Military Resistance: thomasfbarton@earthlink.net 11.7.10 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

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NOT ANOTHER DAY

NOT ANOTHER DOLLAR
NOT ANOTHER LIFE

The remains of Army Spc. Jonathan M. Curtis, right, of Belmont, Mass., and Army Pfc.
Andrew N. Meari of Plainfield, Ill. at Dover Air Force Base, Nov. 2, 2010. Curtis and
Meari were killed in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“An Anonymous Group

Of Soldiers In 4-9
Infantry Brigade Have
Released A Statement
Detailing How The Army
Drove One Soldier To
Suicide”
“Protests Have Been Held Both
Outside The Base And In The
Hospitals, Consisting Of Active
Duty Soldiers Demanding Better
Treatment”
“On March 17, 2010, Spc. Kirkland
Returned Home From His Second
Deployment To Iraq”
“Three Days Later He Was Dead—
Killed By The Army”
“Spc. Kirkland Was Not More Than Three
Steps Into The Barracks Before The
Acting First Sergeant Publicly Ridiculed
Him, Calling Him A ‘Coward’ And A
‘Pussy’”
Maj. Keith Markham, Executive Officer of 4-9 Infantry, put it very clearly in a
private memo to his platoon leaders: “We have an unlimited supply of expendable
labor.”

That’s what we soldiers are to the Army and the Officer Corps: expendable labor.

[Posted at: www.ivaw.org/blog]

November 2, 2010 JOINT BASE LEWIS MCHORD, WASHINGTON

An anonymous group of soldiers in 4-9 Infantry Brigade have released a statement

detailing how the Army drove one soldier to suicide.

It details the humiliation that soldiers who seek help for mental problems face from their
superiors.

This comes on the heels of a rash of incidents involving soldiers from JBLM who had
untreated mental issues, including one soldier who shot a police officer in Salt Lake City,
UT.

The letter reads:

“On March 17, 2010, Spc. Kirkland returned home from his second deployment to Iraq.

“Three days later he was dead—killed by the Army.

“Spc. Kirkland was sent home from Iraq because the burden of Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder became too great — so much that he wanted to take his own life.

Many of us also struggle with the effects of PTSD, which is a completely natural, human
response to what we are exposed to overseas. It is not a sign of weakness or
cowardice, but the inevitable result of serving in combat. It is a burden we all share, and
we all deserve adequate treatment and understanding for the sacrifices we have made.

Upon returning home, Spc. Kirkland was not more than three steps into the
barracks before the acting First Sergeant publicly ridiculed him, calling him a
“coward” and a “pussy,” knowing full well that Kirkland was suffering from severe
depression and anxiety.

He was then carelessly assigned to a room by himself, and like every other soldier with
PTSD, given substandard care by Army mental health doctors.

Forty-eight hours after he was in the care of 4-9 Infantry, he was dead.

Spc. Kirkland had a wife and young daughter.

Before his blood had even dried off the floor, our respected leadership was already
mocking his death.
Spc. Kirkland did not kill himself. He was killed by the Army.

The Army inadequately treats PTSD, while it re-enforces a culture of humiliation for the
soldiers who suffer from it. Spc. Kirkland was accused of faking his trauma.

PTSD is a legitimate medical condition that is unavoidable in a combat zone. As

soldiers who lay down our lives every day, we deserve adequate treatment for the
wounds we receive in combat.

We deserve to be treated for PTSD just like we would for a bullet wound or shrapnel.
Spc. Kirkland received the opposite.

But what happened to Spc. Kirkland is not an isolated incident. This is happening at
such a high rate in the Army that it is becoming an epidemic. Now, more active duty
soldiers commit suicide than are killed in combat. Every year, the number of suicides far
surpasses the year before, and 2010 is already dwarfing last year’s numbers.

How has the Army responded?

Scandal after scandal has broken out about Army officers ordering doctors not to
diagnose PTSD; to instead deny veterans the care they deserve, pump them full of pills,
and return them to combat.

It has become Army policy to do everything possible to avoid diagnosing PTSD. And
when it is diagnosed, the care is inadequate.

Throughout the Army, soldiers have to fight for simple medical care.

The Army doesn’t care at all about us, our lives, or our families—and hundreds of
us are dying because of it.

