Supporting Veterans to Attend Accredited College Programs

This article is brought to you courtesy of June Olson. June recently graduated with a degree in educational psychology. She currently works as a writer on all things education and is always interested in connecting with bloggers online.  You may reach June at june.olsen80@gmail.com

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The argument that many veterans need education and numerous support systems when they return from service is a no-brainer. Adjusting to civilian life after being away at war or stationed abroad is no joke. An economic downturn adds to the problem by making it hard to find a job. Feeling stressed and confused, a veteran must then compete with masses of qualified candidates for very few jobs. Veterans need effective support systems and support for colleges online or on campus that consider all aspects of their needs, including financial assistance and access to educational and/or vocational training.      

When a veteran returns from war, life can be overwhelming. Going from the camaraderie of military life to living alone or readjusting to family is only one factor. Flashbacks to horrifying war images can be common emotional setbacks. Figuring out the next step in life can be mind-boggling and stressful. Especially for veterans who did not go to college or train for an occupation before joining the military, career options can seem limited. Veterans often transition from a situation of a set military schedule and structure to a life of ambiguities and lack of direction.

Searching for work in a tight job market only complicates things. A veteran might be a skilled carpenter but live in an area with no openings in carpentry. Gaining knowledge and skills that can be applied to available jobs is an important first step. Starting college or going back to finish a degree becomes essential for getting a job.

Fortunately, help exists. Veterans interested in college programs that offer two-year degrees or higher can benefit from GI bill programs. The Post-9/11 GI Bill gives veterans who served for at least 90 days on or after September 11, 2001 access to benefits for attending accredited colleges and universities. Benefits include a percentage of tuition and fees, a monthly housing allowance, a stipend for books and supplies and $500 in cash for veterans who must relocate from a highly rural area to go to school. This program also offers tutorial assistance benefits and reimbursement of up to $2,000 for a certification or licensing test. Veterans can receive benefits for up to 36 months under this bill, which helps them get back on their feet.
 
The Yellow Ribbon Program is another alternative. Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, degree-granting institutions can make funds available for veterans through this program. The tuition amount is left up to the university; the VA matches that amount and pays the university directly. Veterans must then apply to the university, which then looks at its number of open slots and notifies the veteran of acceptance into the Yellow Ribbon Program.

Between 2008 and 2010, the number of veterans who took advantage of VA education programs increased tremendously. Although the number of VA undergraduate attendees decreased during that time, attendance in non-degree and vocational programs saw a significant rise. This trend may continue as more veterans take advantage of educational benefits programs.

Short-term training and education assistance is also available for unemployed veterans through the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program. For veterans who are at least 35 and ineligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or other VA-sponsored education benefit programs, this program may be the answer. It gives participants a year's worth of full-time pay while enrolled in an approved technical school or community college. They must train specifically for high demand occupations in a program that leads to a certification or associates degree. Through this and other GI bill programs, veterans can ease the transition to civilian life by going to school and becoming equipped for a tight job market.

Cameo Presentation - Rose Colored Glasses Satire by Tony Rose

With the present day emphasis on the National Debt and Health Care, it seemed only fitting to publish a cameo of the apparently ageless satire by Tony Rose below:

"Economists Coin New Term for Study of Deficit Spending"

"Micro-Electronic Medication of Your Years"

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PENTAGON "STAR CREEP" AND THE "REVOLVING DOOR"

GOVERNMENT SPENDING WASTE

How Does the US Stop the Dramatic Cost to the Tax Payer From Pentagon
"Star Creep"
And
"The Revolving Door”
Between Industry and Government Executives?

STAR CREEP

POGO, the venerable, apolitical non-profit has coined, "STAR CREEP" the monumental increases in general officers in the Military:

" Between May and September, more than 10,000 enlisted personnel were cut by the DoD, possibly in preparation for the end of military operations in Iraq, while more than 2,500 officers were added.

Consequently, for the first time in the more than 200 years that the U.S. has had a standing military, there are fewer than five enlisted personnel for every officer. In other words, today’s military is the most top-heavy force in U.S. history.

But the cost of Star Creep only begins with direct compensation. Other costs that surround generals and admirals—such as staff, contractors, and travel—increase with higher ranks. For example, Bloomberg recently reported that taxpayers in Huntsville, Alabama, footed a $3.8-million bill to build luxurious homes for generals in a successful effort to keep Pentagon pork flowing into the area. One such home, built for a major general, was a sprawling 4,200-square-foot mansion that included granite counter tops, hardwood floors, and stainless steel appliances."

