Friday, January 21, 2011
[1738 - Ethan Allen, Revolutionary War General, leader of Green Mountain Boys,
born in Litchfield, Connecticut]
[1824 - Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate General, born in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia)]
[1897 - J.(Joseph) Carrol Naish, actor, born
in New York City]
[1922 - (David) Paul Scofield, Academy and Tony award-winning actor, born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, UK]
[1922 - Telly (Aristotelis) Savalas, Emmy Award-winning actor, born in Garden City,
New York]
[1924 - Revolutionary Vladimir Lenin dies]
[1924 - Benny (Alfred Hawthorne) Hill, comedian, born in Southampton, England]
[1926 - Steve (Stephen L.) Reeves, bodybuilder, actor, born in Glasgow, Montana]
[1939 - Wolfman Jack (Robert Weston Smith), disc jockey, born in Brooklyn]
[1976 - Concorde SST aircraft begins regular commercial service]
No one who observed the historic events of January 2009 can doubt that our nation is headed in a new direction. We can only hope that the ship of state, with the new captain on the bridge, will come about onto a new course away from the rocks and shoals that loomed just ahead. It is also clear that the widespread dissatisfaction in the electorate with government incompetence that swept Barack Obama into the presidency was not to be quieted by some baby steps in the right direction. The Nation is impatient with the new leader whose style is coalition building when what we hoped for was some serious ass-kicking. Indeed, coalition building requires willing partners, and Washington seems to be populated with zealous ideologues so that the Obama approach is clearly not working.
Much has been made of the election of the first African-American to the Presidency of the United States of America. While the symbolic and cultural importance of that event cannot be denied, it is really not so surprising. The genetic evidence now suggests that the male DNA of the human race can be traced to a single individual who lived in the Horn of Africa tens of thousands of years ago. If one believes more in science than theology when it comes to the origin of our species, all the current human inhabitants of the world are African, and all the citizens of this great nation are African-American.
William's Whimsical Words:
Yes we did; now we must.
to Winter 2010
to Almanack Main Page