We are denied care because the Army needs bodies to throw into two quagmires, and
because the VA doesn’t want to pay us the benefits we deserve.

Maj. Keith Markham, Executive Officer of 4-9 Infantry, put it very clearly in a
private memo to his platoon leaders: “We have an unlimited supply of expendable
labor.”

That’s what we soldiers are to the Army and the Officer Corps: expendable labor.

Spc. Kirkland was expendable, and we witness that fact every day.

But soldiers all over the Army are standing up. At Ft. Hood, the base with the
highest number of suicides, protests have been held both outside the base and in
the hospitals, consisting of active duty soldiers demanding better treatment.

All over the country soldiers are organizing in their units to fight for adequate care.

The Army will never give us the care we deserve unless we force it to do so.
As soldiers, we have rights. Mental health care is a right for the job we were made to
do.

We have the right to be adequately treated and compensated for PTSD — but the Army
is not doing that, so we have the right to collectively organize and demand proper
treatment.

Actual defense spending in the U.S. is over 1 trillion dollars a year.

Most of that money goes into the pockets of defense contractors, while only a tiny
fraction is allocated for mental health care. There are hundreds of billions of dollars for
new fighter jets, or to open Burger Kings and KBR facilities overseas, but when extra
resources are needed to combat a suicide epidemic, we only get scraps from the table.”

The Army has taken no disciplinary actions against the leadership involved with
SPC Kirkland’s death. Nor has the Army released any statements regarding the
circumstances behind the incident.

***************************************************************

GI Voice, DBA COFFEE STRONG, is a veteran owned and operated coffee house
for soldiers, veterans, and military families to speak out about their experiences in
a comfortable and safe environment.

We provide free GI rights counseling, veterans benefit advocacy, and PTSD

counseling for soldiers and veterans. Coffee Strong is located 300 meters from
the Madigan Gate of Fort Lewis at 15109 Union Ave. SW Ste B.

For more information please contact:

Seth Manzel
Executive Director
GI Voice, DBA COFFEE STRONG
253-228-8912
http://www.coffeestrong.org

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN

THE MILITARY?
Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish and
we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base in
the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off
from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars, inside
the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or
write to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y.
10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550
 IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Resistance Action
November 6, 2010 By Jomana Karadsheh, CNN & Nov 7 (Reuters) & AFP

In Baghdad, two traffic officers were wounded when a rocket struck a busy area in the
center of the city, the Interior Ministry said.

SAMARRA - A roadside bomb went off near a checkpoint at Qadissiyah, close to

Samarra, manned by a government-backed Sahwa militia, killing two and wounding
three in central Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

SAMARRA - Three policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near a
checkpoint in Samarra, police said.

BAGHDAD - A sticky bomb attached to a car carrying a security guard of the minister of
defence wounded him on Saturday in al-Amil district of southwestern Baghdad, an
interior ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol, wounding three policemen
on Saturday in the town of Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Insurgents equipped with silencers attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint and
killed two soldiers on Saturday in the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of
Baghdad, police said.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Foreign Occupation “Servicemember”

Killed Somewhere Or Other In
Afghanistan:
Nationality Not Announced
November 7 AP

A foreign servicemember died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan

Sunday.
Washington County Man Dies In Combat
In Afghanistan
Nov. 06, 2010 News-Democrat

A Washington County man died in combat in Afghanistan Friday, the Styninger Funeral
Chapel in Hoyleton has announced.

Staff Sgt. Jordan B. Emrick, 26, of Hoyleton, died Friday in the Helmand Province, the
funeral home reported.

Funeral services are pending at the Styninger Funeral Chapel in Hoyleton.

Joseph Charles Lopez

October 14, 2010 obits.dignitymemorial.com/

Born: May 1, 1984

Died: October 14, 2010

LOPEZ-PRATTI, LCpl Joseph C. 26, of Rosamond, California died October 14, 2010,
while fighting side by side with his fellow Marines in Afghanistan.

Joseph was born May 1, 1984, in Tarzana, California. Raised by Arthur and Tracy
Pratti, Joseph was one of many siblings shared between Pratti and Lopez families.

