I have not written about Jesse Helms because, frankly, he was a racist, misogynistic homophobe and deserves no further attention. He warned the citizens of North Carolina, in an 1963 editorial, that “The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights." Jesse Helms never repented those sentiments. More recently he alleged that “Homosexuals are weak, morally sick wretches”, and he warned the voters of North Carolina that, “Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping and murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior”. Jess Helm’s loyalist are now feasting on the poverty of his legacy. 
Except part of that legacy now includes the story of Mr. Leslie Frank Eason III, a 51 year old chemist by training and buttoned down bureaucrat by nature; L.F. has spent his entire adult life buried deep inside the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, as a petty bourgeoisie functionary, avoiding the hot spotlight of celebrity that Jesse Helms spent his life chasing. L.F. was the Director, for the last twenty-nine years, of the Standards Laboratory on West Edenton Street in Raleigh, where he and his eight employees were the guardians of the North Carolina metric pound and the calculated inch and the measure of the moisture content of grain. It was not a post whose responsibilities encouraged celebrity. Quite the contrary, L.F.’s whole life was dedicated to specificity and minutia and obscurity. His hobbies were, like his job, detail obsessed - woodworking and working with stained glass and, giving perhaps a just hint of what was possible in his soul, motorcycles.
Except part of that legacy now includes the story of Mr. Leslie Frank Eason III, a 51 year old chemist by training and buttoned down bureaucrat by nature; L.F. has spent his entire adult life buried deep inside the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, as a petty bourgeoisie functionary, avoiding the hot spotlight of celebrity that Jesse Helms spent his life chasing. L.F. was the Director, for the last twenty-nine years, of the Standards Laboratory on West Edenton Street in Raleigh, where he and his eight employees were the guardians of the North Carolina metric pound and the calculated inch and the measure of the moisture content of grain. It was not a post whose responsibilities encouraged celebrity. Quite the contrary, L.F.’s whole life was dedicated to specificity and minutia and obscurity. His hobbies were, like his job, detail obsessed - woodworking and working with stained glass and, giving perhaps a just hint of what was possible in his soul, motorcycles.L.F.’s life reached its moment of moral crises after Jesse Helms died of vascular dementia early on Friday, July 4, 2008. Helms was 86 years old and his death was not unexpected. So it was not unexpected that on Sunday, July 6, North Carolina Governor, Democrat Mike Easley ordered that the state and national flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half staff for Monday and Tuesday, in Helms’ honor. And that was when L.F. unexpectedly began channeling George Hanson, the small town lawyer in the gold foot ball helmet from the movie “Easy Rider”.
Something irrational took hold of L.F. and drove him to compose and send the following email to his eight employees after midnight on Monday July 7. Evidently he did not feel what he had to say could wait until the dawn for a re-think. Perhaps he should have. He wrote, “Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week. This is in no way a political decision. I simply do not feel it is appropriate to honor a person whose epitaph of government service was to have voted against or blocked every civil rights issue that came before the US Congress. His doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice cost North Carolina and our Nation much that we may never regain."
Something irrational took hold of L.F. and drove him to compose and send the following email to his eight employees after midnight on Monday July 7. Evidently he did not feel what he had to say could wait until the dawn for a re-think. Perhaps he should have. He wrote, “Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week. This is in no way a political decision. I simply do not feel it is appropriate to honor a person whose epitaph of government service was to have voted against or blocked every civil rights issue that came before the US Congress. His doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice cost North Carolina and our Nation much that we may never regain."It was, in a way, a declaration of independence by L.F., because he had begun to think of the Standards Lab as his nation. He’d gone to work for the Department of Agriculture straight out of college. And in 1984 L.F. and his then boss had first sketched the lab’s design on a napkin at the Atlanta Airport. L.F. had even lobbied the legislature to line up funding for the building. He later explained to a reporter, “I designed and built that lab. Even though technically the bricks and mortar belong to the state of North Carolina, I feel very strongly that everything that comes out of there is my responsibility.”
