Daily Kos is a hub. It truly is a hub of activity and compassion, along with eyes who watch everything we do here in the way of political and work for causes.
Veterans day this year has been a flurry of tears and confusion over elections and the very bad treatment our veterans have received, especially in the wierd state of Florida.
There is so much to say thank you to our veterans for. Thanks for sacraficing so much.
We have rights such as voting that so many choose not to do. This is about who fight under the banner of a republic that is supposed to be the best democracy in the world but time after time, proven to be not so much a grateful nation I think of the loss of limbs, peace of mind, financial discomfort and aging in our veteran world.
I have seen this year, so many abuses in the local Veteran healthcare world, it is hard to put into words. I have seen my good friend, advocate buddy suffer as her husband has now been given a death sentence of only a couple of months to live. He has fought for special mode of transportation as a blind man, single amputee , and now has gone into kidney and heart failure. My friend is beyond exhaustion but everyday goes out and fights for better treatment of veterans while calling in hospice and taking instruction as a caregiver and on the phone challenging those who do not wish to give the respect to our nation's veterans that most deserve. . She, herself a veteran and retired military chief warrant officer. Thank you Lynn. Thank you Jeffery.
After talking this week to a military sexual trauma victim picking up pieces of her life as the Gainesville VA has tried to lock her away as suicidal when she doesn't show up for appointments. ( Got to make sure those management folks keep their bonuses). I found out through the Ocala Banner that 83 percent who work there are non military and pretty clueless of serving or how to interact with veterans. This is not acceptable.
I want to remind people of some veterans even being denied the right to vote. Who are these people who deny those who stood on foreign lands, away from family, dodging mortar fire and bullets and bombs and find themselves being so mistreated by these so called patriotic americans with the exception of a neatly fitted flag pin on a lapel. waving in a parade while throwing confetti on a paid holiday. Hypocrits. Call them what they are. We need to also think about local codes forbidding 90 year olds to feed Homeless vets in Public. This is beyond disgusting.
I want to thank the vet who stands against war with very intense feelings but would be the first to put on a uniform and fight for us all over again if called upon. They would fight one way or another. They would stand and fight for the resolve before war started or actually put on another uniform. These men and women whom I meet every single day voluntarily strain to get through a day without pain or mental anguish. War changes people. War impacts not only pocketbooks but so much quality of life. This is true not only for the veteran for the vet's family as well.
This week while working with two real suicidal vets, I discovered they felt they were driven to this state of mind much by the lack of care they received at one or more hospitals here in Florida and was due to the insane idea of privatization.
We lost one of our vet friends to brain cancer as it was not revealed to him he had Brain Cancer and was just put away in a private facility for the mentally ill and not treated primarily at the VA because he took a nip now and then. The man did three tours in Vietnam !!!! We knew him here in Florida as Captiain John. Not all VA's do this sort of thing.
What most people do not understand is that this is happening on local levels and not at the top but through the Regional operations through their Veteran Integrated Service Networks with no oversight or ignored suggestions by Inspector Generals and supposed to be overseen by their federal legislators.
How can a person understand a country that is in a constant state of war? MONEY....We have to defend ourselves, but the men and women who choose to defend this country really do believe THIS country is about to be attacked and they join the military honorably , only to discover they have been mislead.
We need to quit making veterans because the ones we have living now for the most part are in constant turmoil. They suffer from their constant redeployments, which the human mind was not designed to see so much carnage over and over. They suffer physically, mentally and spiritually and so often are just discarded by many in society.
I think as I have begun to dust myself off, we as Americans can show our patriotism by really sending a message to stop the War Machine. It has to stop and there should be laws passed regarding the real truth being told about our state of affairs and laws making it a felony for a recruiter to mislead and lie to our youth. This is especially true for the media and their propoganda. Yeah, Fox Tokyo Rose I am talking about YOU.
For those who have borne the battle, I thank you for your sacrafice and will fight another day as long as your service is so dishonored with homelessness, poverty,
poor healthcare, and pain. You are not being given anything !!!! You have paid the price.
You deserve real respect without having to beg for promises made and not kept.
I want to thank all of you and know...many of us fight everyday for better treatment for you all but there are too many wars and too few who really care. Please, honor those who have been duped and sacraficed in so many ways, more than on Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Join the fight to fight for vets and make Washingon start enacting some polices to get truthful with the American people regarding the real threat and the fear factor made to scare up nothing but money for war profiteers.
Thank you all as there are some REAL patriots that do appreciate your service. You see them in Sara's quilts, you see them in volunteers, you see them working in a tireless effort among apathy. The people who do honor veterans do it every single day ..not just on a paid holiday with a parade and confetti.
Despite the fact the Obama Administration has done more to end the Homeless Veterans problem, democratic candidates distanced themselves from President Obama in the midterms. Why? Why did the candidates not cover what has been obstructed by legislation and not what has been called for in improving and honoring our veterans.
This is part of my frustration.
http://www.endhomelessness.org/...
We need to be yelling at some folks in DC ! Cheney is not the president nor is John McCain and blaming the president in this area is totally unacceptable.
In 2009, the Obama Administration committed to ending veteran homelessness in the U.S. by the end of 2015. Since 2010, there has been a 33 percent decrease in the number of homeless veterans. According to data collected during the 2014 Point-in-Time Count, 49,933 veterans experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2014. That estimate represents a 14 percent decline compared to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2013 estimate, and a 33 percent decline compared to its 2010 estimate.
There needs to be some action taken against the propogandists and war profiteers and unpatriotic chickenhawks who prey on the sick and disabled veterans to believe the President is not trying to assist veterans in their plight. It is our job...all of our jobs to make sure the truth is heard. Speak up and Speak loudly !
I am tired also of veterans being props in elections. I know veterans are tired of being a backdrop for a shrewd talking point to further a greedy or ambitious legilsator to get votes.
We have a new congress and that means if we don't push back on the lies and propoganda, the veteran plight will just get worse and most republicans believe WAR is a product to be pushed.
Thank you all for a different type of Thank you to our veterans. Let us really honor veterans and not settle for lip service. Let us take care of the ones we have without a fight and with gratitude for a sacrafice whether the wars were based on lies or not.. They took orders and dedicated themselves to their commitment . The next step to honoring veterans is to stop making them. One of the best ways to honor a veteran is to vote.
There is no such thing as a good war or bad peace. There is honor in helping those who believed and fought for what they were told they were fighting for. Since American Veterans were on loan to the United States of America for periods of time during conflict no less, in a contract, maybe there should be a new Truth and Lending Law.