I wonder why Google ignored Memorial Day?

[Wcross]

They usually have a special Google logo for holidays but today it is just the plain google logo. Heck, they had a special Halloween one last year so why do they ignore a holiday such as Memorial day?

[But....]

1. No one working today?

:shrug:

[Obama4ever]

60. I noticed it too

Google commemorates many obscure holidays, at least they are obscure to me, so I find it odd that they didn't have some kind of banner acknowledging Memorial Day.

[Tesha]

93. I don't think they "DO" national holidays.

They are a worldwide company and have probably concluded
that it's not appropriate to do any country's own private
holidays (such as a Monday-moved version of Memorial Day).

I don't remember them having a special Houses of Parliament
blowing up logo for Guy Fawkes day either.



Tesha

[eowyn_of_rohan]

102. They "do" 4th of July! -nt

[Turn CO Blue]

2. Probably some artist scrambling to finalize it right now...

saying, "oh fuck! I'm gonna get fired!"

[Ferd Berfle]

4. BS - they have dozens they can just plug in

[Turn CO Blue]

12. Oh nevermind. Not worth it.

[Ferd Berfle]

3. YES! I noticed that too and wrote them a nastygram about it

Either Google is now part of the Bush Crime family and hates our soldiers as much as republicans

or

They are so full of H1-B's and outsourced to other countries that they are so Transnational that they no longer recognize THEMSELVES as Americans

[RC]

5. How does one honor all those hundreds of millions that have died

in vain for the lies of someones ego?

We have to stop glorifying the killing of people in other places just because they live in a place that has something someone else wants.

What is the difference between our government sending a kid barely out of high school to kill people on someone else's turf and a ruthless gang trying to take over someone else's turf? I don't see much difference.

[Ferd Berfle]

7. By Never Forgetting THEIR sacrifice

[Smith_3]

8. Would you celebrate a holiday in memory of the German troops of WWII?

And one that was reserved solely for them, and explicitly excludes soldiers of other countries?

[Ferd Berfle]

10. No - I'm not German - I'm an American. You?

[Wcross]

11. WTF are you talking about?

Memorial day is an AMERICAN holiday to honor AMERICAN servicemen & women who gave their lives in EVERY war. I don't expect other countries to celebrate it. I don't understand how you came up with the Nazi Germany angle.:wtf:

[Ferd Berfle]

16. Just responding to Smith_3

Don't ask me why he went there.

[Wcross]

17. I was asking Smith_3 WTF?

I want to know how he/she arrived at that myself. I fail to see any connection with honoring our war dead throughout history & a foreign countries war dead from a specific war. Maybe he is implying that our dead from the American revolution til the Iraq war are war criminals? Only he can answer.

[stevedeshazer]

26. Look, Smith...

My dad and uncle were veterans of WW II.

Would you suggest that they stayed home? That we should not honor their service?

That the Union soldiers who gave their lives to keep our country together should not be honored?

That the American Revolutionaries and their soldiers should have just capitulated to King George?

Yes, we've had fucked up wars that should never have been fought, the latest is a prime example.

But to dishonor the people who fought them in our name is despicable. You should reserve your vilification for their civilian leaders instead.

Memorial Day is to honor those who fought and died for your freedom. I'm as left politically as they come, but I'm not stupid.

[RC]

15. Sacrifice for what?

You are glorifying killing people as something good. You are part of the problem. Have you even been in the military?

We need to stop glorifying war. The men and women in the battle zones in any war are just canon fodder, a number, an entry on a piece of paper or now, a computer data base.

There are much better ways to settle our differences that to keep attacking others, which in reality doing the same thing over and over and over again.

[Wcross]

18. I served four years in the Marine Corps. Did you serve?

It isn't glorifying ANYTHING, it is honoring our service members who have lost their lives in conflicts from the American revolution to the present day. Are you saying the American revolution wasn't necessary? The Civil war was a waste of time & lives? World war two was unnecessary?

Is it wrong to set a day aside to remember the service members who lost their lives in service to our country? Notice it isn't called "commander in chief day". Notice it isn't called "Good thing congress authorized a war day". I suggest you read up on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

It IS NOT CELEBRATING ANY WAR, it is about honoring our dead.

[Kajsa]

21. Thank you, Wcross.

- for your service
-and for honoring those who died in the line of duty.

