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Forgotten Heroes

May 28, 2007 By 3 Comments

Forgotten in the sense that liberals (media, Hollywood, Democrats) downplay American heroism and prefer to treat our warriors as victims.  OpinionJournal.com has a moving editorial.  The stories of our past and present heroes are amazing stories. Read it all, and read it to your children.

Once we knew who and what to honor on Memorial Day: those who had given all their tomorrows, as was said of the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, for our todays. But in a world saturated with selfhood, where every death is by definition a death in vain, the notion of sacrifice today provokes puzzlement more often than admiration. We support the troops, of course, but we also believe that war, being hell, can easily touch them with an evil no cause for engagement can wash away. And in any case we are more comfortable supporting them as victims than as warriors.

Former football star Pat Tillman and Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham were killed on the same day: April 22, 2004. But as details of his death fitfully emerged from Afghanistan, Tillman has become a metaphor for the current conflict–a victim of fratricide, disillusionment, coverup and possibly conspiracy. By comparison, Dunham, who saved several of his comrades in Iraq by falling on an insurgent’s grenade, is the unknown soldier. The New York Times, which featured Abu Ghraib on its front page for 32 consecutive days, put the story of Dunham’s Medal of Honor on the third page of section B.

…[snip]…

We impoverish ourselves by shunting these heroes and their experiences to the back pages of our national consciousness. Their stories are not just boys’ adventure tales writ large. They are a kind of moral instruction. They remind of something we’ve heard many times before but is worth repeating on a wartime Memorial Day when we’re uncertain about what we celebrate. We’re the land of the free for one reason only: We’re also the home of the brave.

(H/T Powerline blog)

Filed Under: History, Veterans

From someone who has been there.

May 28, 2007 By Leave a Comment

For an excellent Memorial Day tribute we refer you to Arizona 8th.

Filed Under: Veterans

Honoring those who kept us free

May 26, 2007 By Leave a Comment

MemorialThis is the weekend we kick-up our grills, fly our flags and search almost hopelessly for a movie that portray’s our servicemen as heroes and the US as the good guy.  The movie Platoon doesn’t count.  The History Channel seems to be our last best hope.

GatewayPundit has graphed the number of soldiers who died to keep us free in each our country’s wars.

[US+war+fatalities.jpg]

Here are those numbers adjusted for population.

 [war+losses+vs+population.jpg]

Interesting how deaths have declined over the years. GatewayPundit points out that military deaths in the current War on Terror are half of what they were during the Clinton years. Ouch.

Filed Under: History, Veterans

Local anti-war celeb, liar

May 19, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Looks like a ”war veteran’s” allegations of American atrocities were just made up (this story is not about John Kerry):

A man who tried to position himself as a leader of the anti-war movement in the United States by claiming to have participated in war crimes while serving in Iraq is facing federal charges of falsifying his record.

Jesse Adam Macbeth, 23, formerly of Phoenix, Arizona, garnered much attention on blogs and in some alternative media after he began claiming in 2005 to have been awarded a Purple Heart for his service, which he said included slaughtering innocents in a Fallujah mosque. His story was contradicted by his true discharge form, showing that he was kicked out of the Army after six weeks at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 2003 because of his “entry level performance and conduct.”

…Macbeth also is wanted by the Safford County sheriff’s office in Arizona, where he is accused of illegal credit card use.

hear_see_speak_no_evil.gifThe left’s hero ain’t so, not that it matters to them. There is something ironic about the Move.org crowd embracing someone named Macbeth.

Filed Under: History, National Security, Veterans

Slandering the Troops

May 9, 2007 By 4 Comments

On the Chris Matthews Show, Washington Post writer David Ignatius described US soldiers as “kids” that had to be wisked out of harms from Iraq. The “news girl” on a local Phoenix rock station called them “boys.” Can you get more demeaning? Well, I guess its better than calling them “baby-killers.”

Is this the new liberal strategy to lose in Iraq — portray our warriors as helpless children. Afterwall, who can be against keeping “children” out of harms way?

Its the military’s role to protect us, not some 50 year old newspaper writer’s role to protect them. Let our warriors do their job, and give them the respect they deserve. They are adults who volunteer to defend this great land of ours.

