Norman Mailer 1923-2007

Another one of the good guys has left us. He wasn't perfect, but then, who is? Please read this obit.

Many Vet charities are a ripoff

The Blotter (ABC News)

In the last two years, generous Americans answering appeals to help wounded and paralyzed veterans have given more than $464 million to charities that have been given an F in a new report card from a leading charity watchdog group.

Of the 27 military and veterans' charities reviewed by Borochoff's group, 13 were rated F, including the Amvets National Service Foundation, the Army Emergency Relief Fund, Freedom Alliance, the National Veterans Services Fund, the Military Order of the Purple Heart Services Foundation and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

But it has meant six-figure salaries and prosperous lifestyles for some of the people running the F-rated charities.

As the founder of a charity called Help Hospitalized Veterans, which distributes craft kits to veterans' hospitals, Roger Chapin of San Diego pays himself and his wife more than half a million dollars a year in salary.

But according to their analysis, the American Institute of Philanthropy says of the $70 million Help Hospitalized Veterans took in last year, only 31 percent went to the actual charitable cause. The rest was mainly overhead and fundraising costs, meaning a grade of F.

I have benefitted from craft kits. When I was at the VA Dom, I musta put together a hundred of them. I got into the leather kits - moccasins, wallets, checkbook covers, and so on and so on. They were a wonderful way to pass the time and everybody did some kind of craft kit. There were all kinds of them. The hospital had a room stacked floor to ceiling with them.

I got an appeal from that outfit, and knowing what craft kits mean to hospitalized Vets, I sent in the suggested donation, about twenty bucks, and was glad to do it. In many of the kits I did, there was a prepaid postcard with the donor's name and address which you were supposed to send back by way of thanks, which I did. Not all the kits had them.

What made me a little suspicious of this 'charity' was that I got one of those cards back almost immediately, like someone in their office sent it. After reading the above article, I think that was probably the case. Instant gratification so you'll feel like sending more. The VA has so many kits on hand, at least where I was, that it should have taken months, if not years, for that kit to filter down through the system.

I now get fancier and bulkier appeals from HHV. They seem to have a pretty good budget to try to mine my wallet. I haven't sent them any more money and the hole in my lip has healed up.

I think craft kits for hospitalized Vets is a good idea from my own experience, but there must be a better way to get the kits to them than by lining the pockets of some CEO.

A footnote:

Iraq War veteran Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told ABC News veterans deserve more.

"Veterans are not a place to make a buck. Veterans have served our country and have put their butts on the line, and they need these organizations to care for them when they come home," he said. "So if you're not serious about being in the business of helping veterans, go find something else to do."

And Rieckhoff encouraged all donors "to give but to think long and hard about it, and do a little research and find out who you're giving to so that you know your money's being used appropriately."

Hear, hear.

Kucinich writes to Conyers

After Downing Street

November 9, 2007
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
2138 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Conyers

I am writing in support of H. Res. 799, the Articles of Impeachment which were referred to the committee relative to the Impeachment of the Vice President of the United States of America.

Recent reports indicate that the Vice President is attempting to shape the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran (my link - G) to conform to his misperceptions about the threat Iran actually poses. Much like his deceptive efforts in the lead up to the Iraq war, the Vice President appears to be manipulating intelligence to conform to his beliefs.

If the reports are true, they add additional weight to the case for impeachment. I believe impeachment remains the only tool Congress has to prevent a war in Iran. This information relates directly to the Article III charges in the resolution. I urge your timely consideration.

Sincerely,

/s/

Dennis J. Kucinich

Member of Congress

Yeah, what Denny said. Get hoppin', John.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is the 232d Birthday of the Marine Corps. Usually I write something, but this year I'm lazy, so here's a history of Marine Corps Birthday from Heritage Press International:

[Marine Corps Birthday: (excerpt from Warrior Culture of the U.S. Marines, copyright 2001 Marion F. Sturkey)

All U.S. Marines are gung-ho. But, few can match the vision and total commitment of the famous 13th Commandant, Gen. John A. Lejeune. In 1921 he issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921.

Gen. Lejeune's order summarized the history, mission, and tradition of the Corps. It further directed that the order be read to all Marines on 10 November of each year to honor the founding of the Marine Corps. Thereafter, 10 November became a unique day for U.S. Marines throughout the world.

