Military Service

Donald Trump Disparages Military Service, Heroism, And Sacrifice

Ronald 21 Comments

One would think America had reached bottom with Donald Trump behavior and utterances, but no, not so!

We now learn that Donald Trump, who used “bone spurs” as the excuse to avoid military service during the Vietnam War, has regularly disparaged military service, heroism, and sacrifice, and it has all been confirmed by Fox News Channel, imagine that!

Calling those who served or serve in the military “Suckers” and “Losers”,

and not wishing to visit cemeteries to honor the dead,

and more concerned about the effect on his hair at a military site if it rains or is windy,

and condemning Senator John McCain as a “Loser’ for being captured and imprisoned for five years in Vietnam,

and threatening his son Donald Jr if he joined the military, when he was young, with him being disowned by his own father,

What can one say, and how can Donald Trump recover from this revelation, as already, there are hints that many military retirees, and family members, and troops presently serving, are rapidly abandoning Trump, with a sense of outrage and fury, and rightfully so!

Donald Trump has no patriotism, no loyalty to the nation he leads, and yet he is unwilling to condemn the evils of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and is clearly compromised, so is a traitor, clear and simple!

Trump is a disgrace to the Oval Office, and must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and face life in prison, along with his evil wife and first three children!

He is a stain upon the Presidency, and it will take years to undo the damage he has wrought!

Never Again Should America Elect A President Without Any Government Elected Or Appointed Experience, Psychological Testing And Full Financial Information

Ronald 17 Comments

The experience of Donald Trump should be enough evidence so that never again do we allow a person with zero government experience to run for and win the Presidency.

In ideal terms, it would be good to have a constitutional amendment detailing what a President’s experience should be, but that is clearly never going to happen, and just passing a law would be declared unconstitutional.

But common sense and intelligence should make that a person to run for President should have to meet the following qualifications:

A Presidential candidate should have government service in elective office, including Governors, Mayors, US Senators, US Congressmen or appointed service, including being a Cabinet officer under one or more Presidents or have served in the US military, and reach a high level of rank in any branch of the armed forces of the United States.

However, also a requirement should be that a Presidential candidate must submit to psychological testing, as to his mental stability.

Additionally, any Presidential candidate must be required to submit full financial information for the previous 20 years, with no blocking of any information allowed.

IF these requirements are met, we would never again face the disaster of Donald Trump, a totally ignorant, uneducated, incompetent, and dangerous person to have control of the military and nuclear codes.

The point is that government is NOT a business, and so just being in business does not qualify one to be President of the United States!

Eight Presidents Who Had A Major Role In The Military

Ronald 2 Comments

Many of our Presidents, about two thirds, have served in the armed forces of the United States, but eight were involved in particularly notable roles in the military that stand the test of time.

These are:

George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

Ulysses S. Grant during the Indian Wars, Mexican War, and Civil War.

Theodore Roosevelt during the Spanish American War.

Harry Truman during World War I.

Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II.

John F. Kennedy during World War II.

Jimmy Carter in the early Cold War years.

George H. W. Bush during World War II.

Other Presidents served of course, and Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Zachary Taylor were generals; Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley served in the Civil War; and Hayes and Franklin Pierce (in the Mexican War) and Kennedy were wounded. But these eight listed above particularly stand out in their military service of all of the Presidents who served!

Republican “Chicken Hawks” And The Reality Of The Stress Of Military Service!

Ronald 13 Comments

Very few members of Congress or the executive branch have served in the military, so they have no real understanding of the stress of military service, and how it can affect one’s reaction to combat conditions.

But it is Republican “chicken hawks”, and conservative talk show hosts who spout their mouth without any facts, all just to make more money and promote more hate, who have been in the lead in condemning Bowe Bergdahl.

So we have Dick Cheney and many others in the GOP, who avoided service, and talk show hosts who never considered volunteering for military service, who are now being shown up, with the revelation that Bergdahl was tortured, beaten, put in a cage, and has gone through hell in captivity with the Taliban, after wandering off the military base in Afghanistan, without a weapon or any real way to keep contact with the base.

It is clear that Bergdahl had a mental and emotional breakdown, and this can happen to anyone under stress. And now, as a result of captivity for five years, and horrible mistreatment, he has been victimized enough already, but leave it to the hypocrites to do more to destroy whatever peace of mind and sanity he might have left, at the young age of 28!

Any decent human being should denounce the Republicans and conservative talk show hosts on radio and Fox News Channel, as they have demontrated no common decency or concern, but simply have this compelling need to destroy a soldier who volunteered, and obviously, has suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

We should pray that this young man be given a chance to come back into American society, and his parents stop being sent death threats, and the exaggerated accounts by fellow soldiers should be taken “with a grain of salt”, as they are NOT the judge of another person’s mental stability! There is already much evidence from the New York Times that much of what fellow soldiers say is far from accurate in reality!

What Demographic Groups Will Vote For Barack Obama And Joe Biden? And Who For Mitt Romney And Paul Ryan?

Ronald 7 Comments

It is clear that this Presidential Election of 2012 will see clear-cut splits in the population, unseen in modern history.

