Sunday, July 31, 2005
Comeuppance
Helen Thomas, perhaps the most noxious member of the White House press corps, gets a taste of her own medicine. Read all about it here.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Musician Humor
How do you get a guitarist to stop playing? Put sheet music in front of him.
How do you get a guitarist evicted from his apartment? Get his girlfriend fired.
How do you get a guitarist out of your apartment? Run out of weed.
What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians? A drummer.
How do you get a guitarist evicted from his apartment? Get his girlfriend fired.
How do you get a guitarist out of your apartment? Run out of weed.
What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians? A drummer.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Killing Their Own
"The head of the Algerian mission Ali Belaroussi and the diplomat Azzedine Belkadi, whose government is ruling in violation of God's will, were killed," said the Internet statement by the terrorist group Al-Qaida in Iraq.
Story here.
Sidenote: Notice that they consider the Algerian government to be a "violation of God's will". Can anyone seriously claim that the aim of these people is not to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate-nation, but to settle the Israeli-Palestinian dispute?
Story here.
Sidenote: Notice that they consider the Algerian government to be a "violation of God's will". Can anyone seriously claim that the aim of these people is not to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate-nation, but to settle the Israeli-Palestinian dispute?
Monday, July 25, 2005
Don't Touch My Bone!
This dog not only won't let you go near his bone; he won't even let himself go near his own bone. Must see: Download donttouchmybone.wmv
(Shame on you for thinking this by-line was some kind of phallic reference! Get your minds out of the gutter!)
(Shame on you for thinking this by-line was some kind of phallic reference! Get your minds out of the gutter!)
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Gold Sparkle Gives A Great Buzz....
...But you probably should sneak it out before you use it. This fellow obviously skipped step one and went right onto step two....sniffing it.
I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation.
I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Hockey Is Back
But how much has been lost?
I'm a huge hockey fan, but I'm not sure hockey will ever recover its momentum. For one brief, shining moment, hockey had an opportunity to join the ranks of the other major sports in the States: baseball, basketball, football. The year was 1994, and the Rangers, killing off 54 years of futility in a dramatic, seventh game win, finally won the Stanley Cup. It was a momentous occasion, not just for the Rangers, but for the game itself. Think of it: the most high profile NHL team in hockey wins the Stanley Cup in the media capital of the world. You had one of the biggest marquee names in the game, Mark Messier, the captain. You had two high profile, telegenic Americans, Mike Richter and Brian Leetch. And you had Adam Graves, the epitome of heart and soul, less talented than ambitious, and Alexei Kovalev, the fleet, fast, highly-skilled, and more than little nasty. And what happened after the Rangers won the Stanley Cup? The league called a lock-out and delayed the next season for three months.
Last year, professional hockey didn't have half as good a season as they had in '94; the product was just not as good. But the league called for a lockout anyway. Die-hard fans like me will be back. But what of the casual fans, the sports fans that watch all sports, albeit in more of a shallow manner. Will they be back?
There are some positives, mind you. The elimination of the red line will open up the game; no more trap defenses and "dump and grind" hockey. I'm not sure I like the "no-touch" icing rule they're seeking to implement, but it will probably cut down on injuries. I'm not sure moving the net back two feet towards the boards is a good thing. But at least it will be a different game, a more wide open game. The product, in all likelihood, will be better. But what if no one is watching?
I'm a huge hockey fan, but I'm not sure hockey will ever recover its momentum. For one brief, shining moment, hockey had an opportunity to join the ranks of the other major sports in the States: baseball, basketball, football. The year was 1994, and the Rangers, killing off 54 years of futility in a dramatic, seventh game win, finally won the Stanley Cup. It was a momentous occasion, not just for the Rangers, but for the game itself. Think of it: the most high profile NHL team in hockey wins the Stanley Cup in the media capital of the world. You had one of the biggest marquee names in the game, Mark Messier, the captain. You had two high profile, telegenic Americans, Mike Richter and Brian Leetch. And you had Adam Graves, the epitome of heart and soul, less talented than ambitious, and Alexei Kovalev, the fleet, fast, highly-skilled, and more than little nasty. And what happened after the Rangers won the Stanley Cup? The league called a lock-out and delayed the next season for three months.
Last year, professional hockey didn't have half as good a season as they had in '94; the product was just not as good. But the league called for a lockout anyway. Die-hard fans like me will be back. But what of the casual fans, the sports fans that watch all sports, albeit in more of a shallow manner. Will they be back?
There are some positives, mind you. The elimination of the red line will open up the game; no more trap defenses and "dump and grind" hockey. I'm not sure I like the "no-touch" icing rule they're seeking to implement, but it will probably cut down on injuries. I'm not sure moving the net back two feet towards the boards is a good thing. But at least it will be a different game, a more wide open game. The product, in all likelihood, will be better. But what if no one is watching?
Friday, July 22, 2005
Quote Of The Day
"Some of the people tell you Islam is a religion of peace because they think that then you'll want to convert. But you cannot possibly say Islam is a religion of peace; jihad is not an internal struggle.
We can fight wherever, in Iraq, London, Paris, or Berlin. There is no such thing as innocents. The idea of the Islamic state is terror against anyone who doesn't support Islamic ideology."
- Khalid Kelly, British resident and follower of radical cleric Abu Osama
My question: Should we take him at face value?
We can fight wherever, in Iraq, London, Paris, or Berlin. There is no such thing as innocents. The idea of the Islamic state is terror against anyone who doesn't support Islamic ideology."
- Khalid Kelly, British resident and follower of radical cleric Abu Osama
My question: Should we take him at face value?
Kennedy At Gitmo
Ted Kennedy and Daniel Akaka, a Democratic Senator from Hawaii, paid the troops at Guantanamo Bay a visit this past week. They didn't get a very nice reception. Read up.
No word yet on Dick Durbin's plans to visit.
No word yet on Dick Durbin's plans to visit.
Rice In Lebanon
Regular readers of this blog are well acquainted with my obsessive observation of what is going on in Lebanon. Well, I think that Condoleeza Rice's visit to Beirut gives the democratic movement a tremendous psychological boost.
Already, Rice's tenure at State is turning out to be a momentous one. While I consider Colin Powell to be a great American, I don't think he was a particularly good Sec. of State; he got hoodwinked by the French on UN Resolution 1441, and he couldn't sell the obvious violations to the UN Security Council as a legitimate casus belli, even though they were being haughtily violated by Saddam. But Rice has shown tremendous courage, not only in going to Beirut, but also to Darfur, Sudan, the scene of the worst ongoing genocide in the world (at the moment). Members of her entourage were roughed up while in Khartoum, which prompted Rice to get very pissed. Good stuff. It's refreshing to see a Sec. of State with some teeth, and Rice isn't afraid to show them. As a bonus, liberal reporter Andrea Mitchell got dragged out unceremoniously when she shouted a politically incorrect question to the Sudanese President Ahmad al-Bashir. As a result of this experience, perhaps Mitchell will tell some of her cocktail circuit reporter buddies that, yes, true evil does exist in the world, and no, it's not the Bush Administration. She might get excommunicated for that, mind, but there's always hope.
