Arlington National Cemetery: The Only Hallowed Ground?

MoonHowler
Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Day 2009
Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Day 2009

This Memorial Day, President Obama will not be going to Arlington National Cemetery. Instead, Vice President Joe Biden will be providing the executive branch honors. President Obama will be attending Memorial Day services at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery outside of Chicago. This change of pace has some people outraged.

According to the Washington Post:

Instead of speaking at Arlington, as he did last year and as most presidents have done, Obama will appear at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery outside Chicago, the White House said. Vice President Biden will take his place at Arlington, the most prestigious military cemetery in the country and home to Section 60, a large burial ground for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Paul Rieckhoff, the founder and executive director of the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, expressed disappointment at the White House move. “Arlington is hallowed ground, and the center of our nation’s attention on Memorial Day,” Rieckhoff said. “Unfortunately, President Obama and his family will not be there with us.”

Critics — mainly conservatives — have argued that attendance is more important with two wars ongoing. “Obama may talk about the government in the first person, but the men and women lying at Arlington know differently,” commentator Eric Erickson wrote on the conservative site Redstate.com. “Of course, Obama really doesn’t like the military, does he.” Fox News blared the headlines: “Trampling on Tradition?” and “Offensive to Soldiers?”

Many veterans don’t think it matters which National Cemetery the President recognizes. There are National Cemeteries all over the United States. Abraham Lincoln established the first 14 National Cemeteries. It seems fitting that the President would attend the one honoring the 16th president.

As far as tradition goes, it might be appropriate to remind the critics that tradition only goes back less than 150 years. Arlington National Cemetery is the former plantation of Robert E. Lee. No soldiers were buried there until towards the end of the Civil War. Lee actually lost the mansion because he couldn’t pay taxes on the place. Additionally, other presidents have not attended Memorial Day ceremonies for numerous reasons:

Obama is not the first president to miss the Arlington ceremony. Ronald Reagan spoke at West Point one year, and went to his California ranch another year. George H.W. Bush, a war veteran, did not go at all. Bill Clinton, who did not serve in Vietnam and had a rocky time with the military, went to Arlington all eight years, and George W. Bush, who also avoided combat service in Vietnam, attended from 2003 onward.

We need to leave politics and honor the war dead. Moonhowlings.net will try to feature something about Memorial Day each of the days over the holiday weekend. Regardless of how one feels about this war, or that war, or the other…we love our vets and we honor those who have died in service, so that we might live free.

vet

Stupid is as Stupid Does: Assassination Plot Lesson?

MoonHowler

It really doesn’t get much dumber.  I know teachers are encouraged to be creative, but common sense needs to prevail.  This dude is lucky if he just gets fired.  He should expect the feds at his door:

From the Daily Caller:

 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A Jefferson County geometry teacher was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday after being accused of using a hypothetical assassination plot on President Barack Obama as a way to teach geometric angles.

School Superintendent Phil Hammonds said Corner High School teacher Gregory Harrison could face possible termination.

Hammonds earlier said the teacher remained at work and there were no plans to fire him. But in announcing that the teacher was being placed on leave, the superintendent said his office had been flooded with calls from people around the nation, mainly upset that further action hadn’t been taken against the teacher.

Roy Sexton, special agent in charge of Birmingham’s Secret Service office, said his agency spoke with the teacher after being told about his comment, but no charges were filed and the investigation was closed.

“We did not find a credible threat,” Sexton said.

Hammonds said he will talk to teachers and students before recommending to the school board what action, if any, might be appropriate. It was not immediately known how long the teacher may be on leave.

Hammonds said the school system in Alabama’s most populous county was embarrassed by what Harrison said.

“There is nothing that can be said to rationalize what he said. We take this very seriously. There is no place in our society for a person to make these comments,” Hammonds said.

Attempts to reach Harrison for comment were not immediately successful. Calls to Hammonds were referred to the school system’s attorney, Burgin Kent, who did not immediately return a call for comment.

Joseph Brown, a senior in the geometry class, told The Birmingham News that the teacher “was talking about angles and said, ‘If you’re in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president.’

