That's how the VA gets all the doctors they need....and has a NEW waiting list..of young DOCTORS..

They get neither benefit until they have completed their 6 year stint with the VA.

Their debts are "frozen in place" until they complete their 6 year "tour".

Even though they are paid less than they would make in a different system, they do not have to pay any loans

Every parent who has a "weird boy" (yes..they DO tend to be male), KNOWS their son is "off". These parents so desperately want their kid to be "normal", that they move heaven and earth to mainstream these kids into "normal school". What they are doing (in many cases), is throwing that boy into situations he cannot handle, and providing "prey" for the bullies who eagerly await every "new one".

Every parent knows that it's not "normal" for a kid to have no friends, yet this is usually a marker that these shooters have in common.

Kids have an innate sense of "weirdness", and will either shun that person, or will attack them.

Parents desperately hope that this is a phase, and that with mainstreaming, these boys will "snap out of it" and will become "normal".. This rarely happens.

There needs to be a new category of schooling created especially for these kids. They do not belong in "regular school" . Somewhere around 4th grade (as hormones kick in), their life becomes a living hell, and the more clever ones set out plotting their revenge. What starts out as just-going-to-school, turns into 7 to 8 years of a nightmare existence, often followed by anti-social behavior.

Mental health care costs a LOT, and many families cannot afford it, and even when a family can, we know there are ways to "do the counseling" while shielding the true angst these boys feel.

Perhaps a more gentle approach to teaching these boys the skills they need , so they can exist in the world, is needed. It could be home-schooling, or putting them into specialized schools where they could be taught the necessary subjects, but could be shielded from the daily taunting.

We live in a coarse, violent society, and what we are doing now, does not seem to be working.

As more and more "socially inept" kids arrive on the planet, this will be a worsening problem.

Schools will NEVER end "bullying", no matter how many assemblies they have, no matter how many detentions they hand out. Vulnerable, weak, kids will always be targets.

Schools are so large these days, and parents so "occupied", that episodes often are not even handled until it's been going on for a long time..

And of course, ANY child with any sort of anti-social behavior should always be closely monitored, no matter their age..and they should NEVER interact with weapons of any kind. Most are docile, but the ones who are not, can do great damage.

The kid in SB had too much money, too much anger, and too little supervision.

Media tells us that his parents tried, and I'm sure they thought they did, but that kid should never have been "on his own".

It sucks majorly that parents cannot launch these kids into society like most of us do with our kids, but if they want them to live, and if they want to protect others from potential mayhem, they must keep that grown up child with them , and must do whatever is necessary to keep them supervised at all times.

But of course, since we live in the YOOOESSAAAY, we will wring our hands, put out the candles & teddy bears, and do nothing..

That would be something else..

He speaks Arabic..has lived in the Middle East (Libya)..He's a plain-spoken guy..and he's very tall (yes, it's silly, but height matters)

Warren's senate seat would be safe in 2016, and if he chose another, she would be an excellent choice for Sec of Treas..

My oldest & youngest sons are going to Brazil for World Cup, and I keep seeing all kinds of scary videos on tv about how unprepared Brazil is for this event

They are both world travelers, but I am afraid for their safety.

They are renting a house for 3 weeks and will be on their own.

I will be very happy when they are both back on US soil..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/21/brazil-subway-video_n_5367487.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27502184

Two thousand new French trains 'too fat for railway'

21 May 2014 Last updated at 10:57 BST

The French train operator SNCF has discovered that 2,000 new trains it ordered at a cost of 15bn euros ($20.5bn; £12.1bn) are too wide for many regional platforms.

The blunder has so far cost the rail operator over 50m euros ($68.4m; £40.6m).

Construction work has begun on widening hundreds of platforms.

Christian Fraser in Paris says it is "an embarrassing situation".

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26473509

The beauty of scars: David Jay's 'honest' portraits of imperfect beauty


Photographer David Jay didn't set out to document scars.

