Jody Victor : Hope you are all having a safe and wonderful weekend! Here's some quotes in honor of Memorial Day, 2008.

Today let us, as Americans, honor the American fighting man. For it is he - the soldier, the sailor, the Airman, the Marine - who has fought topreserve freedom. It is his valor that has given renewed hope to the free worl that by working together in discipline and faith our ideals of freedom will always prevail.  Admiral Forrest P. Sherman

We cannot, in this day of exploding world competition on all fronts, be content to maintain the status quo. We must also realize that the preservaion of our freedom in the years ahead may require greater sacrifices from us than those made by Americans who have walked before us.   Gerneal Nathan F. Twining, 1960

Our Servicemen and women are serving throughout the world as guardians of peace - many of them away from their homes, their friends and their families. They are visible evidence of our determination to meet any threat to the peace with measured strength and high resolve. They are also evidence of a harsh but inescapable truth - that the survival of freedom requires great cost and commitment, and great personal sacrifice.  President John F. Kennedy, 1963

Our servicemen and women shoulder the burden of defense as one of the responsibilities of citizenship in this free country. Having participated in protecting our rights and having met oppression on the battlegrounds of the world, they are able to appreciate and savor the blessings of citizenship in the country they serve.  The Honorable Melvin Laird, 1970

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : Victoria Day is celebrated on the first Monday preceding May 25th. It is a statutory holiday throughout all of Canada except the Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrodor, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island).

Victora Day falls on the second to last Monday in May, which is usually the third weekend, but can be the fourth in years like 1999 where the 31st falls on a Monday. It falls on the weekend preceding Memorial Day in our United States. Some cities celebrate this day with fireworlds in the evening.

Victoria Day is officially the Sovereign's birthday. The Sovereign's birthday was first observed in Ontaio (then called Canada West) in 1845 to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria of England (1837-1901).

After the death of Queen Victoria, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada establishing a legal holiday on May 24 in each year (or May 25 if May 24 fell on a Sunday) under the name Victoria Day. An amendment to the Statutes of Canada in 1952 established the celebration of Victoria Day on the Monday preceding May 25, making it the first long weekend of the summer season.

From 1953 to 1956, the Queen's birthday was celebrated in Canada on Victoria Day. In 1957, Victoria Day was permanently appointed as the Queen's birthday in Canada. In the United Kingdom, the Queen's birthday is celebrated in June.

Victoria Day has also been known as the Queen's Birthday, Empire Day, and Commonwealth Day. The holiday name was changed to Empire Day in the 1890s when enthusiasm for the British Empire was at a peak. By the mid-20th century, however, the Empire had given way to the Commonwealth, so the holiday became known as Commonwealth Day. In 1977, Commonwealth Day was moved to the second Monday in March and Canadians continued to celebrate Victoria Day in May.

In Quebec, since 2003 it has also been known as National Patriots' Day to honor the rebellion against the British in 1837. Before 2003 in Quebec it was known as la Fete de Dollard or Dollard Day in honor of the 17th century soldier, Adam Dollard des Ormeaux.

Happy Victoria Day!

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : May's birthstone is the emerald. If you were born in May then this gorgeous green stone will bring luck to you when you wear it. Some people wear their May birthstone as a pendant, ring, or earrings, others simply keep them in a nice display. But I can't imagine not wearing such a beautiful stone.

Emeralds were once prescribed for eye diseases because the green color was believed to be sootheing to the eyes. Early stone cutters kept emeralds at their tables to gaze upon as a way to give their eyes a break. Even 21st century color specialists agree that green is soothing, restful, and relaxing for the eyes.

The Incas worshiped emeralds...as long as they could. In the 1500s, they were invaded by Spanish conquistadors who stole their gemstones and pillaged their mines. As a result, many of the world's most magnificent emeralds were lost at the bottom of the sea inside shipwrecked Spanish galleons.

Elsewhere in the ancient world, the Romans associated emeralds with fertility and the rebirth brought about each Spring. Nero, it's said, watched the gladiators through emerald glasses.

May's birthstone seems perfectly suited to the rites of Spring, matching the colors of the season with its own bottomless green. In fact, the Egyptians engraved emeralds with symbols for Spring foliage to represent eternal youth, and then buried the jewels with their dead.

An emerald shines like green lightning, filling us with the same wonder as the civilizations that came before us. Ancient Egyptians mined emeralds in the eastern desert region 2,000 years before Cleopatra's birth, yet today recent finds in North Carolina may provide a new source for quality emeralds in the U.S. Columbia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Russia, are where most emeralds are mined today.

The word "emerald" is a variation of the Greek word "smaragdos," which means "green stone" -  perfectly appropriate for a gemstone that is, in fact, the green variety of the mineral beryl. Emeralds range from strong bluish-green to green hues, although some emeralds have a slightly yellowish green.

If the hue is too yellow - or to blue - it loses its "emerald" status and is simply a different variety of beryl. Colombian emeralds are generally agreed to be among the most beautiful gemstones in the world, with a grass-green coloring highlighted by a touch of blue.

Besides being the birthstone for May, emerald is also the anniversary gemstone for the 20th and 35th years of marriage. Some people believe wearing an emerald brings wisdom, growth, and possibly patience. It is perhaps this last attribute that explains why a gift of emerald for an anniversary - or any occasion - is symbolic of love and fidelity.

Jody Victor

Jody Victor : The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.

So why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.

Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.

The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy - as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of  Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans waited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and  rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico City.

It might be an historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?

In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.

Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party - A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. They are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. Viva! el Cinco de Mayo!

Jody Victor