Bachmann settles "birth issue" too late for Maj. Gen. Karl Horst

Correction:
To replace Horst with Lakin. The change of mind of Bachmann came too late when Horst had to approve the sentence of Lakin. Totally embarrassed over this misplaced name.

Because of people like Michele Bachmann getting attention for accusing President Obama of not being a natural born citizen, there were a lot of people paying the price for what this "congresswoman" told them. People like Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin believed it and it cost him his career and freedom.

Military affirms Army birther’s sentence

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Apr 22, 2011 13:49:00 EDT
FORT MEADE, Md. — The commander of the Military District of Washington is affirming the six-month prison sentence of an Army doctor who disobeyed deployment orders because he doubted President Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as commander-in-chief.

A spokeswoman said Friday that Army Maj. Gen. Karl Horst has approved the findings and sentence of Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin’s court-martial in December.

Lakin was sentenced to six months at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for refusing to go to Afghanistan.

In online videos posted on YouTube, Lakin aligned himself with the so-called “birther” movement that questions whether Obama is a natural-born citizen, as the Constitution requires for presidents.

Lakin’s sentence also includes dismissal from the armed services.

Now with the same evidence she had since the beginning about President Obama's place of birth being Hawaii, now she says "it's settled" but it is too late to undo the damage done.

"Not proud of lack of care our vets are receiving now"

There is only one "one size fits all" therapy for veterans and that is we do all we can to give them what they need. If a tiny program works for these veterans, do it. Don't find excuses to cut something that is helping them heal. Doing all we can is therapy for them because we prove they do matter. Cutting programs tells them they are not worth the price.

End of VA program spurs protests
Posted: April 22, 2011

By Ann Marie Bush
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
The elimination of a program at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center has some people concerned about the possibility of cuts to other veterans’ programs.

"The bottom line is the VA has closed some very important clinics," said Marvella Kreipe, of Tecumseh.

At issue in this case is the lapidary program, where rock cutting and polishing took place.

Kreipe and her husband, Bill, a Vietnam veteran, were two of six people protesting cuts outside of the VA hospital Thursday afternoon.

Georgia and James Bent, of Quenemo, also held signs protesting the closure of the lapidary program and the possible closure of other programs.

James Bent, who served in the Kansas National Guard, has had a lot of improvement during his time in the lapidary program, Georgia Bent said. James returned from Iraq a few years ago.

"My husband was in the military for over 20 years," Georgia wrote in an email. "He and I are both proud of that. What we are not proud of is the lack of care our vets are receiving now. My husband is not the same man he was prior to spending a year in Iraq. It has taken many, many months of counseling and treatment programs to get him where he is able to function normally."
read more here
End of VA program spurs protests

Female Army Vet, released from PTSD program, committed suicide at shooting range

TAYLOR: Iowa woman recently released from post-traumatic stress disorder treatment program
Published: Saturday, April 23, 2011

By Rene Cizio

TAYLOR — A 38-year-old Iowa woman killed herself Wednesday at Top Gun Shooting Sports, 16725 Racho Road.

Police said Army veteran Wendy Torrey had been released recently from a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment program at the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Police said Torrey went to the range at about 1 p.m., rented a semiautomatic handgun and shot at targets for awhile. Surveillance video shows that she stopped firing at the target and shot herself in the head.
read more here
Iowa woman recently released

Ignored sacrifices

If you search Google images for Easter, there are 20,700,000 results to find. This was the first picture and up until page 11 in the results, it was all about colored eggs and the Easter Bunny.

Much like Christmas being all about Santa, Easter has been taken over and has taken away Christ. This image showed up on page 11.


If you go to church, Christmas is all about the birth of Christ. At least that's the day Christians celebrate it but when you look back to why they decided on December 25, discovering this day is not really a holy day to most of the world, is not that big of a shock. The trees, holly and celebrations were tied to old traditions of celebrating the Winter Solstice and had nothing to do with the birth of the Son of God. It was all about what was in it for the people. The early Christian church couldn't get the people to stop celebrating, so they decided to tie the celebrating to Christ.

Easter has been one more time during the year when people do more celebrating than honoring the willingness of Christ to sacrifice His life for the sake of humanity. We ignore His life, how He lived and what He did, pretend that the crucifixion was a failure instead of a known outcome predicted 700 years before it happened as much as we forget He had a choice that day to walk away or fulfill God's mercy. When plain humans have a choice of thinking of themselves or of others, we seem to find it easier to accept self interest above sacrifice. Most want to know what's in if for them.

We ignore sacrifices everyday. Volunteering is considered to be done by people not good enough to be paid for what they do. High school graduates entering into the military are thought of as doing it just because they can't find a job or can't afford college. Sacrifices for the sake of someone else are reasons to find excuses to dismiss what some do for the sake of others. It makes us feel better about ourselves when we do nothing for anyone else.

We ignore Christ and forget about God until we need something from them. We ignore the men and women serving in the military until we need them to do something for the country and what they do better end soon after it begins or we lose interests, then complain about how much what they are doing is costing us. We ignore volunteers until something is not being done and then we wonder why no one is showing up to feed the hungry, help someone in need or even hold a door for us when our hands are full.

When the world turns selfish, we wonder why, until another disaster hits and suddenly they show up again. It is not that they stopped doing things for other people. We stopped looking for them.

Reporter ignores more important story

This is what the headline was.
Ex-Marine beats wife during divorce hearing

They focused on the fact this man was a Marine. Was that just an easier headline for them to use than the fact this woman tried to get a restraining order against her husband but it was denied before this even happened? Where was her protection?

Wife speaks about court attack

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A mother of two came on camera to talk about a brutal beating by her husband that unfolded in front of a judge.

The incident occurred at the Broward County Courthouse, last Friday.

Caty Scott-Gonzalez was at the final court hearing for her divorce from her husband, Paul Gonzalez. Scott-Gonzalez said her husband blind-sided her inside the private chambers of Judge Ronald Rothschild. As Gonzalez began beating his wife, a dozen bailiffs rushed in to subdue him.

The victim said, "They had to Tase him twice in order to remove him from me."

Scott-Gonzalez was beaten so badly, she fell unconscious. "The first blow to my face knocked me out, so I don't really remember anything," she said. "I just had a bad feeling, but I thought that the place that I was in, that there was nothing that could happen to me, and I was wrong."

Gonzalez has been charged with felony battery. The ex-Marine remains in jail on $1 million bond. During Gonzalez's appearance in bond court, the judge said, "Rarely in my career have I ever set a bond in this amount or even approaching it, but the allegations are indeed extremely serious and shocking."

According to Scott-Gonzalez, she tried to tell others that her husband could be violent at times. The battered wife said she attempted to get a restraining order against her husband; however, her request was denied.
click link above for more

When women are afraid in their own home, it is about as bad as it gets, but for too many the nightmare comes when they try to get someone to protect them. Why was it denied? Who denied it?

We cover a lot of stories on veterans but one that does not get enough attention is the simple fact that some of the veterans coming back are living on anger because they did not get the help they needed. This is a price being paid all too often.

When families are dealing with PTSD veterans, it makes it harder to live with some of them. Keep in mind that most do not abuse their families, but as we've read too many times, some do. The first thing families need to do is find a safe place to live and then try to get their spouse help from a distance.

I don't know if Gonzalez has PTSD or not but I do know this woman tried to get protection from him and this is the result of her not getting it. So why was this a bigger story as an ex-Marine beating his wife in court than the fact the court refused to help her be save in the first place?