Wednesday July 11, 2007, 10:03 pm
Thank you guys for everything, The article is great....

Wednesday July 11, 2007, 10:25 pm
I really am starting to think the govt WANTS to kill off everybody capable of opposing them. WANTS people in poor health, dying when they should be in their prime.
I see this more & more. In the contamination of our air, our water, our soil, and our food supply. In sending young people to war who either never return, or return completely broken.
This so that a FEW can "live it up" and bask in their privileges over the rest of us. The rest of us, their DUPES.
This is so ANTI-HUMAN that I can't even find the words for it. But, there does seem to be a PATTERN to it.
So terribly sorry, Karen, for what your family is going through.

Wednesday July 11, 2007, 10:30 pm
noted...thanks for posting...good article...

Wednesday July 11, 2007, 10:36 pm
noted

Wednesday July 11, 2007, 10:51 pm
Noted and forwarded!

Wednesday July 11, 2007, 11:34 pm
thankyou john this is so terribly important
signed and signed

Thursday July 12, 2007, 2:49 am
Noted.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 3:19 am
The government cares next to nothing about the people of the country. We are all just pawns in thier games, used to serve. Now as if giving thier lives for "freedom" or what have you- they are treated with a slap in the face and no care at all. We are either pawns, experiments or pests for them. It is a terrible thing and in this case not only health care but many more indepth issues to be addressed for our vets and ourselves.
Be aware and Take care of yourselves- your gov won´t!!! Never Give up the Good Fight!

Thursday July 12, 2007, 4:00 am
Words fail me in this instance.Noted and Thank you....

Thursday July 12, 2007, 4:27 am
At least one Candidate want to take care of all of our ailing military... Ron Paul wants more VA hospitals, better care, and the ER's open 24-7...

On "Conversations with the Candidate" Ch9 in New Hampshire: You tube has 6 video with Questions for Ron Paul and his Answers:
video 2 out of 6 the first question is:

Veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq are not considered vets and can’t get care, would you vote for more funding?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPJ2CbtvQ9Y

Video 3 out of 6 the first question is:

Are you for keeping the Emergency Rooms in VA hospitals open 24 hours?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHvQnNmL64w

Either Copy/Paste or you can go to this thread and click the links to hear his answers:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=12547&pst=973644

Thursday July 12, 2007, 4:57 am
Gather round my children and you shall hear an oft told tale of neglect deceit and fear...
Indeed it's an olde story of rally round the flag and fight for blahyadablahetca dnauseum...then when your favorite government wins the game/war, then comes the inevitable shedding of surplus inventory (hey war is a business after all) which includes the wretched refuse of the winning side; and just who are the real winners in any war you might ask? Well me lads and lassies tis' but the Wall Streeters and the Hollywood hypos, the "Mad"ison Avenue gang, and the oily merchants of death, all who serve on the VA/DAV advisory committees of the past and present who determine who will get the table scraps "of a thankful, generous, and grateful nation"
Afte the termination of a conflict, the imperious leaders soon start making a racket about how those veterans are lazy drunks who are indolent and why should they be entitled to reimbursement when after all THEY VOLUNTEERED FOR DUTY! After every conflict/war/police action it's the same old, same old squawking from Uncle Sam nee Uncle Greedy
Yesterdays heroes become today's garbage.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 5:21 am
The government big shots are merchants of death........The big shots run around in BMW's and the boys of war are ushered off in a red white and blue box..........Forever!

~~GREED & POWER~~ Thats what it is all about.
I do not care one iota about these Iraqi's........................My concern is our boys, our daughters.

BRING EM' HOME NOW AND GIVE THEM THE MEDICAL CARE THEY DESERVE!!!!!!!!!

Think of tomorrow-
Plant seeds
Grow trees
Make a forest
For the animals....................

Thursday July 12, 2007, 5:27 am
Veterans Services must be further augmented in scope for the dignity and benefits of our veterans.

This must include, but not be limited to Medical benefits, Financial Assistance, Veteran Family Assistance, and vocational training and provide a support net into State/Community Level Support Programs.

Our Veterans are hailed as heroes when they march in Uniform, but when they are fortunate enough to return, in many ways they may still be where we sent them. Wounds can be physical in the loss of parts of them, as well as parts of their spirit can be shattered. When we provide vocational technology training assistance it is simply one less hill for them to climb.