Already, Rice's tenure at State is turning out to be a momentous one. While I consider Colin Powell to be a great American, I don't think he was a particularly good Sec. of State; he got hoodwinked by the French on UN Resolution 1441, and he couldn't sell the obvious violations to the UN Security Council as a legitimate casus belli, even though they were being haughtily violated by Saddam. But Rice has shown tremendous courage, not only in going to Beirut, but also to Darfur, Sudan, the scene of the worst ongoing genocide in the world (at the moment). Members of her entourage were roughed up while in Khartoum, which prompted Rice to get very pissed. Good stuff. It's refreshing to see a Sec. of State with some teeth, and Rice isn't afraid to show them. As a bonus, liberal reporter Andrea Mitchell got dragged out unceremoniously when she shouted a politically incorrect question to the Sudanese President Ahmad al-Bashir. As a result of this experience, perhaps Mitchell will tell some of her cocktail circuit reporter buddies that, yes, true evil does exist in the world, and no, it's not the Bush Administration. She might get excommunicated for that, mind, but there's always hope.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Dead Time
I'm about 40% of the way through Ron Chernow's epic biography on Alexander Hamilton. It has been a banner year for me in regards to reading. In the last eight months, I've been able to plow through a biography on Mozart written by Marcia Davenport in 1932 (which is, needless to say, out of print; my mother, a librarian, fished it out of a stack of books her library were in the process of disposing of. The mere act of disposing of any books must've caused her great consternation. But I digress...), His Excellency, George Washington by Joseph Ellis, John Adams by David McCullough, 1776 by David McCullough, Alexander Hamilton, American by Richard Brookhiser, and last but not least, Traveling Music, by my personal hero, Neil Peart. With the exception of the Brookhiser and Neil Peart book, almost all of these works clock in at approximately 700 pages, so I feel like I'm more than able to do some seriously heavy lifting, intellectually speaking.
Whilst it is true that the last five months have been ones of leisure for me, courtesy of a certain large financial institution's decision to give me an early retirement (ahem...), the reason for my fairly prodigious consumption of the printed word is because I've mastered the art of productive "dead time". What is "dead time"? Simple. It is the half an hour you wait for the subway to come, and the time that you're on the subway waiting for your stop. It is the time that you're waiting in the doctor or dentist office for your name to be called. It is the time in the waiting room of Mr. Goodwrench (muffler, $400). It is the time in Penn Station, waiting for your train to arrive so you can depart the dirty city. (An exercise I no longer have to endure, as per my departure from the Isle of Manhattan and the subsequent purchase of my first wholly owned motor vehicle.) It's being stuck on a trans-continental flight. And it is riding on a bus throughout Central America for hours on end on roads that make the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway seem blissfully smooth. That's "dead time". We're all afflicted with it, be it waiting in DMV, or taking a bus back from college. How we use that "dead time" is a pretty important question, because I'd surmise that most people either play games on their cell phone, listen to their IPod, or sit around ruminating about how sh*tty it is to be so bored for so long. I don't know how anyone else does it, but I find that reading is the all-purpose elixir to the elimination of boredom, and never do I read more than when I have no choice but to kill a half an hour, two, three, five, or seven hours. Granted, I don't read for hours on end without a break. But having a book, particularly a dense one, alleviates a tremendous amount of boredom and stress.
A former girlfriend of mine of dubious sanity used to call me just to loudly complain about her delays on the bus, train, etc. My first reaction when this started happening was that she obviously was incapable of living in New York City. My second reaction was to tell her not to call me anymore, and to read a book if she hated waiting for mass transit. After all, I was victimized by the crappy service of the MTA as much as she was. She didn't take my advice, so I fired her*.
She didn't use her "dead time" wisely.
*To the members of the fairer sex, be assured that there were much more extenuating circumstances to her departure than her poor use of "dead time". Please pardon any perceived undertones of chauvinism, for they were not intended to convey such.
Whilst it is true that the last five months have been ones of leisure for me, courtesy of a certain large financial institution's decision to give me an early retirement (ahem...), the reason for my fairly prodigious consumption of the printed word is because I've mastered the art of productive "dead time". What is "dead time"? Simple. It is the half an hour you wait for the subway to come, and the time that you're on the subway waiting for your stop. It is the time that you're waiting in the doctor or dentist office for your name to be called. It is the time in the waiting room of Mr. Goodwrench (muffler, $400). It is the time in Penn Station, waiting for your train to arrive so you can depart the dirty city. (An exercise I no longer have to endure, as per my departure from the Isle of Manhattan and the subsequent purchase of my first wholly owned motor vehicle.) It's being stuck on a trans-continental flight. And it is riding on a bus throughout Central America for hours on end on roads that make the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway seem blissfully smooth. That's "dead time". We're all afflicted with it, be it waiting in DMV, or taking a bus back from college. How we use that "dead time" is a pretty important question, because I'd surmise that most people either play games on their cell phone, listen to their IPod, or sit around ruminating about how sh*tty it is to be so bored for so long. I don't know how anyone else does it, but I find that reading is the all-purpose elixir to the elimination of boredom, and never do I read more than when I have no choice but to kill a half an hour, two, three, five, or seven hours. Granted, I don't read for hours on end without a break. But having a book, particularly a dense one, alleviates a tremendous amount of boredom and stress.
A former girlfriend of mine of dubious sanity used to call me just to loudly complain about her delays on the bus, train, etc. My first reaction when this started happening was that she obviously was incapable of living in New York City. My second reaction was to tell her not to call me anymore, and to read a book if she hated waiting for mass transit. After all, I was victimized by the crappy service of the MTA as much as she was. She didn't take my advice, so I fired her*.
She didn't use her "dead time" wisely.
*To the members of the fairer sex, be assured that there were much more extenuating circumstances to her departure than her poor use of "dead time". Please pardon any perceived undertones of chauvinism, for they were not intended to convey such.
Rivington Street
The next time you're on the Lower East Side and you go by or walk down this street, you can take comfort in the knowledge that you know for whom this street is named. James Rivington was one of the major Revolutionary-era publishers in New York, as well as a bookseller. His paper, The Royal Gazette, was vehemently anti-independence and pro-Tory, at least on the surface. His print press building was ruined in 1775 by a mob of independence advocates, but he rebuilt and kept on churning out his paper when the British occupied New York City from 1777 on. His publication was filled with contempt and invective for the cause of American independence. Post 1783, the first year of genuine independence, his paper, with its pro-Tory views, ceased to exist for lack of circulation. Rivington spent the rest of his days living at subsistence level. What wasn't known during the time that Rivington was publishing the Gazette was that Rivington was secretly using his status as an ardent Tory to glean important information about the manoeuvres of the British army and, specifically, their navy. He would communicate this information within the bookcovers of books he sold to undercover patriots. After the war, Washington, in New York for a farewell party his officers held for him at Faunces Tavern, paid Rivington a visit. Adjourning to a back room of Rivington's bookseller business, Washington secretly rewarded Rivington with several gold pieces. Rivington had stolen the British naval fleet's signal book and successfully communicated it to the Americans; this broken code contributed in no small part to the American victory at Y0rktown
Rivington died in 1802, his great role in helping the cause of independence unknown to the larger masses.
