Is this what Bush means when he talks about supporting our troops?
Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.
[…] Some advocates say the early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.
“We’re going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous,” said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.
Not to worry; compassionate conservatives assure me that most of these people want to be homeless.
Anyone who wants to learn more about this really ought to get their butts to the SIFF tomorrow night and catch Soldiers of Conscience before it leaves town. If you miss it, you can catch a showing in Olympia in a week and a half.
Go read about this remarkable documentary at http://socfilm.com
Repubs hate veterans. Just the other day I saw a homeless Vietnam Vet who couldn’t have been older than his early 20’s. How many more generations of Vietnam Vets will it take for these fascists to wake up. Geeesh.
In a surprising and daring move, Google has announced their purchase for the naming rights of the new football stadium and floating point bridge at the University of Washington. click here
BREAKING NEWS
Patty Murray is the best advocate for veterans, bar none, in the Senate. Her father was a disabled veteran. Family ties, for Democrats, mean something. Why is it, all you blind (metaphorically speaking) Bush defenders out there, that military families have donated more to Ron Paul than any other Republican presidential candidate for president? Is it perhaps that those families are all cut-and-runners? Or, is it that, just maybe, the best way to support our troops is to get them the hell out of Iraq?
“Just the other day I saw a homeless Vietnam Vet who couldn’t have been older than his early 20’s.”
Do ya want to rephrase that, laddie? The math doesn’t quite work.
Is Worpress off its feed? I am having trouble getting a post to show.
I will try again later but the essence is that SJ News has released a press release about a proposal to combine a new stadium at the UW with an interchange at Montlake using innovative financing from Google and Vulcan.
SeattleJew .
@1 Just what this blog needs — another Lying WingNut (TM) pretending to be a Democrat, pretending to be concerned about veterans, and pretending there are no 20-year-old Vietnam veterans.
For photo of 20-year-old Vietnam veteran, click here: http://www.iowava.org/images/pictures/IMG_1763.jpg
Former @1 is now @2.
Of course Rethuglicans hate veterans! Veterans cost money. They want education benefits, medical care, a job, and a burial plot. All of that costs money!
Rethuglicans like the part of Veterans Day where they stand and sing “Amazing Grace” and tell each other how patriotic they are because that doesn’t cost any money. But they don’t like the part where they have to pay taxes to take care of the veterans they promised to take care of when they talked the veterans into fighting their wars for them.
Click below for photo of Iraq War veterans. These veterans are not homeless, however. They have a home. Their home is called “The Cemetery.” http://slapnose.com/images/blo.....00x496.jpg
This shameful. Honestly one of the most borthersome things I’ve read in a while. Whether or not we agree with this war or are Republican or Democrat, I think all of us can agree that this is an issue that should be solved immediately. No country should ever treats its veterans in such a manner. I really hope this spurs some action. This is really disheartening.
Hey, at least the GOP doesnt spit on the soldiers when they come back.
Or ride the enemies tanks around like Jane Fonda, or tie their hands and make them unable to fight like Fat Teddy Kennedy is trying to do.
Seriously, the GOP funds and understands the Vets far more than your side does; if it were up to Pelosi and Reed our soldiers would play tiddly winks with Saddam all damn day rather than hang him for atrocities against his own people.
Granted, the Iraqi people gave Saddam his hanging, not us..
The Republicans are a little light when it comes to actually serving in the military. Ever notice that?
Hey, at least the GOP doesnt spit on the soldiers when they come back.
http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=350
“There is nothing in the historical record — news or police reports, for example — suggesting they [incidents of soldiers being spat upon] really happened. In fact, the Veterans Administration commissioned a Harris Poll in 1971 that found 94% of Vietnam veterans reporting friendly homecomings from their age-group peers who had not served in the military. Moreover, the historical record is rich with the details of solidarity and mutuality between the anti-war movement and Vietnam veterans. The real truth, in other words, is that anti-war activists reached out to Vietnam veterans and veterans joined the movement in large numbers.
“Stories of spat-upon Vietnam veterans are bogus. Born out of accusations made by the Nixon administration, they were enlivened in popular culture (recall Rambo saying he was spat on by those maggots at the airport) and enhanced in the imaginations of Vietnam-generation men — some veterans, some not. The stories besmirch the reputation of the anti-war movement and help construct an alibi for why we lost the war: had it not been for the betrayal by liberals in Washington and radicals in the street, we could have defeated the Vietnamese. The stories also erase from public memory the image, discomforting to some Americans, of Vietnam veterans who helped end the carnage they had been part of.”
@13 Ann
as a veteran and .. I believe .. a patriot .. I take huge offense at your post. The military derve a hell of a lot better respect than you offer.
Ann is really Stephan…he can’t spell his first name correctly either.
@10
Then why has the Democrat Legislature been sitting on passing the VA budget for the past 4 months?
This one is on Democrat leadership. All Pelosi and Reid need to do is actually support the troops/vets and put their funding up for vote right now.
That would be true support.
@13 “Hey, at least the GOP doesnt spit on the soldiers when they come back.”
