“Victoria’s Secret: We’re too sexy for our clothes.  CEO says lingerie company wants to tone down its racy image.”

News Busters has a post up showing that as the news from Iraq gets better the news coverage gets less.

Who knew a balloon could be so cool?

Day is done, gone the sun, From the hills, from the lake, From the skies.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

Go to sleep, peaceful sleep, May the soldier or sailor, God keep.
On the land or the deep, Safe in sleep.

Love, good night, Must thou go, When the day, And the night Need thee so?
All is well. Speedeth all To their rest.

Fades the light; And afar Goeth day, And the stars Shineth bright, Fare thee well; Day has gone, Night is on.

Thanks and praise, For our days, ‘Neath the sun, Neath the stars, ‘Neath the sky, As we go, This we know, God is nigh.

To those who have fallen so we may stand, I shall always remember. Thank you.

Not a big fan of Trudeau, but the Tree Hugging Sister at the Coalition of the Swilling points out that he was only one of two who mentioned Memorial Day in his Sunday Cartoon. Have to give him credit where credit is due. Thanks

Wisdom is knowing when to speak your mind and when to mind your speech (unknown author).

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day to honor over 1,800,000 Americans who gave their lives for this country. It is the one day a year that everyone should set aside partisanship and pay respect to these who have died so we remain free. Many will do just that, like:

The 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry (Old Guard) who on the Thursday before Memorial Day place small American flags on each of the more then 260,000 graves at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol the grounds 24 hours a day to ensure the flags remain standing. These soldiers have been honoring their comrades in this manner since 1948.

The Boy Scouts of St. Louis who for 57 years have placed American flags on the 165,905 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

The Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 graves of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Taps are then played on the half hour throughout the night. They have been doing this since 1998.

Rolling Thunder’s Run to the Wall. Since 1988 this organization has honored our fallen with the now famous “Run to the Wall.” This ain’t Hell has the story and photos on this years gathering.

In contrast to those above, there are those who subvert Memorial Day in order to advance their political agendas. By doing so, they demean and disrespect those who have fallen – on the only day set aside to remember and respect them. These people include:

John Edwards, he of the 29,000 sf mansion, $55,000 speaking fees, $400 hair cuts, and no military service called on people to:

protest the war at Memorial Day Parades and gatherings, take photos and then he will place those photos on his website. ‘Buy a bunch of poster-board and markers,’ the website says. “At a picnic or with family and friends, make signs that say ‘SUPPORT THE TROOPS – END THE WAR.’ Bring them to your local Memorial Day parade. Then take a digital photo of yourself and your family or friends holding up the poster and tell us about it. We’ll include it in a ‘Democracy Photo Album’ on our site

Scum. On the one day a year set aside to honor our fallen warriors Edwards, who wants to be their Commander-in-Chief, turns it into a day to advance his self interests and political agenda. Ironic that he uses his free speech rights to disrespect the very people who died to ensure he has them. Or as Blackfive says:

Oh that’s special John, we as a nation set aside one day to recognize the ultimate sacrifice made by so many better men than you, and you feel free to push them aside so you can grab some spotlight. You miserable empty suit, you pathetic, girly man, you lying, cheating, petty, little narcissist. And don’t tell me to stop calling him names, he has earned a grand total of zero respect for anything he has done and earned trainloads of disgust for his shameful, disrespectful actions.

Then there is Answer, who believes the way to honor our fallen and support our Troops is to disrupt the West Point graduation ceremonies. Gateway Pundit has the full story and photos. The short story is that Answer’s plans did not work out…seems they did not plan on a diverse group of people – the Eagles, bikers, Marines, and locals – showing up to exercises their free speech rights also.

Which group do you fall into? Those who regardless of their political views will take one day a year to thank those who died for them, or those like Edwards, who will turn that day into a political circus in an effort to advance their political agenda and self interests? For those of you who choose the latter, do not tell me you support the troops – your actions prove you do not.

To everyone, enjoy your Memorial Day – it is a gift to you from over 1,800,000 Veterans.

UPDATE To see the degree of “respect” Answer has for our troops on this Memorial Day weekend go here. The caskets are particularly insulting and demeaning.

This is just way too cool a way to wake up in the morning! Has to have been designed by a bunch of really smart MIT PH.d types…or a couple of drunk Naval Aviators on liberty. My guess is the Nav Air guys.

Thanks to TronHunter and Lew for the Link

One of the events that fueled the feeding frenzy of the Duke “rape” case was the “we’re Listening” ad run by 88 Duke faculty and staff, who became known as the group of 88, in the April 6, 2006 edition of the Duke Chronicle. The ad made it clear that the group of 88 had disregarded due process, the presumption of innocence and our judicial system and arbitrarily declared three people, who turned out to be innocent, guilty. For example, the ad stated “We’re turning up the volume in a moment when some of the most vulnerable among us are being asked to quiet down while we wait. To the students speaking individually and to the protesters making collective noise, thank you for not waiting and for making yourselves heard.” (emphasis mine). Further, as Joe’s Dartblog points out:

the original ‘Group of 88’ advertisement which, along with other narrow minded and prejudicial pap, was plastered all ‘round Raleigh in an effort to condemn the lacrosse players using the popular academic cant of “social justice,” “privilege,” “community,” and so on. All of this occurred before the trial even started. The 88 radical professors were engaging in something they claimed to detest: prejudice.

