Why I support VQLAN - Veteran's Quality of Life Access Network
Veteran's Quality of Life Access Network
Why I Support VQLAN
Posted by: WebPastor David Todeschini
Web site: http://www.net4truthusa.com/
Book Catalog: www.Net4TruthUSA.com/bookcatalog.htm
Amazon Titles: www.NetTruthUSA.com/bookstore.htm
Bookstore: www.LuLu.com/Net4TruthUSA/
Other Blogs: www.Net4TruthUSA.com/blogs.htm
NOTE: Update May 2008 - Barry Campbell's Web site is no longer up. If you are a veteran, and are figting for your service-connected disability benefits contact Arthur Bernklau at Veterans For Constitutional Law. His Web site is www.VFCLL.com
I say this with a great deal of trepidation, but I must say it because to keep silent; to NOT speak the truth when I should speak it, is tantamount to a lie - and I hate liars! In order to avoid becoming a liar by omission, I cannot in good conscience, hold my peace. Even though it hurts sometimes, Jesus said, "The truth will set you free".
I am a Vietnam Veteran. I wasn't a combat soldier; I fought a different kind of war; the kind of war one fights with buttons and computers, spies, counter-spies, and secret codes instead of bullets; the kind of war that one fights within himself, to know the truth in spite of the lies everybody else seems comfortable believing. I held a Top Secret / Crypto security clearance. I saw and experienced enough during my tour of duty to know from whence I speak. Twenty-three years later, I spent the next seven years writing a book about it, and I'll get to that shortly.
When Vietnam vets came home from the war, and when vets finally come home from what will prove to be a much worse quagmire in Iraq, what was, and what is waiting for us, is a Leviathan of a bureaucracy; an impersonal bureaucracy that seeks to do one thing; to become a much bigger bureaucracy. If it helps anyone, it is because the ones seeking help are persistent with the patience of Job. Most of us have suffered in quiet desperation -- and then the VA and all of the other agencies of this corrupt government, act like they're doing veterans who fought for this country a favor!
Is it any wonder that so many vets become frustrated to the point where they are on the verge of regretting that they ever served? Is it any wonder that young people today can see the handwriting on the wall, and are choosing NOT to serve? Is it any wonder that recruiters are now barred from many school campuses? No, it is no wonder... at least it is no wonder to me.
The Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War was not, and the current conflict in Iraq, is not a war being fought to defend America; they are all political conspiracies that served nefarious purposes and hidden agendas. Vietnam, for example, was a Weapon of Mass DistrAction; its purpose was two-fold: to divert America's attention away from the moral destruction perpetrated by the US Supreme Court from within, and to provide logistics for the biggest drug smuggling operation in the history of the planet, run by the CIA.
September 11th was a contrived excuse to rally the support of the American people to wage war, and an excuse to pass the USA Patriot Act, which nullifies the Constitution. Legally, the United States is now under an undeclared Martial Law. The Gulf of Tonkin incident never happened; it was fabricated to give politicians the excuse to get us into Vietnam; just as Pearl Harbor was contrived to rally support to get us into World War II. Adolf Hitler's SS-troops burned the Reichstag - the German Parliament building - so that he could rail brilliant and powerful orations of anti-Semitic hatred against the Jews and the Gypsies in order to be elected dictator of Germany. This is the age-old "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality, and it's getting a bit worn out from over-use. Because we don't study our history, we are duped by the politicians who do, into repeating it.
None of the wars since and including World War 1 were fought to defend America. None of those wars were provoked by a threat against the United States, and there is no proof that Iraq was ever a clear and present danger, or that Iraq was behind 9-11 at all, except for what the pathological liars in Washington DC tell us. I trust what politicians say as far as I can spit upwind in a Saigon monsoon. If the excuse to invade Iraq was their alleged possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction, then why don't we go into Pakistan, Korea, or China? We know they have Weapons of Mass Destruction! You might say that the latter three never attacked us, and Iraq did... but wait a minute - I thought that 9-11 was originally Osama bin Laden's doing!
You have to excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but I'm a bit confused... First it was bin Laden... and when we couldn't find that towel-head son-of-a-bitch hiding in the desert, or incognito in a cave somewhere, we switch gears and blow up Iraq... much more spectacular! Sand doesn't burn very well; there were no impressive secondary explosions for the news cameras to broadcast into our living rooms. In addition, if I may be permitted to be so blunt, what the hell are we doing rebuilding Baghdad’s infrastructure? What are we, NUTS? Tell me... what other country in the world in all of history, has waged war against another country, blew up their cities, then went in and fixed up the place better than it was before they bombed it? What is this, international urban renewal? Next thing you know, we'll be paying their cable bills... that is, after we get DSL to wire up Tekrit. We need to rebuild our own neighborhoods. We need to fix the subways right here... Ever ride the 7 or the G-train? I rest my case.
It is not an American soldier's duty to fight for someone else's freedom. U.S. soldiers do what's right when we are put into terrible situations, but sometimes we get caught in a "Catch-22" of someone else's design. Often, we're damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't. You can't win, you can't lose, and you can't quit the game.
