Remember

Today was Memorial Day. Typically a day for remembering our armed services in their service to our country.

I know it's pretty much sacriligious to mention it on this day, but someone has to say it:

W. spent part of his day at a Memorial Day ceremony in Arlington, VA. As well he should, seeing as he's the Commander in Chief.

But hey, just because this day is meant to honor our veterans, that doesn't mean that we have to tiptoe around the fact that this war remains the biggest lie of generations. It's great that W. is supportive of our troops, but let's not forget that he's the one who sent them in there on completely phony allegations of imminent mushroom clouds. More than 1,650 Americans have died for this questionable-at-best war; the number of Iraqi citizens killed is way higher.

(It's ironic that right-wing freaks are demanding Michael Isikoff's head for screwing up reports of Qu'ran desecration -- never mind that it's been widely reported before Isikoff and no one has alleged or proven that his allegations were false, just that his one source recanted -- but none of them seem to take the White House to task for leading us into a WAR on faulty information.)

On the way downtown earlier this afternoon, I saw a large sign in a van that read "Vietnam Veteran Against John Kerry." Although everyone has a right to their opinion, geez Louise, my opinion is that this guy is a woefully misguided. W. has led us into a war with no rational basis and no exit strategy. In a whole host of ways, Iraq is indeed the Vietnam of this generation. What, you like having a whole new generation of our best and brightest marching off to a foreign country fighting and dying for undefined principles?

It's Memorial Day. I like to think that by expressing my thoughts about the fraudulent nature of this way, I'm doing my patriotic duty -- and honoring those men and women who have fallen in the line of duty, however misguided the leadership is in sending them there in the first instance.