Ballot Power

War time is never a good time for any people. If you think back to World War II, there were very few good things about it - sure, the economy remained buoyant because of the working female class while their husbands fought against all sorts of Axis evil forces. But remember how thousands upon thousands died? Remember Pearl Harbor? You didn't have to be alive; strikes against U.S. soil have notoriously been swiftly returned with brute force. There's death, there's finger pointing, there's arguments and, most of all, plenty of anger.

This country is seeing a lot of anger right now: Anger about the war, anger about subprime mortgages, anger about the sinking economy, anger about gas prices. Yet when I read articles like this, I find that anger (when incorrectly used) becomes a dangerous motivator that will, essentially, bite you in the ass.

You know, I was never a fan of the California left, even when the Governator was elected and re-elected. He's a great governor, don't get me wrong; but there really is a thing as flying too far left for my own comfort. Here, in Berkeley, the City Council has taken it upon themselves to pass a measure urging the U.S. Marines office downtown to vacate their offices. They urge locals to nonviolently protest these offices of "uninvited and nonwelcome intruders." The protesters who took up City Council's invitation claim that the military has given fake promises to our youth promising money, education and jobs, and have not capitalized on that promise. Further, they allege that the military is merely recruiting people to go die in the senseless war in Iraq.

In Charlotte York's first husband's words: All righty. You want the military to leave your city? Then watch as the conservative right swings back: the Semper Fi Act of 2008 has been introduced, and if it passes, it stipulates that because of Berkeley City Council's measure, they will rescind more than $2 million from Berkeley and transfer it to the Marine Corps.

Of course, neither side is backing down. A spokesperson for the Corps recruiting branch issued a statement that there's no way they're leaving, especially when folks are merely exercising their First Amendment rights. The protesters argue they're not going to give up until they pack up and leave, and one goes as far to say "We are the civilian population; we control the military. We the people have to take back control of our military."

Ok, look. This is true; we would not be a free country if we did not have control over our military. But we don't tell our folks where to go in times of war - our President does. That's the way we control our military, by electing their Commander in Chief. We the people have control over a lot of things in our country, but it's only because WE ARE ALLOWED TO VOTE for those in office, not because we ourselves determine the law. We elect people to represent our feelings about these kinds of things; that's the only control we have. If they're so incensed with the war, they should be using their time to research which candidate they're electing to Pennsylvania Avenue in 2008. The ballot is the true power that the American people have. They should not be driving a small constituent of protesters asking the Marines to leave their city.

Further, I would like to see what would happen if someone voluntarily rescinded their right to military protection. I sleep in a warm bed at night because my government, no matter what dingbats we claim them to be, still protects our home land. I don't sleep, eat, walk, work or blog in fear because I wonder if my government will come take me away if I say something wrong against them. I can have as many or few babies I darn well please. I can leave my house with or without a head covering; it's my choice. I can choose to go to a church or mosque or not even believe in a God, because no government official is going to care what otherworldly things I do or do not believe in.

Yes. There are a lot of things I can and cannot do because of our elected officials; ergo, our military. That'll be the day if I ever dismiss that kind of protection.

Work the chain gang or else!

This is something I've already talked about in "Bureaucracy's Earache," but apparently, self-employed folks who don't have access to group health care are not the only ones seeing the gaping holes in the system. Unfortunately, it's having more repercussions for the men and women who are losing limbs in Iraq.

Wounded military members are coming home to the VA, for sure, but there are some spooky stories out there about the red tape fight that goes on. One soldier claims that after he lost part of his brain in an attack, the VA classified it as only 10% rating for disability, and attributed 80% for facial disfigurement. Another claims that the VA told him his injuries (sustained in Iraq while driving a truck) are not service-related.

Then I found this tidbit in Reader's Digest (o Mother of all Bathroom Reading!):

Since then, however, members of Congress have courted the vet vote by defining the law much more generously. Now a veteran doesn't have to prove that military service caused his disability, only that it appeared or got worse during his service. So if you develop diabetes while stationed in Germany, you're covered for it, for life. Veterans don't even have to show that the condition has affected their ability to earn a living.

