Our staff wanted to send a quick shout out to all of our fantastic members contributing to the conversation on our Military Forum. We are proud to announce that at 10:45 am CST this morning, VA Joe’s Forum reached its 100,000th post!

We’ve always kept a focus at fostering the growth of the Forum here on our community because it offers such a great opportunity for the military and veteran community to come together and discuss topics that range from Iraq to their benefits to spouse support. Thanks to all of you, let’s make it to 1 million!

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One more time.  This compilation of political positions and comments is that of guest milblogger The Crawfish.  He alone is responsible for it’s content.  The management and staff of vajoe, the advertisers, the voters in tonight’s Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island primaries, the people stuck in airports around the country because of weather delays, the fans of the English Premier League and the Champions League, and all of my former dart shooting teammates have nothing to do with the content, and would probably call me nuts anyway.  Then again, I can appreciate that term, since it is the most famous quote from a Brigadier General during all of WW2: To the German Commander, NUTS!, signed, the American Commander.  God Bless the memory of Anthony MacAuliffe and the Battling Bastards of Bastogne.

In case you’re new to this three-part series, the management of The Swamp has decided that the GOP, in general, and John McCain, in particular, have kicked the conservative base to the curb.  The Crawfish, since he’s still on active duty for another 24 months, cannot run for the Presidency, but he and the management have come up with their own party and platform, in theory at least.  It is called The Crawfish Party Platform, but some folks have complained about the party name.  Hey, when we can really make a run for it, we’ll give it a better name.

Topics in our Party Platform include (in no particular order):National Defense

10th Amendment Commission

Clean Bill Committment

Line Item Veto

The Fair Tax

Entitlement Programs

Foreign Aid

Glo-Bull Warming

What the First Amendment Really Says

Federal Courts and Their Jurisdictions

UnConstitutional Departments, Agencies, and Bureaucracies

Budget

End Social InSecurity Fairly

The English Language

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Embassy Security

Border Control and Immigration

National Primary Plan

Campaign Finance Reform

Diversity and Multiculturalism

Self-reliance and Responsibility

Political Correctness

Disaster Relief

Abortion

Prisoner’s Rights

The War On Terror

Israel and the Palestinians

Energy Policy

Minimum Wage

Legal Reform

Honesty in Governmental Votes

The Second AmendmentTaking Care of Those Who Are Disabled

A Constitutional Amendment to Fix the 14^th Amendment

In parts 1 & 2 of this series, we went over the first 24 planks.  We proudly present the remaining 10: 

Prisoner’s Rights: Prison inmates have the right to life, adequate food and water, and to not be tortured. Other than that, they have no rights. No right to cable TV and exercise. The only TV channels allowed will be C-SPAN networks, CNN, FOX News, a local weather channel, a local news channel, and a prison information channel. No right to libraries unless for education research. No right to air conditioning (if our troops overseas can stand the elements, so can inmates). If the prisoner has as much private space as a sailor on a destroyer, then there is no overcrowding. Prisoners will be expected to work for 10 hours per day for the government, and this can be anything from furniture manufacture to chain gangs along the highway. Prisoners not on death row or serving life sentences without parole will be expected to complete high school equivalence if they do not have a diploma, and work toward a trade school certificate or an Associate’s degree. While pursuing their education, their work shifts will be cut in half. No right to endless appeals over piddly stuff. If sentenced to death, they have the right to one appeal per court level. If they are convicted of a state offense, their appeals end with the state supreme courts, as does their life. If convicted of federal crimes, their appeals can go to the Supremes, but only once, and all appeals must be completed within 2 years of the original verdict. The War On Terror: This is not politically correct to state, but it is a religious war. One side admits it, but our side is afraid to admit it. Islam declared war on the rest of the world when the Prophet Mohammed commanded that all non-believers (infidels) be converted, enslaved (dhimmitude), or put to the sword. The war has been going on for over 1300 years. It will not end until the world is entirely subjected to Sharia Law or Islam is exterminated. That’s not a pretty thought, but it is the plain truth, so if you don’t like it, get over it. As for the illegal combatant prisoners at Guantanamo, they do not meet the requirements set forth in the Geneva Accords for prisoner of war status, therefore they can be tortured, held indefinitely, or even summarily executed. Sucks to be them.

