Message to the President, it’s about ‘Sacrifice’!!

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

I just sent the below to the White House via this technology and will be calling a few times as well:

As a Vietnam Veteran, ’70-’71 last year of my four, and Veterans Advocate, I have a short message.

On this tax cut debate, go back and tell these so called republicans NO as to the wealthy, ABSOLUTELY NO!

Your Administration, even the First and Second Ladies, have been extremely Pro-Active on Veterans and Military Issues and brought in a very Pro-Active Secretary of the VA who in turn found his own administration of highly qualified and active personal.

The 110th Congress had to catch up to what wasn’t done preceding them as those Congresses waged these Wars. The 111th carried that on and actually moved forward on long standing issues. All that time the American Public was even asked to Sacrifice, instead all we here from those so called patriotic americans is tax cuts and more, not a word as to the Veterans of these conflicts nor those of us from before.

It’s long pass time that ‘Sacrifice’ be made and those who reaped huge amounts of wealth over the past decade made much of that either directly or indirectly off these wars and still are!

We already knew where these (R)’s stood, as well as their supporters and spokes persons, it was plainly in view and still is. Demand that ‘Sacrifice’, say NO to tax cuts for the wealthy!!

Just a couple of recent reasons, if one needed any reasons after a country that sends others into wars, especially wars of choice, and there are plenty more, out of site out of mind especially a certain segment of this society.

Report: Defense faces large and growing mental health problem

December 6, 2010 – During the past decade, 767,290 active-duty military personnel have received a diagnosis of a mental health disorder, according to a series of reports {32page pdf} expected to be released today by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center in Silver Spring, Md. Overall, from January 2000 through December 2009, such diagnoses increased 60 percent.

Click here for a graphic on mental health disorders in the military

The center also reported that mental health disorders rank as the top cause of hospitalization for male service members and the second cause of hospitalization for women after pregnancy-related conditions. The Army topped the number of admissions. {read rest}

Number of homeless veterans drops 18 percent

7 December 2010 – An 18 percent drop in the number of homeless veterans over about two years gives hope to the secretary of Veterans Affairs that he’ll be able to keep a pledge made last year to end homelessness among veterans within five years.

Speaking at a national symposium on homelessness, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the current estimate of homeless veterans is down from about 250,000 a decade ago, a sign that this “national shame” can be solved through coordinating government programs.

His remarks came Tuesday at the National Forum on Homelessness Among Veterans, where he and other Obama administration officials spoke with people who run homeless programs about interagency cooperation.

But seeing progress is not the same as declaring victory. “We need to do more together, and we need to do things faster, better and smarter,” he said. “We are in a tough fight. I know it, you know it.”

VA spent $3.5 billion on homeless programs in 2010 and is asking for $4.2 billion for 2011, with 85 percent of the money earmarked for health care, Shinseki said. {read rest}

I for one will be watching the Congressional House extremely closely after January, especially the House Veterans Affairs Committee, for I see very little being accomplished and possible rollbacks of what was the past four years!