Wash. Post: "It is not just Walter Reed"

This is how America supports its troops:

Ray Oliva went into the spare bedroom in his home in Kelseyville, Calif., to wrestle with his feelings. He didn't know a single soldier at Walter Reed, but he felt he knew them all. He worried about the wounded who were entering the world of military health care, which he knew all too well. His own VA hospital in Livermore was a mess. The gown he wore was torn. The wheelchairs were old and broken.

"It is just not Walter Reed," Oliva slowly tapped out on his keyboard at 4:23 in the afternoon on Friday. "The VA hospitals are not good either except for the staff who work so hard. It brings tears to my eyes when I see my brothers and sisters having to deal with these conditions. I am 70 years old, some say older than dirt but when I am with my brothers and sisters we become one and are made whole again."

Oliva is but one quaking voice in a vast outpouring of accounts filled with emotion and anger about the mistreatment of wounded outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Stories of neglect and substandard care have flooded in from soldiers, their family members, veterans, doctors and nurses working inside the system. They describe depressing living conditions for outpatients at other military bases around the country, from Fort Lewis in Washington state to Fort Dix in New Jersey. They tell stories -- their own versions, not verified -- of callous responses to combat stress and a system ill equipped to handle another generation of psychologically scarred vets.

The official reaction to the revelations at Walter Reed has been swift, and it has exposed the potential political costs of ignoring Oliva's 24.3 million comrades -- America's veterans -- many of whom are among the last standing supporters of the Iraq war. In just two weeks, the Army secretary has been fired, a two-star general relieved of command and two special commissions appointed; congressional subcommittees are lining up for hearings, the first today at Walter Reed; and the president, in his weekly radio address, redoubled promises to do right by the all-volunteer force, 1.5 million of whom have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But much deeper has been the reaction outside Washington, including from many of the 600,000 new veterans who left the service after Iraq and Afghanistan. Wrenching questions have dominated blogs, talk shows, editorial cartoons, VFW spaghetti suppers and the solitary late nights of soldiers and former soldiers who fire off e-mails to reporters, members of Congress and the White House -- looking, finally, for attention and solutions.

And read this:

Sandy Karen was horrified when her 21-year-old son was discharged from the Naval Medical Center in San Diego a few months ago and told to report to the outpatient barracks, only to find the room swarming with fruit flies, trash overflowing and a syringe on the table. "The staff sergeant says, 'Here are your linens' to my son, who can't even stand up," said Karen, of Brookeville, Md. "This kid has an open wound, and I'm going to put him in a room with fruit flies?" She took her son to a hotel instead.

And this:

Capt. Leslie Haines was sent to Fort Knox in Kentucky for treatment in 2004 after being flown out of Iraq. "The living conditions were the worst I'd ever seen for soldiers," he said. "Paint peeling, mold, windows that didn't work. I went to the hospital chaplain to get them to issue blankets and linens. There were no nurses. You had wounded and injured leading the troops."

....From Fort Campbell in Kentucky: "There were yellow signs on the door stating our barracks had asbestos."

And this:

At the sprawling James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., Spec. Roberto Reyes Jr. lies nearly immobile and unable to talk. Once a strapping member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, Reyes got too close to an improvised explosive device in Iraq and was sent to Walter Reed, where doctors did all they could before shipping him to the VA for the remainder of his life. A cloudy bag of urine hangs from his wheelchair. His mother and his aunt are constant bedside companions; Reyes, 25, likes for them to get two inches from his face, so he can pull on their noses with the few fingers he can still control.

Maria Mendez, his aunt, complained about the hospital staff. "They fight over who's going to have to give him a bath -- in front of him!" she said. Reyes suffered third-degree burns on his leg when a nurse left him in a shower unattended. He was unable to move himself away from the scalding water. His aunt found out only later, when she saw the burns.

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Bush Defense official: If we talk about anything in a democracy, the terrorists win

Seriously, are there any Republicans left who still believe in democracy? Because these guys do an awful good impression of Soviet dictators. And someone needs to tell this un-American stooge that the real thing hurting the war on terror is people like him and his bosses who don't give a damn about the troops (see "Urine Man"), and care even less about going after the real enemy. How's that hunt for Osama going anyway? Oh that's right, the generals and the White House don't care about Osama anymore. After all, it is only 3,000 dead Americans, and they've gotten kind of used to that figure in Republican circles. Read More......