Israel and the Palestinians: There were no such things as ‘Palestinians’ until the 60s. Mostly, they were arabs living in Jordan whose leadership angered the Jordanian government (Yassir Arafat escaped into exile disguised as a woman). Their ‘movement’ began when they got kicked out of Jordan. If they had been peaceful, they could have had a pretty good life in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, or wherever they wanted to be, but no. They demanded that Israel become theirs. Our Party believes that if the Palestinians want a homeland of their own, they should negotiate for land that is currently part of some arab nation. Israel is small enough for its own self. It doesn’t need to get smaller. The arab nations have plenty of land. As for Israel’s borders, the 1968 attempt at exterminating Israel by the arab nations was a war of aggression. When you start one of those wars and lose, you don’t get back land that you got run out of. Syria lost control of the Golan Heights when Israeli forces fought back the invaders. Jordan lost the West Bank and their part of Jerusalem. Egypt lost Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. Israel has since given Egypt the Sinai in return for peace, and because they really didn’t want it anyway. Gaza, Golan, and the West Bank are properly Israeli until such a time as Israel freely gives them away. Until then, Israel is free to do whatever they want in those areas. If they wish to set up lots of settlements, that’s their prerogative. If they wish to expel all of the ‘Palestinians’, they are free to do so. If any more rockets or missiles are fired into Israel from Gaza, the IDF should be free to wipe out all of Gaza. If the arabs don’t like it, they can take the ‘Palestinians’ in themselves. If Hezbollah strikes from Lebanon, the IDF is within its rights to turn southern Lebanon into a sheet of glass.

Energy Policy: The various left wing groups in America have completely screwed up our energy policy. They complain about pollution from electricity plants, but won’t allow power companies to build new, clean, efficient plants, especially nuclear plants. Our Party will give the green light to companies to build new power plants. They complain about not enough alternative energy sources, but won’t allow wind farms because they kill a couple of birds per year and they spoil Teddythedrunk(D-Chappaquiddick)’s view when he goes sailing. We will give the energy companies the go ahead to work on alternative energy forms and means of production. They complain about oil refineries, but won’t allow new, more efficient, cleaner ones to be built. They complain about the price of fuel, but won’t allow the refineries to be built or oil and natural gas drilling. We will open ANWR and the areas off the California and Florida coasts to drilling. We will wean ourselves off of the oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. They complain about the price of gasoline, but each state demands different gasoline formulas for summer, fall, winter, and spring. We will convene a meeting of the environmental regulatory agencies from the states to get them to agree on formulas to be used around the country, so production is simplified. They complain that government demands on the auto industry and gas mileage aren’t high enough. Our Party will say that the free market will decide what kind of cars the auto industry will produce. If consumers press for higher mileage and different fueling options, the companies will make it happen. Our Party will reject Kyoto and all follow-on enviro-nut treaties, especially if they call for the destruction of our economic base while doing nothing about other nations that pollute more, such as China and India. It’s not that we hate the environment. Our Party believes in responsible use of resources and attempting to do things ‘greener’, but we will not mandate that through the strong arm of the government.

Minimum Wage: Since there is no place in the Constitution where the federal government has the authority to have any say in the private business contracts between employer and employee, the federal minimum wage would be one of the first things axed by the 10^th Amendment Commission, but only if our Party doesn’t move to kill it through the courts beforehand.  This also goes for equal opportunity employment and every other government intrusion into businesses.  If Billy-Bob, Jim-Bob, and Bubba, the Redneck Cousins, want to run a sporting goods, bait, and beer store somewhere in the South, and they know their clientele will be a bit on the racist and sexist side, it is their right as the business owners to hire only white Southern males to work there.  The ACLU, of course, will send a black female to apply for a job and, when she’s rejected, they’ll file suit claiming discrimination.  The cousins shouldn’t have to fear that kind of lawsuit, nor should they have to hire someone that would be a detriment to their business just because of some equal opportunity law.

