Showing posts with label Senator Ted Stevens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senator Ted Stevens. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Former Sen. Stevens aboard plane that crashed in Alaska

UPDATE Death confirmed

Ted Stevens killed in plane crash


Former Sen. Stevens aboard plane that crashed in Alaska
5 of 9 on aircraft reported killed; ex-NASA chief also on flight

NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 2 minutes ago
DILLINGHAM, Alaska — Former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and a former administrator of NASA were on a small plane that crashed in southwest Alaska, killing at least five people, NBC News confirmed Tuesday.

A former aide and longtime family friend, David L. Dittman, said he had been told Stevens died in the crash, NBC station KTUU of Anchorage reported. NBC News has not been able to confirm the report.

The plane went down in bad weather about 8 p.m. Monday (midnight ET) near the fishing town of Dillingham, the National Transportation Safety Board said. Nine people were on board, including Stevens, 86, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, and former NASA Chief Sean O’Keefe, officials said. Stevens’ and O’Keefe’s conditions were not immediately known.
read more here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38637072/ns/us_news-life/

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Lip service for PTSD From Peake and Stevens

VA: PTSD and TBI "Overblown"; Like "Football" Injuries
by Brandon Friedman
Tue May 27, 2008 at 03:38:47 PM PDT
VA Secretary James Peake continued to show little respect for the service of America’s newest veterans yesterday by dismissing concerns about the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Speaking alongside Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) in a remote Alaskan village, Peake first used the word "overblown" when discussing PTSD and TBI and then made a "football" comparison.
go here for more
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/27/182653/350/999/523775


Maybe Peake thinks this is a game, like high school football, and maybe he thinks it's overblown but what he fails to see is that THIS IS HIS JOB! It's his job to take care of the men and women who are risking their lives, and I don't mean just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but still risking them when they come home. What the hell is wrong with this administration? How can they take such a callous attitude when they could be saving lives? What about getting ahead of the curve instead of being stuck out waiting behind the opponents goal post? That is what they have been doing. They are supporting the enemy by ignoring PTSD and TBI, attempting to minimize this crisis instead of doing something about it. Sure they can say they take all of this very seriously when they are in front of congress with the cameras rolling, pretending to really give a crap about what's going on, but when you get right down to it, they have a totally different attitude when they are in front of their base. It shows!

It shows when the suicide rate goes up instead of down this long into all the reports of what they have supposedly been doing to address the crisis. It shows when there are still far too many waiting for appointments, for claims to be processed and approved, when workers have not all been hired, when psychologist have to donate their time to address this without pay because the VA is not able to deal with any of this. Given the tone from Peake it's obvious why all the problems are still ongoing. Overblown!!!! He called it overblown and the right wing bloggers have jumped on board this fantasy flight claiming the media is playing it all up instead of looking at the facts. This is a national disgrace but they take it as a slam against their hero Bush when the real heroes are dying for their attention.