KWBaker

 

In urban areas across the country vacant lots are filled with sights of neighbors pulling weeds, planting seeds and tending heirloom tomatoes.

Overnight city rooftops have sprouted lush gardens. “Tarbeachs” once reserved for city sunning, now produces organic vegetables for hipsters at high-end restaurants.

But, long before the locavore movement heated up this growth in urban gardening, there were “victory gardens,” the granddaddy of community gardening.

 WWII Home Front Gardens

 By 1942 at the urging of Uncle Sam, my mother’s family, like 20 million others Americans during WWII, had planted a Victory garden.

As in WWI, the federal government encouraged citizens to plant victory gardens to provide themselves and their neighbors with vegetables so that commercially produced crops could be available for military use.

With millions of farming acres abroad war-torn and barren, the world’s food supply was dangerously low and that included Americans. Farmers were working overtime to produce enough food

We were asked to pitch in.

Now out of duty and not pleasure, we were required to reacquaint ourselves with cooking and eating fresh, locally grown produce.

Besides which, we were told, working in a garden  “is a wonderful sedative for war nerves.”

Food Fights for Freedom

Thousands of government sponsored advertisements convinced the public that food was a weapon of strategic importance. If  folks on the home front used food wisely it would “fight for freedom,” as one ad explained :

“It won’t just happen that there will be enough food. America has go to work at it. Food is fighting today for freedom on many fronts here at home too. If you enlist in the fight you’ll help speed the day of victory.

“We know you will do anything you can to help.”

American Grown

During the war my teen age mother Betty and her family lived in a  house on Montgomery Street in Brooklyn, NY  and despite their postage stamp size yard, they were delighted to find that more than a tree could grow in Brooklyn.

They were not alone

All over the city vacant lots were commandeered for the war effort and made into vegetable patches joining the  millions of small town backyards and city rooftop gardens sprouting up across the country.

Some neighborhoods groups selected a vacant lot for growing, taking turns working the garden and forming food cooperatives.

With no experience in gardening, other than the petunia stocked window boxes, my grandmother perused  the local library for advice.

Countless books on wartime gardening were suddenly available with titles like Gardening for Victory, Food Garden for Defense, and  Grow Your own Food to Feed Your Family.

Like most Americans more familiar with canned corn and peas,  Betty  became accustomed to new strange vegetables like Swiss chard and kohlrabi introduced because of the seed shortages.

“Win the War with Spade and Hoe Make a Victory Garden Grow!”

 

 Uncle Sam exchanged his top hat for a farmers and was busy churning out gardening information.

Government victory garden instruction booklets explained everything from equipment  fertilizers, to how to work the soil. A healthy Victory garden according to the pamphlets  should be on the constant lookout for that most deadly enemy-  the Japanese beetle to be sprayed with a particular vengeance.

The Jolly Green Giant Lends a Hand

 

In the great American spirit of competition, the Jolly Green Giant volunteered his formidable green thumb, instructing novice gardeners how to grow their own peas and corn.

Ever the patriot, he shared his secrets to one and all through ads and free booklets chock full of information of when to plant, types of seed and how to prepare the soil for your victory garden. Bursting with pride at the success, the Green Giant wished us all the best of luck” to the finest competition any company ever had!”

Ho-Ho Ho Tojo!

 

Hollywood Goes Gardening

Despite her mother’s nudging, my preoccupied teenage mother was a less than enthused farmer

While my grandmother was busy reading Better Homes and Garden, bobby-soxer Betty kept her nose buried in the glossy movie magazines  which constantly chronicled Hollywood’s war efforts.

Photoplay magazine  reported  that Miss Joan Crawford worked in her own backyard garden and  favored hearty vegetables like beets and cauliflower carrots and squash and had a special section devoted to a variety of red, yellow, and white tomatoes.

Betty read with delight “that special guests invited to Miss Crawford’s home served what she called her Mildred Pierce Victory Salad with all ingredients grown in her own garden.”

If Betty’s s favorite movie star, glamourpuss Joan Crawford could work hard in her own victory garden getting her well manicured nails grubby, by gosh there was no reason for Betty to be a slacker.

Madison Avenue Gets Their Hands Dirty

 Advertisers jumped on the bandwagon promoting and encouraging patriotic Americans to plant victory gardens  spurring people to harvest and share in the bounty.