:hug:

[AngryOldDem]

23. Isn't it sad?

Sad that you have to go to such lengths to explain the obvious? The ignorance on this board astounds me at times.

Thank you for your service.

[LucyParsons]

27. Thank you for your service, Wcross, but - asking people if they served, IMHO

translates to, "if not, you have no right to speak" - which strikes me as very un-American and in opposition to the freedoms these wars were supposedly fought over.

:shrug:

I am very conflicted on this issue, personally. I honor the soldiers, and respect them for being willing to fight and die for the Constitution (which is what they sign up for, not for the government), but I can't quite help but feel that if no one would enlist to fight in wars over which they have no control, we wouldn't have very many wars. If enough Americans thought it was right to invade Iraq, for instance, let us call for volunteers. Like in every war before and including WWII. In my mind, if the government has to maintain a standing army who have no control over determining whether each and every action they take place in is justifiable to their own conscience, they're not fighting "just" wars (if there is such a thing). And the irony is, of course, that in a postwar tribunal, those soldiers can be held individually responsible for any war crimes they committed, even if they were "just following orders". I don't think an undemocratic institution can really, in the end, defend democracy, I guess.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I can't think of a war in U.S. history that I would've signed up to fight in, or one that I wouldn't have draft-dodged. Even WWII. I would've joined a Resistance movement, but not the army.

That said, I am thinking today about the millions of Americans who have died in service to this country, or who thought that's what they were doing.

[Wcross]

29. That wasn't my intention.

I was responding to RC's post in which it was stated "You are glorifying killing people as something good. You are part of the problem. Have you even been in the military?"

I felt that if the question was asked of others than RC would feel comfortable answering the same question.

[LucyParsons]

30. Okay, thank you for clarifying.

I hear that all the time from (almost always Republican) veterans, and it drives me nuts. Everyone doesn't serve in the military, but that doesn't mean they don't love America or serve their country in a myriad of other (often dangerous, also) ways. Also, it doesn't mean they aren't willing to fight and die to defend the Constitution. I would be willing to do that. I just don't think that, for example, invading Iraq, does anything to defend the Constitution. Quite the contrary, actually. The soliders over there are defending and strengthening American coroprate interests. Which makes me incredibly sad, and conflicted, because I want to respect people who signed up to give their lives, if necessary, for ME. It's hard.

Thank you again for your service. We are proud of you, even if we may disagree.

[Wcross]

32. If we all agreed on everything it wouldn't be America.

We have the freedom to disagree & be vocal about it. I just hope the bill of rights can survive the rest of Bush's term.

[LucyParsons]

33. High five

Agreed.

[RC]

35. Yes I did. Early-mid 60's

US Navy Gaiter Fleet, USS George Clymer, APA 27. Hauling kids barely out of high school to be canon fodder in Viet Nam. Kids that, at that time, were my age. I could tell by looking at some of them in the days before we got there that they knew beyond any Shadow of any doubt they were not coming back.
Steaming away after disembarking one ship load, I heard a report just hours after dropping one load off that a bunch were already dead. Some didn't last an hour. Kids not yet or barely old enough to legally drink yet, dead in another U.S. foreign war of choice.

How can one honor dead conscripts and not celebrate war?

Let's instead set aside a National Day of Peace to remember the futility of killing our sons and daughters because some politicians needed their ego stroked. There are always options to war.

[Wcross]

51. You can honor their sacrifice without honoring the war.

Politicians are real slick in selling us on war. In Vietnam it was the gulf of tonkin "incident". Bush used the "WMD & war on terror". Yes, there are always options to war but those lives lost to war in the past should be remembered. You can't change history, maybe remembering the war dead will prevent future wars?

[Bake]

106. So we should have just stood by and let Germany and Japan have the rest of the world?

Even up to and including our own soil?

I do not glorify war. Some wars are more "just" than others. We didn't start WWII (or WWI, for that matter). We didn't start the American Revolution; we simply declared independence and King George sent troops. What were they supposed to do?

Some things are not so cut and dried as you would like to imagine.

Vietnam? Iraq? Clusterfucks that should never have happened.

Bake

[Kajsa]

19. Honoring those who have sacrificed their lives

is not " glorifying war".