Legal Reform: Getting rid of our litigious society will require a lot of work, but step one is real tort reform in the form of Loser Pays. If you bring forth a lawsuit, and you cause a company or person to spend thousands of dollars to defend themselves (or be forced to settle out of court because the expense of fighting the case would bankrupt them), you should be taking the risk that if you are in the wrong, you must pay the other side for their legal fees and trouble. As far as the insanity defense goes, the Party recommends that “not guilty by reason of insanity” be changed to “guilty, but insane.” By this verdict, the person is determined to have committed the act, and punishment/confinement is based on the mental state. This will get rid of the ridiculousness of someone getting off with a few months in a counseling center and no criminal record if they commit a major crime in front of 23 witnesses and 2 video cameras on the corner of Main and Commerce at high noon on Wednesday because they claim to be “schizo-bananas.” The concept of “personal responsibility” shall be included in all legal transactions. Each person is responsible for their own actions, and cannot use society, PTSD, social deprivation, slave status of a great-great-great-great grandparent, etc., as a defense for non-social or anti-social actions, unless that person can show, without a doubt, that his situation is unique, and why others, who overcame similar situations, were aberrations. The designation of “hate crime” is to be removed from the books. Thought is not a chargeable offense. This designation only serves to foster a victim-oppressor relationship as hate crimes have been defined as committed only by (white) (male) (straight) against (non-white) (female) (homosexual) (specifically designated minority group). All crimes of violence should be thought of the same, and the amount of hate in the perpetrator is the same no matter the status of the victim. Lawyers, as officers of the court, are to be reminded that the release of a guilty person is, to society, as great a miscarriage of justice as the conviction of an innocent one, and they shall be held equally culpable for both. There shall be no “sealing” or “closing” of a police or criminal record when a juvenile offender reaches the age of maturity. A person’s criminal record is their criminal record no matter the age, since you can’t change the past.

Honesty in Governmental Votes: It has become a practice among some in Congress and the Senate to have their vote changed in the record if that vote was not vital to the passing or defeat of the bill. This is done so the member’s official voting record can be changed to reflect a different stance on a controversial vote in order to please certain constituents. If a member casts a vote, that is it!

The Second Amendment: The right to keep and bear arms is vital to this nation. Not only are all citizens under the age of 45 automatically part of the militia, according to US Federal Code, but our Party believes in the old saying, “An armed man is a citizen, and an unarmed man is a subject.” The Second Amendment makes it clear that this is an individual right not to be violated. Citizens have the right to firearms for self-defense, hunting, militia duties, and to make sure our government never turns tyrannical nor do the socialists throw out the Constitution. Any jurisdiction that has any kind of gun ban (hand gun bans in DC and Chicago are eminent examples) is in violation of the Constitution.

Taking Care of Those Who Are Disabled: The ending of entitlement programs would only be for those people who are functional and can work. People who are physically or mentally disabled to the point where they cannot do a job will be taken care of. THAT is the only type of handout that the American taxpayer never has a problem with. We will work with charitable organizations to make sure disabled Americans have food, shelter, and the care they need. People with disabilities that don’t quite meet that mark, but that are severely impairing, will get partial assistance, but not if that impairment is from their own actions, such as alcohol or drug use. This is as close as our Party will get to George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservative” label.

A Constitutional Amendment to Fix the 14^th Amendment: Section 1 of the 14^th Amendment begins, “Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This is the clause that has given us the term “anchor baby” in reference to illegal aliens who cross the border and pop out a baby, in an American hospital paid for by American taxpayers, and the child automatically becomes a US citizen and cannot be kicked out of the country. The parents cannot be kicked out either, as they cannot leave the baby behind. This must end. The Party proposes a new Constitutional Amendment that will clearly state that automatic citizenship shall only be conferred upon a baby that is born in the USA to parents who are in this nation LEGALLY!

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As per usual, this post is the creation of The Crawfish’s addled brain.  It has no relation to anything resembling the ideas and ideals of the folks that run VAJoe.com, their advertisers, the other bloggers, the Dim-ocrat Party, the Party Formerly Known as the Republican Party, The Green Party, The Reform Party, Ross Perot, or anybody currently employed in the District of Corruption.

