The CODEPINK house had, yet another, fabulous potluck last night bustling with a great turn out of about 40 friends in attendance. There was much food, drink, and conversation shared making a wonderful evening. CODEPINK was very happy to be able to welcome into our home yesterday evening special guest, author and activist, Genevieve Vaughan. Gen, while in town participating in the Anthropology Association Conference, came to share her evening with CODEPINK for our potluck. We gave her a tour and a beautiful CP poster that a friend in NY made for us. Gen was very sweet, telling us how proud she was of our work. She contributed to the house copies of her book Women and the Gift Economy and her new children’s book Free, Not Free.
Gen, along with a couple of friends of hers, Bernadette from
Later, in the evening activist, scholar, and writer Riane Eisler arrived and spoke to us after dinner about her philosophy of changing the language from domination to partnership. Riane also generously donated her book The Real Wealth of Nations. She gave us the gift of the tool of knowledge to put forth to action. Riane told us that with our creative and active group she hoped she could contribute through inspiring future actions and would love to hear about them if she did. The group all engaged in a lively conversation following her talk.
If you are interested in hearing Genevieve Vaughan speak, you may see her at the American Anthropological Association’s 106th Annual Meeting from November 28 – December 2, 2007 in
http://www.aaanet.org/mtgs/mtgs.htm.
45 comments:
CODEPINK DC PEACE TEAM EXTENDS MANY THANNKS to OUR WONDERFUL SUPPORTERS!!
WE APPRECIATE everyone who works for peace!!!!
Lots of food and drink, that explains alot.
Yall have a couple for the road when you head out on these incredible adventures?
When's the last time you ever went to a party with friends, Marie? You sound like you could really use to get a life, yourself.
By the way, DC team, glad you found a good home for the poster. ;-7
More aging hippie 1960's whack jobs. When is that generation going to finally die?
EILEEN, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH PARTYING, BUT YOU CHICKS SHOULD DO IT WHILE WEARING SEXY OUTFITS AND PUT UP PHOTOS OF YOU THAT WAY. YOU KNOW, LIKE TIGHT THINGS SUCH AS SPANDEX, LEGGINGS OR PVC. PLUS YOU COULD WEAR HIGH BOOTS NOW THAT THE WINTER IS ALMOST HERE.
Did anyone see the news about that British teacher who was sentenced in the Sudan to 15 days in prison for letting her class name a stuffed bear Mohammad? They should execute her. She represents the kind of cultural insensitivity that is the result of President Bush's aggressiveness in dealing with Islam. Right now, they are protesting in the streets demanding her execution and they are absolutely 100 percent correct.
Eileen Coles said...
Or we could party wearing whatever we like. Suffer, anonymous horndog. No peace, no pussy!
November 30, 2007 6:32 AM
Whoa! LOL!
Eileen,
You should care since 75% of the American public disagree with your antics!
I mean seriously, the 60's are over.
This is an ALL Volunteer Armed Forces, there is NO draft. The anti-victory crowd is all but dead and gone. The Troops dont even agree with your stupidity.
Who are you people to tell the Volunteer Forces to come home if they themselves want to finish the job and be victorious? I mean what gives YOU the right to tell those Soldiers how to live?
What gives YOU the right to harass wounded Soldiers at Walter Reid? Who are YOU to be judge and jury of anything that goes on with an all Vounteer Force?
You have NO right. The Soldiers are going to do what they want to do whether you like it or not, and they laugh at your idiotic antics.
Even the Troops wish you people would go away.
Hostage standoff at Hillary Clinton New Hampshire Headquarters!
One of yours I pressume?
Great koolaid vomit you've got goin' on there, Marie, but that's about all it's worth. Try again. Or not. It doesn't matter either way.
We represent the true majority in this country. The troops are sick of this war. Your lies and insane propagandist rants will not be taken seriously here. This administration steals elections, ignores Congressional subpoenas, plots in secret against it's own people, advocates torture, exploits terrorism, suppresses and ignores the will of the people, and favors greed and dishonesty over the ideals that this country was founded on. This is not the country I enlisted to protect and defend with my life as a six year Active Duty veteran. Take your glassy-eyed flag waving to someone stupid enough to buy into it, Marie.
