I am sorry, but let me be clear: What you have done to our precious Fallen Heroes (and their families) of our Military, has crossed MY 'red line'. For your betrayal of that most sacred trust we all must hold with them, YOU are not fit to hold the highest office in the land I know and love as America. You are also not remotely qualified - or worthy - to have the privilege of being Commander In Chief of one of the world's most dedicated armed forces: the United States Military.
Not only are you unqualified to be the President of the United States, you are also an out and out liar, and our Military and their families now are left in no doubt how hollow your words are:
In March 2009 you said, as part of another of your never-ending empty rhetoric diatribes:
"For their service and sacrifice, warm words of thanks from a grateful nation are more than warranted, but they aren't nearly enough. We also owe our veterans the care they were promised and the benefits that they have earned. We have a sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the United States of America. It's a commitment that begins at enlistment, and it must never end. But we know that for too long, we've fallen short of meeting that commitment. Too many wounded warriors go without the care that they need. Too many veterans don't receive the support that they've earned. Too many who once wore our nation's uniform now sleep in our nation's streets."-President Barack Obama, March 19, 2009
Yes, I got that from *your own* White House site, where you then go on to post "Guiding Principles. This under a huge sign that says, in what must be irony, 'Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, the information on this web site may not be up to date. I suggest that your website is most certainly NOT up to date, as your actions, and those of your administration prove, time and again, that your flowery oratory has been more than outpaced by your actions. Not only have you consistently showed America how unfit you are to be CinC, because all the photo-ops and speechifying contradict what you have DONE, but the rest of the world also has watched as Emperor Obama has been shown for the empty suit you really are.
During your tenure, you have done your damnedest to show the world that the days of America as "the shining city on the hill" are over.
Since you initially began what appears to be your never-ending campaign to promote the Obama agenda, some of us have called bull**** every single time you have rushed to a microphone to lie. Even as the world swooned at your 'soaring rhetoric' of how you planned to 'change America,' many observers - both inside America and from afar - heard alarm bells go off as you said things like:
We live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it...
On February 10, 2007, you said this as part of your announcement that you would seek to be President of the United States:
“I’m in this race not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.”
Well, from where I sit, you have certainly succeeded in transforming America, both at home, and by shattering her reputation on the world stage. Even as many refused to be swept along by your empty, meaningless words, I doubt any could have predicted just how far you and your minions would go in wielding the power given to you by the voters to transform America. I have watched with growing dismay, anger, disgust, and now overwhelming sadness as you have proved by your ACTIONS that you really do NOT have the best interests of America at heart. Worse, you have proved to this observer that you give not a damn about the America people. I have long suspected this, and your actions over the last five or so years have more than confirmed my suspicions. Sure, you have a way with words, well to some listeners at least. I remember well how the world, aided and abetted by your accomplices in the mainstream media of the world, trumpeted the new era of peace and harmony around the globe in the aftermath of your Brandenburg Gate speech in July, 2008.(Yes, that link goes to a video of that speech, which I couldn't watch to the end.) You have stood in some of the capitals of the world and preached to the assembled masses of how the world will/has changed under your watch. All pretty words (written by someone else to be read by you from teleprompters) which have meant absolutely nothing; actually, less than nothing. The people of Iran, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Libya, among many others, have seen how cheap your talk is. Christians are slaughtered across the middle east, and you continue to fund Islamic terrorist regimes; as citizens take to their public squares hoisting placards pleading for help from America, to save them from murderous power-grabbers. Not a word - or action - from you, as America's representative, and the world's most threatened citizens have learned to their peril not to look to the USA for support or help. John Kennedy once said (as part of his inauguration speech):
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Before you moved into the White House, when an American president spoke, the world's despots - tyrants - quaked in their boots. They knew that the might of America would stand for liberty for all nations' citizens. Now? Not hardly.
As the leader of the free world, you have deliberately chosen to turn your back on the most vulnerable on the planet. There are some who support your apparent refusal to set America as the 'policemen of the world,' but by your INaction you have signaled just how hollow your words are in support of an era of peace and harmony, that you oh so eloquently heralded. In the process, not only have you left the weakest at the mercy of murdering scum, but you squandered the hard fought for respect held for America on the world diplomatic stage. When the leader of the COMMUNIST world can show the world what a sorry specimen the leader of the free world is, how irrelevant you are, we are all in a precarious condition. And the killings and the wars continue, and the world is laughing at YOU. We won't even get into Snowden and Putin's '**** you' on that issue.
