One of the Vietnam War’s legacies was a generation of homeless veterans – traumatized by war and uncared for by the system that happily used them for its own ends before leaving them to the streets. Now, despite constant crowing about reforms at the Veterans Administration and treatment for mental illness in the military, it seems America will have another generation of homeless veterans thanks to our adventures and misadventures overseas.

The GOP is demonstrating their seriousness about the federal debt by holding the debt ceiling hostage, screaming “We’ve got to reform Medicare TODAY!” as a means for cutting government spending. But that’s talk — loud talk, to be sure, but talk nonetheless. How serious is the GOP really when it comes to trading cuts in Medicare spending for an increase in the debt ceiling?

One way to find out is simple: push for Medicare to be able to negotiate drug prices in the same way that the VA already does.

PhRMA might not like it, but we’ve all got to share in the sacrifices, right?

This morning, it just so happens, there was a field hearing of the House Oversight Committee in Baltimore. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who represents the area, called the hearing, which featured the mayor of Baltimore and the Governor of Maryland, among others, to examine the foreclosure crisis and the abuse carried out by mortgage servicers. I got a chance to talk with the star witness yesterday.

On this day as we pause to remember our soldiers, airmen, midshipmen and Marines, remember that Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson want those men and women to get paid less, spend more for their health care and have their houses and workspaces left to rot.

Keep in mind that this is more of a shock doctrine document than a blueprint; they have no support on the commission for all this, and they’re trying to gather it with this early release.

In a series of recent articles, I’ve pointed out Yoo, Bybee, and later Office of Legal Counsel attorney Stephen Bradbury, disregarded internal SERE documents related to the safety of waterboarding. Now we can add the suppression of complaints by SERE trainees of having contracted PTSD from participation in SERE training. This directly contradicts the Yoo/Bybee contention in the Aug. 2, 2002 memo to Rizzo, where they wrote, “Through your [i.e., CIA] consultation with various individuals responsible for such training, you have learned that these techniques have been used as elements of a course of conduct without any reported incident of prolonged mental harm.”