VA hopes new shredding guidelines protect claims seekers
By William R. Levesque, Times staff writer
In print: Saturday, November 1, 2008
The Department of Veterans Affairs is finalizing a sweeping new records policy to prevent the destruction of claims documents in benefits offices around the nation.
The policy comes as the VA continues to investigate improper shredding at a St. Petersburg veterans benefits office and 56 other regional offices in nearly every state.
The policy calls for the appointment of a records control team in Washington, D.C., to oversee the handling of documents. It also would lead to the hiring of records officers in each benefits office to do the same on a local level.
And before shredding any document, two VA employees, including a supervisor, would have to sign off, according to a draft of the policy obtained by the St. Petersburg Times on Friday.
The policy comes after the discovery last month of nearly 500 veterans' claims documents improperly set aside for shredding in 41 VA benefits offices.
The documents, which had no duplicates in VA files, could have been crucial in deciding if an individual veteran received a pension or disability payment.
That total includes 13 documents found in shredding bins in the VA's busiest benefits office at Bay Pines in St. Petersburg, where the agency's inspector general is still conducting an audit.
Bay Pines is the home benefits office for Florida's 1.8-million veterans and the 330,000 who live in the Tampa Bay area.
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http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article884990.ece
Saturday, November 1, 2008
As Taliban overwhelm police, Pakistanis hit back
As Taliban overwhelm police, Pakistanis hit back
By JANE PERLEZ AND PIR ZUBAIR SHAH
Citizens have been encouraged to form posses of their own in a sign of the shortcomings of Pakistan's police forces.
By Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah
Published: November 1, 2008
SHALBANDI, Pakistan: On a rainy Friday evening in early August, six Taliban fighters attacked a police post in a village in Buner, a quiet farming valley just outside Pakistan's lawless tribal region.
The militants tied up eight policemen and lay them on the floor, and according to local accounts, the youngest member of the gang, a 14-year-old, shot the captives on orders from his boss. The fighters stole uniforms and weapons and fled into the mountains.
Almost instantly, the people of Buner, armed with rifles, daggers and pistols, formed a posse, and after five days they cornered and killed their quarry. A video made on a cellphone showed the six militants lying in the dirt, blood oozing from their wounds.
The stand at Buner has entered the lore of Pakistan's war against the militants as a dramatic example of ordinary citizens' determination to draw a line against the militants.
But it says as much about the shortcomings of Pakistan's increasingly overwhelmed police forces and the pell-mell nature of the efforts to stop the militants, who week by week seem to seep deeper into Pakistan from their tribal strongholds.
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By JANE PERLEZ AND PIR ZUBAIR SHAH
Citizens have been encouraged to form posses of their own in a sign of the shortcomings of Pakistan's police forces.
By Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah
Published: November 1, 2008
SHALBANDI, Pakistan: On a rainy Friday evening in early August, six Taliban fighters attacked a police post in a village in Buner, a quiet farming valley just outside Pakistan's lawless tribal region.
The militants tied up eight policemen and lay them on the floor, and according to local accounts, the youngest member of the gang, a 14-year-old, shot the captives on orders from his boss. The fighters stole uniforms and weapons and fled into the mountains.
Almost instantly, the people of Buner, armed with rifles, daggers and pistols, formed a posse, and after five days they cornered and killed their quarry. A video made on a cellphone showed the six militants lying in the dirt, blood oozing from their wounds.
The stand at Buner has entered the lore of Pakistan's war against the militants as a dramatic example of ordinary citizens' determination to draw a line against the militants.
But it says as much about the shortcomings of Pakistan's increasingly overwhelmed police forces and the pell-mell nature of the efforts to stop the militants, who week by week seem to seep deeper into Pakistan from their tribal strongholds.
click link for more
Vickie Castro shares a mother's pain after stop-loss and son's death
Open letter to Mrs. Castro,
I don't know what it's like to lose a son or a daughter in combat. I don't know what it's like to lose a husband or a wife, or a father or a mother. I only see what it does to them after they come home. I pray you're pain is eased and you begin to heal the void your son's death has left within you.
What you said in this video is exactly what many have been saying, but far too few every really hear. You, as a mother, proud of your son, probably since the day he was born, supported what he wanted to do with his life. He was born with the warrior in his soul. That quality that makes them all willing to lay down their lives for the sake of someone else. I bet Jonathan would have been a police officer or a firefighter had he not joined the military or a National Guardsman. They have come into this world to defend others and that is a noble thing. What is not noble, is those who have sent them for absolutely nothing that had to do with our own security. This you know and that must be very painful above the fact your son was killed in combat.
