This is how we support our troops?!!

[Shapley]

This whole Republicans-are-always-right-and-Democrats-are-always-wrong meme is a bit tedious.

BTW, why would this be any more tedious than the whole anyone-opposing-President-Bush-is-always-right-and-President-Bush-is-always-wrong meme?

[Shapley]

I'm still trying to figure out the Democrat's logic. If I understand it correctly, the conditions at Walter Reed have deteriorated markedly, the quality of care is sub-standard, and the buildings are becoming havens for rats and cockroaches - so, the obvious solution is to keep it open?

I would think this would call for expedited transfer of services to the new facility at Bethesda, and a speed-up of the closure process.

V/R
Shapley

[jamiebk]

The Replublicans have spent $400,000,000,000 in Iraq so far. Maybe they could afford to spend $1,000,000,000 (1/4 percent) to fix the hospital that is caring for its victims.

[Shapley]

Jamie,

The hospital was slated to be closed within four years. The maintenance contract for the existing facility has been held up by legal wrangling for past several years. During this time, the facility has deteriorated. I'm not opposed to spending $1,000,000,000 for the health care, but I think it would be better spent at Bethesda, where the operations currently carried out at Walter Reed are to be moved, rather than at Walter Reed, which the Pentagon sought to close, and the Congress has already agreed to close.

V/R
Shapley

[Shapley]

Much Ado About Nothing

A wounded Iraq war veteran came forward last month to say the Pentagon asked him to repay a large chunk of his enlistment bonus, and Congress was outraged.

Lawmakers condemned the practice, and more than 250 signed on to sponsor legislation designed to right the wrong. They promised to rein in the heartless government bureaucrats who dared to implement a policy that could snatch soldiers' money away like this.

Problem is, there doesn't appear to be much of a problem.

Only a handful of cases have been found in which a wounded soldier was asked to repay a bonus, and those turned out to be clerical mistakes.

We certainly don't want reality to interfere with a good opportunity to score political points. If it also gives the opportunity to blast the Pentagon as heartless, so much the better. How many of the politicians who rushed to judgement will now be posting clarifications on their websites and in their constituent newsletters?