Tangled web

April 26, 2007

In the middle of the Ray Donovan mess* I was dispatched one afternoon to the Labor Department to see Donovan’s press conference on some complaint the Senate Labor Committee had misrepresented the misrepresentations about testimony offered to the committee. Donovan was mad, but I didn’t realize just how mad until I was stopped at the door — my I.D. was flagged as persona non grata, apparently. Either that or they thought Sen. Orrin Hatch would try to sneak a subpoena in with his press guy.

A friendly reporter standing behind me in line added me to his crew, and I got the handouts.

That was retail, face-to-face scandal. Nothing like this:

Anything like “OllieNorthinthebasement.net?”

* It’s amazing how little of this history is available on line.

1 Comment | Current History, History, Journalism, Justice, Law, Presidents, Santayana's ghost, Scandals, Technology, U.S. Senate, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Celebrating April 19: Paul Revere, “shot heard ’round the world”

April 20, 2007

April 19. Does the date have significance? Paul Revere's ride, from Paul Revere House

Among other things, it is the date of the firing of the “shot heard ’round the world,” the first shots in the American Revolution. On April 19, 1775, American Minutemen stood to protect arsenals they had created at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, against seizure by the British Army then occupying Boston.

April is National Poetry Month. What have we done to celebrate poetry?

What have we done to properly acknowledge the key events of April 18 and 19, 1775?  Happily, poetry helps us out in history studies, or can do.

In contrast to my childhood, when we as students had poems to memorize weekly throughout our curriculum, modern students too often come to my classes seemingly unaware that rhyming and rhythm are used for anything other than celebrating materialist, establishment values obtained sub rosa. Poetry, to them, is mostly rhythm; but certainly not for polite company, and never for learning.

Poems slipped from our national curriculum, dropped away from our national consciousness.

And that is one small part of the reason that Aprils in the past two decades turned instead to memorials to violence, and fear that violence will break out again. We have allowed darker ideas to dominate April, and especially the days around April 19.

You and I have failed to properly commemorate the good, I fear. We have a duty to pass along these cultural icons, as touchstones to understanding America.

So, reclaim the high ground. Reclaim the high cultural ground.

Read a poem today. Plan to be sure to have the commemorative reading of “Paul Revere’s Ride” in your classes next April 18 or 19, and “The Concord Hymn” on April 19.

We must work to be sure our heritage of freedom is remembered, lest we condemn our students, our children and grandchildren to having to relearn these lessons of history, as Santayana warned.

Texts of the poems are below the fold, though you may be much better off to use the links and see those sites, the Paul Revere House, and the Minuteman National Historical Park.

Read the rest of this entry »

18 Comments | 1776, Accuracy, America's founding, Education, Famous Battles, Famous quotes, Heroes, History, Santayana's ghost, Teaching, TEKS | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Who keeps score on presidential corruption?

April 19, 2007

A fellow approached me in church about a month ago to ask who I support in the 2008 presidential election (haven’t made up my mind yet; there are very good people running on both sides, though it would take a major tsunami to get me to vote Republican for president over any of the Democrats). In the course of the conversation he mentioned the “dozens” of convictions of officials in the Clinton administration, and expressing hope we didn’t ‘return to a time when many government officials make such a mess of things.’

I felt the cold hand of Santayana’s ghost on my shoulder as Santayana reached past me to slap the man into reality.

So, later, I tried to find a comparison I had seen of corruption investigations in presidential administrations, one that listed who was charged with what, and the result of the investigation. I can’t find it.

Is anyone keeping score? Please point me to the place, if there is one, where such scores are accurately kept. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments | Accuracy, Capturing history, Current History, Ethics, History, Politics, Presidents, Santayana's ghost, Scandals | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Olio/Olla podrida/Mulligan stew/Stone soup

March 26, 2007

Here are some of the posts I’ve been thinking about over the past couple of days:

Iraq and Vietnam:  Writings by Hudson has been reading about LBJ and Vietnam.  Santayana’s ghost appreciates the exercise.

Camels in the Outback, camels in the dogfood:  Would you believe a million camels are feral in the Australian Outback?  And now, with a drought, it’s a problem.  The Coffee House alerts us.

What if everybody in your organization came to you for help? The Drawing Room tells us why you’d be wise to work for such a thing.

U.S. soldiers protest the war:  No, not the current war — African American soldiers protest the Filipino conflict.  Forgotten soldiers, forgotten war — you’d do well to reacquaint yourself with this chapter of U.S. history at Vox ex Machina.

Leaks about the incident that got us into the war:  No, not yet the Iraq war (see how you jump to conclusions?).  POTUS reflects on LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and the leaks and lack of intelligence that may have gotten us into a quagmire.

Earthquakes in Tornado Alley:  Tennessee Guy points to an article that wonders about the New Madrid Fault, and whether it is tensing up for “the Big One” to shake West Tennessee (and the rest of the Midwest), or it is going to sleep for a millennium.

Science and racism:  A collection of Darwin’s writings that touch on race and slavery, for your bookmark file.

Cool school libraries:  We’re not talking about air conditioning.

1 Comment | Charles Darwin, Civil Rights, Dissent, Education, Elections, Evolution, History, History blogs, Leadership, Lessons of Vietnam, Patriotism, Politics, Presidents, Public libraries, Santayana's ghost, Theodore Roosevelt, Vietnam, War, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Have a good Texas Independence Day

March 2, 2007

Independence from what? “Do you mean the Alamo stuff?”

March 2 formerly was celebrated widely in Texas. Today, not so much.

Marshall Doke, Dallas attorney and chairman of the Texas Historical Foundation lectures Texas educators and parents today, on what should be done, in an opposite-editorial page piece in the Dallas Morning News.

Our Texas story helps us learn from the great men and women of the past that the one element essential for success (and possibly survival) is character. In the words of John Quincy Adams in the movie Amistad, “Who we are is who we were.”

Pray Texans never forget.

What does Texas Independence Day commemorate, again?

Update: Looking for more material, teachers? Go here, to Grits for Breakfast. You’ll find a list of other blogs that discussed the event today, and over the past couple of years. Interesting views.

1 Comment | History, Santayana's ghost, Texas | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Next Entries »