USAA named preferred provider for banking and financial products

SAN ANTONIO – More than 121,000 Air Force Association members now can take advantage of a comprehensive suite of financial services from one of the nation’s highest rated* financial services providers, thanks to an agreement just signed with USAA. 

USAA, a leading financial services provider for the military community, now is the preferred provider for checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit and investment products – all delivered with USAA’s award-winning customer service. 

“We are extremely pleased to welcome USAA as a benefit partner,” said AFA President and CEO Mike Dunn. “This relationship will enhance our banking and investment products in the years ahead with a company that has been a safe harbor for millions of military members and their families during a tough economic time. One thing’s certain – USAA has an 88-year-record of financial strength and support for those in uniform and we’re glad to be on the same team.”  

For USAA, the agreement is a natural evolution of its ongoing efforts to help facilitate the financial security of members of the U.S. military and their families. 

“The Air Force Association and USAA share a common goal – taking care of those who serve this great nation and their families,” said retired Chief Master Sgt. Eric Benken, USAA Air Force programs manager and the 12^th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. “Both organizations understand the complexities of military service and recognize the courage and sacrifice of those who wear the uniform.”  

Benken, a life member of AFA, believes that together, AFA and USAA “will continue to provide members a legacy of tremendous value and customer service.”  

The agreement with USAA fills the gap left when AFA’s former provider, Waterfield Bank of Germantown, Md., was closed March 5 by the Office of Thrift Supervision. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has been appointed as receiver and AFA is recommending its members utilize USAA for deposit accounts effective immediately. 

Those who want to learn more about USAA can call (800) 531-8722 or visit usaa.com. To learn more about AFA membership, call (800) 727-3337or visit www.afa.org. 

About AFA

The Air Force Association (AFA) is an independent, nonprofit, civilian education organization promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation. AFA publishes Air Force Magazine, conducts national symposia and disseminates information through outreach programs. It sponsors professional development seminars and recognizes excellence in the education and aerospace fields through national awards programs. AFA presents scholarships and grants to Air Force active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve members and their dependents; and awards educator grants to promote science and math education at the elementary and secondary school level. Additionally, AFA publishes a wide range of materials on www.afa.org.

About USAA

USAA provides insurance, banking, investment and retirement products and services to 7.4 million members of the U.S. military and their families. Known for its legendary commitment to its members, USAA is consistently recognized for outstanding service, employee well-being and financial strength. USAA membership is open to all who are serving or have honorably served our nation in the U.S. military – and their families. For more information about USAA, or to learn more about membership, visit usaa.com.

* Ranked highest named bank on Forrester’s 2010 Customer Advocacy Ranking; Superior rating from IDC Financial Publishing; Office of Thrift Supervision Outstanding Community Reinvestment Act Rating; Highline Banking Data Services Top 25% of peer group. With $31.8 billion in deposits, as of June 30, 2009, USAA Federal Savings Bank is 23rd largest bank in the nation.

                 Navistar Defense, LLC, Warrenville, Ill., is being awarded a $178,262,162 modification to delivery order #0013 under previously awarded firm-fixed priced contract (M67854-07-D-5032) for the procurement of 1,222 independent suspension system kits and aluminum catcher plates for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.  Work will be performed in West Point, Miss., and the period of performance is expected to be completed by the end of March 2011.  Contract funds will not expire by the end of the current fiscal year.  The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity. 

                 Northrop Grumman Corp., Integrated Systems, Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $94,629,000 not-to-exceed advance acquisition contract for long lead materials and support associated with the manufacture and delivery of four low rate initial production Lot 3 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft.  Work will be performed in Syracuse, N.Y. (32.6 percent); various locations within the United States (23.7 percent); Bethpage, N.Y. (15.5 percent); Dallas, Texas (12.4 percent); Menlo Park, Calif. (9.8 percent); and Woodland Hills, Calif. (6 percent), and is expected to be completed in May 2011.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was not competitively procured.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-10-C-0044).

                 L-3 Communications Corp., Salt Lake City, Utah, is being awarded a $37,490,848 modification to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive contract (N00019-09-C-0059) to exercise an option for the manufacture, test, and delivery of 11 AN/SRQ-4(Ku) radio terminal sets for ship small surface combatants and 51 AN/ARQ-59 RTSs for the MH-60R aircraft, including technical data.  These upgraded Ku-band systems will extend existing Hawklink connectivity from small surface combatants to the aircraft carrier and increase data rates between MH-60R to surface combatants.  Work will be performed in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is expected to be completed in March 2013.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

                 Raytheon Technical Services Co., LLC, Indianapolis, Ind., is being awarded an $18,853,530 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously issued basic order agreement (N00019-05-G-0008) to exercise an option for the procurement of 36 LAU-115D/A launchers and 82 LAU-116B/A launchers for the F/A-18 aircraft.  Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Ind., and is expected to be completed in September 2012.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

                Maersk Line, Ltd, Norfolk, Va., is being awarded an $8,630,000 firm-fixed-price contract for a nine-month time charter of tanker MT Samho Moonstone, currently a foreign-flag vessel, which will be re-named and U.S.-flagged upon delivery to the government.  The ship’s primary mission is to move petroleum for the Department of Defense between ports in the Far East.  This contract includes one 30-day option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $9,500,000.  Work is expected to commence May 2010 and is expected to be completed within 270 calendar days or, if all options are exercised, within 300 calendar days.  The contract is expected to be funded in fiscal year 2010 and funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year.  This contract was competitively procured, with 11 offers received.  Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting authority (N00033-10-C-5410).

                 Insitu, Inc., Bingen, Wash., is being awarded an $8,576,814 firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of technical services in support of the ScanEagle unmanned aerial system to support intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services.  In addition, this contract provides for six critical spare kits and nine SkyHook recovery system modifications.  Work will be performed in Bingen, Wash., and is expected to be completed in December 2010.  Contract funds in the amount of $8,433,786 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-2.  The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-10-C-0045).

                 Raytheon Co., Integrated Defense Systems, San Diego, is being awarded a $7,500,000 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-08-C-5122) for the exercise of FY 10 options for performing as the platform system engineering agent for the Ship Self Defense System (SSDS).  In the course of this effort, Raytheon will be responsible for the integration of complex war-fighting improvement – including components associated with the dual-band radar and Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2 – into the modular SSDS.  SSDS is a combat system that intends to integrate and coordinate all of the existing sensors and weapons systems aboard a ship.  Raytheon will integrate, test, and provide certification support for the government-furnished equipment/information required for the CVN/amphibious ship combat system.  Work will be performed in San Diego (90 percent); Tewksbury, Mass. (2.5 percent); Portsmouth, R.I. (2.5 percent); St. Petersburg, Fla. (2.5 percent); and Tucson, Ariz. (2.5 percent).  Work is expected to be completed by September 2010.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

AIR FORCE

                 Kaman Precision Products, Inc., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $46,253,422.83 contract modification which will provide a quantity of 12,994 joint programmable fuze systems.  At this time, entire amount has been obligated.  679 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (F08626-98-C-0006, P00130).

                 Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $19,505,458 contract which provides an Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air-Missile system improvement program.  At this time, the $2,770,000 has been obligated.  696 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8675-10-C-0105).

                 Booz Allen Hamilton, Herndon, Va., was awarded a $20,355,914 contract which will provide secure collaborative technologies and cyber security to Air Mobility Command.  At this time, $455,000 has been obligated.  55 Contracting Squadron, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is the contracting activity (SP0700-98-D-4002).

                 Rockwell Collins, Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was awarded an $11,111,767 contract modification which will provide for systems development, integration, and verification phase of the P5 range instrumentation waveform.  This waveform is in support of the F-22 and F-35 aircraft.  At this time, $5,000,000 has been obligated.  689 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8678-05-C-0141).

 ARMY

                 Global Strategies Group North America, Inc., Frederick, Md., was awarded on March 10, 2010, an $18,745,406 firm-fixed-price contract for 103 containerized kitchens and authorize stockage list spares.  Work is to be performed in Fredrick, Md., with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2012.  Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with six bids received.  U.S. Army Research, Development & Engineering Command Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Division, Natick, Mass., is the contracting activity (W911QY-05-D-0004).

                 Bethel Services, Inc., Bethel, Ark., was awarded on March 10, 2010, an $18,119,555 firm-fixed-price contract for 19 cold weather kits.  Work is to be performed in Bethel, Ark., with an estimated completion date of April 29, 2011.  One bid was solicited with one bid received.  U.S. Army Research, Development & Engineering Command Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Divison, Natick, Mass., is the contracting activity (W911QY-05-C-0047).

                 Scott Reliance, JV, Chicago, Ill., was awarded on March 10, 2010, a $13,668,906 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of an Army Reserve Center.  Work is to be performed in Joliet, Ill., with an estimated completion date of Feb. 3, 2012.  Bids were posted on the World Wide Web with eleven bids received.  U.S. Corps of Engineers, Louisville District, Louisville, Ky., is the contracting activity (W912QR-10-C-0013).

                 Honeywell, Minneapolis, Minn., was awarded on March 10, 2010, a $7,342,153 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, funding Honeywell to design, develop, and deliver a demonstration of a gyroscope with a goal capability of absolute reference navigation in a compact, four diameter optically integrated gyro-head.  Work is to be performed in Minneapolis, Minn. (47 percent); Somerset, N.J. (19 percent); Pasadena, Calif. (17 percent); Glendale, Ariz. (16 percent); and King of Prussia, Pa. (1 percent), with an estimated completion date of May 7, 2010.  Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Va., is the contracting activity (HR0011-09-C-0019).

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

                 MOOG, Inc., East Aurora, N.Y., is being awarded a maximum $6,232,476 firm-fixed-price contract for V22 aircraft parts.  There are no other locations of performance.  Using service is Air Force.  There were originally two proposals solicited with two responses.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The date of performance completion is March 2012.  The Defense Logistics Agency, Philadelphia (DSCR-ZC), Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (SPM4A1-06-G-0002-THA7).

The Veterans Administration is taking advice from the DEA based on the federal government’s assertion that marijuana has no medicinal value. This especially tragic because of the widespread evidence that marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for post traumatic stress disorder which is all too common among our veterans.

In fact, in New Mexico for example, PTSD is the most common affliction for patients enrolled in the state’s strictly regulated medical marijuana program.

But veterans who could benefit from medical marijuana, regardless of the legality in their own states, have to go outside the VA system and find new doctors just to learn about and try a potentially helpful medicine.

