Are Life’s Little Facts Passing Us By?

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What has happened to life’s commonly known facts? As many of you know, I am a history buff, but I am finding myself alarmed by how few common facts are known by the American population. Now, I don’t expect people to be as nerdy as I am, knowing historical facts or spending days trying to glean a small detail for my research for the books I have written or am writing. Frankly, I can be a pain in my own backside. However, last week I saw a statistic that caused my jaw to drop. This article claimed that about twenty-five percent (25%) of the US population did not know that the Earth rotates around the Sun.

I think it was Galileo who mathematically confirmed this fact in the 17th Century (in 1615), and the Catholic Church denounced him as a blasphemer. This solar rotation had been speculated for several centuries, but Galileo was actually able to prove it, even though it cost him some ridicule from the Church and might have possibly cost him some time in a cold, damp dungeon. Do these American who don’t know that the Earth rotates around the Sun not get up during the day and look at that big yellow ball in the sky?Silhouette fedora

This is not the first lost fact to startle me. A couple of months ago, a survey came out that purported that just under forty percent (40%) of the US population did not know that the Affordable Health Care Act, often referred to as Obama Care, was law. What percentage of our population does not read the newspaper or listen to or watch the news? Does anybody besides me find this shocking? I mean, good or bad, this law has been discussed in the news for over two years. I am sure by now they should know about this law, considering the TV advertising campaigns. But evidently, they do not!

Lastly, I have seen various comedians send out reporters to interview the man or woman on the street, and most of these people can’t name the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden. You don’t just have to watch the news to see this man—who by the way has held this office for six years. I mean, come on, even the late-night comedians have fun with this guy, whether he is on their show or they’re talking about some of his statements.

What are people doing that prevents their awareness and knowledge of these simple facts? What are they watching or listening to? Who is to blame for this? Don’t be too fast to blame schoolteachers, (my mother was a schoolteacher, so I have teacher’s backs). While school education may be part of the problem, it is not the root. I don’t blame Facebook or Twitter, either. I would guess someone on Facebook or Twitter would have announced all of these little missing facts of life, at some point, since the media has gained such notoriety as a source of news. It is the individual personal accountability that I am beginning to wonder about.  Are we not curious anymore? Are we just too busy to look up in the sky and notice that the Sun has moved from one position to the other; that there is daylight and darkness during the course of the day? And, while we’re on the subject of lack of knowledge, don’t let me get started on geography!

What do you think? Am I missing something here? What are your suggestions for improving our nation’s lack of awareness of important facts and information?

PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND INTERNMENT OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS

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Yesterday was an important day in history, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an Executive Order No. 9066.  This Executive Order came at the insistence of several members of his Joint Chiefs of Staff and his personal advisors, Roosevelt issued this order that required U.S. citizens from Italy, Germany and Japan must register with the Department of Justice and receive a Certificate of Identification for Aliens of Enemy Nationalities. One of the conditions of this Executive Order permitted their arrest, detention and interment.

President Roosevelt had called the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor a dastardly deed, but as I have written earlier, Roosevelt knew the attack was coming and he also knew that Japan’s ultimate plan was to put ground troops in Hawaii, then attack both the Panama Canal and the west coast of the United States. Roosevelt and his advisers were afraid that the Japanese citizens were more loyal to their homeland than the United States. Some speculated these United States citizens could be either spies or spotters for bombing or the landing of troops.

Within a month, the United States began rounding up Japanese American citizens who lived in western States. This included first generation and second generation Japanese. During Congressional Committee hearings, Department of Justice representatives raised constitutional and ethical objections to the proposal, the elected officials were concerned about how this was perceived by their electorate. So the U.S. Army was assigned the task to carry out the round up those considered a potential threat.

The West Coast was divided into military zones, a total of ten sites, six in western states and one in Arkansas.  The U.S. Army would soon incarcerate almost 70,000 Japanese American citizens. No charges were made against them nor were any grounds made for their potential appeal. An additional 50,000 non-U.S. citizens were also taken into custody. Some of the Japanese Americans challenged these orders but the Supreme Court upheld the U.S. Government and their actions.Silhouette fedora

During the early part of the 20th Century, many Japanese migrated to Hawaii, while others still went to the west coast of the United States (predominately California) to work as contract labors in the agriculture business. A segment of the Japanese emigrants were opposed to the United States diplomatic positions on Japan’s aggressive Asian War. Many resented United States laws and policies that prevented or inhibited the Japanese from competing on equal terms with the American farmer. However, most had assimilated and were on the side of the United States. Still many Americans resented the Japanese for a variety of reasons including their agricultural success. Their hard work and techniques soon yielded magnificent results, they controlled less than four percent of California’s fertile farms but their yield exceeded ten percent of California’s farm resources.

