D-Day, 70 years ago, respect written in blood

American soldiers heading to Omaha Beach in Normandy, 70 years ago.

It is now June 6 in England. At the end of that terrible day 70 years ago, 1,465 Americans were dead, 3,184 were wounded, 1,928 were missing, and 26 were captured. Omaha Beach claimed almost 2,000 of the total casualties.
Other Allied forces, mainly Brits, lost 1,914 dead. They were part of 156,000 Allied  troops who on D-Day crossed the English Channel to invade France and help defeat Germany in WWII. The Germans lost from 4,000 to 10,000 men.
I was five exactly five months old, home snug and safe and free in my crib in Dallas, Texas.

American and French flags honor each grave.

Today, the 172-acre American Cemetery atop the bluff at Omaha Beach at Colleville-sur-Mer, France, contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of the killed during the invasion and other operations in WWII. Included are the graves of Army Air Corps crew shot down over Europe as early as 1942. A total of 307 of the graves are of unknowns.

These men died and served to spare me the fate of much of the world which believed that all people should think alike, that free thought and expression are dangerous, that people are supposed to be subservient, that individuality and differences in beliefs, religions, races, languages is suspicious and should be squelched by force, that the might of military makes anything right, that individuals have no rights.
What frightens me is not that tyrants in other parts of the world still believe this.

The flag in the cemetery

What frightens and disgusts  me are the fanatics in America who still believe those ways. You can easily find specific recent  examples of each of those intolerant beliefs, echoed in the rhetoric by narrow-minded ideologues in our own state government, national government, political movements and media. They have invaded America by spouting thinly-designed hatred and mindless propaganda, threatening this country built on reason and respect of others. Yes, they are free to do so because of the sacrifice of those Americans 70 years ago, but they are not worthy of the mud on our soldiers' boots.
If D-Day means anything to us as a free people, we will  respect the rights of others who differ from us, encourage free thought and expression. Our vows should be written in the blood of those men who served on that day, 70 years ago.

Facist America

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." 
-- Benito Mussolini
The Supreme Court 5-4 ruling legalizing unlimited spending by donors in politics is the end of democracy in America, and the firm establishment of a fascist state.
From now on, big corporate money will decide every important election, nullifying the individual's vote. The drift toward fascism is not new as elections became more and more expensive, plus the rise of super PACs, and the previous court decision making corporations people. Add to that the complete erosion of personal privacy with the NSA's unlimited spying on everybody. 

"Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat tot he United States will come after the war, either in Latin America or within the United States itself."
--Henry Wallace
States are enacting restrictive election laws to deny poor, non-white people  the vote. On the local, state and national levels, corporations rule. Consider Oklahoma with its dominant energy companies getting anything they want, for just one small example. 
And most middle class and upper class white voters sit by and watch, because they don't think it affects them, and because they have jobs with those corporations, and they can vote.
But our votes don't count...only that of the corporations and super rich.
The comparisons to Nazi Germany continue to become more and more evident.

“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.... Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

Janus--Record month "blogstone"

Screen shot of stats at 2:36 p.m. today

January, month of Janus, the Roman god of two faces, looking back and forward, set two  records, reaching a 'bloodstone" for Coffee with Clark. 

Roman god Janus

The blog surpassed 6,000 page views this month between 2 and 2:30 pm CST today, about 500 more than last month, and more than 6700 page views in the last 30 days. 
Boosting the traffic this past month have been the numerous articles about my twitter for journalists class at UCO, #clarkclass, which generated a lot of interest. As with the new year, I don't know where this is going, but Coffee with Clark will continue to change and grow as it approaches its sixth birthday.
And during the month, a reader from Cameroon in Africa notched the 131st country to have readers of the blog, and 19th in Africa.

Cameroon

Cameroon, located just north of the equator, was colonized by Germany in the 1880s, but divided by Britain and France after WWI. After about 10 years of fighting against those colonial powers, the country gained independence in 1960-61. 
With more than 20 million people, Cameroon is slightly larger than California. While it is relatively stable and economically strong compared to its neighboring countries, there is a lot of poverty. In the early 2000s, unemployment was about 30 percent. French and English are official languages.
It has the same authoritarian president since 1984, and corruption is rampant, ranking it 144 out of 179 countries, according to one report. Still, it is a haven for many refugees from neighboring countries. Its flag was adopted in 1975. 

