The Voice of Treason

Yesterday was a weird day because I didn’t have the TV or radio tuned into news. I was involved in other things and was so distracted that I completely spaced the Preakness. It wasn’t until late in the evening when I turned on the radio while I was brushing my teeth did I hear the horrific news about Barbaro.

I also managed to miss any reports of Barry Bonds tying Babe Ruth’s record. I saw that in this morning’s paper. My memories of Bonds go back to the early days of my relationship with T - both a Yankees and Pirates fan - and how we would watch the Pirates lose because, when he was needed the most, Barry would always choke.

I remember sitting at Candlestick Park, embarrassed that T, ordinarily a mature and kind individual, was actually subtly taunting Barry throughout the game. Time has passed and I don’t feel all that bad about the afternoon of T v. B.

T and I grew up loving baseball and we both had our childhood heroes. For me, they were every player on the 1969 Cubs. Players like Ernie Banks, Randy Hundley, Glenn Beckert, and Ron Santo. I don’t think I realized when I was nine years old and I watched Santo running across the field at Wrigley, leaping into the air, and clicking his heels together - in cleats, no less! - that the man was suffering with diabetes, played every day anyway, and as a result would one day lose both legs.

Barbaro, too, is a “hero.” His career is over too soon and his life is a question mark. Barry, if the steroid stories are true, deserves the criticism and asterisk. To be fair, to hit that many home runs, a player does require skill and talent. Bonds does have the skills, coordination, and determination, but he has been artificially enhanced. There is nothing heroic about cheating. There is nothing heroic about being an asshole to fans. Bonds will no doubt break Ruth’s record, and Hank Aaron’s too, but Ruth and Aaron will both will be loved and respected long after the game is extinct.

Bonds doesn’t need me or my thoughts. You know, I met Ernie Banks. Ernie Banks shook my hand. Barry Bonds is no Ernie Banks. But Barbaro, like the ‘69 Cubs, will be in my heart forever. May he live to enjoy the fresh country air and sire a stable of heroes.

Other heroes, who aren’t getting a lot of press, are the Americans and Iraqis who are responsible for the creation of a new government. We call our athletes heroes, but our military - like Ben Stein says - are the true heroes. They make it possible for racing enthusiasts to don fashionable hats, sip mint juleps, and watch expensive horses run ’round a track. They make it possible for us to skewer baseball players in the press. They make it possible for us to protest the wars they fight on our behalf, to protect our interests. It isn’t glamorous and they don’t get paid much. But what they do now will make all the difference in the future. We might appreciate it then; it would just be nice if we could show that appreciation now.

“Domenici in 1999 authored an ‘English Plus’ resolution that would have encouraged a U.S. policy to promote the mastery of the English language plus other languages of the world. The resolution recognized the predominance and importance of English as the unifying language of the nation. It also recognized the benefits of being able to speak one or more languages in addition to English, which is increasingly seen as a skill needed to promote U.S. competitiveness in a global market.”

– from the Senator’s “online office on the web”

Pete. When your family came here from Italy they made a choice. That choice was to learn English. My mother’s family made the same choice when they came here. Her parents came to America to become Americans. They taught their children to speak the language that Americans were speaking. That was English. Did they completely abandon Italian? No. They retained their native language to communicate with other Italians who had not yet mastered English. Did they abandon their Italian cuisine? No. But they were quick to give up a steady diet of chicken feet and adopt American beef because they could now afford to eat better food.

Your parents, Pete, came to New Mexico. A lot of Italians did. And a lot of people don’t know that because there isn’t a large Italian presence in the state. There’s no debate in the State Capitol to replace the chile with the bell pepper to appease the Italians who live here. They’re here, yes, but they don’t really stand out. They’ve assimilated.

My mother’s family came to America and assimilated, too. They assimilated so well and so quickly that only one sibling actually married an Italian. According to my grandfather, my aunt didn’t marry an Italian - she married a Neopolitan. One would think “same difference,” right? Uh, no. This almost got my mother’s sister disowned. That whole weird north/south thing. Go figure.

Anyway, Pete, your family learned English and started a successful grocery business. They insisted that their children speak English. You have noted that your parents, to communicate with their customers, also learned Spanish.

