Seeking Forgiveness for His Racism

"The evil of bigotry gives way to the power of redemption!"

Man Asks Entire Town for Forgiveness for Racism
2.06.09: 48 Years Ago, He Attacked Future Rep. John Lewis; Now the Two Hug

Elwin Wilson and John Lewis
Nearly half a century ago, in a very different America, Elwin Wilson and John Lewis met under a veil of violence and race-inspired hate. The men had not seen each other again until Tuesday when, with "Good Morning America's" help, Wilson approached Lewis again -- this time offering an apology and a chance to relieve a burden he'd carried for more than four decades.

He was asked a question by a friend, his answer wasn't what it should have been, and he knew that.

Wilson, a young, white, Southern man, attacked Lewis, a freedom rider for Martin Luther King, in the "white" waiting room of a South Carolina bus station.

Nearly half a century ago, in a very different America, Elwin Wilson and John Lewis met under a veil of violence and race-inspired hate.

Wilson was in the group, but said he "did more than help." He said he was the main attacker.

The outburst, Wilson said, was just part of a life of hate he led for years.

"I had a black baby doll in this house, and I had a little rope, and I tied it to a limb and let it hang here," he said.

In a diner, with a look of glee on his face, he threw eggs at black men who tried to enter.

He watched as Barack Obama was sworn in as President, he didn't vote for Barack but he's prayed for him.

Wilson has been on his own freedom march in search of forgiveness.

He went back to the diner where he threw eggs. He went all around town, apologizing to anyone he may have wronged.

One of those was Representative Lewis and Mr. Wilson sought him out in Washington DC seeking his forgiveness, he found what he sought and certainly much more!

2.07.09 CNN News Video Report:

"The evil of bigotry gives way to the power of redemption!"


Ex-Klansman: 'I'm sorry'
Former Klansman Elwin Wilson apologizes to the "whole world" for beating Rep. John Lewis long ago.

Convict Bush and Cheney and ...

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Click on each individual link in graphic to visit and click on 'play' button to listen to "Lock Them Up" from a brother 'Nam Vet, Pat Scanlon.




This is a video I put together, last year, using Pat's Song, Enjoy!

Army: 24 Suspected Suicides in January '09

This is just being reported,

Army reports alarming rise in suicides last month

There has been a small sprinkling of reports about the Military Suicides in the last couple of months, most of those found only if one is hitting a number of news outlets but not making National News, even as those who serve do so for the Country not a Community located near a base or where their from.

The Army is investigating a stunning number of suicides in January — a count that could surpass all combat deaths on America's two warfronts last month.

According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were 24 suspected suicides in January, compared to only four in January of 2008, six in January of 2007 and 10 in January of 2006.

Questions, once again, and I say that as a 'Nam Veteran, we who've watched this all before, have been rising as to why the numbers are going up and the causes. As it says above we have Two Theaters of occupations ongoing, with multiple tours by many in both theaters, add now the collapsing economy, the still lacking help for trauma brought back from service in these theaters and stress of being away from family and home on extended tours over and over, the strains on marriages and the family as a whole, misuse of addictive substances to deal, and other factors I'm sure.

"The trend and trajectory seen in January further heightens the seriousness and urgency that all of us must have in preventing suicides," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, said of the new monthly number Thursday.

The 24 suspected January suicides include seven confirmed and 17 still being investigated. Usually the vast majority of suspected suicides are eventually confirmed, and if that holds true it would mean that self-inflicted deaths surpassed the 16 combat deaths reported in all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations considered part of the global war on terror last month.

Most of the reports one might catch rarely give a reason or cause, just that a soldier, or veteran, especially a young recent vet, has been found dead, rarely giving a followup or unless local to the original the followup is not seen.

The Military is Broken, that's not to say those serving are not doing so Honorably, but once again, because of Wars and Occupations of Choice, the systems surrounding those serving are stretched past the breaking point and only little relief is forth coming quickly!

