Arkansas Blog

It's a damn wonder....here in BushWorld that these damaged soldiers aren't housed ON the firing range. How much better for the bottom line than to quickly dispose of these pesky humans the administration used up in order to steal oil in Iraq. A couple of shots to the head and the US would save millions paid out over a broken lifetime of care and attempts at rehabilitation.

Judging from the lack of health care my poor old dead Ma got, I'd say the plan of disposal is alive and well in the home front geriatric circles too. Mark GONER on their charts and keep them comfortable, when you have the time of course, and let nature take its course.

But WTF, Cheney-Bush will be out of office soon, so we're told. They won't cause no trouble once they're retired and playing with their stolen billions. Barack will have it all in his lap to worry about and a whole bunch of these wounded soldiers will keep the Salvation Army and the soup kitchens busy for the next 6 decades. What's a street without a street person?

And think of the potential Academy Award winning movie plots yet to be written. Homeless vet + can of gas + Methodist day care center or crowded grocery store + homeless vet + stolen shotgun or more likely, homeless vet + dark alley corner+ starved to death and not found for 3 months. Oh yeah, our government is making lots of adventures we'll get to witness for the rest of time. Thus is BushWorld.

I have young friends up in Northeast Arkansas who have returned from Iraq and it is very sad to think that only a few years ago I attended their highschool graduations. Now they are home, but they are not the young hopefull graduates they once were. Some joined because that is all they thought they could do and other joined so that they could get some money for college. And the things that they talk about are horrific and have never been shown on any of the news reports I have ever seen. And you can see in their eyes that they are coping to stay sane. Alcohol and other drug abuse is very common among them. Of course they come home to the local community, they are 'heroes'...for a while, then everyone forgets or just assumes that these young men are coping well with what they have been through.

I would like to think that these young men (and a few young women) are atypical, but they are not.

DBI - just what are you doing to try and curb the "BushWorld" destiny you say we are all headed toward? The soup kitchens and day care centers you mentioned, you have plans to volunteer at any of them? What about getting involved with organizations like U.S. Vets or better yet maybe you should run for a public office. If you start off at a city office level by the time you're 80 years-old you might be in a position to act on your anger with a vote at the congressional level.
OR, you could continue to set back b#%ching and blaming all the worlds problems on someone else rather than making a positive contribution to society.
I don't disagree with you that mistakes may have been made by our current leadership. However, I do have a problem with those who whine and complain, but do nothing (other than casting their vote ever four years) to change the world around them. Is it our fault that our leadership led our country down its current path? Yes and no. Either way, we can take it upon ourselves to make an effort to improve the lives of those affected by the decisions of our government.
And yes, I would love to hear about all the programs you volunteer for.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
"Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, director of the Army's Warrior Care and Transition Office, which oversees 12,000 wounded soldiers, said: "I can see how that would be a problem. It's something we haven't considered" but should."
STOO-PID.

James, I suppose I really should let DBI speak for himself, but I will say that different people effect change in different ways. If your way is volunteering, great. If DBI's is writing, wonderful. If mine is voting, so be it. By the way, considering the number of folks who actually do cast a vote, votin' ain't nothin' to sneeze at. That's even more true when you consider that many first time voters in the last presidential election were more concerned with the same sex marriage "issue" than how the country might be run.
The more I think about it, the more the phrase "making a positive contribution to society" just flat out pisses me off. More of my way is the only way, James?

Doigotta - I see you haven't found anything constructive to do with your displeasure either.
I agree that different people effect change in different ways. What I don't agree with are those that use, let's say...writing, as their form of expression yet take little if any action to prompt change other than ranting. All they want to do is bleed negativity with their words, hoping they can recruit others to join their pathetic cry.
It seems that most libby solutions have something to do with ending the war or taking out all our current leadership. That might work, but what about the actual problems? Removing people from power certainly won't make the problems disappear, and I have yet to read any considerable solutions from anyone here.
You don't want to make a positive contribution, fine by me. Just sit there and whaler in negativity. Just know that your plague will spread to those around you and you will forever find yourself sitting in front of a computer dwelling on the only thing you can see...negativity.
For all our sakes, I hope you can find good in something today.

