There has been a movement to get recognition for the Marine Corps contributions to the US by changing the name of the department of the Navy to the more accurate "Department of the Navy and Marine Corps". However, our republican chickenhawks don't feel this issue merits their attention and have flatly turned down the proposal. Some (like the author of the letter) might guess it's because the republican chickenhawks don't want to draw attention to the war in Iraq. I've appended an email from the committee updating me on the (lack of) progress on what I consider to be a worthy cause.
Also, here's another opportunity for us progressives and "fighting Dems" to show yet again that we support our troops and furthermore, that voting against Rethuglicans is supporting the troops.
Department of Navy and Marine Corps Update
We hope that everyone had a good weekend. We wanted to send out an update of what has been going on with the DNMC fight and thank you for all your support in getting this bill passed.
On April 12th, the Washington Post wrote an article regarding our petition to get Congress to actually act.
You can read it by visiting: www.washingtonpost.com and searching for DNMC.
It is never a fun task to give bad news, but once again Senator John Warner of Virginia has demonstrated that he believes that honoring the United States Marine Corps is not even worth discussing. After the article in the Washington Post ran, we sent a request to meet with the senator or a member of his staff. It was ignored. It has
been suggested that the senator does not want to discuss this because it would bring attention to the war, but that is just a sorry excuse.
Another round of bad news it that we have sent letters to the rest of the Republican senators asking for their support, but again the offices have stated that they will either back Senator Warner. Or they simply do not respond to the request.
What is needed is for each and every one of you to continue forwarding the petition to friends and family (www.dnmc.us) and then to call both the Republican National Committee and John Warner's office and ask why they will not even TALK about honoring the Marine Corps.
Last Monday, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada (D) office contacted us and stated that his office would review the bill in the House of Representatives to possibly offer it in the Senate. We are hoping that if the Republicans will not assist our effort, maybe the Democrats will have guts to support the men and women that they
voted to send to war.
Contact Numbers:
National Republican Committee
Telephone: (202) 863-8500
Ask for Ken Mehlman's office (Mel-man)
Senator John Warner
Chairman of the Armed Services Committee
Telephone: 202-224-2023
As always, should you have any questions, please contact us at info@dnmc.us: