Hiding Behind The Flag

Who ever thought an enemy could hide behind the American flag.  We all should know the story of the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, the army psychiatrist who while wearing Muslim garb killed thirteen and injured another 32 in a shooting spree on base.

This is one more government scandal that continues unresolved.  The shootings took place in November of 2009. Hasan has yet to come to trial.

We already know those injured have been refused purple hearts.  It's important to remember why.  Because they weren't injured in combat.  It seems the wrong words are always having their definition changed. As one of the wounded said it sure felt like combat.

It's hard to understand why this rampage hasn't been determined to be terrorism when an incident like the Boston Marathon bombing is.  This one is being considered "work place violence" which puts the entire process in a different light.

I'm not going to go into all the details about military versus civilian law but let it suffice to say it has had a tremendously deleterious impact on the wounded. You see, in some one's infinite wisdom the classification of work place violence doesn't only affect the awarding of medals, but also the pay and benefits of those wounded.

Had it been declared terrorism they would have been afforded the same pay and benefits as those wounded in combat but as is they receive no combat medical benefits, no purple heart retirement payments nor combat related pay.  Meanwhile they struggle to put groceries on their tables and gas in their cars. Remember these are active duty military serving their country. Okay, the devil is in the details, but it seems to be all the benefit is going to the shooter.

What makes it worse is that the good Major retains his rank and his pay having banked some $278,000 since his rampage.

None of it makes any sense and it is an outrage.  I wonder how recruiting efforts are going these days.  Oh, yes, I guess they're holding because young men and women can't get jobs any where else!

While we're sorting out who hung the men in Benghazi out to dry and why the perpetrators of that attack are being pursued as civilians in Libya rather than terrorists, and the IRS over reach and the Justice Department over reach with the AP, let's add this to the list.

Nothing is as it should be any more.  We know the news is slanted no matter which outlets we favor.  To accept that the President gets his information from the same sources is frightening.  One thing we can be sure, it's not FOX.  That's probably more comforting to many of you than it is to me.

No wonder his people don't know or can't remember anything.  No story comes out the same two days in a row.

Being the pessimist I've become, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I don't think it has.  I believe there is more to come including what our adversaries might choose to do while we struggle with chaos.

I wish we'd handle our governmental  disasters the same way we handle natural disasters where we come together as one and fight our way back. For that we don't need leaders, just each other. It's time to broaden our scope.