Kostupidity

Via Brandon Friedman posting at DailyKos. The Kossacks are upset because members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out were prevented from marching in a Long Beach, CA Veteran's Day Parade, while supposed pro-war groups were.

The pro-war groups? The American Legion and the VFW. Yes, by all means, let's ban them next year, that should do away with all formal Veteran's Day parades, don't you think? Perhaps that's their actual goal.

"They do not fit the spirit of the parade, the spirit being one of gratitude for what the veterans have done," said Martha Thuente, coordinator for the nonprofit Veterans Day Parade Committee. "We do not want groups of a political nature, advocating the troops' withdrawal from Iraq," she added.

According to the author of that piece in the District Weekly, Theo Douglas, the American Legion was set to march along with the VFW.

Now here’s the problem: Ms. Thuente, the Judge of What’s Political and What Isn’t in Long Beach, is asserting that the VFW and American Legion can participate because they "do not engage in political activity," or, rather, "they do not express that agenda as a parade entry."  Whatever that means.

So now that Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, and Military Families Speak Out have all been banned for their political agendas, let’s take a look at the non-political positions taken this year by the American Legion and the VFW:

Comments

[JustADude]

The don't understand the difference between putting aside politics to honor veterans and putting aside honoring veterans to to do politics.

[Scrapiron]

Nothing political about honoring the Veterans. It is all about respect for those that gave us the freedom we enjoy today. Without them you would be the spoils of war between Germany and Japan. Which would you have liked to live under? The anti-military groups are all violating their IRS 501c tax exemption if they have one. If they're collecting money without one they are in bigger trouble since you can bet they don't declare it as income. I want an IRS and AG that goes after all of these groups.

[Capitalist Infidel]

Can we question their patriotism yet?

[Fred Beloit]

As Just succinctly points out, no rocket scientists are needed for decision-making on who should be allowed in what type of parade. However, I understand that only about 11% of the current (and legal?) U.S. population are veterans. Of that percentage only a very small group of vets are graduates of the elite schools that now seem to qualify one for top leadership positions in our nation. Another small group compose the oxymoronic Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, etc. This is problematical for our current and future security.

Certainly, being a veteran should not be a requirement for political leadership. But a wide-spread ignorance of military structures and activities among most political leaders exposes our military to unreasonable restrictions upon their ability to win. Below are two intersting links that demonstrate this problem.

Ralph Peters article:
http://www.mytroops.com/blog/ralph-peters-12-myths-21st-century-war-american-legion/

[Fred Beloit]

ABC report:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/11/ambush-video-sh.html

[Fred Beloit]

"Military Science a branch of knowledge
Banished now from Harvard College."

[Lala]

Here's a way to honor our military via Operation Gratitude. I just got an email from them that Ben Affleck was there helping out over the weekend.

http://www.accessrecycling.com/ogrecycle.html