Washington, Wonkheads and Willy-Nilly politicians simply don’t get it. Americans are tired of do-nothing political parties. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party have failed to produce a government of the people, by the people and, especially, FOR THE PEOPLE.

The latest example: Americans are tired of deficits. We tried it using credit cards and got our ass burned by big banks. Now, we don’t really appreciate Washingtonians running around building higher and higher deficits by spending money we don’t have or cutting taxes for the richest among us.

Republican Jon Kyl and Democrat (DINO) Blanche Lincoln want to cut about $250 million in estate taxes for the richest Americans. This is $250 million more than what was done during the Bush Years. Now is not the time to cut these taxes.

It’s Time to Pay the Bills

We know that America has long had a deficit that must be paid sometime. We know that the Clinton Administration left office with a budget surplus (taking in more than was being spent). We know the Bush Administration ran wild by cutting taxes and spending billions of unfunded dollars. (continued below)

An unfunded dollar is like using a credit card when you don’t have the money and really don’t know how you’re going to pay the bill when it comes due. Perhaps it’s time to do something none of us really wants to do – Pay the Bill. It will help when the tax cut for the rich comes to an end later this year, but we don’t need Senators Kyl and Lincoln giving them another cut.

People quickly talk about cutting Social Security and Medicare. It would not be morally right to do that with so many people having made plans based on those programs being available. More importantly, there are a great number of people who have been forced into factoring those programs into their future because of personal tragedies in the financial industry.

As bad as it hurts our feelings, Congress needs to increase the Medicare withholding tax by at least one percent (1%). While they’re at it, they need to increase the FICA tax by one percent (1%) as well. For those of you making $500 per week, those taxes would cost you $10. Ten bucks to help stabilize Social Security and Medicare is not a bad deal, and it would reduce the burden on our children in the future.

It’s Time to Pay for the Unfunded War

Yes, it’s important to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to stem the flow of dollars, but we need to pay for what has already been spent. Let’s increase the severance tax on oil being taken from our reserves by corporations not incorporated in the United States. This would include all three of the ones involved in the Gulf Oil Spill: BP, Halliburton and Transocean. Oh, you thought only American companies were drilling in the Gulf?

Part Two of this would be termination of Halliburton contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. They can’t, or won’t, tell us where the money is going, so stop giving it to them!!!

It’s time to end the tax benefits for companies sending American jobs overseas. This should be a no-brainer. After all, why is the government subsidizing the reduction of our tax base? Let me put this a bit more plainly. We are currently spending money to lower our income. Is there a school in America that teaches the value of increased expenses and reduced income? Those of you who are Capitalism Hawks ought to be jumping on this with both feet.

Hey Washington -

We’re tired of listening to you blame one another for getting nothing done. Either get it done, or come home. Oh, wait a minute – we’re going to take care of that for you, I hope. I took part in early voting the other day and, though I really did not plan it this way, I walked away not having voted for a single incumbent.

I do not belong to the Tea Party movement. I’m just a pissed off American citizen.

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Forget the Tea Partiers. It’s time for real change for real Americans, and that means we need The American Beer Party.

The American Beer Party will support no currently organized or disorganized political party, and that pretty much covers all of them. Current political parties in America consist of the Party of Maybe and the Party of No. It’s time for a Party of Let’s Do It.

We need leaders who will shed their inhibitions and fears and stand up for what is right for all America. Beer is very good at helping one shed those things, and that’s why it’s our guiding force.

Americans are a diverse people who have been forced into two economic classes: those with lots of money, and those with little or no money. Before Ronald Reagan destroyed the "ability to pay" income tax system in America with his trickle down economic theory that pretty much stated we ought to give the money to the rich folks and they’d have enough crumbs falling from their table to sustain the rest of us.

If you’re a beer drinker, that didn’t work out too well for you, did it? After you take a moment or two to buy something from the ads that help pay the bills, I’ll be talking about some truth we ought to be holding self-evident.

We Hold These Truths…

Beer drinkers are the backbone of the American economy. They are American citizens who work locally, if they can find a job, to better provide for themselves, their families and the economy in general. Money earned is converted to stuff bought. Stuff bought helps other people have jobs who buy stuff to help other people have jobs.

