May 30, 1868: A new holiday/observance is created by proclamation by General John Logan (Grand Army of the Republic).

Dedicated to the memories of the Civil War soliders who died defending their country and originally known as ‘Decoration Day,’ the observance we now remember mostly as”that three-day weekend at the beginning of summer” began with a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery which included 5,000 volunteer participants decorating the graves of 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.

DecorationDay officially became a U.S. national holiday in 1971 by declaration of Congress,at which time “Memorial Day” became a fixed observance recognized on the last Monday in May.

To our servicemen (and women), past, present and future: thank you for your service. Thank you for your bravery, your dedication and your willingness to place yourselves in harm’s way so that the rest of us do not have to. Thank you for standingliterally and figuratively in the line of fire, oftenat home and abroad, in order to do what must be done. Thank you for keeping me safe. Thank you for letting me sleep at night knowing The Random Family won’t be awakened by abomb, a government raid or any of the terrors the come in the night for people in countries less free and lesswell-protected than my own.

You have doubtless heard these words before, and I hope you will hear them many, many times again, from as many others as live beneath the shadow of your protection. May your detractors come to understand, appreciate and accept that your actions secure their ability to disagree, and be humbled by the experience.

May God protect you, at home and abroad. May He watch over your families, and may He bring you home safely, one way or another.

Tip of the Horns, History.com.

The Yaks are proclaiming January 26Military Medics Appreciation Day. Check this outfrom the Armed Forces Information Service, Medics in Baghdad.

The Yaks at TRY pray for our President, George Bush, aka, “W,” as the Bible instructs us to pray for all public officials and to do good for all men, “especially those of the household of faith,” which includes the President.

But in a more critical, squinted sense, “W” could be a candidate for Yak of the Week. After all, last week he lost Congress to the Democrats, when he could have won big if he had chosen a different course of action.

Yes, speaking for this half of the Yaks only, I think the Presidentcould have won this election. The Republicans not only could have held onto Congress but could have entrenched themselves in power for decades had the President done one thing differently.

Last Spring, when the Iraqi government was installed, the President could have declared victory and begun promptly pulling out our troops. The Democrats would have been utterly deflated and defeated and the Republicans would have swept even more moderate-right conservatives into power.

The President could have declared that America had won the war, and he would have been right. We went in to depose Saddam Hussein, and we did that. We went to war to eliminate Iraq as an immediate and short-term threat to the United States and as a supporter of international terrorism, and we did that. We went in to find out the truth about Iraq’s reported weapons of mass destruction, and we destroyed chemical weapons and determined that whatever other war materials may have been there are there no longer. We destroyed Iraq’s military infrastructure. Iraq is no longer a threat to the U.S., Kuwait or its other neighbors.

We could have withdrawn our troops and left behind two messages: One, if you ever become a haven for terrorists again, we will be back, in force, to crush them again. Because the U.S. is unparalleled in all military history for swift and effective military campaigns.

Two, we could have left a second message, that if the Shiites and Sunnis (and Kurds) ever decide to stop their own interreligious war and to join together in the new democratic government, the U.S. will provide all assistance necessary to make their efforts successful. But we cannot do it for you.

President Bush chose a long-range strategy of “nation-building,” to try to put a strong, peaceful, democratic society into the heart of the Islamic Middle East. It was bold and courageous, and it could yet succeed, but it will take a minimum of a decade of war and civil unrest and suppression of terrorism to achieve this goal, and democracies like the United States do not sustain long wars and rarely grasp long term perspectives on any issue. In the past it has taken generations, sometimes centuries, for war mongering and religious fighting to subside before democratic and market-based institutions have been able to perform their miraculous work of restoring peace and prosperity. Remember the Thirty Years War. Remember Ireland.

The possibility exists that what the U.S. has done to restructure Iraq will in fact ultimately prevail on its own. If it does not do so on its own it will not do so at all. But years and years of turmoil almost certainly will intervene while the generation of leaders and people who know only war and hatred kill themselves off, so that their children can see the consequences of their parents’ errors and seek a better way.

President Bush would not qualify as a typical “Yak of the Week.” His actions have been thoughtful and intended to promote America’strue public interest, not driven by mindless ideology and venial motives like the typical YOTW (”equidistant from reality”).

Nevertheless, the world would be better off, even ifIraq must go through its chaotic and violent reconstruction after the U.S. military withdraws, ifAmerica still weregoverned by tough-minded but kind-hearted conservatives willing to use military power in the future for good, rather than what has happened, with Iraq facing chaos and the U.S. military still there and in harm’s way, and America now about to be governed by people with no military sense and even less commitment tomoral values and sound public policy.

