Author: Street Kid

OK, the Dems have the House and the Senate.

CNN:

Republican George Allen of Virginia will concede the election for his U.S. Senate seat to Democratic challenger Jim Webb on Thursday, sources close to the senator said Thursday.

A victory for Webb will give the Democrats control of the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives.

Allen scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. ET. Webb has scheduled an appearance with reporters at 4:15 p.m.

Even before any formal concession had been made, Republicans were resigned to facing a Democratic majority next year, one GOP member said Thursday.

“I think if you ask any Republican in Congress right now, they’re working under the assumption that they’ll be in the minority in both the House and the Senate,” New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu told CNN.

In the last unsettled race of the 33 Senate contests on Tuesday’s ballots, Allen trailed Webb, a former Navy secretary, by 8,805 votes, the Virginia Board of Elections announced Thursday afternoon.

The gap grew from the roughly 7,200 votes Wednesday after 55 of Virginia’s 134 electoral districts completed their canvasses of the results.

A Webb win would put the new Senate lineup at 49 Democrats, 49 Republicans and two independents — Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who have said they would caucus with the Democrats.

continued
This is not the time to be meeting w/interior decorators in lieu of moves to different offices.

Reuters:

While planning ahead to work with Democrats when they take over in January, Bush was scrambling to get the lame-duck session of Congress, which starts next week and will still be controlled by Republicans, to approve several items.

At the top of the list is to try to get Gates confirmed quickly, as well as legislation to permit wiretapping of terrorism suspects, a civilian nuclear deal with India, and Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization.

Confirmation hearings on Gates’ nomination for defense secretary were tentatively set for the week of December 4.

What do rubber-stampers have to lose?

“Hey, Nancy, let’s do lunch!”

Bangkok Post:

When asked how he would work with Ms Pelosi _ who had previously called him ”incompetent”, ”a liar”, ”the emperor with no clothes” and ”dangerous” _ Mr Bush shrugged the criticism off.

”People say unfortunate things at times,” he said, with an indifference befitting a man who has bigger things to worry about.

Pelosi’s response?

“I look forward to working in a confidence-building way with the president recognising that we have our differences and we will debate them, and that is what our founders intended, but we will do so in a way that gets results for the American people,” she said.

She pledged to represent everyone in the House. “I understand my responsibility: of speaker of the House, of all of the House, not just the Democrats.”

And she didn’t say a word about the responsibility of representing constituents.

Also, it appears history will again repeat itself.

TIME:

The U.S. Congress wasn’t the only place the Bush Administration suffered electoral embarrassment this week. In Nicaragua, cold-war bogeyman Daniel Ortega — whose Marxist Sandinista government had been an obsession of the Reagan Administration — was elected president again on Sunday despite frantic U.S. lobbying for his defeat. By most accounts, the yanqui politicking — which included a threat to cut off U.S. aid to impoverished Nicaragua if Ortega won — backfired miserably, actually helping boost the Sandinista leader to his first-round victory. That such U.S. pressure tends to work in favor of its opponents is a lesson Washington seems woefully unable to learn in a post-Cold War Latin America whose electorates have unexpectedly turned leftward in recent years.

And,

Forbes:

President Bush has reached back to a veteran of his father’s administration to fill a top national security post and help him out of a bind. In this case, he enlisted Robert Gates, who served both as CIA director and deputy national security adviser in the first Bush presidency, to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary.

Bush also is looking to another Bush family loyalist, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to help him find an exit strategy from Iraq. Baker co-chairs a bipartisan commission on Iraq that is to release its recommendations soon.

Bush has his Vietnam + O-I-L + corporate profits- people’s concerns/needs/rights=????????????????????????

Feel free to guess as to the end of this equation, yours is as good as mine!  

ABC:

When interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, President Bush answered a question about a newspaper column comparing Iraq to the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, might be accurate.  Specifically, he was asked if he agreed with the opinion of columnist Tom Friedman, of The New York Times that the two may be equilivent and answered,

“He could be right.  There’s certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we’re heading into an election.”

continued
Bush has his Vietnam:  The Herald:

American commentators are looking increasingly to Vietnam for lessons on how to proceed in Iraq. In Vietnam, the Americans went in on one side in an ongoing civil war, whereas they imposed war on Iraq. At least one US diplomat, however, has argued that they are similar in producing a “quagmire effect” on US troops, who have become stuck fast as a result of policies of arrogance, applied in ignorance of the culture and history of the countries.
That is essentially what has come to pass from George W Bush’s intention to bring democracy to Iraq. He has nowdefined his vision of democracy as “whether schools were being built, hospitals being opened”. The truth, however, is that, while there are pockets of progress, most people have electricity for only a few hours a day and are struggling to get enough water.

Christian Science Monitor:

In the midst of this, many average Iraqis say they are frightened and are increasingly looking to militias for protection.

Kamal Hussein, a Shiite contractor, says he doesn’t go to a job site without at least six armed bodyguards, and that his work is drying up. “I’ve never seen a situation like this. We have killings, people fleeing our neighborhoods, joblessness and the government has no control. They’re completely failing.”

