On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:05:37 -0500, Christopher D. Green wrote: > Mike Palij wrote: >> However, was the revolution and the removal of the Queen >> a popular revolt or was it a cynical power play by American >> businessmen to maintain their hegemony in Hawaii while being >> backed by the power of the U.S. military (U.S. Marines and >> Sailors were brought in by the local U.S. authority in order >> to "maintain order"; martial law was declared and, in essence, >> the U.S. military supported the "revolutionaries")? I will leave >> that question to those who are more familiar with the history of >> Hawaii to answer. > [snip] > There is a great little historical museum in Lihue, ... and > so gives, I think, a somewhat less "official" account of what happened n > 1893. Going by that description, one is left in no doubt that there was > no popular revolt against the Hawaiian monarchy. Indeed, the Queen was > the main bulwark against US political hegemony (Americans had already > seized economic hegemony). It was essentially a coup by US businessmen > who created a "crisis" that the US military would then have to come in > to "resolve."
Well, the victors often do get to write the history, that is, until that statute of limitations runs out and there are people capable of providing additional facts and interpretations. >> And I bet you thought that overthrowing foreign governments >> was a recent U.S. innovation. > > No, no, I never thought that. .... In fact, I think one could argue > that the US is the global overthrower-in-chief, taking over that > role from Britain around the start of the 20th century. Well, I was asking a rhetorical question but people do seem to forget this role that the U.S. has played. I think that every U.S. citizen should be able to name at least *two* contries/nations that the U.S. has intervened in either to overthrow the established government and/or install a government that it backed financially and militarily. Joan Warmbold's suggestion (MANY THANKS!) of reading Stephen Kinzer's book "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq" is one place to start and portions of it can be read on http://book.google.com : http://tinyurl.com/7ojvtq >> (for Bonus Points: what role was play by the family that owned >> what would become the Dole foods brand?) > > There remains a giant Dole "museum" (read: promotional theme park) on > the backside of Oahu, complete with "informative" plaques extolling the > foresight and wisdom of papa Dole. It's rather spooky, actually. I'd > love to know what nickname the Hawaiians have for it. Given that it's on the backside of Oahu, I think filling in the blank of "It's the ________ of Oahu/Hawaii/Earth." with a body part that is actually a hole. Mind the gas releases. >> Benjamin Franklin (1706; obscure Philadelphian - remembered in the >> saying "It's all about the Benjamins!") What, no recognition of Al Capone, American Entrepeneur? True, Capone never stole as much as current white collar criminals but I am sure many of them look to him for inspiration.. > Actually, Franklin was not originally from Philadelphia. He was born, > raised, and educated (after a fashion) in Boston. Yes, yes, we know. I'm sure he left Boston in order not to have his legacy tainted by the much-hated Red Sox baseball team. ;-) > He is one of the many > Philadelphian "auslanders" described in a fascinating (if somewhat > dated) book I'm now reading: /Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia/ > (E. Digby Baltzell, 1979), which purports to explain why it is that > Boston, despite its authoritarian, sometimes brutal, Puritan beginnings, > became the leading cultural and political city of the early US, while > Philadelphia (the "other" major early American city -- New York didn't > really get going until a bit later), I'll have to take a look at the book. This sounds somewhat strange to me given that New York City (New Amsterdam) was basically a "company town" (i.e., founded for doing business) and would become the first capital of the U.S. > with its early egalitarian and > tolerant Quaker character, has never been able to generate many great > national figures and civic institutions. Philadelphians will, of course, > be annoyed by this, but the authr provides some pretty stark statistical > contrasts early in the book. The author clearly has never attended a sporting event in Philly. "Egalitarian and tolerant Quaker character", indeed! >> Other notable events: >> (1961) In his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned >> against the rise of "the military-industrial complex." >> (NOTE: which appear to have gone unheeded) > > On the contrary, it seems to have been the blueprint followed by > successive American powerbrokers (not to be confused with governments, > though intermittently they go along for the ride) ever since. Well, let me make my point clearer: Eisenhower saw during his presidency that the military-industrial complex was already developing significant economic and political power and his warning was to the citizens of the U.S. who seem to not have heeded his warning. The military-industrial complex has grown significantly since then and has essentially thumbed its nose at Eisenhower and subsequent Presidents who may have tried to resist their influence (that is, if their major support was not from the military-industrial complex and related powers). >> And perhaps the most culturally significant event in the 20th century: >> (1984) The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the private use of home >> video cassette recorders to tape TV programs did not violate federal >> copyright laws. > > Which is, of course, why they had to make video tapes obsolete as fast a > possible, and replace them with a medium that is much more difficult to > record television shows onto: the DVD (which is now being made obsolete > as well). While that may be true, there is a solution available now (NOTE to early adopters) that can probably last for the next couple of decades unless the TV/Internet convergence occurs much sooner (for those that don't has a TV card presently in their PC). See: http://tinyurl.com/9jbfyh With content providers providing more shows and programming on the web, downloading such materials and playing it on your TV will be much easier and will depend more on the speed of your internet connection and storage devices (think in terms of terabytes). Make it a sundae. With vanilla ice cream, hot fudge sauce, low-fat whipped cream, and a cherry on top. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
