It's too late for O'Reilly. He already proved he's a schmuck

Bernie and Jane on Edwards and Letterman Trashing O'Reilly
Friday, January 25, 2008

This is a rush transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 24, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the "Radio Factor!"

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Weekdays with Bernie and Jane" segment tonight, two hot topics. First, the Associated Press and various other news agencies reported yesterday that the Bush administration has lied or had lied hundreds of times in the run-up to the Iraq war. One problem with that: The information came from an organization funded by far-left enthusiastic, George Soros. I'm being nice tonight. But the AP and the other news agency failed to mention that fact.

Also, a couple of nights ago David Letterman and John Edwards pretty much trashed me over the contention that the economy has caused some veterans great harm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN EDWARDS: The core of the feud is that I've been talking about homeless veterans, and the fact that we have a couple hundred thousand homeless veterans that have no place to sleep at night.


It's embarrassing, horribly embarrassing, incredibly embarrassing for America, a huge moral issue facing the country. And he kind of went on the show and said that I was exaggerating, making it up. And I think he got a lot of correspondence, and a lot of homeless veterans have been calling in.

DAVID LETTERMAN: You know what I've noticed about Bill O'Reilly — and he's a marvelous communicator — but he's not — he doesn't really care much about telling the truth.

EDWARDS: Yes, I've noticed that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now as we demonstrated last night here on "The Factor," we have the stats to back up that we of course told the truth. But John Edwards did not, and David Letterman doesn't know what it is.

Joining us now from Washington, Jane Hall and from Miami, Bernie Goldberg. Both are FOX News analysts.

All right, Bernie, now does Letterman owe it to his audience to, when he sides with a guy like Edwards and calls me a liar and I don't know what I'm talking about and all of that. And then we produce the evidence that says 150,000 beds available to homeless veterans every night, $37 billion, a record amount of spending, on veteran health care. And the V.A. guy comes on the program and says, "If you're a homeless vet, we will come to you, anywhere, anytime, and help you." That's the truth. So does Letterman owe it to his audience to come on the next night and say, "Gee, you know, I was really unfair to Bill O'Reilly"? Does he owe it?
go here for the rest if you can stand it
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,325569,00.html

First the son of a bitch attacks homeless veterans, claiming there aren't any, then he spins it to they're all drunks, drug addicts and mental cases, then he says the "government can't do anything about it" followed by Hunt's claim "he's putting his muscle" to work for the homeless veterans. Bullshit! It's too late for O'Reilly when he's already proven he's a schmuck! He doesn't give a crap about the truth anymore than he cares about our veterans. He doesn't care about facts or where they came from and either he's too uninformed on what information our own government finally admits to, or he's too stupid to understand any of it. Now he has the balls to claim he is the victim of any of this! I still say gather up all the Marines, soldiers, National Guardsmen, Reservists brave enough to do what he wouldn't dare dream of doing and show up at his studio to tell him it's too late to cover his huge ass. It's all on tape!

As for the crap about 150,000 beds, that's bull too.

State
Funded Beds
Homeless Veterans
AK
0
600
AL
42
824
AR
40
850
AZ
199
3,970
CA
1,875
49,724
CO
102
1,203
CT
103
5,000
DC
43
2,500
DE
15
550
FL
430
18,910
GA
165
3,297
HI
118
800
IA
56
547
ID
10
500
IL
136
2,197
IN
108
1,200
KS
47
601
KY
115
425
LA
150
9,950
MA
378
1,700
MD
241
3,300
ME
0
100
MI
139
3,513
MN
23
523
MO
82
3,325
MS
60
1,579
MT
17
232
NC
182
1,659
ND
0
1,000
NE
12
770
NH
36
257
NJ
142
6,500
NM
30
860
NV
201
4,715
NY
274
21,147
OH
261
1,710
OK
27
500
OR
159
5,891
PA
332
2,784
RI
23
175
SC
110
1,375
SD
42
170
TN
241
2,844
TX
233
15,967
UT
145
530
VA
86
870
VT
10
30
WA
167
6,800
WI
209
828
WV
41
347
WY
31
98
PR
12
80
TOTAL
7,700 beds provided!
195,827

http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81

Iraq war veteran Jeremy Shields Pleads Not Guilty in Hart County Court

Man Pleads Not Guilty in Hart County Court

Posted: 8:36 PM Jan 25, 2008

The father of the man charged in a Hart County murder case says his son suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Iraq war veteran Jeremy Shields pleaded not guilty to killing his co-worker 34-year-old Wendy Sue Logsdon Jan. 24 in Hart County District Court.


