International aid workers also living with the aftermath: Link.
With pillows propped against the wall, a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling and comfort food--usually a local trail mix--in the middle, each of them shared stories of what they had seen and heard that day while delivering medical services to people in need. Then they had to decide if it was worth the risk to go out again the following day.
"Things were changing in Afghanistan, and we had to make decisions day to day. . . . There is a price for going out, but there is a bigger price for not going because so many patients are depending on you," said Reilley, an epidemiologist who spent October and November in Afghanistan and works as a program officer for Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres in New York.
While the military has made some strides in dealing with stress-related issues, public health officials, including doctors at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, are just beginning to address the mental health problems of aid workers. After recent attacks on workers in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is a need for support services in the field and at home, health officials said.
"In the last five to 10 years, our work has . . . become much more dangerous," said Dr. Barbara Lopes Cardozo, a psychiatrist and epidemiologist with the CDC. "In the last few years, situations like Iraq and Afghanistan have become very volatile.
Obviously, unlike the soldiers, these people chose to go to Iraq and Afghanistan. But they went out of a desire to help improve the situations of people in those countries, and our screwups in both these wars have affected them, too.
Over at Body and Soul, I found out that the Bush campaign's plan to turn churches into campaign headquarters is not sitting well with the Southern Baptists.
"I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Firing back in the debate over American values, Vice President Dick Cheney (news-web sites) used his first campaign bus tour Saturday to label Democrat John Kerry (news-web sites) "on the left, out of the mainstream and out of touch with the conservative values of the heartland."link.
Damn - the irony is so thick that I can't even think of anything else to say about this; Mr. "Go Cheney yourself" is on the loose in the Heartland, lecturing people on values...
"Give us Back our Damn Flag: the leftist case for patriotism"
this is an op-ed piece that I think is a nice little July 4th read. I've been struggling with this issue myself this year, and I don't think I am alone. It's been a year in which it has sometimes been difficult to feel much pride in our country's actions, especially for those of us who were against the war. Peter Dreier and Dick Flacks examine some of the the most common outward signs of patriotism, like the Pledge of Allegiance, and discuss the fact that many were born from progressive ideals, though they have been usurped by conservatives, and make a case for leftist patriotism.
Hey, I'm going to be doing a bit of travelling for the next couple of weeks. I'm not sure how much time/access I'm going to have while I do. Some, I assume, but not the 24/7 we're used to. While I'm away Tena, Athenae, Holden, and Pie have kindly agreed to fill the gap.
During that time, if you want to send general blog-related emails you can send them to atriosblog@comcast.net to atrios@gmail.com. Personal ones to me should go to the usual place...
Everyone knew this was a totally staged event. God I hate our media for playing along. Bastards.
The Army's internal study of the war in Iraq criticizes some efforts by its own psychological operations units, but one spur-of-the-moment effort last year produced the most memorable image of the invasion.
As the Iraqi regime was collapsing on April 9, 2003, Marines converged on Firdos Square in central Baghdad, site of an enormous statue of Saddam Hussein. It was a Marine colonel — not joyous Iraqi civilians, as was widely assumed from the TV images — who decided to topple the statue, the Army report said. And it was a quick-thinking Army psychological operations team that made it appear to be a spontaneous Iraqi undertaking.
After the colonel — who was not named in the report — selected the statue as a "target of opportunity," the psychological team used loudspeakers to encourage Iraqi civilians to assist, according to an account by a unit member.
But Marines had draped an American flag over the statue's face.
"God bless them, but we were thinking … that this was just bad news," the member of the psychological unit said. "We didn't want to look like an occupation force, and some of the Iraqis were saying, 'No, we want an Iraqi flag!' "
Someone produced an Iraqi flag, and a sergeant in the psychological operations unit quickly replaced the American flag.
What makes me mad is that this stuff wasn't designed for Iraqi consumption - I'm all for a bit of harmless propaganda if it improves things over there. This stuff was done for the Bush'04 campaign. Iraqis knew what was going on.
I'm always amazed about the degree to which ideological foes in DC can, once the cameras are off, talk nicely to each other. But, something tells me that after this exchange Begala and Novak aren't going to be having many civil conversations...
Roger Guenveur Smith is on the Majority Report. He did a great mostly one-man show (along with Chocolate Genius's Marc Anthony Thompson) here in Philadelphia reccently.
Voters in counties included in the new Texas 6th Congressional District were surprised to receive a newsletter and questionnaire this week from Congressman Joe Barton. Their surprise comes from the fact that Barton does not represent them at this time. He is running against Democrat Morris Meyer for the congressional seat in the new district. The winner will not be determined until the Nov. 2 election.
Barton’s present district includes parts of Tarrant, Ellis, Hill, and Johnson counties. However, his newsletter was also sent to voters in the new district who now are represented by Martin Frost, Jim Turner, and Chet Edwards.
The mailing was sent through Barton’s franking privilege available to him as a member of Congress. There is no stamp on the mailpiece, just his signature. Federal law specifically states that “members of Congress may not make any mass mailings outside of the district from which they are elected.” Not only did Barton use taxpayers’ money to pay for this mailing, he sent it to voters outside of his district.
