Dems Say More Funding Needed for Veterans

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON - Democrats and Republicans in Congress must set aside partisan differences to adequately fund health care services for active U.S. troops and military veterans, Rep. Chet Edwards (news, bio, voting record) of Texas said Saturday in the weekly Democratic radio address.
At the same time, Edwards scolded Bush administration economic policies that the congressman said favored the rich at the expense of veterans.

"We will continue to speak out that a country that can afford tax breaks for people making over $1 million a year can surely afford to reduce months long waiting lists of veterans who deserve and need VA health care," said Edwards, whose district includes Fort Hood, a major Army post.

The Veterans Affairs Department provides quality care to retired military personnel, Edwards said, and "the VA and the veterans it serves deserve more resources to ensure quality, timely care for all our vets."
................
"......we will not be silent, when, during our war on terrorism, Benedict Arnold corporations can rent $10,000-a-year post office boxes in Bermuda just to avoid paying their fair share of U.S. taxes, while quality of life programs for our military families have been cut by $500 million since the Iraqi war began," he added.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=703&e=4&u=/ap/20041113/ap_on_go_co/democrats_veterans

"Benedict Arnold corporations" was a phrase Kerry used to use but I read it was cut months ago as being too harsh or business unfriendly or something, even tho it was always well received.

[NVMojo]

1. ABSOLUTELY!!!

[Kellis]

2. why

aren't veterans benefits considered moral by the lunatic fundamentalists?
I mean they wanted the war and they support the war.Why do they ignore the fact that the people who shrub uses so flippantly in his blood for oil war do not have medical benefits and have to fight for months on end to get what the military shoudl be giving them without any questions asked!?
Shame on you moral voters.
SHAME ON YOU for NOT SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS

[saigon68]

3. The Republican Pukes don't care about veterans

Once you are wounded or disabled they will turn their back on you instantly.

They really don't like the military that much. In fact they like their plumber just as much.

Its a CLASS THING-- they need the Military to kill "RAG-HEADS" -- Like they need a plumber to Unclog the HUGE TURD from their toilet.

[maddezmom]

4. chickenhawks could care less...

they have taxpayer insurance....and even if they didn't they can afford the best medicine money can buy.

[maddezmom]

6. kick

[Chimpanzee]

5. I think alot of veterans should wake up and smell the coffee

If you are a veteran voting for Bush, you've not only screwed yourself and all present and future veterans, but you are screwing the current military personnel, including the national guard, and the back door draftees. The republican party may be pro-war, and pro-force but they are not pro-military.

[jwirr]

7. I would like to see the

Democrats use the bushie latest request for more funding for Iraq to demand that the money be used and accounted for to get adequate supplies for our troops (body armor, ammunition, etc.), help for their families at home, as well as funding for the veterans who have already fought in these wars. If they cannot afford to take care of our troops, their families and the veterans then we have not business sending them into wars.

[maddezmom]

8. an article that goes hand and hand with this topic

These Unseen Wounds Cut Deep
WASHINGTON — Matt LaBranche got the tattoos at a seedy place down the street from the Army hospital here where he was a patient in the psychiatric ward.


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The pain of the needle felt good to the 40-year-old former Army sergeant, whose memories of his nine months as a machine-gunner in Iraq (news - web sites) had left him, he said, "feeling dead inside." LaBranche's back is now covered in images, the largest the dark outline of a sword. Drawn from his neck to the small of his back, it is emblazoned with the words LaBranche says encapsulate the war's effect on him: "I've come to bring you hell."


In soldiers like LaBranche — their bodies whole but their psyches deeply wounded — a crisis is unfolding, mental health experts say. One out of six soldiers returning from Iraq is suffering the effects of post-traumatic stress — and as more come home, that number is widely expected to grow.


The Pentagon (news - web sites), which did not anticipate the extent of the problem, is scrambling to find resources to address it.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=716&e=26&u=/latimests/20041114/ts_latimes/theseunseenwoundscutdeep