Former Secretary of Defense Gates remarks on this issue per POGO:

"In his August 2010 speech on Efficiency Initiatives, Gates referred to these perks as “the overhead and accoutrements that go with” senior positions, be they military or civilian, within DoD. In an interview with Newsweek, Gates bemoaned these accoutrements and entourages that surround generals and admirals, which he believes are indicative of a military leadership that is “suffering from an inflated sense of entitlement and a distorted sense of priorities"

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/11/todays-military-the-most-top-heavy-force-in-us-history.html

THE REVOLVING DOOR

The Federal Acquisition Regulation, Section 3.1 sets out definitions of standards of conduct and conflict of interest. It details restrictions on dialogue regarding employment with officials prior their leaving their government jobs and further restricts where an official may work in industry and in what capacities relative to prior government service.

Penalties for violating these rules range from criminal prosecution for government and industry personnel found guilty of violations, to debarment of companies and individuals from government contracting.

POGO has announced: "Two Former Watchdogs Ring in the New Year on the Other Side of the Revolving Door":

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2012/01/two-former-watchdogs-ring-in-the-new-year-on-the-other-side-of-the-revolving-door.html

“The first revolver is Michael Thibault, former co-chairman and commissioner of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan (CWC) who recently joined DynCorp, one of the three primary LOGCAP IV contractors, and currently the 32nd largest contractor in POGO’s Federal Contractor Misconduct Database. It has nine instances of misconduct since the early 2000s and $19.6 million in penalties. The second revolver is Gordon Heddell, who resigned as the Pentagon’s Inspector General on Christmas Eve. The text of Heddell’s farewell email message is posted below. POGO has learned that Heddell also landed a job with a top-tier federal contractor, the global consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Booz Allen, the 29th largest contractor in POGO’s database, has two misconduct instances and $3.7 million in penalties. Although it has a relatively blemish-free history, it should be noted that Booz Allen derives a substantial amount of business from contracts with the Defense Department. Booz Allen confirmed with POGO that Heddell was hired last month as a Senior Executive Advisor."

Are these companies and individuals exempt from public law?

Free Download - The 4th Edition of "Small Business Federal Government Contracting"

The 4th Edition of "Small Business Federal Government Contracting" is available as free as a download from the Box Net Cube in the right margin of this site.

The document is expanded to include articles published during the 2010 and 2011 business years at "Small to Feds" and is presented in the logical order of topics normally encountered by an enterprise entering or growing into small business government contracting.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY THE US HAS A $31 TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT?

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ORGANIZATION CHART
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY ROSE

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2011 FROM ROSE COVERED GLASSES

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Traces of TCE in Camp Lejeune’s Water Supply Could be the Cause of Some Veteran’s Health Concerns

This article is brought to you courtesy of Douglas Karr a US Navy Veteran and highly regarded blogger at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog:

http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/doug/bio.htm

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Following service in the military, many servicemen and women think their most complicated battles are behind them. Unfortunately, many veterans suffer long-lasting mental and physical health issues. Scientists and doctors are continually making connections between veterans and the multiple diseases and health conditions that seem to plague them.

Though it has long been known that the nation's veterans are at high risk for developing asbestos cancer or mesothelioma, other cancer risks are newly emerging. In fact, as recently as early October 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency warned that anyone who served or lived on base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina between the 1950s and 1980s is at risk for developing a number of cancers related to water contamination on the base. Though multiple cancers are listed as possible risks, the EPA specifically linked consumption of the water's contaminants to breast cancer, kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and liver cancer.

Apparently, trichloroethylene - known as TCE - made it into the water supply at the base. TCE is highly toxic to humans and causes multiple types of cancer. Exposure to the contaminant is responsible for claiming many lives, including children living at the base. Some diseases related to the exposure are latent, meaning it may take many years before they develop in the body. Unfortunately, those effects may continue for many years to come. According to the EPA, individuals who lived or worked on the base between the 1950s and 1980s were exposed to the chemical, placing them at risk for many years to come.

The discovery is no surprise to the countless men, women and children who have fallen ill due to exposure to the water at Camp Lejeune. What else could account for the more than 70 recorded cases of male breast cancer at the base? Despite decades of suspicion surrounding the water at Camp Lejeune, previous studies from the National Research Council found no confirmation of a link between the base's water and the multiple diseases that service members and their families were suffering. However, the recent discoveries by the Environmental Protection Agency disprove those previous reports, raising hope and awareness for veterans who have long sought out answers and recompense for their suffering.

