Mikey Weinstein: Fighting the Good Fight for Religious Freedom in Our Military

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Team VCS

May 5, 2008 – I spent the day last month with Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, a living Jewish hero.

He is the Air Force Academy honors graduate, boxer, Air Force officer, lawyer, Nixon staff person and bundle of energy who is devoting himself and his own treasure to protecting the First Amendment principle of separation of church and state. That wall of separation is being breached by evangelical Christians who have insinuated themselves into the U.S. military and particularly the military academies. Separation of church and state is the bedrock in the Bill of Rights; a doctrine from which Jews have benefited as in no other place on earth.

I drove Mikey, a 50-year old fireplug of a guy, from KCI to Topeka for his meeting with his civil rights lawyer Pedro Irigonegaray. He was also interviewed by a New York Times reporter that day. Mikey’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation (militaryreligiousfreedom.org) has pending in the Federal District Court in Kansas City, Kan., a lawsuit wherein the co-plaintiffs are Army active duty Specialist Jeremy Hall, an atheist, who was decorated during his two tours of duty in Iraq, and the MRFF. Hall is now stationed at Fort Leavenworth. He was relieved from his post in Iraq a month early, because he was threatened with “fragging” — military slang for physical harm — because he stood up for his Constitutional rights against officers who were aggressively attempting to proselytize him to fundamentalist Christianity. Defendants are Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Air Force Major Freddy J. Welborn. The suit alleges retaliation and reprisals taken against Hall when he resisted the evangelicals’ entreaties.

The windows in Mikey Weinstein’s home have been shot out, and he and his family receive telephoned death threats daily. Dead animals have been thrown at his front door. On the road between Lawrence and Topeka, he received a death threat on his cell phone, which he took in stride and immediately punched one number to reach the FBI agent on his case to report the “female voice which repeated ‘You’re going to burn in hell’ over and over.” Nice folks, huh? The FBI have offered to place a trace on his cell phone, but Mikey has declined because that would mean they would also have an automatic trace on the soldiers in Iraq who call him to report aggressive proselytizing, and he says he can’t have that. He did not appear to be armed, although he was wearing a sports jacket.

Mikey asked if I had incurred any anti-Semitic experiences in the Marine Corps back in the 1950s, and I assured him I had not. He remarked, “I’m not fighting Jesus, just the evangelicals’ takeover of the U.S. military.” We agreed that esprit de corps was a vital part of the mission statement of every U. S. military unit, and that invasion by a divisive force, insisting upon a superior loyalty to a religious creed, was of grave damage to that military unit, and, if widespread, to the entire force.

Mikey’s book, “With God On Our Side,” contains clear evidence that the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., from which two of his sons recently graduated, has been invaded by its neighbors, the evangelical churches that dominate the landscape and even paint their buildings Air Force blue. Their entree is through the chaplaincy, approved by the commanding officer of the institution. Their message that Jesus must be accepted as one’s savior is rampant throughout the cadet corps. Some say the religious atmosphere at the Air Force Academy has improved after an investigation. However, the evangelicals insist it is their religious right to proselytize the “un-churched,” even while in uniform, on government property and to cadets under the control of superiors. Mikey strongly disagrees, and so do I.Mikey notes that the Air Force controls our atomic arsenal, and senior Defense Department officials therefore can not tolerate division of loyalty or authority.

When Hitler came to power in Germany, the Jewish soldiers who had served Germany in World War I were not honored for their service to the fatherland. It did not protect them or their families. That’s because the Nazi creed had superseded military honor.

An American soldier’s loyalty must steadfastly be to the United States and its Constitution, and not be superseded by any particular religion. We Jews cannot allow evangelical Christians to divide and take control of our military, and particularly the military academies. We have way too much to lose.

I support the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and wish Mikey a lynga-leben. I hope you will support MRFF too at: Military Religious Foundation, 13170-B Central Ave. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123.

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Free Brain Injury Screenings Offered to Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans in Connecticut

Posted on May 5, 2008 by Team VCS

May 4, 2008 – Concerned that the most talked-about injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is being overlooked, the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain has started offering free screenings to veterans for symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury.

The hospital has begun sending out thousands of mailings to veterans’ groups, physicians, colleges and churches, encouraging service members who were exposed to roadside blasts or other head trauma to get screened for TBI. The hospital screenings are offered by phone or over the Internet and direct veterans who report symptoms of TBI to seek further evaluation at the Veterans Administration hospital in West Haven.

“We’re not providing clinical services — the VA’s already here to do that,” said Dr. John Stanwood, chief of psychological services for the hospital. “But they can’t go out and advertise and do the kind of outreach we’re doing. … Our hope is to get every vet in the state who’s at risk of TBI to access services.”

