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♦ 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.”