War
November 20, 2009
- Marilyn Monroe rules the world, at least The part visible in a photograph, standing Above the troops she’s about to bless With a song in her porous sequin dress, her arms Durably outstretched. She hasn’t aged a day In fifty years. The men too appear impossibly Young, mooning boys clotted around a woman Who just might show them something they’ve never seen. Picture the millions ...
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November 19, 2009
- Once, while still in the U.S. Air Force, I discussed the issue of the need for world peace with someone very close to me. At one point, she very sincerely asked a question I had never considered: "What if peace comes and nobody wants it?" I answered that if peace came and nobody wanted it, then the world would see to its immediate destruction. Sometimes I think peace is constantly ...
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November 19, 2009
- "The average age of the world's civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again ...
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November 18, 2009
- Address on Peace Originally presented to The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics Annual Peace Conference. (They were not happy) Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, Men and Women of, as they say, Good Will: Before I begin, let me reduce the entire text of this speech to five words: "...good fences make good neighbours..." That is, of course Robert Frost, and now anyone ...
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November 18, 2009
- Michael Anthony is the author of MASS CASUALTIES: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq (Adams Media, October 2009). His book is drawn from his personal journals during the first year he spent serving in Iraq. You can read my interview with him <a ...
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November 13, 2009
- This is that time of year when every lapel sports a red paper poppy to commemorate fallen British soldiers. A beautiful tradition followed by the young and old, soldier and civilian alike. It speaks to a nation that remembers. When I first came to England, my boyfriend told me the story of a friend who had an idea to hire an airplane to fly over the Thames and release 3 million poppies. ...
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November 11, 2009
- My father was born before the end of World War II in Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia on February 1, 1945. His motherland remained under the French Protectorate since 1853. Laos and Vietnam also lived under France’s iron fist. The subjugation, repression, discrimination, and exploitation of Cambodge, Laos, and Vietnam incited the leaders of these three nations (coined by French as Indochina) to rise ...
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October 30, 2009
- It has been a very, very long time (four months) since I wrote about the assault of the pigeons on the West coast of this great land, and in particular on the light well outside my kitchen, and no doubt many of you have wondered about the status of this epic battle for the soul of America. My sense is you have all been holding your breath, terrified that these pernicious monsters were winning and ...
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October 14, 2009
- Author’s Book Recommendation – Book of the PeopleTitle:People of the BookAuthor: Geraldine BrooksPaperback: 400 pagesPublisher: HarperPerennial (1 Oct 2008)Language EnglishISBN-10: 0007177429ISBN-13: 978-0007177424Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.8 cmBook Description‘Even more compelling than the detective plot is the novel’s portrayal of the harrowing lives of its historical ...
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October 1, 2009
- Another thoughtful column by Lyn Miller-Lachmann at the "Waging Peace" blog of the Albany Times Union (NY), featuring Rock 'N' Roll Soldier... Lyn really nails the essence of Dean's story, that music/art can transcend even the grisliest of circumstances and keep us human...
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