This lesson was so stupid on so many levels.  In the first place, most schools have anti gun and weapons rules.  Shooting anyone should not be played up in a school setting.  The next level of stupidity is ever making anything that could be constued as a threat at an elected official, in particular the President of the United States. 
In an unrelated story, we have another example of classroom no-nos. 

Read about the teacher who brought in Michael Moore’s Sicko to be analyzed as the exam.  When a student objected, the teacher called her a ‘tea-bagger.’ 

Read about this incident in the Daily Caller. Click here for the story.

West Wing Blog

MoonHowler

The West Wing Blog csan now be found at www.whitehouse.gov/blog

According to the Washington Post:

You didn’t see this on CNN or Fox News or NBC: President Obama awkwardly introducing Chile’s president, Sebastián Piñera, to the Netherlands’ prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, at the recent nuclear security summit. “You know, uh, you’ve met Jan?” the president says tentatively as the other world leaders stand aside like shy kids at a dance.

Or this: Obama, playfully doing his best impression of Muhammad Ali, throwing mock punches into the midsection of a costumed Easter Bunny following the White House Easter Egg Roll.

You didn’t see it on the networks because the behind-the-scenes video was only available on “West Wing Week,” the Obama administration’s new video blog. The six- to seven-minute compilations, which appear each week on the White House’s Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov) and on such video-sharing sites as YouTube, offer what a narrator on each segment calls “your guide to everything that’s happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

The West Wing blog will show video not shown by the major cable networks or nightly news that gives a bird’s eye view of what’s really going on behind the scenes.

In this video, President Obama talks with Americans about why the Wall Street reform is important to anyone who has ever used a credit card, gotten a loan, bought a car or a house, uses an ATM, has a checking account, etc. He talks to ordinary Americans who just might not have a private political agenda:

Comedian-in-Chief

MoonHowler

The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, in recent years, has become a time for the President to become quite the comedian.

 Last night, The Empire Struck Back! President Obama was hilarious got rave reviews this morning. Poor Jay Leno. Not so much. As stated, the ‘Empire’ did strike back.

The President started off with lots of self-deprecation. I think he was every bit as good as Jon Stewart.

Update: Combined Obama routine with Jay Leno. Leno starts around minute 17. I thought Leno was just not funny.


What were your favorite lines? There were so many, it is hard to choose. I might have to listen more than once.

To Diane’s uncle, and all the other uncles out there…

MoonHowler

One of our regulars was very offended by the video from the president (see below). I am not. However, I am going to tell the story of my hair stylist’s uncle. Her name is Diane (changed for privacy reasons). Diane is a late 30-something black woman who was raised in Prince William County. She has been my hair person since she was a youngster, right out of high school.

Diane’s uncle had never voted in his life. He had never had reason to, in his mind. In 2008, as an old man in his 80’s, suffering from 2 different serious cancers, he got up, got dressed and registered to vote. He said it had never seemed important to him. He said he never thought in his life he would ever have the chance to vote for a black man for president. And vote he did. Shortly after President Obama took office, Diane’s uncle passed away, but as she told me with tears in her eyes, her uncle got to vote for a black man for president.

That’s not something I will ever be able to feel. It sure made my eyeballs sweat a little when she told me about it though. On the other hand, how often have I gotten to vote for a woman for president, and is it really the same thing? I am thinking probably not. Somehow its just a little bit different. 

Should people be offended when the president wants to make certain that certain demographics stay involved in the election process?  How about other politicians?  Isn’t that what goes on anyway?  What makes young people, Blacks, Hispanics and women worthy of being specially cited?

Maybe I am missing something. I am just not offended.

Huckabee Blasts Critics of Michelle Obama

MoonHowler

 

 

Huffington Post:

On Wednesday, former presidential candidate and Fox host Mike Huckabee pushed back at conservative bloggers who were “uncivil” about his recent decision to bring First Lady Michelle Obama onto his show to talk about her campaign to fight child obesity.

Huckabee’s show was the first lady’s debut appearance on Fox News, and there was considerable push back from viewers. “Some bloggers, it seemed, wanted me to bring her on my show only if I yelled at her. Or it seemed they wanted me to hit her,” Huckabee told a crowd in Wichita, Kansas.

