"Are you saying thought that every vet has a right to stake out land in the middle of any park in any town and protect it with a vicious dog?"
While I agree that most laws should be obeyed, there is a point where some laws become onerous and assinine. Did he have a right to stake out that particular piece of land? As much as anyone else I suppose. I think though, that the bit about protecting it with a vicious dog is justified when you consider how our National symbols and ideology have become the prime targets of leftists and folks that hate America. Would he have stayed there indefinitely, I doubt it. But for the City to come along and post the monument as 'No Tresspassing' is nothing more than an example of a power using its might to suppress freedom.
I'd really hate to think how I would be treated in my later years when I am retired from the Military, if I lived on the "Left" Coast in the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia. Luckily I don't, I live in a place where they treat vets with respect.
"So is it your belief then that any US vet has a right to stake out any piece of land anywhere in the US and defend it with a violent dog?"
I didn't say that that is my belief! There was a better way for the incident to be handled, and the City chose to flex its muscle and step on the vet. THAT IS THE ISSUE!
"What have you given? Given that I was only two at the time Saigon fell, and in high school during the gulf war, the answer is nothing if you are referring to combat service."
Have you even tried to serve? If not, don't judge those who have too harshly. You must remember one thing ... The only reason that you sleep securely in your bed is because rough men stand ready to go and visit violence in the night to those who would do us harm. Those "rough men" are the military, and veterans are those who served in that capacity. Does that mean you owe us? Just respect brother, just respect. Most of us aren't out looking for hand outs, we just wish to live out our lives in peace and freedom. After all those are the very things we were fighting for.