Horrible for Latino Voters - News Taco

Enough of this crooked “business as usual behavior” by Texas Politicians.   Enough free passes by the US Supreme Court. The Texas Constitution MUST be changed to prevent disenfranchising the citizens of this once great state. All these years of crooked Texas politics has flushed the credibility of being a Texan, down the toilet.   I tell strangers that I am from Oklahoma or Arkansas … I am ashamed to have Rick Perry defining Texans.  Not all of us are comical idiots, together.  We are either comical OR idiots.  Not both.

WIKI:  gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (/ˈdʒɛriˌmændər/); however, that word can also refer to the process.

The two aims of gerrymandering are to maximize the effect of supporters’ votes and to minimize the effect of opponents’ votes.

Gerrymandering may be used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to help or hinder a particular demographic, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.

WIKI: The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan appealed to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry. On June 28, 2006, the Supreme Court upheld the statewide redistricting as Constitutional, but struck down Congressional District 23 as racial gerrymandering in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Redistricting in Texas was traditionally done once every ten years, soon after the National Census.

But this time, Texas Republicans want to stack the deck right before the 2012 Presidential Primary.

2005, the Washington Post reported, “Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo” uncovered by the newspaper.^[10] The document, endorsed by six Justice Department attorneys, said “the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts.”

… Justice Department lawyers “found that Republican lawmakers and state officials who helped craft the proposal were aware it posed a high risk of being ruled discriminatory compared with other options.” Nonetheless, Texas legislators proceeded with the new plan “because it would maximize the number of Republican federal lawmakers in the state,” the Post said about the document.

Texas Republicans Get Emergency Supreme Court Hearing on Election Maps

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an emergency challenge by TexasRepublicans to maps that would govern next year’s state and federal elections, accepting a case that tests the power of judges to redraw voting-district lines.  Temporarily blocking a lower court order that put the maps in place, the court said last night it will hear the case on an expedited basis, with arguments on Jan. 9.

Star Telegram

Supreme Court blocks Texas’ use of court-drawn redistricting maps

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - The nation’s highest court late Friday temporarily blocked the interim court-drawn boundaries that form Texas’ legislative and congressional districts for next year’s election.

Texas Primary Likely Delayed as Supreme Court Halts New Texas Electoral Maps

HOUSTON –  Texas’ March primary will likely be delayed after the Supreme Court on Friday blocked the use of state legislative and congressional district maps that were drawn by federal judges. The court issued a briehe Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, which participated in the San Antonio lawsuit, said it was “deeply concerned” about the potential disruption of the 2012 election schedule.

Gerrymandered confusion

Accelerating the current trend, the Federal Government, as flawed as it is, may be dismantled soon.  The Tea Party may be the tip of the iceberg.  There have always been groups dedicated to reducing federal control and increasing state control.   This sounds great. But, there are so many “what-ifs” giving states control rivaling the federal system, that the potential for dissolution of America could actually happen.  A united America is tough to beat. A divided America is easy pickings for anyone who is really organized.  If America becomes a loose federation of independent states, all programs and responsibility for regulation will fall into individual state hands.  No more “Federal Entitlement” programs like Social Security.  No more regulation of anything.  That would fall to each state.  That will be great, except if one state refuses to recognize certifications from another state, there will be chaos.  I am not just talking about marriage.  Federal regulations are what ensure general safety and maintain “infrastructure”.

What exactly is the infrastructure politicians use in their rhetoric?  That is mostly about the services for roads, bridges and pipe lines that carry drinking and waste water throughout their state.  State transportation departments may do the work around the states, but the funding comes from the federal government.  Did I forget oil and gas lines?   At the extreme end of this, The United States of America would have to rename itself The States of America, a loose federation … All those wonderful state programs you use without realizing it are funded by the federal government … that government gets it’s funds from you and me in the form of income tax.  So, we are complaining about income tax are we?  OK, let’s remove income tax from the equation.  You are now personally responsible for funding your state, local and community infrastructure and services.  Fix your own pot hole.  Dig your own sewer and make sure it connects to the rotting system that takes it to the treatment plant … or who knows where.  In today’s economy, not all states are prepared to go it alone.  Let Texas and Alaska secede.