Franz Gayl Needs Your Help

UPDATE from POGO - 17 November 2011:

"The Marine Corps whistleblower who exposed the Department of Defense's (DoD) delay in providing troops with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) has received notice that he can return to work, ending a four-year ordeal in which he had lost his security clearance and faced the loss of his job.

The Navy’s decision (the Marine Corps is within the Navy) to reinstate Gayl’s security clearance came after the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) intervened in the case in October by asking the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to stay a decision to give Gayl, a Marine Corps science advisor, an indefinite suspension without pay. Gayl's decision in 2007 to tell Congress and the public about the delays in providing troops the heavily armored MRAPs forced the DoD to speed up production of the vehicles and, as a result, likely saved the lives of thousands of troops and prevented serious injuries to many thousands more.

In its request to the MSPB, the OSC cited a petition that the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) had submitted to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Nearly 4,000 people signed the joint POGO/GAP petition. The OSC agreed with petitioners that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” Gayl's suspension violates the Whistleblower Protection Act.

The MSPB issued a 45-day stay on Oct. 13 to give the OSC time to investigate whether Gayl had been retaliated against. After Gayl blew the whistle, he lost his security clearance, which kept him from returning to work. His attorneys at GAP argued that the indefinite suspension without pay was a way to "starve him out" of the Marine Corps.

"As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted, thousands and thousands of Marines owe their lives and safety to the brave actions of Franz Gayl," POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian said. "What Gayl has endured is a gross injustice. It's not the way this country should treat its heroes and only underscores the need for Congress to immediately pass the Platts-Van Hollen Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2011."

Gayl issued the following statement through GAP:

“I want to express my deepest thanks to all who have supported me throughout this ordeal. It goes without saying that absent the continuous advocacy of GAP and POGO, I would have been forced from government service years ago. However, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) under the inspiring leadership of Carolyn Lerner has been the godsend that enabled this recent turn-around. OSC's determination to request a stay, and the MSPB's willingness to support it, allowed enough time for the Department of the Navy to deliver a considered and favorable security adjudication that now permits me to get back to work. I am as committed as ever to return to my Marine Corps to work hard in support of all Marines in the capacities for which I was hired. Again, without OSC, GAP, POGO, and the MSPB, this renewed opportunity would not be possible!”

According to the Washington Post in the following article, Marine Corps Civilian Scientist, Franz Gayl:

“…..made a name for himself a few years ago as a Marine Corps whistle blower, a civilian scientist who helped push the Pentagon to shift its Iraqi weapons strategy. Senators called him a hero for disclosures that helped get heavily armored vehicles known as MRAPs to the battlefield.

But a few weeks ago, Gayl found himself booted from a room where confidential materials are handled and stripped of his security clearance. His superiors accused him of "a disregard for regulations, a pattern of poor judgment and intentional misconduct" - behavior that they said "indicates you are unreliable and untrustworthy."

The article goes on to explain that incidents sited in the clearance removal decision were not reported officially as security breaches, but were judgement calls on the part of Gayl's immediate superiors, upon whom his disclosures in the whistle blower incident had applied considerable pressure.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111903475.html?sid=ST2010111903784

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has mounted an electronic mail-in campaign to get the decision reversed:

https://secure3.convio.net/pogo/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=194&autologin=true

Will the public respond to this project and can we continue to tolerate this kind of behavior on the part of military officials in a bloated Pentagon spending billions of tax payer dollars each year?

Is the US Citizenry willing to Save a $Trillion By Shaving the Fat From the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) ?

Time Magazine contains the Article, "How to Save a Trillion Dollars". Mark Thompson serves up the latest facts and thinking on the defense posture of the US today and the role of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) at the link below:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2065246,00.html

He asks some disturbing questions:

"Across Washington, all sorts of people are starting to ask the unthinkable questions about long-sacred military budgets. Can the U.S. really afford more than 500 bases at home and around the world? Do the Air Force, Navy and Marines really need $400 billion in new jet fighters when their fleets of F-15s, F-16s and F-18s will give them vast air superiority for years to come? Does the Navy need 50 attack submarines when America's main enemy hides in caves? Does the Army still need 80,000 troops in Europe 66 years after the defeat of Adolf Hitler?"