FOX News' Brit Hume: Walter Reed only looks bad

Way to support the troops:

HUME: I think it tells you a lot about the effect of the last election and the political atmosphere in Washington. This is an administration which is known or had been known for sticking by people even when they were embattled. The idea that conditions at Walter Reed hospital, a hospital that is on its way out of business, had deteriorated, that’s probably one of the reasons they wanted to put it out of business. This is unfortunate. It looks terrible, which is the problem. The problem is that it looks as if this administration, which has sent troops into harm’s way, is now neglecting them when they’re injured and need care and help. But make no mistake about it, this was a — there was a potential political firestorm on Capitol Hill began to brew about this. The administration did what it did to try to get it over with, and it may well have succeeded.

Then NPR's Mara Liasson responded to Hume:

“I think, you know, to say it looks bad, it also is bad. Those pictures were horrible. These are people — nobody who is being treated for any kind of injury should have to live in that condition, let alone people who just fought in a war for our country.”

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Reuters on Ann Coulter calling John Edwards a "faggot"

From Reuters.

A few thoughts:

1. Interesting that the story is still bubbling. It took the media a while to actually see the story as news. Why? First, because they think Coulter is a joke, and she is. But she's a joke who was recently on the cover of TIME, who gets paid tens of thousands of dollars a speech, has written several best-sellers, and was the most anticipated speaker at the biggest and most important conservative conference of the year. What she says is bs, but it matters. And it's not the job of the media to decide that Ann Coulter shouldn't be getting this much attention - she is a darling of the conservative movement, represents the values of many core conservative activists, including the religious right, and thus you simply cannot avoid reporting on her excesses as they reflect on the entire party.

2. Also fascinating that a large number of Republicans and conservatives are speaking out against Coulter. A number of the top conservative blogs have pretty much eviscerated her, as has, in the Reuters story, a conservative group that co-hosted the conservative conference Coulter spoke at this past weekend. Now, you could argue that this is just posturing - the conservatives know that Coulter's bigotry hurts their movement, so they criticize her whether or not they disagree with her. But I don't think that's true in all cases. Ed, at Captain's Quarters, has been quite vocal on this issue, and in a way that strikes me as completely sincere - he's not just worried about the party, I think he's offended by Coulter, period. Here's some of what Ed had to say:

Coulter sent an e-mail to the Times claiming that "it was a joke," and that she wouldn't think of insulting gays by comparing them to John Edwards. It's a non-sequitur. We know she wanted to tell a joke, because that's what she does -- insult people through comedic name-calling. She probably meant "ragheads" as a joke last year, too. That's not the point -- and she knows it.

I had heard at CPAC from a couple of the campaigns to expect announcements about Coulter's remarks. Frankly, a failure to condemn this remark would have been problematic for any candidate who attended the conference....

More from Ed:

At some point, Republicans will need to get over their issues with homosexuality. Regardless of whether one believes it to be a choice or a hardwired response, it has little impact on anyone but the gay or lesbian person. We can argue that homosexuality doesn't require legal protection, but not when we have our front-line activists referring to them as "faggots" or worse. That indicates a disturbing level of animosity rather than a true desire to allow people the same rights and protections regardless of their lifestyles.

I don't think all conservatives are as monnolithic as we think. They don't all love the religious right, and they don't all love hatemongers like Coulter. Or, more generally, not all conservatives are social conservatives. I think we forget that sometimes. It's a fact that we should welcome, and find common ground on, if possible. Read More......

Newsweek poll: McCain is tanking; Bush "stuck in gutter"

So early for Presidential polls, but Newsweek tests a number of one-on-one match-ups between candidates on both sides. On the GOP side, Rudy has jumped to a 59% - 34% lead over the tanking John McCain. On the Dem. side, Hillary leads Obama by a 52% - 38% margin. Of course, there aren't just two people in each race -- and these are national polls, not polls in the key early states. But, it is fascinating how far and fast McCain is falling.

Meanwhile, in the one national poll that does matter, the head of the GOP, George W. Bush, "remains stuck in the gutter" with a 31% approval rating. Read More......