James,

In my oppinion it would be more effective to stop the war first (stem the flow of injured) then after that heal the already injured.

If one were only able to either 1) stop the war, or 2) treat the injured, then my time would be best spent stopping the war at 29,000 injured, AND THEN help those 29,000 instead of helping the 29,000 injured now and the next 29,000 through the next ten years of combat.

Stopping the war now saves more people than simply treating the maimed without stemming the flow.

Bush's duplicitous administration does not know the meaning of "Support the Troops."

James,
You gripe at all us of who rail against the Bushist mess, but the only "positive" things you mention are volunteering in organizations to deal with the misery he's caused. Not many people realize how difficult it was trying to politically prevent the disasters of the Bush administration, because so few spoke up. The raging silence of critics led to this. If criticism now is the only way for some people to turn around the current policies, at least that is some (admittedly, not enough) improvement over the cowardice and ignorance of the last 8 years. It seems like criticizing the critics is your only contribution to the solution, James.

James, you might want to consider that you too are sitting in front of your computer wailing and ranting, even if only about those of us who might not elect to do the things you do -- or elect not to talk about them. Pat yourself on the back all you want. It just happens my arms don't extend in that direction very well.

I won't take the bait, James, but thanks for trying anyway. Some do a little, some do a lot, some pretend to do a lot and do nothing. I think the idea of removing our criminal leadership first is a great step in the right direction. The rest of the fish will certainly be no good if you leave the rotted head. And lordy, is our head rotten.

Not knowing me at all and yet implying I do nothing is straight out of the Rove Handbook. In your mind it turns the tables and makes me appear small. It also is an attempt to stop the dialog and let Cheney-Bush do as they please. It worked for 7 and 1/2 years, it's not working now. There is hell to pay for all conservatives. They had their chance and they blew it. Now they'll walk in the wilderness for 40 years while the world heals from the wounds Cheney inflicted. We've bottomed out, the good days are coming next, a few at first and then more and more until America is back!

Our pathetic cry as you call it will turn to cheers when our troops come home from a fake war and those responsible are punished for their crimes. To solve all our problems, first you have to have people in office who bother to notice there are problems. The current administration couldn't find scores of black Americans dying in the flood waters of New Orleans. Giving them the ole Saddam neck-tie treatment should prevent that kind of inattention from ever happening again. There is nothing more negative than a government that doesn't give a damn about human life, Bush-Cheney be thy name.

So hide and watch as the "libbys" lead the way out of BushWorld and Bush goes down in the history books as the worst human to ever set foot in Washington, DC.

"But Redding was informed in September that he would be mobilized with a military police unit bound for Iraq. At Camp Shelby, Miss., where he went for training in January, gunfire and artillery practice caused him to "freeze up," he said. He asked his civilian doctor for a prescription, but the company medic told him it was for a "non-deployable" medication, so if he was planning to deploy, his family would have to fill it and mail it to him -- skirting the rules."

Let me see if I have this straight. A medication is declared "non-deployable" if it is a mind-altering substance. OK, that's sound. A soldier in active duty full of benzodiazepines or sleep meds is most likely a considerable danger to himself and everyone around him--especially if he's already twitchy from improperly treated PTSD. It makes sense to not allow that soldier to go to battle.

But do they keep him home? Nah. Do they make sure he can function without his meds? Nah. They send him on, and instruct him to GO AHEAD AND GET THE MEDS FROM HIS FAMILY, AND REPORT FOR DUTY AS IF NOTHING IS WRONG.

I'm sure if something goes horribly wrong in this scenario, the military officials will be holding up their hands, saying, "Hey, we told him those were non-deployable meds, and he circumvented the system to break the rules--we're not responsible!"

This makes me sick, and sad.