These problems were forecast by many of us that they would occur, no one listened, no one took the lead in even bringing them up as the beating of the war drums grew and grew and we're now six and seven years still occupying.

Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'

Army Releases January Suicide Data; Re-emphasizes Efforts

Army sees significant rise in January suicides

Soldier suicides up for 4th consecutive year

Army suicide prevention

A Few Earlier Reports on Shinseki from today

Shinseki pledges top-down review, change

"I intend to ... demand the highest levels of integrity, transparency and performance in leading the department through the fundamental and comprehensive change it must quickly undergo," Shinseki said. "There's a long tradition of VA providing leadership in medicine, of setting standards in many fields. Where we lead, we must continue. Where we do not, we must regain that leadership."

Paperwork among VA chief's priorities

The newly appointed head of the Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday the department needs a fundamental change in how it handles its paperwork.

Eric Shinseki described a Sisyphean task for caseworkers trying to plow through the backlog of files to make decisions on veterans' claims.

Members of the committee peppered Shinseki with questions about the VA's handling of mental health issues. The secretary said that much progress has been made in understanding traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) since he served in Vietnam, but there is plenty more to do.

"I am now watching all of our efforts to understand PTSD, TBI, substance abuse amongst our veterans and have a better appreciation of what we put my comrades through when we came back" from Vietnam, he said. "None of these programs were available, in fact. None of these terms were in vogue then. We still don't understand enough. We are still learning."

The chairman of the committee, Rep. Bob Filner, D-California, expressed frustration that screenings for the disorders were done through a self-evaluation, rather than through medical examination, and he implored Shinseki to change that.

ABC News End of Last Month Report

Military Suicides at a 30-Year High


Suicide Rate Reflects Toll of Army Life

With Suicides at a 30-Year High, Army Vows to Address Problem

In 2008 alone, the Army reports there were at least 128 confirmed cases of suicide, more than a dozen of which are still under review.

U.S. Army Suicides Highest In 3 Decades

 

And this is just reports on the Army, nothing yet on any possible Marine numbers.

Bring Them Home, And Take Care Of Them When They Return, Full Care!!

"Born Again American"

By Keith Carradine

Just a workin’ man without a job
It got shipped off to China via Washington, D.C.
And I know I’m nothin’ special, there are plenty more like me
Just the same
I thought I knew the rules of the game

I stood up for this country that I love
I came back from the desert to a wife and kids to feed
I’m not sayin’ Uncle Sam should give me what I need
My offer stands
I’ll pull my weight you give me half a chance

I went up to a congressman and said to him “you know
Our government is letting people down”
He said he’d need a lot of help to buck the status-quo
I said there was a bunch of us around

I’m a Born Again American, conceived in Liberty
My Bible and the Bill of Rights, my creed’s equality
I’m a Born Again American, my country ‘tis of me
And everyone who shares the dream from sea to shining sea

My brother’s welding chassis at the plant
He’s earning what our granddad did in 1948
While CEOs count bonuses behind the castle gates
How can they see
When all they care about’s the do re mi

It’s getting where there’s nowhere left to turn
Not since the crash of twenty-nine have things been so unfair
So many of our citizens are living in despair
The time has come
To reaffirm that hope’s not just for some

The promise of America’s surrendering to greed
The rule is just look out for number one
But brace yourself ‘cause some of us have sown a different seed
A harvest of the spirit has begun

I’m a Born Again American conceived in liberty
My Bible and The Bill Of Rights
My creed’s equality
A Born Again American, my country ‘tis of me
And everyone who shares the dream from sea to shining sea

It’s clear my country’s soul is on the line
She’s hungering for something that she lost along the way
The principle the framers called upon us to obey
That in this land
The people’s will must have the upper hand

I felt the calling once before and took a sacred vow
And faithful to that vow I have remained
I hear the calling once again, my country needs me now
And to her cause I have been re-ordained

I’m a Born Again American conceived in liberty
My Bible and the Bill Of Rights, all people living free
A Born Again American, my country ‘tis of me
And everyone who shares the dream
From sea to shining sea
And everyone who shares the dream
From sea to shining sea
A M E R I C A

Soldiers Get Shafted, Again and........................!!

