The Associated Press reports:
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico – Barack Obama told veterans Saturday that he can’t understand why Republican John McCain opposes legislation that would provide college scholarships to people who have served in the U.S. military.
“Now, let me be clear: No one can dispute John McCain’s love for this country or his concern for veterans. But here’s what I don’t understand. I don’t understand why John McCain would side with George Bush and oppose our plan to make college more affordable for our veterans,” the Democratic presidential candidate said. “George Bush and John McCain may think our plan is too generous. I could not disagree more.”
That is, to be kind, disingenuous. Obama knows the issue is whether providing the increased benefits after two years of service will harm retention at time when our military is already stretched. He may believe the proposal by Sen. Jim Webb will not hurt retention, but the Pentagon thinks it will. So does the Congressional Budget Office, which thinks it could drop retention by 16 percent.
As for no one disputing McCain’s love for his country, Obama has questioned the patriotism of those who do not agree with him on veterans’ issues. So that bit is also disingenuous.
Cheap, disingenuous attacks? Politics as usual.ÂÂ
Change we can believe in? Not so much.
(h/t Memeorandum.)
What, precisely, does this goof understand?
Separating fools from their money. Which is a key skill in lefty politics.
Next year when he’s Commander-in-Chief he’ll be pulling the bulk of our fighting forces out of Iraq. He’s leap-froggin’ ya, Homer.
See what I mean?
Who needs stupid fighting forces? Not O!
We’ll talk everyone straight, yo. And send them poor dumb fucks to school.
I read these threads just to see what kind of crazy shit thor will come up with.
Baracky I think just wants our soldiers to aspire to be better people and real actual productive citizens. Hey you stupid loser soldiers why aren’t you in college? You can’t fritter your life away in the military and expect people to respect you.
It seems to me that Obama is just trying to buy votes. I would hate to be unkind to the man, but I think it is obvious that he is full of it.
thor is comedy (and traffic) gold. Like the way he walked right into the punchline upthread. Most people would be too rational to not see that trap a mile away, but not our thor. Where angels fear to tread, he goes.
I’m starting to hate Obama. He is one of the most disingenuous politicians I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of politicians!
hf,
Those people in the military cling to their guns, absent the proper economic incentive.
Baracky will unilaterally liberate the military. I don’t think people appreciate how hawkish he is.
Caring about the troops also means caring about the military. The highest priority is the need to maintain a stable and effective fighting force. Miss that assignment and you aren’t doing anyone any favors, not the least those who are actually on active duty. Because, when push comes to shove they are the ones who will suffer first and most if not truly prepared.
Obama doesn’t care about the military, and doesn’t care that you know it.
I don’t understand why Obama hates kids with cancer. He won’t pay for them to go to college. Is it really too generous to ensure that every child that lives through such a debiitating illness gets free college? And kids with diabetes, too.
Excellent job, Barak.
Karl, did you think smears, lies, half truths, obfuscations should belong only to republicans?
John Kerry told me only morons went into the military. Why do they need this education thingy.
Shut up, sashal.
It seems to me that Obama is just trying to buy votes.
He is a Democrat, ain’t he?
Rob,
I think sashal was attempting sarcasm.
But to answer sashal’s question, O! has promised to end the Old Poilitics by telling us the Truth. I’m just holding him to his own standard. As O! knows the Alinsky Rules, he should expect nothing less.
Obama? Obama?
Nope. Just a cheap (but brown, which is a HUGE advantage) knock-off of Jimmuh Carter.
And you are ALL racists to question ANYTHING he says or does. He is BEYOND REPROACH BECAUSE HE IS A BROWN PERSON, you bunch of racist bastards! I just can’t believe that y’ll could disagree with him in ANY WAY. He cannot be held responsible, because it is ALL his staff’s fault, AND HE IS AUTHENTICALLY BROWN!.
There is something fishy here that I can smell, even from Connecticut, a five hour drive from D.C. Every day, his arrogance makes me think: “Oh. Cool! More fish stink”. It permeates my addled little right wing brain. I’m not naming names, but here’s a clue. It begins with “S”, and ends with “oros”.
Whatever.
Now this racist pig (me)is headed for the local bar to see one of my favorite people (and killer musician), who is as black as the ace of spades. And also sings (incredibly well, BTW) in a truly KICK-ASS band. Motown! I love it!
My goodness! This racist Kost Dog has even played in his band with him for almost three years!
Yup. I certainly am a racist, huh?
