Veterans for Common Sense

U.S. Navy veteran David Miller said that when he checked into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, he didn’t realize he would get a hard sell for Christian fundamentalism along with treatment for his kidney stones.

Miller, 46, an Orthodox Jew, said he was repeatedly proselytized by hospital chaplains and staff in attempts to convert him to Christianity during three hospitalizations over the past two years.

He said he went hungry each time because the hospital wouldn’t serve him kosher food, and the staff refused to contact his rabbi, who could have brought him something to eat.

Miller, an Iowa City resident and former petty officer third class who spent four years in the Navy, outlined his complaints at a news conference in Des Moines on Thursday. The event was sponsored by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an activist group based in Albuquerque, N.M.

He described the Iowa City facility as an institution permeated by government sponsorship of fundamentalist Christianity and unconstitutional discrimination against Jews.

Miller has been classified as 100 percent disabled because of chronic painful problems with kidney stones, and he has repeatedly visited the center as a patient and outpatient.

The hospital’s chaplains and staff, Miller said, have the attitude that you either accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior and you are saved, or you are damned.

He said he has tried to resolve the problems with the hospital’s administration without success.

“I am not trying to get rid of the chaplain corps,” Miller said. “When I was in the Navy, I was a religious program specialist. I worked with Christian chaplains, and I believe in the value of the chaplain corps, but not using it to bludgeon people, for heaven’s sake.”

Kirt Sickels, a spokesman for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, said the facility’s administrators take Miller’s allegations seriously.

“We will look into these concerns that Mr. Miller is talking about. The Iowa City VA respects the rights to religious beliefs for every patient. If they have a request for any kind of religious needs, we try to accommodate whatever those needs or beliefs might be.”

Kosher meals are available to Jewish VA patients in Iowa City, Sickels said.

Michael Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and an attorney who worked in the White House under President Reagan, said Thursday that he is preparing to sue the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in federal court over Miller’s treatment. He said he suspects other veterans have been treated similarly and that Miller’s case could become a class-action lawsuit.

“He has been in the situation where clearly his faith – which happens to be the Jewish faith – is the wrong faith for the [VA],” said Weinstein, an Air Force Academy graduate.

Miller, a divorced father with four sons, said his first two visits by chaplains involved attempts to convert him to Christianity. These visits occurred while he was suffering acute chest pains and was wired to a heart monitor, he said.

When he complained, he said a hospital official told him he simply needed to object more strenuously to terminate such proselytizing. Miller said he considered such a request to be ridiculous, considering his medical problems.

Over the past two years, Miller said, he has been asked over and over by the Iowa City VA medical center’s staff within its offices, clinics and wards, “You mean you don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah?” and “Is it just Orthodox Jews who deny Jesus?” He said one staffer told him, “I don’t understand; how can you not believe in Jesus; he’s the Messiah of the Jews, too, you know.”

Sickels said it is standard practice within hospitals nationwide to conduct a spiritual assessment of each patient upon admission. Ministry and pastoral counseling are available, but “it is always the patient’s right to decline any of these services.”

David Brown, an Assemblies of God minister who is a chaplain at the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, declined to comment when reached by a reporter Thursday afternoon.

Miller said the Christian influence at the Iowa City medical facility is so pervasive that he couldn’t even escape it in a patient waiting room. He described how an elderly couple played a keyboard and sang hymns, such as “The Old Rugged Cross,” much to the delight of Christian veterans waiting for doctor’s appointments.

“It was driving me nuts, and they were enjoying it. I was not going to go in front of all of these people and say, ‘Hey, will you stop?’ and then have all the other veterans turn on me. They were setting me up to be further ostracized. It was just ridiculous.”

Reporter William Petroski can be reached at (515) 284-8547 or bpetroski@dmreg.com

Organizers call for timetable to bring troops home

May 11, 2007 – The debate over the Iraq war echoed across Lansing on Thursday.

Three veterans of the war flew into Capital City Airport just long enough to criticize U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers for not sufficiently breaking ranks with President Bush.

Meanwhile, about 45 anti-war protesters gathered outside U.S. Sen. Carl Levin’s Lansing office to urge him to do more to end U.S. involvement.

“We’re four years into this war, and it’s getting worse,” said retired Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, a 27-year Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. They (American service men and women) didn’t sign up for incompetence, they didn’t sign up for disregard of the will of the American people.”

