Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day Reading

Some Memorial Day Reading.
Some good, some less so.


My old essay, "Would Jesus Celebrate Memorial Day?"


Memories of freedom

...What if Memorial Day reminds us of times when we had more freedom? What if freedom is dying right under our eyes? What if the memory of the past is more fulfilling than the reality of the present? What if the federal government could write any law, regulate any behavior and tax any event, no matter what the Constitution authorized? What if the m...

from Rational Review News Digest - 


This Memorial Day, let us remember those who have fallen in the defense of the f...

...This Memorial Day, let us remember those who have fallen in the defense of the freest, most prosperous nation the world has ever known. We salute you.

from Ron Paul | Facebook - 


Memorial Day: A Reminder of Failed Moral Principles

...not celebrate Memorial Day. It is a reminder of failed moral principles. I take the occasion to articulate a progressive view, if I may liberate that term for libertarian use. Progress is to be found in renouncing the system of territorial States that now governs mankind and endorsing nonterritorial governments of one's choice.

from Weighing Planks in a Political Program « LewRockwell.com Blog - 


The Mass Graves of Ireland

...on her Memorial Day show. He has a map on the left of the web page which displays 300 mass graves of Ireland. He uses the term Holocaust rather than famine to describe what happened. The English Army took food (not just potatoes) from the farmers to send to England. You can listen to this show on the RBN archives.

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


What to Remember on Memorial Day

“What you are proposing is murder,” Lt. Joseph Cramer told his commanding officer, Colonel John Chivington of the Third Colorado Cavalry, shortly before daybreak on the morning of the planned assault. Cramer and several other members of Chivington’s command staff had severe misgivings about the prospect of a sneak attack against a band of defensele...

from Pro Libertate - 


Memorial Day

...on this Memorial Day is especially worthwhile (David’s post prompts my vanity to prompt me to link to this [somewhat] related 1994 essay of mine in The Freeman – an essay that tells a true story of two veterans of WWII, both of whom I knew quite well.  When all that a human being sees of his or her destructive actions are little puffs of smoke, ...

from Cafe Hayek - 


RonPaul: New Post by Jack Hunter: Memorial Day thoughts on duty and honor http://t.co/iCfTfxQr #tcot #gop2012 #RonPaul #MemorialDay

...Memorial Day thoughts on duty and honor http://t.co/iCfTfxQr #tcot #gop2012 #RonPaul #MemorialDay

from Ron Paul (@RonPaul) on Twitter - 


COMMENTARY 777.2: Memorial Day, A Day of Remembrance

...Memorial Day is a time for Americans to connect with our national history and core values by honoring those who gave their lives fighting for this country. It’s said that this special day to salute fallen Americans was born [...]

from Michael Josephson Commentary - 


Stop Honoring the Institution of War

...lead the Memorial Day parades . . . we shall never end wars, Mrs. Barham, by blaming it on ministers and generals or warmongering imperialists or all the other banal bogies. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers; the rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


Perpetuating War

...honour of Memorial Day: (CHT Sheldon.)

from Austro-Athenian Empire - 


Memorial Day: Soldiers and civic vice

"We shouldn’t assume that the typical soldier has heroic motivations. Many do. Many do not. Many join the military for less than noble motives, and even when they are in the military, they do not develop noble motives. However, for the sake of argument, let’s just imagine that all soldiers have a genuine and strong (de dicto) desire to protect and ...

from Rational Review News Digest - 


Memorial Day: Remembering the victims of government

"People who have lost loved ones fighting in America's wars should, by all means, honor them for their courage, but they should not honor them for 'fighting for our freedoms' because they didn't. They fought to secure the power lust, wealth accumulation, and ego fulfillment of America's ruling class. America's leaders know this perfectly well, but ...

from Rational Review News Digest - 


Guest Post: War Pigs - The Fall Of A Global Empire

...celebrate another Memorial Day with cookouts, beer and burgers, the U.S. war machine keeps churning. As we brutally enforce our will on foreign countries, we create more people that hate us. They don’t hate us for our freedom. They hate us because we have invaded and occupied their countries. They hate us because we kill innocent people with pre...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


Memorial Day Remembrance: Remember 9/11!

