God bless those in harms way.

My thoughts on this Memorial Day

Bless all those who have served and who are serving. We are grateful for the sacrifices they have made in the past and for those made today all over the world.

That little hand really expresses it all, doesn't it?

Cox and Forkum expresses the meaning of Memorial Day in their typically profound fashion.

(hat tip: MacGregor)

Nice flag, Charles.

Google would probably regard a flag decoration abhorrent and distasteful.

#3 yesandno

A-men.

“We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.”

General George Marshall

#6 FrogMarch

Google running standard logo screen. No Memorial Day decor at all.

Ingrateful pricks.

The President has just signed into law banning protests at military funerals..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060529/ap_on_go_pr_wh /bush

To those who serve, to those who served, to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, thank you and God Bless you and your families...

Arlington Nation Cemetary historic photographs

"Here Rests
In Honored Glory
An American Soldier
Known But To God"

In Memory Of JAMES VINCENT VINCIGUERRA

Here's how the Koskidz feel about memorial day..
Memorial Day C&J

I won't stink up this thread by cutting and pasting the hateful and hysterical rant here. Read if you wish.

C&F consistently puts the entire MSM editorial Cartoon universe to shame.

And they appear to do it effortlessly.

Memorial Day
Edgar Guest

The finest tribute we can pay
Unto our hero dead today,
Is not a rose wreath, white and red,
In memory of the blood they shed;
It is to stand beside each mound,
Each couch of consecrated ground,
And pledge ourselves as warriors true
Unto the work they died to do.

Into God's valleys where they lie
At rest, beneath the open sky,
Triumphant now o'er every foe,
As living tributes let us go.
No wreath of rose or immortelles
Or spoken word or tolling bells
Will do to-day, unless we give
Our pledge that liberty shall live.

Our hearts must be the roses red
We place above our hero dead;
Today beside their graves we must
Renew allegiance to their trust;
Must bare our heads and humbly say
We hold the Flag as dear as they,
And stand, as once they stood, to die
To keep the Stars and Stripes on high.

The finest tribute we can pay
Unto our hero dead today
Is not of speech or roses red,
But living, throbbing hearts instead,
That shall renew the pledge they sealed
With death upon the battlefield:
That freedom's flag shall bear no stain
And free men wear no tyrant's chain.

Last year, my Memorial Day post came from The American Spectator on the Arlington Ladies.

This year, The American Specator presents another fine article, quoting Ben Stein as he spoke to families who have lost service members.

A bad day for me is when I get stuck in traffic or have a toothache or notice that I have gained weight or my teenage son is surly.

A bad day for you is realizing that the only man or woman you have ever loved is gone for this lifetime.

There are more fine words in this article. Read and consider the message for us all in it.

Here is a link to the stories via my blog...

Happy Memorial Day everyone. Especially to all those lizard minions who have served in the US Armed Forces and done the heavy lifting so that the rest of us can be here to appreciate their service.

And I want to thank those who served and are no longer with us. Their service will not be forgotten.

Thank you.

thanks for reminding me just put up my flag. It had been up since sept 11 but the land lord replaced all the windows a few months ago. I am ashamed for not putting it right back up.

OT

A CBS Camera Crew has been attacked in Baghdad.

no link yet.

#13 Killgore

Screw Them

.....Like the flag, Charles. Happy Memorial Day all! Please continue to remember and to pray for our troops who have, and are, sacrificing much for our freedoms.

...the BBQ beckons

Thank You and God Bless those who have, are and will serve our great nation. It is you that allow our freedoms and rights to endure the slings and arrows of our enemies.

Thanks to all our Armed Forces
(especially to you Fred, Bill and Willis)

..and stop using Google. This reason is good enough for me but there are other reasons too.
There are too many search engines out there to keep feeding these assholes.

#19 RTLM

Read the breaking News headline

Every Memorial Day I call all my friends and family in the service or retired from the service. It's a gesture they seem to genuinely appreciate and I think it's a nice suggestion for anyone looking to communicate just how much what they do/did means to you.

Some of our people in action. I'm so very proud of them not just today but every day.

#9 Orson Buggy

Google doesn't want to be pressured into acting like they care about the memory of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. To leftists, all war is bad - unless it's a war that somehow brings the world more totalitarianism /communism /one-way street leftist "free" speech.

OT

A CBS Camera Crew has been attacked in Baghdad.

no link yet.

does that quallify as RED ON RED?

"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."

-- Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 1, 19 December 1776)

Reference: Thomas Paine: Collected Writings , Foner ed., Library
of America (91)

my thoughts are for those who have given the greatest sacrifice in the name of freedom.

as a vet myself, i am honored by those with whom i have served and those that came before me.

many have fallen, let it not be in vain.

to my brother:
CWO2 Andrew T. Arnold
USMC
died April 22, 2003
Al Kut, Iraq
OIF

may our memories and thanks do you honor.

Kilgore Trout,
What a mistake I made going to Koz' site! I can't believe the hate, it was almost palpable!

Remind me never to do that again!
(as if!)

And as I said downstairs, in the Cove, everyone have a warm and wonderful day with your loved ones.
My gratitude to those who have served and gone on.
G-d bless America.

CBS reports Kimberly Dozier severely injured, and two dead in an IED explosion against a convoy.

FNC is carrying the President's speech at Arlington.

Driving on the freeway this morning I noticed traffic backed up. "What the heck, rush hour traffic tie-ups on a holiday morning?" As I got closer I saw it was a line of cars waiting to get off the exit for Fort Snelling National Cemetary. Big crowds for the ceramony and events going on there this morning.

#30 viahj

We honor your brothers service,
we mourn his loss.
It will not be in vain.

#20 TotallySirius
Agreed.

#31 Shaky Louie
I probably should have held on to that link for a couple hours before posting. Last time I checkd military were decidedly conservative/republican. I thought it was pretty tasteless.

"On behalf of the President of the United States...."

I salute all who have fallen in defense of our liberties.

Rest in peace Charles Fredrick Thomas IV.

#23 artboy - I'd quit using Google if I could find something as quick and uncluttered as Google. Many other search engines piggy back off Google, so you're really not gaining anything there.

I owe my freedom to those who have sacrificed, life, body, and mind for me and for many. I am eternally humbled and grateful for their pain, suffering, and loss of life. To their families, I only wish that I may have an opportunity to make such a sacrifice for you and all other Americans.

CBS link to attack

Thank you.
USA

update: Google stinks.

I'm just trying to be a father
Raise a daughter and a son
Be a lover to their mother
Everything to everyone
Up and at 'em, bright and early
I'm all business in my suit
Yeah, I'm dressed up for success
From my head down to my boots

I don't do it for the money
There's bills that I can't pay
I don't do it for the glory
I just do it anyway
Providing for our future's my responsibility
Yeah I'm real good under pressure
Being all that I can be

And I can't call in sick on Mondays
when the weekends been too strong
I just work straight through the holidays
And sometimes all night long.
You can bet that I stand ready when the wolf growls at the door
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady, hey, I'm true down to the core
And I will always do my duty no matter what the price
I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice
Oh, and I don't want to die for you
but if dyin's asked of me
I'll bear that cross with honor
'cause freedom don't come free

I'm an American soldier, an American
beside my brothers and my sisters I will proudly take a stand
When Liberty's in jeopardy, I will always do what's right
I'm out here on the front line
Sleep in peace tonight
American soldier, I'm an American soldier

Yeah, an American soldier, an American
Beside my brothers and my sisters I will proudly take a stand
When Liberty's in jeopardy I will always do what's right
I'm out here on the front line
So Sleep in peace tonight
American soldier, I'm an American
An American, an American soldier

/Toby Keith

#42 Killgore Trout

update: Google stinks.

They didn't want to upset the ChiComs.

awww shucks, thanks guys. But I am full of support already from the folks at Time magazine. Bastards can't help but gloat at dragging us down.

and then people wonder where the accusations of bias come from:
"Perhaps because of the stress of fighting a violent and unpopular war--or because their commanders failed them"

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
General George S Patton jr
Who wouldn't have taken this shit sitting down

Once again, Google is showing their true colors (not).

#4 westbankmamma

I was just thinking the same thing. Children growing up without parents, parents "living" without their children. So many lives lost, so many souls pained.

May they all rest in peace, and those fighting now be protected and safe-wherever they are fighting for freedom.

Thanks to:

My late father, who served in Vietnam and the Berlin Airlift, and in various hell-holes across the globe.

His father, who served in France in WWI.

