Why do we honor 6,440 U.S. soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Memorial Day Question: Why do we need to honor 6,440 U.S. soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq? Answer: Because they were asked to go there. To put this day into perspective, I've re-published this image by "ARG" at Pixwit (with permission of the artist): Additional note from the artist:

Chicken Heart Winner (Five-deferment Dick) November 17, 2005: As Vice President Dick Cheney attacks the Democrats for questioning the honesty of the president's warmaking, Congressman John Murtha, himself a decorated Korean War and Vietnam War combat veteran and a staunch warhawk, announces it's time to bring the troops home. Concerning Mr. Cheney's ranting, Murtha resorted to uncharacteristic sarcasm: "I like guys who got five deferments and have never been there and send people to war and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done." Concerning Cheney's lack of military service, he's on record: "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service."

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More pithy quotes

I'm still collecting quotes. I'll never stop, because time is ticking on my life (I'm not sick, I'm referring to the fact that I'm human), and there a novel in every excellent quote. Here are some of my recent favorites: Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. - Arthur C. Clark, as quoted in Visions : How Science Will Revolutionize the Twenty-First Century (1999) by Michio Kaku, p. 295 "We simply do not understand our place in the universe and have not the courage to admit it” - Barry Lopez One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory. - Rita Mae Brown Holding a grudge is letting someone live rent-free in your head. - From a sign. He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. - Sir Winston Churchill There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have. - Don Herold “My main purpose in life is to make enough money to create ever more inventions…. The dove is my emblem…. I want to save and advance human life, not destroy it…. I am proud of the fact that I have never invented weapons to kill….” - Thomas Edison “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. I wish I had more years left.” - Thomas Edison “I never did a day’s work in my life, it was all fun.” - Thomas Edison It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear. While such an economy may produce a sense of seeming prosperity for the moment, it rests on an illusionary foundation of complete unreliability and renders among our political leaders almost a greater fear of peace than is their fear of war. - General Douglas MacArthur. Speech to the Michigan legislature, in Lansing, Michigan (15 May 1952). The crime is not failing to know. It’s failing to ask. - Anon My work is a game, a very serious game. - M. C. Escher (1898 - 1972) Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, p. 298 "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable". - Howard Zinn Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens. - Howard Zinn, "Election Madness" The Progressive (March 2008) "If those in charge of our society — politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television — can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." - Howard Zinn, Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1991)

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Facts, figures and hypocrisy regarding marijuana

I've never used marijuana. I'm not promoting the use of marijuana, or alcohol intoxication, or the use of prescription drugs to get high. On the other hand, I know that many people do these things. In my opinion, it is not for me to tell other folks how to run their lives, as long as A) they are not minors and B) these activities don't seriously interfere with their duties to their family or work. How is it that getting high on alcohol or prescription drugs (or runner's high and other natural ways to get high) are OK, yet smoking a joint will cause you to end up in jail and give you a noteworthy criminal record? Yes, if you are arrested on your own property for the crime of trying to escape stress or pain, you can be marched through the same criminal justice system as those who steal cars, those who rape, and those who commit arson. With that in mind consider the following statistics regarding marijuana usage from Huffpo:

While Obama's term began with great promise for drug policy reformers, in the past two years it has been difficult to distin­guish Obama's drug policies from those of his White House predecessors. Although President Obama has acknowledged that legalization is "an entirely legitimate topic for debate" -- the first time a sitting president has made such a statement -- his administra­tion has made a string of increasingly disappointing moves over the last year. Half of all U.S. drug arrests are for marijuana -- more than 850,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana in 2010 alone, 88 percent for mere possession.
Please note carefully that 850,000 is more people than the entire state of South Dakota. America has massively dysfunctional priorities, and it's time to think of a better way to handle urges people to get high. I would propose that we handle marijuana like we handle alcohol. Regulate it and tax it. When people whine that others are getting high illegally, I'm inclined to tell them to shut the hell up, because they are probably getting high on something (most likely alcohol or prescription drugs). And perhaps they are getting high on their feelings of moral superiority and the the excitement they get when they support laws that invade the private lives of their neighbors. The above Huffpo article makes the legitimate point that Barack Obama would not be President if the harsh marijuana crackdown he is supporting had been applied to the young Barry Obama smoking a joint. How many otherwise law-abiding people are thrown into the criminal justice system because of the sin of wanting to feel some pleasure or some escape from the stress of the crazy world, or some relief from serious chronic pain?

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Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden

What you will see below are a series of four photos I took tonight at the Chinese Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden. This was a stunning display of dozens of larger than life creations of silk, steel and other materials, that magically transformed the grounds of the MBG.

In the above photo, the foreground is a dragon made of thousands of porcelain plates, cups and other utensils. In the background is the Climatron (a longtime fixture at the Garden containing tropical plants). The festival will run through August 19. Three additional photos follow.

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