You loudly proclaim that Syria using chemical weapons would be a red line for you
We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people. “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”...
This would be followed by a forceful US response of a 'discreet and limited bombing, ' according to Kerry. Putin follows up Russia's refusal to back any UN Resolution authorising such attacks, by brokering an agreement with Syria that'll see them hand over any chemical weapons they have. If the consequences weren't so dire of watching you trying to spin that outcome to your own advantage, it would be funny. But it is not funny; it is dangerous. Iran, Iraq, Libya, anyone? Not only is Syria laughing at you, and the non-existant power of the might of America, your empty rhetoric has been shown again for what it is: meaningless. And the despots of the world march on. Hell, they even murder American diplomats with impunity, and you and your cronies lie to the mother of one of the Fallen's mothers, about how her son died. Benghazi will NOT go away.
You have proven, time and again, that the word of this administration means NOTHING on the world stage and we all live in graver danger because of you.
However, not only have you broken the faith of the world in the American might, it is what you have done to our Military - our Active Duty, our Veterans and most egregiously, our Gold Star Families that puts me beyond the stratosphere of angry. No Constitutional lawyer am I, (not even a regular lawyer) but I have watched the way you have cavalierly broken faith with America's sons and daughter, broken every code of decency that I hold dear. You do not need to be a scholar of any discipline to understand how your empty words - which do not match your actions - have impacted our Military.
Sure you have spent many hours using our Troops and their families as photo-op props as you preach the 'Obama way' to any who can't avoid your constant pandering to the media. Yes, the msm has willingly perpetuated the huge fraud that is Obama since you first set foot in front of the national microphones and asked for help to 'change' America, but, what you continue to do to our Military is all you, on YOUR watch,
Our Veterans have been paying attention, as you have regularly sought to pay down the US debt on the backs of our Military and their families. War On Terror News and others have followed along, and dissected the bs that you have consistently thrown out. WOTN, among others, has many articles stating FACTS about your efforts to have, for just one example, Veterans pay for health benefits they have more than earned without you deciding to fleece their already thin wallets.
In April, 2012 they wrote:
There has been a feeling of betrayal in Troops and Veterans over the Obama Administration plan to charge Military Retirees for Health Care. General Dempsey says he can afford it, though in other speeches he has told Army leaders that they should look out for their Troops and not just themselves. General Dempsey can afford to pay a few thousand back to the government, because his retirement check will be more than his Active Duty check, about 20x more than he would pay back above his Active Duty check more....
'Feeling of betrayal'?????? And then some.
One of your predecessors had a sign on his desk that said:
I guess that was back in the days when the POTUS understood, and cared about, the impact of their words and actions. Before your tenure, leaders who were tenants in 1600 seemed aware of the repercussions of their actions. Now? Apparently not. I don't care that you blame the Republicans, YOU set the tone, you have final veto on any measure. The buck DOES stop with you.
And so we come to the last few months. For a president who has not passed one single budget since 2008, you suddenly seem very determined to inflict budgetary pain on those who least deserve it. And no, most of your actions under the guise of "government shutdown because the Republicans won't give us all we demand" make no financial sense, and less than zero moral sense. You continue to fund Hamas terrorists, who apparently are using that 'aid' for purposes other than agreed upon. but you tell our new Gold Star Widows and Gold Star Families that your administration will not honour America's contract with them.
You continue to offer illegals in America all manner of freebies, while refusing to adequately fund enforcement of your southern borders, even to the point of trying to strong arm US States into ignoring laws, which are on the books, to stem the flow of all sorts of terrorists across the porous - and ungated - borders. (Brian Terry, Fast and Furious, Mr Obama?)
Meanwhile you tell our new Gold Star Widows and Gold Star Families that your administration will not honour our sacred contract with them.You preach the dire consequences of impending doom (as you give more $$ to Big Bird)for all Americans if those pesky Republicans don't roll over and say "we submit, you who won" and yet you fund the railings at War Memorials - public monuments paid for by the blood, sweat and yes, tears of American Soldiers. I reckon Big Bird would NOT be proud.
