Archive for the ‘Veteran Affairs’ Category
|Flying a Flag Upside-Down is an International Symbol of Distress – Is America That Broken?
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Flying a Flag Upside-Down is an International Symbol of Distress – Is America That Broken?
This weekend I watched yet another Hollywood Oscar nominated statement movie starring Tommy Lee Jones, entitled; “In the Valley of Elah”. It was a good thought provoking movie.
Not having ever served in the military or being a mariner, I didn’t realize that flying a flag upside-down was an international symbol of distress:
It seems like we are losing more focus on who we are and what we want and need every day.
I hope this year that Americans understand before they go to the polls and elect a (One-Party) Democrat President, Senate and House (Congress) that, that choice will clear the way for a Socialist encroachment of Government beyond belief.
All Americans want and need change. But we need to maintain some “checks & balances” to keep socialist policy and agendas from sailing through clear and unchecked.
In the Great Depression we were cast into a hell that took a long time to recover from by similar policies being advocated by the Democrat party right now, every day in the news.
Flying the American flag upside-down doesn’t show disrespect. It’s simply an International Symbol of Distress.
If we elect a One-Party Government either Democrat or Republican, healthy “Checks & Balances” will be challenged in a way that could charge the American public with a great deal of malcontent, even more than we have now.
Maybe America is broken. Maybe we are broken by an antiquated 2-party system that is almost assured to bring us more of the same, no matter who we elect this year.
If we go to the polls as uneducated Americans and elect a Democrat President and a Democrat Congress (House and Senate), we will shoot ourselves in the foot and I would expect to see quite a few flags flying upside-down just after the elections.
If we ever stupidly elect a one-party government, especially Democrats pressing Socialist agendas… we probably deserve just what we’ll get:
- Bloated Government
- Higher Taxes
- Loss of Personal Choice
- Higher Unemployment
- Loss of Medical Insurance Choices
- Extended Government Interference
- Personal Invasion in our lives
It won’t be pretty! I don’t particularly like to see the American flag flying upside-down and neither will you. If you feel distressed now, wait till you see what happens if you make the wrong “change” choices at the voting booth this year.
Yes America is broken, but we were broken by both parties, including the Democrats who have led both “Houses of Congress” (Senate & House) for 2 years without commanding governance… and the news media is guilty of helping them wash their hands of guilt. It’s time to replace the guilty parties, including Sheila Jackson Lee.
If Americans go to the polls and elect a full Democrat Government we will take one giant step toward Socialism, which will cause great distress and malcontent for many.
If that happens, take note that Americans who decide to fly their flags upside-down aren’t being disrespectful, they are simply making a statement against those that turned America upside-down, disregarding the basic freedoms we have always stood for.
Again and again Obama has made reference to a new Socialistic American Health System based on “Preventitive Medicine”. I don’t know about you, but my wife and I don’t need or want to recieve letters or e-mails from our government mandating proctologist or gynecologist visits! Do we really want to go there?
This whole social medicine issue is so absurd, it’s obscene. You won’t believe the government’s incursion into your personal lives if and when we go there! I really don’t think any of us need them “to ram it up any further” than they already have with this economic bail out package stuffed with abject disrespect for the American taxpayer. Do you really want that kind of governance over your health system too?
I sincerely hope all American voters realize that this is probably the most important vote they will ever cast in their lifetime and that we all go to the polls educated and ready to vote for individual candidates at all levels. This isn’t a year where any of us can go into the voting booth and just jerk a single party lever and walk out with a good conscience that we’ve served our fellow Americans, family, friends or ourselves as we should have.
Engineer2
Tags: america broken by congress, americans fly flag upside-down, Barack Obama, economy, First Amendment Rights, international distress, international symbol of distress, John McCain, National Security, upside-down flag
Posted in Houston, National Issues, The U.S. Government, Veteran Affairs, Voices of the 18th Congressional District | No Comments »
World War II Veterans – Visit the WWII Memorial for Free
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
World War II Veterans – Visit the WWII Memorial for Free
It was bad enough that America took 60 years to honor American WWII Veterans with a memorial.
One man has and is exercising a vision to make it possible for all American WWII Veterans to visit the WWII Memorial at his organization’s expense.