No, it's not one of ours, Marie. It's more likely one of yours, since "ours" don't lean toward threatening people with guns, bombs, violence or "disappearance".
By the way, gone out and gotten that life yet? You really need to work on that.
Marie:
You raise a really good point. Often these so called peace activists snap. In the 1970's, the Weather Underground planted bombs around Washington DC and they even participated in several robberies in which people got killed. I agree with you it probably could be some so called peace activist.
Hey Marie:
Have you lost one of your socks? I think I see it right over there.
Eileen,
We represent the true majority in this country. The troops are sick of this war. Your lies and insane propagandist rants will not be taken seriously here. This administration steals elections, ignores Congressional subpoenas, plots in secret against it's own people, advocates torture, exploits terrorism, suppresses and ignores the will of the people, and favors greed and dishonesty over the ideals that this country was founded on. This is not the country I enlisted to protect and defend with my life as a six year Active Duty veteran. Take your glassy-eyed flag waving to someone stupid enough to buy into it, Marie.
You dont represent the majority of this Country, you represent the Lunatic Fringe of the left!
The Troops want to and are winning this war, life is beginning to return to normal in Baghdad, shops are opening up, water and electricity are being restored, schools are re-opening, hospitals are re-opening, and Millions of Iraqi's that fled to Syria and Jordan while Al-Qaeda was having thier way with them, are returning home. Because Al-Qaeda has been whooped.
The Iraqi's have aligned themselves with the US Military and are helping root out the remnants of the pigs known as Al-Qaeda. They are all but gone.
Iraq is Free and Sovereign.
Those people now have a chance for a decent life and our Troops have a chance to come home victorious!
I'm not peddling propaganda sweetie, those are the fact's ma'am just the fact's :-)
Anon,
Anonymous said...
Marie:
You raise a really good point. Often these so called peace activists snap. In the 1970's, the Weather Underground planted bombs around Washington DC and they even participated in several robberies in which people got killed. I agree with you it probably could be some so called peace activist.
November 30, 2007 4:00 PM
Didnt something like that happen at Reagan's first General Election too?
Some Anti-Victory activist claimed there was a bomb or something in one of the voting stations or something?
Been awhile I dont remember.
Marie, you and your sock puppet can get something straight right now: CodePink is a nonviolent organization. Now, I realize "nonviolent" has more than three syllables, it's one of those "big people" words, but I am pretty sure you know what it means.
Eileen,
Bush stole the election. Bush's aides have ignored Congressional subpoenas to explain illegal and immoral actions. A CIA agent's identity was deliberately outed because her husband refused to go along with the lie for us being in Iraq which WAS free and sovereign before we invaded it specifically to steal their oil and loot their country's other resources. Nearly one million Iraqis are dead for that lie. Nearly 4000 of our troops have died for that lie.
Bush stole the election that's rich and old. Bush won the popular vote in '00 and '04 and went through repeated counting of ballots in Florida and it went to the Supreme Court and it proved our voting process works! 33 days Al Gore put us all through hell. And in '04 there was really no contest, Bush won hands down.
The CIA Agent you are refering to was Valerie Plame and I even knew who she was thank's to her husband who outed his own wife on Larry King! Now if I even knew who she was, how was there any outing of anyone?
We are in the middle of a War! Bush's aides wont go into Public Meetings with people like you sitting back there in Pink Crowns and crazy crap and tell our Country's secrets to the World, because we would like to keep some information secure and classified so the Terrorist's who want us ALL DEAD wont know what the hell we are up to. You should know this if you were in the Armed Forces, you dont give the enemy any amunition.
