BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Joseph A. Rehyansky I write as someone who regularly got shot at, rocketed, and mortared by people I didn’t even know who wanted to kill me. I mention this matter only to establish my bona fides to hold forth on such a weighty matter. My guess is that we have eleven too many “memorial days” of one sort or another, some of which you’ve never heard of and two of which are mercifully defunct, although I know from personal experience among the inhabitants of the holiday catacombs who dedicate way too much time to such things, that the officially defunct ones live on, at some debilitated level. April 6 Army Day: The date was chosen because on that date in 1917 the United States entered World War I. Last officially observed in 1949. Last Monday in May, our official Memorial Day: Its history is murky. Confederate veterans and the survivors of those who fell in battle seem to have come up with the idea first. They called it “Decoration Day.” Why? Recall the scene in G...

As a sufferer of chronic pain myself, I know that getting adequate pain relief is a huge problem. Abusers like Pumpkin-head Limbaugh have made it hard on all of us. I am going to my second pain clinic in 11 years and I have just about given up hope. In the last 5 years my pain issues have gotten so bad I can barely function some days. Chronic pain colors my thinking and causes profound depression and hopelessness in people like me. I refuse to take anything too strong or sedating. I am single mother and refuse to be drugged up around my children. I already take an SSRI for my PTSD and valium only when my PTSD is triggered. I take my Vicodin or Robaxin only on weekends when I can and must sleep.  4 years ago, after a traumatic incident, I was hospitalized twice with a tube down my throat to stop vomitting and esophageal spasms. The choice was - do we give her something for the PTSD or the spasms? Thank goodness that stopped though it was a long, hard road. Pain often ...

While I am not a vet, I do have PTSD. In March of 2004 my PTSD from abuse went from "occasional" (once or twice a year problems) to PERMANENT (daily or weekly) and remains that way. The Defense Dept. conveniently says PTSD is an anxiety disorder but PTSD's effects go to blood pressure, cardiac wellness and so on. Part of my PTSD involved 3 weeks of daily vomiting from trauma (starting in March, 2004) and then about 2 months of 1-2 a week vomiting. Just 2 weeks ago I had two back-to-back surgeries to try to repair some of the damage done in 2004... yes, four years later I am still dealing with it and probably will now for the rest of my life. A chronic reminder. And the surgeries have left me still feeling like a truck hit me - twice. Additionally, the DoD's decision here? Is strangely missing from the DoD press & news releases site ( CLICK HERE ) More deplorable treatment for our heroes. How is this decision "reducing the stigma?" The Pentagon has ...

While I am pro-ending the illegal war in Iraq... ( no George, it has ZERO to do with 9/11 - and why is Osama bin-Laden still alive in Pakistan? Stop invoking 9/11 and admit that your PNAC buddies used the 9/11 tragedy to push their own agenda! ) I am not for "cut and run." Despite being a progressive I understand we can't just leave. I make my children tidy up their messes too. (And why don't you guys at the White House tell the American public about the billion dollar PERMANENT BASES you are building in Iraq while you count your Exxon and Halliburton shares?) Now here's another mess - on our doorstep. Those returning from 3 and 4 deployments with serious mental health issues. PTSD is a not a crime and NO, you can't just get over i t or suck it up . Just because you can't see pain doesn't mean its not there. That includes mental pain. The brain is an organ and it gets sick, too. Why aren't we helping our soldiers that went over to Iraq and...

SUPPORT OUR HEROES - THE ONES WITH PTSD WHO ARE SUICIDE RISKS! Little Relief on Ward 53 At Walter Reed, Care for Soldiers Struggling With War's Mental Trauma Is Undermined by Doctor Shortages and Unfocused Methods By Anne Hull and Dana Priest On the military plane that crossed the ocean at night, the wounded lay in stretchers stacked three high. The drone of engines was broken by the occasional sound of moaning. Sedated and sleeping, Pfc. Joshua Calloway was at the top of one stack last September. Unlike the others around him, Calloway was handcuffed to his stretcher. When the 20-year-old infantry soldier woke up, he was on the locked-down psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A nurse handed him pajamas and a robe, but they reminded him of the flowing clothes worn by Iraqi men. He told the nurse, "I don't want to look like a freakin' Haj." He wanted his uniform. Request denied. Shoelaces and belts were prohibited. Calloway felt naked without his M-...

CHURCH OF SPREADING HATE & JUDGEMENT If this doesn't speak volumes about this sort of church! The poor man is DEAD. He was a faithful person and a Veteran, nonetheless. But because he was GAY and had a LONG-TERM life partner, they won't host his MEMORIAL SERVICE. And surprise! In Chimpy's home state of TEXAS too! Principle not malice? Pardon while choke from the HYPOCRISY!! Just DISGUSTING! Church learns vet was gay, cancels memorial Texas congregation acted out of principle, not malice, pastor says Relatives of Cecil Sinclair, a gay Navy veteran, say they are upset that a megachurch canceled his memorial service 24 hours before it was to start. ARLINGTON, Texas - A megachurch canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was to start because the deceased was gay. Officials at the nondenominational High Point Church knew that Cecil Howard Sinclair was gay when they offered to host his service, said his sister, Kathleen Wright. But after his obitu...