“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice.” [Harrison Ford in the movie, “Air Force One”]

Memorial Day at the Presidio was as full of pageantry as it was solemnity. The day was bright, but brisk, yet the grounds were packed with visitors of every age, gathered to pay tribute and give thanks to the more than one million American military men and women who have given their lives in our nation’s wars. The Rose and Moore families were given the gift of communal grieving for their sons’ sacrifice in Iraq, and the mothers of these two San Francisco heroes laid wreaths at the feet of the warrior’s battlefield memorial, a rifle upright with a Kevlar helmet atop the weapon. Every mother who has a child in harm’s way is a “Blue Star” mother, but these two women were honored in a way no mother every wants to be honored…by becoming a “Gold Star” mother of a child who has fallen in combat. The community shared some small piece of their pain, and many in the audience who had… Read More

Check back in this spot tomorrow!

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

The Antelope Valley Press has a wondeful editorial today. Paying tribute to eight residents of the Antelope Valley who were killed in Iraq. It starts with the Gettysburg Address. Well Done. See it here.… Read More

On this quiet Memorial Day weekend, here is a clip of former Governor Ronald Reagan appearing on the Sonny and Cher show back in the day… Enjoy!

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

On this quiet Memorial Day weekend, here is a clip of former Governor Ronald Reagan appearing on the Sonny and Cher show back in the day… Enjoy! … Read More

Golden Pen San Diego… If I were handing out FlashReport Golden Pen Awards (Fleischman typically gets that job), today it would go to the Union-Trib’s Bob Caldwell for his Memorial Day tribute, "That brave and fallen few," which includes the following passages:

"Our losses today are our brothers, sons, fathers and buddies, and, yes, sometimes our sisters, daughters, and mothers. They are those we grew up with, lived alongside, perhaps the kid next door, maybe the shortstop or linebacker in high school, the quiet boy who wanted to serve his country, the young warrior so proud of his new calling as Soldier or Marine. Bombs, bullets and terrorists are no respecters of uniform, gender, soldier or civilian. Each and all are targets."

"Behind every name is a family, friends and the too-short history of a cherished life given by God and delivered over to the service of country. Yet, soldiers in the crucible of combat don’t die for abstractions. They die for their friends, for the comradeship bound up forever in… Read More

One of the most influential worldwide moderate Muslims, who lived in Southern California, died of heart failure creating an enormous vacuum.

For a Pakistani immigrant who loved America, he took enormousrisks and was one of the most published Moderate Muslims in the world. Getting buried on America’s Memorial Day weekend, was appropriate. Located at the Harbor Lawn Mount Olive Memorial Park in Costa Mesa, American flags were flying is a predominantly Jewish graveyard.

Tashbih Sayyed, publisher of Modern Muslim Today, has a world wide following of bright scholarly writers and readers. www.paktoday.com/mwtoday/. Tashbih raised his two sons as medical doctors and his daughter is a practicing attorney. However, when Tashbih appeared on 48 hours clearly exposing rabid anti American statements made by a Florida Imam, he earned the enmity of Muslims extremists everywhere. Several fatwas were issued against his life.

Author Robert Spencer a world authority on Jihadists had this to say about Sayyed:

Tashbih Sayyed,… Read More

With blanket permission from FR friend State Senator Tom McClintock to "lift" material from his outstanding Citizens for the California Republic website, you’ll see a lot from McClintock here on the FR. I have been waiting for the right day to share with you, in full, the prepared text of the Senator’s speech which he gave to the California Republican Assembly’s annual convention last month. Here it is, some great reading to start your holiday weekend! – Jon Speech to the California Republican Assembly By State Senator Tom McClintock… Read More