Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day, Will Williams.
Your commitment to peace does us
honor.

Remember our veterans.

Know our veterans' friends, committed to treating Agent Orange and PTSD.

And our veterans' enemies, who steal from veterans while using veterans as props.

The neocons and Republicans saluting Veterans Day do so with irony, as they keep up their campaign that fraud, lies and 'government dependence' define the veterans' reentering American society.

And to AP writer, Allen Breed; are you still sticking to your story that the VA makes it's too easy for veterans to file claims and is an "open invitation to fraud," in your words?

President Obama made easier it to file and obtain PTSD disability benefits in 2010, and all the GOP hucksters and poseurs came forward.

From the Wisconsin State Journal (May 27, 2010)

In February 2010, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts questioned Assistant to the Solicitor General, Anthony Yang, in the federal benefits-related case, Astrue v. Ratliff (No. 08-1322).

Asked Justice Roberts, "In litigating with veterans, the government more often than not takes a position that is substantially unjustified?"

Yes, he was told.

Roberts found this "really startling."

Mr. Chief Justice, you're right.

What we do to our veterans is startling, and calling their benefits system an open invitation to fraud is outrageous.

Scott Walker on motorcycle at Operation Freedom event.
Walker's personal aides stole from fund meant for
veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan

On a local note, how about Scott Walker uses Veterans Day 2013 as a day to hold a listening session to explain the embezzlement from veterans and their families in Operation Freedom.

Straighten out the record, for once.

After all, stonewalling by Scott Walker's office in the embezzlement of funds from Operation Freedom did lead to the John Doe I probe, (Bice. MJS. May 31, 2012), according to the District Attorney's office which requested the John Doe probe in the first place.

Stealing from veterans. Nice.

Is Walker going to mention his buddies, felons Tim Russell (who operated Walker's 2010 Walker for Governor campaign website, ScottWalker.org) and Kevin Kavanaugh, on his new Scott Walker for Governor site, maybe apologize?

Well, I suppose the new John Doe II means Scott Walker will not be taking questions on this Veterans Day.

Two Veterans Awarded Wisconsin Peacemakers of the Year

Two Wisconsin veterans will be among those awarded "for their lifetimes of activism on Oct. 3 by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ), a statewide network of 170 organizations working for social change."

Vietnam War veteran Will Williams of DeForest, Wisconsin (at right) and Iraq War veteran Jason Moon of Milwaukee are well-known in the peace and justice community for their tireless efforts in support of peace.

Jason Moon, 35, is a leader in Milwaukee’s chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Veterans for Peace (VFP) and the board of VFP’s Homeless Veterans Initiative to find and assist homeless veterans in the Milwaukee area. He testified at the national Winter Soldier hearings in 2008, at which Iraq and Afghanistan veterans told of their experiences.

Will Williams, 65, a member of Madison’s Veterans for Peace chapter, uses his own experience in Vietnam to speak and counsel young people about the realities of military service and challenge promises of recruiters. He has spoken across the state, linking peace, prison reform, and immigrant rights.

Iraq Invasion veteran Jason Moon of Milwaukee said his service in Iraq from July 2003until Aug. 2004 left him bitterly opposed to the Iraq war that most Americans regard as a lie sold to the American people.

From the Fond du lac Reporter:

Moon said the soldiers deployed in the summer of 2003 were ordered to run over children if they ran into the road, take the lives of civilians in terms he disagreed with and were ordered to not give food or water to civilians along the roadside.

'I told my superiors I wouldn't kill anyone,' Moon said. 'I entertained the troops with singing and playing my guitar. I taught Korean soldiers English and did whatever I could to remain useful on base. They understood I wasn't going to shoot anyone, so they gave me jobs. I tried to become a conscientious objector while I was over there, but they told me if I did that I would still be in Iraq after my unit came home.'

For more information, see Peacemakers honored for lifetimes of work.