America the Beautiful

Still the best place on the planet. Happy birthday, USA.

Questioning American Spirit

Artist's rendition of the Battle of Gettysburg

And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

~ Mark 3:25

One hundred and fifty-four years ago today* marked the beginning of the three-day long Battle of Gettysburg, which marked a pivotal point in  the U.S. Civil War. This long and bloody conflict, the effects of which reverberate in our modern times, is also referred to as the War Between the States or, often popular in our southern states, "the War of Northern Aggression." A staggering 52,000 soldiers died fighting at Gettysburg--just one battle.

Consider the fact that the entire Vietnam War claimed 58,000 American lives, and you begin to understand the enormous carnage of The Civil War. Total war deaths over the four terrible years, 1861-1865, was far in excess of 600,000 soldiers.

It was during junior high school (now called "middle school") that I first studied The Civil War. I remember asking my father why it lasted so long. His answer was simple, clear, and direct: "The soldiers on both sides were Americans, and Americans never give up. "

I like to think that the American spirit survives today, that we have the tenacity and dedication--the "grit"--to stand together, strong and unwavering against attack. Perhaps the national reaction to September 11, 2001, represents a remnant of what used to be called "The Spirit of '76." But 9/11 was more than a decade and a half ago, and the world and our country have changed dramatically in that time period. In view of our bitter divisions and inflamed discourse today, what is the American spirit made of now? And how well would our collective and individual spirits serve us in a national crisis?

*Correction: 1863 was 154 years ago, not 104--but of course, you know that. Sorry, math was never my strong spot.

Worth Ten Thousand Words

The sad faces of CNN following the Republican victory in Georgia's special election:

("Biased? Who's biased? We're completely objective journalists!")

Plenty to Say Worth Hearing

I've been quoting and referencing Mark Steyn almost since this blog began. He's smart, insightful, eloquent, and nobody can turn a phrase quite like he does.

Mark Steyn is funny, he's fearless, and his commentary last night on Fox News with Tucker Carlson was "spot on," as he himself might say.  He has plenty to say worth hearing about our country's current sorry state. Treat yourself and watch all of the clips. Then add Steyn Online to your reading list. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter, too.

Summing Up the Day

"Once again it becomes obvious that if the good are not armed, the innocent will die."

~ Dennis Prager

It Was 50 Years Ago Today...

I've got to admit it's getting better

A little better all the time

 ~ The Beatles

Today marks fifty years since The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released. In honor of this auspicious musical occasion, I've linked "50 Things You Probably Didn't Know" about it.

Diehard Beatle fans will probably know many of these factoids, but most were news to me. The Beatles were a pop cultural force of nature that I merely tolerated as a teenager, although over time I've been properly impressed by their impact on modern music. I wrote about them ten years ago, I'm writing about them today, and if I'm still here in another decade, I'll be marking the 60th anniversary of this landmark musical achievement colloquially referred to as simply "Sgt. Pepper."

In fact, The Beatles essentially invented what we today call "classic rock." What passed for "rock 'n' roll" in the early 1960s was the repetitive sound of a tired old genre circling the drain. The Beatles, with their creative innovations and their boundless talent--many would say genius-- changed all that. In their reverberating wake, rock music rebounded in so many directions and dimensions that it's still changing today.

Rock music more than "got by with a little help" from its friends, The Beatles. Happy 50th birthday, Sgt. Pepper. You indeed taught the band to play.

Remember the Fallen

Dangerous Denial

 "Theresa May's statement in Downing Street is said...to be "defiant, but what she is defying is not terrorism but reality." ~ Mark Steyn

As he has been doing for more than a decade, in "'Dangerous Woman' Meets Dangerous Man" Mark Steyn offers brutal wisdom paired with sharp wit regarding the war that radical Islamists are waging upon Western civilization. Anyone who cares about the threat we as a society face from Islamic terrorism should read Steyn's article.

World leaders' unwavering denial of what the radical Islamists are intent on achieving is nearly as frightening as the terrorist attacks themselves.

Spoiling a Classic

I finished watching the Netflix show Anne with an E. I liked it enormously--at first. It's a beautiful production, very well cast and beautifully filmed. As the episodes progressed, wading deeper into what Anne would have termed "the depths of despair," this heavy-handed perversion of the delightful classic Anne of Green Gables became too much for this Anne-fan to take.