:(

[MilesColtrane]

107. I'm pretty sure they tried talking to Hitler, and it didn't work.

[Wcross]

9. A simple flag at half mast would be enough.

The men who defeated Nazi Germany died for somebodies ego? The men who fought & died to preserve our union during the civil war did it for ego? It isn't about paying tribute to the government, Memorial day is to honor the men who fought and died in the wars we sent them to fight in.

A simple flag at half mast would be an honor to recognise their sacrifices.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. They hate America? They're secretly with the terrorists? n/t

[Captain Hilts]

13. Interesting! It needs a flag at half STAFF. nt

[KSinTX]

44. MAST if you're Navy. nt

[Captain Hilts]

84. Dad always taught me half staff, actually. nt

[KSinTX]

90. Ah, a landloving sailor. nt

[Captain Hilts]

108. A submariner. They don't even know how to salute...

but the Marines say 'staff' also. Go figure.

[rock]

14. OK, since you're feeding the straight line

They forgot!

[Finn Polke]

20. Appropriate that Google didn't recognize

Good job, Google.

But, wtf about Arbor Day?? I swear, I'll start using Yahoo again is they ignore the tree holiday one more time.

[Wcross]

22. They died to preserve your freedom.

The freedom to be an idiot if you wish.

[Finn Polke]

24. No

No, they didn't die to preserve my freedom. See, that's kinda my whole point. :)

[Wcross]

25. So, your freedoms in the Bill of Rights came from WHERE?

If our brave service members didn't fight to gain our freedom from England you would be a "British subject" rather than a citizen of the United States. If our brave troops didn't sacrifice during the war of 1812 you would be a "British subject" instead of a citizen. If our brave troops didn't sacrifice themselves during the civil war there would be no United States. If our brave troops didn't sacrifice themselves during World War Two you would either be speaking Japanese or German.

Freedom isn't free. It hasn't cost YOU anything personally. It has cost quite a few Americans their lives to gain it in the first place & to preserve it. Maybe after you have grown up a little bit you will learn to appreciate it.

[stevedeshazer]

28. Agreed.

And, thank you for your service.

[JackRiddler]

41. Ahistorical claptrap.

Bullshit.

My freedoms and yours according to the Declaration of Independence and every modern-day understanding of human rights came from THE CREATOR. They are "unalienable."

To protect a few of these natural rights, above all from our own government (not from a foreign threat), a Bill of Rights was established.

The Bill of Rights came about because the FOUNDING PEOPLE resisted the Constitution drawn up by the landowners and slaveholders and rich merchants who convened in Philadelphia. The anti-Federalists were not able to stop the Constitution, but they did successfully implement the Bill of Rights.

So if it were up to the former commanders of the Continental Army like Gen. Washington, there would not have been a Bill of Rights. There is a Bill of Rights thanks to the opponents of the Constitution of 1787.

And if Britain had won the War of Independence or the War of 1812, you don't know what the world would look like today, but I bet the people living in the present-day US would be at least as free and prosperous as the Canadians.

What makes you think history would have stopped? What makes you think the generations who followed wouldn't have fought for their own sense of justice? What makes you think there is ever any freedom except what we, now, choose to exercise and defend for ourselves?

I salute the soldiers who won World War II.

But history is not this simplistic comic book bullshit of Pledge-of-Allegiance patriots. Memorial Day is a religious mystification in which we pretend that eternal war is a good thing and there is no higher goal for a human than to subordinate him/herself to the State and obediently carry out orders to kill, if told to do so, since that's for "your country." Bullshit!

Now it's time to end war and stop pretending war is the hammer and everything in the world is the nail.

[Wcross]

52. So lets piss on the graves of our war dead?

I think not. I am an American. I appreciate what our service members did & the sacrifices they made at the direction of our civilian government. I will continue to honor those that died EVERY Memorial Day.

[JackRiddler]

54. No, no. Let's attack ridiculous strawmen in the style of FOXNEWS.

What's next? Will you tell us those who oppose the occupation hate the troops? Because that's your logic, right there. Shameful.

[Wcross]

56. You seem confused Jackass.

It is about those who have died in service to our country throughout our history. It has nothing to do with WHY the wars were fought but rather to honor those Americans who fought & died in them.

[JackRiddler]

58. Obedience to unjust or abusive power is not "service."

Sorry, you don't get an automatic pass for signing up to follow orders.

