Videos

Friday night movie: The Crossing (2000)

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Here’s tonight’s movie:

IMDB mean rating: [7.7/10]

IMDB median rating: [8/10]

Description:

The drama is about George Washington crossing the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War. The film opens with the retreat of the Continental Army across New Jersey after repeated losses and defeats during the campaign of 1776.

After the army narrowly escapes across the river to the Pennsylvania shore, Washington, realizing that something must be done or the Revolution will collapse, conceives a plan to cross the river and conduct a surprise attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton.

Despite their own fatigue and the winter weather, Washington manages to lift his weary soldiers’ spirits, allowing the army to cross the river on Christmas night. The crossing is done in one night, allowing the troops to attack Trenton at eight o’ clock on December 26, 1776.

I own the DVD of this movie.

If anyone reading this blog wants to understand the true character of America, a very good thing to do is to read the book “1776” by David McCullough. It covers all of the events leading up to the crucial turning point of the American Revolution: the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. I really recommend the audio version of the book. David McCullough also wrote the famous biography of John Adams which was shown on HBO, then turned into a DVD series.

Here’s a quick history of the American Revolution preceding the Battle of Trenton:

September 1774: Delegates from each colony met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in order to form the First Continental Congress. It was designed to discuss colonial grievances.

April 1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord: An organized Massachusetts militia (“Minutemen”) defended colonial munitions and forced British regulars to retreat back to Boston. Mother England was stunned.

May 1775: The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

June 1775: The Continental Congress appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of its newly established Continental Army. Soon after, British troops achieved victory at the Battle of Bunker (Breed’s) Hill but suffered severe casualties during three assaults against the determined colonial troops.

March 1776: Washington commanded the American siege that eventually forced the British to evacuate Boston. The British departed by sea for Halifax.

April 1776: The Continental Army left Boston and moved south to take a defensive position in New York anticipating a British landing. Washington had hoped to keep the British from occupying this locale. New York was a familiar base of operations from the French and Indian War. The colony of New York also had a strong Loyalist population. Additionally, the force which occupied New York would be centrally located and therefore able to keep New England cut off from the south.

July 1776: The Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Second Continental Congress, officially severed American ties to Great Britain.

Summer of 1776: Though the American were successful at making a worthy stand at Lexington and Concord as well as in Boston, they soon discovered that this was only the beginning as 30,000 British troops (including their Hessians allies) arrived in New York harbor. The next few months were filled with disastrous defeats and demoralizing retreats.

August 27-30 1776: The British win the Battle of Long Island (Battle of Brooklyn)

September 15, 1776: The British occupy New York City

September 16, 1776: The British win the Battle of Harlem Heights

October 28, 1776: The American army retreats at the Battle of White Plains

November 16, 1776: The British capture Fort Washington, NY

November 20, 1776: Fort Lee, NJ falls to the British

December 1, 1776: Washington’s troops retreated past New Brunswick, New Jersey and headed toward Princeton with the British following closely behind.

December 7-8, 1776: Washington’s army crossed into Pennsylvania from Trenton. They were deployed to guard the River for a 25 miles stretch. All boats remained with Washington’s army, making it impossible for the British to follow.

December 9, 1776: “All shops ordered to be shut; the militia to march into the Jerseys; all in hurry and confusion; news that General Howe is on his march….” Washington ordered, “Spare no pains or expense to get intelligence about the enemy’s motions and intentions.”

December 12, 1776: The Continental Congress abandons Philadelphia as they fear the British approaching.

December 13, 1776: Washington received the news that General Charles Lee was taken prisoner by the British at White’s Tavern in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Lee’s troops were slowly marching to meet Washington when Lee made a personal side trip which caused his capture. With the loss of Lee, some assumed that America would be forced into complete surrender as he was considered a highly valuable soldier.

[British commander] Howe announced that his campaigning season was over and he intended to winter in New York. Cornwallis intended to return to England for the winter, and, like Howe, he departed from the troops.

December 14, 1776: Col. Johann Rall’s (known as the Hessian Lion) regiment was left in Trenton as one of a loosely connected string of outposts which was to guard the king’s subjects in New Jersey and keep watch against an American raid. 1500 troops were stationed at this location while the bulk of the British army wintered in New York.

December 19, 1776: “The American Crisis” was published in Philadelphia. Thomas Paine wrote… These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

This essay rekindled the American people’s desire for independence and renewed the spirit of the troops.

December 20-22, 1776: Taking Lee’s place as commander, General John Sullivan delivered Lee’s remaining troops to Washington in Pennsylvania.

December 21, 1776: The Hessians thought little of the Americans, but they thought even less of their strategic position in Trenton. Thought criticized for not constructing defensive works, Rall felt Trenton was next to impossible to defend. He stated his concerns about his position as well as his troops fatigue to his British Commanders.

