Ethics missing from McCain staff on Sarah Palin

It is no secret what I think about Sarah Palin. I think she may be a nice person to some but what we saw and heard during the nine weeks of the campaign, show a woman with no problem lying about some very important things. Clearly she was not ready to be Vice-President and definitely not ready to be President if anything happened to McCain. This showed in the interviews.

What is really getting me angry about all the reports that have come out about Palin ever since is the fact that they should have come out well before the campaign lost. Where are the ethics of the people making these claims now? If they had a shred of commitment to the nation above politics, they should have stepped up and reported on all of this before it was too late. So why didn't they?

If Palin was so uninformed that she didn't know Africa was a continent, which is grade school level knowledge, didn't they think it was important for the American people to know considering the demanding role they tried to make us believe she was ready to take on? If Palin didn't know what countries comprised North America, didn't they think there would be a very serious problem with her in the second position of this nation? What were they thinking?

What about the GOP? Didn't they think they owed anything to the GOP or the people who gave their money to the GOP and the McCain campaign? Where is the outrage from any of them? Where is the outrage from the GOP? Are any of them paying attention to any of this instead of scratching their heads wondering why they lost?

They want to play games and look for a win no matter who has to pay for it! This nation almost paid dearly because they did not speak up and tell the truth about important facts the American people had a right to know and they had an obligation to tell before there was a chance she could have been the Vice President and McCain, who apparently didn't care if she was even capable of the job, had no problem selling her to the public instead of actually putting the country first instead of his campaign. He has disgraced himself and ended up dragging Palin thru a lot of hell because he should have left her in Alaska and out of the media spotlight.

Above all I feel sorry for the voters who believe in McCain and believed all the lies they heard instead of actually investing the time to find out what the truth was.

Sarah Palin fights back
Sarah Palin fights back 2:43
Gary Tuchman interviewed Sarah Palin on the sniping from McCain staffers and others in the closing days of the campaign.
click link for video

I think the media should leave Palin alone now and let her get back to work as the Governor of Alaska until the next election. This whole thing was an eye opener for the people who believed in her there too.

As for McCain's staff, anyone in politics should think twice before letting them get into that kind of position of power ever again. They didn't do the right thing. They were too busy thinking of themselves before and after when they let out all of this information after they lost and tried to find someone else to blame.kc

Barbaric treatment for Afghanistan's women leads to death

1,005 soldiers have died in Afghanistan. Does anyone know how many civilians? Does anyone know how many woman have died like this?

A death sentence for women
Ending the barbaric treatment of Afghanistan's pregnant women (and girls) is a colossal challenge that we cannot shy away from
Carol Mann guardian.co.uk, Friday November 7 2008 21.00 GMT
Roughly 75% of Afghan newborns that die do so because of lack of food, warmth, and care. Unloved little girls fare the worst. In Afghanistan as a whole, a woman dies of pregnancy-related causes every 27 minutes – and perhaps even more frequently, because many such deaths go unrecorded. Many, perhaps most, are under 16 years of age. The Taliban – blamed nowadays for just about all of Afghanistan's ills – have officially been gone from power for nearly seven years, so why are conditions still so abysmal?

Kabul and Herat boast all the trappings of globalised modernity: mobile phones abound, a tooth-eroding concoction called "Afghan Cola" is sold, the internet works (sometimes), there are ATM machines, sophisticated heroin laboratories, four-wheel drive vehicles, five-star hotels and ads for private banks. Yet so many women die like flies, in pools of blood and deep-rooted indifference.

While billions of dollars in aid have led to improvements in urban areas, where health facilities have been built and midwives trained, the overall maternal death figures have hardly changed. As one doctor told me: "A competent midwife or nurse would rather be out of work in Kabul than stuck in a remote village." But most Afghans live in remote villages, those in Badakhshan can be reached only after a day's bumpy ride on a donkey.

This miserable situation has been attributed to various causes, mainly lack of infrastructure and local economic conditions. But cultural questions must also be addressed, because gender discrimination is the most important cause of maternal mortality. In Afghan society, discrimination begins at birth. One obvious reason is that a boy is destined to support his parents and much of his family all his life, and therefore represents a long-term investment, whereas a girl will be given over to her husband's family as soon as possible. Feeding a girl is seen as effectively looking after someone else's property.

I heard a dreadful story of a breech birth which a traditional midwife did not know how to handle. In the end, she wrenched the baby's body out, severing it from its head, which remained inside the mother's womb. It took six days to get the woman to a hospital in Jalalabad though it was not very far from where she lived. She somehow survived, with major health complications, including permanent fistula, which will condemn her to a life of exclusion from her family and unrelieved misery.
go here for more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/07/afghanistan-gender

linked from
http://icasualties.org/oef/

Iraq vet avoids jail for officer attack

Iraq vet avoids jail for officer attack
An exemplary soldier described as a credit to his country has avoided jail and been given one last chance to stay in the Army after pleading guilty to shoving a policeman through a glass door.

Private Tristan Gardner, of the 3rd Battalion Mercian Regiment (Staffords), was told at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday : “If anyone else had walked through the door today, they would have gone straight to prison, no doubt about it.”

