Mortgage money remains available, veterans programs
By Steve Jones - sjones@thesunnews.com
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SHALLOTTE, N.C. -- Organizers of a home buyers' fair in Bolivia, N.C., know how some people will react when they hear promotions of the event.
"It sounds crazy," said Brian Smith, president of WB Properties in Calabash, N.C., and chairman of Brunswick Housing Opportunities, the nonprofit sponsoring Saturday's fair.
With the stock market seemingly in a freefall and some experts predicting a deep recession, at least, the thought of gathering Realtors, bankers, credit raters and others to advise people on buying homes seems a pastime for the desperate or the idle rich, if any are left.
If you go What | Fall Homebuyer's Fair Where | Brunswick Housing Opportunities, 3972 Old Ocean Highway, Bolivia, N.C. When | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
But the heavy, falling foot of Wall Street has yet to plant itself squarely on Main Street, some say. There's plenty of mortgage money for people whose finances are solid and help from the organization to prepare others for home ownership.
"We have had no problem lending to anyone who qualifies incomewise and creditwise," said Doug Pratt, a mortgage banker with First Citizens Bank in Brunswick County.
In fact, with average sales prices down about $70,000 in the last year or so and interest rates hovering around 6 percent, Pratt said a family with an income of $38,000, little or no credit debt and about $9,000 for a down payment could buy an average-priced home - now about $233,000 in Brunswick - for a payment around $1,500 a month.
Need to hear it again?
"Life as we know it has not changed just because some big corporations have made some big mistakes over the years," said Gary Staley, a mortgage banker in Brunswick County for Charleston's First Federal Savings and Loan. "There's still money around."
Staley said there are still 100 percent loans available from the Veterans Administration, 97 percent loans through the Federal Housing Authority and 95 percent loans from a bank.
First Federal, Staley said, has launched an advertising campaign to spread the word about the availability of credit to those who qualify.
The reason that regional banks such as First Citizens and First Federal have money to lend, Staley and Pratt said, is that they didn't buy toxic securities as did larger banks, and they didn't lower their loan standards in the bubble days.
Smith and Grady Watkins, president of the Brunswick County Association of Realtors, said buyers-in-waiting from markets hit much harder by the housing bubble than Brunswick County are telling them that homes in those markets are beginning to move. That is translating to a small, but hopeful pickup in sales for at least some Brunswick Realtors and developers.
Smith, whose company is the developer of Crow Creek in Brunswick County, said his company sold six existing homes and two condominiums in the last couple of weeks. He's cautiously optimistic that a new, upward trend has begun.
Nationally, pending home sales showed an unexpected 7.4 percent uptick in September.
All the news is not good.
Brunswick County led in the number of foreclosures among 14 N.C. counties that recorded more mortgage failures through August this year than all of 2007. There are a lot of unsold homes waiting for buyers, meaning at least some of those who thrived in construction work during the boom days are likely scraping by now.
One Brunswick County builder said he is keeping his company going by concentrating on renovations. Watkins, who owns a construction company, said he has continued building new homes only.
Pratt said the Federal Home Loan Bank in Atlanta notified regional banks early this week that it no longer had the funds to offer $10,000-down payment assistance grants to help lower-income families. At the same time, though, Pratt said the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, a creation of state government, will still give $7,000-down payment assistance to low-income families who can qualify for a home loan.
Those who are struggling but want to buy a home can get help on the path from Brunswick Housing Opportunities, which works with clients for a one-time $20 file maintenance fee to get their credit to the point that banks will welcome them.
"Are we in a financial crisis? Of course, it's all over the news," said Resea Willis, the agency's executive director and the sparkplug behind Brunswick County's organized efforts to build affordable housing. "Are there still loans available for first-time homebuyers? Yes."
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If you go
What | Fall Homebuyer's Fair
Where | Brunswick Housing Opportunities, 3972 Old Ocean Highway, Bolivia, N.C.
When | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
Contact STEVE JONES at 910-754-9855.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Mortgage money remains available, veterans programs
DEATH MARCH
DEATH MARCH
By JEFF WILKINSON - jwilkinson@thestate.com
HONOR FLIGHT HEROES
WWII soldier recalls time as a prisoner of war
It was Jan. 5, 1945, and Pvt. Thomas E. Grove watched in horror as the massive German Panther tank slowly raised its long 88-mm cannon toward him.
Grove was manning a 30-caliber machine gun in the second-story window of a brick house in Bonnerue, Belgium. It was the third house he had retreated to during the Battle of the Bulge, Germany’s last-ditch push against the Allied invasion.
He braced himself for the shot.
“Death was inevitable for me,” said Grove, now of West Columbia. “Shooting that tank with a 30 would be like throwing rubber balls at it. I thought, ‘This is it.’”
Grove, 83, is one of about 100 veterans who will be on the inaugural Honor Flight to the nation’s capital Nov. 15 to visit the National World War II Memorial.
