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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMemorial Day Crocodile Tears from Those Who Create Wars
About 50,000 of the homeless on any given night are veterans, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Overall, more than 150,000 veterans are homeless during the year. The reasons for veterans being homeless are because of extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income and access to health care . . . lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse, which are compounded by a lack of family and social support networks, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Under the Obama administration, which has focused upon assisting veterans, the number of homeless veterans on any given night has come down from about 80,000 six years ago, but even a few dozen homeless veterans are far too many.Hundreds of thousands of veterans wont be able to march in Memorial Day parades, or stand and salute the flag. They dont have limbs, their muscles have atrophied because of extensive bed confinement, or they have other debilitating illnesses. About 2.2 million American veterans were injured during their service; about 1.7 million of them were wounded in combat, according to a Pew Research Center summary and analysis. About 200,000 military personnel who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder of have major depression, according to a study done by the Rand Corp. About 285,000 of the veterans of Americas most recent wars have suffered from traumatic brain injury. Among other injuries, according to the VA are chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, fibromyalgia, hearing difficulties, hepatitis, malaria, memory loss, migraines, sleep disorders and tuberculosis.
More than 120,000 Americans wont celebrate Memorial Day; they died in combat during the Korean, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Iraq/Afghanistan wars.
During this three-day weekend, Americans will grill steaks, burgers, and hot dogs; they will travel to relatives or friends houses, or take mini-vacations. The nations politiciansfrom small town council members to presidential candidateswill go from picnic to picnic, from rally to rally, and deliver poignant speeches about how much they care about the veterans who were injured or died for their country, and how much veterans mean to the country, while delivering the underlying message to vote for them in the coming election.
But, it is these politicians who, without hesitation, will quickly send American youth into war, and claim that killing people a half-world away somehow protects American citizens. And once Americans are in combat, these same politicians will complain about the cost of war, and vote against providing adequate funds for decent medical and psychological treatment for those who come home damaged.
MORE:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/walter-brasch/67430/memorial-day-crocodile-tears-from-those-who-create-wars
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)at home where they need it.
not to mention will not support reform for the twisted military management for the women who have been raped on duty.
Thousands Of Sexual Assault Victims In The Military Have Been Denied Veteran Health Care
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)"See the soldier with his gun who must be dead to be admired."
Love the soldier, hate the veteran
Love America, hate Americans.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)anyway I had a flag on my porch under the roof, and they said I should hang my flag out more,but under the roof I could turn on the light if I left it out at night so it would not be in the dark. They had their flag pole screwed to their porch column and left their flg out 24 7. I can't tell you how many times I told them the flag can not be flown in the dark, but nothing and that it should not be out in the rain, the punch line of this is - they left their flag out in the rain and it got so heavy the pole started to bend and the flag was dragging in the mud. One day I just took it off and washed it. It took about 2 weeks for them to notice it was gone and then they were all "someone stole my flag" and I brought it over and explained once again the rules of displaying a flag. We were friends, but that fell on deaf ears, they left it out again and I gave up. I was thinking of reporting them to a boy scout troop or something,, but they sold their house and moved. They had home owner rules in their new house complex and no more flag displaying.
that is just flag wavers who know nothing about the flag is like soldier admirers who know nothing about veterans.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)many enablers. The Left is against war for profits while somehow the so-called moderate centrists seem to be ok with them. The Left believe those that profits from wars should share their profits to help care for the troops and families were ruined by war. Of course the centrists disparage the Left calling us ideologues. This primary is a battle between the Left and the other side that like to call themselves centrists because it sounds better than Republicon Lite.
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)And let's not forget how the offspring of these war enablers seem to magically elude time in a uniform.
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)DLC Triangulators love war. Hell, one of them is running for president, voted for a war of choice and called it a business.
Now, she wants to put troops in Libya and Syria. When is enough enough?
I support troops so much I want them home fucking their spouses or significant others, not getting fucked by their bought off, corrupt and bloodthirsty government.
But I'm just a wacky peacenik who doesn't understand foreign policy.
Response to kpete (Original post)
cyberpj This message was self-deleted by its author.
Rex
(65,616 posts)The ones that never gave, seem to think they can call all the shots without any repercussions.