Lieutenant Kris Koniarski came to court to plead for leniency on behalf of Gardner, who would have been booted out the Army if given a suspended or custodial sentence. In an “extremely unusual” move, the soldier, of Mills Road, All Saints, Wolverhampton, was fined £1,100.

Despite having previous convictions for assault and battery, the court heard how Gardner was an “invaluable” soldier. While in Iraq last year on Operation Telic 9, the 24-year-old dragged injured people to safety following an explosion that killed several Royal Marines.
go here for more
http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/11/08/iraq-vet-avoids-jail-for-officer-attack/

Linked from ICasualties.org

US troops in Iraq losing savings

US troops in Iraq losing savings
US combat troops in Iraq battle to defend savings

US Lieutenant Colonel Mark Grabski has been busy on the computer over the past few weeks -- not to follow the history-making presidential election but to check on his dwindling savings.

"I had a list of icons, my favourites, the funds that are working with Thrift savings programme. Every single day, their rates were just collapsing," said the officer posted at Camp Speicher, north of the Iraqi capital.

"Virtually, I've lost right now tens of thousand of dollars," said the 31-year-old who is in charge of criminal inspections of the base.

Grabski said a third of his salary goes into Thrift, an additional pension scheme for US civil servants and soldiers. "I've lost 30 percent of my savings in this programme due to the financial crisis."

Army pensions are meant to pay out 50 percent of the salary of soldiers with 20 years of service and 75 percent for 30 years, but many rely on the Thrift programme to further secure their retirement.

Vets living on Canadian streets like leaving someone behind on battlefield

Vets living on Canadian streets like leaving 'someone bleeding on the battlefield
The Canadian Press

The weathered, beret-wearing veteran is a constant image on Remembrance Day.

Proud elderly men and women, their chests adorned with long rows of medals, will gather at cenotaphs across the country this Nov. 11 to pay tribute to their fallen comrades and soak up the adulation of a grateful public.

Few Canadians will give a thought to the veterans who are filling lines at soup kitchens and crowding beds at homeless shelters - those who ended their military service so psychologically scarred that it was impossible to fit back into life at home.

Their marriages have broken down, they have fallen into cycles of substance abuse and addiction.

Now they are on the street.

Although other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have programs and special shelters for homeless veterans, advocates such as retired colonel Patrick Stogran say Canada has ignored the problem.

Warriors come back from combat without the proper support, he says.
click link for more

PTSD On Trial:Doctors' testimony differs in Cortez murder trial

I'm not sure what to make out of this. Is it possible Ricardo Cortez does have PTSD? Absolutely. There is also the chance after reading this report that he could be faking. The only people who would know for sure are his family members and friends. They would know what he was like before going and what he was like when he came home.

While we need to get out as much information as possible about PTSD so the people suffering with it understand, the information can also be used to fake a wound. Keep an open mind when you read this because we really don't have a complete understanding of all that is involved in this case. kc

Doctors' testimony differs in Cortez murder trial

David Young

An out-of-body experience that felt like a commando raid in Iraq.

That is how one doctor on Friday described a Greeley Iraq war veteran’s actions the night he burst into a home with a shotgun and killed his estranged wife.



Friday was the fourth day of testimony in the first-degree murder trial of Ricardo Cortez. The 25-year-old is accused of killing his estranged pregnant wife, Nikki Fix-Cortez, 21, on Sept. 16, 2007, with a shotgun because she was leaving him. Cortez also injured Fix-Cortez’s friend Sam Jantz, according to prosecutors. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.



Dr. James Waters, a psychologist in private practice in Boulder who was hired by the defense, testified that Cortez suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Waters said Cortez’s PTSD stems from a number of issues, including being molested by his father and serving as a medic for two tours of duty in Iraq, where he saw ghastly images of people dying.
click post title for more

A son commits suicide when he could no longer hear his angels

A Family Fights to Break the Silence
By hearingvoicesnetworkanz

Here is an edited excerpt of the article.
Written By Chris Barton
The inquest into Shane Fisher’s death begins with a song.

“This will be a difficult day for you,” says Dr Murray Jamieson to Shane’s parents. “And I want to express my sympathy.”

At their request, says the Auckland coroner, the court will hear “a recording by the late Shane Fisher, an accomplished guitarist”.

There’s an awkward moment. The music plays in fits and starts. The registrar gets up, sits down and then gets up again. Mercifully, the track settles and Shane’s melodious acoustic guitar and voice eerily fill the courtroom.

The tribute is a poignant reminder of a life cut short. The stuttering start has resonance too - Shane’s story has waited 29 months to be heard.

For years Shane lived in a world of spirits, visions and astral travel, a world where he saw himself as a leader of angels. But on May 18, 2006, with new medication, Shane reveals he does not feel controlled by spirits, does not see visions or hear the angels commanding him, and is not having thoughts put into his head.




The medication is clearly working, but there is a tragic side effect. The loss of his auditory hallucinations, his psychotic world, is also a loss of his identity. Shane is missing his angels and is talking about self-harm as a way of rejoining them.