Rivington died in 1802, his great role in helping the cause of independence unknown to the larger masses.
Operation COBRA
On July 25 of 1944, Allied ground forces under the command of Gen. Omar Bradley (who's quote regarding Gen. McArthur's stance on going to war with China over Korea was that it was "the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time" was pilfered by John Kerry last year...unattributed, might I add), bogged down in the countryside of Normandy, decided to end the slog with one big push. Bradley conceived of a "breakout" of Normandy, which would consist of using medium and heavy bombers, in concert with ground forces, to obliterate German resistance to the Allied advance once and for all. From June 4 to late July, Allied forces had been moving slow through Normandy, getting picked off at will by Germans who hid behind the massive hedgerows that ran parallel on both sides to a great many Normandy roads. The casualty rates were too high for the invasion to be successful, even after the initial landings in early June.
Employing heavy B-24s and B-17s, as well as medium B-26 bombers, Allied aircraft pounded the German line for days at a time. But a few things happened that didn't go according to plan: some bombers let their payload go too soon, and bombed the American lines. 100 GIs lost their lives to "friendly" bombing, 600 were injured. Lost in the bombing was Lt. Gen. Leslie McNair, the highest ranking officer in US history to ever lose his life to "friendly" fire.
Despite the losses, the bombing was successful, and American forces met diminished resistance going forward. The actions taken during Operation COBRA would be the reason behind the successful push to Paris, which was liberated in late August of 1944. Despite its success, Eisenhower was left bitter by the American casualties that the bombers inflicted, vowing never again to use heavy air bombardment in coordination with ground advancement in any future operations.
I bring up Operation COBRA for a couple of reasons. Pre-eminent British military historian John Keegan, through his research, has put casualty figures throughout ALL wars at or around 25%. Some have claimed that military casualties due to friendly fire run as high as 40% of all casualties inflicted. Whatever the number is, one salient truth holds firm: war is a dirty, deadly, and unpredictable business. Thucydides, whilst writing about the Peloponnesian Wars, once stated that, "...when a man comes face to face with his enemy, he rarely sees what he needs to see.." It was as true in 460 B.C. as it is today.
Much was made a few months back about the death of Pat Tillman, the professional football player who decided to foresake fame, fortune, and (relative) safety to join the US Army. That Tillman immediately advanced through the ranks to become a Ranger, one of the most elite units in the Army, was no surprise. Tillman subsequently lost his life in Afghanistan, the result of what has been designated as "friendly fire". Tillman's parents have been quite vocal in their anger over their contention that the military attempted to "whitewash" his death and make it appear more heroic than it really was. Understandably so. However, how he died, be it via enemy or friendly fire, is immaterial in the grand scheme of things. That he was in Afghanistan, with the Army Rangers....that was more than heroic enough.
Employing heavy B-24s and B-17s, as well as medium B-26 bombers, Allied aircraft pounded the German line for days at a time. But a few things happened that didn't go according to plan: some bombers let their payload go too soon, and bombed the American lines. 100 GIs lost their lives to "friendly" bombing, 600 were injured. Lost in the bombing was Lt. Gen. Leslie McNair, the highest ranking officer in US history to ever lose his life to "friendly" fire.
Despite the losses, the bombing was successful, and American forces met diminished resistance going forward. The actions taken during Operation COBRA would be the reason behind the successful push to Paris, which was liberated in late August of 1944. Despite its success, Eisenhower was left bitter by the American casualties that the bombers inflicted, vowing never again to use heavy air bombardment in coordination with ground advancement in any future operations.
I bring up Operation COBRA for a couple of reasons. Pre-eminent British military historian John Keegan, through his research, has put casualty figures throughout ALL wars at or around 25%. Some have claimed that military casualties due to friendly fire run as high as 40% of all casualties inflicted. Whatever the number is, one salient truth holds firm: war is a dirty, deadly, and unpredictable business. Thucydides, whilst writing about the Peloponnesian Wars, once stated that, "...when a man comes face to face with his enemy, he rarely sees what he needs to see.." It was as true in 460 B.C. as it is today.
Much was made a few months back about the death of Pat Tillman, the professional football player who decided to foresake fame, fortune, and (relative) safety to join the US Army. That Tillman immediately advanced through the ranks to become a Ranger, one of the most elite units in the Army, was no surprise. Tillman subsequently lost his life in Afghanistan, the result of what has been designated as "friendly fire". Tillman's parents have been quite vocal in their anger over their contention that the military attempted to "whitewash" his death and make it appear more heroic than it really was. Understandably so. However, how he died, be it via enemy or friendly fire, is immaterial in the grand scheme of things. That he was in Afghanistan, with the Army Rangers....that was more than heroic enough.
Scotty Gets Beamed Up
James "Scotty" Doohan, of "Star Trek" fame, has left us. Had an interesting life story as well, including participating in the storming of Juno Beach with Canadian forces on D-Day. Other famous people that were at D-Day include Charles Durnan and Yogi Berra.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Bush's SCOTUS Pick
Well, Bush zagged when everyone thought he'd zig. Good for him. I don't know much about Judge John Roberts, but let's get one thing clear: Bush owes nothing to the Senate Democrats as far as who he decides to pick for SCOTUS. It's his presidential prerogative, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, to choose who he feels is right for the position. The Democrats won't like it, but they're in no position to object; Bush won, Kerry lost, and to the victor go the spoils, amongst them the presidential right to pick the next Supreme Court justice. Additionally, if the Democratic minority in the Senate try to filibuster Roberts, they'll promptly have the filibuster taken away from them by the Republican Senate majority. Bush has all the cards. Not only that, but if the Democrats attempt to obstruct Roberts, they run the risk of appearing as bad faith actors.
Jokes About Liberals
Yeah...it's juvenile. But so damn what? They're funny, and they take the piss out of liberals. And to think that this guy writes for the Huffington Post!
A teaser:
How many islamic fundamentalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
ANSWER: Why do you think they would want light bulbs? This is what foments hate against the West.
A teaser:
How many islamic fundamentalists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
ANSWER: Why do you think they would want light bulbs? This is what foments hate against the West.
A Few Observations....