The Wichita Eagle reports:

[Huckabee] said he disagrees with nearly every policy position of her husband, but that attacking people doesn’t accomplish anything. The viciousness of attacks from all sides, he said, are “disgusting … the anger and the meanness.”

Mediaite reports that Michelle Obama’s appearance on Huckabee gave the show its lowest ratings of 2010.

I like to bring Mike Huckabee out as a shining star every once in a while.  Huckabee respresents a decency I like.  Could I probably vote for him?  No.  He is far too conservative politically for me.   But I can like him.  Like goes a long way.   When I feel like I am getting too partisan (and Marshall-gate has made me feel that way.) the decency of Mike Huckabee restores my sense of equilibrium. 

Mr. Huckabee loves music and his band, the Little Rockers do a good job of highlighting artists who are not the stars of today.  The Little Rockers are building employees at Fox News.

We need more Mike Huckabees who always represent civility in politics. In many ways, Huckabee admonishes us all as bloggers also. As we sit behind our computer screens, would we say some of the things that come out of the ends of our fingers to a person’s face?  On Anti-bvbl, probably 95% of the time, yes.  Those who virulently attack others usually don’t make it ‘out on the floor’ of this blog.  However, not all blogs can make that claim.     Mike Huckabee is a standard we all can admire whether we agree with his politics or not.  Mike Huckabee is a gentleman.

Entire Obama Speech Accepting Nobel Peace Prize (Video 1-4)

MoonHowler

This speech has been called historic by people not necessarily in the Obama camp.  I believe the looked at the speech as American rather than Democratic.  So much acclaim has been given to this speech, I decided to post it in its entirety.  It is approximately 4000 words long, twice as long as his inaugural speech. 

Part 1

 

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“A Just and Lasting Peace” : Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize

MoonHowler

This morning, just before 6 am our time, President Barack Obama received and accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. Many people, probably including the president himself, were caught off-guard over when this award was announced last summer. President Obama had not been in office all that long.

How can this award be anything but good for the United States? A sitting president awarded the Nobel Peace Prize can only signal that the United States is a world leader whether in war or peace. It gives us stature. It de-fangs some of our aggression that we have had to exhibit because we are a world leader. We are obviously still at war and in 2 regions. Our resolve has been strengthened in Afghanistan.

The President was spoke well for the nation in his acceptances of this prestigious award:

Full text of President Obama’s Speech

This award is seen by some as somewhat duplicitous since President Obama has recently announced that 30,000 new troops will immediately be deployed to Afghanistan. Keeping the peace isn’t always free or without strife. World opinion as well as US opinion on this issue is dominating the news and blogs. Is it possible to deploy troops and be considered a man of peace? How can we reconcile these 2 opposite concepts?

Elmo and Big Bird Recruited by the White House

MoonHowler

Two new spokes-characters for the White House will be Elmo and Big Bird.  These two along with thousands of scientists and video game programmers will be recruited to help improve math and science education in middle school and high school.

President Obama will announce this new initiative  called Educate to Innovateon Monday.  Discovery Communications, Sesame Street, Sally Ride, various CEOs will all be involved.  The initiative is a partnership with foundations and industry.  This is going to be big and will certainly rival the push in math and science back in the early 60s which was a response to Sputnik. 

Full Story New York Times

Senate Finance Committee Passes Health Care Bill

MoonHowler

As the Senate Finance Committee passed a $829 Billion bill that reshapes the health care system today, sides squared off for the  mother-lode of battles: The White House vs The Health Care Insurance Lobby.

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) was the lone Republican to cast her vote in favor of this reform.

According to the Washington Post:

…[A]ttacks on the leading Democratic reform plan this week by the insurance lobby left little doubt that two of the most powerful institutions involved in the debate — the White House and the nation’s insurance companies — have abandoned any real hope of forging a compromise. What was a tenuous truce has turned quickly into an all-out battle, with both sides ratcheting up the hostilities.

As the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a 10-year, $829 billion bill to remake the health-care system, Obama’s top advisers and the insurers moved into a more intense stage of conflict.