The problem is that governments tend to run on little technicalities like owning the bricks and mortar, as L.F.’s wife, Cathy, had tried to explain to him. And the state also felt that the $65,235 a year that the state paid L.F. had bought them a certain degree of loyalty and obedience. But L.F. felt very strongly about this matter, as he explained to his bosses, Steve Benjamin, director of the Standards division, and the Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler (pictured above) and even Governor Easley. And on Monday morning they and their staffs began to inquire about the E-mail sent to the lab employees and the naked flagstaffs rising above the pedestrian plaza in front of the Standards Laboratory.
L.F; wrote,“I cannot in good conscience honor such a man who fought so hard against Civil and Human Rights throughout his life. Even to his death bed, he refused to apologize for the damage he caused. Now, I stand by this decision. It is a personal decision, but obviously affects my job at the lab. It has been over ruled by Division and Departmental Management and as I look out my window, I'm ashamed to see the flags lowered ...”
Ah, yes; by 10:45 on that Monday morning the flags in front of the laboratory had been raised and then lowered to half staff by an employee of the lab at the direction of Steve Benjamin, director of the Standards Division, and L.F.’s boss. Later that morning Steve had even taken a drive past the lab to assure himself (and the Commissioner and the Governor) that the flag was indeed still there. Oh, say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, or’ the land of the free, and the lab of the brave” It does, or it did. But what no longer waves over the lab is L.F.
After 29 years of dedicated and humble leadership, there was some discussion as to whether L.F. was forced to resign or not. L.F. says he was given an ultimatum via the telephone; raise the flags or leave the lab. But in an e-mail, Steve Benjamin insisted; “You weren’t forced to retire, but (in my mind) you chose this as the most palatable option given your strong personal feelings on this”. And I am left to wonder why L.F. did not simply call in sick for the week instead of throwing himself atop Jesse Helms’ funeral pyre. But L.F. was clearly too dedicated to his job to have called in sick when the only thing afflicting him was having Jesse Helms stuck in his throat.
The problem is that governments tend to run on little technicalities like owning the bricks and mortar, as L.F.’s wife, Cathy, had tried to explain to him. And the state also felt that the $65,235 a year that the state paid L.F. had bought them a certain degree of loyalty and obedience. But L.F. felt very strongly about this matter, as he explained to his bosses, Steve Benjamin, director of the Standards division, and the Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler (pictured above) and even Governor Easley. And on Monday morning they and their staffs began to inquire about the E-mail sent to the lab employees and the naked flagstaffs rising above the pedestrian plaza in front of the Standards Laboratory.L.F; wrote,“I cannot in good conscience honor such a man who fought so hard against Civil and Human Rights throughout his life. Even to his death bed, he refused to apologize for the damage he caused. Now, I stand by this decision. It is a personal decision, but obviously affects my job at the lab. It has been over ruled by Division and Departmental Management and as I look out my window, I'm ashamed to see the flags lowered ...”Ah, yes; by 10:45 on that Monday morning the flags in front of the laboratory had been raised and then lowered to half staff by an employee of the lab at the direction of Steve Benjamin, director of the Standards Division, and L.F.’s boss. Later that morning Steve had even taken a drive past the lab to assure himself (and the Commissioner and the Governor) that the flag was indeed still there. Oh, say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, or’ the land of the free, and the lab of the brave” It does, or it did. But what no longer waves over the lab is L.F.After 29 years of dedicated and humble leadership, there was some discussion as to whether L.F. was forced to resign or not. L.F. says he was given an ultimatum via the telephone; raise the flags or leave the lab. But in an e-mail, Steve Benjamin insisted; “You weren’t forced to retire, but (in my mind) you chose this as the most palatable option given your strong personal feelings on this”. And I am left to wonder why L.F. did not simply call in sick for the week instead of throwing himself atop Jesse Helms’ funeral pyre. But L.F. was clearly too dedicated to his job to have called in sick when the only thing afflicting him was having Jesse Helms stuck in his throat.Well, I hope that Cathy Eason understands, because L.F.’s sudden loss of income may negatively affect her hobby of showing champion Cocker Spaniels: not as expensive a hobby as showing champion race horses, perhaps, but still far too expensive for the wife of anyone with deep principles, particularly when those principles tend to burst forth without warning.
