[Vision2020] help
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Wed Oct 18 12:55:40 PDT 2006
From: vision2020-request at moscow.com
Date: 2006/10/17 Tue PM 01:41:03 CDT
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Vision2020 Digest, Vol 4, Issue 162
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Today's Topics:
1. Civilized Nations Abolish the Death Penalty
(nickgier at adelphia.net)
2. Methodoloy and Iraqi Dead (nickgier at adelphia.net)
3. Civilized Nations Abolish the Death Penalty
(heirdoug at netscape.net)
4. How Rude! (was RE: Civilized Nations Abolish the Death
Penalty) (Saundra Lund)
5. The Human Toll (Tom Hansen)
6. VA Urged to Focus on Suicide Prevention (Tom Hansen)
7. Many Pigments, One Purpose (Tom Hansen)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 9:44:55 -0700
From: <nickgier at adelphia.net>
Subject: [Vision2020] Civilized Nations Abolish the Death Penalty
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Message-ID: <28085091.1161103495492.JavaMail.root at web17>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
World Day Against the Death Penalty Marked Throughout Europe
At a joint press conference held by the European Commission (EC) and the Council of Europe, Vice-President Franco Frattini of the EC stated that "the administration of State killing via the judicial system serves no useful purpose in preventing crime but can have a brutalising effect on societies that inflict it".
There are at present 128 countries that are abolitionist in law and practice. Over 40 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes since 1990. They include countries in Africa (recent examples include Liberia, C?te d'Ivoire), the Americas (Canada, Paraguay, Mexico), Asia and the Pacific (Philippines, Bhutan, Samoa) and Europe and Central Asia (Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey, Turkmenistan). In 2005, countries having abolished death penalty were 86, while in 1977, only 16 countries were abolitionist.
When will the U. S. join the ranks of civilized nations by not only abolishing the death penalty but following international law?
Nick Gier
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 9:36:10 -0700
From: <nickgier at adelphia.net>
Subject: [Vision2020] Methodoloy and Iraqi Dead
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Message-ID: <27699748.1161102970509.JavaMail.root at web17>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Greetings:
Thanks to Tom for posting Molly Ivins column on the generals speaking out on the disastrous war in Iraq.
Just wanted to draw your attention to one significant statement: "Yet the methodology employed [to calculate 655,000 Iraqi dead] is the same as is used by the federal government to decide how to spend millions of dollars every year. It is, as they say, the industry standard."
I also appreciated the concession about comparisons to Vietnam. The only difference is that we have not yet lost 55,000 GIs.
Nick Gier, Supporting the Troops but not Bush's Bungling
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:21:07 -0400
From: heirdoug at netscape.net
Subject: [Vision2020] Civilized Nations Abolish the Death Penalty
To: nickgier at adelphia.net, vision2020 at moscow.com
Message-ID: <8C8C027C410E83D-3B0-35DF at FWM-R12.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
"When will the U. S. join the ranks of civilized nations by not only
abolishing the death penalty but following international law?"
When the U.S. abolishes the U.S. Constitution (which is almost
complete) or we are taken over by Muslims. Oh wait, They aren't one of
the signatories of such stuff.
The U.S. will join the ranks of civilized nations when we no longer
have bag-pipes! May it never be!
Doug
PS: you still have not answered my past questions. Any chance of that.
Women of the Palouse are waiting for an answer.
________________________________________________________________________
Check Out the new free AIM(R) Mail -- 2 GB of storage and
industry-leading spam and email virus protection.
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:57:55 -0700
From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at adelphia.net>
Subject: [Vision2020] How Rude! (was RE: Civilized Nations Abolish the
Death Penalty)
To: <nickgier at adelphia.net>, <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Message-ID: <011101c6f215$c665c070$1401a8c0 at pooh>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Lemeno wrote:
"PS: you still have not answered my past questions. Any chance of that.
Women of the Palouse are waiting for an answer."
Speak for yourself. This real woman of the Palouse couldn't be less
interested in the answers to your completely irrelevant -- and not to
mention rude -- questions, and my educated guess is I'm in the majority on
this. I'm sorry lemeno wasn't better able to learn the good manners I'm
sure those in his world struggled (unsuccessfully, I might add) to teach
him.
Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
- Edmund Burke
***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006, Saundra Lund.
Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum
without the express written permission of the author.*****
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:34:27 -0700
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] The Human Toll
To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Message-ID: <000a01c6f21a$e435a430$631aa8c0 at D5L3R191>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>From the October 23, 2006 edition of the Army Times -
------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. service members who died while supporting combat operations in Iraq,
confirmed by the Defense Department from October 6 through October 12:
Marine Lance Cpl. John E. Hale, 20, of Shreveport, La.; assigned to the 2nd
Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary
Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Cpl. Bradford H. Payne, 24, of Montgomery, Ala.; assigned to the 2nd
Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary
Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Army Cpl. Nicholas A. Arvanitis, 22, of Salem, New Hampshire; assigned to
the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne
Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Army Sgt. Lawrence L. Parrish, 36, of Lebanon, Mo.; assigned to the 110th
Engineer Battalion, Kansas City, Mo.
Army Spc. John E. Wood, 37, of Humboldt, Kan.; assigned to the 891st
Engineer Battalion, Garnett, Kan.
Army Sgt. Brandon S. Asbury, 21, of Tazewell, Va.; assigned to the 4th
Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas
Army Cpl. Carl W. Johnson II, 21, of Philadelphia, Pa.; assigned to the 2nd
Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Army Spc. Timothy A. Fulkerson, 20, of Utica, Ky.; assigned to the 1st
Battalion, 82nd Aviation Reconnaissance Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation
Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Marine Lance Cpl. Stephen F. Johnson, 20, of Marietta, Ga.; assigned to the
2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine
Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Lance Cpl. Derek W. Jones, 21, of Salem, Ore.; assigned to the 2nd
Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine
Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy S. Sandvick Monroe, 20, of Chinook, Mont.; assigned
to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine
Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
Marine Capt. Robert M. Secher, 33, of Germantown, Tenn.; assigned to the 3rd
Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine
Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan
Army Pfc. Phillip B. Williams, 21, of Gardnerville, Nev.; assigned to the
4th Brigade Troop Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne
Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
Marine Sgt. Julian M. Arechaga, 23, of Oceanside, N.Y.; assigned to the 1st
Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary
Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Lance Cpl. Jon E. Bowman, 21, of Dubach, La.; assigned to the 1st
Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary
Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Pfc. Shelby J. Feniello, 25, of Connellsville, Pa.; assigned to the
1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine
Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Sgt. Justin T. Walsh, 24, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; assigned to the
8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine
Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Army Capt. Shane T. Adcock, 27, of Mechanicsville, Va.; assigned to the 3rd
Battalion, 7th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division,
Schofield Barracks, Hawaii
Army Chief Warrant Officer Scott W. Dyer, 38, of Cocoa Beach, Fla.; assigned
to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Army Sgt. Nicholas R. Sowinski, 25, of Tempe, Ariz.; assigned to the 4th
Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort
Wainwright, Alaska
Army Sgt. Gene A. Hawkins, 24, of Orlando, Fla.; assigned to the 14th
Engineer Battalion, 555th Combat Support Brigade (Maneuver Enhancement),
Fort Lewis, Wash.
October 6 - October 12
Killed: 21; wounded in action: 208
March 19, 2003 - October 12, 2006
Killed: 2,745; wounded in action: 20,895
------------------------------------------------------------------
And the beat goes on . . .
"Bring 'em Home"
http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Bring_em_home.mp3
"If you love this land of the free
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
Bring them back from overseas
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
It will make the politicians sad, I know
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
They wanna tangle with their foe
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
They wanna test their grand theories
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
With the blood of you and me
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
Now we'll give no more brave young lives
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
For the gleam in someone's eyes
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
Yeah and we will all turn out
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
The church bells will ring with joy
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
To welcome our darlin' girls and boys
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
We will lift their voice and sound
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
Yeah, when Johnny comes marching home
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home."
Seeya round town, Moscow.
Tom Hansen
Vandalville, Idaho
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime."
-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:37:49 -0700
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] VA Urged to Focus on Suicide Prevention
To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Message-ID: <000b01c6f21b$594dfd80$631aa8c0 at D5L3R191>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>From the October 23, 2006 edition of the Army Times -
"'Some estimates have found that almost 1,000 veterans receiving care from
the Department of Veterans Affairs commit suicide each year, and research
shows that one out of 100 veterans who have returned from Iraq have
considered suicide,' Boswell said. 'I find this number disturbing.'"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
VA urged to focus on suicide prevention
Lawmakers propose 24-hour hotline, extended free care
By Gayle S. Putrich and Rick Maze
Army Times Staff writers
While the mental wounds of war take their toll on returning troops, driving
an increasing number to suicide, members of Congress and agency officials
continue to differ over what should be done about post-deployment mental
health.
