Operation Iraqi Baseball

The Rachel Maddow Show: UpDate on the sending of the much needed baseball supplies to the Iraqi Baseball National Team, in order to even play the game, that had none:

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Online Memorial to U.S., Coalition Troops

With the Google Earth layer, users can click on service members' names, hometowns and profiles.

Each year on Memorial Day, tens of thousands of Americans visit Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington to pay tribute to the men and women who died serving the United States.

For people who are unable to make the trip, a new online memorial provides a unique way to honor those service members who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new Google Earth layer, called Map the Fallen, enables the user to pinpoint where, when, and how each service member died since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. A line connects the service member's approximate location of death to his or her hometown.

The interactive tool -- available at mapthefallen.org -- also offers a detailed profile of each person...........

Digital Memorial to Troops

John King demonstrates a new, interactive digital memorial to the fallen troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN State of the Union - John King

Honoring the Fallen on a Google Earth map on CNET.

The Faces Of The Fallen In Operation Iraqi Freedom And Operation Enduring Freedom. Washington Post.

MSNBC Photo Slide Show for Memorial Day 2009

The Shock Doctrine

"The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"

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Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you.

"At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq'' civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves… Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly outsources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater… After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts… New Orleans residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be re-opened." Klein not only kicks butt, she names names, notably economist Milton Friedman and his radical Chicago School of the 1950s and 60s which she notes "produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington today." Stand up and take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld.

There's little doubt Klein's book--which arrived to enormous attention and fanfare thanks to her previous missive, the best-selling "No Logo: No Space, No Choice", No Jobs", will stir the ire of the right and corporate America. It's also true that Klein's assertions are coherent, comprehensively researched and footnoted, and she makes a very credible case. Even if the world isn't going to hell in a hand-basket just yet, it's nice to know a sharp customer like Klein is bearing witness to the backroom machinations of government and industry in times of turmoil. --Kim Hughes --This text refers to the "Hardcover edition".

On Tammy Duckworth

Rachel Maddow: 4.24.09

Torture-Related Documents Listing

Thanks to David Swanson who has these posted at AfterDowningStreet

May 10, 2005, Bradbury memo to the CIA on legality of specific interrogation techniques

May 30, 2005, Bradbury memo to the CIA on whether interrogation techniques violate U.N. Convention Against Torture (Part 1)

May 30, 2005, Bradbury memo to the CIA on whether interrogation techniques violate U.N. Convention against Torture (Part 2)

CIA Inspector General report 2004

Aug. 1, 2002, Bybee memo to CIA regarding treatment of Abu Zubaydah

Much More Here

And this from KO's MSNBC Show 4.24.09

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As well as this

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What motive does the Army have to misdiagnose PTSD?

So asks the two Salon writers, Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna, following their recent series starting with the incriminating evidence, an audio recording by a Veteran suffering from PTS. Recording his visit because his wife couldn't be there so he needed a way to remember what took place in his session with his army psychologist.

A reluctance to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder could be about the money, and about the need for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The subject title and the blockquote above are what they use in their forth of four reports from last week. That all started with this audio from a session with Sgt. X and his army psychologist:

April 10, 2009 | In two stories published this week, Salon has described how a soldier secretly taped a psychologist saying that the Army was exerting pressure not to diagnose soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychologist Douglas McNinch of Fort Carson, Colo., twice states on the recording that the Army discourages PTSD diagnoses.

If what McNinch says on the tape is true, why is it happening? Why would the Army purposely diagnose soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder with something other than PTSD? Combat stress is as real as your big toe. Why would the Army want to deny, or at least minimize, a known consequence of combat? The truth might rest in math.

This is their first report:

"I am under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD"

A secret recording reveals the Army may be pushing its medical staff not to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder. The Army and Senate have ignored the implications.

Editor's note: Last June, during a medical appointment, a patient named "Sgt. X" recorded an Army psychologist at Fort Carson, Colo., saying that he was under pressure not to diagnose combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

April 8, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- "Sgt. X" is built like the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he rode in while in Iraq. He's as bulky, brawny and seemingly impervious as a tank.

