Mitt Romney Shocks and Shuns Veterans

Steve buried it first.

Tallahassee, the capitol city of Florida, a state of 19 million people, had a parade for veterans, … and nobody came…..

And this state went for Mitt Romney, overwhelmingly. And this state is also considered the birthplace of the Tea Party. And this state is so backward they don’t arrest someone standing over the body of a dead man, because that dead man’s skin is darker than the guy holding the gun….

And this state doesn’t give a fuck about veterans. Yet they were the first to argue that American men and women go over to invade Iraq….

Selfish, selfish, selfish Floridians. And they… liked Mitt Romney the best…

This is exactly what we will get, if Mitt Romney becomes president. A country where no one cares….

Only one man can stop Mitt now. It is now, or never….

(Seriously, how could any person run for the American Presidency and hate American soldiers as much as he does…) Makes everyone want to punch him right in the middle of his square jaw….

Bury the Old

He wasn’t much to look at… In fact, a lot of people more in tune with the rush of life, kinda made fun of him.. A dotey old man. One whose humor, and politics had long been used up and become obsolete.

He took pictures, lots of them, of every occasion. So much that when any one else pulled out a camera, the group would groan, and his name would bounce around, with a couple of laughs…

His own spouse brushed him off. He was doofy, couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do, could not be counted on, and probably had to be taken care of like a teenager, which taxed her a little too much, since she was bringing in all the disposable income…

To kids he had a big heart, and big stories…. Especially about Korea.

Soon a precision guard of 6, will unload the casket from a hearse parked on an Arlington road way, pivot the flag draped casket 180 degrees and march to a grave site up the hill, set it down, and stand holding the flag during prayer. Three shots will be fired, taps will be played, a final salute, the flag folded and handed to the closest of kin….

No one really knew he was wounded in combat so many long years ago…

His nation never forgot…. Entitled by law, to a full burial with military honors, his worth to this nation, forgotten while alive by those quite close, his honor was restored in death. Quite a few of those standing around the ceremony, will never have such an elaborate funeral…

One has to love a country that takes such good care of those who fought. It is a nation we are all part of… and proud of.

One can never forget it’s obligations.

Why Nothing Ever Gets Done In Congress….

It is a simple vote…

Should we or should we not put this man in an administrative function.

Please vote yes…. or no…..

(It should be open cut because a majority have already said they would support Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Agency.) Just get it done…

But, it never goes to vote. In a motion to stop debate requiring 60 votes, 53 are found….

There is nothing more to debate. Vote yes or no… The argument has been on the table for months… But no… it cannot go forward because the Republican Party (all of it) had 45 members who voted against it…

The agency still has no one at the top to get it rolling. There is no one regulating Wall Street as we speak, simply because the entire block of Republicans, who voters put into minority receivership based on their previous track record, voted NOT to stop debate.

There will be no government until there are no Republicans.
There will be no Congress, until there are no Republicans.
There will be no Democracy. until there are no Republicans.
There will be no United States of America, until there are no Republicans.

(Sad thing this is not hyperbole. This is not campaign rhetoric. This is not hateful bantering. This is what is really happening. Makes a veteran want to cry)

Taxes and The Wealthy

Right click to open full image… Pictograph Courtesy of Viral..

So, can someone tell me again, why we shouldn’t tax the rich, and instead, balance the budget on the backs of everyone else?…….

I seem to be missing that little detail where that all makes sense……

In A Perfect World….

Call it temporary insanity but let’s pretend, let’s just say, …that at one moment in time, if I chose to donate my youth out for my country, to be compensated back in the form of low pay; to completely and unjudgingly offer my fate up to the will of bureaucrats, all for the loss of my own self esteem, all for unending stretches of boredom, sparsed with interludes of a few intense seconds, that fortunately thorough my reactions and training, enabled me to continue living as I do today………….

I could reasonably be expected to be honored for that service to my nation, right?

In a perfect world, that is….

One would think, that in a perfect world, as needs were being debated across the universe of public funding, that a hierarchy resembling this, would sort of be the guideline, if not the rule?

National Heroes…..

over

We, The People…..

over

LLC corporations….

After all, if it weren’t for us, there’s a good chance those LLC. corporations wouldn’t be able to do business in a free and prosperous society, you would think?….

One would think, that if one of these heroes needed medical care, with the tremendous amounts of money being thrown away by our government daily, in the forms of corporate tax breaks enabling corporations to make “record breaking profits”…. that they would be put at the top of the list.. don’t you think?

Sorry, CEO… your operation will have to wait… We have a veteran who is in dire need ahead of you….

In a perfect world….

