Our nation is at war, fighting for the survival of freedom and democracy, but the vast majority of Americans don’t seem to get it. We are in the fight of our life, battling with an implacable foe who hates everything our country stands for. They hate who we are, what we believe, and they want us dead and every memory of our society destroyed.
The plain and simple truth is that more devastating attacks like the Islamic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, are a real possibility. In fact, it is probably more accurate to say that future incidents like this are a near certainty.
As you read these words, Islamic terrorists are planning, plotting, and preparing new and more dreadful attacks on our homeland. This is not a paranoid fantasy: this is reality.
But our countrymen seem to want to turn away from this unpleasant reality. They would rather not think about such things. While our troops leave their blood on the sands of the Middle East, we hide our head in the sand. We seem to want to ignore the frightening fact that only the unrelenting guardianship of our troops fighting on foreign shores is what has kept more and worse attacks from happening in our own towns and cities.
A natural consequence of this avoidance behavior is that we have forgotten our fallen heroes, those who paid the price for the security we have enjoyed thus far since 9/11. If the public can’t even keep in mind that our nation is at war, it is unrealistic to expect them to remember the men who fought and bled in that war.
Well, WE remember and we are here to do our best to make them remember as well.
www.ourfinest.org
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
The homosexual lobby versus national defense
I'm unhappy about the "No dogs or soldiers allowed" signs on our campuses. The most powerful force restricting the ability of our military to recruit the troops we need to fight for freedom and democracy is the homosexual lobby.
If you are a college student or a law school student in America today, you are unlikely to know just how remarkable your peers who serve in the military are. Worse yet, your college administrators deny you the opportunity to decide for yourself whether or not you'd like to join their ranks. The Ivory Tower academic elitists in many of America's most "prestigious" colleges and universities today are waging war against the military and working to keep recruiters off of their campuses.
The U.S. Supreme Court is now considering a case in which "elite" universities are suing the Pentagon to keep military recruiters off their campuses so they don't "corrupt" the academic environment. Their beef is a federal statute originally passed in 1994 known as the "Solomon Amendment" which provides that federal funding may be withheld from institutions of higher
education that refuse military recruiters the same opportunities afforded to recruiters from other companies.
Thirty-one law schools have joined under the banner of the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, claiming that they are being forced by the Solomon Amendment to "actively support military recruiters" who engage in "discriminatory hiring practices." The target of their protest, they claim, is the Clinton administration's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward open
homosexual service in the military. In other words, it is the powerful homosexual lobby who is damaging the ability of our military to recruit the troops we need to defend democracy.
In fact, colleges and universities have been trying to keep military recruiters and ROTC programs off campus for decades. Harvard, the school leading the charge against the Solomon Amendment, banished ROTC in 1969, forcing cadets to walk across town to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the past 36 years. Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Brown are among many other institutions that have shunned ROTC for decades.
Today's military relies on educated individuals joining the ranks as surgeons, JAG lawyers, chaplains and engineers. These vital roles could more easily and efficiently be filled, but for the bitter opposition on campuses by elitist professors, students and administrators.
Ironically, their freedom to protest is defended by the very people they are protesting. And, in so doing, they are spreading ill will toward who defend democracy.
It's more than a shame that the best and bravest of your young people – honorable, decent, caring, compassionate and heroic people -- aren't welcomed on America's college campuses.
I’m ashamed that my own alma mater, Stanford, is so unwelcoming to the self sacrificing heroes who defend the university’s status as a temple of free and open intellectual exploration.
www.ourfinest.org
If you are a college student or a law school student in America today, you are unlikely to know just how remarkable your peers who serve in the military are. Worse yet, your college administrators deny you the opportunity to decide for yourself whether or not you'd like to join their ranks. The Ivory Tower academic elitists in many of America's most "prestigious" colleges and universities today are waging war against the military and working to keep recruiters off of their campuses.
The U.S. Supreme Court is now considering a case in which "elite" universities are suing the Pentagon to keep military recruiters off their campuses so they don't "corrupt" the academic environment. Their beef is a federal statute originally passed in 1994 known as the "Solomon Amendment" which provides that federal funding may be withheld from institutions of higher
education that refuse military recruiters the same opportunities afforded to recruiters from other companies.
Thirty-one law schools have joined under the banner of the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, claiming that they are being forced by the Solomon Amendment to "actively support military recruiters" who engage in "discriminatory hiring practices." The target of their protest, they claim, is the Clinton administration's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward open
homosexual service in the military. In other words, it is the powerful homosexual lobby who is damaging the ability of our military to recruit the troops we need to defend democracy.
In fact, colleges and universities have been trying to keep military recruiters and ROTC programs off campus for decades. Harvard, the school leading the charge against the Solomon Amendment, banished ROTC in 1969, forcing cadets to walk across town to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the past 36 years. Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Brown are among many other institutions that have shunned ROTC for decades.
Today's military relies on educated individuals joining the ranks as surgeons, JAG lawyers, chaplains and engineers. These vital roles could more easily and efficiently be filled, but for the bitter opposition on campuses by elitist professors, students and administrators.
Ironically, their freedom to protest is defended by the very people they are protesting. And, in so doing, they are spreading ill will toward who defend democracy.
It's more than a shame that the best and bravest of your young people – honorable, decent, caring, compassionate and heroic people -- aren't welcomed on America's college campuses.
I’m ashamed that my own alma mater, Stanford, is so unwelcoming to the self sacrificing heroes who defend the university’s status as a temple of free and open intellectual exploration.
www.ourfinest.org
Friday, September 19, 2008
Can America be Saved?
I'm working on a speech about our nation's future. I'm worried about it. The following is a first draft; it's discovery writing, so I am not totally sure I mean anything quite so confidently as I seem to state.
This is the only way I know how to create. I have to sort of go over the top initially and then review it when passion has subsided. Writing is an emotional event for me. The writing is not so much writing per se as just keeping track of and making a record of my experience as I ponder ideas.
Can America be Saved?
Have we lost our way? Have we forgotten our identity? Do we lack the
courage to be who we truly are?
I fear so. Today, we seem unable or unwilling to defend our borders, to enforce our laws, to protect our currency, to defeat Islamic terror, to teach our children how to read, write and think, to balance our budget or grow our economy. We can’t even take care of our seniors, who – despite years paying into Medicare and Social Security -- are burdened with a retirement system that must collapse within the next ten years.
We are experiencing the loss of our nation. America, by following government leaders who lack vision, is on the verge of tumbling into the ash pit of history. The most daring and successful social experiment in history is on the point of collapse. Like lemmings, we are marching mindlessly to our own doom.
We are standing idly by and allowing the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history to disintegrate. It’s not just the destruction of a nation with the highest standard of living ever achieved – although to the privileged elite who are destroying us that will be the central concern – it’s the death of the only nation in history which has sought not to expand as an
empire but to spread the blessings of freedom throughout the earth. The death of America is not just our loss, it is the world’s loss.