Advertisers’ anxious to prove that they were contributing to the war effort shamelessly tied in their product to gardening in whatever way they could regardless of the product they were hawking.

Carnation Milk Ad 1943

Schenley Royal Reserve Whiskey 1943 Ad -Greens Committee

“There’s more  gardening  these days and less golf”

Schenley Royal Reserve Whiskey 1943 Ad -Harvest Time

“Americans make the best of everything. Americans are making the best use of their weekends and vacations by helping to bring in the crops. All Schenley distilleries are producing vital alcohol for war purposes so we were reminded to save it for special occasions.”

Coke  Hospitality in a Victory Garden 1943 Ad

“There is a Victory garden in almost every backyard this summer. Friends in work clothes come over to admire and compare crops. Then when a few moments of relaxation are in order they drink Ice Cold Coke and enjoy perfect refreshment while contemplating the results of their work.”

Jayson Sportswear Advertisement  1944

National Dairy Ad Products 1944 “The earth and I are friends now“

 © Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Melody-Catalpa volunteers secure pledges to shun pesticides
By Charlie Brennan 

The Melody-Catalpa neighborhood of Boulder is proudly wearing the mantle of the first “bee-safe” locality in Colorado.

It may not be a title for which there was fierce competition, but those in the roughly 200 households of the north Boulder neighborhood who signed a pledge not to use neonicotinoids or similar systemic pesticides are buzzing with excitement over earning the distinction.

Three neighborhood residents earlier this year banded together to sign on about 20 volunteers to go door to door. And, faster than they’d dared hope, they convinced more than half of the area’s 389 households to sign a pledge not to use neuroactive chemicals that many believe are contributing to the colony collapse phenomenon reported in global honeybee populations.

Those doing so were awarded green flags, signifying their commitment, to plant in their front lawns. Some homes there have not yet been contacted by the volunteers, but will be.

“We felt really good about it,” said Anne Bliss, one of the three organizers and a resident of the 3500 block of Catalpa Way. “We thought we would finish this by the end of May, and we more than had our goal really quickly. It took us a couple weeks.”

Molly Greacen, another of the drivers behind the Melody-Catalpa bee-safe initiative, said, “The real concern is that if we can get lots of other people to get excited about this idea, then all of Boulder can become bee-safe.”

[view full article via dailycamera.com]

The birthplace of angling  - complete with a 400-year-old ‘temple’ honouring the inventor of fly-fishing - has been put on the market for £450,000.

The stone temple was built in the 17th century in honour of author Izaak Walton, and as a place to rest and take shelter on the banks of the River Dove, in Staffordshire.

LINK (via: The Mail Online)

Rob Beattie explains everything that no one bothers to tell you before you join the throngs on the riverbanks.

LINK (via: The Telegraph)

Several ranching and farming communities living against the stunning landscape of the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana are faced with the decision of what is to become of this unprotected public land. As the community battles with the idea of proposing more wilderness areas, heritage and tradition are seemingly defended on both sides. When the people begin to raise their voices, they come to find that what is feared most is change.

A RED REEL film, Common Ground was made possible by The Conservation Alliance and three of it's members; CLIF Bar, Osprey Packs, and Horny Toad Clothing.

To learn more.

(via:SNEWS)

It's a wonderful problem to have, but we're sure there's someone out there right this minute trying to decide whether they should buy a cruising yacht or a day boat....

Visit Uncrate for the full post.

Thirteen of these etymological tall-tales, taken from word origins guide Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons, are explained and debunked here.

Firefighters in Bakersfield, California used vegetable oil to free a pit bull who got his head stuck in the hub of a car wheel.

The stuck dog's owner brought him to a Kern County fire station on Friday, according to the Associated Press. Fire Department spokesman Brandon Hill said firefighters used the oil to "ease the dog's head out of the hole."

The pit bull, named Junior, is fine and has returned to his owner and seven siblings.

Veteran actor Gary Oldman might be the last person you'd expect to opine on politics and culture. He's best known for his screen versatility, commanding respect in both blockbusters and indie fare.

Yet, when given a lengthy interview forum by Playboy, the star of the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes unloads on a number of Hollywood sacred cows.

