[onlooker]

As Memorial Day is tomorrow good to remember War is the stuff of hate and intolerance.  We can attain all the tecnological progress imaginable but if we cannot live in harmony with each other and treasure a sense of peace,  we will continue as a hapless and restless species which has been a hallmark of our evolution

[onlooker]

1379961552f3ce35_l1.jpg

And also this

[Cog]

“Anyone who clings to the historically untrue—and thoroughly immoral—doctrine that, ‘violence never settles anything’ I would advise to conjure the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedom.” --Heinlein

[KaiserJeep]

The purpose of Memorial Day is to remember those who gave their lives to preserve our country and way of life. We all swore this oath:

I, <name>, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

(Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

...and on that day we honor those that died upholding the oath. So please do not bicker over politics. For the record, I am never happy on Memorial Day, I have a tradition of military service in my family, and a Great Uncle still on engine room watch on USS Arizona.

[Newfie]

“Anyone who clings to the historically untrue—and thoroughly immoral—doctrine that, ‘violence never settles anything’ I would advise to conjure the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedom.” --Heinlein

All the above is true, but so is the previous post that war is a racket. Was and violence “settled more issues” but the issues that arose were ones of men’s power and greed. At one time that struggle was over vanity and land and resources. What we have now is a bit different in that we have the additional was incentive in that the entire military-industrial complex who stand to make profit from the conflicts.

During Memorial Day we should not only remember the soldiers who died in the conflict but also the civilians she were collateral damage through bombing or starvation.

I would support a second Memorial Day, the day following, concentrating on the future and reducing conflict and the misery orchestrated by man.

[onlooker]

"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor,". Maybe so. But that doesn't make it right. The dichotomy of competiton and cooperation is a central one in all social animals. Ultimately, it has made no sense to fight with each other in a world of plenty for all.

[AdamB]

As Memorial Day is tomorrow good to remember War is the stuff of hate and intolerance. 

Or alternatively, the stuff of people's freed and honoring the memories of those who made it possible.

[AdamB]

“Anyone who clings to the historically untrue—and thoroughly immoral—doctrine that, ‘violence never settles anything’ I would advise to conjure the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedom.” --Heinlein

All the above is true, but so is the previous post that war is a racket.

Well, some of us are capitalists, and there if there is money to be made in an activity, capitalists will find it.

Saving people, not saving people, capitalists will get a cut one way or another.

[AdamB]

"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor,". Maybe so. But that doesn't make it right.

Not maybe so.

And you are correct.

There is a saying, that the way you replace a system with a better one isn't yakking about it, writing position papers, creating a blog and getting your 5 friends to agree with you, it is to use a better idea to make the old one obsolete.

Feel free to find one that can make the old way of doing things obsolete. But that old idea...it has been going and working just fine for a long, long time.

[Plantagenet]

God bless the USA and all those who have fought and died for our freedoms

ROCK ON!

[careinke]

The purpose of Memorial Day is to remember those who gave their lives to preserve our country and way of life. We all swore this oath:

I, <name>, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

(Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

...and on that day we honor those that died upholding the oath. So please do not bicker over politics. For the record, I am never happy on Memorial Day, I have a tradition of military service in my family, and a Great Uncle still on engine room watch on USS Arizona.

Not to be picky, but that is not the oath I took. Officers have a different oath. You will notice it removes the clause about obeying orders. Officers are expected NOT to obey orders under certain circumstances, our loyalties are pledged to the constitution.

Here was my Oath:

“I [state your full name],
having been appointed
a (rank) in the United States
Air Force, do solemnly swear
(or affirm) that I will support
and defend the Constitution of
the United States against all
enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith
and allegiance to the same;
that I take this obligation
freely, without any mental
reservation or purpose of
evasion; and that I will well
and faithfully discharge the
duties of the office upon
which I am about to enter. So
help me God.”