There are some who have twisted supporting the troops into supporting those who sent them blindly. I feel sorry for them because they think they are doing the "patriotic" thing, not noticing the harm they are doing to the troops. They support stop-loss that holds soldiers long after they agreed to give the time in their lives and they find no problem at all with the troops not getting what they need when they need it or asking for proof of what they are told, or even holding any of the people in Washington responsible for any of it. This would not be bad enough if they did not turn around and attack people like you who have paid attention.
The same people who want to hold parades and cheer the troops when they come back, won't bother to write letters to make sure the wounded are taken care of properly, wounded are not forced to stand in a line that does not end trying to have their claims approved or have their wounds treated. They won't demand anything for the sake of the troops or the veterans. I see it all the time.
It must be a lot harder on you to have visit your son's grave and know what you know about why he was in Iraq, but please take comfort in knowing that your son died because he was willing to lay down his life for the sake of this nation and it was up to the people who sent him to honor the life he was willing to lose for our sake. They just didn't respect Jonathan's life enough, or any of the lives lost. The rest of us noticed this and we honor the lives of those who were willing to do what so few are willing to do. I think that's why we fight so hard. We just tend to value the lives more than the mission they are sent on when there is no need for the mission in the first place.
I often wonder if the supporters of the occupation of Iraq ever notice that no one argues about the need to send troops into Afghanistan, which was in direct response to the attacks here. I think they would be fully disgusted with themselves if they ever did. It's also one of the biggest reasons the politicians hardly ever mention Afghanistan. They wouldn't want to remind people that because troops were sent into Iraq, we have lost so many in Afghanistan.
I am determined to fight to have the warriors taken care of when it comes to PTSD because I live with it everyday in my own husband. The veterans and families trying to cope with it have tugged at my heart. You have now taken on the families who do not support the occupation of Iraq but have lost family members all the same. They need to hear you to find the support so few of the others are willing to give. They're too busy calling parents like you "anti-military" or "unpatriotic" depending on which talking point hit them the hardest. I know what it's like to live with PTSD, but you know what it's like to be in their shoes when they lost someone they loved. Reach out to them and help them heal and in doing so, like me, you will begin to heal yourself.
You will forever be in my prayers. Bless you for speaking out.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
I don't know what it's like to lose a son or a daughter in combat. I don't know what it's like to lose a husband or a wife, or a father or a mother. I only see what it does to them after they come home. I pray you're pain is eased and you begin to heal the void your son's death has left within you.
What you said in this video is exactly what many have been saying, but far too few every really hear. You, as a mother, proud of your son, probably since the day he was born, supported what he wanted to do with his life. He was born with the warrior in his soul. That quality that makes them all willing to lay down their lives for the sake of someone else. I bet Jonathan would have been a police officer or a firefighter had he not joined the military or a National Guardsman. They have come into this world to defend others and that is a noble thing. What is not noble, is those who have sent them for absolutely nothing that had to do with our own security. This you know and that must be very painful above the fact your son was killed in combat.
There are some who have twisted supporting the troops into supporting those who sent them blindly. I feel sorry for them because they think they are doing the "patriotic" thing, not noticing the harm they are doing to the troops. They support stop-loss that holds soldiers long after they agreed to give the time in their lives and they find no problem at all with the troops not getting what they need when they need it or asking for proof of what they are told, or even holding any of the people in Washington responsible for any of it. This would not be bad enough if they did not turn around and attack people like you who have paid attention.
The same people who want to hold parades and cheer the troops when they come back, won't bother to write letters to make sure the wounded are taken care of properly, wounded are not forced to stand in a line that does not end trying to have their claims approved or have their wounds treated. They won't demand anything for the sake of the troops or the veterans. I see it all the time.
It must be a lot harder on you to have visit your son's grave and know what you know about why he was in Iraq, but please take comfort in knowing that your son died because he was willing to lay down his life for the sake of this nation and it was up to the people who sent him to honor the life he was willing to lose for our sake. They just didn't respect Jonathan's life enough, or any of the lives lost. The rest of us noticed this and we honor the lives of those who were willing to do what so few are willing to do. I think that's why we fight so hard. We just tend to value the lives more than the mission they are sent on when there is no need for the mission in the first place.
I often wonder if the supporters of the occupation of Iraq ever notice that no one argues about the need to send troops into Afghanistan, which was in direct response to the attacks here. I think they would be fully disgusted with themselves if they ever did. It's also one of the biggest reasons the politicians hardly ever mention Afghanistan. They wouldn't want to remind people that because troops were sent into Iraq, we have lost so many in Afghanistan.
I am determined to fight to have the warriors taken care of when it comes to PTSD because I live with it everyday in my own husband. The veterans and families trying to cope with it have tugged at my heart. You have now taken on the families who do not support the occupation of Iraq but have lost family members all the same. They need to hear you to find the support so few of the others are willing to give. They're too busy calling parents like you "anti-military" or "unpatriotic" depending on which talking point hit them the hardest. I know what it's like to live with PTSD, but you know what it's like to be in their shoes when they lost someone they loved. Reach out to them and help them heal and in doing so, like me, you will begin to heal yourself.
You will forever be in my prayers. Bless you for speaking out.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
'Life as you know it stops
'Vickie Castro's 21-year-old son, Jonathan, was killed by an Iraqi suicide bomber after the Pentagon extended his tour of duty.
Dan Glaister hears her story
guardian.co.uk,
Saturday November 1 2008
Vickie Castro recalls the moment that every soldier's parent dreads most
Link to this video
She knew it could happen at any time. But in order to get through each day, Vickie Castro had to struggle to block the thought from her mind, and keep the fear at bay. That all ended when she saw the man in the neatly pressed uniform with all the medals on his chest coming to the door.
The officer knew what to do. He waited patiently until the screaming stopped. And then said: "I regret to inform you…" Vicki begins to cry as she tells the Guardian's Dan Glaister of the moment when she learned that her son, Army Spc Jonathan Castro, had been killed in Mosul, Iraq.
That was almost four years ago, when Jonathan was serving his second tour of duty on a "stop-loss" order, which required him to stay in the service beyond his initial enlistment. He was 21 years old when he died.
Neither Vickie nor anyone else in her family opposes the war for political reasons. Her son wanted to be a soldier. But the young combat engineer came to believe that the United States should not be in Iraq. Still, he continued to do his duty and serve his country. Vickie mentions that she distrusts John McCain, but says all that matters to her now is that the government brings the troops home.
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Republican and voted for McCain kicked out of rally because she didn't look right?
“I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”
October 30th, 2008 11:14 pm
Pre-emptive ejection: Audience members removed at McCain rally in Cedar Falls
By Dylan Boyle / Iowa State Daily
Audience members escorted out of Sen. John McCain’s, R-Ariz., campaign event in Cedar Falls questioned why they were asked to leave Sunday’s rally even though they were not protesting.
David Zarifis, director of public safety for the University of Northern Iowa, said McCain staffers requested UNI police assist in escorting out “about four or five” people from the rally prior to McCain’s speech.
Zarifis said while the people who were taken out weren’t protesting or causing problems, McCain’s staff were worried they would during the speech.
“Apparently, they had been identified by those staffers as potential protesters within the event,” Zarifis said. “The facility was rented by the RNC for the McCain campaign, so it’s really a private facility for them. We assisted in their desires to have those people removed.”
Lara Elborno, a student at the University of Iowa, said she was approached by a police officer and a McCain staffer and was told she had to leave or she would be arrested for trespassing.
go here for more
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=12471
linked from RawStory
Mary Schmich: A hip bakery where the bakers are homeless
Mary Schmich: A hip bakery where the bakers are homeless
Mary Schmich
October 31, 2008
Meet the cast of characters of the Sweet Miss Givings Bakery.
•Stan Sloan, 45, idea mastermind, a tanned Episcopal priest who wears a black leather jacket and grooves on Madonna.
•Stephen Smith, 28, chief operating officer, Harvard grad who just moved back to town with a master's degree from the London School of Economics.
•Kristi Gorsuch, 30ish, head baker, who earned her pastry degree at a school of the Cordon Bleu.
And the bakery's interns, among them:
•Mary Pelts, 44, 5th-grade graduate whose birth certificate, she says, carries the words "female pelvis" where a name should have gone, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2001 and never had a job except street hustling until she came to Sweet Miss Givings.
•Stanley Long Bey, 44, who was diagnosed with HIV the year he finished high school, who spent half his adult life in prison, and who, when he finally got out, had nowhere to sleep but parks and sidewalks.