Soon, some Marine commands began to not only honor the birthday, but celebrate it. In 1923 the Marine Barracks at Ft. Mifflin, Pennsylvania, staged a formal dance. The Marines at the Washington Navy Yard arranged a mock battle on the parade ground. At Quantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Marine baseball team played a Cuban team and won, 9 to 8.

The first "formal" Birthday Ball took place on Philadelphia in 1925. First class Marine Corps style, all the way! Guests included the Commandant, the Secretary of War (in 1925 the term "politically correct" didn't exist; it was Secretary of War, not Secretary of Defense), and a host of statesmen and elected officials. Prior to the Ball, Gen. Lejeune unveiled a memorial plaque at Tun Tavern. Then the entourage headed for the Benjamin Franklin Hotel and an evening of festivities and frolicking.

Over the years the annual Birthday Ball grew and grew, taking on a life of its own. In 1952 the Commandant, Gen. Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr., formalized the cake-cutting ceremony and other traditional observances. For example, Marine Corps policy now mandates that the first piece of cake must be presented to the oldest U.S. Marine present. The second piece goes to the youngest Marine. Among the many such mandates is a solemn reading of the Commandant's birthday message to the Corps.

Like the U.S. Marine Corps itself, the annual Birthday Ball has evolved from simple origins to the polished and professional functions of today. Nonetheless, one thing remains constant, the tenth day of November! This unique holiday for warriors is a day of camaraderie, a day to honor Corps and Country. Throughout the world on 10 November, U.S. Marines celebrate the birth of their Corps -- the most loyal, most feared, most revered, and most professional fighting force the world has ever known.]

That last line was written by a true Marine, you can just tell!

Here's the Commandant's Birthday Message to the Corps:

[Since the birth of our Nation, our liberty has been purchased by valiant men and women of deep conviction, great courage, and bold action; the cost has often been in blood and tremendous sacrifice. As America's sentinels of freedom, United States Marines are counted among the finest legions in the chronicles of war. Since 1775, Marines have marched boldly to the sounds of the guns and have fought fiercely and honorably to defeat the scourge of tyranny and terror. We are Marines — that is what we do.

In the words of President John F. Kennedy: "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger." Magnificent heroes fought in the wheat fields of Belleau Wood, in the snows of the Chosin, and on the streets of Hue City. Your generation bears this obligation now, and it is borne on mighty and capable shoulders. Just like the Marines at Belleau Wood — we are once again engaged in sustained operations ashore. Just like at Belleau Wood — the Marines have been given the toughest sector and have prevailed over a resilient and determined enemy — who has made us pay for our gains. Once again, as in any struggle, the road ahead is far from certain, but as Marines, we are not dissuaded by the challenges of war or the tough conditions of a warrior's life. Indeed, we don't just accept our destiny — we shape it.

On our 232nd birthday, to every Marine — those still in uniform and those who have served honorably in the past — be proud of who you are and what you do. Know that your citizenship dues have been paid in full; you are part of this Nation's elite warrior class. Cherish our families who offer marvelous support, abiding resolve, and steadfast patience. Remember those who have served and those who have fallen — their names are chiseled on the roll call of America's heroes. Those who have carried the battle colors of our Corps have forged our heritage, and today's generation of leathernecks chart our future. Carry the colors with pride; carry them with honor.

Happy birthday, Marines!]

You are invited to read my previous Birthday posts here, here, and here. Enjoy.

Semper Fidelis is the Corps motto. It means roughly "Keep the Faith, Baby". Good advice for us all during this period when America has been hijacked by the forces of darkness. It will pass.

Wolcott!

Via the lovely Avedon, a short but complete description:

... Anyone who advocates, supports, defends, rationalizes, or excuses torture has pus for brains and a case of scurvy for a conscience ...

Saturday whorage

As with every other Saturday, the next chapter of my novel Thirty Days at Zeta is up at The Practical Press.

Let us know what you're talking about in comments.

God May Forgive You

I'd like to dedicate this Iris Dement tune to George W. Bush.

I'll get the fat bastid this year ...

With the Stinger missile I bought myself on eBay. Watch out, Santa, the War on Christmas has begun.

