What's New
| Presdent Obama Donated $250,000 of Nobel Prize Money to Fisher House |
March 11, 2010, Washington, DC (New York Times) - President Obama made good on his promise to give his $1.4 million Nobel Prize money to charity, releasing the names on Thursday of the organizations that will benefit. |
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| Dr. Haley at UTSW Presents Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness |
VCS Asks VA: Since UTSW Research Remains Vital to Understanding Gulf War Illness, Then Why Did a Handful of VA Staff in Washington Impede UTSW Contract and Then End Funding for UTSW? March 9, 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah (Science News) - Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome. |
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| March 9 VCS Weekly Update |
This week’s VCS update keeps you in the loop with news on issues you care about. One good change – our weekly news updates won’t ask you for money. Instead, our news updates point you to news articles at our web site. We hope you will read them and share the important facts with your friends. This week's update includes news about VA and suicides, VCS on CNN, our VCS FOIA campaign, VA automating Agent Orange claims, a waterboarding torture video, and Gulf War veterans' benefits. |
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| Federal Court Keeps Torture Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld Alive |
What's Waterboarding? Watch Video of Torture March 5, 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Associated Press) - A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm. [Rumsfeld served at the Pentagon under former President George W. Bush.] |
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| Reducing Suicides: VA Adopts Policy on Emergency Care for Mental Health Patients |
This Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive provides policy to ensure the provision of safe and secure mental health services during all hours of operation for Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) in VHA |
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Lawsuit Status Report
Written by Veterans for Common Sense
Sunday, 23 August 2009 13:12
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August 23, 2009 - Veterans for Common Sense thanks all of the veterans who attended our appeals court hearing held on August 12, 2009, in San Francisco. Since the hearing, many of you have e-mailed and phoned VCS wanting to know the status of the case since it was heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. At the close of oral arguments on August 12, the Court asked the parties (Veterans for Common Sense, Veterans for Truth, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Justice Department) if they would meet and discuss mediation to discuss the possibility of a settlement. The Court offered to postpone any Court action for one week, ending August 19. On August 18, 2009, the Court issued a written order to all of the parties extending the time to discuss mediation until September 1. And on August 19, the parties filed a written notice with the Court to extend the time to discuss the possibility of mediation until September 15. Veterans for Common Sense is willing to go forward with mediation. There are two primary subjects of our lawsuit and appeal. The first is the lengthy adjudication delays and lack of due process for veterans who filed disability compensation claims against VA, particularly with respect to appeals and remands. The second is the inadequacies of VA’s mental health care programs, which has led to waiting lists and an epidemic of suicides among veterans. If you wish to read our July 2007 lawsuit complaint, the June 2008 District Court ruling, our May 2009 appeal briefs, and other Court documents, please go to our lawsuit web site: www.veteransptsdclassaction.org. Again, thank you all for your support of our efforts, and we hope to provide you another update on or around September 15. |