Monday morning..

[Konrad]

Tomorrow morning is December 7th. 

Pearl Harbor.

Who wants to bet their paycheck that Google highlights something more important?

Like the invention of the water pik or something.

About a month ago I learned from my cousin that his grandfather (on their opposite side from our family) went down on the Arizona.

In anticipation of Google blowing it off, I'll pick up their slack here.

http://www.pearlharbor.org/history/casualties/pearl-harbor-casualties/

[Bruce Kershaw]

Bet Goggle gives it more recognition than the White House. :???:

[Greg Luckett]

Personally, neither Google nor the White House really matter. My father is a WW2 Navy vet, and then I served 10 years in the Navy. Neither of us, nor will most vets, will forget Dec 7th. It is heart warming when everyday folks remember it too.

Thank you for caring.

[PAR]

One of the best qualities or Americans is their ability to forget. As a result we've not asked for repayment on all the loans from WW I or WW II, which literally lifted Europe out of the ashes, nor the reconstruction of Japan, or any other countries we've been engaged with. Americans have historically and repeatedly stuck their heads in the sand and pretended not to notice the disrespect or outright hatred many ungrateful non-Americans have shown over the years. So, much so is this trait, that we get our balls handed to us every so often, while we snoozed in ignorance of this resentment. Both December 7th and September 11th are perfect examples of this.

Had we the diligence of less self-assured countries, we would have been able to shoot down the aircraft involved in both events and adverted these situations. But then this would require we surrender several of our personal freedoms, which we can't do, so we'll just have to remain vulnerable to the crack pots of the world. Fortunately, there aren't that many of them with enough common sense to write their own names legibly, so we can skate along blissfully free, until the next ball kicking event. This may seem to suck from some view points, but it's frankly the cost of the our personal freedoms and honestly, not that bad a trade off.

And yes, I'm a combat vet and lost my cousin Cathy in tower two on September 11th.

[Bruce Kershaw]

Thank you both, (and any others here) for your part in protecting that freedom. :usa

[Palolo Hawaii]

http://spacefellowship.com/2009/12/07/pearl-harbor-hawaii-seen-from-space/

(i'm sitting about 6" off the SE corner of the picture)

[Greg Luckett]

Par, sorry for your loss. I lost a distant relative, so far removed by several generations to not be cousins, exactly, but he died in one of the towers. I do not remember which tower. Every generation it seems, pays the price to continue our freedoms, and each generation is at high risk of losing them too. I do not trust any government whether it be nationalistic or corporate, and do not like some of the things we have allowed the last few years. Perhaps the level of security needed for decades of WW2 & then the Cold War was not enough? I have doubts that is the case. The real truth is that we had some very incompetent people running things at many levels, just like at the beginning of WW2. An example would be MacArthur's lack of preparation/reaction in the Phillipines right after Pearl Harbor, or letting Ben Laden run loose, or on an on.  We do not need tighter security, but rather need to pay attention to what we already know and have and react to it in a timely manner.  Just my opinion.