I had not fully unpacked from our trip to Vietnam when my e-mail was flooded with messages from my conservative friends reminding me that the president was “black”, not really from here, a Muslim, a Communist, a Socialist, anti-American, anti-military basically everything but a space alien.

This brought back memories from my tour of combat years ago and wanting to contribute to positive change. Few would believe that I actually held public office in California as a Republican. I would later become a police officer, prison guard, high school teacher, college professor, public utility worker, and veterans rights advocate. I had such high ideals before becoming completely disillusioned to the point of disassociation.

Today Romney said on Public Radio, “…America is globally viewed as being weak and in decline…” I agree with the decline part, but that has nothing to do with the president and everything to do with Republican policies.

Who Died and Made Iowa “God”?

Actually, the people in Iowa have proven they are smarter than the rest of the United States. In the 1970s, when I was politically active, I first began to question why Iowa was allowed to exert so much political muscle upon the rest of the nation.

Although no one had a reasonable answer, they remained content with the political primary system as it was. Iowa dictates not only who becomes president but the platforms of the two major political parties in spite of the fact they are not representative of the broader America. Iowa is about 96% white; 52% Protestant and 23% Catholic.

Those religious fundamentalist promote the theory that some higher power desires all fetuses come to term, even those created by rape or incest, and set the tone for the primaries that follow. Iowa is home to multinational insurance companies and financial institutions who have a vested interest in who is allowed to continue on to New Hampshire. Corn and farm subsidy issues are key to candidates survival to compete another round. In this arena, it is not ‘one for all’ but rather ‘all for one’.

In Brazil, for example, ethanol is made from inexpensive sugar cane. American car manufacturers know this as they produce cars in that region. Yet that form of alternative fuel source is not promoted in the United States. When corn ethanol was proven to be too expensive and drove up the price of beef, milk, and all associated products; the conservative talking heads were overjoyed at the fact that “environmentalist crackpots were wrong” and utilized this failure as a reason to kill other programs that were being developed.

Special interest groups have hoodwinked the gullible American voting public into believing they need continued tax breaks for research and development, when all we need to do is point out to them the programs that are currently working in other parts of the world. There is no need to reinvent the wheel unless, of course, your particular company financially benefits from it through our tax dollars.

Fundamentalist traditionally have issues with women and minority groups. This is a historical fact from the time of the Mayflower Compact when only affluent white men were allowed to enter into a contract with “God”. Some of the framers of our Constitution owned slaves as they were considered to be property and carried the alleged “Mark of Cain” (dark skin that reflected “God’s” displeasure.)

These are the cornerstones of the Republican Party that as a matter of principle discriminates against women, poor people, organized workers, and the disabled; however, they have successfully managed to frame these political planks in religion and patriotism allowing the willfully ignorant to believe that criticism of these issues is a complaint against “God” Himself. Regarding taxation, the old-time Calvinist approach has been adopted. As God favors the rich (otherwise why would they be wealthy?), the burden upon them should be light to non-existent. They create our jobs; they look after our well being.

However, just the opposite is true. Under Republican policies, outsourcing has destroyed American jobs and manufacturing. Outsourcing has created a new overseas economic slave class with no savings being passed onto the consumer. The Republicans have become the new century slave masters and defacto hate group; yet, we are too blind to see this.

They oppose socialized medicine, although they have it in Congress, because it would force them to pay their fair share in taxes; but, then again, that tax money would be used to benefit woman, poor people, and individuals of color — not in line with their fundamentalist thinking. They bash other nations that have socialized medicine and point out the failures of such systems and we buy into this without any investigation.

The Republicans tell us ‘all’ things socialist are bad, which is another reason they are so keen in destroying our social security system and why the Veterans Administration hospitals have budget problems fiscal year after fiscal year.

When were were in uniform we received much lip service as to how respected and valued we are; but, once we became injured veterans, we became the dregs of society begging for crumbs off the master’s table.

If I were a gambling man, I’d bet few readers know that the injured American combat veteran has fewer rights than convicted felons, illegal aliens, and child molesters. Those later groups all have the right to judicial review and to have their cases heard in an Article III federal court; veterans, who fought and suffered for the Constitution, do not have this right thanks to the 1933 Economy Act, ruled unconstitutional in 1935 but reinstated in the 1940 Veterans Benefit Act! Where was “war hero” John McCain on this issue?