The course of action chosen by the President has been to hold the fractious peace in Iraq until the Iraqi army and police can be trained and supplied in sufficient numbers to stabilize the countryso that the American army may leave. This approachis totally rational; unfortunately, it is a rational policy being implemented among insanely irrational and self-destructive terrorists and religious militias. The members of the government seem to be more Shiite rather than Iraqi. They refuse to restrain their own militias. Building up the police and army will not achieve stability if the leaders of the nation want religious hegemony rather than peace and prosperity.

Reluctantly and sadly, the Maniyak nominates our President, George W. Bush, as Yak of the Week. May he live to prove me wrong.

11/11 > 9/11 = the blessings of liberty.

We at TRY humbly thank God for allVeterans and members of the United States military whose dedication and sacrifice prove their love for honor,freedom and family above life itself.

The source of the tsunami wave of rolling, side-splitting laughter that flooded the west coast with gasps of astonishment and glee early this morning originated out of New York. The somber, self-righteous Gray Lady, the New York Times, has told a joke on herself/itself! Splashed all over the front page of the Times is a story of sputtering outrage and hilarious hypocrisy — The Times has published a straight-faced news story decryingthe Internet publication of classified material that the Times story says may compromise national security!!

This is the Times: Fearless self-appointed protector of the public’s inalienable “right to know” everything, no matter the costs to the nation (that is, to others, not to the Times itself). Revealers of multiple anti-terrorist programs, such as tracking of terrorist bank accounts, undisclosed prisons, the NSA program to detect terrorist planning by bugging telephone calls from outside the United States to terrorist-connected people in our country … all continuing from the tradition beginning with the Times publication of the Pentagon Papers back in 1971.

The Times is now celebrating Twenty-Five (25) Years of pompous conscience-of-the-nation claims of total transparency in government by blaming the Bush administration for not censoring documents it released to the public on the Internet, seized from the Saddam Hussein government in Iraq, concerning weapons of mass destruction and other suddenly too-dangerous-to-leak information.

Why is the Times in such a blue-nose editorial fury? Two options.

(1) The released information might assist terrorists to make atomic weapons and endanger the United States or others; or

(2) The released information shows that Saddam Hussein’s government had accurate and detailed specifications and manuals that would have enabled it to make atomic weapons, as the world all thought before the Iraq invasion. That is, pre-invasion Iraq was in fact preparing to make atomic weapons of mass destruction, contrary to the Times editorial position on the Iraq war.

Hint. Try option 2. The “protection against terrorism” theme is a laugh line for the Times, but the Times is dead censorship-endorsing serious about anything that pricks its pride.

Some people who say that they are morally opposed to the war in Iraq argue that the U.S. should pull out because Iraq has become “another Viet Nam.”

If Iraq is indeed another Viet Nam, the moral position must be to remain and to protect the people and the political process until withdrawal is safe from deadly retribution. After the Treaty of Paris that ended the American involvement in the Viet Nam war, internecine wars among the Communists and the Khmer Rouge, drastic repression, forced relocations and similar economic and social oppression by the Vietnamese Communist government caused the deaths of millions of people in Cambodia and Viet Nam.

Abandoning Iraq would be immoral, the proclamation of likely death sentences on countless innocent Iraqis.

Despite the contorted anti-war activist mentality in the U.S., revived from the 1960’s, that praises revolution and generations of oppression in communist countries like Cuba but judges humanitarian wars of liberation offering freedom and self-government as immoral, because they are led by the United States, leaving Iraq to the tyranny of murderous Islamic fascists cannot be justified by vague allusions to Viet Nam and the self-anointed moral superiority of those leftist nihilists-turned-moralists who would have stoned Patrick Henry for the moral absolutism of his famous declaration of war, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

The U.S. and the lawful government of Iraq should publish and implement new laws of war and rules of anti-terrorist engagement for Iraq that include the following, which mimic in part the procedures of the Israeli military which has generations of experience responding to terrorism.

1. For every IED, sniper or other terrorist attack in Baghdad or anywhere in Iraq, a similar unannounced attack will occur against a suspected terrorist site or person in terror-supported regions, like Fallujah. The attack may be stealth, like an IED or car bomb, or may be obvious, like fighters, helicopters or shelling, but it should be immediate and be identified expressly as retaliatory. IEDs and car bombs are preferable because they will reinforce the message that these are like-for-like retaliatory attacks. No one should be permitted to attack anyone in Iraq with random acts of terrorism without instigating an immediate and severe counter-attack against their forces, even if not against the particular terrorist making the triggering attack, and the attacks should be taken to the locations where the terrorists now feel safe.

2. Retaliatory attacks in response to terrorist killings will not be random or projected toward innocent civilians, but attacks on terrorist sites or persons will occur whether or not other people are at risk. Iraqis who tolerate terrorists in their midst must be made to know that by their presence they have identified themselves as terrorist supporters and accomplices who are aiding and abetting the enemy by their interaction with terrorists. Terrorists must be isolated and become anathema to all innocent, law-abiding people.

