Moonhowlings

Ambassador Christopher Stevens

UPDATE:  Confirmed reports indicate that the person killed was the U.S, Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.    Information is being updated by the minute.  4 Americans in all were killed.  Ambassador Stevens helped free the Libyan people.  President Obama issued the following statement:

“I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives. I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.”

ABCnews.com

wsj.com:

Demonstrators attacked a U.S. consulate in Libya, killing one American, and breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, amid angry protests over a film by a U.S. producer that mocks and insults the Prophet Muhammad.

The movie, “Innocence of Muslims,” was directed and produced by an Israeli-American real-estate developer who characterized it as a political effort to call attention to the hypocrisies of Islam. It has been promoted by Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose burning of Qurans previously sparked deadly riots around the world.

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Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is dead at age 82.  He is best remembered for his famous words:

“One small step for man…one giant leap for mankind.”

He had had heart surgery 3 weeks ago and was thought to be recovering without complications.

He had a long, distinguished career in the NASA Space Program.  He commanded the Apollo 11 mission and landed on the moon in July 1969.  He was truly a great American hero.  Many of us remember where we were when we sat breathlessly and heard those words….one small step for man.  No one today can imagine our excitement and yes, fear, for those astronauts.  We Americans were so proud that summer of 1969 when much of America had been divided by the Vietnam War. Neil Armstrong and those other astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, united the nation like no one else could.

Please leave your own tributes to Neil Armstrong. Neil slipped the surly bonds of earth today…

So, I think we may be establishing a pattern here.  Diplomacy may not be Romneys forte.  Not a big deal for a CEO of an equity firm, but as President, this could be problematic.

It’s one thing to accidentally insult the Brits over their ability to manage the Olympics.  Its another to suggest that Arabs are simply not cultured enough to sustain a successful and productive country.

Let me remind everyone, I am Jewish (not like you can forget, I remind you people constantly I’m sure), but to suggest that culturally we are better than Arabs teeters is just plain stupidity.

Here are Romney’s words in context, because as we know, that is critical when analyzing statements.

“As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,”
Romney then said some economic histories have theorized that “culture makes all the difference.”
“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,”
Romney then went on to dig his hole even deeper by saying that similar disparity exists between neighboring countries like Mexico and the United States.

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From the Huffington Post:

 The White House said President Barack Obama misspoke on Tuesday when he referred to a “Polish death camp” while honoring a Polish war hero.

The president’s remark had drawn immediate complaints from Poles who said Obama should have called it a “German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland,” to distinguish the perpetrators from the location. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called it a matter of “ignorance and incompetence.”

Obama made the comment while awarding the Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II. Karski died in 2000.

During an East Room ceremony honoring 13 Medal of Freedom recipients, Obama said that Karski “served as a courier for the Polish resistance during the darkest days of World War II. Before one trip across enemy lines, resistance fighters told him that Jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself. Jan took that information to President Franklin Roosevelt, giving one of the first accounts of the Holocaust and imploring to the world to take action.”

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Part 2

Much has been made in the print media regarding the Secret Service 11 who were called home in disgrace over the weekend.  However, the talking heads weren’t up to the normal blather since it was a weekend.  This morning the Morning Joe crowd all gave it a whirl.  Mika must have felt like she was sitting in the boys’ locker room. 

There seems a wink wink nudge nudge attitude out there amongst the men.  While no one ways it is a good thing, no one really condemns the action.  The attitude on the street is that people are innocent until proven guilty.  Ok.  I wish the rush to judgement were as tempered on all subjects as it is on this one. 

I heard little talk about the embarrassment this behavior caused the United States.  There was no smooth sailing for President Obama to start with because of the Cuba issue.  Several countries refused to attend because Cuba was excluded. Several more have stated they will boycott in the future.  To date, the President has done very little regarding Cuba other than relax some travel rules for Cuban Americans who want to travel to Cuba.  Hooker-gate seemed to take over the entire weekend. 

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Rick Santorum wanted to be anywhere but in that interview.  Mitt Romney looks like a smooth talker compared to this guy in the hot seat.  First he tried to throw his benefactor under the bus.  Then he tried to blame Obama, followed by taking a few shots at the media and saying they were playing ‘gotcha.’