TLD – the Jerkist of the new millenium.
You stupid, racist pigs. When will you learn that differences of opinion automatically make you a “racist”, if the other guy is of “minotiry extraction”??
Get with the program, people! Soon to become “the pogrom”.
Maybe Webb should rename S.22 “The Selective Service Reinstatement Act”…because this could be the end result of his idiotic proposal.
Whoa, if a “President Obama” is forced to reinstate the draft because volunteer retention goes into a tailspin, he, and his party, will be political dead meat. People expect Donks to march in the streets…but if Republicans start marching, then all bets are off.
Well, Karl, outside of your group-think funhole here, I can assure you, yes, the strange sound is laughter and, yes, we are laughing at you. God hates Marxists and God hates the ACLU, yes, that shit makes me/us laugh.
Connect to my decoder ring and go ahead and explain that set-up and punchline that you deftly conned me into.
– We would thor, but its to much common sense for you to absorb in one sitting. Not nearly enough nuance. Candy ass.
– Thory baby meets Me in a dark alley some night, Thor-pussy, he’d have him a heart attack. Heh.
>>Well, Karl, outside of your group-think funhole here, I can assure you, yes, the strange sound is laughter and, yes, we are laughing at you.
Gandhi once said:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.â€Â
Keep laughing, chucklehead.
Barack Obama does not understand the proposed GI Bill?
I think he understands it perfectly. The thought process is something like this:
“I need to pretend to support the troops to get elected. Which one of the proposed GI bills will do the most damage to military effectiveness?”
Perfectly logical.
Plus all he’s doing in effect is writing a big fat check to academia.
Academia will know how to deprogram these kill-bots. There will be studies.
Halp them barak
Are you that ugly?
“I can assure you, yes, the strange sound is laughter and, yes, we are laughing at you. God hates Marxists and God hates the ACLU, yes, that shit makes me/us laugh.”
Yes. You are laughing. But, you know, really, there is nothing funny about people who choose to ignore history and the intent of the amazing people who wrote the American Constitution. And, I am SO impressed with the “God” reference. SOP for the morons who inhabit the left, and think that our freedom is God given.
BZZZZZZT!!
If you had been around as long as I have been, and experienced the curtailing of our freedom BY THE LEFT, you might get the idea that the Patriot Act is but a pimple on the ass of people like Ted Kennedy (the pussy that ran away from a life that could hve been saved), Nancy Pelosi (the little rich bitch who wants to deny you any chance at the same American dream which SHE has more than acheived – but fuck you, you greedy pigs!), and Harry Reid, who wants the government to stick it’s dick four feet up your ass, because he NEEDS MORE VOTES AND DOESN’T GET ENOUGH OF YOUR MONEY TO BUY THEM!
I can’t belive that he is from Nevada. But, then again, the lowlife losers in Las Vegas outnumber the whole rest of the sane people in the state (As is the case in too many states). The left wants the inner cities to be their base, and that’s why they are completely fucking up our public schools – the stupider people are, the more likely they are to vote for socialist idiots like Pelosi and Reid, who promise them the moon, ande deliver NOTHING BUT MISERY.
These Congress people are FUCKING us, in the (unsaid) name of socialism, and stealing the money of people who work their ass’s off for 80 hours a week to live a good life, and have their children grow up with a good education, and not have to scrape the swamp to feed their families..
What greedy pigs are these people who actually make the effort to live (and sacrifice for) the American dream? And, yes, it still exists, regardless of what the lying asshoes on the left say. But it sure does seem to be in danger, because of these elitist socialist idiots (who for the most part, have more money than you can shake a stick at).
Go! Algore! Make your millions (which you don’t even fucking need) off of the biggest scam in the hustory of humanity. And we are supposed to be offended by “Conservative greed”?
Fucking scumbag mouth breathers…
You pigs that bust your butts for a living? There is no need for any personal effort. Go sit on your asses like the rest of the left, and let the Democrats steal other people’s money to grandly hand you a painful, sub-standard living, where every day you are in a panic, trying to figure out how to feed your children – if you even give a shit about them, that is.
Did anyone hear “dumb as a bag of hammers” Maxine Waters the other day?
Who out there (other than Sashel, thor, and Nutsoblahblahtextomoron – our own personal trifecta) is stupid enough not to understand that she (Maxine Box-Of-Rocks) fucked up, and said EXACTLY what the Democrats stand for?
SOCIALIZE!! Whoops, Maxine! Fucked up pretty good there, didn’t you?