I am curious what my readers think of this Presidential Executive Order and incarnating of U. S. citizens without due process.

Writing about Gold in the Philippines

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In 1996, I was asked to appraise and discover the history of a gold certificate. This led me into a ten-year research project mostly centered in the Philippines, but also in Southeast Asia. The research became so fascinating I decided to write a book centered on the subject of gold.

During World War II, the Japanese had a recovery team, the Golden Lily, named for Emperor Hirohito’s favorite poem growing up. The Golden Lily group was composed of a team led by Hirohito’s brother Prince Chichibu, and it included Prince Takeda, Prince Mikasa, Colonel Taisho, Major Nakasone, Rear Admiral Yoshio Kodama and Rear Admiral Ryoichi Sasakawa.

The Golden Lily’s recovery began in China, first taking gold from Manchuria, then NanJing. As the Japanese continued to conquer territories throughout Asia, they removed that country’s gold, taking it to Nagano Bullion Bunker at the Emperor’s palace. Later in World War II, as the United States Navy began to rule the seas of the Pacific, the Japanese changed their tactics and started taking the gold to the Philippines. At the beginning of World War II, the Philippines was a United States territory and was one of the first territories conquered by the Japanese. Hirohito and the Japanese military staff believed that, even if they lost the War to the United States, they could negotiate to keep the territory of the Philippines. However, when Germany surrendered before them in 1945, their plans fell apart. By the time Japan surrendered in September 1945, they had buried extensive amounts of gold throughout the Philippines. The Japanese didn’t just bury the gold; they buried the soldiers and slaves (POWs) who assisted with the burial. Additionally, they booby-trapped the burial sites. The Golden Lily team prepared encrypted maps to document how to recover the gold. Only two sets of maps were made, so that, in theory, only the Japanese could recover that gold.

Japan was forced to unconditionally surrender, thus no Philippines. Almost immediately, the Japanese began to locate and recover gold in the Philippines. Yoshio was the first of the Japanese to return to the Philippines to recover gold. Two years after World War II, President Truman started the CIA, but the United States was experiencing a poor post-war economy, so their budget was very small and incapable of competing with the British MI-6 and the Soviet spy network. The CIA need funds to operate, so they turned to Captain Edward Lansdale, who had run a underground network in the Philippines toward the end of World War II, to use his organization to recover gold in the Philippines. Lansdale turned his recovery operation over to Santa Romana, also known as Father Jose Antonio Diaz, who was in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II as a Catholic priest. Very little information is available on Santa Romana, one of the most critical men in the funding of the CIA. Most people have never heard of this very important individual in the fight against communism, as he operated as far into the background as he possibly could.

Fast forward to the late 1960’s, when President Ferdinand Marcos was elected. Marcos served in the military during World War II, and when the War was over, he got into politics and made connections with many influential diplomats. These connections led Marcos to gold recovery operations never seen in the history of the world. By the mid-1970’s, Ferdinand Marcos was by far the richest man in the world, and his security team was led by the evil Colonel Fabian Ver, who prevented anybody else from recovering gold in the country.Silhouette fedora

This and more was what I uncovered during my ten-year research of the gold certificate. So I wrote a 1000-page history book about Southeast Asia including my findings. My editors were reviewing the history book; they believe the part about Marcos and the gold made a good work of fiction. Thus, I created several fictional characters, dropped them into the Philippines and the history regarding the recovery of gold in the Philippines and called it The President’s Gold. I had so much fun writing that novel that I went back and wrote the prequel to it, Gold of the Spirits, for which I am currently seeking agent representation. I also have planned a sequel to The President’s Gold, picking up where The President’s Gold left off.

 

HORRIBLE CONDITIONS AT SOCHI

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At the start of the Winter Olympics we have begun to get horror stories about the conditions at SOCHI. I love the Olympics, Winter or Summer. Our athletes who participate in these events have worked a minimum of eight years, dedicating their lives to a single objective—win a gold medal. It is the goal of every single American athlete to win a gold medal.

