The Washington Post facilitates greed.
Nowhere in The Washington Post over the past several weeks did they mention issues with heroine addiction of soldiers in Afghanistan, yet according to an officer returning to the status of private citizen, the addiction issue is rampant. It is covert because those caught taking heroine and returning to the states with heroine and selling it in their communities are in military prisons. According to this former officer, children have been taken from the home of soldier-addicts to be placed in foster care in large numbers.
The Washington Post speaks ONLY to issues of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as if the addiction issue never could exist.
Additionally, the privatization of Walter Reed is an outrage and completely narrows the access of veterans and active military to care within the military structure. Closing Walter Reed would further limit beds available to soldiers and create even longer waiting lists for care including the very high suicide rate that exists within the ranks.
This is another Halliburton conspiracy by Cheney of the American people. The ever expanding military budget that is finding it's way into Halliburton as it seeks to end it's illegal involvement with KBR in Iraq. When are these people going to be indicted on criminal charges that lead this country astray? When?
If there is any one newsprint in the USA that leads the nation in Pro-Cheney propaganda it's this rag ! If one can break down the confidence in the American people of it's government to give good care of it's military then privatization doors will swing open rather than fixing a system that is SPECIALIZED to handling the needs of the military and it's veterans.
The Washington Post
Walter Reed Deal Hindered by Disputes
By DONNA BORAK
The Associated Press
Sunday, March 18, 2007; 11:15 PM
WASHINGTON -- An Army contract to privatize maintenance at Walter Reed Medical Center was delayed more than three years amid bureaucratic bickering and legal squabbles that led to staff shortages and a hospital in disarray just as the number of severely wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan was rising rapidly.
Documents from the investigative and auditing arm of Congress map a trail of bid, rebid, protests and appeals between 2003, when Walter Reed was first selected for outsourcing, and 2006, when a five-year, $120 million contract was finally awarded.
The disputes involved hospital management, the Pentagon, Congress and IAP Worldwide Services Inc., a company with powerful political connections and the only private bidder to handle maintenance, security, public works and management of military personnel.
While medical care was not directly affected, needed repairs went undone as the non-medical staff shrank from almost 300 to less than 50 in the last year and hospital officials were unable to find enough skilled replacements.
An investigative series by The Washington Post last month sparked a furor on Capitol Hill after it detailed subpar conditions at the 98-year-old hospital in northwest Washington and substandard services for patients. Three top-ranking military officials, including the secretary of the Army, were ousted in part for what critics said was the Pentagon's mismanaged effort to reduce costs and improve efficiency at the Army's premier military hospital while the nation was at war.
IAP is owned by a New York hedge fund whose board is chaired by former Treasury Secretary John Snow, and it is led by former executives of Kellogg, Brown and Root, the subsidiary spun off by Texas-based Halliburton Inc., the oil services firm once run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
IAP finally got the job in November 2006, but further delays caused by the Army and Congress delayed work until Feb. 4, two weeks before the Post series and two years after the number of patients at the hospital hit a record 900.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031800667.html
McCain Vows Better Care for Veterans
By HOLLY RAMER
The Associated Press
Monday, March 19, 2007; 10:03 PM
NASHUA, N.H. -- Republican presidential hopeful John McCain praised a new apartment building for homeless veterans as a welcome contrast to the shoddy conditions recently revealed at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington.
"This comes at a very important time. This Walter Reed scandal is one which has saddened all of us _ saddened, frustrated and angered all of us, because those of us in positions of authority should never have let it happen," he said Monday.
"What we're seeing today is the other of side of that. What we're seeing today is what Americans who are dedicated and want to help can do for the men and women who have served our country," he said.
McCain, a Vietnam war veteran who endured years of torture as a prisoner of war, spoke at the dedication of Buckingham Place, a 20-unit apartment building that will open next month. Though the city already has a similar facility for single, male veterans, the new building is believed to be one of the first transitional housing facilities in the country for both male and female veterans and their families.
Residents will be allowed to stay for up to two years while they receive job training and any needed mental health and substance abuse services. More than 200 veterans already have applied for spots, said Peter Kelleher, president of Harbor Homes, which developed the project.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900755.html
U.S. Military Spending Bill at a Glance
By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 22, 2007; 6:19 PM
-- The House on Thursday debated a $124 billion bill that would:
_Give about $96 billion to the Defense Department, mostly to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
_Require the president to begin pulling an unspecified number of combat troops out
next spring, completing the redeployment on Aug. 31, 2008.
_Add $1 billion to protect against pandemic flu.
_Add $1.7 billion for defense health programs, including efforts to treat brain injuries and post-traumatic stress syndrome.
_Prevent any money from being used to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
_Include legislation passed by the House this year that would increase the minimum wage and cut some related small business taxes.