My numerous ancestors who served with Andrew Jackson, and in the Revolutionary War, the Spanish-American War, the Civil War, and the Indian Wars (on both sides!).

Thanks to all who have kept us free.

"The cost of freedom is less than the cost of repression." W.E.B. DuBois

Charles -- the flag is a very nice touch.

I noted this morning that my local rag decided to show its lack of taste by including a knucklehead editorial by a lefty columnist about how our armed forces are disproportionally made up of the "less fortunate." (note: link is to the same column in another paper; my local rag doesn't link to it on its website. Idiots)

Google has a tradition of changing their logo to reflect important days. Apparently Memorial Day doesn’t make the cut.

I for one am just shocked.

NOT.

Geez, whacha complaining about, Charles? It's not like Memorial Day is as an important a day as - say - Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday.

Google = gaggle of tranzi losers.

#49 Ol' Southern Boy

DeWayne Wickham also writes insipid columns for USA Today.

He is a fourth-rate, Bob Herbert wannabe who has a real problem with facts, since he finds it much easier to trot out the same old cliches every day.

The "less-fortunate" canard has been disproven multiple times. Knowing that part of Virginia, someone will set him straight.

*spit*

May God Bless the men and women who have given thier lives for this nation. I am humbled to have such fore-fathers and fore-mothers.

For those of you serving this nation today- may God keep you in His hand.

Special Report
They Did God's Work
By Ben Stein
Published 5/26/2006 11:59:59 PM
Remarks delivered on Saturday evening in Arlington, Virginia, at the Memorial Day weekend seminar and grief camp of TAPS -- the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME be a part of your family. This is the most important family on the planet right now. There is a First Family on Pennsylvania Avenue, but this is the real first family. The family of those who have paid the ultimate price to keep us free and dignified and alive.

A bad day for me is when I get stuck in traffic or have a toothache or notice that I have gained weight or my teenage son is surly.

A bad day for you is realizing that the only man or woman you have ever loved is gone for this lifetime.

A difficult day for me with my wife is when she's out at her bridge lesson and comes home late so my dinner is late.

A difficult day for you is when you wake up from a dream that your husband or wife or son or daughter or mother or father was alive and laughing with you and realize you'll never see that loveable person again for the rest of your natural lives.

A bad day for an ordinary American is seeing the stock market go down or watching his son sneak a beer.

A bad day for you is a sort of loneliness, a hopeless, cruel loneliness that cuts right to the bone like the cut of a knife, that tells you that there is no one there to hug you, no one to kiss you, no one to fix the kids' bikes, no one to wipe away the tears that just come uncontrollably when you least expect them.

A bad day for me is getting stuck in an airport security line. A bad day for you is being on the plane alone.

Yet your loneliness has meaning. Your loneliness, your pain, is the mortar and concrete that anchors the nation. The sacrifice your loved ones made, the sacrifice you made, that your kids made, is what makes the whole American world safe from terror.

Your loved ones' lives had what we all want: meaning. The knowledge you were doing something big for others. That is EVERYTHING in life.

Wall Street does not have it. Hollywood does not have it. They're just in it for the fame and the money.

Your loved ones were in it for unselfishness, for kindness, for love of one's fellow man. There is no higher meaning on this earth.

The media try to rob your husbands' and wives' and kids' lives of meaning saying this war is not about anything.

They're wrong and they say what they say because they don't see the truth. They print a story on the front page about Marines killing civilians in a town in Iraq and if they did, it was wrong. But the big media never report a MARINE throwing himself on a bomb to protect an Iraqi child, or a Marine giving his life to rid a town of murderers or a Marine or an Army man or woman or a Navy Seal or a Coast Guardsman offering up his life so that Iraqi human beings can have the same freedoms and rights we take for granted here in America.

The media are like grave robbers, robbing you of the certain knowledge that your spouses gave their lives for something deeply worthwhile: human dignity.

Rest here:[Link: www.spectator.org...]

Well, I live in Europe and end up using Google UK...if those bas***** can do a special logo for Sir Authur Conan Doyle's birthday, they should be doing one for Memorial Day on the US Google site.

