Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Some Perspective, Please...

Having been a beneficiary of the US military medical system my entire life--as the son of a career Air Force man and as a career man myself, I feel compelled to weigh in (perhaps with all the force of a gnat fart in a hurricane) on the current controversy surrounding the state of veterans' health care in general and the care given our wounded warriors returning from Rumsfeld's Folly. First, let me say that a young man or woman who volunteers to fight our nation's wars (for pay equal to that of an assistant manager at McDonald's) deserves every honor and benefit a nation as wealthy as ours can bestow. Despite all the applause and ribbon waving, we fall woefully short in that department.

That said, I must point out that in my fairly wide-ranging experience, the American military medical system is the BEST IN THE WORLD. I challenge anyone to pick a country, any country, and go check out their civilian medical system. Then, go check out their military medical system. I have seen the best Europe has to offer and it is downright medieval. Don't get me started about the Asian medical systems I have witnessed.

The hysteria in the press and outrage in congress over peeling plaster in showers and hospital rooms infested with fruit flies would be laughable if it were not so monstrously hypocritical. I bet if the ten of you who subject yourself to this random rant go look in your shower, chances are more than 2 of you are going to find some mold and peeling plaster. I'd love to take a video camera into the shower of some newsy or congressmen and put that on the nightly news, wouldn't you?

On second thought, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near the shower of most of them.

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