So why look at the "absurd" and "disrespectful" on this Day set aside to honor valor and sacrifice? We need to know what these people are up to.
Winston Churchill said "When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber."
Churchill also said: "Danger - if you meet it promptly and without flinching - you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!"
The parrots are screeching. It's time to stop flinching - meet them head-on and let this jabbering minority know that it will not take away our beloved traditions in the name of civil liberty.
Here's the absurd. A few quotes have been snatched from each below, (in context) but a link is provided to the original.
Watchdog group protests military participation in Memorial Day activities from examiner.com:
Stone Mountain Park's Memorial Day weekend festivities are being criticized by a watchdog group for religious freedom that says the patriotic event also promotes Christianity.Memorial Day: Hijacked from WorldNetDaily by Robert Knight:
...Americans United called for the military to make clear to the public that the weekend is not an official military event, to ensure that military events are not integrated into worship services or other religious activity, and to ensure that active-duty military personnel maintain compliance with constitutional requirements.
"...Sen. John Edwards, whose website supportthetroopsendthewar.com is urging people to crash Memorial Day ceremonies and parades with anti-war protests. He's even asking people to take pictures of it all and post them to his website. What nifty souvenirs!Dishonoring the dead: No Memorial Day protests from UnionLeader.com:
We're still waiting for the media outrage over this hijacking of a sacred day to honor the war dead.
Can you imagine being a U.S. Marine and going out today on a mission in Fallujah, Iraq, searching for the killers in the latest civilian massacre,..."
Edwards urged Americans to use Memorial Day to protest the war in Iraq.Edwards Calls for Protests on Memorial Day??!!?? from Wake up America:
Meanwhile, anti-war protesters across the country are planning to take Edwards' advice and turn out at Memorial Day parades tomorrow to protest the war, thus insulting the sacrifices of all who lost their lives and their innocence in the swirling desert sands of Iraq.
While in the Senate, Edwards Voted YES on authorizing air strikes in Kosovo. (Mar 1999), Voted YES on allowing all necessary force in Kosovo. (May 1999), Voted YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq. (Oct 2002) and Voted NO on $86 billion for military operations in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Oct 2003).ACLU condemned for 'attacking' veterans memorials during time of war from OneNewsNow:
"The American Legion has announced that it is teaming up with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Liberty Legal Institute in a campaign to fight ACLU efforts to remove religious symbols from war memorials. The ACLU has already filed suit to remove crosses at veterans' memorials, like the Mt. Soledad cross in San Diego and the Sunrise Rock cross in the Mojave Desert, which is now covered by a box.Veterans go to battle for memorials from WorldNet Daily:
"Let us see this claim for exactly what it is," Infranco continued. "These individuals assert that their being offended should override the public's desire to honor veterans as we have since the founding of our nation," he said.
The American Legion and the Alliance Defense Fund will mark Memorial Day 2007 observances by launching a nationwide Defense of Veterans Memorials Project to fight secular attacks by the American Civil Liberties Union, atheists and others against veterans memorials – as exemplified by lawsuits against the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial in San Diego and the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial.ACLU Observers Will Monitor Miami Beach Police During Holiday from NBC6.net South Florida:
The American Legion, the largest wartime veterans organization in the world with 2.7million members in 15,000 posts, and the Alliance Defense Fund, believed to be the largest public interest legal firm defending freedom of religion with some 1,000 pro bono attorneys, are to formally announce and detail the Defense of Veterans Memorials Project
The president of the Greater Miami ACLU chapter said the organization was concerned about the number of arrests made on the beach last Memorial Day weekend.
The ACLU and NAACP have criticized Miami Beach police for "overzealous" DUI arrests.
Tracked back by America! Immigration versus Assimilation from Stormwarning's Counterterrorism. Excerpt: America! The land of the free and the home of the brave. But, unless you're a Native American, none of us are from here! For generations, immigrants have come to these shores seeking liberty. Alas, today, that is no more
Technorati Tags: Memorial Day, John Edwards, ACLU, Memorial Day Protests, Winston Churchill, Miami, Florida, U.S. Military, U.S. Soldiers, War on Terror, Iraq, Veterans
The Green Fields of France
ReplyDeleteWell how do you do, Private William McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your grave side?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone that you were only 19
when you joined the glorious fallen in 1916.
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, William McBride, was it slow and obscene?
CHORUS:
Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?
And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind?
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart are you always 19.
Or are you just a stranger without even a name
Forever enclosed behind some glass-pane
In an old photograph torn and tattered and stained
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?
Well, the sun it shines down on these green fields of France,
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance.
The trenches are vanished now under the plough
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard it is still No Man's Land
And the countless white crosses in mute witness stand.
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation that was butchered and downed.
And I can't help but wonder now Willie McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause?
Did you really believe them that this war would end war?
The suffering, the sorrow, some the glory, the shame -
The killing and dying - it was all done in vain.
For Willie McBride, it's all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.
Did they beat the drum slowly?
did they sound the pipe lowly?
Did the rifles fire o'er ye as they lowered you down?
Did the bugle sing 'The Last Post' in chorus?
Did the pipes play 'The Flowers o' the Forest'?
Thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteMaggie
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