Iraq was free and Sovereign alright before we got there, ruled by one of the most evil dictators of all time, who I will remind you came to power through a coup, who threatened his neighbors, gased his neighbors, invaded his neighbors, tortured his own people, gased his own people, committed mass Genocide, scortched the Earth when he lit all the Kuwaiti oil fields on fire, tried to assasinate one of our Presidents, Never obeyed the UN Resolutions nor the No-Fly Zones, Kicked out IAEA and UN weapons inspectors, violated 17 UN Resolutions, some I have mentioned, and was a General pain in the ass of the middle east!!
How have we stolen thier oil? They just recently got thier Navy up and running (With a little help from the good 'ol USA) and will be transporting the first, "THE FIRST" Drumb of Oil out of that Country in YEARS!! So you loons and your "Blood For Oil" arguement has never worked.
Where are you getting the impossible figure that almost a million Iraqi's are dead because of all this? The Iraqi body count is like 39,000. I dont know where you people get these figures but they are incorrect. And you can thank Al-Qaeda for most of the Iraqi death's not the US.
Nearly 4000 of our brave Soldiers are dead for a cause, not a lie. I will remind you once again this is an ALL VOLUNTEER Armed Force. They knew exactly where they would be sent and why when they signed on for this. We must honor each and every one of them because they believed in a mission greater than themselves. A mission they VOLUNTEERED to do!
"Al Qaeda is gone", that's a good one. Where is bin Laden? They can't seem to be able to find one stinking terrorist wheeling a dialysis machine around in a cave. Maybe because his family is so cozy with Bush and Cheney, perhaps? Produce bin Laden's head on a stick or shut the fuck up about Al Qaeda being gone.
I was talking about Al-Qaeda in Iraq dumbass. And maybe if we occupied Pakistan we would have Bin Hidin, but you Pink People wont go for that either will you? I dont have to shut up about anything you overfed with conspiracy theory bullshit moron!
Oh and here's another one that's so sad it's funny: "The troops will come home", is that the latest lie they've told you? Bullshit. They're going to keep anyone they can get their murdering hands on moving in such heavy rotation through that theater, being stop lossed and sent on third and fourth deployments, those poor souls are going to think they're a Madonna video on MTV. Bush plans to have our fat, greedy hand in Iraq's oil wells for the next ten years. Fuck your stinking lies, you useless wingnut lemming.
Uh.. Whose They? That have told me anything?
The Troops have been on stop loss since 9-11, that will be nothing new to them. And the Troops are VOLUNTEERING for this, again I have to remind you this isnt the 60's nor Viet Nam!
You dont believe the Troops are coming home? lol
They are going to keep 50,000 Troops there to be rotated at a time specified by the DOD as per engagement qualifications and MOS Status. As things wind down, things go back to normal? Remember?
Remember the objective of the War On Terror at all?
We did NOT go to Iraq for thier oil, especially since none has been pumped out yet, and with everyone and I mean EVERYONE keeping an eye on thier oil and us, it would be a little hard to hide!
I'm sorry but your diluded.
You fall for Conspiracy Theory Bullshit, Harrass Soldiers at Walter Reid, make asses of yourselves at every Senate meeting, flop and the floor and play dead, show up with bloody hands, outright lie to people, go on hunger strikes for the enemy, and just play into our enemy's hands at every single turn.
I think the Dept. Of Homeland Security should categorize you pink people as a terrorist group!
By The Way,
For Peace Loving people, you sure are hostile!!
The Supreme Court decided who won the 2000 election. Period. True, Gore didn't ask for the right thing (full recount of Florida), but to say anything else is just not true.
Marie, it is really hard to take you seriously and to believe you know what you're talking about with your poor grammar, your terrible spelling, and your unsubstantiated claims. It's their, not thier, it's deluded, not diluded, and apostrophe s should only be used for possessives.
Further, you clearly know nothing about the Constitution of the United States of America. The members of Code Pink are simply speaking their (notice the spelling) minds, which is a right delineated in the Constitution and a duty repeatedly demanded of U.S. citizens throughout history.
Please educate yourself and at least use a spell-checker.
Al Qaeda gone from Iraq? More propagandist BS. We drove EVERYONE away by turning off electricity and water to major cities. Great accomplishment there. As your so called "normalization" returns, so will the insurgency. Play these pathetic games with someone stupid enough to believe them.
