RE: US Senator Craig, R-ID, What wonderful empty words!

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [PissedOffVeterans] RE: US Senator Craig, R-ID, What wonderful empty words!
Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 11:45:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gary Kendall gary001ok@yahoo.com
Reply-To: PissedOffVeterans@yahoogroups.com
To: VietnamVetsHomecomingParty@yahoogroups.com, marinevet66to68@aol.com, 2 allvets , andvets allwars , USA CCCC , Revolutionary Coalition , disabledvets2@yahoogroups.com, congress fastattack , zone freefire , vets gulfwar , USA_Military Heroes_Of_ , Veterans Homeless , national coalition homeless veterans , nativeamericanveteransclub@yahoogroups.com, Veterans PissedOff , veterans2 pissedoff , VietnamVeterans ProudHonorable , veteran2 the , pipeline thegreenberet , veterans united , Moms USDevilDog , legislative VERPA , phila verpa , VERPA , mailinglist vet , affairs veterans , chat veterans , Families Veterans Wives , VAReform Veterans4 , corruption veteransagainst , SpeakingOut VeteransAndFriends , veteransclubofamerica2@yahoogroups.com, veteransofamerica@yahoogroups.com, 2000 vetNET , vets vets4 , VietVets Vetsbenes , all vfp- , Scars and Stripes Vietnam , onthenet vietnamveterans

Thank you Senator Craig!

Wonderful words of honor and thanks - and so greatly appreciated.
Words from a Senator who refused to help disabled Veterans when they have asked and brought him absolute proof and documentation that the VA is violating the law and denying the Veteran proper medical care and service connection of their disabilities caused by active military duties.

Words from a Senator who has sat upon and chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs Commission for years, and consistently voted against improvements in funding for the VA and against improvements in the care of Veterans in need.

I have been to your offices, I have spoken with your Veterans Liason on several urgent Idaho Veterans issues that needed YOUR hand to enable resolution according to existing law.

I provided you with absolute proof - in the VA's own documentations - that the VA was violating federal law and violating Veterans rights.

You did exactly NOTHING and washed your hands of the issues.

And I have spoken to numerous other Veterans in Idaho who received exactly the same treatment from you.

When Idaho determined to illegally close its VA funded Veterans domiciliary in Boise, in direct violation of federal law - you stood silent and did nothing to protect the Veterans who were thrown out. You did nothing to ensure the proper and legal care to the one Veteran who was made homeless by that illegal state action.

Veterans have died because you REFUSED to correct the violations of their rights.

When Boise Idaho was chosen by the VA in 2000 (and promised to Caongress via entry into the federal register), as the site for a new Veterans domiciliary that never was built, you remained silent on the issue and never questioned why the Congressional mandate had never been fulfilled by the VA. And Veterans died homeless upon the streets because they had no where to gain housing in Idaho.

When two Veterans were thrown out of the Idaho Boise Veterans Home, illegally and with only two hours notice - in illegal retaliation for having filed a valid complaint against that home (for which the home was ultimately cited and had a reduction to probationary in its licensing) YOU remained silent and refused to intercede on their behalf. YOU allowed those two Veterans - who only stood to defend the rights of Veterans at that home who could not defend their own rights - to be thrown into homelessness.

When Secretary of the VA, Anthony Principi visited Boise to listen to Veterans, your people pointed out the Veterans that he should ignore during the question and answer period at that meeting. And after Mr. Principi introduced you as his man in Idaho to contact when any Veterans had a problem with the VA, you closed your doors and ears to Veterans.

When Idaho announced that it was going to return the federal funding to create a Veterans cemetary because Idaho couln't afford to maintain it and refused to allow the American Legion and VFW to voluntarily caretake the cemetary - while being the only state in the union to not have a Veterans Cemetary - AGAIN, you stood silent and made no stand for Veterans.

YOU would have allowed Veterans to have no place of honor in which to be buried upon their death.

I call you on these words Senator! You are full of BS!

Gary Kendall,
P.O. Box 6017
Boise, ID 83707
=================Senator Craig's message is below===================
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 05 May 2005 00:18:54 -0000
From: "John Welter Jr."
Subject: HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED IN VIETNAM

HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED IN VIETNAM
U.S. Senator Larry Craig
R-Idaho

If you are a Vietnam veteran, thank you for our service to our
nation.
If you know a Vietnam veteran, please thank them for me. These are
America's heroes, and we all owe them a deep debt of gratitude. We
can never thank them enough.

They went to Vietnam to help the free people of the south defend
thems elves from the tyranny of the north. They went to stop the
spread of
communism, which was at that time making gains throughout the world
and which represented a serious long-term threat to America.

They were there to live out President Kennedy's pledge: "Let every
nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any
price,
bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any
foe to assure
the survival and the success of liberty."

It was a noble call. It was a noble effort. It is tragic that our
political leaders failed them when the troops on the ground needed
them the most.

Thirty years ago, on April 30, 1975, the American war in Vietnam
ended.
Thirty years later, as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on
Veterans' Affa irs, my job is to be an advocate for all of our
nation's veterans -
from the few survivors still with us from World War I to the youngest
veterans returning today from Iraq. But the veterans from Vietnam
will always
hold a special place in my heart.

This is my generation, and now I am responsible to see that they
receive the best care this nation can provide. I do not intend to
see those who
served in Vietnam failed again by their political leaders.

Those who of us who grew up during the war in Vietnam remember it
like
it was yesterday. Every day the body count on the nightly news.
Stories
of atrocities. A few stories of survival. Stories of heroic deeds.
Protests on high school and college campuses. Riots in the streets
of America.
Some avoiding the draft by running off to Canada. The Mi Lai
Massacre. The
Tet Offensive. Soldiers shooting and killing students at Kent State.

It was a turbulent time. It was a maddening time. It was a time
never to
be forgotten.

Of the 20,000 National Guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 97 were
killed.
Their names are now part of the 58,245 names etched on the Vietnam
Veterans
Memorial in Washington, D.C. They gave their lives, the last full
measure of devotion. They gave their todays so that we may have our
tomorrow's. The numbers of those who gave their lives are staggering.

Today, the men and women of the Idaho National Guard's 116th Cavalry
Brigade
carry on in the proud footsteps of their forefathers. And now, as
Abraham Lincoln said, it is for us, the living to be dedicated to
their unfinished work of freedom, even as we find
ourselves in another great war.

We are doing that in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of our quick
military action, both of those nations have recently held free
elections. Now democracy is on the march across the region. Libya
has opened its doors and seeks to improve its r elations with the
United States. Syria has been evicted by the people of Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt are opening up their doors of their electoral
process.

Is the situation perfect? No. Are things getting better? Yes!

The lessons we learned in Vietnam provided the foundation for our
military successes in Iraq and Afghanistan. And to that we must
say "thank you" again to our veterans who served in Vietnam.

#####

Jeff Schrade, Communications Director
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), Chairman
412 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Direct: 202-224-9093 Cell: 202-680-9552 Fax: 202-228-5655

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