[2010-12-16 12:00:00] How did family jealousy culminate in the assassination of one of America's greatest presidents? We'll find out this hour with historian Nora Titone, whose new book is "My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth That Led to an American Tragedy" (Free Press, 2010).
[If] it seems that the acting profession has never been filled with more vile representations of the human race, one particularly atrocious case has generally escaped popular memory. Because 145 years ago, an actor who was the Steven Segal of his day shot the president of the United States in the back of the head and killed him, for no greater reason, author Nora Titone posits in her recently released first book "My Thoughts Be Bloody," than that he was jealous of an older brother. Even before Abraham Lincoln's assassination at the hands of hack actor John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, writes Titone (who attended Castilleja School in Palo Alto from 1986 to 1990), actors were considered to be of the same class as prostitutes and thieves. Patrons flocked to theaters to forget the brutality of the ongoing Civil War for a short time, but when, for example, it was discovered that Lincoln's head had rested in actress Laura Keene's lap as a doctor removed bullet fragments, she was called a jezebel, was shunned for the rest of her acting career and, deeply in debt, died from a tubercular hemorrhage.
The other day, WNYC's "It's a Free Country" covered the author's work, her book, and her story, on the whole:
This morning on The Brian Lehrer Show, Commander Beth Coye, former naval officer and author of My Navy Too, reacted to the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy affecting gay servicemen and women. Since retiring from the military, Beth Coye has been a tireless advocate for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." It's surprising to note that one of her childhood friends has also been one of her biggest opponents: John McCain. On Saturday, the Arizona Senator gave what is likely among the last in a long line of speeches against allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Of all the politicians in Washington, McCain has been the most recalcitrant about repealing DADT, by turns citing the need for further studies, consultations with top brass, and the status quo as reasons not to abandon the policy just yet. While frustrated by the foot-dragging, Coye says that a lifetime in the military lets her see where McCain and others are coming from.
ALMOST 70 years ago, Johnny McCain and Beth Coye, ages 5 and 4, played together on the sands of the Panama Canal Zone. Their mothers, Roberta and Betty, were part of the Navy's submarine family and no doubt were discussing the possibility of their husbands going off to war as the children frolicked in the sands.
Coye closes with: "The American people now welcome gay men and lesbians to the table: More than 89 percent believe gay men and lesbians should have equal rights in the workplace. The Pentagon's exhaustive report found that 70 percent of troops do not believe the change would have a negative impact on morale, and troop readiness would not be affected. The Pentagon Study Group is convinced that our military can repeal DADT, even during this time of war. We can only hope that John will take off his blinders and welcome us to the table, too."
December 06, 2010 - Hugh Shelton Views: 186,486 Aired: 12/06/10 Episode 15154 Tulsa renames its holiday parade, and Hugh Shelton discusses civilian control of the military.
[2010-12-06 12:00:00] What does it take to survive the worst the world can dish out and still manage to go on to lead a happy life? We'll hear the remarkable story of Louis Zamperini this hour with author Laura Hillenbrand. Her new book is "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" (Random House, 2010).
The U.S. military has used video games to help train their personnel — and to help boost recruiting. Now the experiences of Navy corpsmen have spawned a new graphic novel, published by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Medicine. As the KPBS blog Home Post reports, The Docs was born out of a desire to prepare new corpsmen for the mental stress of combat. And that stress is substantial. Corpsmen are often called on both to fight and to try to save the lives of wounded Marines. As Jamie Reno of KPBS writes, surveys of U.S. combat personnel show that "at the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007, corpsmen were exposed to more intense combat than any other Navy component."
758 August 19 What If You Threw A Peace And Nobody Came? Michael Blum, Jon Krakauer "Three million eggs have been recalled. I'd hate to be guy in charge of getting them back into that chicken. This is The Colbert Report." 6106
CHARLIE ROSE: Sebastian Junger is here. He’s the author of the
bestselling books "The Perfect Storm" and "A Death in Belmont." A
contributing editor to "Vanity Fair" magazine, he has spent a lot of time
reporting in Afghanistan both before and after the U.S.-led invasion.
His new book is called simply "War." It is about a platoon of American
soldiers stationed in the isolated Korengal valley of eastern Afghanistan.
Welcome back.
SEBASTIAN JUNGER: Thank you.
CHARLIE ROSE: So there was a big story, and I brought in up with
Petraeus and other people, about Korengal valley. It was sacred land and
they did not want to leave it because?
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