Just in case the blog readers haven’t figured me out through my other posts and my 290+ posts in Joe’s Forum, I have put together the 2008 Crawfish Party Platform.  This posting will be in three parts and will be done over the next week or so. 

Topics in our Party Platform include (in no particular order):

National Defense

10th Amendment Commission

Clean Bill Committment

Line Item Veto

The Fair Tax

Entitlement Programs

Foreign Aid

Glo-Bull Warming

What the First Amendment Really Says

Federal Courts and Their Jurisdictions

UnConstitutional Departments, Agencies, and Bureaucracies

Budget

End Social InSecurity Fairly

The English Language

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Embassy Security

Border Control and Immigration

National Primary Plan

Campaign Finance Reform

Diversity and Multiculturalism

Self-reliance and Responsibility

Political Correctness

Disaster Relief

Abortion

Prisoner’s Rights

The War On Terror

Israel and the Palestinians

Energy Policy

Minimum Wage

Legal Reform

Honesty in Governmental Votes

The Second AmendmentTaking Care of Those Who Are Disabled

A Constitutional Amendment to Fix the 14^th Amendment

Without further adieu, The Crawfish Party presents the first seven topics in our 2008 Party Platform.

National Defense: The Party is committed to a strong national defense. We will strive to build up our forces and give them every tool they need to fight any enemy, anytime. Whether it be a conventional battle or a fight against unconventional forces, we will have the advanced gear our folks need to win and to take as few casualties as possible. This includes many new and advanced ships for the Navy, an all-new model force of aircraft for all services within 10 years, the best body armor that can be had for our ground forces, and the vehicles they want. We will also greatly increase the quality of medical care our service members get. That will be costly, but worth it. We are committed to giving every member of our armed forces (and retirees) a 10% raise in each of the next 3 years, and 5% raises thereafter. If anybody wants to screw with us, they will quickly assume room temperature. Do something really nasty to us and you will see a lot of large, bright mushrooms…capiche? If war again becomes necessary anywhere, our troops must be ordered to participate with maximum effort necessary to ensure total, absolute, unconditional victory.

10^th Amendment Commission: An idea that The Crawfish has considered for years, and that has been made famous recently by Neal Boortz, would be a commission made up of a few politicians (national, state-level, and municipal) and Constitutional experts that would go through the current federal laws, statutes, regulations, bureaucracy, departments, budgets, etc. Everything that doesn’t meet the governmental restrictions found in the Constitution would be highlighted and reported to the President for his weekly television address (Tuesday nights on your local network affiliates). In these weekly addresses, the President will show the American people how their government is acting outside of the Supreme Law of the Land and he will demand that Congress to immediately cancel/slash/zero-out/get rid of/nuke these items. 

Clean Bill Commitment: Any bill that comes from Congress that is not clean has exactly zero chance of being signed into law. Any amendment or addition to a bill must be fully voted upon and must be germane to the rest of the bill, or the bill will face certain veto. Even if the President agrees with the non-germane amendment/earmark/addition, if it isn’t in-line with the salient point of the bill, it’s outta there!Line Item Veto: Kinda goes hand-in-hand with the 10^th Amendment Commission, and the Clean Bill Commitment. It is a MUST! The Fair Tax: This is the most well-thought out and researched tax plan in the history of the USA. If you don’t know the details, read the books. We get rid of the IRS, make taxes simple and fair, tax the underground economy, and stimulate the economy.

Entitlement Programs: These unConstitutional programs have been a cancer upon America since our first socialist President, FDR, and were exacerbated under his disciple, the Fake Texan, LBJ. There’s no place in the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to pay for housing for thems that are too lazy, drug addled, constantly prego with kids from who knows how many daddies, and are just plain criminals. There’s no place in the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to pay welfare or food stamps to those who are too lazy to work. Once we get rid of the illegal aliens, there will be plenty of jobs to go around. If people think those jobs are beneath them, well…those jobs give more of a paycheck than not having one. Real Americans do what they’ve gotta do to survive and thrive. It is time to END the cycle of dependency on the government that has caused so many to be entrapped in poverty.   The War on Poverty has spent trillions of dollars, and hasn’t reduced poverty at all. It has just created a permanent underclass of dependency.