One would think, that a voucher system would be in place, or a blank check, where any veteran could walk into any hospital, and get immediate, necessary medical attention, have his prescriptions filled as a privilege for his service, and that the bill would be willing be paid by those with monetary resources more than adequate for their own needs?

One would think, (right?)… that it would be CEO’s, those who give pink slips so they can break profit records, those who cut benefits so they can break profit records, those who don’t invest in America so they can break record profits, ….who should be the ones finding themselves regulated to CEO hospitals, where they would then have to settle in on a waiting list for the next opening to occur, where they had to endure budget cutbacks and go without life-saving medicine because there was no money left in the CEO fund, perhaps because it had all gone to Veterans to pay THEIR expenses?

In a perfect world…..

In a perfect world, veterans would need no freebies…. They would not need welfare, or a pension, or a humble stipend to eke an existence… They would be working, contributing to society, in any way they could… If they had no legs, they would be outfitted at corporate’s expense, so that would not be an issue… If they had no arms, they could be outfitted at corporate’s expense so that was not an issue. If they had psychological damage, (and who wouldn’t?) they could be treated at corporate’s expense… so that was not an issue.

If they were so badly damaged that they create an efficiency drain on society, they could be honored for their sacrifice, and a useful voluntary capacity could be created to honor that commitment once made so long ago… Perhaps speaking about serving one’s country in every class, in every school, in every county? Can you think of any better civic’s lesson?

There’s a lot that can be done…

The problem is that veterans are deemed as just another expense…. Because to corporate America, that is just what they are… An expense, an obligation to be met that gets in the way of their making more money…

Unfortunately, our Congress is owned by Corporate America….

What should and does need to happen, is this relationship needs to be exposed. We need to call them out on it…

Republicans and Democrats are both complicit in allowing corporate raiders this unprecedented power. But Republicans are the symbol of Corporate America. Republicans are the ones who championed the Corporate Takeover. Republicans are the ones who dismanteled the safeguards that had been put in place to prevent that takeover from happening. That is why they need to go. Disappear… Whoever is left, the remainder, most likely after seeing the elimination of a large majority of their peers, will think twice before following their Dark Lord, now a soul less wanderer eking existence.. ……

In a perfect world…

Unfortunately, today we need to contend with obscene amounts of money saying Corporate is Good; Government Fairness is Bad….

But we have our lives telling us the opposite… It will take courage and strong will, to override all the overload of sensory data being pipelined into our soul, but we still have hearts, and those hearts are attuned to what makes America special. great, and the best place to live on this earth….

WE can still dream….

And those dreams should include a perfect world… one we CAN make happen, at least for those without whom we would not have the freedom, the resources, the nation, we have today….

Here’s to a perfect world?

Facts About UC Davis Pepperspraying

This blog is a must read before anyone writes that the students “deserved” it.. My right wing friends, you know who your are… So you don’t look too stupid later, read this before trying to write something witty…..

1. The protest at which UC Davis police officers used pepper spray and batons against unresisting demonstrators was an entirely nonviolent one.

2. The unauthorized tent encampment was dismantled before the pepper spraying began.

3. Students did not restrict the movement of police at any time during the demonstration.

4. Lt. Pike was not in fear for his safety when he sprayed the students. Chief Spicuzza told reporters on Thursday that her officers had been concerned for their safety when they began spraying. But again, multiple videos show this claim to be groundless.

The most widely distributed video of the incident (viewed, as I write this, by nearly 700,000 people on YouTube) begins just moments before Lt. Pike begain spraying, but another video, which starts a few minutes earlier, shows Pike chatting amiably with one activist, even patting him casually on the back.

(The pat on the back occurs just two minutes and nineteen seconds before Pike pepper sprayed the student he had just been chatting with and all of his friends.)

5. University of California Police are not authorized to use pepper spray except in circumstances in which it is necessary to prevent physical injury to themselves or others.

6. UC police are not authorized to use physical force except to control violent offenders or keep suspects from escaping.

7. The UC Davis Police made no effort to remove the student demonstrators from the walkway peacefully before using pepper spray against them.

8. Use of pepper spray and other physical force continued after the students’ minimal obstruction of the area around the police ended.

9. Even after police began using unprovoked and unlawful violence against the students, they remained peaceful.

10. The students’ commitment to nonviolence extended to their use of language.

Now, lets compare their composure with that of the Tea Party….

Teabagger Violence Mars Tax Day Rally With Sen. Marco Rubio

Tea Party Violence: Teabagger Tries To Kill Man With Obama Bumper Sticker

How Teabaggers Would Deal With America’s Tired, Their Poor, Their Huddled Masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teaming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Unity; One Nation, Under God, Indivisable, With Liberty and Justice, For ALL.