He joined the United States Marine Corps and served as a 0311/Rifleman. Since
September 2010, Joseph served in "Operation Enduring Freedom" until the day he went
to be with the Lord. Joseph is survived by his father and mother, Arthur and Tracy Pratti,
along with all his loving siblings who will never let his memory fade.
Viewing will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday, October 23, 2010, at Joshua Memorial
Park & Mortuary, Lancaster. Services will be held at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, October 24,
2010, at Rosamond High School in the Gymnasium. The burial of Joseph Lopez-Pratti
will follow services at Joshua Memorial Park & Mortuary, Lancaster, Calif.

Family Mourns Circleville Soldier, 19

Gerald R. Jenkins joined the Army at 17 and wanted to make a better life for himself, his
father said. FORT CAMPBELL, U.S. ARMY

October 23, 2010 By Mary Beth Lane, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A 19-year-old soldier from Circleville who was killed in Afghanistan was remembered
yesterday by his father as "an honorable young man" who planned to make a career in
the Army.

Spc. Gerald Robert Jenkins died Wednesday after an improvised explosive device
detonated while his unit was on foot patrol in Mauna, Zhari district, the U.S. Department
of Defense said.

Jenkins was the sort of young man who thought of others before he thought of himself,
said his father, Roger D. Jenkins, who imagined what his son's final moments might
have been like.

"I just know if he was still coherent when this bomb went off, what was going through his
mind was what this was going to do to me," said Mr. Jenkins, voice choking. "He worried
more about other people than about himself."

Gerald Jenkins joined the Army in 2008 at age 17 after earning his high-school
equivalency certificate. He wanted to make a better life for himself, Mr. Jenkins said.

With some friends using drugs in Circleville and jobs in the area scarce because of the
economy, he saw what he didn't want, his father said.

What he wanted was the Army, where he hoped to make the rank of sergeant
eventually, his father said.

The elder Jenkins, 46, said he raised and home-schooled Gerald after he and the boy's
mother divorced when Gerald was 8.
"Me and him have been together the last 11 years on our own," Mr. Jenkins said.

At first, he wasn't going to give his permission for his son to join the Army at 17: "I wasn't
ready to let him go." But he relented when his son begged him.

Gerald Jenkins thrived in the Army. He had been in Afghanistan for only five or six
weeks, his father said, when he called home and said he had rejoined the Army for six
more years.

Jenkins was a combat engineer assigned to the 1st Brigade Special Troop Battalion, 1st
Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky.

"Bub," as his parents called him, picked up a new nickname among his Army buddies.
They called him "Leroy" Jenkins, after the evangelist, his father said.

He would have been coming home Nov. 1 on a 15-day leave.

"He was counting the days down," his father said.

On Wednesday night, the elder Jenkins received a phone call from the Circleville Police
Department, asking him to come to police headquarters. There, at the station, an Army
master sergeant and an Army chaplain told him what had happened to his son.

Yesterday, he received a phone call from an Army family liaison officer telling him that
his son's body had just been brought to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. He was
told that his son's body will be returned to Circleville sometime next week. "He was very
brave and a patriot," Mr. Jenkins said. "He wanted to make a difference, and it cost him
his life."

Besides his father and his mother, Carla K. McNamara, Gerald Jenkins is survived by a
half-brother, Shane Jenkins, 28, and a half-sister, Maranda Wooten, 18, his father said.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Plainfield Soldier Dies In Afghanistan

November 3, 2010 Rachael Purl, Associated Press

PLAINFIELD, Ill. — A soldier from West Suburban Plainfield was killed, after his unit
came under attack by insurgents in Afghanistan.

21-year old Pfc. Andrew Meari died Monday in Kandahar.

Another solider from his unit, 24-year-old Sgt. Jonathan Curtis of Belmont,
Massachusetts, was also killed.

Both men were infantrymen assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd
Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
Meari joined the Army in October 2008. He is survived by his mother, Denise Meehan of
Plainfield and father, Mahmoud Meari of Grafton, Wisconsin.