Political correctness. Secretary of State John Kerry. Hillary Clinton. And, in a more subdued way, President Barack Obama.

The sprawling interview also finds Oldman praising conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer and cursing out former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The latter is merely Oldman using a female politician as an example, but the way the liberal's name rolls off his tongue is ... intriguing.

He also calls himself a libertarian but hints that if he revealed his true thoughts in other political matters it might cost him in Hollywood.

"You have to be very careful what you say," he tells Playboy when describing how the film 12 Years a Slave benefited from liberal guilt, before adding there's nothing in his life story to suggest he is either a fascist or racist. Clearly, he knows how the industry works.

He also defends both Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin for saying stupid things, something so many of us do but don't get caught.

OLDMAN: Well, if I called Nancy Pelosi a cunt—and I’ll go one better, a fucking useless cunt—I can’t really say that. But Bill Maher and Jon Stewart can, and nobody’s going to stop them from working because of it. Bill Maher could call someone a fag and get away with it. He said to Seth MacFarlane this year, “I thought you were going to do the Oscars again. Instead they got a lesbian.” He can say something like that. Is that more or less offensive than Alec Baldwin saying to someone in the street, “You fag”? I don’t get it.

PLAYBOY: You see it as a double standard.

OLDMAN: It’s our culture now, absolutely.

The actor also correctly discards the notion that Maher is a libertarian ("he would fail that test," he notes) and says conservatives in Hollywood conservatives "don't have a podium."

Here's Oldman riffing on a question the interviewer likely expected would result in a different answer:

PLAYBOY: Fine. We’ll give you one. What would America look like under President Hillary Clinton?

OLDMAN: What can I say? I feel we need some real leadership, and it’s nowhere in sight. Look at what’s happening right now. John Kerry going off to China to talk about North Korea? What’s that going to do? The ludicrousness of it. What a waste of money. You’re going to go to the puppeteer and say, “Can you help me with the puppet?” As far as Hillary, I guess I feel like my character in The Contender, Shelly Runyon. He doesn’t want Joan Allen to become president; he just believes she isn’t the right person for the job. It’s nothing to do with the fact that she’s a woman, but he uses a bit of dirt on her to bring her down.

Oldman isn't too keen on the world circa 2014. He's aghast at reality television and can't abide by the news streaming into his life. His take on political leadership doesn't mention President Obama directly, but it seems he's hardly a fan of the president's version of Hope and Change.

OLDMAN: I think we’re up shit creek without a paddle or a compass.

PLAYBOY: How so?

OLDMAN: Culturally, politically, everywhere you look. I look at the world, I look at our leadership and I look at every aspect of our culture and wonder what will make it better. I have no idea. Any night of the week you only need to turn on one of these news channels and watch for half an hour. Read the newspaper. Go online. Our world has gone to hell.

James Altucher is an entrepreneur, chess master, investor, and writer. His writing has appeared in major national media outlets and his blog has attracted more than 10 million readers since its launch in 2010. His latest book is called The Choose Yourself Stories.

(click image to embiggen)

I don’t like to carry bags just in case I need my hands quickly for hand-to-hand combat or very quick mountain climbing.

When lives are at stake I don’t like to take chances.

Which is why I have found a 600% increase in my productivity by wearing a doctor’s lab coat including the items I put in the pockets of the lab coat.

Doctor’s coat. I wear a doctor’s lab coat whenever I’m outside the house and often when I’m inside. Like in airports, restaurants, walking around town.

The reason?

1. It’s comfortable. Good for all weather. You can get one cheap on the “World Wide Web.” (“Triple dub” for those in the biz.)
2. The big pockets let me put any electronic devices I might need (an iPad mini, for example, plus waiter’s pads <see below>)
3. People actually do treat me like a doctor. If someone said, “I need a doctor” I would not be able to help unless it’s easy stuff in which case I can say, “I’m not a doctor” and then perform CPR or mouth-to-mouth or Heimlich, which are all easy to learn. But 99.9% requests for a doctor are usually things where you can just give placebic information and say “You’ll be OK” (I picture myself as Mathew Fox from the TV show Lost while I say it since it often worked for him on the show). But the reality is, people move out of the way if you are an airport and walking around in a doctor’s coat. Is this unfair? Well, I never claim to be a doctor. I’m just wearing a doctor’s coat because I like how it feels, looks, and the functionality of it. But if it has other benefits, which it does, I’ll take it.

