Memorial Day 2007

Bob Ladd, the owner of Shenandoah Harley-Davidson/Buell, speaks to the "Rolling Thunder" veterans gathered to honor their fallen comrades at the Staunton National Cemetary.

Just like last year, I marked Memorial Day by paying a visit to the Staunton National Cemetary. This was was different, however, as a large contingent (about 60, including spouses, etc.) of "Rolling Thunder" veterans paid their respects at this historical site. Before their motorcycles roared in, the civilian visitors to the cemetary were treated to a brief history lesson given by Mr. Ernest Petemines, a decorated Vietnam War veteran. He made it clear that we can all have different political opinions about the war, but the duty to serve one's country, and the respect that all Americans owe to our current and former armed service members, are paramount.

Words of inspiration (and warning)

As the debates on Capitol Hill over war funding rage on, it is a good idea to step back and read some of the more thoughtful commentaries on the present strategic situation in the Middle East, and what the stakes are. Mohammed Fadhil wrote in the New York Daily News that the United States "should stay and fight," condemning those in the United States who want to pull our troops out precipitously. Dr. Fahdil (a dentist) is the author of the defiantly upbeat Iraq the Model blog, live from Baghad. He proclaimed:

It is up to us to show tyrants and murderers like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah, Syria's Bashar Assad, and their would-be imitators who seek to control Iraq's people and wealth that we, the people, are not their possessions. They can't take out our humanity and they can't force us to back down.

In the Wall Street Journal, Bernard Lewis described how the successful U.S.-led response to the 9/11 attacks undermined the entire rationale of Osama bin Laden, who told his followers that the West was decadent and weak-willed. It is only since the last two years that the psychological edge has shifted back in the Islamists' favor, and in light of recent political trends, Lewis questions whether the American people have enough fighting spirit needed to prevail.

It's been quite a while since I've read his blog, but as the debates in Washington go on, it would be a good idea to read Steven den Beste's Strategic Overview of the war against Arab-Islamic terrorism. He lays out the case for war in very clear, rational, unemotional terms. (Link via Baseball Crank.)

I think the most important lesson for Memorial Day is that Americans need to stand together, whatever their political party or beliefs. As Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." In a free country such as ours, however, "standing together" means respecting the inevitable differences of opinion that arise, and defending the rights of loyal dissenters. We are a nation of free-thinking individuals, not a mob of conformists.

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 28 May 2007, 5: 00 PM .

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My blog practices

My general practice is to make no more than one blog post per day on any one category. For this reason, some blog posts may address more than one specific issue, as indicated by separate headings. If something important happens during the day after I make a blog post, I may add an updated paragraph or section to it, using the word "UPDATE" and sometimes a horizontal rule to distinguish the new material from the original material. For each successive day, blog posts are listed on the central blog page (which brings together all topics) from top to bottom in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the order in which the posts were originally made:

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* part of "Macintosh & Miscellanous" until Feb. 2007

The date of each blog post refers to when the bulk of it was written, in the Eastern Time Zone. For each blog post, the time and date of the original posting (or the last update or comment thereupon) is displayed on the individual archival blog post page that appears (just before the comments section) when you click the [LINK / comments] link next to the date. Non-trivial corrections and clarifications to original blog entries are indicated by the use of [brackets] and/or ~~strikethroughs~~, as appropriate so as to accurately convey both the factual truth and my original representation of it. Nobody's perfect, but I strive for continual improvement. That is also why some of the nature photos that appear on the archive pages may differ from the (inferior) ones that were originally posted.

The current "home made" blog organization system that I created, featuring real permalinks, was instituted on November 1, 2004. Prior to that date, blog posts were handled inconsistently, and for that reason the pre-2005 archives pages are something of a mess. Furthermore, my blogging prior to June 1, 2004 was often sporadic in terms of frequency.

Blog errata
(preliminary)

April 4, 2008: "Andy Ashby" should be "Andy Jones"

April 3, 2010: "Mike Morgan" should be "Nyjer Morgan"

: "" should be ""

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