In a couple of hours the worst president in American history will, once again, stand in front of Congress and the American people to attempt to read the State Of The Union address. Those who have written the words he will massacre will cringe in the wings and clinch their fists at every mispronounced word. His puppet masters will feverishly manipulate their remote controls in attempts to make that idiotic grin, those bouncing shoulders and that my-vice-president-can-whip-your-dad stare coincide somewhat with the words spewing from that pathetic mouth. The world will laugh at our Alfred E. Neuman "leader." The world will cry because of all who are dead and maimed because of his and Cheney's reign of terror. And the beat goes on....

"Georgie" will again lie to himself and us about Iraq, Iran, war, recession, depression and the situation in the world. He will again invoke the false "positive" optimism he has managed to sell to the lingering 30% for all these years.

Once again I will recall the words of that great philosopher, Gilligan, who, just before the minnow hit the big rock said: "It looks like smooth sailing from here on out, Skipper!"

Here are a few predictions from the viewpoint of one who has seen through these monsters from day one:

1. Al Sadr will NOT renew his "cease fire" next month and Iraq will explode again invalidating all the "The-Surge-Is-Working" rhetoric.

2. The Taliban will continue its violence in Afghanistan requiring more troops there.

3. Osama Bin Laden will continue to use the arrogance, incompetence and violence of the Bush administration to recruit and continue Al Queda's existence and insure its growth as an enemy of our country.

4. Our economy will continue its decline into recession even though we'll all be able to afford to go to work during the month of June because of our $600 welfare check.

Enough for now. More after our illustrious "Idiot In Chief" speaks.

I hope this IS the last State Of The Union "Georgie" delivers. I hope there is an election in November. For the first time in 7 years I have hope again that our country can begin the long journey out of the darkness of the reign of these monsters.

I hope "We The People" can begin to regain the trust and respect of the world.

Hope.... Ain't it a GRAND thing?

I blogged a while back about a WWII LST which I toured here in Alton, IL. At that time, some of the comments asked which LST my Dad served on and I've finally received his records. My Dad's ship was the LST 898, the USS Lincoln County. He boarded her in Pittsburgh as soon as she was launched and took her down the Mississippi River passing within 15 miles of his hometown of Sledge, Mississippi.

He told me he was tempted to jump ship as they passed Helena, Arkansas because he knew he could walk home from there. He was 20 years old.

I was 20 when I went to Vietnam. We never talked much about either of our "adventures" and I regret that so much.

In my interviews working on this PTSD book, I've talked to so many veterans who have similar regrets. There are too many fathers who never tell their stories to sons and daughters.

Locking those "memories" in that dark place where we keep them is such a devastating and destructive behavior and so many stories are lost forever because of that trend.

I interviewed another PTSD counselor here in Illinois last week. We discussed how so many never talk about those "things" because it is too painful. I told him what a shame it was for those stories to be lost. He asked me a profound question: "Have you told your son EVERYTHING?"

Wow! That really hit home. He smiled, looked at me inquisitively and nodded.

I've told my kids several times over the years that I would leave a written record of my life for them. In some ways, maybe these blogs are the beginning of that but I still have yet to put one word on paper to keep that promise. I'm going to do that before this year is over if I live that long.

Another discussion I had with Lewis, the counselor, was how many self-destructive tendencies PTSD causes. I told him what I've told other veterans when this subject comes up: "I'm not nearly as stupid as some of the things I've done in my life." That's my joking way to avoid following through on a conversation I don't really want to have.

I'll get into some of the suicidal/self-destructive things veterans have told me about during this research later but according to Lewis the latest fad for returning vets is to get one of those "rocket" motorcycles and see how fast it will go. Subconsciously hoping for a blowout or a deer to do what they can't contemplate consciously.

I've never had a car or motorcycle I haven't had to its top speed. I know what he's talking about.

More later. I just wanted to put the link to my Dad's ship up. In the past couple of days since I found out which one it was, I've looked at the picture many times and thought about that 20 year old looking over the rails wondering if a Japanese submarine or Kamikazi pilot might find them in that vast Pacific Ocean.

He made it back so I was born. I made it back so my kids were born. So many weren't born because their fathers didn't make it back. That is a tragedy beyond description.