Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thankful to be here, in my hometown

So I can always tell when something bad is brewing in Korea as I get a ton of visitors to Heart & Seoul, my tour of the DMZ a year-and-a-half ago. Google analytics reveals it to be far and away the most viewed post out of all 1,350 put up over the past three-and-a-half years.

I first noticed it on my sitemeter 8 months ago when the South Korean warship mysteriously exploded and sank in disputed waters; it just started again a few days ago with the stunning announcement of North Korea's new uranium processing plant, and then escalated after the North pounded an island with artillery killing two South Korean soldiers and two civilians.

So yes, once again I fear for my friends in Seoul. Because if the North Koreans decide (or I should say the new kid in charge) on all-out war, the carnage on Day One will be incomprehensible.

Thus I am thankful to be here in my hometown, with family and friends, safe and warm . And it makes me even more thankful then ever for the men and women in our military who lay their lives on the line to make it so--especially those in far off places under imminent threat of death.

As well as police, fire and public safety folks right here at home.

If I had to pick my favorite post out of all 1,350 it would be A Thanksgiving Story, also about war. And I'm so thankful to have know Dick Hagelberg--a poster boy for the "Greatest Generation".

15 comments:

  1. I find the pictures and accounts from South Korea this week to be terrifying.

    The coverage of the story in the American press has been inadequate.

    What I am not thankful for this Thanksgiving is a national media that has completely lost its sense of perspective, choosing instead to cover Dancing With The Stars.

    We live in a country losing its grip on reality.

    Rich Morse

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy thanksgiving Larry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rich,

    What you fail to understand, is that no matter what is going on the world, you're still a tool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And happy Thanksgiving, Larry. You are not a tool.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Don't even get me started on the current state of the Fourth Estate Mr. Morse (it will spoil my apatite.)

    Almost exactly a year ago Tiger Woods crashed his fancy car in his own driveway in the very early AM with his wife armed with a golf club (either beating the hell out of him or trying to break a window to get him out of the car).

    Meanwhile in a coffee shop outside Tacoma, Washington four uniformed cops getting ready to go on duty were gunned down ambush style by a whacked out ex-con only six days after he posted bail on charges of raping a child

    The Tiger Woods story had about 8,000 news outlets reporting, the slaughter of four cops only garnered half the attention.

    ReplyDelete
  6. North Korea will only benefit from this. Can you actually imagine the current US administration taking action against them? Me neither. So the State Dept. will issue a Strongly Worded Rebuke, and quietly ask Kim how much it'll cost for him to behave himself.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Naturally... and that's exactly what Amherst wants...

    ReplyDelete
  8. "it will spoil my apatite."

    And your ability to spell.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
    talking about getting out
    Packing up our bags maybe heading south.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Event

    Dec 1, 2010

    Springfield Technical Community College presents Ramsey Clark

    Speaking on his new book

    I Never Met a Communist War Criminal I Didn't Like

    "The Korea Truth Commission, incorporated to uncover some form of "truth" about the Korean War, has proven itself to be little more than a mouthpiece for the DPRK (North Korea) and the communist nation’s lackeys in the US the IAC: International Action Center.

    Once again, the infamous Ramsey Clark is the organizer behind this entire charade. Under guidance of Clark’s IAC, the KTC has sent eight delegations to the Korean Peninsula in order to gather "evidence" of war crimes allegedly committed during the Korean War.

    Most of these delegations accomplished little more than finding every excuse to vilify the US, while praising North Korea. The reports filed by these delegations were often short on concrete fact, choosing instead to spend pages extolling the virtues of the communist regime in the North.

    ...Pyongyang is a clean, modern world capital. It is a city of two million people with an efficient public transit system, wide, tree-lined streets, and all the cultural amenities, hospitals, schools, parks and sports facilities that one would expect to find in a large metropolis. Industry has been located on the perimeter of the city to avoid the problem of pollution as much as possible…the people of Pyongyang present themselves as cultured and purposeful. There is no sign of vagrancy or homelessness. Instead of billboards with product advertising, the streets are adorned with posters, banners and inscriptions exhorting citizens to work together to build a powerful nation...

    Anyone familiar with the Pyongyang regime knows such a glowing representation of the city and its government is inaccurate.

    While other organizations are active in the KTC, it is clear that Ramsey Clark dictates the commission’s agenda.

    The KTC’s flurry of activity in the late nineties culminated with an International War Crimes Tribunal on U.S. Crimes in Korea, a shameless travesty that made a mockery of the Tribunal concept. Once again, Clark's fingerprints were all over the tribunal...Clark even appointed himself Chief prosecutor.

    Unsurprisingly, with Clark running the show, the tribunal, like many of today’s anti-war protests, dissolved into an orgy of anti-Americanism, with little adherence to its stated purpose, THE TRUTH..."


    Brief Excerpt From His Bio:

    * 1984 *

    Clark champions the mass murderer, Karl Linnas, a World War II death camp boss, who emigrated from Estonia to escape Soviet justice. Clark's arguments inside and outside of court parallel those of the pro-Nazi Right. Clark emotionally attacks the legitimacy of the O.S.I., the Justice Department group trying to deport Nazis to the Soviet Union to face charges of mass murder;

    * 1989 *

    Clark defends Mahmoud El-Abed Ahmad against extradition to Israel, where he is wanted for allegedly murdering passengers in a bus;

    * 1989 *

    Clark defends Lyndon LaRouche, the ultra Right wing, anti-Semitic cult leader;

    * 1990s *

    Clark defends Sheikh Rahman, head of Gama'a al-Islamyya. These are the terrorists who sliced noses and ears off some of the 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptian workers, whom they slaughtered at Luxor in Egypt in 1997.

    * 1980s-1990s *

    Clark defends the PLO against the lawsuit by the family of Leon Klinghoffer, the wheelchair-bound, disabled American Jew, whom PLO terrorists murdered and then tossed, wheelchair and all, into the sea.

    * 2002 *

    Clark represents Jack Reimer, former Nazi SS guard, accused of playing "a supporting role" during "the liquidation of the Warsaw and Czestochowa ghettoes" in World War II Poland.

    etc., etc.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete