Daily Archives: December 22, 2007

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Nataline’s Brother Invites You to Her Memorial

(Nataline Sarkysian’s brother has invited anyone who would like to attend to Nataline’s funeral tomorrow. – promoted by shayera)

There will also be a funeral for her friends and family, but Bedig Sarkysian, Nataline’s brother, has asked the California Nurses Association to help invite all of her friends and supporters to this public service in memory of Nataline:

Tomorrow, Sunday, December 23. There is going to be a vigil for Nataline at 6:00pm (right after Church) at Ferrahian High School.

Everyone is welcome, and everyone is welcome to speak their mind, say a prayer, read something they wrote or whatever. If anybody has anything to say, or any last words for her, this is the place to say it. It doesn’t look like people will be able to speak during the funeral service, so whoever wants to make their peace, this is the opportunity for them.

Evenif you have nothing to say, if youve known her for years, or never even met her. We can come together and pay our respects, console each other, give each other strength and remember her.

Please repost this and tell everyone you know

5300 white oak blvd

encino, ca

Bedig’s MySpace page is www.MySpace.com/freekobe  

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The Big Bang Theory of Politcal Reform in California

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(Some interesting ideas – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

I am convinced that we will never fix the problems of our non-responsive California government though piecemeal changes. Term limits, which I voted for, have failed to produce the changes we wanted and have made it easier for money to dictate policy. All the measures we’ve passed to demand that money collected from certain taxes go only to certain projects have failed as well (and we face yet anther one of those in February.) Prop 13 has starved our treasury, but I can’t afford to see it repealed. And all of these efforts have been an expression of our distrust in our government and were sold as the way to check their power.  For instance, no State run health care plan can ever pass public muster until we trust the politicians not to treat us badly as the insurance companies do.

Well, the solution is pretty obvious, but nearly impossible to achieve. We must be able to trust our government (and the public must perceive them as trustworthy.)  If we trusted them, we wouldn’t need a super majority to increase taxes because we would be assured they would be spending it on something we needed. We could let our representatives have a career in their positions if the voters returned them to office and then benefit from their years of experience. And I am convinced that the only way to achieved that is to make a lot of changes all at once and have it sold by the people we trust most – ourselves!

Cont…

Some of the things we need to push include public financing of campaigns to reduce the effect of money on our elections;  making mail in voting and instant runoff voting standard to increase voter turn out and participation (and reduce the turnout decline associated with run off elections;) reforming our redistricting process with a goal to make the districts MORE competitive rather than less so people feel like their views are getting a fair airring even in districts where they are the minority; reforming lobbying rules so that nothing takes place outside of public scrutiny; and so on and so one.  There are a lot of good ideas out there and each one is getting run by a separate special group and that is all well and good, but I don’t think any of them will work alone and that’s presuming they can each garner enough support to pass on their own.

But what might work is if all those ideas were presented to the public as one gargantuan effort to reform our system all at once.  I think that appeals to the California sensibility and reduces all the various campaigns into one simple campaign – fix it all now.  Of course no one is going to really believe it can all be fixed all at once, but it is an easier sell and and better plan to pass as much  reform all at once with that caveat that we need to keep working at it (i.e. not letting our elected officials change it back to a system that responds to money rather than votes.)

And there is no better place to start this effort than in the California Blogosphere and among the Democratic clubs.  First we need to identify all the areas of change that are needed, then find a solution out there that looks like it will work, then put them all together in one list and figure out how to make that a ballot initiative and find a unique way to get it the signatures to qualify it.  And starting immediately after identify existing plans, start to push those plans, link to their sites, attend their events, talk about those plans…etc.  Perhaps someone who knows about Wiki’s can start one.  Sadly this will happen without much support from the democratic party power structure, though there will be democratic politicians who will support it, and I doubt the republican party will support it either, though some republican politicians might (this is really a NON-partisan effort) and in fact the lack of institutional support would lend creditability to the effort.

If we work really hard, we might get this on a ballot sometime in 2010, just in time for the new census and the next scheduled redistricting.  But I’m not sure exactly what need to be done next…’cause I’m just a guy who spends most of his time working to support his family.

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Green Party Candidate: Kent Mesplay

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In a recent email exchange with Brian, I said that I was going to become a bit more partisan as a member of the Green Party.  Today, I want introduce you to one of the Green Party Candidates that are NOT named Nader.

Kent Mesplay was interviewed by Indian Country Today and that interview resulted in a front page (at least on the web site) placement (at least today). It is worth a read by all because Kent is a very unique individual.  

It is not often to find someone who grew up with stone aged people in Papua New Guinea, where Jared Diamond was a family friend, and then completed a Ph. D. in the sciences.  

‘So I grew up with Stone Age people in the middle of the rain forest. We didn’t have television or even telephones. We captured rainwater for drinking and had a garden. There was a small air strip where we had provisions flown in, but we were largely self-reliant and that’s part of who I am as a person.’

Sustainability and self reliance are crucial to security, Mesplay said.

“As a nation, we’re really living outside our needs. We import 80 percent of the food we eat. We import energy. In some parts of the country, we import water. In the time of any crunch – be it environmental or from terrorists – people are better off if they have their needs met in the community or in the region.”

But the government and large businesses don’t like that, he added.

”They act more in terms of stripping away wealth and breaking down people who are largely independent. That’s what they’ve done with the tribes and the nations over the years. That’s what they’re doing internationally now.”

While I support Mesplay, I have not idea how the Green Party nomination will play out.  I have heard that a Bay Area debate is tentatively scheduled for January 13,2008.  I am sure it will NOT be covered on Fox News.  