Khaleeh Times:

Washington would add insult to injury if it claims all those attacks are carried out by extremist groups like Al Qaeda. A huge chunk of Iraqi population hasn’t still accepted the foreign occupation and continues to resist it. Besides, Iraq continues to attract fighters from near and far. In fact, it is, coupled with the war on terror, radicalising young people in the Muslim world. As the UK Army chief, General Danatt has rightly pointed out, the coalition forces are not part of the solution in Iraq but part of the problem. The sooner Washington realises this, the better for it and the rest of the world.

Riverbend:

Everyone knows the ‘official numbers’ about Iraqi deaths as a direct result of the war and occupation are far less than reality (yes- even you war hawks know this, in your minuscule heart of hearts). This latest report is probably closer to the truth than anything that’s been published yet. And what about American military deaths? When will someone do a study on the actual number of those? If the Bush administration is lying so vehemently about the number of dead Iraqis, one can only imagine the extent of lying about dead Americans…

Electronic Iraq:

That howling chaos will reverberate throughout America for years, whether US troops stay in Iraq or not. This reality is here and now, in the USA; it is not a bad dream that can be left behind in the crowded, stinking morgues of Baghdad. Despite the stress it will incur, Americans must face the nightmarish reality that their government has created, and acknowledge that it was forged with their tacit complicity and silent assent.

Keith Olbermann:

A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from…

We have been here when President Woodrow Wilson insisted that the Espionage Act was necessary to save American lives, only to watch him use that Act to prosecute 2,000 Americans, especially those he disparaged as “Hyphenated Americans,” most of whom were guilty only of advocating peace in a time of war.

American public speakers, in American jails, for things they said about America…

Many of the very people Wilson silenced survived him, and one of them even ran to succeed him, and got 900,000 votes, though his presidential campaign was conducted entirely from his jail cell.

Keith Olbermann continued:

We have listened to the little voice inside that has said, “the wolf is at the door; this will be temporary; this will be precise; this too shall pass.”

We have accepted that the only way to stop the terrorists is to let the government become just a little bit like the terrorists.

The Invasion of Iraq is nothing more than a war for oil!

As a result, social programs that many in this country who live at or below the Federal poverty level are dependent upon for survival have been drastically reduced, in the name of short-term greed.

And for everyone, civilian or military, regardless of nationality or religious belief, the price is too high.

Forbes:
Eight months after one of the administrations biggest fiascos–Medicare D(isaster), was implemented, Mark McClellan resigned as head of CMS.

Charles Grassley:

“Dr. McClellan has worked to fix the problems.  I hope his departure doesn’t cause delays in getting Part D snags fixed for beneficiaries and that he’ll correct all known problems before he leaves.”

Reminder:  the leglislation for the Medicare Modernization Act was signed in 2003.

continued
And remember this?

Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, states that he had a discussion with Mark McClellan, (Administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) EARLY LAST YEAR:

“I was sitting in McClellan’s office and I said, ‘Look, even if you get this transition 99 percent right for the people losing Medicaid coverage, you’re still going to have 64,000 people without drug coverage come Jan. 1.’ And [McClellan] said ‘No, we have everything under control.’ “

McClellan will leave in about five weeks and would like to work for a think tank where and write about improving health care in the United States.

And Grassley thinks Medicare D could be fixed in five weeks??  

McClellan also stated,“Texas might be a nice place to visit for a little while.”
Coincidentally, his mother, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, is the Texas comptroller and is running for governor as an independent.  

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., was surprised that McClellan:  

“spent so long trying to bail water from the Bush administration’s sinking ship [as} the drug benefit provides limited savings, unexpected price increases and poor customer service.”

“Had he waited much longer, he would have found few employers willing to hire an ex-Bush administration official.”

Sums it up best!

UPDATE:Christopher Conover, assistant research professor of public policy with the Duke Center for Health Policy:

“Disappointingly, McClellan’s leaving is a signal that the Bush administration is not going to do anything substantive on health care reform.” “Health care reform really can’t take place without tax reform, and I was hopeful when Henry Paulson was appointed treasury secretary that two parallel efforts could begin,” Conover said. “The odds were still long, but McClellan’s departure drives the odds to about zero. They’ll be treading water on health reform until the end of the administration.”

Conover also wrote, “The war on terror has totally diverted the administration’s attention from anything domestic.”

UPDATE 2:Boston Globe

A Democrat-led House could mire the new leader in “hearing after hearing,” predicted Drew Altman , president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation , which tracks health policy issues. The nonprofit group’s surveys have found mixed emotions about Part D. “It probably will be hard to fill the job with an outsider of great standing if the Democrats take control of the House, because it is not going to be a really fun job,” Altman said.

McClellan denied that the timing of his resignation was tied to politics. “I don’t believe in that level of cynicism,” he said, adding that he has testified at scores of congressional oversight hearings and predicted the next CMS administrator would too, “no matter who is in control of Congress.”

In fact, Senator Charles E. Grassley , Republican of Iowa , will hold a closed-door Senate Finance Committee hearing tomorrow for members to ask McClellan about a glitch that led to Part D beneficiaries being charged too much or too little for premiums and, for 230,000 beneficiaries, wrongly being refunded premiums.

More re: wrong refunds in orange

A second instance of “vote flipping” was reported by Karen Fitzpatrick,who monitored the election between Cynthia McKinney and Hank Johnson. The McKinney Campaign claims documentation of complaints from voters in Georgia whose votes FLIPPED BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES on Diebold machines.

Also reported in Anchorage Daily News via Slashdot   more documentation of technical difficulties with Diebold voting machines.  According to Election coordinator Lauri Wilson, several Diebold touchscreen machines in Southeast Alaska, the Interior and near Nome did not upload their votes into the Division of Elections’ central computing system as modems did not get a dial tone.  Also, in one precinct, an optical scanner voting machine was unable to connect by modem.

Democratic Party response below
Alaska Democratic Party spokeswoman Kay Brown

“I can say there are many systematic problems with Diebold machines that have been identified in many contexts. That there were technical glitches with the machines is not surprising, and it’s one indication of the kinds of things that can go wrong with the machines and it’s something to be concerned about.”

The Democratic party encouraged voters to request paper ballots, and not use the touchscreen machine, further claiming that Diebold’s touch screen machines may be insecure and vulnerable to attack. As a result, in 2005, legislation was enacted tht requires a mandatory hand count of the ballots in a randomly chosen precint, in every district.  

Despite the questions raised about The 2004 (S)election, Diebold claims the machines are secure if/when proper procedures are followed by election officials.

The incidents reported in Alaska and the statement by Diebold raise questions about procedures used in the development/ testing/maintainance of the software that is used to record and tabulate votes.  Diebold claim is the software used is proprietary, and the code used in the software is therefore a “trade secret” and unavailable for public view or testing.  Compare this to the state of Nevada having access to software that is used in slot machines.  In addition, the equipment/software is certified by a public agency and the public is allowed questions. The public has no access to the results of testing that is done on election software.

As written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,

Voting, as Thomas Paine said, ”is the right upon which all other rights depend.” Unless we ensure that right, everything else we hold dear is in jeopardy.

In order to do so, it is necessary for input from the public regarding the development and testing of all voting software.

The 2004 (S)election detailed the events that occured that gave RFK Jr, Congressman John Conyers, Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D, Walter Mebane Ph.D, Steven D of Booman Tribune, and countless others including myself to recognize how much of a priority election reform is.

This is further demonstrated in Voting Machines Sitting in FL Living Rooms by Alf Ranken which states “Apparently, since Early Voting starts “early in the morning” Monday, the (Republican) Supervisor of Elections decided it was best to send the voting machines home for the weekend with the poll workers.

continued

In light of the efforts of Bev Harris and  about the of the events of the 2004 (S)election, regarding security of the Diebold Machines that were used in Ohio, this procedure, or, lack of uniform procedure currently in place in appalling.  It also must be noted that Black Box Voting homepage provides a link to a Citizens Tool Kit and another link requesting  volunteers to count votes by hand, if necessary.

There has been discussion as to the security of the software that is used by Diebold in the voting machines.  However, as early as 2002, it was claimed that

“…. faulty ‘memory cards’ in the machines caused [a] 16,000-vote disappearance on election night. The glitch was soon fixed.

 The was due to the work and documentation of Bev Harris:

“If you strip away the partisan rancor over the 2000 election, you are left with the undeniable fact that a presidential candidate conceded the election to his opponent based on [results from] a second card that mysteriously appears, subtracts 16,022 votes, then just as mysteriously disappears.”

However, hardware concerns were raised this year.  Bruce Funk, a former county clerk of Emery County, Utah, discovered problems that were not all related to software, specifically faulty printers, broken doors and low backup-memory storage. Funk also suspected that some of the machines were not new, having found the results of previous elections still stored on them.  

Funk then claimed that commissioners accused him of causing an increased expense of $40-50 thousand in “recertification” costs and was pressured to resign. And, the locks on his office were changed. Funk also claims that his resignation was verbal, due to pressure, and, he later rescinded it.

Harri Hurst a computer scientist from Finland, demonstrated an

extremely serious flaws in the design of touchscreen voting terminals from Diebold Election Systems that could lead to an unscrupulous person or organization having complete control of the software on those systems.

An attacker with physical access to the voting terminal can permanently change the programming of a terminal in a way that is difficult or impossible to detect. With a PCMCIA memory card, phillips-head screwdriver, and 5 minutes of time, any portion of the software that runs on the terminal can be modified. It is not just the voting application that can be replaced; the operating system and even the bootloader can also be changed via this mechanism.

Is it possible that hardware problems in a Diebold voting machine could be built to mimic software problems?  Is it possible that Will Wright, computer game designer and co-founder of the game development company, Maxis, provided a (possibly inadvertant) partial answer during a previous interview?  

“We can build hardware that can mimic human physical abilities, but we lack the intelligence to control (these abilities).”

   
Wright was referring to computer games, but, does his answer apply to other computer hardware mimicking a software problem?  In other words, can hardware have a built-in error to mimic another error in the computer that is used, for whatever purpose?  Or, are they two sepatate problems entirely?  Would it even be possible to determine which one caused the “vote flipping” from Kerry to Bush in 2004 when one in Ohio voted on a touch-screen Diebold machine?  And if so, how would it be solved?  Would changing questionable hardware resolve the issues with Diebold voting  machines if the software that is used in them is open-source?  Is that the only way to determine that one’s vote is secure?  And, what about the software that is used in the machines to tabulate the votes?  Should that also be open-source?  Again, what about the hardware?  

