Spatter

Quotable Quote

I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches.

Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Photo Hunt - Painted

When visiting San Francisco I happened to hear about  California's Living New Deal Project.  The public art project was created as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to lift the country out of the Depression.  Here are two  painted panels I found in a post office.

I know Virginia has a similar project in its post offices...I've been meaning to make a list and take a tour to visit them. 

Not that I'm thinking that depressions are good things, but it does seem to me that so many wonderful things ended up coming from the one we had in the 30s. Parks, buildings, roads (like my cherished Blue Ridge Parkway), art. 

Macro Monday - Chevy Bel-Aire

bydamanti  

hosted by Lisa

The Day Is Finally Here

I counted the days for four years...and then, in 2004 I had to start counting again for four more.  Now finally, thankfully, the day has come.  Anybody but Bush would have given me relief, but I'm feeling more than that.  I'm feeling joy and pride and hope...and faith...faith that America will once again renew itself.  It's quite something to watch and to feel. 

I'm happy that we'll be sharing this historic occasion  with friends. It makes it all the more memorable.  There's going to be lots of hootin' and hollerin' and huggin' and...if the Lincoln Memorial festivities  are any indication... there will be crying going on too!

Movie Time - The Changeling

I saw The Changeling the other day..another powerful Clint Eastwood directed movie starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich. 

It's  based on the true story of a missing boy and subsequent discovery of the Wineville Chicken Murders.  It's a gruesome story.  Most murders are.  But an integral part of being disturbed about this particular murder story is how the L.A. Police Department behaved. It actually happened and that makes it all the worse. The movie will  give you pause and make you think.  I definitely recommend it.


Post Note
Wineville is now Mira Loma.  The town changed its name in 1930 largely due to the vast amount of negative publicity surrounding this case. 

Friday Fact - Fulgencio Batista

Not too long ago I watched The Lost City, a movie about a family and the city of Havana at the time when guerrillas ousted Fulgencio Batista from power as the President of Cuba.  As historical dramas tend to do, it got me to wondering about what the times they depicted were like to live through...and too...looking back at history with the benefit of hindsight.   It also got me to thinking about how many times our country has supported a dictator for pragmatic reasons. 

So who was this tyrant Batista?  It's a bit of a lengthy Friday Fact, but take a minute or two...and while you do, try to not only learn the history of what happened, but the understanding of how and why things happen.  Maybe, just maybe we can learn from it.  Certainly though, we can appreciate what we just experienced here in America: a peaceful transition of power.

Born in 1901 to parents who were actively involved in Cuba's fight for independence from Spain, Batista joined the Cuban army in 1921,  became the union leader of Cuba's soldiers, and in 1933, led the Sergeant's Revolt that replaced the corrupt provisional government led by President Machado.  Did I say  revolt?  Let me back up a minute...

After freeing itself from the clutches of Spain during the Spanish-American War, Cuba  found itself facing another foe of sorts:  the United States.  You see, The United States had gotten involved in Cuban politics during the war and saw Cuba as part of its Manifest Destiny.  Before you know it we issued a set of articles and guidelines known as the Platt Amendment...which, by the way, stipulated some things that were completely inconsistent with the principles of our own constitution.  In a nutshell, it damaged the concept of Cuba being a sovereign nation by stating that the government of Cuba consented that the United States could exercise its right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence and for the maintenance of a government it likes. I'm paraphrasing, of course.

In short, Cuba had become a haven for the United States.  Vast tracks of land were gobbled up by U.S. investors...in fact...United States' interests came to control about three quarters of the Cuban sugar industry.  Downtown Havana became a high rise outpost of America, and its luxury hotels housed gambling casinos run by the Mafia.

A guy named Gerardo Machado y Morales got into power  in 1925 and by 1931 he began to suspend constitutional guarantees.  The United States did not object.  I guess we had our own little problem called the Great Depression to keep us busy.  Besides, did we really care?  Anyway, Morales had done some good, but in the end, he was just another dictator...and as dictator's are apt to do...he decided to hold onto power instead of stepping down.  There were objections and uprisings, but they failed until Batista and his Sergeant's Revolt.  Now we're back at the beginning..