California, Coachella Valley

Senators Bond, Boxer, Obama, McCaskill Demand Fair Treatment of Combat Vets

Generally, we progressive Democrats have had little confidence in the Bush Administration to run an effective, fair, humane Federal government.  Over and over again, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condelezza Rice, and their cronies have promised one thing and then did little or nothing in follow-up.  Cases in point include protecting our borders from unrestrained immigration, rebuilding a hurricane ravaged New Orleans, protecting the health and welfare of the rescue workers at New York’s ground zero, and developing a cohesive, cogent plan to defend the United States against terrorism at our seaports, airports, power plants, water ways, and metropolitan areas.  Bush and his cronies are more interested in commercial profit than in preserving and protecting the Union.

The Bush Administration has done little to nothing in order to help our armed forces, National Guard, and Reservists.  First, they developed a piss-poor plan for the occupation of Iraq.  Second, the Bush Administration and their war machine did little to protect the troops in harm’s way.  Now, from the Walter Reed scandals onward, they have done nothing to process and assist returning Iraqi war heroes who are in dire need of psychological services.  I know from personal experience working in the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Brooklyn, as a summer psychology intern in 1995-96, that the Reagan Administration decimated psychological services at the DVA in an ill-advised attempt at eliminating cost in the Department.

People in the Bush Administration have, as elsewhere, been on a crash course to privatize the DVA and in its ill-conceived and anti-government pursuit, has left our brave soldiers, National Guard, and Reservists without adequate services.

Finally, with the Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate, Constitutional oversight has begun.  As indicated earlier, in a Press Release, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kit Bond (R-MO), Barack Obama (D-IL), and John Kerry (D-MA) requested that Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, George W. Bush, so-called President of the United States, and the Department of Defense guarantee impartial psychological assessments of soldiers when needed.  Not ‘when needed’ from the Bush perspective, but from a common sensical perspective.

Now, Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are urging Bush to create a Special Review Board for discharged troops and to place a moratorium on the DoD’s use of Personality Disorder Discharges.

It is a moral outrage that U.S. Senators have to urge a President of the United States of America to provide ‘fair treatment of combat veterans.’

The Press Release is below the flip….

“Bond, Boxer, Obama, McCaskill Demand Fair Treatment of Combat Vets

“WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are urging President Bush to create a Special Review Board for discharged troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and to place a moratorium on the military’s use of Personality Disorder Discharges.

“”Our government has a lifelong responsibility to care for the brave volunteers who have served our nation honorably in combat, unfortunately, the government is failing some of our wounded warriors,” said Bond.  “It is critical that the government starts treating all of our troops’ battle wounds – physical and mental, visible and invisible.”

“”It belittles the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform when you punish-instead of treat-those with combat injuries,” said Boxer. “When our brave service members are injured in combat, we cannot deny them benefits, blame their conditions on a pre-existing disorder, or refuse them the care and support they deserve.”

“With thousands of American service members suffering every day from the less visible wounds of war, reports that the Pentagon has improperly diagnosed and discharged service members with personality disorders are deeply disturbing,” said Senator Obama.  “These heroes make incredible sacrifices for our country, and our brave men and women shouldn’t have to fight a second war at home to get the benefits and care they deserve. The President should halt this practice until the military can review its policies and establish a special review board to examine the cases in question.”

“”The horrors of war are bad enough without a service member coming home only to have to fight against the government they fought to protect,” McCaskill said. “I’m please to be fighting side by side with Senator Bond in requesting a review board to study personality disorder discharges, so that those men and women who bravely fought for us and returned home with the mental scars from war get a fighting chance to receive the benefits they so greatly deserve.”

“This bipartisan group of Senators has been examining mental health care for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and leading the effort to end the military’s inappropriate use of personality disorder discharges.

“Much like the program created by President Carter to examine the records of Vietnam veterans discharged less than honorably, the Senators are urging the President to create a Special Discharge Review Program to look at administrative discharges for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If established, the Board would give service members who served honorably in combat but subsequently received a discharge that does not entitle them to benefits the opportunity to have their cases reviewed.

“This is particularly important for those who failed to receive an appropriate diagnosis of or treatment for Posttraumatic (sic) Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The Senators believe such a process will help reduce the stigma associated with such discharges and allow those who served our nation honorably to resume normal lives after their service.  

“The discharge review board will also look at cases where service members were diagnosed for personality disorders. In the past six years, more than 22,500 service men and women have been discharged with a “pre-existing” personality disorder.  The Senators have expressed concern that some of these discharges appear to be the result of misdiagnoses and are being used to force out troops who may instead be suffering from service-connected psychological injuries – like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Traumatic Brain Injury.  The use of a personality discharge can result in a loss of disability benefits and medical care from the VA, and can even lead to service members having to repay thousands of dollars in re-enlistment bonuses.

“The Senators continue to urge for the adoption of short-term, commonsense safeguards to protect service members. The Senators emphasize that just limiting the use of this discharge is not enough. A moratorium, which would temporarily suspend the Pentagon’s use of personality disorder discharges for those service members who have served in combat, is necessary until there is a comprehensive review of the current procedures and additional safeguard to prevent misdiagnosis.                  

“Bond, Boxer, Obama and McCaskill were joined by a bipartisan group of their Senate colleagues including: Joseph Biden (D-DE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Barbra Mikulski (D-MD), Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Bernard Sanders (I-VT).”

I am glad that the U.S. Senators are finally beginning to do their duty under the Constitution to provide oversight on an Administration that subverts the Constitution, suborns perjury, and fails to protect and defend the United States of America.  Kudos to the Democratic Senate and the emboldened moderate Republicans.