No doubt this has influenced your opinion on language’s role in the global market. On the surface, this makes sense. People should be multilingual in order to communicate internationally. The problem with this, of course, is that there are just too many languages in the world to master. If I learn twenty languages and someone else learns twenty languages, there’s a good chance that there will be forty different languages between us. How does this aid communication?

After weighing six factors (the number of primary speakers of a particular language, the number of secondary speakers, the number and population of countries where the language is used, the number of major fields using the language internationally, the economic power of countries using the languages, and the socio-literary prestige associated with the language), George Weber, in the late nineties, compiled this list of the world’s ten most influential languages:
(The number of points given to each are in parentheses.)

1. English (37)
2. French (23)
3. Spanish (20)
4. Russian (16)
5. Arabic (14)
6. Chinese (13)
7. German (12)
8. Japanese (10)
9. Portuguese (10)
10. Hindi/Urdu (9)

So, instead of learning several languages in order to better communicate, why don’t we all agree to learn just one language to communicate with each other? One international business language. One international political language. One language that unifies the entire globe.

But if we all agreed to learn English, that would be racist. Mandarin Chinese, it is!

I am really enjoying my new class. I’m immersed in medical terminology and it’s an opportunity for me to utilize the Latin and Greek I’ve been infatuated with all my life. I’ve mentioned taking Latin in high school, but there were so few of us interested that the school dropped the program after one semester. Semester. That’s German, derived from the Latin word “semestris.”

In college I took courses with professors who actually went to school when Latin and Greek were required studies. One English professor in particular covered the board each day with Greek and Latin terms. My toes twitched in my shoes, it was so exciting.

I hobbled through Beowulf in Old English and Chaucer in Middle English. I bought The Story of English and watched the TV series. For years I kept a Buckley word-a-day calendar on my desk. I love languages - especially English.

English. The combination of so many languages. It’s an inclusive language that has welcomed so many other languages and dialects into it. It’s rich, complicated, majestic, nonsensical, beautiful, coarse, confusing, powerful, and extremely hard to master. It’s…well, fabulous.

And now we’re debating whether or not English should be America’s official language. Having had so many friends from places like Canada and Belgium, I say yes. Yes. One language, under God, indivisible, with adjectives and adverbs for all. (Hemingway not included.)

So I get home from class, and what do I hear? Harry Reid is calling ninety percent of Americans racists. The ninety percent who think it’s a good idea for Americans to have an official language and for that language to be English. This is not racist. This is no ban of alternate languages. An American can speak as many languages as he can learn, but the official language of our land should be one single language and that language should be English. Hell, it should be the international language!

I mean, how is it that a little kid on a street corner in Kabul can speak English and a fifty-year old woman who has lived in Los Angeles for thirty-five years cannot? This whole illegal immigration and language debate has got me rethinking the whole expatriation thing. (Odd. I must have Hemingway on the brain today.)

For years I believed that there would come a time that I might want to leave the United States and live in another country. As I get older, there are fewer places I’d even consider. I used to think that it was possible that I would relocate to Italy. People always told me that it was a good choice because so many people there speak English that I would probably not even have to learn Italian.

And what would be the point, I’d ask, of not learning Italian? Surely not every Italian speaks English. Not every street sign or restaurant menu is printed in English. Italians speak Italian. I would not only need to know the language but I would want to learn the language. I would want to communicate with Italians in Italian.

I would learn the language and the customs and I would live as the Italians live. I’d shop for food the way Italians shop for food. I’d cook the way Italians cook. I’d do as much as I could in as an Italian way as possible in order to show respect to the people who have allowed me to live in their country. I might not ever adopt Italian driving habits, but I would definitely alter the way I drive to accommodate other Italian drivers. (Read: I’ll take the train or the bus, thank you.)

I always assumed that, if I left America for another country, I would keep dual citizenship. I have a Canadian friend who has dual citizenship. But recently when I heard that Italians who live in America were voting in Italy’s election and some of them were really more American than Italian, it made me pause. If I made the decision to leave the United States and adopt a new country, would I continue to be an American citizen and vote in American elections?