 

The Suns dominated the Spurs last night!  Read about it on my personal blog.

Filed Under: National Security, Veterans

Fall guy disabled vet Patrick Chorpenning was doing 2 jobs for Napolitano

May 6, 2007 By 2 Comments

The Arizona Republic published an op-ed today from veterans advocate John K. Snyder, discussing the governor’s forced resignation of her Director of Veterans’ Affairs, disabled vet Patrick Chorpenning. Turns out that under Napolitano, Chorpenning, a holdover from the prior administration, was asked to take on the additional job of serving on Napolitano’s cabinet as her military policy advisor – Napolitano promoted him because he was competent. This left him with less time to oversee the State Veteran Home. If there was any lack of oversight by Chorpenning, it was ironically because the governor had dumped an additional high-level policy position on him. Snyder suggests that Arizona’s 700,000 veterans should demand that Chorpenning be put back in a place of responsibility. Since Napolitano clearly has bad judgment, a federal appointment might be the best place for this hero.

Filed Under: Government, Uncategorized, Veterans

Will the real Jeanine L’Ecuyer please stand up?

April 6, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Jeanine L’Ecuyer testimony today blaming Gerard for failing to convey seriousness of Veteran Home back on February 10:
Although she told the joint committee investigating the Veteran Home situation that “assignation of blame is a side issue,” L’Ecuyer said this afternoon she stands by her earlier statement to the press that Gerard failed to adequately convey the seriousness of the problems discovered at the home, delaying the matter going to the governor. L’Ecuyer, a deputy chief of staff and Napolitano’s communications director, said she does not recall her reaction to being told by her counterpart at DHS, Michael Murphy, that The Republic was going to break the story on the vet home in 30 minutes. She said she was more concerned about how the media would handle the story. In other testimony, L’Ecuyer said she might not have immediately given Stephens a letter from the federal government, notifying the home of a $10,000 fine that had been imposed. (Yellow Sheet, 4-5-07)

Email from Jeanine L’Ecuyer to Contreras, Stephens, and Gerard on Feb. 10, exclaiming “holy cow”:

Jeanine L’Ecuyer, a deputy chief of staff and the governor’s spokeswoman, and January Contreras, a policy adviser, found out about the review on Feb. 10 — a day after Stephens.

In e-mail among L’Ecuyer, Contreras, Stephens and Gerard, L’Ecuyer wrote: “Holy cow. We need data ASAP on the State Veterans Home. What exactly happened? Where are these people going?”
So, doesn’t “holy cow” express L’Ecuyer’s acknowledgement that conditions at the Veteran Home were serious?
Filed Under: Government, Health Care, Political Parties, Uncategorized, Veterans

Guest Commentary – State Veterans Deserve Better

April 5, 2007 By 2 Comments

State Veterans Deserve Better
By Senator Jack Harper

On Wednesday, the Joint Select Committee to Investigate Operations and Conditions at the Arizona Veterans Home, which I have been tasked to chair, set out to find the facts surrounding the reported neglect. This is a committee that I was hand-picked by Senate leadership to co-chair with another U.S. Military veteran, Rep. John Nelson.

Having both served our country, we take issues concerning fragile veterans very seriously.

It has been discovered that the Arizona Veterans Home had several problems that needed correcting. Some were so severe, that the Department of Health Services refused to leave the home for numerous days, until life-threatening situations were corrected.

The governor’s Office is claiming that the governor was not told about the problems that were discovered by DHS around February 8th or 9th, 2007. We are told that the governor found out when a reporter for the state’s largest newspaper confronted her on March 23rd. Her co-chief of staff, Alan Stephens, is now taking the blame for withholding the information for six weeks.

During the line of questioning toward Mr. Stephens, Representative Paton inquired why the governor was not told. The situation was downplayed as not serious enough.

Paton implied that Stephens speaks with the governor on a daily basis. Paton asked how serious Stephens thought the situation was and how serious a situation had to be to involve the governor.