With more than 200 linguistic groups among the population, and a widely varied geography, Cameroon is often referred to as "Africa in miniature."I have no idea who the reader from Cameroon was this month, but these visitors help me travel the world in my imagination.

110 countries, and a German battleship

A reader from a country I've often wanted to visit clicked on this blog today, marking the 110th country to have had a reader--Uruguay, in South America.
Officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, and about the size of Florida, it has a little over three million people and a long history dating to the Portuguese in 1680, followed by the Spanish. The country gained its independence in 1828 after a four way struggle between Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Argentina.  Since then it's been through typical turmoil, including democracy, insurrection, dictatorship and military rule. But free elections  restored democracy in 1984.
Its flag first appeared with independence. The stripes represent the country's departments, and the sun a new nation. The design comes from both Argentina and the U.S.

Uruguay gets its name from the Uruguay River that forms its western border, and the name perhaps comes from a native people's language, meaning painted birds.
The country first caught my attention as a history-loving teenager when I read about the first sea battle of WWII between the German pocket battleship KMS Graf Spee and the British navy. Three cruisers, HMS Exeter, Ajax and Achilles--an inferior force to the battleship, engaged the ship which was damaged enough to flee to Montevideo, neutral Uruguay's capital for repairs. Forced to leave, still damaged, and believing false British intelligence that a larger force was waiting to do battle, the ship was scuttled within sight of land, as people on the shore watched.. 
The Graf Spee had been at sea for three months in the South Atlantic and Indian ocean, sinking merchant ships, without loss of life. The captain offloaded the crews before sinking the ships. The battle was a boost to British morale and a setback for one of Hitler's bold steps to control the seas. It's a story that continues to grab the imagination.
If you're interested, here are five You Tube war-time and documentary videos of the engagement--one British, two German,one in Spanish and one in Italian.

The blog at 109... Africa again

There was a new reader of the blog today, and that person lives in Togo, marking the 109th country in the world to have clicked on this site. Whoever it is, I'd like to think they checked here because of America's Independence. Togo has a history of promised democracy overruled by the military and unrest. At any rate, it becomes the 16th African country to have readers of this blog.
It's a small country, 317 miles long and only 87 wide at the most, about the size of West Virginia. Largely tribal, it became part of the "Slave Coast" from the 1500s to the 1700s as Europeans raped the country. Germany claimed it as a protectorate in the late 1800s, and after WWI, France took over. It gained independence in 1960. The country has about 6.9 million people, and the official language is French, but many tribal languages are spoken as well, with about 40 ethnic groups. Indigenous beliefs are the main religions, with both Christian and Muslim minorities.

The flag was designed in 1960 by renowned artist Paul Ahyi, and uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia, but with the star on red, resembles the flag of Liberia which echoes the flag of the U.S.A.
I don't know who this reader is, but wish I knew. There are so many stories. And I thought you'd like to see a map of how Africa was "colonized" by the Europeans befoe most gained Independence in the 1960s.

Thinking on good things--painting with grandchildren

After yesterday's tragedy in Boston, I'm at a loss for words, and then I began looking through my photographs, of stories unwritten. And there, waiting to be shared, were photographs from my trip to Germany last month to visit son Vance, daughter-in-law Kerin, and granddaughters Katherine, Sarah Beth, and Neysa. Good stories and memories which also put life in perspective.

Sizing up the subject

One of my highlights was getting to go watercolor painting with Katherine, who is quite the artist, at her request. So Vance and family drove us to the castle at Lichtenberg, which has the largest "keep" in Europe. It was cold, but we bundled up, and found a good place to sit on a stone trough, and painted. Little sister Neysa joined us briefly. I drew the castle and we both painted on it and signed it, while the rest of the Clarks toured the castle. I don't know about her, but I'll remember this forever.

Little sister looks on

Artist Katherine with the castle in background

Later that week, we attended the art extravaganza

Artists

at Katherine's school, to see her art and we took photos there too. 

