Republicans have always been known as a war hawk party. They love to start wars, and send our young men and women to fight their battles for them. The drums of war are again beating louder, by GOP hawks John McCain and Mitt Romney.

During the last presidential campaign, John McCain's favorite tune was "Bomb, bomb Iran." During the Bush presidency, he issued an order barring all media from showing our dead heroes coming home.

President Barack Obama rescinded this order, allowing the families to see their loved ones be given the respect they so deserved.

The sad thing is they send them off to war and then treat them like lepers when they return home from combat.

Just days ago, the Republican Senate defeated a veterans jobs bill by a vote of 58 to 40. Republicans picture these job programs as entitlements and government welfare.

As a veteran, having served with the 82nd Airborne in the early 1960s, I am offended, as thousands of veterans in Merced County should be.

ANTHONY GALLEGOS

Merced