Police say Shields bludgeoned Logsdon with a hammer at his parents home in Radcliff, then set her body on fire and dumped it along a gravel road in rural Hart County.

Her remains were found Jan. 21 by a hunter.

Police say it appears the pair had little connection aside from working together at a large shoe distribution center in Shepherdsville.

Shields' father says his son suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his tours of duty in Iraq as a convoy escort.
http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/14444487.html

Before you judge there are some things you need to know. First, we should feel terrible for Wendy Sue Logsdon and her family. She didn't deserve a death like this anymore than anyone does. She is a victim and we need to remember that. There are a lot of victims paying the price for having ties to Iraq. Families falling apart because one of their own went to Iraq or Afghanistan only to return with PTSD, drug dependency or abusing alcohol. Drunk driving and causing fatalities. Angry outbursts out of control causing beatings and attacks on friends and strangers. They are all prices of war we never seem to take into account.

When we fail the soldiers coming back, taking care of their wounds, they are not the only ones to suffer. They take a lot of other people into the darkness with them.

When they have a flashback it comes for many reasons. It could be an image they see on TV, a story they read, a certain smell, the sound of a helicopter, stress along with a host of other fire starters. In moments of a flashback, it's like an awake nightmare, virtually not much different than the ones they experience while asleep when they are physically returned to the carnage. By this it is their senses are returned from smelling it again, feeling it again, seeing it as real as when it happened again and again, body on hyper alert and they feel their life is in danger all over again. Anger pumps through them and if a person is so unlucky to be near them at the time, react badly without knowledge, they too become the enemy the warrior once fought. While this type of reaction does not happen all the time, there have been many cases when it does. We need to understand this and provide the right justice in each case.

What we cannot dismiss or ignore is that when we do not take care of all the wounded, they will keep fighting the enemy they see in their mind and that enemy sometimes becomes us.

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Woman found guilty of sex attack on soldier

Woman found guilty of sex attack on soldier
Posted Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:14pm AEDT

Map: Perth 6000
A 21-year-old Perth woman has been found guilty of three charges relating to a sex attack on an Australian soldier two years ago.

A Perth District Court jury deliberated for six hours before finding Nicola Jane Clunies-Ross guilty of depravation of liberty, attempted sexual penetration and assault.

Her trial was told the soldier was assaulted with an object at her East Perth home with the help of another soldier who later killed himself.

Clunies-Ross maintained that she was forced to take part in the assault because the second soldier threatened to kill her.

She is yet to be sentenced.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/25/2147061.htm

Man found hanged at local motel

Man found hanged at local motel


By Lynn Proctor Windle, Staff Writer
(Created: Friday, January 25, 2008 6:45 PM CST)

A man was found hanged early Thursday morning at the LaQuinta Inn located in the 1800 block of U.S. 75.

Police are withholding identification of the victim pending notification of relatives.

A witness who described himself as an acquaintance of the victim said he found the body at about 5 a.m.

The witness, Pat Ahrens, owner of a Plano landscape service, said that he met the man whom he identified only as Chris, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dallas over the weekend. Both were patients there, he said.

Ahrens said the victim was released from the hospital on Wednesday morning. With no transportation, the victim called Ahrens asking for a ride to his home in Hillsboro. Ahrens said that when he realized he would be unable to drive the man home that evening, he put him up for the night in the motel. Ahrens said the man appeared depressed.

Ahrens said he returned early the next morning to find the man hanging from the second-story balcony outside the building. Athens said he first called a friend and then called 911. Police said no cause of death has been determined and an investigation is ongoing.

Contact Lynn Proctor Windle at lwindle@acnpapers.com.
http://www.courier-gazette.com/articles/2008/01/25/breaking_news/41.txt

First Gulf War POW's push for reparations

Gulf War POWs push for Iraqi reparations

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 25, 2008 14:30:59 EST

U.S. veterans of the 1991 Gulf War who were captured and tortured by Iraqi forces are renewing their efforts to get President Bush to relent and allow them to pursue damages against the Iraqi government that were awarded by a federal court in 2003.

