An hour of entertainment seems like short changing those who die. Victim of war, accident (natural and manmade), combatant, "non-combatant in a war zone," and more. Who gets the gold stars when a soldier's widow loses a child to poverty after the father's death? There are many ripple effects from war fatalities, regardless of whether the war was just. I personally do not ascribe to the "just war" theme.

In WWII, the real travesty was in a bungled conclusion to WWI. Was Viet Nam started because the Korean War is still not settled? We have Iraq I and Iraq II. And this is just reference to conflicts since the mother of our battles in the US. I'm reading the second volume of Branch Taylor's King-years series. Even in erudite venues like CK, there are those who are defining and pontificating over the "race issue." And some are defining holocaust. Darfur, Hitler's Germany, Tamil Tigers, whoever. There's a lot of memorializing to think about.

Last night at the Capitol the tone was quite different from the previous few years. In the past, living military played a bigger part. This time there was a chance to recognize the living wounded, the newly killed, and families whose lives have changed. Two ways of looking at this. Sober acknowledgment of war's high cost, or a propaganda ploy to allow Congress to accept more wars. Take your pick. I am so anti-war that I have studied it all my life. At this moment in Taylor I'm reading how LBJ twists arms to get the voting rights bill and Great Society legislation. To those who maybe weren't even born in 64, LBJ was known as the fellow who sent so many to their graves for no good reason.

It keeps me at the keyboard, hoping some of the young will realize they cannot conquer such a useless endeavor by ignoring reality. Studying war is bigger than politics, religion and patriotism. When citizens make their religion their politics, or their politics their religion, we are headed for a shallow nationalism which makes flagwaving pass for loyalty and memorials pass for human understanding.