Book Review "Give Us This Day" by Sidney Stewart

"Give Us This Day" by Sidney Stewart is one American soldier's shockingly brutal account of the Bataan Death March and the long years of imprisonment afterward.

 In 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese set their sights on the Philipine Islands. The author ,Sidney Stewart was a U.S. soldier stationed in the Philipine capital, Manila when the Japanese invaded the islands.  The American and Filipino troops bravely resisted the Japanese invaders for several months, but with no help coming from the United States about 70 thousand American and Filipino soldiers and some civilians had no choice but to surrender. 

The new prisoners of the Japanese were force- marched 5 to 6 days in scorching heat with almost no food or water. Many of the POWs  died from  wounds, disease, dehydration, and attacks from the Japanese guards. The Japanese would often murder any of the prisoners that stopped to rest. 6 to 11 thousand Americans and Filipino's died during the march.

 After the march ended, the  prisoners were put in makeshift camps with little medical care, sanitation, food, or water. Thousands of the POWs died from disease and malnutrition. Somehow, Mr. Stewart survived the  horror, although, he was paralyzed when a Japanese ship he was being transported in was attacked by U.S. aircraft.

 "Give Us This Day" is an excellent account of a very dark time in the middle 20th century.

22,000 Children Die Needlessly Each Day. Let's Make It Zero.... - Care2 News Network

22,000 Children Die Needlessly Each Day. Let's Make It Zero.... - Care2 News Network

Walmart Ad.

There is a particular Walmart ad that I find more annoying than the usual corporate drivel. The ad I find so irritating features a young boy of about five years of age who is such a fan of the game of football that he wears a football helmet all the time. What bothers me about this ad, is that the  young boy  would not be a natural fan of football. The boy is play-acting by what he sees on the TV.

I suppose some might think the ad is cute, but I see it as an example of the corporate exploitation of children.

Hitler's Hidden Holocaust

Yesterday, I watched a documentary on the National Geographic channel called "Hitler's Hidden Holocaust." In addition to extermination camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau, Hitler had a special program that sent squads of killers to villages and cities in occupied countries throughout europe and Nazi occupied areas of the old Soviet Union. The special squads called: "Einsatzgruppen" would round up all the Jews in a particular village, including women, and children,  take them to an isolated area and murder them, usually with guns.

  There are old photographs and a short film that shows townspeople attending these mass murders. It is possible that the Germans forced the townspeople to watch, but I wonder how many willingly chose to watch.

Short Story- "Scream Of The Fly."

This is a short story that I wrote just for the fun of it. It is called "Scream Of The Fly."

  "Susan generally disliked spiders, but she didn't mind the big brown spider that lived in the window because it took care of the hoardes of bugs that invaded her small apartment during the long hot Missisippi summer.

 One night, when Susan couldn't sleep because of the heat, she heard a fly get caught in the brown spider's web. The fly let off a pitiful high-pitched shriek as the spider approached and then the sound abruptly ended as the spider sunk it's venomous fangs into the fly's body.

Unknown to Susan, a man in the neighborhood had been quietly watching her with hard gray eyes. The man had plans for Susan.

Susan was dozing lightly when the man with the evil gray eyes entered her bedroom. Susan woke up just in time to a huge brown shape moving toward the man. The man screamed and Susan realized that it was the same scream she heard from the doomed fly that day. After the scream ended, Susan turned on the light and found the ghost-white body of the gray-eyed man with two large puncture wounds on his neck."


                       Craig Zimmerman

Book Review-The Rose Beyond The Wall

Serious illness and death are never easy to talk about especially with young people. In the novel "The Rose Beyond The Wall" by  Kristi D. Holl, teen-aged Rachel is forced to deal with her Grandmothers illness at the same time that she is growing into a young woman. The author handles both aspects of life in a sensitive and adept manner.

Streetsmart with Carol Massar and Matt Miller

For those interested in business news, try Streetsmart with Carol Massar and Matt Miller on the Bloomberg business network @ 3:00P.M. EST and 12:00 PST. Streetsmart features stories, interviews, and group discussions on the stock market, economics,and politics as well as offbeat topics like cars, sports, movies, books, entertainment and the occasional out of left field story. Ms. Massar and Mr. Miller work well together and the show is fun to watch.

Toilets

The "Current" network is known for its documentaries on subjects that the mainstream media doesn't care to talk about such as human waste AKA shit. Talking about shit is not exactly helpful when you are trying to sell stuff. Current recently broadcast a documentary on shit and water supplies. Over two billion billion around the world do not have toilets and human waste is often disposed of in haphazard and unsanitary ways that leads to water pollution. Water pollution kills thousands of children every year. A small investment by developed nations in the sanitation of developing nations would save many lives and help these nations make faster progress.

Rock Quarry

This is a rock quarry where  road builders go for the rock and gravel they need to construct logging roads. Most of the rock is Basalt formed from lava flows.

Grasshopper On Road

This Grasshopper calmly let me take its picture. The insects coloring makes it almost invisible against the background of the road

Film Review- The Good Witch

 Good Witch Cassandra Nightingale(Catherine Bell, JAG, Army Wives) mysteriously arrives in the small town of Middleton and begins to enrich the lives of the townspeople and a neighboring family headed by widowed police chief Jake Russell (Chris Potter). When Cassandra opens an unusual gift shop, she runs afoul of the bossy mayor's wife Martha (Catherine Disher). Martha tries to turn the townspeople against Cassandra, but kindness, tolerance  and a little magic win in the end.

  "The Good Witch" has an important message about acceptance  for those that are different and is well worth watching for the whole family.

Film Review- Fallen Angel

In the 2003 film "Fallen Angel" Terry McQuinn (Gary Sinise) returns to his hometown in Maine after many years away to settle his father's estate. Terry decides to stay and complete his fathers last work order which was opening a vacation cottage for an old childhood aquaintance: Katherine Wentworth( Joely Richardson) and her blind daughter Olivia (Jordy Benettar). Terry gradually falls in love with Katherine and helps to reunite Katherine with her estranged father.

  I really liked the sweet, but not syrupy nature of "Fallen Angel" Gary Sinise and Joely Richardson are very good together. The child actress that plays Olivia is also very good.

Alligator Lizard

Today, I spotted this Alligator Lizard trying to catch a little sunshine. I barely saw the lizard among the rocks.

Lahar Danger

Mount Rainier rises above the town of Orting, Washington. Around Orting are signs warning about the danger of a "Lahar" and giving directions to the evacuation route. A  "Lahar" is a fast moving mud flow from a mountain or a volcano. A Lahar may be caused by an earthquake or an eruption. 500 years ago, a mud flow from Mount Rainier devastated the entire area reaching all the way to what is now Tacoma.

Web at the door

A Spider built its web outside my door. Unfortunately, the Spiders work of art was destroyed when I opened the door.

Tea Party Anthem

Cleansing Evil

Yesterday, I drove past a ceremony being  that was being held at a vacant lot where a young girl was murdered a couple of weeks ago. The intent of the service was to cleanse the land of the evil that occurred there.