BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
WHILE CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O TRIES REAL HARD TO LOOK PRESIDENTIAL IN ENGLAND, COLBERT I. KING COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET.
THE STUTTERING, STAMMERING FOOL HAS CAST HIMSELF AS MARILYN MONROE AND DREAMS OF FALLING TO HIS KNEES BEFORE BARRY O TO . . . SERVE HIS COUNTRY.
AS CHRIS HEDGES POINTS OUT, A LOT OF WET PANTIED SCHOOL GIRLS IN THE PRESS CORPS, NOT A LOT OF GROWN UPS.
GO, COLBERT, IT'S YOUR SLUT DAY, GET BUSY, GO COLBERT!
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
In the United States, unemployment among young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars is a critical issue. May 11th, US Senator Patty Murray, the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, held a news conference to note
Hiring Heroes Act of 2011.
and she also noted that one out of every four young veterans is unemployed. From the news conference.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chair Patty Murray: We have an unemployment rate of over 27% among young veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. That is 1 in 5 of our nation's heroes who cannot find a job to support their families, they don't have income to provide stability and they don't have work that provides them with the self-esteem and pride that is so critical to their transition home. All too often, we read about the results of veterans who come home, often with the invisible wounds of war, who can't find the dignity and security that work provides. We read about it in the sky rocketing suicide statistics, problems at home, substance abuse and even in the rising homelessness among our returning veterans. But I've also heard a lot about it first hand from the veterans that we have failed to provide better job support to. I've had veterans tell me that they no longer write on their resume that they are a veteran because they fear the stigma they believe employers attach to the invisible wounds of war. I've heard from medics who return home from treating battlefield wounds for days on end, in incredible conditions, who cannot get certification to be an EMT or even a ambuldance driver. I've talked to veteran after veteran who's said they didn't have to go through the military's jobs skills training program or that they were never taught how to use the venacular of the business world to describe the job and experience they did when they come home. These stories are heart breaking and they are frustrating. But more than anything, they are a reminder that we have to act now.
While we're on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, let's quickly note the following from Senator Murray's office:
In second of two major hearings, Chairman Murray will hear directly from veterans and top VA and Pentagon officials about challenges that remain in the care for amputees, rising suicide rates, poor coordination between the agencies, and delays in disability evaluations
(Washington, D.C.) – Wednesday, U.S. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Patty Murray will hear first-hand accounts from veterans who have faced challenges because of the lack of collaboration between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD). The hearing will focus on DoD and VA's joint disability evaluation process, military and veteran suicides, the lack of cooperation in certain areas between the two agencies, and the quality of care at the two Departments for amputees. During the hearing, Chairman Murray will also question VA's top mental health administrator about the recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling finding the mental health care offered by the VA to be so poor that it's unconstitutional.
WHO: Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Patty Murray
Tim Horton, Iraq Veteran who was wounded and lost his leg to an IED attack in Iraq
Steve Bohn, Iraq Veteran, representing Wounded Warrior Project
Janet E. "Jan" Kemp, VA National Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Antonette Zeiss, Acting Deputy Chief Officer Mental Health Services, Office of Patient Care Services, Department of Veterans Affairs
Jim Lorraine, Lt. Col. ASAF (Ret.), Executive Director, Wounded Warrior Care Project
George Peach Taylor, Jr., MD, MPH, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Health Protection and Readiness
WHAT: Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Hearing on the State of VA/DoD Collaborations and the Challenges those Agencies Face in Caring for Veterans
WHEN: Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
10:00 AM EST/7:00 AM PST
WHERE: Russell 418
WEBCAST: http://veterans.senate.gov/
Back to unemployment. "We have to act now." And Murray and senators on the Senate Committee -- Democrats and Republicans -- appear focused on the issue. In the House of Representatives, it's another story. Tomorrow morning, the House of Representatives' Veterans Affairs Committee was supposed to hold "Putting Veterans Back to Work." This hearing has been postponed. "Putting Veterans Back to Work" and "Postponed" -- pair the two up for the message (which I am sure is unintentional) that's being sent. This would have been only the second, only the second, hearing the House Veterans Affairs Committee had held on employment. The other hearing was March 3rd. Is it a crisis or is not one?
The figures say it's a crisis. The treatment of it by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee telegraphs it's a crisis. But in the House Comittee the issue gets little attention and when it's finally supposed to get attention, it's "postponed." It sends a message. And, no, this wouldn't have happened under Bob Filner's leadership. But hopefully it's not an issue of political party. US House Rep Bob Filner is a Democrat and, until January, was the Chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The current Chair is Jeff Miller who is a Republican. Hopefully, it's more an issue of someone new to being a chair failing to grasp the message being sent and also still stumbling with leadership issues.
Though addressing the needs of veterans can be ignored and postponed, the wars they serve in don't get put on hold -- or apparently end these days.
Yesterday 2 US soldiers were killed while serving in Iraq.
AP notes all the US military shares is that the two died "conducting operations in central Iraq" and AP also notes they were the first US soldiers to die in Iraq this month.
Their deaths were part of a wave of violence across Iraq yesterday.
Ned Parker and Raheem Salman (Los Angeles Times) reported on the two deaths and the deaths of multiple Iraqis, observing, "The bloodshed highlighted the tenuous situation around Baghdad, where assassinations and other attacks still occur almost daily. It also drew attention to Sunni Arab and Shiite militants' continuing efforts to kill American troops, who are scheduled to leave at the end of the year. There has been an increase in the shelling around U.S. military bases within Baghdad's airport grounds as well as the American Embassy compound in the fortified Green Zone enclave."
Tim Craig (Washington Post) added, "Most of the explosions were directed at Iraqi police officers and government officials, who have become targets of terrorism in recent months. Security officials estimate that at least 21 people were killed and more than 80 injured during a succession of attacks that came from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m."
Michael S. Schmidt (New York Times) counts eighty injured today and explains, "There were bombings in both Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods, including two in Sadr City, the stronghold of the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr, but it was unclear whether they were coordinated. Insurgents have often attacked both groups simultaneously, in an attempt to incite sectarian strife and further destabilize the country." It was a day that began,
Al Sabaah reports, with prime minister and puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki declaring this is the best time (ever) for businesses to invest in Iraq and that he made this declaration yesterday morning at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the opening of the al-Jihad housing complex. Of the violence,
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) notes, "It raises again the question of whether a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of 2011 will open the way for a vast increase in extremist violence. Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has called for a national debate on whether to ask some U.S combat to remain after December 31."
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