What’s interesting in the news today?
1. How many victims will it take before some heads roll over this? Good question.
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2. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…..
Another already retiring scape goat “resigns” over the matter. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.
From TheWashingtonExaminer “And then, news broke that one of Shinseki’s top aides had resigned. “Today, I accepted the resignation of Dr. Robert Petzel, Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Shinseki said in a statement. “As we know from the veteran community, most veterans are satisfied with the quality of their VA health care, but we must do more to improve timely access to that care. I am committed to strengthening veterans’ trust and confidence in their VA healthcare system.”
“By the way, the VA announced in September that Petzel would retire in 2014. And the White House announced May 1 that it intended to nominate Jeffrey Murawsky, director of the VA’s Illinois-based Great Lakes Health Care System, as his replacement.
That “timely access” line alludes to the topic of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Thursday, at which Shinseki and Petzel both testified, following reports that VA staff cooked the books to hide the fact that veterans were waiting for care beyond the time mandated by department regulations, with some patients even dying before receiving treatment.”
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3. Judge Jeanine destroys the Obama admin’s version of events.
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4. Could it be that our poor excuse for border security and the Obama admin’s “Dreamer” policy are what is responsible for this?
Uh…… yeah.
From StarsandStripes “Record-breaking numbers of children and teenagers caught in the U.S. illegally and alone have overwhelmed the federal government’s detention network, prompting officials to start housing up to 1,000 on a San Antonio Air Force base.
Kenneth Wolfe, an Office of Refugee Resettlement spokesman, said Friday that the Department of Defense has agreed to start temporarily housing children at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland starting on Sunday.
Resettlement agency officials used the base temporarily as an emergency shelter once before, in the spring of 2012, when the numbers of children caught crossing the border jumped sharply, leaving the federal government scrambling to find adequate bed space.
Since then, their numbers have continued to grow exponentially, driven by what advocates are calling a “humanitarian crisis” in Central and South America. Some 60,000 unaccompanied children and teens are expected this year – up from about 6,560 in 2011, according to the agency.”
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5. It looks like some Nigerians are starting to fight back against Boko Haram.
From CNN ” Residents of three villages in northeastern Nigeria took security into their own hands this week, repelling attacks by Boko Haram insurgents and killing more than 200 of them, residents and officials said.
Hundreds of Boko Haram fighters stormed the villages of Menari, Tsangayari and Garawa in the ethnic Shuwa-dominated Kalabalge District on Tuesday. Boko Haram — the group responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the same region — was met with stiff resistance as locals put up a fierce fight, witnesses said.”
“n the three villages attacked Tuesday, gunmen arrived in dozens of all-terrain vans, armored tanks and motorcycles, but villagers quickly mobilized and engaged the attackers in a prolonged battle.”
“When news of the attack filtered out, people trooped out from nearby villages carrying arms.”
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Wandering Views 
This article tells us all we need to know about govenment healthcare (Medicare, Medicaid, etc) and the attitude of too many Americans.
1. Why discipline your child when the government will pay to drug your child?
2. Why take care of your heart when the government will pay to fix your heart?
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As many of you know I now have my own Disabled Veteran. I have never had a reason before to comment on VA Benefits except to say that they served their time, sacrificed more than I was willing to, and deserved their benefits. Now, through him, I am connected with a few of his friends who are now retired and see their comments on Facebook. It seems that the “normal” wait time for any of them is 14 months to received any benefits if they have any type of disability. If they miss a single appointment they have to start over in the process. It has gotten to be something they laugh about and compare length of time. “How long did you wait?” “Well I’m still waiting.” etc.
In our case, Mr. P was supposed to get an extra hundred dollars a month for his two new dependents. We were married in October of 2012, he still has not received it. Luckily we are not among those who are suffering because of benefits delay. Of course some of the things that get you qualified as being a Disabled Veteran are ridiculous. Sleep apnea? 50% Disability! Name me a man over a certain age and weight that doesn’t have some form of it, and was it REALLY caused by being in the military?
In any “system” you are going to have those who “game” the system, but it doesn’t excuse what is going on.
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I have never heard it explained, and my Arabic is very limited. (I learned enough to get by as a GI in Arabia in 1952.) But I think “Boko Haram” means “Much War”. If that is true, it tells us something that we should understand, but apparently don’t.
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Chas, ‘Boko Haram’ basically means ‘western education is forbidden’. ‘Haram’ is an Islamic term meaning sinful or forbidden, used in much the same way as the words ‘unclean’, in Judaism, or ‘taboo’, in animism. ‘Haram’ is in contrast to ‘halal’, a word which is similar in use to ‘kosher’. ‘Boko’ is a term from the Hausa language of Nigeria. Here is a more complete breakdown of the name meaning: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27390954
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Thanks Roscuro. “Western education is forbidden” also tells us something, doesn’t it?
As I said, I learned a few words to get by. And “boku” meant “much” as boku money.
“Wajid” meant good. “Wjidzane sadiki” meant “good friend”, etc.
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Chas, throughout West Africa, Islamic and Western education compete. Where I was, there were three options for education: the government-administered ‘English’ schools which gave what we would think of as traditional education (they allowed religion classes in both Islam and Christianity); the Middle East-sponsored Arabic schools, which also taught subjects like English, science and history, but only taught Islam for religion (they also used rote oral methods for learning – I often heard the classes chanting their lessons); and the Koranic schools, which might be compared to the Rabbinical schools of Jesus’ time or the monastic schools of the Middle Ages – only the Koran is taught and students must beg to support themselves and their teacher. Families often sent their different children to all three of the schools depending on what career they wanted them to pursue; though there were villages so devout that they only permitted the Koranic schools to enter, as even the Arabic schools were too modern for them.