Well, this discrepancy would have been helpful to present to Congress, allowing that Mr. Crowley got his facts right. Because of this fact, he says, is why hemorrhoids are getting a whopping $14 million to 120,000 vets, and others are getting benefits for contracting STDs (most definitely NOT service-related) and hypertension:

According to a 2003 Congressional Budget Office report, almost 300,000 veterans get disability payments for conditions that are "generally neither caused nor aggravated by military service." The annual price tag for these cases is $970 million.

At least the VA is covering some of the sick folks in this country. Apparently you need to be spic-and-span to even get individual insurance. It's been a month since I submitted my paperwork, and now they want even more health records from me. Now I don't even know if I want to be insured by these guys, especially since I found out that California is an "all-or-nothing" state for coverage: If they don't want to cover you for anything, any little thing at all, they'll just deny you coverage. No pre-existing condition rules in place there. Great.

No question, the repercussions of covering those who were legitimately injured in Iraq will reverberate for many years to come. There are soldiers coming home, some in their early 20s, with major physical and psychological damage. Between this and Medicaid preparing for the baby boomers, I have a feeling the system is going to crumple up for us working folk, especially those on the periphery by working on their own.

An interesting blog entry I found last night embraced all the ill-will I have towards the system, but the comments left were even more interesting. Not only were people sympathizing with the situation, but some interesting "solutions" came up. Workarounds, if you will. Like joining a local Chamber of Commerce. Or getting a Sam's Club membership. Looking at http://www.nase.org/.

So maybe this isn't the end of the journey, even if I get the Big Red X on my application. But it's very clear by some of the comments that our neighbors up north (and even one from Norway)are enjoying the fact that they can pay more taxes in order to have health insurance, always. At this point, if there weren't such a taboo on raising U.S. taxes, maybe I'd pay for a little help, too.

I don't want to even START on the benefits that our government employees receive. Someone should plant themselves in the audience and ask these guys: "So, you think you have an answer to health care? Tell me, what benefits are you getting right now, and would you give those up benefits in order to take advantage of your own health care plan?" You all know what the real answer would be.

Open Wide, Phelps!

I nearly clapped my hands upon reading this, a breaking news item on Halloween Day, forcing a church to pay millions of dollars to a man whose son was killed in Iraq after they had picketed the funeral with signs such as "God Hates Fags" and "God Hates America." Remember, this is the church that inspired the bike-riding group Patriot Guard Riders to shield mourners of the the anti-gay church headed by Rev. Fred Phelps and his two daughters. This church has been finding as many military funerals as possible, arguing that the deaths in Iraq are punishment for the military's policy of "don't ask, don't tell" regarding gays in the military.

I could pick a million holes into this kind of rhetoric, but I'll save my breath by saying the following: God cannot hate America, especially when America is a land created by man-made borders, and therefore does not remove the individual calling we all have to love each other; and that it is not right for humans to pass such hateful judgment on others. God calls us to judge each other based upon law that is set forth to protect others, but he does not call a church to spread hate, which is why it makes this all the more sweeter (fitting because it is Halloween) that American justice has been served piping hot to a group of hatred-filled bigots who forgot what human decency was.

Considering many people in my family and close friends have been in the military or law enforcement at some point (Army, Navy, Marines), this kind of defense is why I am thankful to live on soil that lets me believe what I want without fear of persecution. I pray every day that the rights given to me simply by God and by birth are not taken away, and these men and women are defending this land and answering my prayer every day. Sure, this country has a load of other problems that I would prefer to live without, but if I had to choose, I would choose this again and again. We often forget how much free will has been given to us, not as a privilege, but as a God-given right in this country, and these men and women have shown bravery in places we didn't expect. But then again, that's what it's all about, isn't it?

I'm from Pennsylvania, and I know what these biker guys and gals look like up close. They're tough, they're authentic, and they're mostly veterans who survived Vietnam, Korean and Desert Storm wars. I wouldn't want to get near this at all.

So to the Phelps family, I sincerely wish that, for your sake and mine, that your hateful actions will remind you that free speech is a right, yet using it in a manipulative fashion will make you pay. Literally. And if God so hates America, then take your American church right on out of here and go somewhere else, because based to your theory, He might hate you, too.