Veterans

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:

2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 20 percent in 2006.

2006 In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator McCain a grade of D.

2006 Senator McCain sponsored or co-sponsored 18 percent of the legislation favored by the The Retired Enlisted Association in 2006.

I met Diane Benson, Congressional Candidate in Alaska, about a month ago and was very impressed. But only got to hear her speak as a candidate tonight. Again I was impressed. Diane is a genuine American who has worked hard all her life to get an education and to better the life of her son. Often she and her son have worked hard for our country and for their community. She has the confidence of someone who worked their way through school driving trucks while raising her son. She has the confidence of a woman who worked in the male dominated workers camp on the Alaskan pipeline. She has the confidence of someone who has had to work for everything, being given nothing easily. The contrast with the spoiled brat who inhabits the White House is about as striking as you can get.

Among those who came out for Diane was as diverse a group of Democrats you can find. Avid Hillary supporters rubbing shoulders with avid Obama supporters, both writing checks for Diane and THANKING her for her running. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was among the strongest voices supporting Diane with both enthusiasm and a bit of awe. Also there were former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, our next Public Advocate Norm Siegel, Captain Jon Soltz, Veteran of Kosovo and the Iraq War and founder of VoteVets.org, fellow Daily Gotham writer Dan Jacoby, and City Council Candidate Steve Behar (if I left anyone out, please let me know!). I also saw members of two Brooklyn Democratic clubs, IND and CBID, and the current CBID president, Chris Owens, was on the host committee. Quite an interesting collection of Democrats.

Iowa Democratic Veterans' Caucus
Feburary Leadership and Member Meeting
Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 10:00 AM

Pappajohn Center
1200 Grand Avenue
Des Moines , IA 50309

Check out our web site at www.idvc.org

During our February meeting, we will have a facilitated work session and we will discuss and reach conclusions on the following:

Proposed: The IDVC will more clearly delineate our vision, mission, and objectives for the coming year along with some $$ estimates for accomplishing those objectives.

Proposed: IDVC will become a model instrument wiithin the IDP for party building, communications and GOTV efforts to our target market ? i.e. Veterans, their families and all others who share our issues within the context and values of the Democratic Party.

Proposed: IDVC will determine the most appropriate administrative and management structure and function for our caucus.

Proposed: IDVC will determine appropriate and non-conflicting avenues to pursue financing for IDVC market penetration ? including member attraction, member fulfillment and member retention.

Proposed: IDVC will meet our Leadership, Management, Money and Marketing objectives and we will approach the DNC to diffuse our model into other states that may need or request our help to organize their veteran?s caucus.

Respectfully Submitted

VETERANS FOR PEACE Chapter 100, Juneau, Alaska

Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985. They include men and women veterans of all eras and duty stations including from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), World War II, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf and current Iraq wars as well as other conflicts. Our collective experience tells us wars are easy to start and hard to stop and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus, other means of problem solving are necessary.

For more info on the issues they cover, go here.

Their Juneau, Alaska chapter is particularly active, holding weekly peace vigils, monthly meetings and hosting a radio show.

Here are their regular events:

Weekly Peace Vigil
3rd & Seward Streets
Thursdays 12-1 p.m.

Honor the dead and protest the Iraq War & Occupation.

Second Thursday of Each Month
We meet on the second Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at Northern Light United Church, 400 11th Street, Juneau, AK. These meetings are usually over by 7:00 or 7:30 p.m.

Third Saturday of Each Month
We also meet on the third Saturday of each month at 8:00 a.m. at The Back Room, silverbow Inn-Bakery, 120 2nd Street, Juneau, AK.
These meetings are usually over by 10:00 a.m.

So I was watching my cousin's show, The Henry Rollins Show, on IFC last night as I worked on some data I brought home from lab. His show is ALWAYS worth watching, but last night was particularly kick ass. His guests were two Iraq war veterans who were extremely articulate and effective critics of the Iraq quagmire and of Bush in particular. One of these articulate and intelligent veterans was particularly impressive: 1st Lieutenant Paul Rieckhoff.

Paul is a fellow New Yorker and he spent several weeks contributing to the rescue effort at Ground Zero. He also served for one year between 2003 and 2004 in Iraq with the 3rd Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions. Upon his return he founded the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an organization I have written about before.

Henry Rollins asked both Veterans when they first realized that something was wrong with the war in Iraq. For Paul it was when he was first going into Bagdhad during the invasion when there was still sporadic fighting. He said he and his soldiers looked around and saw no other US military units in sight. His seargent asked him where everyone else was, and Paul had no idea. They were thrown in with too few boots on the ground (as was predicted) with insufficient supplies and almost no training of how to deal with the occupation. They were thrown in with almost no support from the US government. Paul's condemnation of the war and it's architects, the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escalation included, is harsh and his description of the poor treatment of veterans upon their return from Iraq is a condemnation of the government and our society. Those who are most willing to send our soldiers to war are the least willing to support them when they come home. I have previously particularly criticized John McCain for his failure to support government programs for veterans because he, of all people, should know better.

