From The Guardian UK
As the row over filthy conditions at a top US military ward cost two army chiefs their jobs, the President vows to help veterans

By Paul Harris

President Bush was forced to pledge tough action yesterday to deal with a growing scandal over the poor treatment of wounded Iraq war veterans, which has led to a series of military resignations.

The furore has centred on conditions at the Walter Reed hospital in Washington, DC, which is considered the best military facility of its kind in America. However, revelations in the Washington Post last week revealed dilapidated conditions at several buildings used to house military outpatients.

The newspaper described infestations of rats in some rooms, mouldy walls and damp-stained fixtures. That was enough for the head of Walter Reed, Major-General George Weightman, to be fired. His sacking was then swiftly followed by the resignation of the Army Secretary, Francis Harvey. Harvey was the army’s top civilian official.

But the political crisis has not stopped there. In a highly unusual move aimed at stemming the damage, the White House has now become involved. In his weekly radio address yesterday, Bush slammed conditions at the hospital. ‘This is unacceptable to me, it is unacceptable to our country and it is not going to continue,’ he said.

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From Blue Stories
By Rebecca Reardon

When I was backpacking through Europe, I really wanted to tour the world-famous Tower of London. But it was expensive, and I was subsisting on complimentary youth hostel breakfast rolls and chewing gum. So I opted for the London Dungeon. It was a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not sort of museum devoted to death, dismemberment and other displays of old tyme English torture.

If you have a weak constitution, I recommend that you bypass the London Dungeon.

It was there that I learned the origin of the phrase off the hook. Detainees were strung up on a hook through the torso, see, and if they survived a certain amount of time, they were let off the hook. Good luck to you, pip pip, and all that rot. I recall a teeny tiny rat-infested cell reserved for prisoners that would fill up with water. The guillotine display featured a neck spewing blood while the head of Mary Queen of Scotts called out in agony from a basket. There was even a section devoted to The Plague. Apparently, Ring Around the Rosy is about sewing yourself up into a shroud and waiting with the rest of your miserable family to all fall down’ and die. The whole experience made me sick to my twenty-something stomach.

Nowadays, the Dungeon features live actors, a boat ride and Labyrinth of the Lost, the world’s largest and scariest Mirror Maze. Which got me to thinking. Why not open our own bona fide tourist attraction devoted to torture? I’m picturing a copy of the George W. Bush audio-animatronic from Disney’s Hall of Presidents greeting visitors at the door. Eventually, we can have spin-off locations in authentic CIA prisons around the world. A real Hard Rock/Planet Hollywood-type venture, with collect-them-all souvenirs. Who wouldn’t want a T-shirt that says US Torture Cafe馣8212;Szymany, Poland. It’s gold, I tell you. Pure gold. A fitting tribute to the Bush Years. Who wants in?

Through our highly confidential sources (thanks, DM) True Blue Liberal’s managed to get a copy of the highly classified, Top Secret White House To Do List:

1. Fine. The right wing wants a conservative, so be it. Get out there and find the most reactionary troglodyte you can. Dig up Goering if you have to.

2. Quietly, quietly, find out if Patrick Fitzgerald’s wife is a CIA agent. Just in case. Call Blair, he’ll know.

3. Find out if another hurricane is coming. What? The season’s almost over? Well, find an earthquake or flood or something. Something to put hundreds of reporters out on the street in 24 hour coverage of something other than us.

4. Will somebody please, please, find Osama bin Laden.

5. Strong arm L.L. Bean into lowering the price of one of their wood-burning stove thingys. They do sell those don’t they? That’ll show how we care about keeping people warm this winter. (Note: maybe POTUS can give away some of the wood he cleared at Crawford in August to folks who buy the stove“regular guy move! Compassionate conservativism on a roll!)

6. Tell Jeb to stop talking about FEMA. That’s the other “F” word around here.

7. Start buying Barbara and Jenna drinks.

8. Have POTUS fall off bike“always good for several minutes of evening news time.

9. Mission to Jupiter! The moon thing was good for a slew of news cycles. Dream big America!

10. No more press conferences. Sheesh, have we learning nothing in five years?

11. Hire Judy Miller

From True Blue Liberal
By RLR, and Notableabsence

We used to be a nation of neighborhoods. Weekends were spent talking to our neighbors about the weather or current events. Weekdays were a friendly wave as you headed out to work, or loaded the kids into the car for school. It used to be that people in a neighborhood knew one another. They weren’t strangers forced into proximity; they were a community. Their children went to school together, they knew their neighbors names. They knew which neighbors were doctors, or electricians, or stay at home moms and dads. Now, in the political times of George Bush, we know our neighbors by their political stripes first and maybe their names second.

We are communities divided.

We are divided by partisan ideologies on the war, the economy, the environment, social security; the list is endless. Nearly a year after the election and the bitter divide over the direction this country is taking can be felt from the highest levels of government, to the state, to the city, to the district, and into the neighborhoods. We do not forget those neighbors who had Bush signs up. We particularly recall those who only raised them up after Kerry conceded the election victory. We still see the weathered remains of the Kerry supporter’s signs’, visible proof that the outcome of the election has not changed their stance. It was an election that many people felt did not yield a clear-cut winner, again. Today, cars still sport their Bush or Kerry stickers; a daily reminder not of success or failure but of strife amongst neighbors. When I look at a small neighborhood and see that political differences have transformed a ten-foot stretch of grass between neighbors into a yawning chasm it makes me very concerned. There is a rift within America’s communities and it is growing.
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From True Blue Liberal
By Mark Morton

As a soldier who proudly served eight years active duty under Reagan in a combat-ready unit, it pains me to hear about all the comparisons being made between Hitler and Bush. I feel I have the right to count myself as a patriotic American and sound off on this issue.

First of all, not only did I serve my country, I am a husband, a father, and a productive, hard-working, tax-paying citizen; but I also consider myself a “liberal” and I’m tired of people like you saying that word like I’m some kind of on-the-fringe nutcase that’s anti-God, anti-family, hedonist who wants only endless orgies and anarchy. I happen to know lots of people, who, like myself are just good, caring, hard-working Americans with families, just like, presumably, you.

I grew up in a time where we loved America because we could speak out if we wanted to. Even Nixon, a bonafide, impeached crook, never tried to convince America that you were either “with him or you’re a terrorist.” And neither did Reagan, who was way more popular than Bush ever dreamed of, or Bushes father, HW. Until this administration siezed power, nobody spoke like that, mainly because that very freedom to speak out against our government is what made us better than countries like China or the former Soviet union, and is one of the freedoms I signed up to risk my life trying to defend.
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From True Blue Liberal
By Rodger Raino

* I believe people are more important than things
* I believe all of our children should have access to a high quality education
* I believe we should respect those who are different than ourselves and treat them with dignity
* I believe everyone should be treated equally under the law
* I believe the most vulnerable among us should be protected
* I believe that while war may regrettably be necessary it should only be undertaken after all other solutions have been exhausted
* I believe encouraging diverse viewpoints makes us stronger
* I believe society should be responsible for endeavors, that support the common good and are beyond the scope of individuals
* I believe it is my duty to pay for the costs of services government provides
* I believe it is wrong to dictate the beliefs of others Read the rest of this entry »