Have loved ones soldiering in Iraq? Pentagon says "Learn to laugh."

[bigtree]

Pentagon to families: Go ahead, laugh
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.

With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."

No joke.

"I laugh every chance I get," says the instructor, retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives."

Scott, 57, is certified as a laughter training specialist by the Ohio-based World Laughter Tour, a group that promotes mirth as medicine. It touts scientific research that suggests chuckling can boost the body's immune system and decrease stress hormones.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, says the Pentagon is committed to the program and values Scott's skills. "We sent him to the training," she says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-12-pentagon-laughter_x.htm


Again, no joke. The Pentagon wants our soldier's families to laugh their cares and concerns about the bloody conflict in Iraq away.

[thebigidea]

1. Patch Adams II: The Reckoning

why does this laughter specialist sound like the lamest, unfunniest ass in the Pentagon apart from Rumsfeld?

[OneBlueSky]

3. idiots . . . just plain idiots . . . n/t

.

[recovering democrat]

2. now I am mad again!

Just sent this to my friends including the message that I just can't learn to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho." while my son is in Iraq and I can think of millions of things I would rather they do with the money they are paying this idiot.

It just gets dumber every day.

[tanyev]

4. Just saw this on my NetZero home page. Unbelievable.

The lunatics are running the asylum.

[greiner3]

5. Just the thought of that brings to mind;

Psycotic behavior!

retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed

He's a damn fundie.

[PA Democrat]

6. They wouldn't need so much laughter in their lives if

there weren't so much unnecessary dying.

[jimshoes]

7. One of these days

the regular people in this country are just going to burst from having so much bullshit pumped into them and it's going to be really messy. Smelly too.

[Spinzonner]

8. So that's why Rummy does all those news conferences

Stress Relief for the troops

[bobthedrummer]

9. Google Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Neuro-Semantics

or Perception Management to get a clue about this.

[bigtree]

10. there's got to be a rational explanation for this

but it's just so goddamned insulting that I'm not playing along.

[Cocoa]

11. send in the clowns

don't bother, they're here...

[ProfessorPlum]

12. Isn't "ha, ha, hee, hee, and ho, ho"

a quote from Tom Robbins book, "even cowgirls get the blues"? Seems to me that's what the Chink was always saying - sorry about the name, it's really what the character in the book was called.

[bigtree]

13. From the walls of the middle level room, fresh pure water drips constantly

It is as if the walls are weeping. It is as if the soul of the continent is weeping.
Why does it weep? It weeps for the bones of the buffalo. It weeps for the magic that has been forgotten. It weeps for the decline of poets.
It weeps
for the black people who think like white people.
It weeps
for the Indians who think like settlers.
It weeps
for the children who think like adults.
It weeps
for the free who think like prisoners.
Most of all, it weeps
for the cowgirls who think like cowboys.~

-a poem from Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

[Algorem]

14. Why doesn't the Pentagon do something funny?

Like hanging Rumsfeld by his ankles and beating him like a pinata?

[bigtree]

15. Yeah, They're Laughing... another observation on this

http://news.baou.com/main.php?action=recent&rid=20740

by Jennifer Monroe

Are these people serious?

The Pentagon's chief instructor says teaching families of National Guard members how to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho, "prevents hardening of the attitudes."

Retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott is the wack job behind this program. According to Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, it was his idea. Krenke says the Pentagon is committed to the program and values Scott's skills.

"We sent him to the training," she admitted.

According to the USA Today article, the program costs the military virtually nothing because—as it has been reported—Scott already travels to states as a director of military family support policy, which may explain where some of the Pentagon's missing billion$ have gone.

Yeah, they're laughing...as is the rest of the world at the U.S. military.

[bigtree]

16. another web observation

This is so funny I forgot to laugh:

When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.


Actually, this makes me want to literally tear my hair out. What a psychotic fucking picture this paints: “Don’t worry about your family member who is risking their life to fight an unjust illegal war! Just walk like a penguin! Ha ha hee hoo ho ho!” And just think of how great this training could be for soldiers too. While they’re busy rousting civilians from their homes, they can giggle maniacally and just watch their frustrations melt away! Why don’t we all laugh right now over how ridiculous this whole war thing is anyway! HA HA HEE HEE HOO HOO! Ah, don’t we all feel a lot better now? Now, let’s get back to fighting those godless terrorists! Look at those towel headed idiots! Don’t they look funny there bleeding to death in their homes! Ha ha! Now let’s torture them! Ho ho! What a grand time we’re having! I love laughing!


Reading this, I think, is the the closest I’ve ever come to actually going insane. I mean, I can’t even fathom the kind of twisted fucked-up evil logic that goes into pushing something like this on people who have an absolute 100% right to be upset.

