Why A Memorial Day?

Why do we bother with memorials and remembrances? Why should we care whether or not events peculiar to our culture are observed for all time by future generations?



Unfortunately things have progressed to the point in America where perhaps we need to have discussion like this. Memorials have been observed for thousands of years. The earliest indications of human existence are recorded in some part due to man's need to remember (also to serve some rather colossal egos!), to hold near and dear the memory of important lives and events in order for the culture to survive; not merely to survive - but to remain intact. We can survive, but will we recognize the end result in a few generations?

Will the image displayed above pertaining to the war my father and his brothers fought have the same emotional impact on my great grandchildren as it does for me? That is one of the cultural issues that memorials are created for.

One of the earliest surviving memorials is the Passover, as detailed in the Book of Exodus. The observation of Passover celebrates the deliverance of Israel from the tyranny of an Egyptian Pharaoh approximately thirty-five hundred years ago. The Hebrew Feasts and holidays, in effect their memorials, are what kept the identity of the Jews alive despite two thousand years of persecution, murder and dispersion.

Our Memorial Day started as Decoration Day on May 30, 1868, to honor the dead from the Civil War. There have been many wars since. In all, since 1775 over 1,316,000 men and women have sacrificed their lives for our country.

War of Independence ----(1775-1783)------25,000
Quasi-War -----------------(1798-1800)-----------20
Barbary Wars -------------(1801-1815)------------35
War of 1812 ---------------(1812-1815)-------20,000
1st Seminole War ---------(1817-1818) -----------30
2nd Seminole War --------(1835-1842) -------1,500
Mexican-American War - (1846-1848) -----13,283
3rd Seminole War ---------(1855-1858)-----------26
Civil War --------------------(1861-1865) ---623,026
Indian Wars ----------------(1865-1898)----------919
Spanish-American War ----(1898)--------------2,446
Philippine War -------------(1898-1902) -------4,196
Boxer Rebellion ------------(1900-1901)-----------37
Mexican Revolution -------(1914-1919)-----------35
Haiti Occupation ----------(1915-1934)----------146
World War 1 ---------------(1917-1918)----116,708
World War 2 ---------------(1941-1945)-----407,316
Korean War ----------------(1950-1953)------36,914
Vietnam War ---------------(1964-1973)------58,169
El Salvador -----------------(1980-1992)-----------20
Beirut-------------------------(1982-1984)---------266
Persian Gulf Support ------(1987-1988)-----------39
Invasion of Grenada -------(1983)------------------19
Invasion of Panama --------(1989)-----------------40
Persian Gulf War ------------(1991) ---------------269
Somalia -----------------------(1992-1993) ---------43
Bosnia -------------------------(1995) ---------------12
Afghanistan ------------------(2002-2010) -----1,084+
Iraq ----------------------------(2003-2010) -----4,400+

It is said that men do not necessarily die in combat for their Cause or their Country; they die for their friends. Jesus said in John 15:13

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for His friends".

If we are to be true to the precepts that founded this Nation, then we must also accept the sacrifice that our friends made for us. That is why there is a Memorial Day - a Day of Remembrance for our friends: past, present and future. We will never forget the blood sacrifice that Christ made for our sins and we must never forget the blood sacrifice that our vets made for our freedom. To forget these sacrifices is to deny what we are.

And then what will we be?

Did You Plug The Hole Yet Daddy?

"Did You Plug The Hole Yet Daddy?" is what one of Obongo's daughters allegedly said to the Liar-in-Chief regarding the BP drilling platform that exploded a month ago.

But Obongo's hole plugging is also a question that some reporters may be getting interested in since other aspects of Obongo's private life are starting to percolate up from the depths just like oil from the ruined BP drilling platform. At iOwnTheWorld.com there is reference to a story regarding a Chicago bunghole retreat that has served ChiTown's gay population for decades. This establishment allegedly served the needs of Obongo until 2002 and Eric Rahm until as recently as 2008. The assault on Kal Penn and the theft of his cell phone may also have implications for this administration.

There is more about this story at HillBuzz. Things may get very interesting for Obongo . Look for a major event to divert attention away from this. Perhaps a war with the NorKs...

I put absolutely nothing past this POS in the WH.

