Beyond Building 18.
Maryland TV station WUSA9 reports on “allegations from a former inspector at Walter Reed of widespread and dangerous problems in nearly all the buildings at the Army’s premier hospital. Burst steam pipes near electrical cables, rats, mold, and holes in floors and walls — all of that extends far beyond the well-publicized problems at the notorious Building 18.” A photo from Building 40:
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Wow, reminds me of the barracks at Camp Roberts, north of San Luis Obispo where we took two of our weeks of basic training. No kidding, the second floors sagged so bad, nobody wanted to sleep there.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:17 pmit looks like a 1920’s style horror hallway..
March 17th, 2007 at 12:20 pmi’ve said for a long, long time, what we DO know is bad enough, and you can be sure there is a TON more that we DON’T know, most of it very much worse… when the floodgates finally open, we’re going to be shocked well beyond the level we already are…
March 17th, 2007 at 12:23 pmAnd, yes, I DO take it personally
Reporting that our troops don’t get support doesn’t suppport the troops, ThinkProgress!
March 17th, 2007 at 12:23 pmRemember, folks…when the trolls show up yammering on about how the Walter Reed situation is an indictment of socialized medicine, just throw this in their face. It’s so much easier than trying to make them see reason. ^_^
March 17th, 2007 at 12:23 pmPatients are staying in that building!? Holy shit.
This is unforgivable.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:25 pmwait..Blender,what? so exposing a problem to a wide audience so it can be followed through and fixed appropriately is wrong? splain please…
March 17th, 2007 at 12:25 pm(…..mindless defense of administration….back up administration no matter what….mind-numbing repetition….)
Comment by Jake
March 17th, 2007 at 12:26 pmReporting that our troops don’t get support doesn’t suppport the troops, ThinkProgress!
Comment by Blender
Please explain that ridiculous statement, Blender.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:26 pmTry not to sound bloodthirsty.
blender,
I take it that’s where your brain was put?
The only way to support the troops, is to bring them home, NOW!
March 17th, 2007 at 12:27 pmWUSA9 is in the District, not Maryland.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:28 pmwhen the trolls show up yammering on about how the Walter Reed situation is an indictment of socialized medicine, just throw this in their face
And don’t forget that the rest of the developed world spends half as much per person as we do here in the U.S., yet achieves quantifiably better health outcomes by almost every standard measure. And they all have single-payer health insurance systems.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:28 pmCome on people, can’t you see? Nothing builds character and maintains a steely readiness more than living in wretched squalor! Didn’t any of you read Dickens fer Christ’s sake? These kids are lazy as hell anyways, whining about their missing limbs and brain chunks. Couple months of this and they’ll be begging to re-up! Semper Fi!
March 17th, 2007 at 12:31 pmGuys, I think Blender was attempting sarcasm…
I could be wrong, though…so many of the trolls we’re getting lately look so much like parodies of trolls that it’s hard to tell the difference anymore… ^_^
March 17th, 2007 at 12:31 pmEXCLUSIVE: Major New Problems At Walter Reed
Written by Bruce Leshan 9NEWS NOW
Created:3/16/2007 3:40:22 PM
Last Updated:3/16/2007 6:30:26 PM
too bad this story was relegated to a late friday afternoon dumping…
hopefully it will build up and gather the necessary steam to get some heads arollin’
so many CRIMES … found in so little time… imagine what’s left…
March 17th, 2007 at 12:32 pm…
September 28, 2006
This Is What Waterboarding Looks Like
As Congress has debated legislation that would set up military tribunals and govern the questioning of suspected terrorists (whom the Bush administration would like to be able to detain indefinitely), at issue has been what interrogation techniques can be employed and whether information obtained during torture can be used against those deemed unlawful enemy combatants. One interrogation practice central to this debate is waterboarding. It’s usually described in the media in a matter-of-fact manner. The Washington Post simply referred to waterboarding a few days ago as an interrogation measure that “simulates drowning.” But what does waterboarding look like?
Below are photographs taken by Jonah Blank last month at Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The prison is now a museum that documents Khymer Rouge atrocities. Blank, an anthropologist and former Senior Editor of US News & World Report, is author of the books Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God and Mullahs on the Mainframe. He is a professorial lecturer at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has taught at Harvard and Georgetown. He currently is a foreign policy adviser to the Democratic staff in the Senate, but the views expressed here are his own observations.
His photos show one of the actual waterboards used by the Khymer Rouge. Here’s the first:
Waterboard1-small.jpg
Here’s another view:
Waterboard2-small.jpg
How were they used? Here’s a painting by a former prisoner that shows the waterboard in action:
Waterboard3-small.jpg
In an email to me, Blank explained the significance of the photos. He wrote:
The crux of the issue before Congress can be boiled down to a simple question: Is waterboarding torture? Anybody who considers this practice to be “torture lite” or merely a “tough technique” might want to take a trip to Phnom Penh. The Khymer Rouge were adept at torture, and there was nothing “lite” about their methods. Incidentally, the waterboard in these photo wasn’t merely one among many torture devices highlighted at the prison museum. It was one of only two devices singled out for highlighting (the other was another form of water-torture–a tank that could be filled with water or other liquids; I have photos of that too.) There was an outdoor device as well, one the Khymer Rouge didn’t have to construct: chin-up bars. (The prison where the museum is located had been a school before the Khymer Rouge took over). These bars were used for “stress positions”– another practice employed under current US guidelines. At the Khymer Rouge prison, there is a tank of water next to the bars. It was used to revive prisoners for more torture when they passed out after being placed in stress positions.