The internet has been abuzz since L.F.’s last stand. Someone named “Beel” on the Chatham County Bulletin Board proposed an “annual L.F.Eason award for courage and perspicacity.” While Aileen Jeffries on her blog (http://www.aileenjeffries.com/) suggested that L.F. should be noted for “recognizing that the act if dying doesn’t automatically make one a better person”, referring I assume to Jesse Helms -to which I feel compelled to point out, neither does getting fired. My heart is with L.F. but my mind can’t help but see him as the awkward college nerd who could define perspicacity but hardly practiced it. I wish him well in his retirement. God bless him. And thank God he was not working at a bio-weapons lab.
The internet has been abuzz since L.F.’s last stand. Someone named “Beel” on the Chatham County Bulletin Board proposed an “annual L.F.Eason award for courage and perspicacity.” While Aileen Jeffries on her blog (http://www.aileenjeffries.com/) suggested that L.F. should be noted for “recognizing that the act if dying doesn’t automatically make one a better person”, referring I assume to Jesse Helms -to which I feel compelled to point out, neither does getting fired. My heart is with L.F. but my mind can’t help but see him as the awkward college nerd who could define perspicacity but hardly practiced it. I wish him well in his retirement. God bless him. And thank God he was not working at a bio-weapons lab.
- 30 -
Please consider a little piece of news I stumbled across in that paragon of right wing justifications, the Wall Street Journal. The giant Cantarell Oil Field, the world’s second largest, has announced, according to the Journal, that it will be supplying 15% less oil this year to American refineries than it did last year. And that fits into a world wide pattern. The four largest oil fields in the world are, in descending order of proven reserves; Ghawar in Saudi Arabia, Cantarell, off the northern gulf coast of Mexico, Da Quing in China, and Burgun, in Kuwait. And the year in which each began producing was; Ghawar, 1951 – Cantarell, 1949 – Da Qing, 1960 – Burgun, 1939. In other words no new major oil fields have been discovered since 1960. And all of the world’s major fields are well past maturity. And that is why the price of gasoline is going up.
The price spike ain’t caused just by speculators and it ain’t caused by just Exon-Mobil greed. Greedy speculators don’t help. But cutting them out of the equation is like taking an aspirin for your fever when you have a flesh eating bacteria eating your leg. You will feel a little better but your leg is still going to stink and eventually drop off. Or, as the Chairman of a major American oil development company pointed out back in 1999; “…by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day from existing reserves.” That was said at the London Institute of Petroleum, by the Chairman of Halliburton, Dick Cheney; and yes, that Dick Cheney. He did not say “new oil”, because Dick knew as far back as 1999 there was no where to find 50 million barrels a day of new oil; not in ANWAR, not in the Gulf of Mexico, not off the coast of California, or Texas or Florida. (please see 
The United States today (2008) has proven oil reserves of 21 billion barrels. In 1970 we had proven reserves of 39 billion barrels (and that included the Prudhoe Bay field.). Prudhoe Bay, Alaska is the largest field in North America. Production began there in 1977. The output from that field peaked in 1988. The USGS estimates that the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, just south of Prudhoe Bay, might contain, and the word is “might”, as much as 90 billion barrels of oil, or might contain as little as 7.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil. (Artic oil fields tend to contain a much higher percentage of natural gas then oil.)
Meanwhile, it is estimated - with considerable better assuredness - that the continental shelf might (there’s that word “might” again) contain about 85.9 billion barrels of recoverable oil. And drilling there is not quite as controversial a choice as drilling in ANWR. But either way, if we started drilling tomorrow the first oil from either source would begin to impact the global price of oil no sooner than the year 2030, by which time Prudhoe Bay will be effectively a dry hole. And ANWR and the continental shelf together will not equal the loss of our shrinking onshore oil reserves. In other words, we can’t drill fast enough to replace what we’ll burn while we drill new wells, which means new wells are not going to drive down the global price of oil.
