Hundreds of thousands of servicemen were exposed to asbestos over decades, especially during the period from 1940 to 1980. Asbestos was used in construction of naval vessels as well as shore facilities. All branches of the military used asbestos, which was also widely used in civilian applications. Asbestos can cause mesothelioma. Because this cancer has a particularly long latency period, many servicemen who were exposed years ago are now developing this disease.
- Mesothelioma Patient & Family Resources: Mesotheliomahelp is provided by Belluck & Fox, LLP as a comprehensive resource for mesothelioma victims and their families. The site provides up-to-date information on the latest news and treatment options as well as an easy to use search feature to find local mesothelioma doctors and health care clinics.
We fight for veterans harmed by asbestos: Veterans with mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer should know they have options: the opportunity to bring a suit against manufacturers and sellers of the asbestos that caused their illness. If you were harmed by asbestos exposure, for example, in ships or military housing, contact Weitz & Luxenberg to get a free case review.
Important Information for Veterans: Asbestos products were often used on military ships and within military housing, and Veterans may have been exposed. Previous exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a fatal cancer that has no cure and affects countless Veterans and loved ones. For more information regarding military asbestos exposure visit Mesothelioma.com
News: SECRETARY SHINSEKI ANNOUNCES STUDY OF VIETNAM-ERA WOMEN VETERANS
Comprehensive Study Will Help VA Provide High-Quality Care
Health Editor Note: Will the results show a difference in the way female and male veterans experienced the Vietnam Conflict? Will this affect healthcare for women? Carol Ware Duff MSN, BA, RN
RECENT VA NEWS RELEASE
WASHINGTON (Nov. 19, 2009) -Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching a comprehensive study of women Veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service upon their mental and physical health.
News: Governments and ancient organizations need to rethink who they are.
In today's New York Times we see many articles that show the effect of the devestating crash of the financial markets last Fall (2008) on American life. We cannot afford to spend money we do not have anymore.
First up is this article entitled "Air Defense Push Inspired by 9/11 Gets a 2nd Look" in which the U.S. commander of North American air defenses against terrorist attack has ordered a re-assessment of those defenses, mostly based on the prohibitive cost.
We cannot be the big bully on the block anymore if we don't have enough money to buy the biggest stick. We had better get used to this. This is only the beginning.
Valero Marketing & Supply Co., San Antonio, Texas is being awarded a maximum $118,035,840 fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel. Other location of performance is in Corpus Christi, Texas. Using service is Foreign Military Sales. The original proposal was web solicited with two responses. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The date of performance completion is Oct. 31, 2010. The contracting activity is the Defense Energy Support Center, Fort Belvoir, Va., (SPO600-10-D-0460).
News: Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-19-09
What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans
1. Military Construction-VA Spending Bill Includes $3.3 Billion IT Budget. 2. Durbin: VA Rural Recruiting Measure Clears Senate. 3. "Ominous" Phone Message Tells Veterans About Education Claims Backlog. 4. Obama Chooses Petzel To Serve As VA's Undersecretary For Health. 5. Subcommittee Approves Veterans Appeals Improvement And Modernization Act. 6. Concern Expressed About Cemetery's Nondenominational Policy. 7. Forbes Concerned That VA's Decision On Agent Orange Illnesses Will Increase Backlog. 8. Mobile Vet Centers To Continue Providing Counseling Services In Fort Hood Area. 9. VA Therapy Helps Iraq Vet To Compete In New York City Marathon. 10. New York Department Of Labor Holds Veterans Job Fair.
A program intended to help disabled veterans win government business awarded at least $100 million in contracts to firms that were either ineligible or committed fraud to obtain the work, a federal review has found.
( comments? )
- Posted by higgins on November 19, 2009 (93 reads)
News: A look at "No Accountability". It is the American Way.
Today's New York Times shows all of us a breathtaking view of how the business segments in modern American society try as hard as possible to squeeze the largest amounts of profit out of situations where they are held barely accountable for their actions by the government.
They want something for nothing. They balk at being held accountable. This can seriously harm the health and well being of our nation's people while at the same time change the super-wealthy into the mega-wealthy. How does this serve the nation?
American veterans need to stand up and cry foul. The American people are on the receiving end of this nonsense. Common sense has to reassert itself here.
News: U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards
No. 902-09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTRACTS: NAVY
Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc., Monroeville, Pa., is being awarded a $248,787,610 modification to previously awarded contract (00024-07-C-2100) for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, Pa. (95 percent), and Schenectady, N.Y. (five percent). Contract funds in the amount of $326,653 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. No completion date or additional information is provided on naval nuclear propulsion program contracts. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
This week we learned that President Obama is searching for an 'endgame' in Afghanistan prior to deciding on troop committments. It is a good idea, eight years late, but a good idea nonetheless! What a mess!
In a related story "Afghan minister accused of taking bribe", we find that American military intelligence has found that the Afghan Minister of Mines has almost certainly taken a $30 million dollar bribe from the Chinese in order to allow them to mine for copper on a sole provider contract.
