Quote :

" By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAYFri Jan 13, 6:45 AM ET 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. The laughter program was Scott's idea. It costs the military virtually nothing, because Scott already travels to states as a director of military family support policy. He has taught National Guard family group leaders in Alaska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Idaho, and will do so in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida, he says. Another laughter trainer is working with folks in North Carolina. "We believe our program prevents hardening of the attitudes," says Scott, in one of his wordplay aphorisms that beg for a rimshot. The founder and chief executive of the World Laughter Tour is psychologist Steve Wilson, who calls himself "Cheerman of the Bored." "The guiding principle is to laugh for no reason. And that's one of the reasons it works so well for military families," Scott says. "There's a lot they have to be stressed over, a lot of worries, a lot of concerns." As foolish as students might feel, Scott says he's lost only one participant: a Marine sergeant major who, Scott says, fled the room with a bad case of the giggles. Mary Frances Booth, the wife of a retired soldier, took the class last year and is an ardent devotee. She and her two daughters - Meaghan, 10 and Sarah, 8 - were sobbing after Booth dropped her husband at the Boise airport Sunday; he was headed for Afghanistan for work as a civilian contractor, she says. Then Booth called for one of the laughing drills. "They rolled their eyes at me and thought, 'Mom's on her laughing thing again,' " Booth says. "(But) it made it a little bit better.""

1/14/2006 6:38:24 PM

Because teaching people to learn to laugh is bad?

1/14/2006 7:02:06 PM

Quote :

"spöokyjon: pryderi = -THABIGL"

1/14/2006 7:12:16 PM

Really, when is this political spam going to stop?

1/14/2006 7:42:59 PM

maybe Maverick can give him the salisburyboy treatment, so then he'll have something real to bitch about...

[Edited on January 14, 2006 at 7:54 PM. Reason : ---]

1/14/2006 7:54:38 PM

OMFG THAT WOULD BE RIGHT-WING CENSORSHIP! JUST LIKE HE IS EXPERIENCING BY POSTING HIS ASININE VIEWS ON TWW AT AN AVERAGE OF ABOUT ONE EVERY HOUR!

[Edited on January 14, 2006 at 8:32 PM. Reason : .]

1/14/2006 8:31:43 PM

i have a great idea


Maverick, just suspend dumbasses at will, but suspend them in pairs...

two by two they were suspended, one right-winger and one left winger, as theDuke866 hath commanded unto Maverick.

that way, people can't cry partisanship, and we off them twice as quickly.





let them back after a week or two, but with the understanding that if they continue to douche around, they will be resuspended, and will not enjoy the suspension in pairs protection once they've been suspended once.

1/14/2006 9:20:47 PM

I'd been thinking about that too. I mean, we suspended thabigl, so pryderi would be the next best choice too (gotta love being fair and balanced).

Course I thought of this around the same time I suspended salisburyboy, which was enough satisfaction for me for a while.

But since the Duke speaketh thus...

[Edited on January 14, 2006 at 9:58 PM. Reason : .]

1/14/2006 9:39:57 PM

So rather than providing our troops with better armor, to make the safer and alleviate some of the strain on military families, the Pentagon decides to give the families laugh lessons?

Brilliant. I'm so proud.

1/14/2006 10:06:17 PM

Did you even read the article before you posted it?

You should probably come back to this place when you've come up with something actually thoughtful to add to a political conversation.


[Edited on January 14, 2006 at 10:14 PM. Reason : .]

1/14/2006 10:09:24 PM

Quote :

"So rather than providing our troops with better armor, to make the safer and alleviate some of the strain on military families, the Pentagon decides to give the families laugh lessons?"

You're aware that its not an either/or thing, right?

Quote :

"It costs the military virtually nothing, because Scott already travels to states as a director of military family support policy."

Seriously, could you find more dumb shit to bitch about?

1/15/2006 4:42:24 PM

I agree 100% with your last post, which is precisely why it was the last friggin straw (actually something that stupid isn't so much a straw as it is more of a lead pipe) that broke my back.

1/15/2006 5:58:13 PM