Gun Safety Lesson

http://youtu.be/am-Qdx6vky0

This video, while not new, was new to me.  The officer is giving a gun safety demonstration in a classroom and shoots himself with a gun he said was unloaded after touting his superior knowledge of gun safety.  Not content with having proven himself wrong, he tries to get his assistant to bring him an assault rifle which - he swears - is unloaded.  Not surprisingly, his audience begins to panic when the gun is held out for him and it appears more sensible adults bring the lesson to a close.

Book Review - The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley (non-fiction 2009)

Another entertaining read by the author of "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Flyboys."  The text is 333 pages with many illustrations and helpful maps plus substantial endnotes to sources. 

The book uses a 1905 cruise of the USS Manchuria to Hawaii, the Philippenes, Japan, Korea and China by Secretary of War and future President and Supreme Court Justice William Taft, Presidential daughter Alice Roosevelt and a host of congressional leaders as the backdrop for an analysis of how the seeds of Japanese military expansion that led to the Pacific theatre of World War II stemmed from the racial prejudices and secret diplomatic scheming of then president Teddy Roosevelt.

While the title and cover photo suggest the emphasis of the book is on the events of the cruise, that is not the case.  Instead, it is a comprehensive review of Roosevelt's background and prejudices, what caused them, how they were common for the age, and how they affected future events in the Pacific region.  Bradley's central thesis is that Roosevelt saw the Japanese as different than other asian peoples (such as Filipinos, Koreans, and Chinese) in their swift embrace of western dress, customs, and ambitions.  He saw them more like Western Europeans (honorary arayans) and thus worthy of encouraging to imperialistic ambition.

The book contains extensive discussion of American imperialism in action in Hawaii and the Philippenes, as well as significant background on the Russo-Japanese War and Japanese expansion into Korea and Taiwan.

Manifest destiny, the Monroe Doctrine, the Age of Imperialism and Roosevelt's own "Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick" philosophy are, in the author's view, all at the root of Japanese expansionism in the 1930's and 1940's.  The author contends the Japanese did what they did only after being secretly encouraged to do so by (Teddy) Roosevelt. 

The book is informative, well argued and entertaining.  It is written for a popular audience, not academics.  On the five star rating scale, I rate it 3 1/2 to 4 stars.