McCain and the new GI Bill

It mystifies me why John McCain, a veteran of some renown, would be against updating the new GI Bill now before Congress. To be entirely fair, he hasn't come out against it, but he certainly hasn't thrown his support behind the bill, which one would think he would do.

The GI Bill, which provides money for the higher education of veterans, was one of the best things this country did to not only show appreciation for the service it's armed forces vets, but to help this nation in general by providing a better educated work force and populace.

But the Bush administration, run by a president who choose not to serve in Viet Nam and a vice-president with multiple deferments, has shown it's contempt for veterans in various ways. The "stop-loss" concept throws returning Iraq veterans back to combat against the agreed upon terms of the contract these men and women signed when joining the military; Walter Reed Army Hospital, where many Iraq vets go for rehabilitation after suffering debiliating wounds in combat, was allowed to lapse into decrepitude; the aforementioned GI Bill is woefully inadequate and the Bush White House likes it that way because the idea of a future with a good, affordable education will prompt soldiers to enter civilian life rather than re-enlist. The Bush administration should be ashamed of itself, but we all know this is not a group of people that feels shame.

And why does McCain not jump on board and endorse the new GI Bill? Because he wants the continued support of the Bush White House? That seems pretty sad for a man who claims to be so independent of thought and action.

The following is a video from "Countdown" on MSNBC. Be forewarned, the video lasts over five minutes, so you may want to crack open a beer, mix a martini or whatever before sitting down to watch this. And after you see it, maybe send McCain an e-mail and let him know what you think.

Time is Tight

I'm beginning to worry a little bit. Every day goes by in the blink of an eye, weeks fly by and months begin and are over in a blur of speed. They say that the closer you get to the end of your life, the faster the days go by.

Minister of Silly Walks Endorses Obama

The Minister of Silly Walks, aka John Cleese, has offered to write speeches for Barack Obama. Splendid. I think Obama should take Cleese up on this. Obama is tall and slender, as Cleese was (he remains tall), and would look perfect making a stage entrance to give a major speech that one would expect to be about Iraq or the economy, all the while twisting and turning, goosestepping and gyrating his was way to the podium to actually speak at length on the sex life of mollusks. It would make the campaign even more livelier than it's been.

Wake Up: The Torch Gets Protection While Freedom Gets None

The Olympic torch had to be put on a bus for it's own safety. No, things are not going well for the torch relay that parades through various cities and countries before it lands in the host Olympic country. And when even the torch isn't safe, can this bode well for the actual Olympic games? I think not. It's going to be ugly in China at the Summer Olympics. No two ways about it. When it takes heavily armed police in boats, cars, on foot and on Rollerblades (Rollerblades?) just to protect a freakin' torch on the streets of Paris, what's going to happen in China?

And just why is it that the free world and everybody else decided to hold Olympic games in China? China, the enemy of freedom and democracy, the brutal repressor of it's own people, the occupier of Tibet. You remember now, that China. The China that used to be our enemy, Communist China, now Communist in name only. The China that was our enemy until Nixon decided to travel there to distract attention at home from Watergate. The China that Clinton sucked up to while throwing Taiwan under the bus. The China that makes most of the things we buy for our homes and ourselves. The China that is poisoning us with lead in it the products it sells us. The China that owns us economically. The China that will someday call in it's loans and make us change our name to the United States of China when we can't pay up. You know, that China. Why is it that they're getting the Olympic games?

The United States once upon a time at least pretended to be the protector of freedom and democracy. Now we no longer bother to keep up the pretense. Freedom and democracy only applies to global corporations and those who head them. Once upon a time American Business believed in a certain type of patriotism, the kind of patriotism that kept American businesses actually in America, not outsourcing jobs to the other side of the planet and allowing countries like China to build everything for us.

Didn't we fight a Cold War with the Soviet Union because they were an Evil Empire? Well, China is an Evil Empire. When does the new Cold War start? Oh, it won't. It won't because the American corporations are happy to do business with, and export jobs to, wherever it's easiest to make a buck that will go to the coffers of the captains of industry, while American workers are either unemployed or underemployed as baristas and burger flippers. Of course, those with college educations will do better, with higher paying jobs. Which they'll need to pay off the humongous loans they took out to get an overpriced college education.

Wake up. The time for revolution is now.

How come Rush Limbaugh isn't talking about this?

Our tax dollars at work in Iraq: The Nation reports on "Another KBR Rape Case."

How can addiction be avoided?

“Addiction can become a source of bonding between parents and their children." That's a quote, a startling quote if ever I saw one, from a New York Times article on the high rate of addiction in a New Mexico county, and some of the methods used to deal with the high rate of overdoses. The story is grimly fascinating.

“Addiction can become a source of bonding between parents and their children.”

How fucked up is that? How fucked up is that thinking? What kind of parent looks at their own flesh and blood and thinks, "Maybe if we just shot up together, we'd be closer"?

There's a part of me that finds it very difficult to lay part of the blame on historical institutional injustices visited upon a group of people, or poverty, or anything else. They're all just excuses.

But whatever the reason, we're still talking about human beings here. How do we as a culture make people strong enough to avoid addiction?

The article focuses on the high rate of heroin addiction in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Heroin robs people of their souls, and even if the habit is kicked, the soul doesn't come back whole. No one should suffer that fate. How can we stop people from going down this road to nowhere?

I believe in the power of thought, that how one views life, positively or negatively, is a con job. We con ourselves into being happy and hopefully strong, or into being negative and cynical. How can we give people who may be predisposed toward having an addictive personality the tools to con themselves into being positive minded with personal strength and self discipline to avoid the despair of drugs and alcohol addiction?

How do we stop the addictions? If there's anybody out there, give me some answers, or at least let me know you're thinking...

Better pitcher than president

How badly do you have to suck as a president that you get booed just throwing out the first pitch on opening day? The crowd was apparently made up of Democrats.