D-Day.

[CrAnIuM]

On this day I pay tribute to those heroes that set free a suffering humanity.

June 6th 1944 was a monumental day in recent warfare history, both as a testament to logistical
brilliance and the tenacity of the fighting spirit.

Over 130,000 Allied troops and 30,000 vehicles were landed along a 50-mile stretch of fortified French
coastline and begin fighting on the beaches of Normandy.

This feat is difficult by today's war fighting standards and must have been a beauty to behold, if only one could
avoid the death and carnage of a near suicidal frontal beach landing assault.


I urge you to listen to the following audio in it's entirety ... also ask your self the following questions :

1. Would a president have the balls to give this speech today ?

2. How and why have we traded our integrity and unity for partisan wrangling and a sell out politics in only a short 60 years time?


YouTube - FDR's D-Day Prayer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUy1ejRq9RE)




The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944 brought together the land, air and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known
as the largest invasion force in human history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault
divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches were given the code names UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO and SWORD.

The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries.
Almost 133,000 troops from England, Canada and the United States landed on D-Day. Casualties from the three countries during
the landing numbered 10,300.

By June 30th, over 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the
Normandy shores. Fighting by the brave soldiers, sailors and airmen of the allied forces western front and Russian forces on the
eastern front led to the defeat of German Nazi forces.

On May 7, 1945, German General Alfred Jodl signed an unconditional surrender at Reims, France.

[Polar Bear]

With respect to the subject matter, I'll hold my tongue about a governmental leader clearly mixing church and state.

But I will answer the question...I heard nothing in that speech that would lead me to believe it required courage to utter. pre-1950s America would likely EXPECT the contries leader to lead them in a prayer. It would hardly have been considered the radical act that it would be today. If FDR were in office today I doubt he would have made that speech.

I submit that 'sellout politics' were alive and well long before you give them credit for having been.

[CrAnIuM]

With respect to the subject matter, I'll hold my tongue about a governmental leader clearly mixing church and state.

But I will answer the question...I heard nothing in that speech that would lead me to believe it required courage to utter. pre-1950s America would likely EXPECT the contries leader to lead them in a prayer. It would hardly have been considered the radical act that it would be today. If FDR were in office today I doubt he would have made that speech.

I submit that 'sellout politics' were alive and well long before you give them credit for having been.


Good job at minimizing the contributions of the era.

Good job at knowing absolutely nothing about history and the political process of the time.

I was not referring to the 'church and state' side of the speech.

I refer to the wholehearted, unconditional, rhetoric free backing of the soldiers in the field by their commander in chief.


Let me guess , you were never in the military ?

Let me guess, you are a product of a modern government school system?

Let me continue to guess ... you are under 30 years of age?

[Negativecool]

1. Would a president have the balls to give this speech today ?
2. How and why have we traded our integrity and unity for partisan wrangling and a sell out politics in only a short 60 years time?
Good post. I have been watching the History channel all day and brushed up on Stephen Ambrose's D-Day, which I haven't read in years.

I can answer #2.
2. In a quick run down I will answer thusly: Simple, the cold war started as soon as WWII ended in '45. Thus beginning the country's paranoia against all things Russian or communist. Pulling us into Korea.
Far more costly to the current state of America, however, was Vietnam. Combine that conflict with all of the other social upheavals of the 60's/early 70's and you've got the foundation of the country ripped apart.

Building unity on a broken foundation since then has yielded a war on drugs (because we now can't get enough of our illegal drugs), we have given minorities equal rights but with the added incentive of being able to pull the race card for anything no matter how stupid. Since democrats, with few exceptions, were the only who openly expressed desire to pull out of Vietnam, they have since been thought of as limp wrist pansies lacking the balls to protect America, and Republicans have been portrayed as war mongering pigs fueling the war machine with every international decision. Democrats and Republicans have no common ground anymore and have completely polarized the nation.
Thus America is no longer united.
Cheers to the next 60 years eh?

[CrAnIuM]

Good post. I have been watching the History channel all day and brushed up on Stephen Ambrose's D-Day, which I haven't read in years.

I can answer #2.
2. In a quick run down I will answer thusly: Simple, the cold war started as soon as WWII ended in '45. Thus beginning the country's paranoia against all things Russian or communist. Pulling us into Korea.
Far more costly to the current state of America, however, was Vietnam. Combine that conflict with all of the other social upheavals of the 60's/early 70's and you've got the foundation of the country ripped apart.

Building unity on a broken foundation since then has yielded a war on drugs (because we now can't get enough of our illegal drugs), we have given minorities equal rights but with the added incentive of being able to pull the race card for anything no matter how stupid. Since democrats, with few exceptions, were the only who openly expressed desire to pull out of Vietnam, they have since been thought of as limp wrist pansies lacking the balls to protect America, and Republicans have been portrayed as war mongering pigs fueling the war machine with every international decision. Democrats and Republicans have no common ground anymore and have completely polarized the nation.
Thus America is no longer united.
Cheers to the next 60 years eh?

Indeed.

The politics "as usual" is a party-less whore.

Show me a national level political candidate that hasn't been tainted by the election process and I'll show you a pink elephant on roller skates.

Hell .. I'm only 39 and I remember times not long past that common citizens could get face to face time with their city mayor.

Even time with the state senate was not out of reach 20 years ago.

Now ... you are lucky if you see the motherfucker at any time other than election time.

[Polar Bear]

Good job at minimizing the contributions of the era.

I didn't mention the contributions on the era, because it wasn't the topic I was addressing. Good job blowing shit out of proportion.