To begin to understand these horrendous winter conditions at Sochi, first we must understand were the Winter Olympics take place this year. Sochi is just east of the Black Sea, on the eastern side of this sea, just north of the countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. So this ski resort is in the mountainous terrain that rises out of the near-tropical climate along the Black Sea to its snowy elevations. They have had to build a snow-making environment. However, the Russians have had to ship in snow to keep it covered.

First, we heard about the terror threats from the four Black Widow, who had a problem with Russia, due to the death of their family members. These four women were able to sneak past the so-called Ring of Steel, because they went into this region before the ring was constructed. Some countries questioned sending their athletes, and those who went even told their families and fans to stay home.

Now this morning, I heard about toothpaste bombs! Who is going to brush their teeth in that water? I can’t imagine any athlete who spent so much time dedicating their lives to this goal letting this keep them from competing. And as a parent of an athlete, I can’t imagine it keeping me from being there to watch with pride my athlete compete at such a high level, if I could afford to make the trip and take the time off work. If you are afraid, the terrorists win without doing a single thing.Silhouette fedora

The next thing that I am hearing about is the living conditions. Over the past few days, stories have emerged about the terrible living conditions and hotels not completed being built. Those that have been completed don’t have running water, functioning toilets, beds, light bulbs or doorknobs. The pictures we have been shown of the running water looks like glasses of beer. Some of the people have decided they will not be able to shower while they are there—for  two weeks! Nice. Now, think about this: you’re a world-class athlete, and you don’t have water to drink to replenish your body.

I have heard reports that the minute some reporters logged onto the Internet, attempts were made to hack their computers, not to mention that they had to use Russian Internet access, not their own Internet, so they have assumed they were being monitored. One reporter tweeted yesterday morning he had light bulbs that he would trade for doorknobs.

Here is my point: the world, like the United States, wants to make everything fair for everybody. The everybody gets a trophy philosophy has made its way to the Olympics. The IOC awarded the Russians the Olympics to make it fair, likely with some huge bribes paid to the committee. Everybody doesn’t deserve a trophy. What happened to competition, and if you aren’t good enough to make, you must work harder?

“We Will Never Forget Them . . .”

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Where were you on January 28, 1986? Fewer and fewer remember, but never let us forget. Yesterday marked the 28th anniversary of an explosion that sucked away the breath of the world—the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that occurred over the brilliant blue skies off the coast of Central Florida. Around the world, people tuned in to watch Challenger’s mission. Millions of Americans viewed the historic launch from the comforts of home on television. Millions more listened to the live radio broadcast. Schoolchildren across the nation watched from their classrooms. Tens of thousands more watched from the Florida coastline as, high above Kennedy Space Center, sunshine gleamed off the sparkling white shuttle.

And then Challenger burst into a ball of flame and white smoke.

Challenger was historic for reasons beyond the fact that it was the first—and hopefully the only—human-carrying shuttle to suffer a fatal in-air accident. Challenger also carried the first African-American into space, the first American woman into space, and the first Canadian into space. She also accomplished the first night launch and night landing in the history of any space shuttle. And at 11:39 am EST, Space Shuttle Challenger and her crew of six men and one woman disappeared from our skies forever. The crew, who came to be known around the world as “The Challenger Seven,” included Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.

President Ronald Regan addressed our stunned and heartbroken nation that night, sending his deepest sympathies to the families of the seven astronauts and apologizing to schoolchildren for the “painful things” they’d seen that day. Then President Regan presented his own challenge to each American man, woman and child, saying: “The crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”

Do you remember where you were that day? Share with us your memories in the comment section below. Never let us never forget. 

Martin Luther King

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Let me start out by say I am an older white guy. I have never been turned away from an eating Silhouette fedoraestablishment. I have never been told, if I can even get on the bus that I have to sit in the back. I have never stood in a place of business and looked to see a men’s restroom, women’s restroom and colored restroom, for both sexes. I can’t speak to the prejudice of a job interview. Further, I have never had anyone in my family go through the above experiences. 

The point I am trying to make is for me as a white person it is difficult to even begin to comprehend the impact that Reverend Martin Luther King had on the African-American community. We as white people often make statements as though we know, we get it and we feel your pain. As for me, all I can say is I have never been through the experiences, directly or indirectly, so I really can’t make such a statement. I can see a wrong, but I could never experience this one. No one could make me get it because of the color of my skin, I was denied.

