Secretly Awesome

Cheney as Cheney

secretlyawesome — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:38:49 +0000

James Fallows slams him down (even if he does has to praise Bush to do it. Fair cop)

Lieberman as Cheney

secretlyawesome — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:36:05 +0000

This Newsweek piece imagining what would have happened had Gore won the 2000 election has more than enough nerdy politics jokes to keep me happy. On the other hand, I think it might be a little too nice to Gore on environmental issues – would he have been such a crusader had he won? And Lieberman as sucky vice president is nicely done.

Good to see Spitzer back in a policy role too… even if it’s only in my head. Shame.

Huh?

secretlyawesome — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:19:48 +0000

There was an election in Uruguay and NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT IT.
How did you let this happen, guys?

Read it and weep. Literally.

secretlyawesome — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:26:32 +0000

The New York Times has a story about the growing trend of soldiers surprising their children on return from Iraq and Afghanistan. There isn’t a huge amount on the debate over whether this is a good idea or not for the children – more in the first five posts on this page from the excellent Daily Dish – but I’m in two minds. On the one hand, return dates are notoriously unreliable and the military’s quite shaky about giving them out in case it gives too much away. On the other… bringing the TV cameras seems a little excessive.

Compelling viewing though.

Going to Zero

secretlyawesome — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:21:45 +0000

This week’s issue of Time Magazine has a story about the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which is particularly impressive for the focus on how military culture makes it difficult to speak out – and the deadly effects it can cause, despite the jokes people like to make about it. Go read it.

Money quote:

Soldiers who serve in Iraq and Afghanistan may not experience the hostility from society upon their return to the U.S. that Vietnam vets did. But they encounter something that psychologists say is nearly as disorienting: America has found ways to distract itself from the fact that it has dispatched 1.6 million service members to two wars and kept them fighting for far longer than the duration of World War II. This struck Waddell while he was at a mall, when a shopper asked him how he broke his leg. “Iraq,” Waddell answered. The reply: “Was it a car wreck or a cycle wreck?” Colorado Springs psychologist Kelly Orr, who is treating the ex–Navy SEAL, says, “We get all excited when Johnny goes marching off to war, and then we forget about him a few days later when our favorite football team loses a game.” This, says Orr, adds to a returnee’s well of anger and loneliness.

Rules of the Page

secretlyawesome — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:00:32 +0000

1) You don’t talk about the page.
2) You don’t talk about the page.
3) No pets.