March madness, exhaustion, and type heaven

March madness mean something new to me. My spring break trip to Germany to see my son Vance, his wife Kerin, and three granddaughters--Katherine, Sarah Beth, and Neysa, gave me a one week reprieve from three months of blogging every day. But by the end of the month, I was done.
The blog still reached the most hits it ever had in a month, just a few short of 4,000. Since then, I've stewed, with lots to write, but no deadline, little motivation. Thankfully, both a Ugandan and Lithuanian clicked on the blog this week, promoting writing.
I'm now behind in daily blogs, but at least it's moving again, motivation for this Capricorn first born, thinking about the letters I effortlessly type compared to what Gutenberg did in Germany almost 500 years ago.

A black day before sunrise

Painting in the Basilica of Constantine at Trier, Germany. The church was built in 310 AD.

They huddled behind locked doors, afraid, confused, exhausted, in shock. Three years of their lives has been destroyed yesterday with the cruelest of executions and ironies. Their friend and leader, a man who loved life, who preached love, who cared for people, who brought fresh life to religion, had been murdered by a mob of religious fanatics. Gone were the words and laughter and promises and hope he inspired in each of them. They were so alone.
Each had his own memories, perhaps of his teachings sitting on a hillside overlooking the Galilean Sea, or watching his kindness toward all sorts of sinners and lowlife, or praying  in a synagogue, or attending a wedding, or reclining around a table, laughing, telling stories, sipping wine and sharing bread. It was just so unjust and wrong and unfair. He'd never harmed anyone, and now...now what?
It was Sabbath, and supposed to be a holy day, a day for God. Surely they wondered where their God was, how their God could have permitted so much blackness to overcome goodness, as they kept asking "Why?" over and over, running the events through their minds, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. And the next day, they stayed huddled behind those locked doors, remembering the blood and suffering and agony, and wondering what they would do next, if they would ever live "normal" lives again.
They wouldn't.

"On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, ...."John 21:19

Interior of the Basilica, built about 277 years after the the crucifixion.

Pilgrimage to type heaven

It's not backward, but upside down, and any old printer can easily read it. 

He was a goldsmith with a gold mine of an idea, and in 1440-1450 in the Middle Ages he changed world history and culture, making possible the Renaissance and the Reformation and the middle class and freedom and much more. I visited the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany, last week, and felt like I was on holy ground. As an old printer, I found myself at home among the artifacts, the displays, the presses, the type, the Bibles, and yes, the rich, unique smell of ink and presswash.  I'm still digesting all of this, but more is to come soon.

Sojourners in a strange land...

Travel puts life in perspective, the perspective of history, of brevity of time, of insignificance, of what is important and not important. When settled, we tend to think we are in charge of our lives, that we "own" material goods, that we are permanent, the  the center of the universe. We forget, or are afraid to face, that we are on a journey, that we are merely sojourners in a strange land. When I travel, I always know I'm just "passing through." I love the word "sojourner." It helps me appreciate present tense. 1 Chronicles 29:15, Hebrew Old Testament:כִּֽי־גֵרִ֨ים אֲנַ֧חְנוּ לְפָנֶ֛יךָ וְתֹושָׁבִ֖ים כְּכָל־אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ כַּצֵּ֧ל ׀ יָמֵ֛ינוּ עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְאֵ֥ין מִקְוֶֽה New International Version (©2011) We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. New Living Translation (©2007) We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. English Standard Version (©2001) For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. New American Standard Bible (©1995) "For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.) For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009) For we live before You as foreigners and temporary residents in Your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. International Standard Version (©2012) For we are aliens and vagrants in your presence, as were all of our ancestors. Our days on the earth pass away like shadows, and we have no hope. NET Bible (©2006) For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security. GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995) To you we are all like our ancestors- foreigners without permanent homes. Our days are as fleeting as shadows on the ground. There's no hope [for them]. King James 2000 Bible (©2003) For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding. American King James Version For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. American Standard Version For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding. Douay-Rheims Bible For we are sojourners before thee, and strangers, as were all our fathers. Our days upon earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay. Darby Bible Translation For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no hope of life. English Revised Version For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding. World English Bible For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining. --Photo--climbing the stairs from underground, up into the floor of the Roman amphitheater in Trier, Germany, where gladiators faced death. Photo by Vance Clark

Daily flags and countries and blogs

 Among the readers of this blog today are residents of Germany (the second highest number of all time followers, after USA), and China.