It concludes with the following statement:

"For too long, an uninterested and distracted citizenry has been content to leave the messy business of national defense to those with bottom-line reasons for force-feeding it like a foie gras goose. It's long past time, Ike might have added today, for U.S. taxpayers to demand that its government spend what is needed to defend the country — not a penny more."

We fully support and agree with this concept.

Watchdog Groups Identify Nearly $600 Billion in National Security Spending Cuts:

http://www.pogo.org/pogo-files/alerts/national-security/ns-wds-20110721.html

The spending cuts targeted by POGO and Taxpayers for Common Sense, include:

* $300 billion by reducing Department of Defense (DoD) service contracts by 15 percent;
* $72 billion by reducing non-DoD service contracts by 15 percent;
* $60 billion through reforms to the DoD’s TRICARE health care system;
* $44 billion by replacing two of the three F-35 variants with the less expensive F/A-18 E/F’s;
* $30 billion by withdrawing 20,000 troops from Europe, and
* $12 billion by not renewing the procurement contract for the V-22 Osprey.

These actions must be taken and pose no risk to national security. Tell your government representatives to get on with it.

2011 Small Business Awards Ceremony Department of Agriculture

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This was a very enjoyable ceremony.

The Department of Agriculture is doing many good things for Small Business these days and rates at the top of the heap among all the others in my book.

There were awards in the Veteran-owned business category, HUB Zone, Small Business and Woman-owned business, in which one of my clients, pictured here, was named the national winner.

More Pictures at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150344297894148.424702.822504147&l=f1edc3abbb

A War Veteran's Commentary on the Death of Osama Bin Laden

OF TYRANTS AND WISE MEN

The death of this tyrant simply brings to the fore an old threat that had assumed a place of insignificance on the world stage.

We created Bin Laden and many more like him today by military incursions, fought in the memory of 3,000 dead civilians who were attacked because we did not leave the Middle East after the first Gulf War. These incursions were fed by foul, intentionally staged intelligence, fronted by agencies and industries bent on economic gain.

We fought a just and honorable war assisting many Middle East allies and other countries to free Kuwait. General Schwarzkopf is a true American hero. You will note he came home and stayed home. His successors then hung around with an imperialist attitude, resented by cultures that have hated that type of control for thousands of years.

These incursions have killed thousands of our finest youth and maimed the lives of countless others. We learned nothing from the Russians, our own experiences in Vietnam and similar outings in the past.

The average American will pay for this ruin in decades to come through taxes supporting hospital care, social services and veteran's homes.

At the bottom line, the death of Bin Laden will serve to continue motivation that will feed the Military Industrial Complex.

It would have been best if this death had gone virtually unnoticed into the annals of time. The war racket in America will continue until we are totally broke and lack credit in the world community. It will then cease.

That is the death I look forward to. The death of monetary tyranny in war fighting.

VIETNAM VETERANS DAY 2011

12 Names on a Wall in Washington D.C.
Forgotten by Many but Not By Me

To those who died serving USAECAV 1966-1968 Countrywide

http://thewall-usa.com/

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Page

Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. This is the most accurate database online.

kl

STRATFOR ON : "Never Fight a Land War in Asia"

The recent article by George Friedman (left) of STRATFOR, "Never Fight a Land War In Asia", is worthy of a close read:

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110228-never-fight-land-war-asia?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110301&utm_content=readmore&elq=04da14afce1a4d288f92e97351dcf022

We also applaud Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates (left) for the following statement:

“Any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should have his head examined.”

Considering the events in the Middle East and the struggles by the young population in those countries to progress, the US has learned the hard way that our purposed reasons for going to war would have taken care of themselves had we not been pressured by the Military Industrial Complex and the Intelligence Communities to stage fruitless incursions that enriched large corporations at the expense of American lives.

Below is an extract from Friedman's article:

"In saying this, Gates was repeating a dictum laid down by Douglas MacArthur after the Korean War, who urged the United States to avoid land wars in Asia. Given that the United States has fought four major land wars in Asia since World War II — Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq — none of which had ideal outcomes, it is useful to ask three questions: First, why is fighting a land war in Asia a bad idea? Second, why does the United States seem compelled to fight these wars? And third, what is the alternative that protects U.S. interests in Asia without large-scale military land wars?

The alternative is diplomacy, not understood as an alternative to war but as another tool in statecraft alongside war. Diplomacy can find the common ground between nations. It can also be used to identify the hostility of nations and use that hostility to insulate the United States by diverting the attention of other nations from challenging the United States. That is what happened during the Iran-Iraq war. It wasn’t pretty, but neither was the alternative.