Department of Veterans Affairs officials say that, according to national
statistics, about one-fourth of all suicides in the U.S. are veterans.
"These are very, very sad numbers that . really represent a profound wake-up
call that we had better focus on suicide prevention as a key activity of the
VA," said Dr. Ira Katz, VA's mental health services director.
"Obviously, there is a connection between post-traumatic stress disorder and
suicide," said Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, who said 80 Iraq or Afghanistan
war veterans have committed suicide since March 2003.
"Some estimates have found that almost 1,000 veterans receiving care from
the Department of Veterans Affairs commit suicide each year, and research
shows that one out of 100 veterans who have returned from Iraq have
considered suicide," Boswell said. "I find this number disturbing."
Boswell is sponsoring what he calls the "Joshua Omvig Veterans' Suicide
Prevention Act," named for a 22-year-old Army specialist and Iraq war
veteran who shot himself at his home in Iowa late last year after refusing
to seek counseling. His family told The Des Moines Register that Omvig was
worried about what his superiors would think if he asked for help.
Boswell's bill would require the creation of a 24-hour hotline for at-risk
veterans, plus improvements in counseling and research.
Other lawmakers have other ideas. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, the ranking
member of the House subcommittee that oversees veterans' health issues,
requested in September that the VA inspector general investigate staff
training and the screening and tracking of at-risk vets.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wants more screening for mental health problems. He
introduced a bill Sept. 28 that would order more personnel and money for
VA's post-traumatic stress disorder programs, and new training for VA
staffers to help them with early detection of PTSD in veterans. His bill, S
3984, was referred to the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a member of that committee, proposes to extend
from two years to five years the period in which discharged veterans of the
wars in Iraq or Afghanistan can get VA health care without having to prove a
service-connected health problem.
Obama said two years may not be enough time for mental health problems to
surface. "It can take years for symptoms of PTSD to manifest themselves," he
said.
To be sure, a variety of suicide prevention programs are in place at VA, and
billions of dollars are spent every year on mental health services. Emphasis
is put on monitoring high-risk cases and the reduction or eventual
elimination of symptoms for those diagnosed with mental illnesses.
But "there's a debate in the suicide prevention field as to whether issues
are primary in the clinic or in the community," Katz said. "Should one take
a clinical approach . or the public health approach, reaching out into the
community?"
VA seeks a middle ground, developing outreach programs to make vets and
their families aware of mental health services while also trying to further
integrate suicide prevention and mental health services into basic clinical
care efforts.
VA spent about $2.8 billion on mental health programs in fiscal 2006, Katz
said, and the budget for this fiscal year is expected to top $3 billion, he
said.
But as spending goes up, so does the number of troops in the field, the
number of vets coming home - and the suicide rate.
>From 2004 to 2005, the Army saw a jump in suicides from 64 to 85. However,
Pentagon health officials note that the Army's overall suicide rate of 12.74
per 100,000 people is still lower than the 13.13-per-100,000 rate in the
general U.S. population.
Army Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon
general, told the House Veterans' Affairs Committee on Sept. 28 that the
Army has begun keeping records of suicides and serious suicide attempts,
requiring a behavioral health care provider to fill out a report. The data
will be used to compare quarterly trends.
Each of the services has developed its own suicide prevention methods. The
Air Force's programs have been the most lauded, and many of its
methodologies were adopted by the Navy in 2005.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
And such are these casualties, valued veterans each and every one, that
people tend to ignore.
Seeya round town, Moscow.
Tom Hansen
Vandalville, Idaho
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime."
--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:40:23 -0700
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Many Pigments, One Purpose
To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Message-ID: <000f01c6f21b$b5411d20$631aa8c0 at D5L3R191>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>From the October 23, 2006 edition of the Army Times -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many pigments, one purpose
Soldiers come in an array of packages
By Maj. Jay R. Adams
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - I had an epiphany recently in the dining facility.
On the question of diversity, we really still are an "Army of one."
I was in the process of combining PT and breakfast. Trying to carry the
three days of supply that they stack on one plate while deployed is kind of
like entering ESPN's World's Strongest Man Competition. Just prior to muscle
failure, I sat down and had my epiphany.
