The Focus of the US Media is MIA on July Fourth

by Denise Nichols

The citizens of the US gets all energized to a case in Florida regarding the death of a toddler.  The scene is unreal.  Three years of media coverage including the national media and lawyers all over the place.

My question is where is the outrage for veterans?  Veterans that are ill from the Gulf War 1990-91 and since that have come home ill and having to battle illnesses that the government refuses to fully explain.

Documents that if we could truly have a course to the courts that would have to be viewed in full by the American public.  The reports from Senator Reigle in 1994 and the report from Senator Rockfeller.  All of these documents that showed gulf war veterans were exposed to a variety of toxins that damaged their bodies and have undoubtedly led to early deaths of these veterans.  A true story that begs attention now.  How many veterans have applied for help from the VA to be denied for years?

We can have feelings about a defenseless toddler but not for hundreds of thousands of veterans that served their country.  I sit here and reflect on the cases that have gotten the media attention from OJ Simpson to this current case.  And I wonder why?  Because the media chooses to give coverage and dissect every hint of a story line.

We have veterans dying from the Atomic Veterans, Agent Orange veterans, the Gulf War Veterans, and our current forces that have been exposed to toxic exposures.  Do we see a similar response for these brave heroes that served their country?  Why not because the media has not covered the issues and personalized the issues so that citizens can see what is happening.  These veterans that were exposed are not given attention.

We honor the ones that die on the battlefield and we honor them by bending over to all extent possible.  But we ignore the ones that come home ill and suffer each and every day.  Those that die early deaths due to exposures are not given any attention!  The tragedies are hidden from the American citizens because their exposures are not truly acknowledged by our government.  Instead the American public think these veterans are getting the assistance and help they earned and deserved.  The media that could tell the public  and educate the public has gone missing!

Around the clock coverage of OJ Simpson and now Casey Anthony and yet do you hear the national stories of the Gulf War Veterans who have died of ALS, Brain Cancers, Multiple cancers, Early Cardiac Deaths,  and other early deaths.  Do you hear of the Gulf War Veterans that are going wanting for adequate health care while they have been triaged to PTSD and stress and not getting adequate health care for their cancers that are deemed not service connected yet.

How many have died without their benefits?  How many have died here at home and not given the best medical care possible.

Yet on the Fourth of July, the world and the US was focused on one toddler’s murder.