or as the canadians, aussies and brits call it Rememberance Day.

i was totally impressed how it’s not really a “day” where you put the old flag up next to the mail box, or get the day off, but in Vancouver, and i suspect, most of Canada, the good people actually think about the horrors of war and give props to the veterans who died for them.

what you do, apparently, is buy a red poppy from a old vet for a buck or two and pin it to your jacket or shirt or cap and it’s like the ribbons that we sometimes wear except not as cheesy.

dare i say, it came across to me as classy.

americans talk alot about supporting the troops but i wonder if they ever feel like sometimes the best way to support the young men and women who volunteer for the service is to *not* send them to every single war that a few men in power usher them off to as living pawns.

for such an intelligent and diverse nation, im often shocked at how simpleminded so many can be, especially when it comes to something as serious and life-changing as war.

what i learned from the Canadians was that even though far fewer of them have perished on the battlefield, that they respect life so much that they really respect those who will give their lives in the name of their nation.

and therefore they respect war so much that they would hesitate from entering into it for foolish reasons.

on this veteran’s day i believe its right to say that i think we are wrong to be in iraq. i feel like the best thing we can do for our soldiers, who we support, is to get them the hell out of there, especially our national guardsmen who should be defending our borders.

i believe that you can support the troops and disagree with certain wars, this one being a foolish one.

and i believe that in a free country, especially in America, it is not only your right to stand up and disagree with the leadership when you have a valid point, but it is your duty as a patriot.

when i was younger i very much wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force. strangely enough it was Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA that inspired me to want to protect our country. obviously i had not read the words clearly, so i will print them out now so you can read along to one of the best war anthems around. its semi-anti-war, as its about the dark side of false wars based on fears of an enemy who is not doing us any harm.

but i know that if i had joined the air force and was sent off to a unjust war, i would have hoped that my fellow americans at home would have stood up for me if they had known that my selflessness had been abused by the State.

which is why today i ask virtually that the President withdraw our troops from iraq.

Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much
‘Til you spend half your life just covering up

[chorus:]
Born in the U.S.A. (x5)

I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man

[chorus]

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says “Son if it was up to me…”
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said “Son don’t you understand…”

[chorus]

I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They’re still there, he’s all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go

I’m a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I’m a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

in flanders field + edwin star – war + our president does not support the troops