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There are two stories that made the front page on the Colorado Springs Gazette. The most important one is that Gulf War illness has been recognized as a real medical condition. The Persian Gulf War happened in 1991, the illness has affected over 175,000 troops, and it has taken them 17 years to finally admitting the obvious.

A Congressionally mandated panel studied the claims, research, and pitifully lame excuses made by the government and armed forces, and concluded that politics or financial concerns might have played a role in the consistent denials. That we ask children to kill others, give up their lives for cheapened ideals, and not take care of them afterwards if something goes wrong is the greatest sin of our times. 

I think a large part of the turnaround in policy and frank admissions to problems by the top dogs, is that the generation that fought in the Vietnam War have finally worked their way up the ranks and people like Jim Webb are in Congress. They get a chance to change the hypocrisy inherent in the system. We owe them more than a couple of plated medals.

I had a friend who died from cancer created by radiation poisoning. She lived near Three Mile Island as a child, and was exposed during the nuclear meltdown that never occurred. All of her doctors said that her cancer was consistent to radiation poisoning, but because the government never admitted what happened at Three Mile Island, she was denied coverage and treatment, and died before she was 35. It's only because the returning soldiers from Iraq have been committing suicide or turning violent and causing public outcry that our current group will be receiving the attention that they need. Remember that at the largest VA hospital, Walter Reed, conditions were so poor and deteriorating, but only when the conditions were filmed on camera and the Army shamed, did they try to fix it up.

The second story is that our local evangelical industry will be laying off 202 jobs at Focus on the Family. You know that the economy is hurting because their main source of income comes from the donations of others. I don't know what they will do when James Dobson passes away. They either could fold up their tents in the night, but probably will try to rebroadcast his radio shows for as long as possible, or have him stuffed and put on display for the faithful to view when they make their pilgrimage.