The similarity between practices used by the Khymer Rouge and those currently being debated by Congress isn’t a coincidence. As has been amply documented (”The New Yorker” had an excellent piece, and there have been others), many of the “enhanced techniques” came to the CIA and military interrogators via the SERE [Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape] schools, where US military personnel are trained to resist torture if they are captured by the enemy. The specific types of abuse they’re taught to withstand are those that were used by our Cold War adversaries. Why is this relevant to the current debate? Because the torture techniques of North Korea, North Vietnam, the Soviet Union and its proxies–the states where US military personnel might have faced torture–were NOT designed to elicit truthful information. These techniques were designed to elicit CONFESSIONS. That’s what the Khymer Rouge et al were after with their waterboarding, not truthful information.
Bottom line: Not only do waterboarding and the other types of torture currently being debated put us in company with the most vile regimes of the past half-century; they’re also designed specifically to generate a (usually false) confession, not to obtain genuinely actionable intel. This isn’t a matter of sacrificing moral values to keep us safe; it’s sacrificing moral values for no purpose whatsoever.
These photos are important because most of us have never seen an actual, real-life waterboard. The press typically describes it in the most anodyne ways: a device meant to “simulate drowning” or to “make the prisoner believe he might drown.” But the Khymer Rouge were no jokesters, and they didn’t tailor their abuse to the dictates of the Geneva Convention. They– like so many brutal regimes–made waterboarding one of their primary tools for a simple reason: it is one of the most viciously effective forms of torture ever devised.
The legislation backed by Bush and congressional Republicans would explicitly permit the use of evidence obtained through waterboarding and other forms of torture. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and other top al Qaeda leaders have reportedly been subjected to this technique. They would certainly note–or try to note–that at any trial. But with this legislation, the White House is seeking to declare the use of waterboarding (at least in the past) as a legitimate practice of the US government.
The House of Representatives voted for Bush’s bill on Thursday, 253 to 168 (with 34 Democrats siding with the president and only seven Republicans breaking with their party’s leader). The Senate is expected to vote on the bill today. Its members should consider Blank’s photos and arguments before they, too, go off the deep end.
******
To comment on this item–or read comments about this item–click on the time stamp at the end of the posting…Scratch that. I’m told that someone is actively trying to shut down this site by bombarding it with comments. “I think this is not coincidental with the release of your book,” my web wizard says. Nearly 300,000 came in last night from the perp–in a massive attempt to crash the site. Consequently, comments are off, and we’re figuring out what to do next.
Posted by David Corn at September 28, 2006 02:09 PM
March 17th, 2007 at 12:33 pmNice! Is this the new Bush Library? I love it!
March 17th, 2007 at 12:36 pmlunchy-time! back in a bit…
March 17th, 2007 at 12:37 pmSick, like everything else in our government…This has gone on for year’s..Once everything is discovered and light is shown on all the abuses the public will be appaled….We have been led down a lieing path and the money has been given to the top 2%…Our entire infra structure is about to colapse….Blessings
March 17th, 2007 at 12:37 pmWhy me puke?
March 17th, 2007 at 12:38 pmChrist- Even I wouldn’t want to have a baby in THAT dump!
March 17th, 2007 at 12:39 pmGet over it.
We have a war to fight. Terrorists want to kill us all. If the hospitals aren’t like 5 star hotels, that’s tough luck. I would rather money be spent on bombs to blow up terrorists in Iraq.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:39 pm#21- YOU stay there, then. Pack your bags and scadaddle, you. Oh, and check out the pool. Granted, it’s a pool of piss and vomit, but…, hey- ya can’t have everything.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:43 pmlunchy-time! back in a bit…
Comment by whiteyfresh
Do try to avoid caffeine and sugar, whiteyfresh.
Why do I always think of Tigger when whitey’s around?
March 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pmI would rather money be spent on bombs to blow up terrorists in Iraq.
Comment by firehead
Isn’t it difficult to keyboard while under your dripping bed?
March 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pmWhat are your living accomodations like, firehead?
March 17th, 2007 at 12:46 pmJust curious…
Was that Tigger? I thought it was Hobbes!
…:)
March 17th, 2007 at 12:48 pmGet over it. We have a war to fight. …
Comment by firehead — March 17, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
even though i’m sure you are submitting satire here,
you do point out a remarkable situation…
for one thing, it seems a lot of auto manufacturing jobs could have been converted into building armorred vehicles… just one example…
it’s too bad that more isn’t widely known about the “war effort” of the 40’s… guess the miltary industrial complex doesn’t want to share…
March 17th, 2007 at 12:53 pm.
Isn’t this why Walter Reed is to be closed and operations moved to other facilities?