Bush vetoed the 2008 defense authorization bill Dec. 28 over a provision that, in essence, would allow former prisoners of war to sue Iraq for damages for their torture while in captivity. Bush claimed that enacting the provision would, among other things, “allow plaintiffs’ lawyers to tie up billions of dollars in Iraqi funds for reconstruction that our troops in the field depend on to maintain security gains.”

According to a Dec. 28 report in Congressional Quarterly, Bush issued his veto after lawyers for the Iraqi government threatened to withdraw $25 billion worth of assets from U.S. banks if the provision was allowed to become law.

The American POWs were granted damages by a U.S. federal district court in July 2003. But earlier that year, after signing a bill that allowed Americans to collect court-ordered damages from the frozen assets of terrorist states — a list that included Iraq at that time — Bush had confiscated what was then $1.7 billion in Iraqi assets held in private banks. He allowed the payment of two judgments, including one for so-called “human shield” hostages held by Iraq in 1990, but none for the Americans taken prisoner in the 1991 Gulf War.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/military_gulfwar_pows_080125w/

Bush and Rumsfeld refused to honor these men from the Gulf War. Was it because what was done to them is still being done to those held by them? Or is it because Bush never cared about those he sent to risk their lives or those sent by his father? Why would he refuse to honor these men who suffered at the hands of Saddam?
This is just one of their stories

Time as POW in Iraq haunts veteran

Report of captives revives Racine man's memories
By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 24, 2003
Joseph Small III was watching television Sunday morning in his Racine home when the first reports of American POWs flashed on the news.

He had nightmares, sometimes quite vivid ones, in the years after his release. Often when he was awake, he would get flashbacks. For the most part, Small said, he no longer has flashbacks or nightmares.

But he couldn't help but relive his experience when he saw reports Sunday of the American POWs.

"It brought back the fear I was feeling 12 years ago. I try to keep that experience in a compartment of my brain, and I dust it off every now and then. This did that for me," as he gazed at a television broadcasting war news.

Even though Small, like most soldiers, went through survival training, it didn't prepare him for a group of Iraqi soldiers pointing their guns at him. It didn't prepare him for a truck full of soldiers attempting to run the vehicle he was being transported in off the road so they could kill him. Or beatings from his captors, who tried to break his eardrums.

"The emotions and fear you get cannot be duplicated" in training, Small said.

What helped him get through his ordeal was thinking of images, such as a high school football game, that reminded him of home. Before he was shot down, he had read accounts of soldiers who were imprisoned in World War II and Vietnam. He found strength from their stories.

Small's oldest son is an Air Force captain whose unit has not been called to the Middle East yet. If his son goes to fight in Iraq like the sons and daughters who are already there, Small said, it's for a just reason. He does not doubt Saddam Hussein would use weapons of mass destruction if he has them.

"I believe in the cause of what we're trying to do, which is to rid the world of a sadistic regime," he said.

Small hopes and prays the American POWs will soon be returned to their families. They will face difficulties, Small knows, and they will need the help of their friends, spouses and parents to cope with the loss of their liberty.

"There's nothing like freedom. Once it's taken from you, you greatly appreciate getting it back," he said.


While a nation held its breath and the families of the prisoners waited for word of their loved ones, Small felt a different kind of fear.

Small, 51, is one of a handful of Americans who know what it's like to be held captive by the Iraqi military.

"They're probably in a state of shock. I can tell you they're terrified," Small said of the American prisoners of war. "I'm sure they're in an extreme state of terror."

Small now pilots DC-9s for Midwest Airlines, but during the Persian Gulf War, he flew OV-10 Bronco reconnaissance planes. His aircraft was shot down in Kuwait on Feb. 25, 1991, the second day of the ground war against Iraq, and Small spent nine days in captivity until he was released along with other captives.

He injured his leg and shoulder when he parachuted out of his stricken plane and landed 50 feet from Iraqi soldiers. They tore his rotator cuff as they wrenched his shoulder. His shoulder still hurts.

Small and the other American POWs were fed contaminated food, beaten, whipped and imprisoned in areas the Iraqi military knew were bombing targets - all violations of the Geneva Convention, designed to protect prisoners of war.

The Geneva Convention protections mean "everything to American and British soldiers. They mean nothing to the Iraqi military," Small said.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/mar03/127995.asp

Still Fighting
Senator Pushes Bush To Release Money To POWs From 1st Gulf War

Nov. 20, 2003

CBS) During the first Gulf War against Iraq in 1991, a number of American soldiers who were captured and became prisoners of war were brutally, brutally tortured by the Iraqis.

