Are you an idiot?

h/t lrose and nuffrespect

Jen’s Update: Avastin Treatment Continues This Week

Jen: Tiny Dancer

MONDAY, JULY 07, 2008 11:02 AM, EDT

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Back from Lake, Chemo Resuming

Entry by TRH from Ohio

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Greetings Jen Nation!

I met my family at Lake Chautauqua (NY) WED-SAT last week. My sister and Matthew had been there since Monday. Check the PHOTOS section …

She tolerated the trip pretty well as long as she paced herself — which actually applied to all of us!

There was plenty good to eat — sponge candy and orange chocolate from Buffalo, Perry’s “Piece of Cake” ice cream, breakfast and dinner at Hotel Lenhart …

We played 9 holes of golf most days — Matthew even played twice and is getting the bug that afflicts me and my Dad (ha ha). Granny had the best shot Wednesday on a steep downhill par 3 that overlooks the lake!

I joined my Dad for fishing THU & FRI morning — we could not subsist on our fishing skills — ha ha. He actually did quite well, catching a small bass, a couple sunfish and a perch, none of which unfortunately were large enough to keep. I hooked the anchor a couple times and hauled in lots of lake weed, but we had lots of fun!

Granny also taught us a new “rummy-based” card game called “Manipulation”. Supposedly cousin Julie brought it down from Detroit. My sister even got in on a few hands the last day before we shut down the “Parlor B Casino” — ha ha!

Mrs. Blair visited the first of the week, then Granny thru Saturday. I was able to drive her back to Smethport, enjoying some quality time and getting a big bag of chocolate chip cookies for my effort!!!!

Aunts Ellen, Marie, Uncle Larry & Smitter also drove down from Buffalo multiple days, which made it extra special.

As we watched fireworks in the distance from the shoreline ablaze with red flares, it surely seemed like a special occasion none of us will soon forget.

A little back to reality — Avastin treatments resume this week, so your ongoing prayers and support are appreciated. You know ours are with you! — TRH

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If Asked, Who Do You Support: Israel or Palestine?

B’Man: I think there is really only one thing that my cohort and beautifully “skinny” friend, lrose and I disagree on, it is the Israel/Palestinian conflict (although I am not sure what it is we disagree upon, exactly). My stance about Israel and the lobby that reigns in American politics is that we do Israel’s bidding. They rule our foreign interests, when I am not convinced (as lrose is) that Israel is a wonderful ally or that their interests are actually “our” interests.

I have many reasons for thinking this way, but it is the hypocritical stance we have taken with them, but hold other countries in the ME to a totally different standard (but what else is new for our government who has flirted and propped up Dictators and rogue leaders for many years).

It boils down to this, if AIPAC loves Bush and Cheney so much and Bush and Cheney are the monsters they are known to be, I have no faith in Israel’s judgment of character and can only come to the conclusion that they are complicit and both untrustworthy.

Is there anything, whatsoever, that the Bush/Cheney admin has done that is honorable or trustworthy?

I can’t think of a thing. So, why would I consider their opinion and support of Israel anything other than more of their neocon bullshit?

But forget what this clueless redneck thinks. Let’s get the opinion of more of the world:

Don’t take sides in Israeli-Palestinian conflict: poll

WASHINGTON (Courtney C. Radsch, Alarabiya.net)

The first global public opinion poll about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict released Tuesday found that majorities in 14 out of 18 countries polled believe their government should not take sides in the decades-old Middle East conflict.

It also revealed that most people support a greater role for the United Nations, from guaranteeing security of the countries involved to sending peacekeepers to enforce an eventual peace agreement.

According to the poll – which was conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org and covered 18,792 people in 18 countries and the Palestinian Territories – 58 percent of respondents said they did not believe their country should take a side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Twenty percent said their country should support the Palestinians, while only seven percent supported the Israelis. Egypt, Iran and Turkey were the only countries favoring the Palestinians.

American view

Even Americans overwhelmingly said their government should not take sides.

In a finding that goes against the common assumption that Americans overwhelmingly support Israel, seven out of ten Americans said they thought their country should not take sides in the conflict. Of the rest, 21 percent said it should take Israel’s side compared to only 3 percent who supported taking the Palestinians side.

“Israel is liked a lot more and if you force them (Americans) to choose, Israel gets more sympathy,” Steven Kull, director of WorldOpinion.org, told AlArabiya.net in an interview.

“You ask them which side they blame more, and more blame Israel than the Palestinians, but if you look more closely there are huge numbers that refuse to answer or say they don’t know.”

