This 'N That

Remember the riddle "who's buried in Grant's tomb?"  Technically the answer is no one since Ulysses and his wife are entombed, but at least people know where they are.  The same can't be said for some of those who are buried at Arlington.  Like the atrocious conditions at Walter Reed revealed a few years ago, this is also a national disgrace.  Why is it so difficult to treat our soldiers with the respect they deserve?  After suffering the ultimate sacrifice how can they be treated so poorly by those who were entrusted to preserve their remains?  It used to be an honor to be buried at Arlington, now it's where's Waldo.

Jeff Huber (wish he'd been my CO but the Navy didn't take me seriously when I tried to enlist in 1974) has his usual insightful observations on the fallacy of thinking we can win the debacle in Afghanistan. The original mission was never accomplished and has been lost to the caskets of history, so of course we must continue to involve ourselves in another fruitless and never ending land war in Asia.  Is it because the Afghans don't look like the Japanese, Vietnamese or Koreans that people don't realize that Afghanistan is in Asia as are Iraq, Iran and Israel?  What the heck are we fighting for?

Regime change in Iraq was discussed before 9/11.  Then why didn't the troops have all the equipment they needed?  Probably for the same reason that they aren't receiving all the help they need once they are injured or discharged.  Because the goal was to topple Saddam and consequences were never considered.  Not to the troops, their families, innocent civilians or the stability of the country.

The phrases "there's nothing new under the sun" and "what's old is new again" have been around for a long time...because they're true.  In If A Man Answers (1962) Sandra Dee's character trains her new husband (Bobby Darin) to be more attentive by using the techniques from a book on dog training.  Today's parents are discovering the Dog Whisperer's techniques also work well on children.  Or, as my baby brother said after a few months of training his dog, "I should have had a dog before I had children."  As is pointed out in the movie and in this article, it's really the trainer who is being trained.  Consistency is the key and my parents excelled at that.  If it was no when I was two, it was no when I was eighteen unless it had been due to a height or age requirement.  I really miss my dad.

Adopted children should be able to find their biological parents after they are old enough to understand the consequences.  For Matthew Roberts those were definitely more than he planned on.  It isn't every day that one discovers that their father is one of the most hated murderers on the planet.  That's really sad.

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Disrespecting The Troops

As if sending the men and women of our Armed Forces, Reserves and National Guard to fight a war under false pretenses wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if sending those same troops to fight without the proper armor, intel or decent working equipment and then telling them that you go to war with what you have when you had been planning to go to war all along wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if hiding the troops who have fallen fighting this war and sneaking their bodies back in the dark of night wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if forcing the wounded to recover in hospitals that were falling down around their ears wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if the veterans weren't homeless and joblesss after returning from active duty wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if all the lies about the friendly fire deaths wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if the troops being forced to live and work in 90,000 substandard and dangerous facilities in Iraq wasn't disrespectful enough.

As if all of those weren't disrespectful enough, Salon has confirmed (with audio for the doubting Thomases of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders) what those of us who really support the troops have suspected for some time.  That the previous administration regarded injured troops as pieces of equipment that should be thrown away unmended as often as possible.  If this soldier hadn't carried a tape recorder because of his PTSD and traumatic brain injury induced CRS (can't remember shit) disease we might still be waiting for the truth to come out.  Again.

But what Sgt. X wants to tell a reporter about is one doctor's appointment at Fort Carson that his wife did not witness. When she couldn't accompany him to an appointment with psychologist Douglas McNinch last June, Sgt. X tucked a recording device into his pocket and set it on voice-activation so it would capture what the doctor said. Sgt. X had no idea that the little machine in his pocket was about to capture recorded evidence of something wounded soldiers and their advocates have long suspected -- that the military does not want Iraq veterans to be diagnosed with PTSD, a condition that obligates the military to provide expensive, intensive long-term care, including the possibility of lifetime disability payments. And, as Salon will explore in a second article Thursday, after the Army became aware of the tape, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to investigate its implications, despite prodding from a senator who is not on the committee. The Army then conducted its own internal investigation -- and cleared itself of any wrongdoing.

snip

McNinch added that he also received pressure not to properly diagnose traumatic brain injury, Sgt. X's other medical problem. "When I got there I was told I was overdiagnosing brain injuries and now everybody is finding out that, yes, there are brain injuries," he recalled. McNinch said he argued, "'What are we going to do about treatment?' And they said, 'Oh, we are just counting people. We don't plan on treating them.'" McNinch replied, "'You are bringing a generation of brain-damaged individuals back here. You have got to get a game plan together for this public health crisis.'"

When McNinch learned he would be quoted in a Salon article, he cut off further questions. He also said he would deny the interview took place. Salon, however, had recorded the conversation.

