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Posts in the category Veterans Issues

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The Day After Veteran's Day

By ThePatriot - Nov 13th, 2009 at 10:50 pm EST

On this the day after Veterans Day , I feel an emptiness that is hard to describe. November 11th gives me the opportunity I don’t otherwise take to think about military service and the sacrifices we ask of our service people and the lip service we employ to praise them endlessly while never putting our money where our collective mouths are.

How do I love thee?? Let me count the ways. I love thee with these yellow ribbons all over my soccer vehicle and SUV. I love thee with the multiple flags stuck all over my car and flying from the back of my motorcycle. Yes, I love thee in my sports reporting where I mention the troops and constantly call them heroes. I love thee in my speeches on the floor and to the news media about how you need to be supported by sending more and more troops to join you (without indicating any willingness, of course, to see my own family make such sacrifices or draft the necessary resources). I love thee by introducing bills to honor you (while, of course, opposing additional funding for the VA and for veterans’ housing, mental health, and educational benefits that might “increase the debt” created by the war in which I served).

The problem is, the Bush/Cheney/Neo-Con/Fox consortium that pushed these wars had no idea what war or the military is all about and the type of war monster they created. How could they? The whole batch of them did everything in their power to avoid real service in real war zones either by deferments or prime assignments that kept them from combat.

So ignorant of the consequences of war were they that they built a false dynamic of fear around a nuclear attack that was both absurd and unsubstantiated and in fact debunked by the available evidence. They did it by lying to Congress and outing CIA agents. They did it by estimating the War to take a few minutes and a few million dollars. They did it “with the army we have”. And, baby, the chickens have been coming home to roost ever since. How? Let us again count the ways.

First, we took a secular nation, on it’s knees from sanctions and inspections, and turned it into a petri dish for terrorists, who have been flowing over the sides of the dish ever since and spreading out across the nations of the Middle East. Second, we sent our sons and daughters to a war too eerily similar to the one we fought in the 60’s, where the enemy cannot be distinguished from the rest of the population, is frequently hiding among them and is almost always a friend or a neighbor of the non-combatants, creating the maximum war time stress and a major amount of hostility amongst the population we’re supposedly there to help. Third, we implied to the military and CIA that we needed better intelligence and if they could get it through tougher means (knowing it implied torture) so be it.

Next we took military units made up of men and women who never expected to be used in anything more than a flood or other national emergency and made them front line combat and support units. Then to cap off the maximum amount of damage we can do them, we sent them on multiple tours to war zones, while their jobs disappeared, their families suffered from their absence and shortages of income, and their psyche’s got short circuited by this repetitive combat experience.

These men and women are suffering from PTSD at record levels, killing themselves at levels way above the civilian populations, and bringing violence and heartbreak back with them to their civilian lives if they are lucky enough to come back at all. They don’t need false patriotism in the nature of yellow ribbons and flags signifying support for our wars. They don’t need resolutions and phony speeches. And frankly Mr. and Mrs. America these things do not amount to patriotism.

You want to be patriotic? Then give our troops a war that makes ultimate sense or bring them home. Bring them home to the services and benefits they need. Provide the dollars and the commitment for:

1. A draft or other substitute for being sent into a combat zone over and over at the complete cost of a sane life and the security of their families;

2. Significant resources dedicated to the families left at home so they are not confronted with bankruptcy and other horrors in addition to the loved one at war;

3. Veteran’s benefits that are adequate to allow for housing, education and therapy upon their return home;

4. A substantial increase in funding for the Veteran’s Administration to be spent on health care of all kinds, not only for recently returning veterans but all veterans who cannot afford health care in this cost prohibitive insurance health system;

5. A Commander in Chief who doesn’t just don a flight jacket and pretend he knows the “mission’s accomplished”. A Congress and President who know what the hell the mission is; how much it will cost in dollars and human misery; and whether it is worth the cost to our treasury, our citizens, our troops and the thousands of non-combatants who will be bombed, killed, maimed and routed from their homes as collateral damage; the specific goals to be accomplished; the time frame to accomplish them and the likelihood of doing so; and finally

6. A media willing to evaluate all of these things for the public, discuss them and demand the Congress discuss them before bowing to hinted troop levels and “win or loss” pronouncements by pundits who have proven themselves wrong so many times they should be ashamed to show themselves in public.

