A Young Marine Speaks Out

A Young Marine Speaks Out

When I joined I took an oath. In that oath I swore to protect the Constitution of the United States. I didn't swear to build democracies in countries on the other side of the world under the guise of "national security." I didn't join the military to be part of an Orwellian ("1984") war machine that is in an obligatory war against whoever the state deems the enemy to be so that the populace can be controlled and riled up in a pro-nationalistic frenzy to support any new and oppressive law that will be the key to destroying the enemy.

How Many More Will Die For Bush's Ego?

By Paul Craig Roberts

Are the American people, Congress, and the American Establishment going to let the death toll continue to mount day by day for the two more years it takes for Bush to become history?

Help A Vet, This Season and a Correction

Below you will find a call for Action, brought by 'Working Assets' and a few other groups, to help Veterans in VA Hospitals this Christmas Season.
It's a Great idea and for a few bucks you can Help many, giving to them a wonderful gift and for you the satisfaction you are helping those who have served for you even if only in a small way, at a time of year for family and friends.
If you live near a VA Facility you can join in in personally delivering the Cards and spending some Quality time with Veterans confined to the Hospital.

Dear Friends,
Later this month, thousands upon thousands of our nation’s veterans will be spending the holidays away from their families while recuperating in Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals. Drastically under-funded VA budgets mean that long-distance calls for the patients aren’t covered – and on a veteran’s pension, phone charges can really mount up.
So while others talk the talk about supporting the troops, we’re going to walk the walk – and support our veterans by giving them phone cards so they can call their loved ones over the holidays.
There are two ways you can help get phone cards to veterans this holiday season:
1) Donate to Help Buy the Cards. $5, $10 or $20 will make a big difference; a $20 contribution will mean that six veterans each get two hours of long-distance calls to their families. Click here for more information and to contribute: Phone Cards For Veterans

2) Help Us Deliver the Cards In Person. We’re setting up visits to VA Hospitals all over the country on December 18th to deliver the donated phone cards in person. Click here to find the VA facility nearest you and sign up to help with delivery: Phone Card Delivery
This is a joint project of Working Assets, CODEPINK, Veterans for Peace, Gold Star Families for Peace, and Iraq Veterans Against the War.
We hope you can participate; just click on one of the links above!
Thanks!
- Veterans For Peace
David Cline, VFP Board of Directors President
Michael T. McPhearson, Executive Director

Below you will find the Correction to a Diary I posted a few days ago.

Now this coming Sunday, 12-10-06, one of ePluribus Media's Very Own will be on for an hour radio show.

Now the person I will refer to Will Not Be On live this coming Sunday, 12-10-06.

The Phoenix AZ Chapter of Veterans For Peace have an hour Radio show called 'About Face' on their local 'Air America - 1480kphx' affiliate.

This comes on at 11am PT on Sunday Morning, I stream it at around 1pm ET, something about Phoenix not being on daylight savings time.

The above is right and would have been the program that was to air.

Ilona Meagher will have the Whole Show, this Sunday, with Guests she's invited to participate that are in her Upcoming Book, Moving A Nation To Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops

Now they will also be taping the show, and maybe more, as the Chapter Members, who put it on, have also started airing the 'About Face' on The Progressive Radio Network a new online streaming Radio Network.

That's where the correction needs to be made. Ilona won't be live this Sunday but will be taping a show for 'About Face' on The Progressive Radio Network, more about that show below.

They will be having a live Remote show at one of the local Phoenix Pubs for a 'Toys For Tots' collection for area kids. If receiving their 'Air America' broadcast listen in, or some may want to stream this show as well while you're online this Sunday.

From what I understand Ilona will be on Live on Sunday the 17th for a half hour of that show, talking to the hosts and taking calls, on the 'About Face' oRadio Show 'Air America - 1480kphx' affiliate.

Through E's with one of the hosts there was abit of miscommunications and understanding, by me.

They tape a few shows ahead for The Progressive Radio Network so it could be hard to pin down when the show with Ilona will air, But in talking with one of the hosts, Dennis Stout, he told me he's going to try and get a hold of the producers and see if they will air this show Next Saturday.

Whenever it airs, and they have yet to start placing titles on the shows at The Progressive Network, it should be within the next couple of weeks,you can Download and listen at your leasure. You can visit the site and you will see a Weekly Schedule of the programs they are now airing. If you look under Saturday you will find the 'About Face' program, you can click on that and visit their page, where you will find links to past programs to listen to or download.

According to Dennis they are looking to find a regular slot to air their show Live at The Progressive Radio Network. Apparently it's a Very Popular show, getting some 500,00 listeners streaming it, around the World, as well as some radio stations, in other Countries, airing it over their Networks.

This is the rest of the posting from the other day with abit more information:

This show, at The Progressive Radio Network, airs on Saturdays at 3pm PT, this isn't coming out of the Phoenix area so the time zones work, I get it at 6pm ET. These shows are taped, and they have a couple already in the can at the Network so it might be hard to pin down when the show with Ilona might air, it could be that following Saturday or the next.

The Network has a player right on the site, so when you get to the Home Page, or any of the show pages, you get the radio show that's airing.
The Sunday show, coming out of Phoenix, gives you a couple of player choices to listen in live.

