Can Obama End Veteran Homelessness?

If you think homelessness among veterans is unacceptable, you’re not alone. Obama has pledged to establish a national “zero tolerance policy” for homelessness among veterans. In his proposed budget, he took a bold step towards that goal by proposing a 10 percent increase for Veterans Affairs. But will increasing government spending to match our “support our troops” rhetoric ultimately end veteran homelessness?

It’s no mystery that veterans are disproportionately represented among the homeless population. During good economic times, one in four people without a roof wore the uniform (thanks to the recession, that number is probably a bit lower today). While many of these homeless vets served in Vietnam, a growing number of vets from Iraq and Afghanistan are winding up in shelters and on the streets.

Why, you ask? The answer, of course, is where our government chooses to direct funding (or not direct funding, as is the case here). During the Bush years, Veterans Affairs (VA) was wholly undersupported by the Bush administration. Suffering through astronomical budget shortfalls and lowball estimates that failed to take into account the costs of treating vets returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Mexican Company Denies Suffering Caused by Mines

The Mexican mining company Autlán claims there is no evidence to prove that manganese causes harm to human health.

In the Mexican state of Hidalgo, the company has been extracting the mineral since the 1960s.

Adults in a group of towns near the company’s operation live their daily lives trembling as if they have Parkinson’s disease, and the mental development of children has been found to be noticeably lesser than normal.

“The company takes a sceptical position (about studies that show the effects of manganese poisoning); it does not believe that it is causing the problems or that it is to blame,” says Horacio Riojas, from the government’s National Public Health Institute (INSP). But the evidence is irrefutable, says Riojas.

Over the past ten years, INSP has carried out a series of health and environment studies in the nearby towns of Molango, Lolotla, Xochicoatlán and Tlanchinol, which together hold a combined population of about 60,000.

The region is one of the world’s main sources of manganese, a gray-white mineral that’s essential for the production of steel — as well as batteries, unleaded gasoline and various medications, fertilizers and other chemical products.

Writing for Tierramérica, Diego Cevallos describes what the INSP studies revealed:

In 2002 and 2003, blood and hair samples were taken from 300 adults and subjected to a variety of medical tests. In 2007, the same studies were carried out for 300 children between the ages of seven and 11. One part of the samples came from residents of areas near the mines, and the rest from residents of places similar in terms of social and economic development, but not near manganese mines.

Riojas said the findings are alarming. Sixty percent of the adults who live near the mines present neurological problems and trembling similar to the effects of Parkinson’s disease. In the case of the children near the mines, it was found that their intellectual and learning abilities are 20 percent lower than the comparable group that does not live near any mines.

There is no doubt that the exposure to manganese is the cause of the problems, he said.

It is well known that high-level manganese toxicity causes lethargy, increased muscle tonus (muscle twitches, like what we see with sleeping dogs), tremors, and mental disturbances like schizophreni. Long term toxicity causes permanent damage.

“We’ve had reports about problems, but my understanding was that the mining company had already assumed some commitments with the residents and that everything was fine now,” says Alejandro Dionisio, municipal secretary of Molango.

These commitments include… employment opportunities, a couple sports fields, and free roofing materials.

It’s shocking, to say the least. Afterall, we’re not simply talking about a few minor headaches here. We’re talking about the gradual physical and mental destruction of people — something that, in the very least, warrants a moratorium on mining until the issue can be properly addressed.

Riojas says there’s no interest in shutting down the mining operations, however. Local residents and the INSP just want “production to be clean and safe.”

If nothing is done to address the problem in the first few months of 2009, he adds, the issue will be taken to the National Health Council, which formulates health policies in Mexico.

Shenandoah dedicates inaugural song to Western Shoshone

Shenandoah dedicates inaugural song to Western Shoshone

San Pasqual Tribal Feud

VALLEY CENTER – About 50 members of the San Pasqual Indian Band were denied voting privileges because of a longstanding feud over their blood ties.

Angela Martinez-McNeal said she and her family were prevented from voting in a tribal election Sunday because tribal Chairman Allen Lawson and his supporters instructed San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies and the tribe’s own security officers to keep them out.

About 300 people belong to the Valley Center-area tribe, which runs Valley View Casino. In 2007, membership rights of every descendent of Marcus R. Alto Sr. were abruptly suspended because Alto was adopted and not biologically tied to the tribe

A new approach?

President-Elect Obama on the Nuclear Weapons Free World

“This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.” — candidate Barack Obama in Berlin, July 24, 2008 Click on the headline for a survey of Barack Obama statements on nuclear weapons policy.

Sign the call for a world free from nuclear weapons.

Mother Earth and Father Sky Music Festival 2009

This was originally posted by Brenda Norrell at http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/ Mother Earth and Father Sky Music Festival 2009 Dooda Desert Rock readies for 2009 music festival Dear Musicians and Poets, Photo Youth Climate Movement If you agree that Mother Earth & Father Sky should not be desecrated, that the health of humans and the environment should [...]

Indigenous activists begin rights walk

A group of Indigenous activists and community members have begun a 17-day walk from Sydney to Canberra seeking an end to the Northern Territory intervention.

They set off from Botany Bay before 0600 (AEDT) on Friday morning and plan to arrive at the Tent Embassy in the national capital on Australia Day.

The activists will also converge on Parliament House on February 3 – the first day back for federal parliament in 2009 – to protest for Aboriginal human rights.

Scott Horton Interviews Gareth Porter

Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist, discusses his recent visit to Iran to determine the receptivity of government officials to U.S. diplomatic overtures, the divide in Iranian opinion over Obama, how U.S. interference abroad allows defiant nationalistic governments stay in power, Obama’s potential to learn from his foreign policy mistakes despite the influence of hawkish advisers and how Iran’s increased regional influence and friendly relations with Iraq make nuclear weapons less likely.

MP3 here. (44:17)

Dr. Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist on U.S. national security policy. Porter is the author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam. He has written regularly for Inter Press Service on U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran since 2005. His articles also appear on RawStory.com and the Huffington Post.

FPL may have to refund $6 million to customers

The state is expected to decide today whether to require Florida Power & Light Co. to refund customers more than $6 million in costs related to a 2006 power outage blamed on an FPL contractor.

The Florida Public Service Commission also will discuss FPL’s proposal to pass $34.5 million in planning costs for a coal plant in Glades County that was shot down last year.

The costs of the items pale in comparison to the more than $7 billion in fuel, nuclear power and other costs FPL plans to pass to customers next year. But the Office of Public Counsel, the state’s advocate for utility customers, opposes requiring customers to foot the bill for the outage or the coal plant plans.

Burrow, Burrow, Burrow

any of these appointments to boards and commissions seem pretty innocuous, like the Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino. Some are a little more positioned to affect policy, like the Inter-American Foundation, which “makes grants to businesses and organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean.” A good buddy and donor to Bush got the nod on that board. He also nominated six people for the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, which is “charged with scientifically evaluating Department of Energy plans to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.” Since plans to store waste at Yucca Mountain are likely to come to a screeching halt in the Obama administration, those nominations might not be as troublesome as they could have been.

There’s a word of warning in the story, however.

Mr. Fratto pointed out that Mr. Bush’s term is a full four years — not 3 years, 10 months and 4 days — and the president will not pull punches as he makes potentially still more appointments. “We actually do have not just the authority,” he said, “we have an obligation to do what we think is best for the country up until 11:59 a.m. on January 20.”

After eight years of these maniacs doing what they “think is best for the country,” I don’t know if there will be any country left for Obama to govern as of 12:00 p.m. on January 20.