Yes, America, when you’re ready to provide us these things, let us know. Perhaps then we’ll start to believe that you give one damn about the men and women yesterday, today, and tomorrow who will wheel their broken bodies and minds back into your temporarily cheering midst, to face the following day and the days thereafter alone with their soldiers memories.

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What's worse - fake pimps or real sexual assault?

By Robert - Sep 22nd, 2009 at 1:01 pm EDT

Last week, Fox News zombi... er, viewers were treated to an apparent expose of workers at ACORN giving advice and assistance to conservative activists claiming to be a pimp and prostitute. Of course, Fox took liberties with the facts, claiming the pair was never kicked out of the ACORN offices they visited (they were, police reports were filed, too) and pushing an allegation that one of the ACORN workers killed her husband (she didn’t).

Beck, Hannity, Fox and Friends, and the usual cast of conservatives immediately started the drum-beat to strip federal funding for ACORN, and right on cue, Congress approved a measure to deny federal funding to the group. Of course, Wisconsin’s resident right-wing bloviators jumped on the chance to score cheap political points – Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield, but wishes it were Texas) and Rep. Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) demanded state agencies report about any state contracts with ACORN. Then this morning, the Wisconsin State Journal skewered US Rep. Tammy Baldwin for voting against the bill to de-fund ACORN. They cite ACORN’s IRS problems and the alleged voter registration fraud (which doesn’t matter ‘cause Mickey Mouse doesn’t vote!!) as reasons why the organization should be stripped of its paltry $53 million in federal funding since 1994 – that’s a whopping $3.5 million a year.

Sigh.

What about $5.73 billion? -- that’s 1449 times as much, just fyi -- That’s how much Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR took from US taxpayers from 2003-2006 for reconstruction in Iraq. Yet when it was revealed that a contractor for KBR in Iraq was gang raped by her co-workers in Iraq, did the Wisconsin State Journal or Fox News or Glenn Beck or conservatives leaders fall all over themselves to stop the taxpayer-financed gravy train to Halliburton? No.

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Payday Lender Mouthpiece Admits: Industry Discriminates Against Military Families

By Scot @ One Wisconsin Now - Aug 18th, 2009 at 12:32 pm EDT

On this past weekend’s Wisconsin Public Television Here and Now show, viewers were treated to a discussion about a proposed 36 percent interest cap on payday loan sharks between the bill’s author, Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) and payday industry lobbyist Erin Krueger.

Responding to Rep. Hintz’s observation that Wisconsin is the only state without a rate cap and how the bill mirrors similar protections extended federally to military families and personnel, Krueger snapped back with this gem (at 7 minute mark):

“They’re not giving advances to military under that 36 percent interest rate cap,” she said. Read More »

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Video: GOP Budget Plan Revealed?

By Scot @ One Wisconsin Now - May 21st, 2009 at 5:18 pm EDT

Judge for yourself.

http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/GOPbudget

By all accounts it's still a big, fat nothing from the state Republicans on how to solve the massive budget deficit the eight years of failed George W. Bush policies have levied on Wisconsin and nearly every state in the nation.

One Wisconsin Now sent our OWNews reporter Cody Oliphant to the state Capitol in the hopes of finding answers from GOP leaders.

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New Reality Show - OK, I DID IT!

By ThePatriot - Apr 25th, 2009 at 8:31 am EDT

Hi Audience and welcome to the new "torture reality show!"-OK I DID IT!!

Our first contestants have been carefully selected after a painstaking search through documents going back to 2002. We've given our contestants special monikers to avoid undue embarrassment should the tortures result in unseemly (knowing glance to the audience) results. Let's give them a warm torture welcome!
(loud applause)
On my left are Little Rumdum and the Big C
(wild applause)
On my right stand Wild Rice and Little Al
(female WOOOwoooo's and applause)

The masks are to hide their true identities since we did not select the audience based on political beliefs.

Now contestants and audience, here's how the game works. We have chosen this week's torture and someone here will be selected to undergo it for the next week. You will all pick a "Not This Week" card and if it has the right quote on it, you can exercise your veto of the torture should you be chosen. Here are the vetoes:
· We'll do memos legalizing everything!
· We always knew what we didn't know, when we didn't know it
· Was that a mushroom cloud?
· You'll damn well give us the intelligence we want , when we want it!

OK - we all have selected a card. Let's go.