- Recently I've been listening to K-Rock, and I've noticed that in the last six or seven times that I've tuned in, the Run DMC version of "Walk This Way" has been on the air. I have no idea why this is making the playlist in such a heavy way, or why the Aerosmith version of the song isn't. For a while K-Rock was playing a pretty large dollop of rap, but they seem to have reverted to a more "retro" playlist. I thought and continue to think that the rap version of "Walk This Way" is a fun piece of music, but I'm not convinced it beats the original.
- I've also noticed that a lot of "glam rock" from the late 80's/early 90's is starting to make it onto the K-Rock playlist. Ratt's "Round and Round", Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood"...you get the idea. I've never been a huge fan of this genre of rock, as I found it to be a bit "dumbed down" and kind of appealed to the lowest common denominator, but fifteen years hence, it is kind of refreshing to hear. I will say this about a number of those bands: they had musicianship. Though their lyrics were the epitome if idiotic ("She's my cherry pie/cool drink of water/such a sweet surprise/tastes so good/brings a tear to your eye/sweet cherry pie!!!"), they always seem to have a hot sh*t guitar player who could really burn it up. Guitar solos seem to have gone terribly out of style the last decade, brought on in no small measure by the grunge movement (particularly Nirvana, where Kurt Cobain couldn't play a burning solo if he tried) and other neo-punk acts like Green Day. Mind you, this isn't a dig on either band, both of whom kick (or in the case of Nirvana, kicked) ass. But a good, raucous guitar solo in today's music seems to be non-existent. I'm sure times will change and they'll be back in style, and hopefully some new players will exhibit some originality, as opposed to the "glam" players back in the late 80's who all seemed to be copping Edward Van Halen licks, but without half as much verve or pinache, great though they were.
- In a similar vein, there seems to be a great deal of cultural regurgitation going on these days. From the remake of "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (renamed "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"), to the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie, to Broadway remakes of movies like "Steel Magnolias" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", I'm starting to wonder if there is either a dearth of originality or whether it is that the venture capitalists of the entertainment industry are more apt to back a proven concept, as opposed to a fresh, original play or movie. Being a money man (or woman) in the entertainment industry, be it on Broadway or in Hollywood, is a pretty risky proposition, so it is understandable that the venture capitalists behind these projects would want to bank on something with already proven appeal. However, we the ticket buying public are going to have to get used to seeing the same things over and over again. Culture is feeding on itself...yuck.
Anyway...that's it for the random thoughts.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Spot The Idiot
The Rev. Jesse Jackson is asked on Hannity and Colmes whether the evil of terrorism can be fought by other than military means, and gives this reply: ''Well, you know, we found an end to slavery, which is evil, without killing the slave masters."
Rev. Jackson must've forgotten about the Civil War, or before that, the violent abolitionist movement throughout Kansas and other western territories in the 1850's that claimed the lives of many slave masters, vis-a-vis people like John Brown who...uh....murdered them.
In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
Rev. Jackson must've forgotten about the Civil War, or before that, the violent abolitionist movement throughout Kansas and other western territories in the 1850's that claimed the lives of many slave masters, vis-a-vis people like John Brown who...uh....murdered them.
In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
Life....In A Nutshell
"Not getting killed is the key to a long-term, comprehensive benefits package!"
--A fireman friend of mine, who barely survived Tower 1 of the WTC falling on him
--A fireman friend of mine, who barely survived Tower 1 of the WTC falling on him
Friday, July 15, 2005
All Rock, No Action
From New York Times Op-Ed Page
By JEAN-CLAUDE SHANDA TONME
Published: July 15, 2005
Yaoundé, Cameroon
LIVE 8, that extraordinary media event that some people of good intentions in the West just orchestrated, would have left us Africans indifferent if we hadn't realized that it was an insult both to us and to common sense.
We have nothing against those who this month, in a stadium, a street, a park, in Berlin, London, Moscow, Philadelphia, gathered crowds and played guitar and talked about global poverty and aid for Africa. But we are troubled to think that they are so misguided about what Africa's real problem is, and dismayed by their willingness to propose solutions on our behalf.
We Africans know what the problem is, and no one else should speak in our name. Africa has men of letters and science, great thinkers and stifled geniuses who at the risk of torture rise up to declare the truth and demand liberty.
Don't insult Africa, this continent so rich yet so badly led. Instead, insult its leaders, who have ruined everything. Our anger is all the greater because despite all the presidents for life, despite all the evidence of genocide, we didn't hear anyone at Live 8 raise a cry for democracy in Africa.
Don't the organizers of the concerts realize that Africa lives under the oppression of rulers like Yoweri Museveni (who just eliminated term limits in Uganda so he can be president indefinitely) and Omar Bongo (who has become immensely rich in his three decades of running Gabon)? Don't they know what is happening in Cameroon, Chad, Togo and the Central African Republic? Don't they understand that fighting poverty is fruitless if dictatorships remain in place?
Even more puzzling is why Youssou N'Dour and other Africans participated in this charade. Like us, they can't help but know that Africa's real problem is the lack of freedom of expression, the usurpation of power, the brutal oppression.
Neither debt relief nor huge amounts of food aid nor an invasion of experts will change anything. Those will merely prop up the continent's dictators. It's up to each nation to liberate itself and to help itself. When there is a problem in the United States, in Britain, in France, the citizens vote to change their leaders. And those times when it wasn't possible to freely vote to change those leaders, the people revolted.
In Africa, our leaders have led us into misery, and we need to rid ourselves of these cancers. We would have preferred for the musicians in Philadelphia and London to have marched and sung for political revolution. Instead, they mourned a corpse while forgetting to denounce the murderer.
What is at issue is an Africa where dictators kill, steal and usurp power yet are treated like heroes at meetings of the African Union. What is at issue is rulers like François Bozizé, the coup leader running the Central Africa Republic, and Faure Gnassingbé, who just succeeded his father as president of Togo, free to trample universal suffrage and muzzle their people with no danger that they'll lose their seats at the United Nations. Who here wants a concert against poverty when an African is born, lives and dies without ever being able to vote freely?
But the truth is that it was not for us, for Africa, that the musicians at Live 8 were singing; it was to amuse the crowds and to clear their own consciences, and whether they realized it or not, to reinforce dictatorships. They still believe us to be like children that they must save, as if we don't realize ourselves what the source of our problems is.
Jean-Claude Shanda Tonme is a consultant on international law and a columnist for Le Messager, a Cameroonian daily, where a version of this article first appeared. This article was translated by The Times from the French.
By JEAN-CLAUDE SHANDA TONME
Published: July 15, 2005
Yaoundé, Cameroon
LIVE 8, that extraordinary media event that some people of good intentions in the West just orchestrated, would have left us Africans indifferent if we hadn't realized that it was an insult both to us and to common sense.
