Posted: 10/11/2005 3:14:00 AM EDT
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this is pretty old (the ww2 memorial has been open awhile) but i never read this...so, in case someone else missed this as well: A MESSAGE FROM AN APPALLED OBSERVER: Today I went to visit the new World War II Memorial in Washington, DC . I got an unexpected history lesson. Because I'm a baby boomer, I was one of the youngest in the crowd. Most were the age of my parents, veterans of "the greatest war," with their families. It was a beautiful day, and people were smiling and happy to be there. Hundreds of us milled around the memorial, reading the inspiring words of Eisenhower and Truman that are engraved there. On the Pacific side of the memorial, a group of us gathered to read the words President Roosevelt used to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor : One elderly woman read the words aloud: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941-- a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph." But as she read, she was suddenly turned angry. "Wait a minute," she said, "they left out the end of the quote. They left out the most important part. Roosevelt ended the message with "so help us God.'" Her husband said, "You are probably right. We're not supposed to say things like that now." "I know I'm right," she insisted. "I remember the speech." The two looked dismayed, shook their heads sadly and walked away. Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself, "Well, it has been over 50 years. She's probably forgotten." But she had not forgotten. She was right. I went home and pulled out the book my book club is reading --- "Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley. It's all about the battle at Iwo Jima . I haven't gotten too far in the book. It's tough to read because it's a graphic description of the WWII battles in the Pacific. But right there it was on page 58. Roosevelt's speech to the nation ends in "so help us God." The people who edited out that part of the speech when they engraved it on the memorial could have fooled me. I was born after the war. But they couldn't fool the people who were there. Roosevelt 's words are engraved on their hearts. Now I ask: "WHO GAVE THEM THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE WORDS OF HISTORY???" People need to know before everyone forgets. People today are trying to change the history of America by leaving God out of it, but the truth is, God has been a part of this nation, since the beginning. |
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Remember when and who gave this one?????? Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peace time, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea. Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United State corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government. Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. Mike |
I like Ike!!! |
Ain't it the truth?! My whole life they said it was Churchill who ". . . coined the phrase 'Iron Curtain' . . . " and then I discover it was all a big fat stinking lie. Now, the way I figure this is: if they'll lie about some piddly little no count shit like that, well, then, they'd probably lie about any & every thing else. But what do I know? |
Negatorry, nope, nah, it's just like mr_wilson said: "Joseph Goebbels, the damned Nazis. Mike" |