The Violence Worker!

There Will Be No Parades

The last combat troops rolled out of Iraq this weekend.  We won...sort of.  We ousted a cruel dictator, a huge threat to the region (and the world to a smaller extent), and helped install a democratically elected government.  We, hopefully, put them on the road to joining the 21st century.  It's up to them to do so, I suppose.

Regardless of our successes, we are leaving in the middle of the night as if we are ashamed and defeated.  Many on the left certainly did all they could to assist our enemies in that endeavor.  In more saner times, many would have went to jail for giving away secrets and sabotaging our efforts.  Despite what many of the Left Wing extremists thought or said, we did not enter illegally, nor did we kill millions of innocents.

Our troops seem to feel more of a sense of relief rather than the elation of victory.  They understand the historical moment and most understand the precarious precipice on which we leave Iraq hanging.  They also understand that the next few years will be crucial to its future.  Will they survive as a democracy, or will they be swallowed up by Iran or other Islamists?  Time will tell, but frankly, the future looks a bit bleak.

The politicians will spin the withdrawal in whatever direction they think will benefit themselves.  It's disgusting, but that's politics.

The Reservists and Guardsmen will return to their communities.  Most will resume their lives and a few will be troubled.  We, as a nation, owe them more than we can pay.

Welcome back, heroes!   Thank you for your multitude of sacrifices. I'm sorry there will be no parades for you. The ticker-tape will not fall from the canyons of Manhattan and the New York Times will not print a banner, half-page headline.  

I pray for your healing. 

VW

Tax The Rich!

Make them suckers pay the bills.  Stop corporate welfare!  Those rich guys need to pony up to pay down our debt!

It's a Democrat Mantra. From Obama on down to the the local pols, the chant is the same. 

The next time you hear someone recite that mantra, ask some easy questions and see what you get for an answer.  It may surprise you.

I did ask someone today.  The guy is no dummy.  He's a retired USAF Chief Master Sergeant.  (E-9)  He is originally from Minnesota, so he has a few liberal leanings.  In any case, I asked him to define rich.  He first stated 250 thousand dollars.  That's pretty much become the de facto line between rich and not rich, I guess.  Then I asked him the hard question.  How much more should they pay? 

Instead of giving me a figure, he said we all should pay about 10 percent like in a flat tax.  I pointed out that he said the rich should pay more and that wasn't what I asked.  He then changed the subject to talk about how the Mariners and the Twins were doing.

Taxing the rich is not the answer.  Just because the government has been (and continues to be) irresponsible is not the fault of some unnamed rich guy.  Taking all of their wealth will neither solve all of our debt problems nor make it easier for ordinary people to prosper.

We don't have a tax problem, we have a spending problem and it's time we faced it.  It's time we demand our legislators face it and deal with it in an adult and responsible way.  We don't need more band-aids and we can't afford to kick the can down the road any longer.  We have to deal with it.

The free ride is over folks.  Redistribution of wealth will never work nor make you prosper.  Raising taxes to pay down the debt has never worked either.  You cannot tax people into prosperity.

We need to cut spending, pure and simple.

VW

D-Day

Today is the 66th anniversary of Operation Overlord, more commonly known as D-Day.  Since then, an army or two of writers have tried to find the right combination of words that sum up our gratitude for the heroic men who assaulted those beaches to save the world from a great evil.  We've striven to encapsulate the enormity of their task in mere words.  We struggle to wrap our minds around the courage of those men who stepped off of those landing boats and waded straight into hell on earth.  The National D-Day Foundation has confirmed 2499 American troops died that day.  Thousands more were wounded.  We are grateful to all of them.

My only purpose is to remind you of that day.  Like all the rest, I do not have the words to properly put it into any kind of perspective.

God bless our Armed Forces and their families, and God bless America.

VW

Veteran's Day 2009

On this day, we take time to honor those who served in the Armed Forces. 

All of us that write on this blog are former military. We understand the sacrifices that our brothers and sisters on active duty around the world freely offer so that we might remain strong and free. 

Thank you all for what you do and know that my wife and I pray for you every single day.

VW

My New Favorite Song

God bless our warriors!

VW

Virginia Democrats Want To Deny Military Voters

Democrats always say they "support the troops".  I think it's mostly lip service, but I usually try and give people the benefit of the doubt.  If they say it, then I'll believe them.  That is until they do something to make me think otherwise and the VA Democratic Party is making me think in that otherwise direction.

This from THE NEXT RIGHT:

Last year, we covered some of the problems in the counting of military absentee ballots in Virginia, as did others. This problem has not gone away. It has just moved. The day before election day 2008, the McCain campaign filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia to force Virginia to count military absentee ballots that came in after election day. McCain lost Virginia by more than enough votes, but the case went on with the Department of Justice replacing the McCain campaign.There were filings last month and will likely be a hearing this month. So what?

