The Shrubbery keeps saying that “all options are on the table” and some Democrats are parroting that phrase. It’s a lie, and everyone should know it. The only “options” the Shrubbery is interested in is killing more people and blowing things up. The option that never seems to appear on his table is real diplomacy – talking to people.

Telling people you won’t talk to them until they agree with you is not diplomacy. It shows no respect for your adversary. Setting pre-conditions for talks defeats the purpose of talking. It’s like having a debate where both sides must agree to the proposition before the debate would be held.

The US has not, in point of fact, agreed to talk to Syria and Iran. The US, at most, is agreeing to attend a multi-party conference to which Syria and Iran have also been invited.

The recent agreement with North Korea has told Iran and Syria that they must possess nuclear weapons before the US will talk to them. That is the message. The US didn’t talk to North Korea until North Korea conducted a nuclear test. That is not a good message to send.

The weather has been nasty all day, as a front is moving through. The tornadoes that have devastated communities inland are forming over the Gulf and getting sucked to the northeast. The power keeps going out as transformers arc in the cloudbursts. We have been under tornado watches or warnings all day, and the thunder is really getting on my nerves.

The radar looks like it may finally passing us, so we can get some sleep tonight.

My problems are nothing to compared to Enterprise, Alabama. Schools are used for shelters down here, and most are not up to the task. The area will be a long time healing, because almost everyone in town would have known one of the people who died.

From the article below we learned that Congress knew:

In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. “When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable,” said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.

Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, “I went flying down to Kevin Kiley’s office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else.”

So, who is Congressman C.W. Bill Young? Wikipedia tells us that Charles William “Bill” Young:

… is currently the most senior Republican member of the House of Representatives. From 1999 to 2005, he was the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations; he gave up the position because of Republican-set term limits. He is currently ranking minority member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

He was chairman of the House Appropriations committee when this happened. Not a penny gets spent that doesn’t go through that committee, and the chairman sets the agenda. He could have held up the entire defense budget to get improvements, but he chose to go to other facilities because he and his wife “were made to feel very uncomfortable.” I doubt they were as uncomfortable as the wounded.

Update: Steve Soto of the Left Coaster noticed this last night.