And towns are missing their sheriffs, teachers, EMTs, firefighters, nurses....
And families are missing their parents and children....
Posted by Darryl Pearce at June 28, 2004 09:53 PMToday's wail from the CoC is the starting gun for what will turn into a campaign for changing the law so that businesses don't have to hold open the private-sector work positions of NG and Reservists until they return.
And predictably the BushCo cabal and the GOP Congress will discover that the existing requirement is bad policy originating in Dem. congresses that were anti-business and anti-war. We'll be told the current law 'undermines our troops' and those who disagree are disgusting examples of non-patriots who want to aid our enemies.
A bill will be introduced at 3AM some morning and passed by noon the following day - the Dems will get the text at 11:45AM. And those NG/Res people will be Cheney'd, bigtime (so to speak).
Ah yes, the pungent Santorum odor of 'listening to Bush's base'. That's not a rose you smell, but the smell of a Rove.
Posted by JimPortlandOR at June 28, 2004 10:49 PMEmployers must hold jobs open for those called up for duty,...
There is a timeout attached to this (which I'm not sure is really a law), or else those who have been coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan would not be dealing with post-duty unemployment like too many other Americans. I'm afraid that Jim's assessment of the CoC's complaints is an accurate one, for it fits into the most recent patterns of taking away even more rights from the working class of this country.
The last American with a job will be taking down the flag when the country is closed for good.
Posted by pessimist at June 29, 2004 01:38 AMI don't see why they can't pay soldiers what they are worth. If a soldier without a uniform, i.e. a mercenary, or "contractor", is worth 500 tax dollars a day, why does he/she become worth so much less just by wearing the flag?
Skilled and dangerous work is usually rewarded appropiately, and rightly so, in our system. We, the people, are better off having our hired killers in uniform so at least we can have some control over their actions. If there are 20,000 American-paid mercs in Iraq, (under whose control?) that should concern us.