_Add nearly $4 billion for agricultural assistance.
___Also Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $122 billion bill that would:
_Give about $96 billion to the Defense Department, mostly to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
_Require the president to begin pulling an unspecified number of combat troops out within four months of the bill's enactment, with the nonbinding goal of completing the redeployment on March 31, 2008.
_Add $161 million to protect against pandemic flu.
_Add $1.3 billion for defense health programs, including efforts to treat brain injuries and post-traumatic stress syndrome.
_Provide $6.7 billion for hurricane victims.
_Add more than $4 billion for agricultural assistance.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201531_pf.html
Substandard Conditions at VA Centers Noted
90% of More than 1,000 Problems Reported Are Routine, Officials Say
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 22, 2007; A12
A review by the Department of Veterans Affairs of 1,400 hospitals and other veterans care facilities released yesterday has turned up more than 1,000 reports of substandard conditions -- from leaky roofs and peeling paint to bug and bat infestations -- as well as a smaller number of potential threats to patient safety, such as suicide risks in psychiatric wards.
The investigation, ordered March 7 by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, found problems such as rugs loaded with bacteria from patient "accidents," ceiling and floor tiles with asbestos that needs to be removed, as well as exposed pipes and other fixtures from which mental patients could hang themselves.
"We are committed to being upfront in identifying issues, and we are managing to correct them," said Louise Van Diepen, chief of staff of VA's Veterans Health Administration. "I am pleased that we are managing it aggressively, and most represented wear-and-tear issues, as opposed to the Walter Reed situation," Van Diepen said, referring to the squalid conditions at an outpatient-care building at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which prompted the VA review.
VA officials said that with such a large network of facilities -- encompassing nearly 150 million square feet of space and serving 1 million patients each week -- it was not surprising to find maintenance concerns. They concluded that 90 percent of the issues were routine, while 10 percent involved more serious problems, and that the department's $519 million maintenance budget this year should address the "shortcomings."
Plans for fixing the facilities were outlined, with some taking days or weeks and others requiring years of extensive renovation of buildings dating to the 1920s. In some facilities, the needed repairs were widespread. For example, at a facility in Little Rock, 30 percent of the patient areas' walls and halls need to be repaired, patched and painted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032102583_pf.html
Worries grow over mental health of U.S. soldiers
By Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters
Wednesday, March 28, 2007; 1:50 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retired U.S. Navy medic Charlie Anderson twice thought about committing suicide: once when he feared he would be sent back to Iraq in 2004 and again last year when a friend and fellow veteran killed himself.
"I can't say that I can't go because we don't do that, I also can't go because I'm putting people in danger if I do," he said of his first brush with suicidal thoughts, which came while he was awaiting his second deployment.
In the end, Anderson was not deployed but it sparked a two-year effort to get help for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of thousands of soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan facing a battle to re-enter everyday life.
While much of the attention has been on physical wounds like traumatic brain injuries, as well as squalid living conditions for recovering soldiers, doctors, families and lawmakers are expressing growing concerns that veterans are not be getting the right mental health help.
Those worries come as President George W. Bush has ordered almost 30,000 more troops to Iraq. Already 1.5 million soldiers have been deployed in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, with one-third serving at least two combat tours, which increases the chances of PTSD.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032800377_pf.html
The Miami Herald
Hicks pleads guilty, will get maximum 7 years
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Australian David Hicks, who as a 25-year-old trained and served with al Qaeda in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty here to supporting terrorism in exchange for serving no more than seven years jailed in his homeland.
In return, Hicks, now 31, will be allowed to leave Guantánamo within 60 days of sentencing, concluding the first U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War II. That means he'll be gone in June.
Under a complex plea agreement, he agreed to a one-year media gag, to forever waive any profit from telling his story, to renounce any claims of mistreatment or unlawful detention -- and to voluntarily submit to U.S. interrogation and to testify at future U.S. trials or international tribunals.
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/58257.html
Gables Hospital nurses vote to join union
Nurses and other employees at Coral Gables Hospital, a Tenet facility, have voted to join the SEIU Florida Healthcare Union, the union announced Friday.
The results of the vote were revealed to the 316 employees on Thursday. The hospital becomes the ninth group of hospital workers in 15 months to unite in SEIU-FHU.
Employees at two other Tenet hospitals in South Florida, St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach and North Shore Medical Center in Miami, are also members of SEIU-FHU.
SEIU-FHU now represents more than 16,000 hospital and long-term care employees. In the past 15 months, the union says nearly 5,000 workers have joined the Florida union.
Brazilian: Castro's biofuel views are `outdated'
By VIVIAN SEQUERA
Associated Press
BRASILIA, Brazil -- Cuban President Fidel Castro's criticism of biofuels are respectable but outdated because the whole world is heading in the direction of ethanol, Brazil's foreign minister said Thursday.
