Letter To President Obama Dated November 2009

I decided to clean out my unnecessary WORD documents today, and as always, I read them before deleting.   I was surprised at finding the following:

MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT:  Subject:  Afghanistan

November 6, 2009

This is the first time I am writing to you.

I can’t imagine how difficult it is for you to be wrestling with the Afghan dilemma, but I am sure you must be suffering greatly under the burden of making a decision that will affect every American citizen all around the world for years to come.

I would like to give you my thoughts on the subject:

I am suffering also.  About the lives lost, the lives maimed and lives laid barren with the loss of loved ones.  It tears my heart and many times I am close to crying for every one of them.  And for what?  Shades of Viet Nam shadow my horizon of the future.  Details of that are not necessary to outline in this letter.  That is in the past.  So, let’s leave it there.

General  McChrystal is probably right in his assessment of the military requirements to heighten the effects of intervention on behalf of the Afghan people.  In the 8 years that troops have been deployed there, how much has been accomplished?  To me, that is the bottom line, and this question posed has, in my opinion, only one answer:  Accomplishment has been in the negative. 

As a result of much reading about the situation, I believe the following: 

• (1) The Afghan people don’t want us there – it’s the politicians who want us there to plump up their egos and their personal pockets;
• (2) The War Lords will always be in power, controlling the large illiterate population;
• (3) The growing of poppies for drug trafficking will continue no matter who tries to stop it;
• (4) The Taliban is too strongly entrenched and no matter who attempts to stop them and by what means, they will always be poised to gain control over the majority of the populace;
• (5) The other nations are only too glad to let us keep sending our beautiful young people over there and not have theirs doing the fighting;and
• (6) All the US Dollars that have been spent during the Bush years and this year just ending of the Obama years, could have been used to prop up our own economy which needs so much help.  Must we keep spending more to see it go for naught, in my opinion?

If I took more time right now, to think further, I’m sure I could come up with more reasons for us not being in Afghanistan.  The Russians found plenty of reasons for leaving.

I hope you will take my few thoughts to heart and mind, while you continue to mull over the Afghanistan problem.  My “bottom line” is: Leave!

I would say that if I sent this letter today, it would still be current.  What say you?

 

[ Header image from http://www.freewebheaders.com ]

 

In Memoriam: A Brother-in-Law I Never Met

Leonard Lapidus, aka Leonard LaPidus.  I married his younger brother in the year 1958.

Leonard was a navigator on a B-29 bomber during WWII.  I had heard this particular plane was fraught with mechanical failures (hearsay).  I don’t know if this was the case in Leonard’s plane; it could have been the fault of damage from an enemy plane or from artillery on the ground below.  I was told, according to family stories, that Leonard’s plane crashed into a mountain due to mechanical failure:  navigational controls were inoperable.

My husband was 7 years old at the time, which means Leonard was only 20 when he was killed.  My mother-in-law, Florence, became another “Gold Star Mother.”  She hung the small flag in the front window, as so many others had done.

My husband’s parents were completely distraught, of course.  Leonard was the topic of conversation many times during my marriage; always with smiles of remembrance and shaking of the heads with sorrow about the great family loss.

The family on both sides was large – siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins – all who remembered Leonard as being a special, caring person, and who was also a gifted artist.  In fact, he had sent Walt Disney examples of his work, and Disney wrote back that he wanted to personally interview Leonard when Leonard returned from service.  Of course, that interview never took place.

Florence completely fell apart, and could not remain at home – she had to have a change and get away from the house where all the memories lived so vividly.  She took my husband and ran to Florida, leaving her husband for a year, and tried to cope with her sorrow.  It was a very bad year, according to my husband.  His father came several times to visit, but there was a serious separation during that time.

There was more than sorrow.

You see, it was my father-in-law that encouraged Leonard to enlist and “serve your country.”  Leonard was a peace-loving soul and war did not attract him.  He was deeply engaged in his studies, and dreamed of having his life concentrated on his art.  But, his father convinced him it was his duty, and he finally submitted to those wishes.

Blame and guilt got all mixed up with the sorrow and despair, and Florence fled.

