McCain list of votes against veterans is disgraceful especially from a veteran

Vets on McCain & Life On The Ledge
By jimstaro

Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 08:20:09 AM EDT
The following video ad was produced by veteran inlookout and linked, in the replys, in an initial writeup posted at Vet Voice after the Debate.
John McCain Loves Cutting Veterans Health Benefits


This is what is in the video description:
After watching McCain in the first presidential debate pander about how much he cared about veterans, I found his statements so disingenuous I decided to put together this video highlighting the hypocrisy of his words.
Those early thoughts on the Debate were given by veteran Brian McGough on the front page of Vet Voice McCain Overstretches his Support of Veterans and Troops

In tonight's debate John McCain said "I know the veterans, I know them well, and I know that they know that I'll take care of them, and I have been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans, and I love them, and I'll take care of them, and they know that I'll take care of them."

click link for the full text of how many votes McCain did not give veterans when he could have voted for them if he really did in fact support them. The videos are posted on the sidebar of this blog. Big thanks to Jim for finding these videos.

Minn. faith council convenes forum on Iraq vets

Minn. faith council convenes forum on Iraq vets
Associated Press

Last update: September 28, 2008 - 11:22 AM
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Governor's Council on Faith and Community Service Initiatives is getting faith groups together this week to focus on serving Iraq war veterans.

The Minnesota Veterans Outreach Forum will focus on the needs of Iraq war veterans, current soldiers and their families.
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Don't deprive veterans of Montrose facility

Comment sent into Lower Hudson Journal news - West Harrison,NY,USA from member of NAMI

• September 29, 2008


Don't deprive veterans of Montrose facility
The decision on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs to turn over 100 acres of the 184 acres of the Montrose VA facility to developers is quietly "moving too fast and in the wrong direction," according to Cortlandt Town Supervisor Linda Puglisi and advocates for veterans rights. As the sister of a Vietnam veteran, I saw first-hand the devastating effects that war has on the human mind and spirit. I also believe that these facilities built to serve the needs of our veterans stand on sacred land bought and paid for with profound human suffering.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 500,000 veterans have a service-connected disability due to a mental illness. Other than orthopedic problems, mental health is the second largest area of need for veterans.


Understanding the crippling effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and the disproportionate percentage of substance abuse and suicides among veterans, it would seem that the Montrose VA would be expanding access to inpatient and outpatient treatment, housing, and supportive services that would enable these wounded warriors to partake of the American ideal that led them to serve in the first place.

Castle Point is not an acceptable alternative. How many Washington bureaucrats would sit still if their doctors expected them to travel 25 miles further from home for treatment?

I urge every citizen of Westchester County to speak out at the forum at the Montrose Complex on Oct. 14. Contact Sens. Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer and your local representatives.

Brigid E. Kenney

Ossining

The writer is a board member, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Westchester.
http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080929/OPINION/809290303/-1/SPORTS

Normandy D-Day Monument unveiled

Monument honoring Navy's D-Day efforts is unveiled in Normandy
By Matt Millham, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, September 28, 2008

SAINT-MARIE-DU-MONT, France — It’s been more than 64 years since Irving Shapiro was last in Normandy, and he had at least a couple of good reasons for not wanting to go back.

Each of them earned him a Purple Heart on D-Day, June 6, 1944, when, as a sailor aboard LST 492, he made two trips to and from Omaha Beach —Bloody Omaha, as it’s sometimes called — to drop off men and equipment and to pick up the dead and wounded.

Now in a wheelchair, something drew him back to Normandy and to the memories he said he’s tried hard not to think about.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57735

General Carter Ham would have 24 months between deployments

Just one more thing McCain got wrong when he voted against giving more dwell time between deployments. General Ham, well he has the best interests of the troops in mind.

Training soldiers for battle not only priority
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, September 28, 2008



HEIDELBERG, Germany — Tough, thorough and relevant training for soldiers before they deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan is Gen. Carter Ham’s top priority. But it’s not the only one.

Ham has been assessing U.S. Army Europe policies and programs since his arrival as commander at the beginning of the month. He sees room for improvement.

On family support, he said, "I think we’re doing OK."

"First, they want their soldiers home," Ham said. "Next they want predictability. That’s a big rock in my rucksack."

Letting people know how often they’ll deploy and how much time they’ll have between deployments is difficult as the U.S. continues to call on its soldiers to fight two wars now in their fifth and seventh years and transform all at the same time — and with a new administration taking over in four months.

During a trip to Iraq last week, Ham and commanders there discussed the difficulty of repeatedly getting troops and equipment ready to deploy again after one year’s "dwell time," and spoke of how superior 24 months between deployments would be.

"A year sounds like a long time. But there’s block leave, returning equipment, schools …," Ham said. "You want to deploy them as well-trained as you can but you don’t want to deploy them tired. We want to give them as much time as we can at home."
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57739

Obama and fallen soldier's name rumor-false

How did this end up making it's way around the net as "Obama can't remember the name on the bracelet he wears?" But after you read this, keep reading to find out how this one is not totally true either.

