some may have never had it and far too many abuse the privilege...

I'm gonna do my best not to name names...not making any promises though.  I feel a rant coming on...

via guy-sports.com

photo credit

Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.  Edgard Varese

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.  Unknown

via PeterBreggin on youtube

Antidepressants & Suicide - Congressional Testimony Veterans' Affairs Committee

still

"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind 

than to be hopelessly in love with spring." George Santayana

Tracy Chapman "All That You Have Is Your Soul"

Oh my mama told me

'Cause she say she learned the hard way 

She say she wanna spare the children 

She say don't give or sell your soul away 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple 

Don't you eat of a bitter fruit 

Hunger only for a taste of justice 

Hunger only for a world of truth 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

Well I was a pretty young girl once 

I had dreams I had high hopes 

I married a man he stole my heart away 

He gave his love but what a high price I paid 

All that you have is your soul 

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple 

Don't you eat of a bitter fruit 

Hunger only for a taste of justice 

Hunger only for a world of truth 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

Why was I such a young fool 

Thought I'd make history 

Making babies was the best I could do 

Thought I'd made something that could be mine forever 

Found out the hard way one can't possess another 

And all that you have is your soul 

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple 

Don't you eat of a bitter fruit 

Hunger only for a taste of justice 

Hunger only for a world of truth 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

I thought, thought that I could find a way 

To beat the system 

To make a deal and have no debts to pay 

I'd take it all, I'd take it all, I'd run away 

Me for myself first class and first rate 

But all that you have is your soul 

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple 

Don't you eat of a bitter fruit 

Hunger only for a taste of justice 

Hunger only for a world of truth 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

Here I am, I'm waiting for a better day 

A second chance 

A little luck to come my way 

A hope to dream, a hope that I can sleep again 

And wake in the world with a clear conscience and clean hands 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple 

Don't you eat of a bitter fruit 

Hunger only for a taste of justice 

Hunger only for a world of truth 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

Oh my mama told me 

'Cause she say she learned the hard way 

She say she wanna spare the children 

She say don't give or sell your soul away 

'Cause all that you have is your soul 

All that you have 

All that you have 

All that you have 

Is your soul

I am still such a scared little girl--

Not Enough Money to Fix Stupid

  WOW! and that's not all...

Start in the upper left corner for those who have forgotten...

A Whistleblower Wins: Franz Gayl

I've featured Franz Gayl's story twice here and here on Involuntary Transformation.  The Senior Marine Corps Advisor, reported major safety issues which put troops at risk; then had to seek whistleblower protection when he was apparently retaliated against for doing his job with honor and integrity.

 I am happy to share that Marine Corps Major, (Ret.)  Franz Gayl has been officially reinstated; and he is looking forward to getting back to work.   Real happy to have such a positive outcome to report.

"He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so."  Walter Lippmann

Pentagon whistleblower Franz Gayl is reinstated

This photo provided by Franz Gayl, a retired Major, shows Gayl in 2006 as a civilian science adviser in Iraq.Franz Gayl/AP Photo

Senior Marine Corps science advisor wins case, plans to return to work

By R. Jeffrey Smith

10:59 am, November 16, 2011 Updated: 11:32 am, November 16, 2011

A Navy review board has overturned a Marine Corps decision to strip one of its senior science advisors of his security clearances, intervening directly in a case that attracted attention among lawmakers on Capitol Hill and among advocates of enhanced legal protection for military whistleblowers.

Franz Gayl, who complained publicly in 2007 that the Corps had squashed an urgent request from U.S. soldiers in Iraq for heavily armored vehicles, was stripped of his clearances last year and suspended indefinitely with pay. The Corps acted after alleging that he improperly placed a thumb drive in his restricted office computer.

Gayl promptly accused his superiors of retaliating for his whistleblowing, and sought legal protection. But the Corps twice sought to end his pay, most recently in September. The last attempt was thwarted by the Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency, which asserted in a legal filing last month that Gayl “is a public whistleblower who has put his career at risk out of concern for the safety of service members in combat.”

The Navy board, ordering an abrupt turnaround in his predicament, said in a statement to Gayl on Nov. 7 that he was again eligible for needed clearances, even as it chastised him for “disregard for direction from your supervisor” and for failing to follow security procedures. Marine Brigadier Gen. Michael A. Rocco, who directs the Corps’ strategy and plans division where Gayl worked, responded with a message to Gayl that “I have decided to cancel the proposed indefinite suspension.”

Underpinning Gayl’s longrunning dispute with the Corps was its resistance to a wrenching policy shift at the height of the Iraq conflict away from the longstanding development of two new light troop and amphibious carriers to the quick production of a heavy vehicle, known as the MRAP, which officers and soldiers in Iraq said they needed to protect them from roadside bombs.

The shift was ordered in 2007 by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who made MRAPs the Pentagon’s top procurement priority partly because of news reports recounting Gayl’s complaints about Marine Corps foot-dragging. To the chagrin of some Corps leaders, one of the lighter carriers was eventually cancelled because of its high costs and other problems.

In meetings with lawmakers that year, Gayl accused the Corps leadership of institutional inertia and said its commanders were too wedded to programs that were already funded; he further charged that their failure to monitor and respond to an urgent request from the battlefield had caused needless deaths. He argued that his remarks were protected by civil service whistleblowing protections.

Then-Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Miss.) and then-Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) wrote a joint letter warning the Corps not to punish Gayl; nonprofit groups such as the Project On Government Oversight organized a petition offering support. But after the Corps suspended Gayl for allegedly disregarding regulations and what it said was “a pattern of poor judgment and intentional misconduct,” Biden decided he could not intervene from the Vice President’s office, according to one of his aides.

After the special counsel’s office demanded a 45-day stay of the Corps’ decision to cut off Gayl’s pay this year, the Merit Systems Protection Board — an independent, quasi-judicial agency that polices civil service rules — issued the first official rebuke to the Marines. It concluded on Oct. 13 that “there are reasonable grounds on which to believe that Mr. Gayl’s indefinite suspension is a result of his protected activity and is therefore prohibited.”

The final decision, by a group formally called the Navy Central Adjudication Facility, came four weeks later. “I am very encouraged that the Pentagon appears to have finally come to the realization that Mr. Gayl is not the enemy, and that our military will be much safer if whistleblowers are valued and not exiled,” said Jonathan Cantu, his attorney at the nonprofit Government Accountability Project in Washington.

A spokesman for the Marines, Maj. Stewart Upton, said "personnel matters involving federal employees are subject to privacy laws and regulations.  The Marine Corps takes very seriously the proper handling and resolution of any employee issues, and as in any other case we are taking the appropriate actions."

Gayl, in a statement released Wednesday morning by the Project, said that “I am as committed as ever to return to the Marine Corps to work hard in support of all Marines.”

Reprinted with permission