The Hospital for Special Care is working with the West Haven VA to ensure that veterans referred for further evaluations will receive a prompt response from the VA’s polytrauma/TBI support clinic, Stanwood said. The hospital hopes to steer veterans who are reluctant to seek treatment from the VA, or who report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder — sometimes similar to symptoms of TBI — to other resources, such as a state-run program that provides referrals to a network of mental-health counselors.

Hospital President and CEO John Votto said the screening program grew out of concerns that some returning veterans “may be suffering potential long-term effects from mild traumatic brain injury and not even know it.” Symptoms of mild TBI include memory problems, headaches, dizziness, changes in vision and behavioral problems. The hospital also is offering an informational packet on TBI to veterans or their families who contact the screening program.

A recent study by the RAND Corporation estimated that close to one in five deployed service members — or about 320,000 nationwide — may have experienced a traumatic brain injury. But fewer than half reported ever being evaluated by a physician for that injury.

Neil Beesley, social work case manager for the West Haven VA’s polytrauma team, said the hospital welcomes the help in encouraging returning troops to seek evaluations.

“That’s part of the battle for us — we can only treat veterans if they come to us,” he said. “It’s terrific to know there are some community resources willing to help with the outreach.”

The West Haven VA, which provides a range of services for veterans with mild TBI, has expanded its own outreach efforts to returning veterans in the past year, adding a full-time patient advocate and program manager for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Beesley said.

State veterans’ affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz said she worries that some veterans with symptoms of TBI or PTSD are “staying away from the VA. It has to do with stigma and people not wanting to deal with the ‘Big Brother’ bureaucracy.”

Also, she noted, the VA did not put in place a screening protocol until last year to identify veterans who might have mild TBI.

“It’s quite obvious that many troops were not screened for this,” she said. “Anything we can do to reach them is a plus.”

For more information on the hospital’s screening program, veterans and their families can visit the hospital’s website — www.hfsc.org — or call 860-612-6310.

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Iraq War Veteran with PTSD Saves Life of Traffic Accident Victim

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Team VCS

Traumatized Marine ignores doctor’s orders to save injured motorcyclist

May 2, 2008, Buffalo, New York – Others drove past the injured motorcyclist, who lay bleeding to death on the side of Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst on a Monday afternoon last month.

But Jeremy Lepsch, a disabled combat veteran, stopped. He got out of his car and dodged traffic to get to the injured man and place a lifesaving tourniquet on his mangled left leg. Lepsch also realized he had been given a chance to complete some unfinished business he’d left behind in Iraq.

“I remember him saying, ‘I think it’s going to be OK. I’m a U. S. Marine. I’ve seen action,’ ” Jeffrey Wojcik recalled Thursday. “I’m lying there dying, and I felt a calmness come over me. I knew I was in good hands.”

The injured man lost his leg, but medical personnel credited Lepsch with saving his life.

That experience now has Lepsch thinking he may win his own battle with post-traumatic stress. After that, the doctor suggested  to file a case by contacting with the accident injury attorney, by visiting the link here. An accident injury attorney helps you to file a case against the faultier and help you to get insurance amount. You can visit website for more about the car accident attorney.

Jason Stone Injury Lawyers Boston helps you get monetary compensation for injuries that you have suffered due to the fault of others. You will not realize the importance of a good personal injury lawyer unless you have actually been injured and find yourself unable to do your job with the level of skill that is required. You may not get your skill back ever or at least for quite some time, but the lawyers will certainly ensure that you are financially comfortable thanks to a good settlement.

If you have been cited for a traffic violation like reckless driving, driving under the influence, leaving the place of an accident, illegal u-turns, or a driving over the speed limit, you will probably need the help of a traffic lawyer. You can visit https://richardharrislaw.com/ for more information.

Whether it is a minor traffic violation like driving over speed limit or a more serious traffic violation like reckless driving, they can have an enormous negative impact on your life. Starting from having points deducted from driver licenses, which will drastically increase your insurance rates, to having your driving privileges suspended, a traffic lawyer will more than likely help you avoid all the headaches. Click this link if you want to get more about the Traffic Violation Defense Attorney.

So, if you decide to fight a traffic ticket, your lawyer will do all the work for you. This will entail gathering all the information, requesting the discovery from the prosecutor, researching all the legal issues and determining which defense will work best for you, interviewing witnesses and working with the law enforcement and court officials. And all these with the goal of getting your traffic ticket dismissed or get all the charges against you dismissed, if you are charged with a major traffic violation.