Dilemma. Am I American or Italian? If I’m living in Italy and paying taxes there, should I be voting in Italian elections exclusively? This is where I question dual citizenship. Where is my allegiance? To Italy or to America? If I’m so damned concerned with what’s going on in America’s political system, why am I not in America? Sure, one way of looking at it is to be involved in the American voting system because sometimes what happens in America affects the rest of the world. Would I want to help elect an American government that would be friendly to an Italian government? Probably. But maybe I should trust Americans to vote for the government they want. Again, am I Italian or am I American? (If I’m still paying taxes in America, then I’m definitely voting.)

It’s like the debate I always had with college students who vote in the elections where they go to school. Most often they are only “visiting” the area, but by voting they are influencing the way the community functions. One day they’ll move away, leaving behind the crappy policies they voted in for the people who have to live and work there to deal with.

Hmmmm. This global world of ours gets more and more confusing. And so do my local politicians. I expect someone like Harry Reid to scream “racism,” but it’s disturbing to hear Pete Domenici say:

“I’ve never believed we should have a national language. I believe we should move beyond the notion that English, and English only, will ensure the future of the United States. I believe we should, instead, embrace a national policy that affirms the importance of English as the standard language for all Americans, but also acknowledges the vast benefits for our nation when more of us are bilingual or even multilingual.”

Well, duh. No one’s saying we don’t want people learning other languages. But if everyone has the ability to communicate effectively with one another in one language - English - we’re all much better off.

Domenici has noted that he had to oppose the Inhofe amendment because the New Mexico Constitution states that the rights of New Mexicans “to vote, hold office, or sit upon juries, shall never be restricted, abridged or impaired on account of …inability to speak, read or write the English or Spanish languages…” And we can see here in Domenici’s home state how being multilingual has helped to keep New Mexico as close to the Third World as possible. More on that another time. (We have state politicians speaking Spanish exclusively in our State Capitol. This has become an issue for some who live here.)

So, is English to be the official language? The national language? The common and unifying language? The national, but not official language? Or is it the common, unifying language - as long as we don’t call it official or national, officially?

It’s official. Our nation’s senators can’t unify when it comes to this language issue, and that’s pretty common. Make sense?

Putty-nosed monkeys live in African rainforests. They’re small, cat-like creatures that spend their lives in trees and have, basically, three functions: They eat, they reproduce, and they try to avoid being eaten.

Visibility in the lush environment is terrible, so it’s sometimes difficult to see an enemy sneaking up on you. Male monkeys, however, have devised a system to communicate to other monkeys and warn them of approaching danger.

“PYOW!!!”

(Translation: “Hey, everyone - listen up! Spotted a leopard - ha, no pun intended - about two trees down, making its way over here, and he’s looking a tad hungry. Toto and Nookie, you guys alert the girls and grab the kids. Togo and I will distract the cat, then meet up with the rest of you once the coast is clear. Gather at the big tree with the purple flowers where Tonka got nailed by the snake last week. Got that?”)

“HACK!!!”

(Translation: “Forget the big kitty - here’s comes that @#$%^&* bird who took off with Noonga yesterday! Everybody duck!!!”)

A new study has revealed that the putty-nosed monkeys can use combinations of these two calls to create a “pyow-hack” sequence and broadcast additional types of information, as well. Such as weather reports (”Hack, hack, it looks like rain.”); who got eliminated on “Congo Idol” (”Hack, pyow - can you believe what that Samon said to Pawla last night?”); and the status of relationships (”Pyow-pyow, hack! Hey, sounds like a lot of fun, but I gotta get home early. It’s Shubu’s night to go hang with the girls. Seems like she’s always with the girls and stickin’ me with those kids. I mean, what’s up with that, anyway?”)

Scientists have discovered that the male makes the call, which is sometimes initiated by input from the elder females in the group. We call that “nagging”; the putty-nosed monkeys refer to it as “hack-hack pyow” or the formation of a new language that will one day elevate the putty-nosed monkey to middle-class monkey status and enable him to move from the dangerous rain forest into the safer suburbs near civilization where he can raise his children without the presence of hungry leopards.

