In Honor of our Veterans

It's Veteran's Day today, and I can think of no better way to salute the men and women of our armed forces than reposting this buzz-worthy clip from last night's Daily Show with John Stewart. If you haven't seen it already, Stewart basically catches the Sean Hannity show on FOX "news" using old crowd footage to bolster Michele Bachman's claims that her anti-health care bill rally drew upwards of 45,000 people...even though most reliable estimates had the crowd at closer to 10,000. It's not a minor gaffe, it's a major deception. There's a reason the White House refuses to acknowledge FOX news as a legitimate news organization, and it's because FOX constantly seeks to sow the seeds of popular discontent...taking a news story and turning it into a crusade at the expense of basic journalistic ethics. If the truth isn't story enough, then the truth isn't good enough, evidently.

When people talk about the sacrifices our soldiers make, fighting for our freedoms, etc., it's often hard to draw the connection between abstract principles and concrete examples. It's not a stretch to say that our armed forces fight and die so that Sean Hannity can use his bully pulpit to deceive, and so that John Stewart can expose those deceptions. It'd be a hell of a lot better if Stewart and his "fake news" team had less lies and half-truths to expose in the mainstream press, but thank god he's got the freedom to do so. One doesn't have to carry a gun and risk their life to be a patriot in the service of this nation...and John Stewart is one such man. To our veterans and to John Stewart...thank you.