Suddenly, Impeachment Hearings are Starting to Look Likely

Dave Lindorff with some good news for a change:

You wouldn't know it if you just watch TV news or read the corporate press, but this past Tuesday, something remarkable happened. Despite the pig-headed opposition of the Democratic Party's top congressional leadership, a majority of the House, including three Republicans, voted to send Dennis Kucinich's long sidelined Cheney impeachment bill (H Res 333) to the Judiciary Committee for hearings.

Stephen Cohen (D-TN), a member of the Judiciary Committee who is a co-sponsor of the Kucinich resolution, says he thinks that there will be an impeachment hearing in the committee.

The Democratic strategy for the 2008 election has been to do nothing overly confrontational, to pass no significant legislation, to collect lots of money from corporate interests, and to hope the Republican Party, saddled with an unpopular administration and an unpopular war, will implode.

The strategy, however, is proving to be a disaster, as public support for the Democratic do-nothing Congress has fallen even below the president's record low numbers. Just running against Republicans, Bush/Cheney, and the continuing war risks seeing Democrats go down to defeat in '08.

It is awareness of this looming electoral disaster that underlies the growing restiveness among rank-and-file Democrats in the House, all of whom have to face the voters in less than a year's time.

As recently as a month ago, it didn't look like impeachment was in the cards; Now it's starting to look like Cheney's going to be put in the dock.

It may not be long before we start to see bills of impeachment filed against President Bush too.

The corporate media enjoy making fun of Rep. Kucinich, a height-challenged but dedicated progressive who has made a career of standing tall for his views. If his bill ends up leading to impeachment hearings against Cheney, Kucinich will end up having the last laugh.

I think that's a metaphor. This is no laughing matter. I have no idea where this will lead, and I had no idea it would ever get even this far, not in my wildest dreams, but I'm sure glad it seems to be going forward.

Bush ♣ Liberty

I dictate that you click it

MoDo channels Bush in a Second Inaugural do-over speech in the wake of what's goin' on in Pakistan:

We are led, by recent events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the repression of liberty in other lands

Sometimes when the soul of a nation speaks, we must listen. But if that soul is housed in a bunch of trial lawyers wearing identical dark suits and calling my man Mushy a “dog,” I say, bring on the batons. Police tear-gassing lawyers is really just a foreign version of tort reform, which I support.

I don’t blame Mushy for dissolving that disloyal Supreme Court. When I needed to subvert the democratic process during the 2000 recount, my Supreme Court was totally supportive.

From now on, it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of tyrannical movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending democracy in our world so liberty can thrive.

Condi was very worried about Mushy suspending the Constitution, but Vice says Constitutions are for sissies. He doesn’t see anything wrong with Mushy’s press blackout. He thinks we can learn a few lessons from him.

Vice says if we had someone decisive like Mushy in Iraq instead of those floppy Iranian puppets we put in power, we’d be a lot better off.

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will ignore your oppression and excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will not stand with you.

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to mistrust them. Stop your journey of progress and justice, and America will not only walk at your side, we’ll give you billions of dollars and lots of big-ticket stuff, like F-16s — no strings attached. And we’ll take you at your word that you have no intention of using them against India.

In the long run, there is justice without freedom, and there can be human rights once the human rights activists have been thrown in the pokey.

Three years ago, I believed that the most important question history would ask us was: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom?

But now I am older and wiser. I know that the most important question history will ask us is: What’s a little martial law between friends?

I must now go and contemplate the life-size cardboard cutout of Ms. Dowd that I have stapled to my bathroom door...

Robertson ♥ Giuliani

The Rude One. I love that guy! But wait, I'm not,,,

Let's say, and why not, that you're a Rudy Giuliani supporter. There are certain delusions you have to subscribe to. You have to behave as if you are a hardcore PCP addict, snortin' and shootin' up that dust like it's camel piss and you're dyin' in the desert. Because you're so constantly fucked up, for you time stopped on September 11, 2001, and all around you are phantoms with beards and guns, evil dictators fellating nuke missiles that are Allah's strap-ons, and voices, oh, those fuckin' voices, in your head, saying, "Wreck shit, wreck it all." So, yeah, sure, you support Giuliani, who shares your hallucinations, who speaks in the same language, the demi-coherent grunts of the bloodthirsty addict, ready to lash out and take out everything to keep the phantoms distant, to keep the voices sated. And Israel, of course, making sure that Israel is safe because...well, you forgot why a long time ago - such is the fate of the heavy user - but you're sure someone you trust told you it was worth starting a regional, if not global, conflagration over.