They want to OWN you!
As bad as the gas situation is now, close your eyes and imagine the nightmare of dorkmaster Henry Waxman and Maxine “bag of hammers” Waters “socializing” – WHOOPS! – sorry to let the cat out of the bag – nationalizing the oil companies? Talk about the worst fucking nightmare you could ever imagine!
I’m sorry, but no matter how ridiculously you think you can distort the Constitution, it is almost impossible to twist it far enough to be able to say “The government OWNS YOUR LIFE”, and that life is a zero sum game. That is, unless you have never read it, which, apparently is true for about half of the country. But the left keeps trying with all it’s might to “reveal” it’s twisted view of the world… “Because you and I are too stupid to live our own lives!”
Sorry, Bozo. It’s actually true that you can’t get something for nothing (unless you are unusually good at blow jobs – and I will always applaud THAT, and am even willing to pay a steep price [not cash] for a truly GREAT one!)
Want a two hundred dollar pair of sneakers?
FUCK YOU! NANCY AND HARRY WILL TAKE THAT MONEY FROM YOU, BECAUSE “THEY” KNOW HOW TO USE YOUR MONEY BETTER THAN YOU DO! YOU STUPID FUCKING MORONS! There are starving kids in China!
EXPENSIVE SNEAKERS? OUT OF THE QUESTION! HARRY, NANCY, TED, AND ALL THE OTHER UBER-SMARTIES KNOW MUCH BETTER THAN YOU HOW TO SPEND YOUR MONEY!
After all, there are a lot of votes to buy with YOUR money…
But back to the men who wrote the Constitution. Ignorance of who these men were, and what they were trying to ensconce as the basis of our government, is the reason my eight year old son is going to wind up in a world where people are so totally into “FEELS GOOD”, and the government is here to “help” (i.e. – OWN YOU. Oh. yeah. And “I won’t come in ther mail), rather then people who believe we are responsible for our own decisions, and don’t want the STUPID FUCKING EGOTISTICAL “BUSY_WORK” ASSHOLES IN THE GOVERNMENT telling us when we can take a shit, and how much taxes we are going to have to pay for fucking BREATHING! And we aren’t too far from that, as anyone with an IQ of 80 or above, is able to discern.
Once again, I feel the need to say it.
There are so many people who think their lives depend on the government, that we are – TA-DA!
“WELL AND TRULY FUCKED!”
It’s kind of funny to me that the Facists are now called “greens”, because, from where I sit, the “greens” look VERY red to me.
Kinda like a blistering sunburn.
Whooooo! Bad Day At Blackrock, baby….
There is no reason to use such profanity on this post in order to show you dislike for someone.
I’m a Democrat, but John McCain was completely right about the GI Bill. The Lindsey Graham bill is the one that should have been approved. Notice that Obama didn’t even mention that McCain and Graham had a bill and that it wasn’t that they didn’t want to improve the GI Bill, it was that they (having a lot more military service than Obama) felt that they needed to protect the backbone of the military as well as the taxpayers pocketbook. And, I think it is just a plain giveaway to give 4 years full college for only 3 years service irregardless of whether it is in a war zone or not. Obama left it to appear that McCain just didn’t support the troops at all. See what Hillary Clinton has been up against. We have to stop this affirmative action candidate right now.
Barak Obama has plans to gut the military. If you don’t believe me, you need to go to youtube.com and put Obama military in the search and you will see what I’m talking about.
Gorgegirl,
True, but you would find the profanity is thrown around with some gusto on many posts here. There’s also a fair amount of intellectual discussion, once you get past the swearing.
Put another way, pw is sorta The Sopranos or Deadwood of political blogs. Deep, quality content (when I’m not writing), but a high F-bomb count.
OMG!
Jeff, I must owe you at least $50 for that comment alone!
As soon as I recover from the $2.00 a minute it cost me to take my son the the “carnival” today, I will whack the jar.
PW is awesome, and I once again thank you for maintaining it. It has become a major part of keeping what little sanity I have left.
Thanks again, and if you need any stalkers whacked, my rumpled appearance and insane comments belie my connections…
TLD
Gorgegirl,
Site founder Jeff Goldstein had the YouTube posted earlier this week.
Barack Obama told veterans Saturday that he can’t understand why Republican John McCain opposes legislation that would provide college scholarships to people who have served in the U.S. military.
