Major Egan... why'd you do it? (Originally posted 24 Dec 08)

(NOTE: I've been posting this for 13 years now... even though it doesn't seem to be that long.

It was a part of why I decided when I retired to stop just talking about veteran issues and to start doing something about it.

Last year (2018-since retired for medical reasons), I became a veteran service officer for the Washington State Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America.  And for that organization, I also became Chair of Veteran Benefits Programs for this state.

If you need help, please contact a Veteran Service Officer through the Clark County Veterans Assistance Office at 1305 Columbia Street, Vancouver, WA 98660 or make an appointment by calling 360.693.7030.

All charitable organizations need actual hands-on help more than they need money.  Giving donations to these groups is important. Actually becoming involved is even more important.

I urge you to find some group that you can help... and get out there and help them.  The pay is practically nothing if you go to work for them.

But the rewards are incalculable.)

I originally posted this 13 years ago today (24 Dec). And it bears repeating.

This story was in the paper... although, unfortunately, not on the Columbian web.

It is the story of a retired Army Major, one Thomas Egan; a veteran of 2 years on the Korean DMZ, a Master's graduate of the University of Oregon; a retired Oregon Army National Guard officer.

He was found dead, apparently frozen to death, next to a bottle of booze, in Eugene, Oregon within the past few days.

Unfortunately, the story speaks for itself. Sometimes, the desire to destroy one's self can overwhelm all other instincts.

I never knew you, Major, but we served together at the same time. I have no idea what happened to you, but I wish I did... and I wish it could have been fixed.

Tomorrow is Christmas. If you know someone who needs help, take the time and the effort to try and get that help to them. Major Egan had help available, but made bad choices when it came to using it.

As I look outside at the foot of snow, I ask myself: "how many Major Egans are there?"

Is there more that could have been done?

Probably not.

But I wish there had been.

Good bye, Major. From all accounts, you served us honorably and well. I never met you, but I won't forget you.

I could have been you.

Soldier’s death resonates 

Homeless veteran froze to death though services were available

By JACK MO
(Eugene) Register-Guard 

EUGENE, Ore — Thomas Egan was a scholar and a decorated soldier. He was also a homeless alcoholic whose life ended last week when he froze to death in Eugene during an unusually long and harsh cold snap. 

His body was found covered in snow near the corner of West First Avenue and Blair Boulevard, a bottle of liquor by his side. 

News of the demise of the longtime Eugene resident troubled many local veterans — especially those who knew that with some effort and some help, the man they called Major Egan could have had a roof over his head. 

“The whole National Guard community is taking this very hard,” said Bud Dickey, a vocational rehabilitation coordinator with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ community reintegration service center in Eugene. 

“It’s very disturbing for all of us, because Major Egan was retired and could have been drawing his (veterans’) benefits,” Dickey said. “He had options that he did not access.” 

Egan collected monthly Social Security checks, but the amount was a pittance compared with the payments he was entitled to as a retired military veteran. When he turned 60 in July, Egan became eligible to receive $909 each month in National Guard retirement income, Dickey said. 

Egan also could have applied for a separate pension check based on unemployability. “That would have gotten him an apartment if he wanted one,” said Jay Rea, a Springfield resident who served under Egan in the National Guard in the late 1980s. “I shed a tear when I heard he died,” Rea said. “It breaks my heart because he was the friendliest guy, and so smart.” A New York native, Egan joined the Army in 1971 after graduating from Quinnipiac College in Hamden, Conn., with a bachelor’s degree in history. 

He was stationed at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea for two years, and was reassigned to the Oregon Army National Guard in 1977. 

Earned master’s degree 

Egan earned his master’s degree from the University of Oregon in 1983, and ultimately attained the rank of major with the National Guard. 

He retired honorably in 1991, following a 20-year military career during which he was awarded several service medals and ribbons. 

Dickey said Egan’s desire to drink made him ineligible for VA housing programs that require sober living. 

Egan had declined to enroll in substance abuse treatment programs offered through the veterans agency, Dickey said. 

According to those who knew him, Egan worked sporadically. He did some landscaping, and most years helped deliver telephone books. 

Sometimes, he found an apartment to stay in for a while. At other times, he lived on the streets. In August, Egan spent two weeks at the Eugene Mission — which is less than one block from the spot where a passer-by discovered his body last week. 

