Leaderboard

US veterans return to Iwo Jima for 70th anniversary I was watching CNN and was reminded of this. We all too often forget about those that lay down their lives on foreign soil to protect our own. IOTO, Japan (AP) — Dozens of aging U.S. veterans, many in their early 90s and some in wheelchairs, gathered on the tiny, barren island of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most iconic battles of World War II. More than 30 veterans flown in from the U.S. island territory of Guam toured the black sand beaches where they invaded the deeply dug-in forces of the island's Japanese defenders in early 1945. They were bused to the top of Mount Suribachi, an active volcano, where an Associated Press photo of the raising of the American flag while the battle was still raging became a potent symbol of hope and valor to a war-weary public back home that was growing increasingly disillusioned with the seemingly unending battle in the Pacific. For some of the veterans, the return to the island where many of their comrades died, and which is still inhabited only by a contingent of Japanese military troops, brought out difficult emotions. "I hated them," said former Sgt. John Roy Coltrane, 93, of Siler City, North Carolina. "For 40 years, I wouldn't even buy anything made in Japan. But now I drive a Honda." Speeches at the Reunion of Honor ceremony held near the invasion beach were made by senior Japanese politicians and descendants of the few Japanese who survived the battle. Also speaking were U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commandant of the Marine Corps, who noted that the battle for Iwo Jima remains the "very ethos" of the Marine Corps today. View gallery U.S. veterans offer a wreath during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of I … "We should never forget that the peace and prosperity of Japan and the United States at present has been built on the sacrifice of precious lives," Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in his remarks. This was the first time that Japanese Cabinet officials attended the anniversary ceremony, now in its 16th year. And while the presence of veterans able to make the grueling trip has been steadily dwindling, the number of participants — about 500 — was double that of last year because of the significance of the 70th year since Japan's surrender ended World War II. After the joint memorial, the U.S. and Japanese dignitaries and guests went their separate ways to visit the parts of the island that were of the most significance to their own troops. The Japanese have erected several memorials to their dead, and in a traditional way of placating their souls poured water and placed flowers on the memorial sites. The Marines invaded Iwo Jima in February 1945, and it was only declared secured after more than a month of fighting. About 70,000 U.S. troops fought more than 20,000 Japanese — only 216 Japanese were captured as POWs and the rest are believed to have been either killed in action or to have taken their own lives. The island was declared secure on March 16, 1945, but skirmishes continued. In about 36 days of battle, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed and 20,000 wounded. View gallery A U.S. veteran with uniform attends a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of I … It is to this day considered sacred ground to many Japanese. As a haunting reminder of the ferocity of the fighting, search teams continue to dig up more and more Japanese remains each year — it's estimated that 12,000 have yet to be found. The United States returned the island to Japan in 1968. Wreckage of military equipment can still be seen dotting some of the beach areas, along with pill boxes and extensive mazes of caves. Though the idea of developing the island for tourism has been mulled for decades, and possibly using its natural hot springs as an attraction, the island is virtually untouched other than the small airfield used by the Japanese. Though a tiny volcanic crag, the island — now called Ioto or Iwoto on Japanese maps — was deemed strategically important because it was being used by the Japanese to launch air attacks on American bombers. After its capture, it was used by the U.S. as an emergency landing site for B-29s, which eventually made 2,900 emergency landings there that are estimated to have saved the lives of 24,000 airmen who would have otherwise had to crash at sea. Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded for action in the battle, more than any other in U.S. military history. The only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from Iwo Jima, Hershel "Woody" Williams, 91, attended the ceremony. Afterward, he said his feelings toward the Japanese had not changed in the decades since the battle. "They were just doing their jobs, just like we were," he said. "We tried to kill them before they could kill us. But that's war." I've lost the original link to the article: Sorry

Below is the information that I promised to submit. • The company that I used is based in Canada to provide People-to-People programs for Americans and others. http://www.cubatravelforamericans.com, • http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=gay+cuba&FORM=VQFRAF • http://www.theculturetrip.com/caribbean/cuba/articles/the-cuban-experience-the-ten-best-havana-restaurants • The source http://cubaguiagay.blogspot.com.es/is in my web bank. It works there for me, so type it into your browser. Hope it works, for it gives some good, timely information and is a current source. I used the following guide books: TIME OUT: Havana & the Best of Cuba, DK EYEWITNESS TRAVEL CUBA, THE ROUGH GUIDE TO CUBA, and LONELY PLANET CUBA. These books were 2014 or 2013 editions.