Americans, said Mr. Kull, are unequivocal that U.S. policy needs to be even handed in dealing with the situation. “There is a discrepancy in this sense between the public and government foreign policy,” he added.

At 86 percent, Egypt was the only country to overwhelmingly support taking the Palestinian side and to say that Palestinians are doing their part to resolve the conflict. A similarly large percentage said neither Israel (88%) nor the U.S. (86%) is doing their part well.

Country assessments

Israel received the worst ratings about whether it is playing a positive role in the conflict, with majorities in thirteen out of fifteen countries asked this question saying that the Israelis are “not doing very well” or “not doing well at all.”

Arab countries and the United States did not fare much better.

Fifty-nine percent of those polled view America’s role in the conflict negatively, as do 46 percent of Americans themselves. A majority, 54 percent, of those polled also said that Israel is not playing a positive role while 47 percent say the same for the Palestinians.

The United Nations Security Council, however, fared far better in terms of people’s perceptions about the role it should and could play. Respondents said they believed the United Nations should play a greater role in the conflict, especially if an agreement is eventually reached.

All but one of the 17 countries asked had majorities or pluralities that supported sending U.N. peacekeepers were an agreement reached, with an average of 67 percent favoring and 20 percent opposing such an idea.

The predominantly Muslim countries of Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia and the Palestinian territories in particular supported U.N. involvement, from protecting Arab countries in case of an Israeli attack to sending peacekeepers.

Monday Morning Mind Stuff…

Good morning everyone! Welcome to Monday June 30th, 2008, day 182.

Have a great week out there and be safe in whatever you do.

History on this day June 30

1841: The Erie Railroad rolled out its first passenger train.

1859: Frenchman Charles Blondin (aka), Jean Francois Gravelet crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope. It took him five minutes.

1921: The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed.

1936: Margaret Mitchell’s only novel, Gone with the Wind, is published on this day in 1936. The book will become one of the best-selling novels of all time, selling some 25 million copies. The book sold 1 million copies within six months, with as many as 50,000 copies being bought on a single day.

1953: The first Chevrolet Corvette, a white convertible roadster with a red interior rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. It sold for $3,250.

1958: The U.S. Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union.

1969: The last of 4,204,925 Ramblers was produced, ringing in the final hour for the storied car line.

1985: Thirty-nine American hostages were freed from a hijacked TWA jetliner in Beirut after being held for 17 days.

June 30, 1957
Feds pull plug on RFC

On June 30, 1957, the Federal Government pulled the plug on the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). With that, the United States effectively buried one of the remaining vestiges of the Great Depression. Indeed, the RFC was formed at the behest in 1931, as the nation was sinking deeper into the depths of poverty and despair. The brainchild of President Hoover, who felt that a revived private sector could best lead America back to prosperity, the RFC was charged with propping up the nation’s struggling banks and businesses.

Birthdays:

1917: Susan Hayward (Edythe Marrender) - Academy Award-winning actress: I Want to Live I’ll Cry Tomorrow

1917: Lena Horne - singer: Stormy Weather

1943: Florence Ballard - singer: group: The Supremes

1944: Glenn Shorrock - singer: The Little River Band

1953: Hal Lindes - musician - group: Dire Straits

1959: Vincent D’Onofrio - actor: Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Mystic Pizza

1966: Mike Tyson - boxer: youngest heavyweight champion [20 years + 144 days]

Today is Meteor Watch Day

Chart Toppers:

1957: Love Letters in the Sand - Pat Boone
Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley
It’s Not for Me to Say - Johnny Mathis
Four Walls - Jim Reeves

1965: Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
Wonderful World - Herman’s Hermits
Before You Go - Buck Owens

Word of the day: Claque \KLACK\, noun:. A group of fawning admirers.

Ponderable of the day: Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them.

Quote of the day: “Can anything be more stupid than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarreled with him?”

- Blaise Pascal, quoted by Tolstoy

Stuff……….you should know.

Interesting facts from 1905:

- The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
- The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower
- The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.
- The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
- More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
- Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education. Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as “substandard.”
- Sugar cost four cents a pound.
- Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
- Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
- Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
- Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
- Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
>Pneumonia and influenza
>Tuberculosis
>Diarrhea
>Heart disease
>Stroke
- The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30
- Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
-Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacist said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”
- Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
- There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

“…Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly and Leave the Rest to God. …”

Jen’s Update: Avastin/CPT-11 Round 1 Complete, Jen Back Home

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2008 09:52 PM, CDT

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Avastin/CPT-11 Round 1 Complete, Back Home

Entry by TR from TN

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Greetings Jen Nation!

