Administration Sets Agenda for Veteran Care

By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2009 – President Barack Obama has promised to deliver the care and benefits the nation’s military veterans deserve while transforming the Department of Veterans Affairs into a 21st century organization, according to an administration agenda posted on the White House Web site.

“Keeping faith with those who serve must always be a core American value and a cornerstone of American patriotism,” Obama said during a speech April 2007 in Kansas City, Mo. “Because America’s commitment to its servicemen and women begins at enlistment, and it must never end.”

Obama, who served on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, plans to reverse the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income veterans into the VA system, allowing all veterans the opportunity for care, according to the agenda on veterans. The administration also plans to continue the fight to end employment discrimination for Guardsmen and Reservists.

Additionally, the administration aims to improve the process of transitioning from active duty to civilian life for military members leaving the service or returning from deployment. To improve the benefit decision system, the administration will look at hiring additional claims workers with an improved accountability and training criteria, according to the agenda.

Also, the administration plans to launch new programs and expand proven programs to prevent homelessness among veterans, as well as to explore the possibility of a national “zero tolerance” policy to ensure no veterans end up on the streets.

As they works to make VA a national leader in health care reform, the agenda says, administration officials will explore ways to improve mental health studies, polytrauma care, prosthetics development, spinal cord injury treatment and women’s health.

Leaders Develop Vision for Iraqi Women’s Rights

By Army Staff Sgt. Michel Sauret
Special to American Forces Press Service

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Jan. 21, 2009 – Coalition and Iraqi leaders discussed programs to improve Iraqi women’s rights and a vision for a more united future during a Women’s Initiative Seminar here.

An interpreter translates a speech for Sameera al-Mosawi, right, board president for the Council of Representative of Women, Family and Children Committee, on programs to benefit women’s rights during the Women’s Initiative Seminar on Camp Victory, Iraq, Jan. 17, 2009.

“I want to bring forward studies on women and human rights to be able to live in peace in the country and bring change to some aspects of our society’s perspective,” Sameera al-Mosawi, board president for the Council of Representative of Women, Family and Children Committee, said at the Jan. 17 seminar. “We want people to believe in this change like America did.”

The seminar provided a forum in which Iraqi government and coalition representatives from all levels could openly discuss the challenges facing Iraqi women and possible solutions to overcome those challenges.

“Increased and honest exchanges of information are vital to the development of any plan of action that addresses this seminal Iraqi societal issue,” Army Lt. Col. Robert Jones, deputy civil affairs officer for Multinational Corps Iraq, said.

Representatives brought forth ideas for future projects. Mosawi suggested establishing research centers to study women’s issues and roles in society. Scientific studies through universities and public agencies would be a powerful tool in uniting people toward a focused vision, she said.

The main hurdle, Mosawi said, is increasing awareness about women’s rights. “Society cannot grow unless women participate in culture, and society must realize this through education courses in all levels, both in rural and urban areas,” she said.

Representatives discussed using the help of nongovernment agencies, such as small businesses and private companies, to improve education.

In Iraq, only 42 kindergartens are open, 20 of them in Baghdad. Mosawi said these schools are not enough to provide care and education to more than 13 million Iraqi children. Additional schools would result in teaching opportunities for women, and enable mothers to work who otherwise would have to remain at home with their children.

A need exists for women to learn craftsmanship and other skills important in their present economic markets, seminar participants said. Ideally, grants and financial aid would be available to the trainers and the women being trained.

“In my personal opinion, an educated woman is distinguished and stands in a better position among her community of women,” Nawal Majid al-Samarrai, minister of state women’s affairs, said. “We only need to assist her [to give her] an opportunity.”

Many of the projects brought to the table went beyond women’s rights. Discussions included opportunities for children, orphans, displaced families and the disabled.

A lack of resources, both human and financial, is a challenge facing future initiatives, participants said.

The biggest hurdle, Samarrai said, is that offices for women’s initiatives don’t exist in provinces and cities throughout Iraq. They have been limited to inside Baghdad, isolated from the women who need it most in the communities.

Despite the obstacles, Mosawi said, she remains hopeful about the future.

“I’m very optimistic about the vision of Iraq,” she said. “I’m optimistic as well that Iraq will develop for the future, and it will be part of the international community and do good for the Iraqi society as a whole.”

Bush: 8 Years in 8 Minutes. Olbermann 1/19/09

http://www.truthout.org/011… Friday 16 Janu…

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UBERHACK, eight minutes of BDS and lies.

Tripe and lies couched as news. Mindless drivel passing as substance, worse than reducing substance to a sound bite. It is sound bites compiled to simulate substance. I am ashamed that i allowed my self to be lured in by the biggest lie, it was over eight minutes.

The word is petty UBERHACK, it’s in the dictionary. Look it up.

A Newcomer Who Steals The Show

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Women In The Military Part Four

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Women In The Military Part Two

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Women In The Military Part One

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