All humanity loses if America falls. The world’s greatest font of freedom is drying up and the flame held aloft by Liberty gutters and dims as darkness, gloom, fear and oppression gather around the failing light.
We are failing not only ourselves and the rest of the world but our children and their children – all posterity shall suffer. A thousand years shall pass before another such nation will rise.
If we allow this tragedy to occur, the United States of America will be a mere footnote in the pages of history, a note about a well meaning but failed enterprise. It was a country with great ideals but which proved incapable of the continuous renewing of devotion to those ideals which is the condition of continued greatness. Historians will reflect on an America that might have
been.
If we allow our country to fail, we are betraying both our future and our past. Think of the sacrifices of the amazing individuals who founded this nation.
Think of the blood spilled, the pain endured, all in vain, because we proved unfit to sustain the blessings passed on to us by our fathers. What a betrayal!
And what explains this vast faltering, this colossal failure? How do we go from the world’s essential superpower to a pale and feckless shadow of former greatness in the space of a single lifetime?
America stumbles and falls because of a failure of courage, a failure of will, a failure of vision. We have chosen leaders incapable of grandeur. In the great parade of human events, the mighty outmarching of destiny, they are organ grinders and clowns, charlatans and fools prancing and posturing while pretending to lead while fomenting the disintegration of the greatest nation in history, the loss of humanity’s last best hope.
Here and there appears a man of truth, but we have been betrayed by our leaders. They are cowards.
They are unwilling or unable to face frankly the frightening reality that the world tomorrow is missing freedom’s great champion. Some speak the truth – in whispers, in private – but above all they want the end to come on someone else’s watch. So, they wheedle and deal and compromise and prevaricate, speak not the full truth nor name honestly the dangers which
threaten our national survival.
One thing is certain: America shall survive only if she deserves to survive. And where is the evidence of our national merit today? What ideals do we yet represent? Is there a reason for our flag to fly proudly? Have we a cause our young men will rush forward to fight and die for?
Can we yet claim to be the land of the free and the home of the brave? I pray it is so, but I fear it is not.
The cost of freedom is the blood of the brave. If we fail to instill in the hearts of our young an unquenchable love for freedom and a deep yearning to live lives of truth, America must die. If we give them nothing worth dying for, they will have nothing to live for.
If we fail to give our youth an understanding of the greatness of our past, America has no future.
If we fail to sustain the nation of laws with which we were blessed by our forebears, then we leave our posterity not a gleaming temple of law but a black pit of chaos and doom.
The choice is ours. Who are we as a people? The ultimate consequence of our future revolves around the question of our identity. Who are we? Do we care enough to be courageous? Shall we betray our birthright? Or shall we rise up and show the world the goodness and might of a united people deserving to bear the name, American. The future of freedom is at our feet. We have but to dare to pick up that bright sword, lift up that shining beacon and show a world that needs us that America is not to die, not today. Not any day while men will lay down their life in the cause of freedom.
So, what do you think?
www.ourfinest.org
This is the only way I know how to create. I have to sort of go over the top initially and then review it when passion has subsided. Writing is an emotional event for me. The writing is not so much writing per se as just keeping track of and making a record of my experience as I ponder ideas.
Can America be Saved?
Have we lost our way? Have we forgotten our identity? Do we lack the
courage to be who we truly are?
I fear so. Today, we seem unable or unwilling to defend our borders, to enforce our laws, to protect our currency, to defeat Islamic terror, to teach our children how to read, write and think, to balance our budget or grow our economy. We can’t even take care of our seniors, who – despite years paying into Medicare and Social Security -- are burdened with a retirement system that must collapse within the next ten years.
We are experiencing the loss of our nation. America, by following government leaders who lack vision, is on the verge of tumbling into the ash pit of history. The most daring and successful social experiment in history is on the point of collapse. Like lemmings, we are marching mindlessly to our own doom.
We are standing idly by and allowing the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history to disintegrate. It’s not just the destruction of a nation with the highest standard of living ever achieved – although to the privileged elite who are destroying us that will be the central concern – it’s the death of the only nation in history which has sought not to expand as an
empire but to spread the blessings of freedom throughout the earth. The death of America is not just our loss, it is the world’s loss.
All humanity loses if America falls. The world’s greatest font of freedom is drying up and the flame held aloft by Liberty gutters and dims as darkness, gloom, fear and oppression gather around the failing light.
We are failing not only ourselves and the rest of the world but our children and their children – all posterity shall suffer. A thousand years shall pass before another such nation will rise.
If we allow this tragedy to occur, the United States of America will be a mere footnote in the pages of history, a note about a well meaning but failed enterprise. It was a country with great ideals but which proved incapable of the continuous renewing of devotion to those ideals which is the condition of continued greatness. Historians will reflect on an America that might have
been.
If we allow our country to fail, we are betraying both our future and our past. Think of the sacrifices of the amazing individuals who founded this nation.
Think of the blood spilled, the pain endured, all in vain, because we proved unfit to sustain the blessings passed on to us by our fathers. What a betrayal!
And what explains this vast faltering, this colossal failure? How do we go from the world’s essential superpower to a pale and feckless shadow of former greatness in the space of a single lifetime?
America stumbles and falls because of a failure of courage, a failure of will, a failure of vision. We have chosen leaders incapable of grandeur. In the great parade of human events, the mighty outmarching of destiny, they are organ grinders and clowns, charlatans and fools prancing and posturing while pretending to lead while fomenting the disintegration of the greatest nation in history, the loss of humanity’s last best hope.
Here and there appears a man of truth, but we have been betrayed by our leaders. They are cowards.
They are unwilling or unable to face frankly the frightening reality that the world tomorrow is missing freedom’s great champion. Some speak the truth – in whispers, in private – but above all they want the end to come on someone else’s watch. So, they wheedle and deal and compromise and prevaricate, speak not the full truth nor name honestly the dangers which
threaten our national survival.
One thing is certain: America shall survive only if she deserves to survive. And where is the evidence of our national merit today? What ideals do we yet represent? Is there a reason for our flag to fly proudly? Have we a cause our young men will rush forward to fight and die for?
Can we yet claim to be the land of the free and the home of the brave? I pray it is so, but I fear it is not.
The cost of freedom is the blood of the brave. If we fail to instill in the hearts of our young an unquenchable love for freedom and a deep yearning to live lives of truth, America must die. If we give them nothing worth dying for, they will have nothing to live for.
If we fail to give our youth an understanding of the greatness of our past, America has no future.
If we fail to sustain the nation of laws with which we were blessed by our forebears, then we leave our posterity not a gleaming temple of law but a black pit of chaos and doom.
The choice is ours. Who are we as a people? The ultimate consequence of our future revolves around the question of our identity. Who are we? Do we care enough to be courageous? Shall we betray our birthright? Or shall we rise up and show the world the goodness and might of a united people deserving to bear the name, American. The future of freedom is at our feet. We have but to dare to pick up that bright sword, lift up that shining beacon and show a world that needs us that America is not to die, not today. Not any day while men will lay down their life in the cause of freedom.
