Sometime I think you guys that write these articles are the same kids that would poke a stick in a hornets nest just to see what happens. You are absolutely right about one thing, not everyone in the US Military is put in harms way. I am sure that the 3000 men that died on the USS Arizona thought they had it pretty easy, right up until that Sunday. The ideas that just because someone has not seen combat does not mean they were not “damaged” in being prepared. You obviously, have never served in the Armed Forces. I know a man, a good man, that was sent into the attics of old buildings to pull photo optic cables as part of his non-combatant job. As a result of crawling around in these asbestos filled spaces, he can now proudly claim he is a cancer survivor, or at least for the next 5 years, which is how long hi has been given until it comes back… Yea, our veterans deserve a big fat pension, a cozy 401K, and a cushy job. But what the get is socialized medicine in an understaffed, under funded, under supplied hospital. So, yea lets do away with this antiquated relief program, and start treating out veterans as they deserve and let them see there own doctor, in there own town, in there own time.

First off picking on veterans is a cheap shot to try and stir the pot. The only reason you have the right to post crap like this is because some veteran decided that your right to spout this junk was worth more than his life.
Second not every veteran gets the benefits you’re describing. Hell I know a veteran who was honorably discharged after 4 years of service (including two years overseas) and he’s not even eligible to join the American Legion.
Third, you had the same opportunity as any Veteran had to join up and do your part.
Finally why not reach a hand out and say thank you to a Veteran and let them know you appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made so you can attend college and write your drivel.

This ass probably has never served and NEEDED healthcare at the VA, which by the way I pay for. I was in harm’s way, so this idiot is able to write this crap. You should join and then go over and fight, then came back and say you still don’t this kind of healthcare.

Not all vets get benefits. If you are one of those (like me) who served in the post-Viet Nam era, you are not entitled to the same benefits as vets of other eras.

sigh

That’s cute James. I remember when I had my first beer. In all seriousness I hope you don’t actually believe what you wrote. If you want to know what true propaganda is then look no further than your own writing. It seems like you’re under the impression that anything socialized is evil. I guess we should get rid of the police, and public schools, and the fire department. Hell, lets just do away with the government while we are at it. Bottom line is that you are ignorant, arrogant, and you really need to do some research before you screw yourself over even worse.

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Clearly a lot of questions that he lacks the courage to find his own answers to. Courage is a hallmark of a Veteran by placing themself in harms way so lost sheep have a comfortable life and a voice to be heard. And the “expense” is that 1.2 million servicemembers lost their lives defending and protecting this country’s freedoms and ideals. We Veterans have honor and pride and the capacity for forgivness and nothing can be said to take this away.

First off suggesting that veterans are getting a “free” service is inaccurate, veterans have risked and lost life and limb for their country and the very LEAST we can do is provide medical care for them upon their return. Second the term “socialism” is poorly understood and often used to politicize an argument without understanding what it means. Many if not most of our allies have socialized governments that are free, democratic, capitalistic in the same sense that our own government is. There is nothing wrong with a government actually taking care of the people it represents (remember we the people, of the people, by the people). And the taxes I pay should be going to help veterans, feed children, build infrastructure, and not just fill the coffers of fat cat politicians.

This letter is either a fraud and James is a wolf in sheep’s clothing or he just doesn’t understand the issue.

There is however a point to be made about our VA clinics.

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This is one of the most ridiculous letters that has ever been published on the Daily Lobo, especially that 1st sentence. This letter is a complete joke. If Mr. Post believes that there’s nothing special about veterans or that having any benefits for them is a form of socialism, then he should really put his money where his mouth is and sign up to get deployed to Afghanistan or another war-torn country.

It’s quite obvious that he takes his American freedoms for granted, just like so many other natural-born Americans. To put it quite mildly, this guy has absolutely no idea what socialism actually is. Socialism occurs when a large portion of a nation’s GDP goes towards government spending. Everyone that shares his mindset should permanently move to another country, I hate anti-patriotism.

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For those who want to end socialism in the USA, not only must the Veterans Administration and related bureaus and hospitals be closed, but all hospitalized veterans must be set out into the streets; then the government should end all social security benefits and entitlements not only to the retired and/or elderly, but to surviving children of deceased parents, followed by the complete elimination of Medicare and Medicaid for everyone, the closure of all public schools and universities (including UNM), shuttering of all public libraries, stopping the building and repair of all public roads and hospital, ending all subsidized medical assistance programs including for the blind and handicapped, firing all police and fire personnel who are being supported / paid with tax dollars, end hot meals and the school lunch program, and then dismiss all military personnel everywhere—as all of these are socialist programs. Vote Weh for Governor (he belongs those who backed torture while in the military), and vote Republican so the health insurance industry can sit in judgment of whether or not a person received medical care or hospitalization or defines that it is better for that person to die and pull the plug on grandma. That will make Weh, Palin, Limbaugh, and all true patriots opposed to socialism in the USA proud, happy, and give them control of a nation moonwalking into yesterday.