Sign this petition and tell the Obama administration that our veterans deserve better. They deserve to have doctors who practice medicine, not politics.

http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/dont_let_the_dea_ban_recommending_medical_marijuana_for_veterans

Urgent message for Vietnam Vets

Tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans with ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease or B cell leukemia should file claims now with the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, not wait until VA publishes a regulation officially linking these diseases to wartime service.

Advocacy groups are urging the swift filing of claims because veterans eventually found eligible for disability pay for these diseases will be able to receive compensation back to the date their claims were filed. Those who wait for a regulation to add these ailments to VA’s list of diseases presumed caused by exposure to Agent Orange and other toxins used in the war could lessen, by several months of compensation, any retroactive pay that they will be due once their claims have been approved.

Help in filing claims is available through the Legion and its service officers as well as through most other major veterans’ organizations. A law firm representing the Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart and the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) sent a March 1 letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki demanding that VA publish by March 12 an interim regulation for adding these illnesses to its list of diseases presumed caused by Agent Orange — or face a lawsuit.

Longer delays in rulemaking, the letter said, will “result in irreparable harm to thousands of Vietnam veterans who suffer from these diseases” because VA compensation is not owed to “new claimants for any period prior to publication of a final regulation.”

What the letter didn’t make clear is that veterans can avoid the “irreparable harm” if they don’t wait for the regulation to file their claim.

The Agent Orange Act of 1991 requires VA to publish final regulations to expand its list of presumptive diseases within 210 days of receiving a report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) linking more illnesses to use of the herbicide during the war in Southeast Asia. That 210-day deadline was reached Feb. 19 without VA having published even an interim regulation.

A VA official said the Office of Management and Budget is expected to complete its review of VA’s interim regulation by the end of March. It then will be published in the Federal Register for public comment.

Shinseki had delighted veterans’ groups last October by announcing that VA would not challenge a July 24 report by the IOM that found sufficient epidemiologic evidence to suggest a link between wartime herbicide exposure and Parkinson’s disease, B cell leukemia and ischemic heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease.

Veterans who set foot in Vietnam from 1962 to 1975 and suffer today from one of these diseases will be in line for a disability rating and compensation once the regulation is final and claim adjudicators begin using it. By one estimate, as many as 185,000 veterans could be eligible for disability pay for these diseases.

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Vietnam Veterans Of America Commends Va  For Attempting To Use Modern Technology

(Washington, D.C.) – Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc (VVA) applauds the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for attempting to utilize modern technology in the adjudication of claims for VA benefits.  “We have been advocating for years that the VA implement some type of meaningful adjudication software and lifetime electronic health records,” said John Rowan, VVA National President.

“Although we commend the VA in their recent decision, we are somewhat disappointed that it took them this long to attempt to put a plan into action.  VA also has a horrendous track record in managing and supervising IT contracts.  We only hope they have learned from past mistakes and that they are prepared to use the lessons they have learned,” noted Rowan.

“There are, of course, many unanswered questions about VA’s proposal for which we hope to receive answers in the very near future.  The VA News Release stated, ‘The contract is expected to be awarded in April with proposed solutions offered to VA within 90-days.  Implementation of the solution is expected within 150 days.’  What concerns us is that VA will issue a contract for claims adjudication assistance before it knows what it wants and needs.  It would obviously be poor judgment to execute a contract before the terms and conditions have been enunciated,” said Rowan.

There is also a concern that claimants for benefits with a claim based on ischemic heart disease may have their claim granted before a similar claimant with a claim such as diabetes type II related to exposure to Agent Orange.  We must ensure that all veterans, no matter when or where they served, are treated equally.  An additional concern is for claimants who file a claim based on ischemic heart disease and other conditions not related to exposure to Agent Orange.  How will the VA process these claims in two different locations when there is only one claims file?

We are grateful to the VA and Secretary Shinseki, however we are still awaiting additional details regarding the implementation of this proposed initiative.

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BROKEN VA CLAIMS SYSTEM TOPS VFW LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

600 War Veterans to Storm Capitol Hill Tuesday

WASHINGTON (March 5, 2010) – A broken Department of Veterans Affairs disability claims system will be the top legislative issue next week when more than 600 war veterans storm Capitol Hill for the annual legislative conference of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S.

“VA healthcare is world-class, but the VA’s benefits administration is the key to everything the VA does — and that key is broken,” said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., the nation’s largest and oldest major combat veterans’ organization.

The VA claims backlog for disability, compensation, education and appeals currently exceeds 1.1 million, which results in average waiting times ranging from 180 days for new claims to be adjudicated to two years for appeals.  Worse still, according to Tradewell, is the adjudication error rate.

The VA cites a system-wide error rate of 17 percent, but the VA Inspector General reported error rates ranging from 25 to 38 percent in VA regional offices in Virginia, Alaska and Maryland for three of the most commonly filed claims — Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and illnesses related to exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.

“Asking a veteran to wait half of a year or more for a rating decision that could have a one-in-three chance or more of being incorrect is absolutely unacceptable,” said Tradewell, a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis.

“Veterans have earned the right to better service from our nation, and VA has the undeniable responsibility to properly review and take corrective action on claims processed at regional offices with abysmal quality standards.”

Tradewell is scheduled to testify Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. before a joint hearing of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees in room G-50 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Aside from the claims issue, other VFW high interest items include the proper care and treatment of servicemen and women returning home with traumatic injuries to mind and body, the need for an integrated information technology system to bring the VA into the 21st century, veterans’ unemployment and homelessness, and military caregivers and survivor benefits, among others.

Joining Tradewell at the three-day legislative conference will be VFW and Ladies Auxiliary leaders from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Europe, Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.  They will carry the VFW legislative agenda to their congressional members and staffs following the Tuesday testimony.

The conference kicks off Monday at the Hyatt Regency-Crystal City with the presentation of VFW national awards and special guest speakers who include VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr., and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

National awards to be presented are the VFW Congressional Award to Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.,), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; the VFW News Media Award to Army Times Publishing Company; a VFW Gold Medal and Citation to the Army’s Old Guard; and VFW Teachers Awards to Patricia Mazure of Taylor Elementary School in Trenton, Mich., Mark D. Leet of Simons Middle School in Flemingsburg, Ky., and William V. Melega of Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Monday conference will stream live on www.vfw.org, and video of Tradewell’s testimony will be available online Tuesday afternoon.

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Secretary Seeks Fast Track to Process Claims Focus on 200,000 Veterans Expected to File Claims under New Agent Orange Presumptives over Next Two Years

WASHINGTON (March 9, 2010) – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today an aggressive new initiative to solicit private-sector input on a proposed “fast track” Veterans’ claims process for service-connected presumptive illnesses due to Agent Orange exposure during the Vietnam War.

“This will be a new way of doing business and a major step forward in how we process the presumptive claims we expect to receive over the next two years,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said. “With the latest, fastest, and most reliable technology, VA hopes to migrate the manual processing of these claims to an automated process that meets the needs of today’s Veterans in a more timely manner.”

Over the next two years, about 200,000 Veterans are expected to file disability compensation claims under an historic expansion of three new presumptive illnesses announced last year by Secretary Shinseki.  They affect Veterans who have Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and B-cell leukemias.

In practical terms, Veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and who have one of the illnesses covered by the “presumption of service connection” don’t have to prove an association between their medical problems and military service.  This “presumption” makes it easier for Vietnam Veterans to access disability compensation benefits. Vietnam Veterans are encouraged to submit their claims as soon as possible to begin the important process of compensation.

Along with the publication of proposed regulations for the three new presumptives this spring, VA intends to publish a formal request in Federal Business Opportunities for private-sector corporations to propose automated solutions for the parts of the claims process that take the longest amount of time.  VA believes these can be collected in a more streamlined and accurate way.

Development involves determining what additional information is needed to adjudicate the claim, such as military and private medical records and the scheduling of medical examinations.

With this new approach, VA expects to shorten the time it takes to gather evidence, which now takes on average over 90 days.  Once the claim is fully developed and all pertinent information is gathered, VA will be able to more quickly decide the claim and process the award, if granted.

The contract is expected to be awarded in April with proposed solutions offered to VA within 90 days.  Implementation of the solution is expected within 150 days.

“Veterans whose health was harmed during their military service are entitled to the best this nation has to offer,” added Secretary Shinseki. “We are undertaking an unprecedented modernization of our claims process to ensure timely and accurate delivery of that commitment.”

Last year, VA received more than one million claims for disability compensation and pension.  VA provides compensation and pension benefits to over 3.8 million Veterans and beneficiaries.  Presently, the basic monthly rate of compensation ranges from $123 to $2,673 to Veterans without any dependents.

Disability compensation is a non-taxable, monthly monetary benefit paid to Veterans who are disabled as a result of an injury or illness that was incurred or aggravated during active military service.

For more information about disability compensation, go to www.va.gov. Additional information about Agent Orange and VA’s services and programs for Veterans exposed are available at www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange

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National Gulf War Resource Center Holds Conference in Dallas

The National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC) will be holding a conference in Dallas, Texas this coming summer. I encourage everyone to attend, if at all possible. I realize the physical hardship in traveling for some of us, but I’m sure your ideas and comments will be welcomed via email if you can’t attend. It’s been a long time since we’ve had an opportunity to gather to fellowship and share information again.

Start Time: Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 3:10pm

End Time: Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 11:10am

Location: Dallas, TX

Phone: 866-531-7183

Email: HQ@ngwrc.org

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VFW CITES BACKLOG, HEALTH CARE AS TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

WASHINGTON (March 9, 2010) — In his opening statement today before a joint hearing of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., testified about his organization’s concern with the national health care debate, and whether or not it will impact the health care programs currently provided to veterans and military retirees by the VA and the military’s Tricare system.

“Many promises have been made — by the president and by this Congress — that VA and Tricare will be protected, but a free press and an even freer Internet continue to fuel speculation that both health systems will be lost and/or absorbed into a larger national plan,” said Tradewell, who leads the nation’s largest and oldest major combat veterans’ organization.  “America’s veterans and military retirees look to you — our champions in Congress — to protect both programs, and to do so vocally at every opportunity.”

In his testimony, the combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis., addressed the number one VFW legislative issue: Fix the backlog of more than 1.1 million individual claims and appeals for compensation, pension and education benefits currently plaguing the Veterans Benefits Administration.

“The most important issue facing America’s veterans today is the unacceptable VA claims backlog, and an equally unacceptable processing error rate,” said Tradewell, referring to a system wide 17-percent average error rate that soars to 25, 29 and 38 percent in the VA Regional Offices in Virginia, Alaska and Maryland, respectively.