The following groups will clearly vote a majority (fifty percent plus one) for Barack Obama and Joe Biden:

Men–More Educated
Women-More Educated, Single
African Americans
Hispanics-Latinos
Asian Americans
Native Americans
Young People under 34
Middle Aged People 35-54
Jews–Less Religious
Catholics–Less Religious
Secular Voters
Labor
Gays and Lesbians
Veterans–Young and Middle Age
College Graduates
Intellectuals
Urban Residents
Suburban Voters
Civil Libertarians
Environmentalists
Northeast and New England
Midwest Except Indiana and Missouri
Mountain States Of Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico
Pacific Coast and Hawaii

Who will clearly vote in a majority for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan?

Whites–less educated, rural, men and women
Men–less educated and particularly from South
Women–less educated, married, more religious, rural
Wealthy–top two percent
Corporate World
Senior Citizens Who Are White and Christian
Voters 55-64 Who Are White and Christian
Religious Voters, Christian and Jewish
Cuban Americans
Rural Voters
Those With Less Than A Four Year College Degree
Southern States, except Florida and Virginia
Great Plains States
Portions of Midwest and Mountain States, and Alaska
White Working Class in South and Midwest
Tea Party Movement supporters
Conspiracy Theory Believers
“Racial Problem” Voters
High School Graduates or Dropouts

This represents the greatest divisiveness of our nation in probably the past hundred and forty years, and does not bode well for future cooperation in dealing with national problems, both domestic and foreign. Conflict, rather than consensus, is a very disturbing trend in our society!

Some Facts And Figures Appropriate For Memorial Day

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As we honor veterans of all of our wars, with survivors from World War II on to the present on Memorial Day, it is worth some time to reflect on what war means.

So therefore, the following statistics gathered about the effects of war on America:

4,488 have died in the Iraq War, and 1, 973 in Afghanistan, for a grand total of 6,461 men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their nation. And about 35,000 veterans of both wars have been wounded, with about 20 percent of this total severely wounded!

24 Presidents have served in the military, out of 43 total, a little less than 60 percent.

29 presently serving US Senators and 21 percent of members of the US House of Representatives (about 92) have served in the military.

Only 3.3 percent of the American population, about 10 million people, have served in the military.

27-30 veterans are interred in Arlington National Cemetery every day.

124, 909 American veterans, both men and women, are interred in foreign soil.

Finally, 67,000 veterans are homeless and on the streets on any given night, and this is the greatest injustice imaginable!

Not one veteran should be homeless or jobless as a result of his service to his country, and much more needs to be done to help these people who gave of themselves to their country, returned, and have not been able to fulfill the American dream!

Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, And “Their” Concept Of The DREAM Act: Discriminatory Citizenship

Ronald 1 Comment

The DREAM Act has been promoted for a few years now in Congress, allowing the children of undocumented immigrants, or illegal aliens, who came here with their parents, grew up, personally obeyed the laws of the nation, and now as adults want the ability to become citizens, to be allowed that status if they attend and graduate college OR serve in the American military.

The Republican Party has prevented such an opportunity for young adults with illegal immigrant parents up to now, with Mitt Romney coming out totally against any such arrangement until last night.

Newt Gingrich last night gave a qualified approval of a proposed DREAM Act, but with modifications, quickly agreed to by Romney, showing again his constant inconsistency on just about every issue imaginable.

Gingrich said ONLY military service should be used to give such young adults, children of illegal immigrants, the ability to become citizens, and that attending and graduating college should NOT be accepted as a reason for citizenship. Romney modified his hard line views to agree with Gingrich, aware of the large number of illegal immigrants and their children in Florida and many other states with large Hispanic populations.

While it is certainly better to modify DREAM ACT opposition to allow military service as a qualifier for citizenship, it still is wrong, in that it sets up a discriminatory basis of citizenship.

So if someone is born in America, they do NOT need to serve in the military, the last time required being 1973. Why should someone having no control over where he or she was born be informed that he or she must, effectively, serve as a mercenary, “prove” his or her loyalty by taking the risks of military service, and then that person would be entitled to what everyone else is entitled to at birth?

Why is not education that can benefit not only the individual, but the nation as well in the long run, be acceptable without military service being a mandate? This is setting up a discriminatory citizenship, not stated in the Constitution!

Service In The Military And American Presidential Politics!

Ronald 1 Comment

For much of American history, service in the military has been a plus for political leaders who sought the Presidency of the United States.

About two thirds of all American Presidents engaged in military service, and some were major figures in wartime, including George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

It has been rare to have a Presidential campaign, where neither of the candidates had served in the military, and the last time that happened was 1944, when Governor Thomas Dewey opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

As recently as 2004 and 2008, the losing Presidential candidate had served in Vietnam (John Kerry and John McCain), and was admired for their war records, even though it did not help them to win.

But now for 2012, it is likely that for the first time since 1944, that neither candidate will have served in the military, as all of the major candidates for the GOP nomination, as well as President Barack Obama, have not spent time in the military.

Only Congressman Ron Paul and Governor Rick Perry, both of Texas, have ever served in the military, and neither is seen as likely to be the Republican nominee for the White House!

So with fewer people serving in the military than ever before, and with the military draft gone since 1973, it may very well be likely that from now on, the Presidential race will be lacking in influence of people who have served their country in the military!