Incidentally, terrorist groups cause actual terror. They do this by imposing an atmosphere of violence and fear. If there is any organizaton responsible for fear and terror in the world today it is the very Bush administration that simultaneously exploits and propagates that violence and fear.
I realize that it is a frightening experience for someone like you to think independently, that's why you mindlessly parrot the lies you are told at every available opportunity and never question them. However be assured that the only way CodePink will ever "terrorize" you is in that manner - by questioning the lies you mindlessly swallow and regurgitate. It is we, the true majority in this nation, who do not have to shut up just because brainwashed morons like yourself can't handle anything that forces you to think about the consequences of America's callous actions and disgusting lies.
Hostile? You fucking bet we're hostile. Our country has been twisted and perverted by a foul dictator and people we love and care about are dying or being mortally wounded for a stinking LIE.
We are for peace, for love, and for freedom. If you do not respect those ideals, what should it matter to you if you do not receive them from us? In one breath you throw your stinking lies and insults up in our faces and then you have the nerve to complain when you receive back contempt and hostility along with the ugly truth you refuse to see? If you want respect instead of hostility, then let's see that from you!
I'm not holding my breath though. It's all I can do to muster enough compassion to understand that you yourself are not much more but a foolish, willing victim. The day WILL come when the truth is brought to light in a manner you will no longer be able to ignore. You poor, pathetic fool. How you and those like you will weep with shame and horror on that day as you remember that you were warned over and over. As much as you spew your vindictive hatred and lies here, on that day it will be your voices - what few that might be left! - that drown out ours as the world cries out for the Bush administration to be brought to justice for their war crimes.
You say our country has been taken over by a dictator, but the last time I checked, the president was elected. As you may recall, most recently, he beat Sen. John Kerry.
How do you figure that the president is a dictator. Since Code Pink maintains such close ties with dictators like Hugo Chavez you would think that you might know what a dictator is. Since Medea Benjamin lived in communist Cuba, and described it as heaven, you would think that you would know what it really is to live under a dictatorship.
In your mind any action the president takes to protect the country is dictatorial. You offer heaps of criticism but no answers. We are fortunate to have President Bush in the critical time. If someone like you led the country, you would appease the very people who are out to destroy us.
Medea Benjamin is in Pakistan protesting, but do you notice she is silent when it comes to what her friend Hugo Chavez is doing to solidify his hold on power? I wonder why that is? The answer is that Code Pink embraces the enemies of the United States and is trying to do whatever it can to undermine our security rather than promote it. Marie is right when she says you are on the fringes.
Eileen, your criticism falls on deaf ears because you offer only criticism and no solutions. You offer vile rhetoric instead of poetry, beauty and light. Your views are so myopic that you should feel sorry for yourself in the sense that you have to align yourself with these fringe elements to feel somehow intellectually important.
Don't change, keep spewing your bile and making your ridiculous accusations. You may persuade a few ignorant college students, but not much more. You are nothing but the equivalent of a gadfly.
Anonymous coward, Bush stole the election, and Kerry should have fought to reveal the assorted proven fraud that took place in Ohio and Florida with the help of Diebold hackable voting machines, assorted convenient power outages, and misinformation and intimidation of voters in black districts. All of this activity is part of the recorded history should you care to look.
My criticism falls on deaf ears? I wouldn't brag if I were you, because there's nothing wrong with MY ears. The truth of what the Bush administration has done is ugly. Why else hide it behind a cloud of secrecy? The truth is brutal. Every mother who has wept for the death of a child in this war knows it. The the unreal bubble of blissful ignorance you choose to live in, built on the backs of far better people than you, is going to burst sooner or later. If you want the sequel to the fascist fairytale that Hitler told the Germans, you are not going to get it here. Go elsewhere if you need propagandist sunshine blown up your ass.