Mission officials said Egan never caused any trouble there, and could have stayed any time. Dickey said Egan has no relatives in Oregon, and tracking down members of his extended family on the East Coast has been challenging. 

Dickey, who served five years with Egan in the National Guard, is helping to direct an effort to have Egan interred at the Roseburg National Cemetery. 

“He will be buried as a veteran in a veterans’ cemetery,” Dickey said. “He was a good soldier, and we’re going to get him the burial he’s due.”

Why bother to vote? What's the point?

I've voted in every election I can remember.  I'm what they call a 4 of 4.  That means I have a close-to perfect voting record.

I have a degree in Government/Political Science that taught me all the "rules."  How the "system" is supposed to work.  And on the white boards of academia, it all looked so... perfect.

We are supposed to be the shining light on the hill.  We are what so many others aspire to, publicly.  Millions are here illegally because of our stupidity and generosity.  Many died trying to come here. Many countries around the world hate us... because they ain't us.

But in the end, we seem to have become no different than any other 3rd world country.  Our veneer is just a bit more polished.

Laws apply to some, but not to all.  People of privilege and wealth can ignore the rules, as can those on the left fringes (look up Portland for a great example). Fraudulent elections are the order of the day and no one in government cares while our courts turn a blind eye.

All of which begs the issue: why bother to vote anymore?

As I sit here, it's fairly clear that the statement falsely attributed to Joe Stalin,

“I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how.”

Has become true.

Here in Washington, the leftists kept recounting until they found the mystery votes they needed to get Gregoire elected governor over Rossi.

Is it any wonder that Washington State has become, essentially, the Washington Soviet?

And now?  Now because our votes don't matter, the entire country is set to follow.

Because those who are sworn to uphold the Constitution and our laws piss on both with a frightening regularity. 

The evidence is obvious. It's not just this most recent vote.  It's looking around at the corrupt, the filthy, the murderers and the treasonous and noticing that NONE OF THEM has been held accountable.

Biden was, perhaps, the most corrupt, racist Vice President this nation has ever seen and none of that matters to anyone who puts on blinders and supports him.

He is set to become the most corrupt, racist PRESIDENT we've ever known.  He's surrounded himself with scum, a prostitute of a vice-president who has established herself as a whore to get what she wants, and a group of thugs who would have sold their own children to get rid of Trump.

So that's what it's come to.  Criminal fraud. Lies. Deceit. Corruption at the highest levels. And what's been done about it?

Nothing.

So, do we continue to play along?

I'm not.  There's no point in it.

In the upcoming elections in Georgia, the GOP will lose both senate seats and along with that, control of the Senate. The leftists will find themselves in the same position the GOP had in 2016: control of all three branches of government.

Except this time, Biden won't have a House and a Senate opposed to him like Trump did.

I used to speak of this.

"You cannot whip those who support you for long and then expect them to keep supporting you when you need them the most.  You cannot keep using the same threats of what will happen if the GOP loses when far too many times that outcome has been GOP-inspired in the first place."

And

 "At first, the RINO faction around here, particularly that led by Brent Boger, told us to "just wait."

"Just wait until we get the House back."  Well, we've waited 6 years and nothing.

"Just wait until we get the Senate back."  Well, we've waited 2 years and nothing.

"Just wait until we get the White House."  Well, we've GOT the damned White House, and what are the same RINO's who've been sitting on their thumbs doing... the same RINOs who RAN on getting rid of Obamacare?

Nothing."

Well, time's up.

I've waited.  And I'll be waiting until I'm dead.

Even when we DO elect them, what do they do?  Not only at the national level, but at the state level as well?

Of the treasonous scum infesting us, who's been indicted?  Who's in prison?  Where are those who tied this country up in knots by obtaining false FISA warrants, by ignoring the perjury laws, by crippling an Administration while they tortured this country for political gain?

In our state, thanks to REPUBLICAN legislation, we are paying BILLIONS more in taxes.

Where are they?  Where are those who are SUPPOSED to be different?

They're selling us out.  And what does it cost them?  Nothing.  And in fact, they're mostly reelected.

They're certainly not in prison, are they?

And then, this most obviously corrupt and fraudulent presidential vote, a vote that will be replicated repeatedly because, well, why not?  Why shouldn't they shatter the rules?  Why shouldn't they ignore the laws? 

