Coloradans For Betsy Markey

A Couple of Big Decisions in Pueblo

Dan Slater — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:04:31 EDT

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

Saturday was a big day in Pueblo, full of some pretty historic decisions in a warm Steelworkers Hall.

Many of you were there, as the Democratic State Executive Committee and Central Committee both met. (By the way, I want to thank the many people who often come up to me at events and give me comments about DemNotes — I haven’t written as much lately, but the many kind words I receive keep me going.)

The Executive Committee was first — and the one item of business on the agenda was to approve the recommendation of the Site Selection Committee that Colorado Springs be chosen as the site of the 2008 State Democratic Convention and Assembly. Along with the rest of the Site Selection Committee members that were there, I led the group on an explanation of the process that led to the decision to support El Paso County’s bid, and then discussed the high points and advantages of the Colorado Springs bid. There were several very intelligent and well-thought questions from the Executive Committee, and some debate about the decision to choose Colorado Springs over Broomfield. In the end, though, the Party overwhelmingly chose to endorse the decision of the Site Selection Committee.

The Leadership Fiddles While the Base Balks!

Robert Pike — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 01:08:05 EDT

The Democratic party was elected the majority in both the House and Senate last November primarily to end the U.S. involvement in Iraq. The task was a simple one. In 1971 and again in 1973 Congress first rescinded the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and then terminated funding for the war in Vietnam. Those actions were a roadmap that today is being ignored.

DoD Disability Evaluation System Update:

Robert Pike — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:08:04 EDT

DOD DISABILITY EVALUATION SYSTEM UPDATE 01: Injured forces returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are going to get their own battalion of lawyers to represent their appeals to the military for health care and compensation. According to the Disabled American Veterans, three major
Washington, D.C., law firms have volunteered legal representation at no cost for service men and women navigating through the disability and compensation system at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the
National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., the main U.S. hospitals receiving wounded soldiers off the battlefields.

Small Business Administration Helps Vet's Start Their Own Business!

Robert Pike — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:47:46 EDT

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION UPDATE 03: With nearly a quarter of newly discharged veterans considering starting their own businesses, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson praised a new Small Business Administration (SBA) venture to make business ownership easier for all
veterans. The SBA has unveiled a program called â??Patriot Expressâ?? that offers a wide variety of assistance to veterans interested in setting up or expanding their own small businesses. Assistance under the new SBA program for veterans ranges from help writing a business plan and managing a business, to obtaining financing and learning how to export goods.

Best Bush Benchmark. Corruption in Iraq, Like Vietnam, is Rampant!

Robert Pike — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 03:43:57 EDT

Any of you who served in South Vietnam know that dirty little secret.
For those of you that don't, here is a replay of of a Time Magazine article from June 1971 dealing with that filty reality of the Vietnam War, where over 58,000 of our troops died, 300,000 more were wounded, and $116 billion was wasted.

Time Magazine
Monday, Jun. 07, 1971
Viet Nam: A Cancerous Affliction
Link
LONG before the Americans arrived in strength, official corruption was a tacitly accepted tradition in South Viet NamÃ??Ã?Â¢?"as it is elsewhere in Asia. Indeed, the term does not have the same meaning to Asians as it does to Westerners. Vietnamese officials were always poorly paid, and they were expected to find ways of substantially increasing their salaries by means of minor shakedowns or kickbacks. In the present war, however, big-league corruption involving huge profits has roared out of hand among top officials and military men.

The U.S. Government has usually remained silent about the cancerous corruption that afflicts South Viet Nam today: the pilferage at the docks, the smuggling at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Airport, and the large-scale theft and export of scrap metal. But Washington has reacted with anger and alarm to recent disclosures about the widespread use of heroin by American G.I.s (see THE NATION) and to charges that Vietnamese officials, high and low, are involved in the hard-drug traffic.

Now for a hardball look at Iraq!

Democrats in Congress and the War in Iraq!

Robert Pike — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:38:25 EDT

In the months leading up to the November 2006 election Democrats seeking re-election and those running to unseat Republican incumbents ranted loudly in opposition to the war in Iraq, how it was imperative for the unity of the nation to change course in that war and more than hinted that they cut off funding and bring home the troops.