Fuel Tanker For Afghan Foreign Troops

Attacked In Pakistan

A fuel tanker attacked and set ablaze in Jamrod, located in Pakistan's northwest Khyber
Agency, November 6, 2010. The fuel tanker was carrying supplies for U.S. troops in
Afghanistan, in Pakistan's restive Khyber Agency. No injuries were reported.
REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz

Army Helped Afghan War Profiteers Take

$5 Million From U.S. Government And
“Bungle The Construction Of Police
Stations There So Badly That The
Buildings Could Collapse”
11.8.2010 Army Times

An Afghan-owned company bungled the construction of police stations there so badly

that the buildings could collapse, undermining U.S.-led efforts to beef up the country’s
security forces, a government watchdog says.

In a report, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction found the
company, Basirat Construction, cut corners with low-quality concrete, substandard
roofing, uninsulated windows and plastic plumbing.
The six police stations were built in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the country’s
violent south, where the coalition and Afghan security forces are trying to wrest control
from the Taliban.

The report also faults the Army Corps of Engineers for failing to properly oversee
the work, while still paying Basirat close to $5 million — more than 90 percent of
the contract value.

Basirat is liable for fixing an estimated $1 million worth of problems at the stations, the
report says.

But the company has little incentive to make the repairs, according to the report,
because it’s already collected most of the money.

Taliban Challenge US Congress To

Send Fact-Finding Team To Visit
Afghanistan:
“Men And Women, Old And Young From
Every Tribe, Ethnicity, Caste And Area
Have Arisen To Oppose You”
"The team should have freedom of movement and should be allowed to remain far
from the clutches of your intelligence agencies," it said, adding that US military
leaders were unlikely to allow the team to do so.

Nov 7 by Lynne O'Donnell, AFP

The Taliban called on the US Congress on Sunday to send a "fact-finding mission" to

Afghanistan to investigate what they called the lies and propaganda spread by American
military chiefs to prolong the war.

The Islamist militant group has been fighting for more than nine years to topple the
Kabul government, which is backed by 150,000 US and NATO troops.

The statement, addressed to "Messers American Congressmen," was emailed to AFP

and signed by Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, "spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan".

It suggested the Congressional team travel throughout Afghanistan to uncover "ground

realities" it said are being concealed by military leaders eager to give the impression of
victory.
The resistance to the US-led war against the Taliban was indigenous, the group said,
contrary to claims by Washington it was influenced from outside the country.

"Can a few militants stand up to armed forces of 40 countries including the strongest
countries of the world," Sunday's statement said, referring to the US-NATO alliance.

"In fact the current armed jihad (holy war) is a country-wide resistance against you. Men
and women, old and young from every tribe, ethnicity, caste and area have arisen to
oppose you. "Thus by your intending to wipe out the resistance, you have chosen the
way of committing genocide of the whole nation," it said.

The Taliban said that if the US government would not provide proof of its claims, "then
how about another experiment? Send a team to Afghanistan on a fact-finding mission".

"The team should have freedom of movement and should be allowed to remain far
from the clutches of your intelligence agencies," it said, adding that US military
leaders were unlikely to allow the team to do so.

The statement accused US defence secretary Robert Gates, commander of foreign

troops in Afghanistan US General David Petraeus, and other "military brass" of
exaggerating battlefield successes to appear victorious and for financial gain.

For nine years "Afghans have been festering in the vortex of an imposed war... The
apparition of mass murder, imprisonment, night house raids and plundering which has
become the order of the day constantly haunts them," the statement said in English and
Pashto.

High foreign military casualties -- more than 2,000 since the war began -- had "sparked
off hot discussions" among ordinary Americans "and now it has become one of the most
critical issues pending before you".

"In the last two years, your military high-ups implemented different strategies
including troop surge, construction of new military bases, forming militias.

"All these steps have been taken without considering the ground realities. It is
why they all failed," it said.

"Moreover the fear that Afghanistan may turn out to be a threat to world peace
must be put out of your minds as it is a mere baseless propaganda."

Epitaph For A Lost War

"Fighting in Afghanistan is like hitting coals with a stick, it just spreads to other
places," said Delbar Jan Arman, who as provincial governor is trying to stave off
the Taliban advances.
- Quoted by Joshua Partlow, Washington Post Foreign Service, October 24, 2010
 Epitaph For A Lost War #2
[Thanks to Michael Letwin, New York City Labor Against The War & Military Resistance,
who sent this in.]

October 24th 2010 BY James Gordon Meek, DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Excerpts]

WASHINGTON - Nine years after the 9/11 attacks launched the war in Afghanistan,
President Obama appears no closer to winning than his predecessor.