It looks like the "far too much talk, far too little action" Trump Administration will be going out like a lamb here in about 34 days or so.  And the Dark Ages for what used to be the United States of America will begin.

Which brings me to my initial questions: Why bother to vote?  What's the point?

Beats the hell out of me.

And there's nothing we can do about it.

Odd. Why are the leftists so angry about the Texas et al v. Pennsylvainia et al?

Sooooo the State of Texas (And 17 or 18 of their closest friends) filed suit against the 4 states most heavily involved in the recent fraud known as the 2020 presidential election. (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan)

Now, I'm not going to go over the mountain of evidence which supports the Texas suit.  Anyone following this can see it for themselves if their glasses are not covered with the leftist fog of lies and deceit.

Besides, that's not the point of this post.  As the suit makes its inevitable way up the chain to the Supreme Court; which, let's face it, is where we all knew it would wind up, the left is becoming unhinged.

Their efforts are no longer remotely covert: they don't have to be.  The media is obvious and directly out front in their hatred of the president and anyone connected to him, their hatred for the truth, and their hatred for America.

For me though, the question is simple: why are these whack jobs so angry?

There are only 2 outcomes available here: first, the election was completely legit and their guy, RacistJoe, gets inaugurated on January 20th of next year.

The second possible outcome is that upon review of the suit, the Supreme Court determines that at least part of that action is, in fact, true.

And that's where my confusion comes in.

It's almost like they don't want a legitimate election.

It's almost like issues such a voter fraud, partisan interference, corrupted election workers and hacked voting machines don't bother leftists in the least.... presuming their guy benefits.

If fraud, corruption, hacking, lying and intimidation, along with other violations of the law are uncovered by this suit, you'd think the left wouldn't be concerned about that at all, as long as they get the result THEY want.

But THAT can't be true... can it?

*I* want a legitimate, clean election more than I concern myself with who gets the most votes.  And I have a record of holding corruption accountable REGARDLESS of the party of the scum involved.

And let's remember, it's NOT the criminal standard of evidence that must be met in this situation.  So, the requirement of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" doesn't apply.

It's the CIVIL standard of evidence, which, not unlike the election itself, requires but 50% plus 1 to tilt the scale of justice in either party's favor.

We now know, because The Belle of Botox, aka, Nancy Pelosi, has admitted that additional COVID aid was held up for political reasons. So, it's actually pretty clear that leftist's hatred has played a major role in the misery of millions of people.

If they would stoop so low as to deliberately injure tens of millions of people in this country, why wouldn't one believe that all of them are lying about this sorry episode as well?

Meanwhile, they seem increasingly angry.  The media is engaging in even more censorship... and hiding their opinion in news as if it were fact.

When it's all too frequently a fiction they made up to trash anyone supporting Trump.

There is no lie too outrageous, no exaggeration too large, and no story they won't make up and lie about over and over and over again... following the Goebbellian garbage that laughingly passes for journalism these days.

"It worked, didn't it?" Then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, commenting on his lies he babbled about Mitt Romney on the floor of the Senate before Romney lost to Obama.

I expect violence if the Court rules in Texas's favor.  I expect what we've gone through to date to be an 8-killed-in-the-intersection wreck compared to the fender-bender we've seen so far.

I freely admit, unlike any leftist I've ever heard or read that BOTH sides of the spectrum have scum representing them.  Just ask Sen. Ann Rivers, the RINOs RINO.

But it sure seems like the left doesn't care about any corruption.  It sure seems that, as long as you're a leftist, you can say or do anything without being held accountable for your actions.

Add to that the pending nuclear explosion of leftist hate if the Court overturns this travesty.

Still, I remain confused.  If it's all good... then what's the problem?  Don't they believe in our system of justice?  Or is that only when it works for them?

See, I am fully prepared for what the disaster of a RacistJoe Administration means.  And that does not include the favorite leftist past times of Murder, Rape, Arson, Looting, blocking traffic or making the lives of police as miserable as possible.

But many leftist cretins take the opposite view and they feel entitled to engage in all of those things.

So please, leftists.  If the Court overturns the election, make sure you take it out on the leftist meccas you infest now.  It could be rather painful if you try and spin this out of control.