His worse offense, however, was trying to turn the discussion to kids and to talk about the sex habits of young people.  The Foster Friess comments have nothing to do with young people.  That is an entirely different issue. 

What prompted the Friess remarks was the debate on health care covering contraception for grown working women.  Grown women do not have to justify their sexual behavior to anyone.  How dare Rick Santorum try to deflect a question about grown women by bringing up teenage girls?  Is he implying that grown women are really just older teenagers?

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The Iraq War is over.  President Obama announced the end of the war at Fort Bragg yesterday.  The official date of the end of the war is today, December 15.  The colors have been cased.  Secretary Panetta addressed Iraq and remaining troops.  Iraq is a fully sovereign nation without military occupation.

 The Iraq War is one of our longest wars.  It started off as the shock and awe bombing of Baghdad and Americans were glued to their TVs, watching the spectacle.  We watched our troops enter Iraq and begin their long trek across the desert.  We honored our dead, those early victims of the war like Hopi warrior Lori Piestewa and captive Jessica Lynch who was rescued.  We donned our Support the Troops attire  and we saw anti-war icons like Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan on TV nightly.  But something detached.

Us.  We, the civilians, never really were a part of this war.  Unless we were a military family, we didn’t participate.  We didn’t sacrifice.  We didn’t alter our every day lives.  The war was 8 years, 8 months and 25 days long.  We didn’t engage our souls or follow the troops.  It was ‘their’ war, not ours.  

So it is over.  The players have all changed.  Very few great ‘stars’ came out of this war.  There were no Ikes, Pattons,   ‘Chestys’ or Westmorelands.  To my knowledge, former President Bush has not commented or spoken of the end of the war.  I saw no headlines, no nurses being kissed in Times Square and no ticker tape parades. 

How many lives were lost?  Over 4,000?  How many of our troops suffered life- altering injuries during that war?  Over 30,000?  How many mothers and fathers  missed seeing their children grow up because of a war that refused to be over?  How many kids felt the absence of a parent?  Unless we were a military family, we didn’t feel those things.  We barely feel them as a nation.  These are things that are out of our sight, sanitized, barely trotted out on Veterans Day.

There is just something quietly still and quietly dead wrong.  Our military deserves more recognition, more of our thanks.  More notice, more fanfare, more SOMETHING.  Are all those people who served in the Iraq  War going to just merge back in to society without missing a beat?  Will there be jobs for them?  Will the VA be there for them with full support for their injuries, both psychological and physical at a time when our politics are fighting every penny spent and the national debt is on everyone’s tongue? 

We, as a nation, need a National Day of Recognition for those who have given so much.  We who barely gave at all need a special day to say thank you and to honor those who gave given 8 years, 8 months and 25 days so that we didn’t have to give at all.  We need to do it sooner rather than later. 

The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs.

  Most of the people who lived, first hand,  through the attack on Pearl harbor  are nearly 90 years old.  That’s very hard to believe.  The surprise attack left young men, barely more than boys, running for guns, weapons, anything to fight back with.  Many heroes arose that day.  Not all of the heroes lived to bask in the glory.  Some died and some were sealed in a watery tomb at Pearl Harbor. 

About 100 of the survivors will attend the ceremony at Pearl Harbor.  The ashes of one of the sailors will join the rest of his crewmen who never made it back from December 7, 1941. Approximately  2,390 Americans were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

According to Voice of America:

Memorial events marking the December 7,1941 attack are being held throughout the country, the largest being on the Pacific island of Oahu, Hawaii, where the attack took place.

A dwindling number of Pearl Harbor survivors and World War Two veterans are among the 3,000 attendees expected at the event overlooking the USS Arizona Memorial, where the submerged remains of the fallen battleship rest. A moment of silence will be held at 7:55 in the morning , the exact moment Japan’s Imperial Navy began the surprise attack.

If you know someone who was at Pearl Harbor, run, don’t walk to talk to them and ask them to tell you of their experience.  Even if you know someone who was an adult on December 7, 1941, talk to them.  Find out what they were doing when they first heard the news.  Where  were they?  What did they think?  Did they ever think how much the news would alter their lives and the lives of their family and friends?  There is so much I now want to ask my parents and grandparents.  Opportunity knocked and I didn’t go to the door.  They are no longer living so I can’t ask them. 

