Letter to Sen. James Webb RE: Non-Combat Related Deaths

Dear Senator Webb,

I received an e-mail from you dated December 16, 2008 in which you said you had referred my questions about non-related combat deaths of our soldiers in Iraq to the Defense Department.

I know it's a huge agency with much on its plate, but, alas, more than a month later and no reply!

The Washington Post listed yesterday the names of five more of our soldiers killed in Iraq (p. A-13), and of these, SIXTY PERCENT died as a result of "non-combat related" causes. I researched their names and found on the Web that one died as the result of a forklift accident and one died from a gunshot wound. (His father was quoted in the local press, and he was quoting the military.)

Above the names of these dead soldiers was a story about the crashes of two U.S. helicopters which killed four U.S. servicemen. It was listed as "non-combat related."

I would like to know about all the "non-combat related" deaths of our troops, their causes, and what changes Defense is making to stop these tragedies. Are our troops not trained adequately? Is Defense rushing troops to Iraq with insufficient training and therefore, equipment and gun accidents happen more frequently than in prior combat? Than on Army bases? A comparison would be revealing. We read constantly about the Army's lowering its standards to accept those without a high school diploma and to accept some with criminal charges which may factor in "non-combat related" deaths.

With the decline in our activity in Iraq, media, and therefore public, attention dwindles, and we tend to forget about 150,000 troops stationed there which plays to Defense's hands to ignore questions about anything Iraq.

With your military knowledge, experience, and interest, I would think Defense would pay more attention to you and to your requests for explanations. An entire summary of these deaths and their causes may shatter the public's mindset about our troops' training, or it may not. Whatever, since it is our money, time, equipment, and most importantly, human resources, we deserve to know.

Sincerely,
Patriciadc

60% of Our Soldiers' Deaths in Iraq: Noncombat-Related Causes

Sixty percent of the deaths of our soldiers in Iraq listed in the Washington Post today were due to “non-combat” related causes.

What are the causes?

When last I wrote about this November 14 2008, I also emailed Sen. James Webb who responded on December 16:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding non-combat related deaths.

In order that I might provide you with a detailed response to your inquiry, I forwarded your message to Department of Defense. You should receive a response directly from that office.

I appreciate your letter and thoughts on this matter. Your correspondence helps me serve you better in the U.S. Senate. Please let me know if the response you receive does not resolve your concern or you need further assistance

.

No reply from DOD!

I shall write to Sen. Webb again and hope he is able to push the Pentagon to supply answers. Why isn’t anyone else asking?

The names of soldiers who died in Iraq are listed today on p. A13 below a story on the crashes of two U.S. helicopters which killed four American soldiers. “Nonhostile” causes are believed the reason for the crashes.

The names of our dead soldiers listed today are:

Sgt. Marquis Porter, 28, Brighton, MA (noncombat-related death)
Ricky Turner, 20, Athens, AL
Omar McKnight, 22, Marrero, LA (noncombat-related but shot according to his father quoting the military)
Roberto Andrade, Jr., 26, Chicago
Kyle Harrington, 24, Swansea, MA (noncombat-related but a forklift accident)

Please remember the supreme sacrifices our troops and their families made and make for us: 4,236 fatalities; 30,984 wounded.

Tickets Here! Tickets There! A Ticket Thicket Everywhere from Cong. James Moran

He gave them away “from the trunk of his car” Saturday night after the Fairfax County Inaugural Ball, one recipient told me at the Netroots Ball in Arlington.

”I guess it just takes personal contact,” he gleamed. He is not a constituent of Cong. Jim Moran. I am.

I did not get one of Moran’s tickets.

I requested Inaugural tickets from Moran and from Sen. James Webb following the procedure outlined by the Joint Congressional Inaugural Committee. My requests were denied in almost replica e-mail letters I received from each. (See earlier post.)

Please understand: I campaigned for Jim Moran; I knocked on doors on fall weekends for Jim Moran; I telephoned for Jim Moran. For the Democratic ticket I cooked for the campaign, I used my car for the campaign. I gave up my time in-between jobs to work on the campaign. I went to weekly meetings for the campaign.

For Barack Obama I canvassed in three states. I traveled. I donated. I spent my own money on expenses.

I got a Inaugural ticket all right, but not from the campaign for which I worked so strenuously, so tirelessly, so energetically.

I got a ticket from a lobbyist.

Congressman Moran forgot about me. I won’t forget about him.

Call to Arms, Call to Arms, Sister!

Please contact both of your U.S. senators immediately, urging them to vote to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, all designed to help working women achieve pay parity with their brothers in the workforce.

The U.S. Senate will take up these bills almost immediately, so it is urgent that you take action at once and urge your sisters to do the same! (Maybe, even some of the brothers will help out.) The House of Representatives passed the bill January 9, 2009 247 - 171.

