Rep. Walter Jones Speaks On The Floor About PTSD

Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) spoke truthfully about the problems of PTSD and TBI on the floor of the House. Due to the overwhelming problem the military faces because of these illinesses, he helped introduce a smart bill so that the government begins to take the problems of PTSD seriously and is able to treat our soldiers.

Whats This? Bipartisan Legislation To Endorse The Constitution?

Hold the presses! Something good might come out of the Congress concerning our Constitution. Not only that, the main sponsor of a bill to curtail the 1973 War Powers Act is a.....Republican (gasp!). Not just any Republican of course, we are talking about Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) who was made famous by changing French Fries to Freedom Fries in the Congressional lunchroom. Of course now he is one of the few Republicans on the Hill that wants to end the war, so it isn't too surprising. Nevertheless, his statements on the bipartisan bill are music to my ears.

From The Sun Journal:

Jones submitted the bill Sept. 25 and announced it Thursday at a press conference with three of five co-sponsors. One of them, Rep. Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts, a Democrat, is a member of the House subcommittee on foreign affairs which will first hear the bill. Also present were Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, both Republicans. The other co-sponsors are Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and and Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, both Democrats.

The bill would prevent U.S. involvement in another long war without congressional approval. But Jones said it was not drafted in response to last week’s “World War III” comment by President George Bush or to new numbers released this week by the Congressional Budget Office putting the cost of the Iraq War through 2008 at $610 billion and predicting a cost through 2017 of as much as $2.4 trillion.

“This has nothing to do with Iraq,” said Jones, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and was one of the first Republican congressmen to oppose the war in Iraq.

Well, it does and it doesn't Mr. Jones. The reason it is being brought up has a lot to do with Iraq, and how the President took us to war over there. Also true, it does have to deal with the Constitution and how the Congress gave away much of their war powers with that 1973 legislation. It is about time that Congress become a co-equal branch in this government as the Founding Fathers had set it to be originally.

Mayor Wolfowitz

Now that Paulie is being kicked out of the World Bank at the end of June, he is going to need to have something to do. Although he doesn't need anymore money than the neo-conservative establishment has thrown his way, that hasn't stopped antiwar Republican Walter Jones from offering him some advice. Since Paul helped craft the policy that led us into Iraq, why shouldn't he go and try to manage it himself?

From The Blotter:

Paul Wolfowitz may have been ousted from his post at the World Bank, but a free-speaking GOP lawmaker has an idea to keep the so-called "architect" of the Iraq War from standing in the unemployment line.

"I would like to suggest...that maybe we give Paul Wolfowitz a new job and send him over [to Iraq] as mayor," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., "since the neocons got us in over there."

As deputy secretary of defense from 2000 to 2005, Wolfowitz helped develop the strategy and public rationale for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He publicly stated that coalition troops would be greeted as liberators, and the nation of Iraq would be largely capable of financing its own rebuilding through oil revenues.

We are known as occupiers, not liberators; and the relatively cost-free war has cost us nearly half a trillion dollars. Perhaps Wolfowitz can go in and tackle all of the pressing business of Baghdad. His dreams of a post war Iraq are as likely as finding an oasis in the Sahara, let alone the deserts of Iraq. So the quest of victory should be his to take on and seek out. Let the troops go home to their families and let the neo-con kook handle it himself. Not a bad idea Congressman Jones.