Edible Pearl Harbor Sculpture?

Edible Pearl Harbor Sculpture?

By Walter J. Haan, www.war-books.com, www.southfarmpress.com

Last month while visiting in the beautiful Hudson Valley in New York State, I came across the fall issue of a beautifully produced magazine: Edible Hudson Valley. While flipping through the pages I came across an article about art made from food and there was one photo that shocked me. In it was a sculpture of the twin towers made from cheese with a little plastic or metal plane wired to look as if it was crashing into one of the towers.

I thought this so tasteless I couldn't help but wonder what possessed the magazine to show the art, or what the artist was thinking when he or she created it. And today being the 68th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, thanks to my seeing that photo, I can't help thinking about how an artist could mark this day in cheese.

Here's what I came up with: A piece of cheese sculpted to look like the battleship USS Arizona sinking in the harbor as a Japanese plane is shown flying above. The Arizona could be made from white cheddar cheese to symbolize America's majority white race and the plane could be sculpted from yellow cheddar cheese to denote the yellow peril that the Japanese were thought to be during World War II. What do you think?

Obviously I am completely disgusted with food art that depicts wartime death.

A much better idea on this day would be to read about the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Southfarm Press published Till War Do Us Part by Frank and Mary Bogart, ISBN: 978-0-913337-24-0, describing the Bogarts' Pearl Harbor experiences during the attack. The Bogarts were newlyweds living in Honolulu when the Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor. Frank was aboard his ship the USS Gamble, an old four-stack destroyer minesweeper. Though only a lieutenant j.g., Frank was the senior officer on duty. Mary, pregnant and at home in Waikiki, awoke to the roar of enemy planes and explosions all around her. It would be weeks before the two would see one another again.

The book is available only at www.war-books.com and there are a few copies still available. Till War Do Us Part is the Bogarts' wartime experiences, told by both of them in alternate chapters.
I promise you it's not cheesy. Copyright 2009 by Walter Haan, www.war-books.com, www.southfarmpress.com

New York City Veteran's Day perspective

New York City Veteran's Day perspective
By Carrie C.

I received several responses to my cynical posting yesterday about Veteran's Day hypocrites. You know, those who view the holiday as an opportunity to shop instead of taking some time to honor our veterans. My favorite response follows here and is from my friend Carrie C. Thank you Carrie for this.

Sincerely,
Walter Haan, www.war-books.com, www.southfarmpress.com


New York City Veterans Day perspective: (although I was disgusted to see Banana Republic decked out in its Christmas finery last night)

The NYC Veteran's Day Parade is staging and starting in Madison Park and all along 26th Street; so at 8am it was my coffee cart guy and a lot of cops! 8:30 the classic cars assembled, getting their final polishings on this crisp fall day, first day I could smell leaves in the air! By 9am the Harley's where rolling in, thundering so that our 7th floor skyscraper windows shook! By 9:30 the soldiers from the armory, one block away, started lining the streets and we, the Americans in the office, took off for downstairs to walk around the block and "get coffee."

We headed west on 26th past the gleaming cars and the huge Harley's, thanking our way through throngs of Veteran bikers, age range 40 - 80+, and assembling 1/69th Infantry http://www.69inf.com/ (our neighbors on Lexington Avenue).

We walked through Madison Park, surrounded by marching bands of all branches and a huge number of ROTC and High School ROTC groups waiting to march. To avoid a line of Marines (in full dress blues) marching past and saluting the memorial statue on the west side of the park, we moved onto the grass to let them pass, only to find ourselves behind the stage on Broadway where the televised start of the parade speeches was under way.

An order was barked, words unclear but a drum roll started, fading out as the Star Spangled Banner started; in an eerie and awe inspiring moment the only sound we could hear, as we were surrounded, was a swoosh, if you will, of 1,000+ arms moving to salute formation. We were frozen momentarily, recovered and then put hands to heart as the entire park stood statue still; even the lone errant delivery guy sensed something was up and paused to look around before continuing on his way, albeit much more slowly.