Pick the state that allows you to practice your faith the way you want and go there now.  When the snowball starts rolling, and radical views hijack what used to be the fiscally conservative conscious of America, the dream will end.  Religious conservatives cannot leave anyone alone and just practice their faith.  No, they are compelled to impose their beliefs on anyone who cross their path.  Did I also forget, the satellites that bring the news, weather, communications and Fox News entertainment exist because of partnerships with corporate contractors for the Federal Government?  Without the bargaining power of the Federal Government, you and I would not be able to afford that service.

But for those “dissidents” who want everyone to be like them, or let them decide our personal lives, politics in today’s bought and paid for democracy is not enough.  Today’s US Supreme Court has granted those same corporations to buy national elections by marketing strategy to each community voting base.  They have to get power any way they can, so they demonize anyone who gets in their way.  This is revenge for calling the previous administration out for the deception and crime they sugar coated for the public.

The dream target is President Obama.  For those who cannot see beyond their own community, President Obama represents loss of control over personal and private preferences.  The Republican Party of old is no longer recognizable and pretty much in its own privately funded nursing home.  So, conveniently, larger political movements, funded by corporate interests, have found the G-Spot for the community dissident.  Let’s call President Obama a socialist, a Hitler, a demon from another land.  Let’s use a catchy, patriotic title, and pretend the “little guy” finally has a voice.  The Tea Party Movement, hmmmm that sounds great.

Fortunately for these corporate manipulators, it does not take much to rile these communities into a mindless frenzy.  Let’s use religion.  Let’s use socialism. And for the older ones, let’s use Hitler.  Unfortunately, these communities are short on understanding the meanings of some of the words they enthusiastically use.

Here is what I see.  The Federal Government is the glue holding states together with common interests.  The old “united we stand, divided we fall” analogy applies here.  States may differ with some relevant unique issues and make laws accordingly.  The federal side has the task of protecting everyone within its borders and make states behave accordingly.

But, if the states become independent of the Federal system, they would have to raise their own funds, and call it something besides taxation … They would have to use their State Guard in cooperation with local law enforcement to protect its citizens.  State vigilante groups would have actual responsibility now.  Who knows if they could be held accountable?  Who knows if they would prevail if the Aztlan Movement decided to take the American Southwest back?

These changes would not happen all at once, thank goodness.  But, snowballs get harder to stop the longer they roll downhill.  A divided America is easy pickings for anyone who wants to rename North America by defeating us state by state.

BossKitty

Coast Guard to review exercise after Potomac security scare

Security incident on Potomac River prompted by “training exercise,” two police sources say Coast Guard told them.

With the nation already on edge and somewhat paranoid on September 11 each year, what is the LAST thing you want to do?  Hold a training exercise and fire shots for an audience of passersby, near one of the casualties of the real 9/11 sites.  CNN:

• Story Highlights
• Obama reportedly left Pentagon about the time incident began
• Coast Guard tries to prevent boat from entering Potomac River secure zone
• Incident occurs near Pentagon, where president was observing 9/11 anniversary
• Coast Guard fires 10 shots, unconfirmed reports say

This distraction would have been a great opportunity for a real terrorist with a real target to go unchallenged.  Interesting that CNN was the only network on top of the story while it was breaking news.

CONGRESSMAN BACHUS STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S HEALTH CARE ADDRESS

Fines proposed for going without health insurance

WASHINGTON – Americans would be fined up to $3,800 for failing to buy health insurance under a plan that circulated in Congress on Tuesday as divisions among Democrats undercut President Barack Obama‘s effort to regain traction on his health care overhaul.

Just as auto coverage is now mandatory in nearly all states, Baucus would require that all Americans get health insurance once the system is overhauled. Penalties for failing to do so would start at $750 a year for individuals and $1,500 for families. Households making more than three times the federal poverty level — about $66,000 for a family of four — would face the maximum fines. For families, it would be $3,800, and for individuals, $950.

Baucus would offer tax credits to help pay premiums for households making up to three times the poverty level, and for small employers paying about average middle-class wages. People working for companies that offer coverage could avoid the fines by signing up.

The fines pose a dilemma for Obama. As a candidate, the president campaigned hard against making health insurance a requirement, and fining people for not getting it.

Is Spencer Bachus a “birther”?

As Obama talked strategy with Democratic leaders at the White House, the one idea that most appeals to his party’s liberal base lost ground in Congress. Prospects for a government-run plan to compete with private insurers sank as a leading moderate Democrat said he could no longer support the idea.

The fast-moving developments put Obama in a box. As a candidate, he opposed fines to force individuals to buy health insurance, and he supported setting up a public insurance plan. On Tuesday, fellow Democrats publicly begged to differ on both ideas.

Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama) predicts that the Social Security Trust Fund could be running a deficit as early as next year.

“[This development comes] at a time when…the federal government is having to constantly increase spending for [Medicare]; when we’ve expanded SCHIP, which is a children’s healthcare program; when we’ve added new healthcare benefits for the unemployed, all of which jeopardize those who are paying into Medicare and their benefits,” he points out.

Myths and Falsehoods About Health Care Reform

Five myths about health care around the world

Mandatory Health Insurance

The individual mandate is a requirement that all Massachusetts residents over the age of 18, for whom available health insurance is affordable, obtain and maintain health insurance that meets minimum coverage requirements beginning July 1, 2007.

Individuals who cannot show proof of health insurance coverage by Dec. 31, 2007, will lose their personal income tax exemption when filing their 2007 income taxes.   The 2006 personal exemption is $3,850 for an individual, which translates into a tax savings of approximately $204 for an individual (5.3 percent of $3,850).

Failure to meet the requirement in 2008 will result in a fine for each month the individual does not have coverage. The fine will equal 50 percent of the least costly, available insurance premium that meets the standard for creditable coverage.

As long as the hatred of Obama drives the Republican Party, critical issues will never be given a serious debate or consideration.  The hate mongers, so popular during the Bush era, are flailing their arms and blowing fire at real governance.  They shout socialism and communism accusations to blow life back into the embers of the cold war, hoping to  rekindle their own credibility.  They are no longer credible.  Time has passed their relevancy by.  The new terror is the misinformation and disinformaton they spew to plant doubt onto truth.  Truth is always ellusive, but dissing it before it can be vetted is just like the mis informed comment most often told is that in 1899 the head of the U.S. Patent Office sent his resignation to President McKinley urging the closing of the office because “everything that could be invented has been invented.” It’s been told and retold so often that even President Reagan used it in a speech. US patent office closing rumour was a hoax at best and misquote at worst. But as an urban legend it was a hit.  Republicans love to invent legends and claim they are true.  This is what they are doing right now to “get rid of Obama”.  Republicans have put their craziest, most radical, most hateful foot forward again.  Regardless who suffers the most, they just want the “old days” back where whites were supreme and entitled to more than anyone else.  To hell with the rest of us.

Rumor had it that, back in 1899, U.S. Commissioner of Patents Charles H. Duell declared that everything that could be invented had been invented. In actuality, Duell’s supposed comment and his recommendation that the Patent Office be closed down proved an urban myth. Of course, that didn’t prevent the metaphor from being abused by pundits or by presidential speechwriters.

CNN) — Dick Cheney’s recent criticism of the Obama administration’s national security policies suggests the former vice president is almost “wishing” the United States gets hit with another terrorist attack, according to CIA Director Leon Panetta.

… Panetta says Cheney’s wide range of recent criticisms of Obama — including the decision to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba — show the ex-vice president “smells some blood in the water on the national security issue.”

“It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics,” said Panetta. “When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point.”

In a statement provided to CNN, Cheney said, “I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted.”

Mr Cheney, the damage reports are still coming in for homeland crimes that happened on your watch.  You were found to be more consumed with demonizing your enemies and perfecting ways to destroy them, than to take responsibility for the damage you cause to your own country.  How dare you attack a tactic that could acheive similar results without the wanton destruction you seem to enjoy.  You don’t even take responsibility for the casualties coming home.  You prefer to treat returning veterans like expendable components to your war machine.  After all, why worry about government provided resources when you can have that same government pay your buddies millions of dollars to do the same thing without accountability.  You are the poster boy for Homegrown Terrorist.  The body count that follows you is ongoing.  You say you love your country.  What country do you thing you live in?  Accountability was provided in the original US Constitution, and you have treated that like toilet paper.