Having read the classic L.M. Montgomery book (along with its many sequels) literally dozens of times, I've got a good handle on plot lines and characters. In fact, I have them memorized. I also have enough "scope for the imagination," to use an Anne-term, to enjoy embellishments on well-established events in the story. The depictions of her abuse while residing at earlier houses and the dreaded orphanage were new but interesting departures from the book. They offered a justifiable hook for her wildly vivid imagination and love of books--she was escaping her grim realities.

I also enjoyed the fleshing out of the Marilla Cuthbert/John Blythe romance so briefly alluded to in the books. That's taking the real story and running with it, and it worked.

Where the writer lost me was in the creation of completely new experiences entirely foreign to Anne's story, the Cuthberts, and the quaint town of Avonlea. **SPOILERS AHEAD** If you plan to watch the series, stop reading now.

Gilbert Blythe left an orphan? No, in the books John Blythe lived to see his grandchildren. If the writer had to linger on a tragedy, she should have focused on Ruby Gillis, who dies of consumption in the third book. Go ahead and move her demise to an earlier age. True fans wouldn't mind that credible adjustment.

But the ludicrous additions made up of whole cloth were totally off the grid. Marilla Cuthbert attending a progressive parenting meeting? Really? Um, don't think so. Anne treated like trash by almost all of the locals? In the book, the plot is quite to the contrary. We're talking 1908 genteel, rural Canada here, not exactly 2017 Facebook bully territory.  On the subject of 2017, of course Aunt Josephine Barry now needs to be a lesbian. OK, fine, maybe that's "realistic." But even if Miss Barry had been gay, she wouldn't be casually discussing it one-on-one with Anne--not in Avonlea over 100 years ago.

Anne being snippy and jealous towards Green Gables' young hired hand? Didn't happen, and it's a mortal sin against Anne's character to say it did. Anne Shirley was always positive, upbeat, borderline joyful--never mean-spirited or petty. That's why readers have loved her for over a century.

Speaking of distorting character--Matthew Cuthbert trying to commit suicide? Gentle writer, are you out of your mind? And tossing in a romance for him is ridiculous if you understand anything at all about this unique and cherished character. He was shy, silent, gentle, salt-of-the-earth good people, fully dedicated to his home and his land. He did not survive his heart attack near the end of the first book. To have him lingering on in weakness, self-pity and depression is a gratuitous desecration of the story and an intolerable betrayal of the beloved Matthew Cuthbert. The final episode, in its complete digression from the actual story line, left me totally disgusted. (Of course, one must remember that the writer also wrote Breaking Bad. I suppose I should be grateful that the last scene didn't show Anne cooking up crack in the Green Gables kitchen in order to save the farm.)

But going back to Matthew Cuthbert trying to kill himself, that was a bridge way too far for this Anne-fan. As a young reader, I loved his character so much that I saved up the name "Matthew" for my son. You just don't mess with my Matthew. If there is a renewal, I'll be skipping Season 2.

The Headlines That Weren't...

If the mainstream dinosaur media were overwhelmingly conservative instead of almost unanimously liberal, we might have seen continuous news stories underscoring the many blown-off scandals of the Obama years.

Use your imagination and apply today's newsroom hysteria to some of the disasters of the past eight years; you'll be startled at how easily the damning headlines write themselves:

• "Gun Running at the Border: Obama Plays 'Fast and Furious' with Federal Law"

• "ISIS Rising After Obama Turns Tail and Runs, Pulling All Troops from the Mideast"

• "The Lie of The Century: 'If You Like Your Doctor, You Can Keep Your Doctor'" 

• "Solyndra Debacle a Story of Unprecedented Financial Folly"

• "IRS Persecutes the Politically Incorrect: An Assault on the First Amendment"

•  "White House Trusts Mullahs with Nuclear Technology--Are We Safe?" 

I could go on (for many pages), but you get the idea. Try some of your own headlines, just for fun. There are so many topics to choose from--Benghazi, executive orders, apologies for terrible America, refusal to say "radical Islamic terrorists" are just a few more.

I'm not saying I like what's going on in today's political news. I don't. But the previous president got all kinds of passes from a complicit media when he should have been called out and reported upon honestly. The country deserved better. We deserve better today, too.