THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

I'm not quite sure what that cause is because Our Dear Embattled Leader has never seen fit to tell us. But it must be good because the Republicans in Congress keep supporting it 100%.

Joshua Jackson Reeves, four days old, slept undisturbed in his mother’s arms, blissfully unaware of war, or a city called Baghdad, or his mother’s shattered heart.

Leslie Reeves, gently traced her baby’s chin, a miniature version of another’s chin, and smiled through wet eyes.

On Friday, Sept. 21, Reeves delivered her 7-pound, 14-ounce boy into this world without complications. Soon afterward she phoned Iraq to deliver the happy news. There, Spc. Joshua H. Reeves, her soldier-husband of two years, was stationed with troops from Fort Riley, Kan.

He was due to come home in November for two weeks of vacation from war.

One day’s joy turned to sorrow on Saturday, Sept. 22, as a bomb detonated as Joshua Reeves’ Humvee drove down a Baghdad street. Leslie Reeves, a Hendersonville native who had returned to be with her parents while she delivered, was still in the hospital with her new baby when she learned she was a widow.

Maybe it has something to do with his legacy.

And let's not forget one for Uncle Dickwahd.

Since May, the women have packed their suitcases every 10 days and flown from Columbia to San Antonio. There, they spend up to 10 days at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, caring for Sgt. Terry Fleming of Eastover.

He is Ida Fleming’s son and Bennett’s brother.

Terry Fleming, 25, was severely burned on his arms and legs in a May 12 roadside bomb blast in Iraq. He has spent the past five months in the medical center’s intensive care unit for burn patients.

Fleming has undergone multiple skin grafts and blood transfusions. He can’t lift his arms and is missing tips of his fingers. The burns on his left arm have not healed. He has tried to stand and walk, but even two steps cause horrible pain where his skin is tight from grafts and surgery, Bennett said.

But there are positive signs for Fleming’s future. The heat from the explosion singed his face but did not disfigure it, Bennett said. “You can tell he had on his helmet because he’s not burned on top of his head,” she said. “But you can see the imprint of the strap on his chin and face.”

Those marks will vanish with time. Recently, Bennett caught him looking at his reflection in a hospital window. “I asked, ‘You like what you see?’ and he said, ‘No, not really,’” she said. “But I told him, ‘You’re living. That’s the important thing.’ “

Or maybe we can put this into John Boehner's small price.