Rate the Readability of your Blog

ithoughtitwasmiddleschool

Ok, I am throwing out the Veterans Day post I worked on at lunch. Or maybe not.
I did see something amusing at The Field Negro. FN is a regular stop, and he usually makes for fun reading. I just wish he would quit saying A merry CA when he means Amerika.
So, he posted a site that will rate the readability of your blog. I don't know how this works, but FN is a graduate college student level.
Chamblee 54 is JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL. Maybe it is the text to pictures ratio, which is high at my site.


Veteran's Day is a bad day for a cynic.
On the one hand, I do appreciate living in The United States. With all its flaws, I have had a good life here, and the role that Veterans have played is to be honored.
On the other hand, politicians who deftly avoided the unpleasant reality of service often exploit Veterans for political mojo.
Veterans are often not treated well after they are through with their service. It is estimated that a quarter of the homeless are veterans. The services offered to wounded veterans returning from War is often lacking.
When I typed the second sentence, I thought of my great grandfather. He served with the Georgia State Troops in the War Between the States. I do prefer the USA to the CSA ( or whatever would have happened). Yet, the Union army had to prevail over the various Confederate Armies for this to happen. Do I dishonor my great grandfather by saying I am happy the other side won?
Veterans Day was originally Armistice Day. This was the day, 90 years ago, when the War to End All Wars ended.
World War I was a ghastly bloodbath, in which Millions died. It created many of the problems that plague us today. And I would be willing to bet that not one person in ten thousand today knows what it was about.
And yet, the men who fought in that conflict ( I don't think they had women soldiers then) deserve the same gratitude as those who fought in any other conflict.
The soldier...many of whom were drafted...doesn't get to choose which war to fight in. The sacrifice of the World War II soldier was just as great as the Vietnam fighter, but the appreciation given was much greater.
I grew up during Vietnam, and saw the national mood go from patriotic fight to dismayed resistance. By the time I was old enough to get drafted, the Paris accords had been signed. For better or worse, there went my chance.


Norman Mailer passed away the other day. His old sparring partner Gore Vidal said “Yet of all my contemporaries I retain the greatest affection for Norman as a force and as an artist. He is a man whose faults, though many, add to rather than subtract from the sum of his natural achievements." The World War II generation is leaving us at a rapid pace. Time is doing what Hitler could not do.