Foreign Aid: Most would end. Period. If your nation doesn’t support our policies and freedom, you don’t get the money our taxpayers earned. AIDS in Afreaka? Try monogamy and condom use. Global poverty? Try getting rid of your own corrupt governments and tin-pot dictators. About the only people who could rely upon our support would be Israel and Iraq. The rest would need to EARN it!

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Once again, this post is the sole opinion of The Crawfish. It bears no resemblance to the policies, opinions, or anything else of vajoe, the people that run vajoe, the advertisers at vajoe, George W Bush, John McCain, The Republican Party, the NFL, and the broadcasters of this station. (Although I think it SHOULD be their opinions, and your opinion)

Once again, Cindy She-Hag has let her hatred of W and the USA send her off to do something to dishonor the memory of her son, Casey. Now she is openly supporting Islamic terrorists, and it was Islamic terrorists that her son died fighting.

By Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. peace activist Cindy Sheehan pressed Egypt on Wednesday to free members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood who are on trial in a military court, urging leniency for the sake of their families.

She’s not a PEACE ACTIVIST. She’s an agitator supporting whoever hates the USA.

Egypt sent 40 members of the Brotherhood including its No. 3, Khairat el-Shater, to a military court a year ago. The men, six of whom are being tried in absentia, are the first Brotherhood members to face military trials since 2001.

Most of the serious charges, including terrorism and money laundering, were dropped in December, but the men are still charged with belonging to a banned group. A verdict is due on Feb. 26.

Why did they drop the charges? The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization supporting the Koran’s commandments that all infidels are to be converted, enslaved, or shot, and that all governments shall be run by Sharia Law.

“I’m a mother whose son was killed in Iraq. I know what these families are going through — stress and trauma,” said Sheehan, who became a leading U.S. anti-war activist after her son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.

No you don’t. Your son was fighting for his country and died in battle. These folks are being tried as criminals and will have plenty of warning as to when their deaths will occur. Their families will have a final goodbye. Their families support their cause, unlike Casey’s.

On a visit to Cairo to protest against the military trials, she added: “So as a mother, I’m asking for leniency from the Egyptian government, not only for the Muslim Brotherhood people, but for their children and their families also.”

Do the terrorists have leniency to infidels, their children, and their families?

Dozens of police kept Sheehan and 200 Egyptian protesters cordoned off on a Nile river promenade in central Cairo as foreign tourists gawked, but they did not stop the protest.

Speaking over a loudhailer opposite government and ruling party offices, Sheehan accused Egypt of using the military court “as a last resort to guarantee a guilty verdict” and said U.S. aid to Egypt should be tied to better human rights practices.

She called the trials a violation of international law. A) Their crimes were against Egypt, not any other nation, so they are to be tried under Egyptian law, and international law is not applicable, and B) since when do Islamic terrorists give a damn about international law?
As for the military court being a last resort to get a guilty verdict……the problem is??????
The Crawfish is all for getting rid of aid to Egypt…and danged near every country in the world except Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan!

Local and international rights groups including Amnesty International have criticised the military trial as unfair. Egypt has barred independent observers from the court.

If Amnesty International opposes it, it must be a GOOD THING!

“Freedom, where are you?” read a banner held by one protester. Probably somewhere that Islamic terrorists aren’t! “We miss you, dad” read another, with a photograph.

Several protesters, mostly the wives and children of the Brotherhood detainees, held banners or wore shirts emblazoned with slogans comparing the children of the Muslim Brotherhood detainees to Sheehan’s son. “She lost her son, we lost our husbands and fathers,” said Brotherhood detainee Khairat el-Shater’s daughter Zahraa, 30.

Don’t you DARE compare someone fighting for FREEDOM to a bunch of Islamic terrorists trying to turn the whole world into 7th century Arabia.

Aisha Hassan Malek, the 11-year-old daughter of one of the Brotherhood men, said: “I just want them to be found innocent and return to us and their families as soon as possible.” The non-violent Muslim Brotherhood, which holds a fifth of the seats in Egypt’s parliament, seeks an Islamic state through democratic means and operates openly despite a decades-old ban.