On the up side, I attended a memorial service yesterday at Margraten Cemetary in Holland. Most of the dead there are from Operation Market Garden. Very touching ceremony. The ambassador to Holland spoke as well as Congressman Larry Craig with Arlen Specter in attendance. Very touching ceremony. Folks in Holland adopt service members graves and take care of the plots...over time this responsibility is passed down through the family. At one point the crowd listened to and sang the national anthem of Holland, in Flemish. Following that, the Star Spangled Banner played...it was amazing to me that the same folks who sang the Holland anthem in Flemish sang the entire Star Spangled Banner in English. Truely a great time.

[Link: www.flickr.com...]

Add a comment to the complaint started on the google user forum here if you want.

I humbly thank from the deep of my heart all the American Warriors of the past and of the present.
The past is not gone: They are with us and They help us from the Light.
The present of the American Warriors is, as it has always been, of immense Honor.

Thank you.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The reason Google didn't change its logo is simple. Memorial Day is not a Chinese holiday.

This proud American gives thanks every day for the brave men and women who have selflessly served our great nation.

- You do not hesitate to put yourselves in harm's way to defend our freedoms. For this, I thank you.

- You stand between those who would destroy us and our way of life, shielding us from their evil. For this, I thank you.

- You willingly sacrifice far more than most of us will ever sacrifice so that we may be free. For this, I thank you.

- Some of you have laid down your lives in our service. For this, you have my eternal gratitude.

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13

I thank you. I salute you. I pray for you. You are our bravest and our best - you are the men and women who make America great.

Charles - first, thanks for putting up the flag. Second, thanks for the Cox and Forkum cartoon, both of those, together with the sentiments of most on this board, together with my memories of those of my personal band of brothers who are no longer here with us, made this an especially emotional, and teary-eyed day for me.
Memorial Day is supposed to be only for those in the uniform of the United States who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country; those of us who served and fought in war(s) but who managed to escape without dying (though none of us escaped "unscathed" from that service) have a seperate "day" November 11th, Veterans Day.
But as I think of my great, great grandfather, great grandfather, grandfather, my own dear father, and my personal brothers in arms, and pray for them, I cannot help but think of those "other" vetereans who survived and especially for those brave men and women who defend us today.
May God Bless all of our Troops, past, present and future and, with great feeling,
May God Bless America.
Land of the free, because of the Brave.

Hats off to F&C. Screw you, Google and the algore you rode in on.

To:
Paul W Steinhauser, 1SG, USA
Waldemar (Fred) Henniger SFC, USA
Clarence A Lefler SGT, USNG
Roger a Mersek MSG, USA

I have not forgotten your service...or your lives.

Thanks to all who served!

Thanks to Great Grandad for standing guard in Washington DC in the Civil War.

Thanks to Dad for standing guard against the Soviets in Germany in the late '50s and early '60s.

Thanks to my numerous cousins who did their part in Vietnam, the Cold War and the 1st Gulf War, and all the way up to the present time.

God Bless America!

Also, thanks to Uncle Bud for Serving in the Pacific in WWII, and Uncle Kenny for serving in Europe in WWII!

Thank you great-great grandpa Eli, an Ames farmer who spent a year in Andersonville hell for the 12th Iowa.

Thank you Grandpa John, one of the 50% of the 3rd Iowa Infantry who survived the trenches of 1917-8 France.

Thank you Uncle John, wounded survivor of Guadalcanal.

Thank you Dad, who spent two cold winters keeping watch with the 5th Army along the Korean DMZ in '56-'57.

Thank you brother-in-law Ron, a 20-year helicopter instructor at Fort Rucker who cut his teeth flying Hueys in Vietnam '66-'68.

Thank you cousin Wade, an Army medical corpsman during Gulf War I.

Thank you nephew Rick and niece Devin, 389th Engineering Battalion, Operation Iraqi Freedom.

OT
The TV news is full of stories on the loss to enemy fire of CBS 'reporters' inbedded with the Army.
Q's:
* For safety, should they be wearing the Jaundiced Eye patches or flying a CBS flag to announce to the 'insurgents' their solidarity?
* should that be called Friendly Fire?
* I hope that no one on our side was hurt..?

Memorial Day is an "evil American holiday" of course. Google considers itself above such things as a global company. That's why they don't apply silly etnocentric notions like freedom of speech to their operations in countries like China.

PSA - Purple Heart Registry seeking Roll of Honor stories for new museum

[Link: littlegreenfootballs.com...]

Here's the holiday logos Google has done in the past.

