Smorgasbord Saturday

• "My Occupy LA Arrest"/Patrick Meighan, Family Guy
• "Thousands Sterilized, North Carolina Weighs Restitution"/Kim Severson, New York Times
• "Idaho Supreme Court will decide Bujak documents case"/Kristin Rodine, Idaho Statesman
• "NPR Music's 100 Favorite Songs of 2011"/Music Staff, NPR
• "Accounts of a Massacre, Saved From Junkyard Flames"/Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times
• "An Early Holiday Hangover"/Gail Collins, New York Times
• "Has Gingrich ever heard an idea he didn't like?"/Eugene Robinson, Washington Post
• "Extended labor peace a credit to Selig"/Richard Justice, MLB.com

TDIH: Pearl Harbor (70th Anniversary)

As today marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entering World War II, I thought the best place to find material to share would be the records from Hawaii. First word of the attack came through official channels and began the sending of this naval dispatch from the ranking United States naval officer in Pearl Harbor. This image is available through the Library of Congress American Memory website and comes from the papers of Admiral John Jennings Ballentine (1896-1970).

A simple search on the American Memory page for 'Pearl Harbor' brought up 859 items, though surely there are hundreds more related to the attack as well as our involvement in World War II. I highly recommend taking a look at their site and the items available on the site of the National American History Museum website, not just today on the 70th anniversary of this historic event, but as often as you have time. These items exist for us to examine and study so that we do not lose our understanding of history over generations.

To the men and women who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as those who subsequently joined the armed forces, out of patriotism, duty or conscription, we will never forget you. Yours is our story.