The “Honor Flight Network” History and Vision:
“The Honor Flight program was conceived by Earl Morse, a Physician Assistant and Retired Air Force Captain, to honor veterans he has taken care of for the past 27 years. After retiring from the Air Force in 1998, Earl was hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs to work in a small clinic in Springfield, Ohio. In May of 2004, the WWII Memorial was finally completed and dedicated in Washington DC which quickly became the topic of discussion among his WWII Veteran patients. Earl repeatedly asked these veterans if they would ever travel out to visit THEIR memorial. Most felt that eventually, somehow, they would make it to DC perhaps with a family member or friend. As summer turned to fall, and then winter, these same veterans returned to the clinic for their follow-up visits. Earl asked if they accomplished their dream of visiting the WWII Memorial. By now, for most of the veterans queried, reality had settled in; it was clear to most that it simply wasn’t financially or physically possible for them to make the journey. Most of these senior heroes are in their 80s and lacked the physical and mental wherewithal to complete a trip on their own. Families and friends also lacked the resources and time to complete a 3-4 day trip to DC. Earl could tell that the majority of the veterans had given up all hope of ever visiting the memorial that was specifically created to honor their services and the services of their fellow comrades who paid the ultimate sacrifice. That’s when Earl decided that there has to be a way to get these heroes to DC to see their memorial.
You can review and support founder Earl Morse’s dream and our WWII Veterans who haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit their long furloughed memorial by visiting and contributing to his cause at:
http://www.honorflight.org/
Ken
You can help us send John Faulk to Congress today.
Tags: Earle, honor flight for veterans, honor flight network, honoring ww2 veterans, wwII memorial, wwII veterans
Posted in National Issues, Veteran Affairs, Voices of the 18th Congressional District | 1 Comment »
Dear Mr. Obama
Monday, September 8th, 2008
Video by an American Veteran of the Iraq War:
“The day we lose our will to fight, is the day we lose our freedom.”
Ken
You can help us send John Faulk to Congress today.
Tags: Barack Obama, Dear Mr. Obama, fight for freedom, Foreign Policy, Iraq veterans against Obama, Iraq veterans for McCain, John McCain, National Security
Posted in John Faulk, National Issues, The U.S. Government, Veteran Affairs | No Comments »
Meet Sarah Palin – A Champion of Change Placing “Country First”
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
Meet Sarah Palin – A Champion of Change Placing “Country First”
Sarah Palin VP Speech, Part 1:
Sarah Palin VP Speech, Part 2:
It’s a good bet that Sarah Palin’s primary duties as VP will be to exercise her demonstrated political reform prowess in cleaning up Washington.
Demonstrated Political Reform – Now that’s “Change We Can Really Believe In”.
More than ever before this election year is about change and reform. American voters are poised with an historic disapproval rate of their Congressional Representatives. We have the opportunity this November to trade out existing ineffective members of Congress like Sheila Jackson Lee for “change candidates” like John Faulk running for:
- Job Creation and Existing Job Support for local employees
- A complete energy package for Americans, including support for the Oil & Gas Industry’s “Drill Now, Drill Here, & Drill Today” initiative, “green energy” including the “T. Boone Pickens Plan” and new Nuclear Plants.
- Absolute and all out support for America’s exports from the Port of Houston.
- Full support for continued Research & Development of our “World Class” Medical Community
- Full support & funding for our all important Aerospace Industry led by NASA
If you really want an energy policy that works and you want to see change, we need Congressional Members in office who support their constituency in the Greater Houston Area. A Congress that doesn’t vote against Oil & Gas and other energy measures as Sheila Jackson Lee has.
We need change and we need it now. We need a Congress that will work for Americans, for the good of the “Country First”, not other countries first, not pet projects, not “pork barrel” spending of our taxes and definitely not in the best interest of one political party or another.
Sarah Palin is a champion against “earmark” spending and John Faulk has also promised to support the Texas 18th District taxpayers against the insane “it grows on trees” taxpayer revenue spending we continue to bled dry by. As a businessman and accountant, with his experience, I sincerely believe John Faulk will watch over and guard our hard earned tax dollars in a frugal manner.
Let’s put a real change administration in office this year – Americans want change. Let’s vote America’s best interest in office this year. Let’s cut out ineffective Congressional members like Sheila Jackson Lee who have cost taxpayers over a million dollars passing 1 single bill in a 14 year stint in office.
Enough is enough – Vote John Faulk for Congress.
If we really want change, we’ll vote for it this November.
Engineer2
You can help us send John Faulk to Congress in November, today.
Tags: Energy Policy, John McCain
Posted in National Issues, The U.S. Government, Veteran Affairs | 1 Comment »
Have a Happy and Safe Independence Day
Friday, July 4th, 2008
We wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July.