Prettiness, Personality and Politics

How a young girl perceives herself is crucial to her development of self awareness and self esteem. Just take a look at these photos of liberal gals and tell me looks have nothing to do with personality and politics...

These are their reactions when the word "penis" was mentioned.

Janet Reno

"Yes, I am Chelsea's Dad." *drool*

Rosie O'Donnell

" I rent mine!" *snarl*

Elena Kagan

"Plastic or latex?"

Helen Thomas

Please! *pant, pant*

Thanks to Nickie Goomba and the Real Revo for the idea...

Al Qaeda Performance Art

The canvas is blank, so to speak. Pristine, pure ... virginal. It awaits the master's touch.
The artist approaches, pallette in hand. He wants to create something of great beauty, something that others will appreciate, applaud; a work for which he will be known and revered forever.

What can you do when your canvas is a shithole in the middle of a cesspool known as Yemen and your pallette consists of C4 and detcord?

You can smear yourself all over creation as did Nayif Al-Qahtani.

"I laughed, I cried ... it became a part of me. Four and a half stars!" ~ sig94

Praise Be To God.

Obamateur

Obongo and the First Wookie conduct a series of Humiliation tours, bowing and scraping to assorted murderous heathens and then traveling to our oldest, most loyal ally to honor the Queen of England by grabbing her ass or some other such nonsense in blatant violation of protocol while waving gift DVD's around like incense at a High Catholic Mass.

But for the beaners, our most corrupt neighbor/nation and the architect of many of our border woes? - Oburrito and the First Titless Taco pull out all the stops.

Obamateur, def:

A scheming, lying politician who through his vast experience with corrupt strongarm practices reveals himself to be completely inexperienced or unskilled in statesmanship and good decision-making.

Could It Happen?

I got to admit, I have been thinking along these lines ever since Obongo started tearing at the Constitution like a raccoon trying to get claw his way into your garbage can.

Who knows, it's possible...

From iOwnTheWorld:

Full Text Of Newsmax Column Suggesting Military Coup Against Obama

Here is the full text of John L. Perry’s column on Newsmax which suggests that a military coup to “resolve the Obama problem” is becoming more possible and is not “unrealistic.” Perry also writes that a coup, while not “ideal,” may be preferable to “Obama’s radical ideal” — and would “restore and defend the Constitution.” Newsmax has since removed the column from its website.
Obama Risks a Domestic Military Intervention

By: John L. Perry

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the following through military eyes:

# Officers swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Unlike enlisted personnel, they do not swear to “obey the orders of the president of the United States.”

# Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized.

# They can see that Americans are increasingly alarmed that this nation, under President Barack Obama, may not even be recognizable as America by the 2012 election, in which he will surely seek continuation in office.

# They can see that the economy — ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation — is financially reliant on foreign lender governments.

# They can see this president waging undeclared war on the intelligence community, without whose rigorous and independent functions the armed services are rendered blind in an ever-more hostile world overseas and at home.

# They can see the dismantling of defenses against missiles targeted at this nation by avowed enemies, even as America’s troop strength is allowed to sag.

# They can see the horror of major warfare erupting simultaneously in two, and possibly three, far-flung theaters before America can react in time.

# They can see the nation’s safety and their own military establishments and honor placed in jeopardy as never before.

So, if you are one of those observant military professionals, what do you do?

Wait until this president bungles into losing the war in Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s arsenal of nuclear bombs falls into the hands of militant Islam?

Wait until Israel is forced to launch air strikes on Iran’s nuclear-bomb plants, and the Middle East explodes, destabilizing or subjugating the Free World?

What happens if the generals Obama sent to win the Afghan war are told by this president (who now says, “I’m not interested in victory”) that they will be denied troops they must have to win? Do they follow orders they cannot carry out, consistent with their oath of duty? Do they resign en masse?

Or do they soldier on, hoping the 2010 congressional elections will reverse the situation? Do they dare gamble the national survival on such political whims?

Anyone who imagines that those thoughts are not weighing heavily on the intellect and conscience of America’s military leadership is lost in a fool’s fog.

Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a “family intervention,” with some form of limited, shared responsibility?

Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.

Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don’t shrug and say, “We can always worry about that later.”