Good job at knowing absolutely nothing about history and the political process of the time.

Oh of course you're right. It took alot of balls for FDR to say what every fucking person in the country was thinking at the time. Sure.


I was not referring to the 'church and state' side of the speech.

My mistake.


I refer to the wholehearted, unconditional, rhetoric free backing of the soldiers in the field by their commander in chief.

I agree. It's a sad state of affairs when a political leader fears this.



Let me guess , you were never in the military ?

12 years active duty. Honestly I thought you knew that about me. Try again.


Let me guess, you are a product of a modern government school system?

Public school system. What the fuck were you, home schooled? Get out of here ya silly bastard.


Let me continue to guess ... you are under 30 years of age?

Wrong again. I'm 5 years younger than you...big deal.

[CrAnIuM]

werds.





Move along now ...

[KommieKat]

It's a pity all those people died, on all sides, only from for the greed and planning by the World Banks controlled by Rochchilde and Rockefeller.

Roosevelt was a pansy for the Bankers.

[CrAnIuM]

It's a pity all those people died, on all sides, only from for the greed and planning by the World Banks controlled by Rochchilde and Rockefeller.

Roosevelt was a pansy for the Bankers.

The world banks inspired the Third Reich to pursue a policy of annex by force?

The World banks influenced the attack on Pearl Harbor?

The world banks Spurred the adaptation of the Holocaust?


I find conspiracy theories as entertaining as the next guy but the ones you present are plan old retarded.

[Shade]

On this day I pay tribute to those heroes that set free a suffering humanity.

June 6th 1944 was a monumental day in recent warfare history, both as a testament to logistical
brilliance and the tenacity of the fighting spirit.

Over 130,000 Allied troops and 30,000 vehicles were landed along a 50-mile stretch of fortified French
coastline and begin fighting on the beaches of Normandy.

This feat is difficult by today's war fighting standards and must have been a beauty to behold, if only one could
avoid the death and carnage of a near suicidal frontal beach landing assault.


I urge you to listen to the following audio in it's entirety ... also ask your self the following questions :

1. Would a president have the balls to give this speech today ?

2. How and why have we traded our integrity and unity for partisan wrangling and a sell out politics in only a short 60 years time?



Politics hasn't changed in the last 100 years, except for one important detail. Television. Our culture, or society, our values as of country have changed. I dont think it's fair to that politians are corrupt now, and wernt back then.

We were faceing fucking D-Day. This was it, win or lose. The big battle, the final fight. We sit around and squabble over bullshit issues, and who did what when we are safe. When we are in danger, we, as a country, pull together. 9/11 was a perfect example. All ideal's, political beliefs, issues, and what not where put aside. Out of no where you saw everyone and there grandma sporting flags again. America isn't unique in this, however we, as a country, pull together far better then any other country in the world when we are truely threatened. The downside is in peace time, we rarely give a shit. Afghanastan wasn't a question of money or time, and a huge majority supportd the war effort there. I think it was somewhere around 90% of america supported the troops, and 75% where for the annhilatin of the taliban by wipeing out afghanastan. Iraq not so much. It isnt an immedate threat. So it's easy to say we dont wanna fight it. Lets not spend 50 million on the soldiers, instead lets spend it on schools.

Would a president have the balls to say this now? I think we live in a time where our leaders have been so fucking weak over the last 20 years, that we actually believe this. It's a sad state. When we got a big mac eating mother fucker who fucks interns, a father and son who's biggest concern is big oil, and making america look bad ass, it distorts our view. I'm more liberal then alot of people, however even i recoginize regan as one of the last real leaders. He made a ton of mistakes, but he had both the balls, and the brain power. I think to make a speech like that, or others that FDR, Churchill, JFK made, it requires a true resolve, a crisis, and a personal character that supersceds that of a normal man. There is a differnce between someone who makes decisions and policy's and a true leader. FDR and churchill had so many fucking flaws, but anyone who has studied them, listened to them, or watched them, would of followed then into battle without a 2nd thought. Patten, Rommel, JFK, people like that are rare. They have made their era's because of the people they where. No one remembers coolage, or half the mediocer presidents, but who forgets lincoln, martin luther king, ghandi, washinton, JFK, FDR, Churchill, even hitler. Plus, in war time, you HAVE to stand behind your troops. The problem lately is when our leaders pull a stupid, like vietnam or Iraq, and have to pull out. It's messy, and they feel the only way to save face is to indirectly blame it on he troops, or pull support from them. Instead of saying 'ok, look, i fucked up, and these guys are now dieing for my mistake' it turns into 'the soldiers are doing a great job. We are going to keep them fighting and dieing for this cause' or 'the soldiers arn't able to do anything, so we are cutting funding'. Either way, it's dishonorable. Not just to our soldiers, to the memory of every soldier who has died for our country, but men who can truely admit where they where wrong, hold there ground when they are right, fight for what they believe in, and not walk all over others are rare. Infact if you have been in any type of military i'm sure you know that. While you can respect most officers, i'm sure there are only 1 or 2 that you felt you would follow into battle, regardless of rank, or higher military orders.

I think we do have leaders like those guys even now. I don't think any are president right now. You can't expect a true leader to pop up every 8 or even 20 years. Saying it's because our politians are corrupt is fucking retarded. Officials being corrupt is consistance throughout time. There are those that are uncorruptable. Yet it has NOTHNG to do with how good of a leader they are. Charlie Wilson was pretty fucking corrupt, FDR for the most part wasn't. JFK was, but not in the traditional sense, Hell, washington was corrupt as hell.