncle live in Franklin township, and she has cousins in Bloomfield Hills. We figured we could tie a visit with them to the talk. Unfortunately, they weren’t available, and we couldn’t find anyone to watch the dogs. That meant driving 4+ hours to Detroit, doing the presentation and the book signing, and then driving 4+ hours home to Columbus, all in one evening. I had a 7:30 breakfast meeting yesterday, so it was a VERY long day.
However, there were about 75 people in attendance, and the B&N customer relations person did a fabulous job of it. She had multiple copies of all of my books but one there. There were probably 40 copies of the Stuart’s Ride book, and I signed about 30 books over the course of the signing. One fellow who came arrived toting his copies of all twelve of my books for me to sign, which I did before the start of the meeting. Paul Taylor, who regularly comments here on the blog, also came. It was really nice getting to meet him in person.
I did my Stuart’s Ride talk for them. I enjoy that talk because I can do it almost completely without notes. I use the notes only to read the operative orders for the raid, and then work off the cuff. I get a charge out of that, and the audiences always seem amazed that I can do a talk like that without notes. From my perspective, the interesting thing is that because I do it off the cuff, no two talks are ever the same. That helps me to keep it fresh and keeps it interesting for me.
We finally got home after 1 AM. Like I said, it made for an incredibly long day. Fortunately, Susan came with me, so that we could split up the driving. Unfortunately, the consequence is that we’re both exhausted tonight. I could use some sleep.
Scridb filter144 years ago today, September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam was fought. In a day-long slugging match along the banks of Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, that marked the climax of the first Confederate invasion of the North, the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia fought the bloodiest single day of the war. Lee’s army, outnumbered nearly two to one, held against McClellan’s assaults for an entire day. At the end of the day, 12,401 (2,108 killed, 9,540 wounded, 753 captured/missing) Union soldiers, and 10,316 (1,546 killed, 7,752 wounded, 1,018 captured/missing) Confederate soldiers–nearly 23,000 in all–were casualties. Lee waited for McClellan to attack him again on September 18, but McClellan had had enough. Finally, on September 19, Lee retreated back across the Potomac to the safety of Virginia. The first invasion of the North was over.
This post is dedicated to the memory of the soldiers who fought and died at Antietam. Their memory and their sacrifices are not forgotten.
Scridb filterI was going to bore you with my thoughts about how Skippy Bush has so horribly mismanaged things since 9/11, but then I found Keith Olbermann’s rant. Olbermann said it much better than I could ever hope to have done myself, so here are his words, which I wholeheartedly endorse:
Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.
All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and — as I discovered from those “missing posters” seared still into my soul — two more in the Towers.
And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.
I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are “soft,”or have “forgotten” the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.
However, of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast — of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds — none of us could have predicted this.
Five years later this space is still empty.
Five years later there is no memorial to the dead.
Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.
Five years later this country’s wound is still open.
Five years later this country’s mass grave is still unmarked.
Five years later this is still just a background for a photo-op.
It is beyond shameful.
At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial — barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field — Mr. Lincoln said, “we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.”
Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.
Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. “We cannot dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.” So we won’t.
Instead they bicker and buck pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they’re doing instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush, we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir, on these 16 empty acres. The terrorists are clearly, still winning.
And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation. There is its symbolism of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.
The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party — tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election — ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications — forgot that.
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation’s wounds, but to take political advantage.
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President — and those around him — did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, “bi-partisanship” meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the Vice President’s words yesterday, “validate the strategy of the terrorists.”
They promised protection, and then showed that to them “protection” meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.
The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had ‘something to do’ with 9/11 is “lying by implication.”
The impolite phrase is “impeachable offense.”
Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space, and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible for anything in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night?
A mini-series, created, influenced — possibly financed by — the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections? How dare you — or those around you — ever “spin” 9/11?
Just as the terrorists have succeeded — are still succeeding — as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero.
So, too, have they succeeded, and are still succeeding as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.
This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney’s continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things.
And long ago, a series called “The Twilight Zone” broadcast a riveting episode entitled “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street.”
In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm. Suddenly his car — and only his car — starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man’s lights go on. As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced. An “alien” is shot — but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help. The camera pulls back to a near-by hill, where two extra-terrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there’s no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and then, “they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it’s themselves.”
And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight: “The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men.
“For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own — for the children, and the children yet unborn.”
When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American…When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have “forgotten the lessons of 9/11″… look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.
Olbermann gave this speech at Ground Zero last night, and it appears on the MSNBC web site. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I’ve now pushed enough of my personal political views on you, so I will move on. Enough said.
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