Archive for December, 2006

Used to be we had to hide the fact that we were former "baby killers" or risk getting spit on. Now it seems fashionable for those that never served in Vietnam to claim they were. Sorta like all the boomers that say they were at Woodstock. (I wasn't) A matter of semantics? - you decide. This article appeared in the Arizona Republic November 20, 2006 and was provided by the Associated Press. I keep waiting for an update on the status of this issue but as of this writing it seems to have been buried. It's a matter of concern for all REAL Vietnam veterans - those that were actually there. When I hear something new about this I will let you know.

New Leader of vet group did not fight in Vietnam - BOSTON - The national commander of the American Legion never served in Vietnam although he describes himself as a "Vietnam veteran," a newspaper reported Sunday. Paul Morin, elected August 31, 2006 to a one-year term as commander of the nation's largest veterans group, spent his time in the Army from 1972 to 1974 at Fort Dix, NJ, the Boston Globe reported.

Neither the government nor the 2.7 million-member American Legion makes a formal distinction between veterans who actually went to Vietnam and the "Vietnam-era" veterans. Not too surprising coming from the U.S. Govt. but the American Legion too?? Come on guys, how about we put the WW II - era vets who fought the Japs from a chair in NJ in the same category as those who actually battled them hand to hand in the Pacific. Would that statement fly?

"I am a Vietnam veteran," Morin, of Chicopee, Mass., told the newspaper. His biography on the Legion's website describes him as a "Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Army." If he said that and he wasn't in Vietnam isn't that a bald faced lie?

The Legion's top spokesman, Joe March, backed Morin. He said any service member now stationed in the U.S. could claim to be an Iraq war veteran. Great analogy Joe! Ask any Iraq vet who served in that country if there is a difference between them and someone who says they were an Iraq vet when they might never have gotten any closer to Baghdad than NJ? If I was an Iraq combat trooper I would be pissed!

But former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia said Moran's claim might undercut veterans groups. No sh..t Max! "For the national commander of the American Legion, who never served in the Vietnam theater, to call himself a Vietnam veteran is a lie," Cleland said. I never put much faith in anything a senator said but this time I would have to agree. This is a travesty to all those veterans who were actually there. I find it hard to believe that anyone who would claim to have served in Vietnam and had been proven that they never saw service there could be elected to lead a veterans group like the American Legion. Only politics can be credited for such a stupid statement and is an insult to combat troops.

I found this interesting article in the December 29th issue of the Arizona Republic Newspaper; Kalahari's hoodia a darling of world dieting industry written by Robyn Dixon of the LA Times. It motivated me to add my comments in rebuttal to the ridiculous amount of buzz that this supposed new "diet wonder drug" is causing.

MARIENTAL, Namibia -

In the article Ms. Dixon describes a plant that she claims resembles something from the Day of the Triffids or some other science-fiction creation: a squat succulent with thick, spiky arms, purple fleshy petals and seedpods like rhino horns. But I liken it to Audrey II, the blood drinking monster plant from outer space that gave Rick Moranis so much grief in the hit movie; Little Shop of Horrors. FEED ME!

Hoodia Gordonii is no beauty, but this humble plant is Africa's latest cash crop, priced almost like a narcotic at $40. an ounce. The plant which grows wild in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, was once used by indigenous tribes to suppress hunger and thirst when hunting. Now, as Dixon points out, it's the darling of the international dieting industry and a search for the word nets about 14 million responses! Once again it seems that the overweight among us have discovered a new miracle pill that takes the place of balanced nutrition, self-control and exercise.

The "get rich quick at the expense of the fat and desperate" folks have found a new way to drink our blood just like Audrey II, a metaphor used to illustrate the money that people will spend in the hopes of finding that miracle pill, the one that you take right before bedtime so that you get thin while you sleep. The demand for hoodia is so great that supplies of the plant have been severely compromised, smuggling is rife and farmers in southern Africa are trying to cash in on the trend. One hoodia farmer, Dougal Bassingthwaighte calls it "an impossible phenomenon that is too good to be true." International giant Unilever is licensed to commercialize hoodia but world-wide demand is far outstripping supply and there is a mad race on to get plants to the market. Does anyone remember the old adage; if it's too good to be true, it usually is? But in the hopes that maybe this time there is a pill that really does what it claims, for some, all common sense goes out the window. Unfortunately for farmer Doug the plants that he is currently cultivating as of this writing (some 130,000 seedlings) will take two years before they can be harvested. By that time the "hoodia" being peddled on the internet will have caused a heart attack or stroke, the FDA will have issued a ban and the the entire South Afican agricultural industry will be shut down by a class-action law suit. Use of Hoodia will taper off as all fads do and the impatient dieters of world will move on to the next great get-thin-by-taking-a-pill miracle drug, leaving farmer Doug stuck with a million pounds of Audrey II look-alikes. FEED ME! (more…)