What I carry in my doctor’s coat

As mentioned, a doctor’s coat has huge pockets. If I wanted to, the largest thing I can probably carry in a doctor’s coat is a baseball glove for a really huge hand. But I don’t need that. I don’t even play baseball.

Here’s what I need and what I think has helped me and even saved my life on numerous occasion. I have a new phrase to describe these types of items that are in my coat. I call them “Life” “Hacks”. Feel free to use that phrase since I don’t think I will trademark it.

$2 bills. I have thousands of $2 bills. I always tip with $2 bills. How come? Because then people remember me. They always say, “Whoah! I’ve never had one.” Sometimes they don’t know where to put the $2 bill in the cash register. There’s no slot for one. They might call over the manager. Everyone might say “What’s happening over there?” This is a side effect of the $2 bill. But the next time I come into an establishment, I’m remembered. This is good for restaurants, dates, poker night with friends, even for paying at the local deli.

I find whenever I move to a new town this is a quick way to make friends. I’m very shy and this gets people talking. This has been also very good on dates. Nobody ever forgets the guy with a roll of $2 bills.

How do you get 1000 $2 bills? Simple. Go to the bank, they order it from the Federal Reserve, it takes about 5 days and then they call you up and give you your money. By the way, then the bank never forgets you either.

Everytime I’ve ever moved since 1986 I’ve used this trick and it works. Quickly everyone remembers who I am.

I’ve even tried writing notes to waitresses on the $2 bills, complete with my phone number. This trick HAS NOT worked for me.

However, one trick for dates. Have a roll of $2 bills. Then have a single $100 bill on the outside. Pay the bill with the $100 bill, then from the back, tip with the $2 bills.

I hate to say it, but that trick works.

Waiter’s pads. I have about 300 waiter’s pads. I order them for about 10 cents a pad in bulk on restaurant supplies websites.

How come?

1. I like to write ideas on pads. I write down at least 10 ideas a day. The idea muscle is a muscle like any other. If it’s not exercised, it atrophies. If it’s exercised then within six months you’re an idea machine. Try it. It’s amazing what happens. Don’t keep track of the ideas. Just become an idea machine.
2. Why a pad? A screen messes with your dopamine levels. I like the visceral experience of putting pen to pad.
3. Why 10 ideas? Four or five ideas on any theme is easy. It’s the final five or six that makes the brain sweat. This is how you exercise the idea muscle.
4. Why specifically a waiter’s pad?

• It forces you to be concise. A waiter’s pad is small lines. You can’t write a novel there.
• It’s a great conversation piece in meetings. Once I pull out the waiter’s pad someone always says, “I’ll take fries with my burger” and everyone laughs. Again, I’m shy so it’s a good way for me to break the ice.
• In restaurants, when you pull out a waiter’s pad, guess what? Waiters treat you better.
• Many waiter’s pads have the shapes of tables at the top of each page. I’m bad with names so if I’m at a meeting I pick the table that matches the one I am at and I write the names of the people around the table.
• Most people at meetings have their expensive leather pads. I paid 10 cents for my pad. I come across as frugal when I use a waiter’s pad.
• The other day in a cafe I was working and someone potentially violent came up and asked me for money. I held up my waiter’s pad and said, “I’m a waiter, do you want to order something?” and they sort of looked at me and grunted and then walked away.

iPad Mini. The iPad mini covers my entire computing needs except in mornings when I’m writing.

I don’t really use the iPad Mini to do anything serious. When I’m outside there’s almost no reason for me to check email or social media. And I NEVER read news.

You are what you eat. And when you ingest media, it usually can’t be digested properly by the brain. (Although I read Boing Boing and jamesaltucher.com or a good book.)

BUT… the most important thing I do with my iPad Mini and the one thing which has helped me in a million situations is….

I watch standup comedy before every meeting, date, dinner, media appearance, conversation, public talk.

I watch Louis CK, Daniel Tosh, Anthony Jeselnik, Jim Norton, Andy Samberg, Seth Rogen, Marina Franklin, Ellen, Bo Burnham, and maybe a dozen others.

How come?

