VETERAN'S DAY

In a strange fit of galactic irony, this year we had 2 Veterans' Days – one calendar one, which fell on Sunday, necessitating the second one on Monday – so that government employees were not deprived of one of their days off, and the good people of the United States of America were not deprived of their proper shopping experience.

Of course, if you cared to take a look at the general situation in the country, Veterans had absolutely nothing to celebrate: the re-election of Comrade Barack Hussein Obama, or Barry Soetoro, or whatever the hell his real name is, almost certainly guaranteed the complete gutting and demoralization of our current military; continued senseless slaughter of our troops in Afghanistan; and, last, but not least, the severe cuts in benefits to all the vets.

So, all I could say in my head on those two days was : I am sorry.

I am sorry for the election results.

I am sorry for the deplorable state of the country you risk your life and limb to defend.

I am sorry for the unending assault on you from the general media.

I am sorry I can't even send you care packages for Thanksgiving because I am unemployed and broke.

But please know this: there are a lot of us for whom your dedication to the United States and the Constitution is beyond appreciated. You are in our thoughts and prayers constantly – and that is never said as a tired cliché.

This grateful American, who survived communist hell, salutes you!

HAPPY WHATEVER!

Or What Are We Celebrating Again?
You always know far in advance when any holiday, even a “minor one”, is coming: there are sales coming up! Then you get the grumbles if your office is open, and few office weasels who would try and get off regardless; after that, UPS and FedEx would call up to make sure you are open; and, finally, on the day itself, you just wake up, perform your auto-pilot morning routine, and then wonder for a few minutes as to why the subway is so pleasantly empty from the yelling and spitting little and medium-sized animals, uh, I mean inner city school kids. AND then the forbidden invention of Thomas Edison goes on in your head: it’s Veteran’s Day!

This year Veteran’s Day celebrations were especially lively, due, of course, to the reign of our illustrious Chairman, erm, President. The terrorist attack at Ft. Hood, I mean “man-made disaster”, I mean “alleged man-made disaster”, as we can not jump to conclusions so prematurely. The Sun King, I mean, Barak Hussein (Sun King should please forgive me for such insult to his memory), and his lady fair could not find time in their extremely busy schedules to visit till the actual Memorial Service, at which point they presented a wonderful pictures of grief; plus, Partei Genosse, I mean, the President, delivered a very appropriate and almost fantastic speech. Meanwhile, George and Laura Bush paid a visit to Ft. Hood right away – but did it quietly (and without cameras).

The saddest conclusion of Ft. Hood massacre, aside, of course, from horrible loss of life, was the horrific picture of our almost total vulnerability due to the cancerous miasma of so-called multiculturalism and political correctness – especially when it comes to the practitioners of the religion of peace.

Fast-forward to the day itself. Of course, our office was open – our company is pretty stingy with time off. I actually remembered what day it was, and was extremely happy that my dawdling did not go all wrong, and I got my “Home of the free because of the brave” T-shirt before lunch.

Lunch time; your truly is in the elevator together with a usual assortment of representatives of other offices. There were two ladies from a French company who kept yammering about what the heck today is, and why there were no e-mails from France, and why nobody is calling today, and why there is no mail, and then came the masterpiece! “Today is an Armistice anniversary, right?” “Right.” “So, wait, Americans are celebrating our holiday?” “Who knows?” Meanwhile, there was a whole bunch of other people in that elevator, who, judging by their looks, could not care less what we are celebrating and how; only that they were forced to work when the mail and banks are closed. I just could not listen to this idiocy, never mind travesty, and probably had a murderous expression on my mug. Finally, when we were approaching the lobby, and the American employee could not clarify to her French colleague as to the Veterans of which war are we saluting exactly, I exploded and barked “all of them”; nearly adding “ungrateful ignoramuses, all of you!”
And then I left the building and saw few people with flags who were obviously just leaving the parade; and then I saw the soldiers themselves. I dearly wanted to approach them and just shake their hands and thank them – but my idiotic shyness stopped me. I hope some of them saw my T-shirt.

So, belated, but most sincere, cyber salute to all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen, Veterans of all the wars defending ours and other ungrateful jerks’ freedom! From one (but not lonely in this) very grateful and appreciative of her freedom American! May Heavenly Father watch other you and your families and grant you the victory over all our enemies, foreign and domestic!

Veteran's Day

A fellow blogger (sorry, do not remember which one) told this amusingly sad story. He was entertaining a visitor from England who was duly impressed with the fact that we honour all the veterans, not just the fallen ones; to which my "colleague" was embarrassed to add that for most of the people it's basically just a day off (that, at least, is the gist of the story). Oh, how sad and true that is.

Of course, the original intent for the Veteran's Day was quite noble and really intended to honour all of them, dead and alive, and to give our thanks for their noble sacrifice. Because no matter how you look at it, once a person joined the Army (for whatever reasons), and then he or she is send to an active battlefield, it irrevocably changes their lives, and their actions become a sacrifice for our freedom; as simple as that. And, somehow, it was pretty clear to most Americans, before or after the official institution of the Veteran's Day. Clear, that is, till that wonderful generation of spoiled brats and ungrateful swine, otherwise known as the hippies, came on the scene in all their unwashed and unshaven glory.

All of the sudden we are not just a sovereign country protecting ourselves (and in the process the freedom of the few more ungrateful swine beyond our borders), never mind the lofty title of the beacon of freedom for the world, but an imperialistic/fascist dictatorship, bent on world domination, and our soldiers are killers and rapists, heartlessly wiping out poor civilian population everywhere. So, it logically follows that we may protest to our hearts' content the wars that are basically fought in defence of our country, and the reasons for which we usually do not comprehend, but can offer wonderfully catchy slogans in return along the lines of "make love, not war". In the process of protesting and making love, we may also denigrate our soldiers to our hearts' content, spit at them (literally and figuratively), and call them murderers and rapists (among other colourful epithets). And the worst horror in this situation is that all those protesters, far from being punished, are accepted by society as youthful idealists and truth seekers, and all the garbage they were spouting somehow became acceptable as well. The hated, disgusting peace symbol became a fashion accessory, while Vietnam vets are swelling the population of homeless and mentally ill.

So, is it any wonder that in such a healthy climate we totally forgot about the meaning of Veteran's Day; that it is just an extra day off for some, and an extra excuse to have sales? But the Veterans are still among us, and more and more are swelling their ranks, because, as tried and cliched as it sounds, freedom is not free, and now we need to protect it more than ever. Fortunately, the usual silent majority of Americans does not share the views of the hippies; even more fortunately, they are beginning to break their silence. This time around, anti-war crowd was met with a pretty decent resistance from the "uneducated and warmongering" populace. So, G-d willing, when our guys and girls win this current war and come home, it will be to well deserved admiration and respect. Meanwhile, I personally recommend this website: http://moveamericaforward.org; among other things, they constantly organize care packages to our troops.

Most of you, I am sure, did not watch Leno's on Veteran's Day, so did not get the chance to hear a heart-wrenching story told over by Senator McCain. He was telling about a fellow POW who contrived to have a makeshift American flag on the inside of his blue prison uniform, to which they all pledged allegiance every evening. At a certain point, Vietnamese found out about it, took the guy out of the cell, and beat him up for a couple of hours. That very same evening, beaten up and badly hurt, he proceeded to make another flag.

So, here is to you, whenever you are with us or not, all the Veterans who fought and continue to fight for our freedom! Here is to your allegiance to the flag, bravery, patriotism, and tremendous self-sacrifice! I, amongst many other grateful Americans, thank you from the bottom of my heart.