How about the Americans who died defending against the European invaders starting in 1492? When the dead of Wounded Knee are also acknowledged, then I'll say Memorial Day is just and true.

How about the Americans who were deliberately - and unwittingly! - injected with radioactive substances in military experiments? Didn't they "serve" their country? When do they get their holiday?

[Critters2]

63. Or those who followed their consciences and refused to fight

and were jailed and abused by those "serving their country".



"We were cursed, beaten, kicked, and compelled to go through exercises to the extent that a few were unconscious for some minutes. They kept it up for the greater part of the afternoon, and then those who could possibly stand on their feet were compelled to take cold shower baths. One of the boys was scrubbed with a scrubbing brush using lye on him. They drew blood in several places."

— Mennonite from Camp Lee, Virginia, United States, 16 July 1918.



Those in the service fight to defend the Constitution, not the country. This is an important distinction.

[Wcross]

67. Incredible.

Making accusations about our war dead? Are they all war criminals who require an "automatic pass"? :puke:

[JackRiddler]

76. You just keep hitting the bullshit, sir. Next you'll have me eating babies.

You've learned the essence of bogus "patriotic" umbrage. I'll go now, lest you start accusing me of shooting wounded soldiers or some such. Hope anyone else has read this exchange.

[cherokeeprogressive]

79. I read it and I think you're an ass. n/t

[JackRiddler]

80. Doesn't come as much of a surprise from you, thanks.

[Jewelsparkle]

97. I totally agree with you.

To try and take away from our war dead is a mentality from another planet. I know that it's not hip in many circles to want to honor their sacrifices, but they should not even be acknowledged.

[KSinTX]

91. You rail against a day you do not even understand

The first Memorial Day was a tribute paid by former slaves shortly after the Civil War to honor Union soldiers (note not Confederate in a time when we were a split country) who had fought and died while seeking to liberate them.

The soldiers had been imprisoned at the Planters Race Course in Charleston, which had been converted to a jail facility, and all had died there (about 250). These former slaves, now Freemen - carpenters and laborers, established the original memorial by converting the prison area to a proper cemetery and then transferred the bodies of those soldiers from their mass grave. They erected a sign at the entrance naming the area "Martyrs of the Race Course," you might understand the double entendre.

Upon completion of the cemetery, a approximately 10,000 blacks and white missionaries, teachers and Union troops marched around the race course singing and bearing red roses for the dead. So you see, the holiday's origins spring largely from civil rights and not the patronizing honoring of soldiers who've passed before us.

Oh, and for those who require a day set aside to honor our fallen in order to honor and thank them for their service, I can only say shame. That honor should come every time you turn on your TV and see this immoral war.

And for those who feel you don't get an automatic pass for signing on to follow orders, I will agree to one thing: our founding fathers did not wish us to have a standing Army but wished, instead to retain a militia. Well, then, by your own rigid belief in their rightness must honor each National Guardsman who has fallen.

[JackRiddler]

96. o man

"Oh, and for those who require a day set aside to honor our fallen in order to honor and thank them for their service, I can only say shame. That honor should come every time you turn on your TV and see this immoral war."

Sorry if I missed your logic there. Let's see... The war is immoral, therefore we should *always* honor the *volunteer* soldiers who obey (presumably immoral?) orders to fight it, rather than the invaded Iraqis, of whom 100 or more are killed as a result of the immoral war for every soldier who falls... :crazy:

And the noble origins of Memorial Day (as with many other holidays) stand in stark contrast to the uses to which it is put today by those who wage war and exploit grief to uphold warfare as a legitimate means of "defending freedom." Funny, in recent decades I have yet to hear any Memorial Day speaker recall this history. It only comes up when you call out the propaganda, for example on this thread.

[KSinTX]

98. You were not one who required a day set aside

You don't honor them so it was moot to you. Your thinking is so rigid that you cannot follow logic even when set out for you in a trail of breadcrumbs.

[alarimer]

49. That may have been true as late as WWII. It certainly isn't true now.

But OUR freedom has not been threatened since WWII (except by our own government). It is ludicrous to say that people died in Viet Nam or Korea or Iraq for OUR freedom. They died defending corporate imperialism or for oil or some such. My freedom has never been threatened except by the bush administration. Al Quaeda and terrorists are not even as big a threat as Bush. In fact I would say the threat from terrorism is grossly exaggerated.

