Monday’s ‘The Colbert Report’ had a special moment between Stephen and his guest Tom Hanks, who was 2/3 of the show. It starts at 2:15 into this video.
Mr. D.F. Rogers, B.A. History and WWII buff, watched this segment, and had these comments to make:
Hanks mentioned that much of the new show ['The Pacific' on HBO] is based on the [Eugene] Sledge book. I’ve had it for years and I brought it with me to read on the train to NYC, but instead I read a book by a B-17 pilot. I guess I’ll have to read the Sledge book next! Plus, the companion book for the series is by Ambrose’s son, so I assume that is what the father was working on when he died.
Hanks also brought up a point that I have found interesting and feel is very much forgotten and not written about. The events that happened AFTER the war finished. As mentioned, like Colbert’s Uncle Eddie, THOUSANDS of guys died in the months after the war in strange accidents and non-war related incidents.
It was very chaotic, and the U.S. troops were also saddled with going from fighting in fierce battles to being administrators and security guards almost overnight. There were millions of displaced persons from all over Europe, hundreds of thousands of surrendering troops, POW’s, starving civilians, retribution from freed slaves and workers, etc. Plus, hundreds of thousands of young American males suddenly let loose once the fighting stopped, doing what young men always do, participate in various untold “risky” behaviors of all kinds — driving cars too fast, getting blind drunk, riding horses, climbing mountains and hunting, etc.! Things had to be reined in after a few weeks of that, and the officers had to gain control again. There was some semblance of military order and duty, of course.
Why doesn’t the GOP just come out and say they want no changes at all to the way health care is paid for? And why don’t Democrats sidestep the 60-vote requirement?
I drive through the central artery tunnel of Boston’s infamous Big Dig every so often, when visiting my friend Morris, or seeing my retinologist. SamJay uses the Big Dig every workday.
The Boston Globe has been good about staying on top of the project’s many failings, most of which seem to be due to incompetence and/or corruption, rather than inherent engineering challenges. Today’s Globe has the story of how an alleged lack of attention to detail in the design of guard rails has resulted in deaths and dismemberment.
The PBS News Hour has an outstanding explanation of how Goldman Sachs plays not only the market, but the government. There is no better way to spend 20 minutes than watching these two videos. There’s no dramatic music, no rhetorical hyperbole, just quality journalism by Paul Solman that should have you fuming.
I heard about this while watching Keith Olbermann. Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada issued a statement that seemed to implicate… the letterer?? Then, in the middle of the piece, Bill Clinton’s doctors held a press conference about his heart stent operation. I just checked the MSNBC site and this part of Olbermann’s show isn’t there, so I grabbed it myself from the re-broadcast at 10. I sure can make good video transfers off of Verizon FiOS TV, huh?
Clinton’s doctors refused to say what brand of stent was used but if it’s a Kamen stent there’s still a comics connection, because it was invented by Dean Kamen, son of the late comic book artist Jack Kamen.
