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

Category: Veterans in politics

  • Lazy Day Roundup

    Because of the July 4 weekend, the mainstream media and the interwebs seem a little more interested in the military and America than they normal are.    Here’s a compilation of some interesting things going on out there.

    The last draftee retired from the Army after 39 years of honorable service.

    Who doesn’t know someone who married for the benefits, or just to get out of the barracks, and maybe even got caught?   The news finds this newsworthy because they’re lesbians.

    And an Ohio Vietnam vet got the OK from his HOA to fly his flag from a 15 foot pole.

    I borrowed this link,  written by the father of a soldier from Kanani Fong, of  Kitchen Dispatch.

    And if you haven’t, yet, catch up on the twenty-something posts Jonn made before he left!

  • Buffalo Republican phony

    I apologize for not doing my due diligence on this one. I thought by reading the number of articles from several sources (including the New York Post) in my search before hitting the “publish” button would be enough. Apparently I was wrong. But it will remain posted for the next bozo who believes the Buffalo News.

    The BuffaloNews.com website tells the tale of former candidate for governor in New York and Buffalo businessman, Carl Paladino;

    Carl Paladino says he served three years of active duty in the Army, but actually was on active duty for only three months.

    Official records, as reported by the New York Post, show he served only from Aug. 5, 1971, to Nov. 4, 1971. Yet when you search for Paladino on the Internet, Wikipedia pops up with his bio and says he spent three years on active duty in the Army. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has become one of the main sources of information on the Internet.

    The Post also reported that Paladino had claimed he commanded 250 men at Fort Bliss, Texas, but “a former senior officer at Fort Bliss reviewed the Paladino military record and called claims that Paladino commanded anyone at Fort Bliss a fraud.”

    Paladino was, in fact, leading a civilian life and going to an occasional weekend drill.

    Yeah, his Wikipedia entry still says he’s been on active duty for three years. Even his campaign website shows a video that relies heavily on his military experience;

    There’s big difference between three months and three years. If you’re going to use your military service as reason for people to vote for you, you at least need to be truthful about it. And here we are more than a year since the campaign and after the admission by Paladino’s campaign staff that his statements were false and nothing has changed;

    Paladino’s campaign manager, Michael Caputo, admitted the contentions were wrong after The Post obtained military records showing the Buffalo builder was on active duty for only three months, and was at Fort Bliss for training as a newly commissioned officer in the late summer of 1971, while the Vietnam War was raging.

  • Duckworth resigns. Meh, so what?

    The Chicago Sun-Times reports that double amputee veteran Tammy Duckworth has resigned;

    Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told the Chicago Sun-Times in a statement, “Assistant Secretary Duckworth has submitted her resignation. She has served the Department of Veterans Affairs with distinction. Her unwavering dedication to Veterans and their families has strengthened VA’s ability to perform our mission–providing Veterans the healthcare and benefits they have earned.

    “Tammy Duckworth uniquely understands the needs of today’s Veterans and their families, and her commitment to serving Veterans and increasing VA’s outreach has helped the department serve more Veterans and serve them well. We will miss her advocacy and leadership, but wish her the very best in the years to come.”

    What a load of horseshit. Duckworth’s time at the Department of Veterans Affairs has been about Duckworth, not about veterans. Remember when she defended death panels for veterans? Remember when she “bravely” went back to school during the time she was supposed to be fixing the new GI Bill? Remember when she deflected blame for her own incompetence on veterans healthcare?

    The DVA can only improve with her absence – but that boob Shinseki will screw that up, too.

    The Sun Times speculates that Duckworth will run for Congress in Illinois and that sounds about right. She realizes that she’s a failure at the VA, so she’ll go to Congress where she doesn’t have to be accountable to taxpayers.

    I hope there’s a veteran in Illinois who’ll challenge the brainless twit. I can think of one…hint, hint.

  • IVAW’s Daniel Fanning for Congress

    Dave Thul of True North sent us link to his post about Daniel Fanning, an IVAW member, and an Al Franken staffer, who is contemplating a run at the Minnesota 8th Congressional District seat now occupied by Chip Cravaak, a Republican – the first Republican in that seat since 1947.

    There’s a “Draft Daniel Fanning for Congress” Facebook page.

    Fanning claims to be an actual Iraq veteran, as compared to most of the organization who haven’t set foot outside of the continental US. He testified at the Winter Soldier hearings in Silver Spring, MD in 2008 and here is his testimony;

    He was just another whiny bitch private. In the same breath he complains that before their vehicles were armored, they had to ride with their weapons pointed out the window and that they had to indiscriminately return fire when when fired upon, but after they got the vehicle armor, they couldn’t return fire. he called that shameful – but what’s really shameful is a pussy who complains no matter what the policy is.