3. Any person accepting “blood money” or other financial support or benefits in compensation resulting from the death of a homicide-suicide bomber or other terrorist death thereby condemns himself as an accessory-after-the-fact and as a terrorist-murderer accomplice, and the person becomes a lawful target for attack, retaliation and death.

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Don’t look now, but the evil Darth W has done it again!

This time, his evil Stormtroopers of Food Distribution are helping to open food centers in Iraq. These destructive "signs of American Imperialism" (give us your hungry…) will operate under the direction of the new Iraqi government, enabling average citizens to purchase various food staples at reduced prices. (Food? Available where none was available before? For ordinary people?? Say it isn’t so!)

Those interfering U.S. Troops recaptured the buildings used to house the food center from warlords and gang members, who had been using the structures to plan criminal activities. (They’re evicting people! Stop them! – Oh, wait…they’re evicting the bad people. Nevermind.)

Next thing you know, they’ll be opening schools and handing out shoes to the poor! Stop them! Bring them home now - before people figure out the U.S. Military does more than shoot people and break things….

Nicely done gentlemen (and ladies). Kudos to the U.S. Military for another job well done, and a boot to the head for the MSM – for missing yet another story of actual interest.

Tip of the Horns, Officer Candidate VanTreuren at Camp Katrina

Linked to the Tuesday Party-That-Must-Not-Be-Named at Blue Star Chronicles and theMidweek OTP at Adam’s Blog (which happens to have a tangential relationship to this topic, in a manner of speaking, though I should issue a warning: he mentions "military" and "Kerry" in the same sentence)

In case you’ve had your head in the sand for the past week, L.A. Times Moonbat in the field Columnist Joel Stein (aka, "The Titanic of the Times") published a column entitled "Warriors and Wusses" in which he demonstrates his (and by association, the editors of the Times’) patriotism with courageous statements like:

"I don’t support our troops,"

(the opening line of the article)

"people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they’re following orders or not"

(the quote, in context, states that we cannot blame "only" the President for military actions with which we do not agree, and that the idea of soldiers "ignoring" their morals in the name of "following orders" is "horrific.")

"when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you’re not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you’re willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse."

(So: all soldiers are tools of American imperialism. I’m sure my father-in-law, a retired Marine Master Sergeant, would appreciate knowing he dedicated a substantial portion of his life to promoting American imperialism. Last time I checked, he (and the rest of us) thought he was "protecting freedom and serving our country.")

This piece of (censored for language unbecoming of a yak) ends with a trite attempt at humor in which the shoveler (when all you’re doing is moving this stuff around, I’m not calling you a writer) states, "Please, no parades. Seriously, The traffic is insufferable."

Gee, I’m sorry our appreciation got in the way of your commute.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Hugh Hewitt also noticed the fish-wrap in question and called The Titanic of the Times requesting an interview, which the Titanic, not recognizing that "The Ice(berg)man Cometh," granted.

More below the fold.

If you want to see what happens when an irrational force meets a sentient object, the entire transcript is up at RadioBlogger. For those too busy (or angry) to click through, here are the major holes (in addition to the article itself) that brought the great ship down (italics, as always, are mine):

Ice(berg)man Hewitt: "who is your closest family member or friend who is on active duty?"

Titanic: "That’s an excellent question. I wouldn’t say I have a very close friend. I would say only acquaintances. No family at all."

Turns out, later in the interview, the Titanic remembers he has a cousin – of the same name as himself (apologies to that cousin for the cross he has to bear) – who attended West Point and is currently on active duty in the U.S. Military. Compartment #1…filling.

Titanic: "All the troops that are here to defend our country, I’m very, very grateful for. I’m grateful for the police…"

Ice(berg)man: "Provided they don’t leave the country?"

Titanic: "Yeah, provided they don’t fight in wars that I think are endangering them for no reason."

(Captain…we seem to be taking on more water…)

Ice(berg)man: "And the moment they do, you stop honoring them?"

Titanic: "The moment I do, I think it’s a poor idea to show support for them and prolong that engagement."

Support the troops, as long as they stay here and don’t do anything. The minute they go overseas, or enter a danger zone, we stop honoring them. Compartment #2…filling.

Ice(berg)man: "Let me ask you a tough question, Joel, because this is the toughest one. J.P. Blecksmith was a young Marine lieutenant, graduated from Annapolis, killed in Fallujah on November 11th, 2004. Just a tremendous human being and man. If you meet his parents on the street, what do you say to them?"

Titanic: "That I’m so, so sorry."

Ice(berg)man: "Do you honor the service that their son did?"

Titanic: "To honor the service their son…now this is a dumb question, but what do you mean by honor?…"

…

Ice(berg)man: "Honor usually means gratitude and esteem. Are you grateful for and esteem what he did? Honestly?"