In the 2008 election, that was the wistful, self-indulgent, indifferent reliance on abnegation of personal responsibility that has sunk the nation into this morass.

A Celestial Mystery

Scientists are baffled. Jupiter has lost one of its belts.
It's like an interplanetary strip tease.
Jupiter slides behind the Sun for three months and comes out with a new do.

Jupiter was pictured this month (left) looking unusually bare, compared to July 2009 (right). It has lost its dark red Southern Equatorial Belt although scientists are unclear as to why. The pictures have different tones because they were snapped a year apart.

The band was present in at the end of last year before Jupiter ducked behind the Sun on its orbit. However, when it emerged three months later the belt had disappeared.

Jupiter also lost its pants and reported its wallet stolen.

Neptune and Uranus are suspects.

Oil And Gold Do Mix

Right now gas is selling for $3.03/gal at the station down the street from me and at a lot of other places in the County. We shake our heads and complain about the price and blame the Arabs/politicians/oil companies and every other greedy so and so in the book.

Here is a different take on the matter from Real Clear Markets:

... it's worth mentioning that not long after he was inaugurated as our 40th president, Ronald Reagan predicted a fall in the price of a barrel of oil. What made Reagan so confident?

Aware of the historical relationship between gold and oil, Reagan deduced that oil was due for a correction based on a 20% drop in the price of an ounce of gold since his election. Sure enough, by December of 1981 the price of a barrel of oil was nearly 20% lower than it had been one year before.

Looked at over a longer timeframe, from 1970 to 1981 the price of gold rose 1,219 percent, versus a rise in the price of oil 1,291 percent. This wasn't coincidental. With gold and oil both priced in dollars, and with gold serving as the best proxy for the latter's value, a jump in the gold price neatly foretold the oil "shocks" of the 1970s that were merely dollar shocks.

Follow the money. As the dollar went south, the price of oil went north.
Kinda makes sense. no?

Right now gold trades in the $1176 range, and the price of oil is roughly $79 per barrel. That an ounce of gold buys 15 barrels of oil signals yet again that the real price of oil has hardly changed at all over the last 10 years of allegedly costly crude. Still, $79 oil ensures $3/gallon gasoline as far as the eye can see, and it's a fair bet that the price will stay there so long as gold continues to test all-time highs.

The good news, however, is that this can be fixed. As evidenced by the dollar's major decline versus gold this decade, the dollar is very cheap. The dollar's debased nature explains expensive spot oil prices, high prices at the pump, and most important of all, it helps explain a difficult job outlook. With so much soggy money flowing into commodities least vulnerable to dollar weakness, the entrepreneurial economy where most jobs are created is losing out.

I can remember when gold was $35 an ounce:

A first classs postage stamp sold for 3 cents

I could buy chuck steak for 59 cents a pound.

A gallon of milk was 69 cents.

In 1971 I worked at a gas station where the most common fuel purchase was for $3 - it bought you nine gallons of gas and free silverware.

I attended an expensive private university for $800 tuition/semester (1967).

You could buy a nice little ranch style house for $15,000.

For now though, it's a waste of time to bemoan what many deem "expensive oil." Time is wasted because there's no such thing as expensive oil, and there never has been. Instead, we have a problem of Americans supposing that the dollar is fixed in value, when in fact the dollar floats.

Oil hasn't become expensive this decade; rather the dollar has become very cheap. Strengthen the dollar, and worries over nosebleed gasoline prices will quickly become a thing of the past. Absent that, to hope that something will become inexpensive when the unit of account in which it's priced continues to fall is to indulge in fantasy.

So the question now is, why is the dollar fallen into such deep kimchi? I suspect the gubbmint. Mandated gimme programs for the "disadvantaged" have dollars being taken away (taxes) from people who are capable of managing their affairs and given to people who are not capable of holding onto a nickel. The housing bubble was caused in this very fashion. People with marginal or no jobs at all were given loans to purchase homes which they otherwise could not afford and either way were incapable of maintaining. Too many dollars chasing after a finite number of items will artificially raise the price of those items and simultaneously debase the value of your currency.

The Bible states that the love of money is the cause of much evil (1 Tim 6:10). The love of government does the same thing for the same reason.

Arizona Win - Obongo Fail