The DFAC [dining facility] looked like America. In fact, the DFAC looked
like the U.N. General Assembly - except all of the delegates sported U.S.
Army over their hearts.
I saw men and women around me who, in the words of that great philosopher
Bill Murray, must have been "kicked out of every decent country in the
world." Black and white. Hispanic. Pacific Islander. Asian. In that dining
facility that morning, they were all green - well, all shades of pixelated
gray. Soldiers. American soldiers.
I don't know how they ended up in the same place at the same time in the
same uniform with the same mission and the same values. I don't know their
stories. But I know mine.
I suppose I came into the Army as a prisoner of my own experiences - my own
prejudices - just like everyone else.
I grew up in a very homogenous small town. The alleged "great American
melting pot" seemed pretty abstract to me. I found that in the Army, it's
not only a way of life, it's essential for mission success.
The small snapshot of diversity I observed in the DFAC had me reflecting on
my own experiences.
"I want to win everything," barked my black drill sergeant as he welcomed me
into the Army. "If they give out an award in Alpha Battery for taking out
the trash, we are going to win it. For an American soldier, victory is the
standard, and you will meet my standards."
I vaguely recall a few expletives mixed in for emphasis. Somewhere between
pushing Oklahoma dirt and the final parade field, I bought into his program.
I would have followed that man to the end of the earth.
In my first company command, my first sergeant was an outstanding black
noncommissioned officer from Mississippi. My standardization instructor
pilot - essentially the instructor pilot's instructor pilot - was a woman
and, as you would expect the SIP to be, the best pilot in the troop.
This was, of course, prelude to the epiphany.
I grew up as an officer in an aeroscout platoon, an all-male bastion at the
time. About the time I left my flight platoon to be a support platoon
leader, the military opened the scout and attack helicopter world to women.
When the first sergeant at my first command retired, his replacement was one
of the best NCOs I have worked with, a woman. But to me, she was just first
sergeant. To the soldiers of Outlaw Troop, she was the best first sergeant
in the squadron.
My first sergeant during my second command also was a woman. I thought I had
won the lottery in my first command, but sometimes lightning strikes twice.
She now is the command sergeant major of an aviation battalion in combat.
My boss from the previous year is a female colonel of Filipino descent who
"might have the strongest file of any transportation officer in the Army."
Those are not my words. Those are the words of a fellow transportation
officer in casual conversation.
My battalion commander is Puerto Rican. My headquarters replaced Brig. Gen.
Rebecca Halstead and 3rd Corps Support Command in Iraq. She has spent the
last year commanding one of the largest organizations in Iraq.
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, a black infantryman, was so intelligent and
eloquent he was plucked to be the military's spokesperson during the initial
stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the "no good deed goes unpunished"
department, the Army was so impressed that his next assignment was as the
Army's chief of public affairs. I subscribe to his public affairs vision
daily.
I supported hurricane relief operations in Louisiana under Lt. Gen. Russel
Honore, the bureaucracy-busting, cigar-chomping, black hero of hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.
Gen. John Abizaid, the senior military commander in the most turbulent
region of the world, is an Arab-American.
The Army, and a lot of talent, opened a few doors for Colin Powell.
These are just a few examples of outstanding soldiers I have turned to for
leadership. I was too caught up in their abilities to really notice gender
or race or heritage.
Whatever ignorance, whatever prejudices I carted into the Army have faded
like a distant puff of smoke. I consider myself a pretty good soldier, but
countless times in my career I have been bested by females, blacks - pick a
group and I have known soldiers that were better than me.
The Army is certainly not perfect. It is an imperfect organization manned by
imperfect people. The "Army of one" campaign may have had its critics, but
on this morning, in this dining facility, it seemed spot-on.
As our Army struggles to help Iraq's transition to democracy and overcome
its own ethnic strife, perhaps the Iraqi people can take a closer look at
the men and women wearing those pixelated gray uniforms. There is an awful
lot of diversity beneath that Velcro; they are diverse in heritage but
united in purpose.
Does the Army still have a ways to go? Sure.
But one soldier's story - my story - suggests we are not far off.
Army of one? It is at least an interesting thought.
The author is an Army aviator who recently traded in his flight suit for
duty as a public affairs officer for the 13th Sustainment Command at Fort
Hood, Texas. He is now deployed to Iraq.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeya round town, Moscow.
Tom Hansen
Vandalville, Idaho
"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime."
--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
------------------------------
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