But consider another couple of numbers; in May of 2007 Americans bought 385,625 gallons of gasoline a day. In May of 2008 Americans bought 367,992 gallons a day, or about 17,000 gallons a day less. (
So it seems logical to me that the fastest and surest way to lower the cost of gasoline is not to drill, but to immediately raise the “Corporate Average Fuel Economy” (CAFE) requirement for all cars sold in America, from the 27 mpg average, where it has been stuck for the past 20 years, but to the 35 mpg which Detroit will not now be required to achieve until 2020. And if Detroit whines that it cannot meet that requirment in a year, let me point out right now the Ford Fiesta diesel, sold only in Europe, has a 63.3 mpg average. Meanwhile the only 40+ mpg autos sold in America at the moment are the 2008 Honda Civic and the 2008 Toyota Prius. Not a single product from Detroit can come within ten miles per gallon of those two autos from Japanese manufacturers. 
Only in a world of topsy-turvy logic can McCain and Obama compete to be first to endorse off-shore drilling as a cure for our addiction to foreign oil, instead of insisting upon an immediate CAFÉ increase, so the market place can help us go cold turkey from our addiction to foreign oil.
It had been an emotionally exhausting forty-eight hours. There had been, and remained, the constant fear of being shot down – by both sides – and the uncertainty of what to expect from the enemy and their own countrymen, and the shame and humiliation of having to help their nation surrender to the hated Americans. It is no wonder that shortly after the plane left the ground General Kawabeall and the other passengers fell asleep. And then, just after midnight, August 21, one the pilots woke up his passengers to inform them that a fuel tank had sprung a leak, and one engine had begun to miss, and they were losing altitude and they were about to crash into the dark ocean. Life jackets were quickly pulled on and all the valuable surrender documents were given to Foreign Ministry representative Katsuo Okazaki, because he had once been in the Olympics (in 1924!). Then, before they were really ready, the plane slammed into the ocean. The passengers were thrown about the cabin. The plane bounced, and again, off the wave tops, until suddenly the plane stopped and seemed to settle for a moment into the waves. Both pilots rushed from the cockpit and while one tried to calm the passengers, the other ripped opened the rear door. Water rushed into the cabin and the pilot leaped out…into waist deep water. Somehow the crew had managed to bring their injured aircraft back right to the shore line of Japan.
What had been settled in Manila, in simple direct conversations, was that all Japanese soldiers would be disarmed by their own officers all across China and Burma and Japan, before Allied troops arrived in their area; another compromise.
It was not the draconian surrender required in the Potsdam Statement, but rather a compromise, because suddenly peace was more important than complete and unconditional surrender. The Russians had not abided by the U.S. ceasefire, and were still grabbing Japanese territory, right up until the occupation was achieved. So the speedy U.S. occupation of Japan was in the interest of both parties. Still, it was decided that the actual landings would be postponed for three days, taking place, now, on August 28th, to allow local commanders to prepare their junior officers and civilians for the shock. The hunger to humiliate the Japanese was sublimated by the practical pragmatic desire to end to the war as quickly as possible.
On August 25 the U.S. planes dropped food and medical parcels on the POW camps. And at 9AM, on August 28, an advance party of 150 communications engineers landed at Atsugi Naval Airfield, 20 miles southwest of Tokyo. They were the first Americans to land in Japan, and they were met by disarmed and obedient Japanese. Three hours later 38 transports arrived with security forces, supplies and equipment required to prepare the airfield for the arrival of U.S. forces. And then, on August 30th, the main occupation began. One C-54 carrying 44 men landed every three minutes, bringing in over the course of the day over 4,200 combat ready troops of the 11th Airborne division. At the same time men of the 6th Marine division landed without opposition at Yokosuka Naval base. The entirely peaceful occupation of Japan had begun two days before the peace treaty would be signed.
