This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Liberals suck

  • VA Budget Insanity

    A couple of weeks ago, the House was debating a $77.3 billion dollar appropriations bill that included the 2011 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). While the bill was being debated in the House Rules Committee, John Boehner and other Republicans introduced three amendments that would have cut $52 million dollars from the budget request for 2011. Democrats of course did not hesitate to accuse the Republicans of selling-out veterans.

    Louise Slaughter of New York said the following (emphasis is mine):

    “I thought it was extraordinary that someone would want to cut the VA budget to the bone,” said Rules Chairwoman Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.

    This article from the AP quotes Democrat Bob Filner:

    “I couldn’t believe it. You’re coming into an election and you’re taking money away from veterans,” said Veterans Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-Calif. “I guess that’s their definition of supporting the troops.”

    Of course, the toolbags over at VoteVets did not miss the chance to chime in and bash Republicans:

    Not only do they not want their pimps, the wealthy, the corporations, whoever else they get on their knee’s for, to pay for veterans issues, and more, but they keep trying to Cut VA Budgets by millions while pushing Defense and their Wars of Choice Spending to the limits!!

    So what exactly did the Republicans want to cut from the DVA’s budget? More below the fold…

    (more…)

  • They’re still coming for your benefits

    The other day I wrote about the Defense Business Board which recommended slashing military retiree benefits. Ranger Off-Spring (ROS) sent us a link on Military (dot) Com about yet another DoD panel coming for our benefits;

    “Unless retirees contribute more for their TRICARE insurance, medical costs will not be brought under control and the national defense they served, and for which they fought and sacrificed, will be harmed,” says the final report of the Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel.

    The panel is co-chaired by former Defense Secretary William J. Perry from the Clinton administration and Stephen J. Hadley who was national security advisor through President George W. Bush’s second term.

    “I’ve heard a four-star military leader comment that DoD is turning into a benefits company that will occasionally kill a terrorist,” [Arnold Punaro, a defense industry executive and retired Marine Corps Reserve major general] said in a phone interview Tuesday.

    Anyone else sense a real screwing coming on? It’s not like it hasn’t happened before…until the late 80s, retirees had dental benefits and co pays for CHAMPUS were a lot lower. In the 90s, Clinton put military retirees on Medicare at 65 and took them off of the military system and he started TRICARE which requires a premium for our “free healthcare”.

    I don’t hear anyone in the Health and Human Services Department calling for more Medicaid user participation in paying for their health care…or talks of slashing other SSI benefits.

  • Can’t Imagine Why.

    It seems that the reporter that leaked private conversations is wondering why his request to be embedded with Military in Afghanistan was rejected according to Army Times.

    The author of the Rolling Stone article that ended the military career of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, has been denied permission to join U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

    Defense Department spokesman Col. David Lapan told reporters that freelance writer Michael Hastings was rebuffed when he asked to accompany, or “embed,” with American forces next month.

    I mean this is a total shock right, I mean posting angry comments about why support has taken over a year to get to Afghanistan and expects to be accepted there again?

    The inspector general is considering whether officers were insubordinate and how far up the chain of command responsibility for decisions involving the Hastings interviews extended, officials said. Defense officials outlined the investigation on condition of anonymity because it is ongoing and has reached no conclusions.

    On a side note we need to make a drinking game that sates that if anyone says “Not authorized to speak to the Press.” or something we drink. Because I see this happen way too much in our and Foreign news.

    Oh the same reporter has a book deal that he s going to talk about him leaking these conversations, I mean why in the world would you not want him back.

    Oh on the subject of Generals and Politics here is one for a good laugh.

    General Pace – you have the power to fulfill your responsibility to protect the troops under your command. Indeed you have an obligation to do so.

    You can relieve the President of his command.

    Not of his Presidency. But of his military role as Commander-In-Chief.

    You simply invoke the Uniform Code Of Military Justice.

    There is only one possible response for something like this.

  • Overseas troops to be screwed by largely Blue States

    Mr Wolf sent us a link to a story out of Colorado this morning that some states, mostly Democrat-leaning states, are planning to screw absentee voters (read that: active duty soldiers serving overseas) out of their right to have a voice in the government that sends them to war;

    Spokesman Rich Coolidge said the ballots will still be mailed, but some soldiers in remote battlefields might not have enough time to mail them back, even though the state will give them an extra seven days after the election. He said they can also send them by e-mail or fax.

    Coolidge blamed late primaries and petition deadlines. He said ballots for the Aug. 10 primary also went out under short notice, but the 45-day deadline doesn’t apply to those elections.

    Bob Carey, federal voting assistance program director for the Department of Defense, said waiver requests have been received from Washington, New York, Hawaii, Alaska, the Virgin Islands, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

    Of course the waiver they’re talking about is to the law that Obama signed last year – but there were enough loopholes in the law, states are allowed to apply for exceptions to the rule. yet another excuse for ballots to arrive late to the troops.