Eventually, though, the POWs came home, put the pieces of their lives back together - and largely remained out of the public eye. But today, a different battle is being fought by some of those American POWs, all these years after they returned. Correspondent Mike Wallace reports.

It was back in 1991 that the POWs came home from Iraq to a hero's welcome and were greeted by the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell, and then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.

"Your country is opening its arms to greet you," said Cheney.

Many of the POWs had suffered wounds both physical and psychological. Some of them suffer to this day, more than a decade after they were captured and appeared on Iraqi TV.

“They had broken my nose many times. And I was just getting used,” says Col. Cliff Acree. “You just, kind of, get used to it.”

Acree was shot down during the second day of the war. He said his interrogations always began the same way: “They would have these six or eight people just beat you for 10, 15, 20 minutes. Just no questions asked, bring you into the room, and beat you with fists, feet, clubs, whatever.”

“Hearing Cliff talk about it, we never really talked like this before, in such detail,” says Dale Storr, now in the National Guard, who was shot down by Iraqi ground fire. “But it brings back memories. It's almost like I'm back in my cell again.”

Jeff Tice, now retired from the military, was captured after his F-16 was hit by a surface-to-air missile. He was tortured with a device he calls "the Talkman."

“They wrapped a wire around one ear, one underneath my chin, wrapped it around another ear and hooked it up to some electrical device. Asked a question. I wasn't interested in answering,” recalls Tice.

“They would turn on the juice. And what that does is it, it creates a ball of lightning in your mind or in your head. Drives all your muscles simultaneously together and it drives your jaw and everything together. And, of course, I'm chained to a chair. I can't move freely. So everything is jerking into a little ball. And your teeth are being forced together with such force. I'm breaking pieces and parts off.”

Tice’s jaw was dislocated so many times that he says he was lucky to be able to put it back into place.

Jeff Fox, also retired from the military, was shot down over southern Iraq. “Same type of experience where they would beat you and blindfold you, handcuff you, drag you around,” he says.

Some of the POWs endured mock executions, threatened castration, were urinated on, and had to survive on a starvation diet.

The torturers fractured Acree’s skull. “After 16 years in the Marine Corps, you develop a certain hardness. That hardness really helped me in captivity. But the people that treated us so terribly, right early on, made me so angry that it only stiffened my resolve,” he says.

“It only made me resist more. Because, in the back of my mind, I just know, it is so, what they were doing was so completely out, out of any Geneva Accord.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/20/60minutes/main584810.shtml

Capt. Larry "Rat" Slade retired in Norfolk on Thursday after 22 years in the Navy. u.s. navy


Slade spent 43 days as a prisoner of war during the Gulf War, above.



NORFOLK

CAPT. LARRY "RAT" SLADE served 22 years in the Navy, flying in the backseat of a Tomcat fighter over four combat zones, graduating from Top Gun school and winning the naval flight officer of the year award.

But one moment of Slade's career, honored this week at a retirement ceremony, fails to fold neatly into a shadow box with a flag, ribbons and medals.

On Jan. 21, 1991, a cloudy, damp night over Baghdad, an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile blew the tail off his Oceana-based jet at 25,000 feet.

Slade and the pilot, Lt. Devon "Boots" Jones, ejected safely and floated into the enemy's desert a mile apart.

Jones was rescued. Slade was captured.

For the next 43 days, Slade endured interrogation, torture and starvation at the hands of Iraqis. The military code burned in his mind: "I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability."

It still smolders: Did he resist to the utmost of his ability?

"I struggle with that question today," he said.

Slade retired on Thursday as perhaps the final prisoner of war in the active Navy ranks. At a Norfolk Naval Station ceremony, fellow sailors praised Slade, 42, for a no-nonsense career as a top aviator, skilled leader and aggressive advocate for new technology.

According to Slade, who stays in touch with other POWs, his retirement marks the first time in a century the Navy has not had a former POW in its active-duty ranks. A spokesman for the Naval Historical Center said researchers there do not track such information.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/1855130/post

New disability pay policy not retroactive-shit out of luck again

New disability pay policy not retroactive
By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, January 26, 2008



Former Army Capt. Hunter Smart of Phenix City, Ala., an injured veteran of the Iraq war, expected to find new severance pay protection in the Wounded Warrior Act section of the new 2008 defense authorization bill.

