From the wiki on Memorial Day:
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"Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates men and women who died while in military service to the United States.[1] First enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the American Civil War, it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.
Began as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the civil war, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family gatherings, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 (since 1911) and the Coca-Cola 600 (since 1960) auto races."
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I like the last line about how the weekend has devolved into a U.S. Commercialism. Classic.
I for one will take at least a little bit of time to explain to my children what the weekend is supposed to commemorate.
Saw a few worthwhile links for reading:
We've Gone from a Nation of Laws to a Nation of Powerful Men Making Laws in Secret (Washington's Blog)
"America is supposed to be a nation of laws which apply to everyone equally, regardless of wealth or power ... Founded on the Constitution and based upon the separation of powers, we escaped from the British monarchy - a "nation of men" where the law is whatever the king says it is. However, many laws are now "secret" - known only to a handful of people, and oftentimes hidden even from the part of our government which is supposed to make laws in the first place: Congress."
Eclipsed: Why the white working class is the most alienated and pessimistic group in American Society. (National Review)
"From Revolutionary days through 2004, a majority of Americans fit two criteria. They were white. And they concluded their education before obtaining a four-year college degree. In the American mosaic, that vast white working class was the largest piece, from the yeoman farmer to the welder on the assembly line. Even as late as the 1990 census, whites without a college degree represented more than three-fifths of adults. ..... But as the country grew more diverse and better educated, the white working-class share of the adult population slipped to just under 50 percent in the Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey. That number has since fallen below 48 percent."Members of Congress Get Abnormally High Returns from their Stocks
"Members of the House of Representatives considerably outperform the stock market in their personal investments, according to a new academic study.The last one is pretty amazing and is statistically significant. How do they do so well?
Four university researchers examined 16,000 common stock transactions made by approximately 300 House representatives from 1985 to 2001, and found what they call "significant positive abnormal returns," with portfolios based on congressional trades beating the market by about 6 percent annually."
