Is it because it's pre-ordained to have Hillary or Barack as candidate? Did we not learn a thing from the John Kerry debacle? I have news for you, reporters live in a bubble. Let the citizens, the ones who pay the taxes and fight the wars and march in the streets, decide. Quit destroying the campaign before it's really begun!

I'll be in the streets on Memorial Day, I don't need Salon, Rahm Emanuel or John Edwards to tell me to throw myself in the works to try and stop the occupation.

Since they oppose free speech and the opposition to the war, I think a better name would be, North Korean Legion

There are 364 other days a year to protest George's idiotic war. To do so on Memorial Day is politically and ethically wrong. We don't get the day off to whine about current policies, however wrongheaded.

The majority of decent Americans respect the military, with good reason. They sacrifice everything in the service of their country, regardless of the wisdom of what their country has asked of them. It is a mistake to even allow the suggestion that we who oppose the Iraq War don't share that respect. I think that the "left" would gain much more credibility not by protesting on that day, but by joining in the usual Memorial Day ceremonies; joining without fanfare and without rancor.

I'm as anti-war as they come, have opposed the Iraq War since before it started and detest the false, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses lockstep patriotism people stick on their cars. I've marched, protested, petitioned against the war, etc. I believe that war profiteers should be tried for treason and imprisoned. I'm sick of the glorification of militarism and of our national treasure being depleted in the interests of the privileged few and at the expense of the many. I believe our military budget should be trimmed to a quarter of it's present size. I'm depressed by how many innocent deaths our tax dollars have funded. I believe our soldiers are tragically dying in vain. . . All of that said, however, I can't come up with a good reason to support anti-war protests at Memorial Day observances. It's not a matter of political calculation (although I think it would be politically foolhardy), or fear of inconveniencing someone, it's a matter of respect and common courtesy.

If John Edwards said he was going to lead an anti-war peace vigil Memorial Day observance on the National Mall with satellite feeds from other cities coast-to-coast, I'd buy my bus ticket to attend tomorrow. That's far different than disrupting, no matter how respectfully and how well-intentioned, other people's observances and then sending in show-and-tell pictures. It reminds me slightly of that offensive, wacky group from Kansas that was (is?) going around the country and protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers. More importantly, I'm not at all convinced that protesting will do any good anyway and in this instance seems highly likely to cause more division within the country.

I'm far too chicken, until some critical mass is reached nationally via the internet perhaps, to participate in the only real protest I think has a chance of success in stopping the War .. and that is the withholding (in escrow as I understand it) of taxes.

Lastly, a word about political foolhardiness. I remember vividly from my youth in Illinois an act of political foolhardiness which killed the Equal Rights Amendment at the time. A group of passionate women, well-intentioned I'm sure (if they weren't actually paid agitators), spelled out the letters ERA with gasoline on the thus-ruined state capital's lawn, poored pig-blood on the thus-ruined marble floors of the capital, and chained themselves together in the legislative chamber, if memory serves. That, and the subsequent press coverage, was all that it took to defeat the Amendment's passage, which before those acts seemed assured in Illinois. My recollection could be incorrect, but I believe that if Illinois had passed the amendment at the time, it would have passed nationally and become law. Anyway, the rightness of the cause does not justify whatever means necessary to make one's point or draw attention to it, especially if those means alienate the very people you're hoping to enlighten.

And establish World Peace Day. To tell you the truth it just doesn't bother me that much that volunteers are getting killed in Iraq. With all the information that is available, they still choose to be cannon fodder. They are, after all, trained killers whose sole purpose is to kill as many people as they are told to kill and to ruin and destroy as many communities as they possibly can. Why should this be commendable? The true victims, the ones needing memorializing, are the hundreds of millions of innocents whose lives have been destroyed by the warmongering, testosterone addicted fanatics who start, and refuse to stop, all these beautiful wars.

It is time to end, not just this war, but war. It is time to redirect the aggressive impulses of males into constructive endeavors such as aggressively putting an end to rape, aggressively ending poverty and injustice, aggressively ending the assualt on the planet Earth.

And, by the way, I was a six-year (misguided)volunteer in the military during our last great, heroic venture: Vietnam, and what I say applies to me as well.

The Author talks a lot about not hurting the sensibilities of our veterans. But why does this really matter. How does protesting against Bush's policies hurt their touchy-feely sensibilities. They are veterans and not saints. Let's not start kissing their asses now. If they have fought for the country to protect our freedom then we have the damn right to say whatever we feel like. You liberals have become like Gonazales! The Yes-man of bloody military establishment, fearful of hurting their bloody feelings. Stand up to your rights and protest. We are protesting to stop more killings of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis. We are protesting to stop this madness. And Memorial Day is the ideal venue to show to the world that we are not sitting idle and letting the establishment do whatever they want in Iraq.

This country is becoming a more like a Third World country. Too much crap from Liberals makes me think they are same as conservatives when it comes to spreading American genocidal imperialism in the world.

All this spreading of freedom has brought is Abu Ghraib, Haditha and God knows what else. So lets not worry about hurting the veterans feelings Folks!!