The Taliban held a firm grip over 90% of Afghanistan before the U.S. took Kabul, but
NATO and Afghan forces now barely control any turf - even with 100,000 GIs on the
ground.

"It's more or less impossible to control the territory," a senior U.S. counterterror
official who has served in Afghanistan told the Daily News.

That grim view is shared by many U.S. field commanders in the fight against an
increasingly resilient enemy.

"Things that you could have done for free" in years past to win hearts and minds "are
now incredibly difficult if not impossible" because of Taliban threats, the official said.

"There's a lot more to counterinsurgency than just asskicking," said the senior U.S.
official. "It's debatable how good we are at the non-asskicking part."

POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO

HALT THE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP

THE WARS

Good News For The Afghan

Resistance!!
 U.S. Occupation Commands’
Stupid Tactics Recruit Even More
Fighters To Kill U.S. Troops

A foreign occupation servicemember from the USA searches though the personal
belongings of an Afghan citizen after stopping him at gunpoint on a public road at a
market, Nov. 5, 2010 in Sangin, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

Afghani citizens have no right to resist humiliating public searches of their personal
possession by occupation soldiers from the USA. If they do, they may be arrested,
wounded, or killed.

Foreign occupation soldiers from the USA make a daily practice of publicly humiliating
Afghan citizens.

This encourages self-respecting honorable Afghans to kill them.

[Fair is fair. Let’s bring 94,000 Afghan troops over here to the USA.

[They can kill people at checkpoints, bust into their houses with force and
violence, bomb and butcher their families, overthrow the government, put a new
one in office they like better and “detain” anybody who doesn’t like it in a military
prison endlessly without any charges being filed against them, or any trial.

[Those Afghans are sure a bunch of backward primitives.

[They actually resent this help, have the absurd notion that it’s bad their country
is occupied by a foreign military dictatorship killing them wholesale, and consider
it their patriotic duty to fight and kill the soldiers sent to grab their country.

[What a bunch of silly people.

[How fortunate they are to live under a military dictatorship run by Barrack
Obama.

[Why, how could anybody not love that? You’d want that in your home town,
right?]

THE UNDOUBTED SUCCESS OF THE U.S. MILITARY

EFFORT MAY BE SEEN HERE, SHOWING THE VAST
QUANTITIES OF AFGHANISTAN THAT HAVE BEEN
LIBERATED, AND WILL FORM THE BASIS FOR A NEW,
FREE, DEMOCRATIC AFGHAN SOCIETY

A U.S. Marine from Eighth Marines patrols near the town of Deh Zore in southern
Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 4, 2010. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Soldier Says “Let’s Pack Up And Leave

Tomorrow”
Army Times Forum
11.8.2010

Let’s pack up and leave tomorrow (“Afghan president acknowledges getting cash from
Iran,” ArmyTimes.com forums, Oct. 25).
No more help for them. Let them deal with it. We will bomb them again in about five
years when the Taliban and al-Qaida move back in. It will be our new test range for new
bombs.

WILDJOKER5

MILITARY NEWS

HOW MANY MORE FOR OBAMA’S WARS?

A member of the "Dustoff" medevac team from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade,
101st Airborne Division, attends to a U.S. Army soldier wounded by a roadside bomb
during his evacuation on a medevac helicopter in Kandahar province September 28,
2010. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

Troops Invited:
Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men
and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box
126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email to
contact@militaryproject.org: Name, I.D., withheld unless you
request publication. Same address to unsubscribe.

Military Resistance Available In PDF Format

If you prefer PDF to Word format, email contact@militaryproject.org
 FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had
I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of
biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Hope for change doesn't cut it when you're still losing buddies.
-- J.D. Englehart, Iraq Veterans Against The War

I say that when troops cannot be counted on to follow orders because they see
the futility and immorality of them THAT is the real key to ending a war.
-- Al Jaccoma, Veterans For Peace

“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to
time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.”
-- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787
A revolution is always distinguished by impoliteness, probably because the ruling
classes did not take the trouble in good season to teach the people fine manners.
-- Leon Trotsky, History Of The Russian Revolution

“The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing the
Army from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced the
government to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy”
-- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt

It is a two class world and the wrong class is running it.

