Arnold's Quiz To Determine Political Affiliation

[sfc_darrel]

Arnold's Quiz To Determine Political Affiliation
VIEW FROM THE RIGHT

Adam Sparks, Special to SF Gate Monday, October 13, 2003

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"I didn't leave my party; my party left me."
-- Ronald Reagan, onetime liberal union leader, on why he ended his affiliation with the Democratic Party

Now that Gov. Arnold is (almost) in, millions of Democrats and independents are reassessing who they really are politically, and others are merely panicking. Chill out. Millions of California Demos -- a whopping 25 percent of them, including Democratic state Attorney General Bill Lockyer -- have found out, for the first time, that it's actually safe to vote Republican. Many may even be reevaluating their party affiliation.

Ironically, in San Francisco, a town that prides itself on its open mindedness and diversity, not a single Republican has been elected to any city, county or local board or any state or federal government offices. When San Francisco says it likes diversity, it really means only variety of skin color, not of ideas. Diversity of ideas is most certainly not appreciated. In San Francisco, liberalism tends to lean to the extreme left. After all, single-party politics have worked well in the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Cuba. That's the P.C. definition of political diversity: one party, one idea -- theirs.

However, many of you, after a bit of introspection following the recall, may actually be closet Republicans who are either in denial, simply don't want to admit it in a public setting or are sincerely uncertain. Some of you plain just don't know anymore. Here's a brief quiz to help you figure out what you are politically. Score one point as a Democrat or a Republican each time you align yourself with one party or the other.

Taxes

You're a Demo if you think the problem is that we're not taxed enough and the rich are not taxed at all. You're a Republican if you think government is taxing everyone too much, particularly the middle class, and that the size of government should be shrinking, not expanding.

The Demos say Republicans want lower taxes only for the rich. Republicans reply that, considering the way the Demos like to tax everything and everybody, they apparently think anyone with a job is rich. Democrats have been demagoguing the myth that the rich don't pay their fair share of taxes. Yet what they don't realize is that, according to figures from the IRS publicized by Rush Limbaugh, the top 50 percent of income earners pay 96 percent of income taxes.

The Democrats have not yet called for taxes on Internet commerce, and not because they don't want to or haven't yet figured out how to. It's simply because it's currently politically unpopular. The Internet community, many members of which are both tech savvy and politically active, would have the politicos' head on a platter in a nanosecond. Republicans want no taxes on Internet commerce and lower taxes in general. They support a flat tax that is both simple and fair.

Regulation

You're a Demo if you want both people and businesses micromanaged and regulated by millions of government bureaucrats sitting in a maze of cubicles in offices far from industry. You're a Republican if you want liberty from intrusive government.

Demos would regulate their mothers if they could. They don't trust companies or people who do their own thing -- they're worried about an Enron-type disaster. They want control.

Republicans want minimum regulation. More regulation means more bureaucracy, more taxes, more paper, more energy consumption and a less hospitable business environment with fewer jobs. Republicans see the tremendous success of the Internet as a perfect example of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" that steadies the economy and creates perfect diversity. With literally no government regulation, the Internet has been the single biggest engine for burgeoning business and for new flourishing social and political communities.

Environmentalism

You're a Demo if think being a good environmentalist means it's OK for California alone to be grinding out some 10,000 new laws each year. You're a Republican and an environmentalist if you think the best way to save the trees and the planet is by having just a part-time state legislature, like Texas', and creating fewer laws each year and repealing others.

Demos want more laws, which requires tons more paper to publish the laws, more bureaucracy to administer them and more litigation to interpret them, not to mention more enforcement activity, all of which consumes more energy.

Republicans want simplicity -- less bureaucracy and less energy consumed. The paper saved from a part-time California state Legislature would be the equivalent of saving enough trees to create 50 new Golden Gate Parks each year while letting the plants and wildlife flourish throughout the state.

Bias

The Gallup Poll just released a survey that reported, "Forty-five percent of Americans believe the news media in this country are too liberal, while only 14 percent say the news media are too conservative." You're a Demo if you're one of the 14 percent who think the mass media is too conservative. You're a Republican if you think the media is too liberal -- or at least not too conservative, much as the rest of Americans do, according to the poll.

Trade Policy

You're a Demo if you think American companies are exploiting Third World nations by employing low-wage workers and you let everyone know that with a bumper sticker plastered on your foreign-made vehicle, the parts of which were all made in Third World countries. You're a Republican if you want the best goods at the lowest price.