...On Memorial Day, we are supposed to remember the troops who died serving our country. So let’s remember them. And let’s also remember the ones who didn’t die, just got maimed and brutalized and traumatized: The guys and gals poisoned with DU and experimental vaccines, who were given evil orders, whose bodies and/or souls were injured “in the lin...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


Footnotes to the Decline of 'Patriotism'

...Memorial Day used to fall on May 30, but Lyndon Johnson, Liar Supreme of his time (only to be outdone in our own, alas), signed into law in 1968 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which, as its name implies, put Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day on Mondays. Even Martin Luther King's birthday was ignored, as his sec...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Memorial Day, 2030

...Day and Memorial Day may fade into obscurity, as people forget about a time when wars were the exception, a time when soldiers were but a small minority of the population.  And if we don’t act swiftly and strongly to stop it, the worst impacts could last a long, long time (see NOAA stunner: Climate change “largely irreversible fo...

from Think Progress - 


Abolish Memorial Day

"Originally 'Decoration Day,' the last Monday in May has been the designated time for us to remember the war dead and honor their sacrifice -- while, perhaps, taking in the lessons of the many conflicts that have marked our history as a free nation. In line with the modern trend of universal trivialization, however, the holiday has been paganized t...

from Rational Review News Digest - 


Memorial Day was started by former slaves

...the first Memorial Day took place on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, SC, after a group of African-Americans, mostly former slaves, gave 257 Union soldiers a proper burial. The black community in Charleston then consecrated the new cemetary with “an unforgettable parade of 10,000 people,” led by 3,000 black school children. It was initially called “De...

from Think Progress - 


Remember! Remember! Remember Your Fathers and this Day of Honor We Call Memorial Day

Today We Honor and Remember By Name The WWII Veteran in Your Family from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. This short tribute video shot on the D Day beaches of Normandy, is one of many we have produced for individual families who helped with special support of the Faith of Our Fathers: A Final Farewell Celebration. There is no way to express our sense o...

from Doug's Blog - 


Memorial Day Tribute #2: It Was Like a Scene from a 1940's Movie---The Young Ladies Sang to the Old Men, and the Old Men Sang To Them

...enjoy the Memorial Day tributes here on Doug’s Blog, beginning with this heartwarming scene from Juno Beach in Normandy. It Was Like a Scene from a 1940’s Movie—-The Young Ladies Sang to the Old Men, and the Old Men Sang To Them from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. For a few precious nights in June of this year we left the real world and lived in a...

from Doug's Blog - 


Memorial Day Tribute #3 We'll Meet Again

We’ll Meet Again from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. This special tribute from the San Antonio Darlings is for the veterans of the Second World War. Here the Darlings sing "We'll Meet Again." This tribute is part of the A Final Farewell and 10 year anniversary of the Faith of Our Fathers Project.

from Doug's Blog - 


Memorial Day Tribute #4: The Men of Day

D-Day and Providence of God Trailer from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo. Watch the new trailer for D Day and the Providence of God. This is the first Christian interpretation of the Second World War to be presented for television audiences as a seven-part made-for-television series. Please feel free to leave comments for us.

from Doug's Blog - 


A True Hero This Memorial Day

The above is from the Leveson Inquiry today. The hero is documentary filmmaker David Lawley-Wakelin. Here he is last year (during the Iraq Inquiry) being interviewed by another hero, George Galloway, about his film The Alternative Iraq Enquiry.

from Weighing Planks in a Political Program « LewRockwell.com Blog - 


PBS Shut Down Suckers!