Hmm, they must have learned that trick from all the wiretapping stories.

As a taxpayer I am concerned that my dollars aren't good enough for the troops but are good enough to bailout highly paid and incompetent banking and insurance executives.  As a veteran my heart is breaking that those who served faithfully under trying circumstances are being discarded as if they were trash.  As an American I am flabbergasted that the troops are being treated this way after the Walter Reed scandal.  As a human being I am disappointed by the inhumanity of it all.

Our troops and veterans deserve the best that we can give them, no matter what the cost.  After all, isn't that what we ask of them?

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Abusing The Country

This is the opposition?  They sound like they've been listening to too many "experts"and it certainly sounds like Gregg has turned off his brain as if it was a light switch.  Anyway you look at it tomorrow's generation is going to have to pay for the sins of the Bush administration and to say that President Obama's budget is irresponsible after eight years of massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the almost continuous war on the poor, is a little too much like downing bottles of champagne and then trying to convince the police officer that you aren't drunk, you still have the judgment to drive and the alcohol on your breath is from a mint.

Gregg repeated what has become an opposition mantra, saying the president's plan "spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much."

As opposed to the billions lost to graft and greed in the last eight years which will never to be accounted for, corporations getting ridiculous tax breaks and then moving their operations to a different country so they can avoid any taxes or paying workers a living wage, stealing the youth of today to fight wars whose only accomplishments were to kill innocent civilians, a couple of politicians in a sovereign state that had nothing to do with terrorist acts perpetrated on the United States yet lets Osama bin Laden wander free to continue creating havoc and leaves the veterans to suffer neglect and abuse after serving their country honorably?

Republicans need to get a grip on reality and realize that the country is in a hole that they dug and learn to support their president.  Or at least that's what they've been telling the rest of us for the last eight years while they destroyed the Constitution and rammed disaster after disaster down our throats while threatening us with treason for speaking out about being treated like an abused wife.  The country divorced you and it didn't ask for alimony or child support, it just wants you to go away while it tries to rebuild itself.

And like true abusers, Republicans keep believing that more abuse will make us see it their way.  Until they get therapy and realize that not only are they part of the problem but that they created the situation, the country is not going to listen to much of what they say.

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One More Instance Of GOP Hypocrisy

Support the troops!  Unless you're a member of the GOP and think that 25 million is too much to spend on paralyzed veterans.  A bridge to nowhere is okay, helping people who can't walk or pee without assistance is not.  And then to add insult to injury the GOP tries to use the issue to accuse the Demowienies of avoiding dealing with high gas prices.  Otherwise known as offshore drilling for their corporate buddies.

Republicans blasted the bill as an attempt to bait them and distract from measures to deal with high gas prices.

"They're using every trick to get us away from dealing with high gas prices," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Let's recap the GOP support of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Bad armor, insufficiently armored vehicles, no plan other than shock and awe, multiple tours, poor medical care if they get back to the United States in less than pristine condition, ignoring the emotional costs of war in veterans, closing brain injury units as the incidences of brain injuries in the troops was increasing due to the IEDs that nobody "could have foreseen", obstruction of the GI Bill and now willing to let injured veterans be forever hostage to other people for help.  

The best part?  Tom Coburn has the nerve to consider himself a doctor. Unlike recently departed Randy Pasuch, not the kind that helps people.

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Bush, Follies And Foibles

Vincent Bugliosi (the District Attorney who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson) has a new book entitled The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder. And like any good prosecutor, he makes a good case. Even if he does have the usual tendency to overlook the deaths and contributions of the women in our military in the botched attempt at bringing democracy to a country that doesn't really want it. Or whatever the current excuse is, I lost track long ago.

Perhaps the most amazing thing to me about the belief of many that George Bush lied to the American public in starting his war with Iraq is that the liberal columnists who have accused him of doing this merely make this point, and then go on to the next paragraph in their columns. Only very infrequently does a columnist add that because of it Bush should be impeached. If the charges are true, of course Bush should have been impeached, convicted, and removed from office. That's almost too self-evident to state. But he deserves much more than impeachment. I mean, in America, we apparently impeach presidents for having consensual sex outside of marriage and trying to cover it up. If we impeach presidents for that, then if the president takes the country to war on a lie where thousands of American soldiers die horrible, violent deaths and over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children, even babies are killed, the punishment obviously has to be much, much more severe. That's just common sense. If Bush were impeached, convicted in the Senate, and removed from office, he'd still be a free man, still be able to wake up in the morning with his cup of coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice and read the morning paper, still travel widely and lead a life of privilege, still belong to his country club and get standing ovations whenever he chose to speak to the Republican faithful. This, for being responsible for over 100,000 horrible deaths?* For anyone interested in true justice, impeachment alone would be a joke for what Bush did.

