I had hoped this weekends shameful events were isolated but a few more have surfaced.

I still cannot bring myself to blame the anti war movement or progressives in general.  I can admit that when John Edwards calls for war protests over Memorial Day and these things happen, I can easily understand why others might want to connect the dots.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/13403099/detail.html?dl=headlineclick

As veterans and their families filtered in to a local American Legion on Memorial Day, they found a somber scene.

Swastikas were sprayed all over the Manoa American Legion building in Delaware County, prevalently displayed and polluting the patriotic look of the veterans’ sanctuary.

“I was just shocked to think that someone would come to a place like this and desecrate it with a swastika,” said Phil Miller of American Legion Manoa Post 667. “Especially on Memorial Day. It’s just horrible.”

 And the local case has at least one person absolutely convinced this was not a gag, it was a professional Nazi event.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,276089,00.html

The vandals who desecrated the graves of U.S. veterans over the Memorial Day weekend were professionals, says a Vietnam vet who kept night watch at the cemetery in Washington State.

“We thought at first it was just a prank-type deal at first. We were very upset about it and so forth, but now we know that this is a real deal,” said David Resch, a past commander of American Legion Post 93 in Eastsound, Wash. “This is a Nazi act, not just somebody going out there and desecrating things for the fun of it.”

I doubt it.  I cannot see real professional Nazis actually stooping to homemade signs.  That they were sneaky is not indicative of professional.

And here is further evidence that kids are not immune to acts of patriotic disrespect.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/05/29/police_

arrest_2_teens_at_parade/

Standing ramrod straight in dress blues and crisp khakis, the seven color guard members lifted their rifles for one of the most solemn moments of any Memorial Day parade, the 21-gun salute. Hundreds who had gathered to witness the tribute watched in silence.

Just then, the eggs came flying. One glanced off a tree branch, and landed far away from the marchers in yesterday’s Memorial Day Parade in Rockland, said Ryan Durfee , a former Marine who was marching in the color guard. Another crashed 8 feet in front of the color guard.

“Too close for comfort,” Durfee said last night.

After the throwing , Durfee said he saw two teens run from their backyard into their house, and two police officers chase after them.

Rockland police said last night that they arrested two 13-year-olds and charged them with disorderly conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon, a felony.

Rockland Police Chief John Llewellyn told FOX-25 TV that the culprits were a “couple of 13-year-olds that just wanted to cause some trouble and they picked the wrong time and the wrong group of people to do it to.”

Yes I know, eggs are not swastikas.   But they both demonstrate the lack of respect that seems more and more prevalent in our society.  Schools do not encourage patriotism as they used to.  Many kids likely do not even grasp the significance of Memorial Day.

And as I have lamented before, our society has a level of rudeness that seems to manifest in all manners of places, from cell phone rudeness, personal insults, ad hominem attacks and even that fool who cut you off on the freeway yesterday.

I don’t mean to be lamenting the loss of Pleasantville, but it is true that once people cared about being nice in a way that seems to be missing now.

Just my 2 cents.

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