The lynch mob mentality of the professors and others is reprehensible in-and-of-it-self. But it gets worse. Not a single one of the group of 88 has apologized for using a racially charged situation to promote their self interests and political agendas by condemning three innocent people. So in response to the group of 88’s refusal to take responsibility for their actions, the Duke Conservative Union took out a full page ad in the May 24, 2007 edition of the Duke Chronicle. It is a powerful ad that uses the same style and format of the “We’re Listening” ad to shame the group of 88 for their continued silence. After using quotes from some of the group of 88 to establish the intolerance and closed mindedness of these “academics” the DCU concludes with:

How does this disaster begin to be fixed? As Roy Cooper, Attorney General of the State of North Carolina, said “I think a lot of people owe a lot of apologies to a lot of people…So, to the 88 professors and 15 departments or programs responsible for the “What Does a Social Disaster Sound Like” Statement of April 6, 2006, we say: We’re listening.(emphasis in original)

It is far past time that the group of 88 apologized to the Innocent men they they condemned, to Duke and the surrounding community they maligned, and to the people of the nation they insulted. They fanned the flames of a racially charged situation for no other reason than to promote themselves and their political agendas. The least they can do is apologize for the damage they have done.

One of the many disturbing aspects of this sordid affair is that the names of the group of 88 have disappeared from the official records. The “We’re Listening” ad stated that “Because of space limitations, the names of individual faculty and staff who signed on in support may be read at the AAAS website: http://www.duke.edu/web/africanameric/.” However, that url now takes you to the home page of Duke’s Department of African African American Studies. Nowhere on that page, or anywhere else in that website, are the names of the group of 88 to be found. Seems that the Page just POOFED into cyber space, and I suspect more than a few whose names appeared on it are glad they appear no more.

Luckily, nothing is so clean in the Internet age. Their was at least one who wanted to ensure that the group of 88 did not disappear into the pixel sunset. So, if you go here you will find a list of not only the names of those who make up the group of 88, but also their email addresses – just in case you want to drop them a line asking why they have not apologized for their less than stellar behavior.

If you do decide to drop these academic giants a line, remember to use temperate language.

For years many of the U.K.’s “elites” have engaged in on-again, off-again boycotts against Israel. The reason, or if you prefer the excuse, is that Israel engages in atrocities against the Palestinians and other Arabs. The latest boycott was called by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) to boycott Israeli products.

Setting aside the irony of supposedly “objective journalists” boycotting a country they report on, the NUJ’s action has opened the proverbial Pandora’s Box and the U.K. now finds karma nibbling on its backside. The Guardian is reporting that Steven Weinberg, a Nobel Laureate and Professors of physics at the University of Texas at Austin has cancelled a speaking engagement at Imperial College in London because of:

“a widespread anti-Israel and anti-Semitic current in British opinion”…the professor said his decision was triggered by an agreement by the National Union of Journalists at its national conference to boycott Israeli products.

He wrote: “I know that some will say that these boycotts are directed only against Israel, rather than generally against Jews.

“But given the history of the attacks on Israel and the oppressiveness and aggressiveness of other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, boycotting Israel indicated a moral blindness for which it is hard to find any explanation other than anti-semitism.”…Prof Weinberg said the only other reason he could imagine for the boycott was the NUJ’s “desire to pander to the growing Muslim minority in Britain”.

Professor Weinberg’s position is bolstered by the fact that the University of Brighton and the University of East London, are jointly calling for the University and College Union to boycott Israeli academic institutions because they believe:

complicity of Israeli academia in the [Palestinian] occupation, which has provoked a call from the Palestinian trade unions for a comprehensive and consistent international boycott of all Israeli academic institutions”.

Professor Weinberg got it right. Engaging in moral equivalency to condemn Israel – a country that is under constant attack – for trying to survive while ignoring the atrocities of the Palestinians and others such as Hezbollah, Iran and Syria can only be due to anti-semitism or pandering. That or just plain stupidity.

Hat tip to Not A Fish

New York drivers are the worst in the U.S. – they scored dead last on a test given by GMAC Insurance company to drivers in all 50 states and D.C. Rounding out the top five worst drivers are:

50 – New Jersey (home of the Governor Jon S. Corzine School of Driving)

49 – Washington D.C. (They can’t steer the country why would you think they can steer a car?)

48 – Massachusetts (Ted Kennedy lives there, need we say more?)

47 – Rhode Island (Enroll in a DMV approved on line driving course and clear your record)