In time, she returned home, and did her best to continue with a “normal” life.  Her husband, who was a strong man in many ways, became contrite, but more loving, and did his best to take Florence’s mind off their devastating loss.

We lived in that house for several years, after my in-laws moved to another state.  When we decided to move, we went through closets with a fine-toothed comb, and came upon a painting by Leonard that no one had remembered.  It was leaning against a wall in a bedroom closet – totally unnoticed for decades.  It was my favorite of Leonard’s.  It was a beautiful painting of an American plane with the American star emblem on its side, soaring in the beautiful blue sky.  A painted photograph.  It was beautifully done.

He had dreams; however, didn’t live to fulfill them.

[ Header image from http://www.freewebheaders.com ]

[Gold Star Mother flag from bingdotcom]

 

 

 

A Little History About Memorial Day, Previously Called, “Decoration Day”

 

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.

Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363). This helped ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19th in Texas; April 26th in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

[ Header image from http://www.freewebheaders.com ]

[Memorial Day image from bingdotcom]

 

Should Women Register for the Draft?

 

Senate panel re-ignites debate on draft for women

Congress is on the verge of ordering young women to register for a military draft for the first time in history, touching off outrage among social conservatives who fear the move is another step toward blurring gender lines.   

The female draft requirement, approved Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee, could be as heated as the divisive debate over what public lavatories and locker rooms transgender people should use.   

Opponents of expanding the draft may be unable to halt the momentum in favor of lifting the exclusion, triggered by the Pentagon’s decision last year to open all front-line combat jobs to women.   

After gender restrictions to military service were erased, the top uniformed officers in each of the military branches expressed support during congressional testimony for including women in a potential draft.   

The Senate Armed Services Committee added a provision to its version of the annual defense policy bill that calls for women to sign up with the Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18 — just as men must — beginning in January 2018, according to a summary of the legislation released by the committee.

This question is highly controversial.  I suppose I’m old-fashioned in my opinion that I believe women should not be required to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.  There is a growing trend among young women to enlist and serve in a capacity that heretofore was reserved for men only.  That’s a choice that was offered and has been accepted by so many women.

[Note:]  Women were nearly drafted during World War II because of a shortage of military nurses.

Military leaders maintain the all-volunteer force is working and do not want a return to conscription.

What is your opinion regarding drafting women into military service?  Please comment below.

Source:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com

[ Header image from http://www.freewebheaders.com ]

 

 

How Did Marijuana Fare In 2016 Omnibus Spending Bill?

 

While millions of Americans let out a sigh of relief, knowing our government will not shut down at least for another fiscal year, millions of Americans may not have been aware of marijuana legislation that was and was not included in the Omnibus bill.

According to an article in The Daily Chronic, the following marijuana re-authorizations for 2016 took place:

• Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration will not have funding for interfering with state medical marijuana laws; and
• The DOJ and DEA will not have funding to interfere with state industrial hemp research programs.
• 

Unfortunately, the following individual provisions were not included:

• To permit Veterans Affairs doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to military veterans;
• To prevent the V.A. from denying services to veterans because they are state recognized medical marijuana patients;
• To include Senate-backed language seeking to authorize financial institutions to engage in relationships with state-licensed marijuana business; and
• To allow the District of Columbia to sell and tax marijuana.  (Currently, DC residents can grow, possess and share marijuana.)

The parts that stand out for me is:

1. The fact that our members of Congress are still interfering with doctor-patient relationships in the VA; and
2. Licensed businesses still have to pay their bills in cash instead of accessing banking services.

This is a very slow and frustrating process.

In the meantime, patients suffer and Congress shows it DOES NOT CARE about our very sick and needful military veteran citizenry.

And, rubbing salt in the wounds:  the licensed, lucrative, high tax-paying marijuana businesses are not allowed to use the same banks to which small, under-funded, and low tax-paying businesses across the country have access.

Is there something wrong with this picture?

[Images from bingdotcom]

[ Header image from http://www.freewebheaders.com ]

America Sure Has Talent – In Our U. S. Navy Band

 

My sister forwarded a video to me today.  Absolutely had to share.

