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Vets to POTUS: "Fire Alan Simpson"
Fox Analyst Supports Blue Falcon Birther
Alan Simpson Blames Vets for Fiscal Mess
Vets to POTUS: "Fire Alan Simpson"
Posted: 02 Sep 2010 09:28 AM PDT
VETERANS CALL ON OBAMA TO FIRE ALAN SIMPSON
FOR DEFAMING THOSE WHO SERVED AMERICA
Washington DC - The nation's largest progressive veterans organization, VoteVets.org, is calling on President Obama to relieve former Senator Alan Simpson from his chairmanship of a deficit reduction commission for defamatory comments about veterans.
In a letter to the President, Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org, wrote, "On Tuesday, Senator Simpson actually put veteran's benefits on the chopping block... blaming disabled veterans for the country's fiscal situation. And for us, that is the final straw." The full text of the letter is below.
On Tuesday, in regards to the cost of treatment of veterans exposed to Agent Orange, and now suffering ill-health effects, Simpson said, "The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess."
His comments came on the heels of outrageous comments about seniors and others on Social Security, as well as women. The veterans pointed to those comments as well, but wrote that Simpson's attacks on ill veterans compelled them to write. They said firing Simpson was a matter of honoring our veterans.
"President Obama, this week you called for all Americans to honor and thank our troops," Soltz wrote. "I know you agree that honoring our troops can't just be lip service. And the best way to honor those who serve our country is to make sure that we take care of them once they return home."
"We ask that you remove from his current position so that the commission can continue its work in a way that will give the military community--and all Americans--confidence in the conclusions it reaches," the letter concludes.
VoteVets.org is a pro-military organization of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, dedicated to the destruction of terror networks around the world, with force when necessary. It primarily focuses on education and advocacy on issues of importance to the troops and veterans, and holding politicians accountable for their actions on these issues.
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September 2, 2010
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC
Dear Mr. President,
I write to you as the chairman of VoteVets, a pro-military organization comprised of over 50,000 veterans and military families and another 50,000 civilian supporters, about the head of your Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, former Senator Alan Simpson.
We have long been concerned about Senator Simpson's troubling pattern of denigrating those who rely on Social Security. As you are aware, of the more than 23 million veterans, almost half--approximately 10 million--collect Social Security benefits. And that number has quadrupled since the 1960s.
So you can see why Senator Simpson's comments referring to people on Social Security as "greedy geezers" and "lesser people" were so troubling. And his recent email to the Older Women's League where he accused the executive director of "babbling into the vapors" in her work to protect the vital program while referring to it as "a milk cow with 310 million tits" has only deepened our concern.
We were also troubled when reports surfaced in August that Senator Simpson was interested in using the commission as a means to freeze military pay and raise the amounts that service members pay for their healthcare.
But then on Tuesday, Senator Simpson actually put veteran's benefits on the chopping block, too, blaming disabled veterans for the country's fiscal situation. And for us, that is the final straw.
President Obama, this week you called for all Americans to honor and thank our troops. I know you agree that honoring our troops can't just be lip service. And the best way to honor those who serve our country is to make sure that we take care of them once they return home. That means strengthening the vital programs we rely on, including Social Security and veterans' health care, not undermining them as Senator Simpson seems intent on doing.
It has become all too clear that Senator Simpson cannot be trusted to objectively review the budget and make impartial recommendations about our nation's economic priorities. We ask that you remove him from his current position so that the commission can continue its work in a way that will give the military community--and all Americans--confidence in the conclusions it reaches.
Sincerely,
Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets.org
Fox Analyst Supports Blue Falcon Birther
Posted: 02 Sep 2010 04:53 AM PDT
Recall the story of LTC Terry Larkin, the birther Army doc who Blue Facloned his unit by refusing to deploy to Afghanistan as a result of his belief that the President is a secret Muslim Martian, or something with about as much of a realistic foundation as that.
As Dave Weigel of Slate informs us, Fox News analyst LTG (Ret.) Thomas McInerney has submitted an affidavit of support to the court in LTC Larkin's case. The guy is an all out nutjob:
t is my opinion that LTC Lakin's request for discovery relating to the President's birth records in Hawaii is absolutely essential to determining not merely his guilt or innocence but to reassuring all military personnel once and for all for this President whether his service as Commander in Chief is Constitutionally proper. He is the one single person in the Chain of Command that the Constitution demands proof of natural born citizenship. This determination is fundamental to our Republic, where civilian control over the military is the rule. According to our Constitution, the Commander in Chief must now, in the face of serious-- and widely held-- concerns that he is ineligible, either voluntarily establish his eligibility by authorizing release of his birth records or this court must authorize their discovery. The invasion of his privacy in these records is utterly trivial compared to the issues at stake here.
If McInerney sounds familiar to you, it may because I previously covered his comments that all 18-28 year old Muslims should be strip searched before boarding airplanes. McInerney was able to keep his position as a Fox analyst after making those radically racist comments. Any bets as to whether Fox will show McInerney the door now that he has acknowledged his birther beliefs? My guess is no.
Alan Simpson Blames Vets for Fiscal Mess
Posted: 01 Sep 2010 02:16 PM PDT
Alan Simpson, a former Senator and the Republican co-chair of the President's deficit commission, was already in hot water after making offensive remarks regarding Social Security last month, comparing the system to "a milk cow with 310 million tits". If he hadn't already, Simpson has most assuredly crossed the line with his latest comments blaming Veterans for the country's fiscal woes. Alan Simpson seems to blame Veterans of the Vietnam war for breathing Agent Orange:
"The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess," said Simpson, an Army veteran who was once chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Absolutely appalling. In an era when our country is producing tens of thousands of new combat Veterans, we are hearing that rather than caring for service connected disabilities, our government will blame Vets for acquiring them. Using Vets as a scapegoat for fiscal mismanagement is unacceptable and Alan Simpson needs to be in the unemployment line.
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