Fighting Tyranny

You're a Demo if you think people in Third World nations are often being brutally tortured and are being destroyed by genocide, but you don't actually want to put down your cappuccino long enough to actually do something about it. You think the United Nations, which is made up largely of nations with corrupt dictators, should do this dirty job. And you continue to believe this even though the United Nations has never changed any regimes in its entire 54-year history.

You're a Republican if you believe genocide represents a state of emergency and a crime against humanity and you have both the courage and the conviction to actually do something about it -- even if that means military action.

Affirmative Action

You're a Demo if you think affirmative action is good for everybody in society, but you don't think it should actually apply to your own job prospects or to your own child's admission to UC. You're a Republican if you think perfect equality means merit and hard work should get you a job and a seat in a good university and race should not be a factor.

Education

You're a Demo if you think Christopher Columbus was a white interloper and George Washington should be best known as a slave trader. You're a Republican if you think the U.S. Constitution and American history, taught the traditional way, should be reintroduced to the public-school curriculum in California.

Sexual Abuse

You're a Demo if you think Clinton was just having fun with women and it was time to move on rather than investigate his improprieties but Arnold was a real groper. You're a Republican if you think there's a difference between the president of the United States having sex with an political intern in the White House while his wife is sleeping in the next room and a big Hollywood star flirting on the set.

Purpose of Government

You're a Demo if you think the purpose of government is to find a solution to everyone's problems and to protect you from yourself. Democrats don't want you to smoke in public, pray in public, own firearms, open a door for a woman, tell politically incorrect jokes, spank your children or judge anybody or anything. You're a Republican if you believe the purpose of government is to do only that which private individuals cannot do for themselves: fund schools, roads, police, the military, the courts. Coincidentally, this is precisely what the Founders had proposed in the Constitution.

The Problem with the World Is Us (U.S.)

You're a Demo if you think America is the biggest threat to world peace and we are the world's worst tyrant (the same view Osama bin Laden has). You're a Republican and an optimist if you think we are beacon of liberty and you can connect the dots and understand why millions of immigrants, risking much, come to our shores each year.

Immigration

You're a Demo if you think we should have millions of illegal aliens flooding America, getting driver's licenses and generally enjoying our free medical care and schools, but you also don't know why our schools, hospitals and highways are now overburdened both physically and fiscally. You're a Republican if you believe we are a nation of laws and we should enforce our immigration legislation, that we should allow millions in legally but shouldn't offer governmental benefits to those who came here illegally.

Crime and Punishment

You're a Demo if you think people commit vicious crimes because they're poor and lack self-esteem. Your simple solution is to close the prisons and have the state spend billions on social programs and self-esteem training. In this way, Demos believe crime will be eradicated. You're a Republican if you believe vicious killers, kidnappers, pedophiles and rapists should be either executed or be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after just one strike and not three.

Corporations and Unions

You're a Demo if you think big corporations are bad and greedy, but big unions and their bosses are good and have only the welfare of their workers in mind. You're a Republican if you believe the foundation of our economic strength is the balance of the free-market system with a healthy respect for labor and fair collective bargaining.

Families

If you believe all sorts of nontraditional families are equally valid in our society and equally valuable to our children, you're a Demo. If you believe the soaring epidemic of single-parent families is having a debilitating effect on the nation and represents a real national crisis, you're a Republican. Studies show that on the whole, children of single-parent households, when they become adults, earn less, commit more crimes, become drug addicts more readily and are more likely to be welfare dependent than children from nuclear families.

And, notwithstanding the value of truly committed gay households, if you believe the foundation of our society is the loving, stable, healthy family -- with two parents as the goal -- you're a true Republican.

Test Scoring

If you aligned yourself with the Democrats on 8-10 issues, you're a Demo. Don't worry, though -- there's still hope. You can perhaps invite Arnold over to your home for coffee and a consultation. He can slap you into shape both physically and politically by making you give him 10 pushups to lose your flabby tummy and flaccid political perspective.

If you scored Demo on more than 10 items, you should seek counseling immediately and lay off the drugs. If you haven't been taking drugs, start doing so regularly -- anything will help.

However, if you aligned yourself with the Republicans on 8-10 topics, congratulations. If you thought you were a Democrat, you should reregister immediately.

