"The greatest single acts of terrorism to date were not perpetrated by Osama bin Laden, but by the US military when it dropped atomic bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Speech by Moonanum James 32nd National Day of Mourning, 2001

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the morning of August 6, 1945 the United States Army Air Forces dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the detonation of the "Fat Man" bomb over Nagasaki, Japan.

In estimating the death toll from the attacks, there are several factors that make it difficult to arrive at reliable figures: inadequacies in the records given the confusion of the times, the many victims who died months or years after the bombing as a result of radiation exposure, and the pressure to either exaggerate or minimize the numbers, depending upon political agenda. That said, it is estimated that by December 1945, as many as 140,000 had died in Hiroshima by the bomb and its associated effects.[1][2] In Nagasaki, roughly 74,000 people died of the bomb and its aftereffects with the death toll from two bombings around 214,000 people.[3][4] In both cities, most of the casualties were civilians.

The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender, as well as the effects and justification of them, have been subject to much debate. In the U.S., the prevailing view is that the bombings ended the war months sooner than would otherwise have been the case, saving many lives that would have been lost on both sides if the planned invasion of Japan had taken place.[5] In Japan, the general public tends to think that the bombings were unnecessary, as the preparation for the surrender was in progress in Tokyo.[6]

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. August 08, 2005, 9:50 AM ET - Cuban Legend Ibrahim Ferrer Dies

By Howell Llewellyn, Madrid - Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer, one of the stars of the 1990s Buena Vista Social Club CD series, died Saturday (Aug. 6) in Havana at the age of 78. The artist had returned three days earlier from a one-month tour of Europe, and a week before dying he appeared in pain singing at a festival in Barcelona. He was hospitalized on Aug. 3 with gastroenteritis and "his condition worsened and he died of multiple organ failure," said his manager, Daniel Florestan.

photo by Vincent K. Tylor, Hawaiian LandMark Images
www.hawaiianphotos.net - used with permission

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the big business media has made much of the spearhead role of the Seventh Cavalry. 'Rich in glory and agony,' read the New York Times' headline about its history. The 'agony' refers to the 1876 defeat of the Seventh Cavalry and its commander, Col. George Armstrong Custer, at Little Big Horn by combined Lakota and Cheyenne forces. Here, a Seventh Cavalry officer surveys the massacre scene three days following the Dec. 29, 1890, U.S. genocidal attack on the Lakota nation, led by Big Foot of the Hunkpapa Lakota, at Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge.

Fred F. Fielding
Commissioner

Fred Fielding is senior partner and head of Wiley, Rein, & Fielding 's Government Affairs, Business & Finance, Litigation and Crisis Management/White Collar Crime Practices. From 1981-1986, he served as counsel to the President of the United States (1981-1986), as deputy counsel from 1972-1974 and as Associate Counsel from 1970-1972. He also served as clearance counsel during the Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition . In addition to his public service as White House counsel, Fielding has served as the U.S.-designated arbitrator at the Tribunal on the U.S.-U.K. Air Treaty Dispute (1989-1994), as a member of the president's Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform (1989) and as a member of the secretary of transportation's Task Force on Aviation Disasters, (1997-1998), as well as numerous other commissions. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania Bars, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania; the District of Columbia Court of Appeals; U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C., Federal, First, Third, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits; the U.S. Court of Military Appeals; and the U.S. Supreme Court. He holds an A.B., with honors, from Gettysburg College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first public hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States will be held March 31 - April 1, 2003 at the U.S. Custom House, One Bowling Green, New York City, New York. This hearing is open to the media and the public. [more]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas H. Kean Chair

Richard Ben-Veniste Max Cleland Fred F. Fielding Jamie S. Gorelick Slade Gorton John F. Lehman Timothy J. Roemer James R. Thompson

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philip D. Zelikow

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
Tel: 202-331-4060 info@9-11Commission.gov Fax: 202-296-5545

April 1, 2003

Beyond Numbers, 9/11 Panel Hears Families' Anguish

here was the Port Authority police officer whose voice quivered when he recounted the sight of body after body dropping from the sky, missing him by feet.