But when Smart took a close look this week he found a hole in the bill, rather than an extra $35,000.

Smart was pleased to read a few months ago that a provision in the bill would help medically separated veterans. If their disability was incurred in a combat zone, or in combat-related operations, military disability severance pay no longer will have to be recouped by the government before the veteran begins to draw full disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

With this change, Congress is embracing a recommendation of the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission. When veterans see their careers shortened by combat-related injuries, it said, they should get to keep both their lump-sum severance pay and full monthly VA disability pay.

But Smart was disappointed to learn this week that the new severance pay protection will apply only to combat-related medical separations after the bill is signed into law. That means VA compensation for Smart will be reduced over time by $35,000 in severance pay he received from the Army when he was separated as unfit last March.

“That this will not be retroactive is shameful,” he said. “It should go back to cover at least all of the Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.”
go here for the rest

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51916

Republicans in charge prove they don't live up to claim

I'm posting over on Sancho Press at www.sanchopress.com as well as my two blogs. (Yes I know, I'm a glutton for punishment.) Sancho Press is done from the "left" as a way to contradict the claim the Republicans are pro-military while the Democrats are not. We happen to be the ones who want to do the right thing for the sake of the troops and the veterans instead of harming them while claiming "we're on the Right" because they are always wrong when it comes to taking care of them. This comment should prove it once and for all.

*[new] You'd think they would care (0.00 / 0)
I did a huge post yesterday on how many veterans there are in the Senate and House. You'd think these people would really care about all of this going on when they are supposed to be watching out for their "brothers" but they are more interested in their connections to the money instead. The only ones standing up for the veterans and the troops are Democrats and even they are not doing a good enough job.
Vietnam Veterans in the Senate
"#" in front of the name indicates a combat veteran

#Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)1
U.S. Army 1943-47

Robert Bennett (R-UT)1
National Guard 1957-61

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)2
Army Reserves 1968-74

#Thomas Carper (D-DEL)3
U.S. Navy 1968-1973
Navy Reserve 1973-1991

Thad Cochran (R-MS)2
U.S. Navy 1959-61

Larry Craig (R-ID)3
National Guard 1970-72

Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)4
Army Reserve 1969-75

Michael Enzi (R-WY)4
Air National Guard 1967-73

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)5
· U.S. Air Force 1983-1989
National Guard 1989-1994

#Chuck Hagel (R-NE)6
U.S. Army 1967-68

Tom Harkins (D-IA)5
U.S. Navy 1962-67
Navy Reserve 1968-74

James M. Inhofe (R-OK)7
U.S. Army 1954-56

#Daniel Inouye (D-HI)6
Medal Of Honor
U.S. Army 1943-47

Johnny Isakson (R-GA)8
National Guard 1966-1972

Tim Johnson (D-SD)7
U.S. Army 1969-

Edward Kennedy (D-MA)8
U.S. Army 1951-53

#John Robert Kerry (D-MA)9
U.S. Navy 1966-1970

Herb Kohl (D-WI)10
Army Reserve 1958-64

#Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)11
Army 1942-1946

Richard Lugar (R-IN)9
U.S. Navy 1957-60

#John R. McCain (R-AZ)10
U.S. Navy 1958-81
*POW Vietnam 1967-73

Bill Nelson (D-FL)12
U.S. Army 1968-1970

Jack Reed (D-RI)13
U.S. Army 1967-1969

Pat Roberts (R-KS)11
U.S. Marine Corps (1958-62)

Jeff Sessions (R-AL)12
Army Reserves 1973-86

Arlen Specter (R-PA)13
U.S. Air Force 1951-53

#Ted Stevens (R-AK)14
Army Air Corps 1943-46

#John R. Warner (R-VA)15
U.S. Navy 1945-46
Marine Corps 1950-52
Marine Corps Reserves 1952-1964

#Jim Webb (D-VA)14
U.S. Marine Corps 1964-1972
Ass't Sec. of Defense 1984-1987
Secretary of the Navy 1987-1988

Most of the combat veterans in the Senate are Democrats 6 against 4 Republicans and they have 15 veterans to 14 Democrats in the Senate

Vietnam Veterans in the House
"#" in front of the name indicates a combat veteran.