When the male monkey broadcasts these sounds, the rest of the monkeys congregate around the monkey who makes the noise and look to him as a leader who will tell them which way to head next. Looks like the putty-nosed monkeys are developing not only language, but a political system, as well.

Anthropologists like to study monkeys and apes and their acquisition of language skills, then draw conclusions. One theory is that apes and humans have a history of interbreeding and, at one time in their evolutionary history, produced a hybrid species. But then, anthropologists like to study oddball things like primitive tribes who live in obscure places, then try to convince us that these people have the right idea.

Who are these relics? People who have remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years and are so primitive that they haven’t yet invented anything as simple as clothes. They munch on giant spiders wrapped in banana leaves. They communicate with each other by clicking their tongues and tapping their chests.

“Click-cluck! Click-cluck! Thump, thump, thump.”

(Translation: “Say…I’ve got a real hankering for a spider and banana leaf sandwich - how ’bout you?”)

“Thump, thump - cluck, click, cluck.”

(Translation: “Knock yourself out - I’ll pass. Been munching on centipede larva all morning. Man, those suckers are addictive!”)

Anthropologists tell us that this system of clicking and thumping is language. No, that’s communicating. I mean, does anyone really speak Morse code? Language is really much more than a means of communication. Sure, “watch out for that leopard!” is useful, but it’s limited. Language can develop into written form and communicate thoughts and ideas - not just warnings. It can define a culture. Unite a culture. Strengthen a culture.

Putty-nosed monkeys are now exhibiting the use of sentences. I say, teach them English and teach them well, and they’ll be out of the trees and into downtown lofts before you can say “pyow-hack.”

Our neighbors, two doors down, have been adding to the retaining wall that separates their property from their nextdoor neighbors’. An additional foot, then another, then another. We were forced to do the same on our property. On one side of this neighbor’s house are wonderful neighbors. Lovely people. Quiet, respectful, friendly, well-behaved, decent. On the other side, barbarians.

We, too, share a wall with the barbarians. The wall we built up, though, is on the opposite side of our property where a second horde of barbarians dwell. We are not the problem. The family two doors down are not a problem. The families on either side of us are the problem.

Do we want the expense and trouble of extending our wall? Did our neighbors who live two doors down? Of course not. But they no longer had a choice. Barbarian children were abusing perfectly well-behaved dogs. The dogs could have been injured. The dogs needed to be protected - and dogs can’t build fences. So their wall grew.

Our wall grew for similar reasons. But the barbarians continue to be barbarians. The neighbor two doors down just informed us that the barbarians that live between us actually have come over the wall, and onto our property. I witnessed the barbarian on the other side of us the other day trampling on our property and I pointed out this indiscretion to him. Unfamiliar with any type of discipline from an adult, the barbarian was oblivious to my demands for him to stop the behavior. Since there are laws, I could not kick the sh*t out of him. And I do not expect the little barbarian to change his behavior because, after years of observation, it is obvious that he was raised by wolves and is a full-fledged wolverine. A wolverine that gets larger and more vicious each day.

Walls are ugly. I don’t want to spend any more time or money expanding the existing walls around the property. But when you’re surrounded by barbarians and there’s no indication that the barbarians are going to stop damaging your property, disturbing the peace, or threatening your pets and even their own, then you have three choices. You can pack up and move; you can feed the barbarians cyanide-laced cookies; or you can build a wall and hope that one day the barbarians will learn to obey simple rules so the wall can come down.

Until then, it’s best to stock up on mortar.

“I love America. Cuz it’s full of Americans. I believe we in America should come together, Republican and Democrat…and John McCain.”

– George W. Bush, White House Correspondents’ Dinner, April 2006

It was meant to be funny - and it was. Hell, so was Stephen Colbert. What makes things funny are those little nuggets of truth that pop up. My line has always been something like:

“Okay, so who have we got lined up for 2008? On the Republican side, there’s Allen, Rice, Giuliani, Romney, Jeb Bush, and John McCain. On the Democrat side, there’s Obama, Gore, Kerry, Biden, Hillary, Sharpton, McKinney, and John McCain.”

At this point, the one who builds the fence wins.

