by Robert F. Sawallesh
26 Aug 2004
Website: www.pentagonmaverick.com
When was the last time you went to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee http://www.dscc.org/ and/or the National Republican Senatorial Committee http://www.nrsc.org/ web sites? Look for news articles on Veterans and the Pentagon's Military Health Care Crisis, if you can find anything.
Have you visited your county supervisor of elections web site? I live in Hillsborough County in Florida and I think ours is one of the best in the nation. How does yours county web site compare? Ours is at http://www.votehillsborough.org/default.aspx. Based on this web site there are eight Republicans listed as qualified election candidates for the US Senate. US Senator Bob Graham is retiring.
Of the eight Florida candidates, I was able to bring up six of their web sites. One retired from the military, another graduated from the USAF Academy and several speak strongly about Veterans benefits.
But not one candidate's web site addressed the Pentagon's Military Medical Crisis nor the Pentagon's plan to demolish the base hospital at MacDill AFB in Tampa and replace it with only a clinic. Those six web sites are as follows:
http://www.johnniebyrd.com/default.asp, http://www.gallagherforsenate.com/, http://www.klaymansenate.com/, http://www.marchforsenate.com/, http://www.melforsenate.org/, and http://www.mccollumsenate.org/.
Based on a recent veterans' meeting I sent out the following email to the TV, radio and newspaper media in Tampa Bay. Subject: "Question for Media: Politicians." Email message:
The media might consider asking politicians the following question during this election year: What is your opinion of the demolition of the base hospital at MacDill AFB and its replacement with only a clinic?
Are you keeping the media in your area informed on the Pentagon's Military Health Care Delivery System? How do you find out the email addresses in your area? One Florida source, as an example, is at http://www.funandsun.com/1tocf/medf/flmed2.html. If you live in Texas you might try http://www.usnpl.com/txnews.html. Live in Puerto Rico? Go to http://www.escapeartist.com/puerto4/rico4.htm. For those in California go to http://www.abyznewslinks.com/uniteca.htm.