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Letters: Punks, Diamondbacks, (un)happy hours, and the continuing Lindbergh discussion
What Was with the Tiny Plane?
Just a word about the Lindbergh mural article in SD on the QT — “Clean Air(ports)”. Lindbergh was far from being pro-Nazi. He, in fact, flew 50 missions in the Pacific (combat) as a civilian and helped pilots get much more range out of their aircraft. He was also an isolationist (as was his dad), but saw the German war machine as advanced and something we needed to prepare to confront.
As an artist myself, I sure like the new mural and never liked the old Lindy work — what was with the tiny plane? Anyway, he had his quirks but was not a Nazi sympathizer.
- Dan W.
- via snail mail
Punk Nostalgia
This is regarding Jay Allen Sanford’s article about the punk scene in the early ’80s (Blurt: “Mad Marc’s Unexpected Paths”).
I distinctly recall, having been alive and well then, that the Cockpits played at Porter’s Pub at UCSD. Later — I’m not sure if they were they Dinettes by then — they played in an old decommissioned church on Sixth Avenue. And the Cardiac Kidz played at the Back Door at UCSD.
There was a lot of punk activity going on, but it wasn’t all in bars. Some of it was in clubs, like the one on Adams Avenue that was some men’s club, and when they weren’t using it they had parties with punk bands there.
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
The San Diego Diamondbacks
Your article with the catchy title “The Wizard of SpanOz” (SD on the QT) aroused my attention. However, before I could even get into the subject matter, I was immediately shocked by the description of the team that the Padres were playing, namely the San Francisco Dodgers. Really? The San Francisco Dodgers!? What’s next? The San Diego Diamondbacks?
Not even the most uninformed person living in any part of Northern or Southern California living under a rock would have let that one slip by without raising an eyebrow. Luckily, this article wasn’t printed in Los Angeles or San Francisco. You may have had a backlash rivaling the Donald Sterling horror story!
This is such an injustice to a sports rivalry that dates back many decades to the East Coast. Maybe the editor should spend less time with creative article titles, do some simple proofreading, and getting the accurate facts in your articles. Sorry to say, reading the rest of the article became unimportant by the glaring mistake left in the beginning for the whole world to see.
- Mark S. Bowman
- University Heights
SD on the QT is the Reader’s “Almost Factual News” feature. — Editor
Shut Down
Who makes up the happy hour listings? The Escondido Sports Pub got shut down over a year ago and keeps getting run. Makes me wonder how much I trust the other listings.
- PKiefer
- Escondido
Lindbergh v. Roosevelt
Read James P. Duffy’s Lindbergh v. Roosevelt for a more balanced view about Lindbergh than that of Mr. Demsky (Letters, May 22).
On what basis does letter writer Jeffrey Demsky allege that Charles Lindbergh merely “sortied alongside American fighters”?
According to my 93-year-old brother-in-law, a Marine fighter pilot during WWII and winner of two DFCs himself, Lindbergh, acting as a consultant for American aircraft manufacturers, repeatedly flew actual combat missions with both Marine and Army Air Forces in the South Pacific, and had several kills to his credit.
Demsky suggests Roosevelt “pulled his ticket” on Lindbergh’s Army aviation commission but fails to mention that the reason was that Lindbergh was a consultant for the cross-country air mail contractors that Roosevelt, without notice or just cause “nationalized.”
Appearing before Congress, representing his clients, Lindbergh asserted that Army aviation did not have the equipment or skills (not to mention the mission) to deliver air mail. Lindbergh knew of what he spoke as he was a veteran postal pilot himself. And he was a colonel in the Army Air Force and a graduate of the AAF advanced fighter school.
Lindbergh was apparently correct, since 14 U.S. Army pilots crashed and died attempting to carry out Roosevelt’s attempt to demonstrate his sophomoric view of communism.
Thoroughly embarrassed by the deaths of the pilots, Roosevelt blamed his postmaster general (who had opposed the move) and fired him. And he vowed to ruin Lindbergh’s sterling reputation as well — something he apparently accomplished when we read comments like Demsky’s.