I have a lot of inhibitions when I meet people. I’m scared and somewhat introverted. Standup comedians are the best public speakers in the world and I think they are the most astute social commentators on the human condition.

So the reasons I watch them before most social encounters (personal, professional, media)

1. It gives me a boost of energy. My “mirror neurons” are going to feed off of their boost of energy for at least 1-3 hours after I watch them.
2. It gives me material. I won’t steal from a comedian. But the reality is: good artists plagiarize, great artists steal. And at the very least, I often improvise based on material I heard a comedian said. I’m not competing with them. I’m just on a date. Or a business meeeting.
3. Studying the subtleties of how comedians get laughs: their timing, their voices, their silences, the way they look at the audience, the way they move across the stage, the way they benefits from the comedians who came before them, AND their actual commentary about life, helps me in my many interactions with people.

What I don’t carry in my doctor’s coat? A phone. I never talk on the phone. I have a hard time hearing people on the phone and then I don’t know what to say to them and feel very awkward. Plus, not carrying a phone helps me avoid email, etc.

All of the above may make it seem like I’m a loser in many respects. I don’t deny this. These are like crutches to me to help me survive in a world that’s increasingly hard to process.

But they work.

-- James Altucher

[OK, now it's your turn. Send photos of the things in your bag (and of the bag itself, if you love it), along with a description of the items and why they are useful. Make sure the photos are large (1200 pixels wide, at least) and clear. Use a free file sharing service like Bitcasa to upload the photos, and email the text to editor@cool-tools.org. -- Mark Frauenfelder]

Author Michael Ruhlman wants you to think differently about cooking. Here, he shares his thoughts on recipes, and a few of his favorite books about the basics of cooking technique. Read More

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Swanky hotel using drones for room service...


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Couple rows 6,500 miles from Morocco to NYC...


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Hairless Man Grows Full Head Of Hair During YALE Arthritis Drug Trial...


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TX County Commissioners Accidentally Vote In Favor Of Slavery Reparations...


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HARLEY-DAVIDSON goes electric...


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NIGHTMARE: Asked to inscribe book to Amb. Chris Stevens...


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HILLARY FATIGUE: INTERVIEW RATINGS UNDERWHELM...

On Sunday evening, mainstream media reporter Glenn Thrush revealed that a former editor of his at Newsday in 2008 delayed and buried his story on Hillary Clinton's defense of a child rapist because "it might have an impact."

When Thrush wrote the story on February 24, 2008, Clinton was battling Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

@amychozick my then-editor appended a meaningless intro to the story, delayed and buried it because, in his words, 'it might have an impact'

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) June 16, 2014

Here's the only link I can find to my original 2008 Newsday story on Hillary's 1975 defense of child rapist http://t.co/dU0WiXaRmw

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) June 16, 2014

Thrush Tweeted in response to a Free Beacon report on Hillary Clinton's recordings regarding the case.

As Breitbart News reported, then-President Bill Clinton feared this democratization that the Internet could force three years before Matt Drudge gave birth to the new media age by publishing a story about Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. Newsweek had killed the story to protect its ally Clinton in the White House.

In the infamous 1995 "conspiracy commerce memo," which was written to "demonize and discredit alternative media outlets on the right to mainstream media organizations and D.C. establishment figures," Clinton's White House noted that the "Internet has become one of the major and most dynamic modes of communication" and "can link people, groups and organizations together instantly."

"Moreover, it allows an extraordinary amount of unregulated data and information to be located in one area and available to all," the memo states. "The right wing has seized upon the Internet as a means of communicating its ideas to people. Moreover, evidence exists that Republican staffers surf the Internet, interacting with extremists in order to exchange ideas and information.”

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has pioneered the use of social media to further level the playing field, said, the "new media rose up precisely because the old media failed to tell the truth."

"That very first new media breakthrough was about 15 years ago when this lowly little store clerk in a lowly little apartment equipped with his computer and a modem broke one of the biggest stories of the decade. His name was Matt Drudge and the rest is history," Palin said in a 2012 speech. "And oh how that old media cried foul and they howled. They denounced Drudge as irresponsible and unprofessional and even dangerous and anti-everything from motherhood to apple pie. How dare that nobody from nowhere without a degree or a pedigree try to influence the national discourse?"