Silver_Witch
(1,820 posts)I never celebrate this day, no sales, no picnics. I spend the day working and thinking of those who have come before me and not lived to enjoy the day and those who come behind me who will be trapped in the United States never ending wars. 15 years and counting on this latest "War On Terror".
I would say we are losing....but it is our children who are losing.
bjo59
(1,166 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)democrank
(11,052 posts)If you`re a politician who votes for or crusades for a war that sends other people`s loved ones to be killed or maimed, you can not march (smiling and waving) in a Memorial Day or Veteran`s Day parade. Instead, you`re required to work those day at a VA hospital.
Many VA hospitals are understaffed. I`ve seen it with my own eyes a zillion times. There are bed pans to empty, dressings to be changed, night sweat terrors to be sat through, artificial body parts to be attached, paralyzed veterans to be turned, pain medicine to be administered, people to be spoon-fed. That`s what these politicians need to be doing on Memorial Day and Veteran`s Day.
McKim
(2,412 posts)Thank you for this. My brother in law died in Vietnam for a lie. The hoopla and fireworks and ceremonies of Memorial Day are a smiley face on the crime of war.
malaise
(267,808 posts)and beneficiaries of deferments
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)else. But everyone else doesn't matter.
Hydra
(14,459 posts)No veteran should be homeless or destitute when the 1% hold trillions in their hands. Nobody should, but veterans least of all.
Support the veterans we have hurt, and create no more.
Goldfish
(71 posts)"Soldiers are rich men's toys." I don't know who it was, but I have never forgotten this.
So when I heard Bernie say "War should always be the last resort, not the first." I knew
he was the candidate that I will give my wholehearted support to.
WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)Remember the ones that died, they didn't give their lives, their lives were taken.
Uncle Joe
(58,112 posts)Thanks for the thread, kpete.
Buddyblazon
(3,014 posts)He is like the Rainman of cannabis growers. Has taught me much. Let him stay on my couch for a couple months. We got him into a home. He comes by several times a week and garden together. The garden is definitely where he is meant to be. For his time, he takes cannabis with him and his fellow vets at the home. Says they're really appreciative as cannabis seems to do the best overall for all of them for their myriad of maladies...from pain and insomnia to PTSD and anxiety/depression.
And the only acceptable politicians in this vets eyes are Warren and Sanders. Talks for hours about sanders as we farm. Believes sanders is the only politician to truly be interested in the plight of vets. Guy gets worked up to tears over the crap he's been put through by a system designed by today's politicians to practically ensure getting the help he needs is a long tedious, frustrating process that can seem so insurmountable that some vets take their own lives during the process.
Guy adamantly believes Bernie is the only politician that cares. Has all his vet friends at the group home on the same tip. I'm trying to brace him for Bernies loss in the primaries..."expect the best, be prepared for the worst.", is what I continue to tell him...but he truly believes that with all the stuff he's going through desperately trying to get help from a VA whose job it appears is to make it as difficult as possible for vets in some weird insurance-like repetitive denial process, a loss by Bernie will mean the death of him, but also many other vets lost in a system that doesn't end and is egged on by all other politicians.
I just tell him that this too shall pass...mind the plants....concentrate on the zen and peace of gardening and everything will fall into place eventually.
How the fuck do you tell the hopeless to "chin up"? He and his fellow group home vets deserve far better treatment than this for the sacrifices they've made for their love of this country. Physical and mental scars they have obtained from their defense of this country...they carry those with them until they're laid in their graves.
Its really an embarrassment that we allow them to be treated like this.
retrowire
(10,345 posts)In solidarity.
LittleGirl
(8,261 posts)I agree completely. Hugs to you and the guys.
jalan48
(13,797 posts)Stryst
(714 posts)Nor did any of their children. Will that stop them from sending American soldiers into harms way in conflicts that have nothing to do with us? I doubt it.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)Seeing Trump's does the same thing.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)someone's shoes in this country.
And it only gets worse with every passing generation.
But at least we suck the teet of law enforcement.
KPN
(15,587 posts)We should be ashamed of ourselves.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)We should be waving twice as many flags when they come home.