Now let's say you are a Pat Robertson-supporting evangelical. You've lived your life according to what some rich guy on TV and in your local pulpit has told you the Bible means. You've repressed a good four-fifths of your sexual desires because you wanna make sure the correct orifices are in use. You've been told, at various times, that the greatest threats to America and you and your family are homosexuals, abortion providers, divorce, feminists, and more. And, even though it's made you completely nutzoid to agree to hate so much while Robertson smiles and tells you how God loves us all, you nod your head when Robertson says shit like, "Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals--the two things seem to go together" and "From a biblical standpoint, the rise of homosexuality is a sign that a society is in the last stages of decay." Hell, you've even given Robertson money from one of your two jobs to make sure that gays don't marry because you don't want a pissed-off Jesus asking you what the fuck you did to make sure the homos stayed single and closeted. Nobody wants that.

And, sure, fine, you agree with Robertson that Israel is important because of the rapture. And, sure, Islamofascists or whatever are a threat, but that's new. It's not in your DNA yet. No, all this time, you were a culture warrior, man, and you're all geared up and ready for a battle in '08 against that harridan Hillary.

It's time to precipitate an existential crisis among both groups. For, truly, by letting himself get teabagged by Robertson's saggy sack, Giuliani may secure the nomination, but he's lost the general election. Christ, back on February 28, 2000, on Larry King Live, Giuliani called Robertson one of the "extremists of the right."

And Robertson's support can be pushed away. Make both groups float, lost in the purgatory of political reality, forced to decide what's more important, their souls or the power. Sweet temptations. One might need to, oh, hell, pray to resolve this one.

Why the fuck not. It's the kind of savage self-compromise Democratic supporters have had to make for years.

Damn, he's good!

Update:

Andy Borowitz

Rev. Robertson said that he was “confident” that within weeks of his inauguration, Mr. Giuliani would usher in the “end days” that are a staple of Bible prophecy.

In praising Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Robertson had critical words for the current resident of the White House, President George W. Bush: “President Bush got us on the road to Armageddon, but it’s taking too darn long -- Rudy Giuliani will put us in the express lane.”

While the Giuliani camp initially welcomed the endorsement of the influential evangelist, the former New York mayor seemed less enthusiastic today about being identified as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

When asked by a reporter in Iowa about Mr. Robertson’s comments today, Mr. Giuliani replied, “9/11.”

Looks like JulieAnnie's skipping the noun and the verb and cuttin' to the chase. The soul of brevity.

Rage of Reason

Eugene Robinson

It's official: Bush Derangement Syndrome is now a full-blown epidemic. George W. Bush apparently has reduced more of his fellow citizens to frustrated, sputtering rage than any president since opinion polling began, with the possible exception of Richard Nixon.

Yes, I was angry with Nixon, but comparing how I felt about him to the way I feel about Bush is like comparing a water pistol to a fire hose.

That should be a pretty good indicator of where Bush will rank when historians get their hands on his shameful record -- in the cellar, alongside the only president who ever had to resign in disgrace.

Better yet, since there won't be many books in his presidential library, there'll be plenty of room for a diorama of Bush leaving office, using the original rail he was ridden out of town on, along with the actual tar and feathers he was wearing at the time.

It's considered racist, and rightly so, to display nooses, but I hope they can figure out a way to display the one that brings his insanity to an end.

The Enemy Within: Finding American Backs to Stab

A Tomgram on who's really to blame for the loss of Bush's War. Here's a hint: According to them what did it, twarn't them. An excellent 'must read'.

You know there's trouble ahead when Iraq, in its present state, is the good news story for Bush administration policy. [...]

Strangely, from Ethiopia to Pakistan, despite all the signs, all the predictions, the Bush administration, as far as we can tell, expected none of the above. How often can it be caught off guard by the consequences of its own decisions and actions? Eternally, it seems.

