Saturday, April 07, 2007

Potts profiled by Reuters

Midge Potts, the transgender activist, who pushed her way into every photo taken during Valerie Plame's recent Senate testimony, is profiled in an article by Reuters.
Potts was a candidate for the Seventh District Congressional seat held by Roy Blunt last year and gained seven percent of the vote in the Republican primary.

Among the interesting items in the article: Those who wondered where Potts gets the money for all of these visits to Washington, D. C. need wonder no longer- the money comes from the United States Government:

For the 38-year-old Potts, anti-war sentiments began to surface while serving in the U.S. Navy during the first Gulf War. She was Mitchell Eugene Potts then, and worked on the USS Yosemite, a destroyer tender, calibrating pressure gauges.

"I was proud to be in the military," she said. "But I did wonder why we were there and what we were doing, especially when it seemed like we were occupying the Persian Gulf after."

Potts inhaled evaporated mercury in a pressure gauge accident in a hot engine room shortly before her tour of duty was up. She began to suffer from migraines and emotional problems.

After failing to get the treatment she needed, Potts said she was offered an honourable discharge and took it.

A judge ultimately awarded her disability benefits under the Social Security program, and that pays her living expenses now while she spends long days as an anti-war activist on Capitol Hill.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will have a difficult time taking Midge Potts seriously if she runs in another election. Her shenanigans for the camera behind Plame seemed opportunistic and juvenile and a little bizarre.

Anonymous said...

I hope the judge who awarded the disability benefits was booted off the bench.