Gordon Clay here. Tomorrow is 11/11/11. There's only one more of these kind of days left in most of our lifetimes and that will be in 13 months and a day on 12/12/12.

It's also Veterans Day. This is the annual event to honor those who have served this country in the military. Many put flags in their yards, the Boy Scouts put up the flags on Chetco Avenue and the Bridge, a few events are held and we forget about them for another year. What a cop-out.

We ask these women and men to give up their families for the opportunity to die to keep us in our cozy homes. If they make it home in one piece, they face an 11.7% unemployment rate and over 200,000 fall into poverty.

In some states, many National Guards who were called to leave their well paying jobs or businesses come home to jail time for not being able to keep up with their child support payments.

More who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have committed suicide than those who actually died during the conflict. And the rest who come home shattered - physically or mentally - face major cuts in Congress for veterans services.

We live in the world's wealthiest nation, where one-third of our adult homeless population are veterans and over half of all Americans will live in poverty at some point before age 65.

Those making over $250,000 continue to benefit from trillions in tax breaks without creating any new jobs while they support cutting more jobs in services for vets, low income families, women and children, even school lunch programs. Is this what we call the American way? It seems like the world thinks it is. And I'm beginning to believe the world. Take that flag down until you're willing to stand behind it and fight for vets and their families this Veterans Day.