In an interview in the high-rise offices of his Denver attorneys, however, symptoms of the damaged brain inside that tough exterior begin to appear. Sgt. X's eyes go suddenly blank, shifting to refocus oddly on a wall. He pauses mid-sentence, struggling for simple words. His hands occasionally tremble and spasm.

The Audio with above initial report is the one above or at that site page.

The next day Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna wrote a follow up article:

Tale of the secret Army tape

After a soldier taped a psychologist saying he'd been pressured not to diagnose PTSD, the Army launched an investigation. Read the details of how the Army declared itself innocent.

Editor's note: Read about Sgt. X's tape -- and listen to a segment of it -- in the first story in this series, "I Am Under a Lot of Pressure to Not Diagnose PTSD." Read a summary of the Army's internal investigation, in which it determined that it was not exerting such pressure, here

"This report does not find pressure to change clinical diagnoses"
A summary of an Army investigation says some soldiers with PTSD may not get the diagnoses they deserve -- but nobody in the Army did anything wrong.

April 9, 2009 | In a story published yesterday, Salon reported on a surreptitious tape recording of an Army psychologist telling a patient last June that he had been pressured not to diagnose soldiers as having post-traumatic stress disorder. The soldier, whom Salon dubbed Sgt. X to protect his identity, recorded the Fort Carson, Colo., psychologist, Douglas McNinch, twice describing pressure to label soldiers with "anxiety disorder" instead of PTSD. The diagnosis of anxiety disorder could result in improper treatment and lower disability payments if the Army discharges a soldier from the military. "It's not fair," McNinch said on the tape. "I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers."

That night, the 9th, on MSNBC HardBall they had this discussion:



Now to just break in, on the Salon reports, here this was known about, or at least suspected, from reports many of us Veterans or Advocates of had been hearing about or in talking to the returning soldiers from these two theaters. But on May 15th 2008 VoteVets and CREW {Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington} broke it open with a press release:

15 May 2008 // Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and VoteVets.org released an e-mail obtained from a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee directing VA staff to refrain from diagnosing soldiers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

And in searching out a bit of information I came across this CNN Video from a month before:

Post traumatic stress stigma Sun, March 8, 2009
Army generals hope to remove the stigma that keeps many soldiers from getting help for stress. CNN's Barbara Starr reports.

These two Generals had recently come out about their own PTS and the counciling and help they received, and their want to help their fellow soldiers to seek out the help needed themselves.

On the day of the second Salon report there was another discussion at CNN:

Veterans and PTSD Thurs. April 9 2009
Veterans groups talk about post-traumatic stress disorder to CNN's Kyra Phillips
.

Now in the CNN discussion, in the beginning, Kyra makes the point that they've been contact the new Veterans Administration Director General Shinseki and that he hadn't returned their contacts for this report. I'm not going to fault Kyra for whatever point she wanted to make, as she clears that up later in the discussion by pointing out this all happened under the previous administration in 2008. But will say that the General has only been in the lead a very short time, and would not want to speak about all that is coming out finally until he has all the facts, so Kyra think before speaking please!

Salon followed up the first two reports with the following:

"I believe that I did have PTSD"

Matthew Marino was sent back to Afghanistan for a second tour of duty after the Army diagnosed him with "anxiety disorder" instead of post-traumatic stress disorder.

April 10, 2009 | Matthew Marino served five years in the Army and was deployed to fight in Afghanistan twice. He began to suffer from symptoms typical of post-traumatic stress disorder following his first tour. After returning to Fort Drum, N.Y. in late 2004, he couldn't lose the hyper-alertness he'd developed in Afghanistan. He had thoughts of suicide, was nervous, had nightmares, couldn't sleep, and stayed away from family and friends.

Despite his symptoms, however, the Army diagnosed the first lieutenant with anxiety disorder instead of PTSD. He was also diagnosed with depression and given antidepressants. The Army then "stop-lossed" Marino, to prevent him from leaving the Army although his time was up. He was shipped back to Afghanistan for a second tour in 2006. A diagnosis of PTSD might have kept him from being redeployed and sent back into combat; a diagnosis of anxiety disorder did not.