Did you really think the Veterans and those who love them would stand idly by, and allow those hastily erected fences to shutdown their Memorials? You seriously under-estimate our Veterans. Honor Flights of undeterred WW2 Veterans have been arriving at THEIR Memorials and yesterday thousands of Veterans peacefully assembled to show you just what they think of those barricades.
Can I point out here the hypocrisy of your administration in supporting the rally the week before of illegal aliens in the same place, and attended by Pelosi?
Apparently, you can afford to fund riot police (union rates double time on a Sunday?) for a Veterans' rally, but you can't find the money, or the political will, to ensure that our Gold Stars are taken care of? That really IS a change from the America I know and love. Damn you.
The story on the PBS funding says the "$445 funding...is indispensible"...
I suggest to you, that those new Gold Star Families, whose Heroes have fallen since the beginning of your selective shutdown, would also find the death 'benefit' which their loved ones have dearly paid for, more than indispensable.
From where I sit, it appears that the ONLY reason your administration has back-pedalled now on that (although not paid any money as yet) is because you were shamed into it.
YOU claim to be a lawyer, (and have been heralded as the 'smartest man in the room') and goodness knows your own DoJ should have enough lawyers on staff to accurately interpret the laws of the US regarding Gold Star Families. But until private groups stepped up, you were quite content to add to suffering of these newly bereaved families.
Even as you are - still - able to manipulate the msm, Veterans and others who give a damn about our Military families were sharing the truth, shining a light on your lies.
Troops’ death benefits delayed by shutdown bullies
October 8th, 2013
[...] ink to Defense One which reports that the Pentagon won’t be paying death benefits to the families of those four troops who were killed in Afghanistan this past weekend until the shutdown ends;“We’ve had a number of people die recently and we will be able to pay them, but not until the lapse of appropriation ends,” Pentagon Comptroller Bob Hale said in a phone briefing Friday to explain Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s interpretation of last week’s Pay Our Military Act. “We’re trying to be helpful through aid societies and others to the family members who are involved in these tragic circumstances. But unfortunately, we don’t have the legal authority to make those payments.”Lawmakers hastily assembled the bill to keep military paychecks coming despite Washington’s shutdown — and to show Congress and the White House’s commitment to America’s troops despite their mistrust of one another. But the measure’s vague language has sown widespread confusion among active duty military and their families as to what the law does and does not cover....
Read the rest here.
Many private groups stepped in as the government proved - yet again - that their side of ANY contract means ZERO: zero credibility, and zero help for our Military families.
Fisher House was the first to publicly commit to ensuring the families received what America owes them: Military foundation steps up to cover 'disgusting' delay in payments for families of fallen
Senate votes for death benefit
October 10th, 2013
[...]which reports that the Senate has voted to approve the death benefit for troops’ families that need it;The move came at the insistence of Republican senators who said they wanted a legislative fix to fund the benefits despite a plan finalized by the Obama administration Wednesday to have a private charity–Fisher House–cover the cost of the benefits until the government shutdown is resolved.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the push by Republicans was “unnecessary” because benefits were now flowing, but he said he would not block a unanimous consent agreement proposed by Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican.“This issue is largely moot. It’s clear the action on this legislation is just for show,” Reid said.
Yeah, it was moot earlier when Congress approved paying the entire Pays and Allowances Table, which included the death benefit, but the partisan Department of Defense decided not to pay it in order to make an issue that didn’t exist and then the White House could swoop in and save the day by making Fisher house pay the benefit. Of course, Fisher House wouldn’t be reimbursed unless Congress had authorized the payments – which they did in the original bill that was passed earlier this week. I guess everyone gets a chance to act like they’re doing something to fix a problem that didn’t really exist. But, at least, Hagel can’t hide now....
The rest here.
And talking of Hagel? Comes this pathetic attempt to claim credibility where his administration proves - yet again - how INcredible their words and actions are:
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement by Secretary Hagel on Death Gratuities
October 09, 2013
Today I am pleased to announce that the Department of Defense is entering into an agreement with the Fisher House Foundation that will allow the federal government to provide the family members of fallen service members with the full set of benefits they have been promised, including a $100,000 death gratuity payment.