March 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pmRaven,
Every time whiteyfresh is here, this is what I hear in the back of my mind:
They’re bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun
But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is
I’m the only one!
Heh.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:55 pmThey should hire a NYC slum lord to carry out the maintenance. At least, he would get the job done faster, better and more cheaply then the current crew.
March 17th, 2007 at 12:56 pm#28
March 17th, 2007 at 12:59 pmYes.
The care of active duty ill and wounded members of the military is being privatzed.
Many of the contract helath care companies are close associates of the Halliburton Co.
Next time the Dick, Cheney has to have a cardiac surgical procedure, I say that we ship him to Walter Reed to enjoy the burst pipes, rusted walls, chipping lead-based paint, and the cockroaches! Quite befitting since he found it satisfactory for those unflagging american patriots who were sent to fight for this country under the false pretenses of a 5 time deferrment “draft dodger” and an AWOL national guardsman. Time to ship members of their families to Iraq to even the score. An eye for an eye, eh?
March 17th, 2007 at 12:59 pmfirehead? I thought it was dickhead? same diff….
March 17th, 2007 at 1:00 pmYes, Zooey, unbounded enthusiasm!
March 17th, 2007 at 1:01 pm(I just miss Calvin and Hobbes…..;)
I wasn’t attempting sarcasm, I was perfominzing the sarcastictron.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:01 pm#28 It’s clear that Walter Reed should have been closed 20 years ago! That’s not the issue here….the issue is that our patriots have been subjected to an environment which should have been condemned and demolished long ago - it’s the ABUSE OF OUR VETERANS which is the heinous issue here and will result in class action suits out the whazoo….and justifiably so!
March 17th, 2007 at 1:02 pmWe have a war to fight
It’s an occupation. Reality called with your clue, but you obviously missed it.
Terrorists want to kill us all.
Lots of people have wanted to kill us. No one ever thought that was an excuse to not take proper care of our own.
If the hospitals aren’t like 5 star hotels, that’s tough luck.
No one said they should be. But they should certainly be in as good a condition as other hospitals: clean, sanitary, and in good repair. Perhaps if you put some clothes on your straw man, he’ll hold together better.
I would rather money be spent on bombs to blow up terrorists in Iraq.
I’ll take False Dichotomy for $500, Alex.
How can one of the wealthiest nations on earth not afford both? Where’s your American Pride?
Now that I’ve been been patient and reasonable, I’ll repeat what I said on the thread “A video memorial to the fallen”:
You scum libbys don’t care about troops. When you talk about cut n’ run, you undermine the troops and put them in harm’s way, just like Dick Cheney said. You don’t support the troops.
So shut up.
Comment by firehead
The continuing, useless occupation of Iraq is what is putting our soldiers in harm’s way. Progressives wish to end the farce would take the troops out of harm’s way. But it was too much to hope that you would have the slenderest, most tenuous grasp of REALITY.
Shut up, you say?
F*CK YOU WITH A SPLINTERY AXE HANDLE, YOU VACUOUS, WARMONGERING PUKESACK.
Well, Zooey, that was my “moment.â€
:S
March 17th, 2007 at 1:03 pmCopy that, Blender
March 17th, 2007 at 1:06 pmSatirisfaction out.
Just remember, when a dem sits in the oval office this wretchedness is: “a grave affront to our military, a slap in the face to our men and women in uniform”, or words to that effect. With a ref*ckituplican in office, it’s simply, “get over it, whiny libs”. Another day in the death-cult…
March 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pmI ate Calvin and Winnie the Pooh for lunch.mmmmmmm yummy!
March 17th, 2007 at 1:12 pm‘Tomb of the undeployable soldier’
March 17th, 2007 at 1:12 pmThank you four service, now go away.
Kevin Good Vietnam 70-71
Walter Reed will now become the poster child for the potential abuses of “privatization”. That’s the only good that will come from this tragedy.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:17 pm‘dripping bed’ Zooey?
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW…
March 17th, 2007 at 1:20 pmBoy, if this doesn’t make you think twice about government run health care, Lord help you.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:22 pmwhy is that muckdog?Reed was run for a PRIVATE COMPANY. The gub’ment did a study that determined that it was CHEAPER to use the federal employees, but the gub’ment went with the same PRIVATE COMPANY that couldn’t get ice to Katrina victims for 3 weeks!
March 17th, 2007 at 1:25 pmAt first I thought I was looking at a picture from Iraq…
March 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pm#44
TripMasterMonkey was WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY ahead of you. Recheck #5 and follow the link.
Clown.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pmA demonstration of the Bush cultist’s love and admiration for our troops:
“Get over it.
We have a war to fight. Terrorists want to kill us all. If the hospitals aren’t like 5 star hotels, that’s tough luck. I would rather money be spent on bombs to blow up terrorists in Iraq.
Comment by firehead — March 17, 2007 @ 12:39 pm”
Hear that soldiers? The Bush cultist says “get over it” and “tough luck.”