Palin added that the real reason the legacy press feared Drudge "was because he wasn’t beholden to the old media’s machine and the Thought Police."

"Unshackled, he was free," Palin said before recalling Drudge's speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. in the belly of the beast of the establishment press in which Drudge presciently explained, “We have entered an era vibrating with the din of small voices. Every citizen can be a reporter, can take on the powers that be....I envision a future where there’ll be 300 million reporters, where anyone from anywhere can report for any reason. It’s freedom of participation absolutely realized.”

Drudge practically writes President Barack Obama's daily intelligence reports today, as Palin noted, because Obama supposedly finds out about all of his scandals from news reports. And last week, when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) was ousted in one of the biggest upsets in history, the mainstream media was nowhere to be found. But Dave Brat's victory over Cantor was a triumph for new media outlets like Breitbart News, which had been relentlessly covering the race for months. 

Even legacy outlets like the Washington Post and the New York Times and top editors from the Cook Political Report and National Journal acknowledged that Breitbart News did better reporting than their mainstream media peers on the Cantor race.

As Breitbart News and even the New York Times similarly noted, political reporters still "often only read and talk to fellow scribes cocooned in the D.C. bubble." That is why when "Brat introduced himself to America and the political class on Fox News after his victory " and said that amnesty represents the biggest divide between Wall Street elitists and Main Street," it was the first time that most in the legacy press heard a theme that Brat had been repeating for weeks to propel himself past Cantor: 

Brat had been hammering that message, but it was the first time that most mainstream media reporters who were just 95 miles from the epicenter of the most shocking upset in their lifetimes heard it. In that sense, they were no different from Cantor, who was ousted for losing touch with voters in a hometown that is only a two-hour drive from Washington.

Though the legacy press may be a bit less insular than it was before The Drudge Report, incidents like the one Thrush revealed still show how much supposedly "neutral" mainstream media editors and reporters still try to protect their liberal allies.

A barometer’s reading will drop about an inch for each thousand foot increase in altitude. – R. A. Heindl, Design Engineer, Euclid, OH, USA

When interviewing for a job, take a good look at the cars in the parking lot. If they are all junkers, then they don’t pay much. If they are all ritzy, high dollar cars, then they don’t pay enough and everyone is in debt. If they are full of Hondas, Toyotas and other “economical cars” then they pay well enough for people to take vacations and have a family life too. – Waldo Weyeris, Engineer, Boulder, CO, USA

When planting tomato seedlings, wait until you have at least two sets of leaves, preferably three or more sets. Remove the bottom set(s) of leaves so that you have only one pair of leaves remaining. Crush some egg shells (1-2 eggs worth) and put them in a hole that is deep enough to plant your seedling to within 1/4 inch of the leaves. The ENTIRE underground part will grow roots and develop a great root structure as a result. The egg shells will promote large fruits. – Waldo Weyeris, Engineer, Boulder, CO, USA

Leinenkugel’s Hoppin Helles is getting a new name, Helles Yeah.

The beer details and descriptions will remain the same.

Traditional Helles-style beers tend to be a tad malty. Leinenkugel’s® Hoppin’ Helles™ is our spin on the style that puts it a bit on the hoppy side with five American hops. It is a session German lager that starts bright and citrusy with a tropical hop aroma and low bitterness.

 

5.5% ABV, 27 IBUs

The post Leinie’s Helles Getting New Name appeared first on Beer Street Journal.

Once again former President George Herbert Walker Bush, often called Bush I, has indulged his hobby of skydiving, this time to celebrate his 90th birthday.

"I got one more left in me," the former president said on NBC’s Today. "It’ll be fun."

The former president made the jump in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he has long vacationed, at about 11:15 a.m. Eastern time. Son and fellow president George W. Bush waited for his father on the ground. The leap of faith marks his eighth from an airplane.

Bush has one harrowing jump forever etched into his mind. As an aviator during WWII the future President was forced to bail out of his bomber when it caught fire during a wartime mission. He has said that he didn't do it right back then and that spurred him to try it again in later years.

"I did it wrong, I pulled the jump cord too early and hit the tail of the plane," Bush said. "I decided later on that I wanted to do it right. That did spark my interest in making another jump."

President Bush also noted that he often reflects on that terrible day and he thinks about the two crew members who died in that fire.