So true about the mainstream media, but they do tend to get distracted by shiny things meant to direct their attention away from reporting the news. Look! Over there! Has worked almost perfectly for the last twelve years. The press spent more time on a spot on a blue dress than they have reporting on the atrocities done in our name by the crew without a clue.

Secret to who?. I didn't even work in Hollywood at the time and I had heard that Raymond Burr was gay. So what and who cares? He was an entertaining actor, has been dead for almost fifteen years and it definitely won't change the price of tomatoes. Some closets don't need to be opened because unimportant stuff has a tendency to fall out.

The car doesn't go anywhere unless I have several errands to run, which I map out to save time and gas. I used to fill up almost every week, now it's maybe once a month. I'm growing my own vegetables (tomatoes, beets, peas, chard, green beans, serranos) and herbs (parsley, basil, cilantro, rosemary, sage) and I try to lay in a store of frozen chicken, pork and fish at the beginning of the month. When we have it, I prefer to buy my beef fresh along with other greens and squashes that are too big for me to grow in the little area I have. Now if I could only acquire a taste for tofu and ride a bike without pain.

Some punishments are so severe that if a mistake has been made, it can't be undone. Being pardoned for a murder you didn't commit is nice but it isn't very helpful 86 years after you've been hanged.

Gee, with stories like Walter Reed and Ft. Bragg, why would anyone not think that military healthcare sucks? With the Bushmaster-in-charge bloviating about supporting the troops out of one side of his mouth and vetoing benefits out the other, why would anyone believe that our troops were getting anything but the best? Other than Bush, anyone with half a brain.


3Bs

Are You Proud To Be An American?

Why? It can't possibly be because we shine the light of freedom throughout the world. Our hubris knows no bounds, as in approaching infinity. Our government gives less than a flying fart about the sovereignty of other countries. The crew without a clue believes they have the right to kidnap anybody they want, anywhere they want, whenever they want. They don't even have to ask permission first, because just like FISA, extradition just takes too long. Of course if the tables were turned, there would be screaming and hollering on a scale that would probably cause some of the never right wingers to just stroke out.

Which is what I almost did when I read this pitiful story. And they wonder why they can't recruit qualified people. Prosecuting PTSD veterans for trying to kill themselves. What? Is she being punished because all the others were successful and she wasn't? Every aspect of the story is atrocious, especially this part.

But outside the Pentagon, the military still largely deals with mental health issues in an ad hoc way, often relying on the judgment of combat-hardened commanders whose understanding of mental illness is vague or misinformed. The stigma around psychological wounds can still be seen in the smallest of Army policies. While family members of soldiers recovering at Walter Reed from physical injuries are provided free lodging and a per diem to care for their loved ones, families of psychiatric outpatients usually have to pay their own way.

That's right. We kick them when they are down and out and then punish their families financially. Support those troops!

Slap a band-aid on the problem another ribbon on the car. Wear another bracelet. That'll help the situation.

3Bs

I've Been Remiss

A few days ago, JollyRoger tagged me with the Random 8 meme, and I haven't done it. Bad girl. These are the rules:

Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
Players should tag 8 other people and notify them that they have been tagged.

Hmm, I don't know about 8 other people but I can be a party of the first part.

1. I love rock music, with a partiality to Southern rock but my favorite band is Pink Floyd and my favorite album is Winelight by Grover Washington, Jr.
2. I've lived in five different countries, seven different states and seventeen different cities, sometimes more than once.
   
3. The Army taught me to troubleshoot missile guidance control systems but now I use that same skill for everything from car problems to people.
4. I have serious authority issues. Just because one is white, black, tall, short, rich, poor, your parents helped you out, wearing a uniform, older or bigger than me is not a reason for me to do something that doesn't make sense. A gun negates this attitude
   
5. I worked on John Anderson's campaign in 1980 but I didn't vote because when I got off work at five, the election had already been called in Reagan's favor.
6. My favorite cake is coconut layer. Preferably more coconut than sweet, I'm not really a sweet fan but I love meat and potatoes. Veggies too. I guess I like real food.
7. Injustice, of any sort, sets off number four which makes me say "it's not fair" at least once a day.
8. I'm a five. And proud of it.

There are some people I would like to tag, but they aren't they type who would want to do this. I also forgot to add a link that someone asked me to do several weeks ago. I'm sorry. And I really do believe in sex education.

Sigh. Military hospitals are overworked. Now there's a surprise. Not. And guess what? I don't think it's fair.

The poor hardly ever right wing must be so disappointed, it IS a crime to obstruct justice. Fortunately for Scooter he won't be forced to spend extra time in a mental facility after he completes his jail sentence (like that's going to happen!), unless he has a competency hearing. Now, that's fair.

