In My Day, Memorial Day (Decoration Day) always fell on May 30. While many cities and towns had the tradition of Memorial Day Parades in the morning, baseball had its own tradition of daytime Memorial Day doubleheaders all around the major leagues. About 35 or so years ago, this tradition not only ended, but now some teams don’t even play on Memorial Day, as it is used as a “travel” day for them. The same was once true of the two other summer holidays – Fourth of July (aka Independence Day) and Labor Day.
Changing the Memorial Day date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day. This year’s Memorial Day happens to fall on May 30, but that is just by coincidence, as that happens once every five years or so.
Over the years, the meaning of Memorial Day has faded too much from the public consciousness. From a solemn day of mourning, remembrance, and honor to our departed loved ones, it has degenerated into a weekend of barbecues, shopping bargains, and beaches where only token nods toward our honored dead is given, if at all. Too many people don't even know what the fuckin’ day stands for.
When my daughter’s kindergarten teacher asked the class last week, “What is Memorial Day about?”, the consensus answer was “barbecues.” Of course, I didn’t expect the correct answer from five- and six-year olds, but there are plenty of adults who would respond with similar answers like “barbecues, opening of the beach season, shopping mall sales, etc.”
Memorial Day used to be a sacred day that was reserved for the remembrance of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Businesses closed for the day. Towns held parades honoring the fallen, the parade routes often ending at a local cemetery, where Memorial Day speeches were then given. People took the time that day to clean and decorate with flowers and flags the graves of those that fell in service to our country.
It is human nature to avoid the unpleasant. But we need to remember the cost of war, we need to remember the price paid for our freedoms, we need to not let those who died, die forgotten and in vain.
If it is considered a holiday, why is it so? I consider it to be a national day of mourning. This is how we observe this day in my home. Because of what that day represents the rest of the days of the year are our holidays.
When Congress made the day into a three-day weekend back in 1971, it made it all the easier for us to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day.
We need to teach our children the day's meaning. Show others by our actions that we will not forget. You don't have to believe in war to honor our family, friends, and neighbors who died in service to their country.
Instead of using Memorial Day as a time to honor and reflect on the sacrifices made by Americans in combat, many Americans use the day as a celebration of the beginning of summer. It would be a good idea if Congress would restore Memorial Day to May 30 and authorize flags to fly at half-mast on that day.
Don't we owe our loved ones and friends who died in service to our country a restored Memorial Day?
Liberal copycats of talk radio fail, not because they are always boring but because there is little market or even need for such a counter-establishment media. The progressive audience already finds its views embedded in a New York Times or CBS "news" story. So why turn to a redundant and less adept Al Franken, Phil Donahue or Arianna Huffington?If anything the MSM is getting more bent to the left because they have succeeded in driving away their customers seeking "fair and balanced" coverage. The MSM now has to preach to their choir because that's the only audience they have left. CBS News trails Simpsons reruns in many major markets. The damage has been done and now CBS et al have to try and keep the left wing audience.
Powell is a close friend of Jordan and an old friend and former colleague of Malek, who helped select Powell, who was a lieutenant colonel in the Army, as a White House fellow during the Nixon administration. Powell was in the Office of Management and Budget when Malek, who was OMB deputy director, recruited Powell to be his assistant.First - the quote reminded me of what Powell wrote about Malek in Powell's 1995 autobiography:
When a secretary called saying, "Mr. Malek is on the line," it was like hearing the Mafia tell you that the money was due by midnight and no excuses.I guess that means that Fred Malek is a no-nonsense type of guy. I know some context would add meaning but the quote was too memorable to pass-up.
The footage ends with me attempting a running leap from the top of a twelve-foot shelf in the general direction of the electronics department. At least this part I know to be accurate, I have the laceration on my inner thigh from landing on a digital camera's open viewfinder and a reverse "Philips" stamped on my forehead from when the display model plasma TV fell on my face.
