Old Soldiers Never Cash Out – Editorial – NY Times
November 23, 2009 by John Allen · 2 Comments
In ![recall old "Blood](imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=Old+generals&img=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audiomurphy.com%2Febaypictures%2Fpatton.jpg&site=&count_override=20&host=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audiomurphy.com%2Fcdpages%2Fpatton.htm&width=87&height=127&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages-partners-tbn.google.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3Aw9yEn0Ped8ZyWM%3Awww.audiomurphy.com%2Febaypictures%2Fpatton.jpg&b=image%3Fq%3DOld%2Bgenerals%26page%3D2%26flv%3D1%26oreq%3D4355f4677b0f49fa9a57684a707ebfb4%26s_it%3DrboxImgDtls%26icid%3Dsnap-pic%26count_override%3D20%26oreq%3D3efe54bb63c645fcb8532b3e4a3e122b&imgHeight=440&imgWidth=300&imgTitle=recall+%3Cb%3Eold%3C%2Fb%3E+%26quot%3BBlood&imgSize=59540&hostName=www.audiomurphy.com "recall old "Blood")
a scathing attack on the glut of mercenary admirals and generals that we have in this country, today’s New York Times editorial board rightly puts the blame for "selling credibility" to the Pentagon on this new "senior mentors" classification.
They do this while at the same time putting themselves in a position to steer government arms deals toward the defense contractors that they work for outside the Pentagon after their military and naval retirements. This is just flat out wrong and should not be allowed to occur.
The editorial is entitled Old Soldiers Never Cash Out.
These are the same jerks that show up on Fox News as well paid "consultants" that parrot whatever it is that Fox News wants them to say for money relative to whatever fascist point of view the ‘Foxies’ want them to have.
This nonsense must end. This may not be illegal but it is unethical. It is also insane that anyone would accept their points of view as valid or objective or even reasonable. They are whores selling their wares to the highest bidder.
Can you imagine Eisenhower or George Marshall or Chesty Puller or Chester Nimitz or "Bull" Halsey playing the whore for defense contractors or Fox News at the expense of the American people and their sons and daughters in uniform?
How many times during the Bush regime did we see these guys on Fox News telling us in great detail how swimmingly the wars were going? They filled up the television screen with minutiae that they were willing to share about tactics and weapons systems et al.
How did these bastards sleep at night?
And not one of them had the chutzpa to tell the American people the price that we were paying in human lives shattered or taken in this misguided Crusade we seem to be undertaking in western Asia. To hell with them all.
They need to be under investigation, not hired by television news outlets.
This is not patriotism, this is unfettered greed once again being costumed as "love of country".
This is very dangerous b.s. and the young American in uniform is paying for it with his or her life either taken outright overseas or shattered by an IED explosion or some similar catastrophe. Have these men no souls?
In an Op Ed piece by David Colley entitled How World War II Wasn’t Won , we learn about tactical miscalculations on the Allied side that led to the costly Battle of the Bulge. Generals were not paying attention. Imagine that.
In the On This Day section of today’s Times we read the following.
"On Nov. 23, 1943, during World War II, United States forces seized control of the Tarawa and Makin atolls from the Japanese". May the dead rest in peace. Moving into raw economics and politics as seen by the Times staff, we learn from Thomas Friedman in an Op Ed piece entitled The Phanton Menace that Obama is taking too much time to listen to Wall Street’s fears and not paying enough attention to the pain on Main Street. Here is an excerpt: "…in the face of the greatest economic catastrophe since the Great Depression, it’s much riskier to do too little than it is to do too much. It’s sad, and unfortunate, that the administration appears to have lost sight of that truth. " In an Op Ed piece by Ross Douthat entitled They Chose Celebrity , we read that in Mr. Douhat’s estimation both GOP candidates and former Governors Huckabee and Palin are less then truthful. He feels that they sold out any ideals they may have had for celebrity status and big checks from the speaker’s circuit instead of staying in politics and trying to make a difference. They chose being a celebrity over national service in politics according to this writer. Are you beginning to see a pattern here among so called "civil servants" and "men in uniform" that resembles prostitution? And we still see these people as national leaders and not the whores that they are? Why is that?
In this story entitled Iran’s Death Penalty Is Seen as a Political Tactic , we read that Iran is using judicially sanctioned death sentences as a way to silence dissidents. If this goes much further, we could have a full scale civil war in that country. Here is an excerpt from the article: "In Iran, where there is precedent for executions to surge in the wake of a crisis, human rights groups said there was mounting evidence that the trend had emerged in response to the political tumult that followed the June presidential election. This month, a fifth person connected to the protests was sentenced to death." To make matters worse, just five months after Iran’s illegitimate election of Ahmadinejad as "President" of Iran, Brazil has invited him to that country to discuss trade relations over the objections of Western countries. That story, Brazil’s President Elbows U.S. on the Diplomatic Stage, shows us that emerging countries are more and more willing to defy the U.S. and is an indication of our loss of status in the world due to the economic crisis starting in 2008. Great. Just what we need, another enemy in "friend’s clothing" in Latin America. In the Times lead in story today we learn about the interest debt we are accumulating as a nation by the borrowing we have been doing to stimulate the economy. When the deadline shows up, there will be hell to pay. That story Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government is not good news. Our grandchildren are truly going to hate us. I am not kidding. In this story which once again only indicates to all of us what we here at Veterans Today have been saying for a very long time, the infrastructure in our country needs to be completely reconstructed before we are all killed. We don’t need to be spending money on wars we cannot morally or financially support when sewers are routinely overflowing and poisoning the water tables throughout the country due to lack of adequate reconstruction funding. That story Sewers at Capacity, Waste Poisons Waterways is only a small indication of what is to come if we do not take that ill spent ‘war money’ and spend it on what we actually need to survive as a society. That would be a complete overhaul of our infrastructure both social and physical. Finally from the Times today, we have this odd article concerning the University of California college system getting federal money so that wealthy kids can go to state universities at a much higher rate than low income kids! This same odd pattern holds true in this state, Virginia, as well as Michigan. It seems that there are more wealthy kids at these state sponsored institutions than there are the working class kids that these schools were intended to educate! The story Haves vs. Have-Nots at Public Universities is unsettling. Once again, the wealthy and connected take what is not theirs to get. I am shocked. From AOL News as reported by the Associated Press, students at California public colleges have ended their three day siege of administration buildings at UC Santa Cruz to protest the 32% tuition hike that was just enacted. That story, UC Students End 3-Day Siege Peacefully, is here.
