Thursday, March 20, 2014

$30 Million, Private, Gift to Veterans

Is this sincere, maybe abit of a guilty conscious, or maybe just corporate flag waving patriotism memes that's shown, corporate and civilians served, throughout this past decade plus and two long wars and occupations?

"12 years also is a long time. We now have a lifetime responsibility to a generation of service members, veterans and their families." Dr. Jonathan Woodson 11 Sep. 2013: 'With 9/11 Came Lifetime Responsibility' {two tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, came with these two recent unpaid for wars, nor the results of, DeJa-Vu all over again from the previous decades and wars from! Ignore the many issues, by those served, no need to fund!}

Starbucks CEO announces $30 million gift for U.S. troops

In this statement from:

HOWARD SCHULTZ: That's correct. The truth of the matter is, and I say this with respect, more often than not, the government does a very -- a much better job of sending people to war than they do bringing them home. These young men and women who are coming home from multiple deployments are not coming home to a parade. They're not coming home to a celebration. They're coming home to an American public that really doesn't understand, and never embraced, what these people have done.

Along with others within this short discussion shows he might be very sincere and also maybe just a tinge of guilt.

The 'government' mentioned above in this country is supposed to be all of us, we hire the representatives whether we like them or not, they're supposed to be working for all of those they represent, in the Federal and in the individual States! The only Government branch working consistently over the past five years has been the Executive branch with the Cabinet of in helping the VA Secretary try and build the VA agency that should always have been, taking on the long ignored issues while these young war veterans, especially, are joining our community of with the same and different issues.

Many understand they are being served and especially, right or wrong, after abandoning the missions and the troops sent so quickly after 9/11, sent into combat theaters like this past decade plus. Many start organizations that become successful, but like the decades long under funded Veterans' Administration, the responsibility of those served, they aren't fully funded to continue the success and need to constantly reach out seeking funding to continue. And that seeking is spread across many organizations of which many in the population will give to but often sparingly and in small amounts spread over only a few. There have always been many caring citizens served, young to old, who volunteer at VA facilities. Who frankly the under funded VA, especially during and after our wars, wouldn't function properly without! While the great majority served at the same time are not demanding, through their elected representatives, they should sacrifice as those serving them, and the families of do and in these two theaters doing multiple tours for most not just a twelve month tour like we did in another long theater, Vietnam, for most.

"If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too" "not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013


March 19, 2014 - Eleven years ago after U.S. forces thundered into Iraq at the start of a war that would last nearly nine years, the chairman of Starbucks is announcing a $30 million gift to help war vets. Howard Schultz told CBS News he fears that with the wind-down of Afghanistan, some Americans may forget too quickly about the needs of the 2.5 million who have served.

SCOTT PELLEY: Tell me about one thing that the $30 million is going to go to, that you think is really important.

HOWARD SCHULTZ: I think one thing that is necessary is a comprehensive mechanism for job training. But another is the fact that, depending on who you're talking to, 20, 30, 40 percent of the two million people who have served are coming back with some kind of brain trauma or PTS. So we're going to fund the opportunity for significant research and for medical practitioners and science to understand the disease and, ultimately, hopefully, come up with some -- a level of remedy. read more>>>

Let's be honest, Shultz made an awful lot of money in the past years, not only from direct compensation, the company also had write off perks like all do, but boosted by the two tax cuts that came with these two wars and if he's got a broker or two doing his wall street investments, I'm sure he does, and didn't give orders to stay away from, that broker was investing in defense corporations boosting their bottom lines from war as always, especially the ones given no bid war contracts by the conservative controlled congresses and executive administration that controlled at that time, and may still be invested in. So the $30million is a small cut of that wealth gained.

I believe his sincerity, and he's directing the monies into a long needed research that should have started over forty years ago. But he like the many corporations, businesses, individuals, especially the high priced famous from Movies, TV, etc. are mostly, except for a very few, not demanding they give a fair share into the peoples treasury and give that Sacrifice, yet some are constantly wrapping themselves in that flag of 'support' giving their name in ads and more asking others to donate. And in this case to finally fully fund the Veterans Administration, build what should always have been, and thus save money by just needing to maintain and stay with technological, more, advances!

“Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013


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