The world's finest military launches a highly coordinated shock-and-awe attack that shows enormous initial progress. There's talk of the victorious troops being home for Christmas. But the war unexpectedly drags on. As fighting persists into a third, and then a fourth year, voices are heard calling for negotiations, even "peace without victory." Dismissing such peaceniks and critics as defeatists, a conservative and expansionist regime -- led by a figurehead who often resorts to simplistic slogans and his Machiavellian sidekick who is considered the brains behind the throne -- calls for one last surge to victory. Unbeknownst to the people on the home front, however, this duo has already prepared a seductive and self-exculpatory myth in case the surge fails.

The United States in 2007? No, Wilhelmine Germany in 1917 and 1918, as its military dictators, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and his loyal second, General Erich Ludendorff, pushed Germany toward defeat and revolution in a relentless pursuit of victory in World War I. Having failed with their surge strategy on the Western Front in 1918, they nevertheless succeeded in deploying a stab-in-the-back myth, or Dolchstoßlegende, that shifted blame for defeat from themselves and Rightist politicians to Social Democrats and others allegedly responsible for losing the war by their failure to support the troops at home.

Wow. Déjà vu all over again!

Then again, perhaps that's not quite the case, even now. In The Empire Strikes Back, young Luke Skywalker asks Yoda, his wizened Jedi Master, whether the dark side of the Force is stronger than the good. No, Yoda replies, just "easier, quicker, more seductive" -- an accurate description of the dark power of the stab-in-the-back myth. Politicians sense its future power and alter their positions accordingly. For example, no leading presidential candidate, Republican or Democrat, dares to be labeled "defeatist" by calling for a major withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2008. Exceptions like Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, or even Bill Richardson only prove the rule -- with support in the low single-digits, they risk little in bucking the odds.

Back in 2002-2003, with an all-volunteer military, a new Blitzkrieg strategy, and believing God to be on their side, it appears Bush and Company initially assumed that broader calls for support and sacrifice were militarily unnecessary -- and unnecessarily perilous politically. Now, despite dramatic setbacks over the last four years, they still refuse to mobilize our national will. Their refusal reminds me of the tagline of those old Miller Lite beer commercials: Everything you always wanted in a war, and less -- as in less (or even no) sacrifices.

If no one is held accountable for failed policies, if, in fact, those closest to the failures are showered with honors -- as was, for instance, L. Paul Bremer III, who headed the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad for the President from May 2003 to June 2004 -- it becomes easier to shift blame to anyone (or everyone). Here, German precedents are again compelling. Because the German people were never told they were losing World War I, even as their Army was collapsing in July and August 1918, they were unprepared for the psychological blow of defeat -- and so, all-too-willing to accept the lie that the collapse was due to the enemy within.

Only time will tell. But consider yourself warned. If we lose Iraq, you're to blame.

Yeah, I know. Please pardon the fuck outta us for not being sufficiently in support of imperialstic wet dreams, insane ideologies, and incompetent sociopaths. It's all our fault.

*Shitless, shitless ...

Scared shitless. Warning! Al Qaeda is lurking in the mall, waiting to blow you up.

Listen to me. Al Qaeda doesn't have to do anything else. They've won. Consider the scorecard since 9/11:

1. The U.S. military is bogged down in wars there seems no escape from, though we're throwing trillions into the Sandbox.

2. Oil prices are through the roof (just paid $3.30/gal for regular gas in Mrs. F's car an hour ago), and the Afghani at the station is quite certain we'll hit $4.00/gal by Christmas.

3. The dollar is approaching worthlessness (the Canadian dollar is now worth more).

4. The 'American brand' is hopelessly tarnished around the world, most likely never to regain its former luster in my lifetime.

5. The American political apparatus has been stymied into a virtual stalemate.

6. The only thing the government can do is scare you over the 'terrorists' lurking under every rock, but even that isn't working anymore. They've cried wolf for so long, nobody even gives a shit.

On 12 September 2001, Osama bin Laden would have been fully justified declaring 'Mission Accomplished'. There's no need for him to do anything else here aside from an operation a few months before Election Day next year, just to assure The Party of Al Qaeda the Republicans win the Presidency for another 4 years. Hey, Osama knows he would never have been so successful were it not for the Chimp, Cheney, and their neocon morons minions. Why mess with success, right?

