WE USED TO BE SCIENTISTS. THEN, WASHINGTON INVENTED SOME POLITICAL NEWSPEAK TO HELP SCIENCE BEND INTO POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS.

FELLOW VETERANS: THIS IS AS WRONG AS SOMEBODY TRYING TO FORBID FLYERS TO USE "ALTITUDE, HEADING, BEARING, WEIGHT & BALANCE.": MY DEMAND: HANDS OFF THE CDC AND OTHER FEDERAL MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC AGENCIES!

(CNN) Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the very agency tasked with saving and protecting the lives of the most vulnerable, are now under order by the Trump administration to stop using words including "vulnerable" in 2018 budget documents, according to The Washington Post.

In a 90-minute briefing on Thursday, policy analysts at the nation's leading public health institute were presented with the menu of seven banned words, an analyst told the paper. On the list: "diversity," "fetus," "transgender," "vulnerable," "entitlement," "science-based" and "evidence-based."

Alternative word choices reportedly were presented in some cases. For instance, in lieu of "evidence-based" or "science-based," an analyst might say, "CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes," the source said. But those working on the Zika virus's effect on developing fetuses may be at a loss for appropriate -- or acceptable -- words.

The reaction in the room was "incredulous," the longtime CDC analyst told the Post. "It was very much, 'Are you serious? Are you kidding?'"

As news of the word ban spreads at the CDC, the analyst expects growing backlash.

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"Our subject matter experts will not lay down quietly," the unnamed source said. "This hasn't trickled down to them yet."

CNN Report: Army Officers Routinely Lie - officers' honor code ignored!

Deeply troubling news about a failure
of ethics and honor among Army officers!

Washington (CNN) 

U.S. Army officers often resort to "evasion and deception,"
and everyone at the Pentagon knows it, according
to a new study conducted by the U.S. Army War College.

"In other words, in the routine performance of their duties as leaders and commanders, U.S. Army officers lie," reads the study, which was conducted by the War College's Strategic Studies Institute.

The 33-page report, compiled following interviews with officers across the Army, concluded that the Army's culture is rife with "dishonesty and deception" at all levels of the institution -- from the most junior members to senior Army officials.

The study's results come after Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel -- who officially left his post Tuesday -- had raised concerns over ethics in the military. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary, said two weeks ago that Hagel was "deeply troubled" over a spate of ethics investigations in the military.

"I think he's generally concerned that there could be at least at some level a breakdown in ethical behavior and in the demonstration of moral courage," Kirby said of Hagel.

(note: click here to read the C-123 Veterans 2014 challenge to VA ethical failures, presented at the Society of Toxicology.)

And last week, days before Defense Secretary Ash Carter succeeded him, Hagel wrote a memo to the U.S. military's most senior leaders emphasizing the need for increased accountability and a higher standard for ethical behavior -- including among the military's senior leaders.

"The vast majority of our senior leaders are men and women who have earned the special trust and confidence afforded them by the American people. However, when senior leaders forfeit this trust through unprofessional, unethical or morally questionable behavior, their actions have an enormously negative effect on the profession," Hagel wrote.

Hagel urged the military leaders to "strengthen your cultures" and "assess gaps and close them."

The senior officials who received the memo likely didn't learn anything new as the War College's study published this week indicated that senior leaders -- both civilian and uniformed -- also take part in the dishonesty and ethically questionable behavior, or are at least aware of that behavior.

The study describes a "culture where deceptive information is both accepted and commonplace" and where senior officials don't trust the information and data receive -- such as compliance with certain Army training requirements or forms outlining how a mission was carried out.

But Army officers are faced with an increasing number of requirements and bureaucratic hoops, according to the study, and rather than work with a rigid military brass to reform a burdensome bureaucracy, officers will simply sidestep those requirements, lying on forms and often rationalizing their answers.

The result? "Officers become ethically numb," explains the study, which was conducted by Leonard Wong, a research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute and retired Army officer, and behavioral sciences Professor Stephen Gerras, who held company and battalion command roles during his 25 years in the Army.

"Eventually, their signature and word become tools to maneuver through the Army bureaucracy rather than symbols of integrity and honesty," the researchers wrote. "This desensitization dilutes the seriousness of an officer's word and allows what should be an ethical decision to fade into just another way the Army does business."

The study also comes after a string of high-profile ethics scandals involving senior military leadership in recent years, from a cheating scandal involving nuclear missile officers last year and a still-ongoing federal investigation into one of the biggest corruption affairs in the Navy's history.

American Legion Decries VA Secret Lists – Launches Special Web Site

The American Legion, our nation's largest wartime veterans organization, is greatly offended by the recent discovery of secret lists for patient care in Phoenix and Fort Collins. Accordingly, the Legion is conducting a Phoenix Town Hall meting on May 13, and has also launched a special web site dedicated to this outrageous problem.

C-123 veterans appreciate the years of support from the Legion and joins with it demanding VA correction of these problems.

Click HERE to enter.

Click HERE for VA Public Affairs Response.

CNN Report: Veterans Die Waiting For Medical Care (this is NEW news?)

From today's CNN website, which restates earlier coverage in other publications

(CNN) -- U.S. veterans are dying because of delays in diagnosis and treatment at VA hospitals.

At least 19 veterans have died because of delays in simple medical screenings like colonoscopies or endoscopies, at various VA hospitals or clinics, CNN has learned.

That's according to an internal document from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, obtained exclusively by CNN, that deals with patients diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and 2011.

Hospital delays are killing war vets

The veterans were part of 82 vets who have died or are dying or have suffered serious injuries as a result of delayed diagnosis or treatment for colonoscopies or endoscopies.

Barry Coates is one of the veterans who has suffered from a delay in care. Coates was having excruciating pain and rectal bleeding in 2011. For a year the Army veteran went to several VA clinics and hospitals in South Carolina, trying to get help. But the VA's diagnosis was hemorrhoids, and aside from simple pain medication he was told he might need a colonoscopy.

Congress demands answers on VA deaths