Nebraska panel on Indian affairs honors vets

Nebraska panel on Indian affairs honors vets

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 6, 2008 7:13:01 EST

LINCOLN, Neb. — American Indian veterans and military members from Nebraska will be honored at the state Capitol.

The Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs is preparing a ceremony for 10:30 Thursday morning on the 14th floor of the Capitol.

The commission says the ceremony will be the first to honor veterans from the four recognized tribes in Nebraska. They are the Omaha, Santee Sioux, Ponca and Winnebago.

The ceremony’s keynote speaker will be Col. Tom Brewer, a member of Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Brewer is operations officer for the National Airborne Operations Center. He served in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and recently served in Afghanistan.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_indianhonors_110608/

Obama win also means PTSD work gets new hero

This is one of the biggest reasons I am so delighted that Senator Obama will be President Obama. In August, he visited the Montana National Guard because he heard about the great work they were doing on PTSD. He was so impressed that he promised to take their program nationally.

Up until now, PTSD has only recently become a hot topic. President Bush surrounded himself with people who either had no clue what PTSD was or denied it was real. This prevented years of research not being done and programs that could have been created sooner, to not even be dreamt of. Thousands of our veterans and troops, guardsmen and reservists died as a result, not by enemy hands but because of the enemy within them.

Military families and veteran families have a new hero coming to fight for them and I'm sure when you get to know exactly how much he does care, plans to act, you will feel the same way too. He's been on the Veterans Affairs Committee and has paid attention to all that is going on

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Obama promises to repeat Montana's National Guard PTSD work nation wide
Obama Pledges Nationwide Use of PTSD Program
Eric Newhouse
Great Falls Tribune
Aug 28, 2008
August 28, 2008 - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama promised Wednesday to expand Montana's pilot program to assess the mental health of combat vets nationwide, if elected.The Montana National Guard has developed a program to check its soldiers and airmen for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder every six months for the first two years after returning from combat, then once a year thereafter. The program exceeds national standards set by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The pilot program was created in response to the suicide of former Army Spc. Chris Dana of Helena, who shot himself on March 4, 2007, days after being given a less-than-honorable discharge because he could no longer handle attending drills following a tour in Iraq."He (Obama) told me he understood why we need to have additional screenings for PTSD," said Matt Kuntz, Dana's stepbrother, who was among a small group invited to meet with Obama on Wednesday in Billings. "And he told me when he is elected president, he will implement Montana's pilot program nationwide."

Kuntz, who recently gave up his job as a lawyer in Helena to advocate for the mentally ill and their families, said he was invited to brief Obama on how Montana had become a national model for assessing the mental health of its combat vets.

Besides the additional screenings, the Montana National Guard has developed crisis response teams that include a chaplain to investigate behavioral problems among its troops, and TriWest Healthcare pays to have four part-time counselors on hand to talk with soldiers and airmen during weekend drills.After the briefing, Obama spent about 20 minutes telling several hundred veterans and their families that, if elected as president, he will be committed to meeting their needs.

go here for morehttp://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11028

Afghan officials aided July attack on U.S. soldiers that killed 9

Afghan officials aided July attack on U.S. soldiers
By Eric Schmitt Published: November 4, 2008

WASHINGTON: An internal review by the American military has found that a local Afghan police chief and another district leader helped Taliban militants carry out an attack on July 13 in which nine United States soldiers were killed and a remote American outpost in eastern Afghanistan was nearly overrun.

Afghan and American forces had started building the makeshift base just five days before the attack, and villagers repeatedly warned the American troops in that time that militants were plotting a strike, the report found. It said that the warnings did not include details, and that troops never anticipated such a large and well-coordinated attack.

The assault involved some 200 fighters, nearly three times the number of Americans and Afghans defending the site.

As evidence of collusion between the district police chief and the Taliban, the report cited large stocks of weapons and ammunition that were found in the police barracks in the adjacent village of Wanat after the attackers were repelled. The stocks were more than the local 20-officer force would be likely to need, and many of the weapons were dirty and appeared to have been used recently. The police officers were found dressed in "crisp, clean new uniforms," the report said, and were acting "as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred."
go here for more
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/04/asia/troops.php
Linked from ICasualties.org

Vietnam Vet helped with PTSD by service-cat

Why not? There are "dog people" and dogs have been used to help so why not cats?

Cat soothes PTSD for Vietnam veteran

By Mike Baird - Corpus Christi Caller-Times via Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 5, 2008 15:05:48 EST

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder received an unconventional prescription in July.

