He is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003, won a primary victory in March 2004, and was elected to the Senate in November 2004. Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
Religion
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed tradition. The UCC formed in 1957 with the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. These churches in turn arose from the merger of various Protestant churches in the United States, tracing their roots back to Switzerland, John Calvin, and the Protestant Reformation.
According to the 2007 yearbook, the United Church of Christ has approximately 1.2 million members and is composed of approximately 5,518 local congregations.
The UCC maintains full communion with several other mainline Protestant denominations and participates in worldwide ecumenical efforts. The UCC has historically favored progressive, or liberal, views on gay rights, women's rights, and other issues. Congregations have extensive, perhaps definitive, authority over matters of doctrine and ministry, though, and may or may not support the national body's theological or moral stances.
Church sign: Obama election 'is sin against the Lord'
RAW STORY
Published: Monday November 17, 2008
CNN's Rick Sanchez reported on a church marquee that reads "America we have a Muslim president. This is a sin against the Lord." Mark Holick is pastor of The Spirit One Christian Center in Wichita, Kansas where the sign is being displayed.
Holick told KSNW, "The main point of the marquee is to cause the Christians to understand he is not a Christian, Again, they will call me and they will tell me that he's not a Muslim because he is a Christian. That's not the point. The point is he's not a Christian."
Sanchez talked to Wayne Slater who is the Sr. political write for the Dallas Morning News. "It's absolutely not true. He was born in the United States. Barack Obama. He is not a Muslim. Yet, there are people who hold on to this and part of this, i think, is an intent to believe what people want to believe about their environment because their environment is changing," said Slater.
This video is from CNN's Newsroom, broadcast Nov. 17, 2008.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Church_sign_Obama_election_is_sin_1117.html
Nov 18 VCS Update: VCS Makes a Difference
Libby Creagh, Development Director, VCS
Nov 18, 2008
VCS Makes a Difference
Dear VCS Supporters:
Veterans for Common Sense continues with our mission of publicizing problems and offering pragmatic solutions. This week's update contains four news items involving VCS. We also want your nominations for people who made a difference in 2008.
On November 10, our VCS Executive Director, Paul Sullivan, was interviewed by PBS Newshour. The news broadcast gave VCS a chance to highlight the causes behind the rising suicide rate among active-duty service men and women. Click here to watch the broadcast interview plus extended interviews with VA, DoD, and VCS about post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.
Your donations keep VCS standing up for our veterans. Please set up a tax-deductible monthly contribution today so we can plan for next year. We want to make sure our "VCS Vision for a Vibrant VA in 2009" is acted upon by the new Obama Administration and the next Congress.
On November 14, Veterans for America released their new book, The American Veterans and Servicemembers Survival Guide. Craig Kubey and Paul Sullivan co-wrote Chapter One, "Basic Survivial Skills," that contains practical suggestions on how to fight for your VA healthcare and benefits.
VCS works hard year-round to get the word out to all Americans about our veterans' struggles. We can't do it without you. Please, click here to give a gift to VCS today.
On November 16, VCS was quoted in a Denver Post story about the spike in murders among soldiers deployed from Fort Carson to the Iraq War. While those convicted of crimes should face the legal consequences, VCS also believes that repeated deployments and a lack of mental healthcare are making an already bad situation worse.
On November 17, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses released a comprehensive report confirming what many advocates already knew: that up to 210,000 Gulf War veterans remain ill and that VA deliberately sabotaged research.
Read our statement urging prompt action by VA and Congress for our Gulf War veterans.
Your donations help VCS stand strong for our veterans. Please take a moment and set up a monthly contribution today so we can plan for 2009.
Finally, VCS began preparations for our first Veteran Advocates of the Year Awards. Please send your nominations in for our five different categories - veterans, legislators, journalists, VA staff, and DoD staff - for people you feel worked hard this year to fight for our veterans' rights, civil liberties, and national security.
Send nominations to Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org.
Thank you,
Libby Creagh, Development DirectorVeterans for Common Sense
As children starve, world struggles for solution
Story Highlights
Global food system can't survive, author warns
Catastrophic weather and rise in oil prices contribute to food shortages
Food shortages now seen in the U.S.
Haitian mothers forced to choose which children will live or die
By John Blake
CNN
(CNN) -- Some mothers choose what their children will eat. Others choose which children will eat and which will die.
Those mothers forced to make the grim life-or-death choices are the impoverished women Patricia Wolff, executive director of Meds & Food for Kids, encounters during her frequent trips to Haiti.
Wolff says Haitians are so desperate for food that many mothers wait to name their newborns because so many infants die of malnourishment. Other Haitian mothers keep their children alive by parceling out food to them, but some make an excruciating choice when their food rationing fails, she says.
"It's horrible. They have to choose among their children," says Wolff, whose nonprofit group was formed to fight childhood malnutrition. "They try to keep them alive by feeding them, but sometimes they make the decision that this one has to go."
