Dick

Cheney, that is.

Do Not Mix Incarcerex with the Constitution or Common Sense

h/t Andrew Sullivan

Decling Wages Means Increased Poverty?

Imagine.

Read the brief report here.

Veterans and Homelessness

A new Congressional Research Service report, via the indispensable Secrecy News. (Scroll down for PDF link).

So far, 300 who served in Afghanistan or Iraq are homeless, with more than 1,000 more at risk. At least fifteen percent with a serious psychiatric disorder. And remember that most of our men and women have not come home yet, of course, and that after Vietnam it was often a full decade before Vets found themselves homeless. . . . .

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won't listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn't go away.

Being poor is making sure you don't spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Read it all here, via Ezra.

The State of Iraq, from the NYT

I See You

Some words from former President Clinton's commencement address:

In the central highlands in Africa where I work, when people meet each other walking, nearly nobody rides, and people meet each other walking on the trails, and one person says hello, how are you, good morning, the answer is not I’m fine, how are you. The answer translated into English is this: I see you. Think of that. I see you. How many people do all of us pass every day that we never see? You know, we all haul out of here, somebody’s going to come in here and fold up 20-something thousand chairs. And clean off whatever mess we leave here. And get ready for tomorrow and then after tomorrow, someone will have to fix that. Many of those people feel that no one ever sees them. I would never have seen the people in Aceh in Indonesia if a terrible misfortune had not struck. And so, I leave you with that thought. Be true to the tradition of the great people who have come here. Spend as much of your time and your heart and your spirit as you possibly can thinking about the 99.9 percent [that all humans are biologically indistinguishable from one another]. See everyone and realize that everyone needs new beginnings. Enjoy your good fortune. Enjoy your differences, but realize that our common humanity matters much, much more.