Happy birthday Richard "Arvin" Overton

Arvin lives in Austin Texas. Having served the US Army in the Pacific during WWII, he is both the oldest living US Combat Veteran and oldest living male in the United States.  (via i.redd.it)

As did AllenS, his Great-Grandfather served with honor

AllenS sent me a picture of his great-grandfather John O. French. He wrote:

"My great-grandfather John O. French served with the 1st Minnesota Volunteers (or something close to that).  After the battle of Gettysburg, he had 3 bullet holes through his clothes.  His famous quote was:  "I never missed a battle or a meal."  There's quite a lot of information about him in a book about the history of Becker County, MN.  He was a constable in Detroit Lakes MN.  He lived with my great grandmother Mary Ann Vizenor and they had 2 children together before they married, and went on to father 6 more children."

It looks like valor is hereditary in AllenS' family, that's for sure. Thanks for sending along that picture - once again, those 19th century guys had a style all their own - it has become clear to me that I need to find a better source for hats.

Virginia Tech Athletics - Patriotism

Changing the Game Project:  Kudos to Coach Buzz Williams, VT Basketball Coach. Given the ignorance or disrespect evidenced by most of today's athletes during our National Anthem, he decided to "have a talk with his players”. All coaches need to do something like this with their players!

Coach Buzz Williams, VT Basketball Coach

Don’t you wish all college coaches would do this? In a few years, there would a re-birth of patriotism on college campuses!  March 6

National Review: While Vets Wait, VA Employees Do Union Work

"In 2012, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid at least $11.4 million to 174 nurses, mental-health specialists, therapists, and other health-care professionals who, instead of caring for veterans, worked full-time doing union business."

“So many health-care providers were on that list — nurses or physical therapists or whatever they may be — when so many veterans are falling through the cracks,” a Gingrey aide tells me. “It’s kind of shocking that these paid employees wouldn’t be fully dedicated to patient care.”

In total, the VA spent at least $13.77 million on 251 salaried employees performing full-time union work. Others, who were not included on the list provided by the VA, work part-time for unions at the taxpayer expense. In fiscal year 2011, the latest on record, the VA used 998,483 hours of this “official time,” costing taxpayers more than $42 million.

In Columbia, S.C., the VA pays one health technician a $40,706 salary to work for the American Federation of Government Employees.

At that same location, CNN reported in January, a 44-year-old veteran named Barry Coates was forced to wait a year for a colonoscopy, despite intense pain, constipation, and rectal bleeding. When Coates finally got his appointment, doctors found a tumor the size of a baseball — Stage 4 colorectal cancer that had metastasized elsewhere.

Meanwhile a Fox News Poll found that "by a 50-31 percent margin, voters think enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay get better health care than veterans. Nearly one in five is unsure (18 percent)."

truckers ride for constitution / veterans protest march

Lots of noise. Horn tooting. People in the comments say they are weeping. 

Mostly quiet.

GOP moneymaker right here. If not, then they're insufficiently cynical to match their opponents. This photo is suddenly everywhere all at once. No anger apparent, only stolid determination.