I may have blogged on this last year, but like most "holidays", it comes round once a year so...

Veterans Day, along with Memorial Day makes me feel kinda oogy. I usually don't go anywhere near anything connected with them. Even the sales at Crap-mart.

My issue is, these days recognize soldiers. And most have fought in these wars due to patriotism and they've been fooled. Yes, I don't want to think of a more tactful word for it. The powerful people fool the working class into killing and dying for what they percieve to be injustices or for their own follies.

This goes for ANY war throughout time.

So if these days were to be days of activism - to prevent people from dying and killing - then I'd be at the head of the parade.

People say that these people fought to protect my freedom. That really isn't true. Pick a war...yes, even the "Great War" or the Revolutionary War. There were ways to achieve the things we wanted without bloodshed. And when someone uses patriotism as their argument, you really aren't going to win that one. You just need to move on.

Do we need a military? Unfortunately, yes, but a lot of that is because of our own behavior. If the United States was run by a bunch of facist, industrialists (in spite of the rhetoric about freedom) then we wouldn't NEED a huge military. And I'm not just talking about since The War Criminals have been in power. That goes for your buddies Bill, Jimmy, Jack and the lot.

So to sum up: I choose people over country.