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AUSTIN - Mayor Steve Adler .. on Thursday ... said that Veterans Day is meant to honor "United States veterans, and Confederate veterans are not United States veterans."
Adler said that he and his team researched the status of Confederate soldiers before making his decision. He cited documents sent by the Congressional Research Service, a Library of Congress Agency that provided info and historical precedents to lawmakers, that said in part: "If your only service was in the Confederate Army/Navy, you are not considered a veteran under Federal law" ...
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/mayor-adler-says-confederate-soldiers-are-not-us-veterans-is-that-true/491015844
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)By Mike Parker - Austin Community Newspapers Staff
... Adler said he faced a "near impossible choice" after the Veterans Day Parade Committee's decision to let certain flags tied to the Confederacy be flown in the parade.
"I resent having to make that horrible choice," the mayor said. "I had the one choice (that) I could do something, and the other choice I couldnt undo. But at the end of the day, there were other ways to honor vets, and I'll do that all weekend."
Instead of joining the procession Saturday on Congress Avenue, Adler said he would volunteer at the Central Texas Food Bank, which operates a mobile food bank serving nearly 500 veterans at a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic.
"I've seen the pain that is caused in so many with symbols of the Confederacy," he said. "And I think it's important that (the Confederacy) not be erased or removed from our past
but not celebrated and cheered in a parade" ...
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-govt--politics/austin-mayor-williamson-county-sheriff-clash-over-veterans-day-parade/ZD7lTjU1mn562l6yg2IZ8M/
RGinNJ
(1,021 posts)Liberal In Texas
(13,620 posts)remember this and that there a lot of us progressives here. We are making a difference.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)important to remember a lot of Democrats are making a difference in areas where it's tough. Think how bad things would be if they weren't there fighting for what's right.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,930 posts)They're not veterans any more than Hitler's soldiers are veterans of this country.
Rhiannon12866
(206,934 posts)And up to marching in the parade?
tavernier
(12,429 posts)but their ancestors (and all other racist rednecks) want to fly the flag that they fought under, in the parade.
Rhiannon12866
(206,934 posts)This sure sounds like an outdated obsession. What made me think of that was a comment by Stephen Colbert during the controversy over removing Confederate statues. Apparently The Daughters of the Confederacy weighed in - and Colbert remarked that "they must be getting up in age..."
tavernier
(12,429 posts)I too have that skill.
Rhiannon12866
(206,934 posts)And it's not restricted to the South - who at least feel they have reasons to cling to their past, however self-defeating. I'm in New York and several months ago I stopped to see a friend who lives in an apartment complex. And in the parking lot I couldn't help but notice a truck that had a full sized Confederate flag flying in the back! At first I thought I must be mistaken - and then I wondered what would motivate anyone - or if he had the slightest idea what it stood for!
Hangingon
(3,071 posts)safeinOhio
(32,759 posts)Surrender monkeys and Traitor weasels.
As a Southerner, I can say that.
louis c
(8,652 posts)They are all individuals who took up arms against the United States.