Blame The Victim

It's official. Whenever possible the strategy is to blame the victim and then deny all responsibility for causing the mayhem in the first place. Whether it's the new spate of rape cases that are being dismissed for "lack of evidence" despite witnesses, or those people who were too poor or didn't have the means to leave New Orleans so they deserved to be treated less than animals (America's heart and help went out to the abandoned pets) or to the Iraqis who can't live safely in their own country and "allowed" the sectarian violence to mushroom out of control instead of taking control of their own county, the solution is to blame the victim. According to the administration and the neocons view of the world, they have done everything right so therefore it isn't the plan that's the problem, it's the people who don't react as the crew without a clue envisioned. Or as Frank Rich (behind the paywall) points out with this quote from one of the architects of the Iraq debacle.

How we feel about these Iraqis was made naked by one of the administration’s most fervent hawks, the former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, speaking to The Times Magazine this month. He claimed that the Iraqi refugee problem had “absolutely nothing to do” with Saddam’s overthrow: “Our obligation was to give them new institutions and provide security. We have fulfilled that obligation. I don’t think we have an obligation to compensate for the hardships of war.”

That was more than obvious after the Walter Reed scandal hit the news and was replaced with the current blond bimbo story.

Nobody could have foreseen; stuff happens; mission accomplished; purple fingers, etc. What a crock! Of course it was foreseen that the country would deteriorate into sectarian violence, just not by anyone that mattered to the delusional idiot controlling knowledge. Heretofore to be referred to as Dick, for short. How fortuitous, there's already somebody by that name who calls the shots, at least when he isn't busy shooting friends in the face.

Stuff happens all the time and if it happens to the crew without a clue or something they consider valuable, we will get martial law sooner rather than later. Mission accomplished? Why yes it was. That is if your mission was to destroy the military, hamstring the National Guard, devastate the Reserves and set most of the world against us. Purple fingers? Oh yeah, but now it's the middle one, pointed straight up and covered with the blood of their children.

The crew without a clue has actively destroyed a sovereign nation, passively destroyed a domestic city and are heck bent on restricting the rights and freedoms of Americans in the name of "security". But that doesn't matter because Lindsay Lohan is in trouble with the law!

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Alone Again, Naturally

One of the best things about being single is that you rarely have to explain yourself or your behaviors. My other favorite part is having the temperature, lighting and home entertainment just the way I want. The loneliest I have ever been was when I was married. There weren't enough romance novels to fix that mistake. Marriage doesn't complete you or make you a happier person, no matter what the novels, television or the movies tell you. The bloom usually falls off that rose. Singles are happier and more content than ever, no matter what yiour family tells you.

From nappy headed hos (What the heck was Imus thinking? Those women were from Rutgers, not the ghetto.) to being willing to being willing to endorse slavery to blaming black culture instead of poverty and a lack of education, the real attitudes are starting to become more public. Racism is definitely simmering but stupidity is at a rolling boil.

Been there, said that. Quit talking and do something constructive for the troops. Why does somebody who has suffered a traumatic brain injury need to be evaluated for disability? Needless paperwork, designed to delay paying injured veterans for as long as possible. Till death seems to be the goal. Meanwhile they want to spend hundreds of millions to fix Walter Reed. Till they close it down as soon as possible.

And if anybody believes that emails regarding the US Attorney firings are lost, they must be fans of the tv show and not reality. Every day that goes by it becomes harder to ignore the scent of three day old dead skunk. Stinking to high heaven.

Penny wise, pound foolish. Recruitment and reenlistment will drop, divorces will increase, PTSD will affect even more troops and WE STILL AREN'T GOING TO WIN! This is also known as throwing good money after bad. Our current administration obviously isn't familiar with waste not, want not. But they do like to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I guess it's too late for if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Way too late, but it only took them four years to get the picture. Now if only someone would turn the light on for them.

Wednesday Observations

If you have time, this is a very interesting article that explains why in four hundred years our descendants will have a 25 hour day. Who knew all those leap seconds would add up? And will they still be strapped for time?

I used to live in downtown San Diego and my local polling place was in a federal building. In order to vote you had to produce identification and then go through a metal detector. At all times there were officers with guns watching your every move. It was irritating and intimidating, so I started voting absentee, unlike others who just quit voting altogether. Imagine that intimidation on a national scale and you can see why conservatives are so gaga over their plan to pack the ballot box with only those voters who can afford the hassle and are less likely to be harassed.