Now - who'd like to go first??
(Silence- audience titters)
People, this is a reality show! Someone has to go first! Audience, how about a little help selecting our first "torture survivor"! (wild applause!) (As the moderator, who is wearing a black mask with eye, nose and mouth holes, holds his hand over each of the contestants heads, the audience howls for each with enthusiasm).

Big C! You have clearly won the audience's approval to go first. This week's torture is Waterboarding! We're going to ask you to lie down here with your head tilted back slightly. We'll ask you a few questions and you will try to resist our inquiries, OK? Wave your hands when you want to answer. After the first application, you can play your veto card. Are you ready? Who authored these torture memos?

Uummph, glug, ARRRRGHHHH! (after 2 seconds, hands waving frantically! gluuugh, sputter! It was Carter! I mean Clinton!

Really? We may have to ask that question again (possibly 182 times)

Now - would you like to play your veto card?
YES - PLEASE! STOP!
And your veto card says: "We always knew what we didn't know…"
Sorry Big C - that card can only be used by Little Rumdum! Back on the bench…
ARRggggh,STOP, IT WAS REAGAN! I SWEAR IT! I WAS THERE YOU KNOW! No stop mummmph.

I'm sorry, Big C - I'm afraid you get the old waterboarding all week- Head back now, please (hey can someone over there help me hold him down……)

(Audience squeals with delight…) Waterboarding begins again…

Thank you so much folks- you've been a great audience. We'll see you back here next week for the next episode of OK, I DID IT! And a new torture for a new contestant. Tune in at the top of the hour for TARPLESS, a great new hour, as failing bank CEO's compete against their Automotive counterparts for the Socialist of the Week Award! See you next week!

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Tortured Logic

By ThePatriot - Apr 25th, 2009 at 8:25 am EDT

It now appears that the highest levels of the Bush administration, which "tortured" their own combat troops into prisons and disrepute for using torture, actually sanctioned the entire mess from the beginning. It is sometimes difficult to imagine the depths of degradation to our morals and our constitutional form of government to which these people sank. So the justification has changed from "it was a few bad apples", to "it wasn't really torture" to "hey it works so what are you complaining about? We kept you safe." The proof is in the classified documents that we said previously you shouldn't release because it makes us look like a banana republic.

Huh?

So releasing any documents that show the truth of the Bush Administration's mendacity, up to and including Rice, Cheney, the Attorney General, probably John Ashcroft etc., is an outrage, jeopardizes our safety, is politically motivated, and makes us a Banana Republic, but releasing far more secret classified documents is OK. Why would this illogical approach hold? Because they know they can use Fox, CNN, Rush, Billo and Hannity to damn you if you do and damn you if you don't.

Release them and they'll find a scrap or two of intel they got for their hundreds of waterboardings of just a couple of guys. Later, they'll attack the Obama administration for releasing the original memos and the follow-ups because if the Obama administration hadn't released memos showing that this renegade, lawless bunch did whatever they wanted, constitution be damned, they wouldn't have had to demand the follow-ups. Get it?

All of this, of course, swirls around but avoids the debate we should be having but never seem to get from the mainstream media: Is torture, which we prohibit by law, and which we have agreed to never do by international law, ok when a U. S. administration wants to do it? Is it OK when we can prove in retrospect that it might have worked to get us a little info? Is it OK for an administration to unilaterally violate our Constitution and International Treaties because they think they are right? This is the real question.

The real answer is simple. It is NO. We are a nation of laws. What that means is that individuals can't decide, no matter their level of authority, what to obey and what not. It goes historically back to the Kings who could do whatever they wanted (and did) and to the British who were pretty much doing so, as far as the American colonies were concerned (not to mention Ireland and 10's of other places in the world) at the time we held a little revolution to ensure we could live freely. The idea of a Constitutional government is to ensure the Rule of Kings cannot prevail. Rulers are elected and limited. Checks and balances are built into the system. Oversight is absolutely necessary and exists to protect the people from governmental excesses.

While consistently railing against big government excesses, this right wing and republican bunch have themselves managed to erode the rights of speech, privacy, assembly, counsel (by under-funding it everywhere in the country) and against unreasonable searches and seizures, over the last 35 years and would now have us abandon our stand against the cruelties of torture, on their say-so. I say NO- Never.

