Todd Akin voted to cut VA

While it appears the reporters seem focused on what Todd Atkin said about rape, and rightly so, they are missing something else that he did.

McCaskill highlights work for veterans in campaign stop
By RUDI KELLER
Sunday, August 26, 2012

With two recent polls showing that she now has the edge in her re-election bid, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill sought to return her campaign to a more normal pace with a Columbia event highlighting her stand on veterans issues.

In her talk on veterans issues, McCaskill touted her oversight subcommittee's work on military contracting, efforts to improve the Army medical service after the housing scandal at Walter Reed Army Hospital and sponsorship of a new GI Bill to help returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

McCaskill contrasted her record of support for increased funding for veterans health care with Akin, who she said had voted regularly to cut spending on veterans.

But when reporters got a chance to talk to her, every question was about U.S. Rep. Todd Akin's comments on rape, abortion and pregnancy that were aired last Sunday on St. Louis television.

McCaskill, who used almost $2 million to run ads during the Republican primary, has expressed outrage at Akin's remarks but has not demanded he quit the race.

She's left that to Republicans, who seem to be forming armed camps of Akin supporters and detractors.

McCaskill has called efforts to oust Akin a slap at the 35 percent of GOP voters who supported him in the Aug. 7 primary.
read more here

Have reporters lost their ability to think of more than one topic at a time?

I live in Florida where we are heading for two huge storms. One from mother nature in the form of a hurricane and one from a group of people determined to make all women mothers or stop people from having sex.

Think about it for a second. They don't want to make sure insurance companies cover birth control but ED medication is covered. They don't want any abortions for any reason so either they are telling folks to stop having sex unless they want kids or they forgot how mother nature works. Getting lost in all of this is what should be talked about as well as what Atkin said.

The people running for office getting the nomination not only want to cut the VA budget, they want to sell it off to for profit companies. In other words, privatize it instead of fixing what needs fixing.

If you read Wounded Times with any regularity, you know there are huge problems veterans face everyday. This is not the time to cut the VA but to make it work better and fund it so that it can take care of all the veterans needing care. This is a topic the reporters seem to think is just too boring to cover next to anything to do with sex.

Beau Biden hits Romney on veterans spending

Beau Biden hits Romney on veterans spending
Romney campaign says Ryan budget plan would actually spend more on veterans.
By Scott Kraus, Of The Morning Call
August 23, 2012

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden on Wednesday lit into cuts he claimed Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan would be forced to make to veterans services in order to hit the deficit reduction targets in Ryan's 10-year budget plan.

Biden, an Iraq War veteran and the son of Vice President Joe Biden, appeared in Allentown with Mayor Ed Pawlowski and a handful of veterans in between stops in Philadelphia and Scranton aimed at dinging the Republican ticket on spending cuts contained in Ryan's Path to Prosperity budget plan.

"Paul Ryan's budget, if you believe what it says, would cut the [Veterans Administration] by $11 billion," Biden said. "How is that conscionable to do? At the same time, he is doubling down on the Bush tax cuts."

The campaign is basing the figure on the 19 percent across-the-board cut to "non-defense discretionary spending" it says would be needed over 10 years to reach the Ryan budget's target of $1 trillion in spending reductions — some $900 million of which have not been detailed — in order to reduce the deficit.
read more here

readRyan's bill and know that this was the subject of widespread horror as soon as he put it in front of congress and most Republicans voted for it long before Romney picked him as his running mate.

This is what Michelle Bachmann wanted to do January 28, 2011

Disabled Veterans Decry Wrongheaded, 'Heartless' Budget Cuts

Romney wants to sell it off an privatize it. How is it possible he "believes" in what he wants to do until someone asks him about it and then he denies it?

Romney has a "specific" problem

Romney has a "specific" problem
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
August 21, 2012


I don't like political emails from either side. I usually hit delete unless it involves veterans.

At first I thought this was some kind of yet another political attack against Romney coming from the opposition but I followed where the article came from and found it on USA Today.

Linked from Daily Kos is this.

Romney, Ryan fault Obama on Afghanistan
By Jackie Kucinich
USA TODAY
Aug 20, 2012

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, criticized President Obama Monday for his handling of the war in Afghanistan during a town hall-style event here that offered a rare opportunity during this campaign season to talk about the ongoing conflict.

