Does the President know about this hideous outcome for the victims of Fort Hood?

The nation has been through this before when Bush was in office. There were dead soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan without benefits to their widows and/or orphans.

(Peter Haley/News Tribune) Shawn Manning stands in the kitchen of his home in Lacey, Wash., on Sept. 13. The Fort Hood shooting victim is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the U.S. Army.

I sincerely don't care if the military wants to classify deaths of soldiers as workplace violence, but, it should never cause the victims and/or their surviving family financial hardship.

LACEY, Wash. — Laying in a hospital bed, (click here) hours removed from watching a madman fire six bullets into his body and kill his friends, one might have thought Shawn Manning wouldn’t have to fight again.
  
The former Army staff sergeant, Idaho State Univeristy graduate and Twin Falls native had given most of his adult life to the military and had been to Iraq twice.

   
 On Nov. 5, 2009, severely wounded, he rose and ran for the exit as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s guns blasted, killing 13 and injuring 32 on Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas, in the worst attack ever on a military installation in the United States....

The military underwent significant changes during the Bush years. First is was the armor, then it was survivors deprived of their benefits, then it was PTSD and it goes on an on including the no bid contracts that saw dead private contractors hanging from bridges, while they killed innocent Iraq citizens from helicopters and Halliburton with profits of something like $35 billion with shoddy work electrocuting soldiers in the shower. The nation has had enough of the mess included in our military.

A veteran is a veteran is a veteran. Unless they have received a metal of honor or other commendations or they were dishonorably discharged, they are veterans. When they are injured they need to be taken care of and when they are dead their survivors need to be compensated and given benefits. 

If the country doesn't take care of it's military there won't be a volunteer force anymore.

These soldiers at Fort Hood were deploying out. They were entering a war theater when they were brutally killed for absolutely no reason. As far as I am concerned, when a soldier leaves his or her family and is ready to deploy overseas, they are already at war. 

The soldiers suffering from injuries and the survivors, namely wives and/or children need to receive respect regardless of how the military classifies the attack. It is difficult to call Fort Hood a part of a war zone, but, it was and I understand how the military has a difficult time placing this episode anywhere except as workplace violence. But, the way the dead were killed was all part of their deployment. This wasn't a robbery on the base that resulted in deaths or domestic violence. These folks were 'on duty' that is all that is needed to know. I would expect any military personnel 'on duty' regardless of the location when slaughtered by others be considered important enough to compensate and/or care for.

I suggest Mr. Manning write a petition at the White House website and if not Mr. Manning perhaps his attorneys or a family member disenfranchised from their benefits. I am confident obtaining the signatures to get the President's attention will occur and there will finally be a resolve to this problem.

I won't write that petition. I don't feel qualified to do so. But, someone should. I apologize to all those suffering because the military is so rigid and seeking to be thorough in their assessment of the incident. I am sure there needs to be an Executive Order or legislation to be written and passed, but, this needs to be resolved.

This is not new. This has happened many times before and the American people demanded those aggrieved received their compensation. Resolving this now would be a nice way of letting all our veterans and soldiers know they are important. If the military can blow trillions on the F35 which is untrustworthy, they can treat our soldiers right.

US Veterans are not devoid of a conscience. If anything, it is the complete opposite. They witnessed the worst of life.

24 October 2013 | 6:46 AM 

In ad, veterans group challenges Cuccinelli on climate change (click here)

Ken Cuccinelli's climate change skepticism gets a military twist in a new radio ad critical of the Republican nominee for governor that's airing on Norfolk and Virginia Beach stations up to the Nov. 5 election.

In the spot from the left-of-center Vote Vets Action Fund, retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson alleges Cuccinelli's disbelief could endanger Virginia National Guardsmen deployed by the governor to respond to extreme weather emergencies.

"When bad storms hit, the governor often calls on the Virginia National Guard to save lives and protect property and businesses," states Anderson, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran. "So, Virginia needs a governor developing policies that make extreme storms less likely, keeping Virginians and our Guardsmen out of harm’s way."

"But Cuccinelli doesn’t believe in the science of climate change," he adds in the minute-long add. "Cuccinelli avoids the clear facts – putting Virginia families at risk. Denying climate change isn’t fighting for Virginia. And it’s not fighting for you."

As attorney general, Cuccinelli made headlines for challenging Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas findings and unsuccessfully suing the University of Virginia for the climate change research records of a former professor....

This is the analysis by the USA agency NOAA. This is not fiction. These records go back decades if not a century and validate Rapid Climate Change. Full degree temperature changes. That is a radical change in climate in a very short time period. This isn't just a degree higher one day and lower the next, these are sustained temperature increases manifesting over and above any cooler trend.

