Chickenhawk Roasted

Yesterday, while playing around on the new laptop, I had the pleasure of witnessing a chickenhawk get roasted. Markos Moulitsas put Tom Tancredo on a spit and roasted him. It was well deserved.




Being a Viet Nam era veteran myself I can't stand people like Tancredo. It's time for all these war cheerleaders that have never served and yet presume to speak for all us veterans to be taken to task.

Tom Tancredo got his ticket punched for the draft after graduating from college in 1969 yet found a way to not end up in Vietnam. During his college years, as a member of his college's Young Republicans he was outspoken in his support for that military disaster. Instead of standing behind his words he found a way to keep his rear end from facing the horrors of 'Nam by garnering a 1Y deferment. All of his records state that he "eventually" received that classification. Eventually, huh? Just that word smacks of suspicion to anyone from that era. Prior to that he would have received a student deferment which was fine as many received that classification. But afterwards he went looking for a way out. A 1Y deferment meant he was available for service only in the event of national emergency. Tancredo received this deferment by stating he had been treated for depression. The interesting thing is that there appears to be no record of subsequent treatment for that ailment after he received said deferment. He still continued to cheerlead FOR that war.

I think it was an ailment of convenience. During 1969 deferments were getting more difficult to come by. I personally know of 3 people that tried the depression route. 2 even went so far as to spend 6 weeks in a psych ward to accomplish their goal...it didn't work. However, some men with the right connections did succeed in getting a Doctor to write them a letter to the draft board that ended up disqualifying them from service. Some other men just flat out lied. Some, like my ex-husband, pulled incredible stunts to garner either a 1Y or a 4f classification. And for some their lottery number was high enough that they were never called up. Some, like George W. Bush, had the right connections and received a stateside National Guard or Reserve assignment. Believe me, to many in that day a reserve/guard assignment was tantamount to being a draft dodger because many of us knew what kind of people received these posts. There were also others that were so desperate to go fight in "Nam that they lied to get IN the service. I knew a guy that should have never been around any weapon and was an unstable person yet he pulled a fast one and off to 'Nam he went to go kill. All kinds of shenanigans were pulled during that time. Since Tom was such an avid supporter he could have found a way to go serve.

Regardless, chickenhawks like Tancredo can never speak for all veterans. I know many vets and while there are some that bitch and complain about the VA, they're still mostly grateful that it exists. Yes, it could be run more efficiently and be better funded but I have yet to hear anyone demand a voucher to go purchase private insurance to take care of their service connected maladies. I could just see it; get a voucher and be denied for a pre-existing condition. Either that or the voucher would never cover what would be extremely high premiums. Most of the complaints seem to revolve around the time it takes to get an appointment and then the driving distance to get to a VA facility. If the VA were better funded and better run appointment time could be drastically reduced. In the past Republicans have voted against better VA funding so I find it rather hypocritical when they pull the "I support the troops" nonsense.

I also think it's time all the chickenhawks that gleefully cheer war get called out. People that cheerlead a conflict, never put their own life on the line, but are too damn eager to send someone else to go need to be exposed. These people are not ultra patriots and have no business telling those of us that have served that we are traitors simply because we are on the other side politically. That's what I heard them doing every time a Republican was President. They also have no business acting as though they know what we vets need when it comes to the VA. How the hell would they know, they've never been a service member. I call bullshit on them and their words. I call bullshit on people such as Michelle Malkin, Tom Tancredo, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mike Savage, Dick Cheney and whole host of other right wing neocons. If you collect deferments because you have better things to do (like Cheney) or never even volunteer to serve you have no right to speak for me and no right to cheer lead conflicts you never want to find yourself or your children in...ever!