Corporate America, led by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, screwed beer drinkers by saying foreigners needed to be brought over here on special visas so they could work. Every person brought over on a visa took a job away from an American citizen. But corporate America wasn’t completely satisfied with that, so they began setting up offices in other countries and shutting down offices where American citizens were working. Just ask yourself this: when was the last time you called Customer Service and got someone you could actually understand.

Now, before you get your drawers in a wad, I’m not against people in other countries bettering themselves. I’m more than happy to take in the tired and poor when we can afford it. We could afford it prior to trickle down economics. Right now, America is sitting on 10% unemployment, actually more than that when you count the folks that have already lost their unemployment money. It’s way too easy to say those folks are not trying very hard to find a job, you know, if you haven’t walked in their shoes. It’s been months since there was positive job numbers. When you have more people looking for fewer jobs, it’s pretty much a given that all of them will not find work.

Universal Health Care for All Americans?

Not having health care for all American citizens is really putting us at an economic disadvantage in the global economy. American employers are paying large amounts of money to assist their employees with health care costs. Their competitors in other parts of the world don’t have that cost, and it is a cost that must be figured into the price of American products and services. Employees are not only paying for health insurance but are also paying out-of-control health care costs with money that could be used for many other things like food, clothing, shelter and beer.

Yes, there should be an excise tax on sugary and fatty products. Yes, there should be a tax on high fat content fast food items. Our government did it to "help" Americans quit smoking. Why not do it to help Americans lose weight? Overweight people are just as much a drain on health care as smokers.

What we don’t need is mandatory health insurance coverage for people who cannot afford it. Simply get rid of Medicaid and expand Medicare to cover everyone. How much would that save in administrative costs alone? Require electronic billing for all claims. That has been proven to reduce costs by up to a dollar or more PER claim. Figure a few hundred thousand claims per day and the savings add up quickly. And I wonder how much the savings would be simply by getting rid of the military health care program?

Curb Your Evangelicalism

America ought not be trying to spread democracy to lands that don’t want it. Nations whose governments are based wholly or in part on religion are not candidates for democracy. Yes, we had a revolution in America to tear ourselves away from the control of another country. That does not mean we can have revolutions in other countries because they cannot do it themselves. Going to war in Iraq was as big a mistake as was going to war in Vietnam. And, come on, let’s admit we blew it in Afghanistan. President Obama, like Richard Nixon, said he wanted to correct the "war situation" and, like Richard Nixon, hasn’t gotten it done yet. It took Nixon into his second term before Vietnam was cleared of American soldiers, if it was ever fully cleared of them. I’m of the mind that Obama might not get that second term if things don’t start happening to help Joseph and Josephine Six Pack.

This is just the first of many rants and raves that will become The American Beer Party Movement.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Marriage Equality.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Supreme Court Debacle.

Time Magazine asked the question in its October 24, 1969 issue: What if we just pull out? Of course the issue at the time was Vietnam. The United States was deeply embroiled in a war it couldn’t win, nor could it afford the cost. The number of soldiers lost in that war was staggering compared to today’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else we might be engaged. But the question is the same. What if we just pull out and bring our soldiers home?

The United States and its allies are not fighting to win. Richard Nixon ran for president in 1968 with the campaign promise of ending the war in Vietnam. But once he was elected he decided he did not want to be the first American head of state of lose a war…and on and on and on it went. The military industrial gang needed a war, and they controlled Nixon.

Barack Obama stands today where Nixon stood four decades ago. America cannot afford the wars. America cannot win the wars. The military industrial gang still needs a war. And, we continue to fight. Now the military wants to go into Yemen and Iran and only God knows where else.

I wore olive drab work clothes in 1970, shortly after the Time article appeared. I can still sing about the "life of a mortar man" today as if it was still a part of my daily routine. There is no honor knowing the people whose names are found on the Vietnam Memorial, and there is no honor knowing those who have fallen in the Middle East. Over thirty years before the Time article was written my father, a Marine, was stationed in China. He, too, was a soldier in an "unofficial" war. It was called the Second Sino-Japanese War that began July 7, 1937 after six years of intermittent fighting. Japanese propaganda at the time referred to the invasion of China as seisen, or holy war. It was during those first six years that my father served in China. He was back in the states when war officially began in July 1937.