“This massive backlog has resulted in a six-month average wait for an initial rating decision, and a two-year average wait for an appeal decision.  That is completely unacceptable, [as is] asking a veteran to wait half of a year or more for a rating decision that could have a one-in-three chance of being incorrect.”

The VFW national commander commended VA Secretary Eric Shinseki for making the reform of the VA claims system a top VA priority, but cautioned against “silver bullet” fixes that could prove more harmful than helpful to veterans.

“We know that any single plan to make the overall claims process simpler could occur at the expense of the rights and benefits earned by veterans, their dependents and survivors,” he said.  “A quick fix plan is simply unacceptable, because fixing the backlog will require thoughtful solutions to avoid harming veterans and exacerbating the problem.

“VBA is the key to everything VA does, so the VFW will continue to offer its expertise to the VA and your committees so that we can solve this backlog problem together,” he said.  “Veterans have grown tired of the excuses.  They want and deserve action.  The VFW wants to help.”

Other VFW high interest issues addressed ranged from the proper care and treatment of returning servicemen and women with traumatic injuries to mind and body, the need for an integrated information technology system to bring the VA into the 21st century, veterans’ unemployment and homelessness, and military caregivers and survivor benefits.  Tradewell also provided testimony regarding further traumatic brain injury research and treatment, suicide awareness and prevention, and women veterans’ health care needs.

Joining Tradewell at the hearing were VFW and Ladies Auxiliary leaders from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Europe, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Linda K. May

Self Proclaimed Agent Orange & Mold & Depleted Uranium International Expert

As many of you are aware, Linda K. May of Pontiac, Illinois has done everything in her power to inject herself into the limelight all across the country as a self proclaimed medical expert on Agent Orange Dioxin, Mold, and now an expert on Depleted Uranium.

If you’ve paid Ms. May any money at all, and not received the services as were promised, and if you’ve not done so already, I strongly advising to please spend the $30-50 dollars and file a claim in small claims court, and have the filing served to her Attorney Mr. Mark Cullen of Sorling, Northrup, Hanna, Cullen & Cochran, Ltd., 607 E. Adams Street #800, Springfield, Illinois.

You might also choose to simply write to Mr. Cullen, call or fax.  Their office telephone #217-544-1144, fax #217-522-3173.

Veterans-For-Change, OFFE and VFVC have all done their level best to insure veterans aren’t scammed and suckered into spending money they don’t have for a test that cannot prove whether you were contaminated by Agent Orange Dioxin 5-days ago or 40-years ago.

If you served in Korea, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, or one of the many other places including but not limited to CONUS, WE know you were contaminated so a test of any kind will not help in proving or disproving a claim for VA Benefits and Care.

Your military records, medical records, buddy & family letters can and would prove this for you.

We’re still seeking out any doctors who read our newsletter would be so kind as to contact us via E-Mail and let us know if you believe and can prove beyond a doubt that a DNA PCR test could be used to test human urine samples for Dioxin with documented scientific proof.

Everyone who walks this planet of ours has some level of dioxin in their body from grains such as whole wheat used to make bread, etc.

We’re attempting to gather any and all medical and scientific evidence we can to show the claim(s) being made are false and would post all information to the website for veterans to use to protect themselves.

Ms. May has claimed via E-Mail that she has over 40 investors and plans to make millions of dollars.  My question to those investors, have you actually seen the test performed?  Have you actually seen the laboratory?  Have you actually seen the registered patent for this test of Ms. May’s?

If you’ve been one of the past victims and actually received written “test results”, do you see the laboratory name clearly printed at the top or bottom of the report with their address, phone and fax number?  Do you see an FDA “CLEA” number printed on the report?  If not, then I’d say you were scammed by a sink lab operation!

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VA Targets $39 Million for Homeless Veterans

Women, Tribal Services Are Special Priorities

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs is allocating $39 million to fund about 2,200 new transitional housing beds through grants to local providers.

“VA is committed to ending the cycle of homelessness among Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We will use every tool at our disposal – health care, education, jobs, safe housing – to ensure our Veterans are restored to lives with dignity, purpose and safety.”

The $39 million in funding is broken into two categories.  About $24 million in grants are available to renovate or rehabilitate space to create about 1,000 transitional housing beds.  The grants put a priority upon housing for homeless women and housing on tribal lands.

A second group of grants, valued at about $15 million, is expected to fund about 1,200 new beds for homeless providers who already have suitable transitional housing.  The grants will provide per diems based upon the number of homeless Veterans being served in transitional housing.

VA is the largest federal provider of direct assistance to the homeless, with 14,000 transitional beds in operation or development.  About 107,000 Veterans are homeless on a typical night.  Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has committed the department to ending homelessness among Veterans within five years.

For more information, visit VA’s Web page for the grant and per diem program at www.va.gov/homeless or contact VA’s program office at 1-877-332-0334, or e-mail VA at homelessvets@va.gov.

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Ranks of Homeless Veterans Drop 18 Percent

Wide-Ranging Partnerships and VA Commitment Credited

The number of Veterans homeless on a typical night dropped 18 percent as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) entered the second year of its campaign to eliminate homelessness among Veterans within five years.

“It will take the dedication, creativity and hard work of many parts of American society to end homelessness among Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.  “But mostly it takes the resolve to say: It is unacceptable for a single Veteran to spend the night on the streets of America.”

VA’s Community Homeless Assessment Local Education and Networking Groups (CHALENG), which conducts a widely cited, annual census of homeless Veterans, estimated 107,000 Veterans were homeless each night last year.  That figure was 131,000 in 2008 and 154,000 in 2007.

“The reduction was achieved through VA’s commitment to end homelessness among Veterans through enhanced collaboration with other federal, state, faith-based, Veteran service organizations and community partners,” Shinseki said.

VA has approximately 4,000 agreements with community partners.  Last year, more than 92,000 homeless Veterans were served by VA’s specialized homeless programs.  This is an increase of 15 percent from the previous year.

An important program that has helped Veterans leave homelessness began in June 2008 when VA partnered with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  VA provides dedicated case management to homeless Veterans, and HUD provides housing vouchers to Veterans and their families.  Since the program, called HUD-VASH, began, 20,000 housing vouchers have been given for homeless Veterans.

A recent VA study of Veterans discharged from VA-funded residential rehabilitation and transitional housing programs indicated that 79 percent remained housed one year after discharge.

Many homeless Veterans are treated in VA mental health programs.  National policies on suicide prevention, medication management and substances abuse have improved the lives of homeless Veterans.

“To eliminate homelessness, we must help more than Veterans currently without a place to live,” said Shinseki.  “We must prevent approximately 27,000 new Veterans who are at risk of becoming homeless from crossing that tragic line each year.”

Information about the CHALENG process and previous CHALENG reports about homelessness can be found on the Internet at http://www1.va.gov/HOMELESS/chaleng.asp. The 2009 report is projected to be published in spring 2010.

* * * * * * * * * *

For more information on any veterans topics, issues, claim needs visit:  www.veterans-for-change.com

Today, March 15, 2010, the Haifa District Court saw the third day of testimony in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza. Rachel was crushed to death on March 16, 2003 by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer.

She had been nonviolently demonstrating against Palestinian home demolitions with fellow members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct action methods and principles.

Today’s only testimony came from British citizen Alice Coy, a nurse, who was an eyewitness to the killing. The state spent most of the day trying to establish that contrary to all eyewitness accounts and human rights reports, the Israeli Military had no intention of demolishing homes in the area on the day Rachel was killed.
Ms. Coy testified that:

• She first visited Israel in order visit Israeli family members.
• When the Israeli Military interviewed her on April 1st about Rachel’s killing, the soldier who documented her testimony refused to record her statement that she believed the bulldozers were going to destroy civilian homes.
• She believed the Israeli Military was planning to demolish homes on the day Rachel was killed because the Israeli Military had been demolishing homes on the Philadelphi Corridor in the days and weeks prior, and because they had already begun to demolish a house earlier that day by damaging its porch.
• She had spoken with many Palestinian families in the area where Rachel was killed whose homes had been demolished by the Israeli Military.
• She believed the bulldozer driver who killed Rachel could see her.
• She described her view of her work with ISM as promoting peace for the whole region.

The home Rachel Corrie was protecting, that of Dr. Samir Nasrallah, was in fact demolished by the Israeli Military later that year.

According to an October, 2004 Human Rights Watch report, Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip (http://www.hrw.org/en/node/11963/section/11), between 2000 and 2004, the Israeli Military demolished over 2,500 Palestinian houses in Gaza, nearly two thirds of which were located in Rafah, resulting in more than 16,000 people – over 10% of Rafah’s population – losing their homes. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, in its 2004 report Through No Fault of their Own, found that contrary to Israel’s claim that prior warning is given before a home is demolished, occupants were given prior notification in a mere 3% of the cases.

The Human Rights’ Watch report further documented that most of the destruction in Rafah occurred along the Israeli-controlled border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt known as the Philadelphi Corridor, the area where Rachel was killed. During regular nighttime raids and with little or no warning, Israeli forces used armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to raze blocks of homes, incrementally expanding a “buffer zone” that is currently up to three hundred meters wide.The pattern of destruction strongly suggests that Israeli forces demolished homes wholesale, regardless of whether they posed a specific threat, in stark violation of international law.

The trial will resume on Wednesday, March 17, 2010, at 9 a.m. at the district court in Haifa.

For more information, visit http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial

When you live in a corporate-dominated culture, everything is potentially a “commodity.” We “spend” time, we “invest” in relationships, and some of us view trees as nothing more than potential lumber and/or paper.

1. Commodity

According to the Wisconsin Paper Council, an “interesting rule of thumb is that an acre of forested land may yield an average of 10-15 cords of wood when harvested at maturity—depending not only on the size of the trees, but how productively the land has been managed.” One “cord” could typically yield any of the following:

• 12 dining room table sets (seating eight)
• 250 copies of the Sunday New York Times
• 942 one-pound books
• 460,000 personal checks
• 4,384,000 postage stamps
• 7,500,000 toothpicks

2. Oxygen Source

One estimate: Over a 50-year lifetime, a tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen and provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control. The process is rather fundamental: During photosynthesis, a tree “inhales” CO2 from the air and then separates the carbon from the oxygen molecules. The carbon is absorbed by the tree, which then “exhales” pure oxygen back into the air for us to breathe. In the process just described, trees also serve as carbon sinks, e.g. as Wise Geek tells us, trees “naturally absorb carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, sequestering the carbon and converting it into mass while releasing the oxygen back into the atmosphere.” Such carbon sinks offset carbon dioxide emissions and reduce climate change.

