The Palin/ Reagan Comparison

On Sept. 8, 2008, I raised the question of the Palin/Reagan comparison on a message board that I frequent. I'm confident that I was the first on the internet to do so. Since my post, there have been articles written on the internet that mention her and Reagan in the same article, although I don't believe anyone has compared them directly. As the Delaware motto says, its good being first. Its not often that I get to be the first at anything. So let's move on and compare them.

They both created quite the stir when they took front and center on the political stage. The enthusiasm within the Republican party borders on hysteria, something not seen since.....Ronald Reagan. Bush 41 didn't get people pumped up. Bush 43 and the neocons have done nothing but anger true conservatives, even to the point of driving conservatives like me to other parties (Constitution Party anyone?), so you can see that its been a very long time since there was this much excitement among the Rs.

Although I've not heard her speak on illegal immigration, it appears that she is a staunch conservative on most issues. Since Reagan was the last true conservative that the Rs had, she reminds people of a better time when the Rs actually had their act together. Hopefully she doesn't push for amnesty like Reagan did.

Her speaking style and attitude suggests a confident, no nonsense approach where she will stick to her principles instead of caving in in the name of "compromise." Both Bush presidents definitely did not have such an attitude. Bush 43 and his "lets work together with the Dems" attitude has been the antithesis of Reagan.

Reagan followed an unpopular Carter. Palin follows an unpopular GW. While she is only running for VP, the similarity is there in that she is carrying the battle flag of conservatism following a liberal president (and yes, I consider neocons to be liberals).

She seems to have a connection to people through bypassing the media, much like Reagan did and the Bushes did not.

As respondents to my message board post noted, it is only by looking back upon history many years from now that the Palin/Reagan argument can be proposed. Time will tell.

Addendum: Nov. 6, 2008

Having fallen short this time, I predict she will be back. With the Clintons not going anywhere, look for a possible Palin/Hillary presidential race in the years ahead. Obama is sure to be unpopular by the end of his presidency, so the Reagan analogy may still apply since Reagan lost in '68 and '76. Time will tell.

And as for the criticism of her from the McCain camp, I don't buy it. From other reports, it appears that the McCain campaign is just ticked off that she didn't play ball their way. A political renegade, indeed. Just like that other renegade who was the last true conservative in the white house.

Addendum: Aug. 3, 2009

Funny how the media, and even the weak-minded conservatives who went along with them, were throwing Palin under the bus when she resigned as Alaska's governor. What dopes. I predict that she will be back on the political scene in some manner by 2012.

Enough with the Carriers and Battleships Already

Welcome to the USS Becuna, a Balao-class submarine on display at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia (Penn’s Landing). One deck is open for tours and I would suggest it to anyone visiting the area. More information on the Balao class is here.

The Becuna’s history can be summarized here. Tribute sites can be found here, here and here. She bridged WWII and the Cold War. Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, the two volume set by Clay Blair Jr. (Lippincott Publishing, 1975), references Becuna’s WWII experiences. Blair’s book was the first one I read about submarines years ago and I recommend it. If I know you personally, I’d be willing to loan out my copy if you want to email me through my website. Information about her post WWII configuration can be found here, here, and here.

During my tour of the ship, a former submariner (not this person) was there to answer questions about the sub. Knowing how important and how ingrained the environment of secrecy in the submarine community is (especially regarding the Cold War), I nonetheless asked if he could share any stories with me. While very polite, he would only talk superficially about it. One must understand the cloak of secrecy in the submarine community, which was removed only in 1998 with Sontag and Drew’s landmark book, Blind Man’s Bluff (Harper Collins). To this day you will still be hard pressed to engage in any detailed discussion about post WWII activities with a submariner. God bless them.
However, this same veteran was more than happy to share stories with me about the smells, living conditions, and hardships that made up life aboard a Balao-class sub back then. It is fascinating stuff that everyone should know about to better appreciate United States Veterans and the sacrifices they made. Other stories from Becuna’s sailors can be found here.

Enough about how I spent a day sightseeing. I post this to raise the issue of historic preservation. The cause of historic preservation must be continually raised and supported in American lexicon by history geeks (guilty as charged) since it so easily falls into oblivion. For most Americans, it remains obscure until their school-age child has to do a history report. Then there is a brief moment of “wow, isn’t that cool?”, quickly followed by “maybe we should visit there someday.” And then they go back to their daily life, losing an opportunity to pass along this American value of historic preservation to the younger generations.
How often do you hear anything in the media (History Channel aside) about the history preservation movement in this country? Rarely at the national level. And it only occasionally makes local news when a developer wants to destroy/encroach upon/otherwise screw up a historical site and is resisted by the preservationists.