We fight the battles over there, and when we get home, we fight bigger battles over here, against an enemy that can't be seen, heard, or touched; an enemy that's supposed to be our friend; on our side; the enemy is the system that Barry Campbell fights against. He fights against it from within the belly of the beast, and unfortunately, he's got precious little help. He's out in the trenches made up of mountains of tedious, incomprehensible, and redundant paperwork that is purposely designed to frustrate applicants, in order to keep them from receiving just compensation for the injuries and trauma they suffered in the course of rendering honorable service to their country. Barry's drawing the fire, but there are few of us that are firing for cover. Barry is the only one who is out here for us, and he's been doing it consistently for over 20 years. Everybody knows Barry; he's a legend in his own time among honorable men and women. Barry is the last-ditch resort that always comes through when all else fails. He's been doing it even though it is not his job... did you hear me? IT'S NOT HIS JOB. Barry works for the VA, because he doesn't get paid to do what he does for tens of thousands of vets every year. Barry does what the VA tries to avoid doing. I don't see them giving him any "employee of the year" awards, because he's doing what they claim to be doing, when they're pretending, and not doing it. Furthermore, it is a little-known fact that the VA employs 2,220 senior "examiners" who get paid $80,000 salaries and bonuses. Their job is to deny honorable men just compensation for the injuries received while rendering meritorious service to the country they love. If you doubt that, you need to go to my web site and listen to Art Bernklau of Veteran's for Constitutional Law speaking to Doctor Stan Monteith of Radio Liberty. Most of us here see through the VA's smoke; they have a history of denying vets what is due them.
One case in point: Agent Orange - the government and the companies that manufactured it, knew it was carcinogenic back during the Korean War - still, they used it again in Vietnam. When DOD banned it for use as a defoliant, the military used what was stockpiled as "bug spray" to kill mosquitoes, and "weed killer" to avoid having to mow between perimeter fences. Waste not, want not. Even when it was obvious that it was harming our own troops, they tried desperately to cover it up. My former wife miscarried ten years ago, and I blame that on Agent Orange.
Depleted uranium bullets are being used in Iraq since 1991; it causes radiation sickness. "It's all in your head, soldier. Here, take a few Percosets™ or Elavils™ and go see the shrink down the hall... while you're at it, take a few Paxils™... feel like yourself again". That's what the VA will tell you to do.
I've known Barry Campbell for over a year. Prior to meeting him, the VA ran me around in circles riding subways and filling out papers here, sign this form there, go see this guy over there, and I was never given a straight answer or a bit of meaningful, effective help.... for over a year... and at the end of it all, I ended up with nothing when the country I defended failed me, and I really needed some competent, tangible assistance. All of that changed when Barry got involved with my case. It seems only right that I'm here today supporting what Barry is doing, because by supporting his organization, I am helping him to help the next man in line behind me.
None of us would leave a brother alone in the trenches when he was being fired upon, and it should be no different here. Lord knows the VA is doing precious little for us vets. Some of them prefer to scam the system like the VA nurse up near Buffalo, New York, who played psychiatrist in a NY State prison, collecting $40,000 per year per vet, for twelve vets or more at a time, by falsifying their psychiatric and medical records and scamming the taxpayers through the VA. In order to do all this, the prison program that the VA funded, was denying vets parole via ties to the parole review board. They were keeping men who fought for freedom in prison, so they could have the bodies to exploit in order to run their 1.5 billion dollar swindle. They were doing this since 1988. I was one of four men, working together, who kept asking the hard questions and exposed the fraud. The Department of Veteran's Affairs Inspector General investigated, fired the VA employee, and then tried to cover it up. The Department Of Corruption never sanctioned the prison staff, as far as I know. The scandal would have defeated Pataki's re-election had it made the news. Even though the IG's report was sent to TV stations, and to all the major newspapers, NOT ONE of them would DARE "blow up the spot" on Pataki's political corruption; they'd rather print false allegations against Michael Jackson and sell newspapers to people who like to throw stones. Smoke, mirrors, rabbit-trails, and plain old psycho-babble bullshit. You can see the actual report of the DVA-Inspector General, case# 2001-HL-0066, report# 01-00290-22 dated Oct 31, 2001, along with my detailed analysis, on my web site at: http://www.blogger.com/www.Net4TruthUSA.com/prisontherapy.htm
That scam was only the tip of a very huge iceberg. Funds that taxpayers funnel into the VA to help those who risked thir lives, and the families of those who gave their lives to defend America, are being sucked down the bottomless rat-hole of big-wig salaries and perks in the Veteran's Administration. Vets are not being given what they are due, and I'm here to tell you that for all the hell we've been through; for all the sacrifices we made and the brothers we lost; for all the grieving widows and fatherless children; and even for all the sacrifices we were prepared to make in defense of our country - there should be no such thing in America... I say, THERE SHOULD BE NO SUCH THING IN AMERICA, as a homeless vet... no such thing as an unsung war hero eating out of a garbage can in Times Square, or sleeping on the subway; no such thing as a war veteran's widow who struggles to pay living expenses to support her now fatherless children. I say that America should take care of it's own, before we give twenty one billion - that's twenty one thousand million of our hard-earned tax dollsrs to the best enemies money can buy.
