History

Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls ‘Authors’ Never Existed

March 16, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I thought that this article was interesting and that it might not be so far fetched.

Biblical scholars have long argued that the Dead Sea Scrolls were the work of an ascetic and celibate Jewish community known as the Essenes, which flourished in the 1st century A.D. in the scorching desert canyons near the Dead Sea. Now a prominent Israeli scholar, Rachel Elior, disputes that the Essenes ever existed at all â€” a claim that has shaken the bedrock of biblical scholarship.

Elior, who teaches Jewish mysticism at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, claims that the Essenes were a fabrication by the 1st century A.D. Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus and that his faulty reporting was passed on as fact throughout the centuries. As Elior explains, the Essenes make no mention of themselves in the 900 scrolls found by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947 in the caves of Qumran, near the Dead Sea. “Sixty years of research have been wasted trying to find the Essenes in the scrolls,” Elior tells TIME. “But they didn’t exist. This is legend on a legend.”

Elior contends that Josephus, a former Jewish priest who wrote his history while being held captive in Rome, “wanted to explain to the Romans that the Jews weren’t all losers and traitors, that there were many exceptional Jews of religious devotion and heroism. You might say it was the first rebuttal to anti-Semitic literature.” She adds, “He was probably inspired by the Spartans. For the Romans, the Spartans were the highest ideal of human behavior, and Josephus wanted to portray Jews who were like the Spartans in their ideals and high virtue.”

Click here and read the whole thing.

Mammoth Found in Los Angeles

February 19, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I thought that this was pretty cool. Think that I might have to take a walk on down to the George C. Page museum. Been a while since I got to see the tar pits.

Now, at least 10,000 years later, visitors in Los Angeles, California, can see the remains of “Zed,” a Columbian mammoth whose nearly intact skeleton is part of what is being described as a key find by archaeologists at Los Angeles’ George C. Page Museum.

Zed was discovered at a construction site in the heart of Los Angeles. An earth mover helping to build an underground parking garage near the L.A. County Museum of Art uncovered the mammoth’s skull, according to project director Christopher Shaw.

“The skull was hit and shaved off … by a scraper,” Shaw told CNN Thursday. “We don’t know just how smashed up it is, but it’s fairly intact because it’s a huge jacket we put it around.”

The mammoth’s fossil was among 16 deposits at the site that archaeologists wrapped, along with the surrounding dirt, in plaster jackets, creating 23 boxes weighing between 5 and 53 tons that were then lifted out intact.

The construction was being monitored by an archaeological consulting firm because the site is so close to the La Brea tar pits — an archeological site that has yielded 100 million bones belonging to 300 species of mammals and birds.

Construction on the parking garage began in 2006, but it took two more years for all the recovered materials to be handed over to researchers at the Page Museum, who began analyzing the various fossils in June, Shaw said.

“It’s very exciting for us because each one of these … could be different ages in the past 10,000 to 45,000 years,” Shaw said.

John Harris, the head curator of the Page Museum, publicly announced the finding of “a whole new treasure trove of fossils” on Wednesday. He described it as “the most important discovery” for the museum “of the last 90 years.”

Shaw said the announcement was made to “create interest” in the museum’s discovery.
Among the most interesting items is likely to be Zed, who is believed to have died in his late 40s. Mammoths are thought to have had an average lifespan of about 60 years.

Not all of Zed’s remains have been cleaned off and analyzed.

“Right now we have opened the plaster jacket of four sections that were excavated, including vertebrae and ribs and pelvis, one tusk and the lower jaw,” Shaw said. “It will take another six to 12 months to open everything.”

Shaw said both of Zed’s tusks were found intact, which is very rare.

“Previously, we’ve found mammoths but the tusk material was very poorly preserved,” Shaw said. “It’s very exciting to us to have these two complete, beautifully preserved tusks.”

Hitler Had Bad Gas

February 19, 2009 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

I first came across the story about Hitler’s flatulence problem in this post here. YNET expands upon it here:

A document discovered in Britain more than 60 years after it had been produced claims that Adolf Hitler, the late fuehrer of Nazi Germany, had horrible table manners and chronic intestinal gas.

The UK’s Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday that the document, currently up for auction in Britain, says the Nazi dictator would bite his nails and twist his moustache incessantly during mealtimes, but that he truly believed that he was the “greatest military genius of all time,” as Josef Goebbels had written of him.

The document consists of an interview with a Nazi official held by a British agent, and is dated three days after the fuehrer’s death. Its heading orders the document to be destroyed within 48 hours, but the British agent kept them in his home for over sixty years, where they were discovered before the house was sold.

