Friday, August 1, 2008

Soldier back from Iraq had motorcycle stolen

Soldier's Motorcycle Stolen

July 31, 2008 - 10:52PM
Juan Carlos Fanjul
CBS 12 NEWS
An Iraq war veteran moves to Martin County only to have his motorcycle stolen. A bike that was an important part of his daily life. Despite the theft, something positive came out of it.

"I never thought that someone would steal it, had the nerve to steal it," said Adam Perkins who served with the army in Iraq, is in the national guard now, and was using a motorcycle to try to get to school everyday until someone simply stole his prized set of wheels from his Stuart home, a Suzuki Gsx-R. It happened July 21st at 4:30 a.m. "I ride my bike all the time, cause gas is just too much," he said.
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Bush ticks off veterans again with veto threat of what they need

Veterans Groups Appalled at White House Veto Threats


Last update: 10:16 a.m. EDT Aug. 1, 2008
WASHINGTON, Aug 01, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A coalition representing millions of America's veterans today expressed outrage at a White House claim that Congress is overspending on veterans programs and has threatened to veto any of the remaining 11 spending bills that exceed the President's request unless Congress finds $2.9 billion in offsets elsewhere in the federal budget.

Under the fiscal year 2009 Military Construction-VA Appropriations bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs would receive $47.7 billion, which is $4.6 billion above the 2008 funding level and $2.9 billion more than the President requested.

As the House of Representatives prepared to debate the measure, the four Independent Budget veterans service organizations told Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that they "vigorously defend the crucial increases in VA funding" which the Administration has underfunded in its budget requests for the past several years.

In their July 31 letter to Speaker Pelosi, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars said, "This budget, a budget that intends to bind the wounds of war and to care for those who have worn the nation's uniform, should never be used as a political lever to force policies of one branch (of government) on the other."
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Australia's Senate report criticises care of peacekeeper veterans

Senate report criticises care of peacekeeper veterans
Sarah Smiles
August 2, 2008
HUNDREDS of mental health disability claims are being made by peacekeepers who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor, a report reveals.

One hundred and five mental health claims have been made from personnel who have served in Iraq; 163 claims from Afghanistan and 1469 from East Timor, Department of Veterans Affairs figures show. The Australian Federal Police has paid out more than $1,300,000 in compensation for claims relating to post-traumatic stress disorder from service in Timor.

The data is contained in a Senate inquiry report into Australia's involvement in peacekeeping operations. It details the increasing complexity and dangers of peacekeeping missions and calls for a white paper to determine government policy in the area.

The report is critical of the Department of Defence and Veterans Affairs' handling of veterans with health problems. It highlights poor medical record-keeping by both departments, which complicates veterans' claims for disability pensions.

Veterans Affairs can provide figures on mental health disability claims from Iraq, Afghanistan, Timor and the Solomons but could not specify to which mental health problems they relate. The report calls for better medical record-keeping and an education program on post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health issues for peacekeepers before deployment. It says peacekeepers are often thrust into complex situations for which they are not well trained. Post-deployment care of personnel can be cursory.
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Suspected in anthrax attack commits suicide

Too many things in this article are very troubling. The first is that "that has been investigating the anthrax mailings for more than a year" but has not said why it was never an important enough investigation to have been non-stop since 2001.

It took them all this time to exonerate Steven Hatfill who had this hanging over his head for seven years. The good thing is that they had to pay for what they did to him all this time.

The government paid Hatfill $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against the Justice Department in which he claimed the department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.


The article went on to say that after the attacks, Ivins conducted unauthorized tests but did not say he had done so before the attacks.

This is very odd.

Anthrax Scientist Commits Suicide, Report Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 1, 2008
Filed at 3:57 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report.

The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., had been told about the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported for Friday editions. The laboratory has been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax attacks, which killed five people.

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. The Times, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.
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Nam Guardian Angel is now tax exempt

Thanks to some great help at the IRS, Nam Guardian Angel.org is now tax exempt. If you want to make a donation, or have some extra funds in grants, I'd be more than happy to accept all the money you want to give. Plus this way, I won't drive my H&R Block agent crazy next year with more deductions than income.

You all know I work for free, but the traveling is getting really expensive and so is making the DVD videos. Along with all of this, this is all I do now considering it's usually 16 hour days, that does not provide much time to work for a paycheck anymore. I'm counting on you to keep me going so that I keep doing this work.

The EIN number is 94-3434559 for donations.
You can mail the donation to
Nam Guardian Angel
5703 Red Bug Lake Road #154
Winter Springs, FL 32708
Please make sure you have the box number included in the address or they will return the mail to you.