Elwood P Dowd
(11,443 posts)An old list from back in the Bush Jr years. They love sending young people off to war, but just don't care much for taking care of them when they come home.
Spencer Abraham
Elliott Abrams
Ken Adelman
Roger Ailes
Lamar Alexander
George Felix Allen
Richard Keith "Dick" Armey
John Ashcroft
Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater
Haley Reeves Barbour
Bob Barr
Roscoe Bartlett
Robert Leroy Bartley
Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton
Charles Foster "Charlie" Bass
Gary Lee Bauer
Glenn Lee Beck
William Bennett
Richard B. Berman
Wolf Isaac Blitzer
Richard Blumenthal
Roy Blunt
John Andrew Boehner
Clint Bolick
John Bolton
Pat Boone
Neal Boortz
Max Boot
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning
George Walker Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush
Carl Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron
Andrew "Andy" Card
Gerald Posner Carmen
Clarence Saxby Chambliss
John P.H. "Pecker Head" Chandler
Richard Bruce "Still Dick" Cheney
Thomas Leo Clancy
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn
Roy Cohn
Norman Bertram "Norm" Coleman
John Cornyn III
Ann Hart Coulter
Toby Keith Covel
Larry "Wide Stance" Craig
Dinesh D'Souza
Thomas Dale "Tom," "The Hammer" DeLay
Steven James Doocy
Charles Gwynne "Chuck" Douglas III
John Mathias Engler
Donald Louis Evans
Jerry Lamon Falwell
Don Feder
Douglas J. Feith
Jim Finnegan
Bryan Fischer
Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes
Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama
Frank Gaffney
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich
Rudolph Wiliam Louis "Rudy" Giuliani
Alan Gottlieb
William Franklin "Billy" Graham
William Franklin Graham
William Phillip "Phil" Gramm
Lee Greenwood
Judd Gregg
Sean Hannity
Paul Harvey
Dennis Hastert
John Edgar Hoover
Brit Hume
Asa Hutchinson
Young Timothy Hutchinson
David R. Ignatius
Laura Anne Ingraham
Frederick Walter Kagan
Robert Kagan
Joyce Kaufman
Francis Anthony Keating
Ronald Kessler
Alan Lee Keyes
Brian Kilmeade
Charles De Ganahl Koch
David Koch
William "Bill" Kristol
Jon Llewellyn Kyle
Wayne LaPierre
Michael Arthur Ledeen
Irve Lewis "Scooter" Libby
Joseph Isidore "Joe" Lieberman
David Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III
William "Bill" Loeb III
Chester Trent Lott, Sr.
Frank I. Luntz
David Martin McIntosh
Joseph "Joe" McQuaid
Gerald McRaney
Michael Medved
John Luigi Mica
Don Nickles
Grover Glenn Norquist
Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent
William "Bill" O'Reilly
Patrick Jake "PJ" O'Rourke
Marvin Olasky
John M. Olin
Ted Olson
Richard Norman Perle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle
Michael Reagan
Ralph Eugene Reed, Jr.
Robert James "Kid Rock" Ritchie
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson
Willard Mitt Romney
Karl Christian Rove
Marco Antonio Rubio
Antonin Gregory Scalia
Charles Joseph "Joe" Scarborough
Todd Andrew Schnitt
Melvin Floyd "Mel" Sembler
Richard Craig Shelby
Alan Kooi Simpson
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra
Willard Cleon Skousen
Robert Anthony "Tony" Snow
Britney Jean Spears
Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone
Kenneth Winston Starr
Michael Stephen Steele
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein
Mark Steyn
David Alan Stockman
Roger Stone
Thomas Gerard "Tom" Tancredo
James Taranto
Clarence Thomas
Fred Thompson
Meldrim "Mel" Thomson
Donn Tibbetts
Clyde Anderson Tolson
Robert Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
Jon Vincent Voight
Christopher "Chris" Wallace
John P. Walters
John "Duke" Wayne
John Vincent "Vin" Weber
Michael Alan "Michael Savage" Weiner
William Floyd "Bill" Weld
George Frederick Will
Walter Winchell
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz
niyad
(112,434 posts)geardaddy
(24,924 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)but the worship gets out of hand. If people got 10% as worked up about Labor Dsy, we might still have Labor in this country