Friday, November 11, 2011

Randi Rhodes: Veterans Day

It's Friday, ya bastids!

It’s Veterans Day! November 11th was originally called Armistice Day, and marked the end of the First World War. The fact that we had a Second World War made that occasion seem somewhat less definitive. Veterans Day is a day to express our gratitude to the men and women who have made such enormous sacrifices for our freedom, or as Jim DeMint calls today, “Friday.”

You see, yesterday, Jim DeMint was the only Senator to vote against a bill that gave employers tax credits for hiring veterans. DeMint said he voted against vets because “All Americans deserve the same opportunity to get hired.” That would be true if all Americans had the same risk of getting killed defending freedom thousands of miles from home. Jim, if you really want to give all Americans “the same opportunity to get hired,” maybe some hiring incentives for everybody would be in order. But no, DeMint doesn’t really want to give all Americans the same opportunity to get hired. He wants them all to have the same lack of opportunity to get hired. DeMint called the bill helping veterans find work “Inherently unfair.” Gee, Jim, are you also upset over all that money we spend for parades for these veterans. The non-vets don’t get parades! It’s discriminatory! It’s like we’ve created this special class of people called “veterans” and we give them things that others don’t get… like those little flags for their gravestones. Do you want everyone to be equal, Jim? You’re starting to sound suspiciously like Karl Marx. Or a song by The Clash. DeMint thinks the jobs measure isn’t the right way to express gratitude to the nation’s veterans. What would be the right way, Jim? By eliminating taxes on capital gains? By removing all regulations on Wall Street bankers. Thank you for your service, soldier!

Last night Rick Perry did the Top Ten List on the David Letterman show. Frankly, I think that stunt is beneath him… David Letterman, that is. And why would Rick Perry do this? I know one big reason—they have cue cards! Have a great weekend, but today, remember what our veterans have done for us.

And just this year, you might also want to remember what Jim DeMint did to our veterans.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

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