If you scored Republican on more than 10 subjects, you can go directly to a top executive job in Arnold's new administration. You've now proved you're a true-blooded American who not only understands that there is a right and a wrong, but has the brains to know the difference between the two.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...27/asparks.DTL

[SuperScout]

And marvelously entertaining, educational, and right on target! Thanks for posting this little gem!!

[darrels joy]

It wasn't just the quiz that is entertaining but the fact that it was published in a San Francisco newspaper.
Joy

[SuperScout]

Do you think that possibly the air in the SF editorial room got a bit wacky due to the fires down south causing this misstep? It truly is amazing and humorous! Here's another paragraph we could add:

Partial Birth Abortion

If you're a Democrat, you think that abortion in any form and for any reason is OK, even if it requires the attending butcher, er, physician, to partially extract the living baby from its mother, cause its brains to be sucked out, and think that this is just peachy. If you're a Republican, you think that a ban on partial birth abortion is long overdue, and will rejoice with George W. Bush signs this bill into law.

[Gimpy]

October 24, 2003 CONTRIBUTOR ARCHIVES
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WORLD MEDIA WATCH


The Official Guide to Being a Good Republican - The Talking Points

1. Co-Opt God into absolutely everything you say and do. If people believe that God is on your side, then more likely they will support you. Also stress that Democrats do not believe in God, and if elected, they will try to ban God all together. Always remember to use God's name often. Example of how to deliver bad news to your constituents: "This legislation that cut millions of dollars from [insert social program here] was God's will!!" -- Smile often and make a "possessed" body movement so people will think that God is speaking through you, reaffirming the impression that you, and only your party, can do God's will.

2. Always stick to the "official" story. Independent statements and thoughts are what get people into trouble. If you don't know the official story, check with Newsmax, FOX, or the Washington Times for updates. Don't run your yap!! The truth may get out and we don't want to have to start explaining things!

3. George W. Bush has been and will be, America's ONLY president. Tell everyone you meet, and speak it as if it were told to you by God himself. If people start getting around to thinking that there could be a president other than George W. Bush . . . Well let's not think about that. Also remember to remind people that EVERYONE got to vote in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, and all of that stuff about Katherine Harris was made up by the liberal media. (See Below)

4. All media is liberal lies! Especially the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NBC. The only REAL news comes from FOX. Remember to pepper your comments with statements like, "Katie Couric wants everyone to wear a Mao Jacket!" or "Dan Rather is an atheist!" -- These are statements that cannot be proved or disproved; therefore no one can ever accuse you of lying. If you say them often, proudly, and as if God told you himself, people will believe you.

5. Michael Moore is the anti-Christ. In fact, the reason he always wears a baseball cap is to hide the three sixes on his head. Remember to tell everyone that Bowling for Columbine is a work of complete fiction and only won the Academy Award for Best Documentary because of the liberals in Hollywood. Also remember to remind people that Hillary Clinton is in cahoots with Michael Moore to make America a socialist country, and to take away your guns.

6. Hillary Clinton wants to take away your guns. Remind everyone that Bill and Hillary Clinton hate democracy, hate America, and hate your guns. That should be enough to convince whomever you are talking to that the Clintons really suck, and if you ever want to have a gun on you, whenever that mugging you are so worried about actually occurs, you had better hate the Clintons, too.

7. Clintons Part Two -- All Bill Clinton ever did was have sex, sex, and more sex. While it is partly true, don't let anyone try and slide things like "Balanced Budget" or "Eight years of peace and prosperity" by you. Tell people that it was the Republicans that kept terrorists in check by spending millions of dollars investigating sex, sex, and more sex.

8. Ann Coulter looks like the Virgin Mary. (Yes it is out there, but a few real dummies will buy it, and will start to look at Ann and imagine her as a brunette, and a few might actually believe you!). In fact, if you have a real sucker, tell them Ann Coulter IS the Virgin Mary!

9. September 11, 2001 was the fault of [insert Axis of Evil member state here]. Never concede that there is no evidence of a Saddam Hussein / Al-Qaeda connection, stick with the official story; (see number 2). Remind people that [insert enemy of the week here], hates America and wants to take your S.U.V. away from you. This works especially good on soccer moms and NASCAR dads.

