Veteran's Day (a re-post)

I originally wrote and posted this article on Veteran's Day in 2010.


On this Veteran's Day I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the men and women that are serving, and have served this great nation. Despite our differences, and we have many, we can express them without fear because of our servicemen and women. As I posted on my Facebook page

"I’ve experienced the euphoria of success, the depths of despair that comes with failure, experienced a child growing up and becoming an adult. This would not have been possible without God, and the members of the U.S. Military (past and present). Thank you and May God bless you and your loved ones."

It is unfortunate that this day of recognition doesn't have the same meaning, or treated with the same reverence as it was when I was a boy. It is not just a day off from work for many, or a day the banks and courts are closed, it is a time to say thank you to those that served this country (in spite of all its faults). More importantly, it is a time to reflect on the sacrifice of those that died in service of this country / you and me.

We're not allowed to say a prayer at the beginning of the school day; some don't even say the Pledge of Allegiance because it contains the words "under God". We don't do those things because some have argued to the Supreme Court that this country should ignore the words as written, instead we should conduct ourselves in accordance with how some have interpreted the meaning of the words.

To those people and to those that hate our service men and women and protest at their funerals I have a thought for you. If it wasn't for the men and women that serve (and have served) in the U.S. military you wouldn't have the luxury to publicly express those thoughts, or to insult their memory and intrude upon their family's grief. Maybe for a moment, just sixty (60) seconds, you could stop and say thank you.

THAT’S MY OPINION, WHAT’S YOURS

I have posted the video below; it is online as a tribute to our veterans. One thing I remember growing up was that those adults that had served had a rivalry amongst the various branches, they would criticize one another and share put downs. However, don't you dare do it because they would come to their comrade’s defense in a heartbeat? Despite all the back and forth you could tell that they respected one another and that is demonstrated in the video.

Even Devastating Floods Can't Escape Politics!

First let me say that I'm not a Ted Cruz supporter and will not vote for the Senator to be President (unless it's him or Secretary Clinton). Having said that, I have been seeing posts today regarding Senator Cruz asking for flood assistance for Texas while he voted against Hurricane Sandy Relief Legislation. These posts have been photos and had negative captions and some calling the Senator a hypocrite. People are gladly posting these and are either unaware, or have chosen to ignore the reason why Senator Cruz and others voted against the legislation.

Senator Cruz was one of those that wanted a "clean" bill to vote on, which means no amendments attached, in other words legislation ONLY providing disaster relief for those impacted by Sandy.  According to a non partisan, independent study of the Hurricane Sandy relief legislation referenced in a January 2013 Time Magazine article there were ninety-two (92) non disaster related amendments "attached" (filed) to the Sandy Relief legislation.  They included $118 million dollars for upgrades to AMTRAK not related to storm damage, elimination of all foreign aide except to Israel and Pakistan, NASCAR Corporate Tax credits and much more.

 

The intent of Disaster Relief Legislation should be to provide monies to help those that were devastated by the storm, not a way for members of Congress to get monies for "PET" projects for their area that taxpayers would normally be against.

 

The problem with taking such a cheap shot at a candidate as is being done to Senator Cruz right now is that it takes away from what the concern should be, that is providing help to those that have lost their homes and in some cases loved ones.  The other problem is that later if one comes up with a legitimate complaint or issue of the candidate people won't give it the attention that maybe they should because your credibility is lacking with this kind of attack. 

 

We need to quit being Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, etc and start being good citizens!  We've got to quit having the goal of beating the other "guy" at all costs and instead set the goal of helping the other "guy" succeed along with us.  We need to take a trip down memory lane to when the prevailing philosophy was Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, instead of this screw the other guy I'm winning!

 

That's My Opinion, What's Yours?