Anyone who gets a traffic citation knows that there will be a fine of a particular amount levied when they receive the traffic ticket. In addition to the fine that is incurred, there are some expenses that you may not consider and some other issues that may not occur to you at the time of getting the traffic citation. By example, insurance rates, both for automobile coverage and life, can increase and that increase can affect you for some time to come.

This is especially true if you or someone you know has gotten a traffic ticket for the same violation previously, but were charged a different amount for the court costs. Although it IS unjust, this usually happens because of the powers of discretion allotted to judges. Fortunately, there is a limit to the amount that even the most stringent judge can order. You can find this more information about LONG ISLAND LAWYER WORKING TIRELESSLY TO HELP CLIENTS AVOID TRAFFIC TICKET PENALTIES.

Then there is the fact that any traffic ticket for which you are found guilty will remain on your driving record permanently. Even for those who are aware of these ancillary expenses, many times people don’t include court costs when tallying up the expenses they will face due to traffic tickets. Often the purpose of court costs is not very well understood. They are fees that are charged for the administrative expenses related to your traffic ticket.

Drivers who are found guilty of traffic offenses have to bear the court system’s “cost of doing business,” and unfortunately, so do those drivers who just pay their ticket because they don’t want to have to deal with the frustration that can occur when fighting a traffic ticket.

These fees go into the state’s general fund and are used to support a large amount of the court’s budget. It can be quite surprising to an unsuspecting driver to learn that court costs can be much higher than the fine associated with the traffic citation. To add to the frustration of getting the traffic ticket alone, these fees seem unjust.

It is very clear that you need to get the best settlement possible for the injury you have received and the inconvenience you have been put through. Do not expect the party that caused the accident to voluntarily offer you a large sum of money. This is where a good team of injury lawyers come in. They should have the ability to extract the largest settlement possible from the party who caused you harm, knowingly or unknowingly.

You have to select your personal injury lawyer with a great deal of care because the outcome of the case depends upon this, in addition to other factors. There are many BC injury lawyers, but you should not be satisfied with a run of the mill team of lawyers but should look for one with a proven track record. Hiring a legal firm that has plenty of experience handling the kind of injuries you have suffered from is a good way to start.

It is also a very good idea to hire a personal injury lawyer who is known in legal circles for his or her ability to prepare each case thoroughly as though it will go to trial. It is preferable to get a legal firm that is well known for this ability on your side so that the opposition will be convinced that you have a good chance of winning. In fact, this is one of the best ways to ensure that your opposition gives you a good settlement without even fighting the case.

One of the top officials in the Department of Homeland Security came to Buffalo on Thursday, in part to honor Lepsch, 24, for his heroism April 7.

Wojcik is a federal border officer, and hundreds of his fellow Customs & Border Protection officers were present for the ceremony Thursday in Kleinhans Music Hall.

The recent events were a long way from the agonizing week in 2004 that Lepsch spent in Iraq, waiting to complete his medical evacuation to Germany for treatment of illnesses he had come down with while serving with an anti-terrorism unit in east Africa.

Casualties from roadside bombs and other combat flowed into the two Iraq medical facilities in which Lepsch was placed temporarily. He felt helpless as he watched severely burned soldiers, others with missing limbs and even the bodies of those who had made the ultimate sacrifice pass through these triage centers.

If that wasn’t enough, enemy fire forced the wounded to head for bunkers. Lepsch eventually made it out of Iraq, but with the added burden of the horrors he had seen.

Since then, he has struggled with flashbacks and intrusive thoughts, severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress, making it difficult for him to move on with his life.

But he would like to.

He and his mother, Cheryl Lepsch, have been waging a long battle with the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs to get him admitted to a long-term residential post-traumatic stress treatment program.

In the meantime, Lepsch, who expects to soon be discharged with a military medical retirement from the Marines, has received dozens of prescription medications — enough to fill the kitchen cupboard of his modest North Tonawanda apartment — from the VA and has been advised to avoid stressful situations, such as motor vehicle accidents, because they can trigger the symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Wojcik, 38, says he is grateful Lepsch ignored that advice last month.

As he lay bleeding, watching vehicles pass him, Wojcik, also of North Tonawanda, recalled that the driver of the car he collided with stepped from her vehicle and demanded to know how fast he had been driving his motorcycle.

Utility workers nearby tried to calm him. Then Lepsch, who was several vehicles behind the crash scene, arrived and began to perform first aid.

Lepsch said he fought back thoughts of, “Oh no, this isn’t happening,” and realized he had a chance to be of use to another human being in dire need of medical assistance — unlike in Iraq.

