Chris Hayes opens his Sunday show with the origins of Memorial Day. Funnily enough, this is the first time I've heard the freed slaves aspect of its inception. The history I've always been told revolved around women decorating the graves of fallen soldiers, presumably grieving widows and mothers. To his credit, Hayes reminds us that there are civilian casualties that we have no holiday for but whom we cannot forget as well.

My retired Air Force general grandfather took Memorial Day very seriously. He had seen his share of sacrifices by his fellow troops; he was still haunted by the ghosts of his own service. And there was nothing he could say that would express the magnitude of how his service impacted his life to those of us outside of the military. He felt a kinship with all service members for their shared experience.

That's one of the reasons that I do the In Memoriam segment each week. It's my little nod to my late grandfather, to the ethos he passed on to his children and grandchildren. I don't want the parents, spouses and children of those still overseas to think for a minute that we don't know and grieve for their loss.

I have never supported this mission, openly asking for someone to explain what we're doing in intellectually honest terms. But I've never blamed the service members for the political wrongs of those who sent them there.

And bless Chris for later bringing up the shameful and media-hidden number of suicides of our soldiers in Afghanistan. To date, 164 service members have killed themselves in Afghanistan. But that is only part of the story. Here, in the US, returned veterans are killing themselves at a rate of one every 80 minutes, a horrifying indictment of how they've been abandoned by the country that asked them to sacrifice everything.

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You really have to wonder why a huge company like JPMorgan would want people like this sitting on their risk committee:

The three directors who oversee risk at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) include a museum head who sat on American International Group Inc.’s governance committee in 2008, the grandson of a billionaire and the chief executive officer of a company that makes flight controls and work boots.

What the risk committee of the biggest U.S. lender lacks, and what the five next largest competitors have, are directors who worked at a bank or as financial risk managers. The only member with any Wall Street experience, James Crown, hasn’t been employed in the industry for more than 25 years.

“It seems hard to believe that this is good enough,” said Anat Admati, a professor of finance at Stanford University who studies corporate governance. “It’s a massive task to watch the risk of JPMorgan.”

Boy, that's the understatement of the year. Why, it's almost as if they wanted unqualified people!

The bank has been under siege since CEO Jamie Dimon said May 10 that the firm’s chief investment office suffered a $2 billion loss trading credit derivatives. He later called it “a Risk 101 mistake.” Shares of the New York-based company have fallen about 18 percent since, and at least half a dozen agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, are investigating.

The probes began after traders in the London office, which manages the bank’s excess cash, made wrong-way bets on illiquid credit derivatives, some of them so large they distorted market prices. Dimon transformed the division under Ina Drew, who resigned over the losses, from a sleepy haven for traders of U.S. Treasuries into a profit center with an increasing appetite for exotic wagers.

Crown, 58, who is president of Chicago-based Henry Crown & Co. and lead director of defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. (GD), sits on the risk committee with Ellen Futter and David Cote. Futter, 62, is president of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and Cote, 59, is CEO of Honeywell International Inc.

The committee, which met seven times last year and hasn’t changed its composition since 2008, approves the bank’s risk-appetite policy and oversees the chief risk officer, according to the company’s April 4 proxy statement

The race has tightened up and Barrett's within striking distance, so hopefully this recall election will pull it off and kick Walker out:

MADISON — Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, down in the polls to Gov. Scott Walker, aggressively went after Walker in a debate Friday and accused him of purposefully dividing the state and triggering the June 5 recall election.

Barrett kept Walker on the defensive throughout much of the hour-long debate in Milwaukee, which was broadcast live statewide just 11 days before the election. Walker is only the nation’s third governor to ever stand for recall. The previous two, most recently California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, were defeated.

Polls show a tight race, with Walker holding a narrow lead within the margin of error of two publicly released polls within the past 10 days.

Walker, who defeated Barrett in 2010 by 5 points to win election as governor, was targeted for recall after successfully passing a law last year that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

Barrett said that proposal, which sparked massive protests for weeks and made Wisconsin the center of a national debate over collective bargaining powers, tore the state apart. Walker said his measure, which also forced most workers to pay more for pensions and health insurance, was needed to help deal with a $3.6 billion state budget deficit.

“You decided to use a budget crisis to try and divide and conquer this state,” Barrett said, speaking directly to Walker as the two stood near each other behind podiums in a television studio. “That’s what happened. That’s what led to all of this. And you succeeded. You succeeded in dividing this state.”

Walker said he was focused on moving the state forward and didn’t want to relive the past.

[...] Barrett also prodded Walker to release more information about his involvement with an ongoing criminal investigation that so far has focused on aides and associates of his during his time as Milwaukee County executive. Five people have been charged on allegations including embezzling money from a veterans trust fund and campaigning on county time.

Walker has not been charged, but he created a legal defense fund and said he would answer questions from the district attorney’s office. Walker has said he’s been told he is not the center of the probe.

Walker called Barrett’s focus on the investigation a desperate move meant to distract from other issues.

“I will continue to have high integrity,” Walker said.

Of course, Scott Walker's version of integrity might be a little different than ours.