Todd Akin (R-02 Missouri)1
U.S. Army

#Joe Baca (D-43 CA)1
U.S. Army 1966-1968

Spencer Bachus (R-06 AL)2
National Guard 1969-1971

James Barrett (R-03 S.C.)3
Army 1983-1987

Michael Bilirakis (R )4
Air Force 1951-1955

Sanford D. Bishop (D-02 GA)2
U.S. Army 1971

John Boehner (R-08 OH)5
U.S. Navy 1968

#Leonard L. Boswell (D-03 IA)3
U.S. Army 1956-1976

#Allen Boyd, Jr. (D-02 FL)4
U.S. Army 1969-1971

Henry Brown (R-1 SC)6
National Guard 1953-1962

Vern Buchanan (R-13 FL)7
Air National Guard 1970-1976

Dan Burton (R-05 IN)8
U.S. Army 1956-1957
Army Reserves 1957-1962

G.K. Butterfield (D-1 NC)5
Army Reserves 1957-1962
Army 1968-1970

Stephen E. Buyer (R-04 IN)9
U.S. Army 1984-1987, 1990
Army Reserve 1980-1984, 1987-Present

Christopher Carney (D-10PA)6
Naval Reserves 1995 - Present

Howard Coble (R-06 NC)10
Coast Guard 1952-1956, 1977-1978
Coast Guard Reserve 1960-1981

Mike Conway (R-11 TX)11
U.S. Army 1970-1972

John Conyers (D-14 MI)7
National Guard 1948-1950
U.S. Army 1950-1954
Army Reserve 1954-1957

Robert E. Cramer, Jr. (D-05 AL)8
U.S. Army 1972
Army Reserves 1976-1978

Geoff Davis (R-04 KY)12
U.S. Army 1980 -1987

Thomas M. Davis (R-11 VA)13
U.S. Army 1971-1972
Army Reserves 1972-1979

Nathan Deal (R-09 GA)14
U.S. Army 1966-1968

Peter A. DeFazio (D-04 OR)9
U.S. Air Force 1967-1971

William D. Delahunt (D-10 MA)10
Coast Guard Reserve 1963-1971

John D. Dingell (D-16 MI)11
U.S. Army 1945-1946

John F. Duncan, Jr. (R-02 TN)15
Army Reserve 1970-1987

Bob Etheridge (D-02 NC)12
U.S. Army 1965-1967

Terry Everett (R-02 AL)16
U.S. Air Force 1955-1959

#Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-11 NJ)17
U.S. Army 1969-1971

#Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-01 MD)18
U.S. Marines 1964-1968

Louie Gohmert (R-01 TX)19
U.S. Army 1977-1982

Charles A. Gonzales (D-20 TX)13
National Guard 1969-1975

Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (R-05 VA)20
National Guard 1969-1975

Bart Gordon (D-6 TN)14
US Army Reserve 1971-72

Phil Hare (D-17IL)15
Army Reserves 1969-1975

Ralph M. Hall (R-04 TX)21
U.S. Navy 1942-1945

Doc Hastings (R-04 WA)22
Army Reserves 1964-1969

Maurice Hinchey (D-22 NY)16
U.S. Navy 1956-59

David L. Hobson (R-07 OH)23
National Guard 1958-1963

#Duncan Hunter (R-52 CA)24
U.S. Army 1969-1971

Darrell Issa (R-49 CA)25
Army 1970-1972, 1976-1980

William J. Jefferson (D-02 LA)17
U.S. Army 1969-1978

#Sam Johnson (R-03 TX)26
U.S. Air Force 1951-1979 (POW)

Walter B. Jones, Jr. (R-03 NC)27
National Guard 1967-1971

Paul E. Kanjorski (D-11 PA)18
U.S. Army 1960-1961

Peter King (R-03 NY)28
National Guard 1968-1973

# Mark Kirk (R-10 IL)29
Navy Reserve 1989-present

#John Kline (R-02 MN)30
USMC 1969-1994

Joseph Knollenberg (R-09 MI)31
Army 1955-1957

Ron Lewis (R-02 KY)32
U.S. Navy 1973

John Linder (R-7 GA)33
US Air Force 1967-69

Edward J. Markey (D-07 MA)19
Army Reserves 1968-1973

#James Marshall (D-3 GA)20
U.S. Army 1968-1970

Jim McDermott (D-07 WA)21
U.S. Navy 1968-1970

Gary Miller (R-42 CA)34
Army 1967-1968

Alan Mollohan (D-01 WV)22
U.S. Army 1970
Army Reserves 1970-1983

Dennis Moore (D-03 KS)23
U.S. Army 1970
Army Reserves 1970-1972

Patrick Murphy (D-08PA)24
Army 1999-2004

#John Murtha (D-12 PA)25
U.S. Marines 1952-1955, 1966-1967
Marines Reserve 1967-1990