The veterans are absolutely correct in demanding the politics stop the denial of these deadly trends in climate that endanger soldier lives and the citizens they seek to protect. 

Global Analysis - September 2013 (click here for NOAA report)

The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for September 2013 tied with 2003 as the fourth highest for September on record, at 0.64°C (1.15°F) above the 20^th century average of 15.0°C (59.0°F).

The global land surface temperature was 0.89°C (1.60°F) above the 20^th century average of 12.0°C (53.6°F), marking the sixth warmest September on record. For the ocean, the September global sea surface temperature was 0.54°C (0.97°F) above the 20^th century average of 16.2°C (61.1°F), tying with 2006 as the fourth highest for September on record.

The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the January–September period (year-to-date) was 0.60°C (1.08°F) above the 20^th century average of 14.1°C (57.5°F), tying with 2003 as the sixth warmest such period on record.

Jenny Dela Cruz has lost 11 members of her family including her two-year-old daughter, reports Jon Donnison

From what I am reading and hearing this is typical of the survivors in the Philippines. They are sparse and representative of a family. A grandmother as a lone survivor, a mother with two children as the only survivor of their families. That is the puzzle of these storms. They have these strange characteristics. There people were together yet they have lone survivors.

10 November 2013  
Last updated at 17:21 ET
...Pope Francis pleaded for aid (click here) for the victims in the mostly Catholic country, saying: "Sadly, there are many, many victims and the damage is huge. Let's try to provide concrete help."
US President Barack Obama issued a message saying he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and extensive damage" and praising the "incredible resiliency of the Philippine people".
Typhoon Haiyan has now made landfall in Vietnam, near the tourist destination of Ha Long Bay, but as a much reduced Category One, with sustained winds of up to 140 km/h (85mph).
Some 600,000 people were evacuated in northern provinces....

These survivors when they consent to leave are being evacuated to a safe place. The recovery of the land will no doubt be indelicate and swift to stop the ability of disease. Those that leave are brave people willing to accept the reality of their survival. They are not clinging to endless hope that a miracle will return their families. Unrealistic hopes that if they survived so many others must have as well. The Philippines are a strong people to live through such a tragedy and still seek their own survival as just and good.

The nearby town of Palo was also devastated.

A second town is no identified as destroyed. I am sure there will be a third and a fourth and a fifth and a sixth.

A UN official who arrived in Tacloban on Saturday, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, said he was told there had been a 3m (10ft) water surge through the city, in places up to 10m
( 30 feet).

Meanwhile Leo Dacaynos, an official in Eastern Samar province, told local radio 300 people had been found dead in a single town, Basey, with another 2,000 missing and many injured. The injured have a chance if they are attended to soon.

Communication is still limited in many areas.

In Guiuan, a town of 40,000 people near where the typhoon made landfall, television footage showed flattened houses and roads strewn with debris....

Straight through the central islands, over majority of water with occasional oscillations to maintain and increase velocity. 

John Vidal and Adam Vaughan 
theguardian.com,  
Monday 11 November 2013 07.29 EST

...The Philippines government (click here) has firmly connected the super typhoon Haiyan with climate change, and urged governments meeting in Poland on Monday to take emergency action to resolve the deadlocked climate talks.
"We cannot sit and stay helpless staring at this international climate stalemate. It is now time to take action. We need an emergency climate pathway," said Yeb Sano, head of the government's delegation to the UN climate talks, in an article for the Guardian, in which he challenged climate sceptics to "get off their ivory towers" to see the impacts of climate change firsthand.
Sano, whose family comes from the devastated town of Tacloban where the typhoon Haiyan made landfall on Friday, said that countries such as the Philippines did not have time to wait for an international climate deal, which countries have agreed to reach in Paris in 2015....

I don't want to hear the politics of The West anymore. This isn't politics, this is life and death. Just because it isn't you and your family doesn't mean it is not real. Be grateful and thankful it is not you. 

11 November 2013 
Last updated at 08:35 ET

...Climate madness (click here)
At the opening of the two-week Conference of the Parties (Cop), Mr Sano said he was not just speaking for those who lost their lives but for the thousands who were now orphans. 

He told the meeting he would refuse to eat until progress is made. 

"In solidarity with my countrymen who are struggling to find food back home, I will now commence a voluntary fasting for the climate, this means I will voluntarily refrain from eating food during this Cop, until a meaningful outcome is in sight."

"What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness, the climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness right here in Warsaw," he said....