Since last week when Mayor Daley snipped the ribbon, Reverend Stan, Stephen, Kristi, Mary, Stanley and a dozen others have come to work at this little brick factory off Division Street near the Chicago River.
click link for more of this great story!
Mary Schmich
October 31, 2008
Meet the cast of characters of the Sweet Miss Givings Bakery.
•Stan Sloan, 45, idea mastermind, a tanned Episcopal priest who wears a black leather jacket and grooves on Madonna.
•Stephen Smith, 28, chief operating officer, Harvard grad who just moved back to town with a master's degree from the London School of Economics.
•Kristi Gorsuch, 30ish, head baker, who earned her pastry degree at a school of the Cordon Bleu.
And the bakery's interns, among them:
•Mary Pelts, 44, 5th-grade graduate whose birth certificate, she says, carries the words "female pelvis" where a name should have gone, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2001 and never had a job except street hustling until she came to Sweet Miss Givings.
•Stanley Long Bey, 44, who was diagnosed with HIV the year he finished high school, who spent half his adult life in prison, and who, when he finally got out, had nowhere to sleep but parks and sidewalks.
Since last week when Mayor Daley snipped the ribbon, Reverend Stan, Stephen, Kristi, Mary, Stanley and a dozen others have come to work at this little brick factory off Division Street near the Chicago River.
click link for more of this great story!
Northwestern students deliver from Campus Kitchen to needy
Northwestern students deliver from Campus Kitchen to needy
Elizabeth Hubbard and her two children know that the meals they deliver to residents at a low-income apartment in Evanston are appreciated, but they recently discovered their visits mean much, much more.
"Mom, look," daughter Frances, 8, whispered during a stop at a woman's apartment. She noticed that every Valentine's Day card that she and her brother, Wyatt, 6, had drawn for residents during four years of delivering meals was displayed on the refrigerator.
"It's been a really rewarding thing for all of us," said Hubbard, whose mother also helps make the food runs for the Campus Kitchens Project at Northwestern University, which started in 2003. "We really enjoy the continuity of going to the same place. [The residents] enjoy watching the kids get bigger."
The project at Northwestern is one of the Chicago-area organizations supported by Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV Holiday Giving, a campaign of Chicago Tribune Charities, a McCormick Foundation Fund.
click link for more
Elizabeth Hubbard and her two children know that the meals they deliver to residents at a low-income apartment in Evanston are appreciated, but they recently discovered their visits mean much, much more.
"Mom, look," daughter Frances, 8, whispered during a stop at a woman's apartment. She noticed that every Valentine's Day card that she and her brother, Wyatt, 6, had drawn for residents during four years of delivering meals was displayed on the refrigerator.
"It's been a really rewarding thing for all of us," said Hubbard, whose mother also helps make the food runs for the Campus Kitchens Project at Northwestern University, which started in 2003. "We really enjoy the continuity of going to the same place. [The residents] enjoy watching the kids get bigger."
The project at Northwestern is one of the Chicago-area organizations supported by Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV Holiday Giving, a campaign of Chicago Tribune Charities, a McCormick Foundation Fund.
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4 teens die in head-on collision in Kane County
4 teens die in head-on collision in Kane County
Four people died early this morning in a head-on collision in unincorporated Burlington Township when a Pontiac Grand Am crossed the center line and slammed into a Pontiac Grand Prix.
The driver of the Grand Am, Eric Silva, 18, of Streamwood, was airlifted to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove where he was pronounced dead just after 1 a.m. Two passengers in his car, Christian Miguel Gody-Olvea, 19, and Andres Solis, 19, both of Streamwood, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Grand Prix, Marco Leon, 19, of Elgin, was also pronounced dead at the scene.
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Police officer dies in the line of duty on what was supposed to be a night off
Schaumburg cop collapses, dies chasing suspect on foot
November 1, 2008
A Schaumburg police officer died early Saturday morning after collapsing while pursuing a suspect on foot in the 1000 block of Golf Road, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
Officer Frank Russo, 47, was taken to Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove where he was pronounced dead shortly before 3 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Schaumburg police said that Russo was working on his night off along with another officer
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Retired Marine rebuilds his life after brush with death in Iraq
Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Wounded in Iraq, Nick Popaditch got a prosthetic eye decorated with the Marine Corps' eagle-globe-and-anchor logo. He has two others: one with the gun sights of a tank gunner and one with the logo of the 1st Tank Battalion.
