Vintage Car And Boat Show In Connecticut July 11

  

The Southern New England Chapter (SNEC) of The Antique and Classic Boat Society will present the 31st annual “Mahogany Memories” boat and car show on the grounds and docks of the Connecticut River Museum on Saturday, July 11 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.

The show will feature many examples of the finest classic wooden and fiberglass boats commonly seen in the area during the last century. Boats built by Chris Craft, Century, Lyman, Gar Wood, Elco and many more will be showcased.

Boat owners will be on hand to talk about their boats, exchange ideas and share the joys of using and preserving these beautiful “woodies” and other memorable classics.  The show will also feature classic cars.

SNEC president David McFarlin said, “The SNEC members are always excited to participate in this show at the Connecticut River Museum. They all work hard at restoring and maintaining these wonderful boats and enjoy showing them to the public.”

It is unclear whether any of the vehicles are for sale.

The Connecticut River Museum is located at 67 Main Street in historic Essex, Connecticut, on the waterfront.  For more information on the Mahogany Memories Antique and Classic Boat Show and other Connecticut River Museum events, go to http://www.ctrivermuseum.org or call 860-767-8269.

Tuskegee Airman Honored By West Point Academy Decades After School Shunned Him

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. entered West Point in 1932 as its only black cadet and spent the next four years shunned, writes the Associated Press.

He roomed alone, and no one befriended him. The future Tuskegee Airman and trailblazing Air Force general later said he was “an invisible man,” writes AL.com.

Now – more than a decade after his death – the academy that allowed Davis to be ostracized is giving him an honor.

A new cadet barracks being constructed at the U.S. Military academy will be named for Davis. It is a rare privilege previously granted to graduates like MacArthur and Eisenhower, writes the New Zealand Herald.

Officials at the legendary military university say Davis was a good choice because of his career and character. It also gives the academy a chance to belatedly do right by Davis.

“If you want to know what, ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ look like, just read a little bit about Benjamin O. Davis Jr., and your jaw will drop because he is the epitome of what we want at a time when we didn’t know what ‘right’ looked like,” said Colonel Ty Seidule, the head of West Point’s history department, writes the Salt Lake Tribune. “So it’s our chance to acknowledge one of our greatest graduates.”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11446567

http://www.sltrib.com/news/2496627-155/story.html

What Was The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre?

According to Wikipedia, “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” is the name given to the 1929 Valentine’s Day murder of six mob associates and one mechanic from the North Side Irish gang led by George “Bugs” Moran during the Prohibition Era.   It was the result of a power struggle between the Irish American gang and the South Side Italian gang led by Al Capone in order to take control of organized crime in Chicago. 

Former members of the Egan’s Rats gang were also suspected of having played a significant role in the incident, assisting Capone.

Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution, according to the History channel.

Moran was one of Capone’s longtime enemies, and the gang members were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, as it was known, was never officially linked to Capone, but he was generally considered to have been responsible for the murders, according to The History Channel.

Over the years, Capone consolidated control over most of Chicago’s crime rackets by ruthlessly gunning down his rivals. In 1924, authorities counted some 16 gang-related murders; in 1929, it reached a high of 64 murders that year. Federal authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had much less jurisdiction than they have today, and did not include Chicago’s gang-related activity.

Moran ran his bootlegging operations out of a garage on the North Side of Chicago. On February 14th, the seven members of Moran’s operation were gunned down while standing lined up, facing the wall of the garage.

Some 70 rounds of ammunition were fired. When police officers from Chicago’s 36th District arrived, they found one gang member, Frank Gusenberg, barely alive. In the few minutes before he died, they pressed him to reveal what had happened, but Gusenberg wouldn’t talk.

Police could find only a few eyewitnesses, but eventually concluded that gunmen dressed as police officers had entered the garage and pretended to be arresting the men.

Though Moran and others immediately blamed the massacre on Capone’s gang, the famous gangster himself claimed to have been at his home in Florida at the time. No one was ever brought to trial for the murders.