Seven hours all told today at the Vanderbilt Clinic. We were in the Infusion Clinic where the actual IV chemo is administered for the better part of five hours.

Everyone is very nice. They have a volunteer board that bakes treats and donates refreshments for patients and their families.

Dr. Edgeworth came by for my sister to sign some permits. She has great confidence in him; she said he memorized her entire 9-year history before their first appointment, not even bringing in a chart! She’s been blessed with a string of talented doctors — Bingaman & Stevens (Cleveland), Nabors & Beth at UAB, and Edgeworth at Vandy.

She may experience some mild side effects with the blended Avastin/CPT-11, most simply alleviated by common OTC drugs. As her system processes it, it may reduce swelling and allow her to cut back on steroids. Doc had an encouraging twinkle in his eye, saying he thought this would work.

We stopped on the way home in Murfreesboro, having sandwiches at Jason’s Deli and a treat from Marble Slab Creamery. I’ll never forget savoring ice cream with her and my Mom in the setting sun, getting away from our cares if only for a fleeting moment.

On the way to a fun dinner last night at Olive Garden, she made a poignant observation: “I can’t remember not being sick.” Not a complaint — NEVER … just a gut check for a fighter digging down for another burst. Nine years is a long time, but it’s been blessed with many miracles that we too often neglect to rejoice.

We’re hopeful she can take her long-awaited vacation to Chautauqua (NY) with no cause for concern. Her greatest discomfort tonight is from the port, where they actually had to cut muscle to bury it in her chest. But it will make future doses every three weeks much easier without needles.

Your prayers and support continue to make the difference. This thing doles out punishment every day, but we keep finding reasons to fight. – TRH

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Monday Stat Day

Good Morning! Thought I would start your day with a few stats! Have a great day– and a great week!

Facts about Americans

- 55.2% will let someone else come in the bathroom while they’re using the toilet. 39% of us peek in our host’s bathroom cabinet. 17% have been caught by the host.
- 81.3% would tell an acquaintance to zip his pants.
- 71.6% of us eavesdrop.
- 37% claim to know how to use all the features on their VCR.
- 53% prefer ATM machines over tellers.
- 20% of us have played in a band at one time in our life.
- 40% of us have had music lessons.
- 66% of women and 59% of men have used a mix to cook and taken credit for doing it from scratch.
- 21% of us don’t make our bed daily. 5% of us never do.
- 40% of women have hurled footwear at a man.
- 3 out of 4 of us store our dollar bills in rigid order with singles leading up to higher denominations.
- 50% admit they regularly sneak food into movie theaters to avoid the high prices of snack foods.
- 82% believe in an afterlife.
- 45% believe in ghosts.
- Only 55 percent of all Americans know that the sun is a star.
- 29% of us are virgins when we marry.
- 10% of us switch tags in the store to pay less for an item.
- How far would you go for $10 million? 25% would abandon their friends, family, and church. 7% would murder.
- 69% eat the cake before the frosting.
- When nobody else is around, 47% drink straight from the carton.

Jen’s Update: More Chemo and Porta-Cath

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Chemo Starting at Vandy This Week

Entry by TRH from TN

Greetings Jen Nation!

Well, a less than healthy 3-week break is all my sister is granted this round.

She’s heading to Vandy tomorrow to receive a “porta-cath”, which is basically a needle they can leave in her arm for the duration of the Avastin chemo treatment.

She’ll then get her first dose on Wednesday morning, then hopefully we can bring her home.

From what I hear she’s had more bad days recently than good. Balance and walking are fairly poor.

She’s just disgusted with poisoning her body for seemingly no benefit. We hope the chemo gives her some relief and she’s healthy enough to go to and enjoy the Lake over July 4.

Thanks for your prayers and support — ours are always with you! — Love, TRH

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BuelahBaby Says “Hey”

Hey, Man! It’s Super!

B’Man: I wrote this in June of 1998 and was the first thing actually ever published in a newspaper (accidentally, at that). I was thinking about Super today and thought this little dedication to him would be a good way to introduce this crazy bastard to the Blog.

Hey, Man!

How many times did Super say hello this way? Countless times- almost never failed. Over the years all the “Tree Gang” picked up the salutation and have used it many times ourselves. To this day, it is a common ‘hello’ from me.

You could alway count on Super coming up with some “off the wall” comment or nickname. You could always count on Super coming out to see you at the “Tree”. He would walk over and say, “Hey, Man!” and then it would begin- some story about the lake; or, the latest gossip spread around town (darn, if he didn’t know everything before it became ‘public’); or, Lord knows what he might dazzle you with next.