We must stand by our vets as they stood for us, as hailed as honored citizens as vets.

Veterans Hospitals have to be further funded to adequately provide assistance in case load. Veterans Hospitals will not be short on supplies nor required staff to serve our Veterans.

Veteran Hospital workers have to be rated by the patients. If the Vets believe that the worker serves them , then they are welcomed to retain their jobs. If the ratings are not acceptable, the worker is to be replaced with one who will care about the vets. It is more than a job of employment in taking care of the vets, it is to be considered an honor.

Return to Duty has to be by choice by the Vet when and if the government determines that the Vet is fit for duty. It has been a volunteer military force, and should remain that way.

Vets should never have to wait until sometime in the future for assistance but will get the assistance programs that they need.

There should be NO deductibles for Vets of any category. Medical, Psychological, and Sociological Assistance will be readily available.

There should be no Injury Ratings, as injury is injury, and this is not about car insurance, but about American people. Disabled Vets can not to be covered as some form of property, but in how they are to recover and get back to life as Americans.

A Vet wounded is a Vet who is wounded. There can be no discrimination to be permitted in terms of Combat, or non combat related injuries to the self when in active military service.

Loans must be made available for Vets who seek financial assistance and demonstrate use in the vocational training and Community Support Net Level Programs. Such loans must be below normal bank interest rates for equivalent loans.

Veteran Family Assistance must be provided in scope, but not be limited to the following: + Grants for Family Assistance + Qualification of Family head of Household to assume Veteran Benefits when loosing an immediate family member in active military service .

Finally and most import - Veteran Family Assistance should never be delayed by our governement.And when funds are pending, and a Vet and or their family is suffering, loans against these pending benfitis should be automatically made by the government.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 5:52 am
Some of my friends have passed away due to exposure of Agent Orange. For many years the military government denied this occurred. They can't deny it any longer..

Thursday July 12, 2007, 5:57 am
I am a person who so much believes in assistance for all Vets. As, I do go visit them in homes, hospitals, I also donate to Paralyzed Vets, and all the Vietnam Vets....my father is a WW-2 Vet..and this hits home, so , thank you JohnMichael for this important news, this is very important for all of them & their families....in all aspects...I will do what I can for these issues..Peace in the World...

Thursday July 12, 2007, 5:58 am
And I'd like to also thank you Orion for spreading the word out, and having a lot of information on it...

Thursday July 12, 2007, 6:31 am
These vets have already been through hell and back having been to Viet Nam and deserve nothing but the best treatment for all that they have done in another war that we had no business being involved in.
Noted and forwarded.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 9:21 am
Unfortunately the government reacts in the here and now with little regard to what lies ahead or the consequences of their actions...which as parents we try to teach or children. We must insist on the government following through to help veterans who have given it all for our freedom.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 10:15 am
The time to give our vets the respect and health care they so rightly desrve, is long past. The government must act now, before more lives are ruined.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 10:28 am
noted

Thursday July 12, 2007, 11:02 am
IMPEACH AND IMPRISON THE WAR CRIMINAL GOP REPUBLICAN HYPOCRITES

http://www.care2.com/news/member/550175964/422094

And the ultimate responsibility must be laid at the ultimate authority, the man who indeed insists that it was his imperial will alone that launched the invasion: George W. Bush. True, it's painfully obvious that he is the witless mouthpiece of ideological extremists like Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney--those Bolsheviki of the boardroom. In fact, Bush is apparently ignorant of the actual events that led up to the war: in one of his very rare unscripted remarks, he panicked and told reporters last week that he invaded Iraq only after Saddam Hussein "wouldn't allow UN inspectors into the country"--a breathtaking display of disassociation from reality.