No, they just deny them their vote. http://tinyurl.com/jv9nf
By the way, speaking of “spitting on soldiers,” I’m not aware of any returning Iraq veterans having been spit on, but they’re sure being shit on by the GOP when it comes to medical care.
ROGER RABBIT QUIZ
Which party attempted to eliminate combat pay for soldiers in Iraq one month into the now 5-year-old war?
[ ] 1. Republicans
[ ] 2. Conservatives
[ ] 3. Whigs
[ ] 4. Tories
[ ] 5. Royalists
[ ] 6. Fascists
[ ] 7. What difference is there between the above?
@13 Hey dumbass, question for ya, how did killing 600,000 Iraqis to hang Saddam help the Iraqi people? And why the fuck was it our responsibility to help them in the first place? Where’s the oil and the safer world we were supposed to get out of this? Where’s the WMDs and Iraqi nukes?
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
“Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid:
We write this letter to request that federal funding for our nation’s troops and veterans not be further delayed and held hostage for partisan purposes. Congress must promptly complete its work on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) and Defense appropriations bills, and they should be sent to the President’s desk as freestanding measures by Veterans Day.
It has been nearly two months since both Houses passed their respective FY 2008 MilCon-VA appropriations bills, and nearly one month has gone by since both chambers approved their FY 2008 Defense appropriations bills. Plenty of time has passed for these measures to go through conference and get signed into law. Yet to date, this Congress has still not sent a single appropriations bill to the President – a failure of accomplishment that has not happened in decades. Meanwhile, our brave soldiers are defending us overseas, taking the fight to the terrorists, and keeping our nation safe. Veterans continue waiting for increased funding, which the President already has signaled that he would approve and will lead to improved medical care and other benefits.”
RR @ 22 If that is what you believe is the truth, how is that funny in any way?
@18 “Then why has the Democrat Legislature been sitting on passing the VA budget for the past 4 months?”
We have a Democratic Congress. All Bush has to do is sign the Democratic budget and he’ll have the Democrats’ VA budget, which increases spending on veterans, tomorrow. Republican obstructionism is holding it up.
@18 (continued) You guys can’t expect Democrats to pass a Republican budget. The days of shortchanging veterans, education, health, and labor are over.
@23 Interesting that Republicans didn’t think veterans bills needed to be “freestanding measures” until Democrats got control of Congress. Nothing has changed. Republicans are still playing politics with our nation’s veterans. As a veteran, I resent that.
As a veteran, I resent anyone playing politics with our National Defense!
Yet to date, this Congress has still not sent a single appropriations bill to the President
Sorry ol boy, it’s the D’s playing politics with the troops and vets. If it weren’t they would send up the spending bills.
It’s not “politics” to point out that the D’s have failed the troops and vets on sending the spending bills up to the WH, it is just a matter of fact.
Your use of “well they did, they always did it” argument that R’s never sent up “freestanding” measures is quite funny. I thought that the D’s run congress was going to do things “differently”? Well as it turns out, not so much. As a matter of fact, things are now much worse for our troops and vets with the D’s in charge.
#13 = what my late father called “jackassery” and I pity some folks.
ANyway, do NOT post this stuff. You’ll end up in Gitmo, Goldy.
One in Four??
This is BS!
I have extensive contact with the “homeless” and the vast majority that claim to be vets are lying. I routinely catch them at this.
Why claim to be a vet?
IMO: It’s a stereotype from out of Hollywood that portrays VietNam Vets a group of people who cannot deal with PTSD and end up as the dregs of society.
This too is BS.
Bottom line: Libs dislike the military and anything that portrays it in a negative light get traction.
In the late 80’s I saw a very prominant lib give a speech at a Univ of Penn graduation ceremony. “If I had my way, I’d eliminate the military and spent all the money on education.”
What was the next event on the program?…..Commissioning of the ROTC graduates.
Bottom line: Libs dislike the military and anything that portrays it in a negative light get traction.
And you think that with bullshit like this we’re going to believe anything you say?
You’re obviously playing to your fellow trolls. Get your own space.
Leeching off Goldy is unbecoming a membr of the “family values” bunch.
“Governor” Gregoire is a lying liar, but we knew that already. That’s how she convinced some of you that she’s our governor.
The excellent Boze exposed the lie du jour this morning, using the only good data we’ve got. Gregoire doubled or more than doubled the accepted number of homeless vets.
I am a veteran. 61 years old. Honorable discharge after 4 years active – 2 years inactive in ’71. We all do what we can, if complain is all some of the commenters here can do, then complain away if it makes you feel any better or any more of a contributor to society. Myself, I am taking to the streets one more goddamned time to try to help rein in war-mongering republican plutocrats with no concience. The republicans will sell your ass down the river for a bloody dollar bill and you know it.
Enjoy weekends off? THANK A LIBERAL. Enjoy earing at least a minimum wage? THANK A LIBERAL. Enjoy your internet the way it is? THANK A LIBERAL. It goes on and on folks – red state congress and reps are coming around… America, after all, is the most liberal of ideas yet.
GRRRR….