From what I could gather from my relatives, they really were innocents who had no idea what the impact a world war would have on them, the family,  and America.   Pearl Harbor Day is much more than the 9-11- like attack on an unprepared nation.  Pearl Harbor marks the change of an isolationist, fairly agrarian country into a world super power.  The change was  almost instant, and we were never to return again to those times before Pearl Harbor. 

What memories do you have of your family members telling you about that day?  Did you have family members who served?  Did they all make it home? 

Let’s not forget Pearl Harbor and those who who were wounded or died.  Let’s not forget those who altered their lives and threw themselves in to a war movement unequal to anything this country has ever seen before or since.  There is a reason that the ‘greatest generation’ got its name.

 Huffingtonpost.com:

Tatyana Limanova, one of Russia’s most popular and respected newscasters, has been fired from her job at REN TV, after a video of her appearing to give President Barack Obama the middle finger on live TV went viral on the internet.

The incident occurred on Nov. 14, during a segment about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assuming the chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Obama had held the position previously, and Limanova raised her middle finger as she read Obama’s name.

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Walter Isaacson’s ‘Steve Jobs’ Interview, Part 1

 Walter Isaacson’s ‘Steve Jobs’ Interview, Part 2

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From The Daily Beast,:

It’s the only one of the three major 9/11 memorials that’s still not fully funded, and many are wondering why. The final resting place of the 40 people on United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., will have a low marble wall carved with the names of the passengers and crew. The memorial will be officially dedicated Saturday in time for the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks, and be open to the public the next day. But the funding is still $10 million short of the $62 million needed, and Congress has allocated only about $14 million. The site still looks like it did 10 years ago on the morning of Sept. 11—a rolling meadow of grass and wildflowers.

$10 million short?  Holy cow.  Those people on that plane saved Congress’s bacon that day.  The object was the Capitol.  Had those brave souls not brought that plane down, every member of Congress present that day, not just at the Capitol but also in the surrounding area, could have very well become vaporized.  It is time to find the funds.  Perhaps they could give up some of their salary to help with funding.  Perhaps they could put up pay pal on all congressional sites.  This situation is inexcusable.  I feel confident the American people would be more than willing to donate towards a memorial at Shanksville, Pennsylvania to honor the dead. 

John Thompson III’s quick reaction to a melee on the court probably saved the day. His staff sprang in to action and removed the Hoyas from the court. As they left, they were pelted with water bottles and water. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. It is uncertain if the Georgetown Hoyas will move on to the next round of games in Shanghai or not.

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Its time.  I resisted.  Now I have caved.  Time to start the Royal Wedding hype.  I hate myself for it also.

The Royal Wedding will take place Friday, April 29, 2011 at some ungodly hour like 4 am est.  Meanwhile the press is going absolutely nuts.  And as we all know, the Brit press is far worse than hours.  Every detail about the royals will be scrutinized.

Since Sarah Fergie Ferguson and I neither one got an invitation I checked out an article of Who’s Who with the Royals. The Brit royals now have all sorts of glamor designer names for their children.  Apparently they are no longer content naming their children, Charles, Elizabeth, Margaret, Andrew, Phillip or those other old fashioned names.  Now we find Camilla, Savannah, Zara, Autumn  (in-law and untitled),  Serena, Margarita, Columbus and Cassius.    The bride -to-be is a commoner.  When she marries Prince William, she becomes royalty.  According to Time:

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An 8.9 earthquake hit Japan near Tokyo during the night.   It was around 2 in the afternoon in Japan when the earthquake hit.  The epicenter was right off the coast.  Tsunamis have hit Japan.  Hawaii and the entire Pacific Basin are under tsunami warning meaning imminent danger.  Our entire west coast line, Canada and Alaska are under this warning. 

Pictures coming in of the tsunamis already hitting Japan have been in TV all night.  This earthquake is the largest in Japan since such data has been recorded. 

We will use this thread for updates.