"I have a very pressing question to ask you," the man said. "If you guys take over Washington, what are you going to do about this damn mess in Afghanistan?"

Romney, who has been critical of the president for not defining the mission of the war in Afghanistan, pledged to "communicate to the American people" about the cause and goals of any conflict while troops are in harm's way.

"I can tell you this, when I become commander in chief if I'm so lucky, I will address the American people about these issues," which Obama has not done, Romney said. "With regards to Afghanistan, I will do everything in my power to transition from our military to their military as soon as possible, bring our men and women home and do so in a way consistent with our mission, which is to keep Afghanistan from being overrun by a new entity that would allow Afghanistan to be a launching point for terror again like it was on 9/11."
read more here

Let's get honest here. No one running for office of any kind knows everything about everything. Romney isn't even aware that Obama does have plans for Afghanistan and even has a date to get the troops back home. While it would be wonderful if he also had a plan to stop Afghans from pretending to be on the troops side then blowing them away would be a great thing to do, Romney either lied or didn't know. That is why they hire experts on every subject to advise them. Case in point is when President Obama was running for office, he was well aware of military suicides because he had an advisor telling him what was going on. He traveled very quietly to the Montana National Guard because of what they were doing to address suicides.

Spc. Chris Dana's story told to Obama by step brother
August 28, 2008

Stepbrother tells guardsman's story to Obama
Helena soldier took his own life after tour of duty in Iraq
By LAURA TODE
Of The Gazette Staff

Montana National Guard Spc. Chris Dana will never know the impact his life and ultimately his death may someday have on the lives of veterans nationwide.

Dana took his life in March 2007, less than two years after returning from a tour in Iraq. His family believes he was a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder, brought on by his combat experience.

Since Dana's death, his stepbrother Matt Kuntz has campaigned for more awareness of the costs of untreated post-traumatic stress syndrome in Iraq war veterans.

Wednesday, he was invited to meet with Sen. Barack Obama to share the message he's been spreading statewide for more than a year. At a quiet picnic table at Riverfront Park, Obama sat across from Kuntz, his wife, Sandy, and their infant daughter, Fiona.

I was very impressed he knew that at the time, the Montana National Guard had the best program going on. It was my job to know since I track all of this across the country focusing on Combat PTSD and military suicides. I couldn't figure out how Obama knew. Then it dawned on me that he had found the right experts to find out what was going on. He was also on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee proving he did care. After all his Grandfather was a veteran.

There is no way anyone could know without getting the right advice. That seems to be Romney's biggest problem. He isn't specific about anything. He is smart of he wouldn't have made so much money. So how can this smart guy with a lot of money fail when it comes to getting advice on what he should do to straighten out all the problems this country has. It is not that Romney is new to how things get done since he's been running for President over and over again. Does he even know Ryan's budget calls for the VA budget to be cut by $11 billion? Or that it also calls for privatizing it?

If he does have a plan then the voters need to know what it is specifically! If he doesn't have plans for all of this mess, then voters need to know especially this close to the day they have to decide who should run this country next. If Romney hasn't hired the right people to advise him after all this time, who will he hire if he gets the job he's going after? Will it be more of the same of either bad advice or no advice at all?

This is what CNN thinks is the biggest problem with Romney picking Ryan?

This is what CNN thinks is the biggest problem with Romney picking Ryan

But a serious downside to a Romney-Ryan ticket may be Ryan's specific policy ideas. Widely lauded in conservative circles, Ryan's budget plan will become front and center in the campaign. This is especially true for the fundamental restructuring of Medicare as proposed in the plan. Medicare and Social Security are typically viewed as the "third rail" of American politics, and presidential candidates have historically shied away from proposing sweeping changes to these programs.

They didn't seem to think that cutting the VA budget or selling it off to private for profit companies was a big deal. Do they even know about this? They talk about Ryan's budget but didn't seem interested in what the rest of his plan has in it.

If you want to know why CNN Hit 20-Year Weekday Primetime Low I just may be one example of why that happened. There are millions of Americans just like me.

CNN joined in the 24/7 coverage of politics and dropped everything else Americans care about. That isn't the only problem. They failed to actually report on the rest of the story when they covered politicians.

When Mitch McConnell and the Republicans became the party in charge of the congress, he didn't say their number one job was to put Americans back to work. He said their job was to make President Obama a one term president. Then they began to take the steps to do it.