Sen. Obama responded saying, "I've got a bracelet, too, from Sergeant - from the mother of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek, given to me in Green Bay. She asked me, 'Can you please make sure another mother is not going through what I'm going through?' No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided. Our troops have performed brilliantly. The question is for the next president: 'Are we making good judgments about how to keep America safe? Precisely because sending our military into battle is such an enormous step."

**

In February, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on the moment when Tracy Jopek gave Obama the bracelet, and Obama's mentioning of Jopek after he won the Wisconsin primary.

"We're here because of the mother I met in Green Bay, Wisconsin, who gave me this bracelet that I'm wearing," Obama said then. "Inscribed on it is the name of her son Ryan. Next to his name it says...'All gave some but he gave all.' We are here because it is time to ask ourselves as a nation if we are serving Ryan and his compatriots and all our young brave men and women as well as they are serving us. They need us to end this war and bring them home and give them the care and the benefits that they deserve."

Ryan Jopek was 20, a member of the Wisconsin National Guard like his father. He deployed to Iraq in 2005, was killed there in 2006.

In February 2008, Ryan's mother Tracy and his sister Jessica traveled to Green Bay and waited in the cold for 45 minutes to give Obama her son's bracelet. A campaign staffer arranged it so they could meet him.

"I didn't get to say what I wanted to say. I just cried," Tracy Jopek told the newspaper. "It wasn't for anything but for him to know this is real, something he needed to know. . . I do believe (the war) needs to end, but I believe it needs to be done very carefully and very thoughtfully."

She said she was honored by Obama mentioning her son in his speech.

"I couldn't believe it. It was such an honor, such an honor," she said. "To know that he does know his name. It means a lot."

**

But a month later, Ryan's father Brian -- who is no longer married to Tracy -- told Wisconsin Public Radio that his ex-wife had misgivings about Obama wearing the bracelet and mentioning their son on the campaign trail. It seems as though just as Tracy Jopek supports Obama and wants to end the war, Brian Jopek has a different take on what should happen in Iraq and may be more inclined to support McCain.

(You can listen to Brian Jopek about 10 minutes into THIS CLIP.)

After pointing out that he and Tracy are not married anymore, Brian says that "from what I understood from email exchanges with Tracy….she wanted to put a name, she wanted Sen. Obama to know Ryan's name...She wasn't looking to turn it into a big media event...She just wanted it to be something between Barack Obama and herself."

Bryan Jopek went on to say that "because of some of the negative feedback she’s gotten on the Internet, you know Internet blogs, you know people accusing her of… or accusing Obama of trying to get votes doing it… and that sort of thing, she has turned down any subsequent interviews with the media because she just didn’t, she just didn't want it to get turned into something that it wasn’t. She had told me that in an email that she had asked, actually asked Mr. Obama to not wear the bracelet anymore at any of his public appearances."
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http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/bracelet-wars.html

It's really amazing how people can be so fooled!

Then again they didn't notice that McCain lied about the way he feels about veterans either. He says he cares, but votes against them. As for other "issues" no one noticed that McCain doesn't wear a flag pin anymore. What's up with that?

Is there something wrong with is face? Seriously, he doesn't look right.

But then you'd have to believe everything you hear,,,,, turns out the first report on this post is not the whole story.

Soldier's mother 'ecstatic' about Obama's bracelet

AP foreign
Monday September 29 2008

By DINESH RAMDE
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) - The mother of a Wisconsin soldier who died in Iraq says she was ``ecstatic'' when Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama mentioned during Friday's debate the bracelet she gave him in honor of her son.

Tracy Jopek of Merrill told The Associated Press on Sunday she was honored that Obama remembered Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, who was killed in 2006 by a roadside bomb.

Jopek criticized Internet reports suggesting Obama, D-Ill., exploited her son for political purposes.

``I don't understand how people can take that and turn it into some garbage on the Internet,'' she said.

Jopek acknowledged e-mailing the Obama campaign in February asking that the presidential candidate not mention her son in speeches or debates. But she said Obama's mention on Friday was appropriate because he was responding after Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, said a soldier's mother gave him a bracelet.

``I've got a bracelet, too, from Sergeant - from the mother of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek, given to me in Green Bay,'' Obama said during the debate. ``She asked me, 'Can you please make sure another mother is not going through what I'm going through?' No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided.''
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7835269

As you can see, it turns out there is a lot of false reporting being done in this country. This is from The Guardian and an AP report. While McCain found it easy to just bring up the fact he wears a bracelet, and has done so many times, Obama respected the meaning of it too much to just use it as a "show of support" and only did it when McCain pulled his stunt.