10. Iraq is not a quagmire. If anyone tells you that Iraq is a quagmire, remind them of September 11, 2001 and the three thousand lives that were lost. If they resist and bring up evidence that Bush ignored the threats about terrorists using commercial jets to attack America, remind them of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. NEVER, and we repeat, NEVER discuss, W.M.D.'s, The State of The Union, Landing on the Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and declaring an end to major combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Oil, Halliburton, Enron and Ken Lay, Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, France, Russia, or Germany, The U.N., Valerie Plame, Record deficits, No Child Left Behind, Homeland Security, or The Boston Red Sox. Stick to Bill's sex life and you can't go wrong. Also, don't forget to tell them that God told you this himself.

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[SuperScout]

1. And there's a problem with believing that God is on our side? I certainly don't have a problem with Him being here, and make no apologies. If Democrats want to believe in God, they're welcome! To infer that bad news is the result of "God's will" is to demonstrate your infantile concept of both Republicans and God.

2. And you're going to cite the New York Times as your sole source of news? Or you going to try to convince us that CBS et. al. is unbiased and accurate? Ever heard of fair and balanced? Probably not. And do you know why people are flocking to Fox, and the others you evidece such disdain for? Because they're tired of the crap that has been spewed by CBS, ABC, NBC etc.

3. George W. Bush IS the President, so get over it! Quit whining about what didn't happen in 2000.

4. See #2 above.

5. And you want to ease up to Michael Moore as your spokesman? You are certainly welcome to him - gosh what a genius.

6. Eh? She may not want to take away our guns, as it she could, but she's still ugly and wants to socialize medical care.

7. Reality Check: the balanced budget bill was forced on him by a Republican congress, an issue that GASP!! Conservatives had been advocating for decades. Reality Check #2: he was investigated for lying and obstructing justice, both felonies.

8. Ann Coulter quite simply doesn't have the ethnical physiology to be the Virgin Mary, but her stunning beauty, rapier wit, exceptional intelligence and charm more than make up for whatever she may lack in being a religious icon.

9. Understand a fact, that George W. Bush never said that Saddam Hussein caused the 9-11 terrorist attack. There is evidence of a link between SH and Al Qeada, and it has been shown to everybody but Gimpy. We intentionally wanted to keep him in the dark, and conspired, all 215,874,774 of us, to keep this secret.

10. Read a good, true book, for a change. And may I recommend "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror." Landing on the aircraft carrier and making whatever declaration he did: do you have even the slightest concept between armor/mech operations of brigade size or larger, and squad size patrols? The former is called "major combat operations" and the latter isn't.

BOTTOM LINE: the Democrats can't stand to hear or read any good news about the economy, success stories of rebuilding in Iraq or Afghanistan, or wins in the war against terrorists. Any of theis good news hurts their chances of winning elections.

[Jerry D]

Superscout: Have you gotten Zell Millers Book Yet? "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat"
. It was put on sale this week and looks like a good book. I got the Wife a Copy of it for her birthday coming up Saturday and hope Amazon.com gets it here by then And something very interesting about Zell Millers book Both Hannity and Colmes like IT

[Gimpy]

BOTTOM LINE??????

The "bottom line" is .............the ONLY "good news" is that more and more folks are becoming aware what a disaster this presidency has become! He and his partys policys are miserable FAILURES!

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Among the more amusing cluckings from the right lately is their appalled discovery that quite a few Americans actually think George W. Bush is a terrible President.

Robert Novak is quoted as saying in all his forty-four years of covering politics, he has never seen anything like the detestation of Bush. Charles Krauthammer managed to write an entire essay on the topic of "Bush-haters" in Time magazine as though he had never before come across a similiar phenomenon.

Oh, I stretch memory way back, so far back, all the way back to--our last President. Almost lost in the mists of time though it is, I not only remember eight years of relentless attacks from Clinton-haters, I also notice they haven't let up yet. Clinton-haters accused the man of murder, rape, drug-running, sexual harassment, financial chicanery, and official misconduct. And they accuse his wife of even worse. For eight long years, this country was a zoo of Clinton-haters. Any idiot with a big mouth and a conspiracy theory could get a hearing on radio talk shows and "Christian" broadcasts and nutty Internet sites. People with transparent motives, people paid by tabloid magazines, people with known mental problems, ancient Clinton enemies with notoriously racist pasts--all were given hearings, credence, and air time. Sliming Clinton was a sure road to fame and fortune on the right, and many an ambitious young rightwing hit man like David Brock, who has since made full confession, took that golden opportunity.