One of the utility workers handed Lepsch a belt that he began to tighten around Wojcik’s leg to stop the bleeding, but the belt snapped.

“I was wearing my New York Yankees jersey, and I was going to take it off and use that when Jeff said he was wearing a heavy leather belt,” recalled Lepsch, who looked at Wojcik after Thursday’s ceremony and added, “So, you saved your own life, Jeff.”

When the paramedics arrived and Wojcik was taken away, Lepsch quietly left the crash scene.

For days after that, his mother said, “Jeremy had nightmares that his own legs had been cut off.” Eventually, Lepsch and his mother visited Wojcik in Erie County Medical Center.

They have become close friends and call each other “brothers in arms.”

And on Thursday, that could not have been clearer. Wojcik, seated beside Lepsch, again called him a brother. Lepsch responded by leaning his head toward the shoulder of the man he had saved and said, “We both have a shoulder to lean on now.”

Resting in Lepsch’s lap was the Humanitarian Award, a plaque that he received from Customs & Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham, who praised the young man for his courage while other motorists had driven by.

“At a time when this country is so litigious and everyone is so concerned about being sued . . . Jeremy took that risk. He decided to act,” Basham said.

The overwhelming gratitude Lepsch experienced at the ceremony, he said, now has him thinking that maybe life is starting to turn around for him.

lmichel@buffnews.com

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Pentagon Plans National Mental Health Campaign

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Team VCS

May 2, 2008, Washington, DC – Senior military officers could be talking about their emotional struggles on YouTube and MySpace this year, in a Pentagon campaign to urge troops into counseling for wartime mental problems.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday that getting therapy “is not going to count against” troops when they apply for national security clearances.

A new policy on security clearances and the idea of a planned national awareness campaign on mental illness are efforts by a Defense Department struggling to care for the many thousands of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with emotional wounds.

Part of the problem is changing a military culture that equates such problems with weakness and so stigmatizes those getting treatment.

“It’s time for leaders of all stripes to step forward and lead by example, when it comes to mental health issues,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen told a Pentagon press conference.

“You can’t expect a private or a specialist to be willing to seek counseling when his or her captain or colonel or general won’t do it,” he said.

“I’ve talked with a number of (senior leaders) already and we already have folks who are standing up and ready to come forward and tell their story,” said Col. Lorree Sutton, an Army psychiatrist who heads a new center for psychological health and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

“We can talk about how important it is,” she said. “Ultimately, troops and families — they want to see leaders walking that talk.”

The two spoke at a Pentagon press conference after Gates announced at Fort Bliss, Texas, that uniformed and civilian Pentagon employees would no longer be forced to reveal all previous mental health treatment when applying for national security clearances.

Visiting a recovery center for PTSD, Gates called the illness one of the “unseen wounds” of war. He said there are two issues in dealing with it, the first is the task of developing care and treatment.

“The second, and in some ways perhaps equally challenging, is to remove the stigma that is associated with PTSD and to encourage soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who encounter these problems to seek help,” he said.

Gates later told a gathering of nearly 900 command sergeants major and instructors at Fort Bliss that they have a special role in encouraging soldiers to seek help.

“Let them know that doing so is a sign of strength and maturity,” Gates said, shortly after he toured the base’s mental health treatment facility. “I urge all of you to talk with those below you to find out where we can continue to improve.”

Up to 20 percent of the more than 1.6 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to have anxiety, depression, PTSD and other mental problems.

Yet officials say roughly half don’t get help because they fear it will keep them from getting security clearances, will stifle their careers, or embarrass them before their commanders and buddies.

“It’s way past time, some seven years into this war, that we recognize the toll it’s taking inside our minds, as well as outside our bodies, and to deal with that reality in a measured, mature and thoughtful manner,” Mullen said.

Sutton said a national campaign to discuss treatment, seek solutions, develop support networks and so on later is still in the planning stages.

Asked how many leaders might come forward and what forum they might use, she said a campaign could use print and broadcast media. “We also want to use the modalities that our warriors, our troops and our families use, so we’re planning to harness the power of YouTube, MySpace, Second Life, podcasting, all manner of ways, because it’s so important to get this message out.”

Officials also are considering setting up a Web site “linking up mentors, families perhaps that may be living across the country from each other but who have similar interest, maybe similar concerns, similar backgrounds who would like to support each other,” Sutton said.

Mullen said that for too long, troops have believed that seeking mental health assistance would hurt their careers.

“Nothing could be further from the truth, and it’s time we got over that,” Mullen said.