The wealthy in this country have what they have, because of the freedom paid for with OUR blood, OUR sweat, and OUR tears... and the tears of the mothers, fathers, wives and sweethearts of the thousands of us who came home dead, came home maimed, or didn't come home at all.
The war in Iraq isn't about defending America; it isn't about retaliation for 9-11; we are in Iraq because of one thing... greed... OIL - that's the bottom line. Don't let the politicians fool you; they're all the same. The definition of a pathological liar is someone who believes his own lies. George Bush (x2), Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, and the rest of them are cut from the same cloth. They are liars and murderers, and if I'm right, and 14 plaintiffs - families of 9-11 victims who filed lawsuits - if they are right, George Bush gave tacit consent for 9-11 to happen, and the rest of them knew about it. The 2000 election may not have been a "close call" in Florida like the media led us to believe; it was more than likely a delay until they resolved the dispute over whose "watch" the 9-11 terrorist attacks would happen on; in other words, someone other than you and I pulling levers in a voting booth decided who was going to be president... and I have good reason to believe it has been that way since JFK was assassinated. Read my book.
Whoever the conspirators are, they are guilty of high treason and conspiracy against the United States. If the allegations are substantiated, they should be tried before a military tribunal. If found guilty, they should be flogged and publicly hung.
There's a saying: "In order to believe a lie, you first have to STOP believing the truth. Once you STOP believing the truth, then it is possible for you to believe anything".
Once you stop believing the truth, it is possible to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman who shot JFK; it is possible to believe that George Bush didn't know that something was going to happen on 9-11... that's called "plausible denial".
Once you stop believing the truth, it is possible to believe that the CIA wasn't behind a multi trillion dollar Southeast Asia drug cartel during the Vietnam years, and that it is not still operating to this very day.
Once you stop believing the truth, it is possible to believe that the My Lai massacre was not the result of the CIA experimenting with psychotropic drugs on our own troops. I cover all of these topics in my book "Land of Childhood's Fears".
Vets banding together can be the driving force that puts America back into God's favor. We can be the most formidable Political Action Committee imaginable, and the corrupt politician's worst nightmare. America has taken the freedom we fought for, and made a virtual prison for themselves; a prison which is just as real, and just as cruel, and just as inhumane as anything you'll find at Abu Gharib, Guantanamo Bay, Attica or Auburn. That prison is being a slave to the dollar. That prison is the debauchery Man sinks to, when freedom decays into libel, slander, licentiousness, bearing false witness, profanity and deviant sexuality on TV and in music, idolatry, thievery, drug addiction, alcoholism, domestic violence, homosexuality, murder, and infanticide on demand. This is the result when the LOVE of money replaces the love of God and neighbor; when, as it says in the Bible, "their god is their belly", and the plastic façade of the Bling-Bling becomes the central focus of a society's existence.
True freedom comes at a very dear price. Freedom demands eternal vigilance and responsibility, and the degree of responsibility depends on the degree of blessings that God has given you. Blessings are talents and abilities, knowledge, and personal resources that one is born with, and later acquires, and these are multiplied when used wisely, with obedience to God's Word with longsuffering... For those who are not familiar with the King's English, "longsuffering" is defined as patient; stoical; uncomplaining; tending to bear up well under adversity. That sounds like somebody I know... Barry Campbell. He's fought the good fight; a fight that most of us would have surrendered to a long time ago. He's gotten good at what he does because he gave from the heart - and is giving - his time, money, and his tireless effort to help us vets. The Lord has increased his territory. Many of us owe him a debt of gratitude; but I don't think he really wants gratitude, or praise, or any of that, although a sincere "thank you", certainly wouldn't hurt. I know Barry well enough to say with confidence, that what he would prefer that any of us whom he's helped would do for him, is to turn around and bless another brother out of our blessings - help him out of the street; out of that shelter; help him find a job and a place to live, and get off the drugs and the alcohol that he's numbing those physical and spiritual needs with... or to help Barry do it by supporting his organization. You can help not only with money, but also with your time, and the talents that a good and merciful God has blessed you with.
God says in the Old Testament "Bring all thy tithes that there may be meat in mine house... and try me... and see if I won't open the windows of heaven and pour you out such a blessing that there won't be roomto receive it".
I didn't say that; God said that. We need some tithes in the storehouse, so that the blessings can continue. VQLAN needs your support; if not financially, then by your time, by the use of your talents, or some other way. Be creative. For my part, I wrote VQLAN its own bookstore web site. I'm the author of about a dozen books; among which is a 506-page book about the Vietnam War titled "Land of Childhood's Fears". Another is a Bible bedtime storybook for children titled "Entertaining Angels". I put those and several others up on a special web site just for Barry's organization, and I'm triple-tithing the royalties from those books to help the cause, because I believe in what Barry is doing. Veteran brothers helping veteran brothers is what it's all about here. Barry and I are also talking about re-doing VQLAN's main web site to make it easier to navigate and find the information and the resources you need.