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. declared in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech that "I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies." Four decades later, King's wish remains unfulfilled. The global food market's shelves are getting bare, hunger activists say -- and it will get worse.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/17/hunger.week/index.html
Health Registry Tracks 71,000+
The WTC Health Registry, launched in 2003, periodically collects information about the physical and mental health effects of the collapse from more than 71,000 adults and children who were exposed. Funded by the federal government, the registry is the largest effort in U.S. history to study the health effects of a disaster. Half of the registrants reported being in the dust cloud that rose from the collapsing towers; 70% witnessed a traumatic event that day, such as a plane hitting the tower; and 13% were injured.
The 411 on 9/11 HealthThe 9/11 Health website advises healthcare professionals to do the following –• Ask your patients about their exposure to the WTC disaster during routine exams, even if they live outside the city. People from other areas rushed to the scene to assist with rescue and recovery.
• Refer patients with symptoms described in the Clinical Guidelines to one of the three Centers of Excellence. Treatment is free. Contact information is on the website.
• Share your clinical knowledge and experience evaluating and treating patients with WTC-related illnesses with the NYC DOH and Mental Hygiene. Call or e-mail Jim Cone at 212-442-2402 or jcone@health.nyc.gov/.
• Report the death of any patient with WTC exposure to the NY State Department of Health at 518-402-7900. For more information, visit the 9/11 Health website at http://www.nyc.gov/9-11HealthInfo/.
click link above for more
PTSD I Grieve08:40
From:NamGuardianAngel
Views: 1,262
PTSD After Trauma
04:44
From:NamGuardianAngel
Views: 2,457
The Voice Women At War
09:49
From:NamGuardianAngel
Views: 1,040
Women At War
08:02
From:NamGuardianAngel
Views: 10,744
Coming Out Of The Dark Of PTSD
04:25
From:NamGuardianAngel
Views: 1,277
Hero After War
08:27
From:NamGuardianAngel
Views: 5,227
Nam Nights Of PTSD Still 08:33
From:NamGuardianAngel
Views: 2,499
Wounded Minds is a fairly long video, 28 minutes, and is only on Google because of the length.
Wounded Minds PTSD and Veterans
Mar 15, 2006
2819 views (The hits before the problem with Google was fixed were over 8,000)
83 downloads
W.Va. National Guard social worker seeks assistance for returning vets
By Mannix Porterfield
Register-Herald reporter
CHARLESTON — Unaware help is available, or reluctant to seek it in deference to the stigma society attaches to mental disorders, many war-weary veterans are self-medicating and abusing alcohol, or getting flawed diagnoses, lawmakers learned Monday.
In some instances, says Lt. Suzanne Jenkins, a social worker for the West Virginia National Guard, soldiers are using a relative’s medicine and mixing in alcohol in search of immediate relief.
“When they get to me, I have not only to deal with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but also their substance abuses.”
Jenkins provided the Legislature’s Select Committee B on Veterans Issues with a list of recommendations that would potentially put more returning troops under medical care.
One need is to get services advertised, which, by federal law, she explained, the Veterans Administration is barred from doing.
“What I have found when I’m talking to National Guard soldiers is they are not aware of exactly what the five-year window means,” Jenkins said, emphasizing it’s a five-year limit to seek help.
Failure to take advantage of the time limit means the soldier afterward cannot even get an appointment at the VA.
A recent survey commissioned by the panel, co-chaired by Delegate Barbara Fleischauer and Sen. Jon Blair Hunter, both D-Monongalia, found that one-third of returnees are not applying for services.
“If you get seen by that one provider, you can keep that benefit going,” Jenkins said of the five-year window.
go here for more
http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_322212503.html
Widow says Army's screenings don't work
Kristin M. Hall
Monday, November 17, 2008
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - On the outside, Spc. Carl McCoy seemed to be the perfect soldier, his personnel file highlighted with praise from his officers like "great man" and "could not have asked for a better mechanic."
But McCoy's personal life was unraveling after he returned from his second tour in Iraq in December. He was drinking so much that he often passed out. He was losing a custody battle with his ex-wife and was in marriage counseling with his new wife, who worried he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
McCoy, 23, took a hard step for a battle-tested soldier and made an appointment with a mental health counselor at Fort Campbell, Ky. At the last minute, his appointment was canceled because the counselor was sick. That night, McCoy put a gun in his mouth, pulled the trigger and died instantly at his home in Clarksville, Tenn.
An Army investigation into his July 11 suicide says McCoy's superiors didn't realize how much emotional pain he was in until it was too late. McCoy's family wonders why, when he did reach out, he didn't get better care from the Army, including the canceled appointment.
"I feel now that this was Carl's last cry for help, and his voice went unheard," Sgt. Maggie McCoy, his widow, said in a letter she sent to the Army inspector general and members of Congress asking for better mental health treatment for soldiers.
click post title for more