As to Lindbergh’s relationship with Germany, Germany, along with every other European country, awarded Lindbergh their top civilian aviation award for his transatlantic flight. Lindbergh accepted the award with the approval of Roosevelt and the Department of Defense because they asked Lindbergh to accept invitations to visit Germany, a country with which we were not at war at the time, to spy out anything he could about Germany’s aviation posture. His reports were accurate: the Germans were simply way ahead of the rest of the world in aviation capability as were the Japanese.
After repeatedly milking Lindbergh’s access for its intelligence value, Roosevelt turned around and cold-bloodedly recharacterized Lindbergh’s DOD-requested amateur spying trips by accusing Lindbergh of being “pro German” for accepting the award, making the trips, and accurately reporting they were ahead in aircraft development and production.
Lindbergh was not only a great pilot but a genius at aircraft engineering and manufacturing, who repeatedly volunteered to help the U.S. war effort catch up with the Germans. Roosevelt refused Lindbergh’s help, thereby needlessly extending the German edge unnecessarily killing many courageous young Americans like Joseph Kennedy Junior, all to suit a personal political snit.
Whatever Lindbergh’s personal animus toward a war against Germany, it was shared by the overwhelming majority of Americans who painfully remembered the killing fields of WWI less than two decades earlier involving the same parties.
Americans remained vehemently against the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor, credibly alleged (read Day of Deceit) to have been engineered by Roosevelt himself to change the tide of American opinion.
Thus, Lindbergh was not an outlier in that regard — Roosevelt was (though he lied about it). Lindbergh was a courageous patriot, a genius in the building and operation of aircraft, and an honest man.
If you don’t believe it, just read up on James Farley, Roosevelt’s scapegoat and the man who was most responsible for Roosevelt’s election and lived to regret it.
- Larry Stirling
- Mission Hills
Here's something you might be interested in.
Letters: Punks, Diamondbacks, (un)happy hours, and the continuing Lindbergh discussion
Letters: Punks, Diamondbacks, (un)happy hours, and the continuing Lindbergh discussion
What Was with the Tiny Plane?
Just a word about the Lindbergh mural article in SD on the QT — “Clean Air(ports)”. Lindbergh was far from being pro-Nazi. He, in fact, flew 50 missions in the Pacific (combat) as a civilian and helped pilots get much more range out of their aircraft. He was also an isolationist (as was his dad), but saw the German war machine as advanced and something we needed to prepare to confront.
As an artist myself, I sure like the new mural and never liked the old Lindy work — what was with the tiny plane? Anyway, he had his quirks but was not a Nazi sympathizer.
- Dan W.
- via snail mail
Punk Nostalgia
This is regarding Jay Allen Sanford’s article about the punk scene in the early ’80s (Blurt: “Mad Marc’s Unexpected Paths”).
I distinctly recall, having been alive and well then, that the Cockpits played at Porter’s Pub at UCSD. Later — I’m not sure if they were they Dinettes by then — they played in an old decommissioned church on Sixth Avenue. And the Cardiac Kidz played at the Back Door at UCSD.
There was a lot of punk activity going on, but it wasn’t all in bars. Some of it was in clubs, like the one on Adams Avenue that was some men’s club, and when they weren’t using it they had parties with punk bands there.
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
The San Diego Diamondbacks
Your article with the catchy title “The Wizard of SpanOz” (SD on the QT) aroused my attention. However, before I could even get into the subject matter, I was immediately shocked by the description of the team that the Padres were playing, namely the San Francisco Dodgers. Really? The San Francisco Dodgers!? What’s next? The San Diego Diamondbacks?
Not even the most uninformed person living in any part of Northern or Southern California living under a rock would have let that one slip by without raising an eyebrow. Luckily, this article wasn’t printed in Los Angeles or San Francisco. You may have had a backlash rivaling the Donald Sterling horror story!