Nonetheless, this fatuous delusionary willingly placed himself at the head of the extremist junta that is now bankrupting his own country and killing thousands of innocent people as it runs roughshod over the world. His carefully-cultivated ignorance doesn't excuse his guilt. He may hope, as his accomplice Tony Blair pathetically declared last week, that "history will forgive us" for waging war under false pretenses; but in their unmarked graves, the murdered dead will forever call him to account

Chris Floyd is a columnist for the Moscow Times and a regular contributor to CounterPunch. My CounterPunch piece on Rumsfeld's plan to provoke terrorist attacks came in at Number 4 on Project Censored's final tally of the Most Censored
stories of 2002. He can be reached at: cfloyd72@hotmail.com

Thursday July 12, 2007, 11:42 am
Since I am old enough to remember Vietnam and have many a comrade who served in that conflict I am somewhat confused. So many of the fellow citizens so poorly treated these young warriors based upon personal beliefs and political reasons. Yet, now, all these decades later I see a change to how these Veterans are being used for political leverage against your tyrant leaders.
If in fact the people of these United States cared for their Vietnam Veterans and the damages caused by this Agent Orange, then why were these same Veterans treated so badly by so many then? Why are so many still homeless and forgotten. In a land where warriors are needed yet the nobles will not become warriors themselves, how can a nation truly be united and one if those who fight the battles are so mistreated by those who desire conflict and equally despised by those who claim to oppose the horrors of wars?
If the Veterans are that precious to those who state they are, then why is there not more outcry for them instead of for the beasts of the lands? The spirits of the beast are eternal, yet mankind has to still find balance amongst it's own species to find that harmony. If you wish to honor your warriors, then by all means give them a resounding homecoming, not the kind I saw in the Vietnam War era.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 1:48 pm
Thank you Aragorn, and most of you for your heart felt comments. My husband is a Vietnam Vet and now at 60 he is feeling the effects of Agent Orange as are many of his friends. My precious husband was a medical corpsman who didn't want to kill anybody and ended up holding men as young as he as they died-he still sees them every nite in his sleep, I believe. He works tirelessly for Veteran causes, and that includes Iraqi/Afghani vets & their families because he doesn't want them to go thru what he and his brothers have gone thru. He tears up now when someone thanks him for what he did-he was spit on when he returned from Vietnam weighing 118 lbs, sick from parasites, malaria and the many deaths he had personally witnessed and felt unable to help beyond comfort. I have watched Joe's health deteriorate in the last 2 years and now after 2 angioplasties he looks 10 years older as do most of his brothers. We are trying to implement a program for Iraqi vets & their families. We want their experience to be different at least psychologically-the cost of trauma in war on the family, including the children, is sad and avoidable if addressed through counseling programs. This administration has done nothing but cut funding for vets but what do you expect from a man who never served on the front lines and has no true feelings for men/women who have served. Joe and I will be in DC if we can make it on the 24th to talk to our Congressman and woman re: impeachment and to support the antiwar movement. It's time for the PEOPLE to speak and be HEARD. Joe will be in Illinois next week for the VVA conference presenting the TX VVA outreach program for Iraqi vets & their families -we want to help beyond what the VA is willing or funded to do and despite Bush's attempt to keep benefits to 2 years for Iraqi/Afghani vets. It's not too late to get rid of Bushco. It's TIME! Noted

Thursday July 12, 2007, 2:41 pm
My cousin just had to undergo surgery that is suspected to be the result of agent orange. He was in the Vietnam War and was not warned of the dangers of this awful chemical. He could have died and may still.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 2:45 pm
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Home PageThe official site of Disabled American Veterans. The DAV is an organization of disabled veterans who are focused on building better lives for disabled ...
www.dav.org/ - Jul 10, 2007 - Similar pages

Donate Now - Link - www.dav.org/donations/donate.html
Contact Us - www.dav.org/contact_us.html
Services - Disability ... - www.dav.org/veterans/disability_evaluation_sy...
Join DAV - www.dav.org/membership/join_dav.html

PLEASE THINK OF TOMORROW-
PLANT SEEDS
GROW TREES
MAKE A FOREST
FOR THE ANIMALS....................................

Thursday July 12, 2007, 5:10 pm

My uncle was in Vietnam and died before his 53rd birthday from pancreatic cancer that we're sure is from Agent Orange. I remember being a small child and sending him packages we made up at my grandma's house. I know of some of the horrors he experienced there, but the final horror was his painful, premature death from being exposed to a chemical that the "leaders" of our nation KNEW was toxic to people.

Now, in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is depleted uranium that will be their blight. They will suffer the effects of that and be denied healthcare that should be given to ALL VETS at ALL TIMES after serving their country! Just despicable.