And these folks didn't stop with verbal and printed attacks. From the day Clinton was elected to office, he was the subject of the politics of personal destruction. They went after him with a multimillion dollar smear campaign funded by Richard Mellon Scaife, the rightwing billionaire. They went after him with lawsuits funded by rightwing legal foundations (Paula Jones), they got special counsels appointed to investigate every nitpicking nothing that ever happened (Filegate, Travelgate), and they never let go of that hardy perennial Whitewater. After all this time and all those millions of dollars wasted, no one has ever proved that the Clintons did a single thing wrong. Bill Clinton lied about a pathetic, squalid affair that was none of anyone else's business anyway, and for that they impeached the man and dragged this country through more than a year of the most tawdry, ridiculous, unnecessary pain. The day President Clinton tried to take out Osama bin Laden with a missile strike, every rightwinger in America said it was a case of "wag the dog." He was supposedly trying to divert our attention from the much more breathtakingly important and serious matter of Monica Lewinsky, and who did he think he was to make us focus on some piffle like bin Laden?

"The puzzle is where this depth of feeling comes from," mused the ineffable Mr. Krauthammer. Gosh, what a puzzle that is. How could anyone not be just crazy about George W. Bush? "Whence the anger?" asks Krauthammer. "It begins of course with the 'stolen' election of 2000 and the perception of Bush's illegitimacy." I'd say so myself, yes, I would. I was in Florida during that chilling post-election fight, and am fully persuaded to this good day that Al Gore actually won Florida, not to mention getting 550,000 more votes than Bush overall. But I also remember thinking, as the scene became eerier and eerier, "Jeez, maybe we should just let them have this one, because Republican wing-nuts are so crazy, their bitterness would poison Gore's whole Presidency." The night Gore conceded the race in one of the most graceful and honorable speeches I have ever heard, I was in a ballroom full of Republican Party flacks who booed and jeered through every word of it.

One thing I acknowledge about the right is that they're much better haters than liberals are. Your basic liberal--milk of human kindness flowing through every vein, and heart bleeding over everyone from the milk-shy Hottentot to the glandular obese--is pretty much a strikeout on the hatred front. Maybe further out on the left you can hit some good righteous anger, but liberals, and I am one, are generally real wusses. Guys like Rush Limbaugh figured that out a long time ago--attack a liberal and the first thing he says is, "You may have a point there."

To tell the truth, I'm kind of proud of us for holding the grudge this long. Normally, we'd remind ourselves that we have to be good sports, it's for the good of the country, we must unite behind the only President we've got, as Lyndon used to remind us. If there are still some of us out here sulking, "Yeah, but they stole that election," well, good. I don't think we should forget that.

But, onward. So George Dubya becomes President, having run as a "compassionate conservative," and what do we get? Hell's own conservative and dick for compassion.

His entire first eight months was tax cuts for the rich, tax cuts for the rich, tax cuts for the rich, and he lied and said the tax cuts would help average Americans. Again and again, the "average" tax cut would be $1,000. That means you get $100, and the millionaire gets $92,000, and that's how they "averaged" it out. Then came 9/11, and we all rallied. Ready to give blood, get out of our cars and ride bicycles, whatever. Shop, said the President. And more tax cuts for the rich.

By now, we're starting to notice Bush's bait-and-switch. Make a deal with Ted Kennedy to improve education and then fail to put money into it. Promise $15 billion in new money to combat AIDS in Africa (wow!) but it turns out to be a cheap con, almost no new money. Bush comes to praise a job training effort, then cuts the money. Bush says AmeriCorps is great, then cuts the money. Gee, what could we possibly have against this guy? We go along with the war in Afghanistan, and we still don't have bin Laden.

Then suddenly, in the greatest bait-and-switch of all time, Osama bin doesn't matter at all, and we have to go after Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with 9/11. But he does have horrible weapons of mass destruction, and our President "without doubt," without question, knows all about them, even unto the amounts--tons of sarin, pounds of anthrax. So we take out Saddam Hussein, and there are no weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, the Iraqis are not overjoyed to see us.

By now, quite a few people who aren't even liberal are starting to say, "Wha the hey?" We got no Osama, we got no Saddam, we got no weapons of mass destruction, the road map to peace in the Middle East is blown to hell, we're stuck in this country for $87 billion just for one year and no one knows how long we'll be there. And still poor Mr. Krauthammer is hard-put to conceive how anyone could conclude that George W. Bush is a poor excuse for a President.

