Leona Helmsley lives!

The cost of that outfit, bracelet included, could probably bankroll an inner city school for a month. She has some interesting "statement pieces" in her jewelry collection. I'll bet they cost a pretty penny.

I remember when cindy mccain wore this outfit judged to be about a quarter-million-dollars to her first night at the republi-CON convention in 2008. Bright yellow dress and black patent leather open-toe pumps. Dress by Oscar de la Renta, I believe, which I recall had a price tag of a few thousand dollars. It was the JEWELRY she was wearing that broke the bank. Fitting and proper for the well-accessorized spouse-political combatant. And neither cindy mccain nor ayn wrongney are what you could even remotely call non-combatants.

BINGO. These crises of great magnitude INVARIABLY cross state lines!

So each individual state has to be its own exclusive fiefdom - 50 different "Yer On Yer Own" Clubs?

This whole mentality just makes me want to SCREAM!!!! And they're the ones who accuse us of "dividing" America. Hell, THEY want to divide our country at least 50 different ways, and that's speaking just geographically.

Hey, you don't have to have served to appreciate this.

I've never served, myself, so I'm scarcely one to comment on these things in any event. I spent far more of my energy, military-wise, trying to keep our boys and girls OUT of war. But it seems to me this whole Tomb-of-Unknowns affair is just a demonstration of Duty. Devotion to duty. Selfless devotion to duty. Sacrifice. Service. All to something bigger.

True, it's really just symbolic in this case. And as a mom, I too have the instinct to call them all inside where it's warm and dry and safe. But this is something else entirely. And sometimes symbolism is just important.

Welcome to DU, troutbrook! It's all about duty.

I guess this is just one dramatic way to demonstrate it, or symbolize it. While I too (as a mom) wish those boys were inside where they're warm and dry and hopefully not catching cold. That said, I clearly recognize the meaning behind the service in that photo. It's all about devotion to duty. Honor. Sacrifice. Service. To something greater. To some, that kind of thing will never make sense. But the transcendent is essential to our nature, and it's what elevates us out of the lizard-brain slime.

Perhaps that's what the phrase "Semper Fi" means - even if you're not a Marine.

Another demonstration of service, sacrifice, and devotion to duty.

Yeah. We call it freedom-freedom around here.

We need freedom-freedom! Which really means freedom to be stupid, freedom to be reckless, freedom to be racist, freedom to be a rapist, freedom to gouge your neighbor (free market at times like this would offer you bottled water for $50 per bottle, cash only please).

Free market-free market.

Reminds me of what we always said about the programming at Top-40 and AC stations:

"Don't like what you're hearing? Just wait a few minutes. It'll change."

But there is no climate change...

That's just something some dumb ol' libruls made up.

America - For the Love of God, WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, they're all serving, alright. Serving themselves.

Well, it's the symbolism. It's about THE SACRIFICE. I'm as anti-war as they come. But this is

a reminder. It speaks to something larger and farther beyond our own little selves.

As a mom, I can FULLY understand the instinct voiced in some of these to want to bring these boys in out of the storm and give them hot cocoa instead of making them stand out there like that. But this is different. There's something larger and transcendent, symbolized here. Whoever is buried in that tomb went through far more hardship, difficulty, cold, pain, and discomfort.