Congress appropriates cash for canines

After a long wait to take his seat, Sen. Al Franken’s first bill passes through Congress fairly easily.  And he chose a bi-partisan issue. 

Sen. Al Franken’s Service Dogs for Veterans Act was a part of the Defense Authorization bill voted on by Congress on Thursday. The House and Senate both approved the measure. It now heads to President Barack Obama’s desk.

The legislation, which was co-sponsored by Johnny Isakson (R-GA), will establish a pilot program and study for organizations that provide disabled veterans with service dogs.

Veterans Affairs will provide about 200 service dogs to former service members. Half would go to people with mental disabilities and half to those dealing with physical ailments.

Franken’s bill, which will take some time to implement due to the time needed for training, will cost about $5 million.

The impact a service dog has on the life of a disabled veteran is overwhelming.  This is one earmark that I approve of. 

 

USS New York’s Maiden Voyage

The USS New York is the Navy’s new ship that was built in Avondale, LA.  The shipbuilders of this massive vessel continued to build through Hurricane Katrina in order to complete the job.  The ship contains 7.5 tons  of steel recovered from the World Trade Center after September 11th.  On Tuesday, people lined up along the Mississippi River in New Orleans to try and catch a glimpse of the ship.  She left for New York to be commissioned on November 7th. 

She will make a stop in Norfolk, VA to pick up Marines.  The ship will remain in NY for ten days and be open to the public. 

The ship’s motto is: “Strength forced through sacrifice. Never forget.”

Is Obama weakening our military?

An opinion editorial by Frank Gaffney, Jr., the President of the Center for Security Policy, was featured in The Washington Times yesterday.  The title of his piece is “An assault on the military.”  I would like to highlight some key parts of his article that highlight some missteps that the Obama administration has taken in the past 10 months that could significantly threaten the safety of our military. 

Gaffney offers examples of those missteps:

1. President Obama replaced the commander of the U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but then refused to provide him with the troops necessary to be successful.  Gen. McChrystal and his superiors have requested as many as 60,000 additional troops.  Instead the administration gave them 13,000.   The outcome= unecessary deaths of our military men and women.  Gaffney wrote “morale in Afghanistan reportedly has plummeted” and “restrictive rules of engagement” and not enough troops in an expansive area are to blame for the needless deaths over the past few months in this terror stricken area.

2. The administration has received congressional approval for numerous cuts in defense spending.  “Particularly hard hit have been the budgets for modernization and replacement of aging and worn-out equipment,” said Gaffney.  What is the true cost of this budget shortfall? The deaths of ill-equipped military personnel.

3. Despite numerous uniformed leaders arguing that a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would degrade the “good order and discipline” vital to military forces, President Obama spoke to gay activists on October 10th in DC and repeated his campaign pledge to end the policy.

Gaffney ends his opinion piece with a question that I would love comments on: Can President Obama “euchre today’s commanders to go where their predecessors wisely refused to venture…”while simultaneously slashing their budgets, exhibiting disrespect for their professional judgment and jeopardizing their missions?” 

We are in a time of war.  Our military personnel should be priority one in our minds, and most certainly in our Presidents.