As for search engines, if you're looking to switch from Google, I've found ask.com to be good. (And they didn't forget Memorial Day.)

I was born with a heart defect and never had the opportunity to serve. So I'd like to thank each and every one of you who stood up for me.

And a special thanks to my aunt, an Army Nurse who went to Vietnam and came home with three battle stars.

I didn't serve 'cause I was a Liberal and didn't care. Thank God for the millions of brave young people who do care!

Allow me to add my blessing for all the American servicemen and women, defending freedom, through thick and thin, worldwide.

My brother, a captain in tanks, now posted to Ft. Knox, did over a year's stint in Iraq going on three years ago. I recently visited him, and was proud beyond words to see the his role in the US Army, and tour the base for a few days. Brought back lots 'o' cool souveiners from the base PX, too, hehehe.

As a veteran Anerican immigrant here in Israel, I say thank God for the US forces, and may they be safe and at peace wherever they serve with pride, valor and honor.

Some people here in the US think that our country is the root of all evil in the world. That anything we do has some nefarious motive regardless of the stated reasons we give for taking action; A war for big oil, for Halliburton, imperialism, for Israel, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

They say that those of us who love this country more than life itself, who want other people in other countries to enjoy the same freedoms we have (and sometimes take for granted), who think that this country, our freedoms, our way of life are worth defending, are idiots and simple minded. We don't see the whole truth, we aren't capable of understanding that other cultures are just as good, or bad, as ours. That most are actually better than ours, more authentic, more just.

What they forget, or choose to ignore, is the fact that in how many other countries in the world would they be able speak about their country, leaders, and military the way that they do? How many countries would allow them to actively or even passively aid the enemy in a time of war? Do they understand that the freedoms that we have in the West, especially here in the US, are not enjoyed by a majority of the world?

How brave is it to "speak truth to power" in a Democracy? How valiant is it to say things that would have been considered treasonous in the not so distant past while standing on a street corner in San Francisco, or the echo chamber of University campus?

Show me bravery, go to China, Darfur, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, any number of countries, raise a sign of protest, even a 3x5 card, see what happens. Are you brave enough? Go lead the charge against the military and the Mullahs in Iran. Got the gonads for that?

Be against the war, you have that right if that is really how you feel. But be honest about it! Conspiracy theories, ignoring the truth, assigning ulterior motives to things or people you don't agree with, these just make you look petulant, infantile and willfully uninformed. Bush won both elections, get over it!

Okay, enough of my ranting! Today is the day that we celebrate, mourn and remember the men and women who unselfishly gave their lives to give YOU the right to trash this country from the comfort of your parent's basement, or Starbucks, or whatever comfy place you are waging your "revolution". Find somewhere quiet, away from your comrades so they won't see this sacrilege against your ideology, ignore the voices in your head, remove your tinfoil hat and give a quiet thanks to our military. It won't hurt, I promise.

In Memory of

Sgt Young Dillon
Feb 27, 1991

1SG Henry Saunders
Feb 24, 1991

CSM Larry Strickland
Sept 11, 2001

Ironically enough, Google's offices are closed today for celebration of Memorial Day.

God Bless all who have served, who are currently deployed and espically those who have made the ultimate sacrafice.

A e-mail campaign to Google with suggestions for Memorial day logos may be needed.

Took the wife and kiddies up to Ft.Campbell to see "where daddy was" today looked around saw the same faces that were there when I was in so long ago,I served there in the eighties and recalled during gulf war.I was originally in the 1506 inf till we were regimented around 83 and we became the 502nd,returned from sinai to clear post for my first reenlistment when the crash in Gander happened lost my whole co.and evry now and then i still get a pain right in the middle of me.today i thought i saw one of my assistant gunners on my fire team,still 18, still perfect, and alive;it was just my own mind frozen in that time and place.funny how years can dull a memory and then something like a sound or a smell can bring it flooding back,we were young and strong then and we knew what was expected of us and we new death was shadowing us;after all we were infantrymen we are expected to be the ones to take a bullet and give them back.We also were volunteers not some rag ass draftie,or worse sad sack conscripts.I do miss them and i still know all their names and faces but im looking out the window now at my kids in the pool young and perfect and loved they play and laugh in oblivion to hardship pain and death that wrinkles our brow.that my friends is what i wish for on this day for the little ones lets not let the world trouble them; that is their tommorow.so with tears of loss and pride and overwhelmig pride I bid all lgfers a happy memorial day. CURRAHEE!