Hey Barack-o,
I can give you the inside word, to help you understand
Senator McCain actually read the text of the G.I.legislation
By the way Barack-o, makeing self serving misleading half assed statements like
” McCain opposes legislation for college scholarships to people who have served in the U.S. military
is Gay–
not gay gay,
but Gay..
come on, Bam-ee
we are way beyond this rig-a ma-roll
well most of us are
that is if you dont count the king of political gutter bags “Keith Olbermann”
Come on– gas is almost $ 5.00 a gallon
knock of the phony left and right wing policy crap and give America some solutions
The thing is
These politcal party attack statements are 9 out of times times phony misleading crap–
Why???
because these guys and “gals” know 90% of the public does not have a clue of the text of the legislation.
ps
TAKE A MINUTE TO REMEMBER THE TROOPS TODAY
“Minotiry”?
It is late though, in my defense…
Gorgegirl,
…”There is no reason to use such profanity on this post…”
Sorry to offend you, but as far as I am concerned, you are wrong.
How else does one express the ABSOLUTE TOTAL OUTRAGE at people in our government who are trying to destroy the America that my eight year old son has to spend his life in?
You sound young. I am not, and I remember America before these stupid children took over the government, and decided that the government was our “Mommy”. Keith Olberman? A newsman? Yeah. Right. If you can’t see what an egotistical, biased A*****e he is, stop reading RIGHT NOW.
When I was growing up, communities and churches took care of their own, and the governmeny built roads and kept an army. People were ashamed of being poor, and of being stupid. Shame made people grow. But now? Being a stupid rambling idiot is a thing to be proud of, even if your vocabulary consists of only five hundred words. It doesn’t matter anymore how stupid you are, no one is ashamed of being stupid. In fact, thanks to TV and the MSM, most people who are not very smart are PROUD OF IT! “I can get on TV and be as stupid as i want to be!”
We have spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 TRILLION dollars in “the war on poverty”, and it’s as bad or worse as it was when we started.
The government has destroyed black communities, black families, and is now determined to destroy everybody else, so that they can take all your money and then give you back whatever they don’t spend on buying votes to keep them in power.
I am truly sorry if you are offended, but I am angry enough to wish for words that are even worse than the ones I used.
I am way disgusted, and way pissed.
Sorry to offend you, but please try to deal with the content, not the “profanity”. I swear, if I knbew even worse words, I would not hesitate to use them.
I am old, so I don’t much care how I express my outrage at how this country has been hijacked by people that treat the Constitution like a roll of toilet paper that has already been flushed down the toilet.
Try reading that little sucker sometime, and if you can understand what it ACTUALLY SAYS, you might be driven to profanity, too; – by these power-hungry, childish, egotistical idiots that we call “Our representatives”.
Sometimes I think it is a wonder that I don’t walk out the door and scream so loudly that I wake up the whole neighborhood.
Sorry, but if I had a more declatory word than ther “F” word, I would be using it. I just can’t believe that we have become a country of lemmings, only a few feet from the cliff.
But that is where we stand. If you are so blind that you can’t see it, that ain’t my problem. Unfortunately, it IS my son’s, and he is as blind to the cliff as you are. And all I can do is try to plant seeds. His school “owns” his brain, and he doesn’t want to hear anything from me or anyone else who doesn’t “toe the line”..
Nothing personal, gg.
I’m at the bottom of my “sine wave” right now….Maybe in a few days I’ll be funny…
But then again – maybe not…
thor is nothing more that a Monty Python skit on the “Department of Disagreement”. His arguments are specious at best sprinkled with profanity for effect.
If Caucasians would leave the “brown people” in the world alone they wouldn’t have to worry about the “chickens coming home to roost”. Caucasian people are a minority in the world overall and are fearful they are going to be taken over. Your paranoia is unfounded and has no basis. I don’t think Caucasian people in other countries like England, France and Germany, etc. worry as much as the ones in the USA. But I see nothing wrong with giving veterans as much as they want. I don’t believe in war. Jesus died and was born again so that there is no need for warring anymore. When people war, it is making what he did null and void.
If Caucasians would leave the “brown people†in the world alone
Shut up, racist.
Amen Redphilly,
Great Jesus reference too! Those tasty little Jesus plugs always remind me of George W Bush. You know, a guy who stands firm on principal while others are only interested in enriching themselves, and gaining power. You know like the pharisees. Hey that’s got a nice ring to it Pharisee Pelosi, or Pharisee Jim Webb ladies and gentleman!!