So, what do you think?
www.ourfinest.org
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Spiritual Fitness
One of my goals is to help develop a sort of spiritual fitness course for our wounded and dispirited warriors. I am thinking of sort of a combination of a 12-step course and an Alpha course, but you don't have to be a drunk or Christian to get something from it.
The author of Man's Search for Meaning , a psychiatrist who survived a Nazi concentration camp, noticed that the people who survived were those who had a clear sense of life's meaning. Those who had no transcendent reason that made their current suffering worthwhile were those who succumbed to the horrors of imprisonment.
I rather imagine that the course will center on a search for meaning. It is an attempt to give support to those who are searching for the meaning in their own life. I also see it providing specific actionable tools and strategies for coping with the central challenges of life. Someone observed that there's nothing like a death sentence to help focus your mind.
The fact is that we're all going to die. Surprise, surprise! Before we do, it makes sense to figure out what we're here. I've been looking at a good book written by a man under a virtual death sentence: a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Here are my notes.
The Last Lecture
By Barry Pausch, Ph.D.
Many professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." They are asked to
consider their death and ruminate on what matters most to them. Audiences
ask themselves the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the
world if we knew it was our last chance? If we were to vanish tomorrow, what
would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was
asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he
had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he
gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was
about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of
others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may
find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of
everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
Randy was known as the best lecturer among computer scientists at the
university, an honor he said was equivalent to being recognized as the tallest of
the Seven Dwarfs.
Asking himself what was unique and special about his life, Pausch realized that
what was special about him were his dreams from childhood.
“All the things I loved were rooted in my childhood dreams. My uniqueness ,
I realized came in the specifics of all the dreams from incredibly meaningful to
decidedly quirky-- that defined my forty six years of life. If you can dream it,
you can do it.: Walt Disney
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how to play them.
Just because you're in the driver's seat doesn't mean you have to drive over
people. Kids more than anything else need to know their parents loved them.
It is important to have specific dreams
He admired Captain Kirk and thought he defined the ideal leader. He later
met William Shatner and thought him "the ultimate example of a man who
knew what he didn't know, was perfectly willing to admit. It and didn't want
to leave until he understood. That's heroic to me. I wish every grad. student
had that attitude.”
“'Tenacity is a virtue, but it's not always crucial for everyone to observe how
hard you work at something.”
Before visiting the man who could say yes to his desire to be an Imagineer, he
did 80 hours of homework, talking to his most knowledgeable contacts.
A friend who cared enough to be honest, “put his arm around me and say
"Randy, it's such a shame that people perceive yours being arrogant, because
it's going to limit what you're going to be able to accomplish in life"
Brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The
brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want
something.
When the woman he loved and was courting told him she did not love him,
Randy was supportive, acted as a good friend, showing concern for her. He
sent her a dozen roses and wished her happiness. She finally figured out that
she loved him after all.
In an interview with Amazon.com, he talked about what he had learned as an
adult.
Amazon.com: You talk about the importance--and the possibility!--of following your
childhood dreams, and of keeping that childlike sense of wonder. But are there things
you didn't learn until you were a grownup that helped you do that?
Pausch: That's a great question. I think the most important thing I learned as I
grew older was that you can't get anywhere without help. That means people
have to want to help you, and that begs the question: What kind of person do
other people seem to want to help? That strikes me as a pretty good
operational answer to the existential question: "What kind of person should
you try to be?"
Amazon.com: One of the things that struck me most about your talk was how many
other people you talked about. You made me want to meet them and work with
them--and believe me, I wouldn't make much of a computer scientist. Do you think
the people you've brought together will be your legacy as well?
Pausch: Like any teacher, my students are my biggest professional legacy. I'd
like to think that the people I've crossed paths with have learned something
from me, and I know I learned a great deal from them, for which I am very
grateful. Certainly, I've dedicated a lot of my teaching to helping young folks
realize how they need to be able to work with other people--especially other
people who are very different from themselves.
Amazon.com: And last, the most important question: What's the secret for knocking
down those milk bottles on the midway?
Pausch: “Two-part answer:
1) long arms
2) discretionary income / persistence
Actually, I was never good at the milk bottles. I'm more of a ring toss and
softball-in-milk-can guy, myself. More seriously, though, most people try these
games once, don't win immediately, and then give up. I've won *lots* of
midway stuffed animals, but I don't ever recall winning one on the very first
try. Nor did I expect to. That's why I think midway games are a great
metaphor for life.”
One reviewer said, “It's about paying attention to what you think is important
(when asked how he got tenure early, Pausch replied, "Call me at my office at
10 o'clock on Friday night and I'll tell you") and working hard and listening
really well. It's easy to miss that last part of that in the emotion and the stories
surrounding this book, but Pausch argues that hearing what other people say
about you and your work is crucial to success and happiness. Because this is
what you get: "a feedback loop for life."
www.ourfinest.org
The author of Man's Search for Meaning , a psychiatrist who survived a Nazi concentration camp, noticed that the people who survived were those who had a clear sense of life's meaning. Those who had no transcendent reason that made their current suffering worthwhile were those who succumbed to the horrors of imprisonment.
I rather imagine that the course will center on a search for meaning. It is an attempt to give support to those who are searching for the meaning in their own life. I also see it providing specific actionable tools and strategies for coping with the central challenges of life. Someone observed that there's nothing like a death sentence to help focus your mind.
The fact is that we're all going to die. Surprise, surprise! Before we do, it makes sense to figure out what we're here. I've been looking at a good book written by a man under a virtual death sentence: a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Here are my notes.
The Last Lecture
By Barry Pausch, Ph.D.
Many professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." They are asked to
consider their death and ruminate on what matters most to them. Audiences
ask themselves the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the
world if we knew it was our last chance? If we were to vanish tomorrow, what
would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was
asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he
had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he
gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was
about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of
others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may
find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of
everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
Randy was known as the best lecturer among computer scientists at the
university, an honor he said was equivalent to being recognized as the tallest of
the Seven Dwarfs.
Asking himself what was unique and special about his life, Pausch realized that
what was special about him were his dreams from childhood.
“All the things I loved were rooted in my childhood dreams. My uniqueness ,
I realized came in the specifics of all the dreams from incredibly meaningful to
decidedly quirky-- that defined my forty six years of life. If you can dream it,
you can do it.: Walt Disney
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how to play them.
Just because you're in the driver's seat doesn't mean you have to drive over
people. Kids more than anything else need to know their parents loved them.
It is important to have specific dreams
He admired Captain Kirk and thought he defined the ideal leader. He later
met William Shatner and thought him "the ultimate example of a man who
knew what he didn't know, was perfectly willing to admit. It and didn't want
to leave until he understood. That's heroic to me. I wish every grad. student
had that attitude.”