A question on the government application for security clearances — what Gates called “the infamous Question 21” — has long asked federal employees whether they have consulted a mental health professional in the past seven years. If so, they are asked to list the names, addresses and dates they saw the doctor or therapist, unless it was for marriage or grief counseling and not related to violent behavior.

The new question allows them to answer “No” if the counseling was for any of the following reasons and was not court-ordered:

_ Strictly marital, family or grief counseling not related to their own violent behavior;

_ Strictly related to adjustments from service in a military combat environment.

Gates said a letter will be attached to applications explaining the department’s position on therapy.

“Seeking professional care for these mental health issues should not be perceived to jeopardize an individual’s security clearance,” says the letter from James Clapper and David Chu, undersecretaries of defense for intelligence and personnel respectively.

Rather, they said, “failure to seek care actually increases the likelihood that psychological distress could escalate to a more serious mental condition, which could preclude an individual from performing sensitive duties.”

The Pentagon says the perception of stigma for security applicants is far worse than the reality.

The most recently released data show less 1 percent of some 800,000 people investigated for clearances in 2006 were rejected on the sole issue of their mental health profiles.

Lt. Gen. John F. Kimmons, head of Army intelligence, said it was his department that originally recommended eliminating the old question after finding it affected so few people and yet “the perception was so damning” among troops in the field.

More important to investigators considering the clearances is “your behavior, your financial situation … the observations of your friends and neighbors and supervisors,” he said in an interview.

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Mythmaking and Democracy – Protecting Voting Rights for All

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Team VCS

April 30, 2008, Washington, DC – History is forever burdened by the propensity of the political class to stir the public into hysteria over this or that threat, even if fabrications—not fact—form the basis of the provocation. The Iraq war is the most grievous recent tragedy to fall into the pattern.

Phantoms are forever stalking the public conscience. The hype over gay marriage as a threat to the sanctity of the American family has led voters in 23 states to approve bans on such unions, thus relieving themselves of the psychic burden that gay couples pose to them—couples who are perceived, apparently, as a greater peril than a miserably sexualized pop culture that many of these same voters undoubtedly devour.

Fear is stoked unabashedly by partisans who gain from exaggerating whatever threat suits their purpose. Since the 2000 Florida election debacle, Republicans have had great success in convincing Americans that “voter fraud”—in particular, ineligible voters who cast ballots (or try to cast ballots) on Election Day—is a grave and growing threat to the republic and so requires each voter to present a photo identification in order to exercise what is supposed to be a fundamental right.

It matters not that the most frequent form of voting fraud is carried out through absentee ballots, which generally require no identity check other than verification of a signature. Or that even the Bush Justice Department, despite all efforts, has found no evidence that impersonating a qualified voter is at all commonplace. Or that states for decades managed to verify a voter’s identity by comparing that person’s signature on Election Day with a signature already on file.

Inflaming the public imagination with such false claims is one thing. Convincing the supposedly learned and dispassionate justices of the Supreme Court is quite another.

Yet this is what the state of Indiana and its partisan allies in the Bush administration have managed to do. In upholding Indiana’s strict photo identification law—written by Republicans in the Legislature and passed over the objection of Democrats—the justices admitted that the state had provided absolutely no evidence that the type of fraud the photos would combat (that is, an illegitimate voter showing up and claiming to be a different, legitimate one) has ever occurred in the state.

“The only kind of voter fraud that (the Indiana ID law) addresses is in-person voter impersonation at polling places. The record contains no evidence of any such fraud actually occurring in Indiana at any time in its history,” Justice John Paul Stevens admitted in his controlling opinion. 

In fact, Stevens had to stretch so far to find an example that his footnote on the subject centers on Tammany Hall’s corruption of the 1868 New York City elections, and references a newspaper account of a single case of impersonation in the disputed 2004 Washington gubernatorial election—a contest in which 2.8 million votes were cast.

Stevens, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, also found that the law would do exactly what those who object to it claim: It would place a “heavier burden” on the voting rights of those least likely to hold a driver’s license or another acceptable photo ID—the elderly, the poor, the homeless and those with religious objections to being photographed. 

In layman’s terms, this is the reasoning: Despite the completely bogus claims of voter fraud that allegedly would be combated through the identification requirement, Indiana may nonetheless disenfranchise some legal voters—notably, those who may tend to vote Democratic.

Voting-rights lawyers are taking solace in the nature of the opinion. It was narrow, they say, signed by only three justices (though in all, six justices voted to uphold the statute) and seems to invite future challenges. “They suggest there needs to be either someone who is likely to be denied a vote, or is denied a vote,” says Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, one of the groups that opposed the Indiana law. 