The rest of the country had to pay for their plan to work. If they fixed anything, it wouldn't be in their best interest but they had to act as if they were doing something to earn their pay checks and their own insurance coverage. So they went after the deficit they had been silent about every year before.

Most of us remember the fact two wars were never in the budget but were put on the charge card with no plans on how to ever pay for them. The fact that billions were unaccounted for didn't matter before.

This didn't matter either.

Iraq Banks Billions in Surpluses, GAO Says The United States has appropriated about $48 billion for Iraqi reconstruction since 2003 and has committed all but about $6 billion.

They wanted to end the Affordable Care Act, they dubbed "Obamacare" and not fix what they thought was wrong with it. They took the easy way out and said just kill it. While this may have "fired up their base" it would have left millions right back where they were with no way to pay for a doctor visit and adult kids without any insurance up to 26.

They complained about the unemployment rate as millions of people were out of work and then made it worse by saying they had to cut the deficit and laid off public employees. They didn't say their number one job was to take care of veterans even though every day we saw more and more of them suffering without getting the care they not only needed, but earned when they lived up to their promise to defend this nation with their lives. There is a very long list of things they didn't say was their job and veterans ended up suffering for all of what they didn't want to do.

Veterans usually go into public service. It is in their blood to want to be of service to this country. They become police officers, firefighters and emergency responders. They go into healthcare and they become teachers. They go into public service working for their cities and towns to make them better. What happened? A lot of them lost their jobs with the budget cuts but CNN didn't seem to think any of this was important to mention. If they mentioned it at all, I missed it and so did most Americans.

They didn't seem interested in the fact that National Guards and Reservists on repeated deployments were coming back home with no jobs and no healthcare since they are not covered unless they are deployed and their families are not covered so if they get sick, they are on their own.

FOX Orlando

During the time that Marine Cpl. Adam Byler spent his 8 months in Afghanistan, his little girl, Adalynn, was born. When he recently came back home, it was love at first sight.

Adalynn Byler was pronounced on Monday evening and was on support in order to allow organ transplant teams to be set up. Her family was very generous in allowing other families to have their prayers/wishes/dreams answered. There are three lives whose futures changed on Tuesday by the forward and outward thinking of the Byler family.

But this happens all the time. Instead of CNN covering what is happening to so many military families and veterans, they just put on politicians from both parties to make whatever claims they want to make. Some political coverage is necessary but not as much as they decided to do especially when troops were being killed overseas and veterans right here were suffering, waiting for care they were promised.

The only good thing to come out of all of this is there is finally some incentive to hire veterans and companies are taking advantage of it. The unemployment rate for veterans has gone down. It could have gone down a lot lower if cable news stations devoted time to covering them all along.

When I go to events, there is always someone with a political point of view, but the majority of the veterans I am with are talking about their lives and what is going on with them as veterans and their kids serving today.

I don't watch CNN much anymore while I gave up on FOX cable news and MSNBC a very long time ago. They act as if politics are all that matters but most of us are fed up with that topic being covered most of the time. Oh, sorry I almost forgot that Anderson Cooper on CNN covers Syria a lot too.

UPDATE

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH PICKING RYAN IS HIS BUDGET THAT CUTS THE VA WHEN VETERANS NEED IT THE MOST!

Paul Ryan pick is against veterans

UPDATE From Vote Vets
GOP Budget Doesn't Even Say the Word "Veteran"
How bad is Mitt Romney’s VP Pick Paul Ryan for Veterans?

His budget slashes care for veterans, but doesn't even use the word "veteran" once.

Below is the piece I wrote, written in March at Huffington Post, about Paul Ryan’s hostile view of veterans. Please help us share this blog post on all of your social networks, and forward to your friends and family.

Sincerely,

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets.org
@JonSoltz

GOP Budget Doesn't Even Say the Word "Veteran"

Yep, this guy

“While our veterans certainly deserve all the accolades Scott offers, they need proper benefits more, which our congressman is working to take away, based on his vote for the Ryan Budget.”

Deriving its name from its primary sponsor, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the bill contains substantial cuts in military benefits, some of which will leave 130,000 veterans without needed healthcare.

“The Ryan Budget is an insult to every American veteran. It’s 98 pages long and does not even contain the word ‘veteran.’ It contains over $11 billion in cuts that adversely affect our veterans, yet never mentions them by name.”

