A Veteran and Teacher Challenge Bachmann

Take a Stand: Bachmann ad

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Take a Stand thoughts, observations, etc

Unfortunately, I was unable to make the event in St Cloud last night. I did catch a post over at MN Blue about an Iraq War Vets struggle to get Congressman Ramstad to listen. Check out the post in it's entirety.

I learned how to cope with the torment of suicidal thoughts, and that I’m not alone in that. A handful of guys from my unit confessed to me that they are plagued with the same thoughts. If that’s not bad enough, a few developed a nasty little habit known as cutting. If you’re unfamiliar with the term I’ll outline it for you. When someone experiences severe emotional trauma or is put in a position where they must numb themselves from life they may seek to feel something else. Sitting alone in a room with a knife, they cut themselves, and they feel something else.

These are some of the lessons that the men and women who fight on your behalf are learning every single day. These are the burdens that we carry for the rest of our lives. I won’t speak to the legitimacy of this war tonight, but I ask that as you contemplate it you remember that there are nearly four thousand dead American soldiers, seven times as many wounded and no one comes home undamaged. For those of you who want to do something but are hesitant for whatever reason, I implore you to get active on behalf of the men and women who risk everything for us. Your voice does matter, and NOW is the time to a stand.

Congressman Ramstad, I ask you to justify your continued support of President Bush’s policies in Iraq. When a person decides that they will risk their life for their country, they cross a bridge that few do, and they gain a wisdom that few have. I have crossed that sacred bridge, and Congressman Ramstad I tell you that this war is not worth the blood that it costs to fuel it. The next time you are faced with a vote concerning the war, side with America, and side with the troops that live and die defending her. Bring the troops home, and give us the care that we need and deserve.

Congresswoman Bachmann is an even stronger supporter of President Bush's failed Iraq policy. In fact, the organizers of the event in St Cloud went to great lengths to secure Congresswoman Bachmann's presence at the event.

Bachmann's staffers had two requests.

1. All attendees must have a valid Minnesota drivers license showing that they are a constituent in the 6th CD. While I get it, what about all of those college students moving in up at St Cloud who don't have a license saying they live in the 6th? I guess the Congresswoman does not want to hear from them.

2. All questions must be written on paper and screened by a Bachmann staffer.

From what I have heard, the organizers of the event were more than willing to accommodate both requests and told the Congresswoman's staff this.

Why was the Congresswoman AWOL last night?

Why doesn't the Congresswoman want to hear from her constituents?

Bachmann dumps her constituents

Dump Bachmann has the coverage of Congresswoman Bachmann's refusal to discuss Iraq with her constituents.

Chase Golding from the Iraq Summer Group comments at the Dump Bachmann blog.

Congresswoman Bachmann's staff continues to ignore all invitations to the "Take a Stand Day" town hall Tuesday night, so the Representative will not be in attendance. Doesn't matter. Her constituents have been dealing with an absent and out of touch Representative for months on end, and this issue is too important for Minnesotans not to speak out simply because Michele has her fingers in her ears. This event will be great! If you are able to come to the Atwood Center at St. Cloud State tomorrow at 6:30, please join us -- the more voices we have, the harder it will be for our members of Congress across the country to continue ignoring our plea for an end to the war in Iraq. This event, along with the Ramstad and Coleman Take a Stand town halls, will be excellent! Please come and pack your car with friends if you can at all, and get someone else to come in your place if you can't. Thank you for your continued support, and let's keep this pressure on Bachmann, Ramstad, Coleman and others across the country until they end this war!

John Kline and the 4 man circus running for the GOP nomination in the 1st should be in this group as well, before Ramstad in my humble opinion!

Media Advisory: St Cloud Educators and others to visit Congresswoman Bachmann's office

Americans Against Escalation in Iraq
http://www.iraqcampaign.org
For Immediate Release Contact: Kevin Fahey, (612) 465-8803
August 13th, 2007

*** MEDIA ADVISORY for August 14th at 12PM***

St. Cloud Educators, School Employees to Call on Bachmann to Vote for Responsible End to War in Iraq

Effort Comes on Heels of Bush War Czar’s Announcement Last Week That Administration Is Considering Reinstating a U.S. Military Draft / Iraq Summer to ask Rep. Bachmann: Since you support Bush’s policy of endless war in Iraq, do you also support the draft needed to sustain it?

