"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Birthdays Today

General James Doolittle was born today in 1896.   Doolittle's raid in April 1942, in which carrier-based B-17s bombed Tokyo in retaliation for Pearl Harbor did little damage, but did much to bolster American morale at a low point of the war. 



Also born today, in 1935, was the actress Lee Remick, one of my favorites.  Possibly the saddest movie I've ever seen is the movie Days of Wine and Roses, where she plays Jack Lemmon's beautiful young wife who slides inexorably into alcoholism.   Here's a short clip:


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