Another issue that is just coming to light is a second instance of “vote flipping”.  It has been written that

“You’ve got electronic voting machines. Many people called in and shared their concern. They pushed the button for Cynthia McKinney and Hank Johnson came up. It wasn’t one time, it wasn’t two times, it was many, many times,” Karen Fitzpatrick, who has been monitoring elections for US Rep. McKinney’s re-election campaign, told Atlanta Progressive News in an exclusive interview.  The McKinney Campaign says they have documented complaints of voters here in Georgia whose votes FLIPPED BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES on Diebold machines.

Is this any indication of what to expect in November?

[Notes:  This began as a comment to BooMan’s answer to my question re:  Brain Injury as an action item.  (I am including my own views that are shared by other brain injury survivors with brief explanantions.)  Also, I’m attempting to go straight to the point instead of throwing around the feel-good human service buzzwords that used, but never applied.   However, I may use unfamiliar terms (out of habit as I briefly worked in the social service system.)  Feel free to ask for any clarification.]  

I am not the only traumatic brain injury (tbi) survivor with the following opinion:  this “priortizing” the diagnosis and treatment of veterans w/tbi over civilians w/tbi has GOT to stop.  Plain and simple, tbi’s do NOT differentiate between veterans and civilians w/respect to rehabilitation.  The effects and the necessary treatments are the same.  That is why the “Wait till 2008.” mantra is bullshit.  

First and most importantly, more funding for research is NOT what is needed, as the research has already been done and is gathering dust.

facts and experiences listed below
FACT ONE: In 1994, I believe it was, I assisted in the writing/development of a case management practice that is just beginning to be used. (Only took a few months to write.)  If anyone can explain the logic of a 11-12 year delay, go for it.

FACT TWO:  There are a lot supposed “professionals” who don’t know a damn thing about tbi and pass around incorrect info as the gospel truth.  I (and other tbi survivors) have run into a few.  

FACT THREE:  A diary in orange listed some of the mental health symptoms that returning vets are having, and there are many similar symptoms between a mild/moderate tbi and a mental health diagnosis, but the treatment is different. That tells me that it is probable that there is a serious possibility of undiagnosed tbi’s in returning vets.  (From what I have heard from other tbi survivors, if a tbi survivor sees a LLP, a misdiagnosis is almost a certainty.)

FACT FOUR:  TBI survivors (and others with disabilities) are treated as if they are stupid, and are told what they need, rarely, if ever asked.  Example: an employment situation when the subject of reasonable accomodations is discussed (which has happenned to me).  It has almost been like I have been set up to fail.  Why not ask and take the opinion of a tbi survivor seriously, as opposed to a token gesture?  

WHAT IS REALLY NEEDED BUT HAS NO CHANCE IN HELL OF HAPPENNING? An increase in funding for the training of professionals who are knowledgeable about both medical and vocational rehabilitation for tbi survivors. Specifically, more md’s, neuropsychs, occupational, physical therapits, speech and lanugage pathologists, csw’s, lpc’s, etc. that specialize in traumatic brain injury and keep up to date on the newest treatments, and most importantly, diagnosis. But, the time element and funding required for that to actually become a reality are impractical for a tbi survivor, w/o extending the “Wait until 2008.” mantra by a few more years.  

WHAT IS NEEDED THAT HAS A SLIM CHANCE OF HAPPENNING? People who know how to do case management, as that is the most overlooked, yet most important part of any social service system, public or private.  A semi-competent case manager can understand medical records, the regulations for the agency that he/she works for, and has an idea of the regs for other agencies. A GOOD case manager knows that and about assitive technology, reasonable accomodations, the ADA, IDEA, the Rehab Act, TBI Act, subsequent amendments to all, any state legislation that may apply, tries to be on top of all fed, state, or state fed regs and changes to them.  In addition to the above, a VERY GOOD case manager is familiar with funders, pending changes, knows the ways to work around them, and finds out the answer to a question that he/she is asked and doesn’t know.  Speaking bureaucratese helps big-time.  

Unfortunately, most good (or better) caseworkers/case managers left the agency they were with due to political bullshit, or budget cuts.  The majority of those who remain contantly complain about how their caseload is too big, and have absolutely no idea of what their job really is.  Is it really necessary to call the Governor’s Office on Constituent Affairs so a worker will actually return a phone call or fill out a form that should have been completed weeks ago?  

What’s worse is that the majority of the clients know more about the way things are supposed to be done than the workers.  From my experiences (and that of others), most workers are just hanging on long enough to pick up a pension or for the UAW BC/BS that they have.  (Your tax dollars at work.)    

WHAT WOULD BE A COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION?  Get rid of all of those just hanging on and hire the clients to take their place. (I am also not the only one who feels that way.) Assuming there are any good ones left, they know who is screwing off and who knows their stuff.

My “mild” tbi happenned in 1991 in a work related accident. (I HATE that word!) I was originally denied treatment/tbi rehabilitation (which I have since found out is the norm).  I currently have yet another battle going on with a public vocational rehabilitation agency. I am presently appealing incorrect, bullshit decisions.  (This nonsense started in April of last year!)  I am not the only tbi survivor who has had battles with agencies.  Most give up.  

After a year of appeals in this specific instance (there were more in other situations) and having repeatedly heard “I don’t know.”, “That’s not my job.”, or “Call this number/go online.”, I can understand why.

[Notes:  This was written by testvet6778 and was originally posted in orange.  As the topic is, I believe, generally not known by some/many and extremely important, I am re-posting it here. It is also in the process of being xposted on other sites. (.pdf files are linked to in original diary.)]