Romney just proved what he thinks about veterans. Hey, if they break the VA, then they can sell it off to private companies.

Mitt Romney Floats ‘Private Sector Competition’ For Vets’ Health Care System
By Emily Friedman
ABC News
Nov 11, 2011

MAULDIN, S.C. — Mitt Romney suggested on Friday that he was open to introducing “private sector competition” into the health care system U.S. military veterans receive.

At a campaign event in South Carolina, Romney raised the possibility of a voucher system.

“If you’re the government, they know there’s nowhere else you guys can go, you’re stuck,” Romney told a group of veterans at Mutt’s BBQ restaurant here. “Sometimes you wonder if there would be some way to introduce private sector competition, somebody else who could come in and say each solder has ‘X’ thousand dollars attributed to them and then they can choose where they want to go in the government system or the private system with the money that follows them.”

Romney added, “Like what happens with schools in Florida where people have a voucher that goes with him.”

Democrats immediately pounced on Romney’s remarks, blasting out information about Sen. John McCain’s plan to privatize the VA in 2008 and articles that suggested veteran’s at the time weren’t happy with the proposal. The Veterans of Foreign Wars weren’t pleased either: In a statement to the Talking Points Memo, VFW spokesman Jerry Newberry said, “The VFW doesn’t support privatization of veterans health care. This is an issue that seems to come around every election cycle.”
read more here

Update
Democrats think I am against President Obama because I complain so much about what our veterans are still going through. Republicans think I am against Republicans because I slam so many members of congress in that party. The truth is, I am pro-veteran and believe it is our responsibility to hold them all equally accountable for what they do FOR veterans or TO veterans. This is the reason why I am a registered Independent. I am against all politicians when they vote against veterans.

Romney promises VA revamp or end?

Romney promises VA revamp
By Camille Tuutti
Jul 25, 2012

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to transform the Veteran Affairs Department, with an emphasis on technology and reforms to business processes. Among the key promises he made during a July 24 address to the VFW National Convention in Reno, Nev., is reduce the backlog for disability benefit claims by eliminating unnecessary red tape and adopting a consistent electronic claims processing system.

In addition, Romney’s reform plan would expand the VA health system to reach more of the 41 percent of veterans living in rural areas and make online consultations, tele-homecare and tele-monitoring more available.

If elected president, Romney said, he would also undo the $1.2 trillion in defense cuts slated to take effect Jan. 3, 2013. The across-the-board reductions, required under sequestration after a bipartisan committee failed to agree to more targeted cuts in 2011, would “severely shrink our force structure, and impair our ability to meet and deter threats,” he said.

“Don't bother trying to find a serious military rationale behind any of this, unless that rationale is wishful thinking,” Romney said at the Reno convention. “Strategy is not driving President Obama's massive defense cuts. In fact, his own secretary of defense warned that these reductions would be ‘devastating.’”

(Fact check: What Romney calls "President Obama's massive defense cuts" are part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which passed Congress with the votes of 202 Republicans -- 174 in the House and 28 in the Senate.)
read more here

Here is part of what Richard Klass Colonel, USAF (ret.) wrote.

An Insult to Veterans

He asserts that the sequester cuts would weaken the Veterans Administration and that he would not let that happen. But President Obama has already ensured that the sequester, if it comes to pass, will not affect the VA. Gov. Romney did not mention his flirtation with replacing the VA with vouchers, a move that would decimate the VA's world class hospitals and research into veteran injuries such as loss of sight or limbs, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress.

He also seems to have ignored the fact that the GOP budget of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), that he supports, would cut $11 billion from next year's VA budget. And of course, he would not give the Obama Administration credit for the largest increases in the VA budget in 30 years and for the expansion of care for women, mental health services and ending the shame of veterans' homelessness.

Marine Corps Mocks Soldier in Election PSA

Marine Corps Mocks Soldier in Election PSA
A Marine Corps-produced graphic mocks a soldier who publicly supported Ron Paul.

Last week, the Marine Corps yanked an ad featuring a Camp Pendleton Marine.
By Daniel Woolfolk
July 24, 2012

Will Veterans Lose if Mitt Romney Wins?

UPDATE Just to show that my fears for the VA are not unfounded.

An Insult to Veterans
Posted: 07/25/2012
Richard Klass Colonel, USAF (ret.)