You could count on things from Super that would amaze many people. Super would do anything he could for you when you needed help. Super suffered many trials and tribulations in life, but always had a kind word for you, no matter how tough life had been for him that day. During some of the toughest times of my life, Super was there for me.

A mutual friend told me last night, Super was one of the few people that ask about his children, every time he saw him. He genuinely cared about his friends and their families.

As a teen (Super was 6 years older than I), I used to wonder what made this guy “Super”. I thought he was “trying to be cool”. Over the years, the “Tree Gang” began and I was welcomed as a member. Although I had been an acquaintance of Super’s for a while, I never truly knew him. Over time, Super had “Hey, Man’d” me enough to warm up to me. This is when I became his friend and started understanding him.

You see, “Trying to be cool” was not the issue. Super was being Super! Anybody that knows Super (and there are many that knew Super better than I) knows that Super was himself- there will and can never be another one like him. This is what Super taught me: Cool is just being yourself. No airs are necessary, no lies, and no misunderstandings. If you like someone, enjoy his or her company, if you don’t, don’t associate with them.

Super opened his home to friends. Super opened his grand old oak tree to the “Tree Gang”, furnishing a meeting place; a place to get a good laugh; and a place to ‘rest’ from the gruel of cruising “The Strip” (back then the Strip went all the way to the Spur station). You could always find folks to socialize with at the “Tree”. If you were down and out, you could find solace at the “Tree”.

Many of the “Tree Gang” met under the “Tree” the night Super died- we were all sort of drawn to it. Several members were not there physically, but we felt them there nonetheless. We talked about Super washing a car, us pulling up and Super walking over and saying “Hey, Man!”. We remembered when Super put the picnic table underneath the “Tree” so Dog, Elmo, L.P., and all the rest of the “Tree Gang” would have a place to sit and eat lunch. We sat there and told story after story of the “Tree” and the Spur parking lot happenings late at night.

Super truly gave us a home away from home with that “Tree”. It will always be a source of comfort, laughs and stories of the Good Ole Days. There have been several generations of the “Tree Gang”, a few frequent it today. That night was a gathering of representatives from all these genrations and the common thread is that we all loved Super and his “Tree”. He was a good friend and I will miss him dearly. All the “Tree Gang” will.

Hey, Man! We love you!

B’Man: Super was 45 years old when he died. I knew him at least 20 years and became pretty close the last two after a mutual friend died of cancer (Dog, in my memorial: I intend to write about him, too… I great friend and human being).

We lived in a small town close to Pickwick Lake (TN) and on this lake is a waterfall that we had grown up jumping and, if brave enough, diving from. It was multi-leveled (approximately 20′, 28′ & 35′ with the bravest climbing trees and diving from the very top (50′, maybe). We had grown up diving from the lower levels, but “Super” thought he was still Super Man at 45, dove off from 35′ and wasn’t seen again, until divers found him a few hours later.

The Waterfalls are located in a cove that is over run with boats during the summer. Hundreds of boats tied together having a blast… one huge party.

That day there was the usual party and Dog’s wife was with Supe’ (that’s what I called him) and Lessie (Supe’s wife). When he dove and didn’t come up, there were many friends and onlookers freaking out and kept diving for him for 2 hours, but couldn’t find him. None of us could believe it. I swear he had gone off that same place 100’s of times.

He had a rep in town, which, if you knew him, you knew it was a joke. I’ll share some stories about Super some day. He was a crazy character. I miss him.

Whose bright idea????

Having worked in the field prior… I can not even begin to understand who decided to build/house this population next to a gun range!! How inhumane!!!!! Now having to up meds and extend treatment… my God, what are we doing with our soldiers??!!!! We owe these young people… we allowed them to go into hells own war following a lie… and then to not treat them correctly and properly is unforgiveable!