The event was organized by votevets.org, a national group that says Bush has mismanaged the war and supports a timetable for withdrawal. The Lansing stop was near the end of a two-day blitz through six states.

Rogers, R-Brighton, was targeted because he has criticized Bush’s surge strategy but voted against the funding bill that would have set a timetable for withdrawal. Horne said that Bush will only respond to pressure to change course if he’s worried about his vetoes being overturned.

Rogers criticizes

The group also is running television ads in the targeted areas in which retired Major Gen. John Batiste disputes Bush’s claim that he took the advice of the commanders on the ground.

Rogers said the trip to Lansing only served to divide, not find solutions.

“This is not a veterans group. It’s a Democrat group that’s trying to inject partisan politics that may affect and jeopardize the life and safety of U.S. soldiers,” he said.

Rogers said he offered an alternative to the surge, which included beefing up forces to fight al-Qaida terrorists in Al Anbar province while seeking to improve conditions in Baghdad through such things as better intelligence, combat air support and a new approach to reconstruction.

He said he voted against the spending bill that included a timetable because “it tells the enemy exactly what your game plan is.” It was subsequently vetoed by Bush.

The downtown protest was sponsored by the Greater Lansing Network Against War and Injustice.

The protesters beat drums made of 5-gallon buckets and wore T-shirts with anti-war slogans. They waved signs reading “Troops Home Now,” “Out of Iraq” and “Fight Greed, Not Iran” at cars passing on Capitol Avenue. A few honked in support.

Margaret Nielsen of East Lansing, 65, has opposed the war since its beginning. She said she hoped Levin would lead others in cutting off future spending on the war.

Levin, D-Detroit, chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and has been highly critical of Bush’s handling of the war.

Messages for Levin

“He’s given a lot of leadership trying to stop it, but he hasn’t done enough,” Nielsen said. “He needs to push our president.”

Elizabeth Jesse and her 13-year-old son, Cody, made the trip from Eaton Rapids for the protest. Jesse’s older son, Michael, 22, has served with the Army in Iraq. She held a sign over her head that read “Senator Levin, Bring Them Home Now.”

“I want our guys home and I don’t want anyone else to die here or in Iraq,” Elizabeth Jesse said.

Several protesters carried a letter, a fabric scroll decorated with a dove of peace and messages to Levin from people around mid-Michigan, and a rhubarb pie upstairs to Levin’s office.

“We appreciate the work that he has done,” said Jack Smith of Williamston, one of the protest organizers. “He has a position of leadership and will have a lot to say about the future of the war.”

Contact Chris Andrews at 377-1054 or candrews@lsj.com. Kathleen Lavey contributed to this report.

May 11, 2007, The horror stories about substandard medical care for veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are by now well-known.

Perhaps even more shocking are the results of a recent investigation by the Associated Press , which found that, despite a $1 billion budget shortfall last year, the Veterans Administration handed out $3.8 million in bonuses to senior executives who run the agency. Some executives received bonuses of $33,000, equal to one-fifth their total annual salary.

This round of handouts took place while the list of veterans awaiting decisions on their disability benefits has reached 400,000. They wait an average of six months to receive the benefits they earned on the battlefield.

In hearings before a congressional committee last week, VA head Jim Nicholson vowed to improve care and service. He pointed to progress on a joint Pentagon-VA effort to reform the system. In addition, he said the bonuses were necessary to attract and hold quality employees.

Asked about the budget shortfall, Nicholson said the VA “can probably always make good use of more money.”

Of course, despite that budget shortfall last year, Nicholson had extra money on hand for bonuses.

Members of Congress, taxpayers and most especially veterans and their families, have a right to be outraged by the situation. First District Rep. Tim Walz is among those in Congress supporting legislation that would withhold bonuses until the backlog of disability cases is reduced to fewer than 100,000. It is unfortunate that Congress has to make such threats to get action for our veterans.

A government that sends men and women to war has an obligation to provide gold-standard care when those veterans return. After four years of war, this government is not meeting that obligation. To hand out bonuses in the face of that failure is an insult to the troops.

Q: I keep reading about our military people coming back from the war in Iraq suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. What exactly is this and is there any treatment?

A: Common harmful events, such as touching a hot stove, lay down memory traces in the brain as a normal protective mechanism.