I am a TEST VET.

We took an oath of secrecy.  Honorable men keep their oaths.  But there is no honor in protecting the predators who used us and then abandoned us.  It is time for the TEST VETS to speak out.

On August 25th, I will be 51 years old.  I have had a stroke, 7 heart attacks, a failed triple bypass, heart ejection fraction of 25%, COPD, skin abnormalities, foot fungus and rashes.  This all started in 1992 when I was 36.  I am in contact with 11 other “test vets” and we all have heart problems and multiple health issues. We are all ignored by the VA

Why the Fuck won’t anyone ask Cheney and Rumsfeld about their Chemical Weapons and drug experiments in 1974 and 1975?   While they were in the Ford Administration, Cheney and Rumsfeld, violated the Nuremberg Codes of 1947 by using enlisted men as human test subjects for chemical warfare.   From 1952 thru 1975, they used 7120 enlisted men in these experiments.  

The health study contacted the participants in 2000 and found that 75% of them were either dead or disabled.

continued
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES wrote the following report:

Long-Term Health Effects of Exposure to Sarin and Other Anticholinesterase Chemical Warfare Agents

    During the period from 1955-1975, the U.S. Army conducted a series of experiments at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland in which military volunteers were exposed to various kinds of substances, including chemical warfare agents such as sarin and other anticholinesterases. This is the second survey done to examine the adverse long-term effects of known exposure in the volunteers from the Edgewood experiments.
    In this current study, the Medical Follow-up Agency of the Institute of Medicine conducted a telephone survey of 4,022 military volunteers to compare the current health of those exposed to anticholinesterase agents with the health of men in two other control groups: those who had been exposed to other substances and those who had been exposed to no active agents. The telephone survey asked about general health, but was mostly focused on neurological and psychological health problems. This is because there is some evidence that exposure to pesticides-which chemically resemble anticholinesterase agents and thus might be expected to produce similar health effects from exposure-can cause neurological and psychological health problems.
    [snip]
    This study was funded by Army grant DAMD17-99-1-9485 and appears in Military Medicine: International Journal of AMSUS, Volume 168(3): 239, March 2003.

All this time the DOD and the VA have been claiming Gulf War Syndrome is a mental problem when they have known for years that exposure to sarin and mustard agents causes serious health problems, circulatory (heart) pulmonary, gastrointestinal and neurological.

The British also experimented on enlisted men and just last week, they released a report on Porton Down.  Symptoms, ill-health and quality of life in a support group of Porton Down veterans

The United States used chemical weapons and DRUGS on their own soldiers three decades ago without their full knowledge and consent.  4300 men were either killed or disabled.  Some of the deceased men left behind widows who are not receiving their husband’s veterans benefits.

Veterans at Risk: The Health Effects of Mustard Gas and Lewisite (1993)
Institute of Medicine
Executive Summary
BACKGROUND
By the time the war ended, over 60,000 U.S. servicemen had been used as human subjects in this chemical defense research program. At least 4,000 of these subjects had participated in tests conducted with high concentrations of mustard agents or Lewisite in gas chambers or in field exercises over contaminated ground areas. The human subjects had experienced a wide range of exposures to mustard agents or Lewisite, from mild (a drop of agent on the arm in “patch” tests) to quite severe (repeated gas chamber trials, sometimes without protective clothing). All of the men in the chamber and field tests, and some of the men in the patch tests, were told at the time that they should never reveal the nature of the experiments. Almost to a man, they kept this secret for the next 40 or more years.
[snip]
The levels of exposure to mustard agents or Lewisite experienced by the human subjects may have been much higher than inferred in the summaries of the gas chamber and field tests.
[snip]

    * Chronic bronchitis

    * Emphysema

    * Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

    * Chronic laryngitis

    * Recurrent corneal ulcerative disease (Includes corneal opacities; acute severe injuries to eye from Lewisite will also persist.)

    * Delayed recurrent keratitis of the eye

    * Chronic conjunctivitis

    * Bone marrow depression and (resulting) immunosuppression (An acute effect that may result in greater susceptibility to serious infections with secondary permanent damage to vital organ systems.)

    * Psychological disorders

          o Mood disorders

          o Anxiety disorders (including post-traumatic stress disorder)

          o Other traumatic stress disorder responses (These may result from traumatic or stressful features of the exposure experience, not a toxic effect of the agents themselves.)

    * Sexual dysfunction (Scrotal and penile scarring may prevent or inhibit normal sexual performance or activity.)

The evidence found suggested a causal relationship between exposure and the following health conditions:

    * Leukemia (acute nonlymphocytic type, sulfur mustard)

    * Reproductive dysfunction (genotoxicity, mutagenicity, etc.; mustard agents)

There was insufficient evidence found to demonstrate a causal relationship between exposure and the following health conditions:

    * Gastrointestinal diseases

    * Hematologic diseases

    * Neurological diseases

    * Reproductive dysfunction (Lewisite)

    * Cardiovascular diseases (Except for those that may result from serious infections shortly following exposure–heart disease resulting from rheumatic fever, for example.)

