After the Giants beat the Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl, New York City celebrated with a ticker-tape parade. Now that the Giants have beaten the Patriots in 2012 Super Bowl, we're getting ready for another parade tomorrow.
After U.S. troops came home from Iraq in 1991, New York City celebrated with a ticker-tape parade. U.S. troops came home from Iraq again this year. They're still waiting for a big parade in New York City or, for that matter, anywhere except St. Louis.
MasterCard calls the second Giants parade a priceless sequel. At this point, you might call a second Iraq parade mostly a petition.
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Saying that Afghanistan vets can't have a parade until the Iraq vets all come home is like telling the Giants they can't have one until the Yankees win the World Series.
While I was not a fan of the Iraq war, the Giants or the Patriots, I was happy to see that George Bush went after bin laden post 9/11. I was a little dismayed at the Iraq Detours, I was thrilled when bin laden was killed. That was the mission in Afghanistan, to make those responsible for 9/11 pay for what they did. The US military has effectively but a hurt on the Taliban and al queda and for that they deserve a parade.
uhm news flash: George Bush didn't do shyt after 9/11 about Osama bin Laden.
He focused on Iran mostly for secret oil agendas and completely left Osama to escape to Pakistan where he's been hiding all these years and George Bush did nothing about it.
Exact quote from Bush: "I am truly not concerned about Osama bin Laden."
Bush really dropped the ball there on protecting our country right before and after 9/11. Just know the truth and accept it so we can all finally move on.
@lisa lamb,
I can't improve on that so I won't try.
Thank you.
I don't quite know why this irks me so much. But I am the son of a WWII Vet. And the Afghanistan vs Iraq argument is spurious. After VE Day... Victory in Europe, there were parades for the returning troops, even through the fighting was still going on in the Pacific. And that was arguably the SAME war. And sure enough we had parades after VJ Day when those boys came home.
There is no reason other than political embarrassment and pentagon (and Mayor Bloomberg's) tight-assery that we shouldn't have parades for the Iraq vets, and DO IT AGAIN when we're the men and women come back from Afghanistan.
As they say in Brooklyn, we should be TRIPPIN' parades for our homies in uniform.
Until one of those "corporate persons" says there should be a parade and writes a check, there won't be one.
Perhaps all the 1%'ers on the Giants team could chip in for a parade? Not holding my breath over here!
I wonder what would happen if some people in NYC, just as in STL, simply set a date, a route and a mustering point and began organizing a parade. Where is it written, after all, that approval of the Pentagon is required?
The mayor of New York is a member of the 1%. He should step up.
Laura, this is unconscionable. Fine that the city is throwing a football parade but why is Bloomberg - who will probably be very visible tomorrow - or the City Council not putting together a Welcome Home Troops event? Disgusting
Does the camouflage make our military vets invisible to our politicians?
In American politics, camouflage either makes you invisible or paints a huge target on your back, depending on who politicians think your friends and family intend to vote for.
Wow - we might as well just put up a sign that says "We love professional athletes more than those who are willing to give up their very lives for our freedom. Oh, we get teary-eyed when our Idols sing our anthems and the jets thunder over the stadium, but winning that Lombardi trophy is what we really care about."
Don't get me wrong; I love football as much as the next guy, but man do we have our priorities screwed up.
That is also evident in the disparity in what we pay our warriors compared to what professional athelets get paid. Perhaps that because the pros have a union and the warriors do not?
It sickens me that athletes get paid millions of dollars and yet our troops get denied decent benefits or access to programs they need. Wouldn't you think that the military personnel should get top priority if they serve their country. Just imagine, almost a whole generation of people will be coming back from war--- then where will their lives start? Will they be going back to war in Afghanistan or will they be joining the 8.5% unemployed or under employed. NYC give those heroes a parade and not to some athletes. Give their families something to be proud of or will this be like Nam where warriors were given a nasty welcome home.
It would be nice if some of that "defense spending" actually went to the troops instead of to defense contractors.
While I can appreciate that NYC wants to throw a parade for the Giants, what about the REAL HERO'S that sacrificed and have returned?!?!? The least that we can do is to honor them and give them a P-A-R-A-D-E!!! Psst, Mayor Bloomberg - you don't have to wait for the DOD to "give you authorization" for a parade to WELCOME BACK THOSE HERO'S!!!
Thank goodness my city (St. Louis) already gave a parade. I just don't understand the wait for other cities.
no money in it, they don't give a sh*t.
That's what happens when your politics are influenced by the bottom line instead of the moral good.
If the Giants players refuse to participate unless they have a parade for the Iraq vets, that would really make a statement. But they won't. The NFL would probably fine them.
wow...love this idea.....or the team could "invite" vets to join them! I would feel so much better as an American if that happened.