Non-violent????? Let’s see….attacks on tourists and Christians, the murder of Anwar Sadat….other acts of terrorism….the only non-violent ones are the mouthpieces in Parliament.

The government often detains Brotherhood members without charge, and a spokesman for the group said nearly 350 are currently in detention. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston, editing by Tim Pearce)

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL13901254

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VA Joe.com was contacted by Jessie Findlay over at Nickelodeon recently with this announcement. Help spread the word!

“The Nickelodeon news series “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” is looking for kids of soldiers currently home from deployment who are willing to be interviewed about the readjustment process. We’re looking for a few well-spoken kids around 11 to 15 years old to talk about how life has changed now that Mom/Dad has come home - particularly those dealing with a physical injury, divorce or PTSD. This show will recognize that war affects whole families, acknowledge the sacrifices of American troops and their families - especially their kids, and portray the good feelings that come with being reunited. Filming will be completed by the end of February.

Interested families please contact Coordinating Producer Jessie Findlay at Lucky Duck Productions -jessie@nicknews.com. Thank you. “

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The following blog post does not in any way, shape, or form represent the views of VAJoe.com, the people who run it, any of the advertisers, anybody associated with the website or it’s advertisers, or anybody except the author.  It is part of an ongoing feature contributed by Guest Blogger ‘The Crawfish’.

If you are easily offended, are a socialist, or are a muslim, you might want to stop reading and go listen to a Hillary campaign speech from the leader of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

I am your intrepid reporter, The Crawfish. I’m an active duty sailor with over 18 years of service under my belt. I’m known to speak my mind on danged near any subject, and I don’t pull punches. My lack of tact, my boldness, my lack of sucking up, my protection of my junior troops, my failure to be part of the buddy-buddy club….maybe that’s why I’ll never be a Chief. I try to be entertaining in my blogging, even if I definitely have stuff to say that will get some folks a bit miffed. If I anger people like CAIR, socialists, people who hate what America has always stood for, and people like those in Berzerkley who hate the US Armed Forces, well than I feel like I’m doing my job, part of which involves “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” I’m a native Texan, married to a Creole who is also on active duty. In Joe’s Forum, I’m known as The Crawfish.

I will TRY to be a bit restrained here, but don’t count on that being too successful. I can be found really going off at my other blog on Townhall.com. Look for Crawfish’s Swamp at http://constitutionalcrawfish.townhall.com . All visitors are welcome in my muddy waters.

That being said, I shall now open my new Swamp with a short rant that’s sure to torque our enemies, but enough of Red Nanny Puh-losi, Harry Reid, Her Majesty Queen Hillary, Teddythedrunk (D-Chappaquiddick), Hanoi John Kerry, and the rest of the Dim-ocrats. It’s sure to miff the muslims as well. If my blog is gonna get cancelled because it’s too controversial, it might as well happen before I develop a following of like-minded readers.

Folks, the history books tell us of WW1 and WW2. Many people consider the Cold War to be WW3. Most people do NOT consider that the original World War has been going on for over 13 centuries, and is nowhere near over.

“Wait a second, Mr. Crawfish. What world war are you talkin’ ’bout???”

I’m talking about Islam vs the rest of the world, and it began in the 600s AD. The supposedly holy book of the Followers of the False Prophet (there I go again, making SOMEONE angry!) commands that all believers must do the following to all non-muslims: convert them, enslave them, or put them to the sword (that’s KILL THEM for those supposedly educated by the National Education Association and it’s union teachers). (Doggone it! I probably offended some more folks there.) Now, if that’s what is commanded of the followers of that religion, then this war will never end until either all of the muslims are dead, or all non-muslims are dead or enslaved. I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I don’t want the war to end with the second of those options. I know it is Politically Incorrect to say that this is a religious war, but it IS the fact of the matter. The only people that the Shi’ites and Sunnis hate more than each other is….everybody else!

