On July 20, 1969, an event which i argue is the greatest accomplishment in human history occurred.

It was "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind," as Neil Armstrong said. But, it must also be said that no one but an American has ever been to the moon. And we have every right to be proud of that fact.

We did it with vacuum tube computers and slide rules. We did it in the days before fax machines and e-mail and pocket calculators. We did it before copy machines and PDAs and DVD drives and laptops. We did it with computers that filled a whole room but were slower than the computer i'm typing on right now.

And when the computer miscalculated on the descent to the lunar surface, one American took the controls and landed the damn thing himself.

Awesome.

On that historic day Associated Press reported:

Two Americans landed on the moon and explored its surface for some two hours Sunday, planting the first human footprints in its dusty soil. They raised their nation's flag and talked to their President on earth 240,000 miles away.

Be proud.

Update: Has Ted forgotten about this anniversary?

Posted by: annika at 08:42 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 Very nice annika. Tomorrow in history the first rant using the words "We put a man on the moon but we can't..." was used. yuk yuk

Posted by: Scof at July 20, 2004 11:02 AM (XCqS+)

2 Nicely done. I had not gotten around to doing a post about this topic yet. Greatest accomplishment? Yep, probably what I would choose. And a nice reminder of how different the world and resources were that made it happen.

Posted by: Jay Solo at July 20, 2004 01:56 PM (ECWEx)

3 What about penicillin?

Posted by: Dawn Summers at July 20, 2004 02:17 PM (HLOeu)

4 I *had* forgotten. With the new job, I've been crazybusy all day at work and too tired to surf much in the evenings. My brain is full of new and strange acronyms and processes I'm learning. Besides, guys aren't *supposed* to remember anniversaries. Dawn, Penicillin was huge, but it would've been done eventually by someone. The moon was directed effort that would not have happened by accident. Now if you'd have said Hostess Snowballs...

Posted by: Ted at July 20, 2004 03:47 PM (ZjSa7)

5 I was 15 at the time, and although I was a big jock at the time, the fact that the LEM pilot, I'm thinking Buzz Aldrin, landed the thing himself, was and is so cool. History was made that day, and I along with millions of others around the world--think about that--had a ringside seat. Folks, those two guys, and Collins too, were truly pioneers. Not to mention an example of true American spirit.

Posted by: joe at July 20, 2004 07:10 PM (vHwP8)

6 Mmm...hostess snowballs.

Posted by: Dawn Summers at July 21, 2004 09:23 AM (HLOeu)

7 Oh, come on people! It was all a FAKE!

Posted by: Rick Blaine at July 21, 2004 02:35 PM (Eo4me)

8 I'm just an occasional visitor here so far, but I had to pass on this video of Buzz Aldrin taking out a conspiracy theorist who called him a coward and a liar, in case you haven't seen it.

Posted by: insomni at July 21, 2004 06:34 PM (h2cui)

9 Most of them smoked cigarettes Save money on cheap cigarettes Cigarette smoking has been buy cigarettes. order cigarettes the most popular method of taking offer discount Camel cigarettes nicotine the year a report offer discount marlboro cigarettes that concluded that buy cigarettes. order cigarettes cigarettes and other Save money on cheap cigarettes forms of tobacco smoking cigs for all the Buy cigarettes and pack of smokes for you rolling tobacco would you like cigarettes with Free delivery of cigarettes years of smoking can cause cigarettes Chesterfield cigarettes bar talking with people Lucky Strike cigarettes Marlboro

Posted by: cigarettes at August 04, 2004 07:16 AM (nPfJ7)

10 Interesting thought, but my memory of the day makes it seem a bit less eventful. My family and I were on the Navajo reservation (Dineta nation) that day and at the time of the landing we had stopped just off the res at a saloon for dinner. An old man at the bar watched closely, and then said (roughly): "No big deal. The ancestors went there a long time ago, before they came down here to live. There was nothing on the moon worth staying there for." Probably true, at least the last part.