He asserts that the sequester cuts would weaken the Veterans Administration and that he would not let that happen. But President Obama has already ensured that the sequester, if it comes to pass, will not affect the VA. Gov. Romney did not mention his flirtation with replacing the VA with vouchers, a move that would decimate the VA's world class hospitals and research into veteran injuries such as loss of sight or limbs, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress. He also seems to have ignored the fact that the GOP budget of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), that he supports, would cut $11 billion from next year's VA budget. And of course, he would not give the Obama Administration credit for the largest increases in the VA budget in 30 years and for the expansion of care for women, mental health services and ending the shame of veterans' homelessness.

Veterans For Common Sense has a great article taking a look at what this country would be like for veterans if Romney takes over as President. Sadly the truth is, veterans will lose if Romney wins just as they lost under other Republican presidents, especially under Bush.

It is not that Republican politicians are bad people but when you put business first, veterans are usually last on the "to do" list. Bush took advantage of the loyalty of the veterans just as McCain tried to do.

This was one of the happiest days of my life!

JULY 17, 2007
VA Chief Nicholson Resigns
By TERENCE HUNT
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 17, 2007; 12:17 PM

WASHINGTON -- Veterans Affairs chief Jim Nicholson, a onetime Republican Party chairman was forced to defend his agency's performance after revelations of shoddy health care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, announced Tuesday he is resigning.

Nicholson, who is returning to the private sector, has been head of the VA since February, 2005. Before that, he was U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and chairman of the Republican National Committee.

It wasn't just what happened at Walter Reed but most of what is adding to the suffering of our veterans since the troops were sent into Afghanistan in 2001 happened because no one planned for the wounded coming home and what they would need. No one was held accountable as veterans suffered because veterans are loyal people. The last thing they want to think is that another veteran betrayed them. It happens all the time.

Most the veterans I spend my time with are Republicans. I've written often how I wouldn't want to be around anyone else because I know them. I know how humble they are, how much they care about others, especially other veterans, and it breaks my heart when I have to tell them the truth.

I see the pain in their eyes when I have to tell them that someone they trusted betrayed them.

When McCain was running against Obama, they didn't know that McCain voted against them most of the time. He thought the GI Bill, among other bills, was "too good for them" even though this bill was not good enough, as we've seen over the last few years with problem after problem. Yet McCain, who fought tooth and nail against it along with Bush, managed to take credit for it passing.

Now they are face with Romney. A man with a career of making money for himself first and his partners second. His record on veterans has not been good when you consider who really benefited and that was businesses. I doubt he'd change as President when considering going to war and having to choose between the lives of the men and women he sends against the defense contractors he owes favors to. We saw that with Bush and paybacks of no-bid contracts.

Too many politicians on both sides have the same debt to corporate backers but veterans are the last to know where their politicians loyalty really is and they trust too much. Their loyalty really prevents using their power as veterans to hold politicians accountable for what they do as much as what they don't do.

Romney won't fix the VA. He'll destroy it so that his rich pals will finally get what they want. Turning the care of veterans and their families over to private corporations putting profits ahead of taking care of them.

Imagine calling the VA for an appointment and the voice on the other end is an outsourced employee in India instead of Indiana. You would see a hospital treating civilians and veterans together and then close down because they lost money leaving veterans with having to go without care. You'd see all the VA hospitals being controlled by corporations after taxpayer money built them, turned into luxury condos for turkey vultures because CEO's cut their losses and left.

Here's the issue in a nutshell. If Romney wins, veterans will lose but if Obama is re-elected, they have to hold him and every other politician accountable instead of just assuming any of them will be as loyal to the veterans as veterans are to the country they were willing to die for.

Will Veterans Lose if Mitt Romney Wins?
Posted on July 7, 2012
by VCS

VCS Executive Director quoted extensively

What would a Mitt Romney Administration really mean for America’s veterans?

On Tuesday, Romney named former President George H.W. Bush and former Sen. Bob Dole as honorary co-chairmen of his Veterans and Military Families for Romney. But perhaps more significantly, the group’s national co-chairs, who will advise Romney on veteran policy if he is elected, include James Nicholson, former secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under President George W. Bush.

Some veterans advocates say Romney’s decision to tap Nicholson, who abruptly resigned from the VA in 2007 amid controversy, as well as Anthony Principi and James Peake, who also presided over the VA during George W. Bush’s two terms in the White House, could signal that Romney will embrace some of the policies of the Bush years, which were widely considered to be tough times for veterans.

