Interesting thought this morning in the Daily News, from no less than Council Speaker and Bloomberg BFF Quinn.

U.S. troops who served in Iraq should be honored with a parade along the Canyon of Heroes, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said Wednesday.

"It's something we need to do. We owe them minimally a thank you in the New York way that we do it," she told MSNBC.com.

Quinn (D-Manhattan) said she hopes the parade will materialize as soon as possible, even though some 48,000 troops remain in Iraq in noncombat roles, but added that veterans groups and others should make that decision.

New York City was obviously one of the centers of protest against the misbegotten war in Iraq. Here's a pic from the last pre-war protest, February 2003.

It is critical for a free society that citizens evaluate the actions of their government and, if need be, take their disagreement to the public at large. It is, however, equally critical that we distinguish between those who make and those who execute policy. That's why I'm going to do something I rarely do and support the Speaker's idea. We as Americans owe our men and women in uniform our gratitude, whether we supported that abortion of a war, or not.

This is an amazing video of IVAW's guerrilla performances of "Operation First Casualty". As you can see the performances were done on the streets of New York City; going to the heart of the ugliness of war.

Today is Veterans' Day. To honor my brother, who is an anti-war activist in Puerto Rico, a New Yorker by birth and a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, please take a moment to watch Operation First Casualty.

And don't think twice about donating to their cause. It's an honorable one.

I want to do two quick updates on Jo Anne Simon's campaign for the 33rd City Council race. One is another big endorsement, the other is yet another counter to some accusations made about Jo Anne and Atlantic Yards by campaigns that prefer negative campaigning.

First the new endorsement: NYC Veterans for Progressive Change have endorsed Jo Anne Simon for City Council. Here is their endorsement:

City Council, District 33 – There is no incumbent in this race. Out of the
possible 7 strong candidates we looked at, we believe that having worked with
Jo Anne Simon, a nationally prominent A.D.A. lawyer and democratic district
leader on veterans’ issues in the past; she will be an excellent supporter of
veterans’ issues and will take up our issues at City Hall. We believe that she will bring her advocacy talents and political know how to produce results for both
veterans and the district. Ms. Simon is endorsed by the New York Times. We
highly recommend Jo Anne Simon.

Now the other clarification regarding endorsements in the 33rd race. Three of the other candidates in the race have as their main strategy negative campaigning against Jo Anne Simon. Among their attacks have been trying to portray her as pro-Ratner. This is very much not the case. I want to emphsize that Jo Anne Simon is THE candidate endorsed by many of the core anti-Ratner activists. I have highlighted some of them in the past, but let me give a more comprehensive list (with a reminder of some I have forgotten before thanks to the Simon campaign).

Jo Anne Simon has been endorsed by:

Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
Councilwoman Tish James
State Senator Velmanette Montgomery
State Senator Eric Adams
Candace Carpenter (head of the DDDB legal team fighting Ratner)
Isabel Hill (film maker who made Brooklyn Matters, an award winning documentary about the fight against Ratner)

All of these have been champions in the fight against Ratner and they have ALL endorsed Jo Anne Simon. Believe me that Tish James, CBID, the head of the DDDB legal team and the maker of Brooklyn Matters would NOT endorse a pro-Ratner candidate! So don't believe misleading negative campaigning. A vote for Jo Anne Simon is a vote against not just the Vito Lopez machine but a vote against Bruce Ratner.

This was sent to me on Veterans Day but I am just getting around to posting about it.

Here's what they are all about:

Within the United States there are over one and a half million service members that have served in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over thirty thousand have been physically wounded, but many more have experienced less visible, psychological wounds. Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have emerged as signature injuries of these conflicts, with recent reports suggesting an increase in rates of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and domestic violence among returning service members and veterans.  read more »

The Democratic Senators unanimously support a new GI Bill to help returning Veterans, providing them with full tuition, room and board to give them more education opportunities.

George Bush, John McCain, and all but 9 Republican Senators are oppsing this support for Veterans, going so far as to threaten a fillibuster to prevent a vote on this.

General Wesley Clark, Robert Greenwald, and Captain Jon Soltz are joining together to demand Republicans support our Veterans:

I think it is useless to try and get McCain behind this. Ironically McCain, along with most Republican Senators, get very poor ratings from Veterans and Solder advocacy groups. From Project Vote Smart, here are John McCain's ratings on Veterans' Issues from 2004 on:  read more »