The band leaders and company commanders began to organize their troops, groups to head out of the park to 5th Avenue. We decided to get out of their way (even in parade mode, being faced with 1,000+ soldiers is a bit, well gulp!) and returned to our office, with a last glimpse of the crowds of supporters, waving their flags and their "We love you!" banners. It was then I realized with pride why I love my city.

I planned to share a briefer encounter with you but I returned to your email and as I sat at my 7th floor desk, I was still able to hear the beating of the drums from 5th Avenue, not in my head but through the window! I felt it very necessary to let you know that while yes, today will be celebrated by a serious amount of hypocrites grabbing their discount junk off the shelves of Wal-Mart, in NYC we honor veterans today for the right reasons!

Happy Veterans Day and thank you to all who have served, their families and those who support them!

Thank you, Carrie.

Copyright 2009 by Walter Haan, www.war-books.com, www.southfarmpress.com

Attention Veterans Day hypocrites: big sales today

By Walter Haan, www.war-books.com, www.southfarmpress.com

Hey there, calling all Veterans Day hypocrites. Big sales today, many in honor of Veterans Day. Get out there and shop on the backs of veterans, those alive and dead, who gave you the opportunity to be callous and ignore them.

News flash: Kohls is starting its Christmas sales today on Veterans Day. Though the ads don't mention Veterans Day, the chain knows you're all hopped up to spend money today. So get out there and buy meaningless stuff. Speed past the local Veterans Cemetery to get there as fast as possible so you won't miss the big buys.

Or perhaps you'll be passing a VA Hospital or medical facility. I hope all those slow driving, elderly veterans don't get in your way as you speed off to Macy's or Wal-Mart. Ever visit a VA Hospital or medical facility? Stop in and see the veterans waiting to have blood drawn. Elderly men and women, some not dressed well, some not looking well, patiently and cheerfully waiting their turns. Staffs at VA medical facilities are professional, caring and kind to the veterans, among whom are suddenly appearing young people who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But you don't care about that. You care about a big sale on denims or blouses or sneakers which you call "cool boots."

You don't care about those who have served, just as long as it wasn't you or one of your family members. And that's why you won't support a draft in this country because, horror of all horrors, someone you care about might have to serve.

All day yesterday ABC Radio hyped that it was the 40th anniversary of the start of Sesame Street. This news was repeated all day, as if it was important in the scheme of things, like what happened last week at Fort Hood. Are you giving any thought to that while loading your basket in the toiletries aisle at CVS?

Happy Veterans Day all you hypocrites who at best give only lip service to veterans and their very real sacrifices. Copyright 2009 by Walter Haan, www.war-books.com, www.southfarmpress.com

Books cost too much? Or do they cost too little?

Books cost too much? Or do they cost too little?

By Walter Haan, www.war-books.com, www.southfarmpress.com

I was traveling recently and stopped into an airport book shop to look around while waiting for a connecting flight. The selection at airport book shops doesn’t approach the volume of offerings at independent book shops on the strasse or chain stores in the malls or big box book stores. But even while looking at a limited selection of books, I came to the conclusion that books cost too much at the retail level.
And, don’t forget, I have published both hardcover and trade paperback books for 25 years.

I decided that even I can’t afford hardcover books at $30+ or trade paperback books at $15+. Yet I publish $30 hardcovers (Janey: A Little Plane in a Big War and The Grasshopper That Roared, are examples) and trade paperbacks that cost $15 or more (Abe Lincoln and the Frontier Folk of New Salem and Flying Low, are examples). We always knew we couldn’t charge more than $30 for a hardcover book. But a lot of big publishers do.

Of course the books I publish at Southfarm Press are basically niche books for limited audiences, books that larger publishers would not publish for just that reason. They figured they couldn’t make enough money on them. Smaller publishers such as Southfarm have a better chance.

How is a hardcover book priced? If the retail price is $30, the book’s distributor normally takes $12 (Amazon.com demands, $16.50). That leaves $18 to pay a royalty to the author, to pay the printer, to pay the book cover designer and to pay for advertising and promotion. The printer could easily be due $8, leaving $10 for the rest of those I listed above. And I haven’t even mentioned a profit for the publisher, in this case, namely me.

