Paul Sullivan and Juan Cole coming to Sarasota FL

You're Invited: Paul Sullivan and Juan Cole Address Florida VCS on October 4 in Sarasota

Veterans for Common Sense

Sep 19, 2008

Dr. Juan Cole, a foremost authority on the Middle East, and Paul Sullivan, the Executive Director of Veterans for Common Sense, will speak to the public in Sarasota, Florida on October 4. The event is sponsored by Florida Veterans for Common Sense (FLVCS), Florida Consumer Action Network (FCAN), and Veterans for Common Sense (VCS). The public is invited.

Click here for Tickets, or go to this web site: http://www.fcan.org/juan_cole.html
minimum suggested donation is $10, please.

Dr. Cole has often appeared in print and national television as a commentator on the Middle East and has published peer reviewed books on the Middle East. He has testified before the United States Senate and is the former editor of The International Journal of Middle East Studies. He is President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America. In 2006, he received the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism administered by Hunter College. His blog, Informed Comment, averages 25,000 hits per day. His latest book is Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East.

Paul Sullivan regularly testifies before Congress and appears in the press as a leading advocate for veterans' healthcare, disability benefits, and voting rights. Veterans for Common Sense worked with ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff to break the news in February 2007 that the Department of Veterans Affairs was treating hundreds of thousands of veteran patients from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. VCS worked with CBS Evening News investigative reporters to uncover the growing suicide epidemic among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. For more information about the impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on America, please read The Three Trillion Dollar War by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes.

Professor Cole will sign books after the Question and Answer session. And Paul Sullivan will release new statistics about the impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on the Department of Defense and VA.

Tickets: Minimum suggested donation is $10. Call Julian Koss (941) 923-9280 or go to the FCAN web site: http://www.fcan.org/juan_cole.html

When: Saturday, October 4, 2008, 7:00 PM

Where: 2896 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota (Potter Building) (Three buildings west of Robarts Arena off Fruitville Road, Sarasota)

Speakers: Juan Cole and Paul Sullivan
Sponsors: FCAN, FLVCS, and VCS

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11207

Tampa's VA hospital reaches out to Iraq, Afghanistan veterans

Frank King of Altamonte Springs holds his 7-month-old daughter, Raynah, as he gets information Saturday during a Welcoming Home Day at the Sun Dome in Tampa. The event was sponsored by the James A. Haley VA Medical Center for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tampa's VA hospital reaches out to Iraq, Afghanistan veterans
By Jessica Vander Velde, Times Staff Writer
Published Saturday, March 15, 2008 11:09 PM
TAMPA — Iraq war veteran Ken Guillion's back still hurts, even though he stopped carrying heavy .50-caliber machine guns in the Army more than a year ago.

The 29-year-old former gunner wants to start physical therapy for his chronic back pain, but the waiting list was too long at the Veteran Affairs hospital near his home in Indiana.

He's more hopeful about Tampa's services. Although he just moved to the city a week ago, he was at James A. Haley VA Medical Center's "Welcome Home America's Heroes" event Saturday to gather information about medical care he's eligible to receive.

"She pushed me to come," he said, smiling, as he pointed to his fiancee, Linda Rondon.

In a nationwide effort to reach more veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has asked its hospitals to hold welcome back events.

Only about 30 percent of veterans go to VA hospitals, and that needs to change, said Seamless Transition coordinator Steve Preston. "We'd like it at 100 percent," he said.

It's his job to help transfer veterans from military hospitals to VA hospitals.

Tampa's VA Medical Center's chief of staff, Edward Cutolo Jr., said that even though troops are told about VA services when they leave the military, many don't remember the information when they need it.
go here for the rest
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article419066.ece

If you live in Central Florida, join the walk the Veterans For Common Sense is doing on the 30th of March for the men and women we all claim to support. I'm going!


Siesta Key Beach walkathon for Haley House
Veterans to benefit from walkathon
By LESLIE FEINBERG CORRESPONDENT

The Florida Veterans for Common Sense (FVCS) have organized a walkathon to benefit wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan on Siesta Key Beach on March 30.The hospital receives more seriously injured veterans, with staff specializing in the treatment of brain and spinal cord injuries. Since patients often need several months of treatment, their families are left to handle the cost of hotels and living expenses during their recovery.

The Haley House in Brandon helps the friends and families of patients who live more than 50 miles from the Haley House and qualify for aid based upon income with living arrangements as well as the recently completed "Comfort Center," complete with full kitchen, washer and dryer, and a TV and game area.

Volunteers at Haley House have found a marked difference in a patient's recovery with the presence of their loved ones, providing them with the necessary support system to significantly cut down on their recovery time.

As Harry Stimmel, FVCS board member and co-creator of the walkathon said, "If the parents live in Oklahoma, and they don't have much money, we're providing them with some kind of facility so they can visit the veteran ... it can make all the difference."

As a display of their faith in the Haley House Fund and the support that it provides to veterans and their families, each member donates the cost of a room to Haley House on his own birthday every year.All of the local members of the Florida Veterans for Common Sense plan to participate in the walk, as well as many of the Haley House staff.

INTERESTED?
To participate in the walk, make a per-mile pledge or to make a direct donation, contact retired Air Force Lt. Col. Len Gumley, FVCS board member, at (941)927-0777, or mail it to him at 5408 Eagles Point Circle, Sarasota, FL 34231.

All funds raised by the walkathon will go to the Haley House Fund, which was created in 2004 to provide facilities for the visiting loved ones of veterans being treated by the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9568