The first flight is full. But local organizers hope to raise $300,000 to charter a total of six flights to take 600 veterans to Washington for free over the next year or so.
Grove is lucky to be going.
The shell from the Panther tank burst through the wall below him, wounding or killing most of Grove’s platoon and peppering him with debris.
He and the survivors retreated to an inner room. Outside, there was a cacophony of small-arms fire, artillery blasts and German voices. Grove and the rest of the men from Company D, 345th Regiment, 87th U.S. Infantry Division, were surrounded.
“All hell had broken loose,” Grove said. “There was fire everywhere. Artillery dropping everywhere — ours, theirs — to the side, the back. All over the place.”
Soon, German infantrymen stormed the house.
“They burst in, told us in English to put our hands above our heads. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I’m a prisoner of war.’”
CAPTURED
Grove’s path began as so many others when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
He was a senior in high school when he heard the news Dec. 7, 1941, listening with his parents and four brothers and sisters at home in Hollidaysburg, Pa.
“I was 16 years old and mad and angry and floored,” he said.
Grove joined the Army on his 18th birthday, Jan. 16, 1943.
“We were going to win the war, a bunch of kids,” he said.
Grove was trained as a machine gunner and saw action in Alaska in the Aleutian Islands before being attached to the 87th Division, making final preparations to go to Europe at Fort Jackson.
The division shipped to France in October 1944, four months after D-Day, and was a spearhead in Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army counterattack against the “bulge” in the Allied lines caused by the German offensive.
Grove fought constantly until his capture in January 1945.
Combat “was terrible and miserable, and I hated it,” he said. “And I hated the Germans.”
His hate would grow.
German soldiers stripped many of the U.S. soldiers of their shoes “and marched us for days through the snow. It was a death march.”
“If anyone fell out of line, the Germans would shoot them or beat them mercilessly with their rifles,” Grove said. “That will get you back in line quick.”
In addition to the cold and the beatings, the rations were bleak — mostly frozen turnips dug from fields along the side of the road.
After marching more than 120 miles, the prisoners arrived at Stalag 12-A in Limburg, Germany, near Frankfurt — a factory-like building used as a holding facility.
“Our bed was an armload of straw on a cobblestone floor.”
After a few weeks, the 86 men were loaded into boxcars designed to hold 40.
“It was a space the size of a one-car garage, just not as wide,” he said. “You couldn’t sit or stretch out. It was too miserable to verbalize.”
Men defecated in their helmets and urinated on the floor.
“Or just went in your pants,” Grove said. “And we all were sick and had diarrhea. That was the most hellish spot in my captivity.”
After a few days — Grove can’t remember how many — the train arrived in Bad Orb, Germany, and Stalag 9-B.
The men were unloaded into wooden barracks, ringed by barbed wire and guard towers.
“Then they pretty much left us alone,” he said. “Our bodies were so weakened we could hardly move.”
Grove estimates his weight dropped from about 155 pounds to less than 100.
“Our ration was a little piece of black German bread and one cup of watery soup a day. It was supposed to be potato soup, but we never saw a potato. All we thought of was food. Not women or anything like that. Just food.”
The lone memento Grove has from his captivity is a small black notebook with three pages. Each page describes fantasy meals.
“I would have eaten out of a garbage can,” Grove said.
Then, on Easter 1945, the men heard artillery fire in the distance. The next day, the regular German soldiers disappeared. The day after that, the remaining guards, old German men mostly, brought in extra rations. Then, they too disappeared.
Soon, the prisoners heard the rattle and roar of tanks — U.S. tanks, breaking into the prison.
“We kissed those tanks like they were beautiful blonde girls.”
RETURN
Grove returned to the United States and became a traveling salesman, “doing all those things a traveling salesman was supposed to do — and more,” Grove said. “We tried to forget about the war, but the war never left us.”
Two years later, in 1947, Grove had a conversion, remembering the words of a chaplain who accompanied the troops that liberated his prison camp.
“He said, ‘You all made a lot of promises (to God), and he expects you to keep them,’” Grove said. “I had lived it up like fury. But when I came to my senses, I came to know the Lord.”
Grove went to Bible college in Rhode Island and spent his working life as a hospital chaplain in Kansas City and Pittsburgh.
He married his wife, Kay, in 1968, after his first wife, Dorothy, died from cancer in 1965.
They moved to Columbia in 1989 so Grove could take clinical pastoral training at then-Richland Memorial Hospital.
In 1998, the couple took a trip to Bonnerue, visiting the house where Grove was captured and the prison where he was held.
“It was a wonderful experience,” Kay Grove said. “It really helped him.”
Today, a scrap of wallpaper from the Bonnerue house, a splintered board from the prison and other mementoes of the trip are framed and on the wall of Grove’s study. They are talismans that pushed back the nightmares he suffered for decades.
