World War II Memorial

Congratulations Are Due To Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D), Longest Serving Woman In History Of House Of Representatives!

Ronald 2 Comments

In the midst of so much bad and unpleasant news, it is nice to stop for one day, one moment, and speak about and write about a true public servant, who has more than met her responsibilities.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, Ohio, a Democrat, is to become the longest serving woman ever to serve in the House of Representatives on Sunday, after 35 years and 2 months of service, having been in Congress since January 1983.

It is not just her longevity, but her dedication and contributions to the House of Representatives that must be admired and applauded.

It is Kaptur who pushed the construction of the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, a wonderful tribute to our millions of veterans who served in that most critical war against Fascism.

She is a very liberal Democrat, who supported Bernie Sanders, and refused to endorse Hillary Clinton, and in 1996, Ross Perot asked her to be his running mate for Vice President, which she turned down. She opposed the bailout of the banks after the emergence of the Great Recession in 2008, and was against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Since she is only 71, she might last in Congress another decade, and all she would need to do to be the longest serving woman in Congressional history is serve about five more years, in order to surpass Congresswoman and Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, now retired, the longest serving woman Senator at 30 years, and ten previous years as a member of the House of Representatives.

70th Anniversary Of Japanese Attack On Pearl Harbor!

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On this day in 1941, the world changed forever for the United States, when Japan attacked our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing about 2,400 military personnel and sinking eight battleships, and committing other major damage.

The attack took America out of its isolationist slumber, and brought us full scale into World War II. Looking at it then, it seemed close to impossible that the United States could defeat the forces of Fascism and Nazism represented by Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany.

America had to adjust its economy, build up a war footing very quickly, and adjust to the reality that the war would take young and middle aged American men to overseas battle, with about a quarter of a million killed in the conflict that roared on for the next, nearly four years.

The war was a challenge to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he faced tremendous pressure only matched, possibly, by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

Today, the veterans of Pearl Harbor, and of the war itself, are diminishing rapidly, with the average living veteran being in his 90s, and the youngest probably 86 or 87, for those underage who looked mature and lied their way into the military services.

This was the GREATEST GENERATION as journalist Tom Brokaw has termed them, and we owe our freedom and liberty to their courage, their sacrifice, and their commitment to their country!

We can honor them by visiting the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, and other memorials all over the nation, including the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii.

The war showed what could be done if only the nation was united, as it most certainly was, after Japan attacked.

Only the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, can be regarded as an equal moment of shock, and as a turning point in our history, in the sense of changing our view of the world forever.

So on this day, we should all express thanks for what was done by the generation of our grandparents and great grandparents, allowing us to have the blessings of liberty and freedom in 2011!