30 May

Before our national craze for turning holidays in to 3-day weekends, Memorial Day was on the 30th of May. One of the most admirable men serving in the Senate, Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, is an advocate for returning Memorial Day to a fixed date. The argument is that a 3-day weekend is a 3-day weekend is a 3-day weekend. A fixed date means people might actually notice the date and remember what it is for. As much as I like 3-day weekends, it is hard to argue the point. My only beef with Memorial Day is that a lot of innocent people are killed in wars, but Memorial Day is for honoring fallen soldiers. Never mind that thousands more civilians are killed than soldiers, and that soldiers, by definition, risk their lives performing their soldiering tasks. Obviously those who serve should be honored, but I cannot believe the victims of war deserve less. War has other costs, too. Specifically, dollar costs. I have generally avoided politics on this site, but dollars transcend that. Hell, everyone wants to spend dollars or have dollars spent on their behalf. The War in Iraq costs many dollars. Scroll down to "National Priorities Project" on the left below all my links. That is a lot of dollars. Enough dollars to fund almost 21 MILLION college scholarships. Like I said, that is a lot of dollars.