“That trip, 1998,” he said, “is when the war ended for me.”
Reach Wilkinson at (803) 771-8495.
Group issues report critical of Alaska National Guard
Group issues report critical of Alaska National Guard
by Channel 2 News staff
Sunday, October 12, 2008
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A report by a nonpartisan veterans' group is criticizing the on-going deployments of the Alaska National Guard to Iraq and Afghanistan.
A report released by the Washington-based Veterans for America says the Guard has been deployed without having proper programs in place to care for the returning troops, and is blaming the issue on "inadequate leadership."
The group is critical of the lack of access to health care for soldiers.
As of 2007, 80 percent of the Alaska National Guard had been deployed overseas since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
VFA Report
by VFA on Oct 1, 2008
The post-deployment challenges facing Alaska’s Army National Guard are more daunting and widespread than any seen by Veterans for America (VFA).
VFA’s National Guard Program just completed a week in the state reviewing the needs of Alaska’s citizen-Soldiers and the resources in place to meet them. The needs of Alaska’s Guard members and their families far outstrip the available help.
Many of the Alaska’s Guard members have been deployed, and redeployed, despite the shortage of care and treatment available upon their return. With more than one-quarter of Alaska’s Guard members living 60 miles or more from a Veterans Affairs facility, many rarely if ever get treatment they need. Travel to Anchorage alone can cost more than $1,500 for each Guard member - an upfront cost too burdensome for many to shoulder, even if they are eventually reimbursed. With the economy worsening, the costs to Guard families for their own healthcare will mount and even fewer will receive treatment.
We owe our citizen-Soldiers better than this.
VFA looks forward to continuing our work with the leaders in Alaska, and in Washington, D.C., to ensure that the members of the Alaska National Guard and their families receive the support their sacrifice merits.
Read our findings
*For more information or interviews, please contact Adrienne Willis, Director of Communications at 202-557-7509 or by email at awillis@veteransforamerica.org
Veterans tout Obama as top pick for president
Veterans tout Obama as top pick for president
Winchester — Three veterans of the U.S. military say Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is the best candidate to become president.
Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, Sgt. Maj. John Estrada of the Marine Corps, and Navy Rear Admiral James A. Barnett Jr., each of whom are retired, took turns Saturday explaining why Obama is the preferred candidate over the Republican Party’s own military veteran, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Talking before a crowd of about 75 in the Stimpson Auditorium at Shenandoah University’s Halpin-Harrison Hall, the trio spoke about how Obama is a more practical choice and someone more willing to develop international partnerships that will protect the nation.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy speaks in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama during a Veterans for Obama gathering Saturday at Shenandoah University. Seated behind her is fellow Obama supporter John Estrada, a retired sergeant major with the Marine Corps.
(Photo by Jeff Taylor)
Kennedy said she views national defense as the combination of several pieces, including the nation’s economy.
She said the United States is experiencing “the Katrina of all economic messes,” putting increased financial pressure on the nation’s businesses.
Obama, Kennedy said, wants to help companies thrive in the United States rather than assisting them as they outsource jobs to other nations.
“If we elect Senator Obama, we are getting a leader with a basic integrity,” she said. “He’s able to deal with all levels of a problem.”
In addition to having a solution to the war in Iraq, Kennedy said, Obama has plans to help the economy, provide quality education for children, and correct problems in foreign policy.
She said the practices of the Bush administration have forced the need for change.
“The biggest mistake is four more years [of the same policies],” Kennedy said.
Estrada said the Bush administration is starting to go along with some of the suggestions made by Obama and others about drawing down the number of troops in Iraq.
“Iraq is not going to be won militarily; militarily, you are not going to win that sort of conflict,” Estrada said. “You have to come to some sort of political dialogue of reconciliation. I think that will happen when the Iraqi government has taken full responsibility, and we are helping them do that by leaving.”
Attendees asked how the United States could increase enlistment numbers during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Estrada, who was the first African American to hold the rank of sergeant major of the Marines, said the solution is not trying to fight every battle by military, but instead working out some decisions diplomatically.
He said giving troops more time at home on leave also will help them be more willing to serve.
Kennedy, who was the first woman to reach the rank of three-star lieutenant general in the Army, agreed that more needs to be done to support the troops.
Barnett said Obama has advocated national service while wanting to properly support the military and their families at home.
Obama wants to do that even though he is not a veteran himself, Barnett said, but the veteran in the campaign, McCain, has offered little in support of veterans and the military.
“When you are excited about that culture, creating that culture where people want to serve, I think [it] will draw people in,” he said.
Kennedy said recent disrespect shown by the U.S. toward other nations must be corrected. Measured responses are needed, not quick reaction that causes more problems than it solves.
Barnett said Obama can solve those problems.
“I have been really impressed about how he relates to people and understands the whole [system of the military],” he said. “It’s not how he relates to admirals and generals — that’s not really what the military is. It is really sergeants and corporals and petty officers, and he has a real rapport there that I think is important in decision making.
