This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Tax Termination Act

I urge you to support H.R. 333, the “Disabled Veterans Tax Termination Act,” introduced by Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. Service members who have served a full career and have sustained disability due to their service should receive their full compensation of both retirement and disability pay — no matter the disability rating. Likewise, those who have served and have been medically retired before reaching a full career should be compensated appropriately without any offset. The Air Force Sergeants Association represents all current and former Air Force members and, as a member, I see this as a priority for this Congress to take action on. Please do all you can to help pass this legislation. Those who serve this nation and are impacted by that arduous service deserve no less.

The other

Elie Wiesel’s recent death reminded me of his concern for: “How we treat ‘the other’ in our society — the marginalized, the sick, the foreigner, the forgotten.” Then I listen to Donald Trump’s promise to deport 11.2 million undocumented residents after he wins the presidency.

Clintons are the mafia

The Farcical Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cleared former Secretary Clinton of using a personal, unclassified email server to receive and send classified messages up to and including Top Secret. Drudge’s headline got it right, “Laws are for little people” under a picture of Hillary. If you or I recklessly handled classified information, we would be in prison for a long, long time. So, Clinton is only guilty of using egregiously poor judgment by putting our national security at risk and then lying about what she did repeatedly. Now we know why President Putin did not release her emails he claims to possess. He will use them as leverage against Clinton if she gets elected. Clinton will be Putin’s puppet as well as China’s, Iran’s, North Korea’s and anyone else who has the emails.

At a minimum, based on her “extreme carelessness” in handling classified information, Hillary’s security clearance must be revoked. A POTUS trying to lead the U.S. without a security clearance is as futile as trying to dig a hole to China. Here is an accurate example of President Clinton’s first meeting with national security representatives. “President Clinton, can you please leave the room while we discuss the national security of the United States.” The U.S. government is corrupt, and the Clintons are the mafia.

End of Breast Cancer Act

In the United States, an estimated 40,000 women and 440 men will die of breast cancer this year. Our nation has invested billions of dollars into breast cancer research and technology, but the statistics have not changed significantly.

As a breast cancer community advocate, I believe in the power of public policy action. A bill in Congress, the Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act (H.R. 1197), could make a real difference. It focuses on identifying strategies for primary prevention and methods to prevent breast cancer metastasis, or the spread of breast cancer to other parts of the body.

H.R. 1197 is bipartisan, non-controversial, does not require additional federal funding and will accelerate progress already made. H.R. 1197 has 272 bipartisan co-sponsors. That means that 272 U.S. representatives believe this bill should become law. In today’s political climate, it is unheard of to see such strong bipartisan support. Seven of our 14 Georgia congressmen are co-sponsors. I applaud U.S. Reps. John Lewis, Earl “Buddy” Carter, Sanford Bishop, Hank Johnson, Jody Hice, Barry Loudermilk and David Scott for their support. I encourage our remaining Georgia representatives to become co-sponsors. I also encourage all members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to send H.R. 1197 to the full House for a vote. We need this bill so future generations can live without fear of dying from the disease. The women of this community are watching, and we are running out of time.

What we learned

I read, with interest, Sonny Harmon’s column, “Crooked Hillary versus Dirty Donald.” I hope that when he was a professor at Georgia Military College he taught literature because it was very cleverly written. He seems to have learned a lot from Dirty Donald. We have learned that all of our government, all media outlets, many Republicans, all polls that do not favor him and the election process are rigged and crooked. The only honest people left in the world are Trump and his followers. We learned that if you want to be rich, sell vulnerable people a dream and then laugh in their faces, go bankrupt and use a stable of lawyers to leave creditors and employees holding the bag while claiming to be a baby Christian at age 70 for political purposes, then he’s your guy. If you want to smear someone, go to a white supremacist website and get a picture that insults all Christians.

We learned that prisoners of war are losers and that nursing mothers are disgusting. We learned that it is OK to use such vulgar and bigoted language that parents can’t let their children watch a prospective president speak. We learned that American women are disgusting pigs and that all immigrants, except his mother and his wives, do not have the right to become American citizens. We learned that you can be president and get the job done by yourself because your party won’t support you and that the way to get elected is not on merit, but by demeaning the opposition.

The most important thing we learned is that our treaty with Japan is too expensive so we must end this treaty with the Japanese that allows us to use their islands and instead give them nuclear weapons. I guess a nuclear war would destroy the whole world as we know it and end this war of words.

Half staff

May I suggest that the flag remain at half staff forever. In light of the continuing slaughter that has visited this once great nation, I think that our flag should only be raised to full staff once a year. Our children and grandchildren on that day should be told that’s how it was in the old days before foreign terror attacks, home-grown types, school shootings etc., have become all too common.

This story was originally published July 11, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Tuesday, July 12, 2016."