For good or bad, Tonya Harding has been the most influential person in Figure Skating history, and in all sports history, second only to Mohammad Ali.You have to read the Fantasy Message Board though (warning NSFW)- funny, funny stuff. It's like the rejected letters to Penthouse with Tonya Harding as the focal point. Here's one of the tamer ones:
Her name stalked along the wind like a man waiting with a blackjack meant to entangle in a sweet embrace with an innocent figure–skater’s kneecap. "Tonya." I could feel it roll off my tongue and into my heart. I met her on a day like any other. I was carousing about town with my usual unwashed flannel overshirt and three day old newspaper. As I turned down a dark alley to urinate in someone’s potted plant‚ I spotted her. Her gait was one of merriment‚ and I spared no time in running up to her to possibly score a date. At this point‚ I’d take anything. As I approached her eyes lit up‚ and I was reminded of a girl I used to know. Actually‚ I saw her in a Sear’s Catalogue. I knew that we had instantly connected in a way few have experienced. She looked into my eyes‚ and I into hers. We both knew what the other wanted: to persue an unsuccessful boxing career and get our asses kicked on opening night. Oh‚ wait. I mean‚ sex. We wanted sex. From eachother. Her hair was drawn up in a beautiful ponytail‚ and I could only be reminded of home in the trailer park. Although my mother always told me beauty was merely skin–deep‚ I could not control my urges. I had to have her‚ then and there. I touched her face. She screamed in anticipation. "SECURITY!" What a beautiful voice she had. Suddenly I was tackled by a large man named Bruno. It was then that I felt the twinge of conciousness working its way into my eyes. I tried to cling to that beautiful dream‚ but it was lost forever.Hat Tip to Gorilla Mask
Oh well‚ she probably has herpes anyway.
....While engaged in the very difficult business of building a democracy in Iraq -- the first democracy should it succeed in the entire history of the Arabs -- President Bush has also quite consciously to my information created a new playground for the enemy away from Israel and even farther away from the United States itself. By the very act of proving this lower ground he drains terrorist resources from other swamps.There are some homegrown "insurgents" among the folks the US Military has been fighting in Iraq but for the most part we are fighting foreign born terrorists who are terrorists by trade and who - if they weren't fighting against our highly trained military would be killing civilians elsewhere.
This is the meaning of Mr. Bush's "bring 'em on" taunt from the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday when he was quizzed about the "growing threat to U.S. forces" on the ground in Iraq. It should have been obvious that no U.S. President actually relishes having his soldiers take casualties. What the media and U.S. Democrats affect not to grasp is that the soldiers are now replacing targets that otherwise would be provided by defenseless civilians both in Iraq and at large. The sore thumb of the U.S. occupation -- and it is a sore thumb equally to Baathists and Islamists compelling their response -- is not a mistake. It is carefully hung flypaper.
The Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel, a highly reputable and reliable think-tank, has published a paper titled "Arab volunteers killed in Iraq: an Analysis," available at e-prism.org. Authored by Dr. Reuven Paz, the paper analyzes the origins of 154 Arab jihadists killed in Iraq in the last six months, whose names have been posted on Islamist websites.What got me thinking along these lines was a must read letter from Marine Colonel Bob Chase about his experiences in Operation Matador. There are three paragraphs from his letter that I would like to focus on. First:
The sample does not account for all jihadists in Iraq, but provides a useful and eye-opening profile of them. Saudi Arabia accounted for 94 jihadists, or 61 percent of the sample, followed by Syria with 16 (10 percent), Iraq itself with only 13 (8 percent), and Kuwait with 11 (7 percent.) The rest included small numbers from Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Morocco (of which one was a resident in Spain), Yemen, Tunisia, the Palestinian territories (only 1), Dubai, and Sudan. The Sudanese was living in Saudi Arabia before he went to die in Iraq.
Matador is now officially over, supposedly, they were going to fight our way back and “destroy” us - guess they missed the turn at the dairy queen. We are back and the final tally was Good Guys - 125+ enemy dead, many more wounded, and 39 detainees of some significant value. The bad guys, who talk a real good game - 9 Killed (6 in the one Amtrak) and 30 wounded (most will return to duty). Not a bad weeks’ work.That's an almost 14-1 ratio between our dead and their dead. I suspect that this was a particularly low ratio for the Marines. My guess is that throughout the war the ratio of their dead to ours has been about 15-20 terrorists dead for each US service man. The ratio would be higher except we include the dead servicemen who die from roadside bombs and training exercises. I have to guess at the number of enemy dead because keeping a body count is not something we do anymore (I'll come back to why we don't). I'm particularly curious about the countries of origin for their dead. It is not mentioned in the letter but I'd guess that only 10-20% of the enemy combatants were from Iraq (and yet the MSM still call them "insurgents").