While searching I found a few more reports, following the Salon report, like this one:

Wartime Mental Health, Scandal and Stigma

Posted on April 9th, 2009 by Kelley Vlahos

Nearly a year ago, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that eliminating the stigma of mental health from the military culture would be a Pentagon priority. Seeing that some one-third of soldiers returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are reporting mental health symptoms, particularly those associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), hearing him say, “We have no higher priority in the Department of Defense, apart from the war itself, than taking care of our men and women in uniform who have been wounded — who have both visible and unseen wounds,” was at the very least, an institutional acknowledgment of the problem.

Good intentions and politically correct language aside, like most of what we see and hear in Washington, his words papered over and have yet to affect a cruel reality, one with which only a small percentage of Americans have any real familiarity. Perhaps with the help of investigative reporters Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna, who have been producing some amazing work for Salon.com, we can all get up to speed.

I would like to make a couple of points to Kelley on an otherwise needed article. First: when Gates made his call he was relatively new in an administration that, while starting two long running occupations, all that is coming out now happened under their watch and with a congress of the same political ideology. Second: we could have all "gotten up to speed" if many had been listening to those of us, in the previous administration labeled "focus groups", had been saying all along, not to mention all of us Veterans who have been saying for years, but welcome to the reality now!!

WWP Concerned by Stigma of PTSD and Mental Illness in Military

In response to recently released information, http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/Wounded Warrior Project again cited their grave concerns with the manner in which mental health and PTSD are perceived and dealt with within the military. One specific article on Salon.com highlighted concerns that military doctors are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD in returning military personnel and specifically brought to light such a situation in Fort Carson, Colorado.

"Post traumatic stress disorder is very serious," said Nardizzi. "We call on the military to prioritize the reduction of this stigma against seeking care and to foster unfettered access to mental health services, regardless of cost."

VA psychiatrist orchestrates services for increased PTSD patients

Some veterans got proper treatment 20 or 30 years after the issue should have been recognized, he said.

Many returning Vietnam veterans sought refuge from PTSD with addictive behaviors. They were frequently misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychological abnormalities, Otero said. In reality, they were driven to those addictions to mask the increasing severity of flashbacks to horrific combat experiences.

"One of the differences between the current war and the Vietnam conflict is that current vets are receiving counseling and education (about PTSD) before they go and immediately after they return, he said.

"We are trying to catch PTSD early - undiagnosed, it becomes a much more disabling condition," he said.

While the VA mental health community is much more in tune to the workings of PTSD for the new group of veterans, these veterans face some stress issues the Vietnam era combatants did not.

As many Vietnam-era veterans were drafted, they served in the combat zone for a year and were discharged back to civilian life, Otero said.

Now this is for the Veterans and residents of Maryland but others may want to study what they're doing and submit to their state legislators to follow the example, if you don't have similar in your states.

Veterans Network Of Care Portal
Lt. Governor Brown Launches Maryland Veterans Network Of Care Portal

Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Press Release:

ANNAPOLIS, MD (March 31, 2009) - Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown today joined representatives of the public mental health industry and veterans affairs as Maryland became the first state in the nation to launch a "Network of Care" Website devoted to the state's veterans. The Maryland Veterans Network of Care portal is an on-line resource that provides simple and fast access to information on local, state and national behavioral health services available to veterans. The portal is part of Network of Care online community.>>>>>Rest Here

And those who may be seeking a new profession, have kids looking for a rewarding profession, or are returning Veterans of these conflicts seeking to continue your service to country and citizens of, you may find this worthy to research further.

VA Announces New Nursing Academy Sites
April 9, 2009

To provide compassionate, highly-trained nurses to serve the health care needs of the nation’s Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is establishing new partnerships with five of the country’s finest nursing schools. With these new partnerships, the VA Nursing Academy will expand the number of collaborations between the department and nursing schools from 10 to 15.