Americans have always been freedom fighters. Our nation was founded in a quest for freedom. In fact we are all celebrating Independence Day today, Independence from taxation without representation, Independence from Tyranny.
If there is anything we should have learned as Americans it would be that “Freedom Isn’t Free”.
As a nation we have always come to the aid of oppressed people worldwide, as best we can. Whether you believe utopian liberal thought and war protestors projecting that we are at war in Iraq for oil or you have more conservative leanings, believing that we are helping free a nation from under mustard gas tyranny, it’s your choice, but let’s all take a moment to honor those who sacrifice everything they have to keep freedom and independence alive:
Enjoy friends and family today, but let’s remember our history, who we are, and our freedom fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan at our barbeques, reunions, festivities and firework shows.
Let’s remember that we had to even fight each other in a civil war over freedom.
That’s what we do. That’s who we are.
Let’s give thanks for these freedoms we have and support our troops.
We can all agree that:
We didn’t want these wars any more than the rest of us did.
Ken
Posted in Uncategorized, Veteran Affairs | No Comments »
President Bush Breaks Ground for the New “Walter Reed National Military Medical Center”
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
Today President Bush stood with other Department of Defense officials in a ground breaking ceremony for the new “Walter Reed National Military Medical Center”.
Here is an excerpt from the U.S Department of Defense Press Release describing the new facility which will open in 2011 at the well spent cost of $970 Million Dollars:
Department of Defense officials participated in a ground-breaking ceremony to begin construction of the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda today.“Our warriors are our country’s most important resource and when they return injured or ill from war, we must care for them without fail,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England. “This new joint facility will provide America’s heroes and their families the most advanced medical care in the world.”
The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended the relocation of certain WRAMC activities from D.C. to Bethesda. The new medical center will provide tertiary, sub-specialty and complex medical services. The $970 million project will add or renovate 2.5 million square feet. Also, a new 120-bed community hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va., will provide non-tertiary care services to the Northern Virginia area. The Base Realignment and Closure law requires construction of the two facilities to be completed by Sept. 15, 2011.
You can read the rest of the DOD Press Press Release here.
Ken
Posted in Veteran Affairs | No Comments »
While Sheila Jackson Lee is trying to get 100,000 to protest the War. I will be honoring our Vets.
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
The Houston VA National Cemetery is located in the Texas 18 Congressional District. I am positive that if there is a TV camera there Sheila Jackson Lee will show up.on May 15, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee [D-Texas] asked members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War, who had just finished testifying about atrocities committed by the U.S. military in Iraq, if they would be willing to help organize a mass mobilization in Washington, D.C., in an effort to end the war:
“Would you work with us and join us and help us bring 100,000 people to the [Washington] mall?”
http://www.indypendent.org/2008/05/17/winter-soldier-on-the-hill/
05/22/2008
A special Memorial Day service will be held on Monday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m. at the Houston VA National Cemetery, located at 10410 Veterans Memorial Drive.
This year, the Department of Veterans Affairs is pleased to announce that retired Army Maj. General Robert Ivany, current president of the University of St. Thomas, will give the Memorial Day address. Ivany presided over one of the nation’s most respected institutions for the education of strategic leaders: the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.
During his various military commands as an armored cavalry officer, he led soldiers in the United States, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Federal Republic of Germany and Vietnam, where he was wounded in action and decorated for valor.
In addition to Ivany’s remarks, the event will feature a parade of colors and wreaths by numerous local veterans’ organizations, ROTC units, and Boy and Girl Scout troops. All Boy and Girl Scout organizations in southeast Texas are invited to attend.
There will also be many symbolic highlights, including a flyover by the Texas Air National Guard, 147th Fighter Wing; a performance of “Taps”; a cannon salute; a riderless horse procession by the Houston Police Mounted Patrol; “Amazing Grace” performed by the Houston Highlander Pipe Band; and a rifle salute by the VFW District 4 Ceremonial Detail accompanied by Co. A 13th U.S. Regular Infantry with muskets.
The Memorial Day service, honoring deceased U.S. servicemen and women, is free and open to the public.
For information on any VA benefits, please contact Montgomery County Veterans Service, 2247 N. First St., Suite 219 in Conroe, at 936-539-7842 or via e-mail at vetsvc@co.montgomery.tx.us
Tags: John Faulk, Memorial Day, Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas 18th Congressional District, VA Cemetery
Posted in Veteran Affairs | No Comments »