Celso Amorim said that while he had not read Castro's attack on U.S. biofuel policy in a Cuban newspaper, he felt it represented a respectable, if behind-the-times opinion.
''President Fidel Castro is a person who is a respectable and historically important figure,'' Amorim said.
''He has some ideas that are outdated,'' the minister added, saying that he had accompanied a Brazilian delegation to Havana 20 years ago ''and at that time Castro was already saying alcohol would never work because sugar was a noble product.'' Ethanol is a form of alcohol.
Brazil produces ethanol from sugar cane, while ethanol in the United States is made from corn.
In a front-page editorial Thursday in the Communist Party daily, Castro described the U.S. policy of encouraging the use of biofuels as ``the sinister idea of converting food into fuel.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/58253.html
I-95 south alert: Trains in new lane
Tri-Rail and Amtrak trains will run alongside traffic on Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale when a new 55-foot-high bridge opens Monday.
Drivers heading south on Interstate 95 in Fort Lauderdale are in for a surprise come rush hour Monday.
For the first time, Tri-Rail trains will run parallel to traffic, at the same level as the expressway, thanks to a new, 55-foot-high fixed bridge.
The $78 million bridge, which has taken about three years to build, will give Tri-Rail and Amtrak a permanent, uninterrupted passage over the New River in Fort Lauderdale.
Currently, the passenger trains must share a drawbridge used by boats, which have priority when it comes to opening and lowering the bridge, said Bonnie Arnold, a Tri-Rail spokeswoman.
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/57633.html
NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITYNSU students learn about the slaughter in Darfur
College students learned about the atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands have been murdered.
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/57630.html
HEALTHCARE
Medical equipment firms fuel fraud
Federal investigators took a hard look at medical equipment companies, a primary source of healthcare fraud, and found that almost half don't meet government standards.
Almost half of the medical equipment companies in South Florida do not meet the federal government's minimum standards for operation, a report being released today concludes.
Such companies have long been notorious as sources of Medicare fraud, which the FBI estimates amounts to $1 billion a year in South Florida alone. Deciding to crack down, federal agents in late 2006 made unannounced visits to 1,581 suppliers in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
They found that 31 percent -- 491 suppliers -- did not maintain physical facilities or were not open and staffed when agents visited. Another 14 percent did not meet other required standards.
http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/57651.html
Florida Senate backs new voting machines
The Florida Senate has signaled its support to buy new opti-scan voting machines across the state for $35 million. The House, meanwhile, has kept silent on the plan.
BY MARC CAPUTO
TALLAHASSEE --
Nearly a month after the state Legislature gave a whoop-filled standing ovation to Gov. Charlie Crist's call for paper-trail voting machines, the state Senate has decided to make good on the idea to spend about $35 million for it all.
Under the plan, the state would pay to replace ATM-style touch-screen voting machines with paper ballot-reading optical-scan machines in every precinct. The biggest winners: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, the largest of the 15 counties with touch-screens, whose accuracy has been doubted by many in numerous elections across the state.
''A lot of people don't think their votes count. Millions of people in the state of Florida doubt whether or not their vote was recorded or not. And we need to do something about it,'' Sen. Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican and co-sponsor of the bill, said Thursday. He said the state should pay for the machines, even though it's a tight budget year.
But over in the state House, the governor's plan is being met with silence now that the applause from his State of the State speech in the chamber is long gone.
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/57673.html
Unending plight, unhelpful U.S. policy
OUR OPINION: IMPROVE BORDER SECURITY, TREATMENT OF HAITIANS
The sight of a decrepit boat burdened with more than 100 debilitated Haitians raised two disturbing questions: How could such a vessel sail past the U.S. Coast Guard? Why are Haitians still risking such dangerous voyages? Both answers are disturbing.
The Hallandale Beach landing on Wednesday is the latest incident to indicate that Coast Guard operations have been hampered. Three weeks earlier, 40 Cubans landed at two locations -- Miami Beach and Haulover Beach -- in the middle of a massive drill by federal and local agents designed to block an exodus from Cuba or Haiti.
Expansive shores
The Government Accountability Office and Congress members have complained that U.S. border protection has been diluted as other missions have taken priority. At least two Coast Guard vessels from Key West have been sent to Iraq. Another eight cutters were taken out of commission for repairs as a result of a troubled modernizing project. The Coast Guard insists its mission hasn't been compromised. But Bruce Bagley, a University of Miami professor and longtime Coast Guard monitor, has noted ``significant flows of both drugs and human beings back into South Florida.''