...eR9z3ksA Happy Memorial Day Doom! http://t.co/AACMICtC

from GodSmacks! - 


Revisionist History Day, 2012

...others call Memorial Day. Americans are supposed to remember the country's war dead while being thankful that they protected our freedom and served our country. However, reading revisionist history (see a sampling below) or alternative news sites (start with Antiwar.com and don't forget to listen to Antiwar Radio with Scott Horton) teaches that...

from Free Association - 


Your War By War Memorial Day Playlist

...people have Memorial Day parties, mainly because what they're actually doing is celebrating the annual "I get to barbecue and guzzle nothing but Yuengling on Monday when I would otherwise have to be at work all day" day. The federal holiday, which has its roots in the aftermath of the American Civil War, was established to commemorate fallen sol...

from Mother Jones - 


Memorial Day! Honor the USS Liberty Brave Men – Maimed and Murdered by Israel

...honor this Memorial Day we must also remember the brave men of the USS Liberty who are still unremembered by the traitors who control our government and media in subservience to a foreign state that has murdered our sons.  Watch my video on the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty and the treason surrounding it and other Israeli terrorism and treac...

from David Duke - 


Is Life so Dear…?

...On Memorial Day, we honor those who have given their lives in defense of this country. We usually think of those who wear the uniform of the military, but there were over 400 firefighters, police and other first responders who gave their lives in response to this act of war. At the edge of ground zero, stands Trinity Church. After George Washin...

from Truth Observed - 


Abolish Memorial Day

...rid of Memorial Day, for all the good it does us. Originally “Decoration Day,” the last Monday in May has been the designated time for us to remember the war dead and honor their sacrifice – while, perhaps, taking in the lessons of the many conflicts that have marked our [...]

from Antiwar.com Original - 


FOR MEMORIAL DAY - Dead In The Water - TheAttack on the USS Liberty

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


Do Military Veterans Really Need To Panhandle?

...s talk Memorial Day in the U.S.  About 4,600 American military people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 30 times as many innocent civilians have died. . .When is their Memorial Day? They get no respect at all. If you bring the topic up, patriotic Americans will simply say "Hey, sh_t happens." Also from P.G.: "Did you know that a mid-thirti...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Holy Days and Holidays

...States approach Memorial Day, I wonder if the Solemnity of Pentecost can perhaps help us to keep our national celebration in a more humble and catholic perspective. Pentecost is about a catholicity that does not eradicate national identity, but nonetheless transcends it.  Yes, Christians can legitimately celebrate national holidays.  By all mean...

from Vox Nova - 


More Memorial Day Lies

...lies on Memorial Day weekend are not about the troops defending our freedoms. In making the case that most of the Founding Fathers were real Christians and not just deists (like it really matters), I was referred today to Washington's Farewell Address of 1796. I decided to check it out and here is what I found. The address contains 6,087 words. ...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


The Origins of Memorial Day

...origins of Memorial Day. Funnily enough, this is the first time I've heard the freed slaves aspect of its inception. The history I've always been told revolved around women decorating the graves of fallen soldiers, presumably grieving widows and mothers. To his credit, Hayes reminds us that there are civilian casualties that we have no holida...

from Crooks and Liars - 


Mark Twain's Memorial Day Service

The War Prayer. (Thanks to Butler Shaffer)

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Memorial Day Films

The cable channels are lining up to give Boobus and his neighbors the full treatment in films celebrating what has become the highest American virtue: the mass slaughter of men, women, and children. The only decent movie I have seen listed was that wonderful classic, Topper, starring Roland Young, Cary Grant, and Constance Bennett. The only people ...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Memorial Day

from Liberty Papers - 


Vets Ask "Mourn For Those Killed By Americans in Battle in US Wars of Aggression!"

...On this Memorial Day, Veterans For Peace asks you to mourn not only for Americans killed in battle, but also for those killed by Americans in battle. We ask you to be willing to accept the fact that these war deaths did not have to happen--that they are actually in vain. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have died in American wars of aggr...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


Memorial Day: Among post-9/11 veterans, deepening antiwar sentiment

...This Memorial Day the Iraq war is over and the Afghanistan war is winding down, but they're weighing heavily on post-9/11 veterans, 33 percent of whom said they weren't worth the cost.