I was driving home from my class today (yes, it has begun, and my first dilemma is here: do I do my homework or watch 24 first?) and I caught the end of Rush. A caller was explaining her theory on George Bush and I think I know what she was trying to get at. I’ve said it here a zillion times: he is his father’s son. Dad was criticized for not being able to effectively communicate and he seemed “out of touch” with the masses. My personal theory about this was that George H.W. Bush assumed that the average American was smart enough to know what was going on around him and could easily discern the truth. He didn’t need to be spoon-fed information like a five year-old - he was perfectly capable of “separating the wheat from the chaff,” as it were. See, the former president is actually someone who’s familiar with expressions like that. “Straighten up and fly right” is probably another he’s been known to use. The problem is that the common expressions that average Americans once used are starting to fade from our vernacular. I bet you dollars to doughnuts that most of the people you work with have no idea what “dollars to doughnuts” means.

Sure, “that’s ducky,” “twenty-three skidoo,” and “oh, you kid” have disappeared and no one who actually used these expressions - if they’re still alive - are coherent enough to a) notice that no one uses them anymore, and b) even remember that they ever used them themselves. It’s like when Dorothy finds herself in Oz and exclaims: “My! People come and go so quickly here!” Expressions come and go so quickly these days. Well, the times they are a-changin’.

But back to Bush. Like his father, Bush assumes people know things and it’s a dangerous assumption. The woman who called Rush was making a similar point: He and his siblings come from a family of well-educated, motivated people who get things done. They’re comfortable with achievement because it’s expected and, in the Bush family, it’s sort of natural. Criticize Dubya all you want, but don’t forget that he has accomplished quite a bit in his life.

A lot of people can’t relate. Here’s an example. I showed up to class today with my textbooks. I ordered them online weeks ago then picked them up at the bookstore. I assumed that if I registered for these classes, I would need the required texts. Makes passing a class easier.

Not everyone had purchased the books. (Understandable in that some students might not want to commit so soon and may want to drop the class after the first session.) Not everyone was even aware of which books they needed. (Odd, but possible. Aren’t they even curious about the cost?) One woman asked if we were expected to purchase the texts, and then asked where she could buy them. (Very odd, since she has a master’s.) See? You assume that college students know to come to class with books that they’ve purchased from the college bookstore, but…well, should we assume anything anymore?

So here’s Dubya repeating the “mistakes” of his father and I know he’s never going to change. All I can do is hope that he takes the time to listen to Dick Cheney and learn the new skill. He just needs to bite the bullet and communicate quickly and clearly on a variety of issues. Don’t know what he plans to say tonight, but I urge him to consider a quick, clear response to people like Mahmoud and Vicente who seem compelled to offer him “advice.”

Cheney has an effective, succinct way to deal with annoyances like these. Dollars to doughnuts, Patrick Leahy knows precisely what I’m talking about.

Have you seen, in fields of snow,
frozen Jews, row on row?
Blue marble forms lying,
not breathing, not dying.

- Avrom Sutzkever, “Frozen Jews”

1942:
June 1942: President Roosevelt authorizes the creation of the U.S. Office on War Information (OWI). The first director is Elmer Holmes Davis, a CBS commentator and novelist.

July 1942: President Roosevelt orders the establishment of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), with Colonel Donovan as director.
US losses since the war began are reported at 44,143 killed, wounded and missing.
The Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services (WAVES) is authorized by the U.S. Congress.

August 1942: The FBI arrests 89 “dangerous aliens” in USA.
Roosevelt says the perpetrators of barbarism in occupied countries “will have to stand in courts of law, in the very countries which they are now oppressing and answer for their acts.”
A Japanese seaplane catapulted from submarine I-25 and drops firebombs on forests in Oregon, USA.

September 1942: Japanese bomb Oregon forests with incendiaries for second time.
The Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) are established in the U.S. (The armed forces will be supplied with more than 1000 auxiliary pilots through this organization.)

October 1942: The setting up of a U.N. commission to investigate war crimes is announced in Washington.

December 1942: Coffee joins the list of rationed items in the U.S.
The first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is realized by Professor Fermi and a team of scientists working under the name of the “Manhattan Engineering District.”