This is such an injustice to a sports rivalry that dates back many decades to the East Coast. Maybe the editor should spend less time with creative article titles, do some simple proofreading, and getting the accurate facts in your articles. Sorry to say, reading the rest of the article became unimportant by the glaring mistake left in the beginning for the whole world to see.
- Mark S. Bowman
- University Heights
SD on the QT is the Reader’s “Almost Factual News” feature. — Editor
Shut Down
Who makes up the happy hour listings? The Escondido Sports Pub got shut down over a year ago and keeps getting run. Makes me wonder how much I trust the other listings.
- PKiefer
- Escondido
Lindbergh v. Roosevelt
Read James P. Duffy’s Lindbergh v. Roosevelt for a more balanced view about Lindbergh than that of Mr. Demsky (Letters, May 22).
On what basis does letter writer Jeffrey Demsky allege that Charles Lindbergh merely “sortied alongside American fighters”?
According to my 93-year-old brother-in-law, a Marine fighter pilot during WWII and winner of two DFCs himself, Lindbergh, acting as a consultant for American aircraft manufacturers, repeatedly flew actual combat missions with both Marine and Army Air Forces in the South Pacific, and had several kills to his credit.
Demsky suggests Roosevelt “pulled his ticket” on Lindbergh’s Army aviation commission but fails to mention that the reason was that Lindbergh was a consultant for the cross-country air mail contractors that Roosevelt, without notice or just cause “nationalized.”
Appearing before Congress, representing his clients, Lindbergh asserted that Army aviation did not have the equipment or skills (not to mention the mission) to deliver air mail. Lindbergh knew of what he spoke as he was a veteran postal pilot himself. And he was a colonel in the Army Air Force and a graduate of the AAF advanced fighter school.
Lindbergh was apparently correct, since 14 U.S. Army pilots crashed and died attempting to carry out Roosevelt’s attempt to demonstrate his sophomoric view of communism.
Thoroughly embarrassed by the deaths of the pilots, Roosevelt blamed his postmaster general (who had opposed the move) and fired him. And he vowed to ruin Lindbergh’s sterling reputation as well — something he apparently accomplished when we read comments like Demsky’s.
As to Lindbergh’s relationship with Germany, Germany, along with every other European country, awarded Lindbergh their top civilian aviation award for his transatlantic flight. Lindbergh accepted the award with the approval of Roosevelt and the Department of Defense because they asked Lindbergh to accept invitations to visit Germany, a country with which we were not at war at the time, to spy out anything he could about Germany’s aviation posture. His reports were accurate: the Germans were simply way ahead of the rest of the world in aviation capability as were the Japanese.
After repeatedly milking Lindbergh’s access for its intelligence value, Roosevelt turned around and cold-bloodedly recharacterized Lindbergh’s DOD-requested amateur spying trips by accusing Lindbergh of being “pro German” for accepting the award, making the trips, and accurately reporting they were ahead in aircraft development and production.
Lindbergh was not only a great pilot but a genius at aircraft engineering and manufacturing, who repeatedly volunteered to help the U.S. war effort catch up with the Germans. Roosevelt refused Lindbergh’s help, thereby needlessly extending the German edge unnecessarily killing many courageous young Americans like Joseph Kennedy Junior, all to suit a personal political snit.
Whatever Lindbergh’s personal animus toward a war against Germany, it was shared by the overwhelming majority of Americans who painfully remembered the killing fields of WWI less than two decades earlier involving the same parties.
Americans remained vehemently against the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor, credibly alleged (read Day of Deceit) to have been engineered by Roosevelt himself to change the tide of American opinion.
Thus, Lindbergh was not an outlier in that regard — Roosevelt was (though he lied about it). Lindbergh was a courageous patriot, a genius in the building and operation of aircraft, and an honest man.
If you don’t believe it, just read up on James Farley, Roosevelt’s scapegoat and the man who was most responsible for Roosevelt’s election and lived to regret it.
- Larry Stirling
- Mission Hills