My final thought in this area is to remember that from 1814-1832 all Indians were removed from Iowa by the ‘illegal aliens’ from Europe and America. Now these same folks want to remove other people they deem to be “illegal”. Somewhat of a sad comic irony. I would suggest that the nation’s first political primary be in California. It certainly would be more interesting, representative, and entertaining!

“Gotcha!” Capitalism

When I was a child I remember America was a great manufacturing nation where businesses would work with consumers. There was a sense of ethics that somehow vanished over the past few decades.

In Vietnam, I was stationed near grunt Larry Stigall who was assigned to Camp Enari near Dragon Mountain across from Pleiku air field. After his second tour, Larry returned from the war mentally and physically broken. Since I reestablished contact with Larry in the 1980s, he has been struggling to sort things out. He still cannot. He is not mentally incompetent but he has great difficulty in making rational decisions.

During the Bush Administration, Larry received what he took as a personal letter from a mortgage lender informing him ‘in honor for his service to the nation’ he could skip his next two mortgage payments and this particular company would assume his loan at a lower monthly rate.

To Larry the letter looked official and he thought someone at the government level was finally acknowledging his military service. He skipped his next two mortgage payments thinking that was somehow a “veteran’s bonus” only to later find out his 15-year loan had been converted into a 30-year loan – and that was the primary reason his monthly payments were lower, because he had an additional 180 months to pay!

Larry has been attempting to straighten this out over the past five years, but no help. The laws were not set up to protect or assist disabled war veterans. As more families spiral downward, some protection for those in Larry’s position may materialize. In the meantime veterans will continue to receive weak lip service from Washington.

Legalized Loan Sharking

If I, as an individual, were to charge another person 20% per month on money I loaned them, that would be criminal; however, if I were a ‘payday loan company’ this same action would be considered smart business practices.

This is the difference between having and not having a paid lobbying firm at your disposal. This highlights, at its worst, the predatory business system that has evolved in the United States over the past few decades exploiting the poor, weak, and disadvantaged.

Additionally, I never thought I would see the day when banks would charge a ‘convenience’ fee for making more than four deposits a month or paying on a loan more than three times a month. What has one’s credit score got to do with job qualifications? If you are late on a payment, regardless or not whether you are at fault, the credit card companies have the right to convert your low interest balance to one that is immediately payable in full with additional interest and penalties.

At every opportunity, businesses are eager to “GOTCHA” because in their mind, the customer is always wrong and must be exploited for their financial gain.

I realize I cannot change this, so I option not to be part of it. Once my business is completed here, we will be returning to Hanoi where this type of insanity does not exist. Yes, times have changed and I really hope my fellow Americans realize it before it is too late…

Jim Rhodes

For more than two years, the far-right Tea Party and its cast of Republican admirers have wrapped themselves in the trappings of patriotism. Along with eagles and flags, conservatives have made liberal use of the image of Uncle Sam.

But an aggressive, nationwide push by right-wing lawmakers to change the very procedures by which Americans exercise our right to vote is inviting comparisons with a different name from history: Jim Crow.

“I was raised in Mississippi. I saw water fountains labeled by race,” says Charlie E. Hubbert, an Army veteran from Milwaukee. “I saw places that said ‘Whites Only’ and stores with separate entrances. For people like me and my 86-year-old mother, this new policy is a terrible reminder of that era.”

The policy Hubbert refers to is Wisconsin’s new voter ID law. It requires all voters in the state to present a photo identification card with a signature and a period of validity of two years or less, in order to cast a ballot.

Despite the public’s demand for action on job creation, new Republican majorities in both chambers of the state legislature made the bill a priority last spring. Republican governor Scott Walker, now facing a recall drive, signed it in May. It took effect July 1.

Critics contend that obstacles the law throws before ordinary voters will deny the vote to thousands of Wisconsinites. Some liken its restrictions to white segregationists’ tactics thwarting black voters in the south for several generations before the breakthroughs of the civil rights movement, federal legal protections, and their enforcement by the Justice Department.

The Brennan Center for Justice, in a landmark 2006 analysis, found that insistence on photo IDs opens the door to discrimination against many groups of Americans. Women often lack documentation in their current name, as do seniors, low-income whites, immigrants, and people of color. While 11 percent of the overall population has no government-issued photo ID, 16 percent of Hispanics, 18 percent of seniors, and 25 percent of African-Americans lack photo IDs.

The disparity, and danger of disenfranchisement, appears to be especially acute in Milwaukee. A 2005 University of Wisconsin report showed that 59 percent of Hispanic women and 55 percent of African-American in the city did not possess a current state-issued photo ID.