A few days ago, Google had Sherlock Holmes in their logo, must have been Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle's birthday...clearly a bigger event than Memorial day. Sigh. Wish someone would out google, google.

#16 curt
#53 mj

From this month's paper version of American Spectator, Ben Stein again:

Now I am about to go to sleep in front of the fire at my house in Rancho. The dog's head is silhouetted by the flickering fire. I can hear the wind in the palms. I am well fed. I am safe. I am free. I have my dogs. All thanks to the men and women in the uniforms. Without them, I would have my head sawn off or blown off by the terrorists. I sleep in a cocoon of peace thanks to men whose names I will never know. What a gift they are from God. They guard the gates of Eden with their lives. They guarded me from Hitler and from Stalin and now from Zarqawi. I LOVE THEM. Thank you, glorious men and women in uniform. The breeze is sweeter, the fire warmer, the stars brighter -- all because of you.

Yup.

Amen, Ben Stein!

I hardly ever use Google anymore. I use Yahoo!, which is very nearly as good. Although I think Yahoo! has issues, too. I've heard Ask.com is very good too. Use them instead.

I've been weaning myself off of Google. Snap.com is a nice search engine, and it gives a little screen capture next to your search results, so you have an idea of the content before you go there.

Also, there is a nice audio interview with Cox and Forkum by blogger Egoist here.

Happy Memorial Day, and thanks to all who fought for a free America, past and present.

#79
Thanks for posting that!

#16
I hadn't realized Ben Stein's comments were already posted. Sorry to re-post what you already posted.

Thanks, Cox and Forkum.

And f*ck G00gle.

Yep... Google's tarnished. Tainted. Suffused with a piercing odor of rotted purpose.

Memorial Day - in case anyone forgets it - touches upon almost every family's life in one way or another. Who among those of us that are 3+ generations "here" do not have a relative, a former relative that died or was wounded in Service? The "Fallen Soldier" is too heady for Google, that seems sure.

Too hard to identify why 'military' is as important a word as any in all of history. People with big ideas, bigger hatreds, festering jealosies and megalomanic desires "rise to the top" just as, if not more readily than bright, equitable, sound and principled leaders. The forces of "good" and "evil" can be brought so easily to that which a 3 year old can understand: planning, building, preserving and stockpiling for the future compared to commandeering, destroying, consuming and looting.

The problem is... the temptation is there. On a geopolitical range, the expediency of 'invading, overthrowing and plundering' appeals to those who would take today, and starve tomorrow. But these have long been the opposing forces of Humanity.

The goody-two-shoes in the world would have one believe that if we all were to foreswear the testosterone propelled divisions of society, all would be well. There would be no Memorial Day if there were no Veterans, no veterans if there were no wars, no wars if there were no soldiers, no soldiers if we could all just get along and respect each others borders, ways, cultures, race, our differences, genders, beliefs, castes, brains, foodstuffs and personal hygiene.

LOL.

Dream On, oh Heartbreaking Liberal Idealist.

All one has to do is look at a group of children, put together for the first time in a social setting.

Shyness at first. The stronger Ego'ed ones begin to invent things to do. Get others to follow. Within a half hour, different groups are vying for the same 'thing' or resources. Maybe a parent intevenes. But feelings are hurt. Within a few hours, a fight may break out. Within a week, fights are sure to break out, and though probably between males, often too a different kind of pitted mental struggle happens between the girls. Resources are coveted, playing becomes variously competitive and aggressive. And so the battle is on.

Dream on, oh Bleeding Heart Pacific Idealist.

You can't "medicate" out natural human competitiveness and aggression without also lobotomizing Humanity's Progress. Organizing groups, or troups, to go in some direction 'X', excludes the possiblity of 'W', 'Y', and 'Z'. People who wish to pursue those directions may be thought traitorous. Not good. So many go along. It is rigorously inevitable that competing groups will "go for" attaining the same goal. That may end up being the hearts of the jihadi on the street, or the wall separating the Paleolithians from the Israelis. It might be taking over France, or invading France to repulse those who took her over.

