A timeless symbol
Red, white and blue. 50 five-point stars of white on a field of blue in the upper left corner. Thirteen strips of red and white. Old Glory. The Stars and Stripes. The Star Spangled Banner. Obviously, I'm referring to the official flag of the United States. After all, June 14th is Flag Day.
I was at the Veterans Administration campus in West Los Angeles today and there were flags all along the streets. Had I drive over to the cemetery, there would have been a small flag marking every single grave. There is a U. S. Flag on permanent, continuous display at each of the following locations:
The Marine Corps memorial at Arlington, VA
The White House
The Washington Monument
The South Pole
The Moon
The birthplace of Francis Scott Key
Gettysburg
The Battle Green in Lexington (site of the first shots fired in the Revolutionary War)
Many other places
It's a symbol. An important symbol. I lost count of how many afternoons during my military service when I found myself outside when the music of Retreat would begin. We were required to face whatever direction the base flag was from wherever we were on base and salute the flag until the music concluded. During my time as a military cop, I was often required to take part in the retreat ceremony by lowering and then folding the flag.
Happy Flag Day!!
* * *
Their pride is evident in their faces, and in the various reminders they wear. I'm talking about my fellow veterans that I see whenever I go to the VA. Some of them wear their medals and ribbons on their civilian clothing, and I no longer point out to them that this is illegal. The law may be the law, but it isn't my job to enforce that one (or any others at this point). Some wear replicas of their ribbons on custom created baseball caps. These caps usually mention the branch of the military they served in, and often the conflict(s) they were part of.
Some of them bear more visible reminders of their service. Missing limbs. The need to have a service animal for emotional support. Some of them were volunteers. Some of them were drafted. It doesn't matter at this point. They served. They earned the right to receive the medical care the VA is supposed to provide.
This shouldn't be a political football. Congress needs to fix the problem. Throwing money at it is not the answer. Accountability and oversight needs to be a part of the solution.
* * *
The IRS is playing the "dog ate my homework" card when it comes to producing emails involving Lois Lerner and anyone outside the IRS. They are claiming a computer crash resulted in the loss of all of her emails to and from the Treasury and Justice departments, the White House, the Federal Election Commission and other Democratic offices.
This is ridiculous. We depend on the IRS to maintain records of all tax returns filed each year, payroll taxes that are paid throughout the year and many other pieces of information. If they can do that, they should be able to keep track of their emails.
If a federal agency can't keep track of the emails of its employees, maybe the time has come for a centralized email repository for all emails involving federal employees. Storage space is cheap.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Ask one of the conservatives who support the notion that they should be able to refuse service to a gay person or same-sex couple if that choice of theirs is discrimination, and they will say it is not. Then substitute Black or Jew for gay and ask them again and watch them stutter before admitting it is discrimination. Amusing
Would someone tell Lady Gaga that this isn't a great look for her?
Frank McCourt paid his ex-wife Jamie $2 million a year for her work as whatever she was when he owned the Dodgers. The Dodgers spent $2.1 million in 2011 for security. This came out at the trial where McCourt is being sued to pay for care for Brian Stow.
I think I figured out what's going on with the sale of a house for $10 from Shaq to some Haitian businessman. Shaq paid $235,000 for the home. If he just gave it to the guy, he'd owe gift tax on the gift. Selling it to the man may be an attempt to avoid that gift tax. Like I said before, sounds fishy.
If the claims of University of Texas senior Heba Said concerning how she was treated at the Republican State Convention in Texas are true (and I have no reason to doubt them), it just provides more evidence that racism, hatred and ignorance continue to run rampant through at least part of that political party. She was discriminated against because she wore her Muslim headdress.
Bill Clinton used Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" as his campaign song in 1992. With the 2016 Republican field starting to take shape, what songs might some of the frontrunners be considering?
Chris Christie: Either Queen's "Fat-bottomed Girls" or "Junk Food Junkie" from Larry Groce
Ted Cruz: "Illegal Alien" from Genesis
Herman Cain: Either Dean Martin's "That's Amore" or his own song:
Donald Trump: "Wig" by the B-52s
Joe Scarborough: Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair/Canticle"
Rick Santorum: "Allentown" by Billy Joel
Marco Rubio: "Mambo #5" by Lou Bega
Rick Perry: "Mickey" by Toni Basil (Perry was a yell leader at Texas A&M)
Jon Huntsman: "The All American Prophet" from the musical "The Book of Mormon"
Rand Paul: "Doctor My Eyes" by Jackson Browne
Jeff Munro of the Food Network listed his eight best sandwiches in the U.S. and while I agree with his including the Pastrami from Langer's Deli, I can't understand the omission of the French Dip from Philippe's.
It's incredibly awesome that the L. A. Kings won their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. And I got to watch the game with good friends, which made the win even more satisfying.
Stacey Dash thinks that the Republican party supports same-sex marriage. Guess that makes her truly "Clueless."
* * *
June 14th in History:
1158 – Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar.
1216 – First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France captures the city of Winchester and soon conquers over half of the Kingdom of England.
1276 – While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song Dynasty court hold the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song.