Accountability has been OFF the table for too long.  America has to borrow from its own taxpayers, other countries and who knows where else, for BAD business practices.  We are suffering from bad business already.  The microscope needs to look at more than just Wall Street.  Pentagon has NO accountability … National Security is a huge cloak for screwing the taxpayer and getting away with murder …

Halliburton, KBR sued for alleged ill effects of ‘burn pits’

• 6 lawsuits filed Tuesday; 3 more are scheduled to be filed Wednesday
• Suits filed on behalf of veterans, contractors, their families
• Suits blame health problems, deaths on emissions from burn pits
• No long-term danger from smoke from Balad Air Force Base pit, military said in 2008

… KBR and Halliburton were paid millions of dollars to oversee the waste management for the military.

… the military’s report on the fumes also acknowledged it cannot account for all the items burned in the Balad pit. At one point the open pit burned everything from plastics and food to medical waste, with jet fuel used as an accelerant at times.

… there are 70 plaintiffs who will file suits.

“They sought profit in lieu of safety,” Burke said of the KBR and Halliburton.

Again, as long as the military does it, who cares.  The way the military is arranged,  anything can be done without impunity.  If its in the way, just burn it or bury it … who cares about the health and environmental impact.  Soldiers are expendable anyway.

Again, Halliburton and KBR run amok cutting corners at the expense of those who serve.  They cut corners and electrocute soldiers, they cut corners and expose people to toxic fumes, they cut corners and fail to enforce responsibility from its employees.  Lets just hire more psychos, give them guns and millions of dollars and forget about it all.  This is only your TAXPAYER DOLLARS making this possible.  Try complaining about it, LOL.  The government uses YOUR money to hire irresponsible, greedy low bidders to put you at risk and cause you to pay twice for the same thing.  TWICE?  Yep, you have to spend more money to fix whatever KBR and Halliburton screw up.  You have to spend more money to address the consequences of their irresponsibility by addressing law suits.

Congressmen want more info on ‘burn pit’ claims

• Congress wants information to see if there is validity to illness, disease complaints
• Military burned food, medical supplies in “burn pits” in Iraq, Afghanistan
• Soldiers talked of “Iraqi crud” — excessive coughing and black phlegm
• Military says tests show that emission levels are not harmful

“After years of helping veterans of the Vietnam and Gulf wars cope with the health effects of toxic battlefields, we have learned that we must take exposures to toxins seriously to ensure that this generation of service members does not face the same difficulties,” the congressmen say in the letter to be sent Monday to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

Why can Canadian Military recognize that exposure to battle and drugs have terrible consequences, and America’s military deny it? Is it because of the high cost of ‘after care’?  It is because the military is trying to diminish it’s responsibility, or is it because they prefer to spend their resources on fancy new and deadly toys?

Mental toll on soldiers skyrockets

More than 1 in 5 returning from Afghanistan suffer psychiatric problems, documents show

… as of April 2008, 700 Canadian soldiers and Mounties who had served on the Afghan front lines – 19 per cent of all forces deployed – had qualified for medical release from the Canadian Forces or RCMP with a “pensionable psychiatric condition,” but warned of a dramatic hike in those numbers.

… the documents say that longer, multiple and more dangerous deployments “have led to an increase in the prevalence of operational stress injuries among the members of these organizations.”

“Is it an epidemic? No,” said retired Canadian colonel Don Ethell, head of the mental health advisory committee for the military and RCMP. “It’s just finally a realization that in addition to physical injuries, the maimed and the injured and so forth, it’s also a mental price that Canadians have to pay and many of them, and many of us, have paid that without knowing where to go.”

Another reason for the jump appears to be an effort by the military and government to quickly identify and treat individuals with post-traumatic stress before their conditions worsen. Untreated cases in the past have resulted in tragic and horrifying cases of drug addiction, assault, rape and even suicide.

None of the mental health staff on the tour was trained in addiction counselling – a clear problem given that some troubled soldiers mask their problem with alcohol and drugs.

A staff psychologist had to leave before all the soldiers had rotated through the decompression zone, leaving the mental health team without one of its top experts. A number of soldiers were also not pre-screened for “psychosocial” problems before departing Kandahar, meaning some early warning signs may have gone unaddressed.