Titanic: "Honestly? I admire the bravery. I don’t…you know, I feel like he did something I could never do, so I’m kind of in awe on some level. Am I grateful, that I feel like he protected me? Um, no I don’t."

I’m sorry your son died, but it means nothing to me. He didn’t help me personally, and that’s all I care about. Compartment #3…filling…

Ice(berg)man: "And so, do you think he died in vain?"

Titanic: "Yeah. I do."

Compartment #4…filling.

Ice(berg)man: "If you had it to do over again, would you write this column?"

…

Titanic: "Yes. I would. I might change some things. I might be clear. But the primary thesis of the column I still believe in, although I sound to you very convincing."

Compartment #5, full, and the ship is on its way to the bottom.

I admit, I have a certain amount of (incredulous) respect for someone willing to stand the line and defend such an outrageous column and point of view. I have to give Mr. Stein credit for fortitude, and although it doesn’t make up for the massive points he’s lost in the areas of credibility and connection with reality, he’s at least willing to defend himself without changing his story when confronted with opposition.

He has also made me sorry I don’t subscribe to the L.A. Times, because I would have enjoyed canceling my subscription over this one. If you do subscribe, and have something to say, the number is: 1-888-565-2323.

Tip of the horns to others not letting Stein off the hook: Van Helsing at Moonbattery, the always-attentive Michelle Malkin, our friends at Conservababes (Right from New Fallujah), Euphoric Reality (who has, we think, one of the best-titled posts around – go see), Wizbang (on the ball, as always) and Hugh Hewitt (who led the charge).

Linked to OTP at TMH’s Bacon Bits (mmm, bacon bits),the midweek Party-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named at Stuck on Stupid and the OTP at Right Wing Nation.

What do you get when you cross a group of determined U.S. soldiers, some equally-determined Iraqi citizens and two non-functional water plants?

Running water in Baghdad. In some cases, for the first time in eight years.

Note to Code Pink and others who cannot do math: the U.S. Military has not been in Iraq for eight years, which means that Darth W and his Stormtroopers of Water Plant Repair have helped solve a problem that was not created by our presence.

According to reports, each plant now produces approximately 2,000 cubic meters of water per hour.

"Now that’s what I call quality H2O!"

Tip of the horns, Camp Katrina, for bringing us all the news the MSM refuses to print. Linked to the OTP at Bloggin’ Outloud.

I know R.Yak was trying to be helpful (stay with me on this – assumptions contrary to fact can be useful rhetorical devices) by correcting my French to explain that "allee-allee-in-free" is actually "ollie-ollie-oxen-free," but being of an inquisitive turn of mind, one or two questions remain. First, I happen to know that R.Yak grew up in Southern California nearer the beach than any ranch. There were no oxen around. No yaks either, but that’s another argument. No one had to tell the oxen that they were now free to come home. So how would children have picked up an oxen metaphor for coming in free during a tag-you’re-it kind of game? And who would be expected to know that oxen are named "Ollie"? Is that like calling a cow you have not been introduced to "Bessy"? (# which cows hate, the yaks tell me.) And was it originally just "Ollie-ox-in-free" before they got a second ox and had to change it to "Ollie! Ollie! Oxen free"? How does an ox know you’re calling it and not the others, if all oxen are named Ollie?

Second, maybe my neighborhood just said it differently. Or intentionally improved on the old fashioned oxen-based format (seeing we were poor and did not have even one ox, much less two oxen. We did once have an old Packard, though, and a DeSoto# my Dad liked classic old cars). It makes more sense to call kids in from hiding by saying "Allee," which sounds like French for "Come." "Allez, allez" (/all-lay/) the youngsters (is that still a working word?) probably said in Paris (/par-ee/) when calling in their oxen. Thinking about it now, of course, I realize that Parisian oxen are probably about as rare as Southern California beachcomber oxen, but we were just 4th grade kids trying to make sense out of our lives play. So what if we thought we were imitating French kids (which was what I guess I thought). It probably just came from French children mimicking the adults’ oft-repeated language for "Come in, we surrender." See "French Military Victories," one of the best, and least PC, pages on the web. What’s the German for "oxen"?

Thoughts while putting out my flag today in memory of Pearl Harbor and recognition of our two family members now in the active military # For the sixty years between Pearl Harbor and today, the world of freedom has faced violent aggressors from Europe, Asia and now the Middle East bent on taking over the world by force in pursuit of various forms of murderous ideologies, and a nearly-continuous flood of regional and local tyrants with equally vicious methods and megalomaniac psyches. Billions of people still today live under repressive regimes, both atheistic and religious. But Americans remain free # not by Providence alone, but by the sacrifices in every generation and over all parts of the globe of men and women who love freedom more than life istself, the U.S. military.

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