“'Tenacity is a virtue, but it's not always crucial for everyone to observe how
hard you work at something.”
Before visiting the man who could say yes to his desire to be an Imagineer, he
did 80 hours of homework, talking to his most knowledgeable contacts.
A friend who cared enough to be honest, “put his arm around me and say
"Randy, it's such a shame that people perceive yours being arrogant, because
it's going to limit what you're going to be able to accomplish in life"
Brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The
brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want
something.
When the woman he loved and was courting told him she did not love him,
Randy was supportive, acted as a good friend, showing concern for her. He
sent her a dozen roses and wished her happiness. She finally figured out that
she loved him after all.
In an interview with Amazon.com, he talked about what he had learned as an
adult.
Amazon.com: You talk about the importance--and the possibility!--of following your
childhood dreams, and of keeping that childlike sense of wonder. But are there things
you didn't learn until you were a grownup that helped you do that?
Pausch: That's a great question. I think the most important thing I learned as I
grew older was that you can't get anywhere without help. That means people
have to want to help you, and that begs the question: What kind of person do
other people seem to want to help? That strikes me as a pretty good
operational answer to the existential question: "What kind of person should
you try to be?"
Amazon.com: One of the things that struck me most about your talk was how many
other people you talked about. You made me want to meet them and work with
them--and believe me, I wouldn't make much of a computer scientist. Do you think
the people you've brought together will be your legacy as well?
Pausch: Like any teacher, my students are my biggest professional legacy. I'd
like to think that the people I've crossed paths with have learned something
from me, and I know I learned a great deal from them, for which I am very
grateful. Certainly, I've dedicated a lot of my teaching to helping young folks
realize how they need to be able to work with other people--especially other
people who are very different from themselves.
Amazon.com: And last, the most important question: What's the secret for knocking
down those milk bottles on the midway?
Pausch: “Two-part answer:
1) long arms
2) discretionary income / persistence
Actually, I was never good at the milk bottles. I'm more of a ring toss and
softball-in-milk-can guy, myself. More seriously, though, most people try these
games once, don't win immediately, and then give up. I've won *lots* of
midway stuffed animals, but I don't ever recall winning one on the very first
try. Nor did I expect to. That's why I think midway games are a great
metaphor for life.”
One reviewer said, “It's about paying attention to what you think is important
(when asked how he got tenure early, Pausch replied, "Call me at my office at
10 o'clock on Friday night and I'll tell you") and working hard and listening
really well. It's easy to miss that last part of that in the emotion and the stories
surrounding this book, but Pausch argues that hearing what other people say
about you and your work is crucial to success and happiness. Because this is
what you get: "a feedback loop for life."
www.ourfinest.org
Monday, September 15, 2008
Whoopi: Go back to Africa
When answering a question about what type of judges he will elect, Senator McCain was asked by Whoopi Goldberg on 'The View' if he is elected, will that mean the eventual return of slavery.
What a stupid, insulting, meaningless question! Are we really supposed to believe that one of the richest and most privileged celebrities on the planet is really worried about being enslaved? How does she reconcile the fact of this country lavishing rewards on her with her attitude that this nation is all about holding down black people? You would think she would grateful. If I were her, I would get down on my knees and thank God that my great great great great grandfather had been captured by fellow black Africans and sold to Islamic slave traders and eventually ended up in America. Otherwise, Whoopi would still be living in a mud hut like her relatives who were not lucky enough to make it onto a slave ship and end up in America.
It was white people in Britain and America who did away with slavery. The only place that slavery is found today is among Islamic people of color.
If this is such a terrible country, if poor Whoopi Goldberg feels discriminated against riding around in her Rolls Royce or hanging out at the swimming pool in her Beverly Hills mansion, I am sure she would be more than welcome back home in wonderful Mother Africa. I for one would not miss her one bit.
What a stupid, insulting, meaningless question! Are we really supposed to believe that one of the richest and most privileged celebrities on the planet is really worried about being enslaved? How does she reconcile the fact of this country lavishing rewards on her with her attitude that this nation is all about holding down black people? You would think she would grateful. If I were her, I would get down on my knees and thank God that my great great great great grandfather had been captured by fellow black Africans and sold to Islamic slave traders and eventually ended up in America. Otherwise, Whoopi would still be living in a mud hut like her relatives who were not lucky enough to make it onto a slave ship and end up in America.
It was white people in Britain and America who did away with slavery. The only place that slavery is found today is among Islamic people of color.
If this is such a terrible country, if poor Whoopi Goldberg feels discriminated against riding around in her Rolls Royce or hanging out at the swimming pool in her Beverly Hills mansion, I am sure she would be more than welcome back home in wonderful Mother Africa. I for one would not miss her one bit.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Evil We Dare Not Speak
America needs to wake up. Our nation can no longer afford the deceptive luxury of looking away from the unpleasant reality of the current threat.
Even the horrifying spectacle of towers falling in our largest city does not seem to be enough to keep us awake. Our leadership has failed to call forth the best from our citizens. Instead, it’s business as usual while the foundations of our society are being dug away by our enemies.
We are under attack! We stand to lose everything we love!
Unperceived by the vast majority of our countrymen, we face today the greatest danger in our nation’s history.
The source of this danger -- the reason it continues -- is our obliviousness to the threat. We steadfastly refuse to admit our dire jeopardy. An arrogant complacence hides the truth from us. An insidious cancer is devouring our fundamental core.
The present danger which our country faces is greater than that we faced in World War II. There is a very real danger that our country will cease to exist. Europe is already plunging into darkness. If we do not demonstrate the same strong spirit that made us the greatest nation on earth, America too is doomed. The greatest, most daring, and most successful social experiment in the history of the world is on the verge of failing. Democracy for the world trembles in the balance.
The great threat is not so much the implacable foe who considers us the Great Satan. We have always had foes and many times stronger ones who hated us and everything we love, who wanted us dead and every memory of us erased.
Our situation is not unlike that of Rome in its latter days. There were always enemies at the gate. It was not the greater strength of her enemies that doomed Rome but the collapse of her own resolve.
The great threat is that we do not resist this evil. The brave uncompromising leader who fights this threat abroad is vilified and denounced. False peacemakers are prevailing in the marketplace of ideas. Those who seek peace at any price will have it at the cost of their souls.
The one great failure of our president is to continuously sound the battle cry, to inform the American public of the threat and the need for sacrifice. The ship of state is sinking while on deck people are dancing.
When I was a little boy we were at war with Germany and Japan and everyone knew it. We were not afraid to portray our enemies as evil. Today, we are under attack by more subtle and dangerous foes and the threat to our existence is ignored.
We are like a patient who does not go to the doctor because he is afraid he has cancer. Guess what, folks?
We have cancer, a dangerous and debilitating kind. Worse still, we ignore its existence while unseen overlooked it grows in size and virulence.