Soloman P. Ortiz (D-27 TX)26
U.S. Army 1960-1962

William Pascrell, Jr. (D-08 NJ)27
U.S. Army 1961
Army Reserves 1962-1967

Ron Paul (R-14 TX)35
U.S. Air Force 1963-1965
National Guard 1965-1968

#Steve Pearce (R-2 NM)36
U.S. Air Force 1970-1976

Collin C. Peterson (D-07 MN)28
National Guard 1963-1969

John E. Peterson (R-05 PA)37
U.S. Army 1957
Army Reserves 1958-1963

#Joseph R. Pitts (R-16 PA)38
U.S. Air Force 1963-1969

Ted Poe (R-2 TX)39
Air Force Reserve 1970-1976

Jim Ramstad (R-03 MN)40
Army Reserves 1968-1974

#Charles B. Rangel (D-15 NY)29
U.S. Army 1948-1952

Ralph Regula (R-16 OH)41
U.S. Navy 1944-1946

#Silvestre Reyes (D-16 TX)30
U.S. Army 1966-1968

Thomas Reynolds (R-26 NY)42
National Guard 1970-1976

Harold Rogers (R-05 KY)43
National Guard 1957-1964

Mike Rogers (R-8 MI)44
US Army 1985-89

Bobby Rush (D-01 IL)31
U.S. Army 1963-1968

John Salazar (D-03 CO)32
U.S. Army 1973-1976

Robert C. Scott (D-03 VA)33
Army Reserves 1970-1974
National Guard 1974-1976

Jose E. Serrano (D-16 NY)34
U.S. Army 1964-1966

Joe Sestak(D-07PA)35
U.S. Navy [Admiral] 1970-2006

John Shadegg (R-03AZ)45
National Guard 1969-1975

John Shimkus (R-19 IL)46
U.S. Army 1980-1984
Army Reserves 1987-Present

#Vic Snyder (D-02 AR)36
U.S. Marines 1967-1969

John M. Spratt, Jr. (D-05 SC)37
U.S. Army 1969-1971

Fortney P. Stark (D-13 CA)38
U.S. Air Force 1955-1957

Cliff Stearns (R-06 FL)47
U.S. Air Force 1963-1967

John S. Tanner (D-08 TN)39
U.S. Navy 1968-1972
National Guard 1974-Present

Gene Taylor (D-04 MS)40
Coast Guard Reserve 1971-1984

#Mike Thompson (D-01 CA)41
U.S. Army 1969-1972

Edolphus Towns (D-10 NY)42
U.S. Army 1956-1958

Tim Walz (D-01MI)43
National Guard 1981-2005

Dave Weldon (R-15 FL)48
U.S. Army 1981-1987
Army Reserves 1987-1992

Ed Whitfield (R-01 KY)49
Army Reserve 1967-1970

Roger F. Wicker (R-01 MS)50
U.S. Air Force 1976-1980
Air Force Reserve 1980-Present

Heather A. Wilson (R-01 NM)51
U.S. Air Force 1978-1989
*Only woman veteran in Congress.

Joe Wilson (R-2 SC)52
National Guard 1972-2003

Frank R. Wolf (R-10 VA)53
U.S. Army 1962-1963
Army Reserves 1963-1967

C.W. Bill Young (R-10 FL)54
National Guard 1948-1957

Don Young (R-All AK)55
U.S. Army 1955-1957

9 Democrat combat veterans and 8 Republican combat veterans
while the Republicans have 55 in the House, Democrats have 43.

On the surface this would seem like the Republicans saying of how most in the military are Republicans, this does not seem to support the saying that they are the ones who care more about the troops or the veterans. In other words the men and women who serve, as they did, are shit out of luck when they get into power. The problems with the VA happened and spiraled out of control while they were in charge and addressing the problems instead of ignoring it, happened when the Democrats gained control. All in all, the numbers don't lie.

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

- George Washington

This list must have been done before the election in 2006 because there are several changes that are not here. Congressman Tester is not on the list along with a few others. I used it because most of the problems happened while these people were in charge.