My book on Vietnam touches on many of the situations and dilemmas young men had to endure in a war zone, and the issues we vets were faced with when we came home. It is no different now, in Iraq, as it was then in Vietnam. My book exposes the lies we were told about Agent Orange, Operation Phoenix, the CIA's drug smuggling operations, and it puts forth a never-before proposed theory about who killed John F. Kennedy, why he was murdered by our own government, who pulled the trigger, and how they did it and got away with it. Most importantly on that topic, it discusses how the JFK murder affects our government today.
My book "Land of Childhood's Fears" is not a book of poetry, primarily, but I'd like to read you the poem I wrote in 1999 from which the book takes its title:
REFLECTIONS
In the days of my youth long past,
With my hand over my heart,
And with the innocence of tender years,
I pledged allegiance and played the part.
A few more years of those days went by,
And as I listened to the NEWS,
I learned of a place called Vietnam,
And that young men went there to die.
Later on, as I grew older,
And more a man for those eighteen years,
I went to fight for Freedom’s calling
In the Land of Childhood’s Fears.
But in the middle of that long battle,
I found the war could not be won,
So I turned the ramparts inward,
And sang the songs of peace and love.
And as much as I tried to fight it;
And as badly as I longed to win,
The drugs of Southeast Asia
Had caused the best of us to sin.
And of course there were the children,
Who by destiny were born
In this land of mystic beauty,
That which by the war, was torn.
If it wasn’t for the killing fields,
And the air-strike that went wrong,
I would not have felt the pangs of guilt,
And wouldn’t do what I had done.
And the memories of my youth long past;
The sweet kisses I used to steal,
Mixed with Napalm, bombs, and love’s sweet charms,
And now I don’t know what to feel.
The most tragic sight of a soldier’s sorrow
Were shiny boxes loaded on the plane;
C-130’s full of death’s grim cargo,
Taking home those who died in vain.
Amid the bullets, bombs, and battles;
Among the flowers and the stars,
Children frolicked in the rain-soaked streets,
And sold their bodies in the Saigon bars.
And amid this tragic sorrow,
There was a day beyond compare;
A sweet little angel stole my heart,
And wiped the chocolate in her hair.
My beloved country made me angry,
And Vietnam had made me sad,
The Homeland I was defending
Had turned its back on me and dad.
I tried to be a Christian, first;
An American, most of all,
But my country had eaten Eden’s apple,
And was destined for the fall.
Many of us had burned their draft cards,
Our civil rights, there were but few,
We sang of peace and love, and played Rock n’ Roll;
There was little else that we could do.
And when the Kent State protest gathered,
The National Guard was called out, too.
And the bullets that killed the four of them
Were also aimed at me and you.
The entire country mourned the lives
Of the students who had died;
In Vietnam, and on Kent’s front lawn,
With the tears their mothers cried!
The whole country rose to anger,
And the anger turned to rage
When NEWS of the My Lai massacre,
Made the New York Times’ front page.[1]
With little hope of negotiation,
And a purpose quite unknown,
We had fought ten years, and cried the tears,
And came home in disgrace, alone.
And it took another decade, still
For the country to hear their call;
To respect the dead, and make amends,
And put their names up on the wall.
The war there has long-since ended,
But some of us are suff’ring, still;
I remember in my dreams
The silent screams,
And I guess I always will.
And I pray the world has learned a lesson,
By the pain and the lives we lost;
That war ain’t worth the trouble,
And the untold human cost.
And America can be reminded
On that one special Veteran’s Day,
Of the price we paid for freedom,
And for those of us, to pray.
<<==={*}===>>
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away". - Revelation 21:4 (KJV)
My ministry, Net4TruthUSA, is one of spiritual healing, and exposing the liars and what the Bible calls "spiritual wickedness in high places". Barry's on one front, I'm on the other... It's God, and us, because God is with us. Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, that whosoever giveth the least of my brethren to drink a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, he shall in no wise lose his reward". I believe Jesus spoke the truth. My reward, and Barry's reward is to rescue broken lives and save souls. We do whatever we can with what the Lord gives us; even as the Apostle Paul, with the thorn in his side that kept him humble. Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give". (Matthew 10:8) His grace is sufficient, and the resources to carry out the work come from those souls who --- verily --- shall also NOT lose their reward.
In all of this, just remember:
The Bible says, "Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world".
In other words:
It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog. (Ruff-rooofh!) With God, anything is possible. Please help us continue to fight the good fight.
Honor, truth, peace, and justice, and love above all. Thank you.
Godspeed, and may God bless you. WebPastor Dave Todeschini
FOOTNOTE
[1] Seymour M. Hersh, Journalist for the New York Times, a Pulitzer Prize winner, broke the story of the My Lai massacre.