Our real enemy is ignorance. Most people do not understand the rarity and fragility of our political system. Our great danger arises from our foolish failure to recognize the deadly seriousness of the threat and our refusal to recognize the nature of our enemy. How are we to defeat an enemy when we steadfastly refuse to identify him?
It’s the danger that we dare not name that is the deadliest threat to our existence. The name of that threat is Islam.
It is like an untreated cancer, currently small and insignificant but ultimately deadly to the future of democracy.
There are millions of Muslims who are peace loving, wonderful people. The problem is that there are hundreds of millions of Muslims who want us dead.
I don’t have any problem with Arabs. I only have a problem with Arabs who want to fly our planes into our skyscrapers.
Islam is a greater danger than Communism ever was, because the follower of the Koran is beyond reason. The Communist feared mutually assured destruction. The Islamist welcomes self destruction so long as his death means the murder of multiple Christians or Jews.
I do not hate Muslims. I do hate and fear Islam. In their ignorance, tens of millions of Americans think that Islam is just another religion, something slightly more exotic than Methodism or Mormonism.
It is not a religion at all in the way we think of religion. It is more of a political system, one designed for and devoted to world domination. The purpose of Islam is the elimination of all other religions by guile, deception, or bloody force.
I do not say this in any pejorative way. Any honest reader of the Koran must come to the same conclusion about the nature of Islam. Allah hates us.
If you do not worship Allah, Allah wants you dead and encourages his followers to use any and all means to destroy you. If you don’t believe me, read the Koran!
Of course, Islam is not the only threat to America. But it is the number one threat to Western Civilization.
What has brought about this threat to our way of life is its success. The resurgence of Islam is based on self hatred -- a keen sense of inferiority -- brought about by awareness of the superiority of the west.
What we do works. Even their attacks on our way of life are done with the products of our superiority. The Muslim world has invented no technology. The Koran projects a false hence ultimately unworkable world view. A small but revealing example: The Koran teaches that the world is flat. When Arabs learn celestial navigation (invariably in English) the instructor is required to acknowledge that while the world is flat for purpose of the course they must
pretend the world is round.
Evil is real. Against it there is no remedy but love or force
Islam is not just another peaceful somewhat exotic religion. It is a system of thought that is fundamentally hostile to our way of life.
It is possible to be a Muslim and a good American. However, the only way to do this is to distort the nature of the teachings of Islam. It requires active self deception and distortion of the teachings of the Koran and Muhammad. Read the Koran honestly and you cannot avoid recognizing that its teachings are fundamentally hostile to the American way of life.
Those who are afraid of the truth don't want to recognize this. They promote the myth that Islam is just another somewhat exotic religion, but basically peaceful. This is a false perception encouraged by cowards. It is a belief system designed to be spread by the sword. Only an honest recognition of this reality offers any hope of the survival of our way of life.
That's how I see it? What about you?
www.ourfinest.org
Even the horrifying spectacle of towers falling in our largest city does not seem to be enough to keep us awake. Our leadership has failed to call forth the best from our citizens. Instead, it’s business as usual while the foundations of our society are being dug away by our enemies.
We are under attack! We stand to lose everything we love!
Unperceived by the vast majority of our countrymen, we face today the greatest danger in our nation’s history.
The source of this danger -- the reason it continues -- is our obliviousness to the threat. We steadfastly refuse to admit our dire jeopardy. An arrogant complacence hides the truth from us. An insidious cancer is devouring our fundamental core.
The present danger which our country faces is greater than that we faced in World War II. There is a very real danger that our country will cease to exist. Europe is already plunging into darkness. If we do not demonstrate the same strong spirit that made us the greatest nation on earth, America too is doomed. The greatest, most daring, and most successful social experiment in the history of the world is on the verge of failing. Democracy for the world trembles in the balance.
The great threat is not so much the implacable foe who considers us the Great Satan. We have always had foes and many times stronger ones who hated us and everything we love, who wanted us dead and every memory of us erased.
Our situation is not unlike that of Rome in its latter days. There were always enemies at the gate. It was not the greater strength of her enemies that doomed Rome but the collapse of her own resolve.
The great threat is that we do not resist this evil. The brave uncompromising leader who fights this threat abroad is vilified and denounced. False peacemakers are prevailing in the marketplace of ideas. Those who seek peace at any price will have it at the cost of their souls.
The one great failure of our president is to continuously sound the battle cry, to inform the American public of the threat and the need for sacrifice. The ship of state is sinking while on deck people are dancing.
When I was a little boy we were at war with Germany and Japan and everyone knew it. We were not afraid to portray our enemies as evil. Today, we are under attack by more subtle and dangerous foes and the threat to our existence is ignored.
We are like a patient who does not go to the doctor because he is afraid he has cancer. Guess what, folks?
We have cancer, a dangerous and debilitating kind. Worse still, we ignore its existence while unseen overlooked it grows in size and virulence.
Our real enemy is ignorance. Most people do not understand the rarity and fragility of our political system. Our great danger arises from our foolish failure to recognize the deadly seriousness of the threat and our refusal to recognize the nature of our enemy. How are we to defeat an enemy when we steadfastly refuse to identify him?
It’s the danger that we dare not name that is the deadliest threat to our existence. The name of that threat is Islam.
It is like an untreated cancer, currently small and insignificant but ultimately deadly to the future of democracy.
There are millions of Muslims who are peace loving, wonderful people. The problem is that there are hundreds of millions of Muslims who want us dead.
I don’t have any problem with Arabs. I only have a problem with Arabs who want to fly our planes into our skyscrapers.
Islam is a greater danger than Communism ever was, because the follower of the Koran is beyond reason. The Communist feared mutually assured destruction. The Islamist welcomes self destruction so long as his death means the murder of multiple Christians or Jews.
I do not hate Muslims. I do hate and fear Islam. In their ignorance, tens of millions of Americans think that Islam is just another religion, something slightly more exotic than Methodism or Mormonism.
It is not a religion at all in the way we think of religion. It is more of a political system, one designed for and devoted to world domination. The purpose of Islam is the elimination of all other religions by guile, deception, or bloody force.
I do not say this in any pejorative way. Any honest reader of the Koran must come to the same conclusion about the nature of Islam. Allah hates us.
If you do not worship Allah, Allah wants you dead and encourages his followers to use any and all means to destroy you. If you don’t believe me, read the Koran!
Of course, Islam is not the only threat to America. But it is the number one threat to Western Civilization.
What has brought about this threat to our way of life is its success. The resurgence of Islam is based on self hatred -- a keen sense of inferiority -- brought about by awareness of the superiority of the west.
What we do works. Even their attacks on our way of life are done with the products of our superiority. The Muslim world has invented no technology. The Koran projects a false hence ultimately unworkable world view. A small but revealing example: The Koran teaches that the world is flat. When Arabs learn celestial navigation (invariably in English) the instructor is required to acknowledge that while the world is flat for purpose of the course they must
pretend the world is round.
