Not THAT Walter Reed!

You can't really make this shit up.



Morons all.

(H/T Elvis Dingeldein)

Joan Baez Banned from Walter Reed

I suppose the Bush Crime Family is afraid Joan Baez will start patching the holes in the walls and fixing the plumbing, or maybe even sing because she is banned from Walter Reed Medical Center and from performing with John Mellencamp, whose "Our Country" has been the patriotic cry and all the rage last summer. Hell, it was used in Chevy commercials before it was released!

In a letter to The Washington Post published Wednesday, she said rocker John Mellencamp had asked her to perform with him last Friday and that she accepted his invitation.

"I have always been an advocate for nonviolence and I have stood as firmly against the Iraq war as I did the Vietnam War 40 years ago," she wrote. "I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam. Maybe that's why I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation to sing for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In the end, four days before the concert, I was not 'approved' by the Army to take part. Strange irony."

...in an e-mailed statement published Monday on RollingStone.com, [Walter Reed] spokesman Steve Sanderson said the medical center received the request for participation by Baez just two days before the concert.

Not so, says Baez's manager, Mark Spector, who told the Post that Mellencamp's management invited Baez to perform in March and handled all the arrangements. The Post said Mellencamp's manager, Randy Hoffman, did not return calls requesting comment and that Mellencamp's publicist said the singer was ill Tuesday and unavailable.

But Mellencamp earlier told RollingStone.com: "They didn't give me a reason why she couldn't come. We asked why and they said, 'She can't fit here, period.' "

Maybe they can invite Lee Greenwood instead and have him sing that "God Bless the USA" dirge, because after all aren't we "proud to be an American"? What's the next line? Oh yeah, "Where at least I know I'm free." Hmm... careful Lee, you might have to rewrite your lyrics at the rate we're going.

You turn your back for a second...

...and the world goes wacky! Well at least a little wackier than usual.

After a well needed weekend getaway with my lovely fiancee, I come back to find that Chuck Hagel has announced that he'll announce his political future later this year, Alberto Gonzales is feeling his collar tighten (and Jack Cafferty calls him a weasel!), Karl Rove is implicated as being involved in the federal attorney firings and the White House admits it, Pappy Bush collapses on a golf course, Max Cleland bitchslaps Cheney and Bush in a TV interview with Wolf Blitzer, and General Kevin Kiley is the latest head to roll in the continuing Walter Reed scandal.

MAN! What a weekend! I'd love to continue because there's plenty more to cover, but alas, it's accountant appointment day to deal with my 2006 taxes. So hopefully I'll have time to comment on the above stories later.

But let me get an easy one out of the way now. What the hell is an 82 year old man doing playing golf in 94° heat?! Even I get faint after 18 holes in that kind of weather. What an idiot.

Off For The Weekend

Well, I have to tell you, I have thoroughly been enjoying my blogging for the past few months and it seems I've had less and less time to do it. It gives me an outlet to vent my frustrations and also gets the creative juices flowing.

There's been so much to write about this week! The Walter Reed scandal and the Scooter Libby verdict alone is enough for any "full-time, I get paid to blog" writers to develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. And let's not forget the hearings on the fired Federal Prosecutors and the daily FOX News distortions. The possibilities are endless and make my head swim.

But shlubs like me who do this as a hobby don't have the time to be able to put it all down, let alone develop informed opinions while making it entertaining to read. So, as my fiancee would kill me if I brought my laptop on our weekend getaway, I'll be walking away from my desk and leaving the bitter cold of New York for sunny Las Vegas for three fun-filled days. (I'll keep a note pad handy and scour the local papers in search of my next topic.)

In the meantime, those who read my blog (all three of you), continue to search for the truth on any of the sites listed on the right, search for new blogs and support the writers who post fervently by leaving them a comment. Believe me, it makes all the difference in the world when you realize someone might actually be interested in reading what you write. Let them know you're tuned in - leave your own opinion. If a blog is never read, does it still rant?

I'll be back soon enough and ready to pounce on the next insane story. I most likely won't write about my weekend, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Have a great weekend!