With enforcement powers these bills will nail those work places which reward equal work with unequal pay. Victims will be able to more easily find redress.

We earn only 78 cents to every dollar the boys bring home! Up from 77 cents in 2006. What a giant leap for womankind!

Lower wages also mean a lower social security benefit when retirement comes.

The Senate narrowly defeated this bill last year so with more progressives in Congress, maybe, just maybe we can help proclaim victory for American female employees! If you contacted your legislators last year, it is important to contact them again.

Please contact me right away if you need your names, e-mail addresses, and/or phone numbers and pass this on! The American Association of University Women is a key proponent of the Act.

Who was Lilly Ledbetter? She worked for 19 years in Gadsden, Alabama for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (why do you buy Goodyear?) as the only female supervisor who successfully sued ($3 million) after she found out Goodyear was paying $thousands more to male co-workers for the same work. However, in the company’s appeal (why do you buy Goodyear?) the Bushes’ Supreme Court in a 5–4 decision last May rejected her argument saying she waited too long to file suit. (Ahem, how ya gonna file if he done you wrong if you don’t know he done you wrong?)

After the court ruling, legislation was quickly drafted to correct this injustice and, falling right in line with the business community (big surprise), Bush said he would veto the bill. All but six of his Republican Senate allies went along with him to defeat it.

Are you sitting down? That’s good for you will be shocked to learn that during the presidential campaign, John McCain did not support the legislation; Barack Obama did.

Sisters, unite and fight! For us! Pass it on.

Overheard at the U.S. Department of Education

“Whatcha think about the new secretary of education?”

“You know a new secretary has never made a bit of difference around here. As a matter of fact, no one, not any superintendent anywhere, has ever made a difference in improving urban schools anywhere.”

“No!”

“Yes, it’s true.”

“I’d say there was a story in that somewhere.”

“Oh, really? Then why don’t you write one?”

An Embarrassed Democrat

Patricia enters:
Are you not cringing at the way Roland Burris was thrown out in the rain on Monday? I mean, come on! It is disgusting. He was treated like a worthless dog. He is such a gracious man, never complaining. What an admirable fellow! With no hint of improprieties like most members of the Senate! He is unlike the Red Bull Demon Dog Democrats! 1000X better than they!

Are any of the blogs talking about the rude, contemptible manner in which he was treated? It was racist! Would a white person have been subjected so shamefully? Like a criminal! I am surprised they didn't put handcuffs on him and throw him in the Tidal Basin, yelling "Sink or swim, you common vagrant!"

Dee enters:
I second you.. think blogs were for him.. the left-wing at least.


Jason speaketh:
I for one was not for him. I think his appointment endangers the seat to be lost two years from now, especially if he decides to run for reelection. I do agree that throwing him out in the rain looked pretty nasty, and the Dems should have realized from the beginning that Blago was going to call their bluff and appoint someone. He just so happened to find a viable African-American to fill the seat. But, the fact that Burris even accepted the appointment from a crook like Blago says a lot about his character. Other IL politics, like veteran Congressman Danny Davis, who is black, reportedly were offered the position and turned it down. Burris should fit in well with the others in the “cesspool” that is Washington DC!!!

Patricia speaks:
Was it Davis I saw interviewed on Rachel last nt as I passed thru the room hither and yon doing chores? Whoever it was said Biansonofovitch had offered him the job before he offered it to Burris. Biansofivitch has a great atty. I think he's going to get off. He outsmarted the entire Senate! But that's looking easier and easier to do.

Jason speaks:
Patricia, you or I could be Senate Majority Leader and do 100x better than p---y hairy reid.

CNN = Cable National Nquirer

At the top of CNN’s menu January 7, 2009 at 10:13 a.m. under “Other News”:

Which gadget do you want to hunker down with?

Officials fear Caylee bone pics will be sold

Boy,6, drives car 10 miles toward school

Knife left in woman’s head

School orders teen to fix haircut

New ‘Idol’ judge looking forward to challenge

Rather than a cable news network, CNN has become the Hollywood and voyeur’s network, the “National Enquirer” of television "news" suggesting the new name.

Congressional parties galore on Capitol Hill

Congressman James Moran (D-VA) floated in and out (10 min.) of Cong. Gerry Connolly’s (D-VA)reception Tuesday night in Longworth, like so many others who flitted and floated from one party to another.

So many politicians! So many progressive parties and not enough time to hit them all.

It was SRO at Cong. Connolly’s event even after he took off to the Capitol to cast a vote on his first day in office.

Sen. James Webb (D-VA) put in an appearance at Connolly’s for at least 30 minutes and was mobbed.

When new congressman Connolly returned to his reception it took about 20 minutes for him to enter the party room since happy well-wishers including Dewita Soeharjono stopped him, greeted him, clasped his hands, and wanted to chat. Cong. Connolly obliged them all sporting a permanent grin throughout the evening as big as a Cheshire cat’s.