Retired Marine rebuilds his life after brush with death in Iraq
Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Wounded in Iraq, Nick Popaditch got a prosthetic eye decorated with the Marine Corps' eagle-globe-and-anchor logo. He has two others: one with the gun sights of a tank gunner and one with the logo of the 1st Tank Battalion.
He has a new life and a new set of goals, including one to become a high school teacher. He has written a book, works with other wounded veterans and is a sought-after motivational speaker.
By Tony Perry
November 2, 2008
Reporting from San Diego -- In his San Diego apartment, retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nick Popaditch keeps two jagged hunks of metal from Iraq: one from a day of triumph, the other from the day he almost died.
One piece is from the statue of Saddam Hussein that Marines pulled down in central Baghdad in April 2003. A news photo from that day shows a grinning, cigar-smoking Popaditch sitting atop his tank as the statue fell.
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Heroes of 2 Para: The bloody reality of the war against the Taliban
Heroes of 2 Para: The bloody reality of the war against the Taliban
By Andrew Malone Last updated at 10:00 PM on 31st October 2008
They've suffered the worst death rate since World War II. In the week they came home, battle-scarred Paras reveal the bloody reality of their terrifying war against 'Terry Taliban'.
On parade for the cameras this week, the soldiers of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment had finally arrived home. They marched through the streets of Colchester, their Essex garrison town, applauded by hundreds of members of the public, friends and family. Tanned and fit, they cut heroic figures just returned from fighting a war on treacherous foreign fields.
Hugging their loved ones in the English rain, the soldiers spoke of their joy at seeing their families after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a place of lethal intrigue known as the Tournament Of Shadows on account of the treachery by warlords vying for control. But this was not an entirely joyful homecoming. This battalion have gained the awful distinction of suffering the fiercest 'kill ratio' since World War II.
It was only after the cameras had gone, and the barrack doors were closed, that this remarkable story of 2 Para's deadly sojourn in the badlands of Afghanistan finally emerged in full.
By Andrew Malone Last updated at 10:00 PM on 31st October 2008
They've suffered the worst death rate since World War II. In the week they came home, battle-scarred Paras reveal the bloody reality of their terrifying war against 'Terry Taliban'.
On parade for the cameras this week, the soldiers of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment had finally arrived home. They marched through the streets of Colchester, their Essex garrison town, applauded by hundreds of members of the public, friends and family. Tanned and fit, they cut heroic figures just returned from fighting a war on treacherous foreign fields.
Hugging their loved ones in the English rain, the soldiers spoke of their joy at seeing their families after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a place of lethal intrigue known as the Tournament Of Shadows on account of the treachery by warlords vying for control. But this was not an entirely joyful homecoming. This battalion have gained the awful distinction of suffering the fiercest 'kill ratio' since World War II.
It was only after the cameras had gone, and the barrack doors were closed, that this remarkable story of 2 Para's deadly sojourn in the badlands of Afghanistan finally emerged in full.
Their mission was to win hearts and minds among the local population, train the Afghan National Army (ANA) to take over and carry out regular patrols to flush out Taliban fighters lurking in opium fields. In truth, all they really wanted to do was 'kill Terry'.
'We'd been training and training,' said Tom Wilson, 24, who had gone through basic selection with Dan Gamble. 'We'd done lots of live firing exercises. We were itching to put it all into action. But nothing happened. We could walk through villages and chat to the local people. It's not what we expected.' YET THE Taliban, many of whose soldiers repelled the might of the Soviet Red Army 30 years earlier, were simply biding their time.
They did not want fighting to damage their precious crop of opium poppies, used to fund their war against the West. That much became clear during a routine patrol on June 8, almost two months after Four Platoon arrived at Camp Inkerman.
About a mile-and-a-half from the garrison, the 30-strong patrol came across a strange fort built from mud. As they approached the fort, an old man shuffled into sight. The Para's regimental motto - Ready For Anything - was of little use. There was a deafening explosion. The old man was a suicide bomber. With the help of fellow Taliban soldiers, he had packed explosives around his body and covered them with his robes.
Then, as the British platoon approached, he pressed the detonator. It was a deadly new twist to the Taliban's tactics in the Afghan war. The scene was chaotic. Cries of 'Medic, medic!' could be heard above the noise of the fading explosion. Some soldiers fanned out to protect their flanks - and the wounded. Three men had been hit: Cuthie, 19, Dan, 22, and Dave, 19. They were treated at the scene, then airlifted out by helicopter. But it was hopeless. They died from their injuries. All three had been popular figures at Camp Inkerman.
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