Chuck, honey, it ain't just the 2.6 million jobs we've lost: People are losing their pensions, their health insurance, the cost of health insurance is doubling, tripling in price, the Administration wants to cut off their overtime, and Bush was so too little, too late with extending unemployment compensation that one million Americans were left high and dry. And you wonder why we think he's a lousy President?

Sure, all that is just what's happening in people's lives, but what we need is the Big Picture. Well, the Big Picture is that after September 11, we had the sympathy of every nation on Earth. They all signed up, all our old allies volunteered, everybody was with us, and Bush just booted all of that away. Sneering, jeering, bad manners, hideous diplomacy, threats, demands, arrogance, bluster.

"In Afghanistan, Bush rode a popular tide; Iraq, however, was a singular act of Presidential will," says Krauthammer.

You bet your ass it was. We attacked a country that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda, and turns out not to have weapons of mass destruction.

It is not necessary to hate George W. Bush to think he's a bad President. Grownups can do that, you know. You can decide someone's policies are a miserable failure without lying awake at night consumed with hatred.

Poor Bush is in way over his head, and the country is in bad shape because of his stupid economic policies.

If that makes me a Bush-hater, then sign me up.


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Molly Ivins, a syndicated columnist out of Austin, Texas, writes in this space every month. She is the co-author of "Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America."

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[blues clues]

Scout,I've got one question since when did you get all the Power that you think you have? I do want to thank you for letting me as a Democrat and a liberal believe in God you are so kind.
But I do hate to put cold water on your camp fire the first liberal in the world was Jesus of Nazareth,if you'll read the New Testament you'll see it for yourself, he had shocking ideas like re-distribution of wealth, I think it was Jesus also said" it's easyer to put a camel through the eye of a needle than to get a rich man into
heaven". And other liberal ideas like giving your money to the poor and helping those that have less than you.
Which brings me to one more point, Generlly speaking most conservatives lack any trace of a sense of humor. Lighten up a bit God will forgive you if you smile occasionally.

razz

[Gimpy]

for you there SuperRepub!