“Military members should be quickly screened by a (mental health) professional before they leave the theatre to briefly access their support needs during the (decompression) and their reintegration,” the report says.

Drug Addiction, And Misery, Increase In Afghanistan

Morning Edition, April 16, 2009 · A growing number of Afghans — including children — are escaping the pain of war and poverty by using opium or heroin, for as little as a dollar a day.  A United Nations survey begun this month is widely expected to show that at least 1 in 12 people in Afghanistan abuses drugs — double the number in the last survey four years ago.

‘Coming Home: Soldiers and Drugs’ – In Their Own Words

Vietnam War and Drugs: Essay Excerpt

Marijuana, Amphetamines, Opium and Heroin were a serious problem from 1968 onward during the Vietnam War. In 1968 50 percent of American service men used drugs, after Tet Offensive drugs rose dramatically. By 1970 that number had jump to 65 percent. Drugs were cheap and very available. They were a way for the soldiers to ‘escape’ from the pure anxiety and stress of combat while filling the bored time.

Vietnam-Era Drug Problems Last for Decades, Study Finds

Although young men from the Vietnam War era have reduced their use of illicit drugs as they have moved into middle age, some still have a problem, a new study shows. The men who were young during the Vietnam War are now in their 40s and 50s. One visualizes them, both veterans and non-veterans, as seasoned by desk jobs or steady work, very possibly married and responsible for families. The war era and the turbulent 1960s, with the widespread use of illicit drugs, is now long behind them. Or is it?

It is VERY interesting that there were few follow up stories to the ABC Documentary:

ABC investigates ‘soldiers hooked on drugs’

Editor’s Note from Brian Ross: In the third year of a joint project with the nonprofit Carnegie Corporation, six leading graduate school journalism students were again selected to spend the summer working with the ABC News investigative unit.

This year’s project involved an examination of whether, as happened in the wake of the Vietnam War, Iraqi war veterans were turning to drugs as a result of the trauma and pain of war.

The U.S. military maintains the percentage of soldiers abusing drugs is extremely small and has not increased as a result of Iraq.

The students’ assignment was to get the unofficial side of the story from soldiers, young men of their own generation.

“Lots of soldiers coming back from Iraq have been using drugs,” said Spc. William Swenson, who was deployed to Iraq from Fort Carson. “Right when we got back, there were people using cocaine in the barracks; there were people smoking marijuana at strip clubs; one guy started shooting up,” he said.

In interviews with ABC News at the Pentagon, however, the U.S. Army strongly denied there was an increase in drug abuse among soldiers deployed to Iraq.   According to Dr. Ian McFarling, acting director of the Army Center for Substance Abuse Programs, less than one half of one percent of soldiers in Iraq have tested positive for illegal drugs.    But Dr. McFarling said that once soldiers return from Iraq, the positive rate for drug tests doubles to more than one percent. In addition, Dr. McFarling said five percent of soldiers back from Iraq seek help for substance abuse issues from clinical providers.

OK conspiracy nuts, if you want a detailed account of America’s hand in Global Drug activities from the 1960s, you would enjoy this article from DrugWar.com:

Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy: CIA/Syndicate

Where are we going with this history lesson? Aside from the similarities with Vietnam, Afghanistan is  the “high end” CANDY STORE for the world. With all the hoopla about convincing Afghan farmers to plow under their poppy fields and plant ‘Pomegranates’.

Afghanistan diary: Pomegranates not poppies

Alternatives to opium are being shown to farmers in Kabul, while Bagram sees the arrival of more US troops

Cover story: M features the story of James Brett, a former drug addict from Britain, who has devoted himself to replacing Afghanistan’s opium trade with pomegranates.

James Brett’s first glimpse of Afghanistan after crossing the Khyber Pass were poppies growing across the dusty miles of Torkham in April 2007. They stretched for hundreds of acres, the petals light and blowing in the breeze. A lone farmer stood in their midst, tending the crop. It wasn’t what Brett expected.

“The picture I envisaged was that of a load of terrorists packing up big bags of heroin to destroy the West,” he admits. The contrast between the innocence he perceived in that farmer and the loss of two friends to heroin overdoses back home in England haunted him as he continued to drive to Kabul, where he had been invited to give a speech to farmers about growing pomegranates instead of poppies.