The war was really over. The mass murder had stopped, for awhile. And it had been brought to an end by courage and conversation and compromise, despite what you might have heard elsewhere.
Contact was quickly made with the Japanese government via radio. First. General MacArthur ordered the immediate cessation of hostilities and then asked the Japanese what time convienent time they chosen for the ceasefire to begin. MacArthur's staff did designate the radio frequencies to be used in all future communications by the Japanese (13705 and 15965 kilocycles). And when they got to the emissaries journey they were very specific: They should leave Sata Misaki, on the southern tip of Kyushu, “between the hours of 0800 and 1100 Tokyo time” on the morning of August 17th in two Douglas DC-3 type transport planes, painted white with large green crosses on the wings and fuselage. In communications regarding this flight, the code designation "Bataan" will be employed.” It was anticipated the Japanese would get the irony. They did not. But American voters certainly would, and Doug was always thinking about what the American voters would think.
Finally, on August 19th, the Japanese were able to notify the Americans that, “The planes carrying the party of representatives have left Kisarazu Airdrome (in Tokyo) on 0718”. Again, there was fear on the Japanese side that a diehard might attempt to disrupt this mission for peace. So the planes took off secretly, with sealed orders. Only after becoming airborne was the flight plan revealed. Following the American instructions as closely as possible, the two aircraft, one a Mitsubishi G4M1-L2 (Betty) transport aircraft, and the other a Mitsubishi G4M1 (Betty) bomber (complete with a few bullet holes) which had been hastily modified for seating the 8 emissaries that flew in each plane. Each aircraft had been painted white with large green crosses on the wings and fuselage. They were known hereafter in Japanese history as the Green Cross Flights. They reached Sata Misaki on the southern tip of Kyushu at about 11 A.M. They then flew a course of 180 degrees to a point 36 miles North of le Shima Island, and began to circle at about 6,000 feet.
Almost immediately the two aircraft were intercepted by twelve Lockheed P-38 twin tailed fighters, from the 49th fighter group under Majors Jack McClure and Wendal Decker. The two Bettys called out to the Americans in English on the prearranged frequency of 6970 kilohertz, repeating the password “Bataan”. Jack McClure responded, “We are Bataan’s watchdog. Follow us.” As the 14 aircraft continued on toward le Shima, the P-38’s began doing acrobatics to thumb their noses at the defeated enemy. On the way they were joined by two 2 B-25’s from the 345th . The Americans were not going to let any die hard kamikazes or hot headed Americans, interfere with this operation. 
Jack McClure landed first at Birch Airstrip on la Shima, followed by the two Betty’s. The first Betty landed safely but the second made a rough landing on the crushed corral strip and ran off the end of the runway by several feet, damaging the plane's landing gear. Still the strange white machines with large green crosses were down safe, and immediately surrounded by armed guards. 
On the flight to Manila the Japanese delegation was served box lunches with pineapple juice and coffee, with sugar. It was a lunch the front line soldiers rarely if ever saw, but it was common travel meal for senior American officers, and it had the intended effect upon the emissaries. They were impressed with the American determination to transfer their lifestyles even to a war zone. And like the Japanese visitors to my fourth grade class some fifteen years later, the emissaries offered to tip the Americans. They were politely refused. After arriving in Tokyo the delegation was driven through the streets of a still devastated Manila to the Rosario Manor hotel, where they were provided with a Turkey dinner; again an unexpected treat. Meat had been unavailable in Japan for over a year. And, wonder of wonders, the Japanese were each given a can of hard candies.
What followed was a further surprise. Taken next to the Manila city hall, the Japanese sat at a conference table opposite the Americans, and found that all the Americans were interested in was in solving problems; where were minefields in Tokyo Bay, could they be quickly cleared, could we help? Where were the American POW camps in Japan, could we drop supplies to them, and where and when could the occupation troops arrive? There were problems, but most were rectified. Nineteen hours later the emissaries left Manila, each with a can of hard candies. It had all be easier than they had worried. The Americans were firm but not gloating. And the emissaries returned with the message that, by and large, a defeated Japan was going to be treated fairly by the Americans. And the war was going to end as quickly as possible, because of it.