I grew up at the end of the beginning of the civil rights movement; my parents discussed this with me every time something would appear on the news. I was taught by my parents to judge people by their character and how they treated me, nothing else. I was young enough to be open-minded and old enough to understand the impact this movement was having on the American Society during the early 1960’s. However, from my experiences of observing that time period, I know many in the white community had a real problem with Reverend Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. Conversely, from my historical research, I have learned that some within the African-American community had a problem with him not being radical enough. Martin Luther King knew in his heart and from watching Gandhi, the only way to open this door to equality and to ultimately win over enough within the overall American population was to lead a peaceful movement. Dr. King knew it was the only way, while it took him a long time, certainly longer than he wanted, it was through these actions that the people began to respect the peacefulness of his action. Yes, it clearly was the correct way to accomplish his goal.

Is there still prejudges, of course. But Martin Luther King had a dream and a society – both blacks and whites – benefited from it.  

STOLEN GOLD AND OTHER ARTIFACTS

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Within the next couple of weeks, a movie will be coming out called The Monuments Men.  This movie is based on a startling, real-life event that occurred in the final days of World War II in the European Theater, the discovery of the Merker Mine.

In the last days of the Third Reich, Hitler had the German Central Bank move all their currency and gold to this mine, which already housed the gold and artifacts stolen from the Jews and the conquered countries throughout Europe.Silhouette fedora

The real story behind this discovery is compelling. Sometime around April 5, 1945, French individuals were interrogated by US Army Counterintelligence Corps from the Ninetieth Infantry and learned of the potassium mine at Merker, Germany. This information was passed on up the Army intelligence chain to G-2. Soon, Lieutenant  Colonel William A. Russell entered this mine and made the startling discovery. As the artifacts were being documented, even General Dwight D. Eisenhower showed up at this mine to review the findings.

Do you know that the same things happened in the Pacific, following the defeat of Japan? Why have we not heard about it? The events in Europe were treated completely different from the events in the Pacific. Why? After the War in Europe, the British, the French, the United States and the Soviet Union divided Germany into four parts, with each country providing supervision in each region. Information was shared among the Allied Parties, except, of course, for the Soviet Union. In the Pacific, it was solely the United States.

I was hired by an international banker to research an owner’s missing gold, which led to more than a decade of researching World War II in the Pacific. This evolved into researching the events that lead to the war and the events immediately after the war. More particular, my research was focused on what happened to the gold and the Asian country’s treasures. The results of my research were placed into a three-volume history book of over one thousand pages that focuses these events. Later, I prepared a series of fiction books with my historical research serving as the underpinning. “We the people” need to be educated about these events. Were we taught these things in school? No, history and geography have been largely ignored in school for the last three or four decades. However, this is not where the answer lies: the government never wanted us to know what happened in the Pacific following World War II. Before and during World War II, we supported the wrong leader in Nationalist China, Chiang Kai-chek. President Franklin Roosevelt had big plans for China following the defeat of Japan; however, when China fell to Mao and the Communists, President Truman had to scramble to make quick changes. With General MacArthur running occupied Japan, Truman decided that Japan would become the country to rebuild. This was a country the United States had virtually destroyed; the infrastructure and many of its young men died in that conflict—those who would be critical to revitalizing the country.

Under the watchful eyes of General MacArthur, Japan got to keep all of their stolen gold and virtually no public record was made of the discoveries or even its existence. Then amazingly, within fifteen years, the world was touting Japan as the Economic Miracle.

Can anybody figure out how that happened?

 

The Deterioration of Family Togetherness

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     With the Christmas season behind us, I want to share with you my thoughts of the deterioration of the closeness of the family and the recognition parental authority.  There are two reasons for this: television and the family dinner—or lack thereof. Silhouette fedora

      Before television, a family usually waited until Father got home from work to gather around the dinner table. Or, for rural dwellers, the family worked together on the farm and then gathered around the table. As they ate dinner, they discussed their day’s experiences and, most importantly, they made eye contact. There was direct interaction between all family members as they shared those experiences, worked out problems and discussed the issues of the day. There was a true family structure, a mother and father sitting as heads of the family and the children, well, being children. There was authority and manners that led to a sense of belonging to a family unit.