Diplomacy for the United States is about maintaining the balance of power and using and diverting conflict to manage the international system. Force is the last resort, and when it is used, it must be devastating. The argument I have made, and which I think Gates is asserting, is that at a distance, the United States cannot be devastating in wars dependent on land power. That is the weakest aspect of American international power and the one the United States has resorted to all too often since World War II, with unacceptable results. Using U.S. land power as part of a combined arms strategy is occasionally effective in defeating conventional forces, as it was with North Korea (and not China) but is inadequate to the demands of occupation warfare. It makes too few troops available for success, and it does not know how many troops might be needed.

This is not a policy failure of any particular U.S. president. George W. Bush and Barack Obama have encountered precisely the same problem, which is that the forces that have existed in Eurasia, from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Korea to the Taliban in Afghanistan, have either been too numerous or too agile (or both) for U.S. ground forces to deal with. In any war, the primary goal is not to be defeated. An elective war in which the criteria for success are unclear and for which the amount of land force is insufficient must be avoided. That is Gates’ message. It is the same one MacArthur delivered, and the one Dwight Eisenhower exercised when he refused to intervene in Vietnam on France’s behalf. As with the Monroe Doctrine, it should be elevated to a principle of U.S. foreign policy, not because it is a moral principle but because it is a very practical one."

From Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan this writer has traveled a road of combat illness, weapons odysseys, recovery and lessons learned over 40 years. Has our leadership become wiser and learned their lessons as well?

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html

Final Report and Letter to Senator Al Frankin on Hastings Minnesota Veterans Home Investigation

The final report by the Minnesota Department of Veteran's Affairs on the 2010 Investigation of the Hastings Veterans Home and the resultant letter to Senator Al Frankin can be downloaded from the Box Net Cube in the right margin of this site.

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SCORE and MicroMentor Awards Ken Larson

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM ROSE COVERED GLASSES

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Louie Klimek Speaks

Tony Rose Speaks

Interview on Channel 9 on Veteran's Day with Tony Rose, former resident at Hastings Veteran's Home.

"WE THE PEOPLE" AND A FINANCIAL BAROMETER OF THE FUTURE

The link below is the official US Government spending web site, updated to reflect the current 2010 annual trend:

USA Spending



Here is a quote from the following link on the national debt:

The Financial Position of the United States

"Foreigners own more than $15.6 trillion of US financial assets, or 107% of GDP. Americans own $11.5 trillion of foreign assets, approximately 78.9% of US GDP.

Foreign holdings of US assets are concentrated in debt. Americans own more foreign equity and foreign direct investment than foreigners own in the United States, but foreigners hold nearly four times as much US debt as Americans hold in foreign debt.

15.2% of all US debt is owed to foreigners. Of the $7.9 trillion Americans owe to foreigners, $3.9 trillion is owed by the federal government. 48% of US treasury securities are held by foreigners.Foreigners hold $1.28 trillion in agency- and government sponsored enterprise-backed securities, and another $2.33 trillion in US corporate bonds.

Foreigners hold 24% of domestic corporate debt and 17% of domestic corporate equity."

You may also be interested in the following link:

http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100830_china_rumors_central_bank_chiefs_defection?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100830&utm_content=GIRimage&elq=9f381a1f851341cfa81049351b5b498d

It reads in part:


"Rumors have been circulating in China that People’s Bank of China (PBC) Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan may have left the country. The rumors appear to have started following reports on Aug. 28 which cited Ming Pao, a Hong Kong-based news agency, saying that because of an approximately $430 billion loss on U.S. Treasury bonds, the Chinese government may punish some individuals within PBC, including Zhou. Although Ming Pao on Aug. 30 published a report on its website indicating that the prior report was fabricated by a mainland news site that had attributed the false information to Ming Pao, rumors of Zhou’s defection have spread around China intensively, and Zhou’s name has been blocked from Internet search engines in China."

Keep an eye on where "We the Peoples" money is being spent and how much cumulative national debt We the People are carrying to gauge the future of the great democratic experience in the United States.

Vets home resident says Rose’s claim to get money back is unfounded

When reading the story linked above, please recall the following:

As the Hastings Gazette has previously reported, there are 3 important differences between Mr. Rose and Mr. Weeks:

1. Mr. Rose was denied his citizenship by his country for a period of 4 years. His country later admitted the error and reinstated it, only after Mr. Rose acquired his file under the Freedom of Information Act on his own, located a lawyer on his own and worked on his case with legal counsel which he acquired on his own.

