Never has a Beltway Beat column item generated as much reader response as the one last week on Hollywood actors of yesteryear who threw aside their scripts to fight for their country - something our current crop of celebrities has avoided like the plague. In fact, we challenged readers to name one modern American celebrity (apart from the late football star Pat Tillman) who has served or fought for his or her country in the past 15 years. Not a single person succeeded. "I can think of several current actors who served: (Sylvester) Stallone was a Vietnam veteran. Charlie Sheen single-handedly saved the Gulf. Tom Hanks served in World War II. (Demi) Moore trained to be a (Navy) Seal. Oh wait - I'm confusing fiction with reality," writes Jerry Stephens of Lothian, Md. "Even Hollywood . . . sent its best to wars prior to Vietnam," we quoted University of Dayton professor Larry Schweikart as saying in his new book, "America's Victories." He pointed out that professional actors were as "thoroughly represented" in the military during World War II as any other group. In fact, Schweikart was among those who wrote to The Beltway Beat after our item appeared. "One thing I found interesting was that the sons and daughters of senators (and) congressmen served at a higher rate than their percentage in the U.S. population," the author told us. "So much for Creedence Clearwater Revival's, 'It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one.'" Many readers complained that we did not include Audie Murphy among an abbreviated list of actors who fought in World War II. One of the U.S. Army's most decorated soldiers, Murphy became an actor after his wartime service.
DINNER'S ON ME
"Whenever I'm at a restaurant and spot somebody in a military uniform, I pick up their check to show them my appreciation for what they're doing for my country." - Former Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda, in a conversation about the war in Iraq with this columnist on Sunday.
FISH TALES AND TARTS
"You cannot possibly imagine how thoroughly crushed I was this morning when I read (about) the fish caught by Chef David Guas," angler Charlie Loveless of Baltimore writes to The Beltway Beat about the popular DC Coast chef. "Prior to his (50-pound) catch, I believe that I was the current record holder this year with the rockfish I caught May 19 out of Chesapeake Beach. My fish weighed in at 48.5 pounds and was 49 3/4 (inches) long. "I don't mind so much that my fish didn't hold up for this year's record, but to lose to a pastry chef out of Washington, D.C. . . . was just too much for me to handle this morning. I'm not sure I'll be able to recover this year. By the way, he doesn't play golf, too, does he?"
PHYSICAL PROOF
The villagers are referred to by a leading scientist in Washington as the "first refugees of global warming." Igor Krupnik, an anthropologist with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, has conducted more than 30 years of field work in Arctic communities on the human and cultural aspects of climate change. In the latest issue of Smithsonian magazine, he calls attention to "refugees" from the Alaskan village of Shismaref, until the mid-1970s encased and well-protected by 20 to 30 miles of land ice that in the height of winter now only reaches 6 to 7 miles. "We tend to describe climate change in terms that are abstract - a one-degree rise in temperatures, an increase in greenhouse gasses - but when waves wash away a village, that's concrete and very emotional," Krupnik says.
TABARD, FOR TWO
What's the No. 1 hotel in Washington? Continued... |