Veterans’ Day …

Today’s Buzz ...

From The History Channel:

The History of Veterans' Day

Formerly Armistice Day, Veterans Day is a holiday observed annually in the United States in honor of all those, living and dead, who served with the U.S. armed forces in wartime.

Some states observe the holiday on November 11 and others on the fourth Monday of October. Armistice Day, the forerunner of Veterans Day, was proclaimed in 1919 to commemorate the termination (at 11 am on Nov. 11, 1918) of World War I. On the first anniversary of the truce, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation eulogizing fallen Allied soldiers and referring to November 11 as Armistice Day. It became a holiday in the U.S., France, Great Britain and Canada.

The holiday acquired its present name and broadened significance in the U.S. in 1954. In Canada it is known as Remembrance Day, and in Great Britain, as Remembrance Sunday.

There simply aren’t enough words to express the gratitude to those who so bravely and selflessly put their own lives on the line each and every day to protect the rights enjoyed here in America. And to those in positions of power who make the decisions about the lives of these men and women – if you don’t genuinely hold each and every one of them in as high regard and esteem as your own children, then you have no right to be in that position.

Many thanks to Neil Aquino at “Texas Liberal” for the very concise blog entry today that pulls together the topics which I also want to highlight today:

1. Walter Reed scandal:
Let’s make sure this never happens again – ever. Our returning veterans deserve the very best of care – and not subject to partisanship.
2. Veteran Homelessness – Part 1:
Last week, USA Today featured a report about about one in four people homeless people being veterans.
3. Veteran Homelessness – Part 2:
Long before that story was published, Anderson featured a story on 360 about homeless Iraq war veterans.
4. Veteran Homelessness – Part 3:
So let’s DO something about it ~ visit the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans site to find out what you can do to help.

And yes, not that anyone was keeping track, but I will be blogging about the specials “Anvil of God”, “Ambush at the River of Secrets” and “The Looming Terror” (interview).

I’m looking forward to the Democratic Debate on Thursday – to see if the Clinton-bashing continues – and if it does, to see how it’s “spun” … the picture below is from the Democratic YouTube debate back in July, BTW:



Many thanks to "marcia1154" at the AC360 Yahoo group for this “find” – an interview with Anderson about the making of the Planet in Peril documentary – that Amazon is charging $9.95 for - but you now have it for free (minus one picture):

Planet in Peril: a conversation with CNN's Anderson Cooper

Date: Oct 15, 2007
Publication: Junior Scholastic

On October 23 and 24, CNN will air Planet in Peril, a two-part documentary that examines unsettling changes taking place in the global environment. Anchor Anderson Cooper, wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin, and CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, report from "hot spots" around the world, focusing on four key issues: climate change, vanishing habitats, disappearing species, and human population growth. The film's intent, Cooper recently told JS, is to "take people to the front lines and show them in a very real way, what is happening." Below are excerpts from our conversation with Cooper:

Q. Of all the hot spots you visited, what caused you the most alarm?

A. I think visually, the deforestation that I saw in the Amazon is probably the most striking example of some of the worst hot spots. When you're flying over the Amazon, you really get to see the curls of black smoke in many different spots in this amazing sea of green trees. You can literally see them bulldozing large plots of land. And it's remarkable. You can actually smell the forest burn from the air.

Q. Could you describe some of the animals you encountered?

A. We went to Phnom Tamao Center in Cambodia, and we saw amazing elephants that had been rescued. One elephant, a baby, had gotten its foot caught in a poacher's snare, and the foot had actually come off. We [also] saw a lot of snakes in Cambodia. In fact, Jeff Corwin and I re-released snakes that had been captured. They had been saved by the police, and we re-released them back into the wild. I'm a little scared of snakes so reaching into this bag of snakes to put them back into the wild was a little bit intimidating, but it was a lot of fun.

Q. What is causing the drain on land and resources around the world?

A. There's a growing population in a lot of places, and they put a strain on resources. People need more land. And so, in a lot of countries, people are expanding into land where there were once pristine habitats, and that's a whole other burden on the ecosystem. As people expand and animals lose their habitat, that has repercussions. That's part of what we're focused on showing, what that strain looks like.

Q. Did you come upon any innovative solutions to the environmental problems we face?

A. There are a lot of different experiments going on, a lot of ways to do sustainable agriculture, for instance, that doesn't destroy the land while it's being farmed. Part of the problem is that [in the Amazon] it's just slash-and-burn deforestation. That not only destroys the forest, but the land is only usable for one or two seasons. So, there are ways to farm that can actually help the land and are more sustainable, and I think those are among the most productive [things] we saw.

Q. What is the current thinking among scientists who are climate-change skeptics?

A. Skeptics argue that this is part of a natural cycle, and that the Earth has entered cycles like this before. Then there's sort of a scientific middle ground that says, yes, this may be part of a natural cycle, but also people are contributing to it and may be speeding up the cycle.


tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°:


Thanks for visiting - updates posted as needed - have a wonderful evening!!