The Lessons of 1956 (Reprint)

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Steve Plonk
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The Lessons of 1956 (Reprint)

Post by Steve Plonk » October 7th, 2013, 11:42 am

LIFE IN THE HORSE LANE: " The Lessons of 1956", with updated paragraphs.

By Steve Plonk

Undoubtedly, the year 1956 is a long time ago. Fifty years bring many memories to an end and focus on some things which were only just beginning. It was the year that there was another mid east war over the Suez Canal and Israel’s right to exist. The Korean Conflict armistice was less than three years old. The Sputnik satellite had yet to go “beep, beep, beep” into outer space. Preparations were being made for the “great geophysical year” of 1957. Antarctica had just had its first really scientific survey. The Soviets had just brutally put down a revolt in Hungary. Refugees were poring into Austria, Germany, and the rest of Europe…Colonies in Africa were soon to become nations. The civil rights movement in the USA was in its infancy.

Preparations, in 1956, were being made for permanent stations around the South Pole, and preparations for the upcoming “space age” were being made on both sides of a polarized world during the “Cold War”. Eisenhower was elected president for a second term in 1956…

Just recently, this reporter saw a program on “Face the Nation” which got one to think that if one changes the wording from “Terrorist” or “Terrorism” to “Communist” or “Communism” we may see parallels between today’s conflicts and yesterday’s conflicts of fifty years ago. Back then, we were fighting a Cold War against “Worldwide Communism”. Nowadays, the language includes fighting the “War against Worldwide Terrorism”. This reporter likes to call it the “Twilight Zone” War because we are fighting against “organizations with an agenda” rather than individual nation-states. Many of the terrorist organizations are made up of “cells”, like the states in a nation-state, except that they are individual groups which can be activated. Many of these individuals and groups have an agenda which undermines civilization.

Any Arab immigrant is “suspect” now, just like any communist was “suspect” during the Cold War. As one can recall from the history books, those who were communist “fearmongers”, like Joe McCarthy, a senator from Wisconsin, had their day shortly before 1956. Every age has fearmongers. Nowadays, the adage is most apt to be applied to Vice President Cheney. He appears to be the fearmonger “attack dog” fifty years later in our “Age of Terrorism”. There are other parallels…Cheney also has a heart condition, like Joe McCarthy--who was also a heavy drinker. Joe McCarthy died in 1957. In 2007, we can also expect interesting parallels to occur.
These things occur in cycles and intervals. One difference being that Cheney is in line to succeed President Bush if something happens to him. Can we trust the Vice President to help run the country, or will Cheney be forced to resign because of scandal like Agnew did?



-Page 2-

Shouldn’t this column focus our point in time as compared to 1956--a parallel time?
Remember that Nixon was in line to succeed Eisenhower back then… May our country expect to declare victory in Iraq after the Iraqi elections, and have a tentative withdrawal plan--provided that the Iraqi Armed Forces is refurbished? Are such things possible like the agreement with the allies to end the Suez Canal Conflict of 1956, and so on? What about the situation in Korea which appears to be at the negotiating table again? Will a real peace treaty even come out of it? Remember, we currently have an Armistice agreement with North and South Korea. So, let’s agree to disagree at some point and negotiate points which can be of mutual interest—such as feeding people and having peace in the region. We need a renewal of leadership here.

The recent contamination of the water in the huge city of Harbin, China, reminds me of a similar contamination of Lake Erie, USA, back in the fifties. Pollution is a worldwide problem and no one country has a handle on it. It seems that the United Nations should continue
to act as a seed money organization, and negotiator for the handling of regional problems. If we anticipate problems, such as the above, possibly the world as a whole could be made better in the future instead of recycling similar problems under different time frames.
In my opinion, we should pay our dues and continue to work within the structure provided by the United Nations instead of trying to go it alone with little or no support. The USA is not the only country guilty of that fact. China has plenty to learn about curbing its pollution and aggression. Let’s not forget the renewed “space race”…

Humorously, we don’t want to go back to the moon and have Chinese waiting there with eggroll stands for our business. Colonizing the moon is going to happen. We just need to anticipate it and educate globally for this event… Education must once again become a global priority. In some places in the world, women are just now getting the right to be educated on the same level as men. I could not imagine any lunar colony being successful without women as equal partners. Our continued existence on earth, and elsewhere, demands that we cooperate between the sexes and among the various races, nationalities, religions, and classes.