Meanwhile in the book publishing world, Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon.com are busy competing with one another by selling ten new hardcover titles as low as $8.98. In a letter to the antitrust division of the Department of Justice this past Tuesday, the American Booksellers Association asked for the government to begin an investigation into what the ABA believes is illegal predatory pricing by Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon.com. The ABA charges in its letter that the predatory, below cost, pricing practices used by these three retailers (who all sell a lot more than books) are devaluing the very concept of the book and that their fight could result in the entire book industry becoming collateral damage.

It will be interesting to see how the Department of Justice responds to the ABA letter.

Yes, I think $30 for a hardback is too much to charge but as you can see with my figures above, publishers have no choice, especially smaller publishers. But $8.98 is way too little to charge. If that were the average retail price for hardcovers across the board, I’d have to go out of business.

I came to another conclusion when I was in that airport bookshop: As far as fiction is concerned, the consumer would be better off to wait for the movie and DVD to come out than pay $30 for the hardcover book. After all, DVDs can cost less than half that amount.

The argument for reading just took another hit.

Copyright © 2009 by Walter Haan. (www.war-books.com and www.southfarmpress.com)

9-11 instrumental in censorship by US government agencies

9-11 instrumental in censorship by US government agencies

By Walter Haan, www.war-books.com

Today is the eighth anniversary of that terrible day on September 11, 2001 when Muslim terrorists high jacked four American passenger planes and steered three of them into famous buildings, the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Three thousand lives were lost, others were injured, downtown Manhattan in New York City was enveloped in an atmosphere of poisonous clouds.

Little known is that the 9-11 attacks combined with the Anthrax mailing attacks soon thereafter led to censorship in the American marketplace. To limit incoming mail that might be sent by terrorists, the US Government stopped buying from smaller vendors, including smaller publishers, as if smaller firms might be terrorists too.

The government after 9-11 would only buy from larger firms and wholesalers that would combine shipments from various sources into larger packages or crates.

Southfarm Press got a taste of that with Smithsonian Institution Stores. The Smithsonian Stores had been buying from Southfarm since the late 1980s. Southfarm titles purchased by the Smithsonian Shops included Ghost Ship: The Confederate Raider Alabama (1989), one other Civil War title, World War II title Janey: A Little Plane in a Big War (1998), and our World War II and Vietnam War Trivia Books.

But suddenly after 9-11, it all changed. We had published four history books in 2001 and that fall sent samples to the Smithsonian buyer we had been dealing with for years. After I was sure he had time to receive the books and examine them, I called to get his opinion about the books and how they might do in the Smithsonian Shops in the Air & Space Museum and the American History Museum. I was in for a surprise.

The buyer became cagey over the phone. Yes, he had received the books. Yes, he liked them and thought they should be in the shops, especially our American Revolutionary War book, Times of Brother Jonathan (2001) by Dudley C. Gould. But he was no longer able to buy Southfarm Press books. No, he could or would not give a reason other than to refer to the times.

I interpreted that to mean the US government had instituted a new policy: To limit exposure to potential attacks through the US Mail and other shipping services, an economic boycott of books published and sold by smaller publishers was put in place. Its byproduct was censorship imposed by the US government. I am certain books from larger publishers such as Simon & Schuster or from the large wholesalers such as Baker & Taylor weren’t eliminated from the mix of offerings at Smithsonian Shops.

We never did get our history or aviation history books on the shelves of the Smithsonian Institution shops again. We experienced similar difficulties with other US government book buyers.

In comparison to the destruction and loss of lives on 9-11, you might be excused for thinking that what I’m writing about is a small thing. But any action by the US government that leads to censorship is no small thing in my opinion. Copyright © 2009 by Walter Haan; www.war-books.com

Are Veterans like brackish puddles to be stepped over by America's privileged?

By Walter Haan, www.war-books.com

I was at the VA on Friday to see my doctor. She prescribed medicine and I had to wait 30 minutes for it. I've waited longer at CVS for prescriptions that were called in hours ago.