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Chas, the etymology of words is a subject that fascinates me and I observe that the Arab use of ‘boku’ actually signals a European influence. Beaucoup, pronounced ‘boku’, is the French word for ‘much’.
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Maybe we were speaking French and didn’t know it.
😆
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When my husband retired from Navy 17 years ago (wow! So long? I must be more than 17 years old, then), he was assessed for the VA. The only potential issue was carpal tunnel and since he figured he was partly responsible for that, he declined the 30% disability he was assessed to receive.
Remarkable.
Over the weekend I read a raw memoir called “Plenty of Time When We Get Home” by Kayla Williams. Williams, who is the author of “Love My Rifle More than You,” is a veteran of Iraq who married an Afghanistan and Iraq veteran–a man who suffered a TBI–Traumatic Brain Injury–and PSTD as a result of his service.
Honestly, I could not have done what she did–to deliberately marry a man with so many problems. She tells us several times she’s not a believer, but the woman has an amazing loyalty and stick-to-it-ness that shames me.
He was injured in 2003, and has fought with VA forever, not to mention the Army. VA assessed HIM at 30%–which is scandalous. He’s managed to improve, but not without a great deal of energy, rage and fill in the blank, and is functioning now, but the toll has been overwhelming–to me just reading the book!
Williams comments that part of the problem is Americans don’t recognize they’ve been in a war for 13 years. She and her husband had/have a great deal of problems reentering American society because it’s so shallow and trivial. She’s just grateful every day she’s not being shot at, while people moan in the Starbucks line because their latte is a little long in coming.
Her most fascinating observation to me, was how much more at home she and her husband felt in Europe on their honeymoon. They could see the bullet holes in the walls, and the questions she was asked in interviews (about the first book), were so much more respectful and profound than what Americans asked.
(Americans: “Did you shoot anybody?”)
They realized the difference was Europeans, whether they’d been to war or not, understood the grinding toll of being caught between forces you could not control. They respected warriors and those who returned, even harmed.
Americans?
“I can’t believe they canceled my favorite TV show!”
Sobering book; language was tough. She doesn’t like military wives (even though she is one, now, to her dismay), but this is an important book for us to read. We need to know what happened to so many of our troops, so many good people who served with the best of intentions, and we need to provide the services they need.
President Obama is right to be angry.
We all should be.
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rickyweaver — I wouldn’t blame gov’t programs for the rise in heart attacks and ADHD in America. Other countries have far more comprehensive gov’t medicare and have far less heart disease. Its not gov’t healthcare — its probably the food and lack of exercise.
michelle excellent points —- the disconnect between gov’t acts of war and society at home is far too great. In addition many political leaders of all political stripes love to throw their nations weight around but don’t like to admit the very real human cost.
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The problem with all the wars since WW Ii is that they didn’t cost the public anything.
In all of them, America was not at war. It’s military was.
GWB II said, in response to the question, “What can we do?” was in essence, “Go out and buy something.”
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For those who look at polls:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/politico-poll-shows-mounting-danger-for-dems-106814.html
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HRW, I wasn’t blaming government for the rise in ADHD. I dont’t believe in ADHD. I believe it is a phony disease that allows docs and drug companies to make money helping people drug their undisciplined kids. The article indicated that Medicaid (free medical treatment and free drugs) has led to people drugging 2 and 3 year olds. That is a shame.
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Good interview with theologian Russell Moore on how Christians are to engage the culture in these times:
http://www.breakpoint.org/features-columns/discourse/entry/15/25252
“Things look bleak right now to a lot of Christians surveying the cultural landscape in America and Europe. Some have even suggested that, on many fronts, we ought to surrender the fight to influence and redeem the world outside our churches.
“That’s not an option,’ says Moore,because it betrays the very purpose of the Church as commissioned by Jesus.
“ ‘The Kingdom [of God] doesn’t just have to do with our souls,’ he reminds listeners. ‘It has to do with how we live our lives.’
“He believes the kind of transformation that comes not only to individual Christians when Christ sets them free, but to their homes, workplaces and communities, is an essential element in God’s plan of redemption.”
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Read the three parables after the apoliptic discussion of Matthew 25. Three parables that say the same thing: Watch, and be about the business. We can’t surrender no matter how outnumbered we may be.
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Matt 24 is the discussion. I usually don’t correct typos unless they lead to misunderstanding.
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Another good piece on liberal tolerance and open mindedness.
http://www.worldmag.com/2014/05/the_benham_blues_are_your_blues_too
“Notice what the empowered secular left does when it declares a matter ‘settled.’ We have seen this in the global warming/climate change debate. They say ‘the science is in’ and ‘the question is settled,’ and so any disagreement must indicate an evil, dishonest agenda. The current discussion of homosexuality is the same way. There is no discussion. There is no possible ground for dissent. More than 6,000 years of worldwide moral tradition, of serious theological and philosophical reflection, mean nothing. Conscientious objection can only stem from a hate-filled heart. Disagreement is evidence of mendacity and must be punished with extreme intolerance lest one becomes complicit in the morally intolerable views.”
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