“John McGahey needs a service pet,” his physician wrote. “He plans on using a cat. This pet is allowed to travel with Mr. McGahey anywhere.”

The last part of the prescription has been the toughest to fill. The 53-year-old former medical corpsman has been denied access to some public places with Patch, his 6-month-old white male service cat.

“It’s not like I’m trying to take an alligator with me,” McGahey said. “I just want people to know service animals can be other than dogs.”

McGahey was first diagnosed in the late 1970s after treatment in Philadelphia Naval Hospital. “I have a lot of flashbacks,” he said. “I get paranoid in public, and petting Patch helps keep me calm. When I’m ripping the bed apart at night he licks me.”

Stress disorder such as McGahey’s develops in some people after an event that caused or threatened serious harm or death, according to the National Institute on Mental Health.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_servicecat_110508/

Voter turnout best in generations, maybe a century

Voter turnout best in generations, maybe a century
By SETH BORENSTEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — America voted in record numbers, standing in lines that snaked around blocks and in some places in pouring rain. Voters who queued up Tuesday and the millions who balloted early propelled 2008 to what one expert said was the highest turnout in a century.

It looks like 136.6 million Americans will have voted for president this election, based on 88 percent of the country's precincts tallied and projections for absentee ballots, said Michael McDonald of George Mason University. Using his methods, that would give 2008 a 64.1 percent turnout rate.

"That would be the highest turnout rate that we've seen since 1908," which was 65.7 percent, McDonald said early Wednesday. It also would beat the old post World War II high of 63.8 percent in the famed 1960 John F. Kennedy-Richard Nixon squeaker. The 1908 race elected William Howard Taft over William Jennings Bryan.
click post title for more

VoteVets celebrates veteran's wins

Well, it was a long campaign season, and there was a lot of work to be done. I wanted to first thank you for everything you have given us and our endorsed candidates. I’m very excited to report to you that all the work has paid off, and we’ll be sending a new crop of veterans to Congress, to join those we currently have there. Here’s the rundown of our victories just last night:

John Boccieri won in Ohio with 54 percent of the vote
Gary Peters won in Michigan with 52 percent of the vote
Eric Massa won in New York with 51 percent of the vote and
Walt Minnick won in Idaho with 51 percent of the vote

They will join our current endorsed Congressmen – Patrick Murphy, Joe Sestak, Tim Walz, and Chris Carney. Also, in California, VoteVets.org candidate Charlie Brown is in a race that is still too close to call, and it will take some time to count up all the ballots.

There is, however, one race that isn’t done yet. In Georgia, neither Senate candidate got the needed 50 percent of the vote required by state law to win, so there will be a one month runoff campaign. Our endorsed candidate – veteran Jim Martin – will be in one tough battle to replace Senator Saxby Chambliss, who won his seat by smearing one of America’s greatest heroes, Max Cleland. Jim Martin will need all the help we can give to win this runoff, so please, click here right now and donate whatever you can to help this American patriot win Georgia’s Senate seat!
We have much to be proud of this year, and on behalf of all of our candidates, I thank you for your help. Because of you, Congress will now have even more voices representing those who served our nation in uniform, and they will use those voices to help return America to sensible military and veterans’ policies.

We’ve got a very exciting year ahead of us, and I look forward to keeping you apprised of all VoteVets.org has in store!

Thanks for all of your support.
Sincerely,
Jon SoltzIraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets.org

When you open my front door, this is the first thing you'll see

When you open my front door, this is the first thing you'll see. It hangs on the wall because this is where my heart is.


When you turn to enter into the hallway, this is what you'll see. It hangs on the wall because this is where my heart is. It is a daily reminder of those who serve.

When you sit at my kitchen table this is what you'll see. These are pictures of my husband's father and his three uncles. Off to the side is a picture of my husband taken in Vietnam. These are on the wall as well because this is where my heart it. Again, constant reminders of those who serve.

My father served in the Korean war and my uncles served in WWII.

I have these in my home, not that I need to be reminded because of what I do everyday, but because they have my heart and just as most Americans hang pictures of their family members all over their homes, the men and women who serve and have served, are part of my family.

I am a Democrat, but I am an American first.

There are religious pictures and books filling my office and most of the rooms in my home. Again, because this is where my heart is.

I am a Chaplain to all of God's children even though I am a Christian and I am an American.