1285 – Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of the Trần Dynasty destroy most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong.
1287 – Kublai Khan defeats the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria.
1381 – Richard II of England meets leaders of Peasants' Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.
1645 – English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.
1667 – The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War ends. It had lasted for five days and resulted in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army.
1777 – The Stars and Stripes is adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.
1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.
1789 – Whiskey distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
1800 – The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.
1807 – Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.
1821 – Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom.
1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables".
1830 – Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers begin their invasion of Algiers, landing 27 kilometers west at Sidi Fredj.
1839 – Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, stages its first regatta.
1846 – Bear Flag Revolt begins – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester – a Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.
1863 – Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson during the American Civil War.
1872 – Trade unions are legalised in Canada.
1900 – Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
1900 – The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
1907 – Norway grants women the right to vote.
1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.
1926 – Brazil leaves the League of Nations
1937 – Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) state of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
1937 – U.S. House of Representatives passes the Marihuana Tax Act.
1940 – World War II: Paris falls under German occupation, and Allied forces retreat.
1940 – The Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Lithuania resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence.
1940 – A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
1941 – June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, begins.
1944 – World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandons Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-occupied town of Caen.
1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 15th, 66th and 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL liberate the captured in Ilocos Sur and start the Battle of Bessang Pass in Northern Luzon.
1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space.
1951 – UNIVAC I is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
1952 – The keel is laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
1955 – Chile becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1959 – Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
1959 – A group of Dominican exiles depart from Cuba and land in the Dominican Republic with the intent of overthrowing the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four are killed or executed.
1962 – The European Space Research Organisation is established in Paris – later becoming the European Space Agency.
1966 – The Vatican announces the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("index of prohibited books"), which was originally instituted in 1557.
1967 – Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched towards Venus.
1967 – The People's Republic of China tests its first hydrogen bomb.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrender to British forces.
1985 – TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece.
1994 – The 1994 Stanley Cup riot occurs after the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup from Vancouver, causing an estimated CA$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries.
2002 – Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Famous Folk Born on June 14th:
Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria
John Bartlett
Alois Alzheimer
May Allison
Siggie Nordstrom
Burl Ives
Gene Barry
Sam Wanamaker
Pierre Salinger
Don Newcombe
James Black
Che Guevara
Marla Gibbs
Jerzy Kosinski
Hermann Kant
Jack Bannon
Harold Wheeler
Rod Argent
Donald Trump (his toupee's birthday is tomorrow)
Harry Turtledove
Will Patton
Fred Funk
Mona Simpson
Eric Heiden
Eddie Mekka
Boy George
Yasmine Bleeth
Faizon Love
Steffi Graf
J. R. Martinez
I was at the Veterans Administration campus in West Los Angeles today and there were flags all along the streets. Had I drive over to the cemetery, there would have been a small flag marking every single grave. There is a U. S. Flag on permanent, continuous display at each of the following locations:
The Marine Corps memorial at Arlington, VA
The White House
The Washington Monument
The South Pole
The Moon
The birthplace of Francis Scott Key
Gettysburg
The Battle Green in Lexington (site of the first shots fired in the Revolutionary War)
Many other places
It's a symbol. An important symbol. I lost count of how many afternoons during my military service when I found myself outside when the music of Retreat would begin. We were required to face whatever direction the base flag was from wherever we were on base and salute the flag until the music concluded. During my time as a military cop, I was often required to take part in the retreat ceremony by lowering and then folding the flag.
Happy Flag Day!!
* * *
Their pride is evident in their faces, and in the various reminders they wear. I'm talking about my fellow veterans that I see whenever I go to the VA. Some of them wear their medals and ribbons on their civilian clothing, and I no longer point out to them that this is illegal. The law may be the law, but it isn't my job to enforce that one (or any others at this point). Some wear replicas of their ribbons on custom created baseball caps. These caps usually mention the branch of the military they served in, and often the conflict(s) they were part of.
Some of them bear more visible reminders of their service. Missing limbs. The need to have a service animal for emotional support. Some of them were volunteers. Some of them were drafted. It doesn't matter at this point. They served. They earned the right to receive the medical care the VA is supposed to provide.
This shouldn't be a political football. Congress needs to fix the problem. Throwing money at it is not the answer. Accountability and oversight needs to be a part of the solution.
* * *
The IRS is playing the "dog ate my homework" card when it comes to producing emails involving Lois Lerner and anyone outside the IRS. They are claiming a computer crash resulted in the loss of all of her emails to and from the Treasury and Justice departments, the White House, the Federal Election Commission and other Democratic offices.
This is ridiculous. We depend on the IRS to maintain records of all tax returns filed each year, payroll taxes that are paid throughout the year and many other pieces of information. If they can do that, they should be able to keep track of their emails.
If a federal agency can't keep track of the emails of its employees, maybe the time has come for a centralized email repository for all emails involving federal employees. Storage space is cheap.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Ask one of the conservatives who support the notion that they should be able to refuse service to a gay person or same-sex couple if that choice of theirs is discrimination, and they will say it is not. Then substitute Black or Jew for gay and ask them again and watch them stutter before admitting it is discrimination. Amusing
Would someone tell Lady Gaga that this isn't a great look for her?
