Welcome to the 13th Carnival of Blue Stars. Our military men and women are our best and brightest! Their accomplishments are the pride of our country.

The Carnival of Blue Stars gives us, the families, friends, supporters, veterans and current service members an opportunity to have a voice in the Blogsphere.

The history of the Blue Star Banner can be found here.

Send the post you want to showcase to carnival [at] bluestarchronicles [dot] com to be included in the next Carnival of Blue Stars.

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The Memorial Day Edition of the Carnival of Blue Stars

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Our Warriors:

Ruthlace gives a very personal and moving account of her remembrances of World War II.

There are really no words to describe my feelings and probably the feelings of many widows of World War II veterans as we contemplate Memorial Day.

They tell me that over 1000 WWII veterans are dying daily now. Those living are in their eighties; but to me they are still young men like my grandson, Josh, who is serving as a Leutenient in the Army geared up to the Middle East.

The WWII soldiers are still, to me, those idealistic, brave, vital, young soldiers who willingly went off to war believing that they were helping to assure the safety and freedom of their families. They were willing to serve in spite of great personal sacrifice. They were certainly a part of one of the greatest generations in our country’s history.

AubreyJ. reports on a U.S. helicopter crash in Iraq’s Anbar Province.

Jack and Charmaine Yoest honor Jack’s father, buried at Arlington Cemetery in a moving tribute to all the Soldier’s buried there.

Laura at The Wide Awake Cafe also honors her father-in-law. And has a photo of the Blue Angels fly-over he didn’t have. Although, the one he did have obviously had much more meaning … [it brought tears to my eyes.]

The Big White Hat honors the Fallen.

Freedom is sacred. It is worth killing for. It is worth dying for. Try as we might we can never truly express gratitude. Gratitude is one of the few things that are truly ineffable.

I started reading An Army Wife’s Life about the time her husband was deployed and she found out she was pregnant. Although I mostly just lurk there, I feel like I’ve kept up with her life as she’s struggled with her pregnancy and duties as a Soldier’s wife while her husband has been deployed. She has a post on the Challenges of a Deployment Pregnancy. Go by and give her some support.

Laura at Code Red*Women for the Troops tells the story of a Soldier who gave his Purple Heart to a 13-year-old who was being honored for his letter writing to American Troops. Oh man!

You Becha I’m a Proud Army Mom posts Voices from the Past.

Anna at A Rose by any Other Name and Seaspook’s Rants both honor our Hero’s Unaware.

Jarhead John celebrates Memorial Day.

The men and women of our Armed Forces, are a shining example of what has made our nation great for close to 230 years, and that is a cause for great celebration.

So does Woman Honor Thyself and You Betcha I’m a Proud Army Mom. Cao has a video she made.

War on Terrorism

Jorg at Atlantic Review wonders Why is Abu Ghraib a cover story again, but not Darfur? [host of the Carnival of German-American Relations]

Why is so much more ink spent on (alleged) US wrongdoings than on the human rights violations in other war zones and crisis regions?

Jorg also looks at successes in the Middle East and concerns about increasing American isolationism.

Hanson worries about increasing isolationism due to the Bush administration’s “unpopular work of trying to restore hope to the Middle East”, while “the aloof Europeans pose as the moderate alternative”

The Liberal Wrong Wing gives his reasons why he thinks Rumsfeld should join the unemployment line.

Remember the 2 Saudi guys who got on the school bus in Florida? Chas says there’s just something not right about that.

Nathan at Church and State is posting about the Two Lying Saudis as well.

Classical Values is also looking at the two Saudis and asking if anyone is in charge. He asks:

I know that everyone is worried about illegal Mexicans crossing the border right now. But am I being unreasonable in asking whether bringing in many thousands of apparently unsupervised Saudi students is a great idea right now?

Patriotic Voices says Victory Requires Time, Patience, Sacrifice.

One of my favorite Hillbillies is evaluating Which Way Will They Tilt. An excellent and insightful article on the principles by which western civilization operates - their own perceived interest (whatever that is at any given moment) - and the ruthlessness with which the west will protect those interests. The direction the west will go is unpredictable.

chezDiva is continuing her memorial to the victims of 9/11. It’s good to remember why we are doing what we are doing. It’s good to remember those civilians who were murdered that day. It’s good to remember what we lost that day.

Politics

Texas Fred at Ace in the Hole reports on the rules of engagement for the National Guard at the border.

Pet [Life ~ Florida ~ Whatever] says Let’s All Play Nice and bring our laws more in harmony with those of Mexico. Stuck on Stupid agrees.

Jack Yoest posts about attending the 2006 Barbara K. Olson Woman of Valor Award Dinner. Condoleezza Rice was the speaker, but his post is mostly about sitting at a table with a Blue Star Mom.

123Beta wonders when Freedom of Speech morphs into harassment.

Alexandra at All Things Beautiful has a taken up the battle to save National Veteran’s Memorials - specifically the Mount Soledad Cross. She has an excellent article with many links to others posting on the ACLU’s attempt to do away with this memorial.

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If you want to participate in the Carnival of Blue Stars just send me an email with the URL of your blog and the URL of the post your want to submit.

New entries for each weeks Carnival need to be submitted by 8 p.m. on Saturday night.

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Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of blue stars using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Also seen at Carnival Submit Form at Conservative Cat and The Truth Laid Bear’s ÃœberCarnival.

Linked to open trackbacks: Sed Vitae, The Liberal Wrong Wing, TMH’s Bacon Bits, Third World County, Adam’s Blog, Woman Honor Thyself, Stop the ACLU, Point Five, Cigar Intelligence Agency, Basil’s Blog, Wizbang, Stuck on Stupid, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Jo’s Cafe, Mudville Gazette, 123Beta, GOP Bloggers, Church & State , The Blorg, bRight & Early