17 November 2011 Roe lacks concern for Vets

This was written in response to a local citizen’s letter praising Congressman Roe and his immense concern for veterans.  I doubt it will see publication, but I can’t stomach the teavangelist practice of screwing the troops as soon as they are out of uniform.

          Letter to Johnson City Press, Editor

          Regarding the letter from Fred Phillips published 17 November 2011:

          Mr. Phillips, apparently a long-time acquaintance of Mr. Roe, believes that Roe understands the needs of veterans.  I disagree. 

          While Mr. Roe may have served in Korea, he was stationed at a hospital and suffered no hardship in concert with the average GI.  His other duties kept him in hospitals until he left the Army.  He lacks any common connections to combat troops, especially combat medics.

          As for his actions in Congress, he follows the GOP/tea party party line.  He recently demonstrated his concern for veterans by voting against a bill that would increase funding for suicide prevention among veterans.  He also voted against an increase in hazardous duty pay for active duty troops.  The only things he seems to have supported are bills that “encouraged people to visit cemeteries” and “making it a federal crime to deface a veteran’s grave marker.”    This behavior goes along with the usual GOP pattern of sending our troops off to war and then ignoring them when they return.

          Mr. Roe will, no doubt, support the proposals to roll veterans’ health care into Medicare and then hand Medicare over to the health insurance companies which will reward us for our service to the country by denying benefits and services as they are already doing with privately insured Americans. 

          Spare me from legislators like Mr. Roe who demonstrate their concern for our veterans by making lofty speeches on Veterans Day while doing their bests to gut the VA hospitals and other services to veterans.  Speeches are cheap, veterans priceless. We can never repay the debt we owe our men and women who serve in uniform But Mr. Roe and the GOP no longer pretend to care about them.

16 November 2011 Neuter Newt

          During the Clinton presidency, Gingrich put forward his “Contract on America.”  It was a laundry list of things desired by financial “conservatives” and demanded by social (read religious) “conservatives.  The plan was another of the GOP’s assaults on the middle and working class.  It was an opening for evangelicals who wanted and still want to gut those portions of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, which prevent a Christian theocratic takeover of our government at all levels. 

          It was Gingrich who shut down our government when he was displeased about seating assignments on an Air Force One flight.  That’s unacceptable behavior in an elected official who is supposed to defend and protect the nation, not plunge it into a shutdown. 

          It was an ethical complaint that removed Gingrich from his Speaker role.  In all honesty, the anti-Gingrich folks could have chosen from a long list of indiscretions and actions that demonstrate his lack of concern for personal ethics.  I have no need to cite his numerous marriages, poorly timed divorce announcements, and post-House behaviors. 

          What has not changed and will not change from the Gingrich of the Clinton era to the current slime generator is his undeserved high opinion of his own merit and worth.  He is still the same petulant demagogue who saw nothing wrong in forcing a governmental shutdown because he felt insulted. 

          I can’t think of any reason to put him into a POTUS candidacy position.  If he feels insulted by China, Russia, Afghanistan, or Iran, will he mimic Bush II and start another unfunded war, just because he can?  There are enough teavangelists who would otherwise find him too moderate who will back him if he starts serious saber rattling.  We can’t afford another term of teavangelist idiocy or Gingrich following the GOP southern strategy.  This time we need to shut Newt down, for good.

15 November 2011 Sons and daughters of the Inquisition

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/opinion/the-torture-candidates.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211

The Torture Candidates

Published: November 14, 2011

As hard as it is to believe, the Republican candidates for president seem to have learned very little from the moral calamities of the administration of George W. Bush. Three of the contenders for the party’s nomination have now come out in favor of the torture known as water boarding. Only two have said it is illegal, and the rest don’t seem to have the backbone to even voice an opinion on the subject.

·          

At Saturday night’s debate in South Carolina, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann said they would approve water boarding of prisoners to extract information. They denied, of course, that water boarding is torture, even though it’s been classified as such since the Spanish Inquisition. “Very disappointed by statements at S.C. GOP debate supporting water boarding,” Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, wrote on Twitter. “Water boarding is torture...

            ” Only two candidates on the debate stage recognized the danger of the path being advocated by Mr. Cain and Mrs. Bachmann. Representative Ron Paul said water boarding is not only torture, it is illegal, immoral, uncivilized and has no practical advantages. Former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. eloquently pointed out that water boarding and other forms of torture diminish the nation’s standing in the world.

“We lose that ability to project values that a lot of people in corners of this world are still relying on the United States to stand up for,” he said…”

Also of interest:

·         Op-Ed Columnist: Torture and Exceptionalism (November 15, 2011)

·          

·         The Loyal Opposition Blog: It's Spelled T-O-R-T-U-R-E(November 14, 2011)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-problem-with-republican-support-for-waterboarding/2011/11/14/gIQA4pmIMN_story.html

            “Is Mr. Cain not aware that leaders have emphatically rejected water boarding and other forms of torture? Did he not know that active and retired military leaders have said that the use of such abhorrent techniques makes it much more likely that U.S. service members would be subjected to such brutality?

