John S. McCain, III will turn 72 in August, 2008. McCain’s age, health, and mental acuity will inevitably be factors in the campaign.

Will American voters be paying attention? Will McCain release full and accurate information on his health?

And how can one distinguish whether McCain’s behavior and judgment are normal and acceptable, or are deteriorating and therefore potentially dangerous? When is a gaffe a symptom?

Several actuarial and medical data points suggest that McCain’s upcoming 72nd chronological birthday could well be the equivalent of a biological 83rd birthday.

Below the break are a few guidelines and links to help inform an assessment of McCain’s age, health, and fitness for the Presidency.

(Cross-posting at Daily Kos, Raising Kaine, and Bits of News.)

In today’s WaPo Dana Priest and Anne Hull provide followup coverage on the Army’s effort to court-martial Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside for her psychological breakdown while serving in Baghdad: “Leniency Suggested for Officer Who Shot Herself.” The original investigative piece was published on December 2nd: “A Soldier’s Officer.”

Maj. Mervin H. Steals, the investigative officer in charge of the preliminary hearing, forwarded the following recommendation up his chain of command:

One of the Army values is integrity, which is defined as doing what is right, legally and morally. The moral thing to do is dismiss these charges, to allow 1LT Whiteside to end her military service and receive the benefits that she will desperately need for the remainder of her life.

The commander of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, Jr., is responsible for a final command decision in this case, but it now appears as though the Army is moving toward resolving this case in a sensible, medically appropriate, rather than medieval, way.

Below the break are some additional insights directly from the Whiteside family, as well as my own question on the difference between us and the “Greatest Generation.”

(Will X-post at Daily Kos and Raising Kaine.)

For those who are inclined to take action as a result of the excellent Daily Kos diaries of gchaucer2 and BlueTape on the effort by some Army apparatchiks to intimidate and crush the unfortunate U.S. Army Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, below the break is a listing of contact names, links, addresses, and phone numbers for directing your comments.

Lt. Whiteside, who suffered a breakdown while serving in Iraq, has spent the past year undergoing multiple surgeries and undergoing psychiatric care at Walter Reed. The Army is threatening to court-martial Lt. Whiteside, who has refused to resign and waive a veteran’s rights to ongoing medical care. The case encapsulates the Army bureaucracy’s cavalier, dismissive treatment of soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) resulting from the stresses and trauma of serving in Iraq.

I managed to track down the Whiteside family yesterday and spoke by phone for several minutes with Elizabeth’s father, a former Marine officer who served in Vietnam. I brought gchaucer2’s excellent diary to Thomas Whiteside’s attention, and he called back to praise gchaucer2’s excellent summary of the initial powerful investigative piece, ‘A Soldier’s Officer,’ by Dana Priest and Anne Hull in the WaPo on December 2nd.

As gchaucer2 noted yesterday, this is a case that compels not just passive outrage, but action.

Below the jump are key contacts, as well as the connecting of a few related dots.

(Previously posted version at Daily Kos.)

The latest demonstration of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s feckless leadership was the 53-40 kabuki vote late on November 8th to confirm Michael B. Mukasey as Attorney General. Mukasey had refused to regard the abusive technique called waterboarding to be torture and therefore a prosecutable criminal act. Mukasey understands whom he is supposed to shield.

Democrats quickly announced the intention to introduce legislation outlawing waterboarding. But why? As Evan Wallach pointed out in The Washington Post on November 4th, numerous legal precedents prove that waterboarding already is illegal and prosecutable.

Are Democrats, having caved on Mukasey’s confirmation, now about to make yet another strategic blunder by proceeeding with this legislation?

WARNING NOTICE: Reflecting on this question and exploring the links below may lead to severe loss of equanimity and cause political activism or emigration to a still-civilized country.