Evil is real. Against it there is no remedy but love or force
Islam is not just another peaceful somewhat exotic religion. It is a system of thought that is fundamentally hostile to our way of life.
It is possible to be a Muslim and a good American. However, the only way to do this is to distort the nature of the teachings of Islam. It requires active self deception and distortion of the teachings of the Koran and Muhammad. Read the Koran honestly and you cannot avoid recognizing that its teachings are fundamentally hostile to the American way of life.
Those who are afraid of the truth don't want to recognize this. They promote the myth that Islam is just another somewhat exotic religion, but basically peaceful. This is a false perception encouraged by cowards. It is a belief system designed to be spread by the sword. Only an honest recognition of this reality offers any hope of the survival of our way of life.
That's how I see it? What about you?
www.ourfinest.org
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Homeless not hopeless
Here are scripts for the 60-second and 30-second radio public service announcement that I wrote and recorded this morning. I would love to have some feedback. Are these good, terrible, mediocre? What do you think?
Homelessness is not a condition I especially want to address. It is not that I don't care about people having no roof over their head, although this is not the worst part of homelessness, or so it seems to me.
It would seem to me the most agonizing part of homelessness would not be not having shelter but not being part of a family or other primary group offering love and support. Love is the secret of happiness. People who love and who are loved in return are simply much happier than others.
It would be heart rending to feel that you are alone on this earth, that no one cares about you. So I am not devoid of pity for the homeless.
It's just the magnitude of the problem. If you just think of the veterans, there are around 200,000 of them without their own bed to sleep in each night. I believe that most of them have significant mental problems or are addicted to alcohol or other drugs.
60 second
Here's a thought for when you go to bed tonight. Tonight,
nearly 200,000 veterans have nowhere to lay their head. On
any given night, 200,000 men and women who fought for
their country are homeless. And twice that number are
homeless sometime during the year.
That's approaching a half-million guys who stepped forward
when their country called, now sleeping on the street. This
is unacceptable in a great nation. Right now, there are more
homeless Vietnam veterans on the street than died during
that war. And we are already seeing veterans returning from
the fight against Islamic terror in the homeless population.
Maybe OurFinest.Org cannot end homelessness for those
already on the street. But we CAN prevent others from
becoming homeless, especially our injured troops. To learn
more, go to OurFinest.Org.
****************
30-second
Tonight, nearly 200,000 veterans have nowhere to lay their
head. This is doctor mark for our finest dot org. Twice that
many vets are homeless sometime during the year. Nearly
half-a million guys who served their country called, now
sleeping on the street. There are more homeless Vietnam
veterans than died during that war. And now veterans who
fought Islamic terror are joining the homeless population.
But not if OurFinest.Org can prevent it. To learn more, go
to our finest dot org.
http://www.ourfinest.org
Homelessness is not a condition I especially want to address. It is not that I don't care about people having no roof over their head, although this is not the worst part of homelessness, or so it seems to me.
It would seem to me the most agonizing part of homelessness would not be not having shelter but not being part of a family or other primary group offering love and support. Love is the secret of happiness. People who love and who are loved in return are simply much happier than others.
It would be heart rending to feel that you are alone on this earth, that no one cares about you. So I am not devoid of pity for the homeless.
It's just the magnitude of the problem. If you just think of the veterans, there are around 200,000 of them without their own bed to sleep in each night. I believe that most of them have significant mental problems or are addicted to alcohol or other drugs.
60 second
Here's a thought for when you go to bed tonight. Tonight,
nearly 200,000 veterans have nowhere to lay their head. On
any given night, 200,000 men and women who fought for
their country are homeless. And twice that number are
homeless sometime during the year.
That's approaching a half-million guys who stepped forward
when their country called, now sleeping on the street. This
is unacceptable in a great nation. Right now, there are more
homeless Vietnam veterans on the street than died during
that war. And we are already seeing veterans returning from
the fight against Islamic terror in the homeless population.
Maybe OurFinest.Org cannot end homelessness for those
already on the street. But we CAN prevent others from
becoming homeless, especially our injured troops. To learn
more, go to OurFinest.Org.
****************
30-second
Tonight, nearly 200,000 veterans have nowhere to lay their
head. This is doctor mark for our finest dot org. Twice that
many vets are homeless sometime during the year. Nearly
half-a million guys who served their country called, now
sleeping on the street. There are more homeless Vietnam
veterans than died during that war. And now veterans who
fought Islamic terror are joining the homeless population.
But not if OurFinest.Org can prevent it. To learn more, go
to our finest dot org.
http://www.ourfinest.org
Friday, September 5, 2008
Dark Humor
Judith Newman writes a marvelous article in this month's Readers Digest: "When the tough get going, the touch crack wise.". The mother of an autistic child, she writes in defense of dark humor as a way to cope with that which cannot be dealt with.
Humor can help one endure the unendurable. Every parent of a special needs child must bear a secret pain that can barely be recognized, much less expressed. What parent does not want a whole and healthy child? Yet some 20 million special needs families have mothers and fathers who are required to love and care for a child who cannot meet those high hopes.
How do you handle it? Mrs. Newman says that laughing at the agony is at least part of the answer. "Every day of my life, I thank God for dark humor. I subscribe wholeheartedly to this idea, first put forth by Woody Allen, "Life is full of misery, loneliness and suffering -- and it's all over much too soon." What is it about humans that make us want to laugh when logically, we should cry?
One of the most interesting statements was her idea that dark humor is a form of bravery. Katherine Rich, author of "The Red Devil: to hell with cancer and back" writes a funny and heart-rending book. She says, "The worse things get, the funnier I think they are. That is how I grew up, how I learned to handle things.There is a form of defiance in laughing at pain. It demonstrates that we are NOT totally a helpless victim in a universe in which pain could be -- and often is -- right around the corner.
Richard Reich, Clinton's diminutive labor secretary jokes with audiences "They told me to be short.". His audience is comfortable with his height, because he is comfortable. It's a sophisticated form of consideration, another fascinating insight to me. Who knew that joking about an affliction is a means of being thoughtful?
"A twisted sense of humor I realized recently is the common denominator among the most loving, considerate people I know. Arnie Carn at UNC studies the role of humor in stress, how humor helps us cope. His research shows what we instinctively know,that humor helps limit the painful effects of trauma. Aggressive humor and affiliative humor have no effect on how people perceive stress. Affiliative humor is joking around in general. Two styles do matter: self enhancing and self defeating. People high in self enhancing humor do not see so much stress in their lives. Self defeating humor "When I was little, my parents moved a lot, but I always found them: leads to higher stress. Self enhancing humor, the ability to. Crack wise and see the hunmir in any situation when your world is falling apart, protects us from the effects of stress.
It works at the office as well. People who can laugh at high stress perform better. Funeral directors are funny and mourners often initiate humor. Laughing is the flipside of crying.