Barriers to voting for people with disabilities are numerous and notorious. Census data show that people with disabilities are 20 times more likely than nondisabled Americans to cite a permanent physical condition as a reason for being unregistered. When registered, people with disabilities are four times more likely not to vote because of transportation difficulties. On top of this obstacle course, the voter ID law places an added set of hurdles for the disabled in Wisconsin.

More may be riding on this one state law than any other statute in the nation. Wisconsin’s history of close statewide outcomes — a few hundred votes in this year’s race for a pivotal state Supreme Court seat, and a fraction of 1 percent in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential contests — make it conceivable the law could swing a possible recall election of Governor Walker or even next year’s outcome in President Obama’s reelection. With six other states set to implement similar laws on January 1, and 15 now enforcing photo ID laws, millions of Americans stand to face frustrating and perhaps insurmountable barriers to casting a ballot that will count in 2012.

Veterans are among those who may be cut off. Hubbert, whose duties in an Army cavalry division took him to Vietnam, is senior vice commander of his local chapter of Disabled American Veterans. He underscores the perverse impact on those who served overseas in defense of America’s democratic principles. “This law imposes a hardship on older people and many veterans. It’s going to be real painful.”

Some veterans with disabilities, he notes, lack driver’s licenses for obvious reasons, and some are not involved in veterans’ programs that might provide them a state-issued ID.

Wisconsin now offers a free voter ID card that complies with the new law. But the Walker administration has sought to close off even that option by issuing instructions to all motor vehicles departments insisting that people pay $28 for the non-driver’s photo ID unless they explicitly ask for it to be produced for them free.

After a Reuters report in September unmasked the suppression of the free voter ID — itself a workaround from the state voter ID mandate widely labeled a scheme to suppress voters — state officials scrambled to save face. The Government Accountability Board is now traveling to state campuses explaining how students can comply with the ID requirement, whose terms disqualified their student IDs.

Amidst growing anger over the law, the state election board responded to pressure from students and some higher-ed faculty and administrators by granting permission November 22 to the University of Wisconsin system to print new secondary ID cards that comply with the new law.

Notably missing from conservatives’ damage-control effort has been the GOP moderate who heads the state department of transportation, Mark Gottlieb. A Milwaukee native and Vietnam-era veteran himself, Gottlieb lost a power struggle among Republicans to lead the legislature following last fall’s electoral gains for their party. He later accepted Walker’s appointment to head the agency.

As resistance to conservative policies begins to mount in Wisconsin and other states, Republicans who do not march in lockstep with the anti-tax, anti-labor, anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-government goals of Republican lawmakers play an increasingly pivotal role in American politics. So do seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities, three groups of voters whose political allegiances are mixed, but who are bearing the brunt of cutbacks in public services and are now being stung by new restrictions on voting access.

Voters are not rolling over. On November 8, Ohioans overwhelmingly rejected an anti-union law undercutting collective bargaining. And Mainers effectively vetoed conservatives’ state policy ending election-day voter registration. Nine GOP lawmakers and the governor had actually availed themselves of its terms in years past.

Swept into office by voter anger in 2010, state Republican lawmakers are beginning to face a backlash that could define the 2012 elections. Provoking some of that anger is the tone of callousness toward people of color, women, and the sacrifice of veterans who voice frustration at the toll of cuts and barriers in the democratic process itself. Whether Republican measures defining who can cast ballots actually shrink the electorate or cause outraged voters to outmaneuver the barriers and punish their designers will determine the duration of Republicans’ grip on power.

Hans Johnson

Republished with permission from Huffington Post.

President Barack Obama greets representatives from leading veterans’ service organizations in the Oval Office before delivering remarks on the American Jobs Act in the Rose Garden, Nov. 7, 2011. The President spoke about about tax credits included in the American Jobs Act and new executive actions that will help get veterans back to work. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

This week in 1941 marks the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the U.S involvement in WWII. It comes with the sadness of knowing that many of the  veterans of that war and their individual stories will soon be lost forever. The greatest generation that brought down the most evil of regimes is now losing the battle with time. The VA now estimates 10% of the 16 million veterans that served in WWII are still alive. The VA also estimates that between 2015 and 2021 more than 650,000 will die. We could eventually see the last of the WWII veterans by 2025.