It all started with one photograph of a friend who underwent a mastectomy at the age of 28. Soon he began to take pictures of other young women with different stages of breast cancer, and the SCAR Project was born.

These searing portraits - of both men and women - show the physical reality of a disease that most people never see. His next project, the Unknown Soldier, is a similarly raw look at severely wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

snip

They were hacked.... and just NOW are telling us about it

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/ebay-warns-customers-change-passwords-after-database-hacked-n110961

Personal information for all of eBay’s 145 million active buyers could have been accessed in a hack two months ago, a company spokeswoman said, as the online marketplace advised all users to change their passwords Wednesday.

The database contained encrypted passwords and was compromised from late February into March. The hacked database contained customer information including names, phone numbers, birth dates, home addresses and email addresses. It did not include financial information, the site said.

snip

The breach was discovered about two weeks ago, according to eBay, leading to a probe that identified the hacked database. The company said it is "aggressively investigating the matter" and working with law enforcement.
EBay users will be contacted by the company on Wednesday asking them to change their passwords. A notice asking users to change their eBay passwords was first posted on the company website for PayPal, which is owned by eBay and handles its online payments. Users who use the same password on eBay and other websites should change their passwords on all sites, the company said.

PayPal released a statement saying that an investigation has not uncovered any evidence that information for its customers was hacked.

Their latest adventure may finally show them that they were little more than a new tool in the Billionaire Boys' Toolbox. They were useful in 2010, tolerated in 2012, and in the trash by 2014.

The right HAD to do "something" to denigrate the new black president, and these low-information voters were their easy (and cheap) answer.

Everyone knew that congresspeople/senators ALWAYS flooded back into their states every summer (especially August), for regularly scheduled town hall meetings.

Most of these meetings warranted a few lines in the local paper, and that was IT.

All the big shots had to do, was to rent BIG-ASSED shiny tour buses, set up "training sessions" with food included, and they had their willing "army" of volunteers who suddenly felt empowered. They hollered, they taunted, they waved their (misspelled) signs, they toted their guns..they showed themselves, and in the process, felt special.

The media fell in love with them because they were so "colorful", and some of the tea-bag folks created new "careers" for themselves.

The startled legislators were mostly caught flat-footed and their (formerly) boring meet & greets turned into newsworthy events that were well-covered by ALL the media types. They also were played by the Billionaire Boys Club.

Super-rich people know how to parlay events into money-in-the-bank.
They know how to play the media and they understand how box lunches & rides in a fancy bus can be used to create a faux grassroots organization capable of stymieing a fresh new president's agenda.

All they really needed to do was to break the triad (house/senate/WH) and they were successful.

The Billionaire Boys Box-lunch & Bus tour is no more, and what's left of the group is just the anger.

They have been relegated to the status of "Crazy Aunt in the Attic"....they are now an embarrassment to the GOP. Their "agenda" has been co-opted by party-members so the are less useful. Their thieving "leaders" are routinely being exposed, and soon they will fade completely from the media.. 2014 is their last hurrah.. a whiny whisper..no longer a shout..

I heard Katie Couric say this morning that by 2050, 1 in 3 Americans will be diabetic. I thought about all the right wingers who luv-luv-luv their corporate food-processing guys and their military, and of how they are in for a huge shock when THEIR sons/grandsons/nephews may end up getting drafted when the supply of eager-to-serve "lessers" cannot join because they are obese and or diabetic, and are rejected by the military.

The same goes for many of our necessary workers like police, firefighters, EMTs, rtc. These jobs REQUIRE fitness and workers often have to pass strict physicals.

The poorest among us are often the ones who suffer the most because of the shitty diets they have from childhood to ..well forever..

Our military will not just disband because they cannot find enough people.. There may HAVE to be a draft just to make the numbers. The youngsters raised on good quality foods (and who are lean & mean) may just end up being in the service of our country.

It might behoove our legislators to look beyond their own 2 year./6 year terms, and to start really thinking about how their legislation now, may end up taking the lives of their grandchildren's children.