Kay Steiger

TELL ME, PETRAEUS. A WaPo‘s webcast interview yesterday with Democratic whip James Clyburn suggested that a positive report from Gen. Petraeus could cause a boondoggle for the 47 blue dog Democrats in the House, without whom it will be impossible to pass any kind of timetable for withdrawal. The report from Petraeus is expected to […]

VETO POWER. On Friday the White House announced that even if Congress passes legislation reversing the Ledbetter ruling, Bush will veto it. The statement (pdf) said such legislation would “serve to impede justice” and “allegations from thirty years ago or more could be resurrected and filed in federal courts.” The basic argument the right is […]

TAKING THE VA TO COURT. The BBC reports veterans are suing the VA over denied mental health treatment and disability pay. This is more evidence that the VA is too understaffed (despite the fact that they are leaders in post traumatic stress disorder treatment) to deal with the influx of former soldiers suffering from PTSD. […]

CONGRESSIONAL WITHOUT AID. The WaPo has a large feature today on members of Congress who are moms. The piece focuses a lot on the guilt of being a working mother and how difficult it is to commute a long distance far away from a family, with quotes like: “It feels like someone’s ripping my heart […]

AFTER LEDBETTER. Yesterday SCOTUSblog had a follow-up to the Ledbetter v. Goodyear ruling which originally appeared in BNA’s “Employment Discrimination Report.” It does a good job of exploring previous case law and expresses frustration that the ruling may make fighting discrimination fuzzier. Jason Harrow says, “We face another decade (or more?) of inconsistent and contradictory […]

DEBRIEFING PTSD. Newly confirmed Army Secretary Pete Geren will hear from mental health professionals about a new program today that that the DoD plans to implement to raise awareness among returning soldiers about PTSD. It includes: Two 30-minute multimedia presentations [where] soldiers will learn to identify basic symptoms in themselves and other soldiers. Afterwards, health […]

VA SECRETARY RESIGNS. The AP is reporting that Jim Nicholson, the secretary of veterans affairs, just resigned due to pressure from the Walter Reed scandal. A November 2005 Fox News interview revealed that he said he “often” visited Walter Reed with his wife, and even went so far as to say: And the thing [veterans] […]

ROCK YOUR BODY, MCCAIN. This story cracks me up: In April, the McCainiacs gathered at the Tabu Ultra Lounge … [where] “Stunning models/servers tempt with nouveau classic cocktails. This is the forbidden world of Tabú, where only one rule applies: anything goes. Are you ready for a nightspot that’s too hot to touch?” The campaign […]

TILLMAN HEARING. The House Oversight Committee has scheduled a hearing on Pat Tillman‘s death for August 1. They’ve invited Donald Rumsfeld (among others) to testify. Should be quite an event. Finding out who knew what about Tillman’s death is significant on a variety of levels, not the least being that the government-led cover-up of the […]