“The second thing is, he has already established a record of caring for military families in a way that seems to be way beyond his years and experience. It shows that he actually gets it — that there is actually a connection between military readiness and how you treat those in the military,” Barnett said.
How existing military members view the two candidates and how they would treat them and their families also is telling, Barnett said.
He said good treatment of the troops is part of military readiness, increasing retention, recruiting, and morale.
“There’s a connection there that John McCain could not understand because he wouldn’t have voted that way over the past few years,” Barnett said. “I was very pleased to find out Barack Obama has an 80 percent approval rating from disabled veterans because of the way he votes. I was shocked to find out that John McCain only has about a 20 percent approval rating.”
Veterans for Obama held similar sessions on national security Saturday in Roanoke and Staunton.
On Sunday, additional sessions were held at the Quantico Marine Corps base and Virginia Beach.
— Contact Drew Houff at
dhouff@winchesterstar.com
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“There’s a connection there that John McCain could not understand because he wouldn’t have voted that way over the past few years,” Barnett said. “I was very pleased to find out Barack Obama has an 80 percent approval rating from disabled veterans because of the way he votes. I was shocked to find out that John McCain only has about a 20 percent approval rating.”
this is from a Navy Admiral that has looked at Senator McCains voting record on veterans issue's, is this how Senator McCain supports the troops?
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Obama offers to employ McCain
Obama offers to employ McCain
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R) and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (L) shake hands after the Town Hall Presidential Debate at Belmont University's Curb Event Center October 7, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tonight's debate is the second presidential debate of three, the only one being held in the town hall style with questions coming from audience members.
By Tim Shipman in Ohio
Sunday October 12 2008
Barack Obama would like to offer John McCain a job if he becomes president, in what his allies say is an attempt to end the bitter partisan rancour that engulfed the White House race last week.
Both rivals are working to calm the increasingly incendiary atmosphere on the campaign trail, which erupted with lurid claims about Mr Obama's links with the former terrorist Bill Ayres and a lynch mob atmosphere at McCain rallies.
Democratic officials say that forming a partnership with Mr McCain would cement Mr Obama's bipartisan credentials and help rehabilitate his rival, who by his own admission "took the gloves off" last week, as polls showed Mr Obama on course for a landslide victory.
One well-connected Democrat, said: "I think we'll see Barack Obama reach out to McCain and say: let's work together."
Mr McCain will not be offered a cabinet job, but may be asked to spearhead a bipartisan overhaul of veterans' affairs, an issue close to the Republican senator's heart.
Meanwhile Mr McCain is concerned about damage to his reputation as an honest patriot. A Republican strategist, who used to work for him, said: "John knows that his reputation as a decent man is on the line but he's got devils on each shoulder telling him to hit harder."
That sentiment appeared to be behind Mr McCain's decision on Friday night to tell supporters they should be more "respectful" and insisting that his Democratic rival is "a decent family man".
He dismissed one woman's claim that Mr Obama is "an Arab" and added: "He's a person that you don't have to be scared [of] as president."
At a rally in Wilmington, Ohio, on Thursday night members of the crowd yelled "terrorist" and "liar" as Mr McCain's running mate Sarah Palin questioned Mr Obama's account of his time working on an education project in the mid 1990s with Mr Ayres, whose Weather Underground group bombed the Pentagon in the early 1970s.
One of those shouting was housewife Courtney Jenkins, 33, a mother of four.
"Obama's not good for America," she said. "I truly think it would be a travesty if he won. If he's in charge, I'll be concerned about where our tax dollars are going.
"He could send it to terrorists for all we know. It truly would be frightening. He's pro-communist."
© Telegraph
- Tim Shipman in Ohio
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I don't know where Mr Shipman got his idea that Senator McCain
Mr McCain will not be offered a cabinet job, but may be asked to spearhead a bipartisan overhaul of veterans' affairs, an issue close to the Republican senator's heart.Senator McCain has spent his Senate career voting against veterans legislative issue's, he actively worked against the recent 2st Century G.I. Bill authored by Senator Jim Webb, he has a 20% voting record FOR veterans issue's which shows him to be at the bottom of the Senate record on issue's supporting the "troops". I as one disabled veteran would not want Senator McNasty anywhere near reworking veterans issues.Sphere: Related Content
Brenner: Social Security off limits to most creditors
Brenner: Social Security off limits to most creditors
Lynn Brenner | Family Finance
October 12, 2008
As of the 2007 tax filing, I owe the government some money. If I elect to start to receive my Social Security benefit, will I get the check, or will the Internal Revenue Service take it to pay down my debt?
The IRS is one of the few creditors that can seize part of your Social Security benefit. Your benefit can also be garnished to cover unpaid child support and alimony, but that's about it. Not to worry, though. You're not even close to that calamity.