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"Republicans DO NOT support Soldiers and Veterans." No, clearly not all of them, but certainly the majority of Republicans now in office do not support soldiers and veterans. This idea dawned on me when I say a homeless man sitting on the side of the road with a sign that said "Homeless Vet." It was far from the first time I've seen such a thing. In Tallahassee alone, I've seen such signs at least a dozen times that I can remember in my lifetime. And just to show that this isn't just some fluke or that I'm imagining such things, the homeless shelter in Tallahassee has special services just for veterans. And the problem is a local one, it's a national one. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that on any given night, there are 275,000 homeless veterans and that over the year, more than 500,000 veterans experience periods of homelessness. Almost one-fourth of all homeless people are veterans and veterans are twice as likely to become homeless as are non-veterans.
Now what does that have to do with Republicans? A number of things. The biggest is that everyone seems to think that Republicans love veterans and do whatever they can for our vets and soldiers while the Democrats hate those who have served their country and don't do anything for them. This is, of course, ridiculously wrong. I'm not going to get into how good or bad Democrats are on this issue other than to say that they are better than the Republicans.
What have the Republicans done that is so bad? The Republicans have had partial or total control of the federal government since 1994, holding the House of Representatives the entire time, the Senate all but a year and a half and the White House since 2001. During this time, the federal government had huge budget surpluses (on paper). This means that they could've easily gotten any programs to help veterans and soldiers passed. They could've increased funding for veteran's programs and they could've improved the quality of life for active soldiers who are in harm's way. Have they done so? Clearly not.
Starting with the homeless vets, because this seems to me to be the biggest problem, there is absolutely no reason that America, with the biggest economy in the world, should have even one person who served his or her country be without a home. This is morally wrong and should be instantly corrected. Creating housing for 275,000 people is not even that difficult or expensive. It seems that we can spend $20 billion constructing entire communities in Iraq (fully SEVEN planned communties with shopping centers, hospitals, health care facilities, gas stations, etc.) But what would Republicans rather spend money on? Needless B-2 bombers and huge tax cuts for the rich, and the afformentioned Iraq "reconstruction". Three-fourths of these homeless veterans have mental health or substance abuse problems, many of which are directly attributable to their military service. What have the Republicans (and to be fair, in some cases, the Clinton administration as well) done to help these needy veterans? Definitely not enough. Needs for mental health care for veterans has risen by 26% since 1995, but funding for the programs has only increased 9%. These are people who served their country, many who served in combat, and they are people that can't help themselves. It is immoral that even one of these people goes without the help they need.
And it isn't just homeless veterans who are receiving the short end of the budget stick because of Republicans, it's all veterans. In 2003, the Republican House cut the budget for veterans health care by $844 million and other programs by another $463 million. "This could mean the loss of 19,000 nurses, equating to the loss of 6.6 million outpatient visits or more than three-quarters of a million hospital bed days. But that is not all of the devastation that will be caused by the proposed cuts. Congress will be reaching into the pockets of our nation?s service-connected veterans, including combat disabled veterans, and robbing them and their survivors of a portion of their compensation. Ninety percent of VA?s mandatory spending is from cash payments to service-connected disabled veterans, low-income wartime veterans, and their survivors," said Edward Heath, National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans. House Democrat Lane Evans (IL) explained why we got these cuts: "These cuts must be made, so that our government can afford to provide a tax cut which will benefit only the wealthiest Americans, many of who never served in the military. This is utterly humiliating to every veteran and every active duty service person. While our nations leaders are still wageing war with the sons and daughters of yesterdays warriors, the Republicans are stabbing veterans of earlier wars in the back."
The budget that the president pushed for 2004 included a $28.8 billion dollar CUT in funding for veterans programs. The budget was opposed by Democrats and veterans groups. Virtually every Republican in Congress favored the bill. It took a public campaign by veterans groups to get the cut scaled down to only a $6.2 billion dollar cut. The overall Veterans Administration budget wil rise $3.4 billion in 2004, below the $4.5 veterans advocates say is needed. Republicans cut $5.1 billion in VA medical care by not allowing "Priority 8" veterans to enroll in the medical program. He also instituted a enrollment fee for "Priority 7 and 8" veterans in medical programs, "saving" another $1.3 billion.
By 2013, the Republican House Budget proposal would have cut almost $30 billion from veterans programs. A Democratic motion killed the cuts, but the Veterans' Affairs Committee has been directed by the Republican leadership to still find $3.9 billion in cuts to veterans' programs. In a moment of actual care for our veterans, the Congress in 2002 wanted to eliminate an old rule that cut retirement benefits for veterans with disabilities if they received disability pay. President Bush opposed getting rid of the rule, hoping to deny benefits to 600,000 disabled veteran retirees.
Bush's 2004 budget proposal cut $206 million from the Impact Aid program that helps make sure children of those fighting overseas receive quality education. The new Republican tax refund also made a point to exclude some military families by not allowing combat pay to be included in the income that can go toward claiming the credit. Many of those who don't get to claim the extra income won't get the tax credit. Additionally Bush sought to cut $150 million from aid to schools that attended by the children of enlistees and further cuts to VA budgets.