“The insurance industry has decided to lead the charge against health reform, and everyone recognizes their motives: profits,” said White House deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer. “We are going to make sure they can’t sink this effort at the last minute.”

After watching all those commercials intended to scare the crap out of people, after listening to all those tea party people, after listening so many say that we have the best health system in the world, one has ask themself:  Why are we letting the people who have been cheating us and robbing us blind all these years dictate national policy?

Full Story in Washington Post

More Troops Requested in Afghanistan

MoonHowler

General Stanley McCrystal has asked for additonal troops in Afghanistan. It was his opinion:

that the U.S. effort in Afghanistan “will likely result in failure” without an urgent infusion of troops has been endorsed by the uniformed leadership. That includes Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command and architect of the troop “surge” strategy widely seen as helping U.S. forces turn the corner in Iraq.

Meanwhile, President Obama has said that the administration needs time to assess the situation and look again at options and objectives. According to the Washington Post,

Obama’s public remarks on Afghanistan indicate that he has begun to rethink the counterinsurgency strategy he set in motion six months ago, even as his generals have embraced it. The equation on the ground has changed markedly since his March announcement, with attacks by Taliban fighters showing greater sophistication, U.S. casualties rising, and the chances increasing that Afghanistan will be left with an illegitimate government after widespread fraud in recent presidential elections.

Should we risk getting bogged down even further in the war in Afghanistan by sending in more troops? Is it possible to win in Afghanistan? Must we get Bin Lauden to be successful? What would really denote ‘winning?’ Should the Taliban be totally removed?

The Afghanistan government seems corrupt and the elections were questionable. Must the Afghanistan governement be stable? Must the Afghanistan army be able to defend the country before we go? Have there been efforts to make this happen?

The drug situation is still deplorable. The Taliban almost eradicated poppy growing in 2001. Now they do not seem to be quite the intense opponents of the poppy industry as they used to be. This past year was a bumper crop. Much of the world’s opium comes from this area of the world. Can we turn our backs on this cash crop?

Politically speaking, will President Obama lose his liberal support if he continues the war in Afghanistan? Did he make promises about the Afghanistan front or did he mainly speak about the Iraqi war? What does American stand to gain or lose by either action?

Reprint of The Pointlessness of the Racism Debate

MoonHowler

Reprint of The Pointlessness of the Racism Debate by Lincoln Mitchell
Huffington Post

The question of whether or not some of the attacks on President Obama are racist is not likely to end anytime soon. There is little that can be done to persuade some supporters of President Obama that comparing the African American president to a witch doctor is not racist, or that the disrespect shown to Obama during his address to congress on health care would not have been on display if the president had been white. Similarly, critics of the president will continue to insist that this is simply all about the issues and that race has nothing to do with it.

Part of the difficulty is that on issues of race, there is a deep, but usually unspoken disagreement which runs through most of America. A substantial proportion of Americans see racism as something that is firmly in the past. This originates both from justifiable pride in how far we have come in this area, but unfortunately also prevents many people from recognizing or confronting the racism that still persists. Another large group of Americans sees racism as an ongoing problem which is less acute than a generation or two ago, but has certainly not gone away. The tension between these two views is apparent whenever a racial incident occurs; and it seems like half the country cries racism while the other half accuses the first half of playing the race card.

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The Dreaded Obamaphobia

MoonHowler

 

 

Lots of kids have come down with the dreaded obamaphobia today.  They caught it from their parents.  Where are the truant officers?  The schools probably can not afford them. 

Isn’t it Virginia state law that kids go to school?  Compulsary attendance laws specifically list what constitutes an excused absense and what the attendance laws are.  I don’t think Obamaphobia is on the list of excused absenses–at least I didn’t see it. 

 

 

What I find amusing is that most of the people who are keeping little Johnny and Jane home today are the very people who have been stridently going around screaming RULE OF LAW any time the subject of illegal immigration comes up or if they see someone they think might be illegally in the United States.  Funny how rule of law suddenly becomes a convenience.  Maybe this one time, on the first day of school, rule of law can be wink wink nudge nudged away…for a greater cause. 

Video of the President’s speech will be posted as soon as it is available.