Conditions at Walter Reed Hospital

Okay, let's see how the administration handles this one.

"We've done our duty. We fought the war. We came home wounded. Fine. But whoever the people are back here who are supposed to give us the easy transition should be doing it," said Marine Sgt. Ryan Groves, 26, an amputee who lived at Walter Reed for 16 months. "We don't know what to do. The people who are supposed to know don't have the answers. It's a nonstop process of stalling."

The common perception of Walter Reed is of a surgical hospital that shines as the crown jewel of military medicine. But 5 1/2 years of sustained combat have transformed the venerable 113-acre institution into something else entirely -- a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients. Almost 700 of them -- the majority soldiers, with some Marines -- have been released from hospital beds but still need treatment or are awaiting bureaucratic decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty.

By now you have probably already heard of the deplorable conditions at Water Reed. Half-fallen down ceilings weighted with mold, mouse droppings and dead cockroaches, stained carpet and cheap mattresses. But the question remains, how is this administration going address it and answer for it? And how is the press corps in the White House going to ask the questions that need to be asked?

Here is part of an interview between Keith Olbermann and Jon Soltz, an Iraq war vet who is now Chairman of the political action committee VoteVets.org:

SOLTZ: Last year, the Republican Congress decided they were going to "brac" a lot of military installations around the country, which means "base realignment enclosure". Walter Reed came up on that list. So I think you're seeing the effects of that policy, which is "why are you going to fix the paint and clear the mice out of an institution that's closing?" I think the second striking thing about this piece is that this is actually a part of the Department of Defense. This is not the Veterans Administration which we know is woefully underfunded. The DoD is responsible for these soldiers until they leave active duty.
So basically, the same administration that brought us no body armor and no up-armored humvees is the same administration that brought us mice at Walter Reed. Their support for the war fighter is abysmal.

OLBERMANN: Even if this country had to pay full price at private hospitals so these guys, our neighbors and our friends, could get the care that they need... at full price - no insurance - could the cost possibly amount to more than a microscopic fraction of the billions we've seen vanish down the rabbit holes in Iraq?

JS: No sir, not at all. VoteVets.org, we did this big commercial with body armor and we blew up the body armor and it cost me $1,000 on Ebay to buy the piece; and when my unit went to Iraq , we were cross-leveling plates, we didn't have up-armored humvees and took public embarrassment for that. So the tactical equipment is actually not that expensive. What makes this so shocking is that the money is there for the Pentagon. They get what they request, they get the supplemental from Congress. So what this is, is an administration that is dedicated to the high end corporate contractors, the high end weapons systems in the sky, the super-duper missile defense systems that alienate our allies. These are the same people that are making $40 million a year on their corporate contracts, and that money is coming into the political system on one side. One of the things we do at VoteVets is try to fight for the war fighter and in this specific case, there's no reason why we can't spend the small money on the regular war fighter when we're spending the large money on weapons systems that aren't making a difference on the war on terror.

KO: Where are the Republicans speaking about the treatment of these maimed Americans? And where are the Democrats in their protest on this? Why is there no outrage about this extraordinary circumstance?

JS: I think this is a larger issue. A lot of people think supporting the troops right now means putting a $3 yellow magnet made in Hong Kong on the back of their Hummer and saying they support the troops. I think debate has been absent for a long time, that people would rather flip the channel than deal with the war.
As for the Republicans, the president just presented another budget that slams the VA two years down the road; it was woefully underfunded last year by $2 billion.
As for the Democrats, I think we're seeing movement in this direction. Congressman Murtha's plan here is basically not to let more guys go into Iraq unless they're trained properly, unless they're equipped properly. So this is the first time we're seeing oversight from Congress and I expect to see that. And there's no reason why the President and the Secretary of Defense shouldn't have an immediate investigation. I think Congress should demand hearings immediately on this because our troops deserve the best, and they deserve support worthy of the sacrifices they're making in this war.

Now we wait for the next step. Will there be investigations into yet another administration atrocity?

Watch the whole interview here.

Washington Post Sunday, Feb 18 piece here.