“The expanded role of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the education of nurses will ensure the department has the nurses needed to continue our world-class health care for Veterans,” said Dr. Linda D. Johnson, director of VA Nursing Academy. “The VA Nursing Academy expands the teaching faculty, improves recruitment and retention, and creates new educational and research opportunities.”

The VA Nursing Academy is a virtual five-year pilot program with central administration in Washington. It expands learning opportunities for nursing students at VA facilities, funds faculty development of VA staff for additional faculty positions to competitively selected school partners. The five-year, $59 million program began in 2007.

The names of the newly added schools, as well as those participating already in the program, can be found at the site link.

"You Picked the Wrong Fight Burr, The Wrong Fight Indeed!!"

For many of us older vets know what is really behind those flag pins, the wrapping of oneself in the flag, the magnetic ribbons, the huge defense budgets and so much more of the words and not actions.

Rachel Maddow 'SLAMS' Republican North Carolina Senator Richard Burr because of his obstruction of confirming Tammy Duckworth to the Veterans Administrations



We take an oath when giving of ourselves to the service of the Country and Constitution:

I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Does anyone see any mention of political party affiliation in that oath, does anyone see anything that relates to us being used as political pawns by those we hire to represent?


And Jon Soltz Speaks What Many Vets Are Saying and Thinking

His actions angered some veterans groups Friday.

"Senator Burr has had plenty of time to ask questions of her," Jon Soltz, the chairman of VoteVets.org, an organization of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, said in a statement. "Senator Burr is only hurting American veterans with this nonsense. He should stop playing petty partisan games, stop needling the White House for the sheer fun of it and grow up."

Burr still has questions about Duckworth's nomination, his office said. >>>>> Rest Here

AKAKA SPEAKS OUT ON BURR'S DELAY....
OF DUCKWORTH CONFIRMATION

"I did not hear any concerns expressed at the hearing that would block her confirmation ... This is a disappointing setback."

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka issued the following statement tonight after the nomination of L. Tammy Duckworth to be VA Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs was not considered at a business meeting of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee:

Larry Scott at VA Watchdog!!

**********

Contact Sen. Richard Burr's Office Through his Online Contact Form

Or:

Asheville
Federal Building
151 Patton Avenue, Suite 204
Asheville, NC 28801
Phone: (828) 350-2437
Fax: (828) 350-2439

Rocky Mount
100 Coast Line Street, Room 210
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
Phone: (252) 977-9522
Fax: (252) 977-7902

Washington, DC
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154
Fax: (202) 228-2981


Winston-Salem
2000 West First Street
Suite 508
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Phone: (800) 685-8916
Phone: (336) 631-5125
Fax: (336) 725-4493

Gastonia
City Hall
181 South Street, Room 222
Gastonia, NC 28052
Phone: (704) 833-0854
Fax: (704) 833-1467

Wilmington
201 North Front Street
Suite 809
Wilmington, NC 28401
Phone: (888) 848-1833
Phone: (910) 251-1058

Now most reading will think, "He's not my Senator so what good would my contacting do, and it's a waste of time and effort.". NOT, the Veterans Administration and the Military are not there just for North Carolina, we serve the Country and it's Constitution. So Contact Today, let him come to work on monday and know, as Jon said: "Grow Up Senator Burr, Grow Up!"

**********

Major reforms in works for veterans' benefits

""Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter pilot badly wounded in Iraq and now up for a top position in the VA, told lawmakers Wednesday that "If (the VA) cannot be in every hometown across America, we will find partners who are."""

WASHINGTON - For years, government care and benefits for veterans were often hard to get because of bureaucratic or geographic hurdles.

But that may be changing.

Veterans' advocates - including lawmakers and the newly appointed leaders of the Veterans Affairs Department - are pushing sweeping reforms in benefits and management practices to modernize the system.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, is shepherding a raft of legislation that would enhance education benefits, increase access to medical care and raise income ceilings that cut off access to services. >>>>>Rest Here

**********

PSI Supports DoD and VA Mission

to Treat Soldiers with PTSD and TBI

HIMSS 2009 Annual Conference

FALLS CHURCH, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Planned Systems International, Inc. (PSI), a leading provider of information technology (IT) solutions and services to the federal government, is involved in three major initiatives which support the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veterans Administration (VA) in their mission to deliver critical Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) care for our nation's Wounded Warriors.

