hell

A personal favorite of mine was the wartime memoir of the destroyer USS Grayson (DD435) written by her skipper, Frederick Jackson Bell. The destroyer's name and that of many other ships was censored in the wartime edition for security purposes, but you could tell it was Grayson because they didn't censor the hull number in her photograph. It's a charming book about life on a destroyer -- and it is available on Amazon Kindle as Condition Red: Destroyer Action in the South Pacific. I wonder if the
Kindle edition has the crew list appendix with the creepily-historic "n" after the names of the African-American crew members. (Navy ships had mostly black stewards and kitchen staffs, but not combat crew) Another good destroyer read is Brave Ship, Brave Men, which details the story of the short life of DM-34, the USS Aaron Ward. Second ship of that name to fight in WW 2. The book is mostly about her harrowing experiences on radar picket duty off Okinawa, 3 May 1945, during which she was struck by multiple kamikazes. Although not strictly-speaking first-person (it is drawn from the stories of survivors), it is one of the most gripping and intense accounts of naval action you'll ever read.

Of course you want to read Studs Terkel's The Good War, a landmark of oral history.

And of course Company Commander by Charles B. MacDonald, another all-time classic.

Some all-time great war novels are really autobiographies: Mailer's Naked and the Dead and Jone's From Here to Eternity being the standouts here. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut also falls into this category, with its emphasis on the firebombing of Dresden which he witnessed as a POW.

You specify US accounts, so I won't mention the abundant literature from the other participants. But you should check out the German author Willi Heinrich (Cross of Iron and a number of other novels) if you'd like to get a viewpoint from "The other side of the mountain."

There are abundant web resources for first-person accounts of WW 2. It's impossible to even scratch the surface.

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Some cringeworthy visual puns

Haydn Sikh Gorgon Zola

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"Most Americans hold their own umbrellas."

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For Democrats, a Tax-the-Rich Road to Victory

For Democrats, a Tax-the-Rich Road to Victory Richard Eskow As we enter into yet another round of budget discussions, the Democratic Party is confronted with an opportunity – and a challenge. There’s an opportunity to shift the budget debate to an area where they hold the high ground. But it will be a challenge for some Democrats to take the initiative on a subject they seem reluctant to discuss. The subject is taxes. Tax increases are a subject people seem reluctant to mention in the nation’s capital. Republicans have convinced everyone inside the Beltway that new tax revenues are politically impossible. The talk on the Hill is that the White House is urging Senate and House Dems to accept a cuts-only budget deal for the next go-round. It seems that the conventional wisdom says tax increases are best left unmentioned. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. New polling by Hart Research Associates, conducted for Americans for Tax Fairness, confirms and amplifies findings from earlier studies showing that Americans strongly support higher taxes for the wealthy and corporations. And when we say “strongly,” we mean very strongly. As that covert recording of Mitt Romney showed last year, some of the “1 percent” think other Americans aren’t pulling their own weight in this economy. As this new polling confirms, the feeling’s mutual. By a seventeen point margin (56 percent to 39 percent), the American people want the next budget agreement to include new tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy. And despite the conventional wisdom which suggests that “moderates” reject tax hikes, the Hart polling shows that moderates actually want these tax hikes –by an overwhelming forty-two point margin. Registered independents, often thought of as the Holy Grail of electioneering, back them by a nineteen point margin. The conclusion is inescapable: if Democrats make this budget battle a fight over who has the smartest spending cuts, they’re fighting on the Republicans’ turf. That will weaken them as they enter the 2014 campaigns. But if they make this a fight over taxes and jobs, that’s a fight they can win. (snip) http://ourfuture.org/20131117/for-democrats-a-tax-the-rich-road-to-victory?utm_source=signon&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eskowgo

Posted by Enthusiast | Tue Nov 19, 2013, 07:07 AM (18 replies)

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Opinion

Syriza's lies and empty promises

The ugly truth is that Greece is in a real mess and even debt restructuring will not get its economy going again.

