Memorial Day Links

I'm still sorting through my travel photos while also slogging through some blogs, getting caught up on the news I missed. There were a lot of big stories -- ranging from the very sad (Ted Kennedy's health problems) to the exciting (California's Supreme Court sanely confirming that all people are created equal) -- but those stories have been beaten to death. Here are a few links that cover some quieter events:

• Exits: Annika Sorenstam (golf) and Justine Henin (tennis) are both retiring -- Justine is the first tennis player to quit while holding the #1 spot!
• Via Boing Boing is this gorgeous public spaces animation
• beep found some incredible photography
• Chris points to some beautiful underwater footage
• Cute Overload discovered some animal odd couple images
• Bush claims that he's made great golf-related sacrifices because of his war. But he lies. And he got busted. And mocked.
• And finally, a couple of quotes. These are the kind of take-no-prisoners Democrats I've been wishing for all these years!
  

  While I always appreciate hearing the news from John McCain, he should explain to the American people why almost every single promise and prediction that he has made about Iraq has turned to be catastrophically wrong, including his support for a surge that was supposed to achieve political reconciliation. While John McCain offers his poor judgment in supporting George Bush's war and a failed foreign policy that has left us less secure, I will continue to make the case for a new foreign policy that deploys all elements of American power -- including tough, principled and direct diplomacy. It's stunning that in such a lengthy written statement, John McCain could not articulate a single new idea that hasn't been tried -- and failed -- over the last eight years. -- Barack Obama

  The Bush-McCain saber rattling is the most self-defeating policy imaginable. It achieves nothing. But it forces Iranians who despise the regime to rally behind their leaders. And it spurs instability in the Middle East, which adds to the price of oil, with the proceeds going right from American wallets into Tehran's pockets.
  
  The worst nightmare for a regime that thrives on tension with America is an America ready, willing and able to engage. Since when has talking removed the word "no" from our vocabulary?
  
  It's amazing how little faith George Bush, Joe Lieberman and John McCain have in themselves - and in America. -- Joe Biden

• UPDATE: one more... Bob Geiger: Dead Troops Remembered By President Who Had Them Killed (via Nicole Belle)