There is one national issue
floating in our Vets arena
time and time again right now
and that is how the Republicans
have NOT made good on their promises
to us and how much they have let us
down at every turn.

With only one single showing
to us that they really CAN
pull together and get something
done back when the House and Senate
united to oppose the President
on the Arab Emirates operating
the nations shipping ports, we have
not yet seen much spunk or
love from the Republicans
when it came to issues more dear
to our hearts such as Manadatory
Funding, TriCare, and a short
list of other this-and-that
Bills which have hit this
session but have yet to move
in our favor.

The jury is still out on
the VA Disability Commission
as several of us standby
holding our breaths waiting to
see if the much awaited Presumptive
Service Connection status for
the chemical exposure Veterans will
effectively show up in the
all new Comp & Pen system they
are overwriting; and the complete
fallout from the VA Data Theft scandal
has still not yet been fully measured.
Just tonight on NBC News it
has been reported that 2.2 million
or more of active duty National
Guard troops in Iraq may also
have had their VA data stolen
in the most damming computer disk
heist in history.

What is known for now is that
when Republican VA Secretary
Jim Nicholson appeared
before the bi-partisan
House Veterans Affairs
Committee, Nicholson played
the Clueless Card pointing
to his lack of knowledge
about the theft incident
and then whined about who
was really to blame.
Geez, Ya Think ??

This from a guy who is wholly
unqualified to be sitting
as VA Secretary and whose
only claim to fame prior
to now has been to be the
former National Republican Party
top fundraiser.
[ MY MY can't ya just SEE
the similarity between running
the VA agency and running the
Republican Party in an election
campaign??? How many of us ever
saw THAT coming ??? ]

The Senate Majority Leader
in particular has chaperoned enough
party-line down votes to chase
the National Anthem completely
out of the Senate Chambers.
Even if the Democrats do not
always agree with us Vets,
at least they talk to us and
listen to our concerns.

It has been hard to say that
even the current active duty
war Veterans in Iraq have
fared very well with the
Republicans in this session.
Even more stunning, they
don't want to seem to even
"acknowledge" those of us
Veterans who are from older
service periods. We were
lucky to get them to sign
off on the Military Funerals
Protection Act, Whew! thanks
for the small crumbs Buddy!!

With a VA system that is
wholly broken, NO! --- wholly
DEMOLISHED, and with the Government
Accounting Office confirming all
that we Veterans have been
saying about it all, ya have
to wonder just what it will
take for the Republicans to wake
up from their COMMUNIST COMA !!

They want our services in
the military, but they don't
want to pay for our healthcare
or protect the funding of
the VA agency so that we can
all get off this merry-go-round
of relentless budget cutting
threats, and legislative harrasment
that we are all forced to sit
through each and everytime
there is a new congressional
session. Thanks a lot, Republicans
and excuse us if we don't
bring out the Bear Hugs !!

We did get SOME projected budget
relief, and for this we are
grateful, but this was after
the AX was waved over our heads
for a few of the session months
until a comprimise came to the
rescue.

We Veterans can only stand
around with our continued national
efforts to hammer on the session
doors of Congress to push through
whatever is left of the piles
of Bills, while the Republicans
all look back at us with the
9 Mile Stare as if they don't have
a clue about what we are all
talking about! But the writing is
on the wall even at this premature
date that the Republicans are not
likely to change their oppositional
ways anytime soon.

We Veterans can only stand around
and ask: "What Are They Thinking?"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: McClellanVet,

If for one minute you think that the Republicans care anything about Veterans, then you are totally dillusional. The Republicans view any sort of aid given to the vets as being socialism and are hellbent on denying any and all claims for presumption of exposure to toxics, because quess who is responsible for the poisoning. The very same people who want the Republicans in office. Because the Republicans are willing to go to war does not mean they support the troops. The military industrial complex needs the troops to do the work they are ultimately afraid to do. That why you have more draft dogers, including the President and Vice President, in the Republican party. The sooner you learn to connect the dots the easier time you have convincing someone one that you know what your talking about. Until then, your shock with the Republicans is something that many of us realized with the Nixon Administration.