[datasuspect]

103. our freedom is endowed by our Creator and is inalienable

in other words, we are born free. we don't have to earn it or qualify for it in any way.

we can make sacrifices for it, but we are simply free.

the bill of rights are amendments to the constitution of the united states, which is simply a document that spells out the structure of the united states. not very many rights are conferred. it is more about the the rights the government cannot take or abridge.

and i am a dual US/british citizen.

i'd rather establish residency in britain at some point and get better health care.

freedom is FREE. something that is your birthright costs you nothing.

[RC]

36. Hog Wash

How does dying in a war that other wise should not concern this country, preserve my freedom? Korea? Viet Nam? Iraq? Afghanistan? To name a few of the better known ones. Which ones did we win? How were these countries a threat to us, U.S. in any way, shape or form?
As a reminder, 9/11 was a group, not a country that attacked us. We attacked an innocent country in response and killed hundreds of thousands of Innocent civilians. And for that we honor those on our side that died to keep us free? How?
Killing Iraqi civilians asleep in their homes does not avenge those Americans that died on 9/11. Indiscriminate killing in revenge dishonors those dead being avenged. That is what we are doing in Iraq.

[Finn Polke]

38. RC saves electricity

Why waste electricity typing another response when RC got it so right?

Thanks.

[uppityperson]

40. Thank you. What RC said. Some did, some didn't.

[The Straight Story]

46. Today isn't about JUST this war (or even war in general) it is about honoring public servants

Who have done their job both in and out of war time.

They give up years of their lives to defend this country, even in peace time.

Least we could do is remember and thank them for it.

[Critters2]

64. Then why so few monuments to members of the Peace Corps,

some of whom have also lost their lives?

This is a day to glorify war. I refuse to participate.

[Wcross]

70. How does death bring glory?

It isn't glorifying anything, these men & women died while in service to our country (government). It's about remorse for the deaths & taking a day to remember them. I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this issue.

[Critters2]

71. Why didn't you try to answer my question?

Why no government-sponsored monuments or Memorial Days for peacemakers?

[Wcross]

73. So that day HAS to be on the day we honor our war dead?

Martin Luther King - (in case you have never heard of the man)- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

Is there not a Martin Luther King day? Wasn't he a peacemaker?

[Critters2]

74. So, it isn't really about service to the nation? It's about war.

That's what I thought. Thanks for clarifying.

[cherokeeprogressive]

68. Yours is the best post on this thread. It's not necessarily about "war dead".

It's about those who lost their lives in military service to their country. That doesn't exactly mean they had to be carrying a rifle, driving a tank, or flying a bomber. Few people recognize the fact that hundreds and hundreds die during peacetime while "in service to their country".

My 1 1/2+ years at sea with the Navy kept me away from my family, and I slept on a 3" thick piece of foam rubber behind a curtain that didn't extend the length of my bunk. There were 5 other guys within an arms reach of where I slept. People tend to forget that there are sacrifices made by servicemembers during peacetime as well as during times of armed conflict. I may have sacrificed, but I am truly humbled by those men and women who made the ULTIMATE sacrifice after having given themselves over to a cause greater than that of their own personal wants and needs.

I didn't enlist because my soul was given to murderous intent nor did I hope to see or facilitate violent death and/or destruction. In fact, I never met anyone who did.

To those we honor today: I pale in your shadow, and thank you for being there when we needed you.

[Critters2]

69. Again, I ask...why do we not honor members of the Peace Corps

who are willing to risk danger "for their country"? Or diplomats?

Events like Memorial Day are about making sure people support wars, those already fought and those being planned for the future. They're about making sure that any questions are deemed unpatriotic. They are about militarism. If not, we'd also have days to honor those who work for peace...Peace Corps volunteers, career diplomats, relief workers. But we don't.

You've never wondered why?

[cherokeeprogressive]

72. Maybe it's not as cut and dried for me as it is for you.

I do not now support, nor have I ever supported war. You said "They're about making sure that any questions are deemed unpatriotic". I question my government all the time, and I don't consider myself unpatriotic. I am not militaristic in thought or action.

Today I celebrate "Memorial Day" as a day to reflect on EVERYONE who has given their life in service to their country. Military or otherwise.

