Politicizing Veterans Day
Zedechek sent us a link to this article in the Burlington Free Press this morning about some dick by the name of Jon Hausrath who the mayor of Burlington, VT, Bob Kiss, allowed to speak for him at the local VFW yesterday;
The event began at 11 a.m. and was organized by VFW Howard Plant Post 782 in Burlington. Post Commander Bob Colby said Wednesday after the event that he and many others were offended by Hausrath’s remarks.
“He was basically saying that you shouldn’t serve your country; you should avoid being in the service; and there’s agencies and people out there that will help you dodge the draft or whatever,” Colby said. “It wasn’t an honorable position to be a veteran, I guess was pretty much what he was saying.”
The remarks had no place at a Veterans Day event, Colby said. “It was terrible. It was very bad.”
When I worked in Burlington, Bernie Sanders was the mayor. Apparently, it’s gone even further downhill there in the 18 years since I left. Mayor Kiss claims that he didn’t know that Jon Hausrath would crap all over a non-politcal event like Veterans Day, but he admits he knows that Hausrath was a local peace activist. Well, what did he think the pinhead say?
Hausrath stood by his comments late Wednesday. “I was commemorating the conscientious objectors of the past, veterans who have resisted war and pretty much gone unspoken.”
“Gone unspoken”? WTF does that mean? Did the illiterate bumpkin mean “unheard”? Because that’s a lie – it’s all we’ve heard in the last four decades. And if he meant unspoken, tell when they’ve ever shut up?
Ask the people who emailed me tips yesterday how I thanked them for their tips but explained that I was keeping politics out of Veterans Day. But, the Vets For Peace can’t have the same consideration with their annual whine fest about not being allowed to march in veterans’ parades with their anti-war banners, and now this draft-dodging, hippie, flatlander mayor lets some other hippie speak for him at a VFW event. From Wikipedia about Kiss;
Although called up by a draft board for military service, he was granted conscientious objector status and performed alternative service at a hospital in Boston.
And then joined the Peace Corps. Although Jon Hausrath doesn’t appear in the members list of IVAW, a Google search turned up his participation in their “Combat Paper” project.
Poor judgment all around. If I were the post commander, and I’m not, I would never invite another Burlington mayor to a Veterans Day or Memorial Day event. At least until the voters of Burlington quit electing flatlanders.
Zedechek wrote that he saw some IVAW T-shirts in the crowd – I’d guess that Jan Michael Turner was one of them. Turner was the Vermonter who, at Winter Soldier II, tore off us medals and tossed them on the floor and proudly announced that his left hand wasn’t his “choking hand” anymore.
Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Usual Suspects
Choking hand. eh. heh. I have to use both hands of course.
LOL!!! In your fondest dreams, TSO, since I have heard the terms hung and gerbil in the same sentence with your name. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
Hausrath and the mayor should meet Mr Baseball bat across the shins every time they turn a corner.
Nah, scrapiron, I’m thinking more along the lines of a cattle prod and a 2×4 with nails sticking out; but that’s just me.
Only a complete retard or an avowed leftist (but I repeat myself) would invite a peace activist to speak on Veterans Day.
Oh, and TSO is hung like a mouse. His nickname in A-stan was “raisin sack”.
“Oh, and TSO is hung like a mouse. His nickname in A-stan was “raisin sack”.”
See, I didn’t lie, TSO.
The information on John Asshat/Hasrauth is pretty damning. In the article he openly admits to using drugs to get out of the military after two years and is now trying to retroactively get a “CO” status? Plus, he accuses of Air Force veteran of having PTSD?
I did a search of IVAW Burlington to find out who the others were. Looks like the only one I can pinpoint as being there with accuracy is Matt Howard.
Conscientious Objector status is one thing, as long as you serve a full term of military service. I can understand a few people not liking to handle guns, but still wanting to serve their country honorably.
But most of the time the phrase is used as a thin veneer for “deserter” or “draft dodger”. As in the dips**t(s) above.
Sniper:
I don’t know that that’s the case. This guy seems to have been a poor choice, but I think I know lots of IVAW members who could give pretty awesome Veteran’s Day speeches.
Jon hausrath couldn’t get into the IVAW or the VFW because he is not a vet. He served around a year, never deployed, and got kicked out for drug use. Only after his other than honorable discharge did this punk get turned on to the peace movement, probably so he could get the benefits he so obviously does not deserve.