Newspaper Page Text
♦ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2006
4A
Muustint Daily .Ijmmtal
OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
President
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Group Marketing
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
We must remember
Today is Pearl Harbor Day.
On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese raid
ed/attacked that Pacific base, sinking
ships - five of eight battleships were sunk
in no time and the rest were heavily dam
aged - and destroying an enormous amount
of resources, planes included.
Most importantly, more than 2,400
Americans lost their lives that day.
The event was a monumental date in our
history.
We went to war.
The Japanese in that act of aggression
unleashed a spirit in us unrivaled to this
day. Fathers rallied to the cause. Mothers
rallied to the
cause. Their
sons and their
daughters ral
lied to the
cause. We as
a nation were
one.
That spirit
we achieved
during that
time peri
od has since
faded to a certain extent. We have simply
not done a good enough job of holding dear
that which was gained, as well as lost.
Don’t believe us? Ask a child, any child, to
tell you what Pearl Harbor Day means.
Our teachers do a great job of teaching,
but it’s the “remembering” (that is it actu
ally sinking in versus: “Oh, it’s just another
test item.”) part that gets lost in transla
tion.
That isn’t to say that spirit is dead alto
gether. No, it still exists strong today in the
hearts and minds of our servicemen and
women. It still beats mightily, especially in
this time of year, in the hearts and minds
of volunteers who band together to feed
and shelter the homeless, provide toys and
other items to the homeless.
That spirit of cooperation - a higher call
ing, for a “cause” if you will - does, hoever,
have a pulse that has faded.
To that end, we would ask everyone today,
to pause and reflect. And, not just that, but
to resolve to do better to help one another, to
support one another, to love one another.
We still have a great nation. Many died
and are dying to make it so.
Pearl Harbor Day is not just a date in our
history. Just like that early morning Dec. 7,
1941, it’s a wake-up call.
A different warning
Have you ever run across this?
You’re driving along the road in
broad daylight when an oncoming
car flashes its lights at you.
Then, some yards later up the road you
pass - as you suspect all along - a policeman
parked on the side of the road.
Ultimately the other driver thought he or
she was doing you a favor, trying to warn
you to slow down (no matter what your
speed was at the time).
Can we just say to those people who’ve
ever done this in the past or might be plan
ning on doing this in the future: “Please
don’t.”
Obviously this is your way of initiating
“payback.” You were stopped for speeding
or some other violation of the law, so this is
your way of getting even.
The problem is two-fold. One, we have
laws for a reason. And, two, those same laws
you scorn may have already saved your life
or they may one day save it or the life of
another.
You just never know how the world turns.
You just may, another day, meet that same
speeder you warned by flashing your head
lights.
It will do you absolutely no good once
you’re entangled in a pile of twisted metal to
think: “You know, he might have deserved
to get a ticket for speeding that day. It might
have cooled his jets just a bit.”
Audrey Evans
Vice President
Marketing!Advertising
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
That spirit we achieved
during that time period
has faded to a certain
extent. We have simply
not done a good enough
job of holding dear that
which was gained, as
well as lost.
We aderstwl Ir neaniM if acriflct
Sixty-three years ago today I was
swimming and lounging on the
beach at Fort Lauderdale.
I worked for a morning newspaper. I
went to work at 6 in the evening and
got off from work around 2 or 3 in
the morning. I spent most days at the
beach.
I was 22. I was single. I had a good
job, even though the country was mired
in the Great Depression.
1 had the good life. And I was enjoy
ing it.
News of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor came over the radio. It was
a shock. We knew it meant that the
United States would be at war with
the Japanese, and, probably, with the
Germans who had overrun Europe and
were bombarding England.
I rushed to the newspaper office,
where we put out a special edition.
The next morning Monday, Dec.
8 I drove down to Miami, where I
enlisted in the United States Naval
Reserve.
It was a logical thing to do. There
was a rush on at recruiting stations
across the country that day.
1 don’t know if my decision was
based on patriotism or a sense of duty.
I knew that I was of the age that,
sooner or later, I would be called on to
serve. There were no thoughts of find
ing a way to get out of serving or of
putting it off.
On that same day President Franklin
D. Roosevelt spoke to a joint session
of the Congress, where, among many
things, he said that December 7, 1943
Gwynnie's anti-American script
And the Oscar for Most Dishonest
Performance By a Spoiled
Expatriate American Actress
Trying to Dig Herself Out of a Public
Relations Hole goes to . . . Gwyneth
Paltrow.
Over the weekend, the international
press sent out word that Paltrow had
trashed her native country during a
press event in Spain.
“I love the English lifestyle, it’s not
as capitalistic as America. People don’t
talk about work and money, they talk
about interesting things at dinner,”
the Shallow Gal was quoted as telling
NS, the weekend magazine supple
ment of daily Portuguese newspaper
Diario de Noticias. “I like living here
because I don’t fit into the bad side of
American psychology. The British are
much more intelligent and civilized
than the Americans,” the 34-year-old
reportedly mused.
After creating a global furor, Paltrow
crawled to People magazine for help
in covering her scrawny intellectu
al assets. The publication’s website
claimed the actress was misquoted and
that she would neeeeever say anything
negative about America.
