Battle of Bismark Sea, 70 years ago today.....

[CoyoteChris]

Battle of the Bismarck Sea, 2 March 1943
On this day Allied (US and Australian) aircraft intercepted a Japanese
troop convoy from Rabaul, New Britain to Lae, New Guinea. Over the
three day running fight that followed, the Allies sank all 8
transports and 5 of the 8 escorting destroyers, shooting down 20 of
the defending Japanese fighters, for the loss of 2 bombers, 4 fighters
and 13 crew. That was 70 years ago today. Today, the president and the congress do nothing to help the country. God bless our troops.
https://www.google.com/search?q=batt...w=1920&bih=901

[Olympia]

Thanks for the anniversary alert, Chris. The Allies did an amazing job all over; it really was a world war. I did research for D-Day last month for something I wrote at work. For one thing, it showed why people of that generation revered Eisenhower. What a tough decision to make, saying that night during questionable weather that yes, the time was right to start the invasion of France. They had just the one chance to get it right, and hundreds of thousands of troops were involved.

God bless our troops indeed.

[CoyoteChris]

Eisenhower and JFK are two people I wish we could vote for again....no one is a perfect person but they knew how to get things done. Both have had to make very tough decision that could have cost many lives in their lives and thankfully, they made the right choices....one could argue that Ike was very lucky on D-day that so few allies were killed...and we were lucky that Hitler made bad decisions that day....but you make your own luck to some extent. Same thing with JFK. I would vote for him in a heartbeat.
Then we got LBJ, and the country's guts were torn out.....and he put us so far in debt I dont know how we are ever going to get out. I wonder what the Vietnam war really costs? The total goes up every day my classmates go to the vet hospitals for their injuries and nightmares....
Where is my "I like Ike" button?

Thanks for the anniversary alert, Chris. The Allies did an amazing job all over; it really was a world war. I did research for D-Day last month for something I wrote at work. For one thing, it showed why people of that generation revered Eisenhower. What a tough decision to make, saying that night during questionable weather that yes, the time was right to start the invasion of France. They had just the one chance to get it right, and hundreds of thousands of troops were involved.

God bless our troops indeed.

[Mrs. P]

Eisenhower and JFK are two people I wish we could vote for again....no one is a perfect person but they knew how to get things done. Both have had to make very tough decision that could have cost many lives in their lives and thankfully, they made the right choices....one could argue that Ike was very lucky on D-day that so few allies were killed...and we were lucky that Hitler made bad decisions that day....but you make your own luck to some extent. Same thing with JFK. I would vote for him in a heartbeat.
Then we got LBJ, and the country's guts were torn out.....and he put us so far in debt I dont know how we are ever going to get out. I wonder what the Vietnam war really costs? The total goes up every day my classmates go to the vet hospitals for their injuries and nightmares....
Where is my "I like Ike" button?

How bi-partisan. (Though my Republican friends and family would probably grudgingly admit that JFK was a decent president and vice-versa with IKE).

[skateluvr]

Exactly Chris, we had real men unafraid to lead. Now it is as Mathman said, a little game of finger pointing. I think The Prez and the Speaker had a few beers and said, lets try a sequester, and no one will be the wiser that we agreed beforehand to be bi-partisan. yeahh, we are screwing the people, but the people are kept busy by our presenses of being enemies, and don't get we are all republocrats now.

I don't ever see mr Obama lose his cool, because he'll live just fine, even if he and the family decide to move to Norway, or Swizterland where things are much better. He'll have a bak account too, I'm sure.

When do the young people -the college students who are lucky to get a paid internship in most career areas, going to really hit the strrets? occupy was brilliant but legally, they cannot use parks, etc, and police actions destroyed every movement.

Look at the average salary in the 80's. Look at it in 2013 and then devalue the dollar by 40%. We are a nation of working slaves. Maybe the earnings are higher re GS young people. FS tends to attract people who are lovers of music, beauty, sport, refinement. So our youth are likely from Asia, where things have much more hope.

I do not understand how any parents would do 200,000 in debt for a liberal arts degree. Only the trades cannot be exported, engineering jobs, certain finance jobs. It is so bleak. I pray they make I phones illegal in public spaces so these young kids will start talking to each other about the future. How far off can our next revolution be? Things move at lightening speed. Les Mis has always seemed to me a work of God. Imagine artists leading a world wide people's revolution as thousands of flash mobs in every country converge on main squares to "Tommorrow comes." I have always felt this work of art was far more than a Broadway play. One never knows what could spark a world revolution of youth who demand that ill gotten gains of Billionaires be re distributed. Hunger games frightens me because that could easily be the world in 20 years. Districts, serfs and the rich few running all.