06 Jul 2015 08:10 GMT | Politics, Europe, Greece, European Union

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Political rhetoric worked its magic again with Greek voters, writes Polychroniou [REUTERS]

About the Author

C J Polychroniou

C J Polychroniou is a political economist/political scientist who has taught and worked in Europe and the US.
In his televised address to the nation just a few days before yesterday's so-called bailout referendum, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appealed to voters' emotions and their national pride and urged them to say "No". In turn, he assured them that he will personally find a solution with Greece's creditors, even though he failed to do so after five months of non-stop negotiations.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis continued in the same vein, promising a better deal within 48 hours if the country votes against the bailout package proposed by the eurozone officials on June 25, although he resigned (or was asked to resign) the day after the referendum in an obvious attempt on the part of the Tsipras' government to send a conciliatory message to Brussels and Berlin.

Counting the Cost - 'Austerity has practically destroyed Greece'

Apparently, political rhetoric worked its magic again with Greek voters as the "no" vote prevailed by a very wide margin in a ridiculous referendum over a proposal that was no longer on the table and while the bailout programme had already expired.
Master of lies
Indeed, in so doing, Greek voters seem to have forgotten that the Syriza government has evolved into a master of lies and deception.
At the June 22 euro summit, the leftist Greek government submitted a proposal that was very much in line with the logic of the infamous troika's bailout programme, although both Germany and the IMF still found it "insufficient" and placed demands for more blood and tears.
In addition, a few days after the decision for a referendum had been made, the Syriza government sought to get approval for a new two-year bailout programme, in exchange for 29 billion euros ($32bn), only to be turned again by the eurozone's hegemon, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel stating rather laconically that there can be no further talks before the referendum.

The latest gimmick of the Tsipras' government ... was made so the government would not collapse as many of its own MPs had stated that they would not support an agreement with the creditors...

But this is typical of how the Syriza-led government has been approaching negotiations with Greece's creditors for the past five months: defiance one moment and capitulation the next.
The latest gimmick of the Tsipras' government, ie, to call  a referendum, was made so the government would not collapse as many of its own MPs had stated that they would not support an agreement with the creditors that reinforced austerity and anti-social policies that have shrunk Greece's GDP by more than 20 percent in the last five years, raised unemployment rates to stratospheric levels (over 25 percent), lowered standards of living significantly, and brought the public healthcare system to its knees.
So what happens next? Will the Greek government be able to reach an agreement with its creditors as quickly as Tsipras and Varoufakis believe, or have the odds of a  systemic risk default (Greece has already failed to make a 1.5 billion euro - $1.7bn - payment to the IMF) and a Grexit increase dramatically because of the "No" vote?
Uncharted waters
Indeed, while Varoufakis was telling Greeks that an agreement with the creditors could be clinched in a day or two following a "No" vote, a few hours before the referendum he was hinting that the government is getting ready to face war-like situations.
But as already noted, lies and deception are Syriza's main tactics since it came to power in late January.
The truth of the matter is that the outcome of the referendum has put Greece and the eurozone in uncharted waters.
The ECB, which convenes today to take note of the latest developments in Greece, is highly unlikely to increase Emergency Liquidity Allowance (ELA) limits for Greek banks, which are already on the verge of collapse, but it is also most unlikely that it will make a decision to pull the plug on the Greek banking system so quickly.

Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis [AP]

Either way, Greek banks are expected to remain closed this week, thereby intensifying the agony for millions of depositors and bringing the economy under greater pressure.
The "No" vote will also strengthen the hand of those who prefer to see Greece out of the euro - and that includes primarily German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble.
The Greek government's belief that a "No" vote will force Europe's leaders to become "softer" towards Greece reflects a journey into self-delusion, thus making the Syriza government not only thoroughly incompetent but also dangerous.
If the pseudo-leftist government in Athens was serious in its desire to put an end to the five-year-old ordeal of the Greek nation caused by the austerity-driven dogma behind the bailout programmes, it would have called a referendum on whether or not Greece should remain in the eurozone.
As things stand, if the creditors continue to play hardball with the Tsipras government after the referendum, and Greek banks collapse, the transition to a national currency is simply inevitable.