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 3, 2008; Page A01

FORT BENNING, Ga. — Army Sgt. Jonathan Strickland sits in his room at noon with the blinds drawn, seeking the sleep that has eluded him since he was knocked out by the blast of a Baghdad car bomb.
Like many of the wounded soldiers living in the newly built “warrior transition” barracks here, the soft-spoken 25-year-old suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. But even as Strickland and his comrades struggle with nightmares, anxiety and flashbacks from their wartime experiences, the sounds of gunfire have followed them here, just outside their windows.
Across the street from their assigned housing, about 200 yards away, are some of the Army infantry’s main firing ranges, and day and night, several days each week, barrages from rifles and machine guns echo around Strickland’s building. The noise makes the wounded cringe, startle in their formations, and stay awake and on edge, according to several soldiers interviewed at the barracks last month. The gunfire recently sent one soldier to the emergency room with an anxiety attack, they said.
“You hear a lot of shots, it puts you in a defensive mode,” said Strickland, who spent a year with an infantry platoon in Baghdad and has since received a diagnosis of PTSD from the military. He now takes medicine for anxiety and insomnia. “My heart starts racing and I get all excited and irritable,” he said, adding that the adrenaline surge “puts me back in that mind frame that I am actually there.”
Soldiers interviewed said complaints to medical personnel at Fort Benning’s Martin Army Community Hospital and officers in their chain of command have brought no relief, prompting one soldier’s father to contact The Washington Post. Fort Benning officials said that they were unaware of specific complaints but that decisions about housing and treatment for soldiers with PTSD depend on the severity of each case. They said day and night training must continue as new soldiers arrive and the Army grows.
“Fort Benning is a training unit, so there is gunfire around us all the time,” said Elaine Kelley, a behavioral health supervisor at the base hospital. If a soldier had a severe problem, it would have been identified, she said.
Lt. Col. Sean Mulcahey, who recently took command of the Warrior Transition Battalion, where wounded soldiers are assigned, said: “No soldier has talked with me about the ranges.” If it is an issue, “we will address it,” he said, stressing that the battalion’s mission is “getting those soldiers to heal.”
Under Army rules, commanders of warrior transition units are supposed to enforce “quiet hours.” Officials said the location of the barracks for wounded soldiers, along with a $1.2 million Soldier and Family Assistance Center, was chosen for its proximity to central facilities such as the hospital. About 350 soldiers are assigned to the battalion — including 176 who live in the barracks near the ranges — where they stay an average of eight months, Mulcahey said. An estimated 10 to 15 percent of the soldiers have PTSD, he said.
The soldiers are part of a growing group of an estimated 150,000 combat veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have PTSD symptoms. The mental disorder has been diagnosed in nearly 40,000 of them.
PTSD symptoms include flashbacks and anxiety, and noises such as fireworks or a car backfiring can make sufferers feel as though they are back in combat. Health experts say that housing soldiers near a firing range subjects them to a continual trigger for PTSD.
“It would definitely traumatize them,” said Harold McRae, a psychotherapist in Columbus, Ga., who counsels dozens of soldiers with PTSD who are at Fort Benning. “It would be like you having a major car wreck on the interstate” and then living in a home overlooking the freeway, he said. “Every time you hear a wreck or the brakes lock up, you are traumatized.”
Fort Benning, which covers more than 180,000 acres, is one of the Army’s main training bases, with 67 live-fire ranges. The base has thousands of housing and barracks units. “There is no excuse” for the housing
situation, said Paul Ragan, an associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, who treats veterans with PTSD. “Charitably put, it’s very untherapeutic.”
Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, director of the Army’s Warrior Care and Transition Office, which oversees 12,000 wounded soldiers, said: “I can see how that would be a problem. It’s something we haven’t considered” but should. “We have alternatives for housing the soldiers who have issues” with the ranges, he said, adding that the barracks for wounded troops at Fort Benning are an interim facility.
The gunfire “makes me crazy,” said a soldier who lives in the barracks and has PTSD and traumatic brain injury from a roadside explosion in Iraq. “It makes me jump and I get flashbacks.” He spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Army.
Soldiers living at the barracks say their rooms are in good condition and have recently been outfitted with flat-screen TVs, laptop computers and free Internet service. They say that their rooms are inspected frequently for cleanliness and that even soap scum on a sink or sunflower seeds left on a counter are noted in records. But the soldiers said they have received no explanation for why they must live so close to the firing ranges, even though they said at least one soldier raised the question at a town hall meeting with battalion leaders several weeks ago.