Why I Support VQLAN
Posted by: WebPastor David Todeschini
Web site: http://www.net4truthusa.com/
Book Catalog: www.Net4TruthUSA.com/bookcatalog.htm
Amazon Titles: www.NetTruthUSA.com/bookstore.htm
Bookstore: www.LuLu.com/Net4TruthUSA/
Other Blogs: www.Net4TruthUSA.com/blogs.htm
NOTE: Update May 2008 - Barry Campbell's Web site is no longer up. If you are a veteran, and are figting for your service-connected disability benefits contact Arthur Bernklau at Veterans For Constitutional Law. His Web site is www.VFCLL.com
I say this with a great deal of trepidation, but I must say it because to keep silent; to NOT speak the truth when I should speak it, is tantamount to a lie - and I hate liars! In order to avoid becoming a liar by omission, I cannot in good conscience, hold my peace. Even though it hurts sometimes, Jesus said, "The truth will set you free".
I am a Vietnam Veteran. I wasn't a combat soldier; I fought a different kind of war; the kind of war one fights with buttons and computers, spies, counter-spies, and secret codes instead of bullets; the kind of war that one fights within himself, to know the truth in spite of the lies everybody else seems comfortable believing. I held a Top Secret / Crypto security clearance. I saw and experienced enough during my tour of duty to know from whence I speak. Twenty-three years later, I spent the next seven years writing a book about it, and I'll get to that shortly.
When Vietnam vets came home from the war, and when vets finally come home from what will prove to be a much worse quagmire in Iraq, what was, and what is waiting for us, is a Leviathan of a bureaucracy; an impersonal bureaucracy that seeks to do one thing; to become a much bigger bureaucracy. If it helps anyone, it is because the ones seeking help are persistent with the patience of Job. Most of us have suffered in quiet desperation -- and then the VA and all of the other agencies of this corrupt government, act like they're doing veterans who fought for this country a favor!
Is it any wonder that so many vets become frustrated to the point where they are on the verge of regretting that they ever served? Is it any wonder that young people today can see the handwriting on the wall, and are choosing NOT to serve? Is it any wonder that recruiters are now barred from many school campuses? No, it is no wonder... at least it is no wonder to me.
The Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War was not, and the current conflict in Iraq, is not a war being fought to defend America; they are all political conspiracies that served nefarious purposes and hidden agendas. Vietnam, for example, was a Weapon of Mass DistrAction; its purpose was two-fold: to divert America's attention away from the moral destruction perpetrated by the US Supreme Court from within, and to provide logistics for the biggest drug smuggling operation in the history of the planet, run by the CIA.
September 11th was a contrived excuse to rally the support of the American people to wage war, and an excuse to pass the USA Patriot Act, which nullifies the Constitution. Legally, the United States is now under an undeclared Martial Law. The Gulf of Tonkin incident never happened; it was fabricated to give politicians the excuse to get us into Vietnam; just as Pearl Harbor was contrived to rally support to get us into World War II. Adolf Hitler's SS-troops burned the Reichstag - the German Parliament building - so that he could rail brilliant and powerful orations of anti-Semitic hatred against the Jews and the Gypsies in order to be elected dictator of Germany. This is the age-old "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality, and it's getting a bit worn out from over-use. Because we don't study our history, we are duped by the politicians who do, into repeating it.
None of the wars since and including World War 1 were fought to defend America. None of those wars were provoked by a threat against the United States, and there is no proof that Iraq was ever a clear and present danger, or that Iraq was behind 9-11 at all, except for what the pathological liars in Washington DC tell us. I trust what politicians say as far as I can spit upwind in a Saigon monsoon. If the excuse to invade Iraq was their alleged possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction, then why don't we go into Pakistan, Korea, or China? We know they have Weapons of Mass Destruction! You might say that the latter three never attacked us, and Iraq did... but wait a minute - I thought that 9-11 was originally Osama bin Laden's doing!
You have to excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but I'm a bit confused... First it was bin Laden... and when we couldn't find that towel-head son-of-a-bitch hiding in the desert, or incognito in a cave somewhere, we switch gears and blow up Iraq... much more spectacular! Sand doesn't burn very well; there were no impressive secondary explosions for the news cameras to broadcast into our living rooms. In addition, if I may be permitted to be so blunt, what the hell are we doing rebuilding Baghdad’s infrastructure? What are we, NUTS? Tell me... what other country in the world in all of history, has waged war against another country, blew up their cities, then went in and fixed up the place better than it was before they bombed it? What is this, international urban renewal? Next thing you know, we'll be paying their cable bills... that is, after we get DSL to wire up Tekrit. We need to rebuild our own neighborhoods. We need to fix the subways right here... Ever ride the 7 or the G-train? I rest my case.
It is not an American soldier's duty to fight for someone else's freedom. U.S. soldiers do what's right when we are put into terrible situations, but sometimes we get caught in a "Catch-22" of someone else's design. Often, we're damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't. You can't win, you can't lose, and you can't quit the game.