      Since the television was introduced, many families have progressed to having dinner in front of television—if they all even sit down to dinner at the same time. This did not take place immediately—it happened over time. There is no longer eye contact, thus parents have loss a great deal of authority. You know what I am talking about—The Look. The acknowledging smile.

      Naturally, there are other tangential factors contributing to the deterioration of family dinner, including how dinner is prepared, eating out,  sporting events, multiple entertainment sources, and work schedules.

     I am not advocating that we need to become Ward and June Cleaver with Beaver and Wally. Remember that family was a product of the Golden Age of Television. Naturally, in today’s environment, the Cleaver family would be nearly impossible. I am not judging any family units. Nor am I saying television is bad. I am merely looking at the sociological impact that television has had on our families. Since the time television was introduced, other inventions and individual events have come along and have also had  an impact on the family unit, but television started this evolution.

     What do you think? Does your family eat dinner together around a table? What do you think family dinners of the future will be like?

Inspired by Greatness: Keep Going!

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“It always seems impossible until it is done.” –Nelson Mandela

South African President Nelson Mandela’s death a few weeks ago left his nation—and our world—without its beloved figurehead of ethics and morality. Despite twenty-seven years of imprisonment, Mandela always served as a beacon of encouragement in this sometimes dark world. His words, even after his death, inspire us to harbor a spirit of forgiveness, to remain steadfast, to work hard, to focus on our goals, and to always endure.

As writers, we can embody Mandela’s spirit in our own work by continuing to write and by keeping our goals of manuscript completion and publication in sight, even in the face of rejection.

I have days, like many writers, when I want to throw in the towel and quit. It would be easier to dig ditches, wouldn’t it? At least at the end of the day, you can see what you’ve accomplished. That’s not always the case with writing. Surely we may have more words on the page at the end of a long day of writing, but after a day of editing (which often involves deleting what we’ve written), we may feel like the time we spent prior has been wasted. Of course, this isn’t the case. If we stay the course, one day we can type, “The End.” If we keep honing our craft by writing and by studying good writing and craft, our work will indeed get better. If we keep submitting, one day we will be published.

What happens, then, when we’ve finished a manuscript, we’ve revised it, we’ve had it professionally edited, and we’ve finally had it published? Are we finished? Of course not! We are writers, after all, so we pull up a blank page on our screen, and we write.

Mandela knew that persistence was key to success. He knew that staying the course was the most important thing, even in the face of disappointment. He knew that a positive attitude in even the worst of times and places would see him through. He knew there is much work to be done, and that now is the best time to do it.

Keep writing!

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” –Nelson Mandela

REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR: A DAY IN INFAMY

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December 7, 1941.

The date, to many, seems little more than a number etched in the past; the words Pearl Harbor Day nothing more than tiny font at the bottom of a square on the calendar. But to a dwindling number of American soldiers, it’s a day  marked with a heartrending mixture of joy and tears. Joy in their survival of a horrific attack on American soil, in the Pearl Harbor of Oahu, Hawaii. Tears shed in memory of their 2,403 brothers-in-arms who died during the explosive assault.

The Japanese shot torpedoes and dropped bombs from 353 war planes launched from six of their aircraft carriers surrounding our fleet. Four of our US Navy battleships were sank. All eight sustained severe damage.

This infamous attack on the United States Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was an effort by the Imperial Japanese Navy to keep the US Pacific Fleet from thwarting Japan’s plans to attack the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and, yes, the United States of America. During the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese carried out simultaneous attacks on other US-held territories; the British Empire in Malaya, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and in the Philippines.

Survivors of the bombing at Pearl Harbor are now in their early nineties. Once young men who entered the military in the late 30s and early 40s—some seeking adventure, but most seeking a means to support their families since few jobs were available following the Great Depression—these US Veterans now memorialize their service and honor their dead in small-town celebrations. Few are physically able or can afford to travel to Oahu, Hawaii, site of the Pearl Harbor Museum & Tours, where the largest celebrations are held.

It is our job, then, to remember these men and women. Our job to thank them for their duty in protecting our sovereign nation at the expense of life and limb. It is our job, at least, to remember. In his moving speech (listen to it here), President Franklin D. Roosevelt called December 7th, 1941 “A date that will live in infamy.” We haven’t forgotten, President Roosevelt. And on behalf of the US Veterans who served us that ill-fated day, let us never forget.

–Don C. Kesterson