Now THIS is "Truly Outrageous!"

OK folks, follow my chain of association to figure out why I picked the fractal for today’s post. Today’s fractal is called Jemz. I named the image in honor of a 1980s cartoon called Jemm. (I don’t remember all the details but I know it was about a rock star/model who turned into a super heroine.) Like all cartoon offerings of the 1980s it spawned a line of toys--the tag line of which is “Jemm is truly outrageous.” As outrageous as Jemm may have thought she was--this story is truly outrageous! Truly, truly, truly outrageous!
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Just when you think you’ve seen/heard it all you come across a story that just make you drop your jaw. Buried in yesterday’s evening newscast (11/20) I heard a story that literally stopped me in my tracks! The Pentagon has been offering $3000 bonuses to those who re-enlist for military service then sending demand letters to wounded soldiers unable to complete their service.
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I can fully understand, even support, the Pentagon’s position if the soldier fail to complete their service through some fault of their own but going after men and women wounded in service seems completely beyond the pale. Still, thousands of letters have gone out and the feds are collecting from hapless vets under the threat of tax liens and even jail time.
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Is this some sort of weird policy error or did somebody really think it was a good idea? To me, this policy sounds like a classic case of bureaucracy run amok. Honestly, I dunno: still these instructions came form a government sending men and women off to a foreign country than not having proper resources to aid these brave soldiers when they get wounded. To me there is some sort of huge “disconnect” between the cries of “support our troops” and they way said troops are treated once they come home. What’s wrong with this picture folks? Personally, I find this particularly disturbing is the fact that this story gets about one minute’s coverage on the Evening News (and not all newscasts at that) and it hasn’t even been covered in the local paper.
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If there is a bright spot in this story it is this: a congressman (I wasn’t able to find his name) has introduced a bill to prevent the Pentagon from attempting to collect from wounded soldiers. The story came to light after Cpl Jordan Fox was wounded in Iraq by an I.E.D. He contacted station KDKA after he was billed: the Pentagon “reviewed” his case and decided (mere moments before he went on National TV) that the bill was a “mistake.” Still, one has to wonder how many other “mistakes” were made that weren’t corrected because their story didn’t get the same kind of attention.