Having served in Iraq, I take for granted that I, along with the thousands that have served in Iraq/Afghanistan, are relatively young. We have many more years to live and try to mend our lives back at home. That’s why it’s hard for me to fathom that with every year that goes by the ranks of veterans that fought in World War II gets smaller. The shrinking of WWII veterans’ marks a milestone in American history. As they leave our world, they leave knowing that the U.S is much more different and divided then the one they once knew. They leave knowing that the country and the world is in yet another crisis, but that we must not lose hope. Their optimistic spirits are alive with their children, now grandparents, who remember their parents roles in this historic war.

As we remember and honor past heroes like the ones who fought in WWII we pay tribute to a generation of warriors that went to war for a cause greater than them. It’s intriguing to note the life and times in which they lived. A less troubled time then ours?It’s hard to imagine that, especially knowing that it was their generation who witnessed and lived through the great depression. It was their generation who’s parents fought and died in WWI and it was their generation who volunteered in great numbers to fight in WWII. A few years after the great war, many of these same veterans packed their bags and fought in the Korean War and lived through the cold war.

Their war lasted just over five years with a loss of over 960,000 dead or wounded. Our war in Iraq just ended with a loss of 36,000 killed or wounded. In Afghanistan that figure is 4,560 killed or wounded. The percentage of the U.S population that served during the WWII era was 12% compared to the 0.5% that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thanks to the veterans of the first war, who fought for better benefits, which included the passing of the G.I Bill, WWII veterans went on to have successful careers in business, government and the arts. Notable veterans from this era include Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, and Bush senior. WWII veterans have lived long lives, living longer than past veterans that served in the Civil War and WWI.

As veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars come home, I wish to channel the same energy from these great heroes. Thanks to the great veterans that served in the Vietnam War more emphasize and support is now given to returning veterans. They too deserve much gratitude and have paved the way for us to be become great. My only hope and wish is that the remaining WWII veterans get to see a more united prosperous America that channels their experience and energy as we live through some of our toughest times.

Mario Rivas

During the past decade, as the military has been engaged in the longest period of sustained conflict in the nation’s history, just one-half of one percent of American adults has served on active duty at any given time.1 As the size of the military shrinks, the connections between military personnel and the broader civilian population appear to be growing more distant.

The data reveals is “a large generation gap.” According to the report, “more than three-quarters (77%) of adults ages 50 and older said they had an immediate family member – a spouse, parent, sibling or child – who had served in the military.”  In contrast, for people under 50, “57% of those ages 30-49 say they have an immediate family member who served. And among those ages 18-29, the share is only one-third.”

Military service is now more concentrated in certain families:  “Veterans are more than twice as likely as members of the general public to say they have a son or daughter who has served (21% vs. 9%).”  And overall, what the report calls a “military-civilian gap” is more pronounced among younger people.

This suggests that the gap between veterans and the general public in the share that has family connections to the military may be a relatively new phenomenon. With the shrinking size of the military in recent decades there are now fewer connections between the military and the civilian world. This is reflected in the relatively small share of young adults (39%) with an immediate family member who has served in the armed forces.

The Pew report suggests that various political opinions are correlated with connections to family members who have served in the military, but there are deeper implications of the disconnect between Americans and American war-making.  The more distant and isolated Americans are from their nation’s wars, the less they are politically engaged with American war policy.

Legal scholars argue here and elsewhere that the tendency of presidents to initiate military action without congressional authorization can only be reined in if Congress insists on playing its constitutional role.  But Congress will never play a more meaningful role in American war politics if the people aren’t engaged.  The Pew Report helps us to see what appears to be a growing distance from the costs of war, potentially reinforcing contemporary political disengagement.

In War Time, I take up this point in the Conclusion:

In Iraq and Afghanistan, war…spread across borders as American drones fired on targets in Pakistan and elsewhere.  Death and destruction were the province of soldiers and of peoples in faraway lands.  The experience of wartime for most Americans largely devolved to encounters between travelers and airport screeners, as the Transportation Security Administration adopted intrusive new practices.  At home, wartime had become a policy rather than a state of existence….

As war goes on, Americans have lapsed into a new kind of peacetime.  It is not a time without war, but instead a time in which war does not bother everyday Americans.

I argue that keeping the war powers in check requires a politics of war, and that requires a citizenry attentive to the exercise of military power.  Our ideas about “wartime” play a role in the current disconnect, as a cultural framing of wartimes as discrete and temporary occasions, destined to give way to a state of normality, undermines democratic vigilance over ongoing wars.