We have nothing against those who this month, in a stadium, a street, a park, in Berlin, London, Moscow, Philadelphia, gathered crowds and played guitar and talked about global poverty and aid for Africa. But we are troubled to think that they are so misguided about what Africa's real problem is, and dismayed by their willingness to propose solutions on our behalf.
We Africans know what the problem is, and no one else should speak in our name. Africa has men of letters and science, great thinkers and stifled geniuses who at the risk of torture rise up to declare the truth and demand liberty.
Don't insult Africa, this continent so rich yet so badly led. Instead, insult its leaders, who have ruined everything. Our anger is all the greater because despite all the presidents for life, despite all the evidence of genocide, we didn't hear anyone at Live 8 raise a cry for democracy in Africa.
Don't the organizers of the concerts realize that Africa lives under the oppression of rulers like Yoweri Museveni (who just eliminated term limits in Uganda so he can be president indefinitely) and Omar Bongo (who has become immensely rich in his three decades of running Gabon)? Don't they know what is happening in Cameroon, Chad, Togo and the Central African Republic? Don't they understand that fighting poverty is fruitless if dictatorships remain in place?
Even more puzzling is why Youssou N'Dour and other Africans participated in this charade. Like us, they can't help but know that Africa's real problem is the lack of freedom of expression, the usurpation of power, the brutal oppression.
Neither debt relief nor huge amounts of food aid nor an invasion of experts will change anything. Those will merely prop up the continent's dictators. It's up to each nation to liberate itself and to help itself. When there is a problem in the United States, in Britain, in France, the citizens vote to change their leaders. And those times when it wasn't possible to freely vote to change those leaders, the people revolted.
In Africa, our leaders have led us into misery, and we need to rid ourselves of these cancers. We would have preferred for the musicians in Philadelphia and London to have marched and sung for political revolution. Instead, they mourned a corpse while forgetting to denounce the murderer.
What is at issue is an Africa where dictators kill, steal and usurp power yet are treated like heroes at meetings of the African Union. What is at issue is rulers like François Bozizé, the coup leader running the Central Africa Republic, and Faure Gnassingbé, who just succeeded his father as president of Togo, free to trample universal suffrage and muzzle their people with no danger that they'll lose their seats at the United Nations. Who here wants a concert against poverty when an African is born, lives and dies without ever being able to vote freely?
But the truth is that it was not for us, for Africa, that the musicians at Live 8 were singing; it was to amuse the crowds and to clear their own consciences, and whether they realized it or not, to reinforce dictatorships. They still believe us to be like children that they must save, as if we don't realize ourselves what the source of our problems is.
Jean-Claude Shanda Tonme is a consultant on international law and a columnist for Le Messager, a Cameroonian daily, where a version of this article first appeared. This article was translated by The Times from the French.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Bastille Day
The French holiday commemorating the "storming" of the Bastille is today, July 14, so I figured I'd write about it. It certainly isn't what you think it is...or was.
French peasants in Paris were starving. There had been a food shortage due, in all likelihood, to either delivery problems from the agricultural countryside, or merely a bad harvest. Whatever the reason, the peasants were pissed. Louis XVI, instead of taking steps to alleviate the situation, fortified the Bastille, a tall, stone edifice in the heart of Paris. (It has since been torn down.) Starvation, coupled with a nasty heat wave, made this a combustible situation. However, one overlooked fact put the problem over the top: a number of French peasants raided a wine warehouse, looted the place of its casks, and everyone in Paris got smashed. Combustible indeed.
Anyway, the drunken, hungry Parisians stormed the Bastille, figuring that it was filled with political prisoners and unfairly prosecuted French folk. There were all of six prisoners in the monstrous edifice, two of which were insane or retarded, depending on which version of the story you read. It mattered not. They took the castle, decapitated several heads of guards, stuck them on pikes, and paraded them through the streets. Not exactly Lexington and Concorde.
The rest is history. The French Revolution went from a quasi-republican revolution to a full-blown genocidal movement in the space of three years. Not only did the rebellion wind up as an anti-royalist one, but also an anti-church one. Many catholic clergymen lost their lives, many churches and monasteries destroyed, and a sort of atheistic, amoral state emerged, complete with days, months, and years renamed and rearranged. (The point of this being to eliminate all traces of Christian tradition.) The high water mark of the revolution was obviously "The Great Terror", which Maximillian Robespierre helmed. The Jacobins, which Robespierre led, commenced on killing everyone, even fellow revolutionaries, such as Girondiste Georges Danton. In the end, the revolution wound up decapitating even Robespierre and his fellow Jacobins. (Sidenote: Robespierre, on getting wind that armed men were coming to arrest him, attempted suicide, but failed. He spent the remainder of what was left of his life in agonizing pain, having shot his jaw off.) The end of The Great Terror occurred when The Directory, a triumvirate led by Napoleon, seized power. Napoleon soon assumed complete control of the French republic, crowned himself emperor, got deposed twice, and was inevitably followed by....Louis XVIII, the successor of Louis XVI. And back to a monarchy France went.
Having studied the French Revolution in college (I had an amazing professor, Dr. Karen Halbersleben), the inevitable question that arose towards the end of the class was, "why would they ever celebrate Bastille Day in the first place?" It would be like celebrating the Fourth of July but having lost the Revolutionary War, with the only long-term benefit being that America wound up as a commonwealth like Canada or Australia.
For the record, the French are on their FIFTH republic.
French peasants in Paris were starving. There had been a food shortage due, in all likelihood, to either delivery problems from the agricultural countryside, or merely a bad harvest. Whatever the reason, the peasants were pissed. Louis XVI, instead of taking steps to alleviate the situation, fortified the Bastille, a tall, stone edifice in the heart of Paris. (It has since been torn down.) Starvation, coupled with a nasty heat wave, made this a combustible situation. However, one overlooked fact put the problem over the top: a number of French peasants raided a wine warehouse, looted the place of its casks, and everyone in Paris got smashed. Combustible indeed.
Anyway, the drunken, hungry Parisians stormed the Bastille, figuring that it was filled with political prisoners and unfairly prosecuted French folk. There were all of six prisoners in the monstrous edifice, two of which were insane or retarded, depending on which version of the story you read. It mattered not. They took the castle, decapitated several heads of guards, stuck them on pikes, and paraded them through the streets. Not exactly Lexington and Concorde.
The rest is history. The French Revolution went from a quasi-republican revolution to a full-blown genocidal movement in the space of three years. Not only did the rebellion wind up as an anti-royalist one, but also an anti-church one. Many catholic clergymen lost their lives, many churches and monasteries destroyed, and a sort of atheistic, amoral state emerged, complete with days, months, and years renamed and rearranged. (The point of this being to eliminate all traces of Christian tradition.) The high water mark of the revolution was obviously "The Great Terror", which Maximillian Robespierre helmed. The Jacobins, which Robespierre led, commenced on killing everyone, even fellow revolutionaries, such as Girondiste Georges Danton. In the end, the revolution wound up decapitating even Robespierre and his fellow Jacobins. (Sidenote: Robespierre, on getting wind that armed men were coming to arrest him, attempted suicide, but failed. He spent the remainder of what was left of his life in agonizing pain, having shot his jaw off.) The end of The Great Terror occurred when The Directory, a triumvirate led by Napoleon, seized power. Napoleon soon assumed complete control of the French republic, crowned himself emperor, got deposed twice, and was inevitably followed by....Louis XVIII, the successor of Louis XVI. And back to a monarchy France went.
