Never forget that this is the reason for your three-day weekend.

Today is Veterans Day. 

Today is the day you should thank every single member of our uniformed services for what they do.  They do what they do so you don’t have to.

They learn things about themselves and others that nobody should ever have to learn.  They sometimes work and live in conditions that would put you to shame.  Some put their careers on hold.  Some put their educations on hold.  They put their family life on hold.  They put their lives on hold.  

They put their lives on the line.  Every. Single. Day.  Some lose their lives.  Others just lose parts of theirs.

It’s called service to your country.   

They do all this so that the maniacs of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas can harrass grieving mothers and fathers and wives and husbands and spit on the graves of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.   

They do all this so that 50+ percent of you can be too busy getting your nails done or going to the gym or just too busy being busy to bother to go vote. 

They do all this so that our congressmen can keep freezers full of cash in their homes and offices.  They do all this so that our senators can tapdance their way through airport bathrooms, seduce congressional pages, and get their houses remodeled for free by government contractors.

They do all this so that our elected officials can send pornographic images to each other from taxpayer-paid computers and put their mistresses on the government payroll.  They do all this so that our elected representatives can live high on the hog on their campaign accounts, flush with the contributions of lobbyists and special interests.  They do all this so that our elected representatives can pay their wives, husbands, children, and each other for political consulting services out of their campaign accounts. 

That’s the price of freedom. 

Can you look a veteran straight in the eyes and tell him or her their sacrifice was worth it?

Texas lost one of its premier political writers, Jim Warren.   Some of you might have followed the links to his blog Billy Clyde’s Political Hot Tub Party.  If you’ve been around the block a time or two, you understood the “hot tub” reference.   Heck, even if you only had a learner’s permit for Texas politics, you soon understood the allure of Billy Clyde. 

Raised in East Texas, he learned how to spin a yarn at a young age.  He cut his chops on his hometown newspaper, the Huntsville Item.  He headed west for more schoolin’ at The University, where he sharpened his skills and honed his wit.  Lucky for the young Longhorn, he landed a gubmit job. Lucky for Texas, he figured out the arcane rules of and practices of the lege and kept his bosses (mostly) on the up and up and out of the pokey.

We will miss his keen observations on that bunch of elected, rejected, and dejected gaggle of sticky-fingered wind bags  that make up our lege and the assorted no ‘count hangers-on and gravy trainers that add the lumps to the frosting to that pink granite cupcake up on the hill. 

Here’s his obituary in the Huntsville Item.  Nothing we can write can come close to expressing how much we will miss his charm, wit, and wisdom.

Good bye Billy Clyde.  You will be missed. 

Here’s a hat tip to your new gig as Heaven’s newest blogger. 

Besides being the Lord’s day, today is Veteran’s Day - AKA Armistice Day.  You should be on your knees today giving thanks.  President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 Armistice Day:

To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

A Real Republican, Native Texan, and Real American Hero, our 34th President Dwight David Eisenhower, issued the first Veteran’s Day proclamation (after Congress passed a resolution changing the name from Armistice Day) in 1954.  Thus, today we honor veterans of all wars.

We’ll let you in on a little secret:  No matter what we do for our war veterans, it will never be enough.

Remember that the next time you hear about the wretched condition of our veterans hospitals. 

Remember that the next time your elected officials vote against adequate funding for veterans’ hospitals and medical services.  Remember that when your elected officials ignore substandard housing conditions on our military installations. 

Remember that when you find out your elected officials have been lining their own pockets at the expense of our men and women in uniform.  Remember that the next time a draft dodging politician wraps themself in the flag and slams a former POW as being unfit to serve his country either in congress or as President. 

Remember that every day, not just Veteran’s Day.

Six years ago, our nation was attacked by cowards.  Six years ago, we stood in stunned silence as the twin towers collapsed, the Pentagon was aflame, and Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvannia — instead of Washington, DC– thanks to American heroes on board.

2,996 innocent Americans died on that day.  The day America changed forever.  The day the world changed forever. 

Last year (See Never Forget), we asked you to remember that day.  It bears repeating. 

For those victims, for their families, for their friends. 

Please remember.  

Oh, BTW Mayor Nagin - we’re still waiting for your apology.

Do you remember where you were on August 9, 1974?  It was pivotal day in our country’s history.  If you need a hint, check out the headline again, you morons.  

Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace that day and Jerry Ford assumed the mantle of office.  It was a time of national upheaval and change.  Time has healed many of the wounds Nixon inflicted upon our country.   His pardon for Nixon overshadowed everything else he accomplished during his 35 years of public service, beginning with his enlistment in the US Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor.    

He was a man of great courage and class.  He deserves to be remembered with honor, for he set the stage for republicans to follow, guiding them out of the wilderness of Watergate.  He helped Ronald Reagan and George 41 on their paths to the oval office. 

Our prayers are with his wife of 52 years, Betty, and his children.  Farewell Mr. President.  We hope St. Peter is rounding out your foursome at that great golfcourse in the sky.