If we were as ineffective as you pretend then you wouldn't be here spewing your hateful lies. Go ahead, waste more of your time. It's not going to change reality, and CodePink is ALL about bringing that reality home to you. Go ahead, come back for more. Reality isn't going away, and neither are we.
coles, I recieved two emails from folks in theater to I am sending things to in Iraq. Their last two email replies, on their own, they told me that they were doing good things there. That they made a difference.
We weren't talking about anything other than that I needed names for a school class who had 80 shoeboxes that needed troops.
I spend a lot of time at Walter Reed. I know a lot of wounded, some grievously. I don't get from them the POV that you're claiming.
The folks in Iraq, they know how Code Pink and other "Big Protest" front groups trash the troops and their mission, how they are losing, how they aren't doing any good there, according to Code Pink and fellow travellers.
It's obviously because they feel they have to counter act the crap from Code Pink and "Big Protest" front groups that they felt they had to add the part defending themselves against your claims.
I've been on post at Reed about three years now and I've heard exactly one wounded soldier say anything, in any way close to your position. And then it was only a question and not a conclusion.
[..."ours" don't lean toward threatening people with guns, bombs, violence or "disappearance".]
Code Pink just honored Cathy Wilkerson. The bombs being built in Wilkerson's Grennich Villige rowhouse were to be used in to bomb a NCO dance at Fort Dix.
Remember the night club bombings in Europe, where they were targeted because they were frequented by US service personel?
No difference between Kidaffy's terrorists and the woman Code Pink just honored.
"Yours" do lean towards bombing. At they very least, they honor those that targetted US troops with bombs. Mass murder for peace.
It's not several robberies where people got killed, it's several robberies where people were murdered. Murdered so Cathy Wilkerson and the Weather Underground could continue to to plot and carry out attacks against US troops, right here in the USA.
coles, Richard Armitage outted Plame. Armitage was anti-war. Hardly the guy for you to claim was out for revenge against Plame.
The rest of your rant is just so much BS.
coles, you anti-war types get wet when the Ambraham Lincoln Brigade joins your protest march.
Those guys got "Stop Lossed" but I never hear your side mention that.
Is that because you never say anything bad about war for communism?
Seems so. Very much so.
Code Pink is non-violent, yet honors those who were plotting to kill NCOs at Fort Dix.
Yeah,...what a maroon.
If Code Pink were non-violent, you'd think they'd condem Wilkerson.
BTW, Wilkerson still believes that killing NCOs was the right thing to do.
I forget the other Weatherman's name, but he's (I remember it being a guy) on record as saying they should have been more violent and that he doesn't rule it out now.
Peace out.....way out if you're Code Pink.
Anon,
Marie, it is really hard to take you seriously and to believe you know what you're talking about with your poor grammar, your terrible spelling, and your unsubstantiated claims. It's their, not thier, it's deluded, not diluded, and apostrophe s should only be used for possessives.
It is sad when you run out of points to make or justifcations for your actions that you lower yourself to pointing out spelling and grammer imperfections.
I understand it must be irritating to you but sometimes some of us type fast and dont look at what we have typed and see mistakes that have been made in time to correct them before we hit publish.
But spell checking and grammer should be the least part of this discussion, besides that even with imperfections you know what we are talking about and I guess you just dont have an answer for them. Typical Liberal Crap!
I just had to come here and mention this:
I just saw Geraldo Rivera (A very big anti-war critic when things go wrong in Iraq and a kiss ass when they go right)on a news channel and he was standing there with I forget which Battalion and they are all so happy the Iraqi's chose to side with them instead of the terrorists it brought tears to my eyes.
They interviewed some Iraqi Civilians and they were translated as saying "Al-Qeada tried to ruin our children and our lives and we are thankful to the US Military for all they have done"!!
These people are able to walk the streets not in fear anymore, they are able to shop and have decent lives now.
I would think you people would be happy over the news that the surge has worked and all is almost well in Iraq and that our Soldiers can come home with dignity they deserve and told "job well done".
It is truly time we all band together and give our Troops a High 5, and tell them everything they have done was NOT in vein and they have won and we are proud!