Since the revolt was a fait accompli, the United States approved.  Batista became Army Chief of Staff and effectively controlled the presidency.  The evil dictator had been dethroned.  But what's this?  In the years to come Batista conducted himself in much the same way.  People objected, but he violently suppressed  attempts to defeat his control.  Interesting isn't it how one problem is replaced by another.

Batista's chance to officially sit in the president's chair came in 1940.  Supported by a coalition of political parties which included the old Cuban Communist Party, he defeated his rival in the first presidential election under the new Cuban Constitution.

During his presidency, trade relations with the United States increased.  Batista was well liked by the United States, who had feared the previous president's socialistic reforms.  We saw Batista as a stabilizing force for American interests. Cuba furthered its favored status when it entered World War II on the side of the Allies in December 1941. 

But then, what do you know...Batista was peacefully defeated for re-election in 1945 by an old rival Grau.  Remarkable actually, considering his brutally violent tactics.

Batista took off for Daytona Beach, Florida and lived there until he ran for and won a seat in the Cuban Senate in 1948.  Four years later in 1952, he ran for president but when it became apparent that he wasn't going to win, he solved that problem by staging a coup.  Simple.  Batista once again held power as "provisional president" for the next two years.  Batista was quick to declare that although he claimed complete loyalty to Cuba's constitution of 1940, he felt the need to suspend its constitutional guarantees...including the right to strike. 

Just a year later, a small group of revolutionaries led by a young attorney from a rich  family named Fidel Castro, tried to oust Batista.  Here's a picture of Castro in high school:

The coup was easily crushed.  Many who led the revolt died, but Fidel Castro escaped death and was one of many who were jailed instead. 

Popular unrest and acts of civil disobedience increased.  Washington DC was getting nervous.  In order to calm them, Batista held an election in 1954.  The only problem was he was the only legal candidate.  Obviously, he won.  More civil unrest followed.

In 1955, Batista expectantly released Castro and the remaining survivors of the 1953 coup.  He was trying to calm down his critics.  It didn't.  Demonstrations became frequent and Batista, in turn, used more and more violence to deal with them.   People were getting beaten, imprisoned, and killed.  It was getting very ugly.  Instead of losing his grip, Batista suspended more constitutional guarantees and established tighter censorship of the media.  His military police brutally patrolled the streets for anyone who was even remotely suspected of insurrection.  Even the University of Havana was closed for its continued opposition to Batista.  The situation got worse and worse.  Confident in his ability to defeat any coup,  Batista refused to consider a proposal calling for elections.  Conditions were ripe for revolution.  Many tried, many failed.  But since some of the coups came from within the army, Batista was forced to break the backbone of the Cuban armed forces.  Top commanders were sentenced to prison and the military academies were closed.  This later contributed greatly to Castro's success.  You see, without officers, the army could not sustain a fight against him. 

Castro had fled to Mexico right after his release from prison...he rightly didn't trust that Batista wouldn't conveniently have him killed.  It was that he met Ernesto "Che" Guevara and there that he organized the 26th of July Movement with the goal of overthrowing Batista.  Sounds like a good idea, no?  They all returned to Cuba in 1956 and their armed conflict began.

Most of Castro's men were killed or taken prisoner even as they landed in Santiago.  Castro managed to escape to the mountains with a handful of comrades.  ded by urban and rural opposition, he then began a guerrilla campaign against the regime.  The rebel army grew more and more effective and the country was soon driven into chaos.  Ultimately, Batista was forced to flee the country.   In 1959 he held a nice little photo op at the airport and said so long.  He had arranged for his family and some close friends to get to the United States, but the rest of his supporters?  Sorry Charlie.

Castro took control.  He moved to consolidate his power by...surprise, surprise...brutally marginalizing other resistance groups and figures and imprisoning and executing opponents.  The names had changed but the story remained the same.  Like I said above, interesting isn't it how one problem is replaced by another.

And that's a long Friday Fact!

Veterans Day

Veterans Day aka Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falls on November 11th, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I.  Major hostilities of that war were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.   In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11th as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words:

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."

England and France commemorated the Armistice by burying an "unknown soldier" in the highest place of honor...Westminster Abbey in England and  The Arc de Triomphe in France. Then,  In 1921, the United States followed suit by laying to rest the remains of a World War I American soldier in Arlington Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...now known as the Tomb of the Unknowns. 

Many Americans mistakenly believe that Veterans Day is the day America sets aside to honor military personnel who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.  That's not quite true.  Memorial Day is actually the day set aside for this. Veterans Day, on the other hand, honors ALL veterans, both living and dead in appreciation for their service to our country. 

Back At BBR

Gasoline to drive to Florida and back - $175
Cheap, on the run highway food - $24
Hotel room to rest the body - $55
Having a chance to get together for some fun with my dearest friends...priceless!

I arrived back at BBR this afternoon. It took me exactly six hours to drive from Atlanta...and what a gloriously beautiful day I had to do it on!  As always, it's good to be home.

As noted above, my diversion to Atlanta was  to get a visit in with my long time and dear friends.  Our times shared are always so special to me, and this time proved no exception.

Since I had stopped in Gainesville Thursday night, I had time to spare for getting into Atlanta on Friday in time for Carla to meet me after work.  So...after driving a bit on the interstate, I listened to my scout spirit and got off I-75 midway up Georgia.  I decided to go see Plains...the home of President Jimmy Carter.  I made my way through cotton fields and pecan groves and McCain-Palin signs...so many, in fact, that I started to wonder if my Obama bumper sticker was going to get me any looks...or worse.  It didn't. 

The cotton fields eventually gave way to fields of peanuts.  I knew then that I was nearing Plains.  Then...suddenly...a brown sign with a National Park Service logo.  Son of a gun if the the whole daggum town of Plains isn't designated as a National Historic Site!  There really wasn't much to the town.  The Habitat For Humanity International Center was back  about 10 miles in Americus.  Plains just has a sign pointing down a road to his boyhood farm...I didn't go...and a tiny little strip of old buildings that I suppose were once vibrant.  Of course, there was a very pungent peanut processing plant. 

I continued on...now with my sight set on Warm Springs.  It was a little further out of the way, but what the heck.   It's a place I've wanted to get to ever since I lived in Atlanta back in the 70s.  It took me about an hour or so through some not very pretty landscape.  Sorry folks, it just wasn't.  The only picture I took was of a huge long-horned steer.   I saw it as I was flying by, and at first, I thought it wasn't real.  But it was such a sight that I had to stop, turn around, and get a better look.  Have you ever seen such huger horns?!  I never have. 

I arrived in Warm Springs in time for lunch and found me a little cafe on its main street.  Sitting at the table next to me were two women and a little black Scottish Terrier.  I said hello and noted that their dog fit right in the town given that FDR's dog was a Scottie. 

The women were quick to advise me that this wasn't just any weekend in Warm Springs.  It turns out that hundreds of people who belong to the Scottish Terrier Club Of America come to Warm Springs for a get together that takes place this weekend every year.  It's been going on for the last twenty-five years.  Who knew!  I finished my lunch then drove by the Little White House.  I didn't think I had the time to warrant the fee to get in, so instead, I stopped by the Warm Springs Institute of Rehabilitation to see the famous therapy pools used by FDR and other polio patients.  The pools are empty now, but old photos gave you a look at how it all looked back in the 30s. 

Then it was on to Atlanta...Kennesaw to be exact.  And that brings us to where this post began...

In Rememberance

The Welder

bydamanti

Labor Day originated in 1882...the age of  super industrialists where workers worked long hours for few benefits...when the Central Labor Union of New York City sought to create "a day off for the working citizens".  Twelve years later in 1894, it became a federal holiday.

Photo available for purchase here