This is so not a surprise. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Unless you are in Mississippi or Louisiana and are trying to collect on your homeowner's insurance for the damage incurred during Hurricane Katrina. Or your company was responsible for estimating the damage and you kept submitting reports of wind damage instead of the preferred "we have no intention of paying" water damage. Well my consclusion, which is supported by the evidence (New Orleans still looks as bad as it did a year and a half ago), is that this is another instance of insurance companies that like to receive premiums but have no intention of living up to their end of the bargain when their services are finally needed.

No kidding. Only three? Nobody wants this debacle on their resume and they realize who is the real power behind the throne. Or as one of the three general who have turned down the job so eloquently put it.

"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," said retired Marine Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job. Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. "So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks,' " he said.

Uh huh, just like in Empire Strikes Back, all the good officers have been "removed" from duty, now nobody wants to face Darth Vader Cheney. The writing for this disaster was on the wall from the beginning. Even hindsight can't make them face reality.

Forget what the people want, forget that last November the people thought they had made it clear that we wanted the troops home from Iraq. forget that some of these soldiers have been to Iraq more than once, twice, I mean three times. Forget that there are piss poor medical services once they have been stablized and are into recovery, forget that the more time in Iraq, the more incidences of PTSD, lets extend the tours of duty for every one there in a foolish hope that things will get better.

More shenanigans (you have to watch a commercial to access the article) at Walter Reed. It seems that the VA had a report detailing the problems by late 2004 and just ignored it, disavowing all knowledge until confronted with the evidence in a major newspaper. Now Bush has nominated someone who knew about the problems and kept quiet, to be undersecretary of health at the VA. Isn't this a little like the fox watching the hen house?

The crew without a clue wants more power to spy on us. They try and pretty it up, but if you have to break into someone's home to copy a hard drive, you should have a warrant and come in the front door. I know that isn't how this administration likes to operate, but with their current track record of screwing up every thing they touch, I don't want them touching me. Or my hard drive. Not that there is anything on it of interest to anyone but me, but way too many rights have been circumvented already.

Pets, Martians And Marginalization

The pet food recall has been a tragedy for many families and my heart goes out to them. Shai Shai has been on a no wheat, corn, soy, chicken or beef (except bones that I boil) for many years due to a skin condition, but she eats very well, better than your average dog or cat. My friend L decided to switch to a higher quality cat food for his two ladies. He started with the wet food and was planning to switch the dry food soon. This might help him go a little faster. Makes you wonder if a recall would help improve the quality of pet food. Something has to change.

Why doesn't the Department of Defense have one computer system that works? Why are the troops forced to endure bureaucracy for every, little thing? Why, after almost six years of constant warfare, is there not a unified system for medical records?

The Defense Department’s inability to get all hospitals to use the system has routinely forced thousands of wounded soldiers to endure long waits for treatment, the officials said, and exposed others to needless testing.

Inability or incompetence? Given the track record of the crew without a clue, it isn't hard to believe that it's incompetence, and willful at that. Supporting the troops has never been a high priority with this administration. Bush has yet to attend a funeral, but he will visit Walter Reed. To explain his side of the story because the buck never stops there.

Charles Krauthammer wants to bring in an objective observer, a Martian, to help us understand why Iraq is more important than Afghanistan in the war on terror while completely missing the point that WE started the battle in Iraq. No one else. Not even that Osama bin Forgotten guy that he was so hot for teacher for six years ago.

Thought experiment: Bring in a completely neutral observer -- a Martian -- and point out to him that the United States is involved in two hot wars against radical Islamic insurgents. One is in Afghanistan, a geographically marginal backwater with no resources and no industrial or technological infrastructure. The other is in Iraq, one of the three principal Arab states, with untold oil wealth, an educated population, an advanced military and technological infrastructure that, though suffering decay in the later years of Saddam Hussein's rule, could easily be revived if it falls into the right (i.e., wrong) hands. Add to that the fact that its strategic location would give its rulers inordinate influence over the entire Persian Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf states. Then ask your Martian: Which is the more important battle? He would not even understand why you are asking the question.

Probably because if this mythical creature were to suddenly appear, it wouldn't be a war against terror anymore, it would be the Earth against the Martians as Reagan so helpfully pointed out in the eighties. On the other hand, our military is so worn and depleted that we might have a little difficulty contributing to the world effort. You regard it as abandoning Iraq. No we abandoned New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We actively screwed up Iraq and every day we make it worse. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, and we should use our discretion to try and return the country to what's left of their rightful owners.

It's nice that colleges are teaching financial literacy classes, but they should be taught in high school, before all that debt is incurred.

Cool, a new tactic to force people into a lower wage bracket. Fire them for making too much money and then offer them their old job at half the rate. I worked at Universal when they went to a two tiered pay system. Within months they had laid off most of the top tier and a few months later, they slowly rehired us. You get what you pay for. If you let your more experienced workers go and your company is dependent on service ...well, the repercussions could be painful. And executives are never overpaid. Nope, no hypocrisy there.