Google can't find a reason to honor the millions of Americans first, and the world's Soldiers second - for their ultimate sacrifice to defeat the 'evils' that await at the gate for a quick dash into the preserve we call "Liberal Democratic Society". A quick dash into the preserve to loot its stockpiles, to engage, entangle and enslave its youth, to add destructive handfuls of sand to the gears of the 'machine' that the West has become.

I, for one, in memory of our fallen, will honor them today. A Budweiser, a hamburger, a visit to the cemetary, and a little red-white-and-blue flag.

Too bad Google couldn't see past their idealism. Too bad they could see that the very idealism that defends their right to exist ... will never "go away", just because they wish it.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing is worth a war, is much worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice,—is often the means of their regeneration.

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.

John Stuart Mill, from Contest in America, 1868

Thank you to all our military. Thank you for protecting us and our country. We honor you.

#77 Currahee has returned and is serving with valour in Iraq. I was at Campbell in the late 90's but the 502's loss was not forgotten.

[Link: www.dogpile.com...] complete with graphics and a link to a search that returns proper memorial day sites.
Google needs to take a lesson from Ronnie Barrett instead of conforming to government repression, he forgoes profit by refusing to sell any of his products to any California govenment agency in protest.
#49 Wickham can kiss my grits, as us "poor southern whites" are supposed to like saying. Let's exam his facts from another angle. The south has always had a strong military tradition, this is why the Union army found itself very short on competent generals. The military offers benefits, educational opporunities, pay and skill training beyond any other field open to people with only a high school diploma. The military has lead the nation in integration and civil rights. That is why a white cracker from Alabama and an inner city black from detroit can end up best friends, from day one we are all green. Instead of condeming the military for shouldering such great burdens upon the poor, he should be praising it for the opportunities it presents. Besides, did anyone else notice that the closest he came to a solution is a draft? Which as we all know the "rich white kids" bought their way out of anyway...

Memorial Day does not get past Google's filtration maggots. It smacks too much of freedom, justice and American Patriotism.

Thank God for those who paid the price for our precious freedom and protect our troops world wide - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and the almost invisible contingent who supply our troops - The American Merchant Marines.

My thoughts go also to my Merchant Marine husband in Japan and my Air Force brother-in-law in Baghdad.

To send a message directly to Google to complain about their policy, use this link:

[Link: www.google.com...]

Thanks to all who have served in our military and to the ones who are serving today. Bless you for preserving our freedoms.

larrystuff: thank you for that link. I just emailed them and called them a pack of ingrates. I hope they get flooded with complaints.

I finally had enough of Google. They're not American any more, they're citizens of the world. Giving that boob Gore a gazillion bucks -- Apple too. I'm glad I'm done with them both.

Google is off my computer for good. Check with Glenn for some other search options.

Thanks, Larry, for that link. I gave them my question.

#89

I sent a message to Google telling them it was out of character for them to not decorate their logo for Memorial Day since they decorate for almost every other holiday.

I hope they get a ton of messages, too.

Thanks for the Ben Stein column.

My warm regards to all lizards on this Memorial Day. My deepest thanks to all lizards who've served in the military. Your service, whether here or overseas, is much appreciated.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

A fine Memorial Day column by Bill Bennett takes a paragraph to talk about fighting terrorism.

In our current war, we've lost almost 3,000 brave soldiers. On September 11, 2001, we lost 3,000 citizens who did not sign up for war, but rather signed up to live freely as Americans. If our war on terror ceased right now, it would be the first time that the number of those who died repelling the enemy was less than the number of people who died in the initial attack on us. But no matter, our war will go on, because our enemy is large and has continued on. Still, we need to remember every American soldier and citizen, alike, in this war--including those in our first battle against the 9/11 attackers, those brave citizen-soldiers on United flight 93 who took over a hijacked airliner heading for the capital and put it down to save as many innocent lives as possible.

Today, thanksgiving for America.

Today, thanksgiving for those who have served and live. Today thanksgiving for those who have served and died.

One more song for Memorial Day...

Arlington
Trace Atkins

I never thought that this is where I'd settle down.
I thought I'd die an old man back in my hometown.
They gave me this plot of land,
Me and some other men, for a job well done.

There's a big White House sits on a hill just up the road.
The man inside, he cried the day they brought me home.
They folded up a flag and told my Mom and Dad:
"We're proud of your son."