As Americans become more isolated from the costs of war, military engagement no longer seems to require the support of the American people.  Their disengagement does not limit the reach of American military action, but enables its expansion.

Mary L. Dudziak
War Time

Republished with permission from History News Network. 

Len Aldis  (lenaoag@gmail.org) is spearheading part of the organization process and information dissemination from the United Kingdom. Aldis is chairman of the Agent Orange Action Group as well as secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Society in London.

“We want justice for (Agent Orange) victims and their families,” Aldis told the LA Progressive, “too much time has passed…too many people continue to suffer and die while companies that caused this (Monsanto) do nothing…”

Aldis’ sentiment is shared by John Percy of Agent Orange Justice: Australia-Vietnam Solidarity Network as well as many Australian veterans who served in Vietnam. Earlier this month Green Party Senator Lee Rhiannon of New South Wales delivered a speech in Parliament on behalf of Australian and Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. Senator Rhiannon was critical of the inaction of Monsanto regarding the human suffering that still exists and their unwillingness to address this issue.

In a parallel universe, according to Hugh Grant, Monsanto CEO, and Rev. David Schilling, Monsanto’s director of human rights: “…Monsanto holds itself accountable and socially responsible (for all corporate actions)…” Monsanto’s website showcases numerous human rights awards and agreement with various U.N. policies. However, that AO word is impossible to find.

Perhaps the United States Supreme Court recently said it best when they indicated, words to the effect, “Today if Agent Orange were utilized like it was during the ’60s, it would be a crime; however, those laws did not exist then; therefore, no law was broken…” And, of course, no special interest big multi-national corporation is responsible.

What I find so tragic about this is the numbers of people who buy into it. Americans like me who served in combat are ridiculed for “siding with the enemy,” being “unpatriotic” or “unchristian” or any other lie that can be manufactured to avoid looking at the truth. Sadly — and there are many expats like me — we find life outside the United States to be more pleasant and beneficial. It would be impossible for me to adequately describe to you the happiness and joy we feel working with Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. If Monsanto would spend just one day with me, we are certain their outlook would be altered.

James Rhodes

Photos: Agent Orange Association Group

In Zuccotti Park, Army Specialist Jerry Bordeleau, 24, was sitting next to a table of IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) literature. On his sweater were two buttons: an Iraq Campaign metal and one from the IWW. He served two tours in Iraq and now says he’s unemployed and can’t find work for over $10 an hour. And he can’t live on $10 an hour. When I asked him why he’s at Occupy Wall Street he says, “I went and fought for capitalism and that’s why I’m now a Marxist.”

At Occupy Baltimore, I met 21-year-old Justin Carson, who tells me he served in the Army National Guard in Iraq from 2009 until this February. His nickname is Crazy Craze. He says he has PTSD and is bipolar but won’t “do pharmaceuticals.” Then he told me I should look into the Illuminati since I’m writing an article.

It was a surprise to meet Iraq war vets at these protests. There are only, after all, around a million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan in what was once dubbed the War on Terror.

Their presence became national news when Iraq vet and former Marine Scott Olsen’s skull was fractured by a non-lethal round fired by police in Oakland in late-October. A week later in New York, around 30 vets held a solidarity march from Zuccotti Park to the Stock Exchange. They had a rally at the park afterward where Bordeleau spoke. “This is the first major movement for social change we’ve seen in this country since the ’70s,” he said to me.

At Occupy DC, a painting of Scott Olsen in uniform is draped on the side of a tent. He’s become a symbol of the Occupation Movement — he fought overseas only to be injured when exercising his “freedom” of peaceful assembly at home. His name has become a shorthand to talk about why so many vets are at Occupy Wall Street.

“There’s a reason Scott Olsen got shot in the head,” says Patterson, looking down at his chain-restaurant hot cocoa. “Because he was out front.”

Patterson still sports a military haircut and a bit of the Army swagger. He also has a touch of that telling hyper-awareness war vets sometimes display; he’s a little twitchy, a little intense. He tells me he has PTSD and has been self-medicating with weed. He says it helps. What’s also helped is being a part of this protest movement. “This is the only peaceful solution,” he says. “If this movement doesn’t work, our country is not going to make it … We’re just not going to make it.”

Patterson became an interrogator in Iraq straight out of high school. His mother had to sign his enlistment papers. He turned 18 in Basic. “We’re an industrialized nation who’s a third world country. The super wealthy elite pretty much control our democratic process and everyone here is pretty much fighting for scraps and that’s not right,” he says.