3. Home

From nearly microscopic insects to camouflaged reptiles to feathered friends to wily primates and beyond, each tree is a vast, thriving eco-system in and of itself. The destruction of even a single small tree not only disrupts natural cycles, it also sentences countless creatures to death. More than 1000 different species of insects have been living in just one kind of rainforest tree.

Read more at Planet Green.

But we have a National shame on our hands here. 

Immigrant Veterans are being deported from the adopted country they love, discarded after answering the call of duty in defense of liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.   We ask them to join our Military and stand for our principles and they do so with great pride.  They deserve the highest respect awarded, period!

Promises made that America would honor their service, provide a permanent home, and a path to citizenship, were utterly broken.  This is a national disgrace.   It must be reversed.  Human dignity and respect must be the hallmark of who are as a nation; not this!

We need to tell Congress that our nation’s veteran’s deserve better; that all immigrant veteran’s must be recognized as nationals of the United States, and to stop the deportation of Veterans immediately.

Change.org has created a huge petiton drive.  I kindly please ask you to sign the petition to send a letter to your representatives and to the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Click Here to Sign Petition: http://immigration.change.org/actions/view/stop_the_deportation_of_immigrant_military_veterans

- A reunion for veterans of the Gulf War (Southwest Asia),  1990 to Present -

Operations Desert Storm – Enduring Freedom – Iraqi Freedom

Guest of honor for the banquet will be Ross Perot.  Join us as we give Mr. Perot the Desert Storm Patriot Award.
Where
Wyndham DWF Airport North
4441 W. John Carpenter Freeway
Irving, TX 75063

When 
August 5-8 2010

Reservations, Call: 877 999-3223 – Need to tell them it is for the Gulf War Reunion.

You do not have to be a member of the National Gulf War Resource Center to come to this event.  It is for ALL Veterans.

Enjoy a long weekend with those you served with and meet their loved ones too. 

Go to Six Flags, tour Dallas or learn about the new VA regulation dealing with veterans from 1990 to today wars in Southwest Asia.

You can register on line at our store.

Mexican hitmen blamed for killing U.S. couple

The vehicle in which a U.S. consular employee and her husband were shot dead sits Sunday next to the bridge that connects Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Suspected drug gang hitmen separately ambushed two cars carrying families with ties to the U.S. consulate in this violent border city, killing an American couple and a Mexican man. Three  children survived, although two suffered wounds.

The slayings came amid a surge in bloodshed along Mexico’s border with Texas and drew condemnation from the White House. Mexico’s president expressed outrage and promised a fast investigation to find those responsible.

Authorities put suspicion on members of a gang of hitmen allied with the Juarez drug cartel. That theory is based on “information exchanged with U.S. federal agencies” helping in the investigation, according to a statement Sunday from the joint mission of soldiers and federal police overseeing security in Ciudad Juarez.

Violence has exploded in recent months in Ciudad Juarez as the head of the Juarez cartel, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, fights off a bloody offensive by Mexico’s No. 1 fugitive drug lord, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, at the worst hotspot of Mexico’s three-year-old drug war.

While putting the blame on the drug gang, police offered no information on a possible motive in the slayings. U.S. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said only that the three dead people were at the same party before the attacks that occurred minutes apart Saturday afternoon.

The Americans were identified as consular employee Lesley A. Enriquez, 35, and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs, 34, by Robert Cason, Redelfs’ stepfather. Redelfs was a detention officer at the El Paso County Jail, he said.

The woman was shot in the head, while her husband suffered wounds in his neck and arm. Their baby was found unharmed in the back seat.

Cason declined to discuss the welfare of his grandchild. “I don’t want to give any more information to the psychotics out there,” he said.

This latest incidents highlights the urgent need for us to stop ignoring our neighborhood.

A police officer holds the infant whose American parents were shot dead Saturday in Cuidad Juarez.

We either need to contribute hundreds of thousands of troops to this drug war and secure U.S. interests while contributing to Mexico’s success or we need to legalize drugs, regulate, and get our childrens off the streets.

The latter would be the more effective and less costly as it requires the stroke a lawmakers pen and not trillions of drug war fighting warriors and equipment.

In one day, we can put all Mexican drug dealers out of business.  This would help Mexico immediatley by putting the black market out into the open.  Because the drug trade in Mexico is important to the underground economy, at first, it would be job loss endeavor in Mexico but I very am sure it would be job loss that Mexico and it’s people would gladly accept as these target mafia killings would end because there would be no markets to fight over.

As for the U.S., our drug habit is a medical addiction problem that must be taken off the covert streets and out into the light.  We can’t ignore that we have addicts among us and it’s causing harm to us and our neighbors.

Legalize it, regulate it, control it, educate, and give empathy to addicts not jail sentances.

See larger image Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Ju�rez (Paperback) By (author) Howard Campbell List Price: $24.95 USD New From: $15.40 In Stock Used from: $21.65 In Stock

• Amarillo, Texas Telemedicine Doctors consult patients online
• Silver City, New Mexico Van gets veteran service back on road
• New Orleans, Louisiana VA building could end up in legal dispute
• Columbus, Ohio Bonus program for Ohio veterans moving forward
• Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls veteran says 7 war medals stolen
• Vacaville, California Vallejo veteran battles government for war money
• Anderson, South Carolina Upstate Veterans Home Gets A New Addition
• Green Bay, Wisconsin LZ Lambeau will provide welcome home for Vietnam vets
• Memphis, Tennessee Fragment from Vietnam Veterans wall given to soldier’s survivors
• Whistler, British Columbia Increasing number of military vets competing in Paralympic Games

* Find out What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans *

1. Accupressure Technique Touted As PTSD Treatment.
2. Number Of Vets Diagnosed With PTSD At Hospital Rose 114% Since 2005.
3. Controversy Grows Over PSA Prostate Cancer Screening Test.
4. Study: Aggressive Drug Treatment Strategies For Diabetics Ineffective.
5. Relatively Little Aid Seen As Available For Homeless Women Veterans.
6. Newport News Facility Serves Homeless Female Veterans.
7. VA Medical System In Colorado Adapting To Women’s Needs.
8. Providence VAMC Celebrating Women’s History Month.
9. VA To Hold Guam Women Veterans Conference.
10. Home Town Remembers Pacific War Hero.

Have You Heard
VA-purchased equipment is flying down the slopes and gliding across the ice at the 2010 Winter Paralympics Games in Vancouver this week. Five Veterans are competing in Vancouver and the adaptive sports equipment they will use to compete and for day-to-day mobility (wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs) were provided by VA Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS). This is the first Paralympics Winter Games in which athletes will be competing with equipment provided by VA. The Veterans competing are: Chris Devlin-Young (Alpine Skiing), Heath Calhoun (Alpine Skiing), Patrick McDonald (Wheelchair Curling), Sean Halsted (Cross Country Skiing) and Andy Soule (Cross Country Skiing and Biathlon). The 2010 Paralympics Winter Games, held in Vancouver March 12-21, feature the top U.S. athletes taking on the world’s best in alpine skiing, cross country skiing, biathlon, wheelchair curling and sled hockey. Learn more about these Veteran athletes and follow them through the Paralympics. Check local listings for special television highlight wrap up coverage by NBC April 10.

1.      Accupressure Technique Touted As PTSD Treatment. The Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat (3/13, Hay) reports that the Santa Rosa-based research group The Stress Project “is trying to convince the Department of Veterans Affairs to adopt” alternative medicine emotional freedom techniques, or “EFT” therapy, “as a standard treatment for veterans with PTSD.” Sometimes referred to as “tapping,” the group claims that the technique, in which patients are trained to tap on acupressure points as they review and come to terms with past traumas, can reduce PTSD, depression and pain. Although some clinical psychologists working with VA may use the technique, the VA itself has not recognized it, and the article says that EFT is “not used at the VA’s National Center for PTSD in Menlo Park, and no doctors knew enough about it to comment, a VA spokeswoman said.”

2.      Number Of Vets Diagnosed With PTSD At Hospital Rose 114% Since 2005. According to the San Bernardino County (CA) Sun (3/15, Steinberg), “49,637 patients diagnosed” with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “were treated” last year at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center in Loma Linda. The Sun continues, “With an influx of veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of patients diagnosed with PTSD at the Loma Linda medical center has soared 114 percent from 2005, Veterans Affairs officials say,” although “not all of that increase is from veterans coming out of the war on terror. Many fought in Vietnam, and as they enter retirement, they are haunted by images of the current conflicts, said Dennis Bull, a staff psychologist at the Loma Linda veterans hospital.”

3.      Controversy Grows Over PSA Prostate Cancer Screening Test. AFP (3/13, Santini) reports the “growing debate” over common use of the PSA procedure to screen for prostate cancer, after the developer of the process said it has become a “hugely expensive public health disaster.” The article notes that the American Cancer Society “does not recommend” the prostate specific antigen test, because it does not distinguish between fast0 and slow-developing forms of the disease and often gives erroneous results, and its discoverer, Richard Albin of the University of Arizona, in a column in the New York Times “deplored PSA screenings’ annual cost of at least three billion dollars, much of that paid for by Medicare, the insurance program for the elderly, and the Veterans Administration.”

4.      Study: Aggressive Drug Treatment Strategies For Diabetics Ineffective. The AP (3/15) reports, “Key results from a landmark federal study are in,” and they are “disappointing for diabetics: Adding drugs to drive blood pressure and blood-fats lower than current targets did not prevent heart problems, and in some cases caused harmful side effects. A decade ago, the federal government launched the three-part study to see whether intensely lowering blood sugar, blood pressure, or fats in the blood would reduce heart attacks and strokes in diabetics.” After noting that two years ago, the blood sugar part of the study “was stopped…when researchers saw more instead of less risk with that approach,” the AP adds, “The blood-pressure part of the study was led by Dr. William Cushman, preventive medicine chief” at the Veterans Affairs hospital “in Memphis, Tenn.”
The New York Times (3/15, A11, Kolata, 1.09M) also notes Cushman’s work on the study, as does the Los Angeles Times (3/15, Maugh, 776K), which says Cushman “and his colleagues at 77 medical centers enrolled 4,733 diabetics with high cholesterol levels and existing cardiovascular disease or a high risk of developing it.” The Chicago Tribune (3/15, 534K) publishes the same story. MedPage Today (3/14, Phend, Peck) said Cushman’s research, along with research involving diabetics and fats in the blood, were both part of the “highly anticipated Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial.” Results of research from the trial were presented Sunday “at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta, Ga. and released simultaneously online in the New England Journal of Medicine.”

