Not That Anyone Gives A Shit...

With the economy being the number one priority on the mind of most Americans, I don't expect that this item that flew through the MSM will get much attention, but I post it nonetheless. This copy comes via The Stars and Stripes:

Thousands of 'Unfit' Troops Have Deployed

WASHINGTON -- More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, USA Today reported Thursday, citing Pentagon records.

The numbers of nondeployable soldiers are based on health assessment forms filled out by medical personnel at each military installation before a servicemember's deployment, the paper noted.

According to the statistics, the number of troops that doctors found nondeployable, but were still sent to Iraq or Afghanistan fluctuated from 10,854 in 2003, down to 5,397 in 2005, and back up to 9,140 in 2007, USA Today wrote.

The Pentagon records do not list what -- or how serious -- the health issues are, nor whether they were corrected before deployment, Michael Kilpatrick, a deputy director for the Pentagon's Force Health Protection and Readiness Programs, told the paper.

read the rest...

Greetings from San Francisco

I have to start slowly today as I'm achy and up to my eyeballs in paperwork. Achy from running the San Francisco Bay to Breakers and paperwork for our imminent relocation.

As far as the Bay to Breakers, it was about 60,000 participants strong and one of us got our name in the paper for placing in the first 10,000.

Hope everyone had a stellar weekend. I haven't yet checked the news, but did update the casualty figures from Iraq (22 more dead since Thursday), and caught enough of the talking heads this weekend to see they buried the latest saga of Gonzo-gate on page 27, so to speak. This media malfeasance has got to stop. This administration clearly lobs so many bombs, it's hard to keep up with the damage they inflict much less try to correct it. It is so time to throw the bums out.

Are Women Soldiers Inherently Less Valuable?

So few people seemed moved enough to comment on the "Murdered Woman Soldier" post and I am disturbed. Very few in the blogosphere, the left blogosphere mind you, have bothered to post this tragic, powerful story; A young female soldier found battered and sexually abused in her tent with a bullet hole through her head is called "suicide" by the army and they refuse to re-open the case. What more needs to be said here? Is it an underlying bias toward women in the military? Do women who choose to serve their country just automatically 'get what they deserve' when they are raped? I have posted a number of stories about the unprecedented abuse women in the military have endured since the inception of the "war on terror." The posts go virtually unnoticed. And guess what? The newest terrorists are us. Al-Qaeda ain't got nothin' on the Pentagon.

Male US military persons are raping and killing their fellow female soldiers. Military policy downrange requires that females go places in pairs while in the presumed safety of their own bases. The danger is from male soldiers and no one seems to give a shit. Women are dying of dehydration from not drinking as to avoid having to go to the toilet. I guess I didn't realize how deep the misogyny runs in the left side of the pool.

At least one man has taken this incident seriously and not only posted on it but has begun a petition to send to the Senate Armed Services Committee to force the re-opening of the investigation. Give Philip Baron of Waveflux your thanks and support by signing the petition and perhaps the family and friends of PFC LaVena Johnson may rest a bit easier. Missouri TV news report of LaVena's story.