COAL CELLARS and COMMON SENSE

Red County ^ | 8-29-09 | Don Bendell

[smoothsailing]

COAL CELLARS and COMMON SENSE

By Don Bendell | 08/29/09 | 07:29 AM EDT |

As Vietnam veterans; for decades, we were like the shiny black lumps in our coal cellar when I was a little boy. That coal bin was dark, cold, scary, and out of sight of the neighbors. That is where the American public shoveled all of us after Vietnam. Out of sight, out of mind after-all. We were not seen or heard from for years, except as psycho killers in movies and TV shows. War is always hell, but a lot of our real pain came from the heartbreak of Americans not giving us enough credit. Newsmen said it, so many thought we all lost our values and character that we grew up with. Instead, in the publics’ minds; amazingly, we became brain-washed, robotic killers, and rapists after only a year or two of military training. Please! It was chilly and emotionally-barren in that coal bin all those years, because we, “Vietnam Untouchables,” were blanketed by an icy coldness of public shame and apathy.

Then, a few years ago, we came into vogue. Even the left saw us as fashionable, so now there are 11,000,000 Vietnam vets running around. Except for one problem, there were only 2.7 million of us in Vietnam. People finally learned though that we are not sociopaths, that only 17% of us were black, which was commensurate with that racial percentage nationally, that we did not mostly come from low income families, and most of us were; like me, volunteers, not draftees. And so many more myths about Vietnam have been exploded.

So what now, a parade, a national holiday? No, our President and our congressional leaders, instead of honoring us, want us to start figuring out how we want to die, (so we will not be a burden to their spending plans, I believe). I have a copy of Obama’s now infamous “Death Book for Veterans.” It is actually called “Your life, Your Choices,” and camouflages itself as a guide for living wills. In actuality, it encourages euthanasia if you feel depressed, are wheelchair–bound, in a nursing home, are a burden to loved ones, either emotionally or financially, or in similar circumstance. And this book is real; morbid and shameful, but real. There is page after page about “pulling the plug,” the horrors of comas, and other debilitating conditions. It is indeed a macabre guide, and much unlike any military field manual I have ever read. This one is how to lose, not win.

Since FDR was wheelchair-bound as our President, I wonder how he would have felt about self-euthanasia. Then I remembered that the President and Congress are too good for our health care plan. In fact, if our health care system is so bad, why didn’t Teddy Kennedy go to Canda, Great Britain, or maybe Cuba for his brain cancer? Why do all their terminal cancer patients come to the US for care? And, do you know what they call many of them who don’t? Corpses.

Any nation takes care of its troops during war, but the true test of a nation’s greatness is how that nation treats its warriors when they come home. Can they seek shade, rest, and peace on the porches of America or must they immediately head for the coal chute “out back?” Obama and Congress want us to save them money and head to the boneyard so they can spend some more.

The problem is that this is not just about vets. It is about a government-run and mandated healthcare program for America. I am a disabled Vietnam veteran and am treated by government-paid doctors, nurses, druggists, and administrators. In other words, I am taken care of by government-run healthcare through a dysfunctional bureaucracy that is broken. No, not broken, trashed, in case you haven’t read. Now, get this: Our leaders in Washington want to create a much, much larger bureaucracy in the midst of a recession and saddle our entire nation with what my brother vets and I go through but on a grander scale. What are they, nuts?

Let’s see, just in 2009 alone, our government began “Cash for Clunkers,” and it went broke in just weeks. People traded in big American-made cars, and most purchased new foreign-made cars. Wow! The government sure is taking care of American auto workers . . . not. Car dealers have not been paid their promised federal dollars either.

How about the still-naïve one-third of Americans who want Big Brother to provide us with Obamacare? How has our government done over the decades managing other federal programs? Just look at: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Amtrak, Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security. And say, what about the US Postal Service? Even the President joked in a speech in August about their incompetence compared to FEDEX or UPS. Do you want to go to the post office on the day that some worker comes in “disgruntled?”

We have legislators actually suggesting we copy Great Britain’s healthcare system. In Great Britain, MS patients are forced to wait two and a half years there for the latest MS medicines and treatments. I have two daughters with MS, probably because I was exposed to Agent Orange. One of them is even a liberal and may even want Obamacare, not realizing what will happen to MS patients if it happens.

Over two-thirds of Americans, democrats and republicans are against Obamacare, but legislators at town halls are still trying to cram it down our throats. They are not listening to the majority, only their own spin-doctors insulting us, the citizens. Our so-called leaders forgot that the hidden coal in the coal cellar of my youth, also provided my family with life-giving warmth and comfort during the cold Ohio winters. Similarly, my fellow veterans and I did not lose our warmth or fires of passion hidden away all those years.