5.      Relatively Little Aid Seen As Available For Homeless Women Veterans. The Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette (3/14, Haynie) reports, “As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue, more and more female veterans are becoming homeless. The number has doubled in the past decade, with an estimated 6,500 homeless female veterans in the country — about 5 percent of the homeless veteran population. Homeless advocates said the trend is particularly troubling because so few programs cater to homeless female veterans.” The homeless coordinator at the Fort Wayne VAMC “said she has put at least six formerly homeless female veterans in their own apartments during her three years with the Fort Wayne VA,” including two Iraq or Afghanistan veterans.

6.      Newport News Facility Serves Homeless Female Veterans. The Newport News (VA) Daily Press (3/13, Lessig, 76K) profiles two homeless female military veterans in residence at the Malachi House in Newport News, and which is especially seeking female veterans. Although neither of the two, both army veterans, served in combat, one says she suffers from PTSD and depression, which she attributes to military sexual trauma, while the other lost her son and broke her leg in an automobile crash.

7.      VA Medical System In Colorado Adapting To Women’s Needs. On its website, KUNC-FM

Greeley, Colorado (3/12, Hood) said the Veterans Affairs “medical system has traditionally been geared toward treating an aging male population,” but that “model is changing in Colorado,” where among other things, a planned “$300 million dollar hospital” in Denver “will open its doors…with a dedicated space for a women’s clinic.” KUNC added, “If President Obama’s proposed budget for next year is approved, funding for women veteran’s health care could grow by as much as 10 percent nationwide.”

8. Providence VAMC Celebrating Women’s History Month. In the lead item for his “Veterans’ Journal” column in the Providence (RI) Journal (3/14), George W. Reilly reports, “With 450,000 women now enrolled in the Veterans Administration health-care system, the Providence VA Medical Center is celebrating Women’s History Month this month.” According to Reilly, the hospital, which last year “hired a full-time women veterans’ program” manager, “provides a variety of care and services to meet the comprehensive needs of women veterans.”

9.      VA To Hold Guam Women Veterans Conference. Guam’s Pacific Daily News (3/15) reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs will hold its fourth Guam Women Veterans Conference from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 26 at the Outrigger Guam Resort in Tumon.” After noting that the theme of the conference “is ‘Writing Women Back Into History,’” the Daily News adds, “There will be a variety of topics that include readjustment issues for women, department benefits and services, financial and entrepreneurial opportunities, and financial investment information, according to a department news release.”

10.    Home Town Remembers Pacific War Hero. NBC Nightly News (3/13, story 13, 2:45, Holt, 8.37M) reported, “This weekend, a reminder of how great” was the courage of the “greatest generation” who won World War II. NBC (Thompson) added, “In the borough of Raritan, New Jersey, home to more than 6,000 people, one name stands out. John Basilone. It’s on a bridge, an athletic field, a street and a room in the library. A long-ago local hero. To some just a name, until this weekend. The nation will once again learn of the bravery of John Basilone, one of three Marines featured in the HBO miniseries ‘The Pacific.’ The son of an Italian immigrant, one of 10 children, Basilone’s courage in World War II’s Battle of Guadalcanal made him a national hero, singlehandedly killing 38 enemy soldiers.” Called back to the States to sell war bonds, “Basilone said he felt like a museum piece. He returned to the Pacific, and died on Iwo Jima” at the age of 28. He is one of three Marines featured in the HBO miniseries ‘The Pacific,’ which debuts Sunday. And his memory is kept alive in his hometown by an annual parade in his honor.

“MILITARY TRASH, NEGROES, INJUNS, MESSICANS AND QUEERS, RAPID CITY HATES EM’ ALL”

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor

Rapid City, South Dakota has a long history of racial discrimination against African American Airmen, dating back to the 1940s.  “Negroes, Messicans, Red Skins,” Rapid City hates them all, especially if they are serving their country.

Police Chief Steve Alexander of Rapid City says his officers spied the “gay marriage license” of a 9 year Air Force veteran by looking thru a window.  Nobody believes this, especially not the American Civil Liberties Union which filed suit against the department this week.  It seems officers looking for Air Force Sergeant Jene Newsome’s “partner” for an alleged warrant in Alaska saw the mysterious document “on a kitchen table through a window” and reported it to Chief Alexander who called Newsome’s base commander.  Alexander’s management style and the quality of the Rapid City police have long been in question.  A bent license plate could always buy a bashed in head or a night in jail in Rapid City, especially if you are the wrong color.

Newsome, a valued and highly trained veteran with an excellent record was forced to resign under “don’t ask, don’t tell.”  However, there are some inconsistencies to the police account.

Police forces don’t serve misdemeanor warrants for jurisdictions out of state or thousands of miles away.  As a matter of economics, it is hard to extradite an armed robber from Ohio to Michigan.  Something else is going on here, something fishy.  A look into the history of Rapid City made it clear, this is a town that wants the Air Force to only assign ”whites only,”  nobody else is welcomed, a history well recorded, well verified and brutally attested to.

“In plain sight” searches are only covered in automobiles and for drugs, weapons or stolen goods, not “marriage licences.”  The simple fact that the police cover story involves, not only an illegal search but stalking, harassment and, technically, 4th degree criminal sexual conduct, better known as “window peeping,” is also at issue.

Of course, we all know nothing was seen, certainly not a document in a drawer or closet.  Imagine the qualifications needed to be a patrol officer in “Rabid City.” 

• Minimal vision:  20/03 both eyes
• Able to read, not only upside down but through doors, walls and in the dark
• Own step-ladder for “window peeping” needed
• No education, morals or background checks required

Chief Alexander explained to reporters that he felt duty bound to report homosexual conduct to the Air Force.  He claimed he had an obligation to pass on “privileged information” to the Air Force, no matter if it was illegally gotten.  We have yet to hear an explanation as to why an Air Force officer would accept information from such a source, much less act on it.  There is clear culpability on the part of the Air Force command at Ellsworth Air Force Base in this travesty also.

The ACLU claims this is a simple case of police misconduct.  There is also an additional issue with the Air Force.  Airman Adam Grant, public information spokesman for Ellworth Air Force Base said Sergeant Newsome was discharged in accordance with DOD procedures set down by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.   It is a certainty that Secretary Gates will be “redirecting” a career or two over this issue.

TARGETING THE MILITARY AS A PATTERN OF HARASSMENT.

There is no known provision for police agencies to search the homes of military personnel for information regarding their sexual orientation.  In fact, singling out members of the military for illegal searches or harassment has an unpleasant unpatriotic aspect to it.  Some would go as far as to call it treason.  This is where more of Rapid City’s history of discrimination comes in.  This kind of behavior is nothing new in Rapid City, in fact it dates back to as early as 1942 and has been addressed by two American Presidents personally, Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy.  Rapid City has been this big a stain on America.

Suggestions have been made that all businesses inside the corporation limits of Rapid City, South Dakota be declared “off limits” to service personnel until members of the military can be guaranteed full citizenship rights regardless of race or sexual orientation.  We also request that all veterans consider “steering clear” of Rapid City and her business community until this problem is addressed and proper support for our armed services can be reestablished with proper rule of law.

The unwillingness of the city and their Chief of Police to abide by America’s Constitution and her laws is a good reason for the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force to begin defending their own.  Any of the commands currently at Ellsworth could be easily moved to the Selfridge facility outside Detroit.  The Michigan economy could use the boost and it might just avoid the continual need for “commissions” to investigate areas of the country that don’t seem to be able to get “with the program.”

Rapid City has a long history of anti-Indian/Native American racism with a history of literally thousands of complaints over the years.  Discrimination in housing and employment are common and Federal commissions are regularly engaged in attempts to bring the Rapid City community into compliance with laws that apply to the rest of the country.

Rapid City’s hatred of “Negroes” dates back nearly as long and was the subject of a major investigation headed by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1963.  In fact, Rapid City is infamous for being one of the most racist cities in the United States.  Here are some excerpts from that earlier report:

Statement by President Harry S. Truman:

Statement by President John F. Kennedy:

Findings:

Listed were numerous incidents of open discrimination, statistics and a description of Rapid City as an island of intolerance.  “Hate” is the appropriate word. 

 The rest of the United States has moved forward, falling in behind our laws, our tradition and our loyalty to our men and women in uniform.  This is not an issue of sexual orientation, though such things should have been behind us long ago.  Were the Airman Liz Cheney, media darling, instead of an African American, we wouldn’t be reading about it now.  The issue is race, the issue is anti-military feeling and the issue is ignorance.

It is also an issue of law and respect.

Cartoon by Ben Sargent Click for larger image

In a matter of days last week in Austin, the majority of the 15-member board, insisting they were only trying to offset liberal bias in textbooks, questioned Darwin’s theory of evolution and the constitutional principle of separation of church and state; debated hip-hop and genocide in Darfur; deleted Albert Einstein and Thomas Alva Edison from textbooks; emphasized Christian teachings and fundamentalist values; adopted conservative articles of faith like American exceptionalism; promoted right-wing leaders and organizations like Phyllis Schlafly and the National Rifle Association; and refused to give adequate attention to Hispanic and African American contributions to U.S. and Texas history.

To no one’s surprise, on the final round on Friday, the conservatives pulled a decisive victory, 10-5 — a tally that broke along predictable party lines, Republicans to the right, Democrats to the left. Ethnic minority members stood on the losing side. According to published reports, no experts on the social sciences were consulted. Given the conservative cast of the board, whose members are elected, the changes it has proposed will stand when the final vote is taken in May.

Leaving the meeting, a Democratic board member, Mavis Knight, of Dallas, was fulminating, saying, she could not be a party to “perpetrating this fraud on the students of this state.” It was not a pretty sight. The board will surely become, or has already become, the butt of jokes on late-night shows and “Saturday Night Live.”

Read more at Politics Daily

THE ABOMINATION OF “FAITH BASED ” WARFARE

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor

The “war on terror” has been like no other.  America has kidnapped and tortured dozens, hundreds, even thousands of innocent civilians, bombed poor villages off the map and turned on its own citizens.  We hold mock trials, hire mercenaries and have covered up so many crimes, from rape to murder to massive corruption and even treason that we have become unrecognizable as the country we were even in 2000.  America moved from “faith based initiatives” as a way of expanding public charities to “faith based” foreign policy which has become the greatest tragedy in our history since the Civil War.