And, Muckdog, give it a rest. Most of us here are informed enough to know this problem is due to privatization and lack of funding. You probably missed the story: an independent audit shows that the government could do the job better and more efficiently. Cheney made sure the report was torpedoed and got the job awarded to his friends from Haliburton. That’s the problem, a-hole.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pmWell, Zooey, that was my “moment.â€
:S
Comment by J-rock
Impressive. :)
March 17th, 2007 at 1:31 pmEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW…
Comment by whiteyfresh
How did I know it would be you to pick that up? :D
March 17th, 2007 at 1:32 pmJust viewing the photo, before reading, I thought this was going to be an article on one of the secret prisons.
Every day brings more scandal on this administration who has sold everything to friendly corporations and cut the funding for everything else that still remains under government purview.
It’s at the saturation point now - there are so many offenses in so many different areas of the Bush administration, it is hard to keep focused on any one of them and through to resolution.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:34 pmPerhaps that is their plan at this point - the drip, drip, drip is incessant, so inundate the news, overwhelm people and the media so everything is able to slip out of memory.
“If the hospitals aren’t like 5 star hotels”
I believe Joe Marine would appreciate a Motel 6 compared to the above image.
“I would rather money be spent on bombs to blow up terrorists in Iraq”
And you support the troops?
March 17th, 2007 at 1:37 pmI’m dripping with goodness and oozing real american values!
March 17th, 2007 at 1:40 pmTrolls — cut off their food supply and they will wither and die.
Think Progress - Can we get an IGNORE feature installed?
March 17th, 2007 at 1:43 pmThat photo look like Abu Ghraib.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:44 pmGreat example of privitizing our government hospitals. It’s not enough to send our troops into a horrible war, but then to have them come home, maimed, to gulag-style facilities is rubbing salt in their wounds. Heckuva job, Dickie!
March 17th, 2007 at 1:44 pmThis is precisely where Firehead’s logic fails - he doesn’t appear to see the obvious parallel in the wretched and abominable conditions we place our “wounded patriots” in as being part of the internal “war on this country. Such myopia enables even quasi-intelligent individuals to not see the forest for the trees.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:48 pmI suspect that when the people actually are provided the details, photographs and the multitude of horror stories about the treatment of our veterans (abuse by our own government?), it will make most people vomit in disgust.
But then, it’s one hellova way to lose weight if one observes the daily litany of disgusting activities which people whom we should be able to trust have engaged in and continue to engage in…..americus vomitus
March 17th, 2007 at 1:50 pmIt looks like Dumbya and his cadre of criminals have so many fires to stomp out now that the brush fire is catching hold and will burn the entire administration - and just like Building 7, it will be heralded as a ‘controlled demolition’.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:51 pmAt first I thought I was looking at a picture from Iraq…
Comment by Xenon
Me too!!!!!
March 17th, 2007 at 1:52 pmIt also appears that we have a “numbers game” to be played along with our infamous and totally insensitive deck of cards. We have Building 7 (WTC) and Building 18 (Walter Reed) and, of course, the serendipitous(??) other famous number of nine eleven which, at face value, automatically connects every citizen to the idea of an “emergency”….how amazingly clever these neocons were.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:53 pmWell, at least you can’t say that these twisted, Hilterian minds didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time thinking up these charades for us to deal with.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:54 pmAre we becoming a “third world country” as we sleep? This photo would indicate that this is so.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:55 pm‘WaitWait Don’t Tell Me is coming on!! I love that show. It’s another great factual/satirical outlet for exposing the horrors of BushCo.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:55 pmnot impressed w/US-
March 17th, 2007 at 1:56 pmnot even impressed by March Madness?
bluedog49: You’re only inaccurate on one point: It’s not “tough luck”; it’s “tough $hit” to all of our patriotic veterans. Another screw job by this administration to the people who believed in them the most.
March 17th, 2007 at 1:57 pmLaura Bush has vowed to cash in her $3,000.00 Christmas dress in order to give some money to the troops so they can stay at a Holiday Inn Express.
-GSD
March 17th, 2007 at 2:00 pmThese faithful patriots, many knowing full well this war is built on a pack of lies but still faithfully doing their duty, are trained never to complain for the purposes of maintaining unit efficacy under physically and mentally gruelling conditions.
The military brass then turns around and uses that part of their training against them. They’re reminded not to complain: just suck it up and do your duty. And then they do this to them.
And they do it because our “elected” civilian government is trying to squeeze a nickel dry to give tax cuts to enormously wealthy families whose offspring will never serve, nor, if the Republicans have their way, pay their fair share of the financial burden that will be thrust upon the rest of our children’s children’s children — burdens the rest of us are bearing in order to supply Exxon/Mobil and Chevron with the raw materials with which to pick our pockets.
And all the while, of course, the only “death tax” being levied is on the familes of our precious fallen.
I can’t describe pornography to you, but I know it when I see it.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:03 pmI was listening to Democracy Now radio on Thursday, special focus on immigration issues.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:03 pmThe descriptions of living conditions for “guest workers” from India, Mexico and South and Central American countries was appalling.
Shipyard workers in Louisiana living 20 men to a “container”…
I’ve seen these things, they have racks of cramped bunk beds inside steel shipping containers.
