Hear this on the news this morning, and read an article on it in the DA.

“During the day there is one officer for 550 inmates,” said Kent Gilkerson, a correctional officer at the prison and the local president of the Council of Prison Locals. “At night there’s two.” Gilkerson also said at times, inmates are left unattended.
…
“The funny thing is, there was an outrage that at Abu Ghraib (the military prison in Iraq) one soldier was watching 500 inmates. They (the Bush administration) need to look at their own federal prison system,” Glover said.

What is most interesting is that we wouldn’t be hearing about this, except for the fact that Alderson Federal Prison Camp is getting a rather high profile prisoner.

I realized last night that the two TV shows (DS9 & Buffy) we have on DVD have something in common.

Rather odd, actually.

The 30th was the day the 2004 IgNobel awards were presented.

If you haven’t read the Annals of Improbably Research, I highly recommend that was well.

AND they have a blog!

Results of the presidents refusal to fund Veterans Benefits:

The disability benefits and health care systems that provide services for about 5 million American veterans have been overloaded for decades and have a current backlog of more than 300,000 claims. And because they were mobilized to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly 150,000 National Guard and reservist veterans had become eligible for health care and benefits as of Aug. 1. That number is rising.

At the same time, President Bush’s budget for 2005 calls for cutting the Department of Veterans Affairs staff that handles benefits claims, and some veterans report long waits for benefits and confusing claims decisions.

I’ve complained previously and extensively about the way Bush treats our soldiers. What I can’t understand is why all those flag wavers with fake yellow ribbons plastered to their cars can’t be bothered to see what is happening with the way our soldiers and veterans are being treated.

It’s as if as long as we say we’re supporting the troops, and as long as well label all those who speak out against the war traitors, we don’t have to do anything else for our soldiers.

I think that the appropriate punishment for Bush would be to force him to finish his national guard service–with the same equipment, pay, and benefits he has given the rest of our soldiers.

I think everyone who has a cat has one of these pictures:
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The Last Day to Register to Vote in WV is October 13th!

If you’re in town this weekend, there’s a lot happening:

The 63rd annual Preston County Buckwheat Festival. Make sure you go to the Kingwood VFD for buckwheat cakes.
Mountaineer Balloon Festival Nite glow is Saturday at dusk.