*Apologies to CSN&Y.

They write themselves ...

Maru:

Bonus: the U.S. Commander-in-Chief tells Musharraf: "You can't be the president and the head of the miltary at the same time."

Blink.

Blink.

I'll take that in Euros, please...

7 Countries Considering Abandoning the US Dollar (and what it means)

It’s no secret that the dollar is on a downward spiral. Its value is dropping, and the Fed isn’t doing a whole lot to change that. As a result, a number of countries are considering a shift away from the dollar to preserve their assets. These are seven of the countries currently considering a move from the dollar, and how they’ll have an effect on its value and the US economy.

I'll bet you can name them without looking.

What does this all mean?

Countries are growing weary of losing money on the falling dollar. Many of them want to protect their financial interests, and a number of them want to end the US oversight that comes with using the dollar. Although it’s not clear how many of these countries will actually follow through on an abandonment of the dollar, it is clear that its status as a world currency is in trouble.

Obviously, an abandonment of the dollar is bad news for the currency. Simply put, as demand lessens, its value drops. Additionally, the revenue generated from the use of the dollar will be sorely missed if it’s lost. The dollar’s status as a cheaply-produced US export is a vital part of our economy. Losing this status could rock the financial lives of both Americans and the worldwide economy.

Georgie's daddy gave him our country to play with and he broke it bad. Get the pieces of it away from that brat before he eats them. I don't want the United States to end up as chimp shit.

Senate overrides Bush's water bill veto

CNN

The Senate on Thursday handed President Bush his first veto override -- authorizing $23 billion in new water projects.

Supporters said the projects authorized under the Water Resources Development Act are necessary to rebuild the Gulf Coast after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, restore the Everglades and Great Lakes fisheries and build flood-control projects nationwide.

"A quarter of the state probably wouldn't even exist if we didn't have flood control projects," Lott said. Nearly every president has had trouble with water resource programs, and Bush was "just trying to hold the line on spending."

Spending again, on projects that might actually help undo some of the damage that prick has done.

Go read about these projects. I think possibly the Everglades might fix itself after a little more global warming. It won't be much of a swamp, or a unique ecosystem, any more if it's at the bottom of the ocean.

Let's hope this first override opens the floodgates (Sorry, I couldn't help myself!) to many more. Bush has to be shown he's not really in charge.

Surge Seen in Number of Homeless Veterans

Please read the full article in the NYTimes.

More than 400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have turned up homeless, and the Veterans Affairs Department and aid groups say they are bracing for a new surge in homeless veterans in the years ahead.

Experts who work with veterans say it often takes several years after leaving military service for veterans' accumulating problems to push them into the streets. But some aid workers say the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans appear to be turning up sooner than the Vietnam veterans did.

"We're beginning to see, across the country, the first trickle of this generation of warriors in homeless shelters," said Phil Landis, chairman of Veterans Village of San Diego, a residence and counseling center. "But we anticipate that it's going to be a tsunami."

With more women serving in combat zones, the current wars are already resulting in a higher share of homeless women as well. They have an added risk factor: roughly 40 percent of the hundreds of homeless female veterans of recent wars have said they were sexually assaulted by American soldiers while in the military, officials said.

That last sentence relates to Fixer's post about how are GIs supposed to 'blow off steam' without booze and whores. I'm guessing they get the booze first, either by making it themselves or from Halliburton, and in the absence of hookers go after and commit crimes against female GIs, which crimes are largely covered up. Disgusting on both counts. Back to the main plot line...

Special traits of the current wars may contribute to homelessness, including high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and traumatic brain injury, which can cause unstable behavior and substance abuse, and the long and repeated tours of duty, which can make the reintegration into families and work all the harder.

On the street for a year, he finally checked in at a V.A. clinic in Maryland and has struggled with PTSD, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse. The V.A. has provided temporary housing as he starts a new job.

I stayed at a VA Domiciliary for four and a half months while I was getting some bad habits removed. I had the ability to pay, so it cost me $5 a day, payable after my stay. It's free to the indigent until they get clean and sober and get a job. By that I mean staying sober. Alcohol on your breath will have you on the street outside the facility, or in a civilian jail if you're deemed too drunk to care for yourself, in ten minutes, and you can come back and get your gear in three days' time. I saw this happen to guys who backslid off the program, or 'went out' as they say. Relapse is part of recovery, but not at the VA and I understand why. They can be readmitted at a later time.