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

I remember Daddy brought me here when I was eight.
We searched all day to find out where my grand-dad lay.
And when we finally found that cross,
He said: "Son, this is what it cost to keep us free."

Now here I am, a thousand stones away from him.
He recognized me on the first day I came in.
And it gave me a chill when he clicked his heels,
And saluted me.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
I'm thankful for those thankful for the things I've done.
I can rest in peace;
I'm one of the chosen ones:
I made it to Arlington.

And everytime I hear twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home to us.

And I'm proud to be on this peaceful piece of property.
I'm on sacred ground and I'm in the best of company.
We're thankful for those thankful for the things we've done.
We can rest in peace;
'Cause we are the chosen ones:
We made it to Arlington.

Yeah, dust to dust,
Don't cry for us:
We made it to Arlington.

Google has never done a logo for Memorial Day or Labor Day - at least they are not listed on the historical logo site. These are the the only two official holidays they don't do logos for (They do MLK Day occasionally). However, they almost always do Thanksgiving, 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Bastille Day, Halloween, Earth Day (no surprise there), and Mother's and Father's Day.

They stopped doing Easter in 2001.

Thanks RTLM-
Great day for my first LGF hat tip!
*hoists a frosty one*

#89, larrysstuff: Thanks for the comment link to Google. Here's what I sent them:

I noticed you didn't have a graphic with your Google logo commemorating Memorial Day. You make buttloads of money thanks to the freedoms provided and protected by the United States, and you have utter lack of taste not to say anything? You recognize many historical events, some obscure, but your (in)action today is especially galling.

I have removed Google from my bookmarks. Have a nice day.

Libtard bastards.

That picture reminds me of my stepmother. To this day she keeps the flag of her big brother who died on Iwo Jima displayed in a case in her guestroom. She would have been the little hand in that picture (though she was a teenager) at the time. She idolized her big brother and even today breaks down when she sees the Marine Corps Memorial or a picture of those Marines at Iwo Jima raising our flag ... that flag, in her mind it might as well be that very flag she has in that room because it represents the sacrifice of many others just like her. And just like so many of her generation that sacrificed so much, she doesn't talk about it. It is as if those war days don't exist in casual conversation and if you ask about life back then, she goes silent and finds something that needs tending to or changes the subject as her eyes begin to well up a little.

So the flag is more than just a flag. The flag is all that many have left of a dearly loved one. To desecrate a flag is to desecrate the graves of millions who gave us everything. Flag desecration is an act of disrespect not only to the dead but to the loved ones who see in that flag their brother or their father or sister, mother, cousin, friend, or coworker. But mostly, flag desecration is an act of supreme selfishness.

Eddie,
I still miss you and think about you to this very day. You were such a happy guy that everybody in the company loved you. I'm betting 120 guys remebered you some time today with a smile and a good thought.
I know I did and promise to do the same thing next year.

Memorial Day is doubly significant for me because my father, a World War II veteran, died suddenly on Memorial Day in 1964 (heart attack). I learned from him to honor all men and women in the armed forces, whether they served in wartime or between wars. God bless all veterans who may be reading this thread, and many thanks for your service.

Although Google hasn't marked Memorial Day in its logo, but it has marked the 4th of July for the past six years. In each year, the basic logo has been converted to red, white, and blue, and the design has incorporated such American symbols as the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the American Eagle, as well as "secular" symbols such as fireworks.

Most Americans mark Memorial Day by going to the beach, going shopping, or holding a backyard barbecue. How much more patriotic is that?

OT

A CBS Camera Crew has been attacked in Baghdad.

no link yet.

does that quallify as RED ON RED?

#28 It is a friendly fire incident.

Our military makes it possible for CBS to freely smear our country-not the other way around.

Damn fine warblog ya got there, Mr. Johnson. Carry on!

*snappy hand salute to all brother vets*

Sergeant Songdog
US Navy (Submarines) 1965 - 69
US Army (Medic) 1981 - 91

Why would thees guys care ?

There is the big club now.

Do you think they reaaly care what the people who preserved the nation and this economic system for them Sacrificed ... or their family's ?

What do they care ?

#106 just

Most Americans lacking gratitude and respect for democracy and freedom mark Memorial Day by going to the beach, going shopping, or holding a backyard barbecue. How much more patriotic is that?

There. Fixed that one for ya.