Capone went to prison due to income tax evasion. The U.S. Treasury Department later launched an investigation of Capone for income tax evasion. Through forensic accounting, Special Agent Frank Wilson and other members of the Intelligence Unit of the Internal Revenue Service were able to put together a case, and in June 1931 Capone was indicted for evasion of federal income tax. Convicted that October after an internationally publicized trial, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison, first in Atlanta and later at Alcatraz.

Who Is Tony Perkins?

Who is Tony Perkins?

Wikipedia states: “Anthony Richard ‘Tony’ Perkins (born March 20, 1963) is president of the Family Research Council, a conservative public policy and lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C. Perkins was previously a police officer and television reporter, served two terms as a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002.”

According to Right Wing Watch: “Last week, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins appeared on the ‘Point Of View’ radio program to discuss his participation in the marriage conference hosted by the Vatican in November, saying that the event has convinced him that the Religious Right will win the fight against gay marriage in America because ‘we’re on the side of the one who wrote history.'”

The Southern Poverty Law Center listed the Family Research Council as an anti-gay hate group in 2010, and Perkins is a frequently-booked anti-gay marriage and anti-LGBT pundit.

David Pakman video.

More:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/perkins-well-win-fight-against-gay-marriage-because-were-side-one-who-wrote-history#sthash.0KLFZiSK.dpuf

RT Guantanamo History (Part II)

Gitmo costs $147 million a year to operate.  Is it worth the money?

Only 5 detainees at Gitmo are being charged with crimes related to 9/11.

On certain topics – such as the problems in Ukraine – RT (Russia Today) seems to give a biased opinion to suit its needs.   In Ukraine, Russia Today tends to defend the Russian viewpoint.

However, on other topics where the U.S. must play defense – such as Guantanamo – they will be diligent in their reporting.  In these cases, perhaps they are more diligent than many U.S. media outlets.

Abby Martin Breaks the Set on Gitmo ‘transparency’, review board red tape, military commissions sham, Zero Dark Thirty Lies, and closing Guantanamo for good.

RT video.

Bill O’Reilly And The Reality Of Asian Americans

Reality sometimes comes back to hit Bill O’Reilly.

For example, he pushes a military agenda in regards to the Middle East, yet he was never in the military.

More recently, he denies claims of “white privilege” and used Asian Americans to justify his point.  “If there is white privilege, then there has to be Asian privilege, because Asians make more money than whites…,” he pointed out to John Stewart.

That may be true.

However, it is also worth mentioning that 73% of Asian American voters cast a ballot for President Obama against Mitt Romney in 2012.

What happens when O’Reilly actually talks with Asians?

Last year, O’Reilly sent producer Jesse Watters to Hawaii to report on why the Aloha State is so liberal. Following the report, O’Reilly admitted his surprise with how Democratic the state is, because “Asians people aren’t liberal by nature” due to their being “more industrious and hard-working.” O’Reilly’s comments drew the attention and condemnation of Democratic Hawaii congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, who appeared on O’Reilly’s program.

Hanabusa told O’Reilly she was very bothered by his commentary, saying that Asian residents of Hawaii, like the rest, value their elders and communities.

O’Reilly confronted Hanabusa over whether she had, in fact, seen the full segment on his program.

They also discussed the state’s unemployment rate and the people on food stamps. He also cited the drug problem in Hawaii as another result of the state’s “liberal culture.” Hanabusa disputed O’Reilly’s claims about drug use, though she did admit there is a drug problem in her state – as in any state – that she is trying to crack down on.

Hanabusa called him out on his Asian commentary, saying:

“When you characterize us in Hawaii, be aware that you’re talking about a culture, a people who have managed to live together and work together… You are offensive to Asians. By making that statement, you are offensive to all of us who are Asian. We are not one kind of person. We want you to recognize that we are different.”

To this day, it is the opinion of this website that herein lies the reason that Fox News “interviews” its own people – contributors, analysts, and other hosts.

When Fox News interviews people from outside of the “Fox bubble,”  the interviews simply don’t go as expected.

Take a look the local news coverage of another O’Reilly segment on Hawaii.