(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Frankly that’s very easy to answer, the country refuses to demand it’s own sacrifice the greater majority cheer on but don’t serve in or have direct connection to, especially the political party claiming their strength on “National Security” and it’s the total opposite of what’s being argued as to this debt ceiling and the growing deficit itself, remember these two present conflicts were kept off the books and fought on borrowed financing until put back on the books and our spending by the present administration. All those costs include the no bid contracts of the growing private armies as well as the numerous other private contractors serving a bottom line and not the country.
What is long needed and not only ignored but not mentioned is a War Tax on everyone, but especially on the wealthy who’ve reaped much of their present, now over a decade, wealth either directly from or by investing in anything related to these two conflicts, their share of sacrifice should be at a much higher rate then the masses of the civilian population, and the masses should get a break due to the other many issues by the wealthy as they reap but don’t trickle down, but all should finally pony up. We haven’t now for decades but it’s been extremely obvious this past decade, as the country can’t run from the results now as they have in the previous decades, and the multiple tours served in two theaters of occupations.
Some even reaped wealth from other means than by the direct contracting and investing, making even more hatreds towards us, as if anymore were needed. Even by the reports of the shoddy work done in theaters, some killing our soldiers, as well as billions in missing money went into the private hands and hidden accounts of the hyper wealthy.
This long over due War Tax should be used, no questions asked as our ever growing defense budgets raise none, for any and all needs deemed by the administration of the Veterans Administration, like bringing the technology for record keeping and more into the 21st century, started finally, these from the recovery funds touted as not working by those who quickly opted for photo ops and took credit for that which was spent in their districts creating what they state wasn’t created, as have many other ignored issues new and long overdue, as they’ve operated with outdated technology for decades, it not only will save monies in the long run but help in innovations in the private sector. Those funds not needed should be then placed into the peoples treasury and not squandered but used to help rebuild our once innovative and envied economy. They should be followed by our representatives, as they don’t in the defense budgets, as to any possible corruption from overcharges and just plain greed and enforced through binding regulations. This War Tax should not be used to build our military industrial defense complex, we’ve thrown more than enough monies away, and into private hands, on that. But that should be studied hard to ring out the waste and corruption long found but surfacing way to late. It should be used strictly on the results of these wars on our soldiers and their families, the only ones sacrificing, as they join the veterans community, till those needs are in the new century and as I said that left over used to help rebuild our country, the wealthy won’t do that on their own.
Here are a couple of reports I posted this morning, plenty of back reports already from this past decade, to hopefully illustrate the DeJa-Vu, once again, of the needs:
Just think where our brothers and sisters needs would be on all issues if the decades long underfunding, using just words and symbols of support or ignoring the veterans needs instead, of the Veterans Administration, especially related to our wars of choice, were erased and the country actually sacrificed and supported! Easier to blame the Agency and ignore the results of war even by those we hire to represent!
Drop-in shelter part of national effort to curb homelessness among veterans
July 09, 2011 – Eric Shinseki, head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, visited the front lines Friday in his effort to end homelessness among veterans when he stopped by a new drop-in center.
Two years ago, Shinseki, a West Point graduate and former Army general, pledged to try to end homeless among veterans in five years.
The results so far: The number of homeless veterans on any given night has dropped from 131,000 to 76,000 today, with the number projected to decline to 60,000 next year, according to VA estimates.
Shinseki toured the new Gladys Ray Veterans Drop-In Center, located at 1519 1st Ave. S. in a residential neighborhood. It allows vets to stop by for respite from the weather, take a shower, do their laundry, have access to a meal, and receive referrals to other services.
“The trend is in the right direction,” said Shinseki. He made clear that more needs to be done in preventing homelessness and rescuing homeless veterans. read more>>>
I followed that with this one:
July 8 2011 – ON WEDNESDAY, President Obama reversed a long-standing tradition of not sending condolence letters to the families of service members who commit suicide during deployments in combat zones. He has made a just call.For years, policy unfairly stigmatized these American patriots as well as their grieving comrades and families. “They didn’t die because they were weak,” Mr. Obama said. We laud the president’s courage to speak for the fallen who suffered mental trauma, too often without receiving the health care they deserved.
Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, joined the president in embracing the change. Gen. Chiarelli blogged on WhiteHouse.gov that his “greatest regret” as a military commander was not memorializing a soldier who took his own life.
An Army report issued last year tallied 160 soldiers who committed suicide in 2009, a rate of 20.2 per 100,000. The Marine Corps suffered a rate of 22 for every 100,000 members. It’s only right that their families will receive thanks for their service and condolences for their deaths.
That’s hardly enough, as the military well understands. The efforts that the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs have recently intensified to deal with mental trauma and potential suicides must be maintained. One component, until recently neglected, is tracking and providing assistance to current service members and veterans who have tried to kill themselves.
The organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America surveyed its members last year and found that 59 percent reported knowing a veteran who had committed suicide. Two other depressing and potentially relevant findings: 45 percent of these members reported having “an unsatisfactory experience with the VA claims process,” and 17 percent identified themselves as being unemployed. read more>>>
Notice how little, nothing, is stated especially by the flock of tepubs running, or the media wants them to, and those in congress, as to the veterans of their two long running conflicts dumped into the present and ongoing, except the House who’ve been trying to cut sections of monies out of that budget and in both the House veterans affairs committee and present Senate veterans affairs committee, just visit the sites and archives on especially the hearings and statements, laying all blame related to Veterans on the Veterans Administration, same for the country, it’s easier that way! Recently, in the House, they’re even trying to scuttle the new GI Bill funding with legislation that will only hurt, and cost more, than help the newer program, but they’ve been doing same for years now.
This War Tax, among many needs, could also go to help the Veterans, using the higher education benefits or those with much needed trades skills, who are wanting to start new businesses, receive very low interest rate government loans as startup capital, thus helping employ their brother and sister veterans as well as civilians seeking employment. Especially in the much needed, but long time blocked, advancing into a ‘Green Economy’, climate change being only one very important issue related to the needs of that long needed innovative economic growth industry.
Remember this: “You go to war with the army you have—not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”.
Well the same mentality has been plaguing the Veterans issues for decades now especially by obstructionist and the country that hires them.
What built the now often spoken Greatest Generation, sacrifice during but especially after WWII. Investments in, by Government, those returning from that war, and innovative business leaders, extremely lacking in the past couple of decades, leading to a very innovative and inventive workforce, sharing in the wealth their labor and idea’s produced, quality enhanced and envied by much of the rest of the planets societies, that I grew up in the first some thirty years not so the second some thirty.
From the above once defense secretary to the one just retiring from same: “And so what I’ve been trying to do and what Mrs. Biden and Mrs. Obama and the chairman and his wife – all these folks, are trying to do is to – is to try and get that other 99 percent to – they all say they support the troops, but it’s not just enough to say it.”
You can visit the 110th and 111th website archives to see what was done that wasn’t in the 108th and 109th as they rubber stamped off the books war costs. You can visit the White House site, as well as the DoD and VA press release, archives, to see what those in this administration, civilian and military leaders, have been saying and doing as to the veterans, new and older, and their families, in these past couple of years, falling mainly on deaf ears once again in and out of government and with only able to increase the Veterans Administration budget in the small increments so common once again.
A War Tax is long overdue so is ‘Sacrifice’ by the Country!!