Rall’s regiment remained alert and concerned as to their tenuous position. They intended not to remain in Trenton but rather wait for the Delaware River to freeze allowing the Hessian troops to march across the frozen river and directly toward Philadelphia.

As you can see from the timeline, Washington has been losing battle after battle leading up to Christmas of 1776. His troops are tired, ill-equipped, sick and they must be released at the beginning of 1777 when their contract is up. Many have deserted already. What will George Washington do? Is this the end of the American Revolution? Watch the movie, and find out. Then read David McCullough’s book!

Happy Friday!

Related posts

Videos

Guillermo Gonzalez lectures at UC Davis on the requirements for life

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The 5 video clips that make up the full lecture.

The playlist for all 5 clips is here.

About the speaker

Guillermo Gonzalez is an Associate Professor of Physics at Grove City College. He received his Ph.D. in Astronomy in 1993 from the University of Washington. He has done post-doctoral work at the University of Texas, Austin and at the University of Washington and has received fellowships, grants and awards from such institutions as NASA, the University of Washington, the Templeton Foundation, Sigma Xi (scientific research society) and the National Science Foundation.

Learn more about the speaker here.

The lecture

Here’s part 1 of 5:

Habitability topics:

  • What is the Copernican Principle?
  • Is the Earth’s suitability for hosting life rare in the universe?
  • Does the Earth have to be the center of the universe to be special?
  • How similar to the Earth does a planet have to be to support life?
  • What is the definition of life?
  • What are the three minimal requirements for life of any kind?
  • Requirement 1: A molecule that can store information (carbon)
  • Requirement 2: A medium in which chemicals can interact (liquid water)
  • Requirement 3: A diverse set of chemical elements
  • What is the best environment for life to exist?
  • Our place in the solar system: the circumstellar habitable zone
  • Our place in the galaxy: the galactic habitable zones
  • Our time in the universe’s history: the cosmic habitable age
  • Other habitability requirements (e.g. – metal-rich star, massive moon, etc.)
  • The orchestration needed to create a habitable planet
  • How different factors depend on one another through time
  • How tweaking one factor can adversely affect other factors
  • How many possible places are there in the universe where life could emerge?
  • Given these probabilistic resources, should we expect that there is life elsewhere?
  • How to calculate probabilities using the “Product Rule”
  • Can we infer that there is a Designer just because life is rare? Or do we need more?

The corelation between habitability and measurability.

  • Are the habitable places in the universe also the best places to do science?
  • Do the factors that make Earth habitable also make it good for doing science?
  • Some places and times in the history of the universe are more habitable than others
  • Those exact places and times also allow us to make scientific discoveries
  • Observing solar eclipses and structure of our star, the Sun
  • Observing stars and galaxies
  • Observing the cosmic microwave background radiation
  • Observing the acceleration of the universe caused by dark matter and energy
  • Observing the abundances of light elements like helium of hydrogen
  • These observations support the big bang and fine-tuning arguments for God’s existence
  • It is exactly like placing observatories on the tops of mountains
  • There are observers existing in the best places to observe things
  • This is EXACTLY how the universe has been designed for making scientific discoveries

This lecture was delivered by Guillermo Gonzalez in 2007 at the University of California at Davis.

What is intelligent design?

Dr. Stephen C. Meyer explains the concept of intelligent design in a lecture, with lots of visual aids.

He is also the author of “Signature in the Cell“, the best book on intelligent design. (A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year selection)

Related DVDs

Illustra also made two other great DVDs on intelligent design. The first two DVDs “Unlocking the Mystery of Life” and “The Privileged Planet” are must-buys, but you can watch them on youtube if you want, for free.

Here are the 2 playlists:

I also recommend “Darwin’s Dilemma”. All three of these are on sale from Amazon.com.

News

Arizona governor Jan Brewer blocks welfare payments for illegal immigrants

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From The Blaze.

Excerpt:

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday ordered state agencies to deny driver’s licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration policy.

In an executive order, Brewer said she was reaffirming the intent of current Arizona law denying taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification to illegal immigrants.

Young illegal immigrants around the nation on Wednesday began the process of applying for federal work permits under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The federal policy defers deportations for that group if they meet certain criteria, including arrival in the United States before they turned 16 and no convictions for certain crimes.

After President Barack Obama announced the policy change in June, Brewer labeled it “backdoor amnesty” and political pandering by the Democratic president.

The governor’s action is a response to the Obama administration declaration of amnesty for 1.8 million illegal immigrants under the so called “DREAM Act”. The declaration of amnesty is a transparent attempt to buy votes from Hispanic voters while passing the costs on to the law-abiding taxpayers.

I favor more green cards for skilled legal immigrants with marketable skills who are able to avoid crime for a period of a few years.