TALKING POINTS: Support our Troops

Talking Points

76% OF AMERICANS THINK THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION HAS NOT DONE ENOUGH TO CARE FOR IRAQ WAR VETERANS

Troops are being overworked and not getting proper time off.
Is this a “backdoor draft”?

• 31 Army combat brigades have served two or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, out of 44 total.
• 420,000 troops have deployed more than once.
• The Army’s policy calls for a soldier to return home for 24 months after being in a war zone for 12 months to recuperate and retrain. However, many soldiers have been called back to duty earlier than two years and many have been called back earlier than one year.
• Many troops have been deployed to the war zone for longer than 12 months.
• 50,000 troops have not been allowed to go home once their enlistment date arrives due to stop loss orders.
• The US Military is sending troops with serious psychological problems into Iraq and is keeping soldiers in combat even after superiors have been alerted to suicide warnings and other signs of mental illness.
• More than 410,000 National Guard and Reservists have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001, for an average of 18 months per mobilization. More than 84,000 have been deployed more than once.
• Suicide rate among troops deployed to Iraq hit all time high in 2006.

Even with the more than $400 billion spent on the War thus far, the troops are not being equipped properly for doing their jobs. There is a shortage of vital equipment for troops.

• The Army National guard has on-hand only 30 percent of its essential equipment in the US
• Nearly nine out of every ten Army National Guard units that are not in Iraq and Afghanistan have less than half the equipment needed to respond to domestic crises.
• Many troops and their families are buying their own body armor for deployment to the war zone.
• Although the technology for interceptor vests (Kevlar sheets) can stop shrapnel and rounds from machine guns and is 33% lighter, many soldiers sent to Iraq were issued the original flak jackets used in Vietnam that were able to block only some shrapnel. Some soldiers received the interceptor vests but not the ceramic plates that insert to protect vital organs.
• Because of the surge in troops, many are being deployed with only four months of training instead of 12. Some have only had a few days to learn how to fire their new rifles before being deployed.
• Armored Humvees have been in short supply in Iraq. To get armor on an existing Humvee would require about a year for the vehicle to be sent in for armoring.
• The Pentagon had not expected the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to be so long and was not financially prepared for an intensive ground troop commitment in Iraq.

Veterans are not being given the medical attention they need.

• 9 out of 10 disabled veterans have been made to wait for benefit evaluations longer than the Pentagon’s own standard of 40 days.
• 23,417 troops have been wounded in Iraq, and more than 3,000 have been killed.
• The cumulative cost of the Iraq War is $463 billion, and counting.
• An Army survey revealed that 50% of troops are more likely to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder if they serve more than one tour.
• As of September 2006, 600,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are eligible for health care through the Veterans Affairs (VA) system. Of the 1/3 that have sought care, at least 33,754 had been seen for PTSD, and 73,157 had been seen for some kind of mental disorder.
• There are signs that the VA is seriously unprepared for the mental health needs of veterans. For example, the VA claimed it was expecting only 2,900 new veteran PTSD cases in FY2006, but the actual number is likely to be about six times that because 17,827 new veterans got an initial PTSD diagnosis.
• In 2005 the VA was supposed to allocate $100 million for mental health care, but a 2006 US General Accounting Office (GAO) report has concluded that the VA did not inform medical center officials that the funds were to be used specifically for mental health initiatives.

See the following websites:

Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Assocation
VoteVets.org
Center for Defense Information

Talking Points: Sunshine Week 2007

What is Sunshine Week? How did it start and why?

• Sunshine Week is a national week to raise public discussion about the importance of open government, the Freedom of Information Act and Sunshine Laws.

• Sunshine Week is rooted in an event that originally took place in Florida, called “Sunshine Sunday” in 2002. Prompted by concern among the public and the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors about potential reforms to open government laws, a campaign was launched to educate and motivate the public about open government laws and their importance. This campaign was successful as many people advocated and pushed for their representatives to protect open government laws and the public’s right to know.