Other workers housed in “cottages”, 8 to 12 men per, and they charge them $1,200 a month “rent”…..
This is directly connected to the “free trade ” agreements, and Bush’s idea of “guest workers”
The men are recruited with promises of good wages and decent housing.
Instead they are paid minimum wage, packed into trailers, and charged exorbitant room and board.
The U.S. companies who recruit and hire these men take the visa’s and immigration papers once across the border, they are basically held as indentured servants, at best.
On another site, the headlines read “Hundreds arrested at Christian Anti-War Protest” - this is a hallmark of the end of Bush’s presidency. The people are unhappy and the President will go on many articles of impeachment now.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:04 pm#67 Who would pay for a dress with that amount of BO and ugly karma sticking to it?
March 17th, 2007 at 2:04 pmwhitey fresh… do you ever listen to
March 17th, 2007 at 2:06 pmMichael Feldman’s What Do You Know?
Another good radio program, his opening monologue is priceless…..
Bush is all about Bush and company, and that’s a pretty small circle of elites. Everyone else is on the outside. I hate that anyone’s kid is put through this, but it’s just like the good German pastor said: “First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew…” we all know the rest. Eventually it’s you, me, your kid, my kid etc.
Wake up Republicans
When BushCo’s EPA screwed the folks in NY cleaning up the WTC, you said nothing about the injustice done to those Americans.
When BushCo screwed anyone they decided to drop into Gitmo because they felt like it, you said nothing.
When BushCo screwed the Americans in NOLA and Miss, too old, too poor, or too disabled to leave or to rebuild, you said nothing.
When they took their eye off of OBL and Afghanistan, you said nothing.
When they failed to give a truthful and credible reason for going to war in Iraq, you said nothing.
When BushCo failed to put enough troops in country to occupy Iraq, you said nothing.
When they failed to up armor the vehicles, you said nothing.
When they failed to provide sufficient body armor, you said nothing.
When they let military contractors go hog wild, stealing your tax dollars, your children’s tax dollars, and my tax dollars, you said nothing.
So now your son or daughter comes home from a war, perhaps no longer mentally the same person, perhaps missing a body part or two, and they get thrown into some Hell hole of a hospital and you’re surprised? You may feel like a Bushie because you vote GOP, or you give money, or you bow down to an image of Bush, but you’re just as much on the outside as me. I don’t think anyone checks party affiliation when they leave your kid sitting in a pool of his own piss.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:06 pmnot impressed w/US-
not even impressed by March Madness?
Comment by whiteyfresh
Especially not “March Madness”!!
March 17th, 2007 at 2:07 pm#71…
March 17th, 2007 at 2:08 pmDonald Rumsfeld…
Boy, if this doesn’t make you think twice about government run health care,…
Comment by muckdog — March 17, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
Remember, folks…when the trolls show up yammering on about how the Walter Reed situation is an indictment of socialized medicine, just throw this in their face. It’s so much easier than trying to make them see reason. ^_^
Comment by TripMaster Monkey — March 17, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Generals Tie Walter Reed Privatization to Deplorable Conditions
http://blog.aflcio.org/ 2007/ 03/ 07/ generals-tie-walter-reed-privatization-to-deplorable-conditions/
thanks, trip…
March 17th, 2007 at 2:12 pmSo now your son or daughter comes home from a war, perhaps no longer mentally the same person, perhaps missing a body part or two, and they get thrown into some Hell hole of a hospital and you’re surprised? You may feel like a Bushie because you vote GOP, or you give money, or you bow down to an image of Bush, but you’re just as much on the outside as me. I don’t think anyone checks party affiliation when they leave your kid sitting in a pool of his own piss.
Comment by ScrewBush
It’s a shame, but, “they can’t hear you tho”. To all you wanna-be republiscum, I have one thing to say, “critcal thinking is a terrible thing to waste”.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:17 pmMyself, I am distinctly unimpressed with the circus part of the “bread and circus” the current corporo-politco consumer culture of the USA crams down our throats.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:20 pmWe have to struggle to get students to pay attention to basic learning.
They are so distracted by sports, and the false glamour and false expectations of the sports world, they can barely graduate from high school.
These young people have been programmed by the corporate entities to believe in a la-la land.
There are young men in my town who got out of high school 2 years ago, they are still unemployed and live with their parents.
But man o’ man, the basketball silks they wear all the time are brand new spanking clean……. march madness, the superbowl, to hell with it… say, whatever happened to hockey?
I think it’s time for a new deck of cards. Remember the cards with the most wanted terrorists pictured on them? Some entrepeneur needs to develop a Republican scandal deck, with pix of Walter Reed, fired US Attorneys, electronic voting machines etc. Oh.. wait.. I guess we’d need several standard decks, wouldn’t we!
March 17th, 2007 at 2:26 pmG. Dubious can be the Joker for all the decks…
March 17th, 2007 at 2:32 pmy’know what Raven? Thats exactly the answer i was hoping for.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:40 pmDamn. That looks like a bombed-out building in Iraq.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:41 pmCanada got REEAL quiet after my Carolina HUrricanes whupped all of em!!!!