Thursday July 12, 2007, 5:24 pm
Hey...great comment thread guys. You've pretty much covered it. I have several homeless Vietnam friends who have pretty much just given up on having any dreams of a real life. The system has kicked them around and brought such humility that it has disgraced their dignity forever. I think they will die lonely and disappointed when they are actually our hero's and served our country like they were told to do. What a shame laid at the feet of our government when they use and through away lives like the garbage. Its never gotten any better!!

Thursday July 12, 2007, 6:32 pm
NOTED :)

Thursday July 12, 2007, 6:45 pm
noted. thanks for posting this!

Thursday July 12, 2007, 10:09 pm
Noted and appreciated...this shames the Amereican public....if not...the American public needs to be ashamed of themselves.

Friday July 13, 2007, 4:57 am
To all:

While it's appalling that US `Nam Vets got the shaft (and I'm one of them) I must remind all of you that the Vietnamese people are the ones who suffered more from the effects of herbicide poisonings [most notibly Agent Orange] than We Americans who were over there back then! It galls me whenever I read an article in the press or on a website like this one where much mention is made of "how much the Vietnam Veterans suffered from AO and then nothing about how much more the Southeast Asians suffered...they're the forgotten ones; they're the ones who were brutalized by the American Invasion and Chronic Occupation of THEIR LAND.
Please think this over carefully, there were millions of Vietnamese both those alive then and heir unborn who are/were affected by AO...much of their country destroyed by AO or related herbicides...thye suffered the brunt of deformities, the pain the grim losses et al.
The DAV, VFW, American Legion are scumbag outfits they were/still are opposed to giving the Vietnamese what they're entitled to in terms of medical, healthcare, financial remuneration...

Friday July 13, 2007, 5:25 am
Aragorn:

In answer to your question, it was the Nixon White House, the CIA and Hollywood which was mainly responsible for promoting the view that "all Vietnam Veterans are a bunch of paranoid psychos whacked out on drugs/booze" using the media with scurilious attacks in OpEd columns and and radio call-ins (open mike) and on the front page of many main papers (NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, et al), The propaganda was a resounding success causing most of the sheeple to get the gov't to "do something about them vets on drugs and booze."
And you know full well how Hollywood slickly promoted those Psycho on a rampage Vietnam Vet movies.
You already know what the Nixon thugs were doing to the `Nam Vets with those covert operations to neutralize veteran groups and individuals (similar to those used against A.I.M. and the Black Panthers).

Friday July 13, 2007, 10:59 am
Our government wants us to join and be in the military but yet it won't even support them and do their duty when our troops are in need. no matter if they are a vietnam vet or as green as they can be. How horrible and foolish this is.

Friday July 13, 2007, 12:02 pm
Noted!

Friday July 13, 2007, 4:33 pm
Great article John!!

Saturday July 14, 2007, 8:57 pm
So sad to hear. Those who serve our country and fight for our freedom deserve much more than what the government is willing to offer.

Monday July 16, 2007, 2:40 am
Well the British. of any nation, know that you cannot impose western style democracy upon Arab nations, after all we were in those countries for more than 100 years. They will come to it one day when they are ready ! I am surprise at Tony Blair he should have relied upon our lessons in history and briefed President Bush differently.

As for wars well nobody wants them, most of all the soliders who have to fight them, but its never a clean game .You cannot dissect them afterwards because there is usually a balance of atrocity on both sides

As for democracy itself. What is it ? No nation can, or ever will have true democracy because there are always those, within it - at elections, who did not vote for the current government, or its policies You have to make do with what you have and trust it is the best that can be done under the circumstances where millions of people have differeing views

Monday July 16, 2007, 7:42 am
It boggles my mind how our Goverment keeps turning thier backs on those that fight for our freedom. Please sign any and all petitions regarding any mis-treatment for our vets.

Monday July 16, 2007, 12:06 pm
I DON'T KNOW WHAT TOO SAY,I HAVE LOST SOME FRIENDS DO TO THIS OUR GOVERMENT DOESN'T CARE

Monday July 16, 2007, 12:06 pm
I DON'T KNOW WHAT TOO SAY,I HAVE LOST SOME FRIENDS DO TO THIS OUR GOVERMENT DOESN'T CARE

Tuesday July 17, 2007, 3:02 pm
Makes me wonder if the 'leaders' of the time (and probably still) were using our vets (and theirs) as testers. Maybe that's why they don't fess up, can avoid the embarrassment, again and again and again. There needs a total makeover in the system. Put people in office that care about more than just themselves and close friends as well as the industrial section. When money stops talking, maybe honesty will take over, maybe...

