Bush has on only two or three occasions met with the families of fallen servicemen and women, most recently at Fort Carson, Colorado, and he has not attended funerals or greeted caskets returning from Iraq.

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We should not validate his quest for attention by discussing his political thinking, especially not while mourning families are planning funerals.

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Unfortunately, a big part of my job involves going to hospices, wakes, funerals and memorials, not to mention the ODs and close calls in the ICU I deal with WAY TOO OFTEN.

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When songs are used at funerals, they're not meant literally, and it would be the height of churlishness to assume otherwise.

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Until a year ago it was not uncommon in a single week to have the funerals of three young kids.

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Not helping: the trend toward cremations (30% of funerals in 2004, up from 20% a decade earlier), costing far less than a burial.

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Meanwhile, a Kurdish lawmaker told CNN that the bodies of all three Kurdish activists were expected to be sent from France to Turkey for funerals, though she added that an arrival date has not yet been set.

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