Horrific traumas, such as those that occur in a war zone, may leave the affected neuronal pathways in an abnormally hyper-vigilant state. That sets the stage for the haunting flashbacks and nightmares, startle reactions, insomnia, angry outbursts and other symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

Why do some individuals develop PTSD after an overwhelming trauma and others don’t? As with most disorders, some people are innately more vulnerable.

Genes involved in creating fear memories have been implicated. A gene that controls levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in mood, may help fuel the fear response.

Brain areas thought to play roles in PTSD include the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.

The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure deep within the brain, is involved in both learning to fear an event and in “unlearning” a fearful memory.

The prefrontal cortex, involved in judgment, decision-making, and problem-solving, influences the response to stress. It puts the brakes on the amygdala, preventing it from overreacting. Another part of the prefrontal cortex helps abolish fearful memories.

Psychotherapy and medications are used to treat PTSD.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most-used form of psychotherapy.

The serotonin-specific antidepressants sertraline (Zoloft) and paroxetine (Paxil) are FDA-approved to treat PTSD. A current study is comparing sertraline and cognitive behavioral therapy to see which might work best.

One small study found that prazosin (Minipress), a medication used for high blood pressure and enlarged prostate, helped alleviate PTSD symptoms.

Another small study found that the antibiotic cycloserine (Seromycin) could potentially help by boosting the activity of a chemical required for fear extinction.

The beta-blocker propranolol (Inderal), widely used for high blood pressure, angina and irregular heart rhythm, seems to help block the neuronal encoding of fearful memories. The drug has been used to reduce or prevent PTSD in trauma victims.

It’s been reported that Iraqi war veterans with PTSD symptoms may be reluctant to seek help because of the stigma associated with mental disorders. Tragically, some have committed suicide.

Part of this problem lies with the pervasive view that “mental” disorders are not quite as real as “physical” disorders (e.g., diabetes).

But that’s just plain incorrect. The mentality is a physical process carried on by parts of the brain. We know that thoughts and emotions are generated by chemicals (neurotransmitters) squirting between neurons. The mind is a part of the body. Therefore, mental disorders are physical disorders.

No shame or stigma need be attached to PTSD and other mental disorders. Returning combat veterans weighted with such burdens deserve the best treatment this country can provide.

Eden, New York – May 10, 2007  – An Iraq war veteran who triggered a tense five-hour standoff in Eden is in hot water Thursday afternoon.

Police say 26 year old Eric Pedosek had been on the phone with his sister when she heard gunshots and called authorities Wednesday afternoon.

Police and members of the SWAT team surrounded a house on Route 75 and eventually were able to talk Pedosek into surrendering peacefully.

Parents of Eden school children had to come pick up their kids from school during the standoff.

May 12, 2007 – ON a recent sunny Sunday morning, Michael M. Honda was kicking back at his 90-year-old mother’s house here, some green tea and rice crackers within arm’s reach. She was off to church, and his younger brother had dropped by to fix the plumbing.

“Oh yeah, I ran across a buddy of yours — he says he golfs with you — a big-set hakujin guy,” Mr. Honda told his brother, using the Japanese word for Caucasian.

Mr. Honda, a Democratic congressman and third-generation Japanese-American, was wrapping up a weekend visit to his district here in Silicon Valley. After attending an event at a local high school, he would fly back to Washington, where his resolution calling on the Japanese government to unequivocally acknowledge its history of wartime sex slavery and apologize for it was steadily gaining co-sponsors.

The resolution was also drawing sometimes surprising reaction in Japan, making Mr. Honda one of the most famous American congressmen in his ancestral land and riling Japan’s conservatives. They have accused a bemused Mr. Honda, 65, of being an agent of a Chinese government bent on humiliating Japan on American soil. During one television interview, an announcer asked Mr. Honda how he could back such a resolution when he has a Japanese face.

“I told her I could have a black face, a brown face, a white face — I could be Mexican, I could be Indian — it doesn’t matter,” Mr. Honda recalled.

He said he saw the resolution, which has received strong backing from Korean-American groups, as an affirmation of universal human rights. His foes in Japan view it through the prism of Northeast Asia’s stark divisions.

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs, led by Representative Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California, is expected to vote on the resolution later in May. Mr. Lantos supported a similar resolution, sponsored by Lane Evans, an Illinois Democrat who was forced to retire last year because of Parkinson’s disease, that wilted in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Although the resolution is not binding, the Japanese government, with the support of the Bush administration, has lobbied fiercely against it. The resolution drew little attention until Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has long pressed a revisionist view of Japan’s wartime history, denied that the Japanese military had coerced women into sex slavery, causing furor in the rest of Asia and the United States.

