At it's inception Memorial Day was known as Decoration Day,originating after the Civil War to honor , it originated in the years following the Civil War to acknowledge the brave Americans who fought in the Civil War and to decorate their graves. Ironically the red, republican, confederate,slave states hold a
seperate holiday to honor soliders who died
fighting against the United States of America. They can't honor soldiers on Memorial Day with the rest of the nation, that would be too much like right (pun intended), they have to have a
*ahem* seperate holiday.
Columnist Leonard Pitts notes
they have never been on our side.
“They” meaning social conservatives. “Our” meaning African-American people.
They were not there in the century after the Civil War, as conservative Southern Democrats violently repressed would-be black voters, made a shadow government of the Ku Klux Klan, turned a deaf ear to the howling of lynch mobs and lynch victims. They have not been there in the half century since, as conservative Southern Republicans fought affirmative action, poverty programs, and attempts to ban the American swastika, i.e., the Confederate battle flag, from public lands.
I hate to tell Linda Chavez, but Rand Paul and Russell Pearce are
the ugly face of the gop.
Are the likes of Rand Paul and Russell Pearce becoming the face of the Republican Party? Let's hope not. Paul, an ophthalmologist who recently became the Senate nominee from Kentucky, has already embroiled himself in controversy over his comments about the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Pearce, the Arizona legislator who sponsored the state's tough anti-illegal immigrant law, has now decided to target not only illegal immigrants but their U.S.-citizen children as well. Both men represent the soft underbelly of the populist movement that catapulted them to fame —and a danger to the future of the Republican Party.
The time to celebrate and remember Memorial/Decoration Day is on election day because for military families ,
the day is compounded by far more than sleeping in, grilling and beer. It's a day to honor the lives of the soldiers who put themselves into the hands of the officials whom we as a citizenry elect, the soldiers who say "I'll follow your orders" whether they want to or not, for the country.Remember when you go to the polls and pull that lever you are giving elected officials the authority and the power to send our sons and daughters to war. Remember that pResident George W. Bush sent our troops to Iraq based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE. Remember that President Abraham Lincoln sent our troops to war to preserve the Union. Remember all the wars and rumors of wars when you pull that lever. Remember our troops are fighting in the name of ALL Americans, regardless of race, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation or economic circumstance. Remember they aren't
laying their lives and limbs on the line for the red states or the blue states but the United States of America. With liberty and justice for ALL.
George R. Nixon said it best in a letter to the Editor in today's
Huntsville TimesGOP knows all
Well, the election is here and it looks to me like the Republicans will win it all. It must really be nice to be a Republican at this time. You know all the questions; just none of the answers.
If anyone questions you or disagrees with anything you say, they are un-American, socialist, and worst of all, a liberal.
You care little about the working man so long as he keeps voting to support Big Business and the rich.
You say you believe in God, but that is only on Sunday, while the rest of the week, you don't practice what he teaches.
You talk about cutting government spending, yet all you do is cut those programs that benefit the poor and uneducated.
Most of all, you know you have the money and backing from Big Business and corporations to outspend anyone who runs against you.
You say you don't want the federal government in your business, yet I haven't seen one Republican turn down or give back any money the federal government has given him.
Finally, you can blame everyone else and claim you had no hand into getting us into any of the problems we now have. Yes, it must be nice to be a Republican.
George R. Nixon
Redeye, tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray voters remember Memorial Day today and on election day tomorrow.