I only pray that human nature and God don't allow the middle class dream to be destroyed in most countries. The greatest generation may have lived thru the great depression and fought a world war, but somehow they did not complain. Families were close and life was simple, yet most everyone was in the same boat. They knew life was sacrifice. My father was just an ordinary man, gentle, not a fighter. I compare him to the many baby boomers who have way more than he ever did. None of them hold a candle to him I see at my age.
The greatest generation truly was. May God forgive and bless America and our troops, who are not receiving their due for such bravery. to paraphrase Jean Valjean (for me forever the angelic voice of Colm Wilkinson) "Bring them home."

Are there men with courage to refuse to fight? The middle east must decide it's own fate. We cannot. It hasn't worked and it never will. I'd like to believe this part of the world is in God's hands. At least that is my prayer. Only God could possibly understand the people, issues, history and intentions of so many warring factions.

[CoyoteChris]

It is interesting to look at the two men with historical perspective and see really how much alike they were in thought and deed. Sure, there were major diffeences in their parties at the time, but I still think they were closer then than the two last candidates were during our last election, Ike's last warning to us was , "Beware the military-industrial complex" Pretty big words for a self confessed Kansas dirt farmer. And JFK had -------- the size of grapefruit. Take your missels out of Cuba or else. And Bobby took on the mafia....JFK's last words to us, recorded over the white house phone, were..."I have no idea why we are in Vietnam...why dont we just leave...?" (paraphrase) It's not the party, its the man. All I have seen since are men who are "All hat and no cowboy".

How bi-partisan. (Though my Republican friends and family would probably grudgingly admit that JFK was a decent president and vice-versa with IKE).

[CoyoteChris]

I gotta tell you. I am afraid for the young people and the folks in their 40s right now.....I have seen recessions and boom times and they were almost a natually occuring cycle. Even the great depression was an ajustment. But we are in a great depression right now, only the governemnt has been kicking the can of suffering down the road by massive spending we can never repay. If all those jobs hadnt been exported, there might have been a chance we could eventually dig our way out of 17 trillion dollars of debt, once we stop the deficit. But we cant even stop the deficit. But without huge tax increases and deep cuts and bringing the jobs home from overseas, I dont see any hope. Karl Marx predicted that capitalism would fail cause it demanded ever increaseing growth that would mean a fight for markets....I think he was and is right. It will take brave people doing brave deeds to fix things now. I am glad I saw America when I did...I dont think I am gonna like what I would see if I lived another 20 years....tear falls....

Exactly Chris, we had real men unafraid to lead. Now it is as Mathman said, a little game of finger pointing. I think The Prez and the Speaker had a few beers and said, lets try a sequester, and no one will be the wiser that we agreed beforehand to be bi-partisan. yeahh, we are screwing the people, but the people are kept busy by our presenses of being enemies, and don't get we are all republocrats now.

I don't ever see mr Obama lose his cool, because he'll live just fine, even if he and the family decide to move to Norway, or Swizterland where things are much better. He'll have a bak account too, I'm sure.

When do the young people -the college students who are lucky to get a paid internship in most career areas, going to really hit the strrets? occupy was brilliant but legally, they cannot use parks, etc, and police actions destroyed every movement.

Look at the average salary in the 80's. Look at it in 2013 and then devalue the dollar by 40%. We are a nation of working slaves. Maybe the earnings are higher re GS young people. FS tends to attract people who are lovers of music, beauty, sport, refinement. So our youth are likely from Asia, where things have much more hope.

I do not understand how any parents would do 200,000 in debt for a liberal arts degree. Only the trades cannot be exported, engineering jobs, certain finance jobs. It is so bleak. I pray they make I phones illegal in public spaces so these young kids will start talking to each other about the future. How far off can our next revolution be? Things move at lightening speed. Les Mis has always seemed to me a work of God. Imagine artists leading a world wide people's revolution as thousands of flash mobs in every country converge on main squares to "Tommorrow comes." I have always felt this work of art was far more than a Broadway play. One never knows what could spark a world revolution of youth who demand that ill gotten gains of Billionaires be re distributed. Hunger games frightens me because that could easily be the world in 20 years. Districts, serfs and the rich few running all.

I only pray that human nature and God don't allow the middle class dream to be destroyed in most countries. The greatest generation may have lived thru the great depression and fought a world war, but somehow they did not complain. Families were close and life was simple, yet most everyone was in the same boat. They knew life was sacrifice. My father was just an ordinary man, gentle, not a fighter. I compare him to the many baby boomers who have way more than he ever did. None of them hold a candle to him I see at my age.
The greatest generation truly was. May God forgive and bless America and our troops, who are not receiving their due for such bravery. to paraphrase Jean Valjean (for me forever the angelic voice of Colm Wilkinson) "Bring them home."

Are there men with courage to refuse to fight? The middle east must decide it's own fate. We cannot. It hasn't worked and it never will. I'd like to believe this part of the world is in God's hands. At least that is my prayer. Only God could possibly understand the people, issues, history and intentions of so many warring factions.