“It . . . freaks me out,” said Sgt. Jonathon Redding, 27, of Little Rock. He said the gunfire has required him to increase his sleep medication. “I was under the impression I would get help here,” he said. Instead, he said, he “got considerably worse.”
It Just Kind of Drains You’
Rolling through Iraqi towns with his artillery unit during the 2003 invasion, Redding saw and smelled the charred corpses of Iraqis he helped kill. “You can never forget that,” he said, sitting in his room at Fort Benning last month.
When he returned home in August 2003, the Army did not screen him for behavioral health problems, he said.
Redding began “self-medicating” — which is common for PTSD sufferers — drinking several fifths of Southern Comfort a week. His weight dropped 30 pounds, to 135, in two months, and he grew withdrawn, sleepless and depressed.
According to Pentagon data, up to 15 percent of returning U.S. troops now show signs of PTSD, and the total number who receive diagnoses of chronic PTSD rose by nearly 50 percent last year.
Redding went home and joined the Arkansas National Guard. With help from a civilian doctor who gave him medicine for insomnia and anxiety, he limited his drinking and took a part-time job carrying caskets at the funerals of fallen soldiers. “I did about 90 funerals, I loved it,” he said.
But Redding was informed in September that he would be mobilized with a military police unit bound for Iraq. At Camp Shelby, Miss., where he went for training in January, gunfire and artillery practice caused him to “freeze up,” he said. He asked his civilian doctor for a prescription, but the company medic told him it was for a “non-deployable” medication, so if he was planning to deploy, his family would have to fill it and mail it to him — skirting the rules.
Redding took the prescription through proper channels and was sent to a behavioral health expert, who determined he had PTSD and depression. The expert advised that he not deploy and that he go to a community health organization at home in Arkansas. Instead, in February, Redding was sent to Fort Benning, where he awaits orders to leave. “I went from a bad situation to a worse situation,” he said. “In formations, they would be shooting and I would just be cringing. . . . I’d want to see where it’s coming from.”
Redding complained to his doctor about his housing. “She said it didn’t make any sense,” he said. He said his psychologist at the base hospital called the location “stupid.” His chain of command said they would “look into it,” he said.
But he still waits for relief from the constant gunfire. “It just kind of drains you,” he said.
‘Near-Constant Fear’
The 29-year-old Army specialist palmed the wheel of his 2003 Cadillac on the way to his psychotherapy appointment in downtown Columbus, just outside Fort Benning. He reached into the leather armrest, filled with bottles of prescription medicine: tranquilizers, antidepressants, pills to calm anxiety. He popped a couple of tablets in his mouth and turned into the clinic parking lot.
Spec. Keith, who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used in order to protect his privacy, has what he calls “daymares” — flashbacks caused by chronic PTSD that has left him paranoid. “Anytime I see a U-Haul truck pull up, in my mind I think it might be a car bomb,” he said.
Last July, Keith was nearly killed in Iraq when insurgents fired 107mm rockets, hitting his tent. Shrapnel shredded his uniform, narrowly missing him. He soon began suffering headaches, dizziness and nausea. Doctors told him his ailments would go away, but they “only got worse,” he said.
In November, he arrived at Fort Benning, where the live ammunition reminds him of the attack. “I have a hard time sleeping at night when they do night firing,” Keith said. “For a moment I think something bad is going to happen, then I try to sit back and realize that it is a firing range.”
Keith lives in “near-constant fear of being shot or killed,” said an Army evaluation written by a doctor at Fort Benning in April.
Two weeks ago, the Army released him, so he loaded his car, pills close at hand, and drove away.
Strickland, who says he is lucky if he can get four hours of sleep a night, said the sounds from the firing ranges return him to the sweltering August night in Baghdad when the bomb threw him to the ground. He came home from Iraq in March 2005 and PTSD was diagnosed. But when his unit was called up to serve in Iraq late last year, his superiors encouraged him to go.
The “commander told me if I got back on the deployable list, I’d get my promotion,” said Strickland, whose wife is expecting their second child. “I was trying to look after my family and get more pay.”
He was ultimately pulled from the deployment and sent to Fort Benning, where he awaits paperwork to allow him to return to Arkansas. In the meantime, he looks out the window of his third-floor room onto firing ranges where recruits blast at targets.
“We’ve been there, we’ve fought in it, we’ve lost friends there,” Strickland said, his mind in a distant war zone. “I’m not going to get any better in this environment.”