The U.S. Supreme Court, dominated by Republican appointees, rejected a lawsuit by Korean and World War II veterans who had been denied health care promised to them by military recruiters. The promised health care, which was not delivered, would have gone to as many as 1.5 million people and totaled $15 billion in benefits. The Court ruling means these veterans won't get any of this money. "It is not enough to hold parades or tie yellow ribbons," the court was told by the Military Officers Association of America, one of the groups supporting veterans in the case. "We must honor their commitment and sacrifice by assuring that the government honors its commitments to them." The Republican Court didn't listen, despite the fact that the military basically lied to these soldiers to get them into the wars they fought on our behalf.
None of this is new, Republicans have been attacking the budgets for veterans since at least the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan issued a proposal to cut 20,000 medical personnel in the VA and proposed to scrap a counseling program for veterans, during the middle of a surge of Vietnam veterans suicide attempts. The first President Bush cancelled burial benefits for veterans and cut $600 million from the VA.
The theoretical reason that Republicans give for these cuts is to cut fraud, waste and abuse. Joe Fox of Paralyzed Veterans of Americans said "the reduction will slam the poorest disabled veterans and cut GI Bill benefits for soldiers who are currently serving in Iraq." It could also eliminate 9000 doctors from an already taxed system. Fox said it was "an in-your-face insult to the veterans of this country."
And all this is coming at a critical time. The group Disabled American Veterans says that the VA is already facing a $2 billion shortfall. "Pressures on the VA health care system have escalated to a critical point that can no longer be ignored by our government," said Joe Violante, legislative director for the Disabled American Veterans.
Due to a shortage of funding there is a backlog in claims from Gulf War veterans of almost 500,000 (a third of veterans of that war) and another 500,000 compensation and pension cases backlogged. Also because of budget cuts, the VA has had to treat more than 1.4 million additional veterans in the last seven years with 20,000 fewer staff employees. According to VAIW this means hardships for any veterans who need new benefits in the future: "Some will have to stand in line, others will be refused, and still others may face new $250 enrollment fees," and "a quarter-million vets [will have] to wait up to 10 months for specialized treatment and surgery." This has also meant that clinics and hospitals have had to stop accepting new patients and that veterans whose income is more than $35,000 have been cut off from all health benefits (about 164,000 vets).
The cuts a particularly devastating because soldiers are amongst the lowest paid people in our society. Take an example like Pat Tillman. Tillman was a safety for the Arizona Cardinals set to make $3.6 million over three years who quit the NFL to serve his country in the Army. His reward? $13,000 a year. Most employees in fast food joints who work full time make more than this. And there are more than two thousand active soldiers and their families that currently have to accept food stamps in order feed themselves.
It isn't just military salaries that are insulting: "[Base housing is] in poor condition," Army General Robert L. Van Antwerp testified before Congress. "Much of the housing is old and built to standards that met lifestyles of 30 to 50 years ago. On-base housing is still preferred by many soldiers, with waiting times averaging 10 to 15 months."
And it's not like would couldn't afford to make soldiers amongst the highest paid in society, like they should be. It would only take $75 billion to raise every soldier's salary to more than $50,000 a year, the least we could do for those who put their lives on the line for Americans. Republican President Bush, however, suggested only a 2% raise for low-ranking soldiers in his 2003 budget. At least we have those tax cuts for rich people.
It isn't just monetarily that Republicans are insulting our soldiers and veterans. Republican Larry Craig of Idaho decided by himself to block 850 Air Force promotions in order to get four C-130 cargo planes for his home state. Craig's stance is basically no planes, no promotions. Republican Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said that drafted soldiers offer "no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services over any sustained period of time." Hitler would probably disagree. Republican matriarch Barbara Bush recently said "But why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it's, not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" At the top of the heap, Republican President Bush didn't even have the decency to accept a petition from a group of veterans who opposed the war.
One of the clearest ways you can insult or show your contempt for someone is to either kill them or put them in situations where they might lose their lives.
The soldiers in Iraq are ill-equipped, undermanned and are often placed in situations they have no training for. Don't believe me? Just ask retired Army Col. David Hackworth about the bullshit going on with our troops in Iraq. More and more of them are becoming disillusioned with why they are there:
"What are we getting into here?" asked a sergeant with the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division who is stationed near Baqubah, a city 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. "The war is supposed to be over, but every day we hear of another soldier getting killed. Is it worth it? Saddam isn't in power anymore. The locals want us to leave. Why are we still here?"
"The way it seemed is, once Iraqis got over being grateful for getting rid of Saddam, they found out quickly they don't want the Americans, either," said Sgt. Nestor Torres, a military policeman with the 3rd Infantry Division in the restive town of Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad. "Everyone is blending in with everyone else, so you can't tell the friendly ones from the hostile."
"I don't know why they're keeping us around here," said Cpl. Anthony Arteaga, 25, of Hammond, La., who is assigned to the 588th Engineer Battalion. "We're not peacekeepers. We're heavy-combat engineers."
"It's getting really frustrating," Sullivan said. "We took the city, but what was it for? We took one bad guy out, but now there are lots of bad guys here."
At a checkpoint on the outskirts of Baghdad set up to search for illegal weapons, a soldier sweating in the 110-degree heat told a reporter, "Tell President Bush to bring us home."
On a skylight atop Fallujah's city hall, a soldier has scrawled in the dust: "I'll kill for a ticket home."
Those of us who opposed the war from the beginning said all along that the best way to support our troops is to bring them home. Based on the Republican record of punishing veterans, soldiers and their families, I would add to that that the best way to support our troops is to bring them home and vote Democratic in 2004. Amen!!!

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Amen to that!!!