Happy Veterans Day

My younger brother is close to 20 yrs in the Navy too.

I was glad to see the Intrepid back, restored, etc. Gotta take the kids to that some day (soon).

I remember there was so much trouble moving her out and the refurbishment expense sounded so high, I wasn't optimistic it would ever return.

My dad served for 30 years, was a test pilot who risked his life every day on the flight line and in three wars. My mom, mother to four children, left on her own in poor health when my dad went to Vietnam, passed away when I was 18.

Think about that, ZZ, the next time you are tempted to sneer at and berate and question the patriotism of your fellow Americans simply because their political stance differs from your own. Republicans like to pretend they have a monopoly on patriotism; it has never been true. It was a Republican president and vice-president who sent more than four thousand Americans to their deaths in Iraq for a war that should never have been fought, a war they lied America into. They are traitors in my view. They have abused the military and betrayed all of us. I voted for Obama in part because he has pledged never to send young Americans into harm's way except when we have absolutely no other choice.

As our president-elect and future commander-in-chief has said more than once, those who fought side by side and bled and sometimes died in Iraq and elsewhere were not red state Americans or blue state Americans; they were Americans, as we all are. I love my country every bit as much as you do. The difference between us is that I can acknowledge that we are both patriots and you cannot. In your refusal to do so, you dishonor your own service and you dishonor my father's and that of every other brave American who has served in the military.

Michelle, I tried three times to post a response to ZZ's snarky comment here; the first two times the stupid new spam filter blocked my message, but the third time it was posted. And now it's gone. So are you only posting Republicans' gratuitous insults of people who disagree with them now, or what?