The Bosque Boys

On an oldies station this evening I heard Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire for the first time in quite a while. I actually had forgotten it.

History quiz: can you identify all the references in the song?

Live performance.

To make it easier, here are the lyrics:

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye

Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, taking place , travel in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/aEz ]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh,
Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock

Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets,
AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz

Hypodermics on the shores,
China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the
world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire...

I make this an extra-credit option in my history class.

One of the blessings of a Federal governing system, as opposed to a Unitary governing system, is the 50 Experiments at Once.

Each state is working on its own problems, responsibilities, and challenges. So we have Fifty groups of smart (I hope) and dedicated public servants trying out solutions to various issues. Two heads are better than one, and 50 better yet.

Of course, many of the problems are similar, such as roads.

My home state of Missouri has had a good road system as long as I remember. And it is getting better, with efficient use of its money. Now, it can provide a model that some other states may want to imitate.

Do you really think that a single group of Federal officials in Washington can come up with as many good ideas as fifty groups, one in each state?

Viva Federalism.

Today is the anniversary of the Wymondham Rebellion, another in the long line of acts of resistance to unjust power that form the backbone of British Liberty. We are their heirs. Our founders understood themselves to be defending their rights as Englishmen.

From the Revolutionaries through the reformers, union organizers, populists, civil rights activists, and ordinary citizens who challenged injustice, on our side of the Atlantic we have a rich heritage of men and women determined to--in the words of the New Hampshire state motto--Live Free or Die.

How sad that Britain today has devolved into a people ruled by bureacrats, and who are being handed over by their elites to Brussels bureacrats.

This fall, let's pay attention to politics here at home.

This morning I listened for a while to Mark Davis on the radio He is broadcasting his talk show live from the Democratic Convention in Denver. One of his on-air guests today was Faye Wattleton, former head of Planned Parenthood and currently at something called the Center for the Advancement of Women.

In the interview she described her emotional experience of stepping into the booth to vote in the New York Democratic primary and having a choice between a black man and a white woman. She said that she felt elated and awed to be part of this historic moment, and she spoke highly of our country and its progress in rights.

Then she made this statement. And I am paraphrasing: as a black person part of my identity pulled toward voting for Obama; but my "gender-identity" (her term) was stronger and I voted for Hillary.

Mark Davis, a great talk-show host, let this statement pass because he was charging ahead into a discussion/debate of abortion.

I think this woman put into words the process by which many liberals make their voting choice: identity politics. They vote for the candidate that speaks to, or shares, their personal identity of gender or race or sexual preference or whatever. Not positions rationally considered. Not the common good. Not answers to the issues facing the nation. But identity.

I realize this manner of vote decision is not new. Many of Andrew Jackson's supporters voted for a fellow frontiersman, Southerner, self-made man, masculine man. Either their identity or their wished-for identity.

But, making voting decisions in terms of "identity" is a dangerous practice. You can wind up voting for an incompetent who shares your race or sex or class.

I cannot do better today than this post at Brits at Their Best.

Fly the flag.

Photognome has sent this link to a memoir by a latter19th/early 20th century doctor and professor. The link connects to the chapter on the Spanish-American War.

Here are the opening paragraphs:

CHAPTER X - THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the sinking of the Maine in the harbor at Havana, the proclamation of war against Spain, and the call for volunteers, I was anxious to enlist; but having a wife and five children dependent upon me, I could not conscientiously do so. There was quite an outbreak of enthusiasm for enlistment among the students of the University of Michigan. President Angell was then in Constantinople as United States Ambassador to Turkey, and President Hutchins, who later became permanent President, was acting in that capacity. One day he came to me and said that the students were all astir about the war, wanted to hold a mass meeting with speeches, and might be stampeded into enlistment. He advised that the mass meeting be permitted, that representatives of the students be invited to talk, and that the older and wiser members of the Faculty pour the oil of caution upon-the troubled waters of youth. As dean of the Medical School I was asked to attend the meeting and to do my part in allaying and cooling the enthusiasm and patriotism of the students. Reluctantly I consented to do my small share in this work.

University Hall was crowded. Even the students who made speeches, for the most part at least, evidently had been selected from among those most likely to be moderate in speech. I sat on the platform and listened to talk after talk by my older and wiser colleagues. One admonished the students that their first duty was to their parents, that they should not enlist without consulting them, and that they had parents distributed from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Another said that the student's first duty was to the University, that if he enlisted he interrupted his course of study, would probably not be able to regain his place in his class, and would suffer delay in graduation. A third told the students that there were enough unemployed in this country to fill the quota called for by the President, advised waiting until the unemployed had enlisted, and if it appeared that the ranks were not filled by these, enlistment by the students might be considered. I had promised President Hutchins that I would be at least moderate in my speech and I went to the meeting fully determined that I would comply with my promise. I have long known that in speaking I labor under a serious defect, but I had no realization until that night of the extent to which this defect dominates and determines my actions. Whatever I may intend to say, when I am to make a speech, when I actually begin to talk, I always give expression to my convictions. Many a time I have gone before an audience intending by my words to palliate and to compromise, but after I begin to talk I have always been led by my convictions rather than by my intentions. At the mass meeting I was called upon to follow the colleague who had spoken of filling the ranks with the unemployed. This drove me into a mental frenzy, and standing before the audience, I said: "God pity the country whose tramps must fight its battles; it is true that you are here to acquire an education with the purpose of fitting yourself for the work of life; but I would rather see these walls crumble into dust than to see you hesitate to go when your country calls. You have duties towards your parents, but your first duty is to serve your country." Along this line I rushed on in a verbal flood until my time limit was reached.