• In 2005, the first national Sunshine Week was launched, supported by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. There have been several success stories from the information released during Sunshine Week and the involvement of the public in learning about whether their federal, state and local governments are providing affordable, easy access to public information.

Main website for sunshine week

Click here to view events planned around the country

Radio-Television News Directors’ Association Sunshine Week information page:

Text of Freedom of Information Act

New York State Committee on Open Government

Talking Points: Energy in the West, A Call to Action

Climate Change: Potential Disaster for the West?

Health: Increased risk of some infectious diseases, especially those spread by mosquitoes and other insects

Water Quality: Climate Change may cause severe flooding in some areas and droughts in others. Less snowpack due to changing climate will mean less water in the summer months in some areas, which is a threat to civilization in areas of the American West. Sea level rise is a serious concern to many areas in the Western United States and across the globe. Water quality may be affected by changes in the timing, intensity and duration of precipitation.

Extreme weather events: It is predicted that a change in climate will effect the intensity of storms, including hurricanes and tornadoes.

Biodiversity and Habitat: Many species of fish may be affected by warming temperatures and snowpack melting earlier. Bird migration may be affected as well. Melting polar icecaps and glaciers, habitat to wildlife such as penguins and polar bears, is melting and may hinder survival.

The real effects of Climate Change are heavily disputed among scientists, what is generally accepted by scientists is that global warming is being accelerated by human consumption of energy produced by the burning of fossil fuels

Although there is not agreement on the effects of climate change, most scientists agree that even small shifts in climate due to warming could have dangerous consequences worldwide, for humans and wildlife.

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Climate Change and Global Warming in the United States

Climate Change: The Urgency, Impacts and Solutions (Public Citizen, September 2006)

Global Warming Myths and Facts (from Environmental Defense)

Global Warming in the West: In-depth information on the current and future impacts of global warming on the western United States

Energy Policy: Change on the Horizon in the West?

Five Western Governors take action, not wanting to wait for federal government (Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico):

• Western states tackle warming (by ROBERT TANNER The Olympian: The Associated Press 2/27/07)

• Oregon, New Mexico Help Pave The Way: Oregon Joins Four Other Western States To Head Off Global Warming (By Joseph Friedrichs, New West 2/28/07)

• Climate change hits the American West (by Todd Wilkinson from NewWest.net in the Sun Valley Online, 6.14.2006)

Advocates for the New West meet with Natural Resources Committee at federal level to push for change.

• Congress puts focus on West's evolution (By NOELLE STRAUB of the Missoulian D.C. Bureau: 2007)

• Energy Plan Could Affect the West (The Chief Engineer)

Extraction of resources, like coal and oil, are not going to be profitable in the long run

• Hot Profits and Global Warming: How Oil Companies Hurt Consumers and the Environment (by Tyson Slocum, Director, Public Citizen’s Energy Program, September 2006)

• Status of Gasoline Prices

• Bush Energy Plan Whacks Conservation: More than a dozen efficiency efforts are set for trims or elimination as the administration pushes long-term projects. (5/31/06)

Investing in alternative energy solutions could stimulate our economies and save our environment and is very possible.

• Factoid #10 -- Western U.S. Could Reduce Electricity Use by 20% From Projected Levels by 2020 (Nuclear Information and Resource Center)

• Director’s Update (Director Matt Baker): Colorado can lead on Global Warming (Environment Colorado, February 10, 2007)

• Union of Concerned Scientists: Clean Energy Program

• BlackEnergy, organizer of energy buying groups that help people use their utility bills to support Black communities.

• Energy Guru Sees Oil Free World: Lovins Mantra “It makes sense and makes money” (MSNBC: Associated Press 2004)

• Why Solartopia! Can Be Won By Earth Day 2030 (by Harvey Wasserman, CommonDreams.org)

• Step It Up: National Day of Climate Action

• Energy for Colorado’s Economy: Creating Jobs and Economic Growth with Renewable Energy (Environment Colorado: February 2007)