The Domiciliary program is wonderful, but space is limited at the various facilities around the country that offer it. There are WWII Vets who need assisted living all the way to modern-day vets who are there to rehab themselves, to out-of-area Vets needing on-site residency while they're undergoing medical treatment. It's comprehensive - three good slops and a clean, comfortable flop, two men to a room where I was, recreation, counseling, virtually everything you need to live pretty good. I liked it there. If they'da let me have a dog, I'd be there yet. Just kiddin', Honey!

Due to the advanced age of WWII, Korean War, and lately Vietnam Vets, the VA is damn good at geriatrics. There was a nursing home adjacent to the Dom where I was, and it was full all the time. Vacancies occurred both from the folks getting well enough to go go home or from 'home-going' as the brothers call it. They had the decency to wheel the deceased out late at night. There were funerals several times a week at the post chapel with accompanying gunfire, which made some old combat vets hit the deck.

Just as an example, there was an old gent there whose favorite war story was about the time he damn near stepped off the front of USS New Orleans in the dark and the smoke after she got her bow blown off by Japanese naval gunfire off Guadalcanal. He was eighty years old, a snappy dresser in the Arizona style, and would go on any outing just to go for a ride. Nice old coot. He was at the Dom because his family had swindled him out of any money he might have had, and, oh yeah, because he had Alzheimer's and they couldn't be bothered. We used to see him occasionally wandering around not knowing where he was. We would gently steer him back to his room and he would be OK the next day and not remember a thing.

There was another fellow who had been on the Bataan Death March and spent WWII as a prisoner of war. He was very quiet, and spent his time looking in the potted plants for God knows what. He was a little 'out there', but a good guy. Rumor had it that he had a MOH, but I've not been able to verify it.

My Dom roommate, now my friend for life, was a Marine Vietnam Vet and later a firefighter, who got in some trouble, did some prison time, lost his wife and everything else, and ended up with a low-paying casino food-service job and a meth habit to the point where, job notwithstanding, he slept (when he slept) under the stars on the banks of the Colorado River. He's now a custodian at the same VA facility, a good-paying job and one not uncommon amongst former patients 'til they move onwards and upwards if they care to, lives off post, and is rebuilding his life.

Just as an aside, me'n my roomie used to go play Bingo a coupla nights a week at the post theater. That's a whole story by itself. The Vet we always sat with was a WWII Coastie who was staying temporarily at the nursing home. On Bingo nights, she told her friends that she had a date with two Marines!

The VA works, folks. They understand very well what they are doing and their 'customer' base whom they are doing it to for. The medical treatment is very good, if sometimes a little slow. A note here: if you have a Purple Heart (or a Medal Of Honor) you go to the head of the line.

The VA used to be only for Vets who had service-connected health problems. They damn near went out of business in the '90s. The WWII guys were starting to dwindle, so they opened it up to Vets without service-connected problems, and that's when I and probably millions of others were able to hook up with them for cheap medical care. That was also about the time the Korean War and Vietnam Vets started to get old enough to need care. The system got overwhelmed then, and it's getting overwhelmed again by Bush's Lie.

The VA knows what it's doing and cares deeply about Veterans. It needs to build and expand. It didn't anticipate what's happening now. We can say it should have, and indeed it should have, but it fell for the same Bush & Cheney bullshit a whole lotta the rest of us did. Now it's playing catch-up. With one little problem slowing down what should be a full court press expansion project.

The problem is George W. Bush. He'll fight his endless goddam criminal war with trillions in borrowed money that future generations can pay back to the Chinese, but when it comes to things that actually help people, like children or Veterans, well, he's gotta cut spending and fuck them. I could go on and on about that mean-spirited, petulant little prick, but I'd be repeating myself.

One more year. If it is the will of Allah. Then things can start to straighten out. It's going to be an awful long process. Bush has done a lot of damage to every segment of America and will do so until he's shown the door, which I hope is on a prison cell. In Webuttfukyugudistan.

I kinda went off on a tear here. Please go read the article and this related one. It's shameful.