The former President performed dives to celebrate his 80th and 85th birthdays as a way to keep himself active and vital, and this year he went for one more jump.

But skydiving isn't necessarily a cakewalk, even without a war going on. Even in today's more controlled environment, skydiving remains one of the most dangerous sports in the world, especially for a 90-year-old man confined to a wheelchair, as Bush sometimes is these days.

Out of an average of 3 million jumps per year since the year 2000, there has been an average of 25 to 30 some deaths each year.

While the sport has improved its safety record--in the 1970s the average deaths per year topped 42 fatalities--the sport has also grown from only a few thousands jumps in 1961--from which 14 skydivers perished--to 3.2 million jumps in 2013.

While it is amazing that the 90-year-old Bush would take to the skies like this, he has had a no less momentous and active life on the ground. During his long life he has achieved many accomplishments. He won election to the House of Representatives from the Texas 7th District in 1966. President Nixon appointed him in 1971 to become the US ambassador to the UN. He subsequently served as chairman of the Republican national Committee, became a liaison for the US to China, moved on to become director of the CIA in 1976, and won election as vice president on a 1980 ticket with Ronald Reagan before moving into the White House for his own stint as president in 1989.

As the ex-president's close friend, Ron Kaufman, says, "He really enjoys life to the fullest."

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com

All the aspiring journalists I know have been thankful for the fact that the Huffington Post will basically publish anything. I know I was. But one article from yesterday by a man called 'Yousef Dar' who calls himself a 'Community Activist' takes this to new depths.

I know Mehdi Hasan, the Trojan Horse plot-denying, excuse-maker-in-chief is the Political 'Director' of HuffPo UK, but this error-ridden article is even beneath him. Firstly it makes no sense, but more importantly, just having looked over it once, I spotted no fewer than 44 typographical, spelling, grammatical and structural errors.

One or two blips is understandable, but since no one at the HuffPo wanted to subedit Mr. Dar, I've done it for them. I present to you... 44 reasons no one should read the Huffington Post: 

The Islamist terrorists that were responsible for attacking the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and killing four including Ambassador Chris Stevens were overheard by multiple US spy agencies communicating by means of State Department cell phones they seized during the attack, according to a Fox News report.

The report, put together by Fox’s Bret Baier and James Rosen, concludes that the newly uncovered information shows the Obama administration knew the events unfolding in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 were nothing short of a terrorist attack the very day they unfolded. The report adds to the stack of evidence that the attacks were not a spontaneous demonstration caused by a poorly made YouTube video, as the Obama administration had claimed for weeks.

In an interview with Fox, retired Air Force Major Eric Stahl, who piloted the aircraft that took the attack's survivors and victims' corpses from Benghazi, said CIA personnel were “confused” by the administration’s strategy to blame the YouTube video. He said they knew very well, the same day, that the Islamist assault was a planned attack. Stahl said, "They knew during the attack… who was doing the attacking.” He continued, “Right after they left the consulate in Benghazi and went to the [CIA] safehouse, they were getting reports that cell phones, consulate cell phones, were being used to make calls to the attackers’ higher ups.”

Another source confirmed Major Stahl’s account, requesting anonymity because the nature of the conversation required disclosing classified information. The second source also confirmed that the American intelligence agencies were aware of the Islamists’ cell phone communications on the same day of the raid on the Consulate.

Stahl had another starting revelation: the first individual to question the survivors after the attack was not an FBI agent, but instead the senior State Department diplomat on the ground. “There were taken away from the airplane. The U.S. ambassador to Germany [Phillip D. Murphy] met us when we landed, and he took them away because he wanted to debrief them that night,” said Stahl.

Stahl continued, saying that he believed he could have established a crew to intervene in Benghazi during the attack. He noted that his task force in Germany was specifically designed for such a mission: “We were on a 45-day deployment to Ramstein air base. And we were there basically to pick up priority missions, last-minute missions that needed to be accomplished.” 

He continued, “A hurried-up timeline probably would take us an hour-and-a-half to get off the ground and three hours and fifteen minutes to get down there. So we could’ve gone down there and gotten them easily,” said Stahl.

What's in Your Beer? Fish Bladder and Antifreeze Ingredient?


(First column, 4th story, link)

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