What kind of people are we dealing with here? Our President has repeatedly called Islam “The Religion Of Peace” for some unknown reason. Does a religion of peace command the death or enslavement of everybody who isn’t one of them? They consistently refer to “Merciful Allah”, but use knives to cut off the heads of non-believers like Danny Pearl and use women afflicted with Downs Syndrome as unknowing suicide bombers equipped with remore control suicide belts. They murder women for attempting to be educated. They treat women worse than their camels, which probably shows who they love more, if they are capable of love in the first place. They are the most intolerant people in the world, but get really miffed and scream DISCRIMINATION! if they don’t get their way in everything. They demand that wherever they immigrate to, they be allowed to set up areas of other nations where the laws of that nation do not apply and Sharia Law is paramount. They’re not just doing that in France, Britain, and other parts of Europe, but they’re trying to do it in Deerborn, Michigan! How much of a cow (or PIG!!!!! Oops, there I go again!) would they have if some Christians tried to set up a Christian colony with all Christian laws in Saudi Arabia? Heck, they don’t let people bring Bibles into that nation!

Why do we placate these people and play nice-nice with them? Why does one political party support them in their continuing efforts to wipe Israel off the map? Well, if I hit a nice, big lotto between now and 2012, y’all will have an opportunity to vote for a candidate who will put America first and will tell the PC police to do something anatomically impossible…President Crawfish! Of course, that won’t happen, but I’ll continue being a rabble-rouser of the first order.

I look forward to your comments, and I hope you’ve found this first rant to be entertaining. Have a better than average day!

The Crawfish

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DoD and VA Begin Pilot Disability Evaluation System 

      The Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently implemented a pilot test for disability cases originating at the three major military treatment facilities and the VA hospital in the national capital region. This pilot will run for one year. The leadership of DoD and VA will review pilot progress during this period to assist in determining when the program can be expanded to other locations.       The pilot will test a new DoD and VA disability system. The pilot will be a service member-centric initiative designed to eliminate the duplicative and often confusing elements of the two current disability processes of the departments. Key features of the pilot program include one medical examination and a single-sourced disability rating. One goal of the pilot is to enable service members to more effectively transition to veteran status and provide them with their VA benefits and compensation.       The DoD and VA are examining the continuum of care they provide from the point of injury through rehabilitation to community reintegration. The objectives of the pilot are to improve the timeliness, effectiveness, and transparency by integrating DoD and VA processes, eliminating duplication, and improving information provided to service members and their families.       To ensure a seamless transition of our wounded, ill, and injured from the care, benefits, and services of DoD to the VA system, the pilot will also test enhanced case management methods and identify opportunities to improve the flow of information and identification of additional resources to the service member and family. As soon as the service members in the pilot transition from the military, the VA is poised to provide benefits and compensation to these veterans.       The scope of the pilot includes all non-clinical care and administrative activities, such as case management and counseling requirements, associated with disability case processing from the point of service member referral to a military department medical evaluation board to the point of compensation and provision of benefits to veterans by the VA.        The pilot process has been developed over the last several months and is focused on recommendations that could be implemented without legislative change from the reports of the Task Force on Returning Global War on Terrorism Heroes, the Independent Review Group, the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors (the Dole/Shalala Commission), and the Commission on Veterans’ Disability Benefits.        The pilot is part of a larger effort to improve care and services to our wounded, injured and ill. Some of the other ongoing initiatives include improved information technology and data sharing, facility enhancements, recruitment and retention of care professionals, new methods to care for brain injuries and mental health concerns including post-traumatic stress disorder, and the use of life long care plans to fully support wounded, ill, and injured service members from recovery through rehabilitation to community integration.

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Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) provides a central, nonpartisan resource to register to vote and request an absentee ballot from overseas. With the generous financial support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, OVF has developed user-friendly, online voter tools applicable to voters from every state – www.overseasvotefoundation.org:

• An online overseas voter registration tool that prompts the voter for information necessary to register to vote in accordance with each state’s unique regulations.  Error-checks occur during the process to ensure that the voter does not forget any required information. The program then generates an official form in PDF format and provides the voter with the correct county election office address for mailing.

• A Voter Help Desk where voter questions are answered via email within 24 hours

• An Election Official Directory with contact information for the 7000+ election offices in the United States and its territories. 