Our U.S. Navy Band performed at the Navy Memorial in 2014.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the “Jersey Boys.”  I dare you to sit still in your chair!!!!

 

Memorial Day – Honoring & Remembering

Beautiful tribute, Cher. You have given us a real meaning of this holiday by your understanding and compassion.

I would never wish anyone a “Happy Memorial Day.” It is a solemn holiday. I was surprised this morning, when, one of the TV commentators, as he was signing off, wished everyone a “Happy Memorial Day.” He is a very intelligent person, and I’m assuming this was a great “slip of the tongue” on his part.

The Chicago Files

[picture compliments of bing.com]

This is a repost from Memorial Day, May, 2014.  I hope you like it.

When I first moved to Chicago, I was quite confused about this particular holiday.  Even now it still brings a bit of misunderstanding on my part.  I have people wishing me a, “Happy Memorial Day”.  To me, this seems rather ironic, since the day is about paying homage to those extremely brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice in duty to their country.

I was told that Memorial Day is all of that which I just noted; however, I guess the “Happy” part is that it also encompasses the start of the Summer season.  I mean this with all my heart when I say I am not trying to judge this dichotomy of today; nonetheless, I still find myself focusing more on those that have made the ultimate sacrifice…

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President Obama Is Unclear About His Authorization For The Use Of Military Force

I read with interest the contents of an email I received today from Congressman Alan Grayson regarding his meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of a week ago (I apologize for the text overrun-beyond my control):