First, a general word of reassurance. Social Security is protected from virtually all creditors, including credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, auto loan companies and collection agencies.
Lynn Brenner Bio | E-mail | Recent columns
In fact, it's illegal for creditors even to threaten that they may seize your Social Security benefits, says John Ventura, a bankruptcy attorney and the author of "Stop Debt Collectors" (2008, Credit.com), an extremely useful little book that offers a wealth of practical advice and provides sample letters to send to debt collectors, including one stating that your Social Security income is legally protected.
Unpaid taxes are in a special category. The IRS has the option of levying up to 15 percent of a monthly Social Security benefit until your back taxes are paid. But that's a last resort and it doesn't happen without plenty of warning and a formal legal process. The Social Security Administration garnishes benefits in response to a court order, says Jane Zanca, an agency spokeswoman: "We have to be notified that there's an appropriate levy."
Your 2007 tax bill is only a few months overdue. You've probably received a notice about it, says Dianne Besunder, an IRS spokeswoman. You should call the IRS at the telephone number on that notice and arrange to make monthly installment payments. Taxpayers who owe less than $25,000 can set up an installment agreement through an online application at irs.gov.
The Sept. 14 column, which explained a little-known strategy for taking Social Security benefits, drew an unusually high volume of questions from readers. I'll address them in future columns.
Meantime, here's a footnote to that column:
As I explained, if you're divorced, currently unmarried and at least 62 years old, and your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you can collect a benefit based on your ex-spouse's earnings even if he or she is not yet collecting Social Security. (When you apply for the spousal benefit, your ex must at least be eligible to receive Social Security - be at least 62 years old.)
But you must have reached your full retirement age to restrict your application to your spousal benefit alone; then at age 70, you can switch from your spousal benefit to a benefit based on your own work record.
Here's an example: At 62, Jenny Smith can file for a spousal benefit based on her ex-husband Fred's work record. Since she hasn't yet reached her full retirement age, at the same time she'll automatically be considered to be applying for her own benefit - the one based on her work record. The result: She'll receive the larger of the two.
But Jenny wants to postpone taking her own benefit until she's 70 because the delay will increase that benefit by 32 percent. (Your benefit is 8 percent bigger for each year you delay taking it after your full retirement age.) So she waits until she is 66 - her full retirement age - to apply for her spousal benefit. She can now exclude her own work record from her application. The result: She'll collect her spousal benefit until she turns 70. Then she can apply for, and switch to, her own benefit.
Send questions to Family Finance, Business Desk, Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747-4250, or e-mail to Bfamfin@aol.com. Include your age, income and a list of major assets. Letters and e-mails can't be answered personally.
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These same rules apply to veteran compensation checks as well as SSD payments they can and will take 15% to collect federal debts, back taxes, money owed to federal agencies and they can take 15% of both checks if you receive both SSD and VA Comp
Saturday, October 11, 2008
McCain's Miserable Record of Not Supporting America's Troops and Veterans --
McCain's Miserable Record of Not Supporting America's Troops and Veterans --
by: Brandon Friedman
Wed Oct 01, 2008 at 11:13:26 AM EDT
On Friday, September September 26, 2008, John McCain said the following:
"I know the veterans, I know them well, and I know that they know that I'll take care of them, and I have been proud of their support and their recognition of my service to the veterans, and I love them, and I'll take care of them, and they know that I'll take care of them."
This statement--made near the end of Friday's debate--immediately infuriated veterans across America and overseas. In fact, Senator John McCain has a very clear, long, and illustrious history of not supporting troops and veterans one bit.
Now, I've seen legislative examples, I've watched the YouTubes, and I've lived this lack of support in more ways than one. But now, for the first time, I've tried to compile as much of this non-support as possible into a single document--from a variety of sources--complete with links, quotes, and video clips. It's something that readers often ask me about, so I hope this helps. I'm sure there's a lot missing, so feel free to add more in the comments. But for now, I think this should give us a good start in exposing John McCain's abysmal of record of supporting troops and veterans. Here we go:
Senator John McCain's Record on Troop and Veterans' Issues
Voting Against Veterans
Veterans Groups Give McCain Failing Grades. In its most recent legislative ratings, the non-partisan Disabled American Veterans gave Sen. McCain a 20 percent rating for his voting record on veterans' issues. Similarly, the non-partisan Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a "D" grade for his poor voting record on veterans' issues, including McCain's votes against additional body armor for troops in combat and additional funding for PTSD and TBI screening and treatment.
