December 18, 2013
1. Interact - live - with Cosby on Twitter.
2. NATO commander concerned about Russian missiles.
3. Afghan security deal to be approved 'in timely manner'.
4. 2 sentenced in fraud scheme targeting VA.
5. Senators fight cuts to veteran benefits ahead of key budget test vote.
6. Opportunity exists for Congress to put veterans funding first.
7. Editorial: VA takes a step forward to help wounded warriors.
8. Death rate unusually high for young veterans.
9. Health Highlights: Dec. 16, 2013.
10. Dangerous MRSA bacteria expand into communities.
11. Legionnaires' disease sickens patient at VA hospital in Texas.
12. ‘Saddles For Soldiers’ Program Finds Success Treating PTSD In Veterans
Through Horse Bonding.
13. Veterans program helps Calvin Ward improve his life.
14. WSJ’s Michael Phillips Discusses ‘The Lobotomy Files’ on Reddit.
15. Veterans Affairs dental insurance program starts Jan. 1.
16. VA panel wants help in naming new clinic.
17. VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as December 18, 2013:
18. Today in History:
December 18, 2013
1. Interact - live - with Cosby on Twitter. Comedian Bill Cosby will be interacting
with military fans on Friday night and answering any questions you have during
his show on the American Forces Network.
2. NATO commander concerned about Russian missiles. NATO's supreme
commander says reports that Russia may have deployed state-of-the-art missiles
near the alliance's eastern borders show the need for more and better
communications between Russian and NATO military leaders.
3. Afghan security deal to be approved 'in timely manner'. The Afghan
ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday he's certain a security
agreement with the United States for a training and counterterrorism mission
there after 2014 will be signed "in a timely manner," while the U.S. again pressed
for the delayed signing to happen "promptly."
4. 2 sentenced in fraud scheme targeting VA. A former repair contractor with a
Florida property management company has been sentenced to two years in
federal prison for his role in defrauding a Department of Veterans Affairs
mortgage program.
5. Senators fight cuts to veteran benefits ahead of key budget test vote.
Hyperlink to Article FOX News: Republican senators were making a last-ditch
bid to undo cuts to military retiree benefits in the House-passed budget deal
ahead of a crucial test vote Tuesday morning in the Senate.
6. Opportunity exists for Congress to put veterans funding first. Hyperlink to
Article The Journal Times: Washington is poised to embrace a budget
compromise negotiated between Wisconsin’s 1st District Congressman Paul
Ryan and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The Ryan-Murray budget deal will
allow Congress to avoid the eleventh-hour posturing that the country has been
subjected to through the most recent sequestration events.
December 18, 2013
7. Editorial: VA takes a step forward to help wounded warriors. Hyperlink to
Article The Sacramento Bee: Veterans suffering with traumatic brain injury –
the “signature” wound of the post-9/11 wars – have new hope for the
compensation they need and deserve. The Department of Veterans Affairs
announced Monday that it is following the latest science and making it easier for
veterans to receive additional disability benefits for illnesses, such as dementia
and Parkinson’s disease, linked to traumatic brain injury.
8. Death rate unusually high for young veterans. Hyperlink to Article Los
Angeles Times: The death rate for California veterans under 35 surpasses that
of both active-duty service members and other civilians of the same ages,
according to a Times analysis of state mortality records. Scattered across the
state, the veterans' deaths — 1,253 men and 110 women between 2006 and
2011 — are barely noticed in the mayhem of modern life.
9. Health Highlights: Dec. 16, 2013. U.S. News & World Report ... injury have
been introduced by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. ... Thousands of
veterans are likely to file claims under the new regulations, ...
10.
Dangerous MRSA bacteria expand into communities. Hyperlink to
Article USA Today: A USA TODAY investigation shows MRSA bacteria, once
confined to hospitals, are emerging in communities to strike an increasing
number of children, as well as schools, prisons, even NFL locker rooms.
11.
Legionnaires' disease sickens patient at VA hospital in Texas.
