I cannot hear this speech without breaking up when he gets to the words "Why... why did you do it?"

This was one of a handful of truly great speeches of the post war era. It's closing lines are what Memorial Day is all about.

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Here's a little piece of doggerel I came across, which will probably only appeal to my fellow aviation nuts. I found it in Clash of the Carriers, a great book I'm reading about the First Battle of the Philippine Sea (otherwise known as the Marianas Turkey Shoot).

Oh Mother, dear Mother, take down that blue star,
Replace it with one that is gold.
Your son is a Helldiver pilot;
He'll never be thirty years old.
The people who work for Curtis
   are frequently seen good and drunk.
One day with an awful hangover,
   they mustered and designed that clunk.

Check out the animation section in this link. If you follow the "planes and commanders" link, then click on "radio newscast of the battle," there's a pretty cool vintage audio broadcast.

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Country musicians Big & Rich pay tribute to the sacrifices of our Vietnam heroes in the song and video, "8th of November." It's very touching and well done. See it at Tammy's blog.

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Check out Smallholder, layin' down a Ben Franklin rap over at Naked Villainy.

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Web Loafer has uncovered a historical photograph showing Vice President John Nance Garner during a hunting trip in 1937. The vice president is the one with his gun pointed at another guy. Senator Truman is also among the party.

You may remember that Truman was famous for saying "the buck stops here." Well, this picture shows the origin of that phrase. Vice President Garner's most famous quote was when he described the vice presidency as "not worth a bucket of warm piss."

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Robert remembers Chancellorsville at the Llama Butchers.

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