And let me resurrect one of the sayings of the past of which they were so fond: Love it or leave it! If you don't love our Constitutional form of government, get out. Some of us think we have more going on here than an episode of "24". If you think when you're in power, all the laws to protect our liberties can be sacrificed on the altar of fear, we can point you to some countries that operate that way. I'll contribute to your air fare (though I think you should go on a water board). This is the way the Communist Chinese and Russian governments operate. This is the way of Fascism. I'm sure they'd love to have you in their governments. They too are experts at graft, corruption and dictatorship.

On the other hand, if you choose to stay and do whatever you like, we have a legal system where you have to pay the piper. You know all those people in jail for using and selling marijuana?? Remember when you rebuffed the argument that it is basically harmless with "yeah but it's illegal and they chose to do it?" You remember that? Yeah, well so do we.

Best wishes on a very large cellmate,
The Patriot

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Board backs general discharge for Iraq war resister and IVAW member Matthis Chiroux

By Ted - Apr 24th, 2009 at 12:53 pm EDT

On Saturday I penned this op-ed which never ran in my local paper about GI Resistance, my planned trip to St. Louis for Matthis Chiroux’s discharge hearing and why war resisters of an illegal war should be supported instead of punished. (For more on Matthis and his refusal of an Inactive Ready Reserve call-up see his website) Read More »

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Board backs general discharge for Iraq war resister and IVAW member Matthis Chiroux

By Ted - Apr 24th, 2009 at 12:53 pm EDT

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Board backs general discharge for Iraq war resister and IVAW member Matthis Chiroux

By Ted - Apr 24th, 2009 at 12:53 pm EDT

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Board backs general discharge for Iraq war resister and IVAW member Matthis Chiroux

By Ted - Apr 24th, 2009 at 12:53 pm EDT

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WMC: Union Busters, Liars

By Robert - Apr 3rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm EDT

Maybe pressure from the public kept Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce on the sidelines in the spring Supreme Court race. Perhaps a new progressive majority at the Capitol forced WMC to “reassess” its pro-corporate, anti-worker lobbying efforts.

Or maybe the corporate titans at WMC were just biding time, saving their money, energy and whatever modicum of influence they might have on what really matters: busting unions.

WMC has a long history of anti-worker, anti-union lobbying efforts – check out the good pro-worker legislation they opposed here, here, and here, just to give you a few. And WMC’s Issues Mobilization Council has a history of running misleading and debunked ads.

Now, the WMC Issues Mobilization Council is out with a radio ad targeting Ron Kind for his support of workers and co-sponsorship of the Employee Free Choice Act. And once again, the ad is full of fear-mongering, false claims and scare-tactics. Here are some of the low-light from the WMC radio ad, and some of the FACTS about the Employee Free Choice Act. Read More »

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Local Soldier Refuses Redeployment to Iraq

By Sam - Feb 24th, 2009 at 6:12 pm EST

Disenchanted with the continued immoral and illegal occupation of Iraq, a local serviceman has refused a return to active duty. Specialist Kristoffer Walker of Green Bay recently notified his superiors that he would not rejoin his unit in Iraq, a stance that could land the veteran in federal prison. Yet despite the possible ramifications, Walker stands by his convictions and refuses the myriad of cop-outs that would otherwise excuse his absence.

That's right: Kristoffer Walker is not a conscientious objector, or at least as defined by the U.S. Army. On the contrary, he believes that war is - at times - necessary, unlike a true objector like, say, a Quaker. Walker believes in defending the U.S. and her Constitution against immediate, external threats. What he doesn't believe in is the murder of one million Iraqi civilians and the displacement of millions more. He doesn't believe in the destruction of a once-vibrant culture and the seizure of Iraqi oil by U.S. and British transnationals. And, he certainly doesn't believe in continuing this "illegitimate, unnecessary campaign."

Thus, the anti-war movement has a new hero - and a true American hero at that. In joining the chorus of anti-war Iraq veterans, Walker defies the right-wingers - civilian right-wingers, usually - who implore us to 'support our troops.' Well, I for one do support our troops, as I'm sure we all do regardless of political affiliation. Soldiers like Spc. Walker, as well as the tens of thousands who haven't taken such a brave stand, deserve our utmost respect and reverence. That much is certain.

But what they don't deserve is to be put in harm's way so that our administration can spread this neoconservative market ideology that has already crippled the global economy. I know that I support the troops. But, I have to ask: if our government can justify sending young men to their death on a series of lies and can threaten imprisonment for those same young men who stand up for their principles, do they?