Now, we are involved in another holy war. You cannot defeat a religious belief. If that was possible, there would be no Christian religion. In contrast, Adolph Hitler wanted to expand the territory under his control. He wanted land. The Allies said no, and took the land away from him. Holy Warriors don’t want land. Jihad is not about land. It’s about religious belief.

Take a trip back in history to the year 1095 when Pope Urban promised remission of sins for all Christians who died in the war against Muslims. That was the beginning of a series of wars known as the Crusades. Well, that didn’t work out as planned. Islam is now the second largest religion in the world and, arguably, the fastest growing. You cannot defeat a religious belief.

What If We Just Pull Out?

What would happen if the United States and its allies simply pulled troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan? What if we dedicated 100% of military planning and resources to removing terrorist cells with no need for "boots on the ground"?

We know the opium fields of Afghanistan provide a huge source of funding for terrorists. Why, then, are those fields still standing? Can it be likened to all those years the government of the United States preached against tobacco use while providing subsidies to tobacco farmers?

Is there anyone working in the United States sending money out of the country to be used by terrorist groups? Why haven’t they been located and removed from the workforce?

I’m not talking about leaving the terrorists alone. Find ‘em and dispense with ‘em. Justify the expense of drones and planes and bombs and the CIA. Get the soldiers out of harm’s way. Bring ‘em home.

And, oh yeah, while you’re at it, get rid of the military mindset that the only way to protect America is by going to war against an enemy we cannot defeat.

July 15, 2009 is a date that is burned into the memories of the families of First Lieutenant Andrew K. Kinard, USMC (Ret.) and Lieutenant Colonel Raymond T. Rivas, USAR (Ret.). Their stories intertwined with explosions of an improvised explosive device and a mortar shell. The soldiers came face-to-face on April 29, 2009 when they both testified at a Senate hearing in Washington D.C. The Hearing To Examine The Implementation Of Wounded Warrior Policies and Programs was chaired by Senator Ben Nelson.

Lt. Kinard was injured October 29, 2006 in Al Anbar Province when he stepped on an IED and lost his entire body below the hips. Seventeen days earlier, on October 12, Lt. Col. Rivas was working as a civil affairs officer at the Tallil Forward Operating Base in Iraq when it was attacked by mortar fire. He sustained a traumatic brain injury.

According to Rivas, he had previously sustained at least eight concussions and, while serving in Afghanistan, had been thrown through the windshield of a vehicle. (continued below)

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He told the Senate subcommittee, "When I was originally injured in October of 2006 in Iraq, I was Medivac’d out of Theater and sent to Launsthul Regional Medical Center in Germany for evaluation. My memory is extremely vague about this. I was told that I spent 7 days there and convinced the Neurological staff that I was fit to return to duty. I returned to Iraq, of which I do not remember any of this, and spent approximately 10 days there. I was allowed to go out on missions to Forward Operating bases, and on mission convoys. It was then reported to my Chain of Command that my behavior was extremely ‘bizarre’ and I was referred to the Air Force Expeditionary Hospital Neurologist."

The neurologist diagnosed traumatic brain injury and Rivas was put on priority Medivac back to Launsthul Regional Medical Center in route to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, Texas. (Launsthul, you may remember, is the facility where ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff was sent after sustaining a brain injury from a roadside bomb.)

"What I do remember about my 1st few months at BAMC was that the system was overwhelmed with the influx of new patients. I was pretty much on my own for two to three months. I had a couple of battle‐buddies who helped me with dressing, bathing and eating, as I was not able to do any of these unassisted," Rivas said.

Colleen Rivas also testified before the Senate subcommittee. She said, "One of the issues that I feel very strongly about is the comparison being made between Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In my opinion there are profound differences between these two injuries. TBI is a physical trauma that can range from mild to severe. PTSD is an emotional trauma which can have debilitating effects. I have dealt firsthand with both of these traumas where Raymond is concerned; PTSD more so after Afghanistan which was in the form of nightmares and some depression. What we could not deal with on our own he was able to obtain help with through the VA in the form of counseling.

