March 28, 2024

The year, so far

What has your first three months of 2014 been like? I feel like I have been in a clash!

I am tired of hearing about the Obamacare program. Yes, I want people to have health insurance. However, I was happy with my health insurance. Is Obamacare really covering the people who did not have health insurance? I know we have spent a lot money that would’ve taken care of many of those people trying to set up the Obamacare program.

Is everything bad about Obamacare program? (Understand that I have not read it and I know we were not suppose to read it till it passed).

I am sure there many important benefits in the law that would help people. I am just totally exhausted hearing about the program.

I was shattered in the last few weeks when I heard that Fallujah, Iraq, had fallen back into the hands of the bad guys. We lost 95 soldiers and 560 were wounded in getting the bad guys out of Fallujah. The military described the fighting as some of the hardest urban battles since the Vietnam War.

I have always had nagging question about the 56,000 (plus) killed in Vietnam and now I have the same nagging questions about Iraq. What should we say to the parents and loved ones who have lost a member of their family? Afghanistan is another case that I will not get into, but let’s say it looks too much like Iraq.

I learned from my parents when they said “NO,” that was the answer. In my family, we attempted to follow that policy. However, our nation has been “huffing and puffing” about certain areas of the world and then we walk away. We are facing one of those problems with Ukraine.

In 1991, Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma – the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine, signed the Budapest Memorandum. It promised to protect Ukraine’s borders, in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. It appeared to be a good decision then and now.

Our nation’s word is on the line with this treaty. While some might say it is none of our business. However, if you read the news media around the world, you will discover that other nations are watching closely the lack of action we have taken with our word on a treaty.

Finally, ABC and CNN reported a sorrowful fact for all us as Americans. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans rallied in Washington, D.C., to call attention to the suicide rate of American soldiers. They placed 1,896 flags on the National Mall to honor the 22 veterans a day who have committed suicide from January 1, 2014, to March 27, 2014.

Sen. John Walsh of Montana has introduced a bill in Congress asking for more money to help and support the need of our veterans.

Here’s one example.

Mother Judy Casper told reporters her son who committed suicide was torn by the thought that as he handed a little Afghan girl a bottle of water; the girl stepped on a mine reaching for the bottle of water. Mother Judy Casper said her son’s life was torn from that experience.

I hope you will take this opportunity to write, call, or email our Iowa Congressmen in Washington, D.C., act now to support our veterans from the longest war that America has ever fought. It is hoped that Sen. Walsh’s bill can be passed by Memorial Day.