RECOMMENDATIONS
There are large gaps in all areas of the knowledge base about the long-term health risks associated with exposure to mustard agents and Lewisite. For example, very little is known about the long-term effects on specific organ systems from studies in animals. The data from human studies lack precise information about the exposure levels in occupational settings. After consideration of these gaps in light of the commit-
[snip]
The committee recommends that the VA and DoD publicly announce and widely advertise that personnel exposed to mustard agents or Lewisite during their service are released from any oath of secrecy taken at the time. In addition, professional educational materials should be prepared by the VA or DoD, or both, and made available for physicians who may be treating affected individuals. These materials should incorporate the latest information regarding the long-term health effects of exposure to mustard agents and Lewisite.
There is no doubt that the long-term health consequences of exposure to mustard agents or Lewisite can be serious and, in some cases, devastating. This report has demonstrated that complete knowledge of these long-term consequences has been and still is sorely lacking, resulting in great costs to some of those exposed in WWII.

The Edgewood Arsenal test are described on pages 17-20 of the Veterans Administration manual on the Cold War tests. (.pdf)  There are 2 pages in the book that claim there are NO KNOWN tests to see if anyone was exposed to either chemical weapons or pesticides months later, let alone decades later.

This GAO report from FY 2004 shows that DOD told them, they would not be able to find the 7120 veterans of the Edgewood Chemical Weapons tests until 2009.  They have the names and addresses of all the men still alive and probably of the widows because the year before that the IOM released the Sarin Report paid for by the DOD. Rick Edrtman of the IOM at 202-734-1925 has said as soon as DOD authorizes him to give the VA the names and addresses he will. The DOD won’t do it. Why?

These two documents show that Congressmen Lane Evans and Ted Strickland tried to get the VA to contact us themselves and keep DOD out of it.  They sent VA Secretary James Nicholson the lists of the 2300 men of Fort Detricks Biological tests and the 7120 names of the Edgewood Arsenal test veterans, his reply shows how he buried the lists at DOD for Rumsfeld and Cheney.

    April 28, 2005

    Honorable R. James Nicholson
    Secretary
    Department of Veterans Affairs
    810 Vermont Ave., NW
    Washington, DC  20420

    Dear Mr. Secretary:

    In the past, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has sent letters to veterans identified as being previously exposed to hazardous chemical, biological or radiological environments while on active duty and who have the potential for presumptive or related, service-connected conditions.  We have previously expressed our interest in VA providing veterans with notice of such exposure and of the potential service-connection of conditions related to that exposure.  VA has sometimes been unable to provide veterans with individual notice because of difficulties collecting lists of participants exposed to the hazardous condition.  We understand that VA is generally dependent on the Department of Defense (DoD) for providing such lists.

    Enclosed are sealed sets of lists of names of individuals who were exposed to potentially hazardous materials while participating in tests or programs at Fort Detrick, Maryland, or Edgewood, Maryland, for the period 1954 through the present.  In many cases, the lists provide specifics regarding the exposure associated with the individual’s name and service number.  We ask VA to provide written notice to the living veterans named on these lists who may have an illness or injury related to their participation in the programs or tests managed at the two DoD facilities listed above.

    Mr. Secretary, the limiting factor in VA’s due diligence in this arena has been its ability to secure lists of participants from the DoD.  Our proactive approach to this issue quickly yielded the enclosed lists, which we understand contain approximately 10,000 names.  We expect that you should be able to

    determine address information on the living veterans through VA health and insurance records and by using VA’s authority to cross match data with the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.

    We ask that you provide us with a timetable for sending notice, as appropriate, to the listed individuals who you are able to determine are still alive.  I am requesting this be done no later than May, 27, 2005, and to complete the mailing of all notices no later than 120 days after that date.  Democratic Committee staff point of contact is Mr. Len Sistek, 202-225-9756.

    Sincerely,

LANE EVANS                                                            
TED STICKLAND

Ranking Democratic Member                                
                                                                                 Subcommittee on Oversight and investigations

    Enclosures as stated

Response from VA blowing Congressman Evan off (pdf)

The only conclusion I can come to is that to “find” these men and their widows now would cause these very “honored and high ranking officials”, a lot of embarrassment and generate a lot of questions about their their treatment of their own soldiers.

VA ACCUSED OF FOOT-DRAGGING IN NOTIFYING “TEST VETS” — VETERANS EXPOSED TO CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL AGENTS ARE STILL WAITING FOR NOTIFICATION FROM THE VA — WHY IS THIS? — ONE VET SAYS: “THEY REALLY DON’T WANT TO DO IT…IF YOU WAIT LONG ENOUGH, WE’LL ALL BE DEAD.”
    By Lisa Friedman, From our Washington bureau

    WASHINGTON — Thousands of former servicemen who volunteered for chemical and biological tests in the 1960s and 70s might have been exposed to highly toxic substances that could jeopardize their health, and the U.S. government is scrambling to locate them.

    The new list of nearly 7,000 names provided last year to the Department of Veterans Affairs servicemen who allowed themselves to be exposed to a range of agents, from nerve gases to Tularemia significantly increases the number of veterans who could become eligible for disability benefits.
    [snip]
    “When you sign on the dotted line, you sign up for a broad spectrum of risks. But just because you were a volunteer does not mean America doesn’t have a duty to you.”

2098 dead and 2200 disabled

Who is going to help these widows and vets?

Demanding the world hold Saddam accountable for his actions, seems a tad bit hypocritical now doesn’t it?