It is time we ALL band together to welcome our Troops home when they do come home.
I know you pink people need to re-think your positions on this, but it's almost over and those that Volunteered for this mission should have the gratitude of ALL Americans!
Iraqi's will live in peace, it's better for the US and it's better for the World in General.
Political Parties do NOT matter in this, only Victory!
Marie,
I'm a life-long Republican. I have never voted anything but Republican. You just embarrass me too much. Please educate yourself. You are giving us a bad name. True Conservatives are well-educated and logical. True Conservatives put aside partisan politics for the good of our country. True Conservatives work with Liberals to make this country a better place. You're not a Republican. You're a partisan hack.
Hey Marie, what do you think of the 120 veteran suicides a week that took place for the year of 2005? Why do you think that close to 7000 returning veterans from Iraq would want to kill themselves a year? That's about 17 people a DAY. What do you think they experienced while they were over in Iraq that would make so many of them want to kill themselves, Marie?
Here's a model officer, a valedictorian, who shot herself in the stomach because she couldn't take the hostile work environment that a sexist pig officer in her command was creating on top of her own very real, difficult duty. What do you think about the "victory" being represented when this officer is prosecuted while the one who caused the problem retains command in that theater?
What do you think of the military's claims that thousands of troops coming home with PTDS or severe brain trauma have "pre-existing conditions" or "personality disorders" that render them ineligible for treatment? Is that what you call "supporting the troops", Marie?
You'd like to forget that many of us ARE the troops and we know the WHOLE story, which you are NOT including as part of your mindless, parroted rants. We see what this war is doing to our brothers and sisters in uniform. There is no glory or freedom that this war has brought to Iraq. It has only brought injury, theft, rapine and slaughter. The Bush administration is a pack of lying, thieving, murdering war criminals who run our country as if it was some sort of Oil Mafia. To this day I thank my Gods I served under the father and not his psychotic, sadistic, soulless son.
Take your smug claims of "Iraqi liberation" to people who can't see firsthand how the war is eating it's own, because that's the only place they'll ever hold water. 120 suicides a week. 17 suicides a day. Obviously there's a lot of glory and freedom to go around!
Marie,
It's impossible to insult something that's obviously not there. I responded to you because I am embarrassed that you tout yourself as a Conservative when all you are is a cheerleader for a party. You obviously have no political philosophy other than "yay for my team." If Conservatism is to survive in this country, we need people willing to listen and debate, not screaming fanatics like you.
Ron Paul is registered as a Republican and those who voted for him in Texas believe him to be Republican, so he is a Republican. That said, I'm a Fred Thompson supporter.
coles, yeah, you're non-violent, you only honor the violent.
Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are. People should be worried when you honor your friends that murder people for "the revolution".
As far my folks being under corrupt commanders, nobody was reound when I talked to them, so you're nuts.
And the one guy runs comm so nobody is going to be censoring their email to me.
Eileen,
Hey Marie, what do you think of the 120 veteran suicides a week that took place for the year of 2005? Why do you think that close to 7000 returning veterans from Iraq would want to kill themselves a year? That's about 17 people a DAY. What do you think they experienced while they were over in Iraq that would make so many of them want to kill themselves, Marie?
Oh God!
Your figures are so incorrect I cant believe this. There has been maybe a handful of suicides and they DID have mental issues and picked the wrong profession!
I know people Serving, I know alot of Veterans and I know some Iraqi's and this is utter crap.
What do you think of the military's claims that thousands of troops coming home with PTDS or severe brain trauma have "pre-existing conditions" or "personality disorders" that render them ineligible for treatment? Is that what you call "supporting the troops", Marie?
Again you are talking about a handful of people.
And thank's to President Clinton who gutted our Military, closed Bases all around the Country, gutted the VA, and scaled back everything "he" thought needed to be cut, Body Armor, Up Armor for Vehicles in Theater, and all sorts of other things we as "Rumsfeld" put it (Not trying to slap Clinton in the face mind you) "You go to War with the Army You Have"!
President Bush has put more money into fixing up the Military than any President in History.