The process of setting up a new currency could take months, and the Syriza government has no such plans in place, which means the Greek people will experience unspeakable pain...

However, the process of setting up a new currency could take months, and the Syriza government has no such plans in place, which means the Greek people will experience unspeakable pain and suffering, particularly the poor, the working class and the most vulnerable segments of the population. 
Referendum as experiment
Indeed, indicative of how dangerous this government really is, one of its own MPs assessed the banking situation in Greece, where capital controls are in place, limiting withdrawals to 60 euros ($66) a day, as one which is in the process of being "stabilised", and then went on to say that it will become even more stable as Greeks "get used" to the current situation.
In turn, the Greek minister of productive reconstruction, environment, and energy did not hesitate to describe the referendum that just took place as an "experiment".
Yet, an uglier truth is that Greece is in a real a mess and even debt restructuring will not be enough to get its economy going again. Aside from facing a severe competitiveness problem and mass unemployment, its pension system is on the brink of collapse.
In addition, Greece is a country with a uniquely rapidly ageing population while many of its best and brightest young people are leaving.
The country also needs to undertake deep reforms in its public sector institutions whether it stays in the euro or returns to a national currency.
These are issues and problems which any government would have to face regardless of its ideological orientation, and surely will not be solved on account of Sunday's referendum.
C J Polychroniou is a political economist/political scientist who has taught and worked for many years in universities and research centres in Europe and the United States.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