Or you can use my PayPal link on the side bar of this blog.

Iraq:Soldier dies, 2 hurt in non-combat incident

Soldier dies, 2 hurt in non-combat incident

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Aug 1, 2008 7:34:11 EDT

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says an American soldier has died in a non-combat incident in northern Iraq. The death pushes the U.S. monthly toll for July to at least 10.

The military says the soldier died and two others were wounded Thursday during operations in Ninevah province. American and Iraqi troops have been targeting al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents in the provincial capital of Mosul and surrounding areas.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_noncombat_080108/

England crane accident leaves worker with PTSD but no compensation

Death witness builder denied payout
Aug 1 2008 By Tom Lawrence


A builder who was left mentally scarred by the memory of a workmate's horrific death on the Wembley Stadium construction site has been refused a penny in compensation.

Stephen Monk was on the scene within minutes after a work platform weighing a third-of-a-ton fell 60 feet to the ground, on top of his friend Patrick O'Sullivan.

Mr Monk, aged 43, from Essex, climbed underneath the three-meter-wide buckled platform to comfort his stricken friend, but Mr O'Sullivan, 54, from Cork, Ireland, died at the scene.

Judges at the High Court were told that the horrific experience had left Mr Monk with post traumatic stress disorder.

He has not worked for more than three years and doubts whether he can ever return to the construction industry.

The contractors he was working for, PC Harrington Ltd, admitted the accident was caused by a crane driver's negligence

But Deputy High Court Judge George Leggatt QC, ruled out Mr Monk's damages claim against them, saying that, despite the devastating impact the accident had on his life, he was not himself a primary victim.

Although Mr Monk argued he had acted as a rescuer - and believed he was risking his own life in climbing under the platform - the judge said that was not enough for him to qualify for damages.

Had he won his case, he would have been awarded more than s200,000 damages.
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Canada:Bus attacker tried to eat parts of the body

Man stabbed, beheaded on Greyhound bus by apparent stranger
Gabrielle Giroday and Ian Hitchen, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008


BRANDON, Man. -- Screaming passengers fled in terror from a Greyhound bus as an unidentified fellow passenger suddenly stabbed a man sleeping next to him, decapitated him and waved the severed head at horrified witnesses standing outside.

The apparently unprovoked assault left 36 men, women and children stranded Wednesday night on the shoulder of the darkening Trans-Canada Highway near Portage la Prairie, Man., about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg, watching while the bus driver and a driver of a nearby truck shut the crazed attacker inside the bus with the mangled victim. Reports Friday said the suspect tried to eat parts of the victim.
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http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=692762

Firefighter's arson confession rocks B.C. town

Firefighter's arson confession rocks B.C. town
Jenny Wagler, National Post
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008
Oliver, B.C., is a tinderbox of a town perched above Canada's only pocket of desert. It's a town of vineyards, sage brush, parched grass and scorching 40C summers.

And five summers ago, as the region grappled with a fire storm that ripped through the Okanagan Valley, an arsonist struck in Oliver, and then struck again and again.

"You could almost put your clock to it," Mayor Ron Hovanes said. "We have an old air raid siren on the rooftop of the firehall. You could hear it go off every Sunday afternoon, and you knew."

On Thursday, a Penticton, B.C., provincial court sentenced Mike Hagel, 47, a one-time volunteer firefighter, to two years' house arrest followed by two years' probation. Hagel, who confessed to the arsons, must also pay $10,000 to fire chief Dave Janzen and $10,000 to Telus for equipment loss. It ends -- at least legally -- an arson saga that saw the town's fire chief of 30 years suspended under taint of suspicion, until Hagel's public confession exonerated him.

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A Saddened Corona Receives Its Soldier, Home From Iraq


The funeral procession for Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez made its way from Hinton Park the few blocks to the funeral home, and church.


A Saddened Corona Receives Its Soldier, Home From Iraq

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
Published: August 1, 2008
For 14 months, they waited for him. They hung the midnight-black missing-in-action banner at his home in Queens, offsetting its grimness with the bright hues of the Dominican and American flags. They dreaded another knock at the door from soldiers in uniform, but as the months dragged on, some came to crave closure most of all.

On Thursday, he came back. The police cars with flashing lights guided Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez’s coffin past the laundry, the travel agency and the minimart to 104-35 37th Drive in Corona. The procession paused in front of the bouquet of yellow and white flowers.

“You’re home, you’re home,” his friends and relatives cried as they surrounded the car holding his coffin, holding each other up for support.
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