Domenici admits calling now-fired U.S. Attorney before the election

The plot thickens:

Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) acknowledged today that he contacted the U.S. attorney in Albuquerque last fall to inquire about the status of an ongoing corruption probe of Democrats, saying he regretted the call but "never pressured him nor threatened him in any way."

Domenici also said he had told the Justice Department that U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias should be replaced, but said that occurred prior to the call about the criminal investigation of Democrats.

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FDA ignores medical associations and health organizations - will approve new drug

To hell with science! That seems to be the attitude with so many decisions by this administration who are consistently uninterested in science or consumers.

The government is on track to approve a new antibiotic to treat a pneumonia-like disease in cattle, despite warnings from health groups and a majority of the agency's own expert advisers that the decision will be dangerous for people.

The drug, called cefquinome, belongs to a class of highly potent antibiotics that are among medicine's last defenses against several serious human infections. No drug from that class has been approved in the United States for use in animals.

The American Medical Association and about a dozen other health groups warned the Food and Drug Administration that giving cefquinome to animals would probably speed the emergence of microbes resistant to that important class of antibiotics, as has happened with other drugs. Those super-microbes could then spread to people.

So whose side is the FDA on these days? Read More......

"Mormonism - that's so gay"

From Garance:

Ann Coulter’s vile decision to call John Edwards a “faggot” after being praised by G.O.P. presidential candidate Mitt Romney actually seemed pretty sophisticated intra-conservative politics to me, since, according to a reporter for a conservative publication, the new joke making the rounds at the Conservative Political Action Conference was:

“Mormonism — that’s so gay!”

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Romney in first place in CPAC poll

So the man who was for the state of Massachusetts before he was against it wins. Giuliani followed a few points behind and McCain rounding out the top three but definitely a distant third. So the right wingers really do like a flip-flopper...interesting. Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

War is the dominant subject. Iraq, Iran....wonder if anyone will even mention Afghanistan, which is getting ready to blow again. Any of the Republicans willing to discuss bin Laden's resurgence during the Bush/Cheney war on terror? (He did, after all, attack America and kill 3,000 people) Here' the line up:

FOX NEWS SUNDAY...: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.); and Reps. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.).

THIS WEEK (ABC...: Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.; and Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

NEWSMAKERS (C-SPAN), 10 a.m. [EST]: FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey.

FACE THE NATION (CBS...: Sens. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).

MEET THE PRESS (NBC...: Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.).

LATE EDITION (CNN), 11 a.m. [EST]: Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.); Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.); and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad.

Murtha is the expert on the military in the U.S. Congress. More than any other member of Congress, Murtha knows what the military is thinking. He channels the military. The Republicans know that. Too many of Murtha's Democratic colleagues haven't figured that out.

Watch and comment. Read More......

France's answer to Missouri or Ohio undecided on candidate

The bell weather town of Donzy, which has often pointed towards the winner in national elections, if much like the rest of the country. Socialist candidate Segolene Royal has been a disappointment and has failed to ignite voters while Sarkozy on the right brings on a sense of obsession and doing whatever it takes to get elected (think McCain but further right) leaving Bayrou the candidate in the middle, to catch the imagination of the population.

With the elections only a few months away finding a voter who is enthusiastic about any candidate is not easy. Young, old or somewhere in the middle, voters are pessimistic about the choices. Bayrou is quickly moving up in the polls but the big question for most is whether he has the power to actually do anything leaving many to wonder if a vote for Bayrou is a waste.

In an election that raised hopes of change a year ago due to the relative youth of the two major candidates, most are now settling in that Election 2007 will just be more of the same old, same old. Read More......

Lunar eclipse last night?

Despite the sun shining in Paris this morning, nothing but clouds last night making it impossible to see the lunar eclipse last night. We saw the moon for a few brief moments just as the color was due to start changing but by the time the major change had taken place, there was hardly a clear spot in the sky. Did anyone else have the good fortune of seeing it? Read More......

Another open thread

I'm off to bed, then off to NYC again tomorrow. I'm helping host a fundraiser for the YearlyKos blog conference Monday night, and then will be on Paula Zahn's show again on Tuesday night. Which means lots of blogging from Starbucks, I suspect. Oh, and it's going to be a balmy freezing cold in NYC while I'm there, which is typical. It's either 100 degrees, or way below freezing when I'm there. Always. Gnite. Read More......