Monday Morning Musings

The woman has been dead for a month and is still garnering headlines. How many G.I.'s lost life (over 100) and limb in the same time period? Does anybody care besides their families and those of us who blog or are they so distracted by the latest blond experience that nothing else matters? Have we become such a superficial society that we care more about a woman who spent her life occupying the tabloids in life and death, and very little for a man who gave up fame and fortune to defend his country and then lost his life due to friendly fire and had that covered up for years? Hey, I hear Britney's giving interviews.

How to get your nap on, which is a rather active phrase for such a restful activity.

My idea of Homeland Security is just that, protecting the homeland. This means beefing up the Coast Guard, not losing lives across the world to insurgents that we helped to create. Thank goodness someone else is finally supervising this forgotten branch of defense. Drugs are not all that they search for and they need quality working equipment to accomplish their mission.

So, good cholesterol drugs don't work as well as hoped. Heaven forbid that people should exercise and change their diet. And as Elizabeth Edwards pointed out on 60 Minutes last night, we all die of something. And to really cheer you up, if you don't die of a heart attack or stroke, which is the most likely statistical possibility, Alzheimer's is liable to get you.

All alone at the top. Why don't I feel sorry for him? Well, when you decide to be the Decider, why should anyone else feel like participating in the decision making process? Every body is so focused on running for the next office that they aren't doing the job they were hired for. Serving the American people. Something that seems to fly right past the party of mismanagement. It wasn't just the trifecta of Walter Reed, the FBI abuses or the obvious political over and undertones of the US Attorney firings, it was the six year record of incompetence and cronyism that has made the American people weary and cynical towards their "representatives". Lonely, oh so lonely. And what do infants do when they are left alone too long? They destroy things. Look out for the fallout.

Thursday Morning Nibbles

My guess is that military women in Iraq really aren't drinking enough water during the day so they don't have to go to the latrine at night. It would be interesting to know where the sexual assaults are being committed.

A backwards timeline of the US Attorney firings. They knew there were going to be problems, that what they were doing was probably going to invite scrutiny. What gets me is that they were able plan this since they hadn't previously exhibited the ability to plan anything and every new situation was something that "no one could have anticipated". Too bad they put it in writing.

Six of eight were top performers and five of the eight fired attorneys provided most of the convictions. So much for the stated excuse of incompetence. When you are incompetent in the Bush administration, you get promoted, not fired. If you have difficulty following the party line, you get booted.

Why is it that when a financial problem is discovered, one that had more to do with previous administrations cutting the funding source than ineptitude, that the response is to contain costs by cutting the operating budget, reducing administration and maintenance at a time when logic tells you that the services provided are going to be needed more than ever? The VA retirement home has been under financial siege since the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile veterans of Korea and Vietnam are getting older and need the services. The result? Another shameful example of what not to do when you want to support the troops. From the GAO, not the press. Why did it take two years to get to the mediation table for a situation like this?

So not a surprise. It was obvious that the government's case had been tampered with. The powers that be weren't going to let their compadres lose their jobs or any the companies lose any monies in fines. Exxon still hasn't paid up from the Valdez spill eighteen years ago while managing to have $2 billion shaved from the original award. There's a pattern here, and it isn't pretty.

Less than two years old, plays a mean game of tennis. Wii, that is.

I work with an autistic gentleman and a Downs syndrome woman. Absolutely fascinating people. And yes, they do have their own prejudices. While being deaf was listed as the most preferable disability, blindness wasn't mentioned. Interesting. Oh well, to quote my autistic friend,"okay, bye!"

Wednesday Observations

Ever since I was a little girl I've had difficulty understanding why the people of Washington D.C. don't have a vote that matters. They have to pay the same taxes, as well as house the President, Congress, the Supreme Court and various world dignitaries on a daily basis. But when push comes to shove, they have very little say in local or national government. They weren't eligible to vote for President until 1961 and didn't have their own mayor until 1973. Isn't it time for one of the largest slave trading cities in America to let its citizens have an equal say in government? No taxation without representation, as the old saying goes. And isn't it a little hypocritical to for the White House to use the Constitution as an excuse for not changing?

So the crew without a clue have their very own 18 something time gap. Except for them it is 18 days, not minutes. This would be almost funny except for the fact that this is my government and representative to the world.

Her feet must be pretty big considering the size of her mouth, the woman should be ashamed of herself. But then the people reelected her, so I guess supporting the troops isn't a big thing in her district.

Finally! Progress and innovation at NASA. If we don't manage to blow ourselves up, we might make it into space. Again.