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Terjemahkan pesan Nonaktifkan untuk: Inggris Greek referendum is a Machiavellian plot Alexis Tsipras gambles on Greece's future with a sham referendum. 28 Jun 2015 07:19 GMT | Business & Economy, Politics, Greece, IMF, European Union   3089    365 Tsipras is applauded by Cabinet members after his speech, during a debate on the referendum at the Greek Parliament in Athens [EPA] About the Author C J Polychroniou C J Polychroniou is a political economist/political scientist who has taught and worked in Europe and the US. A few days ago, in the euro summit on June 22, all indications were that Europe's political beasts and IMF representatives were ready to accept the latest proposal of the leftist Greek government that would have broken the five-month deadlock between Greece and its lenders. Indeed, the members of the Greek government negotiation team had submitted a list of proposals that were fully in line with the logic of the EU/IMF bailout programme for Greece: more austerity and additional structural adjustments. All in all, the proposals they made amounted to over $8.9bn in additional cuts between 2015 and 2016. The leftist Greek government even proposed a tax increase to incomes above $33,000, thus suggesting that individuals in that income bracket rank among the wealthy. Basic food items and services were to carry a 23 percent VAT. Expert: Referendum plan a good idea The special VAT rate on Greek islands, which is so crucial for the tourist sector of the economy, was to be removed. The early retirement age was to be increased as of the start of 2016 and a benefit for low-income pensioners was to be gradually substituted, beginning in 2018. Obvious capitulation The obvious capitulation on the part of the Syriza-led government to Greece's lenders, which was not the first one, was made in order to get a deal done as time is rapidly running out for Greece. The current bailout programme expires on June 30 and a payment to the tune of $1.8bn is also due to the IMF on that same day. Without a dime in its coffers, the Greek government knew that without an agreement, a default was inevitable and was fully aware of the fact that the dark clouds of a Grexit were spreading dangerously over Greece. But as it usually happens in situations of negotiations between ordinates and subordinates, master and slave, rich and poor, strong and weak, the more compromises the latter makes, the more compromises the former demands. Without a dime in its coffers, the Greek government knew that without an agreement, a default was inevitable and was fully aware of the fact that the dark clouds of a Grexit were spreading dangerously over Greece. As such, the Greek proposals were suddenly found to be inadequate by the lenders and there were demands on their part for more blood and tears. Germany and the IMF wanted to force the Syriza-led government to cross its last and final "red line", which was over additional anti-social measures in the nation's social security and pension system. So, in yet another Eurogroup meeting held on June 25, the Christine Lagarde/Wolfgang Schäuble duo (IMF chief and German finance minister) wanted the benefit for low-income pensioners to be completely eliminated by 2017. If this proposal for overhauling the nation's pension system were to be accepted by the Greek government, it would mean that a person who today receives a monthly pension for the amount of, say, 500 euros ($560) - close to 50 percent of Greek pensioners receive pensions below the official poverty line - would be deprived of nearly 200 euros ($223). Causing a stir In addition, the lenders proposed a five-month extension of the current bailout programme, which would include $17bn in funding, most of it now earmarked for the recapitalisation of Greek banks. The Greek government's proposals were already causing quite a stir back home among several Syriza members of parliament, who did not hesitate to announce in public that they would not vote for an agreement that not only maintained but reinforced austerity, so further capitulation to creditors' demands would be political suicide.  Of course, that has been the aim of the euromasters and of the IMF all along - ie, finishing off the leftist government in Athens in order to send a message across to all potential "troublemakers" in the euro area of the fate awaiting them if they dared challenge the neoliberal, austerity-based orthodoxy of the new Rome. But the Greek government did not take the bait. It refused the EU/IMF proposals, although they were only a bit more extreme than its own proposals, and, early on June 27, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent shockwaves through Europe by calling a surprise referendum for July 5 on the bailout deal. But this is a sham referendum, with Tsipras trying to hold on to his job, as the bailout programme expires on June 30, which means that this is now a referendum on whether or not Greece should remain in the eurozone. A man sells napkins by an ATM that was emptied by people withdrawing cash, in Athens [REUTERS] However, the national dialogue around this topic has been stifled all along, with Syriza's leadership also having aligned unequivocally on the side of the euro. What if they vote 'yes' Clearly, Greek public opinion doesn't have the necessary information to make a decision on such a crucial issue in such a short period of time. And what if the majority were to vote 'yes', which is what will most likely happen. Would this mean, then, that the leftist Greek government would turn around and accept whatever bailout terms its lenders were to make? Probably so, although the decent thing for them to do would be to resign on the spot. This is a sham referendum, with Tsipras trying to hold on to his job, as the bailout programme expires on June 30, which means that this is now a referendum on whether or not Greece should remain in the eurozone. The call for referendum on the future of Greece in such a short period of time must be seen for what it really is: a tool of politics, a way for the leftist Greek government to take the pressure off its shoulders, a refusal to accept responsibility for having dragged the country into five months of never ending negotiations with its lenders with disastrous consequences for the economy.   To be sure, in the days ahead, the Syriza-led government will attempt to justify its decision to call a referendum on the future of Greece in Europe as a reflection of its commitment to participatory democracy and in its belief in the ability of the Greek people to take charge of their own future.   Yet, when former Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou's government sought to have a referendum on the bailout deal back in 2011, the current Greek prime minister charged that this was a decision which, if carried out, would cause the collapse of the nation's banking system and lead to an economic meltdown.       But Greek politicians are accustomed to putting their own political interest ahead of the national interest - and the current government officials are no different in that regard. Soon after the announcement of a referendum for July 5 was made, people were lining up at ATM machines outside banks to withdraw money - just like Tsipras had predicted would happen in the event the Papandreou government had held a referendum in 2011.  Now the only thing that we must wait to find out is whether the next phase in the prediction made by Tsipras four years ago - an economic meltdown - also materialises. Klik di sini untuk Balas atau Teruskan 0,01 GB (0%) dari kuota 15 GB telah digunakan Kelola Persyaratan - Privasi Aktivitas akun terakhir: 3 hari yang lalu Detail

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