That was the title of a Fox News column I wrote three years ago. It’s still appropriate:
It is instructive, and educational (particularly for those who haven’t seen it since high-school civics class, if then) to read aloud Jefferson’s work of genius, the Declaration of Independence. In so doing, we are reminded of the principles on which this country was founded, the offenses committed against our ancestors by the English king, and the reasons that we forged our own nation.
Note also that this is the 142nd anniversary of the Union victory at Gettysburg, and the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which gave the Union control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in half. It was the beginning of the end for the southern cause, and for better or worse, helped preserve the young nation that had begun (in Lincoln’s words) four score and seven years before.
That was the title of a Fox News column I wrote three years ago. It’s still appropriate:
It is instructive, and educational (particularly for those who haven’t seen it since high-school civics class, if then) to read aloud Jefferson’s work of genius, the Declaration of Independence. In so doing, we are reminded of the principles on which this country was founded, the offenses committed against our ancestors by the English king, and the reasons that we forged our own nation.
Note also that this is the 142nd anniversary of the Union victory at Gettysburg, and the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which gave the Union control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in half. It was the beginning of the end for the southern cause, and for better or worse, helped preserve the young nation that had begun (in Lincoln’s words) four score and seven years before.
It’s easy to forget on a July 4th weekend that the signing of the Declaration of Independence is not the only profound event that we should commemorate on that day. One hundred and forty two years ago, in a little town in southeastern Pennsylvania, the back of the Confederacy was broken. Today is the anniversary of Pickett’s Charge, a disastrous event that represented a watershed–it ended the supremacy of Lee’s army of Northern Virginia and cost them the Battle of Gettysburg, and ultimately, combined with the fall of Vicksburg the next day to Grant, the war itself. Here‘s what I wrote two years ago on the one hundred and fortieth anniversary.
Yesterday, July 2nd, was the anniversary of two critical turning points in that battle, the day before the denoument on Cemetary Ridge–the last-minute defense of Little Round Top, and the suicidal charge of the Minnesotans that broke a gray advance. Powerline has more.
…you never thought about before. From (who else?) Lileks:
Saturday I got out the spade and the claw and dug up the worst spots. Dirt into bags, bags down the steps. Dirt is heavy; no wonder the earth weighs so much. Poor Atlas.
Just a few days after the formation of the American Army, from the ragtag Minute Men who had fought the British troops in Concorde and Lexington a couple months earlier, they engaged on their first major battle. Two hundred thirty years ago today, was the battle of Bunker Hill, fought under the eyes of the townspeople of Boston. They didn’t win, but they proved they could fight, and it was the beginning of a long and frustrating war for the British, of which they would ultimately tire six years later.
Long-time blogger Mommabear, over at Kathy’s place, has lost her Pappabear. Words can never fully express the depth of our condolences, but for most of us in the blogosphere, they’re all we have.
That’s the rumor from Fort Lauderdale, about twenty miles south of me. I hope that there were no casualties on the ground. I wonder how many C-47/DC-3s are still remaining, and how many of them still flying?
[Update a couple minutes later]
Now it’s sounding like it was out of Executive Airport, off Commercial Blvd, not out of Fort Lauderdale International.
[Update at 4:50 PM EDT]
Sounds like the pilot was a hero (assuming that he wasn’t at fault in the first place). He put it down in the street, missing homes and businesses.
I haven’t previously commented much about it, but it’s been clear for a while that after years of losing market share to them, Boeing now has Airbus on the ropes, and even Der Spiegel is admitting it now. I think that the 380 will turn out to be a disaster for them. Of course, Boeing has to watch their back, as some of the regional jet manufacturers, like Bombardier and Embraer start grabbing market share from their smaller planes for point to point. That’s a good thing, of course, since it will restore some competition to the market that was lost when Lockheed got out of the commercial business and Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas.