Memorial Day by the numbers

This is Memorial Day Weekend, the time for Americans to get out and enjoy the beginning of summer, to take a three-day holiday from work for a quick getaway, to break out the grill and open a cold one. Sometimes the meaning of this holiday becomes obscured by the above activites. Memorial Day also inspires knee-jerk flag-waving and rote expressions of patriotism. But what should we really remember? Here are a few items we should not let slip our minds this weekend, or any time.

4082. That's how many US servicemen and women have died in Bush's pet war in Iraq as of today, 5/25/08. Bush's pointless, imperialistic war for oil. The War to Enrich Shell, Exxon, Halliburton and Blackwater. 4082 dead, for the glory of Bush and Halliburton.

0. Number of connections between Iraq and 9/11. Bush lied, now soldiers keep dying.

30329. That's how many US servicemen and women have been injured as of today, 5/25/08, in the First War for Oil. I think that's how this one should go down in history. It saddens me to write 'First' but until we change our energy-guzzling ways and develop and implement alternative, renewable sources of energy, I fear that this country will repeat its action of bullying smaller and weaker nations out of their natural resources.

0. Number of plans Bush has for getting us out of Iraq.

100. How many years McCain thinks the war in Iraq will go on. At least that's what he said at first. I later heard that he changed this figure to predict we'd be out of Iraq by 2013. Funny, that's just long enough for him to get elected (goddess forbid!), serve one term and leave the White House. Then it's his successor's problem.

239. That's how many more days we've got to put up with Bush. January 20, 2009, baby. We've got to hang in till then, and work for change in the meantime.

$135. That was the price of a barrel of oil on Friday.

$3.79. That's what I paid for a gallon of gas yesterday.

$4.69. That's what the guy on the next pump paid for a gallon of diesel. He was fueling both his huge pickup truck and the boat he was towing. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for him because between the two he was going to pay a fortune, or to hee-haw like Nelson on the Simpsons and ask did he not stop to think about either the crappy mileage of the truck or the sheer wastefulness of power boating.

7459. That's how many foreclosures there were in the seven-county Denver metro area in the first quarter of 2008, according to the Rocky Mountain News. That's a 16% increase over last year's record high.

800,000. That's how many people are homeless in the United States. That number alone is a national disgrace. In a nation as wealthy as ours, how can we let 800,000 of our own citizens go without stable housing? We should be ashamed.

40%. That's the percentage of the homeless population made up of families. If you do the math that's 320,000 families with children who do not have stable housing. Again, a national disgrace.

??? How much longer the international community will let the US get away with bullying other nations, attempting to impose our will and morality on them, disregarding the harm that we are doing to the environment, and consuming a far larger share of the world's resources per capita than any other nation. If our nation doesn't change its ways and become a responsible member of the international community, the rest of the countries of this world are going to bitch-slap us on a national level, and I'm sure that some flag-waving citizens of this land of the formerly free and the home of the perpetually terrified will have the nerve to be surprised!

Karma comes around. Hopefully it's not too late to stop it. We need change, and we need it fast. And we've all got to be ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work to create it. I'm on board with that, are you?

Wait, you say. How do we do that? What do we do? The answer is simple: whatever you think is appropriate, as long as it contributes to positive change. Maybe you want to organize a protest, or volunteer at a homeless shelter. Maybe start biking to work, or install solar collectors to reduce your individual carbon footprint. Whatever you want to do, because there's more than enough work to go around! Just pick something and get started.

The most important thing for us to remember this Memorial Day weekend is that we, individually and collectively, have the power to change the world. We must always remember that we are not powerless rabble; we are the strength of this nation, and together we can make our country a place to be proud of once again, instead of a national disgrace. It's all up to us. We can still choose the path our nation will take. I just hope we choose the right one.

Peace,
AuntieM