Two days after the final review he was to have at Te Whetu Tawera, the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) acute mental health unit which was caring for him, Shane was found dead at home.

The question at the centre of the inquest into his death is whether someone as unwell as Shane received the proper level of care. It’s a question that goes to the heart of the recovery-based ideology that guides our mental health services.

It’s a question that asks whether there are gaps in that service - whether it has the expertise and resources to deliver its goals.

Whether Shane was given the time and support he needed to get better, or whether a service under strain pushed him back into the community before he was ready. At the end of the two-day inquest, the coroner finds Shane’s death, on May 20, 2006, was self-inflicted and intentional and that no other person was directly responsible. Shane was 26.

Suicide. It’s what everyone knew when it happened, but only now, such is the legal taboo on uttering the word, can it publicly be uttered.

Normally, that would be the end of it - name, address, occupation, self-inflicted death - another statistic to add to the 500 or so who die this way each year. Our Coroners Act prohibits the publication of details of individual suicides. And no one can publish that the death was by suicide until the coroner says so.

But Shane’s case is different, largely because the family wants the inquest evidence made public. It’s an unusual circumstance disrupting the logic behind the Coroners Act: that the family and friends of anyone who commits suicide suffer enough grief without having it played out in the news media. Normally, suicide is nobody else’s business.

The Fishers disagree. They want the information to come out to highlight the plight Shane, and others like him, face under what they view as a mental health service in chaos.

Thanks to their courage, and Dr Jamieson’s lifting of the publication prohibition - in the hope some “good could come out of the death of a much-loved son” - the wall of silence of what happens in a suicide inquest is broken through…

click link for more

Non-combat death in Iraq

DoD Identifies Army Casualty
US Department of Defense (press release) - Washington,DC,USA


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Adam M. Wenger, 27, of Waterford, Mich., died Nov. 5 in Tunnis, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a non-combat incident. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

The incident is under investigation.

Tammy Duckworth: Service in Washington would be an honor

Duckworth: Service in Washington would be an honor
Chicago Tribune - United States
CHICAGO - Illinois' Veterans Affairs director said Friday she'd be honored to serve in the U.S. Senate if Gov. Rod Blagojevich taps her to fill Barack Obama's seat.

Tammy Duckworth also said she'd also be honored to take a post in President-elect Obama's administration. If he asks. And he hasn't.

Duckworth, 40, hasn't heard from either the governor or Obama, and said she was surprised several months ago when Blagojevich mentioned her as a contender.

A Purple Heart recipient, Duckworth lost both legs in a 2004 helicopter crash while serving as an Illinois Army National Guard pilot in Iraq. The Democrat ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2006 before being named to her current post.

The state has created $70 million in new veterans programs, including low-interest home loans, brain injury screening and a 24-hour hot line to help vets with battle-related stress. And Illinois gives employers a $600 tax credit for hiring veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I would be honored to be able to do that on a national level," Duckworth said after speaking at a conference in Chicago on legal and medical issues facing veterans.
click link for more

Elusive threats boost PTSD risk in Afghanistan

Elusive threats boost PTSD risk in Afghanistan
Updated Sat. Nov. 8 2008 10:23 AM ET

Stefania Moretti, CTV.ca News

Canadian troops fighting in Afghanistan are up against two dangerous adversaries. The first, the elusive enemy; the second, the less-tangible threat of mental breakdown.

Indeed, new studies suggest soldiers deployed to Afghanistan are more likely to suffer from mental illness because of the high degree of uncertainty that characterizes the NATO-led mission.



Traditionally, wars have been fought on the front lines of the battlefield with an identifiable enemy in uniform. But in Afghanistan, the enemy is "elusive," said one mental health expert. Threat can come from anywhere.

Afghanistan has been described as a 360-degree war with virtually no safe zone.

Suicide bombers dressed in civilian garb, improvised explosive devices strewn across the treacherous "Highway of Death" connecting Kabul and Kandahar and entire communities surrounded by deadly land mines means soldiers face around-the-clock danger.

As a result, Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are likely at higher risk of developing post-traumatic disorder than their comrades serving in other missions, Dr. Alain Brunet, of the Douglas Research Centre and McGill University, recently told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from Montreal.

British troops sent to Afghanistan last year were nine times more likely to suffer from PTSD, according to that country's Ministry of Defence in a study released this month. Most British troops are stationed in Helmand province -- a less volatile region than Canadians stationed in the Taliban hotbed of Kandahar province.

As many as 28 per cent of troops come back from armed combat with one or more mental health issues, according to data complied by the head of the Canadian military's deployment health section last year. Of those:

seventeen per cent exhibited signs of high-risk drinking
five per cent showed symptoms of PTSD
five per cent had signs of serious depression
Since the mission in Afghanistan began in 2002, the number of Veterans Affairs members with a PTSD condition has more than tripled, up from roughly 1,800 to 6,500, according to a Veterans Affairs briefing note obtained by The Canadian Press in March. Veterans Affairs expect the numbers will continue to climb with troops scheduled to stay until at least 2011.
click post title for more