Veterans in rural areas of nation suffer needlessly

Kagen testifies on plan to help rural veterans obtain care
Families also could qualify for counseling
Green Bay Press Gazette

By ELLYN FERGUSON

Press-Gazette Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — Rural veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder should get federal help to pay for private care if Veterans Affairs facilities are too far away, U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen testified Thursday.
Under his proposal, veterans who live 30 or more miles from a VA medical facility would have the option of getting more readily accessible care for problems such as combat stress and drug and alcohol abuse. Families also would be able to use federal vouchers for mental health counseling if a health professional concluded it would help in a veteran’s treatment.
Read the full article at greenbaypressgazette.com

All across American, there are empty buildings, Mom and Pop type shops in towns, along with wounded veterans needing to be cared for. The excuse is that the VA hospitals and clinics were built for "need" and they are in the cities with higher populations.

The problem is, the veterans come from these tiny towns, entering into the National Guard, Reserves and military units. They did not make the nation wait for a more convenient time for them to deploy. They went when and were the nation said they were needed to go. So why can't the government do the same for them?

They are no less wounded than others living in the "right area" where care is not too far away from them. They are no less worthy of having their wounds treated than someone living in cities. They are however more neglected than other veterans. In a time when the government is talking about building hospitals and clinics, that they should have been doing six years ago, there is suffering going on right now.

Veterans from across the country have to wait to be diagnosed, wait to be seen, wait to be treated and receive the added burden of having their claims tied up for months, or in most cases years. In the time between a wound being received, a claim filed and compensation granted, there is usually no income for them. They are no longer paid by the Department of Defense and their wounds are no longer treated by them either. They are not approved by the VA for compensation until their claim has been processed. Would you want to have to wait for your disability check because you can't work? Does your mortgage company want to wait or your landlord? Food bills, heat and electricity, gas for transportation do not wait either.

The very least that can be done right now is to use some of the already empty buildings for clinics and veteran's centers. Get them staffed by veterans who are aware of the unique problems veterans have. Stop excusing what has not been done and replace it with what can be done today, not just years from now.

VA Red Flag turned away veteran with tumor

Sick Redmond veteran says he's getting run-around

Jan 24, 2008 10:35 PM EST

VA denies 'red-flagging' means care is denied

By Nina Mehlhaf, KTVZ.COM

A Redmond veteran says he was refused medical treatment at the Bend VA Clinic, red-flagged and now can't get the treatment he needs for advanced cancer.

Now he's pleading with officials to fix the system, while they say he was a disturbance.

Pill bottles in the dozens line the bedside 52-year-old Jeffery Severns sleeps in in his Redmond living room.

The veteran was a combat nurse all over the world and served in Operation Desert Storm.

But cancer has spread into his shoulder, tailbone, spine, ribs and gall bladder.

Last spring, it was his throat that hurt him the most, so he went to the VA Clinic in Bend without an appointment and begged to be seen, but it didn't happen.

"Since [my vocal cords] were paralyzed, there was too much air going in and out," Severns explained Thursday. "I couldn't speak, so I would have to take in huge amounts of air to take in a few words. So they thought I was weird. They thought because I was anxious, because I thought I was going to die, they thought I was a threat."

Severns says he was red-flagged, a process the Department of Veterans Affairs uses when someone is disruptive, threatening or violent.

He says the Bend clinic refused him service, so he got a ride to Portland's VA Medical Center. He says doctors there were ready to help - until they looked at his file and saw the red flag.

He says he was escorted right out of the building and continues to be banned from the Bend office.

It wasn't until a private doctor at a Washington hospital scanned him and found what was wrong. He had a tumor the size of his heart, wrapped around his aorta.
go here for the rest
http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=7771848

Speechless, simply speechless.

Waterboarding caused PTSD in Navy veteran

VA says disability claim rare
Veteran Arthur McCants III says interrogation training caused post-traumatic stress disorder
Friday, January 25, 2008
By GEORGE WERNETH
Staff Reporter
A claim by an Eight Mile man that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder -- the result of being "waterboarded" during a Navy survival course in 1975 -- is a rare one, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs official in Washington, D.C.

"It's the first case I've encountered personally involving waterboarding," said Arnold Russo, director of the VA's Appeals Management Center. He acknowledged, however, that he had heard of a couple of such cases.

Russo -- whose office had rejected the claim by 60-year-old Arthur McCants III -- said he has been with the VA for 19 years.
click post title for the rest