“First of all I feel so lucky to be
American. When you look at the rest
of the world, we’re so lucky, and that’s
something my dad always instilled in
me,” People quoted Paltrow explain
ing. “I feel so proud to be American.”
Summoning up all her method acting
lessons from past tearful acceptance
award speeches, Paltrow emoted: “I
felt so upset to be completely miscon
strued, and I never, ever would have
said that.”
Never, ever?
The oh-so-wronged actress has, in
fact, been reciting from an unambigu-
OPINION
"...And another great thing about charity gifts
is that they are so easy to wrap!"
Foy
Evans
Columnist
toyevansl9@cox net
was "... a date that shall live in infa
my.”
The Congress declared war against
Japan. The country rallied around the
President and Congress. Other decla
rations of war came later.
Millions of young men and women
went to war. And, at home, an all-out
effort was put forth to provide the mili
tary with the weapons of war.
There were sacrifices on the home
front, including rationing of fuel and
food. Americans willingly accepted the
sacrifices as their patriotic duty and as
their way of showing support for the
men and women in uniform.
The media supported our country’s
war effort. To do otherwise would have
been considered treason.
We had a unified nation determined
to fight the enemies of our country to
the finish. Or, as President Roosevelt
described it, “until unconditional sur
render” by our enemies.
It never occurred to those of us in
uniform that the media or Congress or
the general public would turn on us or
pull the rug out from under us. That
kind of thing did not begin until the
Vietnam War.
Michelle
Malkin
Columnist
malkin@comcast.net
ous anti-American script for years.
In January 2006, as I noted on my
blog over the weekend the British news
paper the Guardian quoted Paltrow
snubbing America in nearly identical
language. Same old, same old:
“I love the English way, which is not
as capitalistic as it is in America. People
don’t talk about work and money; they
talk about interesting things at din
ner parties. I like living here because I
don’t tap into the bad side of American
psychology, which is ‘l’m not achieving
enough, I’m not making enough, I’m
not at the top of the pile.’”
In February 2006, Paltrow was quot
ed in Britain’s Star magazine again
disparaging American intellect and
decorum: “Brits are far more intel
ligent and civilised than Americans. I
love the fact that you can hail a taxi
and just pick up your pram and put
it in the back of the cab without hav
ing to collapse it. I love the parks and
places I go for dinner and my friends.”
In 2005, she was quoted on the New
York Post’s Page Six: “I’ve always been
drawn to Europe. America is such
a young country, with an adolescent
swagger about it. But I feel that I have
a more European sensibility, a greater
respect for the multicultural nature of
the globe.”
She was also quoted that year explain-
HP
jW n
Bp
...
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
When you joined one of the military
services it was not fflr a certain num
ber of years. You joined “for the dura
tion plus six months.” And it worked
out that way.
I was returned to civilian life, though
still in the reserve, almost exactly six
months after the Japanese surren
dered.
I had been on active duty for 48
months. It never occurred to me to
complain about inconveniences or any
sacrifices I had to make. It was a mat
ter of doing what one should do and
doing it to the best of my ability.
The 48 months on active duty had
its ups and downs. I came out a better
man than I was when I entered the
Navy.
I recommend a stint in one of the
military services for any young man or
woman
It helps you grow up. It teaches
you that to give orders you should be
able to take orders. It results in bond
ing with other people, whatever their
backgrounds, because you are shoulder
to shoulder in a common cause.
I am convinced that a couple of years
of service in one of the military branch
es by every young man and woman
would change our country dramatically
for the better.
Unfortunately, our country is not
ready for any kind of sacrifice by every
one. And it never will be again. Too
bad. Too few Americans today love this
country the way my generation did ...
and the few of us who are survivors
still do.
ing her decision to move to London to
the New York Daily News: “I just had a
baby and thought, ‘I don’t want to live
there.’” International press reports
had her deriding “Bush’s anti-envi
ronment, pro-war policies” as either a
“disgrace” or a “disaster.”
In January 2004, Paltrow was quoted
in the pages of Britain’s Glamour mag
azine declaring that America was “too
weird” because of its overt displays of
patriotism. “At the moment there’s a
weird, over-patriotic atmosphere over
there, like, ‘We’re number one and
the rest of the world doesn’t matter.’”
(She much prefers the dinner chatter
of wealthy British hubby and Coldplay
musician Chris Martin, who has pro
claimed shareholders as “the great evil
of this modern world” and who ranted
at a British awards show that “We’re
all going to die when George Bush has
his way.”) In 2003, the Scottish Daily
Record of Glasgow quoted Paltrow
trashing America’s president overseas:
“I think Bush is such an embarrass
ment to America. He doesn’t take the
rest of the world at all into consider
ation. It all seems to be for him and his
friends to keep getting richer at the
expense of a nation, at the expense of
the environment. It’s like a full-scale
assault.” (No comment from Paltrow
about her own Mercedes Benz SUV gas
guzzling assaults on American roads
and her multiple ginormous mansion
owning contributions to the nation’s
eco-catastrophe.)
Paltrow blames the latest brouhaha
on a misunderstanding of her “sev
enth-grade Spanish.” Unfortunately
for you, dear, your English is perfect.
Michelle Malkin is author of
“Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone
mid.”