And it's never been a mystery to me why the idiotic military leadership denies mental health damage to soldiers so adamantly. How else are you going to keep treating your employees like cold meat? How else do you expect to get them to die with smiles on their faces?

When my father was serving as an officer in the Marines, not only was the Pentagon obligated to pay for his care, but also for that of his wife and four children (including a son with cystic fibrosis). That's six people on the military's health care roles for one active duty officer.

Further, after he was killed in Vietnam, those obligations remained in effect for my mother and each one of us kids until we reached the age of majority -- although it must be acknowledged that the Pentagon did once try to boot us off TRICARE immediately after his funeral, mostly because they did not want to pay for my brother, whose CF then required expensive care. My grandfather's protests got those health benefits restored; my brother died in 1971 at age 8.

Presently, we should also note that in accordance with provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the DOD has recently extended health care to dependent children of active duty and retired miliary personnel who are between the ages of 22 and 26.

Not all that long ago during the 1990s, the Pentagon actually tried to punt its health care obligations under TRICARE over to Medicare once retirees and spouses attained age 65, but the resultant hue and cry from the retired class -- which included my late stepfather -- was such that the administrative rule providing for said transfer was soon rescinded.

Health care (primary and behavioral) for veterans who were injured and / or disabled as a result of the wars in Asia, once they are formally seperated from the armed services, falls under the responsibility of the perpetually underfunded U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Therefore, I'd offer that whatever rules the Pentagon seeks to implement in "reforming" TRICARE, will in all likelihood take aim at limiting those benefits currently received by military dependents and retirees. It will probably not affect active duty personnel to any great extent.

I would think that since MT is presently part of the current system as a military spouse, she would be better able to talk about the health care that she and her children receive under TRICARE -- that is, if she's around today.

....will co-chair AEI's American Internationalism Project, an effort to rebuild a bipartisan consensus about big foreign policy questions.

digby

This is a common project of the Right these days. They know that no one likes their ideas. Scarred by the experience in Iraq, few want to do it again in Iran....

Great minds and all that.

As Republicans continue to blast the White House for canceling tours due to the sequester's budget impact, the United States Secret Service is offering further explanation about its decision to nix the visits for tourists beginning this weekend.

According to an official who broke down the numbers for NBC News, there are 37 Secret Service officers staffed for tours. They each get paid $50 per hour for eight-hour shifts. These officers work five days a week, adding up to a savings of $74,000 per week that the tours are off.
That comes to almost $2 million before the end of this fiscal year.

The Office of Management and Budget has calculated that the Secret Service may need to cut as much as $84 million from its budget due to the sequestration cuts. Last March, the service requested a budget of $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2013.

But let's face it - this is a good, down and dirty way to also say "Look how MEEAAAANNNN those Republicans are!"

I do know that I would watch just about any TV show if it provided shots of Portland's downtown bridges or other local landmarks. And if there was a chance I would see someone I know, well, I'd definitely be perched in front of the TV.  :-)

Scott: "Just really rubbed me the wrong way, like they were just waiting for Hagman to die to roll out the extravaganza of a JR's funeral. I would love to know if it was filmed before he actually died, 'Larry get in here and help us with JR's imminent funeral.'"

... five of the episodes for this season's installment of Dallas, when he passed away from leukemia last November at age 81.

Both Hagman and the producers knew he was terminally ill at the time Dallas got rebooted on TNT. According to his co-stars and longtime friends, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy, the current storyline dealing with the dastardly J.R.'s demise was actually prepared in anticipation of the actor's own pending death, with both his knowledge and his approval.

We've had no issues and if you play the game right with them it is very affordable.

Buyer must beware because their low cost strategy is to try and trick you into up charges by charging for everything.  

I'm going to let the boss know about this to see if cost or safety is a bigger motivation.

Having expressed that caveat, I have noticed that when union jobs disappear, all jobs disappear. And those that remain have no security, no benefits and no recourse for maltreatment.

As an example, when the Union was strong, there were musicians being employed all over. On TV. Johnny Carson had a big band for years. In theaters. It was unthinkable to have canned music. There was always a live orchestra. There were loads of small cafes and restaurants - many with small groups or at least a live pianist. With the weakening of the Union movement - beginning with St. Ronnie - all that evaporated.

Tax breaks and subsidies at the taxpayer's expense is a routine part of Walmart negotiations with local planners and municipalites. Walmart appears to expect--and even demand---such deals. It is not entirely clear why local officials are often so eager to have a Walmart move into their area since, as noted above, the net tax revenue is dramatically less--per comparable square footage--- than small, locally owned stores. Perhaps they are deluded by the notion that "bigger is always better". link
 

For your reading "enjoyment":

Wal-Mart's explosive growth has gutted two key pillars of the American middle class: small businesses and well-paying manufacturing jobs.

Small, family-owned retail businesses likewise closed in droves as Wal-Mart grew. Between 1992 and 2007, the number of independent retailers fell by more than 60,000, according to the U.S. Census.

Their demise triggered a cascade of losses elsewhere. As communities lost their local retailers, there was less demand for services like accounting and graphic design, less advertising revenue for local media outlets and fewer accounts for local banks. As Wal-Mart moved into communities, the volume of money circulating from business to business declined. More dollars flowed into Wal-Mart's tills and out of the local economy...

...Between 2001 and 2007, 40,000 U.S. factories closed, eliminating millions of jobs. While Wal-Mart's ceaseless search for lower costs wasn't the only factor that drove production overseas, it was a major one. During those six years, Wal-Mart's imports from China tripled in value from $9 billion to $27 billion...

...Wages have stagnated. The middle class has shrunk. The ranks of the working poor have swelled. Whatever we may have saved shopping at Wal-Mart, we've more than paid for it in diminished opportunities and declining income.

...And the worse things get, the more alluring Wal-Mart's siren call of low prices becomes. While Ford once profited by creating a workforce that could afford to buy its cars, today Wal-Mart profits by ensuring that Americans cannot afford to shop anywhere else. The average family of four now spends more than $4,000 a year at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited

On the other hand, I think that W. was the devil incarnate.

Tucker already had a warrant for her arrest that had been issued by police in Atlantic County. She was additionally charged with lewdness, Germaine said.

I'm shocked!