-- Larry Christensen, Soldiers Of Solidarity & United Auto Workers

Remember How Peaceful And

Pretty It Was?

From: Mike Hastie

To: Military Resistance
Sent: October 27, 2010
Subject: Remember how peaceful and pretty it was?

Remember how peaceful and pretty it was?

When American jobs leave the country,

the country leaves America.
So few young people left in small towns
to build a future.
Even the graveyards are dying.
People are migrating,
because there are no jobs.
American corporate greed to maximize
their profits has put the nail in the coffin,
and that coffin will be buried a long way
from home.
Mike Hastie

U.S. Army Medic

Vietnam 1970-71
October 27, 2010

Photo and caption from the I-R-A-Q (I Remember Another Quagmire) portfolio of
Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work,
contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T)

One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head.
The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a
so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen
of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.

Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
December 13, 2004

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 “We Simultaneously Have Two
Political Parties Who Are Disliked
And Distrusted By The Voters”
“Even Though Republicans Are Disliked
As Much As Democrats, They Will Win A
Majority Of The Contests Because They
Just So Happen To Be Not In Charge”

November 3, 2010, Editorial, Socialist Worker [Excerpt]

REPUBLICANS ARE trumpeting their big gains in the midterm elections as a mandate to
turn the country sharply to the right.

Don't buy it.

The truth is that neither party is popular with the majority of people in the U.S.--
especially their members of Congress.

The success of the Republicans was mainly due to their not being the party in power--so
they avoided the anger of voters directed against incumbents.

Matthew Dowd, the former chief strategist for George W. Bush, was one of the few
pundits to capture the mood. As he wrote the weekend before the vote:
“We simultaneously have two political parties who are disliked and distrusted by the
voters. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have huge unfavorable numbers.
We have candidates throughout the country who would be unelectable in any normal
election environment...

“And that is true throughout the country, where even though Republicans are disliked as
much as Democrats, they will win a majority of the contests because they just so happen
to be not in charge.

“And when the election is over, most of these voters will continue to be dissatisfied and
will be looking to take their frustration out again sometime soon in another election.”

Author and analyst Scott Rasmussen made a similar case.

Despite the victory of right-wing Republican candidates, he wrote, "(t)he reality is that
voters in 2010 are doing the same thing they did in 2006 and 2008: They are voting
against the party in power."

MORE

“The Union Was Having Trouble

Motivating Its Members To Get Out
The Vote For The Democrats”
“We Supported That Candidate, But He
Didn't Follow Through"
November 1, 2010 By Lance Selfa and Alan Maass, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

Patricia Elizondo, president of a Milwaukee International Association of Machinists local,

told the New York Times that the union was having trouble motivating its members to get
out the vote for the Democrats.

"People have been unemployed for two years, and they're unhappy that the health care
bill was not as good as they expected," Elizondo said.

"Two years ago, I had many members going door-to-door to campaign.

“Now they're saying, 'Why should I? We supported that candidate, but he didn't follow
through.'"

About one in five people who tell pollsters they "oppose" Obama's health care reform
say they think the law didn't go far enough.
 DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Obama’s Great Health Care Fraud:

“The Reality Is That The Health Care
Law Was A Multibillion-Dollar
Giveaway Of Taxpayer Money To The
Insurance Industry”
“The Obama Administration
Compromised Before The Law Was
Passed--And They've Continued
Compromising And Retreating Ever
Since In The Face Of Health Care
Industry Demands”
Because of the concessions of the Obama administration and Democrats, the
legislation didn't take on the fundamental issues at the core of the American
health care system--the out-of-control costs, lack of access to a comprehensive
and uniform set of medical benefits, and a insurance industry that is hell-bent on
fighting any regulation that restricts profits.

November 5, 2010 Helen Redmond, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

LAST YEAR, the Democrats passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(PPACA), claiming it was a major victory for the American people and a blow against a
chronic oppositionist Republican Party that voted almost unanimously against it.

The law, we were told, was a landmark domestic achievement on par with the passage
of Medicare.

But 10 months later, it's a different story.

With the resurgence of the Republican Party and its relentless and ridiculous assertion
that the health care law was a trillion-dollar "government takeover," the Democrats are
on the defensive, unable to defend the legislation against ring-wing attacks.

