Like my fellow American patriots, I refuse to sit by while the Nazi Marxist President sends storm troops of Dr Mengeles to pull the plug on millions of grannies. Just keep out of our persona lives. My health care is my business and it's between me myself and I(nsurance companies.) Up until yesterday, I was telling the government to stay out of my granny's Medicare, which works just fine, thank you very much. But I recently learned that Medicare is actually government provided, public-option program (they're a sly, wily and sneaky bunch of Jews, they are.) And, because I'm no hypocrite, I'm putting my money where my mouth is and un-enrolling Granny from Medicare. If Medicare spreads to younger people, I will reject all benefits. My fellow Americans who say no to government takeover of our lives and organs, won't you please join me in my boycott of government funded health insurance? Sign the NO PUBLIC OPTION pledge!

For those of us on Medicare or with a family member on Medicare:

I ______
oppose the Nazi-Communist infiltration of my personal life via Medicare, and thus reject all Medicare benefits for myself and my family.

 
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We are still fighting for one more Senate win. Jim Martin is running to unseat despicable, anti-Vietnam Veteran sleaze ball Saxby Chambliss. Here is Jim Martin's latest ad:

Anyone can help win this Senate seat and stand up for our Veterans. If you want to help, you can phone bank to get out the vote. Win this one for Max Cleland! Win this one for our Vietnam Vets!

This was sent to me on Veterans Day but I am just getting around to posting about it.

Here's what they are all about:

Within the United States there are over one and a half million service members that have served in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over thirty thousand have been physically wounded, but many more have experienced less visible, psychological wounds. Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have emerged as signature injuries of these conflicts, with recent reports suggesting an increase in rates of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and domestic violence among returning service members and veterans.

These traumatic affects of conflict, left unaddressed, could have far-reaching negative consequences for the individuals affected, their families, and our country. Survivor Corps’ work in some of the most conflict affected countries in the world has shown community reintegration to be the key factor in those that overcome their traumatic experiences, and those that are consumed by them.

YOU CAN HELP!

Operation Survivor
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Today is Veteran's Day and instead of saying something trite, I wanted to pay a small tribute to my baby brother, Frank Sabater-Tirado. My brother joined the Army at about 19-20 years of age and served for over 15 years after years of debating whether to join a seminary, go to college or join the army.

He ended up in the military at a very young age. He trained all over the United States, Korea (from where he has some hilarious stories about the kinds of foods he tried to eat with very little success) and Germany.

Then Bush #1 declared war on Saddam Hussein.

I was visiting with a friend in Italy and we had literally talked to him over the phone the very day before the war was declared. What a fucking mess it is to have the US declare war and have yourself carrying an American passport, looking like you could come either from the enemy country or its neighboring states. To say I was harrased in Arabic, Italian, French and English for looking Arab and having a US passport is to say the least.

Anyhow, I totally freaked out because, after all, he is my baby brother.

At the time there were no cell-phones, no web, no digital cameras nor mainstream use of email. The fastest I could get him anything was a week because even if I sent things Express Mail or money through Western Union, being he was in a war zone, he would receive things one or two weeks delayed.

I felt I wasn't doing enough. I felt that I was a pussy for being here while I knew he was over there in a war he really didn't look forward to. At the time, being in the Army was more about peace-keeping but this was Bush #1, who had a score to keep with the monster he and his covert US operations had created in Iraq. My brother was going to war to fight a grudge between a tyrant and a maker of tyrants.

Yet letters and care packages are what kept him going. In those little things I found that I least, I gave him a reason to go on. They were not only incredibly important to his sanity; they became important for mine as well.

9/25/1990

Dahran, S. A.

Dear sis,

[...]

If you've been keeping track of time (something that iI'm not doing because it's a mental health hazard) I've been in the desert for a month or so. I'm used to the climate (it's as hot as being caught in a traffic jam in Bayamón at noon with no A/C in the car) but the scenery sucks. There's nothing but sand, dust,, rocks, a few bushes and not a single cloud in the sky all around you and as far as the eye can see. The wildlife is limited to a heard of camels every once in a while, jackals or wild dogs at night and lizards, scorpions, sand vipers and ants as big as your toe nail roaming around you all the time. Oh, I forgot the never missed desert flies and sandfleas which manage to get anywhere --even inside your protective mask or the crack of the your ass after you've used the field latrines. It may or may not be funny to you but for me it's just a reality.

We work between 12 and 14 hours a day, our days starting at 2 o'clock in the morning or "o-too-dark-hundred hours" in our lingo. Then, if possible, we go to the rear in our trucks for a shower and a hot mean and a "beauty sleep" in A/C before we go back to work. We rest for a whole 24 hours but it's not enough for almost a whole day of scorching sun and no place to hide from it and working at a rate that makes ants look like the laziest creatures on Earth. But that's part of the mission and "ain't nothing to it but suck it in an' drive on", or so we say.

[...]

Love,
Frank

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In a Jewish Mother role reversal, I'm kvelling about my mom, Nora Eisenberg, whose Op Ed Gulf War 2.0 appears on today's Guardian and whose upcoming book When You Come Home, is coming out this month. Here it is. And it already got 32 comments!

The new Gulf war syndrome

US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being exposed to toxic chemicals that pose serious health risks

What does a war injury look like? In the case of Iraq, we tend to picture veterans bravely getting on with their lives with the help of steel legs or computerised limbs. Trauma injuries are certainly the most visible of health problems – the ones that grab our attention. A campaign ad for congressman Tom Udall featured an Iraq war veteran who had survived a shot to his head. Speaking through the computer that now substitutes for his voice, Sergeant Erik Schei extols the top-notch care that saved his life.

As politicians argue about healthcare for veterans, it is generally people like Sgt Schei that they have in mind, men and women torn apart by a bullet or bomb. And of course, these Iraq war veterans must receive the best care available for such complex and catastrophic injuries.

Unfortunately, the dangers of modern war extend far beyond weapons. As Iraqis know only too well, areas of Iraq today are among the most polluted on the planet – so toxic that merely to live, eat and sleep (never mind to fight) in these zones is to risk death. Thousands of soldiers coming home from the war may have been exposed to chemicals that are known to cause cancers and neurological problems. What's most tragic is that the veterans themselves do not always realise that they are in danger from chemical poisoning. Right now, there is no clear way for Iraq war veterans to find out what they've been exposed to and where to get help.
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This year Georgia has the opportunity not only to elect a fine Democrat, Jim Martin, to the Senate, but also to right a wrong committed by Republicans 6 years ago. Jim Martin is running against sleazy Republican Saxby Chambliss who ran a nasty smear campaign against Vietnam War hero and disabled Veteran Max Cleland. This was a typical Karl Rove smear campaign aimed at a man who sacrificed his limbs for his country. Saxby Chambliss, in comparison to Max Cleland's brave war record, was given five student deferments and he received a medical deferment for a bad knees due to a football injury. So Chickenhawk Chambliss smeared a genuine war hero, Max Cleland to win a Senate seat.

Now Democrat Jim Martin, also Vietnam Veteran, is running to defeat Chickenhawk Chambliss. Here is the latest ad from Jim Martin's campaign:

Jim Martin has been endorsed by the Macon Telegraph and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
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