Humor can help one endure the unendurable. Every parent of a special needs child must bear a secret pain that can barely be recognized, much less expressed. What parent does not want a whole and healthy child? Yet some 20 million special needs families have mothers and fathers who are required to love and care for a child who cannot meet those high hopes.
How do you handle it? Mrs. Newman says that laughing at the agony is at least part of the answer. "Every day of my life, I thank God for dark humor. I subscribe wholeheartedly to this idea, first put forth by Woody Allen, "Life is full of misery, loneliness and suffering -- and it's all over much too soon." What is it about humans that make us want to laugh when logically, we should cry?
One of the most interesting statements was her idea that dark humor is a form of bravery. Katherine Rich, author of "The Red Devil: to hell with cancer and back" writes a funny and heart-rending book. She says, "The worse things get, the funnier I think they are. That is how I grew up, how I learned to handle things.There is a form of defiance in laughing at pain. It demonstrates that we are NOT totally a helpless victim in a universe in which pain could be -- and often is -- right around the corner.
Richard Reich, Clinton's diminutive labor secretary jokes with audiences "They told me to be short.". His audience is comfortable with his height, because he is comfortable. It's a sophisticated form of consideration, another fascinating insight to me. Who knew that joking about an affliction is a means of being thoughtful?
"A twisted sense of humor I realized recently is the common denominator among the most loving, considerate people I know. Arnie Carn at UNC studies the role of humor in stress, how humor helps us cope. His research shows what we instinctively know,that humor helps limit the painful effects of trauma. Aggressive humor and affiliative humor have no effect on how people perceive stress. Affiliative humor is joking around in general. Two styles do matter: self enhancing and self defeating. People high in self enhancing humor do not see so much stress in their lives. Self defeating humor "When I was little, my parents moved a lot, but I always found them: leads to higher stress. Self enhancing humor, the ability to. Crack wise and see the hunmir in any situation when your world is falling apart, protects us from the effects of stress.
It works at the office as well. People who can laugh at high stress perform better. Funeral directors are funny and mourners often initiate humor. Laughing is the flipside of crying.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
New GI Bill
Looks like some good news for injured soldiers and their families. The latest GI Bill gives a big boost in the opportunity for all of today's servicemembers to get their education, according to senior Defense Department officials.
President Bush signed the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008 on June 30. The new law mirrors the tenets of the original GI Bill, which gave returning World War II veterans the opportunity to go to any school they wanted while receiving a living stipend.
The original GI Bill was said to be one of the most significant social impacts of the 20th century. There is every chance that the new bill is going to have a similar impact, especially good news for wounded soldiers and their families.
The new GI Bill is applies to individuals who served on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, and offers education benefits worth an average of $80,000 - double the value of those in the previous program. It covers the full costs of tuition and books, which are paid directly to the school, and it provides a variable stipend for living expenses.
One of the great new features is that it’s also transferable to family members of career servicemembers. Its only restriction is that payment amounts are limited to the most expensive in-state cost to attend a college or university in the state where veterans attend school.
The variable stipend is based on the Defense Department's basic allowance for housing for an E-5, which averages about $1,200 a month, and $1,000 a year will be paid directly to the servicemember for books and supplies.
Enrollment into the Post-9/11 GI Bill is free. Eligibility for the Montgomery GI Bill is based on service commitment and requires active-duty servicemembers to pay a $1,200 fee over the initial year of their enlistment.
The new bill requires that an individual serve at least 90-days on active duty after Sept. 10, 2001, and if discharged, be separated on honorable terms. Servicemembers discharged due to a service-connected disability are eligible if they served 30 continuous days on active duty. Servicemembers must serve 36 aggregated months to qualify for the full amount of benefits.
Servicemembers are entitled to benefits of the new bill for up to 36 months and have up to 15 years from their last 30 days of continuous service to use their entitlements. But as successful as Defense Department officials anticipate the new bill to be, Clark suggested that new recruits still enroll in the Montgomery GI Bill.
The Montgomery GI Bill gives benefits for higher education as well as vocational training, apprenticeship programs and on-the-job training, he explained. The Post-9/11 GI Bill focuses solely on higher education and can only be used at institutions that offer at least an associate's degree.
All new recruits should think hard before turning down the Montgomery GI Bill, because they will limit their opportunities for additional education without it.
Servicemembers also are "highly encouraged" to use the Defense Department's tuition assistance program while on active duty, because the Post-9/11 GI Bill's full entitlements, such as the living stipend and book allowance, will not be available.
If you use the Post-9/11 GI Bill while on active duty, it will merely cover tuition or the difference of what tuition assistance will pay. Another downside to that is each month you use the new bill, you lose a month of your 36 months of eligibility.
So, if servicemembers serve on active duty on or after Aug. 1, 2009, and meet the minimum time-in-service requirement, they will be eligible for the new GI Bill while also maintaining benefits from the Montgomery GI Bill.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill also brings good news for officers and for servicemembers who enlisted under the loan repayment program. Since eligibility for the Post-9/11 GI Bill is based on time already served, more servicemembers will be able to take advantage of its benefits. Officers commissioned through one of the service academies or through ROTC and enlisted servicemembers participating in the loan repayment program don't qualify for the Montgomery GI Bill.
Those servicemembers will be able to qualify if they finish their initial obligatory service. Commissioned officers must complete their initial five-year commitment if they attended a service academy or their four-year agreement if they were commissioned through college ROTC. Servicemembers whose college loans were paid off by the Defense Department as a re-enlistment incentive must finish their initial commitment - whether it is three, four or five years - before they can apply.
Any amount of time an individual served after their obligated service counts for qualifying service under the new GI Bill.
Another facet unique to the Post-9/11 GI Bill is that it's transferable to family
members. The feature gives the defense and service secretaries the authority to offer career servicemembers the opportunity to transfer unused benefits to their family. Though Defense Department officials still are working with the services to hash out eligibility requirements, there are four prerequisites that are subject to adjustment or change.
Currently transferability requirements are:
-- Qualifying service to be eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill;
-- Active duty service in the armed forces on or after Aug. 1, 2009;
-- At least six years of service in the armed forces;
-- Agreement to serve four more years in the armed forces.
Individuals who may not qualify to transfer unused benefits because they leave the service before the new bill's effective date most likely still will qualify for the bill. As long as the separated servicemembers meet the minimum qualifying time served, they can contact their local Veterans Affairs office and apply for the program. While payments are not retroactive, eligibility is.
This new bill will allow our veterans to chase their dreams. It will allow them to go back and experience college like they deserve, much like their grandfathers did in World War II.
More information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill is available at www.ourfinest.org
President Bush signed the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008 on June 30. The new law mirrors the tenets of the original GI Bill, which gave returning World War II veterans the opportunity to go to any school they wanted while receiving a living stipend.
The original GI Bill was said to be one of the most significant social impacts of the 20th century. There is every chance that the new bill is going to have a similar impact, especially good news for wounded soldiers and their families.