Frank McCourt paid his ex-wife Jamie $2 million a year for her work as whatever she was when he owned the Dodgers. The Dodgers spent $2.1 million in 2011 for security. This came out at the trial where McCourt is being sued to pay for care for Brian Stow.
I think I figured out what's going on with the sale of a house for $10 from Shaq to some Haitian businessman. Shaq paid $235,000 for the home. If he just gave it to the guy, he'd owe gift tax on the gift. Selling it to the man may be an attempt to avoid that gift tax. Like I said before, sounds fishy.
If the claims of University of Texas senior Heba Said concerning how she was treated at the Republican State Convention in Texas are true (and I have no reason to doubt them), it just provides more evidence that racism, hatred and ignorance continue to run rampant through at least part of that political party. She was discriminated against because she wore her Muslim headdress.
Bill Clinton used Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" as his campaign song in 1992. With the 2016 Republican field starting to take shape, what songs might some of the frontrunners be considering?
Chris Christie: Either Queen's "Fat-bottomed Girls" or "Junk Food Junkie" from Larry Groce
Ted Cruz: "Illegal Alien" from Genesis
Herman Cain: Either Dean Martin's "That's Amore" or his own song:
Donald Trump: "Wig" by the B-52s
Joe Scarborough: Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair/Canticle"
Rick Santorum: "Allentown" by Billy Joel
Marco Rubio: "Mambo #5" by Lou Bega
Rick Perry: "Mickey" by Toni Basil (Perry was a yell leader at Texas A&M)
Jon Huntsman: "The All American Prophet" from the musical "The Book of Mormon"
Rand Paul: "Doctor My Eyes" by Jackson Browne
Jeff Munro of the Food Network listed his eight best sandwiches in the U.S. and while I agree with his including the Pastrami from Langer's Deli, I can't understand the omission of the French Dip from Philippe's.
It's incredibly awesome that the L. A. Kings won their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. And I got to watch the game with good friends, which made the win even more satisfying.
Stacey Dash thinks that the Republican party supports same-sex marriage. Guess that makes her truly "Clueless."
* * *
June 14th in History:
1158 – Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar.
1216 – First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France captures the city of Winchester and soon conquers over half of the Kingdom of England.
1276 – While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song Dynasty court hold the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song.
1285 – Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of the Trần Dynasty destroy most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong.
1287 – Kublai Khan defeats the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria.
1381 – Richard II of England meets leaders of Peasants' Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.
1645 – English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.
1667 – The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War ends. It had lasted for five days and resulted in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army.
1777 – The Stars and Stripes is adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.
1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.
1789 – Whiskey distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
1800 – The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.
1807 – Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.
1821 – Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom.
1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables".
1830 – Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers begin their invasion of Algiers, landing 27 kilometers west at Sidi Fredj.
1839 – Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, stages its first regatta.
1846 – Bear Flag Revolt begins – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester – a Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.
1863 – Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson during the American Civil War.
1872 – Trade unions are legalised in Canada.
1900 – Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
1900 – The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
1907 – Norway grants women the right to vote.
1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.
1926 – Brazil leaves the League of Nations
1937 – Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) state of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
1937 – U.S. House of Representatives passes the Marihuana Tax Act.
1940 – World War II: Paris falls under German occupation, and Allied forces retreat.
1940 – The Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Lithuania resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence.
1940 – A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
1941 – June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, begins.
1944 – World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandons Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-occupied town of Caen.
1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 15th, 66th and 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL liberate the captured in Ilocos Sur and start the Battle of Bessang Pass in Northern Luzon.
1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space.
1951 – UNIVAC I is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
1952 – The keel is laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
1955 – Chile becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1959 – Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
1959 – A group of Dominican exiles depart from Cuba and land in the Dominican Republic with the intent of overthrowing the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four are killed or executed.
1962 – The European Space Research Organisation is established in Paris – later becoming the European Space Agency.
1966 – The Vatican announces the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("index of prohibited books"), which was originally instituted in 1557.
1967 – Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched towards Venus.
1967 – The People's Republic of China tests its first hydrogen bomb.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrender to British forces.
1985 – TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece.
1994 – The 1994 Stanley Cup riot occurs after the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup from Vancouver, causing an estimated CA$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries.
2002 – Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Famous Folk Born on June 14th:
Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria
John Bartlett
Alois Alzheimer
May Allison
Siggie Nordstrom
Burl Ives
Gene Barry
Sam Wanamaker
Pierre Salinger
Don Newcombe
James Black
Che Guevara
Marla Gibbs
Jerzy Kosinski
Hermann Kant
Jack Bannon
Harold Wheeler
Rod Argent
Donald Trump (his toupee's birthday is tomorrow)
Harry Turtledove
Will Patton
Fred Funk
Mona Simpson
Eric Heiden
Eddie Mekka
Boy George
Yasmine Bleeth
Faizon Love
Steffi Graf
J. R. Martinez
posted by me at 5:04 PM
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