[Critters2]

75. But the government doesn't. Those parades today? They were about war

and the war dead.

[cherokeeprogressive]

77. I didn't attend any parades today. Also, I didn't know the government sponsored parades.

[Critters2]

78. My city does. And holds a service in a public park.

With not a mention of anyone but war dead.

[JackRiddler]

31. Because they're not oriented to the American Jingo market?

.
Why shouldn't they recognize everyone's memorial day? Don't the Chinese who died in the service of their country get one too?

[Tesha]

94. Jingo? Bingo! (NT)

[Book Lover]

34. It's not done for all holidays per se

And you will notice that they did one last year for Veteran's Day

http://www.google.com/holidaylogos07.html

[gatorboy]

37. Hey thanks for the link!

I wonder if there is a site somewhere that says who designs the Yahoo holiday logos.

[Book Lover]

42. Here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hwang and in the category of more abotu the Google logo than you ever wanted to know http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_logo and http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/multimedia/2008/02/gallery_google_logos?slide=1&slideView=7

[gatorboy]

95. Thanks again!

[JackRiddler]

39. Why does Google ignore Algeria's Day of the Revolution?

Does it do a custom page for International Women's Day?

How about Bastille Day? The French Revolutionaries died for your freedoms, don't you know that?

[skygazer]

43. Last I knew, Google was a California company

I can't believe the stupid crap I read on this site sometimes.

[JackRiddler]

47. So? Does that obligate them to salute the flag?

Last I looked, Google was an international capitalist enterprise, and (unfortunately) also an entity considered to possess all of the rights of an individual. Among those is the right to ignore US Memorial Day, also known as Freedom of Speech.

Google being a business, its demographics are pretty obvious. Google's growth is going to come mainly from a part of the world you may or may not know, which we will call OUTSIDE the US.

Believe it or not, OUTSIDE the US doesn't celebrate US memorial day. Many people in OUTSIDE may not even like US memorial day. They might have negative memories of the last 20 or 50 US invasions. They may be really angry about Iraq. At best, it's not a priority to them, and you won't get them to buy stuff for US memorial day (like you can for Mother's Day).

Now, Google's accountants surely know to counterbalance this OUTSIDE demographic against the potential losses in the group of Patriotic US Curmudgeons. While this is an important demographic for say, Walmart, it's really peripheral to an Internet search engine that lives off advertisers (who also only care about their bottom line and don't give a shit about holidays otherwise).

Neither Walmart's decision to do a Memorial Day sale and Google's to ignore it has anything to do with a conviction for or against US Memorial Day.

Get the picture yet?

[skygazer]

48. My god, you're breathlessly passionate about all this

I really don't give a rat's ass if Google does or doesn't put some piece of animation on their home page to mark a holiday - any holiday. But asking why they don't celebrate Angolan Independence Day or whatever nonsense you put out there is absurd because they're not fucking Angolan! It's called a false analogy - you see them all the time in GD.

And now I've wasted far too much time on an empty and throwaway topic.

Don't break your keyboard with all than banging on it. :hi:

[JackRiddler]

50. au contraire

I didn't start this stupid thread, did I? And if you visit it yourself and say bullshit (fyi, Google isn't American or Angolan, they are a multinational capitalist corporation with original charter in the US)

-- and if you get the beatdown, it no longer works to pretend you're the one who didn't care that much about a "throwaway topic."

And if you think passion is a negative quality, how sad for you.

However, maybe you should also consider that maybe I can write a lot faster than you do. Ya never know. (The keyboard is actually likelier to break if you're pecking at it with two fingers.)

[Critters2]

65. It's a transnational corporation. nt

[KSinTX]

45. I didn't even know cause the iGoogle doesn't change

for holidays. Hmmm

[Wcross]

53. For those who object to this holiday. A simple question.

Do you reject the day off or return any extra holiday pay to your employer? Isn't it "glorifying war" to accept the benefits of this holiday?

[JackRiddler]

55. I'm all for this holiday, sir...

If it were to memorialize ALL of the dead from war, and acknowledge that military "service" is often not in the defense of country.

