Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 06, 2016
March 05, 2016
March 07, 2016
Transcript:
B.D.: Cue gravel-throated country legend. TV: Hullo. B.D.: Cue sappy soundtrack. Trace Adkins: Hullo, Trace Adkins here for Wounded Warrior Project... this is Steve, the CEO of WWP. He's dedicated his life to strategic growth. Yet sadly, he and other top WWP executives suffer from the invisible wounds of scandal. Won't you join me in helping these true American heroes rebuild their lives after disclosures of lavish salaries, extravagant conferences, and wasteful spending? For only $19 a month, you can help keep this fine, scalable fundraising machine up and running for generations to come! Act now and you'll receive a cheap Chinese blanket. Seriously. Call today.
-The US has a bad history of treatment of vets. After WW I, Congress had voted to give a bonus to those who had served, but it would not be paid until 1945. When the Depression set in, thousands of out of work vets gathered in Washington DC to await Congressional action to pay the bonus. They lived in encampments on federal land, like today’s homeless vets live in wooded areas near highways, except that their families lived with them.
Congress voted not to give the pay. President Hoover ordered the military to disperse the homeless vets. They were fired on; two children were killed.
Part of the reason why Franklin Roosevelt put all kinds of programs in place for returning vets after WW II (like the veterans subsidy for mortgages) was to avoid a similar situation…