Annals of Veterans Affairs

Of course you've heard right wing assholes screeching about Vietnam vets (baby-killing scum, that is) being spat upon when they returned to what they fondly referred to as "The World." Not a shred of fact to it, of course. But guess who's metaphorically spitting on the latest crop of vets. (Odd that we keep having vets, who keep getting screwed, isn't it? Almost as if the United States were a militaristic nation, that bullies the rest of the world. Well, small defenseless nations like Panama & Grenada, or paper tigers like Iraq, anyway. How 'bout gettin' the Chicoms outta Tibet? That seems at least as important as Ku-wait-a-minute, no oil in Tibet. Never mind.) Presumed Republican presidential nominee John Sidney McSame is among those shitting all over the veterans. We guess that the "Post 9/11 Veterans Act" is one of those "earmarks" to which Sen. Sidney McSame claims to be so opposed. Or some kind of gov't. giveaway that strikes at the very heart of "freedom" & "liberty." According to Gen. Wesley Clark & a guy who actually served (or got served) in Iraq,

McCain has said he hasn't had time to read the bill and isn't sure if he could support it. It's hard to believe that neither he nor anyone on his staff has had time to read such an important bill, which has been around since before he started running for president.

Oh, we don't find it so hard to believe. Per Wes & his co-author, Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org, all the other Vietnam vets in the Senate support the bill, as well as former SecNav John Warner.

[Jason] Bensley, who served in southern Iraq, Mosul and Diyala province, is in debt, trying to pay for college. "I wouldn't have the faintest idea why a member of Congress wouldn't want to support the GI Bill," he says. "Sen. McCain should know how hard it is for veterans to transition back into civilian life."

Well, no, Jason. By the time Sen. "Bomb-bomb" was going to "transition," he'd married a millionaire beer heiress & served as the U. S. Navy's liaison to the U. S. Senate. Makes the "transition" one hell of a lot easier, doesn't it? Not to mention being the son & grand-son of the first father-son combo to make four-star admiral in the USN. The Senator could have gone straight into full-time briberydefense contracting. Maybe Mr. Bensley should show some initiative & find a millionaire beer heiress for himself, instead of waiting for the gov't. to give him a hand-out. Lazy douchebag. The absolute tops in cynicism (take it from us, we are right up there on the cynicism scale) seems to be the Bush White House.

The White House has voiced concern on the bill, arguing that if returning troops are offered a good education, they will choose college over extending their service. This is as offensive as it is absurd. First, it is morally reprehensible to fix the system so that civilian life is unappealing to service members, in an attempt to force them to re-up. Education assistance is not a handout, it is a sacred promise that we have made for generations in return for service. Second, falling military recruitment numbers are just as serious as retention problems. To send the message that this nation will not help you make the most of your life will dissuade a large number of our best and brightest from choosing military service over other career options.

Frankly, we don't support the fucking troops. People so stupid that they volunteer to defend a nation that won't provide them w/ adequate educations or decent jobs, leaving them only the option of military service or starving pretty much deserve to be part of thinning the herd, if you know what we mean. And of course if these stupid people didn't enlist, warmongering assholes wouldn't have a military w/ which to bully the rest of the world. So fuck 'em, as we said. Also on the military front, we heard on the radio last night that in an ABC News report asking Americans in Iraq who their presidential choice was, almost all those shown (unscientific, of course) were for the sane Senators, Clinton or Obama. (Granted, that's pretty second-hand, and we can't find the story on the ABC News website. Maybe it's been censored already.) And in Rosa Brooks cage-liner column today, we see that Republican predominance in the ranks is not what it used to be.

The same trend has been true among military personnel, for decades a solidly Republican constituency. In 2004, 60% of active-duty military personnel who responded to a survey sent to Military Times subscribers identified themselves as Republicans. By 2007, that had dropped below 50%. (Military personnel tend to take screw-ups in Iraq pretty personally.)

Maybe those people aren't as stupid as we implied above. Obviously not, as they are making that college money by stealing gear from Uncle Sam.