Al Franken Spends Time “Pressing The Flesh” In Minnesota — Approximately Four Seconds Is All It Took For Him To Complete The Process
I’m sorry, dear readers — I just never found Al Franken to be funny — at all. Not when he was on Saturday Night Live, not when he was on Air America Radio — not ever. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose; nothing personal; just not my cup-o-tea. The man’s announced he is making a run for a Minnesota U.S. Congressional seat and so far, the crowd has gone mild to say the very least…
So this morning, I wander over to MemeOrandum to see what is “viral” in today’s blogosphere and I see our friends from the Right are having some fun with the fact that Franken called for a “veterans summit” and just one guy even bothered to show up. Yes, I laughed. Then I read the article by Lawrence Schumacher of The St. Cloud Times and I stopped laughing. The “one guy” who bothered to show up to speak with Al Franken is a guy by the name of Josh John, a Navy veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and he seems to be fighting the same “demon” I’m fighting, although the article doesn’t mention it and I’m DEFINITELY not a doctor — Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”). Bad stuff, my friends…
FIRST TIP-O-THE-HAT EVER FOR AL FRANKEN FROM THE GTL™
While I’m not from Minnesota and I have no “horse” in this race aside from the fact Mr. Franken aspires to become one of the top-100 most powerful men in America, I have to say I am impressed with the fact that he didn’t just stroll into the cafe, look around, see just one guy, shake his hand and walk away, embarrassed. Nope, Franken sat down with my fellow veteran and spent approximately an hour with him as Mr. John expressed his frustration with the Veterans Administration and the “red tape” he experienced in the beginning of his quest for help within the beaurocracy. If I wore a hat, I’d be tipping it to Al Franken right now for sticking around to speak with my fellow veteran for awhile. That alone tells me a lot about the man I never knew or even suspected.
AND NOW, A TIP-O-THE HAT TO THE VA
Like Mr. John, my first experience with the VA back in 2003 wasn’t very impressive; in fact, it stunk — to make a long story short — I was misdiagnosed with high cholesterol, given a dangerous prescription for it; I suspected it was a misdiagnosis; went to a private doctor and demanded another blood test; misdiagnosis confirmed. It was only after a lot of pressure from my loved ones I decided to give the VA another shot. Reluctantly, I chose the VA over private medicine due to their expertise in PTSD and I’m glad I did — they’ve improved dramatically over the years. Thanks to the Democrats for pressuring their Republican counterparts for getting SOMETHING right (as Al Franken points out in the SC Times article). Still vastly underfunded, but improved. Credit where credit’s due they say, but back to my “PTSD” experience and the VA thus far…
Folks, I’ve learned in my recent “crash course” the VA takes this “PTSD” stuff SERIOUSLY. They don’t screw around once they’ve diagnosed you with it and if there’s anything closely resembling “emergency outpatient counselling” for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the Veterans Administration has patented the concept.
Thus far, I’ve been ping-ponged around from day to day, from one psychologist to another, courtesy as well of the short-term disability insurance (reluctanty — “red tape” abounds – I’ll name the company I work for at a later time if they screw up, trust me on that one…) offered by my Fortune 500 “day gig” to enable me to be available pretty much 24/7 for the VA’s seemingly constant attention (along with the DAV’s volunteers as well).
“Healed?” Never. Getting better? Slightly. “One day at a time” as they say.
PTSD AND GUN RIGHTS FOR VETERANS
Last but not least for now — I’ve decided to delve into this topic due to the fact I’ve been lately seeing a lot of traffic coming in to this site via the various search engines with the above sub-topic as the search term. As an obvious, long-time advocate of The Right To Keep And Bear Arms (“RTKBA”), this was one of my first concerns, directly after the number one concern: my mental health.
After hours of research on the topic, I was delighted to stumble across this article at Military.Com entitled Gun Bill Not Anti-Veteran, written by Larry Scott and I’d urge any of my fellow vets to read the article and I’m sure you’ll feel as relieved as I was to learn it is NOT an issue for us — at ALL. And that’s a good thing since I’ve not yet had an urge to fire a gun at anybody — jack-slap the hell out of a couple of folks every now and then but shoot them — a firm NO.
In closing, I sincerely do hope the above mentioned article brings a bit of relief and comfort for my fellow veterans who think they might have this disorder. Do NOT hesitate to take that first step toward learning to manage your lives in spite of PTSD. I’m glad I did and I’m glad there are people out there like Mr. Franken; like him or not; who actually give a damn about those of us who have been cursed with this serious disorder as a result of our military service and other afflictions.
Is this an official endorsement for Mr. Franken? NOPE — don’t be a DOLT. It is, however, an endorsement for the two facts of the matter discussed here today — the fact he gave an hour of his time to that “just one guy” and the fact he takes veteran issues quite seriously. Those two facts clearly set him apart from every member of the Senate whom he aspires to “hang” with — show me who, in the Senate, feels just as strongly about these issues AND would sit down with one of us “regular folks” for an hour, one-on-one and I’ll eat that hat I don’t wear.
AGAIN, dear readers — not an endorsement for Mr. Franken, just an endorsement for more of that kind of behavior by our politicians and wannabe politicians. It’s refreshing, indeed…
***
And now, for some “hyuk-hyuk” reactional “snips” from our “Righty” blogger friends…
Townhall.Com’s Duane R. Patterson:
“… It resembled a Nancy Pelosi book signing. Maybe Minnesotans didn’t feel like burning $4 gas to go see a tax cheating pornographer. Maybe there is record low unemployment in St. Cloud. …”
The LA Times’ Top Of The Ticket Blogger, Andrew Malcolm:
“… Only one person showed up.
Ouch!
Well, every vote counts. So Franken sat down in Brigitte’s Cafe in St. Cloud with the lone voter interested in veterans issues, the theme Franken’s staff had established for that public appearance.
Franken spent an hour listening to the woes of Navy veteran Josh John, trying to navigate the medical system for former military members. …”
“What if a Senatorial candidate decided to throw an event, and only one person showed up? Al Franken found out that, gosh darn it, Minnesotans just don’t care about him — at least in St. Cloud. Give the struggling Democrat credit, though, for a little grace… “
“… I think the real victim here is Mr. John. The poor guy wound up spending an hour talking to Al Franken. Somehow I doubt even the most rigorous military training can prepare you for something as horrifying as that. …”
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7:12 pm on August 10th, 2008 1
Al Franken is good people and I used to listen to him every single day at lunch time. When he is being serious about any issue he is dead honest and spouts off ideas to change the status quo. He has always been big on Veterans issue on his show and there will not be a stronger proponent for Veterans than Al Franken in the Senate.
I’d be interested to see how his opponent voted on the last batch of Veteran bills that passed his desk? If memory serves me he lined up with John McCain with a screw you vote but I may be wrong.
Great post Gunny!
8:55 am on August 11th, 2008 2
[...] THIS IS REAL RETAIL POLITICS: Minnesota Democratic Presidential candidate Al Franken calls for a summit to discuss veterans issue and the turnout isn’t exactly huge (but Franken stays).. [...]
12:05 pm on August 14th, 2008 3
Okay, even a broken clock is right twice a day. But the real Al Franken is the guy who refused to shake the hand of a student at a small Minnesota college who told the asshole he was a member of YOung Republicans.
Al Franken is a carpetbagger from the Left Coast [Eastside version] and a total robo-spew from his unfunny lower-rear orifice. A complete p.o.s.