We fight the battles over there, and when we get home, we fight bigger battles over here, against an enemy that can't be seen, heard, or touched; an enemy that's supposed to be our friend; on our side; the enemy is the system that Barry Campbell fights against. He fights against it from within the belly of the beast, and unfortunately, he's got precious little help. He's out in the trenches made up of mountains of tedious, incomprehensible, and redundant paperwork that is purposely designed to frustrate applicants, in order to keep them from receiving just compensation for the injuries and trauma they suffered in the course of rendering honorable service to their country. Barry's drawing the fire, but there are few of us that are firing for cover. Barry is the only one who is out here for us, and he's been doing it consistently for over 20 years. Everybody knows Barry; he's a legend in his own time among honorable men and women. Barry is the last-ditch resort that always comes through when all else fails. He's been doing it even though it is not his job... did you hear me? IT'S NOT HIS JOB. Barry works for the VA, because he doesn't get paid to do what he does for tens of thousands of vets every year. Barry does what the VA tries to avoid doing. I don't see them giving him any "employee of the year" awards, because he's doing what they claim to be doing, when they're pretending, and not doing it. Furthermore, it is a little-known fact that the VA employs 2,220 senior "examiners" who get paid $80,000 salaries and bonuses. Their job is to deny honorable men just compensation for the injuries received while rendering meritorious service to the country they love. If you doubt that, you need to go to my web site and listen to Art Bernklau of Veteran's for Constitutional Law speaking to Doctor Stan Monteith of Radio Liberty. Most of us here see through the VA's smoke; they have a history of denying vets what is due them.
One case in point: Agent Orange - the government and the companies that manufactured it, knew it was carcinogenic back during the Korean War - still, they used it again in Vietnam. When DOD banned it for use as a defoliant, the military used what was stockpiled as "bug spray" to kill mosquitoes, and "weed killer" to avoid having to mow between perimeter fences. Waste not, want not. Even when it was obvious that it was harming our own troops, they tried desperately to cover it up. My former wife miscarried ten years ago, and I blame that on Agent Orange.
Depleted uranium bullets are being used in Iraq since 1991; it causes radiation sickness. "It's all in your head, soldier. Here, take a few Percosets™ or Elavils™ and go see the shrink down the hall... while you're at it, take a few Paxils™... feel like yourself again". That's what the VA will tell you to do.
I've known Barry Campbell for over a year. Prior to meeting him, the VA ran me around in circles riding subways and filling out papers here, sign this form there, go see this guy over there, and I was never given a straight answer or a bit of meaningful, effective help.... for over a year... and at the end of it all, I ended up with nothing when the country I defended failed me, and I really needed some competent, tangible assistance. All of that changed when Barry got involved with my case. It seems only right that I'm here today supporting what Barry is doing, because by supporting his organization, I am helping him to help the next man in line behind me.
None of us would leave a brother alone in the trenches when he was being fired upon, and it should be no different here. Lord knows the VA is doing precious little for us vets. Some of them prefer to scam the system like the VA nurse up near Buffalo, New York, who played psychiatrist in a NY State prison, collecting $40,000 per year per vet, for twelve vets or more at a time, by falsifying their psychiatric and medical records and scamming the taxpayers through the VA. In order to do all this, the prison program that the VA funded, was denying vets parole via ties to the parole review board. They were keeping men who fought for freedom in prison, so they could have the bodies to exploit in order to run their 1.5 billion dollar swindle. They were doing this since 1988. I was one of four men, working together, who kept asking the hard questions and exposed the fraud. The Department of Veteran's Affairs Inspector General investigated, fired the VA employee, and then tried to cover it up. The Department Of Corruption never sanctioned the prison staff, as far as I know. The scandal would have defeated Pataki's re-election had it made the news. Even though the IG's report was sent to TV stations, and to all the major newspapers, NOT ONE of them would DARE "blow up the spot" on Pataki's political corruption; they'd rather print false allegations against Michael Jackson and sell newspapers to people who like to throw stones. Smoke, mirrors, rabbit-trails, and plain old psycho-babble bullshit. You can see the actual report of the DVA-Inspector General, case# 2001-HL-0066, report# 01-00290-22 dated Oct 31, 2001, along with my detailed analysis, on my web site at: http://www.blogger.com/www.Net4TruthUSA.com/prisontherapy.htm
That scam was only the tip of a very huge iceberg. Funds that taxpayers funnel into the VA to help those who risked thir lives, and the families of those who gave their lives to defend America, are being sucked down the bottomless rat-hole of big-wig salaries and perks in the Veteran's Administration. Vets are not being given what they are due, and I'm here to tell you that for all the hell we've been through; for all the sacrifices we made and the brothers we lost; for all the grieving widows and fatherless children; and even for all the sacrifices we were prepared to make in defense of our country - there should be no such thing in America... I say, THERE SHOULD BE NO SUCH THING IN AMERICA, as a homeless vet... no such thing as an unsung war hero eating out of a garbage can in Times Square, or sleeping on the subway; no such thing as a war veteran's widow who struggles to pay living expenses to support her now fatherless children. I say that America should take care of it's own, before we give twenty one billion - that's twenty one thousand million of our hard-earned tax dollsrs to the best enemies money can buy.