            “For her part, Ms. Bachmann said she would be “willing to use water boarding” if she were elected president. “I think it was very effective. It gained information for our country.”  

Cassi Creek:

          Herman Cain’s stated position regarding the use of torture, water boarding is unequivocally torture, is sadly consistent with his stated position with nearly everything else.  “Might (money) makes right.”  He obviously follows the Cheney/Goebbels school of propaganda – lie big, lie loud, lie often; when in doubt, lie.  Cain is apparently often in doubt.  His capabilities on intelligence collection seem to be on par with his capabilities on social safety networks, taxation, and foreign policy.  Mr. Cain would most likely sell Iran the components they need to complete a bomb. 

          As for Ms. Bachmann, her lack of acquaintance with reality deepens daily.  She may pretend that water boarding is not torture but given her religious fundamentalism, I would not only expect her to use torture techniques against supposed terrorists but others as well when convenient to her campaign and/or term of office.  Given the archaic positions, she holds concerning homosexuality, it would not be unexpected to see her reinstitute political police units empowered to sniff out gays, lesbians, and others who deviate from the Vatican and American Taliban’s views on sexuality and gender-specific roles in American life. 

          The Inquisition was initially about finding and killing apostates and heretics.  Under the loving care of the Catholic Church, it soon became a catch all device to use against anyone who failed to meet the then current social, political, and religious standards/norms.  We have had our witch trials, our prohibition, our ostracisms, monkey trials, and un-American activities trial.  We have a sub-populace of evangelicals all too ready to play “Christians and heretics” at the slightest opportunity, the slightest governmental loss of separation from the pulpits of our Taliban. 

          Ms. Bachmann needs to be apprised that the history of torture far exceeds what she may view as serving national security.  It becomes a tool for the amusement of the powerful and immoral.  Water boarding is a gateway torture.  It leaves few marks but taps into universal fears and physiology.  The awareness that people will lie to end torture becomes a reason to follow up the initial, approved, non-marking, interrogation techniques with more painful, permanently marking techniques; torturing a subject to the point of imminent death in order to extract a confirmatory lie about the lie first extracted. 

          Ms. Bachmann has claimed that the U.S. has a purpose, the improved treatment of Afghani women, as reason to continue our military presence in Afghanistan.   She seems unaware that approved tortures will be applied to females in the military and civilian searches for intelligence and information.  She also fails to recognize that women are more at risk of extreme torture than are men.  The most extreme and painful tortures were reserved for women in almost every regime that allowed torture. 

          We don’t need another Cheney in office.  We don’t need religious fundamentalist in our government.  We don’t need torture allowed as an interrogation tool.  In today’s teavangelist slate of candidates, we have all three poised and eager to return to the torture cells of the inquisition. 

14 November 2011 How to solve the problem of jobs for veterans

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/opinion/krugman-vouchers-for-veterans-and-other-bad-ideas.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Vouchers for Veterans

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: November 13, 2011

            “American health care is remarkably diverse. In terms of how care is paid for and delivered, many of us effectively live in Canada, some live in Switzerland, some live in Britain, and some live in the unregulated market of conservative dreams. One result of this diversity is that we have plenty of home-grown evidence about what works and what doesn’t.

            “Naturally, then, politicians — Republicans in particular — are determined to scrap what works and promote what doesn’t. And that brings me to Mitt Romney’s latest really bad idea, unveiled on Veterans Day: to partially privatize the Veterans Health Administration (V.H.A.).

            “What Mr. Romney and everyone else should know is that the V.H.A. is a huge policy success story, which offers important lessons for future health reform...”

            “….Republicans have a thing about vouchers. Earlier this year Representative Paul Ryan famously introduced a plan to convert Medicare into a voucher system; Mr. Romney’s Medicare proposal follows similar lines. The claim, always, is the one Mr. Romney made last week, that “private sector competition” would lower costs.

“…But we have a lot of evidence about how private-sector competition in health insurance works, and it’s not favorable. The individual insurance market, which comes closest to the conservative ideal of free competition, has huge administrative costs and has no demonstrated ability to reduce other costs. Medicare Advantage, which allows Medicare beneficiaries to buy private insurance instead of having Medicare pay bills directly, has consistently had higher costs than the traditional program.

            “And the international evidence accords with U.S. experience. The most efficient health care systems are integrated systems like the V.H.A.; next best are single-payer systems like Medicare; the more privatized the system, the worse it performs.”