Yet at its core, the decision says it is perfectly acceptable for a state to make it harder for some legal voters to cast ballots than others. The high court’s breathtaking illogic demeans it. More frighteningly, it diminishes democracy.

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Jury Acquits Six in Anti-Iraq War Protest in Maine

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Team VCS

May 1, 2008 – Six longtime anti-war activists arrested last year for refusing to leave the Federal Building when it closed for the day were found not guilty Wednesday of criminal trespass.

A Penobscot County Superior Court jury deliberated for 2½ hours after a two-day trial.

The defendants, who live in communities from Wells to Bangor, were arrested along with six others on March 8, 2007, at a protest at U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office in the Harlow Street building.

They said they were protesting President Bush’s proposal to increase the number of U.S. combat troops in Iraq to support a military strategy known as the surge. Members of the group also were urging Collins to vote against continued funding for the war.

After the verdict was announced about 1:45 p.m., the defendants, their attorneys and their supporters celebrated on the steps of the courthouse in between interviews with reporters.

Jonathan Kreps, 57, of Appleton, Henry Braun, 77, of Wells, James Freeman, 59, of Verona, Dudley F. Hendrick, 66, of Deer Isle, Douglas Rawlings, 61, of Chesterville, and Robert Shetterly, 61, of Brooksville, chose to go to trial. The other six pleaded guilty and paid fines.

“To be honest, I’m a little incredulous,” Freeman said after the verdict. “I thought there was a remote chance that we’d have a hung jury, but I didn’t expect this. The fact that this was a not-guilty verdict says something about the way the wind is blowing in this state.

“People have had enough of this war, enough of corruption and enough of high oil prices,” he said. “We can’t continue to spend $12 billion a month on the war and not be affected at home.”

Freeman, Hendrick and Shetterly represented themselves.

Attorney Philip Worden of Northeast Harbor represented Rawlings.

“The key to the verdict was the great defendants,” said attorney Lynne Williams of Bar Harbor, who represented Kreps and Braun. “They were sincere, believable and honest. That, along with very careful jury selection, is why we have this verdict.”

Williams said that Superior Court Justice William R. Anderson, who presided over the jury selection process but not the trial, allowed a defense-proposed question about potential jurors’ attitudes toward civil disobedience. Justice Michaela Murphy presided over the trial.

Brendan Trainer, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, prosecuted the case. He referred questions to District Attorney R. Christopher Almy.

“I think that the public in Maine is so disgusted with the war in Iraq that they demonstrated their disgust with this verdict,” said Almy, a Democrat. “And, that they are upset with [Sen. Olympia] Snowe and Collins for getting us involved in this debacle.”

State law, he said, does not allow the prosecution to appeal a not guilty verdict.

Almy, who praised Trainer’s presentation of the case, said the verdict most likely would affect whether his office prosecutes protesters arrested in the Federal Building in the future.

“At this point,” Almy said, “we’re going to have to consider the precedent that this verdict sets and we may very well have to consider giving these cases to the U.S. attorney to prosecute because this state court case may preclude successful future prosecutions.

“Also, I would like to say that Snowe and Collins got us involved in this mismanaged war and it may be up to them to persuade the U.S. attorney to take on these cases,” he concluded.

When informed of the verdict, Jen Burita, a spokeswoman for Collins, said Wednesday, “We are pleased that the matter has been resolved.”

U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby, who is based in Portland, said she would have to research whether her office had jurisdiction to prosecute people arrested in the federal building in Bangor. Many years ago, she said, protesters arrested at the Federal Building in Portland were prosecuted in federal court.

A woman juror who refused to be identified talked to the defendants on the courthouse steps after the verdict. She said that the war really did not factor into the verdict.

The juror said that the state did not meet its burden of proof on the first element needed to prove them guilty of criminal trespass — whether the protesters were in the Federal Building knowing they were not licensed or privileged to be there.

“I testified that I felt we had an obligation to be there,” Freeman said, when asked if he felt he had a right to be in the Federal Building after he had been told to leave.

He speculated that his acquittal and that of his co-defendants would increase the number of protests against the war.

The six others arrested during the protest pleaded guilty to criminal trespass between May 2007 and January 2008 and paid the following fines:

Patricia L. Wheeler, 62, Deer Isle, $200.

Nancy W. Hill, 54, Stonington, $400.

Judith Robbins, 59, Sedgwick, $400.

Peter Robbins, 59, Sedgwick, $200.

Diane Fitzgerald, 66, Blue Hill, $200.

Maureen R. Block, 53, Swanville, $200.

The fine for a first conviction is $200, the fine for a second is $400.