“A Romney presidency would be a disaster for veterans, as evidenced by whom he’s chosen to advise him,” says Patrick Bellon, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a veterans’ advocacy organization. “I think these choices should give all Americans pause. How can voters support a candidate who is showing so clearly that he learned nothing from Bush’s failures? It would be a mistake to trust people like Nicholson who failed veterans in such epic fashion.”

Nicholson, a wealthy attorney, decorated Vietnam veteran and former chair of the Republican National Committee who served as VA Secretary from 2005 to 2007, said in a statement on Romney’s website, “Veterans have served our nation proudly for decades. They deserve not only our respect and admiration, but top quality care for the rest of their lives. Mitt Romney will work tirelessly to ensure that veterans and military families are always cared for. That is why I am proud to join him in his campaign to keep America strong and prosperous.”

But the “top quality care” to which Nicholson refers was reportedly hard to come by when he ran things. A cover story in Newsweek in March 2007 reported that the VA under Nicholson was an overloaded bureaucracy that was unprepared for the onslaught of troops returning from war and was failing America’s wounded.
read more here

The Hill makes big deal out of good song

It is a good song and just because Romney uses it, doesn't mean he owns it. What is the big deal about the Marines playing this song?

Marine Corps band plays Romney song on White House lawn
By Ian Swanson
07/04/12

A subset of the Marine Corps band struck up one of Mitt Romney's walkout songs while President Obama was greeting visitors at the White House Independence Day celebration.

A White House pool report said the band struck up Rodney Atkins's "It's America," and described it as an "awkward moment."

The president and first lady Michelle Obama were hosting service members and their families on the South Lawn of the White House Wednesday evening to mark the Fourth of July.

Military families were treated to an evening of barbecue, fireworks and a music concert featuring the Marine Band and country music star Brad Paisley.
read more here

Romney 4 deferments? Really?

Romney 4 deferments? Really? Sure didn't know that about him when I lived in Massachusetts and he was Governor.

According to the following report, he told the Boston Globe he "longed to be in Vietnam", but that was 2007 and by then the Vietnam Veterans finally began to enjoy some of the respect and appreciation they should have had all along. Guess Romney was thinking like the rest of the jerks pretending to be Vietnam Veterans but never had the _____ to go.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama surges in campaign donations from military members

Report: Obama surges in campaign donations from military members
By DEREK TURNER
Published: April 25, 2012

The U.S. military has long been closely linked with the Republican party, particularly when it comes to presidential candidates, but that may be changing.

In March, President Barack Obama took in the most campaign contributions from those within the military and the Department of Defense, trumping the previous leader, conservative candidate Ron Paul, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. Despite essentially locking up the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney lags far behind.
read more here

World War II veteran was turned away from a polling place VA card not good enough

Portage County veteran, 86, doesn't vote after VA identification card rejected at polls
Published: Tuesday, March 06, 2012

By Michael Scott, The Plain Dealer

AURORA, Ohio – A Portage County World War II veteran was turned away from a polling place this morning because his driver’s license had expired in January and his new Veterans Affairs ID did not include his home address.

“My beef is that I had to pay a driver to take me up there because I don’t walk so well and have to use this cane and now I can’t even vote,” said Paul Carroll, 86, who has lived in Aurora nearly 40 years, running his own business, Carroll Tire, until 1975.

“I had to stop driving, but I got the photo ID from the Veterans Affairs instead, just a month or so ago. You would think that would count for something. I went to war for this country, but now I can’t vote in this country.”
red more here

Ron Paul gets the most military donations

This is not the first time Paul has received the bulk of military donations. The troubling part is how few are counted in on donating to the one they want to be the next Commander-in-Chief.

Ron Paul gets the most military donations
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 9, 2012 16:05:41 EST
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is getting by far the most campaign contributions from military-affiliated donors than anyone else in the 2012 field.

President Obama ranks second, a review of Federal Election Commission donor records show.

While the FEC records make it difficult in some cases to separate civilians who work for the Defense Department from uniformed service members, Paul has still received more than twice as much as the next closest recipient from people who list the military or one of the armed services as their occupation.

Paul, an Air Force veteran who is the only remaining candidate in the field with military experience, has received a combined $17,432 in campaign donations from 36 people affiliated with the military, some of them contributing more than once, as allowed under campaign finance rules.

