Happy Veterans Day

Keith Roberts - Jailed and convicted
thorough prosecution by
Wisconsin U.S. Atty, Steven Biskupic
for tenaciously pursuing
his disability benefits claims

"I had this conversation with a guy in the [George W. Bush] White House, the liaison to the Department of Veterans Affairs. This was during the Bush Administration. He said, if we were to keep every promise that we made to the veterans, it would bankrupt us as a nation."
- Veterans' advocate, Steve Robinson (U.S. Army combat veteran, Rangers and Special Operations) [Quote is from a piece in the Executive Intelligence Review (subscription required)]

This is Veterans Day. Not Austerity day.

It's absurd to contend we cannot afford as a society to make good on the promises we make to our service members.

Lest we lose our soul as a nation, we can cannot afford not to keep our promises.

So, please consider this when the Third Way, Alan Simpson and company push President Obama to trash Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' benefits and education.

Committing this travesty has been the policy objective of the American Enterprise Institute, the Bush administration and neocons for decades, and has been rejected thoroughly in our elections last week, with Republicans hanging onto to the House only through gerrymandered congressional districts.

This Veterans Day, I salute my father, Tony Leon (U.S.Army), Keith Roberts (U.S. Navy), Robert Walsh (U.S. Army), the UW-Madison Veterans Law Center and Gordon Duff (U.S. Marines).

Thank you for your service.