Along this same line of questioning, I asked Stephens if he had a good working relationship with the governor. I asked how long he has had a working relationship with her. He stated “20 years.” She has not been in elected office that long. I asked if he had worked for her in any other capacity or if she had worked for him in any capacity. He stated that he has only worked for her in the current capacity, but she had represented him as his attorney in a couple of cases. I asked what cases. He stated that she represented him when he faced criminal charges under the AZScam sting years ago.

Wednesday was the first time I had heard that. I asked if I had heard that correctly, that she was his attorney during AZScam. He began yelling about his innocence, the Democrats on the committee erupted with a couple of them yelling over me and pointing their fingers too close to my face.The line of questioning was appropriate, as we are trying to determine why there was a breakdown in the governor’s office, as well as at the Arizona Veteran’s Home.With several Democrats refusing to allow me to continue, the entire situation became volatile. We were pressed for time as the Senate’s floor session was about to begin. I attempted to regain control of the committee and said we would digest this until the following day at 2 pm.

I recessed the committee and dealt with the aggressive Democrats for the few minutes that I had before the floor session. I warned the Democrats early in the committee that this would not be a free-for-all and members would wait to be recognized by the chair before beginning to comment. This first warning came after Sen. Richard Miranda made a point without a chairman calling on him.

Ironically, I am getting a lot of criticism for my questions to Mr. Stephens, when I was not out of order. In fact, it was Mr. Stephens and Rep. Ben Miranda who violated Senate rules regarding decorum by yelling at me and Representative Richard Miranda for speaking without being called on.

Now after the dust has settled, reporters have opined that I should have known Alan Stephens’ history in the AZScam scandal. I have better things to do than to gossip about the past of the governor’s staff, specifically, looking out for the veterans. I hope the East Valley Tribune will join me in this.

State Senator Jack Harper Represents the 4th Legislative District which includes the town of Surprise.

jharper@azleg.gov

Filed Under: Government, Health Care, Veterans

Napolitano’s law firm assigned to Veteran Home full of conflicts

April 4, 2007 By 1 Comment

It’s been really amusing watching Napolitano blame the Veteran Home conditions on disabled Veteran Patrick Chorpenning, accusing him of nepotism, when not only did she approve at least one of the nepotism positions (his wife) but the Governor has numerous conflicts herself created by hiring the law firm of Coppersmith, Gordon, Schermer, Owens & Nelson to represent the Home and we’re also told to do the investigation of the Home. Here’s a list of some of the conflicts associated with attorneys in that firm (almost all the partners) provided by Horizon Friday night (and these are only the ones we know about):

1) Sam Coppersmith – former Democratic Congressman, former head of the Democrat Party in Arizona

2) Andy Gordon – was Napolitano’s campaign attorney

3) Julie Nelson – her husband is Napolitano’s chief counsel

4) Karen Owens – her husband Steve Owens was appointed by the Governor as Director of the Dept. of Environmental Equality

It was reported that this firm is now disputing some of the Dept. of Health Services findings about conditions in the home. Well duh! Firmly in Napolitano’s pocket, of course they are going to try and cover up the conditions. It’s outrageous they haven’t been removed from this representation yet.

And Napolitano’s spokesperson, Jeanine L’Ecuyer is now saying that she “forgot” to tell Napolitano about the appalling conditions in the Veteran Home when she heard about them originally in February. She probably also “forgot” to tell Napolitano about the complaint from the veteran’s family that he had died because of neglected bedsores. Of course, the longer this drags out, the more likely it will be revealed that Napolitano knew all along and has been denying knowledge in order to save herself (while she fires or forces out employee after employee).

Filed Under: Government, Health Care, Uncategorized, Veterans

Whatever Happened to Governor Evan Mecham?

April 3, 2007 By 14 Comments

Evan Mecham

The Arizona Republic reports that former Governor Evan Mecham has been in the care of the Arizona State Veteran Home since 2004. The former governor suffers from Alzheimers disease.

For you political “youngsters,” Evan Mecham was the Governor of Arizona from January ’87 until April ’88 when he was removed from office. For many, he was the last conservative governor of Arizona.

Look for this story to grow as the current governor finds herself in a scandal over Arizona’s mistreatment of veterans.

 

Filed Under: Government, Veterans
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