A vote to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act was cancelled yesterday after some Republicans argued about requirements for bilingual ballots and federal oversight of voting practices in some Southern states.  Some are of the opinion that the Voting Rights Actlaw served its purpose and claim it is “more nuisance than necessity.”

This view is being supported by those Republicans who insist that immigrants must learn and use English.

Eighty Republicans signed a letter written by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) objecting to provisions of the Voting Rights Act’s provisions requiring state and local governments to print ballots in foreign languages, or, to provide interpreters where there is a need for them, claiming that doing so is an unfunded mandate. The letter further stated

“The multilingual ballot mandate encourages the linguistic division of our nation and contradicts the ‘Melting Pot’ ideal that has made us the most successful multi-ethnic nation on earth.”

continued

This view is being supported by those Republicans who insist that immigrants must learn and use English.
Republicans in Georgia, Texas and some other other states now claim that efforts to disenfranchise minorities are a thing of the past and further coverage and federal oversight “is an unfair stigma.”

According to Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, evidence of voting rights violations exists in Georgia, Texas and several other states.

“These are not states that can say their hands are clean.”

Are there others who cannot say that their hands are clean?

In Emery County, Bruce Funk, a county clerk of 23 years, was condemned by county and state officials and Diebold representatives for his scrutiny of touch-screen machines.

During testing of 40 of the Diebold machines that were purchased by Emery county, Funk discovered the following problems, faulty printers, broken doors and low backup-memory storage.  Further, he suspected that some of the machines were not new, as they had the results of previous elections stored. Funk wondered,

“I’m supposed to rely on these for upcoming elections for how many years?  Something’s not right here.'”

A security flaw, described by David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as agreeing with those who had the  “frequently expressed opinion that this is the worst vulnerability that we have ever seen.”
In response to this, Diebold accused Funk of breach of contract by letting an unauthorized third party perform inspections on the machines.

In response to Diebold’s accusation, Funk responded

“I felt that looking over the contract that I was totally within my right, because in elections, I’m the one ultimately responsible and I felt I needed to be assured myself that everything was okay.”

He futher claims that commissioners accused him of causing an increased expense of $40-50 thousand in “recertification” costs and was pressured to resign. And, the locks on his office were changed. Funk also claims that his resignation was verbal, due to pressure, and, he later rescinded it.  

In resonse to Funk’s concern’s, Bryan Simpson from Diebold, claimed, “One of the big issues the former county clerk had was the amount of memory the machines have. We have been erasing the operating system software and reinstalling everything on these machines…When voting takes place a vote is stored in three different places. On two different memory cards and also on a paper printout.”

A member of the retrofit team, John Tultz, stated,

“The[se] are good machines. Machines like these were used in the Ohio election last November and the machines were well received.”

Despite the flaws that were discoverd, and Diebold’s initial claim of brech of contract, Emory county contracted with Diebold for recertification work at a cost of $1,260 per day per technician. Ironically, Emory county is responsible for these recertification costs.  Additionally, Emory county may request that the state of Utah to assist with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds.

Funk has described his responsiblity  for elections as

“my primary concern and has always been – the integrity of them and making sure everything was accurate. It’s not fun being a whistleblower.”

Funk has retained an attorney, as is his right, and HAVA funds may be used for retrofitting Diebold machines. This results in  additional costs to the taxpayers, besides those mentioned previously that are being incurred, to justify the use of voting machines.  

Not included are the costs to this country of the hijacking of the extension of the Voting Rights Act. It is uncertain whether or not this legislation will be further discussed in Washington before recessing for Independence Day.

It has also been reported in the Salt Lake Tribune that Bruce Funk was forced out of office for requesting that Black Box Voting examine the Diebold machines that are going to be used in the June 27 primary.

Michael Shamos, a Carnegie-Mellon computer science professor who certifies voting machines for the state of Pennsylvania, is quoted,

“He should not be punished for bringing this to light.  He made noises that brought pressure from Diebold.”

David Dill a Stanford University computer professor, who has served on an electronic elections task force in the state of California and founded the Verified Voting Foundation agreed,

“Bruce Funk is the only person who has tried to protect the voters. No one else flagged this flaw that has resulted in alerts being issued in several states. He is being removed from office for embarrassing Diebold.”

Update: [2006-6-24]: Just checked my email and found this:

a small but vocal group in the House of Representatives managed to stage a revolt within the Republican Party and have the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization (H.R. 9) pulled from the House floor.

We cannot let this small band of ultra-conservative House Republicans succeed in holding up reauthorization of this landmark civil rights legislation. That’s why we’re launching an emergency petition to tell House Leadership to pass the bill immediately.

Emergency Online Petition

Update: [2006-6-25]: Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Yahoo News

a year ago, the GOP-dominated Georgia Legislature reminded me why the VRA remains a necessary protection for voters of color. Georgia Republicans rammed through a divisive requirement for state-issued photo ID at the polls, the most restrictive voting law in the nation. While Republicans claimed they wanted only to protect against voter fraud, that contention wears not one stitch of credibility. There is much more fraud in the use of absentee ballots, but the Legislature loosened the laws governing those.

What Georgia Republicans really wanted to do was bar a small group of voters who tend to be rural, isolated, poor and predominantly black. According to many studies, those voters are less likely to own a car and, therefore, less likely to have a driver’s license. They are also more likely to vote for Democrats. They may be a small group, but they’d make a difference in close races. For years, Republicans have used similar voter-suppression strategies around the country, trying to bar voting by small numbers of Latinos, blacks and native Americans, all of whom are more likely to support Democrats.