McCain Voted Against Increased Funding for Veterans' Health Care. Although McCain told voters at a campaign rally that improving veterans' health care was his top domestic priority, he voted against increasing funding for veterans' health care in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. (Greenville News, 12/12/2007; S.Amdt. 2745 to S.C.R. 95, Vote 40, 3/10/04; Senate S.C.R. 18, Vote 55, 3/16/05; S.Amdt. 3007 to S.C.R. 83, Vote 41, 3/14/06; H.R. 1591, Vote 126, 3/29/07)
McCain Voted At Least 28 Times Against Veterans' Benefits, Including Healthcare. Since arriving in the U.S. Senate in 1987, McCain has voted at least 28 times against ensuring important benefits for America's veterans, including providing adequate healthcare. (2006 Senate Vote #7, 41, 63, 67, 98, 222; 2005 Senate Votes #55, 89, 90, 251, 343; 2004 Senate Votes #40, 48, 145; 2003 Senate Votes #74, 81, 83; 1999 Senate Vote #328; 1998 Senate Vote #175; 1997 Senate Vote #168; 1996 Senate Votes #115, 275; 1995 Senate Votes #76, 226, 466; 1994 Senate Vote #306; 1992 Senate Vote #194; 1991 Senate Vote #259)
McCain Voted Against Providing Automatic Cost-of-Living Adjustments to Veterans. McCain voted against providing automatic annual cost-of-living adjustments for certain veterans' benefits. (S. 869, Vote 259, 11/20/91)
McCain Voted to Underfund Department of Veterans Affairs. McCain voted for an appropriations bill that underfunded the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development by $8.9 billion. (H.R. 2099, Vote 470, 9/27/95)
McCain Voted Against a $13 Billion Increase in Funding for Veterans Programs. McCain voted against an amendment to increase spending on veterans programs by $13 billion. (S.C.R. 57, Vote 115, 5/16/96)
McCain Voted Against $44.3 Billion for Veterans Programs. McCain was one of five senators to vote against a bill providing $44.3 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, plus funding for other federal agencies. (H.R. 2684, Vote 328, 10/15/99)
McCain Voted Against $47 Billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs. McCain was one of eight senators to vote against a bill that provided $47 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs. (H.R. 4635, Vote 272, 10/12/00)
McCain Voted Against $51 Billion in Veterans Funding. McCain was one of five senators to vote against the bill and seven to vote against the conference report that provided $51.1 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as funding for the federal housing, environmental and emergency management agencies and NASA. (H.R. 2620, Vote 334, 11/8/01; Vote 269, 8/2/01)
McCain Voted Against $122.7 Billion for Department of Veterans Affairs. McCain voted against an appropriations bill that included $122.7 billion in fiscal 2004 for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and other related agencies. (H.R. 2861, Vote 449, 11/12/03)
McCain Opposed $500 Million for Counseling Services for Veterans with Mental Disorders. McCain voted against an amendment to appropriate $500 million annually from 2006-2010 for counseling, mental health and rehabilitation services for veterans diagnosed with mental illness, posttraumatic stress disorder or substance abuse. (S. 2020, S.Amdt. 2634, Vote 343, 11/17/05)
McCain opposed an Assured Funding Stream for Veterans' Health Care. McCain opposed providing an assured funding stream for veterans' health care, taking into account annual changes in veterans' population and inflation. (S.Amdt. 3141 to S.C.R. 83, Vote 63, 3/16/06)
McCain Voted Against Adding More Than $400 Million for Veterans' Care. McCain was one of 13 Republicans to vote against providing an additional $430 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for outpatient care and treatment for veterans. (S.Amdt. 3642 to H.R. 4939, Vote 98, 4/26/06)
McCain Supported Outsourcing VA Jobs. McCain opposed an amendment that would have prevented the Department of Veterans Affairs from outsourcing jobs, many held by blue-collar veterans, without first giving the workers a chance to compete. (S.Amdt. 2673 to H.R. 2642, Vote 315, 9/6/07)
McCain Opposed the 21st Century GI Bill Because It Was Too Generous. McCain did not vote on the GI Bill that will provide better educational opportunities to veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, paying full tuition at in-state schools and living expenses for those who have served at least three years since the 9/11 attacks. McCain said he opposes the bill because he thinks the generous benefits would "encourage more people to leave the military." (S.Amdt. 4803 to H.R. 2642, Vote 137, 5/22/08; Chattanooga Times Free Press, 6/2/08; Boston Globe, 5/23/08; ABCNews.com, 5/26/08)
