Category: Orphans

Veterans groups appear to see favorably the designation of former Army Chief of Staff retired Gen. Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. If confirmed by the Senate Shinseki would be the first Asian-American to lead the nation’s second largest cabinet department.

Shinseki was twice wounded in Vietnam and had solid leadership experience during his career, one that included commanding the Fort Hood, Texas,-based 1st Cavalry Division as well as Stabilization Forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina. As is the case with the president-elect Shinseki was born in Hawaii. He graduated from West Point in 1965 and later received a master’s degree in English literature from Duke. Shinseki as Chief of Staff pushed for better mobility and technology but also told Congress that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to win in Iraq, something ignored by then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Shinseki recognizes some of the deficits in service facing veterans who use the VA and wants to correct those problems.

“Veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular, are confronting serious, severe wounds – some seen, some unseen – making it difficult for them to get on with their lives in this struggling economy,” he said. “They deserve a smooth, error-free, no-fail, benefits-assured transition into our ranks as veterans, and that is our responsibility, not theirs.

“A word to my fellow veterans: If confirmed, I will work each and every day to ensure that we are serving you as well as you have served us,” Shinseki continued. “We will pursue a 21st-century VA that serves your needs. We will open … new doors of opportunity so you can find a good job, support your families when you return to civilian life. And … we will always honor the sacrifices of those who have worn the uniform, and their loved ones.”

I use the VA for health care. And while care is often good the delivery of care is in too many cases infused with red tape administered sometimes by people who have no greater calling in life than being an obstructive bureaucrat. That is by no means all of the VA but those who are guilty are enough to ruin one’s day.

The VA doesn’t need more red tape and doesn’t need more bureaucrats, especially at the top. Shinseki might just be what the VA needs to get in shape and make the lazy ones who seem to think they deserve their jobs to get off their asses or get off the clock.

Several media interviews have left the public unknowing positively whether President-elect Barack Obama has quit smoking cigarettes.

Hey, it’s hard to quit. I smoked way too long. I failed quitting the first time at age 40. I managed to quit five years later. Eight years after that I’m still tobacco free. Come on dude. If I can do it you can too.

O.J. Simpson dodged the bullet, or needle, for allegedly killing his wife and her friend. But he faces 15 years in prison today after being sentenced for an armed robbery that happened in a Las Vegas hotel room.

It is likely a hollow victory for the Browns and Goldmans, whose daughter and son were the victims in the 1994 murder for which Simpson was acquitted. Likewise, those many, many Americans who believed Simpson should have been convicted should not feel as justice was served in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman with today’s sentencing. All of this raises a point regarding the public’s perception of punishment.

The purpose of punishing crime is in a great part helping the public feel as if justice is served. For many, a prison sentence is justice served with respect to a particular case. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work when you look at putting someone away for a crime when that crime is not the one a person would liked to have seen the defendant pay for. I’m sure some would argue with me. But in reality that’s the way our legal system works.

Nonetheless, a true narcissistic knucklehead who convicted a crime with weapons is going off the streets for awhile. That should make any law-abiding citizen have a little faith in the system.

Oh by the way, I always thought it was kind of strange that the popular soul group The O’Jays had that in the early 1970s titled “Back Stabbers.”

Earlier today I castigated a local TV station for not publishing on their Web site the location of a home invasion robbery.

A few minutes ago I checked out the station’s site and saw that not only did they publish the block number and street name but they published the exact address.

This blog certainly does not take credit for KBMT Channel 12 doing the right thing. I checked out my Web site counter and found no evidence anyone from that station read my post. However, I did send the station a comment after reading the story this afternoon. And although my comment is missing from their site, along with any other comments, they did what they were supposed to do in the journalistic sense.

Did my comment to the station criticizing their choice not to expose where the crime took place play any part in their decision? Beats me. The point is that the station had the good sense to realize that readers and/or viewers have a vested interest in knowing details when stories affect them or might affect them.

Now I suppose someone will complain about the station giving in their news report the exact address of the crime scene rather than the street name or the street name and its hundred block. Oh well, that’s life in the big (and not so big) city.

Having worked as a newspaper reporter for almost two decades of my life, I realize there has always been some natural friction between print people and electronic news gathering folks. But sometimes the local TV people — in smaller markets especially — can just make you want to throw the teevee out in the yard or use it for sighting in your rifle

My case in chief: Today, local station KBMT Channel 12 in Beaumont, Texas, reported that the police are looking for suspects in a home invasion robbery.

They have some pertinent information in the story such as the suspects tied up the homeowner, stole something then fled. They even gave a description of the vehicle the perps were driving.

What is glaringly missing is that the story does not mention where this home invasion robbery happened? Why? Did the cops not want to give it to the media? Did the media even ask? Did the media not want to embarrass anyone? Were the media just having a synaptic misfire thus not remembering “where” is one of those elements important in a news story?

At the place where I reside a home invasion robbery wouldn’t be too difficult to imagine. But if I was regular Joe Beaumont Citizen, I would want to know where a home invasion robbery took place.

Channel 12 says they will have more on story on their broadcasts at 5, 6 and 10. I hope so, maybe they will finally tell the public where in the hell this robbery occurred.