War Spending Helps Rural Economies -- Is That Good?

"Facing South", the Institute for Southern Studies' blog, asked the question first but we couldn't have said it better ourselves: "Is it good that war spending is helping rural economies?"

"Facing South" is based in North Carolina, but the report actually covers eight Southern states (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia). All have seen big influxes of military money.

Certainly, money matters, but so do a lot of other things, including the "big" ones like whether our country's international reputation is better now, or better before we went into Iraq ... we say, "No." Or, do we have fewer enemies -- or more enemies -- than we did before 9-11? ... we say, "More." Or is our economy in general better or worse? ... when we answer this question, we're thinking about working families. Are jobs more secure? Is it easier to send a child to college? and more. We say, "Everything is more difficult."

You may agree, or disagree, but one way or the other, we challenge you to read, consider, and also to ask yourself hard questions. Because of the higher recruitment rate for soldiers from rural communities, our sons and daughters are dying at a 60 percent higher rate than urban families' children (Carsey Institute data).

Ask yourself too? Did your Senator or Member of Congress vote against the new GI Bill that Senator Webb and others worked so diligently to pass? President Bush opposed as did Senator McCain. The Washington Post recently offered an editorial about "What the GI's Deserve." Long story short, Bush eventually signed the bill into law but McCain continues to oppose.

Iraq & Afghan Troops Take Daily Dose of Anti-depressants

Bob Herbert reports in the NY Times: "Wounds You Can't See" some of the saddest news:

• Because the pool of volunteer soldiers is so small, our sons and daughters are called back to the war again and again, and the more they go back, the more they risk.
  

Paul Rieckhoff, Ex. Director of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group working to make it easier for our veterans to receive mental health services, says,

"This should be a top issue in the presidential race, and it should be a top issue in the news. When you come home from Iraq, you feel like you're lost in the wilderness sometimes. You feel like you don't fit in."

A new RAND study reports that 300,000 US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan have mental problems with 320,000 brain injuries inflicted so far. Many of these injuries are ones that our soldiers will suffer from all the remaining days of their lives.

And TIME Magazine reports in "America's Medicated Army" by Mark Thompson, about how our troops are running on Prozac.

We challenge you to read every word of at least two of these stories.