the runup to Memorial Day 2008

I just got back from cycling over to the grocery to pick up some cooking oil and doufu. The checkout clerk was instructed to push American flags for $1 (the store is GOP-owned and of course is "patriotic"), so she did.

I said no, thanks, and the older, rather frail gentleman next in line said "I don't want one either. I fought in WW2, and I don't like what's happened to my country these days". The clerk and I agreed (she quickly glanced around, first) but the queue was starting to fill up so we couldn't take it any further.

I thanked him for his service and gave him the three cents-off store tokens the clerk had just handed me. She gave me a surreptitious thumbs-up and I got the feeling the old gent was somehow going to "win" a few more in a moment.

"America is not yet extinguished, while we still live"