1943:
February 1943: Shoe rationing begins in the USA, limiting civilians to three pairs of leather shoes per year.

March 1943: Meat rationing begins in the USA and is set at 28 ounces per week.

April 1943: Attempting to stem inflation in the USA, President Roosevelt freezes wages, salaries, and prices. Meat, fats, canned goods, and cheese are now rationed in the U.S.

May 1943: Thousands of Korean-Americans petition to have their status converted from that of enemy aliens to friendly aliens. In December 1943, this is granted.

December 1943: Roosevelt reveals a plot to assassinate him at Teheran.

1944:
February 1944: Total U.S. casualties so far are put at 19,499 killed, 45,545 wounded, 26,339 missing and 26,754 captured.
The Arabs protest over Senate statements about the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine.

March 1944: In reply to Arab protests, the U.S. says that the idea of a Jewish state has no official sanction.
President Roosevelt issues a statement condemning German and Japanese ongoing “crimes against humanity.”

June 1944: The West Point Class of 1944, which includes John S.D. Eisenhower, son of the Allied commander in chief, graduates as the Allied landings are in progress in France. Young Eisenhower is immediately whisked to his father’s headquarters in England, but his request to command a rifle platoon is turned down because of the risk that he might fall into enemy hands. Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who was effectively functioning as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (a position that would not be formally created until after the war), visits his hometown of Hampton, Iowa on a well-publicized “sentimental journey” to see relatives and old friends. It is part of the deception effort to convince the Germans that the invasion of Europe would not take place while such an important officer was out of Washington.

Roosevelt outlines his plans for the post-war United Nations and signs the GI Bill of Rights which promises to provide funds for housing and education after the war for returning U.S. servicemen.

The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Finland.

July 1944: Two ammunition-laden transport ships explode while docked at Port Chicago, California. 320 sailors and other military personnel are killed in what is the worst stateside disaster of the war. Most of the sailors were African-Americans, who had received no training in ammunition handling. Many of the survivors refused to load any more ships until proper safety procedures were put in place. The so-called “Port Chicago Mutiny” resulted in numerous courts-martial and imprisonments, but the publicity surrounding the event led directly to the end of racially segregated assignments in the Navy two years later.

November 1944: The first of 9,000 balloon bombs launched against U.S. from Tokyo reach the U.S.A. One bomb kills six people near Lakeview in Oregon.
President Roosevelt is elected for a fourth term and Harry S. Truman becomes the Vice-President.
Total U.S. war casualties are now reported to have passed the 500,000 mark.

1945:
January 1945: The USA issues its casualty figures to December 21, 1944 as 135,323 killed, 362,824 wounded, 75,844 missing and 64,148 captured.

April 1945: After suffering a massive cerebral hemorrhage, President Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs in Georgia, aged 63. Harry Truman is sworn in as 32nd President of the United States.

July 1945: At 5.30 am, the first atomic bomb is exploded at a test site in Los Alamos, USA.

November 1945: Butter rationing comes to an end, leaving sugar as the only item that continues to be rationed in the USA.

December 1945: The Senate votes for U.S. help in establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

(Timeline courtesy of worldwar-2.net)

“In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power, it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the state and with it that of the whole nation and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevising of the earth and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!”

– Adolf Hitler, in his speech before the Reichstag on the sixth anniversary of his coming to power; January 30, 1939

1939:
September 1939: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.

November 1939: Although President Roosevelt has declared American neutrality in the war in Europe, a Neutrality Act is signed that allows the U.S. to send arms and other aid to Britain and France.

1940:
June 1940: President Roosevelt announces a shift from neutrality to “non-belligerency,” while condemning Germany and Italy and promising material aid to both Britain and France.
The Alien Registration Act (the Smith Act) passed by the U.S. Congress requires aliens to register and be fingerprinted. The Act makes it illegal to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government.

July 1940: President Roosevelt lays down “five fundamentals of freedom” (freedom from fear, of information, of religion, of expression, and from want). He signs the “Two Ocean Navy Expansion Act.” This was the first step in preparing America for war against either Germany or Japan — or both.