from TruthNews.us - 


Memories of Freedom

...What if Memorial Day reminds us of times when we had more freedom? What if freedom is dying right under our eyes? What if the memory of the past is more fulfilling than the reality of the present? What if the federal government could write any law, regulate any behavior and tax any event, no matter what the Constitution authorized? What if the m...

from Tenth Amendment Center | Working to limit the power of the federal ... - 


Who I Remember on Memorial Day

I refuse to glorify the vicious and destructive nature of the state by honoring those who allowed themselves to get caught up in the war system. Instead, I will remember my ancestors who managed to avoid what is blatantly evil to human life, but essential to the well-being of the state. I have calculated that, in just 67 generations — roughly 2,000...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Memorial Day: 1% mocks US military with unlawful wars; arrests are when?

...on every Memorial Day because they continuously damn more US soldiers to kill and die in unlawful wars. This is an insult to our military past and present, and their families. Because an unlawful war is a literal attack upon US soldiers, it is also treason by the 1% upon American military. Current US wars are not close to lawful: war law is the ...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


For Each Death, A Hole In The World

...wrote for Memorial Day 2005 and I run it every year: Soldiers are not chunks of identical clay; each of them has a story, their own reasons for being caught in a war. Brave? Maybe - sometimes, under some conditions. Scared, mostly. The younger they are, the more likely their presence had to do with restlessness, cockiness. The need to be part of...

from Crooks and Liars - 


IN MEMORY OF MEMORIAL DAY

...remembering other Memorial Days 2010, the Turkish flotilla bringing aid to Gaza the Israeli attack, nine dead

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


Sign the Memorial Day Scroll

...Memorial Day is set aside as a day to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedom. This Memorial Day, we ask you to join us in standing for the true meaning of this national holiday by adding your name to our "Freedom is Not Free" scroll. To add your name to the scroll on our homepage, simply fill out the form on the l...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Unnecessary Grief

...and Memorial Day: My son is one of thousands to die in combat since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Because of their sacrifices, as well as the heroism of previous generations, Memorial Day 2012 should have tremendous importance to our entire nation, with an impact stretching far beyond one day on the calendar. As the father of a fa...

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Tea Party Report: Memorializin' the War on Women

...us this Memorial Day message about the War on Women or WOW.

from Crooks and Liars - 


DECORATION DAY: A memorable tradition

...s Memorial Day, remains a tradition in parts of the rural South for remembering deceased family and church members.

from Baptist Press (BPNews) - 


Against Annihilation of the Spirit: Let Us All Become Cowards

...the upcoming Memorial Day, I give you Charlie Madison:War isn’t hell at all. It’s man at his best; the highest morality he's capable of … it’s not war that’s insane, you see. It’s the morality of it. It’s not greed or ambition that makes war: it’s goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons: for liberation or manifest destiny. Alway...

from Power of Narrative - Arthur Silber - 


Memorial Day: Soldiers and Civic Vice

[SEE UPDATE BELOW] Americans tends to hold up soldiers as models of civic virtue. Might they instead be examples of civic vice? Might it be that the average employee at a for-profit business has more civic virtue than the average American soldier? A few years ago, when writing The Ethics of Voting, I searched through maybe fifty or so books, ancien...

from Bleeding Heart Libertarians - 


Does Your Rep Really Believe the Troops Are Fighting for Freedom?

...s called Memorial Day. Chances are EVERY member of Congress will be back in their district, pontificating and posing as a patriot, who values the sacrifice of the fallen. Yet... Last week an amendment to end legalized kidnapping failed in the House, 182-238. You can see how your Representative voted here. The 238 should be deeply ash...

from DownsizeDC.org - 


Take the Memorial Day Challenge and Watch "Honor Flight" Trailer!