This highlights the problem in our society -- rhetoric over reality. Everyone talks the talk about how much we ought to appreciate our troops and all that they sacrifice on our behalf. Yet, when it comes time to put the money where the mouth is -- not a penny. I don't think there ever should have been a question as to whether or not our troops deserved a parade -- they deserve it before those highly paid athletes, to be honest (and I'm a big football fan)...
This begs the other question, though. When you get down to brass tax, the real issue is what will happen to our soldiers here at home. Where will they find jobs? What will the government -- what will our people do to push our government to help them find jobs and regain a livelihood? The parade is a nice bonus, but I think that we still need to refocus our attention on the things that really matter. In the end, a ticker tape parade won't pay rent or put bread on the table.
You're right, Melissa. They do need jobs more than a parade. In my ideal America, they would get both. I've seen enough Nam vets to know how important it is for them be acknowledged and honored for their sacrifice, regardless of what anyone thinks of the war they fought in. So even if we cannot guarantee employment for every last one of them, we should honor and thank every last one of them.
You bring up a good point, Melissa. Personally, I think that the real reason that we've kept the troops over there for so long is the impact all those returning troops would have on the unemployment rate.
Love this blog...right again....the reality matters more than the showcasing....I want to see both.
Thinking of a parade that welcome's home vets, I think of the ticker-tape parades from the WWII era, where our soldiers had a task to accomplish and didn't leave until they did. Today's heroes have been coming home gradually over years and years, and often serving more than one tour of duty. Honestly, I don't understand the big push for a parade for vets. It's not like they all just came home at the same time.
So they shouldn't be honored for their service and the sacrifices made by the service people and especially their families? This is about respect Aces, not about time tables. Do we honor those who serve or just those who entertain people with their athletic prowess? This is about our priorities as a nation and our soul as a people.
Did anyone else notice in the ad above that MasterCard is a "devoted fan"? I guess Corporations really are people.
It would be wonderful if St. Louis is only first of many, but I'm thinking not.
You guys are far off base. The war vet issue is a NATIONAL ISSUE. The Giants win is a CITY ISSUE. See the difference? You want a war parade, take it to the National Level, go convince Congress to fund it.
GO GIANTS!!!!!
This is very much a local issue.l Many cities (and all states) have had service members serve. In Tucson, we have an Air Force base (Davis Monthan) in town and an Army base (Fort Huachuca) near by. These men and women who serve are our neighbors, our kids, our parents and our friends. It is much more iimportant to recognise these heros than to give a parade for a bunch of millionaires who played a game and got lots of money in the process. They have received their reward, now it's time to reward the true heros of our nation on a local level. Get a soul bronko
Bronko - no disrespect, but I would point out that it was the events that took place mostly in NYC that prompted many from all over the country to join and fight the war on terrorism. A national response to your local event.
Bronko - Parades for returning vets have always been a local issue. Always. And even if they weren't, NYC would be the place where the parade would be held.
i think everyone need so stop worrying about a friggin parade.....god i hate social media
;You think?
Don't forget the hero's of the Occupy movement. They're out there everyday but their support seems to waning and that is due lately due to reports of violence. I think everyone needs to remember that the only violence right in the early days was due to Republican talk radio and internet provocateurs.
I urge everyone to read literature or talk to a professor about the protest's back in the 60's. When they became violent and people started getting arrested, no matter which movement it was, Black Panthers, peace, anti war, anti nukes, legalization, the lawyers all found out once in court that the majority, if not all, of those guilty of the violence were provocateurs flipped by, hired by or actually law enforcement. This was also true throughout our history during our various labor movements only the provocateurs were usually hired by private industry in the form of union busters and goon squads. We are now at the time period in Occupy where the powers that be realize it is here for awhile, they have already had (as we all know) organized national meetings involving governors and national political and law enforcement leaders, so for violence to break out across multiple Occupy locations at the same time when they have all had training not to do so seems to be to be the same old tactics of organized provocateurs.
Know history or be doomed to repeat it or be beat over the head with it!
Really a bunch of people camping are heroes. Damn you should go a head and ask for a parade on that. Wow are there IEDs going off everyday. Sorry i actually used to support the Occupy movement until i started hearing seriously ignorant comments like this.
My Grandson is a Marine and served in Afghanistan and will deploy again soon. He and his buddies are pretty disgusted about the "decision makers" turning their backs on these hero's. They are feelling the country will treat them the same way as we treated the Veitnam veterans, when they came home. These guys deserve recognition for what they have sacrificed. And they deserve it NOW!! not some ambiguous time in the future. And remind me please, what did the football players sacrifice again???? and how much money did they get for 3-4 hours of work??? Did they achive freedom for the rest of us??? THIS IS DISGUSTING.