USS Becuna, registered in the National Register of Historic Places, is in distress. From Mr. Sandy MacNaught’s Becuna site:

Want to fulfill the Creed and help a distressed boat? USS Becuna, a Guppy 1A memorial boat in Philly, is hurting. MBT 6B is leaking. Were it not for temporary repairs, the boat would be listing 7°. Temporary repairs aside, the boat needs to be drydocked for permanent repairs. Individual and Base donations greatly appreciated. Please consider a Base project to raise funds to help. Mark your donations to:

Becuna Dry Dock Funds, c/o Independence Seaport Museum
211 S. Columbus Blvd, Phil., Pa 19106-3199. (this was checked with District Cmdr and local Base Commander for validity.)

This is not an adversarial situation where one has to choose sides in a legal battle between preservationists or idiot developers who want to desecrate important sites by putting a strip mall on a battlefield, for example. This is straight up support of a historic ship without any political overtones or legal dispute involved. Please consider a donation to this worthy cause.
As I stand on Becuna's deck and look across the river at the USS New Jersey, I'm reminded that it is usually the battleships or aircraft carriers that get all the attention, not to mention the lion's share of preservationist donations. However, there are many submarines around the country that are in need of your help. Naval history preservationists, as well as those sympathetic to them, need to re-think their priorities about which class of ships they support. Subs have just as glorious a history as any battleship or carrier in their own way. Each one has a story if you take the time to look into it. You'll just have to dig a little further because its just not in the submarine community's nature to discuss it or to gloat about this campaign or that battle. Stories of grand sea battles will not mention submarines, but each patrol of a submarine was just as important as any other mission, inherently more dangerous than any surface ship, and fraught with more hardship than most of us could handle.

The Becuna is a little-known treasure in need of support. The submarine community might be secretive and reserved, but I'm not, so I make this post to try and give some publicity to a worthy cause. Consider this a shout into the bullhorn for saving our subs.

Another American Tradition Bites the Dust

Major League Baseball (MLB) had its opening day in Japan. What is the world coming to? While I am only a casual follower of steroid ball, this is just wrong.

With all the issues that MLB has had to deal with, and their responsibility to rebuild their image as a clean American sport now that the steroid era is coming to an end, one has to wonder what they were thinking. The frenzy over the Mitchell Report in January and Roger Clemens’ congressional testimony in February is over, and MLB lost an opportunity for a new beginning with the 2008 season. A lost opportunity for a new era free of HGH, controversy, and government oversight. How great it would have been to be able to look back on 2008 ten years from now and remember that opening day was the turning point when MLB started its new era. An era to mirror the “olden days” when the players were iconic heroes, and fans were able to turn to baseball to escape the drudgery of their lives, if only for 3 hours. An age where the biggest controversy was how many hot dogs Babe Ruth ate in the dugout during a game. But no, MLB squanders an opportunity for rebirth. They can ill afford to lose opportunities like this.

The trend in modern times towards globalization, making the world smaller, bla bla bla is not relevant to an American institution like professional sports. It’s bad enough that the NFL is taking America’s number one sport to Europe for regular season games, but that’s a topic for some other day. Major League Baseball’s opening day is a strong American tradition (even stronger than the NFL’s opening game) that has survived the tests of the steroid era. The excitement of opening day 2008 is palpable in the post-Mitchell report days as fans try to put a controversy-filled off-season behind them. So why disappoint the fans not just by having a game in Japan, but the game? An opportunity for rebirth lost. A slap in the face to MLB fans. When will MLB get their act together? Certainly not with the current, spineless commissioner.

I don’t mind MLB, or anyone else for that matter, having exhibition games overseas. However, regular season games and above all, MLB’s opening day, should remain a strictly American tradition. More isolationism in a world of increasing globalization is a principle I can support, even if I'm not a huge baseball fan.

