Category Archives: illness

Outtake: Scott Olsen, who almost died for Occupy

Eight years ago this week, a NYPD riot at New York’s Zuccotti Park evicted the last remaining Occupy Wall Street activists. That year had seen an incredible amount of movement-building, with organizing from coast to coast–including by dissenting veterans.  Below, a vigil for Iraq vet Scott Olsen at Occupy Oakland. In 2011, Obama’s Afghanistan “surge”Continue reading “Outtake: Scott Olsen, who almost died for Occupy”

Pi Day news: some rational writing to go w/the irrational number

Assorted items, w/good news provided by Father Philip Berrigan, WWII veteran and angelic troublemaker thereafter, and his 21st-century successor Col. Ann Wright.

news: the Monday dozen

I know I haven’t posted one of these in a few days, but that’s not because there wasn’t much to note. Below is a full baker’s dozen, though some are echoes of stories already on our radar. The Toronto Star offers an elegant PTSD history, showing how “soldier’s heart” became “shell shock” became “combat fatigue” becameContinue reading “news: the Monday dozen”

our wednesday five

From Civil War women to depleted uranium, nearly all my obsessions accounted for today. But first, the Pentagon finally attends to the VERY 21st-century issue of those “burn pits” searing the lungs of so many Iraq troops, first exposed by the remarkable Kelly Kennedy. On depleted uranium, still poisoning Gulf War I and OIF vets,Continue reading “our wednesday five”

Bradley Manning: WIRED folds, and my dilemma is moot.

WIRED has just released the full transcripts of the conversations between Manning and that snake Adrian Lamo – meaning that everyone that cares about Manning, thinks him hero or traitor, has no way of not knowing about the gender issues. They’re mesmerizing reading, though I agree with Gawker that Lamo turns out to be evenContinue reading “Bradley Manning: WIRED folds, and my dilemma is moot.”

every day is PTSD Awareness Day

But today’s the official one, apparently. Whatever name one gives combat trauma – there are many that hate the term “disorder” – it’s been with us since our first armies, from “nostalgia” to “soldier’s heart” to “battle fatigue,” which may be my favorite. (Above, the beginning of the movie John Huston made about the latter,Continue reading “every day is PTSD Awareness Day”

PTSD in contractors? Who’s surprised?

Yeah, those guys in the fancy non-uniforms and big paychecks and company names that sound like something out of “Caprica.” I’d guessed this was coming; now, see ProPublica’s new investigation of the issue here. I also commented on their study at my new Alternet blog. From now on, the current-affairs stuff here will often originateContinue reading “PTSD in contractors? Who’s surprised?”

People who Died: Now Murtha, too (UPDATE Two)

Three obituaries inside a week or so: first the World War II-vet peers Howard Zinn and J.D. Salinger, only one of whom became a dissenter. Now Murtha, of the Vietnam generation but only a dissenter much later, who I sort of pre-eulogized last week when he went into hospital. Respect to CBS News for notContinue reading “People who Died: Now Murtha, too (UPDATE Two)”

get well soon, Rep. Murtha.

Slightly buried yesterday under the DADT news was this: “Murtha hospitalized after gallbladder surgery complications.”  The news about the 77-year-old chairman of the Armed Services Committee, whose spokespeople were by this morning refusing to give updates, was regarded mostly as (sigh) political news, exemplified by the head given by Chris Cilizza at The Fix: JohnContinue reading “get well soon, Rep. Murtha.”