Disabled American Veterans Legislative Director Said That McCain's Proposal Would Increase Costs For Veterans Because His Plan Relies On Private Hospitals Which Are More Expensive and Which Could Also Lead To Further Rationing Of Care. "To help veterans who live far from VA hospitals or need specialized care the VA can't provide, McCain proposed giving low-income veterans and those who incurred injury during their service a card they could use at private hospitals. The proposal is not an attempt to privatize the VA, as critics have alleged, but rather, an effort to improve care and access to it, he said. Joe Violanti, legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans, a nonpartisan organization, said the proposal would increase costs because private hospitals are more expensive. The increased cost could lead to further rationing of care, he said." (Las Vegas Sun, 8/10/08)
Lack of Support for the Troops
McCain co-sponsored the Use of Force Authorization. McCain supported the bill that gave President George W. Bush the green light--and a blank check--for going to war with Iraq. (SJ Res 46, 10/3/02)
McCain Opposed Increasing Spending on TRICARE and Giving Greater Access to National Guard and Reservists. Although his campaign website devotes a large section to veterans issues, including expanding benefits for reservists and members of the National Guard, McCain voted against increasing spending on the TRICARE program by $20.3 billion over 10 years to give members of the National Guard and Reserves and their families greater access to the health care program. The increase would be offset by a reduction in tax cuts for the wealthy. (S.Amdt. 324 to S.C.R. 23, Vote 81, 3/25/03)
McCain voted against holding Bush accountable for his actions in the war. McCain opposed the creation of an independent commission to investigate the development and use of intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq. (S.Amdt. 1275 to H.R. 2658, Vote 284, 7/16/03)
McCain voted Against Establishing a $1 Billion Trust Fund for Military Health Facilities. McCain voted against establishing a $1 billion trust fund to improve military health facilities by refusing to repeal tax cuts for those making more than $1 million a year. (S.Amdt. 2735 to S.Amdt. 2707 to H.R. 4297, Vote 7, 2/2/06)
Senator McCain opposed efforts to end the overextension of the military--a policy that is having a devastating impact on our troops. McCain voted against requiring mandatory minimum downtime between tours of duty for troops serving in Iraq. (S.Amdt.. 2909 to S.Amdt. 2011 to HR 1585, Vote 341, 9/19/07; S.Amdt. 2012 to S.Amdt. 2011 to HR 1585, Vote 241, 7/11/07)
McCain announced his willingness to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for decades--a statement sure to inflame Iraqis and endanger American troops. McCain: "Make it a hundred" years in Iraq and "that would be fine with me." (Derry, New Hampshire Town Hall meeting, 1/3/08)
McCain voted against a ban on waterboarding--a form of torture--in a move that could eventually endanger American troops. According to ThinkProgress, "the Senate brought the Intelligence Authorization Bill to the floor, which contained a provision from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) establishing one interrogation standard across the government. The bill requires the intelligence community to abide by the same standards as articulated in the Army Field Manual and bans waterboarding." McCain voted against the bill. (H.R. 2082, Vote 22, 2/13/08)
McCain Also Supported Outsourcing at Walter Reed. McCain opposed an amendment to prevent the outsourcing of 350 federal employee jobs at Walter Reed Army Medical Center--outsourcing that contributed to the scandalous treatment of veterans at Walter Reed that McCain called a "disgrace." (S.Amdt. 4895 to H.R. 5631, Vote 234, 9/6/06; Speech to VFW in Kansas City, Mo., 4/4/08)
Senator McCain has consistently opposed any plan to withdraw troops from Iraq--a policy that has directly weakened American efforts in Afghanistan. Senator McCain repeatedly voted against a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. (S.Amdt. 3876 to S.Amdt. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote #438, 12/18/07; S.Amdt. 3875 to S.Amdt. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote #437, 12/18/07; S.Amdt.3164 to H.R. 3222, Vote #362, 10/3/07; S.Amdt. 2898 to S. Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #346, 9/21/07; S. Amdt. 2924 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R.1585, Vote #345, 9/21/07; S.Amdt.2 087 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #252, 7/18/07; S.Amdt. 643 to H.R. 1591, Vote #116, 3/27/07; S.Amdt. 4320 to S. 2766, Vote #182, 6/22/06; S.Amdt. 4442 to S. 2766, Vote #181, 6/22/06; S.Amdt. 2519 to S.1042, Vote #322, 11/15/05)
McCain said it's "not too important" when U.S. troops leave Iraq. This exchange occurred on NBC's Today Show with Matt Lauer:
LAUER: If it's working, senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?
McCAIN: No, but that's not too important.