Another thing that gets overlooked is the fact Obama is on the Veterans Committee and knows how McCain votes against veterans yet when Obama had the chance to correct the false claim McCain always comes out with when he had the chance, he didn't. He should have because the veterans in this country deserve to be reminded of how little McCain has "proven" how he says he supports them.

UPDATE
Unfortunately part of getting emails and alerts means having to read some idiot making false claims intended to damage the "enemy" in their own eyes. In the process these people are not only attacking truth, their lies attack the men and women who serve this country and are paying attention to what is truth and what is nothing more than attempts to keep the truth from being reported. This "Gateway Pundit" is notorious for doing just that.

Busted... Soldier's Family Told Obama Not to Wear Son's Bracelet!
By Gateway Pundit(Gateway Pundit) Matthew Stanley, a resident of New Hampshire and a soldier that lost his life in Iraq in 2006. Obama said that he too had a bracelet. After fumbling and straining to remember the name, he revealed that his had the name of Sergeant Ryan

This mother lost her son and asked Obama to wear his bracelet. While she is very happy that he did and understood when he mentioned the name of her son, what was being reported at first was that Obama couldn't even remember his name, which was proven false. Having failed at trying to spin that one, they turned around and further insulted this woman by saying she was against him wearing it. Now we know that is not true as well but these people have no shame and find no problem using anyone to support their twisted minds.

To support the above that Tracy Jopek was not against Obama, we have this also reported on Army Times, again the report from the AP,,,,,

Mom of GI defends Obama mention of bracelet
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Sep 29, 2008 13:35:58 EDT

MILWAUKEE — After Tracy Jopek gave Sen. Barack Obama a bracelet in honor of her son who was killed in Iraq, she asked Obama not to mention the bracelet on the campaign trail.

But Jopek told The Associated Press on Sunday that she’s satisfied with how Obama discussed it during last week’s presidential debate.

Jopek gave Obama the bracelet at a Green Bay rally in February. It has the name of her son, Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, and the date the 20-year-old was killed by a roadside bomb, Aug. 2, 2006. “All gave some — He gave all,” it says.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_bracelet_092908/

Gunfire at block party leaves 400-600 shocked and 2 dead

Two killed in gunfire at Apopka block party
Sara Clarke Sentinel Staff Writer
11:29 AM EDT, September 28, 2008
Two people were killed when gunfire erupted at a block part in Apopka on Saturday night, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.
About 400 to 600 people were attending the block party in the area of South Hawthorne Avenue and West 15th Street in Apopka. Gunfire broke out at about 11 p.m, and five people were struck, authorities said.
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Chicago police officer shot, critically wounded

Cop shot, hurt critically
A Chicago officer and a suspect are both hospitalized in critical condition after a shooting early this morning.

A man in a parked car shot and critically wounded a Chicago police officer early Sunday morning on a residential South Side street, police said. The suspect was then critically wounded when officers returned fire.

Police Supt. Jody Weis said the 39-year-old officer -- a 14 year veteran -- was shot in the head and chest and taken to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. His identity was not released pending family notification.

Weis said the suspected shooter was listed in critical condition at Stroger Hospital.
click link for more

also
'My brother-in-law has been shot'
Video
At the scene, at the hospital
Photos
One dead, one critical in South Side shooting

ILL Vietnam vet spent hours asking for help but ignored

"I'm pretty upset. I was willing to fight for my country," Carroll said. "I felt like a piece of dirt in the street.

Veteran: Requests for help were ignored
FULLERTON, Calif., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- An ill Vietnam War veteran in California says police and passers-by ignored his requests for help as he lay in the sun for hours.

Timothy Carroll, 61, of Fullerton said he was walking home from his doctor's office last Thursday when the 84-degree heat, combined with his diabetes and Bell's palsy, forced him to lie down in the grass exhausted, The Orange County (Calif.) Register reported Saturday.
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Orlando Reserve unit back from Iraq gets big 'Welcome home'

Orlando Reserve unit back from Iraq gets big 'Welcome home'
By Helen Eckinger Sentinel Staff Writer
September 28, 2008
When Donovan Lewis was 11 months old, his father was deployed to Iraq.

"It was difficult for him," Donovan's mother, Victoria Lewis, of Sanford said Saturday as she manned the refreshments table at a welcome-home ceremony for the Army's 841st Engineer Battalion at the First Baptist Church of Orlando while Donovan, now 2, rifled through a nearby cooler. "He's an only child, and he couldn't understand why Daddy wasn't there."

On Saturday, Donovan's father, Reginald Livingston, and about 30 of his fellow members of the 841st were honored for their service in Iraq, where they were deployed for 11 months before returning home in May.

During its deployment in Iraq, the battalion's primary mission was to find and remove improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Over the course of the tour, the unit disabled 104 IEDs and cleared more than 88,000 kilometers — almost 54,000 miles — of roadway. It did not, Maj. Ernie Hernandez said, lose a single member.
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-locsoldiers28092808sep28,0,2359111.story