Peace

I realize that I think about some pretty oddball stuff at times..lol [some would say ALL the time..lol] but whatever your opinion, it’s me and the way I am– oh well. Hence… this is what I was thinking about today– [aren't ya' glad I like to share? lol lol lol]

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace Sign. The symbol was first used in a nuclear disarmament march in a March from London to Aldermaston, Britain. Around 5000 marchers participated in that particular event.

The simplistic Peace Symbol that most anyone can scribble is actually quite complex. Gerald Holtom, a commercial artist, suggested that the those marching to the atomic weapons research plant in Aldermastoncarry signs painted with a neat, tidy and powerful symbol. There is meaning to each of the lines and the circle of the symbol.

The meaning originate in the words nuclear disarmament - using the N and the D from those two words and a naval flag signaling system, Holtom created the Peace Symbol.

The Peace Symbol has been used as a visual sign of solidarity in marches for anti-violence, anti-weaponry, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights and movements to stop wars, among many other peace initiatives and human rights issues.

Those who marched and protested for peace were often the victims of violence. Some even lost their lives.

So today - I’d like to say, Happy Golden Anniversary, Peace Sign! I hope that there will come a time, when you can finally retire and rest and we shall not practice hatred and war anymore.

“…Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly and Leave the Rest to God. …”

What Do Iraqi People Dream About?

B’Man: My daughter (3.5) awoke this morning and told us, “I had a dream and in my dream I was going to “Big School” and they taught me all sorts of things. Then my boyfriend, Justin, said that we were going to get married.”

Now, I have no idea where the boyfriend crap comes from, but there is a 4 yo boy at her preschool named Justin (I’m gonna have to have a little man to man with “little man”… LOL). Nor do I understand where she gets the big school stuff from, except probably the older kids at her preschool.

My point is that she dreams this funny, happy-go-lucky stuff. Even with some allergies, she is probably one of the happiest kids I ever knew. She, her Mom and I are blessed in many ways, when I consider what Iraqi people are thinking and living through.

Do the little Iraqi girls dream of such things? Iraqis in general? I know in my heart that most of them don’t dream such wonderful things, even though I wish they all did. Then, this afternoon, I read about some of their dreams in this article at Alternet and I believe that all rednecks should understand that their dreams are nothing to Americans, simple everyday conveniences, for we have all these things in abundance and are spoiled by it.

We have spent Billions, millions dead, millions fled to other countries to survive what we unleashed. Murder on every corner. Threats, intimidation. FEAR!

We have no real understanding of what they don’t have, because it is all stuff that we take for granted.

And many rednecks want more of this horror for them. Unbelievably cruel. Heartless, unfeeling and embarrassing to this redneck. No decent human being would ever want this to go on.

Five Years After Mission Accomplished, Iraqis “Dream of the End of the Occupation”

By Dahr Jamail and Ahmed Ali, IPS News. Posted May 28, 2008.

BAQUBA — After more than five years of U.S. occupation, the very dreams of the people of Baquba have changed. For a start, they are no longer about the future.

Today, a shower is a dream. Or that the electricity supply continues just that little bit longer.

“These needs are very trivial for people of other countries,” 43-year-old political leader Saad Tahir told IPS. “But in Iraq, people dream more of these things than of some ambition or success.”

Abdullah Mahdi, a retired 51-year-old trader, says he dreams only of electricity.

“Like millions here, I hope supply gets better to help us to sleep in this hot summer,” Mahdi told IPS. “We have been suffering from this problem since the 1991 Kuwait war, and this current occupation only made things worse.”

Others dream of freedom of movement. “I dream of traveling among the Iraqi provinces freely and safely,” a local resident said. “For more than two years now, I have not traveled to any province of my country.” Lack of security means Iraqis can rarely travel even to a neighboring area.

Children also seem to have begun to dream differently.

“I dream of a playground in which I and my friends can play freely and at any time,” 11-year-old Luay Amjad told IPS. Children are not allowed to play just anywhere for fear of unexploded bombs, haphazard firing, and a general fear of the Iraqi military. Many children in Baquba and other districts of Diyala province have been kidnapped.

“All families wish to see their children safe, and then enjoying their time,” said a young father. “We know that they currently live in a very closed world. But we put pressure on our children for their own safety. Streets are dangerous, and even gardens may sometimes be dangerous.”

Others dream of a functioning economy. According to the ministry of trade, unemployment has been vacillating between 40-70 percent over the last two years.

“I hope that the trade and economic process will improve,” said an unemployed trader. “I wish Iraq could be an industrial country with a flourishing and luxurious status of living. I want to get back to my shop and have my own customers.”

Teachers dream of an Iraq that can be a center for education again. “Iraq was one of the countries that paid great attention to education,” a university professor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. “Now, breaking the rules of schools is very common, and fake certificates are spread widely all over the country. We dream of a rigorous and successful educational process.”

Farmers simply dream of water, and the security necessary to work in their fields. “I hope I can work on my farm again, and have water to irrigate all the land,” said a local vegetable farmer.

A cleric spoke of bigger dreams. “I dream that all Iraqis will love each other again, as we used to in the past days. We miss hope, a smile, and true love. We hope that cooperation prevails again among people. We hope for killing and displacement to end forever in this once peaceful country. We hope that the sectarian discrimination disappears.”

A political analyst said he dreams of an end to the occupation. “The occupation is the source of all the problems of our people. I do dream of the end of the occupation — no more arrests, no more prison for simple and poor people, and no more suffering.”

(*Ahmed, our correspondent in Iraq’s Diyala province, works in close collaboration with Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who has reported extensively from Iraq and the Middle East).