The enemy figured out after about 4 hours that we were there in force. They came down with about 100 fighters (no, scratch that - they were TARGETS) and made the poor decision to take on a battalion in open ground. They withdrew - we went after them into a place called Ubaydi. Many mounted boats and tried to escape N, we pushed Air, and the Cobras sunk a bunch of trash barges that night. Meanwhile, we continued to push west across the river. Our far-side units started to see pockets of insurgents move to key areas to emplace mines/IEDs. They came out, snipers took them out; their friends came for the bodies; they, joined them on the deck - permanently.These foreign fighters (I'm assuming) went from Holy warriors, to "insurgents", to "targets" and then to "the dead". Flypaper.
We can never replace a fellow Marine or best friend but I can attest that he died doing what we all hope to be doing as Marines, they were advancing, leading, and setting the example - they were being MARINES! It may not matter in the grand scheme of things to anyone but us, but we are singularly proud that we have and know Marines that fought and died like these. We remember and memorialize them and keep them alive every single time we put on this uniform — we are just honored to wear the same eagle, globe, and anchor as these warrior/heroes. We don’t make policy, we don’t decide on the fight, but we do fight and win. And when we win, it is because every one of these Marines fight with us in spirit - and we will not, we cannot let them down. To we Marines, Semper Fidelis is more than a motto - it was to them, and to us who were privileged to fight with them, a way of life.This paragraph brought to mind the quote from Ronald Reagan:
Some people go through life wondering if they made a difference, but Marines don't have that problem.Amen to that!
CRASH (drunken, mad)Or in this case Fenway Park.
You know what the difference is between hitting .250 and hitting .300? I got it figured out. (beat) Twenty-five hits a year in 500 at bats is 50 points. Okay? There's 6 months in a season, that's about 25 weeks--you get one extra flare a week--just one--a gork, a ground ball with eyes, a dying quail-- just one more dying quail a week and you're in Yankee Stadium!
With some time off before his first season as CBS’s golden boy, Jackie camped out at Toots Shor’s with Sinatra and his celebrity pals. One evening Frank showed up during Jackie’s morning eye-opener with four tickets to the sold-out final playoff game between the NY Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, was having a tête-à -tête with Toots and Frank invited the trio to accompany him to the game. Everyone agreed except Jackie, who wanted to stay at the bar and drink. They finally talked him into it by renting a fully stocked limo. s Sinatra recalls:Can you picture anyone else being able to treat Sinatra like that?
“We pile into that limousine, already feeling no pain, especially Gleason. Jackie guzzled booze all the way to the Polo Grounds and ate most of the food. When we get there Jackie switches to hot dogs and beer. Comes the last half of the ninth and the fans are going wild. The Giants are behind 4-2 and Bobby Thompson comes to bat.
“Right at the exact moment, with the crowd screaming, Gleason throws up right on me. Here is one of the all-time classic games that people will talk about and I am right in the stadium and I don’t see Bobby Thompson hit that home run. Only Gleason, a Brooklyn fan, would get sick at a time like that. But that’s not the punch line.
“On the drive back to Toots, Gleason keeps muttering to the chauffeur to pull over to the side of the road saying, “Let’s throw this bum Sinatra out of here. He’s smelling up the limo.”
One thing I find interesting, that... and I think he gets, after his early days in Boston, he gets a wonderful ride, but the complete disappearance of Manny Ramirez as a real player. Yeah he hit a home run on the breaking ball yesterday, but he's a .260 hitter with a .880 OPS since the All-Star break last year. Doesn't there come a point where that becomes a little bit of a concern, he gets hit on the leg and doesn't play two games. I don't know. I find him as distracted as any time I can ever remember him... He just doesn't seem to be into the games at all. There was a time when he was a dominant offensive force at the end of gamesPeter what are you basing these statements about Manny's supposed "disappearance" and his being "distracted" upon? The Red Sox have played 34 games this year and Manny has played in 33 - so I don't know what you mean by "gets hit on the leg and doesn't play two games". As far as being a dominant force at the end of a game or when the games on the line - Manny would definately be in my top 5 for players I want up with runners in scoring position and the game on the line. Last year with RISP - Manny hit .340 with a 1.098 OPS. With RISP and 2 outs - Manny hit a blistering .361 with a 1.138 OPS. That's a money player! For his career Manny has hit .329 with a 1.059 OPS with RISP and with the bases loaded - Manny IS the most feared batter in baseball today (see - grand slams, 18)!