    He also complains that he was forced to engage in bayonet training – his complaint was that there hadn’t been bayonet charges since the Korean War. A real soldier would know that training in all forms of combat might be useful one day, irrespective of the history of that particular skill.

    Also, in his narrow private’s mind, Fanning thinks that the soldier who complained to Rumsfeld about the slow delivery of up-armored vehicles was responsible for the delivery of that equipment because the delivery came after the complaint. Maybe the delivery had already been scheduled and had nothing to do with the complaint – but not in the simple mind of a grousing private.

    He claimed, back in 2008, that the military is broken making that statement based on his vast experience as a truckdriver private. Despite his evaluation, the military beat the insurgency in Irq and prevented a civil war, so I’m not sure what he means by “broken” since they’re still winning wars and kicking ass.

    This is a sad statement about the Democrat Party when they can only attract broke-dick, whiny-ass privates to the party.

  • VoteVets endorses Sanchez for Texas Senate seat

    That nonpartisan organization, VoteVets, which routinely refers to Allen West as a “war criminal” has put aside it’s usually high and stringent moral standards to endorse retired Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez.

    “General Sanchez has such a compelling story, and already served this nation honorably and ably,” said Ashwin Madia, an Iraq War Veteran, and Interim Chairman of VoteVets.org. “We’re always happy to see veterans entering politics as a way to continue their public service, but it’s especially encouraging to see one of our military’s finest minds, like General Sanchez, considering a new life in public service. We could use more people like General Sanchez in public life.”

    Talking Points Memo, a notoriously far-right wing nut propaganda rag writes that Sanchez was responsible for the use of dogs during interrogations at Abu Gahraib

    The results of a Freedom Of Information Act request by the ACLU in 2005 showed Sanchez had ordered his troops to “exploit Arab fear of dogs”, as well as authorized other harsh interrogation techniques on prisoners. As the BBC reported in 2005, the ACLU said the FOIA’d documents found “the [interrogation] measures go beyond generally accepted practice and says Gen Sanchez should be made accountable.”

    The ACLU did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the possibility of a Sanchez run.

    Even the ACLU is suddenly silent? Really?

    But in Texas, Democrats are saying Sanchez’s positives outpace the negatives that might come with his connection to Abu Ghraib. Former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, which McClatchy called “one of the state’s last high-profile Democrats,” said Sanchez is just the man Democrats are looking for.

    I guess there’s nothing that affiliating yourself with the Democrat Party won’t cure in some circles. I can’t wait for the Matthew Alexander/Tony Camarino endorsement.

  • Bellavia updates

    Like I wrote yesterday, David Bellavia has turned in enough signatures to get on the ballot for the special election for New York’s 26th Congressional District in order to replace the half-naked millionaire Chris Lee who resigned from the seat earlier this year. However the $800/hour lawyers of his Republican opponent, Jane Corwin, also a multi-millionaire, self-financed candidate like Lee, are tearing through his petitions. Bellavia’s other competitor, Jack Davis, has not contested the petitions and has asked Corwin to do the same;

    March 24, 2011

    Statement from Jack Davis, candidate in the special election for U.S. Congress (NY-26) nominated by 12,000 voters, on full access to the ballot:

    We believe in democracy and the people’s right to choose their representatives.

    As in my own campaign, thousands of people signed petitions for David Bellavia to be on the ballot in the May 24th special election for Congress. David deserves the same blessings of liberty here at home which he fought to bring to the people of Iraq. As a citizen, a veteran and a patriot, I honor his service and his bravery.

    David Bellavia has more than earned his place on the ballot.

    The Jack Davis campaign will not challenge the nominating petitions David Bellavia has filed.

    Jane Corwin should do the same.

    The Corwin campaign should stop trying to keep David Bellavia off the ballot. She should do the right thing, and, as our campaign does, respect David’s defense of democracy and respect the wishes of the people of this district to have a fair and open election.

    David played for me a message on his v-mail in which some guy rattled through David’s credit report (had to have been a lawyer) and offered David $75k to drop out of the race if Bellavia would meet him at secluded spots to pick up the cash. Bellavia told me that there were subsequent calls (from throw-away cell phones) in which he was asked how much he’d take to drop out of the race.

    In polling last week, Bellavia led the four-way race by two points and he wasn’t even on the ballot. Obviously someone is feeling the heat.

  • Bellavia updates

    TAH’s official candidate in the NY’s 26th District turned in enough petitions to get on the ballot Monday according to his campaign. Now of course, the lawyers are pawing through the petitions in order to eliminate the signers. I haven’t heard a final number, yet.

    You can find more pictures and the odyssey of our foray into wilds of Western NY last Friday at DanNY’s GOE/NY and Nassau Tea Party blogs and on Facebook.

  • Stumping for Bellavia part II

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