And who gets crucified every day – it ain’t Barack – it’s George W.
And who does the bulk of the whining? The fucking (sorry Gorgegirl – btw “gorge” is a massive valley or gash, so putting it in front of “girl” is a calculated risk – I’ll need an explanation) pharisees, that’s who. What a pussified GI bill. Why not just give 4 years at Harvard for signing the military service contract?
Now a real bill would be the Robert C Byrd Mortgage Good Intentions Bill – if you go the first year of your mortgage and miss less than half of the payments, the house is yours free and clear. VOTE DEM!!
And I would be very careful about how you word your rebuttal if I were you. Just be very very careful is all I’m saying.
I’m a veteran and I want one billlyyyon dollars. Will that be delivered in cash or shall I keep an eye out for a check in the mail?
Pablo,
The next sentence was “I don’t believe in war.”
So Redphilly or as I like to call her “Einstein” must not really believe in veterans either, so her generosity is about as genuine as Barack’s line of bullshit.
Must be a union worker. I believe in do nothing jobs with great benefits.
The next sentence is cool too. “Jesus died and was born again so that there is no need for warring anymore.” I did not know that. He must have been the first born-again Jew.
I suspect there are a few other things she doesn’t believe in, either, such as the law of supply and demand and the laws of physics.
Caucasian people are a minority in the world overall and are fearful they are going to be taken over.
We are? Honey, you’re confusing race with culture. Loyalty to Western civiliztion? Absolutely. Loyalty to my pale, pallid skin? Not so much.
Hey Redphilly, wait till sharia law is adopted in England, France and Germany. You’ll be required to wear a burqa, maybe with a stylish Nike swoosh on it. You won’t be able to get an education, drive a car, or leave your home without a male relative escort. It’s not just Caucasians who’ll need to worry, it’ll be all women and non-muslims. And you can forget about Jesus with sharia law, you’ll have to convert or get the big haircut down to the shoulders. Pity the woman who’s raped! Survey says, a quick stoning or honor killing for your disgraceful act of becoming a victim.
I mean, it’s not like, say, Germany has any kind of history of racism, is it?
Jeezus Christ.
Redphilly,
I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to sound stupider than Nishi, but you scored a game winnung GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAL!
Your sentiments are shared by everyone here. But, most of the rest of us take history and human nature into account before we ever spout such dreck.
History and human nature. History and human nature. History and human nature!
Naw! They have nothing to do with reality, do they? I mean, we are so much smarter than anyone who has ever lived in the history of mankind, that we can just magically WISH peace into existence all over the world, right?
You need to grow up and look around yourself. As nice as it is to fantasize that “everything is beautiful”, there are some really, really evil people in this world. And they will squash people such as you like bugs. Your “decncy” just makes it easwier for them to disembowel you.
Myanmar (Burma))? Yup. We can just sit here and WISH those “basically decent” human scumbags that run that country out of their thuggish totalitarian ways. They are just begging to be “saved” by anachronistic USA hippies..
I’m pretyy sure it will work. Wishing it away has worked very well with Stalin, Castro, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, and hundreds of other basically decent genocidal sub-humans who just need to be “shown the light”.
Go smoke another doobie.
alpuccino –
“(sorry Gorgegirl – btw “gorge†is a massive valley or gash, so putting it in front of “girl†is a calculated risk – I’ll need an explanation)”
That’s why I love this place! What a perfect laugh to start the day with. So far, ap, it looks like you’ve got the “funniest thing of the day” award. I can’t stop laughing…
Luckily, I had no liquid in my mouth to destroy ANOTHER keyboard with. I am going to have to start buying keyboards by the case, I guess.
Obama didn’t join the military becuase of the Vietnam War?? And says most of his generation didn’t? Well I’m part of that generation and a third of my graduating class joined the military. I myself served 19 years. It seems that Obama doesn’t like to find out the facts before he speaks and then back peddles. Do we really want someone in office that whose own party admits that he’ll change his stance on taxes and other issues after the nomination and election? I don’t think so – time we have a politician that speaks what they genuinely feel.
Anybody want to bet on whether redphilly is a student of perfessor caricature?
Hi, Pablo,
“I’m a veteran and I want one billlyyyon dollars. Will that be delivered in cash or shall I keep an eye out for a check in the mail?”
All I can say is -I’m from the government, and Im here to help you, the check’s in your mouth, and I won’t come in the mail.
I’m just going to keep a list of people Barack Obama doesn’t care about enough to just give them free stuff.
