veteran's day 2009

WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest,
easily the most profitable,
surely the most vicious.
It is the only one international in scope.
It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars
and the losses in lives.
~General Smedley Butler, Retired USMC, 1933~

2266 VETERANS DIED IN 2008 BECAUSE THEY WERE UNINSURED --
On this Veterans Day we should not only honor the nearly 500 soldiers who have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the more than 2,200 veterans who were killed by our broken health insurance system. That's six preventable deaths a day.

10 SUICIDES A MONTH AT FT. HOOD --
Tragically, Fort Hood has born much of the brunt from its heavy involvement in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Fort Hood soldiers have accounted for more suicides than any other army post since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2009, the base is averaging over 10 suicides each month - at least 75 have been recorded through July of this year alone.

131,000 HOMELESS VETS TONIGHT --
Although accurate numbers are impossible to come by -- no one keeps national records on homeless veterans -- the VA estimates that 131,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. And approximately twice that many experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country.