There was the Army lieutenant colonel in the Pentagon who suffered burns on 60 percent of his body and told the sobbing, gasping audience how doctors used maggots to eat the dead tissue off his arms.

There was the father of a fallen firefighter, too, who did not get up to speak but simply sat in the audience and hoisted a picture of his son, Christian Regenhard, with the following words in angry boldface: "He would be safer in Iraq than he was at the WTC on 9/11!"

After a 19-month wait that they said was too long and too painful, the relatives of those who died in the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as some survivors, finally had their chance yesterday to testify as the first witnesses before a government panel investigating the attacks. And as the all-day hearing unfolded at the United States Custom House in Lower Manhattan, not far from where the World Trade Center once towered, it was hard for those on the 10-member commission not to sigh, or wince, or shed a tear.

But if Day 1 of what is expected to be a politically delicate 14-month process was heavy on the emotions, it offered a hint of the frustration and anger among some family members over the investigation's progress.

As witness after witness addressed the commission, several gnawing questions were either articulated or implied: Who, if anyone, would ever be held responsible for failing to stop the attacks? Did the commission have the authority to truly make changes? And would a world focused on the latest war have the stomach, or the attention span, to listen again to the facts surrounding Sept. 11?

"I am convinced that this tragedy did not have to happen," said Stephen Push, a spokesman for Families of Sept. 11, which pressed for the establishment of the committee. "Too many politicians put re-election over national security. There were people who failed us on 9/11."

The panel, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, was created by Congress last year to conduct a broad investigation of the events of Sept. 11 and the intelligence and other government failures before them.

The chairman of the panel, which is split evenly between Democratic and Republican appointees, is Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey governor and a Republican, while the vice chairman is Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic House member from Indiana. Expected to assemble a staff of 50 to 60 to help with its investigation, the panel has said that it plans to draft a report by May 2004.

That the panel even had a meeting at all was the result, largely, of Mr. Push and other family members who put pressure on members of Congress. President Bush initially opposed the creation of such a panel. Then, Mr. Bush's first choice as chairman, Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, resigned after 9/11 family groups criticized his business ties to corporations and foreign governments that would come under scrutiny in the inquiry.

Still, despite the problems, the turnout yesterday of about 60 or so people was much smaller than organizers had anticipated. Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg began by making statements, then yielded the floor to two groups of people who had either survived the attacks, or were related to people who had died. They were followed by a group of academics who talked about terrorism and counterterrorism.

Today, on the second of two days of testimony, the panel is scheduled to hear experts from the Department of Justice, a study group on homeland security and representatives from the New York City Fire and Police Departments on the subjects of security and law enforcement.

But for a day at least, the testimony was more intimate, as the families held court.

David Lim, a police officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, could barely contain his emotions when talking about the loss of his K-9 partner, a yellow Labrador retriever named Sirius. Officer Lim also spoke about the frightening feeling of having the north tower collapse on top of him — and thinking that he was dead.

"You could feel the wind pushing," he said. "It was like an oncoming locomotive or an avalanche. It just kept coming and coming."

And Mindy Kleinberg mixed personal anguish over the death of her husband, Alan, a securities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, as well as a detailed summary of her own research into the shortcomings of American intelligence. At one point, she pulled out a copy of some immigration documents that had been submitted by one of the hijackers, which were full of omissions or dubious answers, and questioned how he could have been allowed to stay.

"With no one being held accountable, how do we know this is still not happening?" she said. "As the threat of terrorism mounts here in the U.S., the need to address the failures of Sept. 11 is more important than ever."

Afterward, some family members, while encouraged with the initial opportunity to have their say, expressed a queasiness over whether their words would stick, or whether political considerations would eventually erode their concerns. Because, after all, it was only the first day.

But if nothing else, the cumulative effect of all the witnesses prompted several commissioners yesterday to praise the speakers and to encourage all family members to stay involved in the process.