Tuesday July 17, 2007, 4:23 pm
Veterans' Affairs Secretary Resigns

Tuesday July 17, 2007, 8:22 pm
Great news to hear that Karen S has finally received news that her husband will no longer be left behind in their fight for his action against being exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Congrats to Karen on sticking in their for the fight xxx

Wednesday July 18, 2007, 10:22 am
NOTED!!

Thursday July 19, 2007, 10:09 pm
Noted! Thank you for posting.

Friday July 20, 2007, 3:04 am
please watch the google videos zeitgeistmovie and nutricide-criminalizing natural health, vitamins and herbs, it will help you to see whom your loved ones sacrificed themselves for!!!

love and light

Sunday July 22, 2007, 5:27 pm
Your very right Charles, I didn't mean to give an impression of apathy toward the good people of Viet Nam and all the suffering and still suffering they've endured. THEY, WE, EVERYONE has suffered from that War and there is no favorites in the end. It was and still is simply bad all around.

Monday July 23, 2007, 12:54 am
Ron G.
It's okay, I know you weren't trying to give such an impression...
You'll definitely find this of interest regarding AO and the VA go to: http://www.gulfwarvets.com/ao.html
there you can download the once classified document on an investigation of the association betwee adverse health effects and exposure to AO that Special Assistant Admiral Zumwalt Jr.
Zumwalt had ordered. He wanted this study released to veterans their dependents and the general public; he was suspicious of the US government and the 11 manufacturers of AO's position but felt that the public has a right to know.
He was (not surprisingly) overruled by the VA Board who preferred nonrelease due to their reasoning that if vets and their dependents latched onto that info, there would be a clamor for treatment (re:disability claim $$$$).

Then too, the BushJunta definitely wanted any AO study and public awareness nixed due to the US-backed spraying of Roundup Ultra, an AO like chemical defoliant; and Plan Columbia-a pledged $1,300,000,000 in support of a $7,500,000,000 scheme to eradicate coca fields down in Columbia S.A. via US Army anti-narcotics training and helicopters.

Monday July 30, 2007, 3:22 pm
An extraordinary man I loved and spent two and a half years with died of a brain tumor the doctors said was a result of Agent Orange. He spent years trying to get help for the many problems he incurred after two tours in Vietnam. Injuries he received, like having a lung shot out during a "black op" were totally unrecognized because 'it never happened". He told me stories that haunt me to this day and still break my heart. The way he was treated is unbelievable and yet her we are today continuing down the same path. It really sucks.

Sunday August 5, 2007, 1:01 am
Annie S.
My heart goes out to you for your immense suffering and tremendous loss of your loved one...

god there were so many if us who naively got sucked doing SpecOps/Black Programs; the orders would be read and we'd be issued suicide pills [to avoid capture]...and then when we just happened to survive to get back and find those heartless b_st_rds had destroyed all traces of who we were [persona non grata]. ..then after getting discharged from the Jolly Green Giant military, filling out VA paperwork for service connected bennies, and later getting a letter of denial for certain conditions that aren't covered by BUMED regulations-- oh yeah sure like they're really freakin gonna find the erstwhile evidence since destroyed by the same government that had originally printed then very evidence now needed for medical treatment {Welcome to Alice in Wonderland and Article 99 G.I.}
I have no country, I won't fly their commie made flags, I loathe their parades and marches of false glory filled with their Draft Dodging Sunshine Patriots...and cheap vainglorious speeches oh America you are awash in plastic debt, your waters are polluted and poisoned, your dead zones expanding, your trees and crops being replaced by Genetically Modified monsters...get thee hence away from me Corporate Amerikkka your songs are all lies...

Thursday December 17, 2009, 4:07 am
I'm Canadian, and this is the first time I have ever heard about Agent Orange being tested here! It reminds me of the LSD testing in the 50's conducted jointly between the American and Canadian Governments. Again without the people's knowledge!!!!

psp protection