The next afternoon Governor Pingree, in his office at Lansing, called me by telephone, informed me that he had read my speech, had signed my commission, and that I would report for duty at Camp Alger, Virginia, without delay. Some enlist because they like the soldier's life, some for patriotic reasons, but I received my commission at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War because I talked too much.

No surprise in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, the thug-in-chief, has won "reelection" through violence. This while his government has created a massive humanitarian crisis through corruption and mismanagement. The Telegraph has this and many other stories.

Africa is full of former colonies who gained independence only to be subjected to home-grown tyranny. Many times by a man elected to office who then rigs the system so as to stay in power while enriching himself and cronies.

Thank God our first president under our present Constitution was George Washington. He wielded power only when he thought it his duty, then put it down at the first honorable opportunity to go back to Mt. Vernon. During his time in office he behaved honorably with honesty. Traits he had shown earlier while leading the Continental Army during the Revolution.

In one of my fantasies, on Judgement Day the Lord Jesus sends all U.S. presidents over to their own area, telling them to fall in line by order of office, all except George Washington. Washington's job, walk down the line in silence, looking into the eyes of each president. Those who can honestly meet his gaze go to their reward in heaven, those who cannot, well they go to theirs.

In "a gripe about Google," Tocqueville points out that the most-used search engine on the web elected to ignore the significance of June 6th, "one of the most pivotal days in the history of the modern world, the day where thousands of America’s finest young men fought and died on the beaches of Normandy to help push back the forces of fascism and tyranny." Instead, Google reconfigured their logo to celebrate the 509th anniversary of the birth of a noteworthy but fairly obscure (to most of us) seventeenth-century portrait artist of the Spanish court.

My sense is that Google merely reflected a general reluctance yesterday among America's cultural gatekeepers to make too much of this 64th anniversary of the "Longest Day."

Why?

--Sixty-four is a fairly mundane number--nothing sexy or golden about a 64th anniversary.

--Perhaps no one cares anymore about something that happened so long ago. An increasingly small percentage of Americans were alive on that day in June in 1944, even fewer have a contemporaneous recollection of the event, and the surviving participants of Operation Overlord are down to a minuscule remnant. Literally, one might ask, who cares?

--Perhaps many well-meaning persons of cultural authority also worried that a reminder of this event might glorify war, hail American sacrifice, and highlight our positive role in modern geo-political history. Perhaps noting past military victories while American troops are in the field doing battle as we speak might appear too political and/or triumphal. Perhaps trumpeting warriors and a "good war" during a presidential election year in which the outcome of the political contest might turn on the collective assessment of our current war struck some as inappropriate.

Hard to know.

Nevertheless, here is a brief and personal (albeit somewhat indirect) recollection concerning Normandy and the "boys" who showed so brave sixty-four years ago.

For three weeks during the late spring of 1996, I traveled through France and Ireland. Making the trip by myself, I felt free to wander wherever the spirit led me. Consequently, without much conscious forethought, I found myself at the Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie in Bayeux on June 8 (the 52nd anniversary of D-Day plus two), where I ran into a contingent of British veterans of the Normandy invasion. Having served in the 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, these troopers (then in their late-sixties and seventies) were excited to find a young man who seemed so interested in their great adventure so long ago. Even better, I was an American who would cordially laugh with them as they good-naturedly scoffed at the idea that Eisenhower (merely a "political general"), Patton ("all talk of blood and guts but no real grit"), or any other U.S. commander could have accomplished much without "Monty" to tell them what to do and lead the way.

Their devotion to "Monty" and his fame reminded me of a Winston Churchill story (as told by the late Sir Robert Rhodes James during one of his visits to Baylor University during the mid-1990s). According to the tale, toward the end of the war Churchill was briefing King George VI during one of their regular meetings, when the King noticed that the Prime Minister was distracted and agitated. Prompted by the King's query, Churchill explained that although the progress of the war was thoroughly agreeable, things on the domestic front were less happy. After ticking off a number of political and economic problems he faced, Churchill sighed with exasperation: "And I think Monty wants my job." To which, the King purportedly rejoined, "that is quite a relief, Winston, all this time I assumed he wanted mine."

God Save the King and God Bless Monty, Winnie, and all the boys of the 21st Army Group.

God Bless Ike and Patton and the all the boys of Pointe du Hoc and all the other places along the beaches of Normandy.

Bernard Perlin, artist. Office of War Information poster, no. 26. 1943.

In the midst of the Pope's visit to Washington last week, we missed a less publicized ceremony in the East Room in which President and Mrs. Bush invited Professor Wilfred McClay to offer a commemoration of Thomas Jefferson in honor of his 265th birthday.

As our good friend is much too modest in his accomplishments, we admit sheepishly that we learned of this event via Powerline. Nevertheless, we offer our belated kudos to the President for his good taste in historians, and kudos to Professor McClay for his insightful and provocative remarks.

With a big hat tip to Powerline, we offer the lecture in full below:

Thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Bush, for your warm welcome, and for the great honor of taking part in this celebration of Thomas Jefferson’s life.

Usually, when a greatly revered figure turns a year older, we feel older too, and the world feels a little colder and more fragile. But it’s a little different when a man turns 265. Remembering Thomas Jefferson makes us feel young. And not just by comparison. It’s because Thomas Jefferson embodies so much of the promise of American life. It’s because there is so much about him that is still vibrantly alive.

And living not only in America. Thomas Jefferson deserves to be remembered and revered as a man of worldwide influence, whose name is known and loved and invoked by men and women from Beijing to Lhasa to Kiev to Prague. His belief in the dignity and unrealized potential in the minds and hearts of ordinary people is at the core of what is greatest in the American experiment. It is in this sense that James Parton, his early biographer, was right in making the following proclamation: "If Jefferson is wrong, America is wrong. If America is right, Jefferson was right.” But the cause of Jefferson was always more than just that of America. It is the cause of all humankind.

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