From AOL News today as reported by the Associated Press we learn about Iran’s war game situation in a short article entitled Iran Begins Air Defense War Games. And it is also reported by the A.P. that as a result of these war games, oil has risen sharply. The story , Oil rises above $78 amid Iranian war games is here. In another AOL News story as reported by the Associated Press, the Virginia Military Institute is defending itself against sexism complaints by female students a full twelve years after women have been admitted to that prestigious school. The story Military School Accused of Sexism shows how retrograde we still are in military circles in this country. In this story we learn that almost two dozen Philipinos have been murdered while on their way to file papers to run in elections next year. That story 21 Filipinos killed on way to file election papers is here. And finally it is reported by Thomas DiChiara of Moviefone that an upcoming movie depicting an Iraq war veteran entitled "Armored" is a gripping presentation of veterans of that war. The piece is called ‘Armored’ Sparks Debate: How Are Iraq War Vets Portrayed in Movies? and here is an excerpt. "The most recent movie to meet this hot-button topic head-on is the upcoming ‘Armored’ (in theaters Dec. 4), a wham-bam, adrenaline-infused heist flick that also happens to depict how a decorated Iraq veteran (up-and-comer Columbus Short) reacts to the thankless hand he’s dealt — and the lack of options he’s given — upon his return home." How many can relate? Remember, it is your duty as an American veteran to assist in governing this republic based on an informed opinion concerning salient issues. Get informed and stay informed. CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)
These war mongering mouth pieces are total nothings. They were a politicians brown noser when they were in the military and do the same thing now for a price, and thats glorify the chickenhawk war.
Tell me something, when the hell are veterans going to stop waving their flags and look at the policies of this country and say enough is enough? Who to tell the real story of war better than those that fought the SOB’S…
Just think what a force veterans would be in this country if we could get our act together.
Gentlemen; It came to me in a flash again. We have our US flags, our state flags, probably our city and county flags laying around, maybe our terrorist indicator flags (red, yellow, never saw a green one yet). Why don’t we have our ‘DOLLAR’ FLAG? We could make them, I don’t know, about the same size as our American flag stationed to the left (again I don’t know) of our American flag, slightly lower of course and our state flag. I have noticed that almost every place that has more than one flagpole out front has three, so it won’t take any DOLLARs to put this idea in place.
So Gentleman, there it is. OK next question, what ‘BILL’ are we going to use for the representation of each company, state or federal office? Well here is ‘MY’ solution. The ones that don’t take’ (or make) much DOLLARS get to fly the DOLLAR flag, if they ‘take’, I mean, make more DOLLARS, they get the five (AKA, the sawbuck). The higher up they are, the bigger the domination on the flag. When the DOLLARS they ‘take’, I mean make, gets too big for ‘Bill’ representation, (Personally, I have never seen what at a million DOLLAR bill looks like, but this is a good chance to) then it switches to the DOLLAR sign shown here ‘$’ . And again, the more DOLLARS they ‘make’ (HA! got it right this time) the more DOLLAR signs (represented here as ‘$ $ $ $’), they get to put on their flag. This will have the added benefit of showing to everybody what a company or state office is REALLY worth. Of course, if you have an earnings loss, shown on your income tax 1040 (heaven and Uncle Sam forbid), then you’ll have to take a few $ $ $s off your flag.
Heck, it might even make everybody them start being honest so they can brag about their $ $ $ $ s. This will also teach our young kids about Math (sorely needed in today’s economy, yes, it’s all about money) & will also have the added ‘Trickle Down Effect’, because if your ’smart’ in Math, you will probably know how to speak a language or two or three to get it, so ‘your little Tax deduction’s’ (AKA kid’s), Reading, Writing and Arithmetic part of learning is taken care of.
Heck, the more I think about it, the better I like it as opposed to the “No Child left Behind” tax or “A portion of the LOTTO gambling funds will pay for your child’s education tax” and/ or the old, “I don’t care if you never had any kids, you still have to pay for the schools in your state & federal taxes” tax.
So now that I thought of this plan, I’m gonna put a patent on it and sell it to Uncle Sam (for DOLLARS of course) & just like the Military’s ‘Benny Suggs’ program, I’ll stand back and wait for all those boxes full of cash to come rolling in, reaping the rewards. Stand by guys. We’re fixin to have a PARTY! “Boy, pit me an Olive”.