How about that holiday weekend, eh? Yes, Memorial Day – a day to commemorate those men and woman who perished while defending our country’s freedom.

A few from these parts paid homage…

• Christina from Christina’s Common Sense created a video reflecting upon the meaning of freedom and where she receives inspiration to defend that ideal.
• A Chicago Blog gave us an action item for the day.
• And well, as for me…I linked to Top Gunn’s “Soldier’s Blues”…which isn’t the most patriotic of songs, but it gets your head in the right place.

If, like me, you did any major traveling during the weekend, you probably noticed a gap in your wallet where there once was money. And I’m not the only one complaining about high gas prices either. Big ups to Principle Over Party, who points to the real source of our fuel woes: taxes, taxes and more taxes. Case in point? As he states:

in Chicago, who has the highest gas prices in the nation, taxes account for approximately 20% of the gas costs.

Geesh.

You’d think with all that revenue streaming in, the Illinois state government wouldn’t be (too much) in the red but, of course, they are. Just how much? In a post entitled 109 billion…and counting, Go Free Yourself tells us about For the Good of Illinois, a nonprofit that – besides doing a lot of other good work – provides free Illinois debt counters that you can add to your blog. Wondering how much debt Illinois is in at this moment? Maybe you shouldn’t…

Which brings us to the last item on our agenda: who is the newest member to join the blogivist community? Give him a shout, it’s The Silent Majority. In an introductory post, ‘Silent questions whether privatization is the solution to Chicago’s ever-growing public debt. The entity in question? Parking meters. He isn’t quite sure it’s the end-all-be-all but, then again, he’s probably a socialist. Haha. Totally kidding. In all seriousness though, what do you think? Forward your responses here.

Hey, what do you know? Another weekend is upon us. Cheers!