Anniversaries

Two anniversaries today almost escaped my notice, but there’s still time in the day to remember two important occasions that happened on June 4th:

First, today is the 20th anniversary of the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in Beijing by the Chinese Army. The people demanded the rights of liberty natural to all Mankind; instead, the Chinese communists sent in the tanks:

The fascists running China crushed the demonstrations that day, the leaders were imprisoned, and the events went down the memory hole in the state-controlled media — officially, nothing much happened. But people remember, people who can tell others what happened that day when the government called the army out against its own nation.

One day there will be a reckoning, and this time it won’t be just one lone man standing against the tanks.

Taking us from sorrow to somber pride, today is also the anniversary of the Battle of Midway, when a badly outnumbered and outgunned United States Navy, still reeling from losses in the battles of Pearl Harbor and Coral Sea, crushed a Japanese fleet under Admiral Nagumo. It was one of the greatest victories in naval history, ranking with the Greek defeat of the Persians at Salamis, the Christian victory over the Turks at Lepanto, and the Japanese destruction of the Russian fleet at Tsushima. It changed the course of World War II in the Pacific, stopping the Japanese advance, killing scores of irreplaceable pilots, and buying time for the American Navy to rebuild for a counteroffensive. The US Naval Institute has a very good web site commemorating the Battle of Midway.

So today is a day when freedom both was beaten and when it beat its enemies. Each deserves to be remembered.

 

Technorati tags: Tiananmen massacre, Battle of Midway Island, anniversaries

Thursday Link-a-palooza

It's a busy day today, so here are a few links to keep you entertained.

OUR LEAD STORY:

Mr. Obama goes to Cairo. President Obama addressed the Muslim world this morning from the ancient city of Cairo. I'll have more to say once I've had a chance to read it, but here are initial reactions from commenters wiser than I:

• Andy McCarthy chastises the President for his historical revisionism regarding the significance of President Jefferson's Qur'an. I still can't decide if PBO is ignorant of History or historically disingenuous.
• Power Line's Paul Mirengoff has a perhaps surprisingly favorable reaction to the speech, while his partner John Hinderaker is a bit more critical. Still, if Power Line isn't shredding him, then the President must have done something right.
• Ed Morrissey of Hot Air also thought it was a good speech, while Liz Cheney, daughter of the former vice-president and current Obama nemesis Dick Cheney, thought it was lame.
• Finally, Robert Spencer provides a detailed deconstruction of the speech in its Islamic context. Mr. Spencer is always worth reading on these matters.

ODDS & ENDS:

Was Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the President's nominee to succeed Justice Souter on the Supreme Court, a Puerto Rican separatist? While it was many years ago, the Judiciary Committee should ascertain how her views have changed. UPDATE: Ed Whelan has discovered Judge Sotomayor had done a 180 by the time she entered law school and become an advocate for Puerto Rican statehood.

Senator Jim DeMint, who's become a leader among conservatives in the Senate, pens an editorial on the dangers of the President's extra-constitutional arrogation of power to himself. If you read nothing else today read this: "We The People" vs. "I won."

No, really. Go read it. Now.

The spring issue of City Journal is out, and it contains a fascinating article: The Godfather of American Liberalism – H. G. Wells: novelist, historian, authoritarian, anticapitalist, eugenicist, and advisor to presidents. This covers in more depth one of the topics touched on by Jonah Goldberg in his excellent Liberal Fascism.

Two days after the murder of two American soldiers in Arkansas by a Muslim terrorist, President Obama finally issued a tepid statement of sadness to the local Arkansas press. Yet, just days earlier, the President expressed "outrage" before the national media over the murder of abortionist Dr. George Tillman. Obama's Attorney General immediately ordered Federal protection for abortion clinics, yet no such measures were taken for military recruiting stations, such as the one where the soldiers were gunned down.

Don't get me wrong: the murder of Tillman was just as reprehensible as those of the soldiers Ezeagwula and Long; both killers deserve the death penalty. But what does it say to the military when its commander-in-chief can't be arsed to say anything regarding the deaths of two soldiers in an act of war on American soil – for over 48 hours?

On the global warming front, Watt's Up With That reports that the interplanetary magnetic field is at its lowest point since 1913. Why should we care? If you follow the theories of Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark, you know that he argues that the solar wind, the sun's magnetic field carried into space, is a crucial factor in climate change on earth. When strong, it blocks cosmic rays that (he argues) play a role in cloud formation, which leads to fewer clouds and a warmer earth. The contrary is true when the IMF is weak – as it is now. It will be interesting to see if this ebb in the IMF correlates to both cloud formation and a cooling earth.

Actually waiting for reliable data derived from observation instead of manmade computer models? What a concept!

THURSDAY AFTERNOON HUMOR:

To end on a light note, here's the latest installment of NewsBusted, a humorous Center-Right take on current events:

Enjoy.

Technorati tags: constitutionalism, Jim DeMint, global warming, junk science, Thomas Jefferson, Qur'an, Sonia Sotomayor, H.G. Wells, eugenics, liberalism, liberal fascism, Arkansas, Henrik Svensmark, NewsBusted, speeches, Cairo