Posted by: Eirik Johnson at June 21, 2005 07:29 PM (fYd6d)

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i've been slogging my way through My Life, by Bill Clinton for the last week or so. i'm about 90 pages into it. The book is written in casual prose, almost like a blog, and it's easily accessible to the least common denominator. Anyone expecting multi-syllable words and complex sentences from this "Rhodes Scholar" will be disappointed. Clinton is a competent writer, but he's no Thomas Jefferson. He's not even a Theodore Roosevelt. Further proof to my mind that those fawning ignorami who insist that he was "our smartest president" are way off base.

Clinton delights in naming people he knew as a young man, probably for their own benefit, so they can point to the book and say "hey, I'm in it," or "hey, my dad/brother/sister is in it." The first few chapters are full of anecdotes that are only marginally interesting: Bill's boyhood encounter with an angry ram, the famous confrontations with his abusive stepfather, the famous handshake with President Kennedy, the time Bill's car got stuck in the mud at a bauxite quarry.

i'm no fan of Clinton as a president. He had some successes in office, but lord knows he hurt this country in many ways, which we are only now beginning to fully realize. But as a man, as a historical character, he fascinates me. Like Henry VIII, he's a tragic leader who cannot be ignored if you have any real interest in history. And like King Henry, Bill Clinton was a sincere idealist, who left his country in a mess because he let his cock do more thinking than his head.

At this early stage in my reading, i thought it might be fun to see what Clinton had to say about the man who aspires to carry on his progressive Democratic legacy. i'm talking about the presumptive Democratic nominee for president at the time of the book's celebrated release: Massachussets senator John Kerry. As you may have heard, Clinton's book damns Kerry with faint praise. Actually there's almost no praise at all.

According to the index, John Kerry is mentioned only seven times, despite his being a "prominent" United States senator since 1985, throughout the entirety of Clinton's two terms. By contrast, Senator John McCain is mentioned eleven times. The other Kerry, Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, earned seventeen mentions in Clinton's index despite having been senator for only eleven years compared to John Kerry's twenty years. In fact, all but one of John Kerry's seven apearances in President Clinton's book are in passages where he's only one name in a list of names.

Here are the seven passages that mention the "prominent" senator from Massachussets, John Kerry:

. . . America's efforts to reconcile and normalize relations with Vietnam were led by distinguished Vietnam veterans in Congress, like Chuck Robb, John McCain, John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, Chuck Hegel, and Pete Peterson, men who had more than paid their dues and had nothing to hide or prove. [p. 161]

. . .

There was support in Congress from her brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, Senators Chris Dodd, Pat Moynihan, and John Kerry; and New York congressmen Peter King and Tom Manton. [pp. 578-579]

. . .

My decision was strongly supported by Vietnam veterans in Congress, especially Senators John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, and John McCain, and Congressman Pete Peterson of Florida, who had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than six years. [p. 581]

. . .

After the meeting I went to Boston for a fund-raiser for Senator John Kerry, who was up for reelection and would likely face a tough opponent in Governor Bill Weld. I had a good relationship with Weld, perhaps the most progressive of all the Republican governors, but I didn't want to lose Kerry in the Senate. He was one of the Senate's leading authorities on the environment and high technology. He had also devoted an extraordinary amount of time to the problem of youth violence, an issue he had cared about since his days as a prosecutor. Caring about an issue in which there are no votes today but which will have a big impact on the future is a very good quality in a politician. [p. 659]

. . .

. . . [I]n July[,] I normalized relations with Vietnam, with the strong support of most Vietnam veterans in Congress, including John McCain, Bob Kerrey, John Kerry, Chuck Robb, and Pete Peterson . . . [p. 665]

. . .

At the end of the month, I announced that the Veteran's Administration would provide compensation to Vietnam veterans for a series of severe illnesses . . . that were associated with exposure to Agent Orange, a cause long championed by Vietnam veterans, Senators John Kerry and John McCain, and by the late Admiral Bud Zumwalt. [pp. 713-714]

. . .

