Senator Zell Miller, who I quoted Friday, said it best at the 2004 Republican National Convention:
“Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don’t just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.”
Indeed. Thank you, veterans, both past and present. Today is the “official” day we honor you, but everyday should be Veterans Day, in my opinion. Update: Make sure to check out this Veterans Day must-read from Rick Moran.
I see Google has finally seen fit, after 8 years of ignoring Veterans Day, to finally create a custom logo for for it:
It’s about time.
—–
Yesterday was the 232nd birthday for the US Marine Corp. Jimmie at The Sundries Shack wrote a great post honoring our brave Marines here. Semper Fi! Here’s to many, many more birthdays 
And speaking of the Marines, I’m on the Marines team for Project Valour-IT and now would be a good time to mention that, if you haven’t yet, you can still make a donation to PV-IT, a worthy cause which benefits troops who have suffered hand or arm injuries, or in some cases, amputations, while serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Donations to Project Valour-IT helps to provide those troops with voice-controlled equipment which enables them to use a laptop to communicate. To make a donation, click here. Today Monday is the last day of the friendly competition between the service branches.
—–
On Friday, we saw the 18th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. No dicussion of the fall of the Berlin wall would be complete without remembering President Reagan’s key role in making it all happen and, of course, his famous “tear down this wall” speech, made on June 12, 1987. I’m sure you’ll remember this part quite well:
“Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Photo courtesy: J. Scott Applewhite, AP file
Sigh …. 
—–
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial turns 25 on Tuesday. MSNBC wrote Saturday about how all the personal tributes that have been left at the Memorial over the years are being preserved as museum pieces. (Photo courtesy of the Wall-USA website)
The Democratic Congresses of the 70s, which choked off any hope of victory against the Communist North Vietnam, may not have remembered the thousands of sacrifices made by our troops in the Vietnam war, but we do, and always will.
—–
Last but not least: In addition to our brave men and women in the US military, who have over the years helped spread the message of hope and freedom so eloquently expressed by great men like President Reagan, another thing that makes America so great is the steadfast support and strength of her staunchest ally, the UK. Excellent British blogger Mike McNally blogs today about Remembrance Sunday, in which the Brits are pausing to honor the sacrifices made by their military heroes in wars past and present.
PM Update: ST reader Karl has a thoughtful post up about Veterans Day at his blog Leaning Straight Up.
And this post has rec’d a nice link from Memeorandum. Thanks!
I remember quite well the first time I heard RONALDUS MAXIMUS give that speech: “Mr Gorbachev, tear DOWN this wall!” I smiled and shook my head, thinking it was over-the-top, but a typically gutsy speech from our American president. Little did I know….
Comment by Tango @ 11/11/2007 - 11:35 am
Who needs Google anyway? Dogpile has been celebrating patriotic holidays with special logos and/or graphics for years, and today is no exception.
Comment by Great White Rat @ 11/11/2007 - 12:16 pm
God Bless all of our Veteran’s Past, Present, and Future.
If we take the time to soak up the wonder and majesty of this great country…We realize that it was created, maintained, and defended by the American Soldier.
We truly do live in the greatest country in history.
God Bless America and let none harm it.
Thx LT
Comment by Lt. Listener @ 11/12/2007 - 12:19 am
Viet Nam War Memorial Defaced
I just became aware today of the defacement of the Viet Nam War memorial in Washington courtesy of my blogger colleague, Lew Waters. It appears that the incident happened sometime around September 7. The perpetrators are as yet unknown. It appears that someone sprayed an oily substance onto parts of the wall which have caused damage to the marble surface and affected the legibility of many of the names. Aside from the outrage this is causing many of us, I am asking- Why didn’t the mainstream news media cover this story?
Let’s talk first about the outrage we feel toward the perpetrators. That some segment of our society is so twisted with hate for our country and its military to commit this kind of act sickens me to my stomach. Yet, it doesn’t surprise me. We indeed have a segment of our population, almost exclusively on the far-left, that hates America. They want us to lose in Iraq, and they want this country to collapse into the mire, so that people like them can reshape it into their own preferred model. Lew, in his blog, was seething with rage-to the point of using profanities to describe his contempt for the perpetrators. I don’t blame him one bit. I myself knew and grew up with two men whose names are on that wall. While I served in Germany during the Viet Nam War, they went to Viet Nam and died, not yet 21, one receiving a Silver Star in the process.
As Lew so eloquently points out, our Viet Nam veterans were despised by the far-left, largely on our university campuses during that conflict. Many were shunned, even spat upon when they returned home, never receiving the respect and gratitude they deserved. They watched while one of their own, John Kerry, savaged them and called them murderers, parlaying his fame with Viet Nam Veterans Against the War into a US Senate seat. Is it any wonder that many of them are still walking around with psychological scars, in some cases, drug-addicted and homeless? They were betrayed by counter-culture bums of their own age who did everything they could to evade military service-most notably, Bill Clinton.
Today, we have the children of that mixed generation (my generation) pulling the same antics, disrespecting our soldiers, past and present. We have a political party that runs Congress, many of whose leaders have called our soldiers Nazis, operators of Soviet gulags who terrorize Iraqi women and children in the middle of night, bomb villages and commit cold-blooded murder and torture. Want some names? How about John Kerry, Dick Durban, John Murtha and Barack Obama?
Our Viet Nam vets were also betrayed by the liberal elite in our country. It is commonly said by many on the left that Viet Nam was a military defeat for America. It wasn’t. Our soldiers were never defeated in a single battle by the enemy. It was a political defeat because the country and its leadership at home lost the will to continue.
Speaking of the liberal elite, have you noticed how many liberal blogs marked Veterans Day? Very few. The only thing I found on Daily Kos was an article whose theme was Veterans as homeless people-no tribute to the noble job they did while in service. In contrast, the overwhelming majority of conservative blogs posted tributes to our veterans and current military to mark Veterans Day. Shouldn’t that tell you something about which side is right?
My next issue is why are we now just hearing about this defacement that apparently occurred on or about September 7. Doing a Google search on “Viet Nam Wall Defaced”, it seems that the only sector reporting on this incident is the conservative blogosphere. What about the Mainstream Media? Missing in action, folks, as usual. Why? Because to report this story just might awaken some patriotic outrage on the part of the public-the last thing the MSM wants to do. This only reinforces the obvious fact that the MSM selectively reports stories that further their leftist agenda while ignoring or downplaying those that run counter to that agenda.
Make no mistake about it, we are engaged in battle for the direction this country will go. If the elements that would deface the Viet Nam War Memorial-probably the most moving memorial in our land- prevail in this battle, then America will go right down the drain and suddenly, like the Soviet Union, collapse like house of cards.
gary fouse
fousesquawk
Comment by gary fouse @ 11/14/2007 - 7:36 pm