How did the “faithful,” our rural and southern Evangelical Christian community, long known to Americans as the most generous and kind of her people allow themselves to be led into the abyss of sin?  The answer is tied to belief, trust and vulnerability in an age where the science of psychology has created a massive industry using the tools of mass communication to vilify, deceive and debauch.  How can a community whose history is steeped in financing missions around the world, China, Africa, South America, building hospitals, schools, orphanages, training generations, building trade unions and developing democratic principles become an instrument of fear and hate?

It didn’t happen by accident, there was a plan, well conceived, well executed and driven by only one thing, something very close to the heart of Christ himself, money.  Christ knew about money and man’s love of it.  He spoke of that love often as Christians and Muslims both know very well, as Christ the savior and son of God to Christians is also one of the most important prophets of Islam.  What were the weaknesses in the Evangelical Christian community that allowed Christian Zionists, a fringe group with the “moral flexibility” to allow a culture of greed, sexual perversion and unrighteousness to lead the “flock” into what will prove inevitably to be a generation not unlike Benjamites, who embraced sin.

A LOOK AT OUR PAST

America has always had divisions.  The first settlers resented those who came after.  The North exerted financial control over the South leading to war, a war few knew had little to do with the issue of slavery but more economic exploitation to the point of colonialism.  There was strife between urban and rural populations and regular upheavals caused by periodic economic collapses driven by manipulations of hard currency vs paper.  Later, control of the nation’s new rail system subjected rural America, that and predatory banking practices, to an economic assault that brought on generations of poverty.

During the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century, the face of the nation changed drastically with massive immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe.  Jews and Catholics flooded into the United States, with them came political traditions inconsistent with American values.  Jews were often Socialists, vocal and radical proponents of economic equality thru the destruction of the “Robber Baron” system that had taken financial control of America.

Catholics were thought to be allied with a Church in Rome that taught that living in a democracy was a sin and that only nations with Kings were answerable to Rome.  Our history books have erased this and so much else.  That same fear was a major issue as late as 1960, when John F. Kennedy ran for president.  It was spoken of continually and was a critical apect of the campaign.

CHARLATANISM

Two films, long forgotten, frame the concept of the “country hick” charlatan, the sociopathic manipulator, using charisma, charm and wile to enrich himself, even when it means disaster for those around him.  Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry and Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd are the films.  We have forgotten their lessons.  Every time I see or hear John Hagee, I think of Elmer Gantry.  Rural America is famous for its fear of outsiders, its trust, often blind trust of “its own,” a trust so often used with malevolence.  Hagee is an artist at this as have been so many behind him.  Hagee is different, though, he, unlike his predecessors like Gerald L. K. Smith who warned of Zionism and Israel as the downfall of America, has embraced Zionism and, in the process, grown rich and fat at their coffers.

Since the late 1870s, fear of Zionism, seen as a plot by Jews who controlled, and still do to a large extent, the world’s banking system, to destroy Christianity was a primary component of Evangelical Christianity.  Backed, in the 20th century by Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Prescott Bush, George Herbert Walker, Thomas Edison, Charles Lindbergh and hundreds of other prominent Americans who openly advocated policies warning of the dangers of Zionism, spread even thru the Catholic community thru the broadcasts of Father Charles Coghlin, the “Rush Limbaugh” of his time, Evangelical Christianity held much different views than today.

As late as 1940, 80% of Evangelical Christians and over 50% of Americans, when polled, thought Hitler’s policies toward the Jews were justified.  However, a powerful German propaganda machine presented a much different view of the extent of persecution than we learned of later.  Most Americans, fearful of ” Zionism,” a concept held in wide disrepute as the antithesis of Christianity, supported Germany’s exclusionistic policies as consistent with their faith.

However, during this same period of strong feeling and political activism, much during the economic disaster of the Great Depression, faith healers, revivalists and “snake oil” preachers roamed the land, bilking trusting locals out of their savings, sexually abusing unsuspecting believers and creating a “softened” moral climate that opened the door for later transgressors like Jimmie Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Tom Delay, John Hagee and John Ashcroft.

FROM AMERICANISM TO ZIONISM AND THE “ROAD TO SIN”

The marriage of convenience called “neo-conservatism” that melded Zionism to Christian Evangelists and Catholic abortion foes out of a cynical desire for political power would never have been possible without the twisted theology of the “Apocalypse/Rapture cults” and the growth of their heresy.  Building off obscure scriptural references and wildly misconstrued interpretations, mythical religious cults sprung up, heavily backed by supporters of Israel and America’s media giants, now almost all under control of pro-Zionist elements. 

With the initial stated goal as the protection of Israel, the program quickly became more than obvious.  America’s Evangelical Christian community had fallen into a trap and were now supporting war against the world’s Islamic community, openly supported suspension of Constitutional guarantees, backed pre-emptive aggressive war, torture and eventually found themselves supporting a corrupt administration widely discredited for lying to the public and sacrificing hundreds of thousands, even millions of lives for personal gain.

Duped by a combination of a radical and extremist government in Israel seemingly adhering to policies warned of over a century ago, a policy designed to bring about the downfall of the Christian West and short sighted political groups in the US bent on creating a neo-feudal oligarchy and defacto totalitarian state,  Christian Evangelists have been faced with seemingly endless series of betrayals, failures and deceptions.

BELIEF, IMMODERATION AND IRRATIONALITY

Today we find ourselves embroiled in a decade long war in Afghanistan and a “victory” in Iraq quickly slipping between our fingers.  Without the willingness on the part of American Christians to both follow a path suggested as one meant to bring on global holocaust, a path based on heretical doctrine, and a desire for a return to a militaristic and expansionistic religious politic as that enacted by the Greco-Roman hierarchical church of the Middle Ages, the “flavor” of today’s “crusader” wars would be different.

Though an examination of the global economic and political ramifications of our current wars leads inexorably to the conclusion they are wars for profit, colonial expansion and control of resources, wars meant to destabilize the world economy and centralize power beyond unseen malevolent forces, we still send our children to fight under a rationale we know in our hearts to be false, killing for corruption, debasement of human values and domination by extremist forces and oligarchies.

THE MARRIAGE LEADING TO THE GATES OF HELL

When politics, Zionism and the defense and oil interests in the US combined with the unschooled religious community disaster was the only potential result.  With information management from a controlled press at levels never before seen in any modern nation joined with extremist religious doctrine tied to a mythic heresy of rapture and the apocalypse, the door was left open for forces of nearly demonic evil to exploit the flaws in man’s character exposed in this “marriage” of pure evil with fear and weakness.

Was it all planned, the economic collapse, the loss of faith, the feeling of exploitation and distrust?  Was the end goal always the humiliation of America’s Christian Evangelist community and the weakening of Americas moral base?  If so, was this done only for profit or some darker agenda?

Read more and a transcript at The Real News
Eric Margolis: Obama the peace president is fighting battles his country cannot afford

Bio
Eric Margolis is a journalist born in New York City and holding degrees from Georgetown the University of Geneva, and New York University. During the Vietnam War he served as a US Army infantryman. Margolis is the author of War at the Top of the World –- The Struggle for Afghanistan and Asia is a syndicated columnist and broadcaster whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Mainichi Shimbun and US Naval Institute Proceedings. Margolis is an expert of military affairs, a former instructor in strategy and tactics in the US Army, and a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad, Pakistan. Eric Margolis’ books have been published in the US, Canada, Britain, and India. He often appears and contributes to national and international news items for outlets such as CNN, ABC,CBC and Voice of America to the Wall Street Journal and Maninichi-Tokyo. He broadcasts regularly on foreign affairs for Canadian TV (TV Ontario and CBC), radio, and has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, and PBS

Nick Mulcahy

Health Editor’s note: In the United States evaluation of a patient’s pain level or intensity has become the fifth vital sign.  The level of pain as well as blood pressure, pulse, respirations, and temperature are repeatedly noted and recorded as a patient is evaluated.  Pain has been shown to have a detrimental effect on a person’s well-being, healing ability, and quality of life. While use of opioids for pain management meet regulative qualifications to prevent overdosing and improper use here in the United States, part of the world still views helpful use of opioids for pain reduction with a jaundiced eye.  Part of Europe has extreme regulations for opioid availability and use  in place and these regulations can detrimentally affect the lives of those with cancer.  The helpful effects of opioids to decrease pain levels is lost when the patient cannot receive the pain relieving drug in a timely fashion.  Carol Ware Duff, MSN, BA, RN   

 February 24, 2010 — Patient access to medication to relieve cancer pain is “profoundly restricted” in many European countries. The resulting undertreatment of cancer pain and the related suffering are a “public health catastrophe,” according to a new report.

 The problem is most prevalent in Eastern Europe, where a combination of misconceptions about opioid medications and fears about their illicit use have led to severe regulations.

Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News

NOW IS THE TIME TO SPEAK OUT!

As the U.S. approaches the start of the 8^th year of war in Iraq, Americans need to be reminded that the Iraq war continues under the Obama administration even as the war in Afghanistan escalates! Our troops continue to be in harm’s way and our ‘military’ families are suffering.

The mainstream media will only paint a rosy picture of military families enduring the never ending deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan by showing the American public only how families cope. Not one military family who questions or speaks out against the continued wars for profit under the Obama administration has been seriously interviewed by any major media outlet. With the Defense Industry having commercial interests in PBS, there is also pressure on public television to paint a rosy picture of how our military families and troops cope or are enthusiastic about yet another tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.

If you really care, and seriously want a balanced picture on how these never ending deployments are hurting our military families despite those who courageously or unwittingly COPE, please make your voice heard by joining MFSO at one of the activities listed below.

You do not have to be a military family member or even Veteran to help us out. JUST BE THERE to show how seriously YOU support America’s Military Families with more than yellow ribbons, a pat on the back thank you, then go on with business as usual just like CONGRESS.

Let MFSO know what you will be doing to commemorate this tragic anniversary by responding to the Survey Monkey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GMRYRCW. If you are unable to attend but would like to get more involved, please contact MFSO Organizer Nikki Morse at nikki@mfso.org.

This email contains information about what we know is happening around the country. If you are participating in something that isn’t listed, please let us know. If you would like to order MFSO t-shirts or brochures, please go here or email zaskya@mfso.org.

Scheduled Events

—————————————Washington, DC———————————

If you or your organization  plans  on coming to Washington, DC, in direct support of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) please email Nikki at nikki@mfso.org and let her know when you, your group, or bus will be in town. She can be reached throughout the activities at 347-703-0570. National Director Deb Forter will also be there, she can be reached at 508-237-5343.