James N. Post article is satire, which is a style of writing Andres Sanez, Damian (no parental surname), and others miss. Satire speaks when people are deaf to reality. The “death panels” characterized by the GOP exist in the insurance industry that has boards that sit to determine if someone can be insured with a pre-existing condition, or if a necessary operation can be funded or if a policy is to be denied. The VA does need further work and federal help, but it has been tied up with a lot of GOP redtape and its unwillingness to back a sane plan. Socialism is NOT Marxism, but is defined by most dictionaries as “a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.” See: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socialism. The USA has been increasingly “socialistic” since the Great Depression—and only with its advent was the economy able to turn around. The economy has had a series of steep ascents and descents, but that is a part of the history of GNP. To tag socialism as bad is the same ignorance as to claim “public option” for universal health care to be a communist plot since it would make healthcare affordable to 46 million American citizens who have no health care either because of age or preconditions. The tragedy is that Grassley (R-IA), Nelson (D-NE), Ensign (R-NV), Palin (R-AK) and others stretch the truth to outright lie (as when Grassley claimed he was always againt government intrusion in health care (yet in 2003 voted for the government of W Bush to interfere with the brain-dead Teri Shaivo of Florida).

Dr. Ide is onto it. The anti-VA position is logically coherent, but is something like an extension to absurdum, a heightening of the contrast to make a point. People object, saying, “The veteran deserves it.” My repost is then, “OK, you’re right, some people should get health care paid for, including veterans. But why ONLY veterans? What makes US vets so special? Why not others who risk as much, or others for other reasons? Is socialism really such a bad idea as to call for the elimination of all socialistic programs (like the letter appears to)? NOTE: don’t piss on my spitshine and tell me it’s raining, you boots. I’ve got a box of bones you wouldn’t want to have to carry. CW2Post, UH-1C gunship pilot, 101st ABN. Vietnam 1967-68.

Socialism SUCKS!

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock, powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watch this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

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I am a veteran of the Iraq War and fought for this guys right to say this. You got me to think yes but I don’t suffer with PTSD as bad as alot of veterans do that are coming back from war.I think it matters if you have a point of not but why would you release something like this right now? I could go on but I will refrain. Hey thanks for your time and you and your thoughts will be in my prayers. By the way my website address is http://www.blakeleitch.com/ you will find a link on there to my weekly justin.tv show.

In the USA, electoral representation is not dependant upon military service. Also, the electoral majority in the USA is made up of individuals (women and others) and groups who are unwilling to serve in the military, especially the combat arms.
As a result, there is a real danger that this electoral majority will utilize it’s political power to denigrate, exploit, and discriminate against military veterans.
This electoral majority (minorities, women, and others unwilling and/or unable to serve in the military-especially the combat arms) has the political power (the means), the incentive and opportunity to do the same. It is in it’s political, economic, social, and cultural interest of these groups to do the same.
THEY HAVE DONE THE SAME!
During and after the War in Vietnam, this electoral majority assumed political power. Subsequently, it gave itself employment, educational, legal, social and cultural privilege over white males and military veterans-even combat veterans.
These same groups, also, personally discriminated against,insulted and denigrated returning Vietnam veterans!
The opinion peace by the Editor is reflective of the political reality of the power of this electoral majority and the aforementioned.
The aforementioned, in fact, reflects a break down in the “social contract” in the USA which will,ultimately, result in the social, economic, political, military, and cultural collapse of the USA.
I am a Vietnam War Combat veteran.

Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents. James Madison, President of the United States
o Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1788-10-17)

Dr. Ide is wrong yet again,

His idea of an argument is to simply marginalize others. However I will dismantle what he has said. I do not expect a response or I expect an attempt to change the subject to something as obscure as why I do not post my full name. His strategy, as is most of the far left on this issue is simply to blame the free market for all of the government coercion (as he did with the idea that all the VA needs is more money— haven’t we heard this line before? think education). How are we to expand to 55 million more Americans without increasing resources of doctors or costs?…Crickets….