• A hot topics list of relevant overseas voter news
• Links to nonpartisan organizations that offer candidate information for all states

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VAJoe Members: You Could Blog for VAJoe

VAJoe is looking for guest bloggers to share their expertise and opinions with VAJoe members and with the entire blogsphere.

If you have an area of military expertise, or knowledge of any subject that you think readers would be interested in, email lane@vajoe.com and find out about being Joe’s expert blogger for that topic.

We’d like blogsperts for the topics below, but the possibilities for other topics are endless. Contact lane@vajoe.com with your ideas and interests:

• Army News
• Navy News
• Air Force News
• Marine Corps News
• Coast Guard News
• Spouse & Family
• Veteran Issues
• Benefits
• World Events
• Conservative Politics
• Liberal Politics
• Military Charities
• Military History
• Anything else you’d like to blog on, from sports to humor, to movies to video games.  Email lane@vajoe.com and briefly state why you are qualified to be a VAJoe blogspert in your field!

As a thanks, guest bloggers receive a VAJoe J-shirt and J-cap.

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We recently interviewed Michael Tomberlin of Yellowhammering Afghanistan to find out more about his blog.

What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

1. My nickname is “Chicken” because of an impersonation I do of . . . well . . . a chicken. I’ve been doing it since I was a little boy and to this day when I go to my hometown, folks call me “Chicken.”

2. I’m a pretty good cook. When I’m at home, I spend a lot of time working the grill. I also like to try my hand at gourmet recipes. I learned from some of the best. My internship was at New Orleans Magazine and my job for the summer was to interview 25 New Orleans chefs. I met Emeril Lagasse (who had just opened his first restaurant), Paul Prudhomme, Susan Spicer and all the greats. They each taught me a thing or two about cooking.

3. I met legendary University of Alabama Crimson Tide football Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant when I was a little boy. My uncle, who helped organize the World Championship Domino Tournament, invited him to play in the tournament and he accepted. The invitation included coming to my grandmother’s house for lunch, which he also accepted. I have a picture of me and my sister sitting on the couch with the “Bear” hanging in my room in the barracks.

How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I started blogging for this deployment. I was going to chronicle my experiences in a journal, but when I mentioned the prospect of doing it as a blog instead, the folks at al.com couldn’t have been more supportive. They set it up and have made it too easy. My civilian job is a reporter for The Birmingham News, which has its online home at al.com, hence the connection.

What is your military experience?

I have been in the Alabama Army National Guard for 21 years. In fact, prior to this deployment my entire time had been in the same field artillery battalion. I have always been a Redleg artilleryman. My first five years were spent enlisted as a 13F forward observer. I got my commission through ROTC at the University of Alabama. This is my first overseas deployment, though I have been activated for hurricane duty for Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Katrina.

What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

You mean other than vajoe.com? I’ve only recently discovered the www.milblogging.com Web site and have started sampling some of the many blogs on there. I can’t say I have any favorites yet, but I lean towards the ones in Afghanistan such as “Bill and Bob’s Excellent Adventure” and “AfghaniDan.”

What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

I’ve had a lot of help. A graphic artist at The Birmingham News created my banner/logo. The technical experts at al.com help me incorporate elements like slideshows and video to give it more life.

I think the key element is telling the story. Don’t try to be too cute about it and don’t think that the mundane can’t be interesting. What I try to do is tell the story of what I experience, but not make it about me. I view myself as a generic soldier experiencing these things for the first time. I look at everything with fresh eyes and then as I think about them in terms of a blog entry, I consider the deeper meaning in what I’ve seen or felt. I’ve been accused of being philosophical, and perhaps I am. But when you are in a situation like many of us find ourselves in trying to make a change during some pretty historic times for an already history-rich country, then I think it helps to pause every once in a while and consider the true meaning of things.

Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

I can’t speak for other blogs, but the readers are not just passive people looking in on my site. The “Yellowhammering Afghanistan” readers are quite active in supporting me and the guys but also in supporting the people of Afghanistan. I get so many great packages of goodie bags, toys, candy, school supplies, clothes, you name it. We have ample opportunity to hand that out when we’re out on missions. As I was saying, the blog isn’t about me — it’s about the great work so many soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are doing here.