Lamentations of Childhood Lost

November 2003:

Its been a busy day. I sit down to watch “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” on network TV. I’ve looked forward to watching this with my kids tonight, to share my childhood treasure with them. This is more than just watching a show. This is remembering childhood traditions of being allowed to stay up until 8:00pm to watch it, past my normal bedtime, and how unusual and special that felt. This is remembering the excitement of a cartoon being on at night, and how strange that was. And a WEEKNIGHT at that! This is remembering how timeless the Charlie Brown specials were. Since they were only on once a year, you looked forward to them. This is remembering the only time of year when you actually checked the TV guide looking to see when the specials would be on, and the excruciating wait when you found it, in anticipation of that special night. This was childhood the way it was meant to be. Saturday morning cartoons, but more so the holiday specials, were a special part of it.

The opening scenes appear on the TV. Things are different now. It’s a sad occasion. Looking at my children, I silently lament that this is not so special to them. The younger has fallen asleep on the couch before it even begins, knowing that this show is on videotape and available anytime. The older one enjoys the show but this is not the first time this year that she has seen it, having watched the videotape earlier in the year. She somewhat enjoys being able to watch a “kid show” (as she calls it) at bedtime, but it is not that special since cartoons are on 24/7. (I think to myself: a “kid show?” This is not just a “kid show.” This is a Charlie Brown Special, dog gone it!! This is a special part of my childhood! Don’t minimize it as just a “kid show.”) I mourn this special aspect of my childhood that will never be theirs.

The world is different today. I argue that its a lot worse. Now there are cartoons 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on the various cartoon channels (Toon Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, etc.) I curse these cartoon channels and videotapes that have cheated me out of passing down the best things about my own childhood. Things like…the anticipation of Saturday mornings……the frustration of missing a show knowing you’ll have to wait a whole week to see it again……the disappointment of having missed the holiday special, so you have to wait a WHOLE YEAR to see it again.........the one grain of doubt in your mind wondering if the coyote will finally catch the roadrunner……the Saturday morning indecision of which of the 3 network channels to watch as you lament that two of your favorite toons are on at the same time (and there were no VCRs then, so you actually had to make the hard decisions). None of this will be theirs. How sad.

I curse the fact that classic Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers cartoons are gone, replaced by Japanese anime crap and plenty of other inappropriate “cartoons” for kids. In my childhood, my parents never had to worry about inappropriate cartoons for me. I suppose the worst cartoon I could have watched was Tom & Jerry, due to the violence, but I didn’t like it much anyway. (Note: I really enjoyed Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner, a violent cartoon in itself, and I didn’t turn out to be a mass murderer.) Now, in the 21st century, I curse having to police the cartoons that my children watch. Yet, in a twisted sort of way, I lament not having to do it on Saturday mornings. Rather, I have to do it whenever they are allowed to watch TV.

Coming out of the daydream of these thoughts, I realize that the credits are rolling. Charlie Brown is over. In childhood I was happy to see the show but sad that it would be another whole year before being able to see the show again. A bittersweet time it was. In parenthood the sadness returns, but for very different reasons.

March Madness or March Stupidity?

It’s that time of year again. That time when people call out sick from work, fill out their bracket sheets, and get excited about one of the most stupid times in all of sports.

I blame the gambling types in Vegas and their excellent marketing for making March Madness the institution it is today. Its an attempt to make sports betting more mainstream in American society, and that ain’t good. We’ve all heard of how lives can be ruined by problem gambling, so why promote it so? Let’s promote alcoholism and drug addiction while we’re at it. Let’s make the world a better place by promoting this gateway to potentially years of financial heartache that we call “the bracket.” Yeah, that’s the ticket.

I challenge anyone to tell me why someone besides a degenerate gambler (innocent office pool or otherwise) would care about colleges named Austin Peay or Belmont? No one has ever heard of these places before, until they look at their bracket, but still the degenerates pick some unknown school to be their Cinderella story.

I don’t understand why college basketball, March Stupidity aside, is so darn interesting anyway. Proportionally, so very few of these college players will make it to the NBA that it is not even a sport worth watching. Its not like college football, where a higher percentage of players go pro. I’ll bet (pun intended) that the majority of the amateur bracketologists don’t even watch college basketball except in March, when money is on the line.

Maybe if more people would stop getting into this thing we call March Madness, all the TV shows that I want to watch will quit being pre-empted. Then again, no. There is nothing on CBS that I want to watch anyway. Maybe Letterman but that’s about it. So I change my mind. Lets do a little gambling, tap the keg, fill out our little sheets, and see how well the University of Unknown will last in the opening rounds. Fun fun fun