The final days of Hitler’s life are recorded in vast detail in the interview and his reported homosexual inclinations are mentioned, as well as his overt fondness for Rudolph Hess. He is also said to have fraternized with women in a manner characterized by “passive masochism”.

The Nazi official interviewed said he believes Hitler was crazy, basing his opinion on at least 30 dinners the two shared. In his journal the official is said to have written, “Hitler eats rapidly, mechanically, for him food is merely an indispensable means of subsistence.”

It is too bad that these issues didn’t completely cripple him. The world would have been a better place.

Pearl Harbor Day

December 8, 2008 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Text of speech

“Mr. Vice President, and Mr. Speaker, and Members of the Senate and House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our Nation.

As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

But always will our whole Nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces- with the unbounding determination of our people- we will gain the inevitable triumph- so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. “

If you are unfamiliar with the attack on Pearl Harbor you can click on this link. I am thankful to my grandparent’s generation for the sacrifices that they made to protect our freedom today. It is wise to remember the past and to recognize the lessons learned from those days.

If there is one lesson we continue to learn it is that we always need to remain vigilant. Every generation has its challenges to face. Consider that for so many of us Pearl Harbor and the horrors of WWII are just history lessons learned in school and or from friends/family/neighbors. It is easy to forget the importance of these moments and to downgrade them as to being less significant.

Perhaps I’ll write more about this later, but for now I’ll reiterate my thanks again. And though it is not directly related to Pearl Harbor I’ll link again to Churchill and one of my favorite speeches. Here is a post in which I referred to it. But because I like it here is an excerpt and a link to the audio. Or try this one.

“we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,”Speech before Commons(June 4, 1940)

How To Deal With Pirates

November 23, 2008 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Michael Oren has an essay in the WSJ that discusses how to deal with pirates. Oren provides a historical context in which he addresses what a young U.S. did then and offers a suggestion for the current situation as well.

If you read the essay you’ll see that somethings never really change. Here is a brief excerpt.

The choice was excruciating. No longer protected by the British navy and lacking any gunboats of its own, the U.S. had no ready military option. Nor did it have international support. Jefferson’s attempt to create an international coalition together with European states was summarily rejected. Defenseless and internationally isolated, most Americans were opposed to devoting their scarce resources to building a navy and instead favored following the age-old European
custom of bribing the pirates — the euphemism was “tribute” — in exchange for safe passage. “Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform these enemies to mankind or crush them into non-existence,” an exasperated George Washington confided to his old comrade-in-arms, the Marquis de Lafayette.

Washington’s frustration could well be echoed today in the face of escalating assaults by pirates from Somalia. Over 90 such attacks have occurred this year alone — a three-fold increase since 2007 — resulting in the capture of 14 ships and 250 of their crew members. Among their prizes, the pirates have seized a Ukrainian freighter crammed with Soviet-made battle tanks and, most recently, the tanker Sirius Star with $100 million worth of Saudi crude in its holds. These shipments are now being held off the Somali coast where the pirates are bargaining for their return.

Superficially, at least, there are many differences between the Somali pirates and their Barbary predecessors. The Somali bandits have no declared state sponsors and no avowed religious pretext. Their targets are no longer principally American ships but flags of all nations, including those of Arab states. And they are more interested in ransoming cargoes of arms and oil than hapless sailors. Yet, no less than in the 18th century, 21st-century piracy threatens international trade and confronts the U.S. with complex questions.

Should the U.S. Navy, for example, actively combat the pirates, emulating the Indian warship that destroyed a Somali speedboat earlier this week? Can the U.S., which is already overstretched militarily in two conflicts, afford to assume responsibility for another open-ended operation in the same area? Or should America follow the example now being set by Saudi Arabia and various Asian states which, according to United Nations statistics, have paid $25 million to $30 million in ransoms to the pirates this year alone?

Crossposted here.

The Last Surviving US WW I Vet

November 12, 2008 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

We owe him and our other vets a debt of gratitude.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Frank Buckles considered it his duty to represent his fellow soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day.”I have to,” he told CNN, “because I’m the last living member of Americans” who fought in what was called The Great War.

Buckles, 107, who is the sole living U.S. World War I veteran, attended ceremonies Tuesday at the grave of Gen. John Pershing, the top U.S. commander in that war.

He was present for the first Veterans Day in 1918 — though it was originally called Armistice Day — that marked the end of WWI.

Buckles was warmly greeted with standing applause by those in uniform and others who had gathered for the commemoration, but he said he did not think the fuss was about him.
“I can see what they’re honoring, the veterans of World War I.”

“Time has passed very quickly to me,” he said after a wreath-laying. “I’ve had a lot of activity in the last 90 years.”