Republicans keep yammering on and on about "supporting the troops." But when it actually comes to listening to our troops, supporting them with proper equipment, or supporting them when they come home as Veterans, they fall far short of their rhetoric. Hell, this administration was even forcing soldiers to pay their own way from bases to their home towns to visit their families until Al Franken and Air America Radio started a movement, taken up by Daily Kos and much of the progressive blogsphere, to donate airline miles to our troops to get them home. This embarassed Bush enough that suddenly the administration changed the policy.

Bush isn't listenting to the soldiers or Veterans regarding Iraq either. VoteVets.org and MoveOn.org are giving voice to our Veterans in a project called VideoVets: Bring Our Troops Home. Here's what they are doing in their own words:

Every day at MoveOn we get letters from military families and veterans who're outraged that the president hides behind the troops to justify his policy—a policy that's leaving tens of thousands of them stranded in the middle of an unwinnable civil war. We talked to our friends at VoteVets.org about their members, who felt the same way. We realized we had to help give these folks a platform to speak out.

Over 700 MoveOn members around the country volunteered their time to interview and videotape the veterans and military families. Then we put them up on our website—and on YouTube—for you to watch.

The Republican Congress before November 2006 had a contradictory policy where they were creating more Veterans through the Iraq quagmire even as they were cutting Veterans benefits. This led many Veterans organizations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Retired Enlisted Association and the Disabled American Veterans, to abandon the Republican Party. This sure helped Democrats win some very close races.

One of those close races was in New Hampshire where Carol Shea-Porter narrowly defeated an incumbent Republican. Now Shea-Porter is one of several freshman Reps who have visited Iraq to see for themselves what's up and who combine opposition to the Iraq quagmire with support for our Veterans.

This comes from the New Hampshire Democratic Party:

Rep. Shea-Porter reports back from Iraq: Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter settled back into her work on Capitol Hill last week after an official four-day fact-finding trip to Iraq. Rep. Shea-Porter is on the Armed Services Committee.

Shea-Porter and her colleagues met with several of the top-ranking U.S. military commanders in Iraq, including General David Petraeus, Commander of the Multi-National Force -- Iraq, and Major General Joseph Fil, Commanding General of the Multi-National Division -- Baghdad. The delegation also met with Dr. Marouf Al-Bakhit, Prime Minister of Jordan, David Hale, US Ambassador to Jordan, U.S. embassy officials in Baghdad, Iraqi female political leaders, and key members of Iraqi Women's Non-Governmental Organizations.

[This comment was posted on another blog I edit here. Due to space-time continuuum disconnects I wasn't able to ask the original commenter for permission to repost it here yet, but I know her well enough that I suspect she wouldn't mind. I suppose I could give it an intro and set up a context for it here, but then again -- is there really any need to?]

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It wasn't enough to attack a mosque. Now pilgrims have been attacked too. & some say it isn't a civil war?

I have to work 12 hours and I woke up in the middle of the night with insomnia because I'd heard Bush use the term "battlefield" twice, with no apparent emotion. There would probably BE no battlefield if not for his stupid decisions. Maybe he thinks we'd be battling in the middle of Nebraska cornfields if we weren't in Iraq. Yeah maybe that's it.

I started remembering being 12 years old and travelling across South Dakota with my mom & 3 younger siblings, to visit my dad at the VA in Rapid City. On the way, our bus had to stop for hours on the highway, because of a burning car. When we got to the VA, my dad had come out of electroshock and he didn't know me. I got presents that were supposed to be from him but I knew they were picked out by volunteers. People used to say "Roger can't hold down a job. He's shellshocked."

Well, considering the grim nature of the subject matter "terrific" is kind of a relative term in this context. But as with globalvillage's other pieces that she pushes out through the YouTubes, this video photomontage is very well done and extremely effective in getting its point across. The choice of music and selection of sequential images in this one is particularly striking:

So, I am wondering if the media that made a big deal out of certain Edwards staff members saying things some Catholics might not like are going to pick up on the Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s chief of staff tirade against Iraq War Vets.

From the Idaho Press Tribune:

Anti-war vets say Craig’s staff rude
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 6:01 AM EST

By Mike Butts - Idaho Press-Tribune

BOISE — Two veterans who belong to an anti-Iraq-war group claim Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s chief of staff treated them inappropriately Tuesday in a meeting to discuss President Bush’s move to expand the number of troops in Iraq...

Army Reserve Capt. Jon Soltz, 29, and former 101st Airborne Division Sgt. Joe Kramer, 31, say Chief of Staff Mike Ware raised his voice or yelled at them and pointed at them during a scheduled meeting in Craig’s office.

The two soldiers and two other Iraq war veterans with the anti-war group VoteVets met with Ware and Craig’s legislative assistant for military affairs. Craig spokesman Dan Whiting said the men agreed to disagree before the soldiers left after about a 30-minute meeting.

But Soltz and Kramer said Ware went too far.

“It’s probably the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever heard from a chief of staff of a U.S. senator,” Soltz said. “I told him it was rather unprofessional to yell at a soldier who fought for our country.”