"Your stories are very compelling," said Fred F. Fielding , a former White House counsel who helped with Mr. Bush 's transition team. "Please stay with us. Please keep giving us guidance."

White Collar Defense Speeches --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 13, 2003 Fred F. Fielding Speaker, "State of the United States Olympic Committee" Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation Washington, DC

September 24, 2002 Fred F. Fielding Speaker, "D.C. Circuit: Importance of Balance on the Nations Second Highest Court" Senate Judiciary Committee Washington, DC

March 15, 2002 Fred F. Fielding Panelist, "Judicial Independence" Federalist Society Washington, DC

January 8, 2001 Fred F. Fielding Speaker, "Civil Justice Reform" General Counsel Briefing, General Motors Corporation Washington, DC

November 18, 2000 Fred F. Fielding Panelist, "Judicial Selection" Federalist Society, National Lawyers Convention Washington, DC

November 13, 1999 Fred F. Fielding On November 13, 1999 Mr. Fielding spoke on a panel entitled "Criminalization of Business Conduct" at the Federalist Society's 1999 National Lawyers Convention.

Mr. Fred F. Fielding Wiley, Rein & Fielding LLP Sustaining Member Office: 1776 K Street, N.W. 9th Floor Washington, DC 20006

Fred F. Fielding is a senior partner in Wiley Rein & Fielding, LLP, a leading Washington, D.C. and Virginia law firm of more than 225 attorneys. Mr. Fielding leads the firm’s practice in the area of Corporate Services, Government Affairs, and Crisis Management/White Collar litigation, as well as providing general counseling to corporate and individual clients on a broad array of legal and policy issues. From 1981-86, Mr. Fielding served as Counsel to the President of the United States. He also served as Deputy Counsel to the President from 1972 to 1974, and as Assistant Counsel to the President from 1970 to 1972.

His other public service has included the following: Member, President’s Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform (1989); Member, Committee on Long Range Planning, Judicial Conference of the United States; Chairman, Special Committee on Ethics in Government, ACUS (1988-1992); U.S. Designated Arbitrator, Tribunal on U.S.-U.K. Air Treaty Dispute (1989-1994); Member, Panel of Arbitrators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (1987-97); Member, U.S. Official Party - Summit of Industrialized Nations: 1985 (Bonn), 1984 (London), 1983 (Williamsburg); Member, United States Presidential Delegation to the 1986 Philippine Special Presidential Election; Presidential Envoy to Australian-American Friendship Week (Coral Sea Celebration): 1986; General Counsel, The Committee For The 50th American Presidential Inaugural (1984-85); Commissioner, President’s Commission on White House Fellowships (1981-86); Member, Secretary of Transportation Task Force on Air Disasters (1997- ); Member, ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary (1995- ); Director, Bar Association of D.C. (1995-98); Chairman, Center for Democracy (1997-98); Trustee, Gettysburg College (1998- ).

In his private sector experience, Mr. Fielding has represented many public officials, as well as large business and corporate entities and associations, in a variety of situations which required not only the resolution of a legal issue, but a long-term, global resolution of larger issues. Many of these have included matters of public sensitivity and visibility. He also has extensively counseled chief executives and boards of directors on complex domestic and international problems and in long-ranging public policy planning. He also has served as arbitrator on several significant international arbitrations, and numerous other private arbitrations. Washingtonian Magazine, in picking the top lawyers who other lawyers and judges would turn to if they were in trouble, named Mr. Fielding and characterized him as “very shrewd, smart and discreet . . . an attorney with a reputation for keeping people from getting into trouble in the first place.”

Mr. Fielding ’s additional current activity includes board memberships in numerous charitable and political organizations and public corporations, as well as the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.

