A few months ago, when I interviewed Josh, an Iraq War veteran, about his struggles with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD that he was affected with in Iraq, and which followed him home to Wisconsin, he told me that it had taken him 2 years to receive treatment for his conditions. His girlfriend told me that she was grateful that Josh was not one of the approximate 1,000 veterans who attempt suicide a month.

"Hundreds of thousands of soldiers who need it aren't even getting taken care of by the VA, and thousands more are attempting to commit suicide under their care. Not only that, but when I went there as 'a danger to myself and other people,' they said it was in the past and that it didn't mean that I was still. They didn't want me to be there and they didn't know what to do with me. It's no wonder they wanted to 'Shhh...' the numbers of veterans attempting to commit suicide under their care."

One of my favorite Disney movies as a child was Beauty and the Beast. From a child who was born with a thrill for taking ugly, mean things and making them beautiful (I was really into painting old furniture), you could see the appeal: a stubborn and self-serving beast was transformed into a sweet, giving prince through the healing power of love. Oh, if only real life was this idyllic.

Unfortunately, in the real world, wealth and power don't magically yield to justice and conscience, even if it's presented as such on the surface. Take oil tycoon and bill-footer of last election's Swift Boat crusade T. Boone Pickens. Pickens has been on a $58 million publicity tour to promote his plan to erect wind turbines in the Midwest.

Last week, I posted an interview I did with former KBR worker, Ben Carter, and the reaction I got was huge. Many, many people congratulated Ben on having the courage to face public scrutiny in order to bring the abuses of KBR to the public, and hundreds of you sent an email to DoD Chief Financial Officer, Tina Jonas (or signed the petition to her after she blocked her email address), asking her to cut off funding to KBR until a full public investigation is made into each of their alleged abuses.

I had ended my post with a heads up that the following week (meaning, today) I would be posting a breaking new story from Ben about a lawsuit against the contracting company that has been kept hidden by the Department of Justice. Well, bad news: Ben's story is so hot, it hasn't gotten the legal clearance to go public yet. I have been told to hold out for a few more days on that, so keep your fingers crossed!

One of the reasons I felt so buoyed by all the support shown for Ben is that I had long felt disturbed by both the magnitude of corruption among war contractors and the lack of coverage on the issue in the press.

Diane Curtis and Ellen Leuchs live in a state that provides fair and equal marriage rights to all its citizens, regardless of whether the person they want to marry is of the same sex. But in the 2010 census, the federal government won't recognize Diane and Ellen's very legal and legitimate marriage.

Their children Romy and Jamie will be counted as having single parents. They won't be counted as a family.

The Bureau followed the same procedure for the 2000 census, as a result of specific language in the Defense Of Marriage Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. The law requires all federal agencies to recognize only opposite-sex marriages for the purposes of administering federal programs. The Census Bureau does not plan to change its procedure even though gay and lesbian couples can now marry in California and Massachusetts. Curtis was quoted in the Washington Post:

"It's like we've been Photoshopped out of the picture. How long is the federal government going to pretend we don't exist?"

This is just another example of how we need a new direction in this country. We need progressive leaders who will stand up for fairness and equality for all Americans and will recognize fairness and support it wherever it is. Electing Democrats is not enough -- we need truly progressive leaders who will go above and beyond.

Today Lockheed Martin officials are appearing before Congress to explain why thousands of veterans with service-related disabilities may have been denied government disability or pension benefits or given the wrong amounts. Lockheed was hired (on a no-bid contract) by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to clear up a backlog of unpaid military benefits.

It's yet another example of what happens when people who hate govenment are in charge of making the government work. And it's yet another example of how the Pentagon sets up their contracts in such a way as to completely let themselves off the hook for enforcing accountability over their contractors. Even when Lockheed Martin failed to deliver timely and accurate benefits to thousands of disabled veterans, DFAS found that its contract rendered it powerless to penalize the company.

Maybe President Bush is smarter than he appears. After all, it takes an aspect of cunning to introduce a proposal that would require federally funded medical institutions to hire health care providers who don't believe in abortion or birth control, and present it as an "anti-discrimination rule." I imagine even Houdini could not achieve such an act of illusion.

[cross-posted from www.progressivefuture.org]

Ben Carter is a water safety expert and a caring family man. Passionate about his work, Carter went to Iraq to support the troops and reconstruction efforts. Yet soon after he arrived in Iraq he found KBR/Halliburton cutting essential corners, resulting in U.S. troops being forced to shower in wastewater. KBR's indifference to the contaminated water led Carter to resign. Since leaving Iraq he's spoken out about Halliburton, was one of the subjects of Brave New Films' "Iraq For Sale," testified before the Democratic Policy Committee and worked to warn soldiers of the dangers of contaminated water.

Carter participated in a series of e-mail interviews with me in June to talk about his experiences and spread the word about his quest to bring KBR to justice. Here's his story:

For this fourth of July weekend, I went on a rafting trip in Western Colorado with 21 friends. While feasting on turkey chorizo sausages at our campsite, I happened to introduce the ever-so-patriotic subject of the shortages of America's health care system. One woman told me about her uncle, who, while on his motorcycle, was hit by a drunk driver who had no insurance and had to have his leg amputated. When told by his insurance that a prosthetic that would allow him to continue his active lifestyle was considered elective and was not covered, he underwent training to make the prosthetics himself. He since has dedicated his work to providing prosthetic limbs to people whose insurance won't cover them, and fighting to get prosthetics covered by all health insurance carriers.