1941:
May 1941: President Roosevelt declares unlimited national emergency; calls upon all Americans to resist “Hitlerism.” Says Neutrality Act is to be repealed.

June 1941: U.S. House Appropriations committee introduces largest Army expenditure bill since the First World War. President Roosevelt orders the freezing of all German and Italian assets, as well as those of occupied countries. Vannevar Bush is named as director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), which has just been created by President Roosevelt.

July 1941: In an Independence Day broadcast, Roosevelt warns the American public that the USA “will never survive as a happy and prosperous oasis in the middle of a desert of dictatorship.” America freezes all Japanese assets in the U.S.

August 1941: Roosevelt stops U.S. oil supplies to the “aggressors.”

October 1941: Roosevelt claims “America has been attacked. The shooting has started,” when referring to German naval aggression during his Navy Day broadcast.

December 1941:
Roosevelt makes a personal appeal to Japanese Emperor Hirohito for peace. 12/7/41: At 6:15 Honolulu time, the first wave of Japanese aircraft take off from their carriers which are located about 200 miles north of Hawaii. At 7:50, 43 fighters, 51 dive-bombers, 70 torpedo-bombers and 50 ordinary bombers arrive over Hawaii. They launch attacks against the airfields at Wheeler, Kaneohe, Ewa and Hickham and against the American warships anchored at “Battleship Row.” Surprise was complete and within a few minutes 5 battleships and 2 light cruisers had been sunk and a large number of aircraft (180) destroyed on the ground. Within an hour, the second wave of Japanese strike aircraft (36 fighters, 80 dive-bombers, 54 bombers) had arrived over the target, sinking a further 3 destroyers and damaging another battleship. By 10:00 the attack was over and the casualties could be accounted for. The Americans lost 2,729 killed and 1,178 wounded, while the Japanese losses amounted to just 29 aircraft (59 airmen) and five mini-submarines. The Japanese launch air attacks against Manila. Japan declares war on Britain and the USA. Britain, Australia and the USA declare war on Japan.

President Roosevelt addresses the U.S. Congress, saying that December 7 is “a date that will live in infamy.” After a vote of 82-0 in the U.S. Senate, and 388-1 in the House, in favor of declaring war on Japan, Roosevelt signs the declaration of war.

In response to Germany and Italy’s declaration of war, the U.S. reciprocates and declares war on both Germany and Italy. Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua also declare war on Germany and Italy. U.S. declares war on Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria after receiving those country’s declarations of war against the U.S.

U.S. Secretary of the Navy tells Congress that 2,729 were killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

“Before we’re through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell.”
— Admiral Halsey

Concerned about the safety of the founding documents of the United States in wartime Washington, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are removed from their display space at the National Archives and are transported in a special sealed container to temporary storage at the U.S. Gold Depository at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. On Oct. 1, 1944, with the danger to the mainland United States passed, the documents are returned to public display in Washington.

To be continued…

(Timeline courtesy of worldwar-2.net)

January 1938
New Constitution of Estonia enters into force.
(Estonia? That anywhere near Sandusky?)

Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a U.S. national bank.
(A woman president? Before the feminist movement? Before Commander in Chief? Before Hillary? Huh?)

February 1938
Hitler announces a reorganization of the army and creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military.
(He’s not a nutjob. He’s what Germany needs.)

Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg of Austria meets Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden and, under threat of invasion, is forced to yield to German demands for greater Nazi participation in the Austrian government.
(He’s not a nutjob. He’s what Germany needs. Wait a minute. He’s Austrian?)

Adolf Hitler makes a speech in which he demands self-determination for Germans of Austria and Czechoslovakia.
(Oh, borders-schmorders. Just arbitrary lines on a map.)

March 1938
Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg calls for a public vote to decide if the country should remain independent, or join Germany.
(Vote-schmote.)

Hitler orders a plan for the military occupation of Austria.
(Hmmm. No need for that vote now.)

Hitler issues Directive No. 1 for the occupation of Austria and Directive No. 2 for the bloodless invasion of Austria. Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg resigns.
(”Bloodless?” Just wait ’til November 9.)