I was trying to write something more about this report I just read, but after these last eight previous years my rage keeps me from thinking straight in trying to add words to the total apathy, arrogance, and incompetence found in this country and it's elected representatives.

But I want you to meet Melissa Sterry, a Gulf War I National Guard Veteran, from New Haven Connecticut, and read the cuts I placed below also visiting the Hartford Advocate and read the rest, not only about Ms. Sterry but as to the rest of the Veterans of Connecticut, and what the state reps have to say.

Cut and Run
The Rell administration quietly kills a program to track the health of sick war veterans

Melissa Sterry's job was to clean them and ready them for storage. She'd climb inside the tanks and with a simple dust pan and broom, sweep out the Iraqi sand and the rubbish left behind by the tank operators.

Sterry was sweeping up something else too, something too small to see: dust from depleted uranium, a radioactive substance the military uses to make ammunition armor-piercing and bunker-busting. For months, Sterry cleaned these tanks without protective gear, kicking depleted uranium airborne and into her lungs.

Today, Sterry is a medical train wreck. The 46-year-old Gulf War veteran takes 11 kinds of medication — some daily and others as needed for pain — and suffers from chronic headaches, upper respiratory disease, bronchitis and a host of other ailments.

Like most Gulf War vets, the federal Veterans Administration refuses to test Sterry for exposure to depleted uranium or other chemical toxins she was exposed to in the Middle East.

So Sterry turned to the state government, and in 2005 helped Connecticut become the first state in the nation to craft a law to test returning combat troops for exposure to battlefield health hazards, including depleted uranium.

But the state has turned its back on Sterry and the more than 30,000 Connecticut troops who have deployed to combat zones in the Middle East and the Balkans since 1990. The Advocate has learned that Gov. Jodi Rell, through her budget office, quietly killed funding for the veterans health registry without telling the lawmakers who sponsored the program, nor the veterans whom it would serve.

If the registry isn't restored, hundreds of Connecticut-based troops could go undiagnosed and uncatalogued. The state has sent 16,000 troops to war since Sept. 11, 2001 and another 75 National Guardsmen and women shipped off to the southwest Asia last week, their second deployment to the war zone.

"People really don't care about veterans," Sterry says. "They really don't give a shit about us. People want to trot out veterans on photo-ops. They want to go put wreaths on gravestones. But real human beings with real life problems? No, we don't care."

Who is Gov. Jodi Rell, According to Wikipedia.

Mary Jodi Rell (born June 16, 1946) is a Republican politician who became the 72nd Governor of the U.S. state of Connecticut on July 1, 2004. She had been the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut until Governor John G. Rowland resigned during a corruption investigation. Rell is Connecticut's second female Governor, after Ella T. Grasso.

To Sterry, cutting help for vets to balance the books is just plain heartless.

"We understand care and maintenance of our military vehicles, but we don't understand we need to do the same for our troops," Sterry says. "Do you want to change the oil in the engine or do you want to replace the engine when it seizes up? These actions are just a reflection of, We'll just change the engine when it seizes up."

Rell's press office was asked to explain why they cut funds for the registry and to respond to reactions like those of Sterry that denying health screening to combat troops is cold-hearted. Despite four calls and one e-mail to the governor's press shop over three days, we received no response to our questions. The governor's chief spokesman, Christopher Cooper, referred us the Jeffrey Beckham, undersecretary for legislative affairs at OPM, who responded with this statement:

"That program was new and had not gotten started. The agency required some cooperation from the federal government to get it going and I understand that cooperation was somewhat lacking. Given that we were struggling to protect existing programs, we thought that not going forward with that new program was a reasonable call."