Wednesday Observations

It's hard to figure out what's saddest about this story. Is it that he died alone, that nobody missed him, or that it took eighteen months to find his body. If it wasn't for the tax man ...

I don't smoke and I find this offensive. Perfume has the same effect on me, what about banning it?

Now it occurs to people that no money down wasn't a good idea? The bottom is falling out and it's a long way down. Since these types of things tend to snowball, when everything shakes out there will probably be quite a few less individual homeowners for a substantial period of time.

Uh oh, the President was disturbed with a problem while he was outside the country and he's not happy about it. As I noted yesterday, Harriet Miers is going to be the fall girl in this scandal. So much for loyalty. Plus, she's a girl and that equals expendable to the crew without a clue.

I remember this joke from when I was in, now it has an extra paragraph for a disease that wasn't common at the time. Found on a blog from a patient, excuse me, Wounded Warrior, at Walter Reed. Good stuff.

10 Ideas to Get You Exercising

Photo proof that men like to look at crotches and they don't really care what or who it belongs to.

News Bites

Another ridiculously obvious study has been completed. It seems that people judge you on your looks in the workplace. Clean, polished and well dressed equal competence in most people's eyes. Alert the media. Physical attractiveness creates a halo around a person. No kidding.

Libby, Libby, Libby on the label, label, label. Do you think that somehow there's a pardon on the table? It didn't take much to distract people from the Walter Reed saga. Or Iraq.

The crazy astronaut story is back again, she's forcibly unemployed. Brangelina are adopting again and the usual blond bimbettes are keeping up with each other's stupidity. Could we please have real news for a change?

Okay, let's go over this one more time. The government's job is to protect its citizens. This includes helping them to recover from disasters and it shouldn't be dependent on a specific dollar amount. I guess when you're poor, you don't need or deserve help. Even if it is just a few miles away and helping nobody else. Welcome to BushMerika, where only the rich get help.

Another intelligently planned raid. Offering the parents the option of state care is just stupid. Punishing the immigrants after what they had already been through, is shortsighted and foolish. The emotional trauma to a child who thinks it has been abandoned, is never fully erased. Yes, immigrant children love their parents too.

Everbody's Talking

What is the hardly ever right going to do now that it's obvious that Walter Reed is NOT an isolated incident? That it isn't a few disgruntled troops? That it's a problem from coast to coast? I grew up using military hospitals during the Vietnam war and my memory is of how clean they were, how they smelled of alcohol and how shiny everything was. It was someone's job and it reflected their pride, duty and honor. Those jobs that got outsourced to private contractors at many times the salary of a lower enlisted soldier were important to the proper functioning of the military but if you have no respect for the troops to begin with, it isn't a great stretch to deny them simple humanities such as competent health care.

The adventures of ponzo is a new addition to my blogroll, he found me because he was researching who was interested in the Walter Reed debacle. He's currently experiencing military ineptitude first hand. I hope he still likes me, even if I am a liberal.

The homeless veteran population is growing and only an ostrich would believe that it will get better without help. Perhaps we could get ahead of the curve for a change?

Indentured servitude is making a comeback in the US. If this idea takes off, it will be only a few short steps to making it mandatory and pretty soon, you don't have to pay people a working wage, you can just arrest them and put them to work. Now we know why they keep busting pot smokers.

Even though I own a somewhat small dog (the world's most beautiful pug, Shai Shai) myself, I just can't imagine four German Shepherds getting rounded up by strangers. As scary and tragic as the scene must have felt, the picture of two grown men trying to scoop up puppies did bring a smile to my face. That must have been some talk that the dad gave. Shame he hadn't done it a few years earlier.

I can't imagine why someone would think it was a conspiracy that fourteen journalists have died under suspicious circumstances during the current Russian regime. It could happen to anyone, and just because they were in the process of embarrassing the government is no reason to start putting two and two together and coming up with fourteen. Anyone can fall head first from a fifth story window with their coat and hat on, even though they lived on the third. Or get killed unloading groceries.

Saturday Morning Quickie

Sorry, I've been really busy lately. I'll do a long post tomorrow. One of my first posts was about these bright high school kids who beat college teams from all over the United States, including MIT, in an underwater robot competition by using ingenuity, determination and a tampon. And then got royally screwed because their parents weren't legal Sins of the father and all that nonsense. The Dream Act would be a step toward justice and common sense. Children should not be punished for their parent's decisions, no matter what their nationality.

The only surprise is that the White House admitted what we already knew. It was political and not particularly in the best interests of the American taxpayers, but they aren't really all that important, are they? Asking Gonzales to investigate is about as helpful as asking a peeping Tom to guard the bedroom window at the Hefner estate.

