Team America

Welcome back kiddies...it has been a little while since I have put fingers to keyboard...but I am back. I can already tell that this blog is going to be met with resistance, but hey...that gives us more to discuss. As you all know, I am a patriotic individual. I am not running around protesting and demonstrating for every cause that involves the military or the state of the Union, but I do believe strongly that we are the greatest country in the world...or at least I used to.

I have been overwhelmed by all of the "Donate to Japan" hype over the last two weeks. Do I have a problem with Japan or the Japanese people? Nay nay...they suffered a terrible tragedy. Do I have a problem turning on my computer and seeing Facebook pushing for me to give them money? Or logging on to play a game of Call of Duty Black Ops and having my PS3 tell me to donate? Yes. Everyone in the country knows that Japan just had its ass kicked by Mother Nature. Everyone also knows how to Google "Red Cross" and find out how to get a hold of them. The news from Japan was so important that everyone stopped talking about Charlie Sheen for a whole week! (Hey Charlie...looks like you're "Duh, Losing") I get it...just like I got Haiti, just like I got Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan...the list goes on. Where were all of these countries during the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina? Where are all of these countries in helping US? Hell, where are WE when it comes to helping us?

I Googled "Donations for Japan" and came up with 11,300,000 hits in less than .2 seconds. I then Googled "help feed the homeless in America" and came up with 966,000 hits in the same amount of time. I have friends that served their country in time of war that are now without homes of their own. They cannot find jobs, they have to fight to keep food in their stomachs....yet we are sending money to other countries to help them? This is a crock of shit. These same Veterans are not receiving the medical care that they were promised when they were sent "home" from military service. I will not even get into the topic of monetary compensation....I will just stay with the basic human necessities that they are not getting. Where are the American people when it comes to homeless Vets...hell homeless Americans! We don't want to deal with our problems at home, we want to have telethons and celebrity spokespeople for other countries. We are made to feel bad if we don't give money to the AMERICAN Red Cross to go spend on other people.

Don't get me wrong, I am a Humanist by nature. I think everyone deserves to have the basic things in life. I am not asking that my fellow former military members deserve more than anyone else in this world, but they do deserve the same things. Am I pushing for Socialism or Communism? Nay nay...these men and women need to work for what they get. But if you give your life to the country, to do with it what it will...then you deserve to be taken care of when something bad happens. We have people fighting wars so that our gas prices will go down. Nineteen year old men and women dying because we feel the need to gas up our 4x4 trucks with cheaper gas. What are we doing for them? Sending them into war with protective equipment from WWII. The weapons and tactics have changed slightly since the last "Big War", our equipment should reflect that.

All I am saying is that we need to clean our yard before we start poking our heads over the fence and pointing out/correcting the flaws of our neighbors. Team America: World Police. How about we turn this back into a place that we are proud to say "we take care of our own"? Once we are good...THEN we can go help the rest of the world. Let's stop helping our neighbors plant roses when we have a lawn full of crab grass. Let's get the homeless fed, our Vets the care they deserve, and your friend and humble narrator a better disability percentage. I am kidding on that last part...but you get the message. Until next time...Stay Salty!

-Salty Dog