I haven’t heard or read squat about the Libby trial in days. What are those jurors doing? I guess they are thoughtfully reviewing all of the evidence. At least, that’s what I’m hoping.
David Corn had an article on the trial on Friday.
2 years ago. Yep, 2 years ago, Salon reported on the conditions at Walter Reed. I missed this article. Excellent article.
Crooks and Liars has an excellent comment from Old Pa Cafferty.
Tonight Countdown had a good segment on Walter Reed. Richard Wolfe does a good job on his commentary.
This is a very nice series. It covers the personal story of Bob Woodruff but also the problems in the system. Bob Woodruff is to be commended for his recovery and this fantastic series. I look forward to more reports on our troops after they come home.
Bob Woodruff in this 5th segment takes TBI (traumatic brain injury) one step further. What about veterans were not shot in the head or didn’t get hit in the head but still have odd mental symptoms? These are folks who were exposed to a IED but didn’t appear to be injured at the scene but now have memory problems or terrible headache or other neurologic symptoms but their CT scans are normal.
Bob now really gets in the problems that our Vets are having. He explains about the 4 Poly-Trauma centers which were set up to rehab Vets. 60% of the patients that these facilities are seeing at TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) patients. He interviews Dr. Steven Scott at the Tampa VA rehab center.
The tale of Michael Boothby (sp?) is a very sad tale and points out the problems in the system. Again, this is a case report but a powerful one. Why would this Vet be assigned to a Dallas VA? He is an hour from San Antonio which has its own VA. He is 4 hours from Dallas. This in itself is crazy. San Antonio has plenty of military medical hospitals but he is assigned Dallas. At the end of the video you get to see Michael not doing so well. He has regressed. You can see his wife is doing all that she can but it is not enough.
I don’t tend to like hearings. They are too emotional. They are too much focused on individual experience and not the overall data. On the other hand, personal testimony moves people. A flowchart showing the percentage of soldiers languishing in building 18 is one thing, emotional words from a wife fighting for her husband, gets things done.
Could privatizing of the Army in general and Walter Reed is specific be part of the problem?
Ah, the good news is that everything circles back to Halliburton.
Yesterday was the 42nd anniversary of the March on Selma. Although all attention was focused on Clinton and Obama, John Lewis (D – Ga.) and Keith Ellison (D – Mn.) were their also. I’m sure that most of the Black Caucus was there.
I would like to point out the obvious. This isn’t a horse race. This isn’t about “star” power. It is about ideas. It is about what these candidates will do under pressure. It is about … reforming the Democratic Party. Business as usual for 30 years got us one president throughout 3 decades. One. Business as usual got us a thin majority in House and a thinner majority in the Senate. This presidential race is about much, much more.
From NYT:
It was an extraordinary sight: the Clintons and Mr. Obama, two of them competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination, walking — with two black congressman, and sometimes others, in between them — down Martin Luther King Jr. Street to commemorate the footsteps of black demonstrators who were met with violence as they tried to march to Montgomery to demand civil rights in 1965.
The visit to Selma, a historically rich, economically struggling city, became a proxy battle for black support between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama, whose candidacy represents a threat to Mrs. Clinton’s traditional base. That competitive dynamic intensified on Sunday with the debut of Mr. Clinton on the campaign trail, six weeks into his wife’s bid, and among a bloc of voters who are at once devoted to the former president and torn between his wife and Mr. Obama.
Since December, I have been trying to look beyond Hillary and Obama. I like John Edwards. I really liked Vilsack but he is out of the race. Senators Dodd and Biden are good people with a lot of experience but there was something really different about Bill Richardson. Ambassador Richardson was been, well, an ambassador. He has been a senator. He has been Secretary of Energy. He has been Governor. He seems to talk the talk and walk the walk then, yesterday, something very surprising happened that may have turned me off to Bill Richardson forever. He got an endorsement from conservative columnist, David Brooks of the New York Times. UUUUUuuuuugggggghhhhh. Where’s the Phenergan, I think I’m going to throw up.
————
From NYT:
So there I was, sitting in my office, quietly contemplating suicide. I was watching a cattle call of Democratic presidential candidates on C-Span. In their five-minute speeches, they were laying it on thick with poll-tested, consultant-driven clichés of the Our Children Are Our Future variety. The thought of having to spend the next two years listening to this drivel set me wondering if it was literally possible to be bored to death.
Then Bill Richardson walked onstage. He was dressed differently — in slacks and a sports jacket. He told jokes that didn’t seem repeated for the 5,000th time. He seemed recognizably human, unlike some of his overpolished peers. He gave the best presentation, by far. [Read more →]
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
