Memorial Day and an Anniversary

Yesterday was a fitting day to remember those who died for our country, this blessed land founded on certain principles of inalienable rights. This web log has sought over the years to raise up not just Constitutional rights but those mentioned in the Declaration of Independence which amounts to a Declaration of the Rights of Man. Indeed there are certain inalienable rights that human beings have because they were born. This idea, with antecedents going back at least as far as ancient Greece, were revivified in the Enlightenment Era, of which the Founding Fathers were part. How simple it is, given enough time, to forget where this country came from. How easy it is to wander into matters trivial. Sadly, how easy it is for average men and women to be manipulated by fear and coercion into a system which can effectively eviscerate those rights we hold so dear. Yesterday was also the sixth anniversary of this web log. In May of 2006 it was the second year of G. W. Bush's second term, a term -- like the first -- unearned. Barack Obama, still a Senator, had not yet announced for the Presidency. The Iraq War was in full force, with American forces struggling to bring the country under control three years after Americans had been assured of a "mission accomplished." The space shuttle was still flying, Michael Jackson was still rocking, and the idea that bed-rock American firms such as Bear Stears, and A.I.G. could collapse was considered fantasy. So here we are without the voice of Whitney Houston, and numerous others. Long gone is the Texas twang of that White House pretender. Still to come is true justice in the matter of the attacks on America and the attendant cover-up; the Iraq War; the Valerie Plame affair and so much more. Today, I received an invitation to a forum on the Election of 2012. The invitation mentioned whether there was any choice other than what I have taken to calling Obamney. It is an important question and one which begs a deeper questioning of the America of now than has yet been. So let the questioning begin. If this web log has been a prompt, an encouragement, in any small measure I will be gratified indeed.