It is difficult to break down contributions by service because of how occupations are listed, but when a service is clearly designated, Paul received the most donations from people working for the Army. Records also do not show which contributors might be veterans.

President Obama received a combined $7,200 in donations from 18 people with military affiliations. Seven donors listed the Army as their occupation, three Navy and one Air Force. No donor said they were a Marine. The remaining donors listed “the military” as their occupation.
read more here

Some veterans wary of GOP frontrunners’ tough talk on foreign policy

Some veterans wary of GOP frontrunners’ tough talk on foreign policy

By Zac Anderson
Tallahassee bureau
Published: Friday, January 27, 2012

JACKSONVILLE — After spending two tours in Iraq and losing two friends in combat, Army veteran John Fails listens with skepticism to the tough foreign policy talk coming from the GOP presidential frontrunners.

“Every deployment has a cost,” said the 27-year-old, who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and now studies public policy at the University of North Florida.

From covert operations against Cuba to confronting Iran over nuclear weapons, the Republican candidates — with the exception of Rep. Ron Paul — are largely pushing a hawkish approach to conflicts overseas.

In the past, such bellicose talk may have been guaranteed to win over support in this generally conservative region, with a heavy concentration of retired and active duty service members.

But Fails and other veterans interviewed on the campaign trail expressed the weariness of a segment of the population asked to bear the brunt of nearly 10 years of war in two countries, conflicts that killed more than 6,000 American soldiers and cost the country at least $1 trillion.

Florida has 19 military bases — including the Central Command for Iraq and Afghanistan — and more than 1.6 million veterans, so perceptions about who would make the best commander in chief can play a big role in presidential contests. Veterans’ support helped seal Sen. John McCain’s victory in the state’s 2008 Republican primary.
read more here

GOP candidates vie for military votes

GOP candidates vie for military votes
By Brian Bakst - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 18, 2012 9:51:36 EST
BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. — Mitt Romney has ex-POW John McCain vouching for him. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum highlights his time on the Senate Armed Services Committee. And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich frequently calls himself an “Army brat” who grew up on military bases.

Although Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are the only GOP candidates to have worn a military uniform, all of the Republican presidential contenders are emphasizing their military ties these days in a state that’s home to 413,000 veterans and eight military bases, with thousands of people on active duty.

“My purpose in life was to never be the president of the United States,” Perry says as he campaigns ahead of South Carolina’s primary Saturday. “My purpose has always been to serve my country and my state whenever they need or they call. That’s our duty as Americans.”

Perry’s days as an Air Force pilot in the 1970s and his father’s B-17 tail-gunner missions in World War II are staples of his South Carolina message as he looks to right his struggling campaign.

Paul, a flight surgeon in the 1960s who made his name as an antiwar congressman, is filling mailboxes with five-page letters that include a picture of him as a young draftee in a full-brimmed Air Force hat. “Let me begin by telling you that the troops know first and foremost that I am one of them,” he writes.

There’s a reason for the intensive courting: As long as South Carolina has been instrumental in deciding GOP nominees, the state’s voters have rewarded candidates with military service. Every GOP primary winner since Ronald Reagan in 1980 has been a veteran.
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Soldier may Face Punishment for Ron Paul Endorsement

Soldier may Face Punishment for Paul Endorsement

January 04, 2012
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan

An Army Reserve corporal could face disciplinary action after he publicly endorsed Rep. Ron Paul for president while wearing his uniform on Tuesday night during the Iowa caucus.

Cpl. Jesse Thorsen, of the Illinois-based 416th Theater Engineer Command, spoke out for the Texas congressman first in an interview with CNN and then before a gathering of Paul supporters.

His endorsement violates a longstanding Defense Department policy that bars servicemembers from engaging in political activities while in uniform.

"The chain of command of that soldier is involved," Army spokeswoman Maj. Angel Wallace told Military.com on Wednesday. "They will determine what kind of action may be taken."

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Former military leaders bash GOP candidates

Former military leaders bash GOP candidates
By Henry C. Jackson - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Nov 21, 2011 18:55:07 EST
WASHINGTON — Three former top military officials slammed the Republican presidential field ahead of Tuesday night’s GOP debate on foreign policy. The Democratic-leaning former officials said the entire Republican field has been all over the map but focused on GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.