March 17th, 2007 at 2:43 pm(guess which state I live in!)
Think Progress - Can we get an IGNORE feature installed?
Or at least a Cheney this button…
March 17th, 2007 at 2:48 pm#67 Who would pay for a dress with that amount of BO and ugly karma sticking to it?
Comment by veritas —
Can I get a Mayan priest to de-evil it?
March 17th, 2007 at 2:50 pm#85… Do they make house calls? I can think of one big white house in particular, that’s going to need a real cleansing soon..
March 17th, 2007 at 2:56 pmGet over it.
We have a war to fight. Terrorists want to kill us all. If the hospitals aren’t like 5 star hotels, that’s tough luck. I would rather money be spent on bombs to blow up terrorists in Iraq.
Comment by firehead — March 17, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
While I’m not surprised you live in your own human waste and think surrounding like these would be an upgrade, some people get jobs or join the military to make a better life for themselves. You are a loser, obviously, our soldiers are not.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:21 pmYour so afraid of terrorist, but believe me they won’t come to the little bumf*ck area you park the car you live in, loser.
We’re discussing honorable people here, you wouldn’t understand, trashbrain.
Comment by Jesus Christ, son of God — March 17, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
Sir, could you do something about firehead?
March 17th, 2007 at 3:22 pmwasn’t attempting sarcasm, I was perfominzing the sarcastictron.
Comment by Blender — March 17, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
Oh, this must be what firehead does too. Thanks for explaining him to us Blender.
How bet the next time Dickless Cheney needs a cardiac procedure we let him wait about six months for it and cross our fingers the whole time.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:28 pmI guess we know where that $2.5 billion Halliburton overcharged didn’t go. We could have given Mexico $1 million and it would have been fixed and they’ll be closer to us than Halliburton will be in Dubai.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:34 pmComment by Raven — March 17, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
Raven - I don’t believe these people are paid minimum wage.
I also don’t believe that you couldn’t find American’s to do these jobs. I think that’s another right wing lie so the wealthiest can pay the least amount to employees who will never complain if labor laws are violated.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:43 pmMY GOD! THAT PICTURE ACCOMPANYING THE STORY LOOKS LIKE THE HOME OF “THE CRYPT-KEEPER”(tm)!!!!! FIGURES–Walter Reed GHOULS LIKE Kiley and Pollack LIKE TO HAVE A DANK DUNGEON IN WHICH TO KEEP THEIR VICTIMIZED VETERANS UNCOMFORTABLE AS POSSIBLE, YA SOCIOPATHIC SICK-F*CKS!!!!!
March 17th, 2007 at 4:05 pmLooks like it hasn’t been maintained since my father-in-law was there during WW ONE!!
So glad he nearly lost his life and did loose his leg so nearly 100 years later, King George could declare the present day sacrifices are keeping this country safe!
I am so ashamed for what I and others couldn’t prevent despite our best attempts in the 2000 & 2004 elections.
March 17th, 2007 at 4:29 pmOn another site, the headlines read “Hundreds arrested at Christian Anti-War Protest†- this is a hallmark of the end of Bush’s presidency. The people are unhappy and the President will go on many articles of impeachment now.
Comment by veritas — March 17, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
Could you give us a link because I don’t see anything on the news about arrests. Of course they’re busy pointing out Cindy Sheehan is there in a disgusting attempt to discredit the protests.
How dare she complain about losing a son for those liars, the nerve.
March 17th, 2007 at 5:13 pm[…] Think Progress […]
March 17th, 2007 at 6:32 pmYeah. A link to an AFLCIO site. Credibilty-Shmredibility.
The fact is that this facility is government run. Even if private companies do the work. Where is the quality control? Can you imagine a government take over of health care? Even if there was some level of privatization?
Vera Heron spent 15 frustrating months living on post to help care for her son. “It just absolutely took forever to get anything done,” Heron said. “They do the paperwork, they lose the paperwork. Then they have to redo the paperwork. You are talking about guys and girls whose lives are disrupted for the rest of their lives, and they don’t put any priority on it.”
March 17th, 2007 at 9:33 pmRemember, folks … when the trolls show up yammering about how the Walter Reed situation is an indictment of socialized medicine, just throw this in their face. It’s so much easier than trying to make them see reason.
This kind sophomoric braying is increasingly typical of soi disant progressive commentary on any number of issues and a major reason why it is difficult for thoughtful people to take them seriously. It is indeed much easier to preemptively reject an alternative viewpoint than trying to make its proponent see reason. And that kind of intellectual laziness is, in the end, why so many alleged progressives fail to grasp even the basics of health care.
As to Walter Reed, one has to be blind, deaf, and dumb–with emphasis on the latter–not to see that its problems are indeed rooted in the bureaucratic inertia that characterizes all government-run projects everywhere, including socialized medicine. It is one of those stubborn facts that cannot be avoided, no matter how many snide comments are posted in the blogosphere by frivolous people who can’t be bothered to do their homework.
March 17th, 2007 at 10:31 pmYeah. A link to an AFLCIO site. Credibilty-Shmredibility.