I ask him what was the switch for him and when. He explained that it was WikiLeaks. It was the footage of the Apache helicopter gunning down Iraqis released by WikiLeaks in April of 2010. Up to that point he had been interrogating Iraqis and using what he describes as psychological torture. He was 10 years old when the World Trade Center was hit. He wanted to fight terrorism in Iraq. He bought into the whole thing, he tells me. He had been looking forward to signing up ever since the 5th grade and then, suddenly, last November, he found himself watching a video of his fellow soldiers gunning down Iraqis on the street and it all changed for him.

The Apache video, to a civilian, makes war look like a video game, but to Patterson, it was the first time he saw Iraqis as real people. Random people, with children and families who care about them. He tried to get out of the military as a conscientious objector after that. He was told it wouldn’t work because he’s an atheist. “So I just smoked a bunch of pot and got kicked out,” he says. He was officially discharged on June 7th of this year. He went back home to Alaska, where he read about Occupy Wall Street on Reddit.

He then went to D.C. to sleep in a tent a block away from the White House.

Patterson speaks in sound bites. He’s had a conversion and like those who find religion, the awakening has given him fervor. He’s witnessing: “Combat at Arms and Military Intelligence all come to the same conclusion: War is a business!”

He interrogated people who were later put to death in Iraq with no appeals process, he says. It haunts him. He didn’t fulfill his contract so he’s not eligible for the GI Bill. Even if he were, he explains, he still couldn’t afford to go to school without loans. He’d be wracked with debt just like so many other students who are down at their city’s Occupations. “I just want to go to college and teach high school,” he says.

For Patterson, like the other vets I spoke to, the Occupy Movement has provided a way to channel their outrage and their energy. Their involvement has been a plus for the movement, too, because vets are extremely helpful if you are planning a tent city in a park — they can get things done, and they are used to living in tents.

It’s worth noting the anti-war movement during Vietnam was given legitimacy after the vets became their voice (John Kerry for example). But the vets themselves take solace in the act of being useful.

Or as Patterson puts it: “I haven’t had one nightmare since I’ve been here.”

Tina Dupuy
Taking Eternal Vigilance Too Far 

Image credit: Tina DuPuy

The recent proposals to cut military retirement benefits by $42.5 billion as part of the deficit reduction program are an abandonment of a promise this nation gave to its career soldiers.  The argument being made by the Obama administration is that the current retirement system “provides generous benefits to the relatively few members who stay at least twenty years and no benefits for the roughly eighty percent of service members who stay less than twenty years.”

The current administration proposal is to set up a committee like the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, report its findings to the Pentagon and let them make the recommendations to Congress.  Among the ideas floated are creating 401ks retirees can’t touch until they’re fifty-seven or sixty; raising premiums on health insurance and the amount of co-pays on medications.

The military “pension” for those who serve until retirement ages is not a pension in the civilian sense of the word.  After twenty to thirty years, career soldiers retire at half pay and most attempt to reenter the workforce.  They don’t exit the military and walk to the unemployment line to draw benefits, become an uninsured burden on the nation’s medical system or draw food stamps.

The idea they would need to after such faithful service is rightfully intolerable to most Americans.  Reentering the work force in their 40s on the low end of the pay scale means this earned supplement is going to help provide for their family while they start a new career and life as a citizen.

A career airman, sailor or soldier is a job in name only.  The expertise, knowledge, and talents they possess and pass on to those taking their places are what win wars.  It’s understood when these men and women retire their skill sets don’t often fit in civilian workplaces.  The time they could’ve spent making a better life for their families, climbing corporate ladders, starting businesses or gaining seniority was instead devoted to protecting their countrymen who did.

Since the creation of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on July 20, 1930, Americans would be hard pressed to find a government organization that has changed, evolved or grown so much in its history.  It’s the second largest department after the Department of Defense.  It employs more than 280,000 people, oversees retirement benefits, veterans benefits, survivors’ benefits, healthcare, loans and, since 1973, the nation’s military cemeteries.  President George H.W. Bush elevated it to a cabinet position in 1989.

Everyone on both sides of the political aisle agrees the department can be streamlined in many ways, making it more efficient, less burdensome to the budget and better operated through modern day common-sense changes without reducing veterans’ benefits.

We the people—not the president, congress or their commanders—promised these men and women a package of benefits for the real-life career sacrifices they made in this nation’s name at the expense of their own.  Those promises must be kept.