We asked Beckham in a follow-up e-mail to elaborate about the lack of federal cooperation and respond to the questions unanswered by the governor's staff, but did not receive a response by press time.

Now I'm assuming, and probably right, about the lack of federal cooperation, that they are talking about the previous administrations control, as the present has been on the job only since January 20th '09.

Another in an ever growing list of the Incompetence and Corrupt leadership we've been a party to for these last eight years in the federal government, including the years of control prior to in the congress, and coming also out of the state governments!

Now a certain political party can't be blamed for everything concerning Military and Veterans Care, but this political party are the ones Thumbing their Chests as to being True 'Americans', More 'Patriotic', Stronger on 'National Defense', and the only True 'Supporters of the Troops' and thus us Veterans, and are the ones who championed the Two Occupations and the creation of huge numbers of enemies towards our country and it's citizens!!

Duckworth Tapped for VA Assistant Secretary

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate L. Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, to be the Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

As assistant secretary, Duckworth will direct VA’s public affairs, internal communications and intergovernmental relations. She also will oversee programs for homeless Veterans, consumer affairs and special rehabilitative events.

Veterans offered health care help

For veterans struggling financially because of a job loss or decreased income, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers programs that can relieve the costs of health care or provide care at no cost.

Veterans whose previous income was ruled too high for VA health care may be able to enter the system based on a hardship if their current year's income is projected to fall below federal income thresholds because of a job loss, separation from service or some other financial setback. Those eligible due to hardship can avoid co-pays applied to higher-income veterans. Qualifying veterans might be eligible for enrollment and receive health care at no cost.

Also eligible for no-cost VA care are most veterans who recently returned from a combat zone.

Halvorson speaks on veterans' affairs

"I also believe that the veterans' issues are going to be a huge priority for me," Halvorson said, immediately acknowledging concerns. "The last administration has created so many veterans, it's going to be up to us to figure out a way to make sure that they're a top priority and that we are ready for them when they come home…"

"We've got to do whatever we can to take care of that."

America’s Wounded Warriors March on Washington, DC

Responding to President Obama’s call for all Americans to get more involved, America’s Wounded Warriors from across the country will converge on Washington, D.C. the second week of February, 2009 to meet with their Senators and Members of Congress. Their purpose will be to educate their Representatives on the issues of greatest importance to all Veterans, not just those who have been wounded in combat.

Coming by twos and threes from almost every State and Territory, Capitol Hill will be awash in a sea of color as some 100 members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart travel the halls of Congress, their distinctive blue blazers adorned with the medals they were awarded for defending our National freedoms. The most prominent of these will be the Purple Heart Medal worn on their lapel, the symbol of dedicated service to the country.

The Spy Factory

Last night, 2.03.09, the PBS News Hour had a preview of what could be an eye opening report on the National Security Agency that might just answer some of the many questions about what has been going on in the previous administration, and before, and may continue from now on!

The preview was of a show to air tonight, 2.04.09, on PBS NOVA NOVA Examines Spying in Post-9/11 World

This is what was on the News Hour:

Report
Three times the size of the CIA, the National Security Agency includes top linguists, mathematicians, and technologists trained to decipher all kinds of communications. The NewsHour previews NOVA's report, "The Spy Factory," that examines the NSA's spy technology and what it means for ordinary Americans' privacy and security.

You can watch with this link

Or listen with this link

The Spy Factory - Airs on NOVA Feb 3rd '09 at 8pm est, you will be able to watch the show online from Feb. 4th.

They have a few interesting links at the NOVA show site:

Ask the Expert
Author James Bamford answers viewer questions about the NSA, 9/11, and more.


Investigating 9/11
Eleanor Hill, who led congressional hearings on the attacks, discusses pre-9/11 intelligence failures in this interview. {much more at link}

The New Thought Police
George Orwell's secret police have nothing on two new NSA systems designed to read people's minds.