“There is so much emptiness in the world and heroin maintains that emptiness,” he says.

The cannabis product had an estimated wholesale value of $400 million, a statement by the NATO-led ISAF force said on Wednesday.

With the availability of poppy products, methamphetamine and pharmaceuticals in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the middle east region, how can stressed or bored soldiers resist partaking of available drugs for recreation, coping and escape.  PTSD is notorious for reducing it’s victims will power and distorting perception.  PTSD must be considered an expected byproduct of traumatic wartime events.  Vietnam was just a taste of what can happen when stressed soldiers are offered a cheap escape from their condition.  Is it possible that many of the under-reported “accidents” and “unfortunate mistakes” that create high collateral damage, are caused by recreational escapism?  How many soldiers are “self medicating” as you read this post?

Drug exposure could actually explain why some returning veterans slip into deep depression upon returning home … they may be experiencing withdrawal from whatever they were taking during combat.  Of course, America’s military is very reluctant to admit this problem publicly. The military is already providing drugs to soldiers to alleviate pain, both mental and physical.  Some of those medications have been questioned, briefly, by the media.

There is also the possibility that America’s soldiers are being exposed to these drugs when they are slipped into the food supply or their water supply.  Hypothetically, whole combats units may be effected at one time.  I have not heard any official report discussing this possibility.  As it is, the military is famous for deliberately misdiagnosing soldiers for the convenience of keeping their statistics palatable to the media, and the ‘folks back home’.

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report : Coverage & Access | Overdiagnosis of Concussions Among Veterans Leads to Delay in Care for Other Conditions, NEJM Article Says

A focus on concussions, or mild traumatic brain injury, is preventing soldiers returning from battle from being treated for other conditions, according to an article published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, USA Today reports (Zoroya, USA Today, 4/16). The article was co-authored by Carl Castro, a psychologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; Herb Goldberg, a communications specialist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; and Charles Hoge, director of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Currently, soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan undergo a survey in which they are asked if they became dazed and confused following an injury or exposure to a bomb blast in combat. The survey attributes such symptoms to mild TBI, according to the authors. However, the survey often is administered months after the injury was sustained, according to the article (Stobbe, AP/Austin American-Statesman, 4/15). The article states that the survey could cause unnecessary concern among the soldiers and might result in soldiers wrongly attributing certain symptoms to TBI, when they could have been caused by simple causes, such as sleep deprivation. The authors recommend that the current survey be discontinued because most servicemembers who sustain TBI in combat recover within days (USA Today, 4/16). Furthermore, soldiers who are misdiagnosed risk being unnecessarily exposed to drug side effects and other negative conditions, Hoge said (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 4/15).

The article also states that such symptoms often are caused by other conditions, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or substance abuse. The diagnoses for mild TBI could lead to delays in proper treatment of the other conditions, according to the authors. According to USA Today, the article — the authors of which have conducted some of the earliest influential research on conditions like PTSD for the military — suggest that the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs are “relying on flawed science to identify” as many as 360,000 cases of brain injuries sustained by the returning veterans.

Reaction
The article has prompted Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker to decide that the TBI survey should be changed, according to a spokesperson for Schoomaker. However, some government and private researchers on TBI disagreed with the article’s findings and said that their recommendation could result in some soldiers receiving improper care. John Corrigan, an Ohio State University psychiatrist and researcher who advised VA on the screening process, said it is premature to suggest that most servicemembers who sustain TBI during combat recover within days.

David Hovda, director of the Brain Injury Research Center at the University of California-Los Angeles, said that veterans with mild TBI who do not receive timely treatment could develop long-term neurological problems. Rep Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, cautioned against proceeding with “efforts that might restrict the Department of Defense’s ability to identify affected individuals and provide them with the proper care and compensation they deserve” (USA Today, 4/16).

Abundance Of Drugs Fuels Demand

The U.N.’s Jean-Luc Lemahieu calls it the “Coca-Cola effect.” The widespread abundance and affordability of the drugs have made them as ubiquitous and available as soft drinks.