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Dr. Ide also ignorantly dismisses the idea that education and firefighters could be better off without a “public option”.

All of you true veterans out there should look up James Nathan Post on the internet. You might find some of the claims that he makes about his former affiliation with the 101st Airborne Division to be a little, lest just say suspicious. Interesting in the video that he posted on his website “The Fringe Element” that pictures of what I suspect is the inside of his home show some suspicious displays of military paraphernalia. The thing that I noticed right off was the display of a Drill Sergeants hat. Now those out there that had the experience of having a Sergent in a Highly Pressed uniform hit you square in the forehead as he addressed you in a firm tone about the state of your uniform will know that that hat although available to many, would not be displayed in ones home unless they had EARNED IT. Mister Post seems to need a soapbox to preach from, and UNM’s paper must seem like an easy target to get people riled up about his extreme libertarian ideas.

Go ahead and look him up to see what you think. I guess everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. I guess that is what I gave up my personal freedom (under the penalty of imprisonment for not fulfilling my contract the the US Government) for six years was for. I don’t need to justify what I considered my duty to the people of this county, the thanks I get from hearing free speech is thanks enough for me.

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Would love to know more about the person who wrote this article. He is either an ignorant jerk or just wanted to see what sort of reactions he would stir up. I am not a veteran. As a nurse who worked the night shift at Lovelace Medical Center on Gibson in the ED (right in front of the VA hospital), I cared for veterans when they VA refused them. Also cared for many vets who had substance abuse problems and wandered the streets of our town. How can a person use that word “socialism” so flippantly? We still run around screaming that “socialism” is a bad thing or a dirty word. Veterans deserve this care and more. All young Americans should have to do “service” for their country, either in the military or in other capacities. Capitalism, as a system, is failing. It is an old concept that may no longer serve mankind well in the 21st century. Just throwing out some ideas. Hate long posts, so I’ll stop.

Dr. Ide is on the right track, and we should refer to the current trend as communitarian collectivism rather than socialism. Socialism is a description used to stir up conflict or resistance just as the poor example that “James” used- the military veteran’s benefits. Still there are a high number of people in the USA who not only never contributed to the country’s freedoms via military service nor had any family members contribute. This is often the case when complaints surface about the military unless they come from ex-military who have issues to discuss.

I vote for the following descriptor for the article’s author:
ignorant
non-vested
uninformed
pot-stirrer

Dr. Ide said, “The USA has been increasingly “socialistic” since the Great Depression—and only with its advent was the economy able to turn around .” Contradicting Ide in the book New Deal or Raw Deal, Burton Folosm Jr. quotes FDR’s treasury secretary: “From The Morgenthau Diaries — Years of Urgency 1938-1941 at pp. 24-25, We have tried spending money. We are spending more money than we have ever spent before and it does not work….. We have never made good on our promises…I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started . . . . And an enormous debt to boot!” FDR’s socialist policies did not end the depression, WWII did.

Ide states: “Socialism is NOT Marxism.” Ide, why did the communist nation call its self the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics–USSR?

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“FDR’s socialist policies did not end the depression, WWII did.”

World War II ended the depression by even bigger “socialist” policies. The war effort required a massive public works program on an unprecedented scale, for America anyway, that paled in comparison to the New Deal — building ships, manufacturing ordnance, etc.. It turns out that for years FDR had been too cautious. Finally the government threw enough money into the economy to get it moving.

BEIJING — China announced that it intended to spend $123 billion by 2011 to establish universal health care for the country’s 1.3 billion people.

The plan was passed Wednesday at a session of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao presided.

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I respect Phillips comments regarding socialism and his reference to FDR’s Treasury Secretary’s comments. However, it would be interesting to note that FDR equated the new corporate power of his era (and currently ours) to the English royalists of which we fought our American Revolution over. Please site FDR’s Acceptance Speech for the Democratic Nomination for President. I would go further and equate our current Health Care System is in fact, controlled by an new form of royalists. Currently, they have the say in who lives or dies visa vie who has coverage and who does not. Take for example the 1.7 billion dollar executive compensation package that the CEO for United Health Care received two years ago. One in every $700 spent on Health Care goes to compensate this man. Royalist? I would think so. What does he do that he can be valued to such a degree that he makes over $100,000.00 an hour? We need to start thinking of our fellow men and women. We have a right to the pursuit of happiness granted by our Constitution. How are we to pursue it if we don’t have care when we need it?

Interesting reading for all above…
Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights by Thom Hartman.