One woman inquired: “Are you giving away kisses?”

With his brother, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran who gave us his delegate seat in the Virginia General Assembly to run for governor, Cong. Moran also showed up at new Congressman Tom Perriello's (D-VA) (where the food lasted longer than at Connolly’s) along with new Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). Cong. Moran looked sad and dispirited at both parties, perhaps because they are "old hat" to him.

Meanwhile, Sen. Warner enthusiastically welcomed talking with constituents and posed for pictures.

Looking about 10 years younger than his 34 years, Cong. Perriello with the right gear, could be mistaken for an intern. (Note to Cong. Perriello: This is a compliment.) Many members of his family attended the celebration.

Attire at the soirees included huge smiles worn by all. It was a happy mood and a handful queried agreed on seating Senate nominee Roland Burris. "Why not?" was the constant refrain.

Hey, You! Mr. M.B.A. President!

What happened, Dude?

You who prided yourself so much on being the first M.B.A. president!

If the stock price of the U.S. were valued at, say, $100 when you began your term in 2001, how would you peg it today? What about linking the price to your popularity rating of 27%? Too high. A value of $20 is more realistic meaning a loss of 80% of value which, when inflation is added, is more than 80%.

The fall in value of 401Ks could be another measure.

A Washington Post story on the front page January 12, 2009 says you realized the lowest percentage of job growth over a two year presidential term in 70 years! And the lowest annualized job growth since Truman! Good night, man!

Goal setting is an important part of what they teach you in B-school.

In early 2007 James Pfiffner writing in Public Administration Review praised you for many of your policy security goal “achievements,” (!) namely:

1. The war in Iraq (?),
2. The war against terrorism (??)
3. The treatment of detainees (!!!!).
4. The use of intelligence leading up to war (I kid you not; this is all in the abstract), however (whoa, buster, there really is an “however”):

Bush’s deficiencies as an administrator have undermined his policy successes.

.

(Mr. Phiffner, a teacher at George Mason University, must be a undercover comedian, kind of a reverse Al Franken.)

On the other hand Warren Hellman , a Harvard M.B.A. graduate like you, writing for Salon.com at the same time (February, 2007) said a superlative Board of Directors (ahem) would likely fry you real fast.

A characteristic of many failing CEOs when losses are mounting is to hide or obfuscate the real deficits. This president, in addition to incurring massive deficits, has managed to hide the magnitude of the losses by special (otherwise known as "off balance sheet") allocations of billions of dollars that do not appear in the annual budget.

The most important strategic decision made by CEO Bush was to minimize the importance of stabilizing Afghanistan, while at the same time choosing to invade Iraq. …Bush also had no business plan for his new endeavor, failing to take into account what the war would cost in lives and treasure …ready to reject any evidence that did not support the decision to invade

.

Dude! You did not even execute your own decisions, Hellman says, with inadequate troops, insufficient equipment and dissatisfactory research.
Why would a Board of Directors keep somebody like you?

Hellman continues (my paraphrasing):

Rather than replacing wornout, stale employees with fresh insights and new directions offered by a different crew, you kept the “yessiree, boss” people who only reinforced your old, tired programs and ideas.

Because you mismanaged revenues and spent it on strategic mistakes (Iraq), there is nothing left for R+D which is critical to the future success of any company.

The Board of Directors (the Congress) should have fired you to satisfy the shareholders (we, the people), but they neglected their fiduciary responsibilities to us and let you ride out into the tumbleweeds.

Methinks the Board of Directors needs to be wiped out, and we need a new one!

One of your classmates at Harvard’s Business School, Thomas Lifson writing in the American Thinker which he edits, vigorously defended you in an article in February 2004, and “the small handful of major goals” you defined for your presidency:

1. Winning the war on terrorism
2. Building Republican dominance in government
3. Keeping the economy growing “at a healthy pace”

How do you think you did, Mr. M.B.A. President?

From Harvard’s B-school comes a reply to a question posed by Business Week in its Nov. 5, 2003 edition: What did you learn in B-school and when did you learn it?

The school's focus is on general managers who can see the big strategic picture, establish priorities, and make the most of the functional expertise of those who work with them to make decisions and take action

.

The same article observes you went for “win-lose” results rather than “win-win” which is what Stanford teaches, according to Justin Wolfers, then at Stanford, now at Wharton. “My way or the highway” has always been your mantra!

Hey, Dude, you’re almost off of our cloud! Thanks to Time, and not the weak-willed, ineffective Board of Directors we have, you are almost done. And so are we.

The Book: The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging by the HuffPost Editors

I had to go to three bookstores to find it and then place a telephone order at Borders to make sure I got one of the two copies Borders had.

