JUNE 14, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
June 14 is … Pop Goes The Weasel Day
This should be Pop Goes the Weiner this year!
Happy Flag Day to all Americans. “Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation,” said John Adams on this day in 1777 at a meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, PA. And so, the first Flag Day was celebrated in the United States of America.
Proclamation 1335, May 30, 1916, made it possible for every President to issue a proclamation that June 14 would be celebrated as Flag Day. Pennsylvania is the only state to celebrate June 14 as a legal holiday, proclamation or not, although the proclamation has been issued annually since 1949.
At 7 p.m. E.D.T., across the United States, the President leads the country in a pause to pledge allegiance, a time to honor America. The national ceremony is held at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, and was conceived as a way for all citizens to share a patriotic moment.
I salute the star-spangled banner, now with 50 white stars on a blue field, on this Flag Day. The next time you see someone not respecting the flag, let them have it; Love it or Leave it still means something today, more than ever.
A resort in England has banned bumping other cars in the bumper car ride. Most people see the sign and think it is in jest but they are quickly corrected. Drivers are told to merely drive in circles and attempt to overtake other drivers. All drivers must go in the same direction. I do not recall anyone ever being killed by being hit in a bumper car ride but I could have missed it. Potential liability has homogenized another aspect of life.
On Monday, the Pentagon Papers were declassified and released by the United States government. Those of you too young to have firsthand knowledge of this story, it was a big deal at the time. Four decades after the Pentagon Papers began appearing in The New York Times, triggering a constitutional crisis over freedom of the press, the once top-secret study of the Vietnam War have been released.
The Lyndon B. Johnson Library at the University of Texas in Austin unveiled the 7,000-page Pentagon report Monday, with only 11 words remaining secret. Simultaneous releases are scheduled at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif. and the National Archives in College Park, Md.
The Times began publishing the documents June 13, 1971, but a federal judge soon halted their publication. Other newspapers then began publishing the documents. A fragmented U.S. Supreme Court eventually struck down the judge's ruling, leading to a major legal victory for press freedom.
Daniel Ellsberg was a high-level Pentagon official who became a traitor to his country. In the 1960s, Ellsberg was a high-level Pentagon official, a former Marine commander who believed the American government was always on the right side. He changed his mind after seeing the lies being told about the Vietnam War. He single-handedly decided the law did not apply to him so he released the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. It was a big deal and is important for the rights the Supreme Court decided the press has. The actual release did nothing to end the war.
Ellsberg was criminally charged but the charges were dismissed when President Nixon’s Plumbers were caught breaking into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. These same Plumbers were later caught breaking into Watergate.
Regardless of why Ellsberg released the classified information, he committed a crime and should have gone to prison. This event was the beginning of the unfettered power the press now has where nothing is off limits. The press relishes in building someone up so it can tear them down after mercilessly digging for dirt.
Just a couple of thoughts I had.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
www.ebookmall.com (Do search by my name or book Title)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.
Book Titles:
Holmes the Ripper
A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction
“When we seek to discover the best in others,
we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.”
we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.”
"The things that the flag stands for were created by the experiences of a great people. Everything that it stands for was written by their lives. The flag is the embodiment not of sentiment, but of history." - Woodrow Wilson
