Posts Tagged ‘history’

Something hit me today…

Posted: June 13, 2010 by datechguy in oddities
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Civil War Monument at Monument Square

When I attended and covered the Twin City Flag day event in Monument Square in Leominster something that I had thought of a few days a go struck me.

If you do any amount of driving in Massachusetts and New Hampshire it is totally impossible to pass through any city or small town without seeing monuments to civil war vets or any others for that matter. In Fitchburg for example we have monuments to Civil War vets, Spanish American War Vets, WW 1 vets, WW 2 vets and Vietnam vets.

WW 2 Monument in Fitchburg

I spent a week in Georgia, I drove through many towns, other than the large Stone Mountain Memorial I didn’t see a single statue in a single square. Not one, zip zero nada. The only marker of any type I saw was a marker for the grave of unknown confederate dead at a cemetery as I passed in Stone Mountain

Unknown confederate dead at Stone Mountain

Now I presume that the people of Georgia once they were done rebuilding from General Sherman’s war, found the funds to put up some kind of monuments in towns etc. Am I wrong about this or were the monuments once there removed for the sake of better relations once the political winds changed? Was a compromise reached where monuments at graveside and significant historical ones such as Stone Mountain would stay and the rest go? I have no idea

I’m sure something like that must be the case, but it just struck me as odd. Does anyone out there know for sure?

Old Habits die hard

Posted: June 8, 2010 by datechguy in oddities
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Last night was kinda busy for me as I had a Knights of Columbus and a Madonna Della Cava meeting scheduled at the same time. (The feast is on the August 15th). We finished at the Knights just in time for me to catch the tail end of the meeting concerning the festival.

After the meeting one of the members that I was close to expressed utter shock that #1 I liked Sarah Palin and #2 I was a republican. It is something I’ve run into on occasion although less these days as more and more people are on the net and are exposed to different points of view.

This is what happens when you try to paint people who don’t have the “approved” set of beliefs a particular way. It leads to such an insulated situation that when you see the reality, it comes as a shock and a half.

It also illustrates to me how history bends over time. She remembers the democratic party of her youth, she remembers the days when democratic were not ashamed of believing Catholics, when Unions actually made a difference in the lives of workers. Those days in my opinion, are gone.

It took me 12 years for my presidential vote to go from Democratic (Mondale) to republican (Dole) and a further 6 years before I changed my registration. It took more than half a century for my mother to be weaned from a party that thinks she is a racist/bigot/homophobe hick and has taken her for granted for years. It may take my friend another 20 years to see what I’m seeing or maybe she will never agree with me on politics at all.

Either way that’s ok, but I doubt she will ever be able to keep that same world view of republicans again.

Can some “progressive” person explain to me…

Posted: June 6, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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…why this isn’t racism?

If I’m Robert Byrd I’m really confused right now, and not due to my age.

D-Day June 6th

Posted: June 6, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news, personal
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Well today is D-Day when we remember the landings at Normandy and the troops who fought and died in the greatest amphibious invasion in history.

As the generation that fought this battle and their children die we tend to forget what was done that day. We have only the history channel and movies to remind us.

In my youth it was The Longest Day. It was played on D-Day every year on some UHF network.

Notice a young Sean Connery in his pre-bond days, in fact this was the last movie he was in before Dr. No.

Today for a later generation we have Band of Brothers episode.

Remember just as the minstrels kept stories alive in olden days so are films the modern day minstrels that will remind a generation of the greatness of their fathers.

As for my own D-Day I have been told conflicting things. I was told a few months ago that this would be the last week of my unemployment. Yet the last time I was at the office a couple of weeks ago I was told I had one final extension that I had been told I didn’t qualify for before.

Which one is right? I hope the latter but I hope be ready for the former.

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