Quote of the Day

"Pessimism never won any battle."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Presidential Fun Fact of the Day

Last week I was on a tour of a mansion that had dozens of family crests decorating the common room. It was pointed out that the George Washington family crest was perhaps the inspiration for the American flag:

The red stars and stripes aren't too big a leap to our own Stars and Stripes, are they?

At the very least, the Washington family's coat-of-arms is definitely responsible for the flag design for the District of Columbia:

Quote of the Day

"An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable victory."

-Millard Fillmore

*Presented Without Context

Jennifer, in self-congratulatory manner: "I'm a star!"

Niece, age 4, in response to Aunt Jennifer's declaration: "I'm a moon!"

I'll Give You a Topic...

Some people love to imagine a President Schwarzenegger...and those people even support an amendment which would allow foreign-born persons to become president.

But...do you really want to open up the possibility of anyone running for president? A Palestinian, perhaps? What if there came a day when the apologists were in the majority?

Quote of the Day

"We do not need to burn down the house to kill the rats."

-Herbert Hoover

Quote of the Day

"We grow great by dreams. All great men are dreamers."

-Woodrow Wilson

Quote of the Day

"When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were--to the very last minute--a chance to lose it. This is battle. This is politics. This is anything."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Quote of the Day

"To err is nature--to rectify error is glory."

-George Washington

Quote of the Day

"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

-Calvin Coolidge

Quote of the Day

"Forgive our enemies, but never forget their names."

-John F. Kennedy

Quote of the Day

"Unless he has been part of a cause greater than himself, no man is truly whole."

-Richard M. Nixon

Quote of the Day

"Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong."

-Calvin Coolidge

Quote of the Day

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

-James Madison

Pajama Party

Everyone seems to have their panties in a bunch over the pajama remark.

That guy clearly has no idea what he's talking about. Bloggers are usually naked.

Duh.

Female Circumcision, Part Two

In many Middle Eastern cultures, female circumcision as a tradition continued until the early 1900s. In some areas it is still practiced today.

Female circumcision was a necessary part of a female’s social status, as no Arab male would marry an uncircumcised female. Islamic women would have the clitoris removed as well as having the vaginal opening partially closed. This was in lieu of a chastity belt, and she would be surgically reopened when she married.

The Middle East was not the only area to practice modern mutilation of the female genitalia, however. Up until the late 1950s in America and Britain, there were arguments for removal of the prepuce. In 1958 a medical journal suggested this was a way to decrease female arousal, while another journal advocated the procedure to increase female arousal in wives who could not reach orgasm. Obviously there was a great deal of ignorance about female sexuality in the male-dominated medical community. Women’s liberation in the 60s and 70s cleared away the confusion.

Earlier than this, Victorian-era doctors prescribed the more invasive surgical removal of the ovaries for a wide variety of female complaints—from overeating to irritability to insanity. By 1906, approximately 150,000 American women had their ovaries removed for these types of reasons. Of course, until very recently, many women had hysterectomies unnecessarily. Medical knowledge is always progressing and changing the accepted treatments of various diseases.

Quote of the Day

"Difference of opinion leads to enquiry, and enquiry to truth."

-Thomas Jefferson

Three Years

It's been three years since that day, and the emotions aren't as raw. The wound has scabbed over.

It's healed enough that I can watch a History Channel program about the Twin Towers with antiseptic curiosity.

It hasn't healed enough for me to watch the crush--the towers falling--without tears forming in my eyes. Seeing that pulls the scab off.

I am only eight generations removed from my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. Eight generations from people who not only fought against tyrrany and oppression, but who were the kind of people who would leave everything and everyone they knew--and every comfort they had--to travel across a vast ocean in hopes of making something for themselves.

That's what America is about: making something for yourself. Taking your God-given abilities and surviving by your wits. The generations before us did it so well that a good percentage of us can squander our God-given abilities without guilt.

On the whole, however, we are the brightest and most industrious people in the world. In two short centuries, America--this infant of a nation--became the world's superpower.

We inherited a lot from those who came before us. Courage is not small amongst the lot. We lived comfortably before 9-11-01, feeling safe from the terrorists who stalked other nations.

We were complacent, yes. Suffering from lack of fortitude, no. On 9-11, there was no lack of courage in America. We are defiant by nature. We are brave. If given the chance, we will defend the freedom we cherish above our own lives. We will do this so that the future generations will be proud of us--so that they will also be free.

We don't know what the future holds in the way of technological advances, and it is naive to assume their world will much resemble ours, but someday perhaps my great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren will study this nation's history. They will study the Revolutionary War. They will study the Civil War. They will study World Wars I and II. They will study the War on Terror.

And they will be proud of us.

After three years, complacency is creeping back on our nation. But the majority of us keep picking at that scab...we don't let the wound heal. We don't want it to heal, because if we let it heal we'll forget. If we forget, we'll lose.

*The Police

I'm a big fan of the police. I always had a higher-than-average amount of respect and empathy for them...then I became good friends with a few, and I really saw what it's like.

Policemen and women get a bum deal.

Firemen are beloved and revered. They save lives, they risk their own, and everyone loves them.

Policemen save lives and risk their own, and they have to be careful answering their own front door. Their personal vehicles get vandalized. People treat them with contempt.

When they pull someone over for speeding or not wearing a seatbelt, they may be verbally abused for "not having anything better to do"...or they may be killed by a 72-year-old driver.

Of course, when kids are drag-racing and one of them gets killed, people want to know why the police weren't there.

After 9/11, the whole country loved the NYPD. But a friend of mine who is in the NYPD responded to a complaint of kids throwing things off a Bronx building shortly after the WTC attacks. The mother, pissed off, told the officers to leave the kids alone and "go dig the dead cops out of the pile downtown."

Policemen are verbally abused, spat on, and expected to take all of it while maintaining a high degree of professionalism. They see the worst of society every day. They have nightmares about the things they witness. And we demand that they don't let any of it get to them.

So while you remember the victims of 9/11, including the members of the NYPD and Port Authority Police who died that day, please also take a moment to appreciate your local law enforcement.

WTC pictures

Last year, Pete was kind enough to give me access to his pictures of the World Trade Center aftermath.

Here are links to the original posts:

WTC Post One
WTC Post Two
WTC Post Three
WTC Post Four

Also, a friend of Victor and Nic's sent a picture of the Pentagon on 9/11:

Pentagon

Quote of the Day

"I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day lose."

-Woodrow Wilson

Quote of the Day

"Justice and goodwill will outlast passion."

-James A. Garfield

Quote of the Day

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose."

-Lyndon B. Johnson

Quote of the Day

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

-Harry S. Truman

Quote of the Day

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing."

-Theodore Roosevelt

I Do Requests

Jim asked for an odd tidbit about Nixon to help cheer him up...so here is a pretty useless fact.

Nixon was the first president to get a hole-in-one in golf. He did it before his presidency, while playing golf at the Bel Air Country Club in 1961.

Two other presidents also made holes in one: Eisenhower and Ford. Both of them did so after the presidency, and Ford did it three times.