“This is a continuing pattern of illegal and unethical behavior on the part of Joe Barton, whether it concerns campaign contributions or the proper conduct of a public official,” said Meyer.
“As a 20-year Congressman, Barton knows the rules pertaining to franking privileges,” Meyer continued. “He has used this to send campaign literature in the guise of an official government newsletter at the taxpayer’s expense to potential voters in areas that he does not presently represent.”
This new abuse comes on the heels of Meyer's request for an official investigation by Attorney General John Ashcroft into Barton's involvement in the Westar scandal.
I agree with Digby - please no Joe Biden. I understand why people get sucked into thinking he's all that - when he's on, he's on. He'll get going on a good rant, throw in a few smart things, and suddenly you're wondering why Biden isn't in charge of everything. But, then, somehow there's never any follow-up. In fact, a few days later you'll see him chastizing his fellow colleagues for, say, being mean to that nice ol' Ashcroft.
Remember that time Biden courageously took the lead on an issue?
Me neither.
He seems to appeal to those Democrats who worry that we're all just a bunch of wimps and like it when someone starts talking about blowing shit up and killing people.
It'll be pretty cool if, as ABC is reporting, John Kerry announces his choice by email to his supporters first, and if he manages to do it without it leaking to the press first.
I've been reading over some old Clinton-era transcripts of shows like Hardball. Oh My God. It's absolutely incredible. It was a non-stop parade of people put on the air to literally make any unsubtantiated charge against the Clintons, usually without anyone on to provide any kind of balance or rebuttal. My god our news media were fucked up then. Absolutely insane.
And the pick on Michael Moore? My god.
...and, no, it wasn't just chattering head shows like Hardball, it was also the case on the more "respectable" news outlets.
It's nice to hear that Kerry has come out against the latest ridiculous Cuba travel restrictions. I really don't know what the administration was smoking when they implemented them. They basically impact Cuban-Americans who have had pretty much free access for years, and now no longer do. All the Cuban-Americans I know think this is batshit stupid and are really livid about the fact that they can no longer go visit their favorite Aunt, or give her some money.
+112,000 jobs in June. That's less than the 140,000 or so which need to be created in order to keep up with the increase in the working age population.
No one this dishonest should be allowed to keep their job. Really. How do the editors of the Post not just die of embarrassment? I'm embarrassed that I've ever even spent some pocket change to buy the thing.
Big Media Matt has a post worth reading. I'm rather tired of "small government conservatives" who seem to be unable to get a handle on just what spending cuts they desire - particularly, the social security privatization fetishists who conveniently ignore the wee $1 trillion price tag on that particular government-shrinking program.
So, it should go without saying that the fact that people have donated almost a quarter million through this site to John Kerry has gone beyond my highest expectations. My rather modest goal when I started JK Thursday was to raise a thousand per week until the convention. IIRC that would've been less than $25,000 total. We're at ten times that.
But, I'm thinking that once we hit 250K it's time to shut it down -- I don't mean pulling down all the links or anything, but rather to focus my begging for Senate and House races, more along the lines of what Kos is doing. Obviously I'm focusing on Hoeffel, and I'm thinking of choosing 3 House races to add to that...
Well, anyway, I'm open to thoughts from people. It isn't my money (mostly), it's yours, and it's about maximizing the expression of the community here.
Let me take a moment to recommend that everyone read David Neiwert's new book, which he talks about here. It's an excellent book on hate crimes. The book is well-designed, with chapters telling the story of a specific hate crime event and the murder trial that resulted alternating with chapters discussing hate crimes and hate crimes laws/enforcement more generally. It addresses a lot of misconceptions that exist about the issue, and substantial discussion about the importance of dealing with these issues.
CONCORD, N.H. - The former head a Republican consulting group pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities during the 2002 general election.
Allen Raymond, former president of the Alexandria, Va.-based GOP Marketplace LLC, waived indictment and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Concord on Wednesday. Judge Joseph A. DiClerico Jr. released Raymond on his own recognizance pending sentencing in November.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department, which prosecuted the case, said an investigation into the telephone jamming continues.
According to court papers, Raymond plotted with unidentified co-conspirators to jam Democratic Party telephone lines established so voters could call for rides to the polls in Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Claremont. Manchester firefighters' union phone lines also were affected.
You can find the video of Fox's uncensored porn segment here. Decency regulations don't (yet) cover cable, but you could complain to their advertisers or your local cable company.
Wow. Bush has lost one of strongest media-manufactured characteristics - his reputation as a "straight shooter."
New surveys by The New York Times and the Washington Post reveal a perilous plunge in the commander-in-chief's credibility. The Times found that 79 percent of the public thinks Bush either is hiding something about Iraq, or worse, is "mostly lying" about it. The Post asked whether Bush or Kerry is "honest and trustworthy," and the president was judged to be honest by 39 percent. Kerry came in at 52 percent.
Do the folks at Campaign Desk really think that this is the first time the Washington Times has crossed whatever arbitrary line they've drawn? God, sometimes I think I'm the only person who lived through the 90s.
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