...Memorial Day is the nation's offical observance of those who paid the ultimate price of dying during wartime and is the perfect time to reflect on the often-casual heroism of fallen fighters and the larger questions raised by military action, national purpose, and individual conscience.  Here's Hayes' 2009 film for ReasonTV that got his cur...

from Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - 


Afghanistan: Our Forgotten War

This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website. It's the saddest reading around: the little announcements that dribble out of the Pentagon every day or two—those terse, relatively uninformative death notices: rank; name; age; small town, suburb, or second-level city of origin; means of death ("small arms fire," "improvise...

from Mother Jones - 


How to Forget on Memorial Day 

Whistling Past the Graveyard of Empires 

from Antiwar.com Original - 


This Memorial Day, freedom is dying before our very eyes

...What if Memorial Day reminds us of times when we had more freedom? What if freedom is dying right under our eyes? What if the memory of the past is more fulfilling than the reality of the present?" (05/24/12)

from Rational Review News Digest - 


What If We Have Only Memories of Freedom?

...on Memorial Day, we remember times that were more free than today? What if, on Memorial Day, when we think of those who died for our freedom, we end up recognizing that the freedom they died for is dying? What if it becomes fashionable for the government to ignore the Constitution? What if the Constitution dies because the government stops follo...

from 30. ADF Alliance Alert - 


Memorial Day Is NOT on Sale

...Memorial Day provides a stark contrast between the best of our nation's Patriot sons and daughters versus the worst of our nation's civilian culture of consumption. Indeed, Memorial Day has been sold out. And it's no wonder, as government schools no longer teach civics or any meaningful history, and courts have excluded God (officially) from the...

from Patriot Post - 


Andrew Napolitano on Why This Memorial Day, Freedom Is Dying Before Our Very Eyes

...on Memorial Day, we remember times that were more free than today? What if, on Memorial Day, when we think of those who died for our freedom, we end up recognizing that the freedom they died for is dying? What if it becomes fashionable for the government to ignore the Constitution? What if the Constitution dies because the government stops ...

from Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - 


What If We Have Only Memories of Freedom?

...What if Memorial Day reminds us of times when we had more freedom? What if freedom is dying right under our eyes? What if the memory of the past is more fulfilling than the reality of the present? What if the federal government could write any law, regulate any behavior, and tax any event, no [...]

from Antiwar.com Original - 


Making Memorial Day Meaningful for the Generations

...make this Memorial Day meaningful for the generations — for the present generation and for some of our surviving World War II fathers. Here are our recommendations for you: Our Five Recommendations 1. Take Your Children through ‘WWII: D-Day and the Providence of God’ History teaches us to hope. Providential history teaches us to have hope...

from Doug's Blog - 


The Madeleine Albright Commemoration: Iraq Genocide Memorial Day

...Iraq Genocide Memorial Day. Stanley Heller, Chair of the Middle East Crisis Committee commented: “This horrific loss of life was ignored for six years until the US Ambassador to the UN appeared on ’60 Minutes’ and admitted the deaths of half a million children … We in the Middle East Crisis Committee call for May 12th to be marked as Iraq Genoci...

from WHAT REALLY HAPPENED - 


The Madeleine Albright Commemoration: Iraq Genocide Memorial Day

For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

from GlobalResearch.ca - 


Israeli Council To Recommend Memorial Day Reading Omit “God”

...that in Memorial Day ceremonies at military cemeteries the service use a remembrance reading that does not mention God.

from 30. ADF Alliance Alert - 


The Jesus Some Will Worship This Memorial Day

It is, of course, "another Jesus" (2 Corinthians 11:4).

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Keep on Driving

...Memorial Day is coming up on May 28. If you are driving around and looking for a church to attend and happen to see this on a church sign, keep on driving. I explain why here.

from LewRockwell.com Blog - 


Row upon row

...to celebrate Memorial Day

from WORLD Magazine | Tackett the teacher | Joel Belz | Aug 23, 08 - 


The bloodiest day

...the first Memorial Day in 1868

from WORLD Magazine | Tackett the teacher | Joel Belz | Aug 23, 08 - 


Victims of Communism Day

...a Holocaust Memorial Day. It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the twentieth century’s other great totalitarian tyranny. And May Day is the most fitting day to do so. I suggest that May Day be turned into Victims of Communism Day… I’m certainly not in favor of having the state murder and oppress anarchists. (That would be suic...

from Bleeding Heart Libertarians -