TLD- alppu’s been taken out of the running for the award because he’s won too many times.
Redphilly is one of those people who has had their eyes clamped shut and their fingers in their ears for so long, that their other senses have compensated for the loss and allowed them to wander around and bump into things.
And each time they bump into something, it’s a surprise. And people who try to get them to open their eyes are “paranoid.”
Kudos on learning to type with your toes, though.
Redphilly’s comment was so stupid that its stupidity flowed out of my screen and into my head, and I couldn’t even remember how to chew the Puffins that were already in my mouth.
That’s how stupid Redphilly’s comment was.
Barack does not need to pretend to care about our military-remember he voted
AGAINST THE WAR! I just think some people in this country need to let it go – the real reason some folks especially those of non-color are just trippin because Barack is a black man and will be our next President. Stop being so fearful and ignorant. No person is perfect whomever the President may be or has been or will be is a person a human being. No one has all the answers. No one man nor woman be they a republican or democrat can fix everything that is wrong right now. But what we should do is get behind the person whom we feel whether we agree or disagree is best to lead this country and one who has a sincere desire to make desperately needed changes. And from what I can see and from what I have heard Barack is the best, not perfect, not have all the answers, but the best person at this time.
lisa b: They’re called “paragraphs” and “sentences”. Explore the concepts.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ watch this and see the bloody truth. This vetrans day make my fucking sick. Bush is using this as war propaganda nevermind all the innocent people killed he just cares about oil and money.
Ooh! I love JUMBLE!
Oh, dear, lisa. Was the Obamessiah even in the Senate when the vote for/against the war took place? ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmNO. No, he was still hangin’ in Chi-town.
Let’s see: Obama in his first term as senator directed pork to Michelle’s hospital which, in turn, rewarded her with a massive pay increase (and still she can’t pay those piano lesson bills). And he’s also…he’s also…um, well, he started running for president as a lark, and got a big surprise, and he really wasn’t ready or he’d have muzzled his wife, dumped his minister previously, cleaned up his housing deal, and etc., before he was REALLY running for president, ifyaknowwaddimean.
But let’s say Obama has the best goddamn intentions in the whole wide world. So the hell what? You tell me, right now, what is in his past performance that we, the rational voting citizens, can use to predict his future performance?
Does he flipflop frequently on the issues? Does he have a coherent foreign policy? Does he have a good understanding of economics?
Or does he need to eat those goddamn waffles, right now???
Suicide is way up among our soldiers. Despair and depression sets in during a third tour of duty, with no hope of good health service and a good education when that soldier enters civilian life. Yet, we complain about retention rates?
Perhaps America needs to learn the word “sacrifice” when it comes to this war. We don’t want a draft. We don’t want to pay for the war. We want our guns along with our butter.
Let’s treat our soldiers with the same respect given their grandparents returning from WWII. To hell with retention rates. If the military cannot fill it’s quota, than we need to bite the bullet and bring back the draft. Let’s stop playing war with our young men and women while refusing to pay the cost.
Larry, perhaps you could educate yourself on this matter a little more as it’s a bit more nuanced.
since it looks like the last round of “Military suicide rates up” stories was in August of last year here’s this story.
also note that the rate is still lower than the general population.
To hell with retention rates
??? yeah, let’s encourage our best and brightest to leave and let’s fight with the most inexperienced people we can find.
we’re not refusing to pay the cost, we’re haggling about exactly what that cost should be, within reason.
The suicide rate in the Army during 2006 was 17.3 per 100,000, the highest the army has ever recorded. Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/13/MNPSV110J.DTL
Failed personal relationships, and crushing financial burdens are especially common among guardsmen returning from multiple deployments. To say a suicide is due only to a personal grief or personal financial loss, and is not related to extended service in the military is, naive.
For example, unemployment rates among returning vets from the war hovers around 15%, compared to the national average for that age group of 8%. (Link: http://ptsdcombat.blogspot.com/2006/02/returning-troops-battle-unemployment.html)
A good question might be, what is “reasonable” when it comes to supporting our vets. Certainly, the cost of the GI Bill, which would provide education for our men and women, is 52 billion, or less than 6 months of what we are currently paying for the war in Iraq. Probably a lot less, when one considers the lifetime cost of health care for our troops.
If we don’t take good care of our volunteer army today, we can kiss the whole concept goodbye, unless of course the economy gets so bad that the military is the only means for someone to find employment.