Femurgate
Planegate

Yes he was probably numbed but those things are like storage units.

I took a hop on a C-5 one time while in the Air Force nurse corps. We we all given heavy duty ear protectors or we'd have been deaf by the time the flight was over.

I am sure. My time was spent in screaming Banshee -- Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

Laura Bush is riding in this one...

People wishing Kerry had died, wishing he'd get cancer, wishing his entire family would die. Absolutely unreal. The right is so nice and tolerant. Apparently Kerry is like Dick Cheney...they think he brought down the entire world.

There are some sick people out there, wishing death on a man and his entire family because he won't start a new war.

But I am sure I will

as usual.

A C-17 medical aircraft to transport the SOS with a broken leg that requires surgery is a non-issue except to those who blindly hate this administration. I would like to see any US official injured overseas requiring surgery to repair the injury transported in aircraft specifically modified for this purpose. As a former infantryman I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Kerry, he was my state senator prior to becoming the SOS. He's an honorable man who's doing a great job in service to his nation.

Those who hate will say ugly things regardless of their affiliation, after all there are posts on this site wishing a certain republican would die and make the planet a better place.

I am not certain such wishes do much to advance dialogue on either side of the aisle and only serve to further entrench the politics of hate in our national character. I wish I had an answer for how one might remedy this current sad discourse.

and internalize this. that is the first step to fix the problem.

Because right now we are watching two tribes wishing the worst on the other side and unable to see that the other side is honest in their love of nation, concern for the future, and that are honest in what they think.

This is quite frankly what civil wars can be made off.

I completely disagree with my rep in city council. We cover it. He is from the Ron and Rand Paul (and Ayn Rand school of economics). He have asked him some questions no other media will ask. Not because I hate him, I actually had to since I was rather curious. He was railing against the government at the dais. Standard language. So later I asked him if he was aware he was cashing a government check? His mind seemed to grind to a stop for a second and then came the standard answer, I am a businessman I run a business.

I pointed out that under city charter he could not be running a business. (Yeah, yeah I read that crap). He was not happy. You could see that cognitive disonance really take hold, if just a second.

Two weeks later he voted to remove taxi medallion limits...and he was very honest and internally consistent. He saw it as a way for these people to run their own business.

We disagree politically. But he is not a bad man, or a monster. His brain (and there is science to this statement, increasingly) is literally different than mine.

for that response, I agree wholeheartedly.

I learned in the military that I don't have to love the guy next to me (although I did) to learn to work together and get the job done.

I believe you are correct in stating an inability to recognize the commonality of love for nation while understanding we have different ideas on proceeding to make the nation better is a key factor in our inability to remove the current gridlock and restore bipartisan efforts to resolve our issues and get some work done.

I believe we democrats are better at that, but I do remember a day when Tip O'Neil could look across the aisle and get some work done. I miss those cranky old guys who would argue but ultimately get the job done.

and history will note this. Before he came, things were far more convivial. He actually forbid members from having a beer with the other side after work. So everybody stopped seeing the other as human.

We are in the midst of a cold civil war IMHO. I have expected a few times for it to go hot. And I don't want that. Some in both sides do though and think the other side will start it.

Schoolyard friend. We grew up together, he was part of my wedding party. I recently went home to Florida and of course, we got together over some beers. He started with "...at the risk of our friendship..."

I had to stop him right there. We see each other regularly. We shared a doob. He reads my crap on FB, and I read his. He was somehow worried that we'd hate each other after 40 years of friendship just because of our FB posts.

He is pretty GOP...he lives in Florida, after all. But he is also very on board with Obamacare and he is very open to different perspectives. We agreed that, after all these years, we're still friends. Order a beer, don't worry about the politics (GASP -- I ordered a Sam Adams!). It was a great visit, and renewed my faith in humanity. A lot of people are total shit heels. A lot of people aren't. I spent my time in Cocoa Beach with hippie liberals and Republican real estate developers. We all got along great.

It's too bad people can't learn to discuss differences, or ignore them. I blame Fox "News."

the internet of ideas often fails to have that human contact such as you and your friend. It's those moments where we find commonality and realize that it's not simply an exercise in extremes.

And you've proven you can have a beer with somebody "over there" and find out they actually have some thoughts at odds with their party so perhaps we can have some room to proceed after all.

And yes fox news seems to all about vitriol and little about commonality.

Their petty-gates never gain traction with anyone that matters.

Last edited Tue Jun 2, 2015, 10:33 AM - Edit history (1)

traction and all, depending where the break is.

