This is Just a Damn Shame

I'm talking about this.

That's just unacceptable. Right now I'm seething and wishing for a way to inflict bodily harm on the folks responsible for the death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth. Severe bodily harm.

Maseth died in one of the most painful ways known to man, electrocution, because President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney decided that it wasn't good enough to start a war for oil and revenge, they needed to make sure all their buddies got paid off of it. And those buddies have been fucking over American soldiers ever since.

Read the story, pay attention to the fact that the Pentagon was aware of unsafe conditions in the showers in Iraq since 2004, and understand that Ryan Maseth died in 2008. 2008. For four years the same government that loves to go on and on about patriotism and supporting the troops allowed men and women in uniform to clean themselves in deathtraps.

Sickening.

One Dozen.

That's how many soldiers have died from electrocution in Iraq, many of them because of improperly installed and inspected showers on American bases. Showers installed by a company, KBR, that is a spin-off of Halliburton which used to employ one Dick Cheney. One dozen soldiers forced to serve extended tours of duty because the same man who got FIVE deferments during the defining war of his generation wanted to makes sure his homies got paid.

12.

Like many of you, I have let the Iraq War become background noise in my life. Sure, like most black folks, I never supported the war in the first place, and I've always known that it was begun with ulterior motives.

Yet, I'm still shocked to see exactly how debased this country's leaders are. What kind of men are ok with allowing soldiers to die so they can save a few bucks on inspections and equipment? What does it say about our nation as a whole that we would allow these men and women to suffer these indignities without raising a hue and outcry that could be heard from sea to shining sea?

There is a rot that resides in the marrow of this country. It is the rot that allows us to engage in petty disputes about campaign surrogates when men and women in Iraq can't wipe their asses safely. It's a sickness that leads us to rail against the unfairness of allowing illegal immigrants to "take our jobs," all while we stand idly by while soldiers suffer because the president and his buisness cronies didn't do their jobs.

We have become a nation consumed with the inconsequential and, as the old folks would say, "stuck permanently on stupid." There is no reason for us accept the idea that our leaders have the right to not only involve us in an unjust war, but that it's business as usual when they fail to properly equip and protect those same soldiers in a combat zone.

Where is the outrage?