How do you possibly get the crazy leftest ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), and the Rutherford Institute, (a Christain conservative civil rights group out of super crazy conservative Charlottesville, VA), working together on the same issue?

When you violate the Constitution and prevent a group representing 99% of America, from redressing their grievances.

Americans have that right. 722,000 Americans have died ensuring we have that right.

Outside the Perimeter

Courtesy of Department of Defense

We’ll start with Duffy with a timely piece, if you happened to hear Tuesday’s economic news (BOA)……I should mention it is entitled: DV this is for you….For those of you who have not played already, you can also find your inner European.

Tragedy hit hard at the Curmudgeon.
Our prayers go out….Anything we can do……

With Shirley down, The Digital Federalist steps up carrying the banner for Ron Paul before it has a chance to touch the ground. Whether Republicans like it or not, Ron Paul IS THE BEST THING that has ever happened to the Republican party. Let us hope real voters realize it and thumb their noses at both the media pundits, and political headmasters….If I were to describe the phenomena, I would perhaps say that Ron Paul provides America with a practical solution for fixing America’s ills, without bringing with him, the stench from stepped-in cow-pies that precedes the other candidates……

Daily Delaware illustrates why Democrats are a class act…..Markel attacks a dopey News Journal letter writer, who may have previously been one of his supporters. He had no choice: the dopey guy attacked a fellow democrat, his opponent in the primary.

Nancy shows what eventually happens if we don’t make an effort to stop government from condemning land to pave the way for developers. Those people didn’t even get time to eat, much less make blighted chili.…,At least they won’t have to pay for a war on top of losing their livelihoods……

Kilroy warns us the “red tide” is coming. Ii is not what you think, not the red against blue some of you so desperately desire. It is the Red as in “Red Clay.” There seems to be positive movement in that district, coming perhaps from some new leadership? Not to mention Kilroy holding their feet to the fire…….Don’t forget to look at the pictures…..

Merit Bound Alley is drinking coffee from some really strange places…But those things happen…..

Those of you who have not yet checked out the Mike from “southern climes”, can you guess the topic of his post 88888? Wow, it’s been 145 days already. Guess it’s time for another game of golf….

Finally, a reason to break away from football between 3-4 this Sunday, November the 18th. Probably the first valid reason of the season. Tune to channel 28 to hear Matt from the Soapbox and Dana the Watchman, talk about blogs……with assorted others……

The Mike who does not support absolutes, in fact he is down with them, opens dialog on the inner city of Wilmington’s Mayors race, to be on channel 73

The Colosses of Rhody has some invisible friends. More newsworthy, is Marvel Comics taking its first baby step online…..

But the weekend was dominated by two threads……One was veterans day. The other was the ongoing battle for wind….

Delaware Liberal started off with a Donvitisque choice of photo. Comments stayed on, “thank you very much.” FSP countered with a more traditional salute to American’s veterans.

As words flew between the two, I traced 154 comments between the two blogs on this topic, a better perception of what it means to be veteran, was visible to all. However Feroce lost his cool…..showing to all that the Republicans have someone capable of speaking just like Daniello……Nancy provides some commentary, but the comments themselves were where the action was….

The other topic was wind. With all letters having to be into the group of four by Tuesday at 4:00, much was written about Delmarvas final push…Although they claim the report was written by the Pace group, Tommywonk breaks it apart and finds that this person was the real author………Much discussion on the airwaves this weekend, with many bloggers wearing many different hats…….

There were several open letters to the board of four….

We hope these letters and comments will be successful….We need them to be successful.

Veteran’s Day: Revisited

On the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, the continuous guns fell silent…… After years of incoming artillery’s deep, resonant pounding,…..the quiet began. The rare pop of small arms fire,….. faded away. Cautiously a brave soul or two crawled out and stood on top of the trenches. Turning to the other side, they saw the enemy of just a few minutes before, mirroring their own actions…..It was truly over.

Compared to the rest of Europe, the US fared well. Germany, France, Great Britain lost an entire generation of their young men…..

Some dreamed that surely, after such a waste, there never could, or would be such a war again……

It was only a dream…..as history would soon prove……

On this day, there are 22 verified veterans left….worldwide. Four of these are Americans. Soon the last living memories of this war….. will fade away……….