I just wonder, this is a long time, same OPS since the All-Star game as Mark Loretta. Is that what you want for $20 million in a left fielder who's a defensive and baserunning liability?...Then they had him traded to the Mets this winter too... There are lot of things, just the way he walks and so forth, they wanted him to hit fourth and not third and he wouldn't do that. I don't know... I'm amazed a little bit that he gets the pass that he gets... maybe it's resignation. I had a fan come up to me at the ballpark and say "how in the world could you not pick Manny as one of the 5 best players in baseball? And I went "umm what?!? Kidding me?" I mean there were other priorities, the qualifications for the other selections were defense, baserunning, accountability, leadership. But I was just amazed, the guy was really angry about it. ...Their best player is their catcherThe "is that what you want for $20 million in a left fielder who's a defensive and baserunning liability?" argument is the same one people tried to make against Jim Rice was he was playing for the Sox. Plus - Peter are you using salary as a benchmark for how you judge a player because if that's the case then the Red Sox best player is Bronson Arroyo and his sub million salary.
Well he (Tek) [Jason Varitek] understands and accepts responsibility. He's a very intelligent man. And accountability is to me something that's very important in baseball. And I think David Ortiz is an extremely accountable person. He got his contract although he is obviously one of the most underpaid guys in terms of his contract. Doesn't seem to be a problem. Goes out, doesn't brag about it, he's a leader in his own way. He is their, not Manny Ramirez, excuse me Michael you're wrong, David Ortiz is their best offensive player. NO question about it. No comparison. He is a dominant force in the lineup.Four quick points on this quote:
H's (Ortiz) been better for two years Michael, watch the games. Watch what happens when good pitchers are on the mound. Watch against guys who throw hard, who throw inside. And watch what happens. I'm not talking about garbage time numbers, I'm talking about numbers that mean something.Umm... Manny won the World Series MVP last year. You could argue that Ortiz was the playoff MVP (and he was) but Gammons completely overlooks this. I mean it was the baseball writers who picked Manny as Series MVP - so I guess they had an argument to make.
Oh, have you ever heard of Albert Pujols? Don't, don't make a fool of... please that's foolish to say that, that's... it's not worth a discussion. There are only two players in a comparable period of time in History who have the numbers that Puljols does and that's Williams and DiMaggio in their first 4-1/4 seasons. He's the dominant right-handed hitter in baseball.I agree that Pujols is the best right-handed hitter in baseball but I don't like the way Manny is dismissed out of hand. Pujols may compare favorably to Williams and DiMaggio in their first four full seasons but Manny has a career OPS+ of 156 compared to DiMaggio's 155 (I don't use Ted Williams as a bench mark because there is only one Ted Williams). Let's see how Pujols compares after 12 seasons.
Captain Koons (from Pulp Fiction): Hello, little man. Boy, I sure heard a bunch about you. See, I was a good friend of your dad's. We were in that Hanoi pit of hell together over five years. Hopefully...you'll never have to experience this yourself, but when two men are in a situation like me and your Dad were, for as long as we were, you take on certain responsibilities of the other. If it had been me who had not made it, Major Coolidge would be talkin' right now to my son Jim. But the way it turned out is I'm talkin' to you, Butch. I got somethin' for you.(I posted this for no reason whatsoever.)
(The Captain sits down and pulls a gold wrist watch from his pocket)
This watch I got here was first purchased by your great-grandfather during the first World War. It was bought in a little general store in Knoxville, Tennessee. Made by the first company to ever make wrist watches. Up till then people just carried pocket watches. It was bought by private Doughboy Erine Coolidge on the day he set sail for Paris. It was your great-grandfather's war watch and he wore it everyday he was in that war. When he had done his duty, he went home to your great-grandmother, took the watch off, put it an old coffee can, and in that can it stayed 'til your granddad Dane Coolidge was called upon by his country to go overseas and fight the Germans once again. This time they called it World War II. Your great-grandfather gave this watch to your granddad for good luck.
Unfortunately, Dane's luck wasn't as good as his old man's. Dane was a Marine and he was killed -- along with the other Marines at the battle of Wake Island. Your granddad was facing death, he knew it. None of those boys had any illusions about ever leavin' that island alive. So three days before the Japanese took the island, your granddad asked a gunner on an Air Force transport name of Winocki, a man he had never met before in his life, to deliver to his infant son, who he'd never seen in the flesh, his gold watch. Three days later, your granddad was dead. But Winocki kept his word. After the war was over, he paid a visit to your grandmother, delivering to your infant father, his Dad's gold watch. This watch. (holds it up, long pause) This watch was on your Daddy's wrist when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured, put in a Vietnamese prison camp. He knew if the gooks ever saw the watch it'd be confiscated, taken away. The way your Dad looked at it, that watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slopes were gonna put their greasy yella hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.