These “empty suit” pinheads in Washington think I am going to let my daughters get re-victimized? The real problem is, that just because some us were dumb enough to elect them, they think we are all stupid. I have news for them and any of their co-dependent hangers-on just wanting more government freebies. Veterans are not like giggling, slogan-chanting Woodstockers and peaceniks. American veterans actually risked our lives for what we believed in. In Vietnam, 58,000 gave up theirs. It is not just veterans though. It is an American public, democrats, republicans, and independents who feel like me: I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.

Ronald Reagan was faced with a greater recession, higher inflation, much higher interest rates, and much higher unemployment than Obama faced. Democrats and Republicans alike voted for Reagan, and he drastically cut taxes and immediately started us on the road to recovery. Obama put us $3 trillion deeper in debt with a worse economy to show for it. Reagan studied world leaders before becoming President. Obama’s mentor prior to heading off to college was Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Communist Party USA, who was a heavy pot-smoker, and wrote a porno book. Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama have one major similarity though: One term Presidents due to pie-in-the-sky unworkable fiscal policies.

The first thing we must do to fix our sky-rocketing medical care is not talked about. If a surgeon passes gas in the operating room, a patient files a multi-million dollar lawsuit against him for causing air pollution. Trial lawyers run the democratic party and a good portion of the republican party. We must force our legislators to pass good, rock solid tort reform legislation. The insurance premiums doctors, especially those in private practice, and hospitals, pay is through the ceiling.

My Solutions:

1. Tort Reform: We must get the size of lawsuits, especially in the medical profession, significantly lowered back to earth, insurance rates will come down, and health care costs will start dropping immediately.

2. Conservatives must take back the congress in 2010, lower taxes, and ease the ludicrous government regulations. “Checks and balances” works.

3. Moderates and Conservatives must unite behind one common Reagan-like Presidential 2012 candidate who understands economics.

4. We must continue tea parties, phone calls, emails, and faxes to our legislators.

5. We must start supporting those who want to run for Congress who have proven they want to serve country first, not self, and not party.

6. While we are at it, regarding the various attacks now on-going against our Constitution, let’s just use the 2nd Amendment for example. 11 years ago, Great Britain outlawed private ownership of firearms. Their Violent Crime Rate increased by over 340%. It was worse in Australia. In comparison, NOBODY will ever break into my house or carjack my car. Why? People know, either my wife or me will shoot them very dead with very large bullet holes ventilating their carcasses. Pretty good motivation to obey the law around my property and family.

7. And speaking of the Constitution, our nation only functions with our system of checks and balances. Czars are not accountable to anybody, and that must be changed by Congress. The unethical utilization of that loophole tells me all I need to know about Obama’s so-called “transparency in government.” Action walks and BS talks.

Freedom is a very jealous mistress. To possess her, we must reject her longtime competitor; slavery to governmental intrusion. Lady Liberty will not accept a divided allegiance, and freedom comes as a package deal. With freedom comes responsibilities and consequences. Government intrusion is the dirty lonely coal cellar, but freedom is like soap. It smells sweet, is clean, and loses all its effectiveness if it is watered down.

May God bless America, and may Americans get back to praising

............................................................................

Don Bendell, 62, is an author of 26 books, including his newest novel, DETACHMENT DELTA, about modern day Delta Force, which was released worldwide in January, 2009 by Berkley Books (Penguin-USA), with over 2,000,000 copies of his books in print worldwide. Don is a popular editorialist who has appeared on FOX NEWS LIVE, and many national radio shows. A 70% disabled vet, Don served as an officer in 4 Special Forces (Green Beret) Groups, including a 1968-1969 tour on an A-team in Vietnam, as well as in the Top Secret Phoenix Program and has two sons in Special Forces. A 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame and a Grandmaster in 5 martial arts, he and his black belt master wife, Shirley, also own karate schools in southern Colorado. Don is “a real cowboy with a real horse” and lives outside Florence, Colorado. Write him at don@donbendell.com.

[Redbob]

One lesson here might be not to let others define you.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Way to go karate cowboy.

[Canedawg]

Over two-thirds of Americans, democrats and republicans are against Obamacare, but legislators at town halls are still trying to cram it down our throats.

Initially, over two-thirds of Americans were against the very first bailout, which at the time consisted of only a few pages of proposed law. Then the spinmeisters went to work, the bill grew to an obscene size, less Americans polled opposed the bailout (though a substantial amount still did) and it was passed.

Americans' first impression was the right one, as it is with health care, but we were co-opted by a bipartisan sellout.

I'm not making any predictions, but I wont be shocked if something is passed over our objections...again.

