Republican “family values” are shown as a false talking point every time they:

* cheat on their spouses
* deny health care for children
* make it even for their pals to pollute our water, sell our jobs overseas, poison our food, kill our forests and farms, etc. ad nauseum.

The latest? The illegal war in Iraq and the hard fight we didn’t have to fight in Afghanistan if we’d have keep our eyes on the ball have resulted in a major rise in the children of deployed troops seeking mental help.

That’s right. Years of backdoor drafts and multiple deployments without proper gear result in tattered warriors and their kids. Gee, thanks GOP!

Apparently just recruiting felons and drug addicts wasn’t enough. Now the military is allowing white supremacists into the ranks. Hitler tats and all.

But hey, they apparently are not as threatening as gays.

Sheesh.

Fresh Air did a couple of good stories concerning gays in the military today. It should illustrate the choice between allowing hatemongers in and kicking talented Americans out.

Here is one of those “here’s hoping” stories.

Personally, I think it is way too optimistic to think we can just bag bin Laden. The terrain is pretty rough by all accounts and not having any assets on the ground make it really tough. You know, it’s exactly how he escaped the last time when Bush pulled our troops back. Now we don’t even have soldiers on the hunt to pull back.

Also, the guy has been hiding for years. Killing him outright either makes him martyr or has no real effect anyway. This isn’t a cartoon. Yeah, it would be nice to have him dead or on trial in some Pennsylvania courtroom, but I don’t think it’s going to fix any of the problems we have in the region.

With all the fights over Dick Cheney being a dick and whether not being white means you are a racist, we don’t hear a lot of news about Iraq these days. Thankfully, Bob Herbert takes the time to address the mental pain our warriors are enduring as a result of this misguided war.

More government waste to deal with from weapon’s contractors and their government pals. Most of these projects have been deemed either unnecessary or, worse yet, failures, and we are still paying for them.

Typical.

Some members of our military are still under the impression that we are refighting the Crusades while we are supposed to be routing Taliban and killing al-Qaeda.

I mean, I know the Air Force Academy is infested with Talibangelicals, but could we at least keep the groundpounding zealots from getting our Soldiers and Marines killed in a frigging holy war?

It is bad enough that insurgents and religious radicals are trying to kill our troops. Our female warriors, however, also have to deal with the threat of sexual assault from our enemies and our pig-headed Republican types as well.