Now that the Democrats have lost big in the midterm elections, it's the unanimous
opinion of political commentators that the health care bill was too ambitious and too
divisive, and that the Democrats should have made more compromises.

But the truth is that the Obama administration compromised before the law was passed--
and they've continued compromising and retreating ever since in the face of health care
industry demands about how the law is interpreted and enforced.

Children with serious medical problems like cerebral palsy, cancer and asthma
took the first hit.

Insurance companies view sick children as unprofitable and are reneging on promises
made to the Obama administration to offer coverage regardless of pre-existing
conditions.

Several have made good on earlier threats and stopped issuing child-only policies.

Insurers, of course, openly admit that they prefer to cover healthy children because that
means less spent on claims.

For this reason, they are pushing back against a new regulation allowing families to buy
coverage for children at any point, regardless of the children's health.

The insurance industry argued such coverage would be bought disproportionately for
children with medical problems, leading to a "coverage pool" full of sick children.

To address this "problem"--which, of course, is a "problem" only from the point of view of
the profits of insurance companies--HHS official Jay Angoff struck a deal with the
industry that would allow companies to establish limited windows of open enrollment, as
short as one month, during which they would have to accept all children regardless of
health condition.

The insurance carriers wanted more concessions, so Angoff agreed to allow higher
premium charges for families applying for coverage outside of the open-enrollment
period if state law allows it--and many do.

THE REALITY is that the health care law was a multibillion-dollar giveaway of taxpayer
money to the insurance industry.

The PPACA "mandates" everyone to have coverage or face a financial penalty--which

means a lot of people will end up having to obtain private insurers' inadequate plans.

The law gives a free pass to the pharmaceutical industry to continue charging whatever
price they want for prescription drugs, and in a major concession to the drug lords, the
PPACA doesn't allow Medicare to negotiate over prices for medications.

Meanwhile, nothing was done about the crisis of the employer-based system, leaving
millions of people at the mercy of bosses who are shifting increased health care costs
onto workers and paring back health plans. The skyrocketing costs of providing health
insurance will lead some employers to drop coverage entirely--which will push millions of
people to purchase "mandated" coverage through state health insurance exchanges.

Is it any wonder that an Associated Press poll conducted by Stanford University and the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that four in 10 adults think the new law didn't
go far enough to change the health care system? The poll also found that Americans
who think the law should have done more outnumber those who think the government
should stay out of health care by 2-to-1.

With most of the PPACA still to go into effect, the latest figures from the U.S. Census
Bureau show a dramatic increase in the number of uninsured--to 50.7 million, from 46.3
million in 2009, or about one in every six people in the country. The crisis in the
employment-based health coverage system was the major factor driving the increase--
over 6.6 million workers lost coverage, and with no end in sight to the jobs crisis, that
number will only grow.

Health care reform is desperately needed now, but the major provisions of the
PPACA won't go into effect until 2014--and even then, it's projected that 23 million
people will remain uninsured in 2019.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the PPACA is dead before arrival.

Because of the concessions of the Obama administration and Democrats, the legislation
didn't take on the fundamental issues at the core of the American health care system--
the out-of-control costs, lack of access to a comprehensive and uniform set of medical
benefits, and a insurance industry that is hell-bent on fighting any regulation that restricts
profits.

In an article in the Los Angeles Times on the new health care regulations, Karen Ignagni
commented, "The underlying problem is still with us--what we have to do now is focus on
how to get to this issue of affordability."
But the industry that Ignagni represents is the "underlying problem"--and as long as
health care is a commodity that industry controls, it will be unaffordable for millions of
Americans.

The fight for a health care system that covers everyone is far from over.

CLASS WAR REPORTS

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 France: Against The Government

Striking railway workers burn railway tracks during a demonstration at the old port of
Marseille October 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier)

Arcelor Mittal steel workers dressed in protective work suit demonstrate against pension
“reforms” in Marseille October 12, 2010. (REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier
High school students shout during a demonstration against retirement “reforms” in Paris,
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A French high school student faces riot gendarmes during a student demonstration at
the Place de la Republique in Paris October 19, 2010. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)
 [Thanks to Sandy Kelson, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

Vietnam GI: Reprints Available

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