My brush with living memories happened when I was in High School. What the German war machine failed to do………an insignificant clot accomplished. Those who visited, told stories of the dark, turbulent wrestling within the soul……They whispered of an alert mind, albeit one locked in the year 1917 from which it would ultimately and peacefully escape…. They spoke in hushed tones of an old man, possessing enormous strength, incapable of being subdued by even the hospital’s largest orderlies……They told of the soldier’s enterprising son, who climbing back into those years to be with him, and navigating the treacherous barbed wire memories, peacefully calmed him down, until the old soldier finally accepted that his war was over, and quietly signed his own armistice with God………..

We learned he had suffered from shell shock as they called it then, spending the post-war years in a sanitarium somewhere in occupied Germany, of the bland letters to his wife and unseen child back home, letters whose lack of substance during this vapid time, played rabidly on her fears of another women…..

We heard stories of involuntary reactions, occurring some twenty years later…of a face, framed by white hair, turned scarlet in the middle of a social gathering, when someone absently said, “Oh that was during the war.”

And then there were the personal effects, a letter rapidly written in German by a dying officer, with our hero’s first name mentioned as being the one entrusted to make sure the letter got back to his wife, a letter that said the war would soon be over for him, that the only important thing he hung onto as he crossed over to the the other side, were the times he and she had shared together……..As kids we used to march around in a dough boy’s hat, and a genuine spiked Prussian helmet. (the originals were all black, by the way, no silver.)

And then the youngest son, who came along after our soldier had mellowed somewhat, told of stumbling with his dad, across a model of one battlefield, I think it was Belleau Wood, and how that opened up the memories which, pent up for years, calmly flowed out unrepressed, with no emotional consequences.

Through this, we heard the story of a young officer defying a direct order to attack, solely because the objective was unattainable and trying to attempt it, would wipe out every one of his men….Who opting, instead of facing a firing squad, to have himself crawl into no mans land……accompanied only by his sergeant who had stood steadfast with him during this ordeal only to get ripped apart minutes later, had to lie there for two days protected under the warm, safe body which occasionally absorbed a well placed bullet, kept safe by only the tiniest rise of land preventing a direct shot…..

The story of showing up in France, and leading the AEF’s first attack, upon a fortified hill surrounded by the Meuse, and succeeding…..

Those memories didn’t die….they passed and took seed in another generation. Today they lie embedded in one more, a generation who once again questions the “why” of war.

Like his grandfather before him, this person too was brought up under a religion that seem to question war and tell us to “turn the other cheek.” Like his grandfather before him, this person too believes that sometimes there is no greater duty, than to give one’s life for one’s country……..How are these two, supposedly opposite points of view, ever to be reconciled?

We know that Jesus allowed his disciples to carry swords. During the final days, when he asks the disciples if they have a sword, and Peter shows two, he says that is enough…..But later that night when Peter uses his sword to protect Jesus and cuts off a servant’s ear, Jesus tells him sternly. “Put that away. We will have no more of that…”

Fascinating. This duality starts from the beginning of the Christian religion itself.

Throughout history, the worst wars fought have been religious ones. The longest animosities, the ones considered too hard to bury, are those originally pricked by religion….

When we are told to turn the other cheek, perhaps we are to do that on a personal level…. By doing so, hoping that we show others, just how deeply we believe these principals . Perhaps this line of thought recognizes that we are each small instruments of change; but a change of heart in multitudes of men, can implement massive changes…..Therefore doing a self deprecating act, such as dying for another, or carrying an enemy soldier’s bag an extra mile, can have a much greater impact overall, than another killing and the loss of one dead soldier…..

But as a nation of free people we have another responsibility. That responsibility is to ensure that justice, (or that which is right),… prevails over evil, (or that which is wrong)…. As some of you may note, there is a wide play of interpretation in just exactly what is right, and what is wrong…..

But for a strong nation to appease a despot like Stalin, Hitler, or those tyrants in Burma, does exactly the opposite of performing justice. Instead it shows others, despite our words, that we implicitly support these evil regimes, and in doing so, we fail to send hope and inspiration to those who fight, to right the wrongs caused by their misguided leaders….

War enacted by a political state is sometimes a necessity, the last remaining line of defense against the selfish designs of a demented few. Less pain and suffering worldwide, can be bandaged by enacting war, than by allowing open wounds to fester, rot, and spread their evil infection elsewhere.

Therefore as a nation, the United States must occasionally gamble all of it’s resources in the ultimate test…. One must on occasion risk all, to determine whether all was worthy to be risked……

Any nation is only as good as its foot soldiers,…. its grunts. Those choice veterans I know, with whom I’ve hugged, laughed, and cried, …… continue to reinforce the notion I once had as a child: that based on the quality of people who put their lives on the line for this nation, we are truly the best nation to have ever lived upon this planet……..