During the campaigning McCain did I heard a lot of things that were lies intended on vilifying Democrats across the nation. Ever since 2000, most of what I heard was pretty disgusting because people didn't know what the truth was. The media let some get away with making all kinds of claims about people like me. For the last eight years, except for months following the attacks of 9-11, this nation has been divided by gossip. Last night President Elect Obama laid the ground rules that those days should end and we should once again be one nation. He proved that most Americans want that when they voted for him in overwhelming numbers.

So, let's get a few things straight.

Democrats are pro-military and that means the men and women who serve this nation, not the contractors making money off sending men and women into war. The talk about cutting military spending is true in a way, but not cutting the military size, just the money we waste. If you paid attention you'd know how much money was wasted in Iraq on the defense contractors. We want accountability from all elected.

Democrats are pro-veteran. We believe that our veterans have earned a hell of a lot more than just our respect in words, but earned them in our deeds. We want to take care of them because they are our obligation and not as some say "a burden" we are forced to provide for. We believe they should be taken care of and as a matter of fact, Obama has been on the Veteran's Affairs Committee and Michelle is taking on the military families as well as veteran families.

There is a lot you heard during the campaigns but too much you didn't hear. To set your minds at ease, try to check what has been real all along and for Heaven's sake, turn off FOX news until they decide to finally report the truth. Most of what I heard has been parroting FOX news from people who are bright but have grown lazy and did not invest the time to know if they were being told the truth or not.

According to the media on the far-right, I do not exist. I am supposed to be anti-military even though I fight for veterans everyday of the week and have done outreach work with them for 26 years. I am not supposed to be Christian, but have dedicated my life to Christ since early in my childhood. There are a lot of people just like me all over the nation and you heard our voices last night when you heard President Elect Obama. Those were not just well chosen words but came from a good heart.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

California couple commit suicide because of health problems

Neighbors shocked by couple's jump off bridge

By Mark Arner
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

5:24 p.m. November 4, 2008

LEMON GROVE – From what neighbors and relatives could tell, Michael Swan, 56, and his wife, Mei Li, 49, were a friendly, happy couple, who kept a small, blooming rose garden in the front yard of their home.

Couple who died in fall from I-8 bridge identified


During interviews near the Swan's white-and-green house on Acacia Street, near Golden Avenue, several neighbors said they couldn't believe the couple had purposely jumped off a 450-foot-high bridge on Interstate 8, known as the Pine Valley bridge.

A relative found a suicide note Tuesday that suggested the couple had been struggling with a serious health problem, said Lenore Aldridge, an investigator for the county Medical Examiner's Office.

go here for more

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081104-1724-bn04couple.html

Linked from RawStory

Colin Powell wept at Obama victory

Powell wept at Obama victory 5:39
CNN's Hugh Riminton interviews former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is asking all Americans to get behind Obama.

Neil Diamond donates 100 percent of merchandise sales to Ike relief fund

One of my close friends and her family were able to make it to Neil Diamond's concert in Orlando. (Yes, I'm jealous!) She told me about his new CD Home Before Dark, raved about it and his concert. Then she told me about what he's doing with the money made off merchandise at his concerts. Amazing! This makes me even more fond of him and his music.

UPDATED - HOUSTON - 100% OF TONIGHT'S MERCH SALES TO BENEFIT GULF COAST IKE RELIEF FUND
100% - EVERY SINGLE PENNY
OF TONIGHTS MERCHANDISE SALES
WILL BE CONTRIBUTED TO
THE GULF COAST IKE RELIEF FUND

10/14/08 - (Houston) 100% gross sales of Neil Diamond's merchandise available at his Toyota Center show will be donated to the Gulf Coast Ike relief fund!! Please support this cause- Thank you Neil Diamond, FEA Merchandising and Toyota Center.


Update 10/15/08- NEIL DIAMOND DONATES MORE THAN $200,000 TO THE GULF COAST IKE RELIEF FUND
Houston, TX - October 15, 2008 - Legendary singer-songwriter Neil Diamond pledged to donate 100% of merchandise sales from his October 14th concert at Houston's Toyota Center to benefit The Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund. He then topped his offer by telling his Houston audience that he would match the amount they spent on merchandise that night. The contribution totaled more than $200,000, and Houston's Mayor Bill White and The Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund Board Member Dr. Laura Murillo joined Diamond at last night's concert to accept an honorary check. Along with Diamond's personal contribution, F.E.A. Merchandising and Toyota Center have also contributed their share of merchandise sales to relief efforts for areas of the Gulf Coast that have been ravaged by Hurricane Ike.
http://www.neildiamond.com/pages/news/667