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May 3 Editorial Column: President George W. Bush Admits He Approved Torture

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Team VCS

May 1, 2008, Washington, DC – The American people have heard President Bush and his spokespeople say many times that the U.S. government does not engage in torture.

Whether Bush was believed or not is another story — especially in light of the photographic evidence of the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. It’s understood that many of the photos are too sadistically graphic to be made public.

Still, the official U.S. denials of torture continued until earlier this month when Bush acknowledged in an interview with ABC-TV that he knew about and approved “enhanced interrogation” of detainees, including “waterboarding” or simulated drowning.

“As a matter of fact,” Bush added, “I told the country we did that. And I told them it was legal. We had legal opinions that enabled us to do it.”

The president added, “I didn’t have any problems at all trying to find out what Khalid Sheik Mohammed knew.”

“He was the person who ordered the suicide attack — I mean, the 9/11 attacks,” Bush said. “And back then, there was all kind of concern about people saying, ‘Well, the administration is not connecting the dots.’ You might remember those — that period.” Bush said.

Bush also said in the interview that he had been aware of several meetings his national security advisers held to discuss “enhanced interrogation” methods.

Surely he is aware of the U.S. commitment to international treaties barring “cruel and inhumane” treatment of prisoners.

What is startling is that he feels no remorse about the cruel image he has created for us — and the damage done to our credibility and probity.

In referring to the legality of torture, Bush apparently was thinking of a 2002-2003 memo by John Yoo, a Justice Department official who argued military interrogators could subject detainees to harsh treatment as long as it didn’t cause “death, organ failure or permanent damage.” The memo was rescinded.

Bush, who has insisted “we do not torture,” also recently vetoed legislation that explicitly banned torture. Sen. John McCain, whose whole political persona has been defined by the fact that he had been tortured while a prisoner of war during the Vietnam era, supported Bush’s veto.

For both Bush and McCain, I recall the words of Joseph Welch, the special counselor for the Army during the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings when Welch asked Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis.: “Sir, have you no sense of decency?”

We expected the usual cast of characters including Vice President Dick Cheney to be in on the sinister torture-planning sessions.

But it came as a shock that Gen. Colin Powell, then secretary of state, sat in on the meetings and went along with the planning. Powell had been on record warning against U.S. torture policies on the basis that if we mistreat our prisoners, foreign countries will feel no qualms about abusing American captives in wartime.

Once revered for his integrity, Powell has lost his halo.

Now we have this week’s testimony of Air Force Col. Morris Davis, a former chief prosecutor, who took the witness stand at Guantanamo Bay on behalf of a prisoner. Davis told how top Pentagon officials had pressured him on sensitive prosecutorial decisions for political reasons. He said he was told that the charges against well-known detainees “could have real strategic value” and that there could be no acquittals.

Davis also testified Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann reversed a decision he made and insisted prosecutors proceed with evidence they obtained through waterboarding and other methods of torture.

Davis also testified he was told to speed up the cases to give the system legitimacy before a new president takes over in January.

Is Congress so cowed that it accepts the statements of a president who has little regard for the truth?

Is there no lawmaker who is appalled about the tarnishing of our image in world opinion? And where are the voices of the other presidential candidates who will inherit the Bush legacy of torture? Why the silence?

I count on the American people to refuse to be shamed any more.

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May 3: VCS Supports Sen. Bond’s Bill to Open VA’s Vet Centers to Active Duty Troops

Posted on May 3, 2008 by Team VCS

May 2, 2008 – Active and reserve service members would be eligible for mental health counseling from one of the 207 veterans’ centers operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs under bipartisan legislation introduced Thursday. [Note: Veterans for Common Sense supports this proposal.]

The bill also includes incentives for veterans to become mental health specialists so they could serve as counselors.

The bill would extend military survivor benefits in cases of suicide among service members with a history of service-connected mental health problems, an unprecedented policy change that would extend active-duty survivor benefits beyond the end of service for those who are not receiving retired pay.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., joined by six other senators including Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, said he is looking for a quick way to increase access to qualified behavioral health specialists who can provide both immediate treatment and, if needed, long-term care.

Vet Centers, which provide readjustment and mental health counseling for people no longer in the military, are not typically available for use by people on active duty, nor to their families. National Guard and reserve members may use Vet Centers after being demobilized but sometimes have problems with eligibility because they do not have the same discharge papers provided to people separated from active duty.

The bill introduced Thursday, S 2963, “will give our troops the same access to Vet Centers our veterans receive,” Bond said in a statement.

This “not only opens the door to additional resources but also lightens the load on our currently over-tasked specialists,” Bond said. “There are grossly insufficient numbers of military behavioral health specialists to provide the care our troops need.”

