Empowering Veterans Unveils it "Worst 10" List of Senators
My name is Ralph Parrott. I am a 65 year old retired Navy Supply Corps Captain and retired businessman from Fairfax Station, Virginia. I served in the US Navy from March 1963 until September of 1990, over 27 years.
I make no claim of being a war hero. My service in the Viet Nam war consisted of two Tonkin Gulf deployments in USS Intrepid CVS-11 in 1967 and 1968. As a Supply Corps officer I served in a support role. But unlike our President, Vice President and most of their neoconservative fellow travelers that have gotten us in to the mess we called Iraq, I served.
I started the PAC, Empowering Veterans, during the 2006 Senate campaign in Virginia in support of Jim Webb's candidacy against George Allen. I decided the best way to support Jim Webb was to expose the voting record of George Allen on issues relating to members of the Armed Forces and their families and veterans and their families. As I researched George Allen's record I became shocked at the difference between his lofty rhetoric of "Support the Troops" and the reality of his actual record. As I dug deeper I came to realize that George Allen was not alone in establishing a record of deceit and hypocrisy when it comes to really "Supporting the Troops". Indeed, his sorry record is shared by a large portion of his Republican colleagues.
Learning this, I decided to devote the time from now until the election of 2008 to exposing the "Worst 10" incumbent Senators up for reelection in 2008. As I watched the Republicans tie the US Senate in knots last week in order to avoid a debate about on the wisdom of the President's troop surge in Irag I was struck by the sheer hypocrisy of many members of the "Worst 10" club as they piously implored their colleagues to "Support the Troops". A cursory view of their sorry voting records puts their rhetoric in sharp relief of where they really stand. Namely, there is always money for tax cuts for the wealthy, tax giveaways for the corporations, and no bind contractors for insiders, but when it comes to mental health care soldiers, head trauma research, or support for military families the budget is somehow constrained. The "Worst 10" on issues relating to members of the Armed Forces and their families and veterans and their families are:
Alexander of Tennessee Chambliss of Georgia Cochran of Mississippi Coleman of Minnesota Cornyn of Texas Dole of North Carolina Graham of South Carolina Roberts of Kansas Sessions of Alabama Sunnunu of New Hampshire
Empowering Veterans's strategy for the next election cycle is very simple.
* We will track ("Bird Dog") each target incumbent's voting record on issues relating to members of the Armed Forces their families and veterans and their families. * We will maintain that record on our website, www.empoweringveterans.org. * We will recruit volunteers in each targeted state to conduct Letters to the Editor campaigns to keep each incumbent's record of deceit and hypocrisy constantly before his or her constituents. * We will encourage veterans to run against these incumbents. * We will raise money to support those veterans that do run against these incumbents.
This posting is Empowering Veterans's opening shot in what I hope is a campaign that will make the members of "The Worst 10" club lives miserable until their defeat in the 2008 election. This posting is an appeal for you to visit our website, www.empoweringveterans.org, to review the voting records of the "Worst 10", and to volunteer to serve as a "Bird Dog" to hold these people accountable for their deceit, hypocrisy, and hollow claims of "Supporting the Troops".
In the coming days I will post each "Worst 10" member's record for the benefit of readers that are constituents of these hypocrites. I hope these postings will spur you to action to help defeat them in 2008.
www.empoweringveterans.org
I am a 65 year old retired Navy Supply Corps Captain and retired businessman from Fairfax Station, Virginia. I served in the US Navy from March 1963 until September of 1990, over 27 years.
I make no claim of being a war hero. My service in the Viet Nam war consisted of two Tonkin Gulf deployments in USS Intrepid CVS-11 in 1967 and 1968. As a Supply Corps officer I served in a support role. But unlike our President, Vice President and most of their neoconservative fellow travelers that have gotten us in to the mess we called Iraq, I served.
I started the PAC, Empowering Veterans, during the 2006 Senate campaign in Virginia in support of Jim Webb's candidacy against George Allen.
I'm too busy working on election integrity now to pay much attention to this important issue, so please keep up the good work and let's get a few of those "worst ten" out of office next time.
In combination with my work for fair elections and yours to reveal the true voting records of the phony "patriots", perhaps we'll make some progress restoring good American values.
My salutes, captain. Your efforts are definitely needed, especially as the veteran's benefits have continually fallen. What was it I just read today...
Army Secretary Francis Harvey blamed a failure of leadership for substandard conditions in a building that is part of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and vowed Tuesday to move quickly to fix the problem.
"We failed here, we failed in having a facility like this," Harvey told CNN. "Unfortunately, it's a leadership problem."
Inside Building 18, used for outpatients who suffered wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan, workers were repairing plumbing, covering holes in ceilings and repainting mold-covered walls....
This is not the standard that should be.Keep up the good work. And again, my Salutes.
by
Eliot Gould (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 21 diaries, 108 comments)
on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 9:34:29 PM
Ralph I am going to write the letters here in Minnesota to help your cause. I was in the Air Force as a Medic 1966 to 1970 and I am outraged at how our Vets are being treated.
by
tginmn (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 54 comments)
on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 10:56:59 PM
Mr. Parrott, I have watched these 10 Senators for a a number of years. Chablis, Cronyn and Coleman were elected in 2004. They have rubber-stamped legislation that has kept resources from reaching our veterans. In my opinion, all 10 of these Senators have used their office to sabotage the country we love so very much. They claim they are working for better legislature but the reality shows our veterans are suffering more than ever and are not receiving the disability services so direly needed.
by
Joyce Fisher (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 12:56:02 AM
I'm thinking it's time for a march on Washington. The Iraq war, the Attorney General, the "10 worst US Senators", etc. - it's time for people to take action.
by
KathyG (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 9:11:38 AM
9 comments
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