Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Bad Day For The Administration
From Dan Balz in the Washington Post:
Three scandals, three ongoing Congressional investigations. Let's get to the bottom of all three and let the facts take us where they may.
The conviction of former White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby today dealt another blow to President Bush's beleaguered administration and marked the latest chapter in a record of mistakes, missteps and setbacks growing out of an Iraq war policy that went badly awry.
The Libby verdict comes at an especially difficult time for the administration. Revelations about substandard living conditions and bureaucratic roadblocks for some wounded outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have thrown the administration on the defensive over the sensitive issue of how the government treats its war veterans.
At the same time, the administration is coming under fire in Congress over the firing of a group of U.S. attorneys for what critics say were political reasons. Several of those former U.S. attorneys were testifying on Capitol Hill as the Libby verdict was announced at the federal courthouse a few blocks away.
Three scandals, three ongoing Congressional investigations. Let's get to the bottom of all three and let the facts take us where they may.
Comments:
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I had one of those off-the-wall ideas about the mess at Walter Reed that just might work. One of the biggest problems is that spouses and parents of injured soldiers are having to give up their jobs just to take care of the wounded while at WR. Why not put them on the payroll as care assistants, teach them basic PT techniques, and show them how to be as much of an advocate for their loved ones as possible?
Seems to me like that would help alleviate the financial problems the families face, give the wounded better care, and at least put a Band-Aid on a system that's irretrievably broken.
Call it the ultimate in privatization, and maybe it would have some traction.
Seems to me like that would help alleviate the financial problems the families face, give the wounded better care, and at least put a Band-Aid on a system that's irretrievably broken.
Call it the ultimate in privatization, and maybe it would have some traction.
# posted by 
: 2:54 AM
: 2:54 AM
Here's the problem w/ selling the plan as "privatization." The boys in power only like privatization when they're rich corporate crony friends are making money off the deal. I don't think they would jump to help out soldiers' families. Just look at the way they've been treating them so far.
It might be worth contacting your congressman about the idea anyway, kicksiron.
It might be worth contacting your congressman about the idea anyway, kicksiron.
We have just illustrated how bowlderized the language has become during the last Republican generation -- "privatize" should imply to enlist and/or empower the private individual; our representatives have distorted it to mean "corporatization" or "institutionalization".
As for my suggesting the idea to my congressman, forget it. I live in North Texas, and have not one representative isn't a personal friend of W, Dick and Karl. Ideas that don't appear in the daily Republican talking points aren't welcome. I may try the newspaper, though -- The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram is a good moderate paper.
As for my suggesting the idea to my congressman, forget it. I live in North Texas, and have not one representative isn't a personal friend of W, Dick and Karl. Ideas that don't appear in the daily Republican talking points aren't welcome. I may try the newspaper, though -- The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram is a good moderate paper.
# posted by : 2:10 PM
: 2:10 PM
Great point about the language. I keep meaning to reread Orwell's "Politics and the English Language." Maybe I'll do it this weekend. I was just talking w/ my girlfriend yesterday about the connection between authoritarianism and language.
Yeah, I see your problem w/ contacting your local reps. I think the paper's a good idea, though. Couch the idea as "Really Support The Troops And Their Families" and see what reaction you get. And let me know. I'd be interested to see.
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Yeah, I see your problem w/ contacting your local reps. I think the paper's a good idea, though. Couch the idea as "Really Support The Troops And Their Families" and see what reaction you get. And let me know. I'd be interested to see.
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