Excuse me, what other side of the story could there possibly be? There is and never will be an excuse for injured or disabled veterans to live in squalor. Never. Whether in or out of the hospital, there is no excuse. It wasn't the two stories that were the problem, it was what the two stories discovered and pointed out. Those soldiers have already paid a terrible price, the brass should accept responsibility for the mistakes made during their command. They are all too willing to accept the credit when something goes right.

Friday Morning Quickie

Kevin Berger writes an excellent article explaining who and why the different groups are fighting in Iraq. Some people are so passionate about fighting the Americans, that they are breaking out of prisons in other countries so they can be a missionary or martyr for Islam in Iraq. Meanwhile, the 101st Fighting Keyboarders can't be bothered to do more than slap a magnet on their vehicle while they exhort the liberals to go fight a war to prove their loyalty. I see why al-Qaeda thinks they are going to win.

Did you ever wonder how we managed to grow up? No bike helmets, mandatory vaccinations, walked to school by ourselves, brought our bologna lunches with mayo and no refrigeration, how did we ever make it to adulthood? The common cold was just that, common. The only cold medicine I ever got was Sucrets for my throat and VapoRub to help breathe. Overdosing was never a problem, neither was dying. Oh, and we slept in our own beds. Sheesh.

Not a good news story, just the usual crew without a clue botched cover up. These poor troops are going to be under lockdown, worse than basic training. Used, abused and discarded, but nobody is supposed to know about it. Enter, the code of silence enforcer. Would Patton, Eisenhower or MacArthur approve? I doubt it.

I'm really tired today, it's been a super stressful week. Mom has a definite diagnosis of emphysema and small artery disease that is causing parts of her brain to slowly die. Her reasoning processes have always been suspect, but lately they have been out of control. She managed to lose every piece of colored clothes this week. They are gone. All I have left are my underwear and the clothes I was wearing when she decided to do laundry. Then I found out that now she has neither MediCare or Secure Horizons. No health insurance at all. Had it right up until her stroke and now, nothing. I'm really stressed.

Oh well, off to take mom for her blood tests and to pick up her new prescriptions that I can't afford. Lovely.

Passed The Boiling Point

On the fourth paragraph. As a veteran, I am so offended by the treatment to the injured troops and veterans that it is reflected in my blood pressure. Meditation doesn't help, the heck with that deep breathing stuff. Been there, done that and the news just keeps getting worse.

The Washington Post articles on the Walter Reed travesty aren't new, unfortunately. I sent emails (scrubbed by Lycos) about preparing for the increased demand for veteran's services in 2001. Salon wrote about the problems long before I started blogging about it here, which leads me to believe that supporting the troops is just another figment of the American imagination. My heart is just breaking. From

"I met guys who weren't going to appointments because the hospital didn't even know they were there," Robinson said. Kiley told him to speak to a sergeant major, a top enlisted officer.

To

Kiley lives across the street from Building 18. From his quarters, he can see the scrappy building and busy traffic the soldiers must cross to get to the 113-acre post. At a news conference last week, Kiley, who declined several requests for interviews for this article, said that the problems of Building 18 "weren't serious and there weren't a lot of them." He also said they were not "emblematic of a process of Walter Reed that has abandoned soldiers and their families."

And your planet is?

In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. "When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable," said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.

Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, "I went flying down to Kevin Kiley's office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else."

A true Bush supporter and enabler. Nothing is too good for troops, unless you actually happen to be one. How deep does the snow job go?

Last October, Joyce Rumsfeld, the wife of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, was taken to Walter Reed by a friend concerned about outpatient treatment. She attended a weekly meeting, called Girls Time Out, at which wives, girlfriends and mothers of soldiers exchange stories and offer support.

According to three people who attended the gathering, Rumsfeld listened quietly. Some of the women did not know who she was. At the end of the meeting, Rumsfeld asked one of the staff members whether she thought that the soldiers her husband was meeting on his visits had been handpicked to paint a rosy picture of their time there. The answer was yes.

When Walter Reed officials found out that Rumsfeld had visited, they told the friend who brought her -- a woman who had volunteered there many times -- that she was no longer welcome on the grounds.

This has the smell of ...coverup. Unless you count the different essences from the barnyard. But the crap continues to increase.

Yesterday, Walter Reed received an unscheduled inspection by a hospital accreditation agency. Members of the Joint Commission, formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, began a two-day visit "for cause" to examine discharge practices that have allowed soldiers to go missing or unaccounted for after they are released from the hospital.

True to form, go after the little people, punish the troops because the government can't uphold its end of the bargain. The injured soldiers aren't missing or unaccounted for, you lost them. Fair and square or through stupidity and arrogance, take your pick. Now you want to balance the books.

With their blood.

Again.