...heard him speak at a meeting of the San Diego County Young Democrats. Filner had just returned from Iraq, a trip he made in conjunction with his new role as chairman of the House's Veterans Affairs committee. Filner seemed tired, but he was still interesting, primarily speaking to the group about the amazing work of the people in our armed forces, and how those people deserve as much government attention on the way home from war as they do on the way to it.Filner peppered his talk with some great stats on the military and on the entrenchment of politicians in Congress. One interesting stat on the latter topic, for instance, is that - in the House of Representatives - only about 25 of 435 seats are seriously contended each election cycle. And we wonder why the people's will is stymied?
Here are some other mind-boggling tidbits Filner shared:
--Members of the Soviet Union's Communist Party won re-election 97.0% of the time.
--Members of the United States Congress win re-election 98.6% of the time.
--The average soldier in Iraq sustains 7 (seven) concussions per tour of duty.
--58,000 U.S. soldiers were killed in the Vietnam War.
--A higher number have killed themselves since coming home from the War.
--Roughly 50%* of our nation's homeless are veterans of the Vietnam War.
*Update 11/7/07:
Study: 1 out of 4 homeless are veterans
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.
And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.