Hmmm! Maybe I have been wrong about the Afghan government all along. Maybe they really are learning how to govern themselves modeled on how we operated in Iraq!
News: Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-18-09
What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans
1. Disability Evaluation System To Be Implemented At Six New Locations. 2. Suicides In US Army Expected To Reach New High. 3. Coburn Offers Amendment To Omnibus Veterans Healthcare Bill. 4. Phoenix VA Serving More Veterans. 5. Report: Over $98 Billion Wasted By Government Agencies, Including VA. 6. VA, US Olympic Committee To Expand Paralympics Sport Programs. 7. First, Second Ladies To Celebrate Women In The Military. 8. Analysis: Despite "National Focus," Surgical Errors Continue. 9. "Bad" Cholesterol Down In US Adults, But Screening Target Not Met. 10. Facility To Undergo Multiple Renovation, Construction Projects.
Politics Daily has an interesting article posted today written by Lawrence J. Haas concerning Wafa Sultan, a Muslim-American female psychiatrist on the nature of Islam.
Since it is apparently true that Obama is going to widen the war in Afghanistan within weeks, and since we are presently engaged in 2 1/2 wars in western Asia now among majority Muslim populations, I thought it would be good to read this.
The article has some surprises. It needs no further comment from me.
News: Obama Says He Is Close to Afghan War Decision
BEIJING — President Obama said Wednesday he is “very close to a decision” on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan, and will make his case to the American people for his Afghan strategy in the next “several weeks.”
“I am very confident that when I announce the decision, the American people will have a lot of clarity about what we’re doing, how we’re going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost,” Mr. Obama told CNN in an interview at his hotel in Beijing. Most important, he said, is that he is asking “what’s the end game on this thing, which I think is something that unless you impose that kind of discipline, could end up leading to a multi-year occupation that won’t serve the interests of the United States.”
News: Tax cheats run this country. How do you feel about that?
In today's New York Times we learn that so far this year 14,700 Americans have applied for amnesty under an I.R.S. program. They are not prosecuted for tax evasion if they come forward acknowledging that they have offshore secret bank accounts set up by foreign banks in order for them to evade American taxes. The story is here.
The reason this is important is many-fold but from the point of view of veterans, it exposes the problems we have in this country with making the super-rich and powerful pull their fair share of the weight relative to the financial and civic burdens of citizenship. It can be damned near impossible to do that. They are wealthy enough to get out of their responsibilities to the rest of us. This affects veterans greatly.
News: Death everywhere, and it never makes any sense.
We have insanity and death breaking out all over the country. It is violent, unreasoning, crazy homicidal violence that has a tendency to feed off of other crazy violence. It might be something like the New York City Police Department has always claimed...that murders break out during a full moon.
Could the violence at Fort Hood and the continuing violence overseas have an influence here? Far fetched? Maybe...or maybe not. Take a look and judge for yourself. Do these things occur in clusters?
First up we have a high school teacher who has been arrested for trying to arrange a contract murder, a "hit", on one of his sixteen year old students. That story is here as reported on AOL News.
News: U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards
No. 900-09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTRACTS: NAVY
Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $41,100,000 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-03-C-5102) for combat systems engineering (CSE) and installation and test aboard KDX-III Ship 2 to support Republic of Korea (ROK) Foreign Military Sales. ROK competitively selected the U.S. Navy/Lockheed Martin Aegis Combat System (ACS) for its KDX-III shipbuilding program. These requirements include the necessary CSE, computer program development, and ship integration and test support to deliver a variant of the U.S. Navy Aegis weapon system Baseline 7 Phase I computer program and equipment to support the construction of the second Korean ship in the KDX-III class. In addition, this contract funds an integrated test team to assist the Korean shipyard in performing installation and testing of the ACS. Work will be performed in Moorestown, N.J. (53 percent), and (Korea 47 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2010. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
( comments? )
- Posted by higgins on November 17, 2009 (101 reads)
News: Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-17-09
What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans
1. Disability Evaluation System Pilot Program To Be Expanded. 2. Shinseki Planning To Implement Report's VA-Med School Recommendations. 3. Advocate Stresses Importance Of Shinseki's Vow On Veteran Homelessness. 4. Columnist Urges Readers To Visit A VA Hospital. 5. Former VA Nurse Cared For Wounded In Fort Hood Shooting. 6. Dorn VAMC, Other VA Hospitals, Recognize National Prosthetic Day. 7. New Fayetteville VAMC Director Planning To Observe, Find Out What Works. 8. Spivey-Paul Retires From VA. 9. University Of Louisville, City Propose Downtown VA Hospital. 10. Cancer Patient At VA Hospital Receives "Unusually Large Dose Of Radiation."
News: Soldier mom refuses to deploy to Afghanistan
According to the Associated Press this morning, a 21 year old soldier mom refuses deployment to Afghanistan. There was no one to take care of her infant. She has been arrested and confined to base pending investigation. That story is here.