If there is any particular Republican framing that grinds my teeth to see the left adopt--other than the term "entitlements" to refer to Medicare and Social Security--it is the pointing the finger at teachers' unions as the obstacle to education reform. No one--not one person--who enters the teacher profession, particularly at the K-12 level, does so because they're looking for a financial windfall. The teachers' unions in many cases have made accommodations to states pleading poverty, relinquishing pensions, salaries, health care, even acceding to furloughs. I never thought that the Democratic Party would need to be reminded just how underpaid and unappreciated teachers are and how their unions are the last line of defense in a country going into default on its social contract.

How refreshing in a media climate where even rising star lefties go to union-basher and cheat Michelle Rhee (I'm looking at you, Gavin Newsom) for their ideas on demonizing teachers some more, Melissa Harris-Perry invites an actual teacher on to point out that it's pretty frickin' dispiriting to be a teacher these days. What other profession can one be part of where the pay is low, the conventional wisdom (so aptly portrayed in this clip by Bloomberg's Jonathan Alter) blames teachers for all ills, they have no control over curriculum, they're penalized for teaching kids to think instead of mindlessly parroting test answers and yet somehow they're supposed to rise above it and teach our little darlings?

Look, I speak as a parent and as a product of California public schools at a time when they were ranked at the top instead of the lower 10 percent: we have deep, deep problems in education. California is the eighth largest economy in the world and we spend approximately 50 percent of the General Fund on education But that money isn't making it to the student. And we keep circling around teachers unions as the problem.

Here's an idea: let's look at inequality as a problem. Why shouldn't everyone have access to quality education regardless of zip codes? Let's look food insecurity, where one in five children goes without a single daily decent meal. Let's look at the disparity in parental involvement and try to figure out a way to get parents invested in their kids' education. Let's give teachers more autonomy over their classrooms. Let's stop wasting money on private testing organizations and looking at for-profit charter businesses as the silver bullet that "fixes" education. All of these forces have far more to do with the state of education today. And I think reform in these areas will immediately yield better results than the ability to fire the bottom 10 percent of teachers.

But let's also stop framing this debate as to what's best for children is de facto not good for their teachers.

Alright, that's it for me this week. It's been a pleasure, as always. See you soon. (And to you Americans out there, which is most of you, have a pleasant Memorial Day tomorrow.)

I invite you to check out our comprehensive election coverage over at my place. (For example, the un-holy GOP trinity and Romney losing Massachusetts.)

South By Southwest: Democracy is not automatic.

BlondeSense: The indignity of ignorance.

Can It Happen Here?: The elephant in the anti-Obama room.

And because I'm a fair-minded sort of guy, a thoughtful view from the right:

Outside the Beltway: Obama smoked pot. So what?

Round-up by Michael J.W. Stickings of The Reaction (@mjwstickings).

Send tips to mbru@crooksandliars.com.

Randy Newman - It's Money That I Love

Wouldn't it be refreshing to have Newt Gingrich--currently on his reputation repair tour, enabled by Dancin' Dave Gregory--just be honest about his ill-fated campaign? Or frankly, any of these politicos. Where is the discussion of inequality? Where is the discussion of Mitt Romney's reverse-Robin Hood tax schemes? Where is the discussion of the great food insecurity here in the wealthiest nation in the world? How is it that a man who offers nothing more than the exact same policies that George W. Bush touted can be considered a viable candidate? Well, my friends, it's because this is equally the theme song of all the networks carrying these Sunday shows as well.

ABC's "This Week" - Afghanistan, Defense spending, National Security: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Roundtable: BC News' George Will, former Michigan governor and host of Current TV's "The War Room" Jennifer Granholm, Fox Business Network anchor Liz Claman, Washington Post national political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, and National Journal editorial director Ron Brownstein.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Decision 2012: Former GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md.; Roundtable: Mayor of Los Angeles and Chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Antonio Villaraigosa; Vice Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and former head of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina; author of the new book "Our Divided Political Heart," the Washington Post's EJ Dionne; and from the New York Times, David Brooks. Advice to Class of 2012: Maria Shriver, author Michael Lewis.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Joe Klein, Time; Helene Cooper, New York Times; Major Garrett, National Journal; Kasie Hunt, AP. Topics: Obama attempts to disqualify Romney's Bain credentials as Rove runs new ad. Do veterans make better Presidential Candidates? Meter Questions: Will TV ads more effectively portray 2012 as a referendum of Obama rather than a choice? YES: 9 NO: 3; If race is politicized, will it hurt Romney's candidacy? YES: 10 No: 2.

MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes" - Panelists: Michael Brendan Dougherty, Business Insider; Michelle Goldberg, Newsweek/Daily Beast; John McWhorter, Columbia University; Liliana Segura, The Nation. Guests: Lt. Col. Steve Beck, U.S. Marine Corps casualty assistance officer and Associate Professor of Naval Science at Carnegie Mellon University; Barry Scheck, Co-Founder, The Innocence Project and Co- Author, “Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted”. Topics include: Memorial Day, Gallup’s new morality poll, new report out on exonerations.

MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry" - Margaret Cho, comedian; Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative; Bill Schneider, Distinguished Senior Fellow & Resident Scholar, Third Way. Topics include: 2012 latest political news; Wedging women; Asian-American voters, Sexual abuse at Tutwiler prison in Alabama

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Senatorial politics: Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Decision 2012: Ed Gillespie, adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign; Robert Gibbs, adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. Roundtable: Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, co-authors, The President's Club, Robert Merry, author of Where They Stand: The American Presidents in The Eyes of Voters and Historians, Douglas Brinkley, author of Cronkite.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Presidential race, Bain Capital: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; VA backlog: Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash; PTSD and brain injuries in vets: Peter Chiarelli, retired Army vice chief of staff; Struggles of returning vets: Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; Tim Tetz, legislative director of the American Legion.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - China, Russia, Obama v. Romney: Bill Keller, Peggy Noonan, Chrystia Freeland and Ross Douthat. Deficit: Alan Simpson, Erskine Bowles.

CNN's "Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz" - Andy Cohen, Bravo; Cory Booker scandal: Roger Simon, Politico; Anne Kornblut, Washington Post; Changing media landscape: former president of ABC News David Westin

"Fox News Sunday" - Afghanistan, foreign policy: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Contraceptives mandate: Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Catholic archbishop of Washington. Panel: Jeff Zeleny, New York Times; Kimberley Strassel, Wall Street Journal; Kirsten Powers, The Daily Beast and Fox News.

What's catching your eye this morning?

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Happy Saturday night, folks! It's Blue Gal from The Professional Left Podcast, bringing you this week's podcast round up. Be aware that these podcasts are also available on i-Tunes, and may not be safe for work.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin: How the Walker Recall Can Win

Throwing Shade: The many ways Mississippi continues to make things harder for women and gays.

The Tim Corrimal Show: Is That a Bill in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Glad To See Me?

The Matt Filipowicz Show: Ed Yohnka from the ACLU of Illinois on what was missing from the media coverage of the NATO protests.

Open thread below....

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I found this picture online, but no information about it. It's one of the most powerful pictures I've seen.

This is something I wrote for Memorial Day 2005 and I run it every year:

Soldiers are not chunks of identical clay; each of them has a story, their own reasons for being caught in a war.

Brave? Maybe - sometimes, under some conditions. Scared, mostly. The younger they are, the more likely their presence had to do with restlessness, cockiness. The need to be part of a winning team, the desire to even a score. Kick ass, take names. Kill them all, let God sort them out.

The older they are, the more realistic they are. This was a steady paycheck, or a way to supplement the one they already had. When they join, it's with their eyes on the future benefit. When they're in the middle of a war, they think only of surviving the next five minutes. Please, God, please. Let me see my family again.

And when they die in the war, each death leaves a hole in the world. It's important to remember that, to not see them as a monolithic casualty list or as an acceptable loss.

No loss is acceptable. Ask the parents, the spouses, the children. They try. They tell themselves stories of nobility, sacrifice, a greater cause. They cover it up with the ritual rhetoric. But deep down, they must wonder.

Photo: Aaron Thompson

Here is how to count the cost: In high school graduation pictures that will never be replaced with wedding pictures. In wedding rings that will never be worn smooth by years. By the daughters who will walk down the aisle with an uncle or brother instead of Dad. By the sons who will find themselves angry and lost, not understanding why. The children who will hear about their mother's eyes, their father's chin but won't ever see themselves reflected in that face.

By the parents who now understand the quiet obscenity of outliving their own children.

Each and every one of these deaths left a hole in the world. That is why we count them.

They mattered.

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It's deeply disturbing to see that Fukushima's plant operators never bothered to prepare for the worst-scenario, and that their backup plans were so inadequate. And now we learn that the people exposed to this radiation are guinea pigs, since no one's really studied the health effects of this type of radiation before. Something with the potential for this kind of catastrophe shouldn't be in the hands of the private sector, since it's pretty likely that safety was sacrificed to save money:

TOKYO (Reuters) — The amount of radioactive materials released in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost two and a half times the initial estimate by Japanese safety regulators, the operator of the crippled plant said in a report released on Thursday.

The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the meltdowns it believes took place at three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released about 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances into the air during March 2011. The accident, which followed an earthquake and a tsunami, occurred on March 11.

The latest estimate was based on measurements suggesting the amount of iodine-131 released by the nuclear accident was much larger than previous estimates, the utility said in the report. Iodine-131 is a fast-decaying radioactive substance produced by fission that takes place inside a nuclear reactor. It has a half-life of eight days and can cause thyroid cancer.

It is difficult to judge the health effects of the larger-than-reported release, since even the latest number is an estimate, and it does not clarify how much exposure people received or continue to receive from contaminated soil and food. Experts have been divided on the health impacts since the disaster because the studies of assessing radiation risks are based mainly on a different type of exposure — the large doses delivered quickly by the atomic bombs in Japan in 1945.

Although people who lived closest to the plant were evacuated, many people remain in areas with significantly higher radiation levels than normal.

Tokyo Electric said it had initially been unable to accurately judge the amount of radioactive materials released soon after the accident because radiation sensors closest to the plant were disabled in the disaster.

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Open thread below...