Ed Hooper

Ed Hooper is an author and military affairs reporter from Knoxville, Tenn.

Republished with permission from History News Network.

Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo.

While serving in Iraq, I would never have expected to find my own hometown to be the epicenter of corruption and the poster child for everything democracy isn’t. As a returning combat veteran it is easy to see corruption in foreign countries like Iraq and Afghanistan and feel fortunate to live in America, a country where freedom is respected and laws honored. But that’s not always true, even in America; these same freedoms can be turned upside down and justice can seem slow to come.

Bell, California is a city that looks similar to many small cities in Southeast Los Angeles. Scandal and corruption have been well documented by the LA Times and much has been written about a city government District Attorney Steve Cooley called, “corruption on steroids.” It was revealed that former council members were making up to $100,000 a year. Robert Rizzo, former Chief Administrative Officer, was making as much as $800k with pay and benefits totaling $1.5 million a year. The legacy of Rizzo & company will leave its scars. 

In the wake of the scandal that rocked the nation and ushered many statewide reforms. Residents proclaim with regret the fact that they are still one of the highest taxed cities within the County of Los Angeles. In a county of 88 cities, Bell has the second highest property taxes – thousands of dollars higher than even some of the wealthier cities within the county like Beverly Hills or Pasadena.

It is a “shameful” state of affairs, explains Nora Saenz, a long time resident and local activist. Ask what the solution is to the already high taxes and you get an earful from Nora and other residents. By far the biggest city expenditure is spending for its now 83-year-old police department; the second highest is trash services. In comparable cities the size of Bell, contracting law enforcement services with the LA County Sheriff’s Department could possibly save this city $2 to 3 million.

In elections this past March, the police department spent thousands of dollars running a campaign and endorsing candidates, the majority of which won. The neighboring cities of Maywood, Cudahy, and Commerce are all currently patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. However, the decision to contract out to the Sheriff’s Department hasn’t even been proposed and change isn’t coming soon enough for this city. The new council finds it hard to change old ways.

Just recently, the council all voted to raise property taxes. The tax hike will take effect in October. The reason? “The current way the city pays its bonds leaves it with a multi-million dollar dollar deficit,” according to the Arne Croce, acting Chief Administrative Officer. The city recently adopted a bridge budget that Croce says can be amended as the council sees fit. However, few residents believe this will ever happen.

The higher property taxes will go towards paying a $70 million bond for the building of a sports center that hasn’t been built yet. There seems to be no plans in building it either; About half of that bond has been spent by the old administration led by Rizzo on such things as salaries, personal loans, and retirements. Former council members, employees and police officers benefited from this as well.

The residents of the city will now have to pay a property tax rate of 1.57 percent from an already high 1.54 percent. The latest census shows the City of Bell, which has just over 35,000 residents, is also one of the poorest with an average per capita income of $17 – $20,000. The median family average is just over $30,000 in a city that is just two square miles.

At a recent council meeting, myself, and dozens of residents spoke against imposing higher taxes. In this already cash strapped city, unemployment is high. According to the LA Times, the city’s unemployment is 17.4 percent, which is higher than the state average of 12.4 percent and higher than the county average of 13.3 percent.

But it’s not just the property taxes that are high. The former administration made sure to tax residents and businesses across the board up to 10 percent on such services as water and power, phone/cell phone use, sales tax, and refuse/recycling services. None of these taxes are being proposed to be lowered either. Nearly $2 million dollars has yet to be returned to businesses that were taxed illegally. And there is more. Lawsuits are pending and investigations are ongoing.

It’s ironic that in a city this impoverished there would be special interests that are paramount to the general interests of the residents and businesses of the city. Perhaps this is not surprising given the local and even national politics of the day. It’s incredulous however, to think that small town “micro” politicians can have such an impact on people’s lives.

Maybe we all need to pay more attention to the “micro” politicians, who are no less micro in affecting our lives or our pocketbooks. So I stand back and think of what will be needed in this new age. Characteristics like trust and integrity are what make up the majority of people in the military. Perhaps if we had have people with these characteristics in Bell office none of this would have happened.

Bell will forever stand as a stark reality of what can happen when too much trust and power are given to small government in the hands of the corrupt. This case can be tried and tested in the City of Bell were voters trusted too much and gave too much power to their “micro” politicians. Perhaps Bell is an example of why we should fear small government, not because it’s small, but because of the people we elect.

