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

Category: Veterans in politics

  • Stumping for Bellavia in Mount Morris, NY

    As promised, I’m up in Mount Morris, NY collecting signatures for David Bellavia with a couple of GOE guys. He owns this town.

    DanNY 002

    David is supposed to meet us at Fred’s Tavern at 5pm, so it’ll probably be a late night.

  • Bellavia for New York; updates

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    Our buddy, David Bellavia, has decided he’s going to make a run at the Congressional seat in New York’s 26th District without the support of those fatass GOP dorks in Rochester. He just told me that in recent polling he’s ahead by two points in a four-way race to be held on May 24th.

    There’s one road block, however. He needs 3500 signatures from voters in his district on a petition by Sunday. The 26th District Includes All of Genesee, Livingston and Wyoming Counties and parts of Erie, Monroe, Niagara and Orleans Counties. If you live in the district, won’t you PLEASE get your grubby hands on a petition from his website. If you don’t live in the 26th district, he can still use your money.

    Yeah, I’m begging because for some reason, VoteVets just isn’t coming through for him…but they’ll support draft-dodger Harry Reid. Go figure.

    I’m thinking about making a road trip this week to force my former homies to sign petitions. So if there’s anyone who wants to make a road trip and you have a wonderful boss like mine who’ll give us some short notice leave time to help a friend, we’ll coordinate. It’s worth missing the hippie convergence in DC.

    Nothing would make me prouder than to have New Yorkers elect Bellavia Congress. Andnothing would make me happier than to stick our collective finger in the collective eye of those fat GOPers in the 26th District.

  • David Bellavia: Here we go again

    Who is David Bellavia? Watch this video;

    David was asked to run for the NY 26th Congressional District seat last week. I was raised in the neighboring CD and I know that David is the best choice, however the fat, greasy clowns in the 26th’s GOP party are leaning towards another millionaire who can finance his own campaign…just like Christopher Lee, the shirtless craigslister who was just forced to resign recently.

    In 2008, David stepped aside when the GOP kingmakers in Rochester, like the money-grubbing cowards they are, choose Lee for their candidate. David not only stepped aside, he campaigned for Lee unlike any of the other 2d choicers.

    Now it’s David’s turn. If you want analysis of the conditions in the 26th, read DrewM’s great piece at Ace of Spades.

    Below the jump, is David’s explanation to the Regional Republican Candidate Screening committee on Sunday about why they should select him. David assured me last night that one way or another, he’s going to run.

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  • West to CAIR: “Don’t try to blow sunshine up my butt”

    Old Trooper and ROS sent us this video of a confrontation Congressman (LTC, Ret.) Allen West had with Nezar Hamze, Executive Director of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as recorded by the folks at SharkTank;

  • Bellavia for Congress

    Our buddy, David Bellavia, is running for Congress in the seat recently vacated by Chris Lee in Buffalo, NY. I’m a little bit angry that Dave didn’t tell me himself and I had to find out from an email from Iraq Veterans for Congress;

    From a Rochester radio station WHAM;

    He says, “In 2008 I was a kid walking around asking people for money. In 2010 I’ve been approached with people with money. In 2010 I’ve been approached by national infrastructures that want to come into our district and help this and make this happen.”

    Bellavia says he’s frustrated that the number one export in Western New York are college graduates.

    Right now, the only link I can find for donations is the IVFC. Maybe Dave can come down here and tell us more. Or you could buy his book, “House to House” in the Amazon sidebar.

  • Murdered vet tied to arson attempt?

    The Philadelphia Enquirer reports this morning that John P. Wheeler, the former aide to three presidents, Vietnam veteran and driving force behind the Vietnam Memorial, may have been involved in an arson attempt in the days before his body was discovered in a Delaware landfill;

    Police in Delaware have discovered evidence that a former Pentagon aide may have been involved in an attempted arson days before his murder, a law enforcement source has told The Inquirer.

    Police found evidence linking John Parsons Wheeler 3d to devices planted at the New Castle home of a neighbor with whom he had been feuding, said the source, who is close to the investigation. The feud was over the size of the neighbor’s house, which was under construction in the city’s historic district.

    The source emphasized that the evidence does not shed light on the murder itself, but it has helped detectives understand Wheeler’s state of mind before he disappeared.

    As someone mentioned in the comments yesterday, this really is turning into the opening chapter of a Tom Clancy novel.

  • Iraq war veterans in Congress

    Stars & Stripes’ Leo Shane has conversations with the eight Iraq veterans elected to Congress this season and their commitment to their fellow soldiers and Marines;

    “I think you’ll see the House Armed Services Committee become more of a war committee than it has been in the last few years,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served with the Marines in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

    “We need to be more focused on Iraq and Afghanistan. And we need to make the military a leaner, meaner fighting machine.”

    Hunter and Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman are the only two returning Iraq veterans in the House, but they’ll be joined by six freshman lawmakers with current war experience, including three who’ve been appointed to the House Armed Services Committee.

    “If you’ve been in the military, you can take policy proposals and think about how that change is going to play out, not from an academic standpoint but from an experience standpoint,” said Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., one of those three newcomers and a major in the Army Reserve.

    “It helps to understand what troops go through, what families go through on deployment. As someone who is still talking to those troops, that’s a perspective that can help across the board.”

    Fellow freshman committee member Florida Rep. Allen West, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said he hopes to spearhead efforts to review the military’s rules of engagement in Afghanistan as soon as the new legislative session begins, calling some of the restrictions on battlefield troops unfair and unsafe.

    “With some of the rules we’ve placed on them, we might as well start handing out traffic tickets at the Daytona 500,” he said. “I’ll push for oversight hearings on that right away, because we need to listen to the complaints of the troops on the ground.”

    I think with Hunter and West in the lead, we’re going to see some common sense coming out Congress for the first time. Still, they have to remember that Congress legislates and the President executes. The military has only one commander-in-chief and Congress can’t try to drive this war from the backseat like the last few legislative sessions.

  • Representative Steve Buyer on the New GI Bill Changes

    I missed this this when I was writing my first post:

    “All Americans know that the month of December is already a strain on their pocketbook and to have your paycheck cut would be devastating to anyone. This provision is nothing but a lump of coal for veterans.”

    On Vet groups supporting the bill:

    “Are your representatives in Washington really standing up for you when they endorse a bill that cuts your living stipend during the holidays? Are they really representing your views when they endorse legislation that cuts tuition payments for some veterans by thousands of dollars a year?”

    Overall, I still think these changes are a raw deal for most veterans. The  support for this bill from the American Legion and VFW is also extremely disappointing to me.

    Finally I think this bill is proof-positive of Jonn’s contention that the budget will be balanced on the backs of veterans.