"The Traumatic Brain Injury has been an entirely different matter. When Raymond first returned to the U.S. he was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center. He suffered from severe headaches that painkillers and brain blocks had no affect on. In addition to the headaches, he had trouble with his balance, his depth perception, his speech, his eye to hand coordination, his memory, which included both his long‐term and short‐term and any task that involved sequencing. He was unable to go anywhere by himself because he was constantly getting lost. It took a year for him to regain his balance and depth perception.

"Now, two and a half years later, he still suffers from daily headaches, however their severity has lessened. He has regained most of his long term memory; however he still has trouble with his short‐term memory which includes misplacing items on a daily basis and constant repetition of subjects previously discussed. In addition, he cannot follow a detailed set of instructions nor can he multi‐task. His condition is frustrating for both him and our family."

After being on his own for two to three months at Brooke Army Medical Center, Rivas met his case manager. More importantly, he was contacted by the U.S. Army Special Operations
BAMC Liaison, Sergeant First Class Craig Coker. Sgt. Coker got the ball rolling, so to speak, and Rivas began to get the care he needed.

Ray was transported from BAMC to HealthSouth Riosa in San Antonio for brain injury treatment. Therapists helped improve his balance, speech, memory and other skills. His vision and hearing suffered too in the blast, yet Rivas still maintained he was not injured.

On April 21, 2008, Lt. Col. Rivas was awarded the Purple Heart. In September, 2008 he enrolled full time at the Easter Seals Hospital Brain Injury program in San Antonio to participate in their Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy program. Six months later he was able to testify at the Senate hearing.

On July 15, 2009, a party was held in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Andrew Kinard’s farewell to Washington as he prepared to leave for Harvard Law School. The loss of half of his body had been repaired to the point to could take on the difficulties of law school. That same night, Ray Rivas drove to Brooke Army Medical facility and committed suicide in the parking lot.

Two soldiers – two different kinds of injury – two exceedingly different outcomes.

Ray Rivas was one of thousands of U.S. troops returning with a brain injury, the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His story exemplifies the problem faced by both military and civilian medical personnel when it comes to brain injury.

A few months after he arrived in San Antonio Colleen told My SA News, "We didn’t expect the seriousness with what he came back with this time."

This is where the lives of Andrew Kinard and Ray Rivas travelled separate roads. Kinard’s injury was there for everyone to see; Rivas, though, was facing life with an invisible injury. It was an injury that goes beyond physical therapy, speech therapy and cognitive therapy. Millions of brain injury victims know all too well the effects of brain injury.

An injured brain needs rest and tires very easily. Mental fatigue is the first step on the Cycle of Response, a term coined in Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide. Those living with an injured brain face the Cycle daily – jumping from a tired brain to confusion, frustration, guilt and depression. Daily headaches, like those experienced by Rivas, are common, and this multiplies each of those steps on the Cycle. No one can think straight during a severe headache. A brain injury more often than not slows thinking skills because of memory problems and a partial shutdown of the executive functions of the brain.

While Ray Rivas was being treated at HealthSouth, he was allowed to go home to his family in New Braunfels each weekend. Colleen said he would ask the same question ten to fifteen times and, each time, family members would provide the answer as if the question had not been asked before. Short term memory problems easily lead to confusion.

Brain injury victims are aware they cannot remember a name that goes with a face or what they were doing ten minutes prior or why they’re standing in the kitchen or why they are holding a pencil. Add mental fatigue and stress to short term memory loss and Rivas’ testimony before the Senate committee that he did not remember anything about those last days in Iraq becomes clear.

The confusion of not remembering leads to frustration which is exhibited in outbursts of anger or crying or both. It is a normal progression to guilt when a brain injury victim recognizes he or she has changed. A tired, confused, and frustrated brain says,"I’m not as good as I once was." The belief that a person is not as good of a father or mother or husband or wife or employee is an expression of guilt and can quickly lead to depression.

Numerous studies of brain injury have found that unchecked depression leads to separation: separation from spouse through divorce, separation from employment and, in far too many cases, separation from life through suicide.