Returning home in tough economic times can be harsh. Harsher still is returning to a place that has lost its moral compass. Yet this is the very reason returning veterans have an important political role to play in America. It’s not surprising that scandal and corruption are alive and well in our back yards.

Veterans are underrepresented in local, state, and federal office in unprecedented numbers. Time magazine has called the veterans returning from the wars, “The New Greatest Generation.” Perhaps us returning veterans need to start living up that. Don’t get me wrong, doing what’s right doesn’t require you to be a veteran, but it would be a refreshing start to more ethical government.

Mario Rivas

Mario Rivas is an Iraq War Veteran and is currently serving in the California Army National Guard and a member of the Veteran’s Caucus of the State of California Democratic Party. He currently works in the City of Huntington Park as an Environmental Specialist. Mario is a resident of the City of Bell.

Republished from the Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party site.

Rick Reyes

Thirty American troops reported killed Saturday in an Afghanistan helicopter crash emphasizes the need for the U.S. to end operations sooner rather than later in that theatre of war, according to a Iraq/Afghanistan U.S. Marine veteran, who now is chair of the Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party.

New agencies reported and government officials confirmed Saturday that as many as 30 Americans – including at least 22 Navy SEALs – were confirmed dead in the crash of a troop-carrying Chinook helicopter, caused by enemy fire. It is the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since it began in 2001.

“These men and women have real families and friends who will never see them again. This is part of a continuing tragedy playing out in Afghanistan,” said Rick Reyes, who did tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Polls show a majority of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, our policy makers admit we cannot win and the war has not made us any safer. But they continue to put good and brave Americans in harm’s way. That is an atrocity,” added Reyes, noting that the 30 reported deaths Saturday ups the toll of killed in Afghanistan to about 1,600 and total dead and injured to nearly 13,000.

“No amount of hand-wringing or condolences by politicians, or monuments to the dead, will make up for this loss of life. It’s time to leave Afghanistan as swiftly and safely as possible. Not at the convenience of politicians in Washington, but because it is right,” said Reyes.

Contact: Rick Reyes cell: 213-359-8631 rickreyes@me.com twitter: @rick_reyes

For over three years now, Rosebrock has organized a weekly demonstration outside the VA’s West Los Angeles gates. His argument – that the VA is misusing land which was donated exclusively for the care and permanent housing of disabled veterans – is a key part of the ACLU’s complaint. The earlier suit was a response to the VA police having violated Rosebrock’s First Amendment rights when it cited him for hanging the United States flag upside down (the sign of distress) on a VA fence. It is indeed illegal to hang any sign on VA property without permission, but the police objected only to the manner in which the flag was displayed. It was that selective enforcement of the law which ran afoul of the First Amendment.

Although Santa Monica City Councilmember Bobby Shriver and a few others have been screaming about the VA’s malfeasance for some time, Rosebrock’s arrest seems to have been the tipping point. With the ACLU fighting for his free speech rights, it was inevitable that the subject of Rosebrock’s protest would finally garner the recognition it deserves.

Likewise, now that the FBI is investigating a homicide which was apparently committed on VA property last month, the hope is that federal authorities will also investigate shady land use deals the VA made with various corporate entities. Because those privileged businesses provide veterans with no services, it seems inexplicable that they are operating on the West Los Angeles campus. Activists have for years been asking the VA to disclose the terms of its lease agreements, and to provide an accounting of how income has been allocated. That the flow of money remains shrouded in mystery, suggests VA officials might be the recipients of kickbacks from leaseholders. After all, one would be hard-pressed to find more valuable real estate anywhere in the United States.

Just as Rosebrock’s case prompted the ACLU to challenge the VA anew, the FBI should realize the VA’s failure to discover a decomposing corpse is symptomatic of a larger problem. Most people nowadays think of the FBI as a counter-terrorism force, but the agency receives substantial funding for combating public corruption and white-collar crime. Rep. Henry Waxman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and their congressional colleagues have all failed to hold the VA accountable for its misuse of land that was donated for housing veterans. In the meanwhile, an estimated 20,000 homeless veterans languish on the streets of Greater Los Angeles.

The time has come for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch a major investigation. While the FBI is in the midst of probing a homicide that VA police couldn’t even detect let alone investigate, the DOJ’s top crime-fighting agency should also find out who got paid to make sweetheart deals with tenants who do nothing for veterans.

Jeff Norman

This story was also published by The Veterans Project.