(6/11/08)
Cheerleading for War with Iraq--While Afghanistan was Unfinished
McCain suggested that the war in Iraq could be won with a "smaller" force. "But the fact is I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past. But I don't believe it's going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991." (CBS News, Face the Nation, 9/15/02)
McCain said winning the war would be "easy." "I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women." (CNN, 9/24/02)
McCain also said the actual fighting in Iraq would be easy. "We're not going to get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. We may have to take out buildings, but we're not going to have a bloodletting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies." (CNN, 9/29/02)
Continuing his pattern, McCain also said on MSNBC that we would win the war in Iraq "easily." "But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily." (MSNBC, 1/22/03)
McCain argued Saddam was "a threat of the first order." Senator McCain said that a policy of containing Iraq to blunt its weapons of mass destruction program is "unsustainable, ineffective, unworkable and dangerous." McCain: "I believe Iraq is a threat of the first order, and only a change of regime will make Iraq a state that does not threaten us and others, and where liberated people assume the rights and responsibilities of freedom." (Speech to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2/13/03)
McCain echoed Bush and Cheney's rationale for going to war. McCain: "We're going to win this victory. Tragically, we will lose American lives. But it will be brief. We're going to find massive evidence of weapons of mass destruction . . . It's going to send the message throughout the Middle East that democracy can take hold in the Middle East." (Fox News, Hannity & Colmes, 2/21/03)
"But I believe, Katie, that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." (NBC, 3/20/03)
March 2003: "I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short." (NBC, Meet the Press, 3/30/03)
McCain echoed Bush and Cheney's talking points that the U.S. would only be in Iraq for a short time. McCain: "It's clear that the end is very much in sight . . . It won't be long . . . it'll be a fairly short period of time." (ABC, 4/9/03)
Staunch Defense of the Iraq Invasion
McCain maintained that the war was a good idea and that George W. Bush deserved "admiration." At the 2004 Republican National Convention, McCain, focusing on the war in Iraq, said that while weapons of mass destruction were not found, Saddam once had them and "he would have acquired them again." McCain said the mission in Iraq "gave hope to people long oppressed" and it was "necessary, achievable and noble." McCain: "For his determination to undertake it, and for his unflagging resolve to see it through to a just end, President Bush deserves not only our support, but our admiration." (Speech, Republican National Convention, 8/31/04)
Senator McCain: "The war, the invasion was not a mistake. (Meet the Press, 1/6/08)
McCain said the war in Iraq was "worth" it. Asked if the war was a good idea worth the price in blood and treasure, McCain: "It was worth getting rid of Saddam Hussein. He had used weapons of mass destruction, and it's clear that he was hell-bent on acquiring them." (Republican Debate, 1/24/08)
Dangerous Lack of Foreign Policy Knowledge
When questioned about Osama bin Laden after the 1998 U.S. missile strikes in Afghanistan, McCain surmised that the terrorist leader wasn't as "bad" as "depicted." "You could say, Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted? Most of us have never heard of him before." (Interview with Mother Jones magazine, 11/1998)
McCain was unaware of previous Sunni-Shia violence before the Iraq War. "There's not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along." (MSNBC, Hardball, 4/23/03)
McCain said our military could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan. While giving a speech, McCain was asked about Afghanistan and replied, "I am concerned about it, but I'm not as concerned as I am about Iraq today, obviously, or I'd be talking about Afghanistan. But I believe that if Karzai can make the progress that he is making, that in the long term, we may muddle through in Afghanistan." (Speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, 11/5/03)
McCain stated that Sunni al Qaeda was "supported" by the Shia Iranians. (2/2008)
McCain again confused Sunni Muslim al Qaeda operatives with Shi'a Muslim insurgents. The Washington Post reported of McCain: "He said several times that Iran, a predominately Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda. In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists in Iraq.
"Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives 'taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.'
"Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was 'common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate.'" (Press conference, Amman, Jordan, 3/18/2008)
Yet again, McCain demonstrated that he didn't know whether al Qaeda was a Sunni or Shiite organization. While questioning General David Petraeus during a Senate hearing, the following exchange occurred:
MCCAIN: Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?
PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was say 15 months ago.
MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shi'ites overall?
PETREAUS: No.
MCCAIN: Or Sunnis or anybody else. (Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 4/8/08)
McCain incorrectly thought General David Petraeus was in charge of Afghanistan. The Army Times reported: "Speaking Monday at the annual meeting of the Associated Press, McCain was asked whether he, if elected, would shift combat troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to intensify the search for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
'I would not do that unless Gen. [David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,' McCain said, referring to the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
"Petraeus, however, made clear last week that he has nothing to do with the decision. Testifying last week before four congressional committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee on which McCain is the ranking Republican, Petraeus said the decision about whether troops could be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan was not his responsibility because his portfolio is limited to the multi-national force in Iraq." (Annual meeting of the Associated Press, 4/14/08)
McCain credited the "surge" for the "Anbar Awakening"--even though the Anbar Awakening preceded the surge by nearly a year. (7/22/08)
John McCain has also recently demonstrated either serious knowledge gaps in terms of foreign policy, or mounting confusion, when discussing an array of other countries:
Spain: McCain refused to commit to meeting with the president of Spain, a NATO ally, after becoming confused about America's relationship with Spain, its leader, and, possibly, exactly where Spain is located. (9/17/08)
Czech Republic and Slovakia: McCain referred to the two countries using the name "Czechoslovakia" several times--despite the fact that Czechoslakia split apart and hasn't existed since 1993. (7/15/08; (7/14/08))
Venezuela: McCain said that Venezuela was a Middle Eastern country. (9/30/08)
Brandon Friedman :: McCain's Miserable Record of Not Supporting America's Troops and Veterans
Please go to this web site and watch the video's that Brandon Friedman has located and posted at Vote Vets McCains Video's compiled by Brandon
