Monday, May 27, 2002

They Called it "Dead Yankee Day" Memorial Day is accepted pretty much everywhere in this country as a national holiday, a time to honor veterans and remember those killed in our many wars. But it was not always so, at least where I live. The Memorial Day holiday was established after the Civil War by a former Union General, and in much of the old Confederacy it was disdained in favor of a separate Confederate Memorial Day (late April in many states, May 10 here in North Carolina, January 19--Lee's birthday--in Texas). When my father (born here in 1933) was growing up, Memorial Day was derisively called "Dead Yankee Day." We have made some progress; now my kids actually get today off from school. Of course, not everyone is with the program, and the birthday of Jefferson Davis (celebrated here when my dad was a kid) still seems to be a bank holiday in Alabama. What Do We Really Know About This War? Links to a report on remarks by investigative jouralist Seymour Hersh at a Chicago press club, and to an audio file of the speech itself. Hersh says the official version of the Afghan war is not consistent with the reality on the ground, and he sounds convincing. 10:59:22 AM    comment []