    You’d think that VoteVets, IAVA and IVAW would be jumping all over this, but, sadly, no they’re not. I’m sure TSO will have something to add since this is one of his principal issues.

  • General Pelosi disagrees with White House on drawdown pace

    Well, you get the government you deserve. Here we are a year from the projected pull out from Afghanistan and already the Administration and the Congress are at odds over how fast we should cut and run. Pelosi and SecDef Gates have vastly disparate views on the pace;

    Since when does the Speaker of the House get to decide for the commander in chief? Just write the checks and shut up Pelosi. Politico writes;

    Pelosi, who saw 102 of her Democratic colleagues break ranks with President Barack Obama and oppose further war funding in a vote last week, suggested Americans would be disappointed and surprised if the initial withdrawal amounted to only a few thousand troops–a possibility recently laid out by Vice President Joe Biden.

    “Well, I hope it is more than that,” Pelosi said. “I know it’s not going to be, ‘Turn out the lights and let’s all go home on one day.’ But I do think the American people expect it to be somewhere between that and a few thousand troops.”

    Yes, a slim margin of Democrats broke with the Speaker on funding the war – probably 102 Democrats who won’t be in the House next year. The same peckerwoods who have voted against funding the war since the beginning. So who cares?

    Of course that’s been the plan all along – withdraw from Afghanistan while looking like the Administration wants to win. The goal isn’t making Afghanistan safe for us, it’s about ending our involvement no matter what Afghanistan looks like. That’s why there’s a schedule for withdrawal and not a model for success. That’s why that dick Eikenberry is still the ambassador to Afghanistan. He’s been a failure at everything he’s ever done and deflects blame so well.

    This is like last year’s tax cut. It was anemic and ineffectual, but the administration points to it every time the coming tax hikes are mentioned as proof that they’re against tax hikes. They’ll do the same in 2012 when they’re accused of losing Afghanistan – they’ll point at the anemic troops increases as proof that they want to win the war.

  • Rangel reminds us that he was a soldier while he acts unsoldierly

    While Charles Rangel negotiates with the House Ethics Committee, he reminds us that once he was a soldier. (Associated Press link);

    “Sixty years ago I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea and as a result I haven’t had a bad day since,” Rangel told reporters. “But today I have to reassess that statement.”

    First of all, how many soldiers get to negotiate with an ethics committee when they are being investigated for ethics violations? I’m guessing NONE. Secondly, whatever Charles Rangel was 60 years ago, that is not what he is today. he may have been a studly non-commissioned officer, but that NCO would not have avoided his obligations the way this Charles Rangel has done.

    To remind us of THAT Charles Rangel today is to bring dishonor upon whatever service THAT Charles Rangel might have rendered this nation. What have you done for us lately? You can’t hide behind THAT Charles Rangel to atone for the sins of the Charles Rangel that stands before us today. Take your medicine like THAT Charles Rangel would have done.

  • Kerry: Taxes are for thee, not for me

    Yacht owners in Massachusetts are obligated to pay a 6.25% luxury tax for their fancy floating homes. Well, unless their name is John Kerry, apparently (Boston Herald link);

    Isabel – Kerry’s luxe, 76-foot New Zealand-built Friendship sloop with an Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage – was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine.

    But instead of berthing the vessel in Nantucket, where the senator summers with the missus, Teresa Heinz, Isabel’s hailing port is listed as “Newport” on her stern.

    According to the Boston Herald, Kerry avoids paying the $437,500 tax and the annual $70k excise tax if he maintains the registry in Rhode Island and keeps out of Massachusetts waters for six months.

    This arrogant prick almost became President. Sinking wind farms in view og his mansions and avoiding taxes paid by only the rich shouldn’t endear John Kerry to Mass voters.

    But we veterans knew what kind of creep he was in 2004.

    Thanks to Sparky for the link.

  • Hegseth on Kagan

    Out buddy, Pete Hegseth, the executive director of Vets For Freedom, takes on Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court nominee, in the pages of the Wall Street Journal this morning on her contention that she’s friendly towards the military;

    At her hearing on June 29, Ms. Kagan testified that “The military had full access to our students at all times.” To the contrary, Ms. Kagan persistently blocked its access to the law school’s Office of Career Services and the wide array of services it provides. Almost all students use this office to identify employers, so it’s hard to imagine how Ms. Kagan believes the military had “full access.”

    Moreover, she encouraged students in speeches to protest, and obstruct, the presence of military recruiters. The Army called her actions “stonewalling;” I call them downright discriminatory.

    Her backers say Ms. Kagan supports the military because she has praised them publicly and hosted dinners for veterans. A handful of veterans have defended her, and I concede that she has had good things to say about our troops, which I appreciate. But actions always speak louder than words. Ms. Kagan’s actions toward recruiters while wars were raging trump her rhetorical support.

    Kagan is like all liberals who pay lip service to their support of the troops, but their actions don’t match their noise. We’re going to get Kagan on the court (thanks Lindsay Graham), the only thing we can do now is replace the guy who appoints judges.