B’Man: So, what DO you rednecks dream about?

Food Art….. Cool

Jen’s Update Addendum: Marijuana Slows Tumor Growth

B’Man: I have an ongoing series of reports on my dear friend Jen relating to her glioma (brain tumor). I mentioned that it is similar to Teddy Kennedy’s tumor here. Since Jen has become sick, especially in the last 6 months (she has been diagnosed since 1999, which it is a miracle she is still alive this long… most prognosis only give a few years), I have been investigating and reading about therapies that can be used for her (the venom treatment was clinical and doesn’t appear to be working for her).

However, I read this article (which contains a video I will post below) which tells me something that I had suspected from a previous friend’s cancer and his insistence that marijuana was helping him. Of course, that is no clinical trial, but I have witnessed more than one person who swears they are helped by medical marijuana. As a matter of fact, I can attest to its pain functionality.

So, I sent Jen and her hubby an email with this post’s info. I am no prude, so those who use for fun… have right at it. Enjoy and watch out for Big Brother. However, for those who are frightened by it, the law and what may happen… fuck them. If I was dying and this could help, they can all just suck my ass.

The fact is that Big Prison keeps this medicine out of the hands of hurting people, but not only that, out of the hands of the researchers who could isolate the actions of the drug and use it to HELP PEOPLE.

Damn, I get pissed about this. It is a travesty.

I doubt that Jen has ever even seen marijuana and it is unlikely that she could beat the stigma associated. But, in my opinion, she should do anything and everything that will help alleviate her sufferring or, as miracles may happen, heal her. without the research into this wonder drug, we will never truly know.

I love you, Jen. Keep fighting, darlin’.

Can Pot Extend Ted Kennedy’s Life? Too Bad It’s Illegal

by Paul Armentano Posted on May 23, 2008

In the 14 years I’ve worked in marijuana law reform, few events have struck me as so needlessly tragic as the federal government’s consistent and deliberate stifling of medical cannabis research. Nowhere is the Fed’s refusal to allow this science more overt and inhumane than as it pertains to the investigation of cannabinoids as anti-cancer agents, particularly in the treatment of gliomas.

As noted in today’s wire stories regarding Sen. Edward Kennedy’s diagnosis, glioma is an aggressive form of cancer that affects an estimated 10,000 Americans annually. Standard treatments for the cancer include radiation and chemotherapy, though neither procedure has proven particularly effective — the disease kills approximately half its victims within one year and all within three years.

But what if there was an alternative treatment for gliomas that could selectively target the cancer while leaving healthy cells intact? And what if federal bureaucrats were aware of this treatment, but deliberately withheld this information from the public?

Sadly, the above questions are not hypothetical. As I originally wrote in a 2004 essay for Alternet.org, titled Pot Shows Promise as a Cancer Cure”:

In fact, the first experiment documenting pot’s anti-tumor effects took place in 1974 at the Medical College of Virginia at the behest of the U.S. government. The results of that study, reported in an Aug. 18, 1974, Washington Post newspaper feature, were that marijuana’s psychoactive component, THC, “slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36 percent.”

Despite these favorable preliminary findings, U.S. government officials banished the study and refused to fund any follow-up research until conducting a similar — though secret — clinical trial in the mid-1990s. That study, conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology Program to the tune of $2 million, concluded that mice and rats administered high doses of THC over long periods had greater protection against malignant tumors than untreated controls.

However, rather than publicize their findings, government researchers shelved the results, which only became public after a draft copy of its findings were leaked in 1997 to a medical journal which in turn forwarded the story to the national media.

In the years since the completion of the National Toxicology trial, the U.S. government has yet to fund a single additional study examining the drug’s potential anti-cancer properties. Is this a case of federal bureaucrats putting politics over the health and safety of patients? You be the judge.

Fortunately, in the past 10 years scientists overseas have generously picked up where U.S. researchers so abruptly left off, reporting that cannabinoids can halt the spread of numerous cancer cells — including prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and in one human clinical trial, brain cancer.

Writing earlier this year in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, Italian researchers reiterated, “(C)annabinoids have displayed a great potency in reducing glioma tumor growth either in vitro or in animal experimental models. (They) appear to be selective antitumoral agents as they kill glioma cells without affecting the viability of nontransformed counterparts.” Not one mainstream media outlet reported their findings. Perhaps now they’ll pay better attention.

What possible advancements in the treatment of cancer may have been achieved over the past 34 years had U.S. government officials chosen to advance — rather than suppress — clinical research into the anti-cancer effects of cannabis? It’s a shame we have to specula