Cassi Creek:         I did part of my clinical rotations at a brand new, fully staffed, well-funded VA hospital.  Seeing how miserable the patients were, how they were simply being warehoused by a government that had used them and now wanted little more of them than to die quickly so that they were no longer a burden was sufficient to crush any thoughts of allowing myself to become a VA patient.      30 + years, hearing loss, and chronic pain mixed with a combined medication bill of over $2000/month required me to reassess my position vis-à-vis VA health care. 

          Now the system is underfunded, under-staffed, and a primary target for the teavangelists who want to destroy government. 

          Here’s the problem:  the VA system, despite the worst efforts of Congress, functions well enough to treat veterans as in and outpatients.  When I walk into VA and see a physician, therapist, janitor, or interact with any employee, I come away knowing that the people tasked to care for veterans really do care for veterans.   My medications are affordable because, unlike Medicare, VA can haggle, bargain, and finagle for the lowest drug prices available.  I may have to wait 2-3 months for a non-emergency appointment.  That’s about the same wait I’d expect from a non-profit or corporate for profit hospital/physician group practice.  VA actually provides affordable care of high quality.  That and the long-term nature of care provided for Veterans now are making it an attractive target for the corporate health care and health insurance industries. 

          If the corporate health care chains/health insurance companies. can glom onto the veterans in the system now, they stand to make a guaranteed bundle while the vets stand to be shuffled into voucher programs that will cost them an ever-increasing co-pay and provide them  an ever-decreasing list of services. 

          The teavangelists will swear up and down on any object you care to offer that putting vets into a voucher for health care program will provide “Competition will lower the cost and improve the quality of health care!” 

Bull Shit!  In all the years I worked in civilian health care, I never saw competition improve the quality of care.  Rather, it always brought about cutbacks in staffing and some idiot accountant or MBA demanding that we use cheaper products, which invariably led to lower quality care for the patients. 

          Competition = Quality?  Seen cable television lately?  The corporations promised us commercial-free television with increased service.  That hasn’t materialized.  We get more channels but they are mostly re-runs.  We pay for programming that we have no interest in watching, and we have commercials every 5 minutes or even more frequently.  Like the current state of cable TV?  That, friends, is where the teavangelists want to take health care for veterans. 

          Once they drop the quality of care and restrict the access to what care remains, the problem of jobless vets will become a collateral benefit to the teavangelists.  Those vets will most likely get sick and die quickly.  It won’t make the insurance company CEOs very happy to lose the patient pool.  But the increase in bonuses will help them get over their disappointment.

         

13 November 2011 “Noah (Herman, Michele, Sarah, Rick) …Build me an ark!”

          “Right! Right! Right! Right!”

          “How about a pizza?”

          “Do I have to let gays on the boat?”

          “Can I use PAC money and take lots of vacations at someone else’s expense?”

          “ If we don’t pray for rain will we still need the ark?”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/cain-selected-by-god-immune-to-human-scrutiny/2011/11/12/gIQA2LdJGN_blog.html

Cain: Selected by God, immune to human scrutiny

By Jennifer Rubin

          There seems to be some sort of confusion among the teavangelists as to which of them is slated to become the first divine right POTUS.  As you can see, at least three of the active candidate field and one of the once potentials has claimed to have been told to run for the office.

          We’ve reached a point in this nation at which the very freedom proclaimed in our 1^st Amendment is in jeopardy.  The GOP/teavangelist base is largely comprised of members of the Christian right, evangelicals and fundamentalists who are firmly convinced that the U.S. was formed as a “Christian” nation; and that it is their collective responsibility to bring about a theocratic takeover of the existing slightly secular government.  This base also has a racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic nature, which wishes for a return to the social and political conditions that existed before the TR presidency. 

          Each of the four mentioned above has proven all too willing to solicit support from the Teavangelist base.  Each of them has no problem in proclaiming that they were directly contacted by their particular aspect of the Christian deity and commanded to run for POTUS.  Each of them realizes that they can milk large amounts of money from various portions of this base to fill their campaign coffers. 

          The decidedly non-divine Palin has spent the better part of two years stripping dollars from fundamentalists who probably also pay for over-the- television-faith-healing, and who once were the target market for autographed photographs of Jesus. 

          Cain has his position as a preacher in a church locked down.  Rest assured that when he preaches about “Blessed are the poor,” he is not referring to himself.  He’s preaching “prosperity theology” Prosperity, in this philosophy, is intended to begin with his congregants making certain that he, Cain, prospers.  That same prosperity theology is apparently capable of accepting and forgiving sexual contributions from the congregants as well. 

          Mrs. Bachmann has fallen back into the pack, currently.  But she still intends to pray the gay out of   the population she hopes to represent.  Her misuse and misunderstanding of truths and facts may yet bring about her separation from the pack. 