An article in US Medicine reported that service members returning from war with PTSD and/or TBI has been a growing concern in the military. In the article, Mike Veasey, Defense Health Services Systems principal deputy program manager, indicated that many of these service-members live in rural areas where they receive care through TRICARE's civilian network. The article highlighted the importance of these civilian physicians having the training they need to care for our veterans.

The Civilian Provider Training Portal, a pilot web portal developed by a team of PSI specialists for the TRICARE Management Activity (TMA), provides training to civilian health care providers who care for service members and veterans with PTSD and TBI. With PSI's assistance, MHS Learn delivers this training through a new front-end portal, complete with continuing medical education certificates, custom reports, and a refined Self Registration process. The pilot program is taking place for six (6) months and will then be evaluated for potential production of additional education courses to help providers treat patients suffering from disorders related to military experiences. The Civilian Provider Training Portal is also supported by Oracle Corporation's (Oracle) iLearning software and On Demand services and can be accessed at Mil/Civilian Provider Education.***** >>>>>Rest Here

**********

To Last Decades...........

Vets' homelessness, mental problems expected to last decades

Homelessness, family strains and psychological problems among returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will persist in the United States for generations to come, the top U.S. military officer said Thursday.
"This is not a 10-year problem. It is a 50- or 60- or 70-year problem," Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience of the Hudson Union Society, a group that promotes non-partisan debate.

Something us 'Nam Vets already know as many of our Brothers have gone through and continue to, for the decades since, as the Nation looks the other way!!!

An American tragedy made into a political commodity

Olbermann: Republicans have hijacked 9/11

In a Special Comment, Keith Olbermann talks about the politicization of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, especially by the Bush administration and the GOP who use the event to terrify Americans into thinking the only safe option is to vote Republican “or this will happen again and you will die.” Full story

Keith puts the Truth of what 9/11 has turned into, not only as a political tool but a reach for extreme power, throwing out All the Good Will being shown and offered from Around The World, including from the Innocent People of the Countries We Now Occupy! Where we could have joined forces with the World and used all that resources to go after the Criminal Elements of Criminal Terrorism we instead have Fanned the Fires of Hatred and Created more who are and will be bent on acts of Criminal Terrorism for years to come, Blowbacks a Bitch!!

The Two Giants of Truthtelling, One on One

Bill Moyers talks with MSNBC host Keith Olbermann

December 14, 2007


Click on pic or Click Here

BILL MOYERS: One of my closest friends always watched your nightly sportscast. And he remembers to this day, just got a word from him this morning, he remembers your saying about hockey is the most boring sport he's ever seen. And you went on to say, "Nevertheless, here without further comment are the game results for whatever they're worth." But you don't do that with politics. You don't-- you don't just give the scores. You have some strong things to say about politics.

KEITH OLBERMANN: It became necessary.

BILL MOYERS: Why?

KEITH OLBERMANN: I was sitting on a plane in Los Angeles reading in August of 2006 about Don Rumsfeld talking to the veterans and talking about how every-- everyone who was in opposition to the Iraq War policy, the so-called war on terror, even to some degree the Bush administration, was the equivalent in his mind to the Nazi appeasers of the 1930s. And he went on at length about how, you know, here's the-- we're doing the Churchillian role. And I thought, you know, sir, I took history classes. Your group is not Churchill. Your group is Neville Chamberlain because Neville Chamberlain minimized and marginalized anybody who disagreed with him. Reading this ridiculous remark and waiting to see somebody respond to it. And no one did. I'm thinking, well, you know, somebody with a platform ought to be talking about this. Somebody with a-- with an avenue to respond should be-- oh, yeah, I have a platform.

Snip

Keiths book: Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration's War on American Values

Get rid of the Barbies and Kens, plastic faces and bodies with empty heads, get Back to Real Journalists, like the Two above, and Real Investigative Journalism!