2. Mr. Rose is 70 years old and was denied his rightfully paid social security for a period of almost 4 years due to the government error on his citizenship status.

3. Mr. Rose has never filed for any kind of disability, worked for over 40 years in this country and paid his taxes during that period.

HASTINGS GAZETTE UPDATE ARTICLE ON TONY ROSE

Battle between Rose and Vets Home continues

"Nearly six months after Hastings veteran Tony Rose received a $48,000 bill from the veterans’ home, he’s living on his own, but still fighting to see his money returned.

By: Katrina Styx, The Hastings Star-Gazette

Nearly six months after Hastings veteran Tony Rose received a $48,000 bill from the veterans’ home, he’s living on his own, but still fighting to see his money returned.

The home billed Rose retroactively when he received nearly $50,000 in social security back pay. He and Stella Mednik, an immigration lawyer in New York, had worked for two years to recover the social security pay.

On March 11, Rose sent a formal complaint to Charles Cox, the home’s administrator, regarding the handling of his social security pay as well as a number of other shortfalls in regard to his treatment and care at the home.

“Firstly I am writing this letter to you to ask you to reconsider keeping from me the sum of $47,957.96 that I have handed over to you under extreme duress,” the letter states.

After receiving his back pay, Rose deposited the money into his account with the home, since he had no other place to keep it at the time. The demand to pay roughly $48,000 in recalculated maintenance fees was accompanied by a threat of eviction, Rose said. The time table laid before him – just a few days – left him no time to contact Mednik.

“I paid ‘em,” he said. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“They basically coerced him, because they had no other way to get the money out,” Mednik said.

Rose moved out of the home in June, but he and Mednik are still fighting the home. Because Rose already paid the home, getting the money back won’t be easy.

“It makes it extraordinarily difficult,” Mednik said.

Rose did receive a reply from Cox, dated April 26. After presenting the series of events and charges applied, Cox writes, “Our calculations are current under Minnesota Rules, and as such, we do not believe that you are entitled to a refund.”

The letter also denied any knowledge that a staff member forced, enticed or coerced Rose to pay the fee.

The reply was one of few Rose has received from the home, and the lack of communication has been frustrating.

“(My lawyers have) given up talking to (staff at the home),” Rose said. “They’re just going to go to court.”

Mednik is working with local lawyer Harry Sieben to bring the case before a judge, but that process could take another two years, Mednik said.

“Like everything else, it’s a long, slow process,” Rose said.

In the meantime, he’s enjoying his new life outside the home. When asked what his life is like now, he replied, “No blood pressure, no depression… I’m independent. I’m paying my own way.”

He passes his time by biking through town, reading, working a couple days a week and volunteering.

“You’ve gotta balance your life. You gotta give back what you took,” he said.

He also bakes often, giving the food to Hastings Family Service, Dunn Bros. and others.

“I don’t eat it,” he said.

As far as his relationship with the veterans’ home goes, he’s glad to be out.

“I don’t even want to go near the place anymore,” he said.

As difficult as his experience with the home has been lately, he acknowledged that for some of the veterans who live there, it’s a valuable place, especially if they have to take a lot of medication.

“They’ve got to stay there, because they couldn’t afford it on the outside,” he said.

A spokesperson from the Veterans Home could not be reached for comment."

STRATFOR Article on Wikileaks and The Afghan War

By George Friedman

"On Sunday [25 July 2010]The New York Times and two other newspapers published summaries and excerpts of tens of thousands of documents leaked to a website known as WikiLeaks. The documents comprise a vast array of material concerning the war in Afghanistan. They range from tactical reports from small unit operations to broader strategic analyses of politico-military relations between the United States and Pakistan. It appears to be an extraordinary collection.

Tactical intelligence on firefights is intermingled with reports on confrontations between senior U.S. and Pakistani officials in which lists of Pakistani operatives in Afghanistan are handed over to the Pakistanis. Reports on the use of surface-to-air missiles by militants in Afghanistan are intermingled with reports on the activities of former Pakistani intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, who reportedly continues to liaise with the Afghan Taliban in an informal capacity"

Remainder of Article:

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100726_wikileaks_and_afghan_war?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1007027&utm_content=readmore&elq=d881b7d6616742eca1f41a7477f771ca

VETERAN'S FISHING CATCH BRAGGING BOARD

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