When I went to the window to receive the medicines, the pharmacist asked my address just to be certain the medicines were going to the right person. So I gave her my address, including my town.

As I waited at the elevator to go down to the ground floor, another veteran in the waiting room, 10 to 15 years younger than me, asked for a ride to my downtown. I agreed to drop him off.

We talked while I drove. We both had been at Fort Gordon for training. We both have had the same illness recently, and the VA is treating him. He's had Hep C, doesn't have a car or job. His first wife died of Hep C. He had liked being in the military because it gave him direction and had grown up on the streets of the Bronx.

I felt very sad after dropping him off. He was in the military after the Vietnam War ended in the mid 70s and I would guess that nothing has gone right for him since the military.

It made me think of the current crop of American servicemen now in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wondered what their lives will be like 15, 20 years from now without education, without association or connections with men and women from other sections of society. Probably not that good.

But this is what happens when we don't have a draft and the privileged of this country allow, even encourage, men and women with limited futures to enlist for death, injury or even more questionable futures after they serve. And of course we've lost 40+ men in Afghanistan this month, making August 2009 the deadliest month for American troops in that country in years.

I've seen headlines recently that ask whether Afghanistan will be Obama's Vietnam. That's the wrong question. It should be: Will America be even more divided, the haves versus the have nots, 20 years from now, with ill, homeless veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq roaming our streets. And will privileged Americans continue to step over our veterans in inner cities as if they were brackish puddles? My bet is they will. --Copyright 2009 by Walter Haan; www.war-books .com

Teddy Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy against "Clean Gene" McCarthy

Teddy Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy against “Clean Gene” McCarthy

By Walter Haan, www.war-books.com

The media is full of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy today. Not only that, memories of his brothers, President John Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, are laced into the Teddy stories.

I went to my desk to pull out a file I hadn’t looked at since 2006: my collection of articles about Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota. McCarthy was the man who stood in the way of Bobby obtaining the Democratic nomination for president in 1968. McCarthy challenged President Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 New Hampshire primary over the Vietnam War. Bobby stood back, too afraid of challenging Johnson over Vietnam, worried that challenging Johnson at that time would hurt his chances of running for president later when it was safer.

McCarthy took 42% of the vote in that New Hampshire primary, only 7% shy of Johnson’s total. But it was viewed as a McCarthy victory because of the closeness: an unknown Minnesota senator and poet had almost beaten Johnson, a sitting president. By doing that, he had defeated Johnson.

Suddenly, Johnson bowed out of the race and Bobby announced his intention to run for president in the remaining Democratic primaries. The problem for the Kennedys now was to get rid of McCarthy. Part of that effort included sending Edward Teddy Kennedy to meet with Eugene McCarthy and his wife Abigail to convince McCarthy to bow out and the hope was that McCarthy might say something damaging to himself during their talk. Ted Kennedy was wired to catch any misstep McCarthy might make. Abigail threw Teddy out of the room.

The crux of the disagreement between McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy has echoed through the years: Kennedy’s followers considered him courageous. McCarthy’s supporters saw Bobby Kennedy as opportunistic. And Bobby wasn’t above using Teddy to get dirt on “Clean Gene,” as he was known. And Teddy wasn’t above participating in a McCarthy smear.

This is what I remember about Teddy Kennedy and Bobby.

McCarthy said the following about the Vietnam War on December 2, 1967: “…a war of questionable legality and questionable constitutionality, a war which is diplomatically indefensible…a war which cannot be defended in the context of the judgment of history…a war which is not defensible even in military terms…Finally it is a war which is morally wrong.”

Over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War.

We needed a Republican McCarthy clone during the Presidency of George W. Bush and the Iraqi War. But there were no Republicans in the Federal government with the balls of Eugene McCarthy.

Nearly 5,000 Americans have died in the Iraqi War.

For the next few days the lionizing of Teddy Kennedy will continue. I hope I don’t throw up. –Copyright © 2009 by Walter Haan; www.war-books.com