World Events
Topic: Memorial Day Reminder

#	Author	Message
1	DAR Fri 5/23/2008 4:54a	This came from a sports blog but it's still worthwhile reading. Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everybody. Whatya got going? Ballgame? Picnic? Cookout? Golf? Beach? Great country, isn't it? And it's a great weekend to celebrate our freedoms by doing the things that help fulfill the Declaration of Independence's promise of "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Of course, freedom is never "free." And I think on these holidays about the many families who are without their loved ones currently serving in a far away land, filled with donkeys and fanatics. Lands that are so far from being as free, tolerant, prosperous, or beautiful as ours. On a whim, I wondered how the recent recruiting numbers for the military are these days. I see stories about how difficult it has become, and it doesn't surprise me. But this link on the Army's web site was a pleasant surprise. Now, I'm sure I will get some back story on this from actual Army recruiters. I expect to be told that there are more generous recruitment incentives than ever. I expect that the Army has lowered its recruiting "targets" to enable them to claim they have met or exceeded their goals. And of course, I expect to hear from leftist anti-America, anti-military types, who will claim that it is only because the poor, uneducated, and not well connected have nowhere to turn for a living. Whatever. All I know is this: at a time of war, where we are in a nasty fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will be there for some time, with perhaps more conflicts in the future - there are STILL hundreds of thousands of young men and women who voluntarily step forward to serve this country, and risk making the greatest sacrifice humanly possible. Wow. Thank God for these young people. You wonder sometimes, where do they come from, and how blessed are we as a nation to have them? Honestly, with the way the current wars are being "narrated" by the drive-by media, and with the pure vile heaped on Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Petreaus et. al for their perceived "incompetence", you would think our Army recruiting totals for 2006 would have been 12. Not 80,635. Most media stories on TV this week will about the trivial and indulgent. How jammed are highways? How expensive is a gallon of gas? Grilling tips. Airport delays. Summer fashion. Beach reports. Blockbuster movies. And then, as a newscast is winding down, they'll throw a bone to the military angle. Which, I suppose is better than nothing. Still, when I'm doing all the great things that freedom provides this weekend, I'll try to keep in mind the brave men and women who helped us remain so vibrant and free. http://www.czabe.com/daily/
2	X-san Fri 5/23/2008 7:24a	The phenomena is known as "economic conscription" and it is widespread given the widespread poverty level conditions in America today. Nothing new here. http://www.objector.org/conscr...ion.html
3	DAR Fri 5/23/2008 9:10a	What does your reply have to do with this?
4	X-san Fri 5/23/2008 5:38p	It has everything to do with it, Dar.
5	SuperDry Sat 5/24/2008 11:27a	I read the quoted article carefully. It talks directly about lots of things: how great America is, families that have loved ones serving far away in lands "filled with donkeys and fanatics." It talks about the drive-by media, anti-American leftists, and how great the Army recruiting figures are if you take a look at them. But what's the one thing not talked about in the article? The servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice and are now among the war dead (now some 4000+ larger in number as a result of Iraq). There is only a very vague reference to them in the last sentence, and you might totally overlook even that if you didn't take careful note of the tense of the verb, especially since it's not consistent with the rest of the article. To the author of the article above: shame on you. You're using Memorial Day, which is the one day a year specifically set aside to honor those who lost their lives through military service, and instead of doing so, use it as a platform to make comments about the drive by media, liberals, and all the other junk that people who self-identify as "true patriots" like to talk about.
6	DAR Sun 5/25/2008 5:09a	<<To the author of the article above: shame on you. You're using Memorial Day, which is the one day a year specifically set aside to honor those who lost their lives through military service, and instead of doing so, use it as a platform to make comments about the drive by media, liberals, and all the other junk that people who self-identify as "true patriots" like to talk about.>> Say if someone on the left doesn't use this weekend to protest the war tell me to look out my window because I want see the pigs flying for myself.
7	SuperDry Sun 5/25/2008 8:31a	So that's your justification for ignoring the war dead on Memorial Day, that "someone on the left" will protest the war? Let's look at another true American patriot, at least if you were to believe him: Rush Limbaugh. Here's a link to a transcript of what he had to say on Friday, entitled "What Memorial Day is All About." I'll give him that the picture that accompanies the transcript clearly shows a Marine paying respect in a military cemetery, but for each person that goes to his website and clicks on this link, there are probably 10,000 people that only heard him say this on the radio: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/ho...est.html So, what does Rush think Memorial Day is all about? Apparently, it's to provide an opportunity to talk about the drive-by media, and to tell us how well things are going in Iraq! But note the one thing that Rush does not make mention of: the war dead that have given their lives in military service to the United States. And this is in a statement (dare I say diatribe?) called "What Memorial Day is All About." I'm pretty sure that Rush knows what Memorial Day is about, and is deliberately avoiding the subject.
8	SuperDry Mon 5/26/2008 11:20a	And here we are on Memorial Day, the one day a year we set aside to honor those who gave their lives in military service to the country. Looking at the media coverage, right now I see that CBS, ABC, NBC, and CNN are all leading with stories about Memorial Day on their webpages. Fox News is leading with a story about how Fidel Castro doesn't support Obama, and Drudge is talking about the search for life on Mars. My prediction is that Fox News and Drudge will continue to de-emphasize Memorial Day, even though they typically are the most rah-rah cheerleaders when it comes to patriotism.

All times are Pacific Time (US)

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