For those who read the previous post, and might have been planning on tuning in to listen to Ilona, and her guests, this Sunday, sorry about the mixup. But you might want to stream the show anyway. Even though this is a first Remote for them they do put on a really interesting show and on regular Sunday Broadcasts they cover a wide veriaty of topics with some great information and connections.As they also do on the Saturday show as well.

Widows Become the Silent Tragedy

"The Iraq-Iran war took our fathers, and now the Bush war is taking our husbands and sons."

December 07, 2006
Widows Become the Silent Tragedy
Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily

BAGHDAD, Dec. 7 (IPS) - Hundreds of thousands of widows are becoming the silent tragedy of a country sliding deeper into chaos by the day.

Widows are the flip side of violence that has meant more than a million men dead, detained or disabled, Iraqi NGOs estimate. These men's wives or mothers now carry the burden of running the families.

"The total figure of men who have been killed, disabled or detained for long periods of time adds up to more than one and a half million," Khalid Hameed, chief of the Iraqi al-Raya human rights organisation told IPS. "The average number of Iraqi family members is seven, so about ten million Iraqis are facing the worst living circumstances."

In these circumstances, he said, women have had to "search for ways to survive and support their families at a time when not much help comes from the international community."

Most international NGOs left the country by last year apparently on the advice of governments of their countries pointing to growing violence and dangers to NGO members.

"International NGOs were conducting support projects for Iraqi women before they suddenly quit and left the country in a rush in October 2005," Faris Daghistani, who was project manager at the Baghdad mission for the Italian humanitarian aid organisation in Iraq INTERSOS told IPS.

"There was a wide focus on working women and how to support them by training and providing them with necessary tools to raise income on their own," he said. "It is a pity that most of our productive projects have stopped, and we had to leave women to face their fate on their own."

The violence since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is not the first to have taken its toll. Hundreds of thousands of men were killed, taken prisoner or disabled during the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq.

"We have never lived our lives as human beings should live," 42-year-old Dr Shatha Ahmed told IPS at her home in Baghdad. "The Iraq-Iran war took our fathers, and now the Bush war is taking our husbands and sons."

Women now face a long struggle surviving and bringing up families on their own, she said. "We could not even dream of developing our own skills."

Dr. Shatha's husband, also a doctor, was killed by Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army in September this year when he was leaving the Ministry of Health offices in Baghdad. She now has to support her family, and her husband's parents as well.

Some help is on offer to widows through groups such as the Iraqi Red Crescent, the Islamic Party, the Muslim Scholars Association and non-governmental organisations. But this support is not well organised, and is insufficient to help the growing number of widows.

The Social Affairs Office of the government has started paying the equivalent of about 100 dollars monthly to widows. But this payment cannot support whole families, given particularly the shooting inflation.

And the payment is not easy to get. "I had to pay a lot of money as bribes to government officials in order to get the monthly support payment, and that is not enough to support my big family," 47-year-old widow Haja Saadiya Hussein from Baghdad told IPS.

"Americans killed my husband last year near a checkpoint, and now I have to work as a servant in government officials' houses to earn a living for my six children. I have stopped them going to school, to cut my expenses."

Some widows have attempted to remarry in order to find support. Some second husbands, who are usually older, offer to take care of their new sons for religious reasons.

"There can be no compensation for losing a husband," a spokesperson from the Iraqi Red Crescent's social support department told IPS. "The world is responsible for these women who lost their spouses in the name of the international community."

Coming Radio Shows - PTSD

NPR's 'Talk Of The Nation'

Will have a show on Military Mental Health tomorrow, 12-7-06, this is the forward from site:

COMING UP:

Dec. 7 · Now that we know what the Iraq Study Group's final report says, we'll get reaction ... from Iraq, from two advisors to the group, and from you. Plus, The Motley Fool takes on the latest money matters. E-mail investment questions now to talk@npr.org. In the second hour, we discuss soldiers and mental health.

From what I caught in the brief announcement, at the end of the show today, it sounds like a continuation of the PTSD Investigative Report done monday on 'All Things Considered'. Visit site link tomorrow for more, you can call in to this show.

Now this coming Sunday, 12-10-06, one of ePluribus Media's Very Own will be on for an hour show.

The Phoenix AZ Chapter of Veterans For Peace have an hour Radio show called 'About Face' on their local 'Air America - 1480kphx' affiliate.

This comes on at 11am PT on Sunday Morning, I stream it at around 1pm ET, something about Phoenix not being on daylight savings time.

Ilona Meagher will have the Whole Show, this Sunday, with Guests she's invited to participate that are in her Upcoming Book, Moving A Nation To Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops

Now they will also be taping the show, and maybe more, as the Chapter Members, who put it on, have also started airing the 'About Face' on The Progressive Radio Network a new online streaming Radio Network.

This show airs on Saturdays at 3pm PT, this isn't coming out of the Phoenix area so the time zones work, I get it at 6pm ET. These shows are taped, and they have a couple already in the can at the Network so it might be hard to pin down when the show with Ilona might air, it could be that following Saturday or the next.