Note: The actions planned by MFSO pretty much correspond with the plans of most other Peace groups and individuals coming to the March anti-war demonstrations. Although the primary march and rally is planned for 20 March, Peace groups will begin arriving, setting up, and taking action about a week prior with events set up similar to both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

• Monday, March 15, 2010

Peace of the Action: Beginning March 15th, a tent city will be erected on the grounds of the Washington Monument as a base camp for actions, community gathering and joint activities http://peaceoftheaction.org

• Thursday, March 18, 2010 – Joint Press Conference with Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), Veterans for Peace (VFP) and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Time and Place TBD.

• Friday, March 19, 2010 – Capital Hill PEACE Visits

9 a.m. We will be gathering in the basement cafeteria of the Cannon House Office Building at the corner of New Jersey Ave and Independence Ave to prep for visits to Congressional offices.  If you are able to schedule visits with your legislator, please contact Nikki at nikki@mfso.org otherwise we will send you with otherwise scheduled visits.

• Saturday, March 20, 2010

National Assembly, ANSWER Coalition and others D.C. March http://answer.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=M20_homepage

9:30 a.m. Gather at the Peace of the Action campsite at Madison Dr, NW & 15th St, NW for a Memorial service marking the anniversary of the war(s) and honoring the fallen.

11:00 a.m. March to an Iraq Veterans Against the War Press Conference and Action at to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offices across from Lafayette Park, H Street NW and Madison Place NW.

12:00 p.m. Demonstration and March. Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) will be marching with Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Veteran for Peace (VFP) at the front of the march. If you haven’t been able to join us at either of the previous points, please find us then.

5p.m. Social gathering with VFP/IVAW at Bus Boys and Poets, 5th and K, near the Chinatown Metro stop

• Sunday, March 21, 2010

Noon – 3 p.m. Joint strategy session with Military Families Speak Out, Veterans For Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War. at the Church of the Holy City, 16TH and Corcoran St. NW, Washington DC to talk about future actions and activities

4 – 6 pm VFP DC chapter is hosting a ‘speak out’ event at the Church of the Holy City, more details to follow.

•        Travel

Many buses have been organized from various places around the country. Information about buses is at http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=M20_transportation.

For getting around Washington, DC, information about the Metro system is at http://www.wmata.com/.

•        Housing

MFSO is not reserving a block of rooms at a hotel; however National Director Deb Forter will be staying at the Allen Lee Hotel at 2224 F. St NW and other members are welcome to join her there. Rates are $100/night and can be reserved at 202-331-1224. There is inexpensive housing ($5/night) available at St Stephens – 16th St & Newton St NW. Contact Robby Diesu at: robby@pcaction.org

———————-Actions around the Country—————

Saturday, March 13

Illinois

St. Charles – Fox Valley Citizens for Peace & Justice St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Protest in St. Charles http://icjpe.org/actions/index.php?id=4062

Chicago – Iraq Veterans Against the War mud-stenciling contact Aaron Hughes at aarhughes@ivaw.org

Sunday, March 14

Maine

Belfast – Women in Black, Standing for Peace Belfast Weekly Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1133&t=1268546400

Ellsworth – Local Activists Ellsworth Peace Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=274&t=1268546400

Bar Harbor – Local Activists Bar Harbor Peace Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1240&t=1268546400

Waterville – Waterville Area Bridges for P & J Waterville Bridge Peace Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1254&t=1268546400

Skowhegan – Waterville Area Bridges for P & J Skowhegan Weekly Vigil for Peace http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1822&t=1268546400

Michigan

Detroit – Detroit Area Peace w/ Justice Network Pointes for Peace Vigil http://michiganpeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1285&t=1268546400

New Jersey

Bloomfield NJ Bloomfield Peace Action Silent Peace Vigil http://njpon.org/calendar/?id=941&t=1268546400

Monday, March 15

Maine

Deer Isle – Island Peace & Justice Deer Isle Vigil for Peace http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1031&t=1268629200

Michigan

Grand Rapids MI Peace Presence Grand Rapids Peace Presence http://michiganpeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1189&t=1268629200

Detroit – Detroit Area Peace Justice Network Ferndale Anti-Occupation of Iraq http://michiganpeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1244&t=1268629200

Ferndale- Detroit Area P w/ Justice Network Anti-Occupation of Iraq Protest http://michiganpeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1244&t=1268629200

New York

Binghamton NY Broome County Peace Action Binghamton Peace Vigil http://ny4cg.org/calendar/?id=1625&t=1268028000

Delmar – Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace Delmar, NY Vigil for Peace http://ny4cg.org/calendar/?id=1696&t=1268028000

South Carolina

Aiken Women in Black Silent Vigil for Peace http://scpej.org/calendar/?id=1528&t=1268629200

Tuesday, March 16

Georgia

Atlanta – Emery students Stand for Peace Vigil http://gpjn.org/calendar/?id=251&t=1268715600

Illinois

Kankee – Speak Out contact IVAW member Tyler (shadowflame05@gmail.com)

Maine

Bangor – Peace & Justice Center of Easern ME Bangor ME Peace Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1239&t=1268715600

Wednesday, March 17

Illinois

Chicago – M20 Coalition 7th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion March http://icjpe.org/actions/index.php?id=4065

Michigan

Adrian – The Lenawee Peacemakers Lenawee Peaceful Demonstrations http://michiganpeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1127&t=1268802000

Minnesota

St. Paul – Women Against Military Madness Vigil to End the Occupation of Iraq http://mapm.pjep.org/calendar/?id=760&t=1268802000

Minneapolis – Twin Cities Peace Campaign Special Bridge Vigil: 7 Yrs Too Long http://mapm.pjep.org/calendar/?id=1825&t=1268802000

North Carolina

Chapel Hill NC Pease1st Anniversary of Iraq War Vigil http://ncactionnet.org/actions/index.php?id=4232

New Jersey

Spiotta Park NJ Military Families Speak Out Anti-War Vigil http://njpon.org/calendar/?id=886&t=1268802000

Teaneck, MFSO and Bergen P&J Coalition Weekly Vigil, 4:30 PM contact Paula at paula.rogovin@verizon.net

New York

New York – Grandmothers Against the War Rockefeller Ctr NYC Against War http://ny4cg.org/calendar/?id=1627&t=1268802000

Staten Island – Peace Action of Staten Island Staten Island Weekly Vigil http://ny4cg.org/calendar/?id=1730&t=1268802000

Wisconsin

Madison, WI- IVAW Mud-stenciling contact Nate at tothnj@gmail.com

Thursday, March 18

Maine

Augusta ME Waterville Area Bridges for P & J Augusta Peace Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1253&t=1268888400

New Hampshire

Manchester – Veterans for Peace End the Occupation Vigil http://nhvpjen.org/calendar/?id=1178&t=1268888400

New York

New York-Veterans for Peace 034 NYC Vigil at Downtown PEACE Recruiting http://ny4cg.org/calendar/?id=1770&t=1268888400

Virginia

Charlottesville – Charlottesville Center for P & J Peace Demonstration http://vpan.org/actions/?id=3771

Friday, March 19

California

San Diego – Veterans for Peace San Diego = Iraq – 7 Years of War http://calaction.org/actions/index.php?id=4176

Indiana

Bloomington – Bloomington Peace Action Coalition Get on the Bus for DC Peace Demo http://network4peace.org/actions/?id=4093

Kentucky

Newport – Intercommunity Justice and Peace Ctr. War Moratorium http://ohiopeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1692&t=1268974800

Maine

Brunswick – Brunswick PeaceWorks Brunswick PeaceWorks Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=316&t=1268974800

Augusta – Augusta Women in Black Augusta WIB Vigil http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1152&t=1268974800

Farmington – Western Mountains Peace Action W. Weekly Vigil for Peace http://mpjen.org/calendar/?id=1150&t=1268974800

Michigan

Lansing – Greater Lansing Network Against… Noon-hour Peace Vigil http://michiganpeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1663&t=1268974800

Minnesota

Minneapolis – The Iraq Moratorium Committee Iraq War Protest and Bannering http://mapm.pjep.org/calendar/?id=747&t=1268974800

New Jersey

Montclair Parishioners for Peace & Justice Montclair Peace Vigil http://njpon.org/calendar/?id=1179&t=1268974800

Ohio

Columbus – Columbus Campaign for Arms Control, Peace Prayer, March, and Forum http://ohiopeacenetwork.org/actions/?id=2179

Cincinnati – Intercommunity Justice and Peace Ctr. Mt. Healthy Peace Vigil http://ohiopeacenetwork.org/calendar/?id=1693&t=1268974800

Utah

Logan – Cache Valley Peace Works Peace Vigil http://utahactivistsnetwork.org/calendar/?id=1056&t=1268974800

Washington State

Bellingham – Local Activists Bellingham Vigil http://wanet.org/calendar/?id=1796&t=1268974800

Wisconsin

Hayward – Peace North – Wisconsin Hayward Iraq Moratorium http://wiscaction.org/calendar/?id=1283&t=1268974800

Saturday, March 20^th

California

San Francisco – San Francisco ANSWER San Francisco

DELARAM, AFGHANISTAN — Home to a dozen truck stops and a few hundred family farms bounded by miles of foreboding desert, this hamlet in southwestern Afghanistanis far from a strategic priority for senior officers at the international military headquarters in Kabul. One calls Delaram, a day’s drive from the nearest city, ‘the end of the Earth.’ Another deems the area ‘unrelated to our core mission’ of defeating the Taliban by protecting Afghans in their cities and towns.

U.S. Marine commanders have a different view of the dusty, desolate landscape that surrounds Delaram. They see controlling this corner of remote Nimruz province as essential to promoting economic development and defending the more populated parts of southern Afghanistan.

The Marines are constructing a vast base on the outskirts of town that will have two airstrips, an advanced combat hospital, a post office, a large convenience store and rows of housing trailers stretching as far as the eye can see. By this summer, more than 3,000 Marines — one-tenth of the additional troops authorized by President Obama in December — will be based here.

With Obama’s July 2011 deadline to begin reducing U.S. forces looming over the horizon, the Marines have opted to wage the war in their own way.

‘If we’re going to succeed here, we have to experiment and take risks,’ said Brig. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, the top Marine commander in Afghanistan. ‘Just doing what everyone else is doing isn’t going to cut it.’

The Marines are pushing into previously ignored Taliban enclaves. They have set up a first-of-its-kind school to train police officers. They have brought in a Muslim chaplain to pray with local mullahs and deployed teams of female Marines to reach out to Afghan women.