The fact is that this facility is government run. Even if private companies do the work. Where is the quality control? Can you imagine a government take over of health care? Even if there was some level of privatization? Comment by muckdog — March 17, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
That’s a st*pid statement. The fact is this facility is *outsourced* and isn’t government run. When it was government run, veterans received what they needed. Where’s the quality control indeed! That’s what happens when you hand control of a critical government function over to the company that couldn’t deliver Ice to New Orleans, and are Halliburton tied cronies.
You’re a lying, ignorant fool!
March 17th, 2007 at 11:05 pmThis kind sophomoric braying is increasingly typical of soi disant progressive commentary on any number of issues and a major reason why it is difficult for thoughtful people to take them seriously. It is indeed much easier to preemptively reject an alternative viewpoint than trying to make its proponent see reason. Comment by David — March 17, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
This kind of sophomoric braying is incredibly of “so called” conservative commentary pretending to be “intellectual”, while simply projecting its own hypocrisy and ignorance. Soi Disant intellectuals like you that simply “bray” at criticism and thoughtful discussions about your inadequacies and failures, are why it is so difficult for people to take you or your political *ideas* seriously. It is much easier for you to ignore liberal ideas, and push half baked b*llsh*t cooked up by “soi disant” right wing “think tanks” as relevant or real or “equal” thought.
And that kind of intellectual laziness is, in the end, why so many alleged progressives fail to grasp even the basics of health care. Comment by David — March 17, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
Ah, so you’re tied to one of those “soi disant” health care “think tanks”. That explains your reactionary, dismissive, hypocritical and st*pid remarks. What “basics” are you referring to? How we pay more, and receive less quality healthcare than any industrialized nation? How despite having out of control spending, we have 50 million Americans without health care? How about that the whole “private” involvement in healthcare has so bloated the costs, that the country is *screwed* by special interest buffoons like yourself? Are those the “points” you were referring to? Or are those just the ones YOU don’t have a grasp of?
As to Walter Reed, one has to be blind, deaf, and dumb–with emphasis on the latter–not to see that its problems are indeed rooted in the bureaucratic inertia that characterizes all government-run projects everywhere, including socialized medicine. Comment by David — March 17, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
That’s funny you would mention government run, versus “private” healthcare. When Walter Reed was “fully” government run, you didn’t hear criticism from soldiers. Since ICA (a Cheney/Halliburton/Katrina linked bastion of “privatized-failure”) became involved, the system melted down.
This whole affair is in fact an indictment of “privatization”, which is why fools like you are sent out to do “damage-control”, and to propagate the “myth” of how health care can’t be government run. You’re a liar, a fool, a propagandist, and a st*pid shill!
It is one of those stubborn facts that cannot be avoided, no matter how many snide comments are posted in the blogosphere by frivolous people who can’t be bothered to do their homework.
Comment by David — March 17, 2007 @ 10:31 pm
Says the moron, who’s so st*pid, that he didn’t do his homework and realize ICA (a private company) was the source of the failure, and not the *government*!
You’re just another *idiot*, and a great example of why health care is faltering in this country! As long as st*pid idiots in industry like you continue to f*ck up health care in this country, we’ll continue to be a 3rd world country in terms of our average health care.
So shove that self righteous ignorance up your ignorance st*pid *ss! Got it skippy?
March 17th, 2007 at 11:17 pmJust a quick glance at that, and it reminds me of a scene from Doom3, the essential plot of which is Hell taking over Mars. Wow, so the Bush Administration has unleashed Hell upon our wounded soldiers…yet why am I not surprised?
March 18th, 2007 at 1:07 amAbu Ghraib prison in Iraq looks better than that pic at the top of this thread. I would not even want to walk down that hallway. It looks like the walls are collapsing with debris on the floor.
March 18th, 2007 at 1:12 amthis is not a first world country any longer–and we need to get that–cause we are heading for some major suffering–Walter Reed is just one sign of it–get ready to get hungry on many fronts and you can blame 15+ years of conservatives heading things–thise who post here–we will die without knowing our kids will ever have security–hopefully they do–but not a good chance–ACT
March 18th, 2007 at 1:24 amThis kind sophomoric braying is increasingly typical of soi disant conservative commentary on any number of issues and a major reason why it is difficult for thoughtful people who think for themselves without having to rely on GOP talking points to take them seriously. It is indeed much easier to preemptively reject facts and statistics which obviously have a liberal bias than trying to make its proponent see reason.
March 18th, 2007 at 1:24 amand I LOVE how some people want to see past the facts about privatization and outsourcing to take the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed and blame the government. Facts are facts…there isn’t any vast left-wing conspiracy to sneak into the night and create a giant catastrofuck in Walter Reed to discredit this criminal administration.
and to the person who wants us to GET OVER IT!
You would be the first to raise an outcry about the horrid conditions if you were a wounded soldier over there, so I would not even be talking…It’s easy for you to say get over it because you’re safe on the homefront, fighting the “intellectual wars” as Paul Wolfowitz put it, not having to put YOUR life and well-being on the line. It’s easy for you to say and it just shows how out of touch you are.