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Veterans Day events highlight peace, not militarism

By Xoff - Nov 6th, 2008 at 12:53 pm EST

Also listed in: Peace Action-Wisconsin

Veterans for Peace chapters in Milwaukee and Madison have planned special Veterans Day events this weekend that promote peace rather than militarism. Details:

MILWAUKEE VETERANS FOR PEACE:

Barred from the city’s Veterans Day parade, Milwaukee Veterans for Peace, Chapter 102, will sponsor its own Veterans Day event at 10 a.m. in front of Milwaukee City Hall , 200 E. Wells, to observe the day with a call for peace.

Iraq veterans Ryan Freund and Ryan Nofsinger will share their experiences, and Vietnam veteran John Zutz will discuss the history of Veterans Day (originally Armistice Day), established in 1919 as a day to express support for peace and justice, not militarism.

Mark Foreman, a Vietnam veteran and president of the local VFP chapter, will serve as master of ceremonies. Music by Iraq war veteran Jason Moon will be followed by ringing of a bell 11 times to honor those who have served and to wish for peace. It is symbolic of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, which was the beginning of the cease fire at the end of the First World War.

After the program, Veterans for Peace members will go into the crowd of Veterans Day Parade watchers and collect donations for homeless veterans who live on the streets of Milwaukee .

The Veterans Day Parade Committee told Veterans for Peace it could not march in the parade with its banner because the group’s name is “political.”

MADISON VETERANS FOR PEACE:

Memorial Mile – the Third Display

On Saturday, Nov. 8, some 4,800 tombstones will be erected along Speedway Road in Forest Hill Cemetery on Madison's near west side. (Volunteers are needed that morning -- contact John Fournelle by email: jhfour@gmail.com).

After two successful and well-attended displays of the Mile at Olbrich Park, the chapter received permission from the Madison Parks Commission to move the Memorial Mile to a new location on the near west side. Forest Hill Cemetery, which faces Speedway Road between West High school and the Glenway golf course, is a dignified and appropriate location for the Mile.

It is the resting place for literally hundreds of Union and Confederate soldiers, as well as veterans who served in the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Viet Nam and the first Gulf War. It is the site of annual Memorial Day ceremonies respecting the sacrifices of so many Americans.

The public is invited to participate in the installation of the Mile on Saturday, Nov. 8, starting at 9am and also help uninstall the headstones the following Saturday, Nov. 15. Last May thousands of passers-by viewed the Memorial Mile during the week at Olbrich Park and comparable numbers of visitors are likely this November at Forest Hill. The Mile may be visited any time, day or night, during November 8-15.

The quiet cemetery roads may be entered at either end (near West High or at the Glenway St. end). Visitors may park along the internal cemetery roads. Walked quietly among the stones; leave flowers if you wish. The sobering and respectful display symbolizes the deaths of over 4,300 US service personnel in Iraq and nearly 500 in Afghanistan. Over 35,000 Americans have been seriously wounded in Iraq. To date 95 Wisconsin soldiers have died, symbolized by the small Wisconsin flags on scattered headstones.

Veterans for Peace members and volunteers will be available as often as possible throughout the week to answer questions, listen and share thoughts.

Sunday Ceremony and Reading of Names

A one-hour memorial ceremony will be held on Sunday, Nov. 9, at 2pm at the west end of the display. Those attending are welcome to park on the cemetery roads on that end. Featured speakers include the Rev. David Couper, Iraq War veterans Fran Weidenhoeft and Nate Toth (Iraq Veterans Against the War) and Vietnam veteran Will Williams. Bagpiping will accompany the reading of the 95 Wisconsin war dead at the end. VFP board member Frank Court will be the master of ceremonies.

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My visit to Ft. McCoy with Witness Against War

By Ted - Aug 11th, 2008 at 10:19 pm EDT

Back in April I found out about the Witness Against War walk being put on by Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Kathy Kelly was at a member meeting for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, where I am a work study student, since my GI Bill was just used up it is a great opportunity to use government funds to support my anti-war work. Kathy asked me if I would be willing to do the walk from the middle of July until the end of August. I had to decline as I had a summer class taking up much of my summer but kept it in the back of my mind for when they came through Madison on their way to the Twin Cities. Read More »

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Questions That McCain Should Answer

By Cory @ One Wisconsin Now - Jul 30th, 2008 at 12:59 pm EDT

In anticipation of Senator John McCain’s Racine town hall meeting Thursday, several concerned Wisconsinites that will be unable to attend offered five questions that they would like McCain to answer.

