#mountmisery Love him or hate him, Donald Rumsfeld has an incredible career that most of us could only dream of having as follows: -US Navy fighter pilot -Millionaire businessman who pioneered things as diverse as non-sugar sweeteners and flat-screen televisions. -Confidant to four US presidents (Nixon, Ford, Bush 1 and Bush 2) He served as Chief of Staff in Gerald Ford's White House. He was a close friend of former Vice President Cheney. -4 terms as a US congressman. -2 terms under different presidents as Secretary of Defense. Mr. Rumsfeld passed away yesterday at age 88. One obscure aspect of his life caught my attention. Let us begin this story by going back to the days of slavery in the US. Frederick Douglas was an extraordinary man who went from slave to famous author. When he was a young slave, he was rebellious and defiant of his white masters. He was sent to a house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for "reeducation." This house was known as "Mount Misery." While at "Mount Misery," Frederick Douglas was beaten and brutalized. When Donald Rumsfeld worked in Washington, DC, he looked for a weekend retreat. He had the money to buy literally anything that he wanted. He bought an estate on the Eastern Shore of Maryland near Chesapeake Bay. It was the notorious "Mount Misery." Rumsfeld knew the exact history of the house. When he moved in, he made no changes to it. Here is a fascinating article as follows: https://www.thedailybeast.com/mount-misery-frederick-douglass-confronts-donald-rumsfeld If I had bought the estate, I would have built a new residence to live in. I would have left the old house standing and converted it into a museum about the brutality of slavery.
And speaking of Errol Morris, I recommend the documentary The Thin Blue Line. I don't want to ruin the ending, so no link to that. It's about a man that was convicted of the murder of a police officer, who Morris was convinced was innocent - so he made a film about it.
Wow Ommie I thought you were going to post something about Bill Cosby getting off, or the surfside condo collapse. I didn't have you for Race baiting a dead war monger.
My image of Rumsfeld is him sniggering like the cat that ate the canary while lying about 9/11 on news. Pure malice aforethought and hindsight. Another example of 'they got away with it. AGAIN!"
My father told me he used to ride around Baltimore (or Virginia?) with his uncle who was a landlord collecting rent. He owned former slave quarters and the rent was a few dollars per month. I forget if it was 2 or 4 dollars. The tenants were blacks, descended from slaves. This would have been in the 1920s. My father mentioned this when I was considering buying a house in Austin to fix up. Evidently it's a thrill to go around picking up money.
-US Navy fighter pilot
-Millionaire businessman who pioneered things as diverse as non-sugar sweeteners and flat-screen televisions.
-Confidant to four US presidents (Nixon, Ford, Bush 1 and Bush 2) He served as Chief of Staff in Gerald Ford's White House. He was a close friend of former Vice President Cheney.
-4 terms as a US congressman.
-2 terms under different presidents as Secretary of Defense.
Mr. Rumsfeld passed away yesterday at age 88. One obscure aspect of his life caught my attention. Let us begin this story by going back to the days of slavery in the US. Frederick Douglas was an extraordinary man who went from slave to famous author. When he was a young slave, he was rebellious and defiant of his white masters. He was sent to a house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for "reeducation." This house was known as "Mount Misery." While at "Mount Misery," Frederick Douglas was beaten and brutalized.
When Donald Rumsfeld worked in Washington, DC, he looked for a weekend retreat. He had the money to buy literally anything that he wanted. He bought an estate on the Eastern Shore of Maryland near Chesapeake Bay. It was the notorious "Mount Misery."
Rumsfeld knew the exact history of the house. When he moved in, he made no changes to it. Here is a fascinating article as follows:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mount-misery-frederick-douglass-confronts-donald-rumsfeld
If I had bought the estate, I would have built a new residence to live in. I would have left the old house standing and converted it into a museum about the brutality of slavery.