During his recent visit to Washington, Mr. Abe told House leaders and President Bush in carefully calculated language that he apologized for Japan’s history with the women, known euphemistically as comfort women, but he did not take back his initial denial. A news conference with Mr. Bush culminated in an odd moment when the president said he accepted Mr. Abe’s apology.

The apology, Mr. Honda said, was not Mr. Bush’s to accept.

MR. HONDA’S grandparents came from Kumamoto, a prefecture in southwestern Japan, in the early 1900s, part of the first wave of Japanese immigrants to the United States. His mother, Fusako, was born in San Jose’s Japantown in 1916 and grew up there. His father, Giichi, was also born and raised in California, but spent some years living in Tokyo.

After the outbreak of war between the United States and Japan in 1941, his family, like other Japanese-Americans, was sent to an internment camp in Colorado. They spent a total of 14 months there — an experience that would later influence Mr. Honda’s politics.

“It taught me that if governments make mistakes, they should apologize,” he said.

The family returned to San Jose a few years after the end of the war. At home, the father spoke in English to Mr. Honda and his younger brother and sister; his mother addressed them in Japanese. To this day, Mr. Honda has retained the habit of sprinkling his English with some Japanese words when he speaks with relatives or Japanese-Americans. Japanese food was served at home.

“The only American food I remember eating was Spam,” he said.

His parents struggled, working as strawberry sharecroppers, though his father eventually found more stable employment in the post office. His mother cleaned houses.

“As I went into politics, people would say, ‘I know you from someplace,’ because I used to go pick up my mom from different places,” Mr. Honda said. “All the places she would clean were homes of prominent people.

“I wouldn’t tell them,” he said. “I’d say we met a long time ago. But finally one guy pushed me and said, ‘I just know you from someplace.’ I said, ‘If you really need to know, my mom used to clean your house.’ He said, ‘Oh.’ I said, ‘You don’t have to apologize. It was good work. It was dignified work, and you treated her well. I appreciated it. It put rice in our rice bowl.’ ”

After college, Mr. Honda went to El Salvador as a Peace Corps volunteer and then became a teacher in the public schools here. His late wife, Jeanne — a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb who immigrated here at the age of 11 — was also a teacher.

Mr. Honda said his politics, first as a state assemblyman and then as a congressman, had been influenced by his career as a teacher and the successful campaign by Japanese-Americans to obtain an official apology and compensation from the United States in 1988 for their internment.

He has supported efforts by victims of wartime Germany and Japan to purse lawsuits in California, in keeping with his belief that the universality of human rights allowed them to seek compensation in the United States if German or Japanese courts rebuffed them.

His resolution on Japan’s wartime sex slavery, he said, would provide justice to surviving women who were drafted into Japanese military brothels from Korea, Taiwan, China, the Philippines and other Asian countries occupied by Japanese troops.

In 1993, the Japanese government’s chief cabinet secretary issued a statement acknowledging Japan’s history of sex slavery, but it was not endorsed by the cabinet or Parliament. In recent years, nationalist politicians have pushed to rescind that declaration, and they have succeeded in eliminating references to the so-called comfort women from government-approved school textbooks.

“I was a schoolteacher, and so I know what happens in a country when you don’t teach history correctly,” Mr. Honda said. “It’s insane not to teach your children the truth.”

IT was almost time to go to the high school event, then catch a plane back to Washington. The weekend trip home had been productive. He had started that Friday with breakfast with former teaching colleagues; presented awards at an Asian-American organization; attended a celebration at his alma mater, San Jose State University; and met executives at a high-tech laser company.

Mr. Honda’s mother had yet to return from church. He began locking up, bringing lawn chairs in from the backyard.

Mr. Abe’s recent comments have sharpened worries, even among conservative American thinkers, that being too closely tied to Japan’s nationalist leadership may hurt American interests in Asia. How the Democratic-controlled House votes on Mr. Honda’s resolution could presage changes in American policy toward Japan, particularly if Democrats take control of the White House.

“If we wanted to help Japan,” Mr. Honda said, “it should be in the light of, ‘If you want to be a global leader, you have to first gain the trust and confidence of your neighbors.’ ”