In addition to the foregoing, Mr. Fielding ’s political activities have also included the following: Reagan-Bush Campaign 1980:TNG (Thursday Night Group) Lawyers for Reagan Advisory Group Reagan-Bush Transition 1980-81:Conflict of Interest Counsel Transition Team Leader - Office of Government Ethics White House Transition Team - Office of the Counsel to the President Panelist - Executive Briefing Bush-Quayle Campaign 1988: Republican National Convention - Legal Advisor Campaign Counsel - Senator Quayle Bush-Quayle Transition 1988-89:Deputy Director Bush-Quayle Campaign 1992: Senior Legal Advisor Dole-Kemp Campaign 1996:Republican National Convention - Legal Advisor Republican National Convention 2000:Counsel to the Republican National Committee Bush-Cheney Transition 2000-01Clearance Counsel

Mr. Fielding is an honors graduate of Gettysburg College and the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an Editor of the Law Review. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Detroit College of Law and Pepperdine University School of Law. He and his wife, Maria, have two children, recent college graduates, and reside in Arlington, Virginia.

Disclaimer: Content contained or made available through this web site is not intended to and does not constitute legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed, nor is anything submitted to any party through this web site treated as confidential. The accuracy, completeness and adequacy of information on this web site is not warranted or guaranteed. Biographic information on this web site is provided by the listees, and the RNLA does not review or confirm its accuracy. Determination of a need for legal services and selection of a lawyer should never be based only on review of biographic materials. The listing of "practice areas" by members on this web site does not mean either that the member is an expert in that area, or that any organization has certified the member as being a specialist or competent in that area. No representation is made that the quality of legal services performed by members is greater than the quality of other lawyers. Neither RNLA nor its officers or employees assume any liability, whether arising from contract, negligence, or otherwise.

Letter Accepting the Resignation of Fred F. Fielding as Counsel to the President

With great regret at your departure, and gratitude for your invaluable guidance and advice for more than five years, I accept your resignation as Counsel to the President.

I will miss your wise counsel and good judgement. Your service as the President's lawyer has exemplified the highest traditions both of the legal profession and of American public service. As your ``only client,'' I appreciate as no one else can the enormity and variety of your contribution to the historic accomplishments we have been able to achieve for the American people.

We live in an era in which law pervades virtually every aspect of public policy, and public scrutiny of government is more intense than at any time in our Nation's history. Countless problems of every size and scope and substantive dimension were entrusted to you -- and handled properly and effectively. Your foresight and timely guidance prevented countless other challenges from ever becoming problems at all.

At times of crisis, yours was a voice of calm and reason. Your intellect, skill, and tact mixed with warm personal qualities of compassion and good humor enabled you to discharge your duties with uncompromising integrity and a deep and unviolated respect for the innumerable confidences with which you were entrusted.

Under your guidance, the lawyers on your staff became a reflection of the man they served, establishing a standard and reputation for excellence and professionalism throughout the government. In many ways, your term of service has not only brought distinction to the office you held, but has actually helped define it and provide a model for any who would take on its manifold responsibilities in the future.

As you return to the private practice of law, you can look back with well earned pride and satisfaction on the service you have rendered, not simply to me, and to our Nation, but to the very institution of the Presidency.

I know that I will be able to seek your counsel and call upon you in the future. But for now, you leave the White House with the abiding affection and respect of Nancy and me, and with our very best wishes for you, Maria, and your children Adam and Alexandra.

America The Beautiful
Katharine Lee Bates wrote the original version in 1893.

She wrote the 2nd version in 1904.

Her final version was written in 1913.

Here is a note from Katharine Lee Bates:

"One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip

to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon.

Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules.

I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy.

All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse."

America the Beautiful - 1913
O beautiful for spacious skies, 
For amber waves of grain, 
For purple mountain majesties 
Above the fruited plain! 
America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. 
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life! 
America! America!
May God thy gold refine 
Till all success be nobleness 
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years 
Thine alabaster cities gleam 
Undimmed by human tears! 
America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee 
And crown thy good with brotherhood 
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America ! America !
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through 
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life !
America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain 
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears! 
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again 
Thy whiter jubilee!

 These verses contributed by Robert Fitzpatrick

of The Falmouth Historical Society,

who maintain a museum

at her former home on Main Street.

Many of these photos and graphics were sent to me from people all over the world after be forwarded,

and re-forwarded. I don't have the credits for most of them. If you know who should get the credit,