          Mr. Perry has a strong support in Texas and among Baptists but given his history in the debates he is likely to face divine action the next time he calls upon a deity and can’t recall the third name of his trinity. 

          As for the rest of us, we need to do all we can to prevent any theocratic political takeover.  While we may not realize the depth of intent present in the teavangelist base, they do.  They firmly believe that the same deity who commanded four or more politicians to run and profit from campaigns for public office has also commanded them to eliminate any non-Christian government in these United States. 

          This has become much more serious than the current demands that Jesus decide the winner of every athletic competition in the country.  Either these candidates have chosen to dishonestly present their selves as divinely chosen, or even worse, they are so delusional as to believe that they are divinely chosen.  Either way, they are not to be trusted in public office.  We’ve been presented with two unpaid-for wars by a POTUS who only thinks he talks with a deity.  It’s only a short neural path from “talked to by deity” to “is a deity.” 

          Since the teavangelist base is already eager to bring about the onset of Armageddon by starting another war in the Mid East, the reports that some of the GOP candidates support torture and support attacking Iran should scare us all.  There seems to be little difference in the Islamic fundamentalists using suicide bombers, and in teavangelists promoting national suicide except scope.

In conclusion, yes, I know that Palin has purportedly left the race.  She is enough of an opportunist, and delusional enough about her chances of election that she could mount a write in campaign before the election is over.

And deepesst apologies to Bill Cosby.

12 November 2011 Dancing on the roof tops playing in the pit

          Yesterday, we renewed our acquaintance with our local chimney sweeps.  Our wood stove and chimney are cleaned, inspected, and approved for another winter of turning wood into heat and ashes.  The price, $160.00 seems a bit steep for 30 minutes work, even by three sweeps all working in concert.  However, considering the cost of a chimney fire or a night’s slow burn with an occluded chimney make it much less painful to part with the cash.  The stove burned well last night and is loaded for tonight’s cooler temperatures.

          I am certainly in a minority with regard to this matter, but here goes.      

          I fail to see any justification for playing collegiate (junior-pro) basketball on a U.S. Navy warship.  This should never have taken place. 

          As I understand it, the athletic director at Michigan came up with this.  Playing a nationally televised game aboard ship does not, in any manner, “honor the troops” any more than does the Michigan staff wearing combat boots and cargo pants. 

          I sincerely hope that every penny of the television money for both teams is seized, diverted to the Navy, and then parceled out to the crewmembers who had to do the scut work that the “athletes” and promoters would never do.

          What a waste of taxpayers’ money and what a hollow mockery it makes of “Veterans’ Day.”

11 November 2011 And the guns fell silent

          Along the vast network of trenches defended by acres of barbed wire and landmines, machine guns, and artillery, at the 11^th minute of the 11^th hour, of the 11^th day of November 1918, the “War To End All Wars” ended. 

          A generation of men had been consumed by the First World War.  The nature of warfare was changed forever by “the Great War.” 

          There may be a few survivors of that war still alive.  There are no longer any U.S. veterans of WWI alive. 

          20 some years later, Bill Mauldin penned Willie & Joe in combat over the same blasted ground in Europe.  He caught the mind of our soldiers most accurately as he captioned one cartoon:

"Th' hell this ain't th' most important hole in th' world. I'm in it."

          I am old enough to recall veterans of The Civil War and the Spanish-American War.  I know, or knew participants in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Granada, Panama, Gulf War I, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  Of all American Wars, I lack direct contact with veterans or participants in only three; the Revolution, The War of 1812, and the Mexican-American War.  I’m not that old, but that is a sobering statement which makes me feel older than I want to be.

          The “Great War” did not end all wars.  In only two decades, the globe was ripped by simultaneous war in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific islands.  The U.S. was largely protected by its location but that protection is now gone. We’re burying our WWII vets at a rapid pace now and have essentially remained at war since the end of WWII as we find some police action, some government/terrorist alliance that must be displaced and destroyed.  The next war may well be incubating in the bowels of some Iranian fanatical force’s HQ. 

          Just for today, we need to stop and recall that moment in 1918 when the guns fell silent.  We need to recall our families and friends who have answered the call to the colors since then and taken their place in the long thin line of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and others who have served the nation, and its all-too-often uncaring citizens in uniform, in dangerous places. The pool of veterans is gradually growing smaller and will most likely continue to do so as the methods and mechanisms of war shift from wholesale industrial slaughter to wars of information acquisition and the use of robots and computers linked to forces on the ground but able to call support from around the world. 
          I don’t know whether or not such changes in warfare bode well or evil for our soldiers.  I can only wish them safe returns as they play their roles in history. 

          To those gone before and those still with us on this Veterans’ Day, may you find the peace and honor you deserve.  I salute you, brothers and sisters in arms.

          I’ll let Snoopy close for the day.