A Very Blackwater Thanksgiving

Glenn W. Smith with a 'recommended read':

Profiteers are wrecking our health and destroying our security.

As Thanksgiving approaches, we should pay homage to the 17th Century Blackwater-like private security firms who made the very first Thanksgiving possible. That's the message from Serviam, a magazine committed to the unstinting defense of private profiteering in every realm of human endeavor. By the magazine's stuffed-turkey logic we should give thanks for all the profiteering and the accountability-killing privatizing that dominates what was once a public sphere. From health care to a mercenary army, profit is alpha and omega, while the moral fabric that holds us together is being ripped apart by pirates. Yes, even our health has been blackwatered. Thank-yous are hardly in order.

The Easter Bunny and be-buckled Puritans have nothing on the blackwater movement when it comes to fantasy, however. Inventing a need for themselves is something of a tradition among mercenary birds-of-prey who somehow get us to stay still while they, all beak and talon, swoop down on our treasuries, our health, and our morality. "Who will guard our diplomats in Iraq if the privateers don't?" they ask self-approvingly. There is a clue in that rhetorical and misleading question to the sorry state of the American health care system, which is entirely dominated by Blackwater-like, privateering insurance companies. "Who will provide health care if you hurt our profits?" insurance company executives and defenders ask. "Our armed forces," should answer the private security executives' question. "Uh, doctors and nurses," should be the answer to the insurance profiteers.

The blackwatering of health care - putting the power in the hands of unaccountable, non-medical, private interests - has taken a deadly toll on our health and lives. We have been so long in the blackwater that we forgot what it would be like to breathe the air of a health care system based on empathy and responsibility, a system that puts citizens' health above private profits.

It's not lost on Blackwater that it will make more money the more dangerous our lives become. That's the logic of the arms industry. War is their profit center. And it's not lost on an insurance industry that the increased fear, imagined and real, of ill health leads to higher premiums and more profits when it is allowed to make its money by denying health care to those who need it most.

The health insurance industry has no more incentive to keep us healthy than Blackwater has in helping us avoid wars.

And the stories they tell us to convince us otherwise have no more reality to them than the Easter Bunny.

At least the Easter Bunny is a cute fiction.

There is certainly nothing 'cute' or 'fictional' about what privatization is doing to us on both these fronts and others. Many lies are told, many laws are made and many others broken with impunity and immunity to get our money. It's Repug policy.

Besides the article ringing quite true, I think the interesting side concept here is that this may be the first time I've seen 'blackwater' used as a verb and an adjective, as in "I been blackwatered! Ooh it hurts!"

No doubt other parts of speech will follow.

Reality-challenged ...

I've said this for years. The Rethugs have no idea where reality ends and fiction begins.

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You know, I write spy novels and some science fiction. The reason I bring this up is not to peddle books, but to make an observation. Bush & Co's actions sound like the plot of a fucking spy novel. It's as if they're taking literary license with the war, the way I would when I ask my audience to suspend their belief in the flow of time and the details. (If writers didn't, novels would be SO long and boring, and filled with minutiae, that no one would want to read them.) But wars don't proceed like novels do. The president is not an omnipotent being, like a writer, who can mold the world so the outcome is in his favor. War, and running a country, involves minutiae on a biblical scale and all the details have to be addressed BEFORE war is declared. It's as if Bush thinks the world works like a TV show or a pulp fiction novel.

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Cal Thomas is a prime example (he has been for years) of a wingnut who watches far too much TV. Chet Scoville looks at the old twit's latest TV/Reality morph:

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I mean, crap, if we're going to take 24 as proof of how the real world works, maybe we can extend the idea a bit further. Maybe we can use The X-Files as proof of extraterrestrial life. And hey, surely it's "not coincidental" that Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer says that the world used to be a demon dimension until humans kicked all the demons out (Giles is after all a scholar and should know what he's talking about). Or, I know, maybe CSI: Miami constitutes proof that forensics works best when you've got whopping big holes in your logic and you take off your sunglasses a lot. And maybe Animaniacs showed us that chickens can disguise themselves as action heroes, cats sing like Bernadette Peters, and minks are teh hawt. After all, why not? None of that is any less real than 24.

As I said about 2 years ago:

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Running a country is NOT a fucking TV show, you idiots.