Having studied the French Revolution in college (I had an amazing professor, Dr. Karen Halbersleben), the inevitable question that arose towards the end of the class was, "why would they ever celebrate Bastille Day in the first place?" It would be like celebrating the Fourth of July but having lost the Revolutionary War, with the only long-term benefit being that America wound up as a commonwealth like Canada or Australia.
For the record, the French are on their FIFTH republic.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
No Byline Needed...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The man on trial in the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh admitted his guilt in court Tuesday, declaring he acted out of religious conviction and would do it again if given the chance. Mohammed Bouyeri also turned to Van Gogh's mother, Anneke, in court and told her: "I don't feel your pain."
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Andrew Goodpaster 1915-2005
For no reason in particular, I "googled" Andrew Goodpaster's name, just to look up a few articles on him. I'm familiar with this man because his name pops up in several WWII books that I've read. Sadly, he died this past May. Usually notable deaths such as this don't get by me, but I guess either I missed it in the press, or was reading the wrong thing that day. If the name doesn't sound familiar to you, it's no surprise; Goodpaster was a behind the scenes guy. But this relatively unknown historical character had a huge impact on the conduct of both the Second World War and the Cold War. He may have also helped to save the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American servicemen.
In the dying days of the Second World War, all the allied armies came within spitting distance of Berlin. General Eisenhower's two most unmanageable generals, Patton and British general/pain-in-the-ass Montgomery, pressed Eisenhower to give them the green light to cross the River Elbe and take Berlin. Eisenhower had no illusions about the strategic significance of Berlin, for it had none. It was a prestige objective, nothing more. As a member of General Eisenhower's staff, then later part of the War Department and a right-hand man to General Marshall, Goodpaster was deep in the high command. Eisenhower requested a mathematical assessment of what the cost in human life and ordnance would be to take Berlin. The number came back from the States: 100,000 men. "Hell of a price to pay for a prestige objective", Eisenhower was recorded as saying. Instead, Stalin took it upon himself to assault the last bastion of Nazi Germany. Needless to say, the extrapolated number of 100,000 combat casualties was proven accurate, for that is what the Soviet Red Army lost in the final push of the war, Berlin. Andrew Goodpaster was the man who came up with the 100,000 number. As a result, 100,000 American and British kids would make it home in one piece, since Eisenhower chose not to turn that amount into cannon food for what was essentially a militarily useless objective. Goodpaster was also involved in the numerical extrapolations the War Department (now known as Dep. of Defense) drew up for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. 500,000 casualties were forcasted, as well as an occupational force of over a 1,000,000 Americans post-war. Fortunately, the atom bombs spared the US the misery of the first number. This writer's father in all likelihood would've been one of those lives lost or maimed in that 500,000 casualty statistic.
Goodpaster later went onto being one of the logistical coordinators of the Berlin airlift in 1947, which circumvented Stalin's blockade of West Berlin. He was involved in the high command of the United States military establishment for his entire life, having also been the supreme military commander of NATO, and served under five presidents (Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson), and was the commandant of West Point.
What an amazing life, and what a tremendous experience it must've been to be an eyewitness to history, time and again. Even more amazing is the fact that Goodpaster has served at the highest levels of the military and was in direct contact with presidents since his early 30's.
Goodpaster was 90 years old.
In the dying days of the Second World War, all the allied armies came within spitting distance of Berlin. General Eisenhower's two most unmanageable generals, Patton and British general/pain-in-the-ass Montgomery, pressed Eisenhower to give them the green light to cross the River Elbe and take Berlin. Eisenhower had no illusions about the strategic significance of Berlin, for it had none. It was a prestige objective, nothing more. As a member of General Eisenhower's staff, then later part of the War Department and a right-hand man to General Marshall, Goodpaster was deep in the high command. Eisenhower requested a mathematical assessment of what the cost in human life and ordnance would be to take Berlin. The number came back from the States: 100,000 men. "Hell of a price to pay for a prestige objective", Eisenhower was recorded as saying. Instead, Stalin took it upon himself to assault the last bastion of Nazi Germany. Needless to say, the extrapolated number of 100,000 combat casualties was proven accurate, for that is what the Soviet Red Army lost in the final push of the war, Berlin. Andrew Goodpaster was the man who came up with the 100,000 number. As a result, 100,000 American and British kids would make it home in one piece, since Eisenhower chose not to turn that amount into cannon food for what was essentially a militarily useless objective. Goodpaster was also involved in the numerical extrapolations the War Department (now known as Dep. of Defense) drew up for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. 500,000 casualties were forcasted, as well as an occupational force of over a 1,000,000 Americans post-war. Fortunately, the atom bombs spared the US the misery of the first number. This writer's father in all likelihood would've been one of those lives lost or maimed in that 500,000 casualty statistic.
Goodpaster later went onto being one of the logistical coordinators of the Berlin airlift in 1947, which circumvented Stalin's blockade of West Berlin. He was involved in the high command of the United States military establishment for his entire life, having also been the supreme military commander of NATO, and served under five presidents (Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson), and was the commandant of West Point.
What an amazing life, and what a tremendous experience it must've been to be an eyewitness to history, time and again. Even more amazing is the fact that Goodpaster has served at the highest levels of the military and was in direct contact with presidents since his early 30's.
Goodpaster was 90 years old.
Friday, July 08, 2005
As For One Of The Other "Root Causes"....
Inevitably, the Left will also see fit to tie the London bombings to the ever-ongoing problems between the Jews and Arabs in Israel and the surrounding territories. And yet, at the G8 summit, a package of three billion for the Palestinian Authority, ostensibly to further the two-state "peace" process, was approved at the conference prior to yesterday's bombings. So the root causes of Islamo-terrorism are poverty in the Third World, the Jewish/Arab problem in Israel and the surrounding territories, and of course, the ongoing military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, right? Well, I think it's obvious that at least two of these "root causes" are bogus. This is a world-wide war, jihad if you will, against the institutions of secular democracy. These people can not be placated, and there is no amount of appeasement or negotiated settlement that will satiate their appetites. Their stated goal is a world-wide caliphate, through prolonged jihad. Strangely, those on the Left seem to think they're just pulling our chain with their rhetoric. After 9/11, I take them at their word. It is not about our occupation of Iraq, it is not about our occupation of Afghanistan, and it is not because we had an airbase in Saudi Arabia up until a few years ago. It isn't because of the ongoing strife between the Jews and Islamists in Israel proper and the terroritories. It isn't about the Crusades, which ended in 1291. It isn't the Reconquista of Andulucia in 1492. It is because these people subscribe to a conquest oriented version of Islam that wants to bring down the West as is THEIR stated goal.