. . . [F]our of the seven Senate candidates I had campaigned for won: Tom Harkin, Tim Johnson, John Kerry, and, in Louisiana, Mary Landrieu. [p. 734]

Sure, one might attribute the lack of extended praise to the mighty Clinton ego, but if you look elsewhere in the book you will find paragraph after paragraph where Clinton ladles extravagant compliments over the most minor characters in his life. i would think he'd have spent a little more time on the "next Democratic president of the United States" if he had really wanted to.

Then again, it's very likely that Clinton has someone else in mind to be the next Democratic president. Who could that be? Hmmmm . . . i don't know . . . Let me see . . . could it be . . . Satan?

Posted by: annika at 11:43 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 It raises a number of interesting questions, including the main point I keep trying to make: Who on earth is the GOP going to run in 2008? The bench doesn't have any obvious young stars right now, unless folks really think the world is ready for a black woman (Rice) as president. Colin Powell is way too liberal for the hard right. Cheney is a non-starter. You have to have a pro-lifer, which knocks out Giuliani and Schwarzenegger, even if the latter can get a new constitutional amendment through. Jebbie? Not a chance, not with the infidelity issue so clear.

Posted by: Hugo at July 18, 2004 01:11 PM (ntfdi)

2 Kerry a leading authority on technology? The man wants to prohibit the new manufacture of a class of firearms that are functionally no different than what was being made in the early 1900's. Assholes like him would replace the MAG-58 with a Vickers if left to his own devices. But one thing you should keep in mind about the book: Herr Klinton is nothing if not egotistical. Any mention of anyone else will either be used to demonstrate his humility or to serve some other purpose. Don't be too shocked if he doesn't wax poetic about anyone to any degree that would overshadow him - unless of course he either A: would seem like an asshole in not doing it (i.e. talking of JFK fondly) or B: he can use it to cash in on something down the road. The praise of seemingly minor characters in his life is easy: they pose no threat or challenge to him while bolstering his image as a "people person" (more or less). Odds are you wont' find anything so generous concerning someone he views as a rival. I assume you've read Rand, Locke & others of similar mind so for an anti-dote after you're through reading Bill's book might I recommend something by John Ross or Boston T. Party? There are the almost polar opposite of any liberal/socilaist books flaoting around - possibly to the point where the ocnservative in you would find them extreme, but a little extremity is good for ya. BTW, you do realize by mentioning that you're fascinated with slick willy you're just reinforcing your pro-lizard stance don't ya?

Posted by: Publicola at July 18, 2004 04:03 PM (Aao25)

3 I KNEW she looked familiar!!

Posted by: Brent at July 18, 2004 06:19 PM (w+y2e)

4 Clinton isn't a "Rhodes Scholar" any more than Annika is an admiral. He dropped out. Only people who finished the program are entitled to that title.

Posted by: Eric M. Johnson at July 18, 2004 10:24 PM (svki/)

5 "Clinton is a competent writer, but he's no Thomas Jefferson." And TJ didn't even have the army of ghost writers that one presumes did most of Bill's real work.

Posted by: Dave J at July 19, 2004 07:57 AM (VThvo)

6 Kerry shows up seven times in Clinton's book? Wow! I think that's more than he showed up for critical votes in the Senate last year, and probably a few more times than Slick and Satan were actually seen together in public (er, I mean Santa).

Posted by: d-rod at July 19, 2004 08:43 AM (/B70b)

7 So when you are done with the book, I offer $5 (plus shipping) for you to send it to me, so I can be highly entertained as well : ) Since, you don't want to KEEP it do you? : )

Posted by: Jennifer at July 19, 2004 11:29 PM (iwROl)

8 Maybe he tried to dumb the book down so his fans could read it? Just one idea, LOL. And that was one great photo there -- scary.

Posted by: 2flower at July 21, 2004 05:52 PM (CDNE8)

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