Ray Rivas lived the life of a hero. He wanted to serve his country as best he could. He did not want someone else standing for him in the war zone. It is my hope that America remembers Lt. Col. Raymond T. Rivas as a hero in death. It is my hope that both military and civilian medical personnel learn more about treating brain injury. It is my hope that Congress will understand the necessity of providing more timely and more complete care to the tens of thousands of soldiers returning from war with an invisible injury.

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Brain injury victims usually find themselves trapped inside a fog because of memory problems. Imagine walking down a sidewalk in a soupy fog. You cannot see anything in front of you or to your sides yet you know there is a cross street ahead. You also know other people are walking on the sidewalk. You move along slowly, cautiously.

Brain injury is similar to enshrouding the victim’s memory with fog; it slows down. The victim sees a familiar face and the brain trudges painstakingly slow in finding a name to go with it, and, in many cases, never produces the desired answer quickly enough.

There are other demands being made inside the foggy brain. All five senses are gathering information and sending it for processing. The name retrieval is dismissed as someone asks a question. A car passes by with music blaring. The scent of barbecue permeates the air.

Inside the fog the brain slows as more and more information lines up for processing. Stress builds. Heart rate and breathing quicken. The injured brain is being asked to do too much. Mental fatigue sets in as the Cycle of Response begins.

The Cycle is a natural one and is recognizable. Mental fatigue leads to confusion which leads to frustration which leads to guilt and, eventually depression. Inside the fog this happens several times each day. It is important to recognize the Cycle, recognize where you are on the Cycle, and begin taking steps to back away from guilt and depression.

Brain Injury Books at Amazon

Soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder experience the same Cycle. The March 2009 shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad is an example. President Barack Obama’s statement shed light on what probably happened. “There were a total of five service members killed yesterday. Two were 55th Medical Company staff officers at the Liberty Combat Stress Control Centre.” The other three killed were being treated for stress.

Days before the incident, the Army had taken away the shooter’s weapon and recommended he get counseling at the centre. Depression, the last step on the Cycle of Response, indicates separation. A depressed person separates himself from society by withdrawing into his own world. A depressed person separates himself from family through divorce. A depressed person separates himself from life through suicide or a suicidal act.

It is clearly evident the shooter at Liberty Combat Stress Centre performed an act of separation. The immediate arrest outside the clinic was one side of the coin. The other side would have the shooter killed by military police, another type of suicide. In custody and charged with five counts of murder, the shooter is now separated from society, family and his former life.

The military, itself, is not without blame. A stigma has been attached to “mental health” issues, according to Major Gen. Daniel Bolger, the commander of Multi-National Division-Baghdad. The shooter’s father said of his son, “His life was over as far as he was concerned. He lived for the military.”

Think about the chain of events. The shooter had been in the military since 1988. His weapon had been taken from him and he was sent for mental health counseling. His father stated that his son was confused by the tests and their significance. “He lived for the military,” are certainly telling words. Guilt permeated his every thought. “His life was over as far as he was concerned.” Depression could not be stated more clearly or forcefully.

I have not used the shooter’s name in this article because he is not the primary focus, neither are his actions. He felt stigmatized by a system that could not treat him adequately.

Read more about PTSD:

War Veterans and Traumatic Brain Injury

VetVoice:: VoteVets.org and CREW Urge PTSD Investigation – Not only myself, but all clinicians up here are being pressured not to diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS instead.” Dr. McNinch continued, “yours has not been the only case . . . I and other [doctors] are under a lot of …

Balancing the Image of PTSD: The Synonmous Relationship of Combat … – The perception of PTSD as nothing more than “battle fatigue” is a thing of the past in American society. Or is it?

Witness: Ex-soldier had PTSD, was unfit for combat – KHQ Right Now … – Witness: Ex-soldier had PTSD, was unfit for combat. Associated Press – May 12, 2009 10:23 PM ET. PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) – A psychiatrist has testified that a former soldier convicted of rape and murder in Iraq did not receive a proper level …

Veterans Blog: Help for PTSD Sufferers! – There are many stories circulating about the shortfalls in adequately diagnosing and treating post traumatic stress disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD. Just recently, I spoke with a women working at a business here in Nashville …

Additional References:

Brain Injury Guide

Brain Injury Online

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog