We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:53:58 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Tipping points. Stand your ground! Don't fire unless fired upon! But if they want to have a war, let it begin here! Captain John Parker's orders to his troops. Like many good quotes, probably apocryphal - but part of the mythos, regardless, and captures the spirit of the restive residents of Massachusetts. BY the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html Wed, 19 Apr 2006 09:14:04 -0600 I am writing a very long (too long?) kat the castle philosopher piece on the very subject of disconnect from history and the influence of modern politics on perceptions. Why you haven't seen me for a day or two. It started with a conversation with a British socialist, an argument about semantics (the norm in the blog world) and the word "empire". http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44158 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44158 Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:52:05 -0600 We actually do *celebrate* Patriot's Day. The reenactments are fun. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44151 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44151 Wed, 19 Apr 2006 13:23:27 -0600 Sgt. Benjamin T. Donde, that's one mighty fine photograph! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44148 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44148 Wed, 19 Apr 2006 11:46:35 -0600 Comrades, Maine and Massachusetts still celebrate Patriot's Day each year, the only two states that still do. To me, that's a shame. The ideological foundation of our Constitution was laid that day, a foundation of courage mortared with blood and tears, upon which would rise a new nation. Those sights are still there to this day, and ought, it seems to me, to be a greater part of every citizen's education than a passing reference in a text book, with pictures of small green fields and men in funny clothes. What have we become when our schools give little more than lip service to those events, small in physical scope but world-shattering in moral impact, and yet devote entire weeks to multiculturalism and diversity? Ah well. Enough for today. If you can, though, take a moment and reflect upon what it took for those old fellows to grasp their weapons and stand up to what was then the finest army in the world, to risk everything over what was only an intangible concept, an embryonic thought that perhaps the citizens could better govern themselves than a monarch in a distant land. respects, AW1 Tim http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44145 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2006/04/concord_hymn.html#comment-44145 Wed, 19 Apr 2006 11:09:15 -0600