"I say these events have split the whole world into two camps: the camp of belief and the disbelief. So every Muslim shall take -- shall support his religion."
--Osama bin Laden, 10/01
"I say these events have split the whole world into two camps: the camp of belief and the disbelief. So every Muslim shall take -- shall support his religion."
--Osama bin Laden, 10/01
Thursday, July 07, 2005
London
No need to write in this space about what happened this morning in London. I do, however, note the irony that many on the Left claim that the motives of al Qaeda have to do with the injustices of poverty in the Third World. And yet, was not the G-8 Summit's overriding agenda this time 'round concerned with Third World poverty? Was not the utterly useless Live 8 concerts put together for the same reason? And if this is the case, and the developed world was in the midst of discussing ways to rid the Third World of poverty, at what point will members of the bleeding heart Left finally admit that the "jihad" has nothing to do with poverty and everything to do with the destruction of the secular, free world?
Think about it.
Think about it.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Mark Steyn's Take On Live 8
To wit:
Don't get me wrong. I love old rockers - not for the songs, which are awful, but for their business affairs, which so totally rock. In 1997, David Bowie became the first pop star to hold a bond offering himself. How about that? Fifty-five million dollars' worth of Bowie "class A royalty-backed notes" were snapped up in minutes after Moody's in New York gave them their coveted triple-A rating.
Once upon a time, rock stars weren't rated by Moody, they were moody - they self-destructed, they choked to death in their own vomit, they hoped to die before they got old. Instead, judging from Sir Pete Townshend on Saturday, they got older than anyone's ever been. Today, Paul McCartney is a businessman: he owns the publishing rights to Annie and Guys & Dolls. These faux revolutionaries are capitalists red in tooth and claw.
Read the whole article here. It's worth it, and quite funny too.
Don't get me wrong. I love old rockers - not for the songs, which are awful, but for their business affairs, which so totally rock. In 1997, David Bowie became the first pop star to hold a bond offering himself. How about that? Fifty-five million dollars' worth of Bowie "class A royalty-backed notes" were snapped up in minutes after Moody's in New York gave them their coveted triple-A rating.
Once upon a time, rock stars weren't rated by Moody, they were moody - they self-destructed, they choked to death in their own vomit, they hoped to die before they got old. Instead, judging from Sir Pete Townshend on Saturday, they got older than anyone's ever been. Today, Paul McCartney is a businessman: he owns the publishing rights to Annie and Guys & Dolls. These faux revolutionaries are capitalists red in tooth and claw.
Read the whole article here. It's worth it, and quite funny too.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Spot The Idiot
"[This is] the greatest thing that's ever been organized in the history of the world."
--Chris Martin of Coldplay, from the G8 concert stage in London
--Chris Martin of Coldplay, from the G8 concert stage in London
Independence Day
John Adams thought that July 2 would be remembered forever as the day of American independence, for that was the day that the vote was taken and the document was endorsed by the majority in the Continental Congress. It was ratified for good on July 4, but it wasn't completely signed and endorsed by all members of the Continental Congress until August of 1776. But it matters not. Much in the same way that the Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breeds Hill, July 4 became the day of ultimate independence, instead of July 2.
I'm now reading the fourth book on the Revolutionary War and/or the Founding Fathers. To date, I've read bios about Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and McCullough's excellent "1776" tome. Not bad for seven months. But what all this reading has brought home to me the genius, and barring that, the sheer tenacity, of the Founding Fathers and the Continental Army. As for the army, it was led by men with little education, and if they did have one, it had nothing to do with military matters. Nathaniel Greene had a fifth grade education and walked with a limp. But he boned up on military matters through books and became one of Washington's primary aid-de-camps. Henry Knox was an overweight bookseller turned brigadier general, was clever enough to convince Washington that it was possible to bring over 60 tons of captured artillery left over from the French-Indian War from Fort Ticonderoga, 300 miles away, to Boston's Dorchester Heights, the highest point in Boston and overlooking the British fleet in Boston Harbor. In a two month period, all the artillery arrived via horse driven sled to Boston. In one night, the Continental Army lugged all sixty tons of artillery up the mount and emplaced it under cover of darkness. The British woke up to find their entire fleet endangered, and were forced to evacuate Boston. A British commander was heard to have exclaimed that the Americans had achieved in one night what would've taken British regulars three months. Alexander Hamilton was a student at Kings College (now Columbia), joined the army as a junior officer, read every book on artillery strategy that he could get his hands on, and rose to the rank of general, so efficient were his actions in battle. Washington himself had very little military experience prior to the war for independence, and of the experience that he did have in the French-Indian War, he had performed poorly. Couple all this with the fact that the bulk of the Continental Army were made up of filthy rabble, most of whom were from New England, and it didn't seem to amount to a winning line-up. But win they did. If the inherent psychology of the American mind is one of "all things are possible", it most assuredly took its root in the fact that the Continental Army defeated the most formidible fighting force in the world.
The Fourth of July is not the celebration of final American independence. It is the celebration of a declaration of sovereignty, though true sovereignty was no guarantee. But it was and is a benchmark. The end didn't come until late 1781 at the Battle of Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris giving the United States full sovereign rights was not drafted until 1783. Several years of bloodshed and hardship occurred between July of 1776 and the end of the war. But it was and is the watershed. A truly revolutionary document, it is the only document that ensures life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There's no nation in the world that has "pursuit of happiness" as a God-given right but ours. What a country, eh?
I'm now reading the fourth book on the Revolutionary War and/or the Founding Fathers. To date, I've read bios about Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and McCullough's excellent "1776" tome. Not bad for seven months. But what all this reading has brought home to me the genius, and barring that, the sheer tenacity, of the Founding Fathers and the Continental Army. As for the army, it was led by men with little education, and if they did have one, it had nothing to do with military matters. Nathaniel Greene had a fifth grade education and walked with a limp. But he boned up on military matters through books and became one of Washington's primary aid-de-camps. Henry Knox was an overweight bookseller turned brigadier general, was clever enough to convince Washington that it was possible to bring over 60 tons of captured artillery left over from the French-Indian War from Fort Ticonderoga, 300 miles away, to Boston's Dorchester Heights, the highest point in Boston and overlooking the British fleet in Boston Harbor. In a two month period, all the artillery arrived via horse driven sled to Boston. In one night, the Continental Army lugged all sixty tons of artillery up the mount and emplaced it under cover of darkness. The British woke up to find their entire fleet endangered, and were forced to evacuate Boston. A British commander was heard to have exclaimed that the Americans had achieved in one night what would've taken British regulars three months. Alexander Hamilton was a student at Kings College (now Columbia), joined the army as a junior officer, read every book on artillery strategy that he could get his hands on, and rose to the rank of general, so efficient were his actions in battle. Washington himself had very little military experience prior to the war for independence, and of the experience that he did have in the French-Indian War, he had performed poorly. Couple all this with the fact that the bulk of the Continental Army were made up of filthy rabble, most of whom were from New England, and it didn't seem to amount to a winning line-up. But win they did. If the inherent psychology of the American mind is one of "all things are possible", it most assuredly took its root in the fact that the Continental Army defeated the most formidible fighting force in the world.