The new GI Bill is applies to individuals who served on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001, and offers education benefits worth an average of $80,000 - double the value of those in the previous program. It covers the full costs of tuition and books, which are paid directly to the school, and it provides a variable stipend for living expenses.
One of the great new features is that it’s also transferable to family members of career servicemembers. Its only restriction is that payment amounts are limited to the most expensive in-state cost to attend a college or university in the state where veterans attend school.
The variable stipend is based on the Defense Department's basic allowance for housing for an E-5, which averages about $1,200 a month, and $1,000 a year will be paid directly to the servicemember for books and supplies.
Enrollment into the Post-9/11 GI Bill is free. Eligibility for the Montgomery GI Bill is based on service commitment and requires active-duty servicemembers to pay a $1,200 fee over the initial year of their enlistment.
The new bill requires that an individual serve at least 90-days on active duty after Sept. 10, 2001, and if discharged, be separated on honorable terms. Servicemembers discharged due to a service-connected disability are eligible if they served 30 continuous days on active duty. Servicemembers must serve 36 aggregated months to qualify for the full amount of benefits.
Servicemembers are entitled to benefits of the new bill for up to 36 months and have up to 15 years from their last 30 days of continuous service to use their entitlements. But as successful as Defense Department officials anticipate the new bill to be, Clark suggested that new recruits still enroll in the Montgomery GI Bill.
The Montgomery GI Bill gives benefits for higher education as well as vocational training, apprenticeship programs and on-the-job training, he explained. The Post-9/11 GI Bill focuses solely on higher education and can only be used at institutions that offer at least an associate's degree.
All new recruits should think hard before turning down the Montgomery GI Bill, because they will limit their opportunities for additional education without it.
Servicemembers also are "highly encouraged" to use the Defense Department's tuition assistance program while on active duty, because the Post-9/11 GI Bill's full entitlements, such as the living stipend and book allowance, will not be available.
If you use the Post-9/11 GI Bill while on active duty, it will merely cover tuition or the difference of what tuition assistance will pay. Another downside to that is each month you use the new bill, you lose a month of your 36 months of eligibility.
So, if servicemembers serve on active duty on or after Aug. 1, 2009, and meet the minimum time-in-service requirement, they will be eligible for the new GI Bill while also maintaining benefits from the Montgomery GI Bill.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill also brings good news for officers and for servicemembers who enlisted under the loan repayment program. Since eligibility for the Post-9/11 GI Bill is based on time already served, more servicemembers will be able to take advantage of its benefits. Officers commissioned through one of the service academies or through ROTC and enlisted servicemembers participating in the loan repayment program don't qualify for the Montgomery GI Bill.
Those servicemembers will be able to qualify if they finish their initial obligatory service. Commissioned officers must complete their initial five-year commitment if they attended a service academy or their four-year agreement if they were commissioned through college ROTC. Servicemembers whose college loans were paid off by the Defense Department as a re-enlistment incentive must finish their initial commitment - whether it is three, four or five years - before they can apply.
Any amount of time an individual served after their obligated service counts for qualifying service under the new GI Bill.
Another facet unique to the Post-9/11 GI Bill is that it's transferable to family
members. The feature gives the defense and service secretaries the authority to offer career servicemembers the opportunity to transfer unused benefits to their family. Though Defense Department officials still are working with the services to hash out eligibility requirements, there are four prerequisites that are subject to adjustment or change.
Currently transferability requirements are:
-- Qualifying service to be eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill;
-- Active duty service in the armed forces on or after Aug. 1, 2009;
-- At least six years of service in the armed forces;
-- Agreement to serve four more years in the armed forces.
Individuals who may not qualify to transfer unused benefits because they leave the service before the new bill's effective date most likely still will qualify for the bill. As long as the separated servicemembers meet the minimum qualifying time served, they can contact their local Veterans Affairs office and apply for the program. While payments are not retroactive, eligibility is.
This new bill will allow our veterans to chase their dreams. It will allow them to go back and experience college like they deserve, much like their grandfathers did in World War II.
More information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill is available at www.ourfinest.org
Monday, September 1, 2008
Veterans missing out on stimulus payments
Thousands of veterans are missing out on thousands of dollars. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says that wounded warriors and disabled veterans have until Oct. 15 to file claims for economic stimulus payments.
The IRS is conducting a campaign to contact those who are eligible, but who have failed to files claims. These include people receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability, pension or survivors� benefits. The agency is sending special letters to those eligible with directions on how to make the claim. These include a sample tax form and a tax form that can be completed and mailed to the IRS. This is the second special mailing to eligible disabled veterans.
As many as one in four disabled veterans and retirees have not yet filed a claim for economic stimulus payments Congress authorized in February.
Disabled veterans who do not normally file a tax return are eligible for the payments, but they will need to file a tax return before Oct. 15 in order to qualify for the stimulus funds. Once the tax return has been filed, the IRS will calculate eligibility and the payment amount. Even though some disabled veterans do not normally file a tax return because their benefits are not taxable, must file a return in order to receive the payments.
The stimulus payments of up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples filing joint returns) have no effect on federal benefits received and are not taxable. In addition, filing a tax return to receive a stimulus payment does not mean that disabled veterans will have to start filing tax returns again.
The IRS will offer face-to-face tax preparation sessions with the help of community groups and at senior housing, VA medical centers and assisted living facilities. There are also 400 local Taxpayer Assistance Centers that will provide tax preparation assistance to disabled veterans. A list for addresses and office hours can be found on the IRS Web site www.irs.gov under �Contact My Local Office.
The IRS is conducting a campaign to contact those who are eligible, but who have failed to files claims. These include people receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability, pension or survivors� benefits. The agency is sending special letters to those eligible with directions on how to make the claim. These include a sample tax form and a tax form that can be completed and mailed to the IRS. This is the second special mailing to eligible disabled veterans.
As many as one in four disabled veterans and retirees have not yet filed a claim for economic stimulus payments Congress authorized in February.
Disabled veterans who do not normally file a tax return are eligible for the payments, but they will need to file a tax return before Oct. 15 in order to qualify for the stimulus funds. Once the tax return has been filed, the IRS will calculate eligibility and the payment amount. Even though some disabled veterans do not normally file a tax return because their benefits are not taxable, must file a return in order to receive the payments.
The stimulus payments of up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples filing joint returns) have no effect on federal benefits received and are not taxable. In addition, filing a tax return to receive a stimulus payment does not mean that disabled veterans will have to start filing tax returns again.
The IRS will offer face-to-face tax preparation sessions with the help of community groups and at senior housing, VA medical centers and assisted living facilities. There are also 400 local Taxpayer Assistance Centers that will provide tax preparation assistance to disabled veterans. A list for addresses and office hours can be found on the IRS Web site www.irs.gov under �Contact My Local Office.
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