[ Waite Park, MN] – With the war in Iraq now expected to cost in upwards of $1 trillion, a group of Minnesota teachers and classified school employees will gather in front of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s constituent office Tuesday to urge she change course and stop voting to enable President Bush’s costly, irresponsible and failed policy of endless war in Iraq . Even in the summer, they are working on behalf of Minnesota ’s youth, who will shoulder the financial burden of this war for decades to come. The group will call on Bachmann to support a safe and responsible end to the war and will include a local grandmother whose grandson is currently hospitalized at the VA in St. Cloud, as well as others in the educator community who are rising to defend the youth and future generations unfairly saddled with the immense burden of paying for this war.

Educators and classified school employees are speaking out on behalf of Minnesota ’s youth on the heels of the startling pronouncement on Friday from Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the President’s new war adviser - commonly referred to as the war czar - that he is considering reinstating a military draft. Lute’s draft talk followed General Petraeus’ recent statements that we should stay in Iraq for another 9 or 10 years. In response, the Iraq Summer Campaign will ask the Congresswoman if she agrees with General Petraeus’s assessment that the US will need to keep fighting in Iraq for the next 10 years and if she is willing to support a draft to maintain troop levels to support Petraeus’s plan.

AAEI's "Iraq Summer" Campaign is a nationwide, 10-week long campaign with nearly 100 organizers in 15 states and 40 congressional districts to turn up the heat on members of Congress, including Sen. Norm Coleman and Rep. Jim Ramstad, who have opposed setting a timeline to bring a safe and responsible end to the war in Iraq. The effort will culminate with a national "Take a Stand" day on August 28th, when Members of Congress will have the opportunity to explain their stance on the war to their constituents in a town hall setting.

WHO: Iraq Summer Campaign / Minnesota Educators, Classified School Employees
WHAT: Speak out against the war on behalf of young Americans saddled with rising costs, both human and financial
WHEN: Tuesday August 14th at Noon
WHERE: St. Cloud/Waite Park Office
110 2nd Street S, Suite 232Waite Park, MN 56387

The Iraq Summer Campaign

With the quagmire in Iraq being the focal point of discussion for most Democrats, discussion of the Iraq Summer Campaign merits its own post, separate of the 6th CD Garden Party.

Representatives from the Iraq Summer Campaign attended the Garden Party this past Saturday in Otsego and engaged many of us who walked the cozy confines of the Mick Raeker and Gabe Davis home.

Word on the street is that an event is coming together for Wednesday where some local Veterans will call for Senator Coleman and Congresswoman Bachmann to stand with the majority of Minnesotans and vote for a responsible redeployment.

I'll post a time and location when it is solidified! Feel free to add a comment with details if they come out before I get home tonight!

A look at some numbers behind the quagmire in Iraq.

$567 billion – Cost of the war through 2008, according to a June analysis by the Congressional Research Service, which exists to provide nonpartisan advice to lawmakers and congressional committees.

$350 billion-$700 billion — Estimated lifetime care for wounded and disabled veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study by Linda Blimes of Harvard University. The numbers vary depending on the duration of the war and the troop levels.

$100 billion — The potential additional costs through 2014 even if most combat troops come home next year. Retaining 30,000 troops per year — about a fifth of the current force level in Iraq — would cost about $21 billion a year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates. So, if troop levels were reduced to 30,000 by 2010 — the first full year after the next president takes office — it would cost about $100 billion to keep them there until 2014.

$22 billion — Economic value of lost lives.

Economists and government agencies value the earning and production potential of the average American male in his prime at roughly $6 million. Using that figure, the economic value of the 3,613 lives lost as of July 16 is $21.7 billion.

$390,000 — Estimated cost to deploy an American soldier to Iraq for a year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

3,636 killed as of today.

26,800 wounded, with estimates as high as 100,000.

With no end in sight...

More than 60% of Americans oppose this quagmire in Iraq. Polls also indicate that the people support Congress over the President with regards to Iraq, even though Congressional approval ratings are low. Other recent polls have shown Bush's approval rating below 30 percent and Congress even lower. But on the issue of Iraq, the Post/ABC poll showed that the public stands with Congress. Fifty-five percent said they trusted congressional Democrats on the war, compared with 32 percent who said they trusted Bush, the Post said.

Congresswoman Bachmann and Senator Coleman are simply wrong on the issue, and are moving down the same popularity road President Bush.