A few months ago, I signed up to get newsletters in my email from Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5). I know it seems foreign to me and contrary to what this blog is all about, but the reason I did that was to keep track of the right wing in our state to see if they go moderate or stick to the far-right fringe. So far, McMorris Rodgers hasn’t disappointed. She is neck deep in the right-wing spin on all the top issues.
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers wrote:
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5)
Thanksgiving Message 11-25-09
From: Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers [cathymcmorris.rodgers@congressnewsletter.net]
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 3:32 PM
To: Tom
Subject: Thanksgiving Message 11-25-09Military Family Caucus
Earlier this month, I co-founded the Military Family Caucus. The purpose of this caucus is to support military families. I firmly believe that when a service member joins the military, it is not just a job; it is a family commitment to our country. As our country continues to deploy troops overseas, we see the impact it has on family members at home. It is important that we ensure these families are taken care of when their loved one is fighting for our freedoms. To read an editorial from the Spokesman Review about the caucus, please click here http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/nov/07/new-caucus-right-to-help-families-of-military/
I just discovered that this is a dead link, and pretty much a dead issue to boot. We have been undulated with calls to help military families since Bush led the invasion of Afghanistan back in 2001, and then turned the nation toward a straw bogy-man, illegally, in Iraq. I support helping military families being a veteran myself, an Army retiree, and with a service member in our family who completed a tour in Iraq a short time ago. But, this smacks of wrapping a political agenda inside the flag. She says nothing about the deep scars that may be left for decades to come inside our military and their families due to continual wars that were began by the right-wing and the repetitive rotations in and out of the theater of operations. Yes, let’s support them while they are called up once again and let’s enable them to be called over and over because of that support.
She continues:
Afghanistan
Over the last few months, we have been waiting for the President’s decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan. President Obama is expected to address the nation next Tuesday at 8:00 PM. I believe this decision is long overdue and recently sent a letter to the President expressing my concerns about the delay. As the President considers his decision, I believe it is paramount that he should be listening to our commanders on the ground. Please click the following link to read the letter I sent to the President. http://mcmorris.house.gov/uploads/11-19-09%20HPM%20and%20Leadership%20to%20POTUS%20re-Afghanistan.pdf
I have been pondering what I personally have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and I think that I am thankful that this first year of a new presidency did not belong to John McCain. Where would health care reform be with McCain in office? It would be dead, or centered on more tax cuts for the rich and corporate welfare. When a Republican uses the talking point of “listening to the commanders on the ground” what they really mean is “let’s do everything the generals want to do to escalate this war”. It is not the generals’ decision to send troops or not send troops. Let’s send LESS troops, not MORE. Anyway I am very thankful that president Obama is taking his sweet time making this very important decision. I hope that his message Tuesday focuses on how this thing will end instead of how it will continue.
Health Care Debate Continues in the Senate Last Saturday, the Senate voted 60-39 to continue debating health care reform.
I voted against the House version of the bill, and continue to oppose the current plans:
· The trillion-dollar government takeover of health care will force small business to shoulder job–killing taxes for years to come.
· Seniors will be forced to pay higher premiums.
The relationship between doctors and patients will be damaged, with bureaucrats stepping in the middle to guide health care choices.
Last week we saw what government rationing of health care would look like when the United States Preventative Services Task Force, a panel appointed by the federal government, recommended that women under age 50 skip getting mammograms. Sadly, these recommendations mirror penny-pinching and ineffective policies in single payer nations like England where women over 50 are invited once every three years to be screened. We cannot go down this same path. We all know that early screening and detection saves lives.
…and costs more for yet one more medical test that is unnecessary.
McMorris Rodgers falsely asserts that health care reform is a “trillion dollar takeover”. First of all, the consolidated bill from the Senate is going to cost about $890 Billion over the first ten years. That amounts to $89 Billion per year, and it won’t start until 2013 when the government CBO estimates that the economy will be much better. Do you still think that $86 Billion per year is too much? Comparatively,the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost $864 Billion this year alone – almost ten times the price of the health care bill. The wars have cost over $2.1 Trillion since we invaded Afghanistan in 2001, then Iraq in 2003. Secondly, as far as a “takeover” goes, according to Fact Check, President Obama has never suggested a government-run plan such as Canada or England, in fact, he rejected the idea.
My point is that McMorris Rodgers gets her talking points from conservative TV ads that are baseless lies. She repeats these falsehoods to her interested constituents to relay the drum beat against health care reform. She, like the rest of the conservative wing of the republican party cares little about health, yours and mine, and everything about allowing the insurance industry to continue to excerpt it’s control over which treatments you can get and where you can get them. This is how their profits are made – by denying care, not giving care. And as long as these corporations continue to bribe our lawmakers, this practice will continue.
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Thank The Troops By Bringing Them Home
Re: Jon Soltz: Thanks… Again And Again And Again, Posted by Jon Soltz, Co-Founder of VoteVets.org, served as a Captain in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Posted: November 26, 2009 08:22 AM
End the wars
Jon was speaking of the many TV commercials Thursday, Thanksgiving day that thanked the troops.
This is my point in my previous post, It’s President Obama, Not McCain, or McMorris Rodgers, I stated:
The point is that it is starting to sound more like McCarthyism-type raving and not as sincere as in years past. It is almost like a futuristic movie where “Big Brother” propaganda continually plays on huge TV screens at city street intersections, “Thank the Troops, Thank the Troops”. What is really meant is “Support the War, Support the War”.
This propaganda campaign is very effective at delaying the end and subsequently ensuring more profits for arms manufacturers. The more we support and thank the troops publically, the more we propel the propaganda and enable even more war. There should be commercials on TV during Thanksgiving Day football that states, let’s really help the troops and end the war. Soltz was appreciative of the good wishes for the troops, but added, “But at a certain point, for those there for yet another holiday, the thanks start to ring a bit more hollow.”
We need to hurry and get to an end state that can be an acceptable/tolerable status quo, then leave both Afghanistan and Iraq for good. It is time we get fed up with war.
Get hold of your State’s Congressional delegation and tell them to bring our boys and girls home. Give them some rest and relaxation. Our forces are stretched to the breaking point. If something happened on our mainland, there would not be sufficient forces to deal with that contingency. Let them defend our country from here – a strategic military maneuver.
If you really want to thank the troops, then end the war.
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