“My concern would be that he might not be credibly decisive,” Richard Danzig, who served as Navy secretary under President Bill Clinton, said of Romney on Monday. “There’s too much of a track record here of moving between positions.”

Danzig said President Barack Obama has shown the required decisiveness throughout his presidency.
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Deployed soldiers are paying attention to election, but wish someone paid attention to them

Is the economy important in this election? Absolutely! But imagine being in Iraq or Afghanistan right now and noticing how little coverage there is in either place. Would you feel as if anyone cared anymore? It keeps getting forgotten that everything that happens here affects them just as much as it does us because they have family here dealing with it and know they will have to return to it as well. They just have the extra burden on their shoulders trying to do their duty and stay alive. Why have the politicians forgotten them?

McCain, well he still wants to use them to sell his "I know how to win wars" but never addresses the simple fact the surge of troops had little to do with it and it was the rest that went on to reduce the violence and our troops dying as well as the Iraqis. Obama is focused on the economy and says that he wants to bring the troops home from Iraq and build up forces in Afghanistan. Aside from that, they are hardly mentioned.

One other missing subject in this election is the veterans, especially the wounded veterans needing care. McCain says he cares about them but his votes have proven he really doesn't. Obama serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee and has been part of the changes for the better in the VA, but we are left to wonder why it is Obama never really brings any of this up. Why wouldn't he be proud of his record on veterans issues compared to McCain? While they will say there are only so many hours in the day, it would be a wonderful thing if some reporter interviewing them would at least bring the subject of the troops deployed and the veterans who have been wounded at least once in a while. They noticed.

Soldiers see wars, economy as key election concerns
European edition, Friday, October 31, 2008



For Staff Sgt. Derek Detherow, based in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, the Iraq war is by far the biggest issue in the upcoming U.S. elections.

After all, the decisions that the future president will make on the war will directly affect him.

"The biggest thing in my life is here in Iraq," Detherow, who is with 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, said recently. "I can’t see too much beyond that."

Detherow said he doesn’t like how little attention is paid to his soldiers who are out working every single day. Yet he also acknowledged that there was some good in not being such a hot topic this year.

"The way I look at it, there are pros and cons of both the Republicans and the Democrats, and I don’t really favor either side," said Pvt. Gabriel Esquero, 25, of Alamogordo, N.M. "I’m just for whatever presidential candidate is ready to build the economy back up."

Esquero added that he believed both candidates had failed to talk enough to voters about what is at stake in Afghanistan.

"I think a lot of people fail to know what the issues are here," he said. "A lot of people think this is a wasted effort here."
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McCain said "take care of veterans" but voted against doing it

When McCain said in the debate with Obama about taking care of veterans, I was lucky to not have anything in my hand to throw at the TV set!

He's voted against them every chance he's gotten to prove it!

Iraq, the "surge" didn't bring about the drop in violence but was only part of it. Paying off the Iraqis to stop killing our troops was a bigger part of it but McCain likes to leave this part out as well. McCain talk about how he's right but when he turned around and said we should hit Iraq right after 9-11 and then pushed to do this, he was wrong and he was wrong when he said Afghanistan was won so it was fine to pull the troops out. He's been wrong all along and the troops along with our veterans can't afford any more of his mistakes in judgment.

Next, if the military really believed McCain would be the better choice as Commander-in-Chief, then they would put their money behind him instead of Obama, who has received the bulk of military donations as well as Ron Paul, who on the Republican side, received a lot more than McCain did.

I am listening to the debate now and still stunned at the lack of any kind of understanding of what all of this is costing the troops and our veterans. You would think that if anyone would understand the suffering of the men and women who serve this country would be understood by anyone, it would be another veteran, but he hasn't a single clue.

McCain just gave election to Obama on a silver platter

McCain picks Alaska governor as running mate
John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket for the White House, a senior McCain campaign official has told CNN. The 44-year-old Palin, now in her first term as governor, is a pioneering figure in Alaska, the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state's top political job.

Palin's term has not been without controversy. A legislative investigation is looking into allegations that Palin fired Alaska's public safety commissioner because he refused to fire the governor's former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

Palin acknowledged that a member of her staff made a call to a trooper in which the staffer suggested he was speaking for the governor.


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Just think of the vision of something happening to the senior senator and Palin becoming president! This is just too stupid to believe. Does McCain have any respect left at all for the Republicans or the American people? No wonder they can't give away 10,000 seats to their convention.