There is no glory or freedom that this war has brought to Iraq. It has only brought injury, theft, rapine and slaughter. The Bush administration is a pack of lying, thieving, murdering war criminals who run our country as if it was some sort of Oil Mafia. To this day I thank my Gods I served under the father and not his psychotic, sadistic, soulless son.
Maybe no glory as far as you are concerned but who the hell are you to tell an all volunteer force what they should or should not be doing?
As long as the Troops want to finish the mission I am going to support them.
Take your smug claims of "Iraqi liberation" to people who can't see firsthand how the war is eating it's own, because that's the only place they'll ever hold water. 120 suicides a week. 17 suicides a day. Obviously there's a lot of glory and freedom to go around!
You really need to get your figures straight. If we were losing that many Soldiers a day for any reason we wouldnt have an Army left. Geez
And dont even pretend you know what's going on over there when you wont pay any attention to the DOD, the Troops, or the Generals on the ground.
Anon,
Marie,
It's impossible to insult something that's obviously not there. I responded to you because I am embarrassed that you tout yourself as a Conservative when all you are is a cheerleader for a party.
Guess what?
I'm not here to make you happy!
Eileen,
I knew you were WAYYYYY off on your figures
CBS News’ investigative unit wanted the numbers, so it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense asking for the numbers of suicides among all service members for the past 12 years.
Four months later, they sent CBS News a document, showing that between 1995 and 2007, there were almost 2,200 suicides. That’s 188 last year alone. But these numbers included only “active duty” soldiers.
CBS News went to the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Dr. Ira Katz is head of mental health.
"There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem," he said.
Why hasn't the VA done a national study seeking national data on how many veterans have committed suicide in this country?
"That research is ongoing,” he said.
So CBS News did an investigation - asking all 50 states for their suicide data, based on death records, for veterans and non-veterans, dating back to 1995. Forty-five states sent what turned out to be a mountain of information.
And what it revealed was stunning.
In 2005, for example, in just those 45 states, there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.
Dr. Steve Rathbun is the acting head of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department at the University of Georgia. CBS News asked him to run a detailed analysis of the raw numbers that we obtained from state authorities for 2004 and 2005.
It found that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. (Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000.)
One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000)
"Wow! Those are devastating," said Paul Sullivan, a former VA analyst who is now an advocate for veterans rights from the group Veterans For Common Sense.
A few hundred suicides, which is bad but not as bad as 17,000 per year, that is bunk.
And average of 18.7 PER 100,000 Troops not PER DAY!
Not 17,000 PER YEAR!
2,200.. Man were you wayyyy off.
Suicide Among Soldiers
You know how may suicides in America there were last year because of who knows what reason?
Close to 13,000.
Marie,
No you're just obviously here to make yourself, and, unfortunately, all good conservatives, sound really, really stupid. You're just making the job harder for those of us who are serious about making this country a better place. Enjoy your role of court jester. It's the best you can ever do.
I love how she doesn't even think about why all those veterans might be killing themselves (percentage wise it works out to twice the national average). All she complains about is that I rounded it up to the nearest thousand.
Way to support the troops, Marie - right into the grave!
Hi, Eileen! Thx for the lift the other day:):):)
I think marie made her point, and now she needs to take her two cents and buy herself a nice warm cup of STFU.
Or even better, come on over to the next potluck and we will ply her with delicious whirled peas! She sounds like they'd do her a world of peasful good.
coles, the average soldier, even after combat is less likely to commit suicide than the average population.
Yours is just a cheap stunt to exploit the goodwill the nation has for the military. And to use it against them, that's sick.
coles, the same moonbats that bash Bush include 41 in the "Bush Crime Family" and spout the Nazi collaborator for profit nonsense. Also the "Skull and Bones/CFR/Builda Better Burger" type crap that appeals to the 9/11 conspiracy kooks.
Pigwater, repeating the same old tired lies with no facts to back them up might make you feel better, but you'll find it's just about as effective as a serial murderer praying with rosary beads in the long run.
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