Category Archives: Veterans for Common Sense News

July 10 VCS in the News: VA, PhillySecurity Plan Won’t be Used Elsewhere

July 8, 2008 – Somebody’s got their facts messed up. The Department of Veterans Affairs said today that it has no interest in expanding a security system now being implemented at a VA hospital in Philadelphia. The system allows guards … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on July 10 VCS in the News: VA, PhillySecurity Plan Won’t be Used Elsewhere

Sesame Street Partners with the USO Bringing the Mupets to Military Families Across the Country

June 26, 2008 – In the wake of the Vietnam War, the American conscience was able to absorb the brutality of combat on the psyche of the returning soldier mostly by compartmentalizing it: the problem was real, and could be … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on Sesame Street Partners with the USO Bringing the Mupets to Military Families Across the Country

U.S. War Resister Avoids Deportation

July 10, 2008 – U.S. war resister Corey Glass is looking at spending “at least a couple more months in Canada” after a federal court granted him a stay of removal. “I was shocked,” Mr. Glass said shortly after receiving … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on U.S. War Resister Avoids Deportation

Former VA Secretary Principi Prodded VA on Chantix, Experimental Drug Linked with Suicide

July 9, 2008 – Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi contacted colleagues at his old agency as the chief lobbyist for drug maker Pfizer Inc. earlier this year, looking for updates on whether his company’s smoking-cessation drug Chantix would … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged | Comments Off on Former VA Secretary Principi Prodded VA on Chantix, Experimental Drug Linked with Suicide

Whistleblower Says Pentagon Putting KBR Over Soldiers

July 10, 2008, Washington, DC – The Pentagon’s oversight of Houston-based KBR’s work in Iraq and Afghanistan has been “irregular and highly out of the ordinary,” a former Army contracting official told Senate Democrats Wednesday. Charles Smith, the former chief … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on Whistleblower Says Pentagon Putting KBR Over Soldiers

July 10 Media Advisory: Military and Veteran Advocates Invite Senators Obama and McCain to Fort Hood Texas

Media Advisory:  Military and Veteran Advocates Invite Senators Obama and McCain to Fort Hood Texas Presidential Town Hall to Focus on Military and VeteransFor Immediate Release: July 10, 2008 Contact: Carissa Picard, Managing Director, 2008 Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium, … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Tagged | Comments Off on July 10 Media Advisory: Military and Veteran Advocates Invite Senators Obama and McCain to Fort Hood Texas

Misinformation Clouds New GI Bill

July 9, 2008 – Full-tuition educational benefits included in a new veterans’ program signed into law on June 30 will not take effect until Aug. 1, 2009, unless Congress approves a change in the new law. There will be a … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on Misinformation Clouds New GI Bill

Doctors Worried by Chantix in ’07

July 8, 2008 – Department of Veterans Affairs doctors began raising red flags last year about whether the smoking-cessation drug Chantix was causing severe psychotic episodes among veterans, prompting a quiet investigation last fall but no warning for many months … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on Doctors Worried by Chantix in ’07

Dollars and Sense

July 2, 2008 – There has been much talk of late about the cost of the Iraq War, due in no small part to the huge estimates postulated by Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Together with his colleague Linda Bilmes, … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on Dollars and Sense

Injured Iraq War Veterans Pay More for Health Care, Report Says

July 9, 2008 – Former U.S. soldiers who were disabled fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and live far from government hospitals and rehabilitation centers pay more for health care than other veterans, a government report found. To address this “inequity,” … Continue reading

Posted in Veterans for Common Sense News | Comments Off on Injured Iraq War Veterans Pay More for Health Care, Report Says