freeflydrew 0 #1 June 3, 2004 http://www.zmag.org/ZMagSite/Jun2004/tucker0604.html Quote Bush, Veterans, & the Confederacy By Kyle Tucker It is disturbing that President Bush not only has refused to attend the funeral of any service-person killed in Iraq, but also refuses to send condolences to fallen servicepeople’s relatives. Bush’s denial of acknowledging U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq—the same as his government’s media ban on showing body bags and coffins—is even worse when compared to his sending wreaths to Confederate graves on Memorial Day. However, looking at his record, this should not be surprising: While soldiers are fighting in Iraq, Bush cut soldiers’ danger pay and family separation allowances, cancelled a Congress-proposed doubling of servicepeople’s life insurance benefits, and slashed GI Bill benefits. Most servicepeople now are too low-paid to receive Bush’s per-child tax credit and many live on food stamps. Bush cut $600 million from the Veterans Administration budget, although the VA is already under-funded by around $2 billion a year and now has over 200,000 new veterans to service—many of whom are already sick with Gulf War Syndrome, which has left over 270,000 Gulf War vets disabled and over 10,000 dead. There are also plans to cut $1.5 billion per year from the VA’s budget for each of the next ten years. Wounded National Guard and Army Reserves have returned home only to be placed in “medical hold” while the Army decides what medical treatment and benefits—if any—they should receive. Some soldiers have stated the Army has tried to claim their Iraq injuries/illnesses were “pre-existing conditions.” Soldiers are having to wait four to six months to receive medical care while their treatable ailments turn to permanent disability. At Fort Knox, more than 400 wounded soldiers lasted the Kentucky summer in a non-air conditioned, animal-infested barracks. At Fort Stewart (Georgia), over 600 wounded soldiers languish with no indoor plumbing and have to pay for food and lodging. On a re-election stop last fall, President Bush visited Fort Stewart, but refused to see the wounded soldiers. All evidence indicates the war was started on fictitious grounds. It has left more than 700 soldiers killed, over 9,000 wounded, and over 1,000 evacuated for psychiatric evaluation. In contrast: As governor of Texas, Bush wrote official state letters honoring white-separatist organizations such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, whom Bush praised for their “high standards” and “dedication to others,” and to the unreconstructed Sons of Confederate Veterans, to whom Bush has had a membership. Bush also wrote a fundraising letter for the revisionist Museum of the Confederacy in support of their annual ball. The ball, held in a slave hall turned gun foundry which produced Confederate munitions that killed union soldiers, entertains hundreds of all-white guests in antebellum costumes surrounded by Confederate flags. The museum sells books that support the Confederate Constitution. Bush, who previously attacked the NAACP’s boycott of South Carolina over the Confederate flag, campaigned at South Carolina’s white-supremacist Bob Jones University and, in the words of southern journalist Jackson Thoreau, “genuflected before the Confederate flag.” Close ties between Bush’s Southeast Regional 2000 campaign chairperson, Warren Tompkins, and neo-Confederate vanguard, Richard Hines, resulted in Hines’s (then-unregistered) political action committee mailing over 250,000 letters condemning John McCain for seeing the Confederate flag as a racist symbol and lauding Bush for appreciating it. Hines, long connected to the nation’s leading white-supremacist apologia magazine Southern Partisan (which celebrates the assassination of Abraham Lincoln) claimed on one of his websites to have “an active voice in the current Bush administration,” which Bush has never denied. It will be interesting to see what President Bush does this year. Will he again pay tribute to fallen Confederate soldiers? Will he finally acknowledge U.S. casualties from the Iraq War? Being an election year, probably neither—nor will he memorialize fallen servicepeople from the Vietnam War, the war President Bush was so unwilling to fight that he deliberately lost his flight status. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #2 June 3, 2004 OK a few problems: Quote 1. Bush’s denial of acknowledging U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq—the same as his government’s media ban on showing body bags and coffins The ban was put in place durring CLINTONS shift in the white house. Quote2. While soldiers are fighting in Iraq, Bush cut soldiers’ danger pay and family separation allowances, cancelled a Congress-proposed doubling of servicepeople’s life insurance benefits, and slashed GI Bill benefits. Most servicepeople now are too low-paid to receive Bush’s per-child tax credit and many live on food stamps. BUSH did that? CONGRESS did that. Soldiers weer on food stamps before Bush took office, and before Clinton took office, and before Reagan took office...Notice the trend? I know that while I served (Under both CLinton, and Bush) I got more pay raises from Bush than Clinton. Quote 3. Wounded National Guard and Army Reserves have returned home only to be placed in “medical hold” while the Army decides what medical treatment and benefits—if any—they should receive. Which is the SAME thing that happens when you are active duty. The SAME, trust me , I know. Just more liberal spin and BS."