The Marine approach — creative, aggressive and, at times, unorthodox — has won many admirers within the military. The Marine emphasis on patrolling by foot and interacting with the population, which has helped to turn former insurgent strongholds along the Helmand River valley into reasonably stable communities with thriving bazaars and functioning schools, is hailed as a model of how U.S. forces should implement counterinsurgency strategy.

But the Marines’ methods, and their insistence that they be given a degree of autonomy not afforded to U.S. Army units, also have riled many up the chain of command in Kabul and Washington, prompting some to refer to their area of operations in the south as ‘Marineistan.’ They regard the expansion in Delaram and beyond as contrary to the population-centric approach embraced by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, and they are seeking to impose more control over the Marines.

The U.S. ambassador in Kabul, Karl W. Eikenberry, recently noted that the international security force in Afghanistan feels as if it comprises 42 nations instead of 41 because the Marines act so independently from other U.S. forces.

‘We have better operational coherence with virtually all of our NATO allies than we have with the U.S. Marine Corps,’ said a senior Obama administration official involved in Afghanistan policy.

Some senior officials at the White House, at the Pentagon and in McChrystal’s headquarters would rather have many of the 20,000 Marines who will be in Afghanistan by summer deploy around Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city, to assist in a U.S. campaign to wrest the area from Taliban control instead of concentrating in neighboring Helmand province and points west. According to an analysis conducted by the National Security Council, fewer than 1 percent of the country’s population lives in the Marine area of operations.

They question whether a large operation that began last month to flush the Taliban out of Marja, a poor farming community in central Helmand, is the best use of Marine resources. Although it has unfolded with fewer than expected casualties and helped to generate a perception of momentum in the U.S.-led military campaign, the mission probably will tie up two Marine battalions and hundreds of Afghan security forces until the summer.

‘What the hell are we doing?’ the senior official said. ‘Why aren’t all 20,000 Marines in the population belts around Kandahar city right now? It’s [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar’s capital. If you want to stuff it to Mullah Omar, you make progress in Kandahar. If you want to communicate to the Taliban that there’s no way they’re returning, you show progress in Kandahar.’

Marines support Marines

Until earlier this month, McChrystal lacked operational control over the Marines, which would have allowed him to move them to other parts of the country. That power rested with a three-star Marine general at the U.S. Central Command. He and other senior Marine commanders insisted that Marines in Afghanistan have a contiguous area of operations — effectively precluding them from being split up and sent to Kandahar — because they think it is essential the Marines are supported by Marine helicopters and logistics units, which are based in Helmand, instead of relying on the Army.

After concern about the arrangement reached the White House, Gen. David H. Petraeus, who heads the Central Command, issued an order in early March giving McChrystal operational control of Marine forces in Afghanistan, according to senior defense officials. But the new authority vested in McChrystal — the product of extensive negotiations among military lawyers — still requires Marine approval for any plan to disaggregate infantry units from air and logistics support, which will limit his ability to move them, the defense officials said.

‘At the end of the day, not a lot has changed,’ said a Marine general, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as did several other senior officers and officials, to address sensitive command issues. ‘There’s still a caveat that prevents us from being cherry-picked.’

The Marine demand to be supported by their own aviators and logisticians has roots in the World War II battles for Guadalcanal and Tarawa. Marines landing on the Pacific islands did not receive the support they had expected from Navy ships and aircraft. Since then, Marine commanders have insisted on deploying with their own aviation and supply units. They did so in Vietnam, and in Iraq.

Despite the need to travel with an entourage, the Marines are willing to move fast. The commandant of the Corps, Gen. James T. Conway, offered to provide one-third of the forces Obama authorized in December, and to get them there quickly. Some arrived within weeks. By contrast, many of the Army units that comprise the new troop surge have yet to leave the United States.

‘The Marines are a double-edged sword for McChrystal,’ one senior defense official said. ‘He got them fast, but he only gets to use them in one place.’

Marine commanders note that they did not choose to go to Helmand — they were asked to go there by McChrystal’s predecessor, Gen. David D. McKiernan, because British forces in the area were unable to contain the intensifying insurgency. But once they arrived, they became determined to show they could rescue the place, in much the same way they helped to turn around Anbar province in Iraq.

They also became believers in Helmand’s strategic importance. ‘You cannot fix Kandahar without fixing Helmand,’ Nicholson said. ‘The insurgency there draws support from the insurgency here.’

‘Mullahpalooza tour’

The Marine concentration in one part of the country — as opposed to Army units, which are spread across Afghanistan — has yielded a pride of place. As it did in Anbar, the Corps is sending some of its most talented young officers to Helmand.

The result has been a degree of experimentation and innovation unseen in most other parts of the country. Although they account for half of the Afghan population, women had been avoided by military forces, particularly in the conservative south, because it is regarded as taboo for women to interact with males with whom they are not related. In an effort to reach out to them, the Marines have established ‘female engagement teams.’

Made up principally of female Marines who came to Afghanistan to work in support jobs, the teams accompany combat patrols and seek to sit down with women in villages. Working with female translators, team members answer questions, dispense medical assistance and identify reconstruction needs.

Master Sgt. Julia Watson said the effort has had one major unexpected consequence. ‘Men have really opened up after they see us helping their wives and sisters,’ she said.

The Marines have sought to jump into another void by establishing their own police academy at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand instead of waiting for the U.S. military’s national training program to provide recruits. The Marines also are seeking to do something that the military has not been able to do on a national scale: reduce police corruption by accepting only recruits vouched for by tribal elders.

‘This is a shame culture,’ said Terry Walker, a retired Marine drill instructor who helps run the academy. ‘If they know they are accountable to their elders, they will be less likely to misbehave.’

Then there’s what Marines call the ‘mullahpalooza tour.’ Although most U.S. military units have avoided direct engagement with religious leaders in Afghanistan, Nicholson has brought over Lt. Cmdr. Abuhena Saifulislam, one of only two imams in the U.S. Navy, to spend a month meeting — and praying with — local mullahs, reasoning that the failure to interact with them made it easier for them to be swayed by the Taliban.

At his first session with religious leaders in Helmand, the participants initially thought the clean-shaven Saifulislam was an impostor. Then he led the group in noontime prayers. By the end, everyone wanted to take a picture with him.

‘The mullahs of Afghanistan are the core of society,’ he said. ‘Bypassing them is counterproductive.’

Reviving a ghost town

In December, columns of Marine armored vehicles punched into the city of Now Zad in northern Helmand. Once the second-largest town in the province, it had been almost completely emptied of its residents over the past four years as insurgents mined the roads and buildings with hundreds of homemade bombs. Successive units of British and U.S. troops had been largely confined to a Fort Apache-like base in the town. Every time they ventured out, they’d be shot at or bombed.

To Nicholson and his commanders, reclaiming the town, which the Marines accomplished within a few weeks, has been a crucial step in demonstrating to Helmand residents that U.S. forces are committed to getting rid of the Taliban. To other military officials in Afghanistan, however, the mission seemed contrary to McChrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy.

‘If our focus is supposed to be protecting the population, why are we focusing on a ghost town?’ said a senior officer at the NATO regional headquarters in Kandahar.

Nicholson notes that Helmand’s governor supported the operation, as did many local tribal leaders. Hundreds of residents have returned in recent weeks, and at least 65 shops have reopened, according to Marine officers stationed in Now Zad.

‘Protecting the population means allowing people to return to their homes,’ he said. ‘We’ve taken a grim, tough place, a place where there was no hope, and we’ve given it a future.’

Nicholson now wants Marine units to push through miles of uninhabited desert to establish control of a crossing point for insurgents, drugs and weapons on the border with Pakistan. And he wants to use the new base in Delaram to mount more operations in Nimruz, a part of far southwestern Afghanistan deemed so unimportant that it is one of the only provinces where there is no U.S. or NATO reconstruction team.

‘This is a place where the enemy are moving in numbers,’ he said, referring to increased Taliban activity along a newly built highway that bisects the province. ‘We need to clean it up.’

Nicholson contends that if his forces were kept only in key population centers in Helmand, insurgents would come right up to the gates of towns.

Other U.S. and NATO military officials say that what the Marines want to do makes sense only if there were not a greater demand for troops elsewhere. Because the Marines cannot easily be moved to Kandahar, U.S. and British military and diplomatic officials have begun discussions to expand the Marine footprint into more populous parts of Helmand with greater insurgent activity where British forces have been outmatched. That shift could occur as soon as this summer, when a Marine-run NATO regional headquarters is established in Helmand.

Until then, however, Marine commanders want to keep moving.

‘The clock is ticking,’ Nicholson told members of an intelligence battalion that recently arrived in Afghanistan. ‘The drawdown will begin next year. We still have a lot to do — and we don’t have a lot of time to do it.’

• Fort Wayne, Indiana Battle-torn and in need of a home
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Marines on Guam

By Al Benn Montgomery Advertiser

Bob Slone’s dream was to fi­nally get the Purple Heart he de­served for wounds received in one of World War II’s bloodiest battles.

He nearly died on a ridge in Guam where his Marine unit had set up machine guns over­looking a dirt road occupied by Japanese troops.

Suddenly, firing began and a mortar round sailed toward Slone’s gun emplacement. The explosion nearly tore off his left hand, but he kept fighting. Dead and dying Marines surrounded him. He was lucky.

Slone spent 15 months in a military hospital, where a fin­ger was amputated. He was able to keep his thumb, even though it would be useless for the rest of his 85 years.

Medals were awarded to him, but the one he wanted most eluded him. The reason was the place where he was discharged — a hospital instead of a Marine base.

His wife once ordered a Pur­ple Heart replica and had it mounted, but they both knew something was lacking. It wasn’t the real thing.

Last fall, friends learned of his dream and began to contact those who might have the au­thority to help.

Everett Cole, then national service officer with the Military Order of the Purple Heart in Montgomery, got the ball rolling by relaying information on Slone and asking that a medal be sent to Selma as soon as possi­ble.

Mary Kaye Lewis of Panama City, Fla., wrote a letter to Navy officials, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions and anybody else who might find a way to get it for her dad.

“He was awarded two Bronze Stars and other campaign med­als, but not what he really want­ed,” she said. “He never knew I had written the letter because I wanted to surprise him.”

As the months passed, age and illness began to take their toll and the 6-foot-6-inch former Marine slowly lost his grip on life.

Family members and friends knew he didn’t have much time left, so they increased their ef­forts to find somebody to help him with his Purple Heart quest.

Read more at  Montgomery Advertiser