Germany announces “Anschluss” (Union) with Austria; German forces cross the border, occupy Austria, and annexation is declared the following day.
(The Germans just need a little morale boost. They’ve had a hard time, after all, what with World War I.)

May 1938
Vatican recognizes Franco’s government in Spain.
(General�simo Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Te�dulo Franco y Bahamonde: por la gracia de Dios, Caudillo de Espa�a y de la Cruzada! Cruzada? Uh-oh. The dreaded C-word again.)

Kaarel Eenpalu becomes prime minister of Estonia.
(That’s the place near Sandusky, right?)

Bombing of Alicante, Spain, in the Spanish Civil War, with 313 dead.
(313??? It’s time to bring the troops home. Oh, they are home.)

Swedish Foreign Minister Sandler announces that Sweden reserves the right to remain neutral.
(Weenies.)

Adolf Hitler issues a directive for Fall Grun (Case Green), for the occupation of Czechoslovakia.
(Borders-schmorders again.)

Action Comics issues the first Superman comic.
(Baseball, apple pie, and the man from Krypton. Superhero as Christ figure.)

Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium in New York City.
(And, years later, they became good friends.)

Dr. Douglas Hyde is elected the first President of Ireland.
(I’ll drink to that!)

July 1938
Building of the concentration camp Mauthausen.
(What’s a concentration camp? Like one of those health retreats? A housing project, maybe?)

September 1938
European crisis over German demand for annexation of Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia.
(German morale is way up! And to think, it was just five years earlier they were only burning books, boycotting Jewish businesses, declaring the Nazi Party the official party of Germany � banning all others � and withdrawing from the League of Nations and the Disarmament Conference at Geneva. That Hitler’s no slouch!)

Hitler says the Sudeten problem is an internal matter to the German minority in Bohemia and the Czecho-Slovak government.
(Read: “Shuddup and mind your own business. Today, Sudetenland; tomorrow, the rest of you morons.”)

A large hurricane (the New England Hurricane of 1938) strikes Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and southern Quebec, killing about 700 people.
(Yeah, but we don’t care about them - they were all white people.)

Winston Churchill warns of the futility of appeasing Adolf Hitler: “The belief that security can be obtained by throwing a small state to the wolves is a fatal delusion.”
(Correctomundo! Let’s all try to remember that, please.)

A two-day conference begins in Germany, held by Adolf Hitler, Italy’s Benito Mussolini, Britain’s Neville Chamberlain, and France’s Edouard Daladier, to discuss German demands on Czechoslovakian territory…agreeing to German demands regarding annexation of Sudetenland.
(Hey — what’s with all these demands all of a sudden?)

The Munich Agreement, allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland portion of Czechoslovakia, is signed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Premier �douard Daladier, Italian leader Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain says: “I believe it is peace for our time.”
(Whadda Kucinich.)

October 1938
German troops march into Sudetenland and occupy it.
(That near Estonia?)

The president of Czechoslovakia resigns.
(”Proof” of a culture of corruption, no doubt.)

Jan Syrovy’s government begins in Czechoslovakia.
(Wasn’t she married to Norman Syrovy?)

Orson Welles’s radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing mass panic in various parts of the United States.
(Ironic. Now Tom Cruise is causing mass panic.)

November 1938
Nazi troops and sympathizers terrorize Jews across Germany and Austria. Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues are looted and burned. The all night affair saw 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested and taken to concentration camps.
(Do not be fooled. This never happened. Mahmoud says it is so. Obviously he doesn’t want to share any credit with Hitler when he “wipes Israel off the map.”)

On the eve of Armistice Day, Kate Smith sings Irving Berlin’s God Bless America for the first time on her weekly radio show.

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies,
To the ocean white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home.

Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
(See unionfacts.org.)

Czech parliament elects Emil H�cha as the new president of Czechoslovakia.
(That near Sudetenland?)

Other 1938 events:
Adolf Hitler is named TIME’s “Man of the Year”
(And, later, Bill Clinton, Ayatollah Khomeini, Jimmy Carter, Nikita Krushchev, and Joseph Stalin, too.)

Spanish Civil War
(Really, now. How many wars are all that civil?)

Sino-Japanese War
(Sino? As in “just sino?”)