[nolabels]

57. It's my normal day off and they decided to close today so now what?

My wife also has the day off and got mad because i so much time to sit around watch movies (she probably wanted to watch her stuff on the big screen but was too proud to ask me for her turn :evilgrin: )

Hell yea, i would of rather of went to work, it would of been a lot less stressful :P

[Wcross]

61. So now what?

Maybe reflect on all those who have died in the service of our nation? The men we abandoned on Bataan in the early desperate days of world war two? What about those poor bastards on Wake island who we abandoned to the japanese? The guys who stormed the beach on Tarawa? The men of the 101st who held off the entire German army at Bastogne during the battle of the bulge? The men of the eight air force who flew daylight raids over Nazi Germany DESPITE the fact that statistically they would not live to complete the required missions?

I hate it that you are having a television dispute with the wife. I wonder how many of our war dead wish that they had survived the war in order to spend the day arguing with their wife?

[JackRiddler]

82. You notice how all your examples are from the same war?

It should have been the last, but your ruling class decided otherwise and your people chose obedience over thinking for themselves.

[Wcross]

83. As are the majority of our war dead.

We lost nearly 500,000 servicemen in world war two. Shouldn't I honor their sacrifice? Should I allow the mess in Iraq turn me against their sacrifice?

[JackRiddler]

87. No.

But a more generous view on your part would remember and honor the Soviets who lost 20 million in an alliance against the same enemy, after being attacked, and would acknowledge the civilian deaths on all sides. And I don't care if other countries do that - the nationalist blinders are as bad anywhere.

[nolabels]

88. I served my time in the military already

I am just thankful i wasn't wearing the uniform while that criminal AWOL was installed :argh:

[Critters2]

62. Every Monday is my day off.

And I won't be getting another day off this week. It was just a Monday for me. I went to a dog show.

[northzax]

104. actually, I get paid by the hour

so I'd rather have worked since my landlord doesn't give me a day off my rent in commmemoration.

[geek_sabre]

59. they never acknowledge it

There was a big hoopla over it on the rethug side last year, and I believe they responded that they didn't want to make light or minimalize a somber holiday (or something like that), which doesn't explain why they did Veteran's day.

[northzax]

105. yes, i think it is much more important

to give everyone a discount on cheap furniture to commemorate the dead.

to everyone: raise your hand if you went to a barbeque yesterday instead of a cemetary. if you didn't spend the day at a cememtary or in somber reflection, then you don't get to criticise Google.

[JackRiddler]

66. Here are some graphics Google could use to commemorate next year's Memorial Day...

.

[ThoughtCriminal]

81. I'm not sure they do a graphic for purely national holidays

Do they do one for the 4th of July for example? I think sometimes people forget that the internet is global.

There was a time when some southern states did not observe Memorial Day, since it originated as a day to honor Union soldiers. Instead, there were seperate Confederate Memorial Days.


Edit:
It turns out that they have had a logo for Independence Day and Veteran's Day.
http://www.google.com/holidaylogos07.html

[Ilsa]

85. While driving home we passed two school districts with school in session today.

East of Central South Texas. It was just after 3pm and then 3:30 and the little kids and school buses were running. I was shocked. I don't understand why today might have been a "make-up" day, either. Just tack it on to the end of the school year if a bad weather makeup day is required.

[Blue_Tires]

86. THIS is what you're worried about with all that's going on in the World??

:freak:

[depakid]

89. Did they also "ignore" ANZAC day...

Why yes, it's not an internationl holiday.

The whole world doesn't revolve around the US (even though most Americans like to think it does).

[Rosemary2205]

92. yes, if they really loved America they would have turned off the servers and closed.

those America hating commies are even worse than Krogers and Walmart.



Snark.

[Subdivisions]

99. I don't know why they didn't observe Memorial Day but

if they had closed down, they would have eliminated millions of dollars of commerce. Google is international as well as being the single largest source of targeted traffic to online retailers such as myself. Shutting down for the day just isn't practical. But they very much should have highlighted this solemn day as a time to remember those who made it possible for them to exist.

[SidDithers]

100. They did use a Poppy logo for Remembrance Day...

for google.ca (and I think in the UK as well).

Sid

[GoneOffShore]

101. The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est

The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918

And yet we continue to tell it again and again.

Google would have done well to put this up yesterday.

[Wcross]

109. Thank you.

The American military cemetary at Normandy. If you can't unerstand why we should never forget their sacrifice I have no other words.