[Fiddlstix]

Click the 'Bump' Graphic

[ansel12]

Then, a few years ago, we came into vogue. Even the left saw us as fashionable, so now there are 11,000,000 Vietnam vets running around. Except for one problem, there were only 2.7 million of us in Vietnam. People finally learned though that we are not sociopaths, that only 17% of us were black, which was commensurate with that racial percentage nationally,

This guy is way off base. There are 8.2 million Vietnam War or Vietnam era vets, around 2.6 million having served in theater. Less than 13% of the army in Vietnam and as low as 10.6% according to "Front Page" was black, which was around the same or a little less than the black population share here in the U.S., black males of that age group were about 13.5% of the black population in America and blacks accounted for 12.1% of the war dead.

[maine-iac7]

Brilliant piece.

This land is full of REAL Americans - the heretofore Silent Majority - like Mr. Bendell - and Thank you, God. - but we need more of them, like Mr. Bendell, to stand and be heard - even though we have to shout to do so.

I truly believe there are many more conservative thinking people than liberal. How else can you explain why the conservative radio hosts and TV hosts have such success and such high audiences that allow them to stay on the air? And the opposite is true of the liberals...

How many liberal radio hosts, for example, have tried and sunk like a rock? Where are their listeners?

Why are FOX news numbers 3 or more times higher than the other cable networks?

We are not outnumbered, just outmaneuvered - because we tend to be people who just want to be left alone to live our lives as we see fit - while the lib/socialists feel it's their superiority that should running our lives.

We have far to long let them gain power. It's now time to teach them that their rights end where our noses begin.

But I fear we have a short window withing which to drive them back under their rocks. We act now and with determination and demands and with loud voices and faces in their faces .... NOW.

TOGETHER WE STAND - OR WE FALL APART.

(Vets - and Cowboys - tent to be rock solid Americans. Mr. Bendell is a double punch.))

http://www.donbendell.com/donbendell/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=63

http://www.bendellkarate.com/

[RoadTest]

Bless you guys and prosper you!

Recent revelations (from defected KGB agents and opening records of cold-war period Russia) show that, since they couldn’t beat you guys on the battle field, they attacked American minds at home with carefully packaged Soviet propaganda. The war was lost there, with the help of the media and entertainment industries, not in Vietnam.

[smoothsailing]

Basically, you and Bendell make the same point, that blacks in Vietnam were roughly the same pecentage of those who served as their pecentage in the general American population. You use different numbers and percentages than Bendell, but that hardly makes him “way off base”.

[ozzymandus]

Remember, Janet Napolotiano recently branded all Iraq/Afganistan vets as potential right-wing terrorists.

[smoothsailing]

(Vets - and Cowboys - tend to be rock solid Americans. Mr. Bendell is a double punch.)

He certainly is!

[ansel12]

The guy thinks that 17% of America and the Vietnam army was black, that is way off base as is claiming that there are 11 million Vietnam War vets when it is just over 8 million and in his confused mind he mixes up the number of GIs that served during the war with the number that were actually in Vietnam, or at least he claims that the rest of us are confused about it.

It just isn’t a very convincing introduction.

[Little Bill]

That is old news. In the last platoon I was in there was one black guy, Pig Pen, one Cuban, One Limey, and one German, the rest of us were Southrons or Yankees, the Platoon SGT was Japanese.

In my first tour all of us were Southrons or Yankees, the Platoon SGT was Black, good guy.

[smoothsailing]

I did get a laugh out of the 11 million figure. My first thought was of the “phony soldiers” that parade around pretending they served in Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan. These disgusting miscreants are gradually being exposed through efforts like B.G Burkett’s “Stolen Valor”.

It’s possible that’s part of what Bendell is alluding to when he says “Then, a few years ago, we came into vogue. Even the left saw us as fashionable, so now there are 11,000,000 Vietnam vets running around.”

[hinckley buzzard]

Veterans who served in the military during the VN war but did not serve in the theatre are called by convention, "VietNam Era" veterans. At least that's the designation used by the VA during and after the war.

If you served but didn't go, it's no dishonor, we had an army in Europe to maintain and in S Korea all that time as well as CONUS. But stateside service or other peacetime theatres does not earn the title "VietNam veteran."

The "eleven million VietNam veterans" he refers to is an ironic reference to the fact that many claim to have been there who weren't anywhere near the place, or often even in the service at all. (See " Stolen Valor" for some egregious examples.

[smoothsailing]

Good point, hb, see my post #14. I think we read the 11 million figure pretty much the same way.

[ansel12]

I have read Stolen Valor and was well aware much of that information before I bought the book. I have been busting phony vets since the sixties.

The 11,000,000 figure is just wrong period and it is silly for him to think that people confuse Vietnam era service with duty in Vietnam because Vietnam was not treated like WWII when you simply said that you were a WWII vet.

The guy really blew it bad with his 17% black figures.

[CPT Clay]

bump

[AFPhys]

Amen.