Memorial Day 2012

The noble kind of patriotism ... aims at ends that are worthy of the whole of mankind
Albert Schweitzer

Remember

Memorial Weekend 2010, we fly our flag proudly on most sunny days and fortunately this weekend is proving perfect for the Stars and Stripes. Ray's sons - Chris and Kevin - are Marine veterans. They fortunately served and survived their five years of commitment to the Armed Services. Sadly, many do not and for that we remember and honor service, duty, and all soldiers who serve(d).

Oh, Ray and I grill burgers and float in the pool, and yeah, we take in a Memorial Day sale. However, we do truly salute all of our fighting men - living, dead, past, and present. My Uncle Bill fought in WWII and lost a leg and a year of his life in service to the United States. He turned ninety this month - a humble, great man, I'm proud to know. Ray's Uncle James served in Vietnam. He came back from that war a different person, and ultimately succumbed from post-war trauma - he was a delightful man and a hero our family remembers.

So many enlist for the United States of America and all it stands for. I shall mention freedom of speech, because obviously that is dear to my heart. I'm grateful I can post this blog. I'm grateful I can publish without fear of reprisal. Thinking about patriots cranking out words on printing presses, I'm in awe.

And in today's world, the publishing industry is in flux and yet survives with banter. Here's a quote from Garrison Keillor (Chicago Tribune/New York Times), " I think the publishing industry is about to slide into the sea. "

In turn, Jon Stewart said at the New York Book Expo, "I think the most surprising thing about the Keillor op-ed is that I thought he was dead." Ba-zinga (as Sheldon would say on Big Bang Theory)

Publishing shall flourish and the Internet is a potential friend and not enemy. Printed books versus e-books is still up for debate and perhaps both can live in harmony. And that's the joy of America. Choices. Freedom.

Memorial Day - I bow my head in remembrance

Memorial Day tribute to Cindy Sheehan

Memorial Day is about remembering friends and loved ones we have lost to war ... but it should also be a day when we recommit to never sending young women and men into battle unless there is no other choice. That was not the case in Iraq, and far too many people have paid with their lives.

Cindy Sheehan saw a wrong and tried to right it, and for that she has been demonized by both the "right" and the "left." Anyone who has ever challenged "the system" can certainly identify. As Sheehan so eloquently points out:

Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt “two” party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland.

She also perfectly describes what seems to plague far too many so-called "progressive" organizations when she writes:

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

I have faced similar challenges within the women's movement for daring to speak up.

As Memorial Day 2007 comes to a close I urge you to take a moment and read Cindy Sheehan's statement. And then, make a commitment to challenge Republicans and Democrats alike when they are taking this country in the wrong direction. It's our duty.

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Cindy Sheehan Quits Peace Movement

Via AfterDowningStreet.org & Crooks and Liars:

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called “Face” of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such “liberal blogs” as the Democratic Underground. Being called an “attention whore” and being told “good riddance” are some of the more milder rebukes.

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too…which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the “face” of the American anti-war movement. This is not my “Checkers” moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources. Read more…

War Without End

This Memorial Day Weekend voters need to take a hard look at just who is in office. Anyone who didn't have the courage to stand up to a president with a 28% approval rating needs to go. How many more Memorial Day's will pass before our troops come home?

The New York Times editorial echo's my thoughts:

Never mind how badly the war is going in Iraq. President Bush has been swaggering around like a victorious general because he cowed a wobbly coalition of Democrats into dropping their attempt to impose a time limit on his disastrous misadventure.

By week’s end, Mr. Bush was acting as though that bit of parliamentary strong-arming had left him free to ignore not just the Democrats, but also the vast majority of Americans, who want him to stop chasing illusions of victory and concentrate on how to stop the sacrifice of young Americans’ lives.

And, ever faithful to his illusions, Mr. Bush was insisting that he was the only person who understood the true enemy.

Speaking to graduates of the Coast Guard Academy, Mr. Bush declared that Al Qaeda is “public enemy No. 1” in Iraq and that “the terrorists’ goal in Iraq is to reignite sectarian violence and break support for the war here at home.” The next day, in the Rose Garden, Mr. Bush turned on a reporter who had the temerity to ask about Mr. Bush’s declining credibility with the public, declaring that Al Qaeda is “a threat to your children” and accusing him of naïvely ignoring the danger.

It’s upsetting to think that Mr. Bush believes the raging sectarian violence in Iraq awaits reigniting, or that he does not recognize that Americans’ support for the war broke down many bloody months ago. But we have grown accustomed to this president’s disconnect from reality and his habit of tilting at straw men, like Americans who don’t care about terrorism because they question his mismanagement of the war or don’t worry about what will happen after the United States withdraws, as it inevitably must.

On Memorial Day 2008 let's hope the war in Iraq is a distant memory.