The Fourth of July is not the celebration of final American independence. It is the celebration of a declaration of sovereignty, though true sovereignty was no guarantee. But it was and is a benchmark. The end didn't come until late 1781 at the Battle of Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris giving the United States full sovereign rights was not drafted until 1783. Several years of bloodshed and hardship occurred between July of 1776 and the end of the war. But it was and is the watershed. A truly revolutionary document, it is the only document that ensures life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There's no nation in the world that has "pursuit of happiness" as a God-given right but ours. What a country, eh?
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Canada
A friend of mine went up to Canada recently and got into a bit of an altercation with the management of a strip club whilst there. Words were exchanged (natch) regarding Canada's somewhat milquetoast standing in the world. Hard to disagree nowadays, as Canada has, for the last thirty years since the awful Pierre Trudeau, decended into the same pit of feelgood spinelessness that Western Europe (with its average unemployment of approx. 10% and stagnant GDPs) is now afflicted with. But it wasn't always thus. David Frum, former speechwriter for President Bush and a Canadian, while pondering Canada's contribution to the Great War (World War I), jotted down these thoughts:
But I can’t let Canada Day pass on such a dubious note. There is another Canada, memorialized in a short but extremely valuable book I read in honor of the holiday: Shane Schreiber’s Shock Army of the British Empire: The Canadian Corps in the Last Hundred Days of the Great War. Between August and November 1918, the Allies inflicted a staggering series of defeats on the once invincible German army: the Battle of Amiens on August 8 (the “black day of the German army” in the phrase of the German commanader, Gen. Von Ludendorff), the Battle of Arras on August 26-29 the breakthrough to Cambrai on September 15, and culminating in the liberation of Valenciennes on November 2 and the German retreat out of France. (Those interested can find some useful summary maps here and here.)
Schreiber’s superb monograph in just 150 pages offers the most detailed account of the victory. Those victories were made possible of course by the long years in which the British, French, and Russian armies had bled Germany, and by the arrival of large numbers of American reinforcements in 1918. Acknowledging that, however, it is also true that the force that spearheaded the great final push was General Arthur Currie’s Canadian Corps, flanked by the Australian/New Zealand forces under General John Monash. The battles of those 100 days must stand as the most stupendous thing ever accomplished by Canadians and Canada’s single greatest impact on the history of this planet.
The final verdict:
In those 100 days, Canadian forces spearheaded the defeat of almost one-quarter of the entire German army remaining on the Western front, 47 out of 200 divisions. Add in the Australian/New Zealand forces, and the two Dominions together engaged some 40% of the German army. Over those three months, the Canadians suffered more than 45,000 casualties, killed and wounded – or about as many as in the whole year from D-Day to VE-Day in World War II.
Being a Canadian, of course, Schreiber underscores his point with a final statistical comparison to the US forces in the Meuse-Argonne region on the southern portion of the Western front.
Troops engaged
Americans: 650,000
Canadians: 105,000
Duration of Operations
Americans: 47 days
Canadians: 100 days
Maximum Distance Advanced
Americans: 34 miles
Canadians: 86 miles
German Divisions Defeated(Out of a total of 200)
Americans: 46
Canadians: 47
Average Number of Casualties Suffered per German Division Defeated
Americans: 2,170
Canadians: 975
Total Casualties
Americans: 100,000
Canadians: 45,830
“The ultimate conclusion that must be drawn,” he sums up, “is that … the Canadian Corps was able to make a highly significant contribution to the defeat of the German army on the battlefield at precisely half the cost in terms of life and limb as the American army.”
Yet the over-rated General John Pershing is celebrated with a magnificent modern monument on Pennsylvania Avenue – and Arthur Currie’s name is utterly obliterated among his own people.
But I can’t let Canada Day pass on such a dubious note. There is another Canada, memorialized in a short but extremely valuable book I read in honor of the holiday: Shane Schreiber’s Shock Army of the British Empire: The Canadian Corps in the Last Hundred Days of the Great War. Between August and November 1918, the Allies inflicted a staggering series of defeats on the once invincible German army: the Battle of Amiens on August 8 (the “black day of the German army” in the phrase of the German commanader, Gen. Von Ludendorff), the Battle of Arras on August 26-29 the breakthrough to Cambrai on September 15, and culminating in the liberation of Valenciennes on November 2 and the German retreat out of France. (Those interested can find some useful summary maps here and here.)
Schreiber’s superb monograph in just 150 pages offers the most detailed account of the victory. Those victories were made possible of course by the long years in which the British, French, and Russian armies had bled Germany, and by the arrival of large numbers of American reinforcements in 1918. Acknowledging that, however, it is also true that the force that spearheaded the great final push was General Arthur Currie’s Canadian Corps, flanked by the Australian/New Zealand forces under General John Monash. The battles of those 100 days must stand as the most stupendous thing ever accomplished by Canadians and Canada’s single greatest impact on the history of this planet.
The final verdict:
In those 100 days, Canadian forces spearheaded the defeat of almost one-quarter of the entire German army remaining on the Western front, 47 out of 200 divisions. Add in the Australian/New Zealand forces, and the two Dominions together engaged some 40% of the German army. Over those three months, the Canadians suffered more than 45,000 casualties, killed and wounded – or about as many as in the whole year from D-Day to VE-Day in World War II.
Being a Canadian, of course, Schreiber underscores his point with a final statistical comparison to the US forces in the Meuse-Argonne region on the southern portion of the Western front.
Troops engaged
Americans: 650,000
Canadians: 105,000
Duration of Operations
Americans: 47 days
Canadians: 100 days
Maximum Distance Advanced
Americans: 34 miles
Canadians: 86 miles
German Divisions Defeated(Out of a total of 200)
Americans: 46
Canadians: 47
Average Number of Casualties Suffered per German Division Defeated
Americans: 2,170
Canadians: 975
Total Casualties
Americans: 100,000
Canadians: 45,830
“The ultimate conclusion that must be drawn,” he sums up, “is that … the Canadian Corps was able to make a highly significant contribution to the defeat of the German army on the battlefield at precisely half the cost in terms of life and limb as the American army.”
Yet the over-rated General John Pershing is celebrated with a magnificent modern monument on Pennsylvania Avenue – and Arthur Currie’s name is utterly obliterated among his own people.
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