The wealthy in this country have what they have, because of the freedom paid for with OUR blood, OUR sweat, and OUR tears... and the tears of the mothers, fathers, wives and sweethearts of the thousands of us who came home dead, came home maimed, or didn't come home at all.
The war in Iraq isn't about defending America; it isn't about retaliation for 9-11; we are in Iraq because of one thing... greed... OIL - that's the bottom line. Don't let the politicians fool you; they're all the same. The definition of a pathological liar is someone who believes his own lies. George Bush (x2), Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, and the rest of them are cut from the same cloth. They are liars and murderers, and if I'm right, and 14 plaintiffs - families of 9-11 victims who filed lawsuits - if they are right, George Bush gave tacit consent for 9-11 to happen, and the rest of them knew about it. The 2000 election may not have been a "close call" in Florida like the media led us to believe; it was more than likely a delay until they resolved the dispute over whose "watch" the 9-11 terrorist attacks would happen on; in other words, someone other than you and I pulling levers in a voting booth decided who was going to be president... and I have good reason to believe it has been that way since JFK was assassinated. Read my book.
Whoever the conspirators are, they are guilty of high treason and conspiracy against the United States. If the allegations are substantiated, they should be tried before a military tribunal. If found guilty, they should be flogged and publicly hung.
There's a saying: "In order to believe a lie, you first have to STOP believing the truth. Once you STOP believing the truth, then it is possible for you to believe anything".
Once you stop believing the truth, it is possible to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman who shot JFK; it is possible to believe that George Bush didn't know that something was going to happen on 9-11... that's called "plausible denial".
Once you stop believing the truth, it is possible to believe that the CIA wasn't behind a multi trillion dollar Southeast Asia drug cartel during the Vietnam years, and that it is not still operating to this very day.
Once you stop believing the truth, it is possible to believe that the My Lai massacre was not the result of the CIA experimenting with psychotropic drugs on our own troops. I cover all of these topics in my book "Land of Childhood's Fears".
Vets banding together can be the driving force that puts America back into God's favor. We can be the most formidable Political Action Committee imaginable, and the corrupt politician's worst nightmare. America has taken the freedom we fought for, and made a virtual prison for themselves; a prison which is just as real, and just as cruel, and just as inhumane as anything you'll find at Abu Gharib, Guantanamo Bay, Attica or Auburn. That prison is being a slave to the dollar. That prison is the debauchery Man sinks to, when freedom decays into libel, slander, licentiousness, bearing false witness, profanity and deviant sexuality on TV and in music, idolatry, thievery, drug addiction, alcoholism, domestic violence, homosexuality, murder, and infanticide on demand. This is the result when the LOVE of money replaces the love of God and neighbor; when, as it says in the Bible, "their god is their belly", and the plastic façade of the Bling-Bling becomes the central focus of a society's existence.
True freedom comes at a very dear price. Freedom demands eternal vigilance and responsibility, and the degree of responsibility depends on the degree of blessings that God has given you. Blessings are talents and abilities, knowledge, and personal resources that one is born with, and later acquires, and these are multiplied when used wisely, with obedience to God's Word with longsuffering... For those who are not familiar with the King's English, "longsuffering" is defined as patient; stoical; uncomplaining; tending to bear up well under adversity. That sounds like somebody I know... Barry Campbell. He's fought the good fight; a fight that most of us would have surrendered to a long time ago. He's gotten good at what he does because he gave from the heart - and is giving - his time, money, and his tireless effort to help us vets. The Lord has increased his territory. Many of us owe him a debt of gratitude; but I don't think he really wants gratitude, or praise, or any of that, although a sincere "thank you", certainly wouldn't hurt. I know Barry well enough to say with confidence, that what he would prefer that any of us whom he's helped would do for him, is to turn around and bless another brother out of our blessings - help him out of the street; out of that shelter; help him find a job and a place to live, and get off the drugs and the alcohol that he's numbing those physical and spiritual needs with... or to help Barry do it by supporting his organization. You can help not only with money, but also with your time, and the talents that a good and merciful God has blessed you with.
God says in the Old Testament "Bring all thy tithes that there may be meat in mine house... and try me... and see if I won't open the windows of heaven and pour you out such a blessing that there won't be roomto receive it".
I didn't say that; God said that. We need some tithes in the storehouse, so that the blessings can continue. VQLAN needs your support; if not financially, then by your time, by the use of your talents, or some other way. Be creative. For my part, I wrote VQLAN its own bookstore web site. I'm the author of about a dozen books; among which is a 506-page book about the Vietnam War titled "Land of Childhood's Fears". Another is a Bible bedtime storybook for children titled "Entertaining Angels". I put those and several others up on a special web site just for Barry's organization, and I'm triple-tithing the royalties from those books to help the cause, because I believe in what Barry is doing. Veteran brothers helping veteran brothers is what it's all about here. Barry and I are also talking about re-doing VQLAN's main web site to make it easier to navigate and find the information and the resources you need.