“What people always forget is that not only demand creates supply, but supply creates demand,” said Lemahieu, the representative in Kabul for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

But even at $1 or $2 a day, an opium or heroin fix in Afghanistan can easily become unaffordable.

More questions must be put to politicians who are supposed to “protect” American citizens, and their defenders. Politicians are quick to give ‘lip service’ to veteran’s health crisis.  Those same politicians will rant and rave about ‘out of control spending’,  while, at the same time,  they sneak their own pet pork projects into totally unrelated bills and resolutions.

Putting Americans in harm’s way is understood when ‘duty to country and flag’ is required.  These are a soldier’s creed.  It is NOT, however, in the soldier’s creed to forgo proper and thorough treatment to actual conditions incurred during combat zone deployment.  Modern soldiers are no longer the ‘throw away’ commodity they endured throughout history.  Military deployment remains a source of medical controversy when soldiers symptoms contradict the ‘company line’.  Effects from exposure to Agent Orange is still denied.  Effects from ‘Desert Storm’ Syndrome is still controversial.  Effects from drug, alcohol and prescription drug abuse are still being downplayed by military brass, with the exception of the actual doctors.  Where is the promised “TRANSPARENCY”?  When will the problem of medical honesty be required of today’s US Military?  The American Taxpayer has a right to know why veterans are not being  accurately diagnosed and treated for their conditions.  The American Taxpayer must be protected from some of the same veterans they depend on the keep them safe.

A financial house of cards 

As Americans come to realize the full scope of the now global economic crisis, the instability it causes is being seen as a bigger security threat than terrorism.

Every sector of the US economy has been negatively impacted and layoffs are being announced almost daily.

The roots of this crisis can be traced back to the economic policies of the 1980s.

For a generation the growth of the US economy has been disproportionately driven by the availability of cheap consumer goods and investment credit.

This system, which peaked with the rise of the securitisation of highly risky sub-prime mortgages in the last few years, enabled an investment system to emerge in which the debt to equity ratio was an outstanding, and totally unsustainable, 100 to one. [Read More]

The current  crisis is rooted in a culture that encouraged consumer borrowing and demand for cheaper products.  Gluttony became a way of life for anyone with a credit card.  The power of mass producing consumables, moving away from a culture of permanence into a culture of disposable, was more than the economy and environment could withstand.  The cost of disposal for all those packaged products has been phenomenal.  Count the billions of tons of  waste material we cannot flush.  Billions of tons of flushable waste is economically and environmentally unsupportable.

Our throw away society has met its nemesis.  The hypnotic grip marketers use to entice and influence consumers have overloaded the system.  By hypnotizing foreign populations into lusting after the ‘sweet life’ enjoyed by Americans, they were lured into the same unsustainable mind set.  Americans flaunted their lifestyle everywhere they went.  It was inevitable that as role models, only American ‘luxury’ gleamed through.  The ‘Streets of Gold, Land of Plenty’ image went everywhere.  The logistics of reality was never considered.

Now that the error of short sight has gripped the wallets of workers, the domino effect of tens of millions of jobs lost globally.

Jobs, with companies, make the products Americans have stopped buying.

Companies cannot stay open if their products don’t sell enough to support employees.

Employees earn wages to buy products to sustain them and to entertain them.

No wages. No buy. No buy, no company. No company, no product.  No product … then we have slipped back into an era where we must make do with the resources at hand.  Much of the land and water is contaminated or unfit for private use.  Shelter is relative to exactly you are when no other options are available, like transportation.

“… a long-term drop in global consumption is one of the few conceivable ways to stop the slide toward the tipping point of global warming and environmental degradation, not to mention the increasingly violent resource wars and global poverty, that are the inevitable outcome of a world economic system premised on limitless growth and consumption.”  Mark LeVine is a professor of Middle East history at the University of California, Irvine

Everyone has an opinion, either they think they understand what is happening, or they admit they haven’t a clue.  People are so focused on their own survival, how can they see the big picture?  Cause and effect at the personal level creates mental distress and  sometimes fatalism.  People can feel betrayed by the only system they know.  Today, in America, the social support system is broken and not sympathetic.  The government’s resources are running on empty.  If individual attitudes are allowed to dissolve into  total despair, they will do anything to survive.  Some have already lost their mental stability and devolved into  murder-suicide.  This is NOT where we want millions of people to go.

