Memorial Day Tango

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First things first…

I’d like to offer my salute and prayers to all members of our armed forces and their support teams who bravely gave their lives for our freedom and for the freedom of those whose own governments sought to suppress freedom. To the families they left behind, we can never quite feel your pain, but recognize that you, too, have sacrificed for your country. We are grateful and proud to be the beneficiaries of your dedication to the ideals of a free world and to our country, which forges ahead working towards spreading those ideals and the tools of knowledge and love to achieve it. The struggle is hardly over, but the efforts of our military heros, fallen or disabled, family or in-the-field support, has not been in vain. Their spirits live on and inspire us to be worthy of their sacrifice. To the rest of the civilians like myself, please take a moment to remember and another moment to donate, whatever you can, to the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) who provide much needed support for the soldiers who’ve returned with the scars of war and the families left on their own.

Next…

The old saw that “It takes two to Tango”, while clever, is a set-up for faulty logic when applied to any and all contentious disputes in litigation. No reasonable person would assert that the bloody, vicious battles between the Christians and the lions could have been avoided or should have been resolved by the Christians “taking the high road” by conceding the contest to the lions. What was true in ancient Rome remains true today in our modern-day colliseums: the court house. Like the Christians and lions, not every party to a lawsuit is responsible for the necessity of court involvement nor responsible for such litigation being unnecessarily prolonged and not every case where the adversaries share the same biological parents can be attributed to a mutual sibling rivalry. But it often can be difficult to determine who is the aggressor and who is the victim, which is why it is so vital for all of us to suppress our frustrations and preconceived notions and try to listen and observe anew.

As every judge in every court knows well, the danger in making premature judgments based upon faulty logic is the increased likelihood truth will escape, the merits never reached, justice will be compromised, and public policy defeated. The task we ask of our judicial system is tall indeed as our judges are as human as we. And so, on this Memorial Day, when we pause to remember those who’ve fought for our freedom, that we all resolve to aspire to facilitate justice in this life. Likewise, it seems equally fitting to pray for those men and women who struggle each day to keep the faith of our fallen patriots with their hearts, minds and courtrooms every day. Lord knows, it ain’t easy.

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

Memorial Day Salute 2011

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Windy 500 T-Shirt
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Benevolence - Thank You (Note Card
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Black Friday Alert!

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Before anything else, I want to give a tip of the hat to my good friend, Michelle a.k.a. Dogkisses. I met her through a comment she wrote to my blog almost a year ago. She’s an incredibly brave, strong, and loving woman who’s got a lot on her shoulders yet still finds the time to help keep my spirits up. She’s also a very moving authoress who’s words paint pictures and move your heart. If you haven’t discovered her blog DOGKISSES yet, I highly recommend it. While you’re there, in addition to her regular posts, check out the other tabs where she hides some of her very best stuff.

I’ve been extra busy the past few weeks, creating a bunch of new designs for greeting cards, postage, postcards, stamps, and gift labels so they’d be ready for the holidays. With Black Friday coming in a couple of days, you might want to make a note to check out my online shop – as well as other artist’s Zazzle Shops – as we’re all going to be running some really great sales which will change every hour. So you’ll want to check there often. Depending on when you get there (online) you’ll find savings as much as 75% on all kinds of great gifts, clothing, cards, and more. Share the news with your friends and if you all use this link you’ll get a coupon with your purchase worth at least 10% off of your next purchase from ANY Zazzle store! How cool is that?

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Going Postal Over Thanksgiving

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In doing some research concerning the history and traditions of our celebration of “Thanksgiving” here in the US, I came across something that really peaked my curiosity. What I found was that a dozen or so countries around the world have issued one or more postage stamps depicting either the “Mayflower” (the ship which the first wave of pilgrims journeyed) and/or honoring those pilgrims in general or individual passengers that landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusettes on November 21, 1620. (November 11 to those of you using the Julian calendar, as did the pilgrims themselves).

Among those countries, I found stamps issued by: the United States, Bangladesh, Chartonia, Great Britain, Guinea, Isle of Man, Oman, GrenadaUganda, Burkina Faso, Canada, Antigua, Liberia, and more. The question I was not able to find an answer to, is “Why?” Why would any country, other than the US, have any connection to or interest in honoring the Mayflower or those pilgrims?

While the ship did depart from an area of London, England known at the time as “Plymouth”, the pilgrims were fleeing that country due to oppressive (deadly) means of dealing with those who defied the rules of the Catholic Church. They were not government-sponsored explorers or emissaries that Britain could claim bragging rights in the more traditional manner. So had their issuance of such stamps been with the attitude “Thank G-d, we got rid of them buggers! They’re your problem now.”? Or was it simply a matter of commerce in that they saw the US as a great marketplace that they sought to exploit by appealing to our vanity? Me thinks that is the most likely explanation, not only for Britain, for all of the other countries as well. What do you think? And while you’re at it, anyone ever heard of Burkina Faso before? Or am I the only one so ignorant?

Enjoy!

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

The Welcoming Committee

Mayflower Landing at Plymouth RockMayflower Landing at Plymouth Rock (2)

Turkey Feast

Mayflower Landing (3)

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