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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

17 Nove,ber - More News Notes


Mexico's largest university to post online nearly all publications and course materials 

America's colleges find the Chinese student boom a tricky fit

Ron Paul's Foreign Policy
Paul served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s, spending time on the ground in countries like Ethiopia, Iran, Pakistan, South Korea, and Turkey. He also sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Strange & unsettling to feel it's now normal to have multiple police helicopters circling my neighborhood at all times. #OccupyOakland #OWS

Although not a billionaire, #AndrewCuomo is the same item as #Bloomberg. More dangerous because he's smarter and he will run 4 Pres.

A new challenge for electric cars - fire

Obama's Illegal War

Half of returning warriors are wounded
By last June, Batten said, 1.3 million of the two million-plus soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 had left military service and were eligible for VA health care. About 700,000 of them (53 percent) have sought health care from the VA.

While this reflects the difficulties facing today's vets after 24-7 combat and multiple tours of duty, it also reflects the new resources provided the VA by the Obama administration. The president's 2012 budget request for the VA was $132.2 billion, a 23 percent increase since he took office in 2009. That's even more remarkable, considering the collapse of the economy in that period.

But it's still not enough, according to Mike Zacchea, a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel now retired on a medical disability after serving in Iraq, and a staunch member of Veterans for Common Sense.

"Wait times for VA treatment are still way too long," Zacchea said last week. "And this is just the beginning. The VA is going to be overwhelmed by vets from Iraq and Afghanistan for health care, and if the VA can't handle the demand it has now, it's going to be powerless against the tsunami that's yet to come."

Among the returning soldiers, the main complaint was joint pain (neck, back, hips, and knees), all consistent with the kinds of injuries you would expect to find among soldiers with heavy packs jumping in and out of big trucks, said Batten. The VA has treated 396,552 vets for musculoskeletal complaints, about 30.5 percent of the returning soldiers.

But the second largest complaint has been with mental health issues.

According to the VA's not-yet-published statistics, 367,749 Iraqi and Afghan vets have sought mental health care treatment. That's 51.7 percent of the total caseload -- and also 28.2 percent of the returning 1.3 million vets -- a number that's sure to grow larger as those who returned home recently begin acknowledging cases of delayed PTSD. It's common for vets not to begin experiencing combat stress until after the euphoria of being home has waned, typically six months to a year or more.

PTSD was the most common mental health complaint with 197,074 vets receiving treatment, which is about 15 percent of the returning vets. The second most common complaint was depression, with VA treatment provided to 147,659 vets, 11.3 percent of the total returning. Third was anxiety disorder, with treatment provided to 126,673 vets, 9.7 percent of those returning. There's some overlap, with some vets being treated for more than one disorder.

The VA's real surprise is the low number of diagnoses for traumatic brain injury (TBI), which has become one of the signature injuries in the Iraqi/Afghanistan conflict due to the large number of roadside bombs, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

Four years ago, the Rand Corporation interviewed 1,965 vets and projected that 19 percent (about 320,000 soldiers at that time) would experience a probable TBI while overseas. But the VA says only 54,070 vets (a little over 4 percent of the returning vets) qualified for that diagnosis.



The #OWS Video Rupert Murdoch Doesn't Want You To See by Gustav Wynn

Police State Tactics: Signs Point to a Coordinated National Program to Try and Unoccupy Wall Street and Other Cities by Dave Lindorff

This Is What Revolution Looks Like by Chris Hedges

We Are All Rupert Murdoch Now by Russ Baker

Breaking: Homeland Security, FBI, Others Advise Coordinated Occupy Crackdowns by Daily kos

Wall Street is Just an Address by Greg Palast

One Veteran's Rough Path from Killing and Torturing to Peace by David Swanson

The Police State Makes Its Move: Retaining one's humanity in the face of tyranny by Phil Rockstroh

Penn State Isn't the Only University That's Been Harboring a Scandal by Roger Shuler

No Speedy Trial for Bradley Manning by Ann Wright



Barak tries damage control after Iran Gaffe
Israeli 'defense' minister

Why the Gulf still needs you

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