The Network has a player right on the site, so when you get to the Home Page, or any of the show pages, you get the radio show that's airing.

The Sunday show, coming out of Phoenix, gives you a couple of player choices to listen in live.

NPR - PTSD Investigative Report

This report was aired yesterday, 12-04-06, on 'All Things Considered'.

Soldiers Say Army Ignores, Punishes Mental Anguish
by Daniel Zwerdling

All Things Considered, December 4, 2006 ·
Army studies show that at least 20 percent to 25 percent of the soldiers who have served in Iraq display symptoms of serious mental-health problems, including depression, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Administration officials say there are extensive programs to heal soldiers both at home and in Iraq.

But an NPR investigation at Colorado's Ft. Carson has found that even those who feel desperate can have trouble getting the help they need. In fact, evidence suggests that officers at Ft. Carson punish soldiers who need help, and even kick them out of the Army.

You can read the rest, as well as Listen to the Report, at the report title link or just Click Here

There are a number of links at the site:

Such as the Mental-Health Questionnaire {pdf}: 'I am so sad or unhappy that I can't stand it.'

Or Doctor's Diagnosis {pdf}: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Or 'Counseling' Form {pdf}: Officials used disciplinary forms like this to cite Harvey for such infractions as "depression" and poor personal hygiene.

There are others as well of individual stories etc.

You can also share your Comments about the report, there is a link for an online means of doing so at site.

You can READ the Comments with this link, or again at site.

Here are but a few:

It's Hard to Believe

Mr. Zwerdling put together an amazing piece. I sat in my driveway with the car running for 20 minutes because I had to hear the end of the story. This piece will surely get the military's attention and maybe the attention of soldiers who need to admit they are having PTSD symptoms. It's hard to believe that, after Vietnam, our soldiers are still fighting with themselves and their superiors for help with PTSD. Mr. Z also did a great job trying to tell both sides of the story: the Army is a large organization and changing a culture of belief takes a lot of time and perseverance. This piece is a step in the right direction. What a talented journalist! A big pat on the back to him. Obviously he is one of NPR's best.

Time for Real Change

PTSD is a normal human response to witnessing or experiencing violence and feeling intense fear, horror, and helplessness. War is condoned violence. If everyone condoned peace, we could rid this world of war.

These soldiers need support from their government, not denial and punishment. It's time for real change.

Call to Arms

I haven't been so distressed by an NPR report in a very long time. I plan to go to my three congress members and demand that they initiate an investigation on the military's treatment of the mental health problems of our Iraq vets, both at Fort Carson and at other bases. And I will be telling ALL of my friends and relatives to listen to the story on the NPR Web site, and then tell their representatives to do the same.

At the same time, we must realize that our military has no monopoly on PTSD. Think of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis with PTSD, most of whom will never have any chance to receive treatment.

Barrier to Service

It is my opinion that the stigma of mental illness is still a main barrier to service. I have spent many years trying to live down and succeed in this society after Vietnam and receiving mental health services. I agree that a whole host of services should be provided to the veterans but if you get labeled with a mental health diagnosis you will be denied many of the rights afforded to others.

Shame on the Military

I am a civilian employee with the Department of the Interior (Field Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), and we have a program called the "employees assistance program" where we are allowed no less than six sessions with a counselor per year concerning any issue that may be effecting our lives free of charge. Now there are times when my job can be very hazardous, but at least I am not seeing people blown to bits or being shot at. I am amazed that returning soldiers who have risked their lives are ridiculed, called cowards, and denied treatment when they are diagnosed with PTSD! Shame on the military for being so backward! You think they would have learned their lesson from Vietnam.

There are many others Comments Posted, and I'll bet many many many people who listened to this yesterday are Completely Outraged, as they should be, and as You Should Be!!

Bring Them Home, NOW! And Take Care Of Them When They Get Here

And If We, As A Society, Refuse To Sacrifice Ourselves, Never Send Others Into Battles Of Choice Again!!!

Gotta Read This, Just Gotta

The Christian Right Goes Back to Bible Boot Camp

After a study revealed that less than 10% of evangelicals were bible literate, James Dobson's Focus on the Family is desperately taking a two-day multi-media Bible boot camp on the road, selling "truth" for $179 a seat.

Just this header paragraph Alternet gave it had me cracking up!!

But even before all that hit the fundamentalist fan, the movement was contending with a quieter, more systemic crisis: functional Biblical illiteracy among the flock. That's right, religious conservatives aren't so religious, after all.

"Although most people own a Bible and know some of its content," reported Barna, "our research found that most [professed evangelicals] have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities of life."

The prolific Barna dashed off a book in response to this worrying discovery. Entitled Think Like Jesus -- and marketed as "one of those books that really ticks off Satan" -- it quickly sold out in Barna's online bookstore. A second edition of Think Like Jesus soon went to press to further aggravate the Lord of Darkness.

After explaining the Biblical injunction to work and enjoy it, he imagines two businessmen having lunch. One says to the other: "I wish I could hire a Christian! They are so joyful, creative, excited and trustworthy! When I leave the office, they work even harder!"

Take a visit to read the rest HERE
ENJOY