In truth, we could spend the U.S. Treasury and still not have a hermetically sealed border. U.S. shores and land borders are simply too expansive. But the Coast Guard and other enforcement agencies should do better in South Florida.
http://www.miamiherald.com/454/story/57705.html
The Okalahoman
Five injured in Thursday's tornado
Tornado leaves five injured
Five people, including at least one child, were injured in Thursday's tornado in the Oklahoma City metro area, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
The injured include:
•A 7-year-old girl who was treated for cuts and lacerations at Mercy Hospital and later released. She suffered injuries in the 9800 block of W Memorial Road.
•Two people who were hurt when their vehicles were blown off the Kilpatrick Turnpike.
•Jeffrey Nix, 44, and Bridget Nix, 40, both of Memphis, Tenn., who were thrown from a travel trailer in the 10050 block of W Wilshire. Jeffrey Nix is in serious condition at an Oklahoma City hospital, and his wife is in fair condition.
More severe weather approaching
Rain and possible severe weather are expected across the state again today.
A large storm moving in from the west is expected to produce heavy rain in southwestern Oklahoma and into central parts of the state by midafternoon, National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Curl said.
"There will be a chance for severe weather again today,” Curl said. "There's going to be a lot of precipitation. It will be a widespread precipitation event.”
Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the state Department of Emergency Management, said isolated tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are possible today.
"Additionally,” she said, "all of central and eastern Oklahoma remains under a flood watch. The threat of heavy rain may cause flash flooding in central and eastern areas of the state.”
http://www.newsok.com/article/3033901/
Nature of tornado delayed warning
By Robert Medley
Staff Writer
Warning sirens first sounded about eight minutes after a tornado touched down Thursday in far west Oklahoma City, weather experts confirmed Friday.
Mike Foster, the head meteorologist for the National Weather Service forecast office in Norman, said the tornado touched down at Sara Road and NW 39 about 4:05 p.m. A weather advisory was issued by the Norman office at 4:07 p.m., and a warning followed at 4:12 p.m. Sirens in Oklahoma City sounded at 4:13 p.m.
Foster said the funnel formed quickly and gained strength before radar could detect a tornado was inside heavy rain.
"The current technology we have is very good technology, but there are some things it cannot do,” Foster said. "Some of these characteristics of the tornado are very hard to detect, but we had every station monitored (Thursday) and we were in the game. It is not like someone didn't do something.”
Oklahoma City officials said they did everything possible to warn people in the twister's path.
Ronnie Warren, Oklahoma City's emergency management director, said the city sounded 11 sirens in the area of the tornado.
"We warned people,” Warren said Friday, "but we only activate the outdoor warning system based on National Weather Service tornado warnings.”
Still, Oklahoma City residents who watched the winds knock down walls, topple fences, and tear away roofs complained the warnings weren't fast enough.
Debra Vaughan, who lives near NW 122 and Morgan Road, said she never heard a storm siren before the tornado carried away her backyard playground equipment and sent her and three children running for cover.
Terry Heim, who was working near where the tornado struck, said his ears popped as high winds slammed a workshop door shut just after 4 p.m.
"When the tornado hit there were no sirens, no warnings at all,” Heim said.
Foster said the Thursday tornado was not the classic "Great Plains” super cell that can be seen in radar and on the ground by spotters.
The circulation could not be confirmed until 4:21 p.m., when the weather center learned by telephone that a tornado had been on the ground, Foster said.
"We were doing the very best we could,” he said. "Some things are really problematic for us.”
http://www.newsok.com/article/3033973
Officials assessing storm data
By Julie Bisbee
Staff Writer
Officials at the National Weather Service still are assessing tornado damage from yesterday's storm. A tornado warning was issued at 4:12 p.m. lasting until 4:45 p.m. in Oklahoma and Canadian counties, said John Pike, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Norman.
According to preliminary reports, a spotter reported that a tornado touched down four miles southeast of Piedmont at 4:20 p.m. At 4:30 p.m. the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported a tornado touched down three miles northeast of Yukon. Officials with the National Weather Service are still reviewing data and damage from Thursday's tornado and are expected to have a report later today.
The National Weather Service issues warnings and municipal or county emergency management services sound the sirens. Some residents have said tornadoes touched down before sirens were sounded.
The storm system that spawned Thursday's tornado was fast moving and had small features, said Gary England, chief meteorologist for KWTV NEWS 9.
"We expected severe weather. No one expected big tornadoes,” England said. "We knew that was possibility.”
Poor visibility and cloud cover kept storm spotters on the ground from getting a good view of cloud formations. Thursday's tornado also had small subtle features that made it difficult to spot on radar, England said.
"We watch this thing come out of Grady and Caddo County, then all the sudden, bam, the winds turned back and started spinning and finally set down,” England said. "When you've got big tornadoes, we know where they are, where they're going and when they're going to get there. With small ones like we had yesterday it's like having a 2-year-old around the house.”
http://www.newsok.com/article/3033806
Clean up video
http://www.newsok.com/video/117685
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