But it was after they returned to le Shima, that their mission of peace was almost derailed, right at the very edge of success.
The confusion is an easy mistake to make. The tone of the "Declaration" and the "Statement" are similar as they were both issued in triumphant from amidst the rubble of a vanquished and occupied Nazi Germany. But where the "Decrlaration" is also a working blueprint for the shape of Europe's future, the "Statement" is pure politics: part a political initiative, part boastful victory display, and part pure posturing for the voters back home. It was signed by the U.S., Great Britain and China, but really it only mattered to the Americans. The Pacific was our war. And in the statement you will find none of Lincoln’s wise magnanimity. It began with a warning, “The might that now converges on Japan is immeasurably greater than that which, when applied to the resisting Nazis, necessarily laid waste to the lands, the industry…of the whole German people…” .
In the 44 months since Pearl Harbor the United States had largely supplied the allied victory in Europe, and at the same time we had built eight new battleships, 13 heavy cruisers, 2 large cruisers, 33 light cruisers, 18 heavy aircraft carriers, 76 light or jeep carriers, more than 600 destroyers and destroyer escorts, plus 4,000 large landing craft and 79,000 small landing craft. The Marine Corp had grown to over half a million men and the U.S. Army to one million men in fighting divisions. And it was this force, supplied in abundance and seeking revenge, which was descending upon Japan in August of 1945.
That explained to a degree the haughtily tone in which the U.S. informed Japan that the “Following are our terms. We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay. There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest. Until such a new order is established and until there is convincing proof that Japan's war-making power is destroyed …Japanese territory…shall be occupied…Japanese sovereignty shall be limited….as we determine…(and) stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals…We call…(for the) unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces,…The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.” It could almost have been written by George Bush’s speechwriters.
The Japanese, reading this statement, noted two things; first, the Russians had not signed it, and two, there was no direct mention of the Emperor. But they had also noticed that American propaganda often included hateful images of the Emperor. And the section about removing “...those who have deceived and misled” seemed to the Japanese, and to most American readers, to refer directly to the Emperor. Seventy years later there are still Americans who believe Hirohito should have stood trial for war crimes. But in 1945 the average Japanese would die to prevent him standing trial like a mere mortal.
From the 1890’s on, all Japanese children were indoctrinated in the belief that the nation and the Emperor were synonymous, that Japan began and ended with the Chrysanthemum Throne. According to the Imperial Cult, a brand of the Shinto religion widespread in Japan, the first Emperor had been Jimmu, supposedly born in 700 B.C.E.. He was the child of the sun goddess Amaterasu, whose spirit resided in the dormant volcano Mount Fuji. Her spirit was the mountain, just as the spirit of Hirohito, more properly know to his subjects as “Emperor Showa”, was Japan. Emperor Showa was thus a spiritual leader, closer to a warrior pope than a king. His subjects fought “for the Emperor” but they took orders from lesser men who ran the government, men like Tojo.
The Americans agreed, for their own reasons. And on August 11, just one day after the Swiss communicated the Japanese note to the Americans, they replied, again speaking through the Swiss to the Japanese. The Americans were still firm and still boastful. After all they were the winners of this war. “From the moment of surrender the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government… shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Nations. The Emperor will…authorize and ensure the signature by the Government of Japan…of the surrender terms…The ultimate form of government of Japan shall, in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration, be established by the freely expressed will of the Japanese people.” 
To which the Japanese Government replied as quickly as the stilted etiquette and security of the Palace, politics and diplomacy would allow, on August 14th, and again via the Swiss: “His Majesty the Emperor…is prepared to authorize and ensure the signature by his Government…of the necessary terms for carrying out the provisions of the Potsdam declaration. His Majesty is also prepared to issue his commands to…surrender arms and to issue such other orders as may be required…”
Done and done. Now all they had to do was separate the opponents, which would be a bit like separating two amorous porcupines - a very delicate procedure. 
Tomorrow, the very delicate procedure.