I am offended, outraged, and embarrassed that the government shutdown had prevented the Department of Defense from fulfilling this most sacred responsibility in a timely manner. In the days before the shutdown, we warned Congress and the American people that DoD would not have the legal authority to make these payments during a lapse in appropriations. In the days after the shutdown, Departmental lawyers and budget officials pursued every tool and option at our disposal in an effort to provide these benefits. Even under the Pay Our Military Act, we found that we lacked the necessary authority to make payments to the families directly.
In the last 24 hours, however, the Department of Defense was approached by the Fisher House Foundation, which had generously offered to make payments to these families from its own funds. In consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, DoD has determined that we can enter into a contract with the Fisher House Foundation to provide these benefits. The Fisher House Foundation will provide the families of the fallen with the benefits they so richly deserve. After the shutdown ends, DoD will reimburse the Fisher House for the costs it has incurred.
The Department has no higher priority than taking care of our service members and their families. [yes, emphasis mine]Our men and women in uniform must know that the Department will always fulfill its responsibilities to them and to their families. Congress has responsibilities as well, and it has abdicated them. Along with the rest of the Department's leaders, I will continue to work every day to address the very real impact that the government shutdown is having on our people, and I once again call on Congress to fulfill its basic responsibilities and restore funding for the federal government.
Mr Hagel? I am so far beyond "offended, outraged, and embarrassed"....and I don't believe that anybody who has been paying attention is buying that YOU (nor any of your 'Senate elders') are offended etc etc... America made a promise to these sons and daughter, and for you to "put that promise on hold' is beyond immoral.These are real families, REAL children whose lives your political posturing impact every single day, including during on the worst days of their lives. Damn you.
I don't claim to be an orator of your 'class,' nor to have the 'gift of the gab' (as we call it where I come from) but your actions have proved you don't give a damn about anybody except Barack Obama, and your own disgusting political agenda. Period.
I may not be as 'qualified' as the President of the United States to speak about Military matters, but one who is, is Jane Horton, proud Gold Star wife to SPC Christopher Horton, an Army sniper killed in action on September 9, 2011 in Paktyia, Afghanistan. She writes:
A Sacrifice Betrayed
Posted: 10/11/2013
President Kennedy once said, "A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers."
With the recent "government shutdown" and the many people affected by it, I was more than shocked, more than hurt, and more than betrayed, when I heard the families of those men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country -- their lives -- will not receive the benefits their fallen service member was promised when they signed up to serve their country. The United States Government cashed that check of their lives for the cost of freedom. With that price, and their sacrifice for these United States, came certain responsibilities on the part of the US Government and American people to care for the families of it's fallen.
Even though the government is shutdown -- we are still at war. ...
[...]
Never in a million years could I or my fellow war widows or families ever imagine that America would not protect its most vulnerable population. A group so small, that even if we were to rise up, we would barely equal 1% of the entire military. We should never have to rise up and defend ourselves...
[...]
When an active duty service member dies, the family of the fallen receives an emergency fund to assist in the loss of incomes. This money is to be used to cover funeral expenses that aren't covered by the military, food, shelter, medical, and any needs of the family. Accepting this money is difficult. It is a huge punch in the gut to be told that you will be receiving $100,000 the same day you're notified of your husband's death. We don't want this money because of what it represents -- the death of our loved one -- but it is often necessary to keep us from being buried in debt as we pay for funeral expenses, bills and day-to-day living expenses. I cannot imagine a more painful slap in the face then being told, "Mrs. Horton, your husband gave us his life as an act of devotion to this nation, but we overlooked you when as we were too busy bickering and the government shutdown." ...
Mrs Horton, who is far more eloquent than Barack Obama could ever hope - or even pretend - to be, has much more to say here.
I started this piece by "I'm sorry..." Barack Obama? YOU should get down from your pompous high horse and beg for forgiveness from Gold Star Widows such as Mrs Horton. You should, but we all know that those words would be yet more empty rhetoric uttered for your own perceived political gain. By your own dishonourable actions towards ALL the Gold Star Families, you prove to me you have NO honour. You prove that you are not worthy to even be in the same room as any of these oh so honourable Americans.
Many of us will never forget what you have done. You seem to be hellbent on rewriting history in your own image, and cementing your own legacy in the history books. I suggest to you, that the legacy, the sacrifice, of the American Military and their Fallen Heroes will be honoured long after you have become but a mere stained footnote.
Damn you.