My view completely. An abhorrent thing considered in any light. Pope: Death penalty represents 'failure,' fosters vengeance http://www.thestate.com/2015/03/20/4058612/pope-death-penalty-represents.html

When it comes to the death penalty, AdamSmith, il Papa, and I are of a single mind. Far as life without parole, that's a bit knottier issue for me. When I think of the pair who tortured Matthew Shepard and left him to die, I shed no tears when the cell doors clanged behind them for the last time. And I can't swear vengeance wasn't a factor. As they were in their early twenties, is it possible they could become different people before they die in prison? Is there some way for them to atone for what they did? And could I prove that there isn't? So far, the only way I've found to deal with those questions is not to ask them. And somehow that doesn't seem like a perfect answer. Another issue, of course, is mental illness and I expect a fair number of lifers are nuttier than a fruitcake. Even some of those who are technically eligible for parole may spend the rest of their days in prison. Right now, I can't imagine Charles Manson being released on parole. What community would welcome him? Unless, of course, he could bunk at the Papal Apartments which, I understand, are currently vacant. PS: To show how uninformed I was/am on LWOP, I had to check to see if anyone had ever successfully appealed the sentence in this country. Apparently not.

Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar Is Wrong And ending sentences with a preposition is nothing worth worrying about Smithsonian Magazine You’ve probably heard the old story about the pedant who dared to tinker with Winston Churchill’s writing because the great man had ended a sentence with a preposition. Churchill’s scribbled response: “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” It’s a great story, but it’s a myth. And so is that so-called grammar rule about ending sentences with prepositions. If that previous sentence bugs you, by the way, you’ve bought into another myth. No, there’s nothing wrong with starting a sentence with a conjunction, either. But perhaps the biggest grammar myth of all is the infamous taboo against splitting an infinitive, as in “to boldly go.” The truth is that you can’t split an infinitive: Since “to” isn’t part of the infinitive, there’s nothing to split. Great writers—including Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne and Wordsworth—have been inserting adverbs between “to” and infinitives since the 1200s. Where did these phony rules originate, and why do they persist? For some of them, we can blame misguided Latinists who tried to impose the rules of their favorite language on English. Anglican bishop Robert Lowth popularized the prohibition against ending a sentence with a preposition in his 1762 book, A Short Introduction to English Grammar; while Henry Alford, a dean of Canterbury Cathedral, was principally responsible for the infinitive taboo, with his publication of A Plea for the Queen’s English in 1864. In Latin, sentences don’t end in prepositions, and an infinitive is one word that can’t be divided. But in a Germanic language like English, as linguists have pointed out, it’s perfectly normal to end a sentence with a preposition and has been since Anglo-Saxon times. And in English, an infinitive is also one word. The “to” is merely a prepositional marker. That’s why it’s so natural to let English adverbs fall where they may, sometimes between “to” and a verb. We can’t blame Latinists, however, for the false prohibition against beginning a sentence with a conjunction, since the Romans did it too (Et tu, Brute?). The linguist Arnold Zwicky has speculated that well-meaning English teachers may have come up with this one to break students of incessantly starting every sentence with “and.” The truth is that conjunctions are legitimately used to join words, phrases, clauses, sentences—and even paragraphs. Perhaps these “rules” persist because they are so easy to remember, and the “errors” are so easy to spot. Ironically, this is a case where the clueless guy who’s never heard of a preposition or a conjunction or an infinitive is more likely to be right. As bloggers at Grammarphobia.com and former New York Times editors, we’ve seen otherwise reasonable, highly educated people turn their writing upside down to sidestep imaginary errors. There’s a simple test that usually exposes a phony rule of grammar: If it makes your English stilted and unnatural, it’s probably a fraud. We can’t end this without mentioning Raymond Chandler’s response when a copy editor at the Atlantic Monthly decided to “fix” his hard-boiled prose: “When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will remain split.” Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/most-of-what-you-think-you-know-about-grammar-is-wrong-4047445/#sQT8DH5Dr1PUoqfF.99

- Thanks for posting this excellent article - -

If you know Brasilian Portuguese, this would be fine; otherwise, forget it, for your safety. That was the advice relayed to me by my late, gay tour director in Rio whose friendship I developed and whose services I used about ten years ago and prior. He would write occasionally at www.daddysreviews.com in the forum "Escorts South." One night he drove me around to areas "where the boys are/were!" ...not too far from the US Consulate in Rio de janeiro. In Sao Paulo my guide at the time drove me around to "where they were" as well. One night I spotted a man that was showing dick from pants; it was so large and beautiful and highly alluring that I was so stirred that I went back to my lodging and had to get an immediate release. In looking back then and now, I'd truly wanted to have met this Paulista. That's all that I can share with you, for my experiences have been with guys from the saunas as well as with advertised escorts while I was in both Rio and Sao Paulo.