According to the Washington Post the Army is forming a panel under the direction of the Chief of Staff to see if warning signs were missed that would have indicated the potential murderous actions of Major Nidal Hasan, M.D. U.S. Army. That story is here.
In today's late edition of the Washington Post we find that American hunger is on a steep incline up. Almost 49 million Americans do not have access to adequate amounts of food now.
And we are spending money waging wars for fat cat arms dealers, mega-millionaires in the energy cartels and emerging market speculators?
You know what the saying "Let them eat cake!" did in France? It is a phrase normally attributed to Marie Antoinette but in fact was said by a French princess who is unnamed by the teller, Jean-Jacque Rousseau. She uttered this when she was told that the French had no bread to eat.
That one phrase ignited the French Revolution in the minds of the poor and hungry. The French aristocracy did not care that the French commoners were hungry. Neither does our aristocracy. These wars prove that. 49 million Americans without proper food while we fight 2 1/2 unnecessary wars is a moral breakdown of huge proportions.
News: U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards
No. 891-09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTRACTS: NAVY
Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Inc., Newport News, Va., is being awarded a $96,682,393 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for engineering, technical, design, configuration management, integrated logistics support, database management, research and development, modernization, trade, and industrial support for Los Angeles, Seawolf, Virginia, Ohio SSBN, and Ohio SSGN Class submarines, special mission submersible interfaces, submarine support facilities, as well as Foreign Military Sales programs. This contract includes options which, if exercised, will bring the total cumulative value of the contract to $635,287,686. Work will be performed in Newport News, Va., and is expected to be completed by September 2010. Contract funds in the amount of $44,473,900 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-10-C-2102).
News: Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-16-09
What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans
1. Local Impact Of VA GI Bill Tuition Funds Noted. 2. Obama Praised For Veterans Day Visit To Arlington Cemetery. 3. Study Indicates More Veterans Die From Lack Of Healthcare Than Combat In Afghanistan. 4. Massachusetts Veterans Receive "Welcome Home Bonuses" At Veterans Day Ceremony. 5. Programs Helping Returning Veterans Learn Job Skills. 6. Miss America Visits Patients At Baltimore VAMC. 7. New Illinois VAMC Clinic To Host Open House. 8. Tennessee VAMC Holds Drive-Through Flu Vaccination Exercise. 9. Schrader Hosts Oregon Veterans Forum. 10. South Dakota Legislature Moves Toward Establishing Separate VA.
News: Lack of Healthcare Kills Veterans at Much Higher Rate than Combat
Harvard study shows that for every American killed in Afghanistan in 2008, 14 military veterans died because they lacked healthcare coverage.
(SALEM, Ore.) - A report from Agence France Presse indicates that the number of American veterans who died in 2008 because they didn't have healthcare, is 14 times higher than the military death toll in Afghanistan, for the entire year.
Two Harvard medical researchers analyzed data, comparing U.S. combat-related deaths in Afghanistan, with the number of veterans who died because they lacked the ability to seek out adequate healthcare and access medical services. All of the veterans surveyed were under the age of 65.
( comments? )
- Posted by higgins on November 16, 2009 (95 reads)
News: Doctor No and Wounded Veterans
This editorial is straight from today's New York Times and concerns legislation being held up in the Senate by Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. of Oklahoma in order to bring attention to budget overloads in the 2010 National Budget.
Senator Coburn has made quite a name for himself over the years in the Senate by finding crucial legislation to stop in order to bring attention to the size of the deficit. This is not the first time he has done something like this.
The article needs no further comment from me. The story is here.
News: Stop the pretense of a mission. Bring them home!
In today's Washington Post late edition we find a story outlining Secretary of State Clinton's role in establishing clear guidelines for civilian aid to Afghanistan. That story is here.
That is a great idea, but to quote my paternal grandfather, "we are a day late and a dime short. "
We are well past the point where the American people want anything less than full disengagement from the nightmare and financial boondoggle that has been the Iraq-Afghan-Pakistan "wars". The American people just want us to pack up and go home. Believe me, we can not save what will not be saved. It is over. Lets face it.
News: Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-15-09
What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans
1. Shinseki Praised As VA Chief Most "Impatient" With Status Quo. 2. Citizens, Community Urged To Help VA Reintegrate Traumatized Soldiers. 3. Shinseki Co-Chairs New Council Spearheading Federal Jobs For Veterans. 4. Serious Shortage Of Mental-Health Counselor Seen In Afghanistan. 5. Duckworth Interviewed On Combat Veterans' Mental Health Issues, Her Future Plans. 6. Iraq, Afghan Vets' Outreach Worker Profiled. 7. Veterans' Counselor Offers Story Of Iraq Returnee's PTSD As Invisible Scar. 8. Veteran's Post-Separation Woes Said Due To PTSD. 9. Erie, Pennsylvania Gets Stimulus Funds For Homeless Female Veterans. 10. VA Counseling Center In Marietta Opens Today.