March 18th, 2007 at 1:35 amIf I was a living member of the Reed family, I would DEMAND that the government remove the name Reed from this HELLHOLE. Beyond the danger it poses to our wounded troops, it is a pathetic insult to the entire Reed family.
March 18th, 2007 at 1:41 amAnd the republicans have been the one chanting to everyone else: “YOU DON’T SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!” LOL
March 18th, 2007 at 1:49 am>>And the republicans have been the one chanting to everyone else: “YOU DON’T SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!â€
Well, how can anyone claim to support the troops if you don’t support the president. That’s the logic in a nutshell.
March 18th, 2007 at 3:19 amWell, how can anyone claim to support the troops if you don’t support the president. That’s the logic in a nutshell. Comment by Jojo — March 18, 2007 @ 3:19 am
Easy, the president doesn’t support the troops, as we see with Walter Reed, the lack of medical care, and the destruction of the military effectiveness through needless wars, and st*pid causes. Or had you missed that ‘logic in a nutshell’, dum bass?
You right wingnuts are just soooo st*pid!
March 18th, 2007 at 3:55 amWhere is all the money going; OH YEA, Hellibutron.
March 18th, 2007 at 3:59 am#2 mentioned a 20’s horror movie. I remember a much more recent one from the 90’s: Jacob’s Ladder. There’s a horrific scene of a hospital hallway VERY much like this one, and Tim Robbins played a war vet, too.
March 18th, 2007 at 4:54 amThere’s no question that the Bush administration has treated our troops like shit when they didn’t need them for a photo op. One question, though. Is that a photo of a building currently in use at Walter Reed? Even with the horrid conditions in Building 18, I find it hard to imagine that SOMEONE wouldn’t have reported the conditions in the photo if it was in use.
Just asking. Even if that’s an abandoned building, Bush still deserves to be run out of town at the front end of an angry mob. I just don’t want the Left to look as if we’re using false information to oppose him. Fox News would jump all over that, and why give those pricks ammunition?
March 18th, 2007 at 5:06 am#2 and #108, I’ll one up you with 2001’s SESSION 9, an underrated and absolutely terrifying film set in a mental hospital that’s being gutted of asbestos. They filmed in the real location, which makes it all the worse.
And even THAT didn’t look as bad as the Walter Reed shot above. Jesus Christ.
March 18th, 2007 at 5:37 amThis must be the PTSDward!
March 18th, 2007 at 8:59 amRE:
“Boy, if this doesn’t make you think twice about government run health care, Lord help you.”
walter reed has been outsourced to PRIVATE COMPANIES, like….IAP Worldwide Services, a company run by two former Halliburton executives, received a large contract to run Walter Reed under suspicious circumstances: the Army reversed the results of an audit concluding that government employees could do the job more cheaply.
You might want to try “The Google” before making stupid statements.
March 18th, 2007 at 9:35 amScrewBush, very well said!
One more: When they didn’t find the WMDs (under the table at the Press Correspondents dinner), you said nothing.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:06 amIn Iraq and Afghanistan, the soldiers were used to living in tents with outdoor toilets, so this is working out as well for them as those Katrina freeloaders in the Astrodome.
March 18th, 2007 at 10:33 amhttp://www.answers.com/ topic/ walter-reed-army-medical-center
thats probably because its been empty since 1977.
March 18th, 2007 at 11:07 amRUCerious:
So which war you in, since basic training in camp roberts was for WWI WWII and Korea, you must be an old fart.
March 18th, 2007 at 11:28 am#115, You are wrong. Using your own link, WRAIR moved to WRAMC in 1999. “Starting in 1972, a huge new WRAMC building (Building #2) was constructed and made ready for occupation by 1977. WRAIR moved from Building #40 to a large new facility on the WRAMC Forest Glen Annex in Maryland in 1999.”
So, Building 40 has been vacant for six, seven years max.
March 18th, 2007 at 3:05 pmWalter Reed is what happens when you let Repukes run the government. They outsource EVERYTHING to their corporate pals, who charge twice what the government did for half the quality.
This is a national disgrace and it is 100% the Repukes fault, like every other scandal that is happening now.
March 18th, 2007 at 3:54 pmAND WHO CARES FOR THE VETS?
March 18th, 2007 at 3:57 pmhey, wait — it looks good enough for strom thurmond!
yeah, strom thurmond NOW.
March 18th, 2007 at 4:49 pm[…] Think Progress » Beyond Building 18. This is a damn shame… From the article:“allegations from a former inspector at Walter Reed of widespread and dangerous problems in nearly all the buildings” (tags: veterans support WalterReed) […]
March 18th, 2007 at 9:21 pm[…] EXCLUSIVE: Major New Problems At Walter Reed Washington, DC (WUSA) — A major 9NEWS NOW EXCLUSIVE — allegations from a former inspector at Walter Reed of widespread and dangerous problems in nearly all the buildings at the Army’s premier hospital. Burst steam pipes near electrical cables, rats, mold, and holes in floors and walls — all of that extends far beyond the well-publicized problems at the notorious Building 18. […]
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