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #3 June 3, 2004 Bush may be incompetent, but I never thought he was a racist. Maybe naive in his relationships with certain groups in the South, but I have a feeling that has more to do with fund raising than actual racism.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gravitymaster 0 #4 June 3, 2004 "I am a former kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh County and the adjoining counties of the state .... The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia .... It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state of the Union. Will you please inform me as to the possibilities of rebuilding the Klan in the Realm of W. Va .... I hope that you will find it convenient to answer my letter in regards to future possibilities." — Robert Byrd in letter to Klan Imperial Wizard Samuel Green of Atlanta, April 8, 1946. In another letter Byrd wrote that he would never serve in the military "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,148 #5 June 3, 2004 Quote"I am a former kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh County and the adjoining counties of the state .... The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia .... It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state of the Union. Will you please inform me as to the possibilities of rebuilding the Klan in the Realm of W. Va .... I hope that you will find it convenient to answer my letter in regards to future possibilities." — Robert Byrd in letter to Klan Imperial Wizard Samuel Green of Atlanta, April 8, 1946. In another letter Byrd wrote that he would never serve in the military "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." Byrd is running for President? I didn't know that!... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhillyKev 0 #6 June 3, 2004 QuoteThe ban was put in place durring CLINTONS shift in the white house. Actually, it was put in place during Bush Sr. but wasn't enforced until GWB. QuoteBUSH did that? CONGRESS did that. Based on Bush's budget. QuoteJust more liberal spin That part's true. But don't try to claim that the republicans don't do the same thing and that you've posted some of it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markd_nscr986 0 #7 June 3, 2004 ***As governor of Texas, Bush wrote official state letters honoring white-separatist organizations such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, whom Bush praised for their “high standards” and “dedication to others,” and to the unreconstructed Sons of Confederate Veterans, to whom Bush has had a membership. Stereotyping of these above mentioned organizations may be expedient but woefully inaccurate and literally smacks of "yellow journalism".The SCV and UDC are heritage organizations and represent themselves as such.Only an ignoramus that has not performed any research whatsoever would label them racist organizations.Membership is open to anyone (ie all races)As far as the confederate battle flag,a lot of uninformed people may construe it as a symbol of racism( because the KKK adopted it as their standard much to the dishonor of the Confederate troops who served under it,but the confederacy was in place before the KKK was even in existence,so anyone that can think for themselves should be able to make the distinction between a symbol of honor during the confederacy or the twisted symbol of hate that the KKK still tries to portray it as.And I really take exception to the implication that anyone who honors confederate war dead is a racist.My g-g grandfather was a confederate infantry captain (44th ala)I place flowers or a US flag on his grave and that makes me a racist??? I think notGet a clue!!!!Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron 10 #8 June 3, 2004 QuoteActually, it was put in place during Bush Sr. but wasn't enforced until GWB. Uh Clinton, unless youhave other info. QuoteBased on Bush's budget. Which THEY still passed. QuoteThat part's true. But don't try to claim that the republicans don't do the same thing and that you've posted some of it. Everyone does it...But that does not mean that THIS is more than tripe."No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhillyKev 0 #9 June 3, 2004 Quote -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Reply To -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Actually, it was put in place during Bush Sr. but wasn't enforced until GWB. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uh Clinton, unless youhave other info. Well, considering your source for thinking that was me in a previous thread becuase it was stated in an article I posted about it, I don't have another source, just me again. Which I also posted in that other thread and you responded to it. QuoteThe Pentagon has declined to comment on Silicio's case but spokesman James Turner said the policy of media coverage of war dead has been in effect since 1991. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