It does not have to be global catastrophe where the human population embraces extinction at its own hand.   It can be a realignment, which is never easy or without casualties.  Realigning humanity toward sensible behavior which accepts that more humans occupy a finite space, than ever before  Planet Earth.

World governments must enforce some drastic economic priorities to accommodate survival of the species.   Business as usual is not an option.  Borrowing from other countries is the only option on the table.  Trade with other countries is necessary for our species to share the same planet.  Unfortunately, some leaders are bent on reducing human numbers as an option.  War is especially not the answer.  Humanity will never be on the same page economically, politically or religiously.  But, we must be on the same page about saving humanity … whether we deserve it or not.

Humans have the power of will to struggle through the most difficult times and prevail.  History has taught us that.  History has also taught that difficult times change us all.  Humans are an adaptable species.  Those who embrace the challenge of change with creativity and perseverance will save the human species.

Judges Plead Guilty in Scheme to Jail Youths for Profit

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Global Warming Facts

February 5th, 2009, at the beginning of the first 100 days of the new administration, the National Teach-In on Global Warming will engage over a million Americans in solutions-driven dialogue. As educators, students and citizens, we owe our nation a focused conversation about the critical decisions that will determine if our descendants will inherit a prosperous or an impoverished planet.

National Teach-In For Global Solutions – watch video

“Continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions, for just another decade, practically eliminates the possibility of near-term return of atmospheric composition beneath the tipping level for catastrophic effects.”  —  Hansen et al. 2008
LAUNCH WEBCAST
“The First 100 Days.” — Join David Orr, Hunter Lovins, Betsy Taylor, Ray Anderson, Billy Parish and Wahleah Johns as they discuss global warming solutions for the first 100 days.

TEACH-IN
Engage the Nation around concrete policy recommendations.

1. Cut carbon 40% below today’s levels by 2020.
2. Create millions of green jobs: Weatherize, solarize and rewire the nation.
3. Revitalize America’s economy: Lead the world in renewable technology.
4. Promote carbon neutral power.

CLIMATE DIALOGUE
The heart of your teach-in should be a round-table dialogue between students and key decision-makers: US Senators and congresspeople, governors, city councilors, mayors and state representatives. This kind of intergenerational dialogue has the power to break through the partisan framing of global warming, and resultant political gridlock, because for young people, this is not about left and right. It is your future at stake, and only you have the moral authority to speak for that future.

100 DAYS OF ACTION
Learn what you can do today… and tomorrow… and tomorrow… and tomorrow. Give the new President the support needed to put the planet on the path to a stable climate.

HOW can you organize a teach-in that will draw more than the 100 or so usual suspects to engage with global warming solutions? The simple model below shows you how to do this quickly and easily, with a total initial time commitment of just a few hours. The key is faculty involvement. Faculty don’t need to be global warming experts. Instead, ask them to talk for just ten minutes about issues surrounding global warming, bringing in their own disciplinary perspective. Many faculty care deeply about global warming, and will be glad to say yes.

This is an impressive undertaking that deserves everyone’s attention and support.  As Americans, our responsibility lies in who we elect to guide us through climate changes.  Our votes will determine the fate of our children.  The first steps taken by the Obama Administration will need everyone’s support.  There is so much on the world’s plate, that focusing support on climate appears to be too far down the list.

Of course, being economically damaged, many of us have zeroed in on our jobs, homes and next meal for our families.  Many actions we must take don’t really interfere with personal survival priorities.  They may actually help.  Being environmentally conscious  can  even help you save money by reducing waste, recycling and becoming more energy efficient.  It does not cost more to use less.  It does not cost more to conserve your resources.  It costs much more to be ignorant.

BlueMarble4Us

Flaunting their ability to pay for all the extras, CEOs have become icons of disgrace.  No one expects the high profile merchant class to eat cat food, nor should they brag about a $200 pooperscooper.  Like Marie Antionette, “let them eat cake”, US CEOs are behaving a bit moronic.

Anger should be aimed at the clueless nature of CEO mentality.  Save the corporate profit while TAXPAYERS pave the way … grab what you can before the crumbling consumer class can buy no more.  How exactly did this news break?.