I realize that many people are not aware that war, and ignorance, are the ultimate pollutants. However, since we’ve been through this movie before, we should realize that those who have no historical perspective have a way of repeating bad histories. To paraphrase Santayana: “No country is an island entirely sufficient to itself”. We are all global citizens. Kind folks and gentle people, that is one Lesson of 1956. Another lesson of 1956 is that, as global citizens, we all have the right to life, health, equality, tolerance, and “educational opportunity”.

In the last century, we fought two world wars, landed on the moon, and tried to make the world safe from fascism and communism. Now, we are fighting a “Twilight Zone” War to make the world safe from terrorism. We have nothing more to fear, we need prayerful resolve to remain steadfast and remember that we have to think globally and act locally. Fully funding Head Start would be a great place to begin. Time to get busy. Remember to vote for those who invest in educational and social programs. As the saying goes: a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Fast Forward to 2013:
As of October 7, 2013, the petulant republicans in our US House of Representatives have
stalled passing the 2013 federal budget because of one passed piece of legislation.
The above, law, signed by the president, is nicknamed "Obamacare" and has funding included in the law. :idea:

Moreover, one of the few things being funded by the government currently is
Obamacare itself. National Parks are closed like they were in 1995, & various government workers in a myriad of agencies have been furloughed. The US Senate passed the budget,
& are working on extending the "debt ceiling". However, the republican "tea party" wing, in the House is holding the government & the public "hostage" over one signed Presidential Act. We are waiting for further developments.
Why can't a divided Congress work together like they did in 1956? or in 2006:?:

Author's Note: A major portion of this commentary is a reprint of an article published
in BOGGOB Magazine, a now out of print periodical. I retain all reprint rights to this article.

Steve Plonk
Posts: 2483
Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: The Lessons of 1956 (Reprint)

Post by Steve Plonk » October 7th, 2013, 12:23 pm

I would say that the so called "Discharge Petition" is the Democrats best bet
to get the budget through & the debt ceiling raised. 8)
Stop the "bullshite tea party" & hurray for the Democratic Revolution!
Obamacare is a law of the land, & includes funding within its language.
The President is right. The Democrats & their smart republican allies will force a vote. 8)
BOOYAH! :lol: Faith is on my side. Do I hear a big "ten-four" from the gallery? 8)

Author's Note:
Also see "Obama Again..." in "Algonquin's Table", for a post in a slightly different format.
See page 6 of the above thread, in the "In the Trenches" Zone.

Steve Plonk
Posts: 2483
Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: The Lessons of 1956 (Reprint)

Post by Steve Plonk » October 10th, 2013, 2:39 pm

Because of republican tea party wingnut histrionics, the republican party's popularity has reached a new low. See new Gallup Poll link: :P

http://www.gallup.com/poll/165317/repub ... d-low.aspx

Steve Plonk
Posts: 2483
Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: The Lessons of 1956 (Reprint)

Post by Steve Plonk » October 21st, 2013, 2:18 pm

From "Organizing for Action" site:
Dear congressional leaders,

Now that the political games are finally over, it's time to actually get back to the real work Americans sent you there to do.

Over the past several weeks, while Tea Party politics shut down our government for 16 days and brought us to the brink of economic shutdown, the American people spoke out. From Twitter to rallies to dinner table conversations, Americans expressed outrage that a Tea Party minority in Congress could hold us hostage and keep us from the real work we want to see done.

Now, we have a clear message for the people who let it happen:

We can't do this again.

There's a lot on Congress' plate. Americans want to see you all come together to solve the real problems facing our country instead of going from one manufactured crisis to another. We'll keep making our voices heard in support of policies that grow the economy, create jobs, and strengthen the middle class. And millions of Americans are waiting to see if you'll take action to fix our broken immigration system.

Now, please get back to work on the agenda Americans voted for last November,

The undersigned Americans

Steve Plonk
Posts: 2483
Joined: December 12th, 2009, 4:48 pm

Re: The Lessons of 1956 (Reprint)

Post by Steve Plonk » November 13th, 2013, 10:50 am

Time to reintroduce readers to this timely thread. 8)

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