Payable in Dollars, and in Lives. Dear Carol: So we had a hearing a week ago on ISIS (“we” being the House Foreign Affairs Committee), and the witnesses were three experts on U.S. policy in the Middle East, all dues-paying members of the Military-Industrial Complex. They were James Jeffrey, who was Deputy Chief of Mission at our embassy in Iraq; Rick Brennan, a political scientist at the Rand Corp.; and Dafna Rand, who was on the National Security Council staff. The White House had just released the President’s draft Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIS, and I felt that I needed a good translator, so I asked them what the ISIS war authorization meant. Their answers were chilling: the ISIS war authorization means whatever the President wants it to mean. If you don’t believe me, just listen to them: GRAYSON: Section 2(c) of the President’s draft Authorization for the Use of Military Force reads as follows: “The authority granted in subsection A [to make war on ISIS and forces ‘alongside’ ISIS] does not authorize the use of US armed forces in enduring offensive ground combat operations.” Ambassador Jeffrey, what does ‘enduring’ mean? JEFFREY: My answer would be a somewhat sarcastic one: “Whatever the Executive at the time defines ‘enduring’ as.” And I have a real problem with that. GRAYSON: Dr. Brennan? BRENNAN: I have real problems with that also. I don’t know what it means. I can just see the lawyers fighting over the meaning of this. But more importantly, if you’re looking at committing forces for something that you are saying is either [a] vital or important interest of the United States, and you get in the middle of a battle, and all of a sudden, are you on offense, or are you on defense? What happens if neighbors cause problems? Wars never end the way that they were envisioned. And so I think that that’s maybe a terrible mistake to put in the AUMF. GRAYSON: Dr. Rand? RAND: Enduring, in my mind, specifies an open-endedness, it specifies lack of clarity on the particular objective at hand. GRAYSON: Dr. Rand, is two weeks ‘enduring’? RAND: I would leave that to the lawyers to determine exactly. GRAYSON: So your answer is [that] you don’t know, right? How about two months? RAND: I don’t know. Again, I think it would depend on the particular objective, ‘enduring’ in my mind is not having a particular military objective in mind. GRAYSON: So you don’t really know what it means. Is that a fair statement? RAND: ‘Enduring,’ in my mind, means open-ended. GRAYSON: All right — Section Five of the draft of the Authorization of the Use of Military Force reads as follows: “In this resolution, the term ‘associated persons or forces’ means individuals and organizations fighting for, on behalf of, or alongside ISIL or any closely-related successor entity in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” Ambassador Jeffrey, what does “alongside ISIL” mean? JEFFREY: I didn’t draft this thing. GRAYSON: Nor did I. JEFFREY: Nor did you, but I would have put that in there if I had been drafting it, and the reason is, I think they went back to 2001, of course this is the authorization we’re still using, along with the 2002 one for this campaign, and these things morph. For example, we’ve had a debate over whether ISIS is really an element of Al Qaeda; it certainly was when I knew it as Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2010 to 2012, and these semantic arguments confuse us and confuse our people on the ground, in trying to deal with these folks. You’ll know it when you see it, if it’s ISIS or it’s an ally of ISIS. GRAYSON: How about the Free Syrian Army, are they fighting alongside ISIL in Syria? JEFFREY: No, they’re not fighting alongside ISIL, in fact often they’re fighting against ISIL, and ISIL against them in particular. GRAYSON: What about Assad, is he fighting “alongside” or against? It’s kind of hard to tell without a scorecard, isn’t it? JEFFREY: It sure is. GRAYSON: Yes. What about you, Dr. Brennan, can you tell me what “alongside ISIL” means? BRENNAN: No, I really couldn’t. I think that, what, you know, it might be. The 9/11 Commission uses the phrase “radical islamist organizations.” I think maybe if we went to a wording like that, it includes all those 52 groups that adhere to this type of ideology, that threaten the United States. But we’re putting ourselves in boxes and as you said Senator – Congressman — I’m trying to understand what that means, what the limits are … who we’re dealing with, and it’s very confusing. GRAYSON: Dr. Rand? RAND: Well, first of all, I believe that the confusion is probably a function of the fact that this is an unclassified document, so it’s not going to specify exactly which groups are considered associates; that would be for a classified setting. But second, as I said in the testimony, the nature of the alliances within ISIL are changing and are fluid, and those who are targeting, the military experts, know exactly who is a derivative or an associate or an ally of ISIS, at any given moment. GRAYSON: Why are you so confident of that? It seems to me that it’s a matter of terminology, not a matter of ascertainable fact. RAND: Based on my public service, I’ve seen some of the lawyers, and some of the methodologies, and . . . . GRAYSON: Okay. Here’s the $64 billion question for you, Ambassador Jeffrey, and if we have time, for you others. If you can’t tell us — you three experts can’t tell us — what these words mean, what does that tell us? Ambassador Jeffrey? JEFFREY: That it’s very difficult to be using a tool basically designed to declare war or something like war on a nation-state, which has a fixed definition, against a group that morphs, that changes its name, that has allies, and other things. Do we not fight it? We have to fight it. Are we having a hard time defining it? You bet. GRAYSON: Dr. Brennan? BRENNAN: I’d agree with the ambassador. I think the issue we that need to be looking at is trying to broaden terminology and understand that it is a tenet, or organizations and groups that adhere to this ideology, and make it broad enough that if one pops up in a different country that is doing the same thing, that is a sister of this organization, the President has the authority to act. GRAYSON: Dr. Brennan, I think that you just described a blank check, which I’m not willing to give to the President or anybody else. But thank you for your time. So that’s what the experts had to say. Now I have a question for you: How do you spell the word “quagmire”? Answer: I-S-L-A-M-I-C S-T-A-T-E. Courage, Rep. Alan Grayson “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” – Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass ch. 6 (1871).

200th Anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner

This weekend has seen various celebrations of this 200th anniversary of our national anthem.

 

On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, after a 25-hour battle, raised a huge 42-foot American flag, sewn by Mary Pickersgill, to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812.  The sight of those “broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became the United States national anthem. Key was aboard a ship in the harbor when he became thus inspired.  Key’s words gave new significance to a national symbol and started a tradition through which generations of Americans have invested the flag with their own meanings and memories.

 

The National Museum of American History is working to preserve this flag for future generations.

Here is a video by Dudley Rutherford in which he tells the story behind the Star Spangled Banner:

 

 

 

National Service – Patriot Day 9/11

This gallery contains 1 photos.

Originally posted on Pacific Paratrooper:
Patriot Day is the annual observance for those who were injured and died due to the 9-11 terrorists attacks. This is NOT to be confused with Patriot’s Day which commemorates the battles of Lexington and…