Being an avid public library user and placing many bestsellers on reserve, it’s a rarity that I buy a book for myself but once I heard Arianna on Jon Stewart I rushed right out to get it.

Upon reading the first 50 pages I deemed it something to be digested in an hour but I soon discovered it contains far more with good recommendations on building traffic and one of the best chapters, the history of the creation of the Huffington Post.

Starting a blog is outlined in thorough detail with everything you need to know to begin. Free ways to count traffic are listed. The importance of providing background and identification of a blogger is stressed. The best blogs are named. The changing medium of the news business is described.

The layout is designed for “non-readers” (the younger generation which does not read anything longer than ingredients on cereal boxes, I think) with a horizontal format, huge margins almost the width of each line of type, bigger type size than most, and shaded boxed copy reserved for tidbits by HuffPost contributors. It all suggests one of the “Dumber” books: “Blogging for Dummies.” (Is that out yet?)

An index and headshots of the contributors would have added a lot but would have raised the price ($15.00).

Some of the best parts are the history of blogging, HuffPost humor, covering the 2008 election, the frequent “how tos”scattered throughout the book by HuffPost bloggers (Mayhill Fowler, Jason Linkins, David Weiner, ) how Arianna’s persistence broke the Judy Miller cover-up and the mediocrity of the New York Times, Mel Gibson’s arrest and the aftermath. The tip to and post by Weiner about the McCain recipe plagiarism is a riot and worth the price of the book alone. So many times I laughed out loud while reading.

The growing reputation and credibility of the Huffington Post unfolds with no boasting by the editors making me realize how many stories it does break.

The writing style is quick and fast but not demeaning; more sophisticated than a typical newspaper or news magazine but at a lower level than the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. Really, for 15 bucks it’s a great value with lots of suggestions and tips on shooting to the blogging top.

On Vacation: The Governor of Tennessee

Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, although a Democrat, must have taken cues from George Bush in Bredesen's handling of the sludge mess in East Tennessee.

For although the sludge ran amuck on December 22, Bredesen took nine days to go and see the yuck for himself.

The timing was wrong, you know: right before Christmas and all. Bredesen managed to squeeze in a visit between Santa Claus and New Year’s.

Could there be not enough voters in the area for the governor to care about it too much? Could it be his second term ending in 2010 and who gives a damn? Could be he hoped the whole muckety-muck would disappear, no appearance by His Holiness would be necessary and he could avoid getting mucked-up.

On December 31 the day of Bredesen’s visit the Huffington Post reported:

Bredesen said he chose to wait more than a week before touring the area because there was no loss of life and he's found in past disasters politicians sometimes hindered the clean-up process.

Now, isn’t that sweet? Prithee, Governor Bredesen, of which disasters do you speak? Hurricane Andrew when George Bush I couldn’t get away from his golf game to go and tour the disaster? Hurricane Katrina when George Bush II could not interrupt his monthlong vacation to see the destruction for himself? Hmmm, this all sounds so familiar.

Do you not realize, Governor, after all your years in office that a sitting governor attracts enormous press and attention when he speaks, tours, visits an area, especially, an incredibly damaged area sadly in need of some devotion from government folks, like, like…maybe you?

Did you honestly believe the people would accept your spin for a reason to skip a trip to the destructed Harriman so you could continue your Christmas vacation in, was it, Jackson Hole? It’s a wonder you could even venture over on New Year’s Eve, and interrupt your party plans, however, I imagine you got back in time to celebrate the beginning of another fabulous year.

Thanks, Governor, for all your time! And while you are here, please have some water and show the kind folks that you government people mean business: The water is safe to drink! TVA says it is so.

From the Huffington Post:

Though authorities have said municipal water sources are safe, school cafeteria workers will use bottled water to prepare meals and bottled water will be offered for sale at schools, according to a news release on the school system's web site.

(This editor's note: So generous of TVA to tell students, almost a third of whom live below the poverty level where the per capita income is 75% of the state's average per capita income which is $2,000 less than the U.S. per capita income, where Harriman ranks 264 in per capita income in the state of Tennessee which is the 35th richest state, to buy bottled water.)

On Monday, federal officials cautioned residents who use private wells or springs to stop drinking the water because some tests in the area had found elevated levels of arsenic, which can be toxic.

The AP reported Jan. 2 that although the poisonous level in tested water was 149 times the maximum level permitted, drinking water was still "safe." Yikes! Bring me a cup!

The toxic mess is so mysterious that the TVA cannot even name its components so how can it reveal them?

Of course, the entire mess is not the Great Agency's fault. Heaven forbid! TVA blames “rainfall” which did not fall according to historic patterns. Well, goodness gracious sakes, TVA, aren’t you the expert?

Here's a toast of the Harriman sludge water to the likes of you, Governor, and all your pals at the TVA! Please, have one on the residents of the community. They have plenty of muck to go around.