John Valko, President of UAW Local 180 in Racine is concerned about the loss of good paying, family supporting jobs. He wants to ask Senator McCain why the country should continue the harmful policies that he supports which have caused our current economic crisis. This crisis includes the loss of some 92,000 manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin during the Bush administration. Specifically Valko cites John McCain’s support for disastrous Bush policies including unfair trade deals, and massive tax cuts for big corporations and the wealthiest individuals.

John Valko's question: “The policies you have championed have resulted in an economic nightmare for families across Wisconsin, so my question is: Why would we want to continue your failed policies which have devastated our country?"

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The Knife in my Back

By User from Milton, WI - Jul 24th, 2008 at 2:56 pm EDT

John McCain loves to wear his Navy hat whenever he can. He loves to let everyone know that he is a veteran and that, being a veteran, he is one of us and he supports us unequivocally. He stands up on all those stages during his speeches with this pretentious idea that he deserves to be commander in chief because he was a prisoner of war. I feel differently. If he was such a champion for veteran's issues, then why does his voting record and his rhetoric about the Iraq war scream that he doesn't care at all?

Like I have said many times before, I am in no way taking away anything that says John McCain is not a strong person for surviving five years as a prisoner of war. But, the decisions he has made since those fateful times, chips away the angelic view of him as a war hero. Let me break it down for you: if someone saved a bus full of children one day, cannot turn around and molest a bus full of kids the next day and expect everyone to still see that person as a hero.

John McCain wants us to stay in Iraq for "as long as it takes" or the classic statement of "100 years". That same old stubborn Bush injected ignorance of pounding the square peg into the round hole coming out of his mouth on every sound bite. How can anyone say they care about veteran's issues and care about the actual veteran's if they want to continue an illegal and unnecessary war? A war that was only waged to fill corporation's pockets with a ton of money they don't need. Apparently John McCain is part of a very small percentage of POW survivors who feel that putting other young and innocent people through horrible life altering experiences and injuries is the only way to allow our race, world and country to move forward. Read More »

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Tour Highlights Bush Legacy

By Cody O - Jul 14th, 2008 at 3:36 pm EDT

Tomorrow, the Bush Legacy Tour bus is rolling in to Madison. Having spent my entire adult life under the Bush administration, I truly look forward to sealing the legacy of George W. Bush and the conservative ideology as disastrous for the economy, the environment, and American families. Read More »

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First Meeting of the Union Veteran’s Council

By Cory @ One Wisconsin Now - Jul 10th, 2008 at 9:33 pm EDT

Today marked the first meeting of the Union Veteran’s Council in Wisconsin. It coincided with other such meetings in at least four other states across the country. Also coinciding with the event was an ad that will be run in areas of the country including Wisconsin. The focus of the ad and the meetings are how the attendees may respect Senator John McCain’s military service, these veterans do not agree with his policies.

At the Milwaukee meeting union workers that have served in combat in every war from World War II to the war in Iraq gathered to talk about the most important issues of the day. From the outset the message was made clear that this group is long term and will not go away after November. Much of the discussion focused on how the Bush Administration has been terrible for not only working people but also for veterans. Many people around the table talked about how Senator John McCain has been a rubber stamp for Bush in the U.S. Senate and how his policies could end up being even worse.

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Introducing the Union Veteran's Council

By Cory @ One Wisconsin Now - Jul 9th, 2008 at 9:49 pm EDT

Tomorrow the AFL-CIO will announce the start of the Union Veteran’s Council. The announcement will not only launch the national council but it also coincides with the formation of state councils in five states including Wisconsin. The Union Veteran's Council will also start an ad run across the country including parts of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin chapter will have a veterans roundtable discussion tomorrow in Milwaukee. OWN will be blogging from the event.

4pm Thursday, July 10

Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council

5941 W Bluemound Rd Milwaukee, WI

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Sgt. Matthis Chiroux keeps his promise.

By Ted - Jun 17th, 2008 at 1:10 pm EDT

Fathers' Day, 2008, Matthis Chiroux makes a public refusal of his orders to reactivate and deploy in support of the Iraq occupation. Read More »

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