The Virginia State Board of Elections argued in their most recent filing that they have no legal obligation to send out military absentee ballots in a timely manner. Restated, the State of Virginia has argued in a federal court filing that they can legally send out absentee ballots to active duty soldiers the day before an election. Restated again, the Democratic Chairwoman of the Virginia State Board of Election (appointed by the Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine, in his capacity as Virginia Governor) Jean Cunningham just claimed a legal basis for massively raising the barrier to voting for soldiers at war.

Say what?  Yeah and here's the filing if you don't believe it:

In other words, they don't see the need to mail out ballots to our soldiers at war until the day before an election.  Since said ballots must be rturned by the next day, it effectively disenfranchises anyone serving in the military outside the state of Virginia.

It's obvious that the Democratic leadership in Virginia only pays lip service to supporting the troops. 

It's a fact that between 60 and 75% of the military tend to vote Republican.  That couldn't be the reason, could it?  They wouldn't stoop that low, would they? 

Yeah, they are and it's despicable!

VW

Michelle Obama's Sacrifice

Mrs. Obama claimed it was some kind of sacrifice for her to go to Copenhagen on behalf of the youth of Chicago.  You have to laugh at such hyperbole.  I admit it's a mite nit-picky to call her on this, but I think it's good every now and then to remind people what a real sacrifice is.  It isn't jetting off to a tony European city on a private jet and staying in a palatial hotel suite where your every whim and wish is tended to by your staff and the hotel's staff.  You eat the finest foods and sip at the finest wines.  Your clothes are cared for better than most people's children.

I don't care if she goes anywhere or the fact that she is treated so well.  She is the First Lady and it goes with the territory.  No one would or should argue differently.  It's her use of the word "sacrifice" that puts a little bit of a bur under my saddle.

I just returned from seven weeks in Qatar.  My working hours were spent at an Air Base out in the desert.  We were told three weeks and we ended up doing seven.  We worked outside in the hot sun.  We often had to adapt and overcome some difficult problems.  None of that was a sacrifice worthy of complaining about.

We had it easy.  We went home to a five star hotel.  We had 1500 TC Egyptian Cotton sheets on our bed.  We could eat pretty much where and what we wanted (within reason).  We had a rental car and we could come and go as we pleased.  Note also that we were paying a heavily discounted, off-season corporate rate, but we were treated like any other guest.  It was actually cheaper for us to stay there than almost any place else in town.  We were still treated like kings.  (Also note that we were not there working for the US Government...it wasn't on your dime.)

We were not sleeping in a canvas covered Quonset hut with 39 other people.  We did not have to go outside to a separate building to shower and use the bathroom.  We were not working 12 hours a day, six days a week.  We did not have to wear  a uniform or load ourselves down with 50 pounds of gear.  When we were off, we could wear what we pleased.  They have to either wear a uniform or PT clothes.  They could not leave the base during Ramadan and when they could go on the rare trip off base, they had to adhere to a rigid dress code.  They are there, away from their loved ones for months at a time.

They are the ones who perform the real sacrifice.  They sacrifice for us and do so willingly for a lot less money than some of the DOD contractors that are there.

So the next time you hear any politician or their spouse whining about their sacrifice, just smile and nod your head.  They haven't a clue.

VW

Status Update

No, I haven't fallen off the earth.  I've been either really busy, or just plain exhausted.  The heat here is oppressive.  I do respect the military folks I've met here.  Although I am not associated with them, nor am I here because of them, I do run into them.  They are here in Qatar as well.  They work 12 hour shifts with little time off.  They are limited as to when they can leave their base and they must adhere to a strict dress code.  They are not allowed to consume alcohol while off base and what they can drink on base is severely limited.  When on base, they must either be in uniform, or wear prescribed and issued athletic gear.  No civilian clothes are allowed to be worn on the base.

They have some comforts.  The base provides free wi-fi in the Base Exchange and rec center areas. 

In any case, I have a lot of respect for these guys and what they do and how they do it.  Regardless of their comforts and challenges, they are out on that flight line with no shade and doing their jobs.

I'm still writing installment three on health care which may go up today with a fourth to follow.

VW

A Little Perspective

It supposed to be hot here in Western Washington.  It's supposed to hit a sweat gushing 103 degrees.  I'm not complaining.

I don't have to wear a long sleeved Battle Dress Uniform, full body armor and carrying a rucksack and a rifle while dodging potshots from enemy terrorists and running down a street that smells worse than the inside of Michael Moore's undershorts.

103 degrees is a bit warm, but I can deal with it.  You won't hear me complaining.

VW

Support For The Arkansas Soldier's Families

I received this in my email the other day from Deb at Yankee Mom and because I'm such an absent minded type, I almost forgot to pass this on:

I'm working with my recruiters here to get cards of support to the families of PVT Long and PVT Ezeagwula.

I'm going to be collecting them and then sending them onto the contact that my recruiters get me.

If you wish to participate, please go to her blog let her know.

No one supports the troops like Deb!  Help her out.

VW