Hyperlink to Article Tribune-Review: Tap water in a Veterans Affairs hospital in
Waco, Texas, has tested positive for Legionella — the waterborne bacteria
blamed in a fatal disease outbreak in the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.
‘Saddles For Soldiers’ Program Finds Success Treating PTSD In
Veterans Through Horse Bonding. Hyperlink to Article KCBS-TV (Video): It is
estimated that at least 22 war veterans, returned from duty, are killing
themselves each day in the U.S. according to the Department of Veterans
Affairs. As more veterans begin returning home from combat zones overseas,
the crucial necessity for rehabilitation programs, both psychological and spiritual
in nature, becomes ever more pressing.
12.
December 18, 2013
13.
Veterans program helps Calvin Ward improve his life. Hyperlink to
Article Winston-Salem Journal: Calvin Ward’s addition to alcohol and crack
cocaine led to many problems in his life, including homelessness. With the help
of Veterans Helping Veterans Heal Inc., though, Ward said he is turning his life
around.
WSJ’s Michael Phillips Discusses ‘The Lobotomy Files’ on Reddit.
Hyperlink to Article The Wall Street Journal: The Wall Street Journal recently
published The Lobotomy Files, a multimedia project about the Veterans
Administration’s use of lobotomies to treat about 2,000 mentally ill veterans. On
Monday, reporter Michael Phillips took reader questions during a two-hour Reddit
AMA (short for “Ask Me Anything”). He shared his thoughts on PTSD, The
Lobotomy Files and what it’s like to report in war zones.
14.
15.
Veterans Affairs dental insurance program starts Jan. 1. Hyperlink to
Article The Times: The Department of Veterans Affairs is partnering with Delta
Dental and MetLife to allow eligible veterans to purchase affordable dental
insurance. More than eight million veterans who are enrolled in VA health care
can choose to purchase one of the offered dental plans.
16.
VA panel wants help in naming new clinic. Hyperlink to Article The
Pueblo Chieftain: It sounds awkward, but the Pueblo VA Naming Committee
has the serious job of selecting a name for the new Department of Veterans
Affairs clinic here. And the panel wants name suggestions from Southern
Colorado residents and veterans.
17.
VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as December 18, 2013:
 February 25, 2013. House Veterans' Affairs Committee (Chairman Miller, RFla.) will hold a hearing to receive a legislative presentation of the Disabled
American Veterans.
 March 5, 2013. House Veterans' Affairs Committee (Chairman Miller, R-Fla.) and
Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee (Chairman Sanders, I-Vt.) will hold a joint
hearing to receive the legislative presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars.
18.
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Today in History:
1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no
law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of
1290.
December 18, 2013
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1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent
victory by the Americans over British General John Burgoyne in the Battle of
Saratoga in October.
1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1793 – Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French Royalists to Lord Samuel
Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
1878 – John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is executed in Pennsylvania.
1888 – Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins
of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde.
1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land
speed record of 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h) in a Jeantaud electric car.[1]
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when German forces under Chief
of staff Erich von Falkenhayn are defeated by the French, and suffer 337,000
casualties.
1917 – The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to
enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress.
1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the first ever
NFL Championship Game. Because of a blizzard, the game is moved from
Wrigley Field to the Chicago Stadium, the field measuring 80 yards (73 m) long.
1939 – World War II: The Battle of the Heligoland Bight, the first major air battle
of the war, takes place.
1944 – World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S.
Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.
1969 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James
Callaghan's motion to make permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty)
Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital punishment in England,
Wales and Scotland for murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of five years.
1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States
will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas
bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin
Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
1989 – The European Economic Community and the Soviet Union sign an
agreement on trade and commercial and economic cooperation.
1997 – HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth
Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and
MOPITT.
2002 – 2003 California recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis
announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly
double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.
2005 – The civil war in Chad begins when rebel groups, allegedly backed by
neighbouring Sudan, launch an attack in Adré.
2006 – The first of a series of floods strikes Malaysia. The death toll of all
flooding is at least 118, with over 400,000 people displaced.
2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections.
2010 – Anti-government protests begin in Tunisia, heralding the Arab Spring.