Senator Johnson wants us to support veterans benefits

I suppose all the bloggers and their dogs got the e-mail from Sen. Tim Johnson requesting support of a new GI bill for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. A copy is in the continuation of this post.

I guess I am a supporter of such aid. Our government and our politicians have sent soldiers off to Iraq on the basis of a big lie and a fool's errand. Johnson supported that folly. I guess he owes something to those who believed him and others who told them it was worthwhile to be in Iraq.

What I don't understand now however is why Johnson thinks my letter to any congressman or senator would be effective when both he and Senator Daschle and staff of Stephanie ignored every letter, call, and e-mail, and blog post l I made indicating it was folly to support Bush war powers and the war that followed in Iraq.

Even as a farmer, I would support a GI bill of some kind even if it meant reducing the ag subsidy payments to the equivalent of two minimum wages annually and using the savings for veteran's benefits. Hell, they might even use some of that to pay for hearing aids for all the WWII vets who are going deaf.

While hammering on this great waste of time, I remember that when one of my uncles was released from a VA hospital for home care after his surgery and the VA also dropping him on a floor and breaking his hip, that the prescriptions they sent with him would have killed him in a matter of days. Local home health workers noticed the gross error.

So what you say? Well, in the recent news, have been stories of veterans of the Iraq war getting back home all shot up or messed up mentally or both and being given prescriptions which have actually killed them. By now they have had about 20 years to solve those problems.

Read the e-mail in the continuation. Maybe they ought to also think a bit about aiding those students who want to go to attend engineering and science colleges and universities so they can help reduce or eliminate our dependence on middle east oil..whether or not they are veterans or not.

**Stay tuned anyway, and maybe you can send letters that will influence the politicos in DC to do the right thing this time --- Doug Wiken

Dear Friend,

Your Senators need to know that they will be held accountable for treating today's generation of veterans with the same respect we gave to those who came before them.

E-mail Your Senators
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I am writing to ask you to help me pass legislation to help repay the enormous debt we owe our Post 9-11 veterans who are returning from the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and other conflicts.

Over 60 years ago, our nation passed the first GI Bill in gratitude to the veterans of World War II. This bill - one of the most important to ever pass Congress - paid for veterans to go to college. It transformed lives, created a new middle class and launched our nation into a new era of prosperity.

Today, however, the rising cost of higher education dwarfs the amount given to veterans under a revised peacetime version of the GI Bill. I believe our Post 9-11 veterans deserve a fully funded education just like veterans of the World War II era. That's why I have sponsored Senator Jim Webb's bill to restore the promise of the original GI Bill by raising benefits so that they cover the full cost of attending a public university. We owe today's generation of veterans nothing less.

Ask your senator to support expanding the GI Bill today. I need your help to ensure this vital bill becomes law.

Despite the fact that we are spending $12 billion a month to fight the Iraq war, some of my Senate colleagues think that we can't afford to pay the additional $2 billion a year it would take to pay for college for today's veterans. That's hogwash. Studies of the original GI Bill have shown that for every $1 the bill cost, over $7 was returned by veterans to the economy.

Right now we have 57 senators cosponsoring the Webb bill. We need just three more to join us to reach the 60 votes needed to stop this bill from being blocked by a filibuster on the Senate floor.

I am asking you to write your senator today. Urge him or her to cosponsor Senator Jim Webb's legislation to create a GI Bill for Post 9-11 veterans. Senators need to know that their constituents care about this issue. They need to know that they will be held accountable for treating this new generation of veterans with the same respect we gave to those who came before them.

Write your senator today. We need just three more senators to cosponsor this legislation so that we can turn back any chance of a filibuster and give our veterans the benefits they have earned.

Today's wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere are no less grueling, and no less deadly, than those of the past. The least we can do for our returning veterans is to restore the original promise of the GI Bill and give our vets what they have earned - an education, and the opportunity to build the life they choose.

I'm counting on your help. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Signature

Tim Johnson