Our soldiers need compassion to help them forgive themselves not a parade! In the minds of most of the world, our soldiers in Iraq were engaging in a military invasion, which was banned by the world and our own government almost a hundred years ago, (see Kellogg-Briand) Please, while I understand the propaganda the soldiers were fed, and the blatant lies we are subjected to daily, every soldier who murdered on illegal orders is a war criminal, why should we throw a parade for them? Will that bring back the dead or just assuage our guilty conscience?
Bloomberg was on one of the Sunday morning shows and once again passed the buck saying it was the Pentagon wanting to wait.
"Fans, for VIP Access to the Welcome Home Troops parade, go to Afghanistan and avoid stepping on an IED."
As a Nam-Era vet (NOT a Nam vet!) I am personally familiar with the issue of being ignored, and the great difficulty I had in finding a job after my term of service. As far as I am concerned, it appears nobody wanted to hire a vet, and yet they still mouthed empty platitudes of patriotism. Even the 'hardhat' contingent didn't want to be bothered with returning vets.
I don't expect things to any different for our returning Iraq/Afghanistan vets, if anything it is worse. And the false cries of 'patriotism' ring hollow now, as then.
Especially from the chickenhawks and 1%-ers.
Why are they having a parade for the Giants in NYC at all? Don't they actually play in New Jersey? Shouldn't they be having this thing in Hackensack or something?
for corporations who see contributing to things like parades as positive PR and advertising, why wouldn't they want to push for a truly good thing like a vets parade? especially in times like these where there is a lot of public disgust and anger towards multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporations, wouldn't it be a good step in trying to regain some good public opinion?
i know i'd feel a lot better about seeing a mastercard sponsored parade for vets than a mastercard sponsored parade for an already heavily corporate sponsored event, the superbowl. And i love watching all the commercials, but really, they've milked it, their support of this parade gives me little to no good feeling about the company for this pr effort.
What about the Parade for Vietnam vets?? long time coming. Fans are there own worst enemy. Complain about cost of going to various venues, complain about how much players and teams make...yet they continue to buy tickets, merchandise etc...If fans stopped buying tickets for one single football sunday..that would make a loud sound.
So we are giving NYC crap for not throwing a parade for Iraq war vets? Why is it he fault of NYC? Organize a parade in your town! I didn't see anyone calling for a parade when the war was "declared" over in 2003 by Bush. But now suddenly there needs to be a parade. I believe we honor our armed forces in many ways and constantly, as we very well should. But the problem with a war that never ends and only moves from one country to the next as we are currently doing, is that there is no welcome home. There is only a brief return before the next deployment. If you are going to throw a parade the first thing you have to actually do is to get all the troops home for it. Many of those in other parts of the world now served in Iraq so bring them all home and we can talk. You want to honor Americas troops offer to buy one of them a meal when you see them in a restaurant. Say thank you to them face to face. Take the time to volunteer to support their families while they are deployed. Save the ticker tape parades for prima donna millionaires who need their egos stroked for playing a game.
we should make our own parade. shut down the streets !!!!
Silverton, Oregon is one-up on the Big Apple it would seem. Here's the Quick Parade we threw for Matt Stubblefield, recently returned from Afghanistan, via Walter Reed:
http://tinyurl.com/82vvjhx
Why should there be a parade for Iraq war vets? Are we now pretending that war was a great idea? Where is the parade for the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis? Who do you think killed those people? The war in Iraq was a disaster and an embarrassment. Why celebrate the people who made it possible? And for what? "Protecting our freedom"? From what? When was the last time Iraq attacked the US? Remember all those dead civilians in Iraq, all that damage done to our reputation abroad, all the torture, all those war crimes, all the increased al-Qaeda recruiting in a response to this war? Who do you think laid the groundwork? Why should we celebrate the people who actively participated in a racist, imperialist debacle of a war that served no purpose, was unjust, and which EVERYBODY KNOWS was waged on false pretenses? I agree with TRMS with so many things but this constant fawning over veterans as though they fought in a completely different war than the one we have all been protesting against for the past 9 years is just baffling. I honestly expect someone of Rachel Maddow's intellectual caliber to have a more nuanced understanding of the logistics of imperialism than to wave her pompoms so unabashedly.
Well said.
It's truly depressing to see reality so completely ignored by TRMS and most of her viewers. Rachel has yet to provide a single rational argument for her relentless pushing of this pseudo-issue. Indeed it appears she's spent far more time on her show pushing the parade than she ever pushed for an end to the war she now wants to celebrate.