With the entire Internet and thousands of databases for a brain, the device will be able to respond almost instantaneously to complex questions posed by intelligence analysts. As more and more data is collected—through phone calls, credit card receipts, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, GPS tracks, cell phone geolocation, Internet searches, Amazon book purchases, even E-Z Pass toll records—it may one day be possible to know not just where people are and what they are doing, but what and how they think.

The system is so potentially intrusive that at least one researcher has quit, citing concerns over the dangers in placing such a powerful weapon in the hands of a top-secret agency with little accountability. {much more at link}

Decoding Speech
If you think computers can easily recognize and transcribe spoken language, think again.
This is a NOVA Podcast, brings up a player window, that is 51/2 minutes long, called "How can computers decipher spoken language."

Watch the Program. Come back beginning February 4, 2009 to watch the full program online here. You can watch a preview of the program now.

QuickTime: watch a video clip via:
QuickTime: Hi | Low

Windows Media: Hi | Low

Program Participants The Spy Factory

JAMES BAMFORD
Author, "The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America"

Body of Secrets - About the Author

ERIC HASELTINE
NSA Director of Research, 2002-2005

TIM SAMPLE
Former Staff Director, House Intelligence Committee

MICHAEL SCHEUER
Former CIA Analyst

MARK ROSSINI
Former FBI Supervisory Agent

FRANK BLANCO
NSA Executive Director, 1999-2001

ELEANOR HILL
Staff Director, Congressional 9/11 Committee

GENERAL MICHAEL HAYDEN
NSA Director, 1999-2005

MARK KLEIN
Former AT&T Technician

BRIAN REID
Internet Systems Consortium

ADRIENNE KINNE
Former NSA Voice Interceptor

DAVID MURFEE FAULK
Former NSA Voice Interceptor

Looks like 'Big Brother' is alive and well in this country, to what extent will certain people carry it beyond what some already have done, and how will it change societies and our ideologies!

"Take Our Planet Back"

Will.i.am and DipDive have debuted a new video focusing on the need for citizens and their leaders to deal with the serious environmental problems that our planet faces. The video features clips of Al Gore, montages of the various environmental challenges we face, and will.i.am singing. It is titled "Take Our Planet Back."

Costs of the Military Industrial Complex and War/Occupation, Unquestioned!!

Rep. Barney Frank Goes There. . .

Frank: "I don't understand from my conservative friends, building a road, building a school, helping to get health care, that's wasteful spending. But that war in Iraq, that's going to cost us over a trillion dollars, yeah, I wish we hadn't done that we would have been in a lot better shape fiscally."

Frank: "The problem is that we look at spending and say, "Oh, don't spend on highways. Don't spend on health care. But let's build Cold War weapons to defeat the Soviet Union when we don't need them. Let's have hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars going to the military without a check."

Some of you may not remember this, but President Obama gave a speech titled "The Cost of War" during the campaign, here's the video and a partial transcript:

In the comments some people are pointing out that this is the argument that needs to be made, well we need to put it out there then. Please DIGG this diary so more people can see the video of Frank and the one of President Obama.

DIGG it here

What is a 'Stimulus Package' especially as to Infrastructure and Program Investment? It's our federal tax dollars, that should have already been coming back to our states, in maintaining and improving that which we had already built and developed. Spent wisely it brings returns back to the communities and the country. These monies have not been returning, as they should have, as we spent and wasted them on that which brings wealth and power to the few, pushing off to later dates the really needed. Thus causing those cost to skyrocket way above what should have been and passing on these costs to coming generations and wasted interests on that which is now borrowed to fix that which should already have been!

Bush's War Totals

Iraq's Shocking Human Toll: About 1 Million Killed, 4.5 Million Displaced, 1-2 Million Widows, 5 Million Orphans

Now that Bush is gone, perhaps we can honestly face the damage we have wrought and the responsibilities we must accept from it.