What the doofi never realize is that the plane was likely being flown back with plenty of room, cargo going one way only, to the Middle East.

Right wingers, as usual, are beneath contempt.

ETA: Today's story said surgical repair will be at Mass. General. Oh, yeah, he was in a bed in traction and there's no way they could have transported him on much less.

It was likely a bumpy ride, so nobody should envy him.

Geez, you use the plane that can get the guy back fast enough...he IS the SOS, after all.

I believe we flew Beau Bergdahl back on one of those all the way from Afghanistan and he was only a recently promoted sergeant.

There's nothing luxurious about a cargo plane. The pilots needs flight hours, the equipment needs to be used. This is the very opposite of a scandal.

over the President when it was raining during some q&a thing with some other leader.

you know it was mostly over a white soldier doing it for a black man.

they have a few for VIPs, but this is the SOS, I am positive that Air Ambulance, one configuration is for that, has a few defensive measures the Lears do not.

As to the scandal, com'on guys, this is Tuesday.

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That said, a C-17 would seem like overkill when they have smaller, cheaper to operate aircraft made just for VIP transports.

However, it could well be that the C-17 was already due to fly back to the U.S. anyway, and they took him along. We do that all the time, the first rule to scheduling a MILAIR flight for a few people or small amount of cargo is see what is already making the flight you need or on a similar path you can divert- so it's quite likely the C-17 was already headed more or less where he needed to go.

If so, far from overkill it's actually the most efficient means of moving him.

Now if the C-17 sortie was specially done just for him, instead of using the smaller VIP aircraft, then that I could see as a bit wasteful.

Same for Bronze star recipients.



Chickenhawks don't know any of that, though.

which is harder to stabilize than the lower limb is. And he's 71. They probably wheeled a hospital bed with him in it straight into the plane.

they can't find any real scandals so they keep trying to manufacture them.

Completely ridiculous to complain about transporting him after a serious injury.

Vice Pres, Speaker of the House, Pres pro tem of the Senate, then Secretary of State. I don't think anybody remembers the Pres pro tem

I miscounted. Failed civics for the day.

after Reagan was shot. He got it VERY wrong

but in all seriousness, I understand why the Speaker and Pro Temp were put in line of succession because the Cabinet is not elected, but I think it is a horrible idea. The Sec State would be the logical choice after the VP. That individual should be the most knowledgeable about the current status of the executive branch. The presidency is an executive function - the Speaker and especially the Pro Temp are ill equipped to step into the role during a national emergency. In a sense the SoS and the other Cabinet officials have been elected - they need to go through a confirmation process with the Senate so they have just as much legitimacy as the Speaker and far more than the Pro Temp. Getting to the Pro Temp level could also be a disaster. How many of those folks were bordering on or past senile. At the very least it should be the Majority Leader of the Senate.

It will probably take a Constitutional crisis to change the law though.

Another problem is the shuffling aside of the VP. It is inexcusable that Roosevelt kept Truman out of the information loop prior to his death for example.

address in case of some kind of mass extinction event? That would be a pretty rocky transition period lol.

When you think about how vast the federal govt has become, far far beyond what the Founders could have imagined, it's amazing the country functions as well as it does, using their 200+ year setup. Even a duly-elected incoming president is a newbie, as pertains to the status of the executive branch. We're at our most vulnerable then, in that period of transfer of power. A lot of us held our breath on Inauguration Day 2009, didn't we? And didn't let it out until Bush got on that helicopter & it flew away from Washington.

the one they leave out of the State of the Union? Really it should be the SoS.

In this case the Parliamentary system makes more sense. Even the Parliament members out of power still participate in a shadow cabinet. I do understand that the President elect gets immediate full clearance and briefings as soon as the election results are in. In some cases the transition goes well, in other cases it does not. Hoover wanted to involve Roosevelt in reacting to the Depression, but Roosevelt declined to participate.

It is our shame that we continue to elect Governors without any foreign policy or national legislative experience. Really the tickets that should be punched are Governor or mayor of large city, national legislator, and higher level cabinet post preferably one of the big three (SoS, SoD, or HHS).

Thanks, Obama.

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Two wheels bad. Three wheels good.

Once by beloved border collie is gone and I can no longer walk him, then I plan to invest in a three wheel bike as well. I just don't feel confident on two wheels (haven't ridden one in over 30 years).

This is BS.

If it is, it goes back to really creepy folks* blackmailing Sweaty Denny.



* Whomever that may be.