My book on Vietnam touches on many of the situations and dilemmas young men had to endure in a war zone, and the issues we vets were faced with when we came home. It is no different now, in Iraq, as it was then in Vietnam. My book exposes the lies we were told about Agent Orange, Operation Phoenix, the CIA's drug smuggling operations, and it puts forth a never-before proposed theory about who killed John F. Kennedy, why he was murdered by our own government, who pulled the trigger, and how they did it and got away with it. Most importantly on that topic, it discusses how the JFK murder affects our government today.
My book "Land of Childhood's Fears" is not a book of poetry, primarily, but I'd like to read you the poem I wrote in 1999 from which the book takes its title:
REFLECTIONS
In the days of my youth long past,
With my hand over my heart,
And with the innocence of tender years,
I pledged allegiance and played the part.
A few more years of those days went by,
And as I listened to the NEWS,
I learned of a place called Vietnam,
And that young men went there to die.
Later on, as I grew older,
And more a man for those eighteen years,
I went to fight for Freedom’s calling
In the Land of Childhood’s Fears.
But in the middle of that long battle,
I found the war could not be won,
So I turned the ramparts inward,
And sang the songs of peace and love.
And as much as I tried to fight it;
And as badly as I longed to win,
The drugs of Southeast Asia
Had caused the best of us to sin.
And of course there were the children,
Who by destiny were born
In this land of mystic beauty,
That which by the war, was torn.
If it wasn’t for the killing fields,
And the air-strike that went wrong,
I would not have felt the pangs of guilt,
And wouldn’t do what I had done.
And the memories of my youth long past;
The sweet kisses I used to steal,
Mixed with Napalm, bombs, and love’s sweet charms,
And now I don’t know what to feel.
The most tragic sight of a soldier’s sorrow
Were shiny boxes loaded on the plane;
C-130’s full of death’s grim cargo,
Taking home those who died in vain.
Amid the bullets, bombs, and battles;
Among the flowers and the stars,
Children frolicked in the rain-soaked streets,
And sold their bodies in the Saigon bars.
And amid this tragic sorrow,
There was a day beyond compare;
A sweet little angel stole my heart,
And wiped the chocolate in her hair.
My beloved country made me angry,
And Vietnam had made me sad,
The Homeland I was defending
Had turned its back on me and dad.
I tried to be a Christian, first;
An American, most of all,
But my country had eaten Eden’s apple,
And was destined for the fall.
Many of us had burned their draft cards,
Our civil rights, there were but few,
We sang of peace and love, and played Rock n’ Roll;
There was little else that we could do.
And when the Kent State protest gathered,
The National Guard was called out, too.
And the bullets that killed the four of them
Were also aimed at me and you.
The entire country mourned the lives
Of the students who had died;
In Vietnam, and on Kent’s front lawn,
With the tears their mothers cried!
The whole country rose to anger,
And the anger turned to rage
When NEWS of the My Lai massacre,
Made the New York Times’ front page.[1]
With little hope of negotiation,
And a purpose quite unknown,
We had fought ten years, and cried the tears,
And came home in disgrace, alone.
And it took another decade, still
For the country to hear their call;
To respect the dead, and make amends,
And put their names up on the wall.
The war there has long-since ended,
But some of us are suff’ring, still;
I remember in my dreams
The silent screams,
And I guess I always will.
And I pray the world has learned a lesson,
By the pain and the lives we lost;
That war ain’t worth the trouble,
And the untold human cost.
And America can be reminded
On that one special Veteran’s Day,
Of the price we paid for freedom,
And for those of us, to pray.
<<==={*}===>>
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away". - Revelation 21:4 (KJV)
My ministry, Net4TruthUSA, is one of spiritual healing, and exposing the liars and what the Bible calls "spiritual wickedness in high places". Barry's on one front, I'm on the other... It's God, and us, because God is with us. Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, that whosoever giveth the least of my brethren to drink a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, he shall in no wise lose his reward". I believe Jesus spoke the truth. My reward, and Barry's reward is to rescue broken lives and save souls. We do whatever we can with what the Lord gives us; even as the Apostle Paul, with the thorn in his side that kept him humble. Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give". (Matthew 10:8) His grace is sufficient, and the resources to carry out the work come from those souls who --- verily --- shall also NOT lose their reward.
In all of this, just remember:
The Bible says, "Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world".
In other words:
It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog. (Ruff-rooofh!) With God, anything is possible. Please help us continue to fight the good fight.
Honor, truth, peace, and justice, and love above all. Thank you.
Godspeed, and may God bless you. WebPastor Dave Todeschini
FOOTNOTE
[1] Seymour M. Hersh, Journalist for the New York Times, a Pulitzer Prize winner, broke the story of the My Lai massacre.
posted by ciphoenix | 9:11 AM
|
0 comments