The service surgeons general testified in April before the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee that each service had openings for mental health specialists that were difficult to fill because of competition from the private sector.

Bond said seeking treatment from VA rather than military sources might help some service members deal with the stigma involved. Getting help “outside of conventional military channels” could reduce that, he said.

To make sure VA has people to help, the bill includes incentives for retiring and separating service members to become behavioral health specialists, Bond said.

The survivor benefits provision of the bill would cover suicides that occur within two years of separation or retirement from the military for those who have a documented medical history of treatment for combat-related mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

In such cases, survivors would receive military and veterans’ survivor benefits, active-duty burial benefits and Social Security payments as though the service member had died on his last day of active duty, Bond said.

Other co-sponsors of the bill are Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C.; Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., and Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

Bond and Boxer have been collaborating on military mental health legislation for several years.

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May 2: Shh! . . . . (VA E-Mail Conceals Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans)

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Team VCS

Official VA e-mail from February 13, 2008, where top VA official concealed the enormous and growing suicide epidemic from CBS Evening News. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/VA_email_021308.pdf 

The e-mail was obtained by attorneys representing veterans in the lawsuit Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs www.veteransPTSDclassaction.org

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May 1 VCS in the News: Vets’ Case Rests With Call to Overhaul System

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Team VCS

May 1, 2008 – Veterans are suffering and dying because of a broken-down mental health system at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the only remedy is a court-ordered overhaul, a lawyer for advocacy groups told a federal judge Wednesday in final arguments in a lawsuit.

“More of these veterans are dying in the United States than out in combat,” attorney Arturo Gonzalez said. “There is only one person on Earth who can do anything to help these men and women, and that’s you,” he told U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, who presided over the seven-day nonjury trial in San Francisco.

A government lawyer called the assertions in the lawsuit “extreme and outrageous” and said the plaintiffs had failed to show the VA is neglecting or mistreating veterans.

“The VA is providing world-class health care in the mental health area,” Justice Department attorney Daniel Bensing told Conti. He said some delays are inevitable in a system that receives 840,000 claims for benefits a year, but that the agency is substantially increasing its staff and implementing measures to screen returning troops for mental trauma and the risk of suicide.

The suit was filed last year by two groups, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth. They accused the VA of making mental health care virtually unavailable to thousands of discharged soldiers through perfunctory exams, long waits for referrals and treatment, and a prolonged and complex system of awarding medical benefits.

The plaintiffs want Conti to order the VA to carry out its own plan to improve suicide prevention and overall mental health care – issued in 2004, but still mostly at the pilot-program stage – and to direct the agency to set timetables for benefits and allow veterans to be represented by lawyers. Gonzalez said the judge should appoint a representative, known as a special master, to make sure the agency complies.

The plaintiffs’ most striking evidence came from internal VA e-mails, released in response to the suit. They reported 18 suicides a day among all veterans and 1,000 suicide attempts a month among those under VA care.

There are 24 million veterans in the United States, and about 30 percent receive VA care.

The agency has not disclosed what proportion of suicidal veterans served in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the plaintiffs’ witnesses and lawyers said there was evidence that returning troops are taking their own lives in greater numbers. They said there has been a steady increase in the veterans’ suicide rate since 2001, and a comparatively high rate among veterans ages 20 to 24.

Witnesses testified the veterans’ suicide rate was anywhere from two to 7.5 times the rate among the general population.

The suicide figures have caught congressional attention. Two senators have demanded the resignation of Ira Katz, the VA official who wrote “Shh” at the top of the e-mail dealing with suicide attempts and disputed the statistics in public testimony while confirming them in internal documents. A House committee has scheduled a hearing on veterans’ suicides next week.

In Wednesday’s arguments, Bensing, the government lawyer, described the congressional dispute as a “political distraction” irrelevant to the court case.

“We don’t dispute that suicide is a major, serious problem” and that prevention “has to be a major priority,” he said. But he said the VA is regularly screening returning veterans for the risk of suicide and has set up a toll-free suicide hot line, “an exceptional step, which in all likelihood has saved many lives.”

But Gonzalez, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said a May 2007 report by the VA’s inspector general found that 70 percent of the agency’s facilities had no system to track veterans with suicidal tendencies, and more than 60 percent lacked any suicide-prevention strategy.

He said government reports also showed that half the veterans referred to mental health specialists had to wait more than 30 days for appointments, and that the VA board that hears appeals from veterans who are denied benefits takes an average of four years to issue decisions.

“The system, your honor, has crashed,” Gonzalez said. Veterans, he said, are “dying literally every day because they are not receiving proper care.”

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