President Obama rallies at Rollins College

President Obama rallies at Rollins College
By Amanda Evans, Scott McDonnell and Kelli Cook, Team Coverage
News 13
Last Updated: Friday, August 03, 2012
WINTER PARK

President Barack Obama made good on his promise to come back to Central Florida for a campaign stop he had to cancel two weeks earlier.

Obama was supposed to speak at Rollins College on July 20, but after news broke about the deadly massacre at a Colorado movie theater, the president cancelled his campaign plans for the day and headed back to the White House.

The crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to the president as he opened his rally in Rollins College in Winter Park. His 51st birthday is Saturday.

The president also talked about the Olympic games, saying that "we come together when we have to present ourselves to the world."
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Thousands of Florida ex-felons may not know they can vote

There are a lot of ex-felons in Florida. They did their time for crimes they committed and some of them were arrested after they served in the military but never received the help they needed after war. They think they lost their rights to vote in this state but they haven't.

Thousands of Florida ex-felons may not know they can vote
By Michael Peltier
TALLAHASSEE, Florida
Fri Aug 3, 2012

(Reuters) - More than 13,000 ex-felons may be eligible to vote in Florida but don't know it because the notices the parole board mailed to them were returned as undeliverable, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

The civil rights group raised the concern after analyzing more than 17,000 names of ex-felons who had their voting rights automatically restored by the Florida Parole Commission.

The list was obtained under the state's public records law and included ex-felons whose Restoration of Civil Rights certificates were returned undelivered to the parole commission.

Florida is one of a minority of U.S. states that does not automatically restore civil rights once a felon has completed a sentence.

The certificates were sent between 2007 and March 2011 under a short-lived policy that automatically restored civil rights to nonviolent offenders.

The policy was repealed in March 2011 by Florida Governor Rick Scott and a newly elected Florida Cabinet, which voted to make it more difficult for ex-felons to get their civil rights back.

After reviewing 17,604 names of those who had their rights restored, the ACLU said it found 13,517 who were not registered to vote.
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Former Army Ranger, filmaker trains with the best

Wounded Warrior Project commercials popping up all over the place. What is going on here? If you watch their commercials you'll notice that while they talk about the veterans of war coming home, they never really say what they do for them.

The latest one is the Brawny commercial we've all seen on TV and they say that they will donate $1 up to $250,000 to Wounded Warrior Project on this video.

Bob Woodruff, the reporter on this story, has a foundation ReMIND.org and on their site there is a group of partners they list. Wounded Warrior Project is not on it.

There is another list

Leadership Partners

Our corporate partners have made a strategic investment in the Nation’s most effective model for assisting our injured service members as they reintegrate back into society.

The following companies have made an annual contribution of more than $100,000 or more.

GFI Group, Inc.
H.C.S. Foundation
Lockheed Martin Foundation
TriWest Healthcare Alliance
The Art of Grace, Inc.
The Paul E. Singer Foundation

There are great groups out there but then there are some that have become moneymakers plain and simple.

It has gotten to the point where I go to watch a great report like this about an Army Ranger wanting to go into film and having George Lucas as a mentor that I almost didn't watch it. As soon as I saw the commercial for Wounded Warrior Project, I wanted to close the site but I really like Bob Woodruff, so I forced myself to get beyond the ad for WWP. I hope you do the same. I know how my readers feel about them, so please, just shut your eyes for the commercial and watch this report.

Former Soldier, Future Filmmaker
ABC
Former Army Ranger Hank Hughes aspires to be a filmmaker
04:20
07/31/2012

Returning soldier reunited with daughter at SeaWorld

Returning soldier reunited with daughter at SeaWorld
By Bakari Savage, Reporter
Friday, August 03, 2012
ORANGE COUNTY

A returning soldier surprises his young daughter by coming home after a year-long deployment.

Spc. Eric Espinosa and his wife teamed up with SeaWorld to make it happen, and we were there to capture it on camera.

Four-year-old Alexis was inside of SeaWorld’s Shamu Stadium. She thought she was there just to see another Shamu show and has no idea her dad was waiting to meet her here.

“Saying bye is the hardest thing," said Leah Espinosa, the returning soldier's wife.

"You know where he’s going and you worry every day. But, as soon as I saw him, everything went away.”
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Joint Base Lewis-McChord vow to do better on PTSD

Think about what would have happened if these soldiers never said a word and just suffered in silence. Think about what it would be like if there were no reporters willing to tell their stories. The only thing that would have happened would have been more suffering.

Military commanders vow better treatments for post traumatic stress
By Keith Eldridge and KOMO Staff
Published: Aug 2, 2012

Right now, these are promises are coming down from the highest commanders. But soldiers down below are still waiting to see if these promises are kept as they go down the chain of command.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- The top commanders at Joint Base Lewis-McChord are pledging to better handle soldiers who believe they're suffering from post traumatic stress.

Multiple tours of duty have taken their toll on U.S. troops, both the casualties and the injuries, seen and unseen.

"I've definitely got more than a couple of years of stuff floating around up in my head," said Army Specialist Jared Enger.

Enger was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but the findings were overturned by a forensic psychiatrist.
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