But hey! What a silly world we live in! Thank you CIA for turning our frowns upside down!

http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/01/13/the-pentagons-laugh-factory/

[bigtree]

17. another

Stop It, You’re Killing Me

Quote: “We believe our program prevents hardening of the attitudes.” Retired Lt. Col. James Scott, the Pentagon’s certified laughter training specialist, in USA Today.

Figure of Speech: paronomasia (pa ra no MAY sia), the near-pun.

The National Guard desperately needs armor, so the Pentagon leaped into action, sending a guy to laughter school.

While it won’t stop bullets, forced laughter does seem to have some medical benefits, and God knows, these guys need medical benefits. We’re talking forced laughter, though. Scott’s paronomasia (Greek for "play on like-sounding words")--“arteries” and “attitudes”--isn’t exactly a laugh riot.

It’s more like a laugh invasion.

Snappy Answer: “And fighting insurgents stimulates the guns!”

http://www.inpraiseofargument.squarespace.com/it-figures/2006/1/13/stop-it-youre-killing-me.html

[lies and propaganda]

18. cause its all so fucking hilarious!

jokes on you!

[Wickerman]

19. Pentagon to families: Go ahead, laugh

hey, it doesn't cost anything, must be why the Pentagon supports it...


When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.

ADVERTISEMENT

With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."


No joke.


"I laugh every chance I get," says the instructor, retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/pentagontofamiliesgoaheadlaugh;_ylt=AlPOIGXWKKcc.4a8cXROdzNH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-

[Oreo]

20. speechless

[Neecy]

21. fucking unbelievable...

I just received this article from MFSO and they're outraged. I have a cousin in Iraq and I don't feel like flapping my wings like a penguin whenever I'm worried that he'll be blown up into shreds fighting in Bush's war.

The government is insane. Totally insane.

[bigtree]

22. more comments here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=127481&mesg_id=127481

almost unbelievable

[Shine]

23. How bizarre....and how sad, at the same time.

War is nothing to laugh about.

[Loonman]

24. Friggin' dumb

Odd for the Pentagon to use stupid pop psychology baloney.

[stanwyck]

25. You mean like Bush laughed

after he, finally, went to Lousiana after Katrina? He made jokes about getting drunk in New Orleans on hurricanes. And how rebuilding millionaire Trent Lott's house was imperative.
Yeah, I've got a Marine son with two tours in Iraq and one more to go.
The wounded are invisible. We're not supposed to know they exist. The Pentagon's own report says that 80% of Marine fatalities could have been prevented with the right body armor. Which is available. And widows and families can't meet their own loved one's remains at Dover when the "secret" caskets arrive.
It's freaking hilarious.
I loathe these people.

[bigtree]

26. From the 'World Laughter Tour' that 'trained' Scotty Scott

"THE VISION OF WORLD PEACE THROUGH LAUGHTER:
Today we are on the brink of nuclear disaster and wide spread international terrorism. We are at war within ourselves, which is why there is a war outside in the world today. If we can bring peace inside us through laughter clubs, then there will be peace outside, too."

http://www.laughsrus.com/faq_2pp.shtml


Once again, it's amazing that the Pentagon would recommend this for the families of soldiers in Iraq . . . as if the peace they seek can be achieved within themselves as their lives are being torn apart by the decisions and actions of the warmomgerers at Foggy Bottom, Pennsylvania Ave., and Capitol Hill.

If laughter could actually help us avert nuclear disaster and terrorism we would be at peace today as these warpigs have been laughing all along at us American's inability to control this cabal's militarism.

But we should never laugh away their responsibility for putting our soldiers and their families in this mess. Nor can we laugh away the thousands of dead and maimed who suffered and were killed because of the mindless zeal of the Pentagon and others to engage our troops in the illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq.

[Solly Mack]

27. I didn't lose my sense of humor during my husband's deployment

though I also didn't need anyone using laugh therapy on me either....or "teaching" me how to laugh. And I would have found it insulting had anyone tried.

The thing is, the laughing eventually stops....and then you feel guilty that something made you laugh because it could be the moment your spouse dies and it's a laugh you can never ever share with them.

The tears and the fears are never far away from the laughter - always just underneath....and sometimes when you laugh, you also cry...

Nothing helps during deployment to stave off your feelings - there are things that occupy your time....but at night you're still alone...your spouse is still in Iraq....and it's just not funny.

[bigtree]

28. They've got me laughing out of the wrong side of my face

“Thou laughest there: by-and-by thou wilt laugh on the wrong side of thy face.”- Carlyle: The Diamond Necklace

http://www.bartleby.com/81/9973.html