(Section 5 didn’t protect Georgia’s black voters from this bit of harassment;
President Bush’s highly partisan Justice Department approved the state’s restrictive voter ID law. But Section 5 is still one necessary tool among many, including the federal courts. It might be more fairly used by a future Justice Department.)

I love to read and write.  From the research that is important for a good read, to the development, the actual work necessary for the  written word to flow smoothly and appeal to others, I love it.  

To some, writing is tedious, a chore, and something to be avoided whenever possible.  Not to me.  I take pride in the end result.

The fact that I am distributing my ideas, and others respond, even though some disagree, means a great deal to me.  I thank my high school English teacher, Frank Strunk, for his willingness to share his knowledge emphasizing importance of the written word.  I apply it to this day.  It is automatic, just like he said it would be.  

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about certain events, both in my life and in the political spectrum.  A converation with one aquaintance has been running though my mind.  In closing, the aquaintance said, “Your writing is very powerful.”

There have been similar converations with others.  I have decided that now is the time for me to follow through.

I am going to write a book.

I can no longer refer to it as an election.  Too much has been demonstrated to my satisfaction, and that of others, that makes it necessary seriously question the legitimacy of the current occupancy of the White House.  

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s article in Rolling Stone leaves too many unanswered questions.  There have been subsequent events that are cause for serious concern.

It has been reported BY AN INDEPENDENT SOURCE, that Mitch Given, a registered lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems, one of the vendors of voting machines for election boards in Ohio, gave Blackwell the maximum $10,000.00 donation.

continued
In addition, there is the litigation that was filed by the League of Women Voters that was filed.  The litigation challenges raises serious challenges to the events in Ohio in 2004.  One of the objectives, as stated is “looking toward the future” of elections.

Cliff Arnebeck, a lawyer who was active in the litigation re:  2004,

“The framing I have in mind for litigation is to look at what is being set up for ’06 and say we’re not speculating that people are willing to suppress the vote, we have the proof. It’s a positive view of the evidence of fraud in ’04.

However, a serious question needs to be asked:  Is it possible that an effort to supress the vote may be ongoing?  Consider the following:  

In Colorado, it has been discovered previously that records consisting of personal information of over 150,000 people are missing. Officials are unsure if the files have been lost, moved or stolen.

Today, it is being reported that these same files have vanished since the Denver Election Commission moved to a new building.  On Friday, spokesman Alton Dillard stated, “We still don’t have any reason to believe that it was, quote unquote, stolen.”

The commission admitted, earlier this month, that approximately 150,000 voter records were missing since February, after moving to a new office.  Roughly 87,000 of the records were “found” last week.  The remainder are missing.

After the move, someone noticed a file cabinet was still in the former office. The contracted mover, Prestige Corporate Relocation, said the cabinet was gone when movers went to retrieve it, the commission said in a news release.

However, an earlier report claimed,

According to the Denver Election Commission, officials didn’t know of the records were missing until June 1, but, it is thought they disappeared four months previously. Lisa Jones, a former temporary worker at the election commission, wrote that the files were missing on a weblog. Jones believes that commission officials knew of the lost files in April.

In addition to the lack of security re: citizens personal information, voting rights activists and prominent computer scientists argues that some of the machines are not sufficiently secure against tampering and could result in disputed elections.

One such flaw was previously discovered in Diebold voting machines that resulted in David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who consults with the state on its elections, being

“stunned when he found out” about the vulnerability identified in [a] Utah test and agreed with the “frequently expressed opinion that this is the worst vulnerability that we have ever seen.”

This security flaw was described as being serious enough to allow

someone with a reasonable knowledge of computer code could gain access to and tamper with the system software on a popular brand of voting machine manufactured by Diebold Election Systems.

Another factor to consider is costs for electronic voting machines, in the purchase,  maintainance, and upgrades that are necessary for electronic voting machines to be used.

In Florida, after the purchase of electonic voting machines, there was an increase of over $1,100,000 per year in the three year average annual expenses of Sarasota County Elections Office. It costs Sarasota Office of Elections an extra million dollars each year to maintain and operate them in years without any major election.

The fiscal year ends on September 30th and the 2004 presidential election was in November. As a result, the costs will be included in the fiscal 2005 budget. Additionally, the costs of Sarasota’s voting machines are approximately $90,000 per year and is steadily increasing.  And, these figures cited are just for Sarasota, FL–multiply that amount by the number of areas in which voting machines are/will be used in the states that have/plan to purchase them!

Another figure that should be mentioned are the costs involved in training poll workers on how to istruct voters on how to use them.  In addition, it must be pointed out that there are many in this country who are computer-phobic, namely, senior citizens, who traditionally vote Democratic.  

Questions Worth Asking

•  Is it possible this change in technology will have an impact on their voting behavior?
•  If so, how?
•  What will be the consequences?

One final note:  one of the unanticipated costs re:  the defense and continued/increasing use of electronic voting machines has been overlooked, namely, the cost of the litigation surrounding the use of them and election practices that are questionable/fraudulent.  Can we, as a society, place blind trust in process that resulted in an administration that justifies spying on the citizens of this country and demonstrates an a total lack of concern for the health and welfare of the same citizens?

We all know the answer.