[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

click on the image to see in full window to read all info

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HARP 3.0 reducing the monthly mortgage payment

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/home-front/2012/05/10/harp-30-rumor-mill-what-a-possible-extension-means-for-homeowners

Since I am on a fixed income due to medical disability and rely on Social Security Disability and VA compensation, I have to watch where I spend the dollars and pennies. Like most Americans the home we bought in 2006 at the height of the market has since lost value, not as bad as some areas like Las Vegas or Southern California where the values have dropped as much as 50%.

But our home is underwater and we checked into the HARP program thru our bank who handles the mortgage, like most banks our mortgage was sold to Freddie Mac.  Last week the mortgage department of our bank called and is ready to process the HARP paperwork, it seems to have been done with a few phone calls for information, they e mailed my wife the estimates of the new data to see if this is what she wanted to do.

It will  reduce our interest rate from 6.5% to 4.25 amd our payments from 1200 a month to 870.00, now  that is a pay raise we can appreciate. It seems as if everyone else has not heard of the recession, SCE&G has filed for nearly a 7% increase in electric rates, I have never received a 7% increase in income.

So while I may be able to "save" some major money on the mortgage, other people seem to be determined to get it back in some other form, the sad part of it is, even if I  was not able to utilize the HARP program, corporations like SCE&G will still be seeking  large rate increases.

What makes me shake my head over the reasoning for the rate increase is that they seem to be shocked to learn they have thousands of miles of lines, poles and substations etc, that need maintenance, replacement etc, this is 2012, they have been putting this equipment in the ground for decades, and they just now realize it cost money to repair or replace these items, I would have assumed these costs would have been built into the rates long before this. Why go for 7% all at once, why couldn't this have been  phased in over years at one half percent or one percent a year, this proposal is harmful to the elderly and disabled, some people will either have to turn off the air conditioners or  start buying more Ramen noodles so they can keep the lights on.

I am grateful to President Obama and his team  that have made HARP available to my family and  millions of others that need  the ability to refinance  underwater mortgages, that would not normally be able to. This will also help to stabilize the national housing market which benefits us all.

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MKULTRA LEGACY: the Stain of Dishonor and the Prerequisites for Redemption

MKULTRA LEGACY: the Stain of Dishonor and

the Prerequisites for Redemption

by Gordon P. Erspamer



Despite the passage of four decades, America, and its military, has never come to grips
with its own ghastly programs of using soldiers as guinea pigs to test chemical or biological
weapons such as LSD, sarin, nerve gases, plague, mescaline, anthrax, and hundreds of others. At the same time, they also conducted mind control experiments, as soldiers and others were administered drugs, and septal implants were inserted in the sinus cavities ala The Manchurian Candidate. The secret research programs, originally code-named MKULTRA, but continued under a long succession of other code names, were conducted mainly by the US Army from 1943 until at least 1975. However, the CIA provided planning, financial support, and field testing.



The participants in the experiments were recruited by the U.S. Army and lured by promises of no KP duty, a four-day work week, the promise of medals and special recognition. At the same time, they were sworn to secrecy and forced to sign a general consent form without informed consent or even knowing the nature of the toxic substances that were sprayed in their faces, applied to their skin or injected into their veins. And the government continues to try to hide the fact that Nazi members were recruited to help devise these experiments as part of Operation Paperclip, and that many of the biological experiments were modeled after those conducted by the notorious Colonel Shiro Ishi in Manchuria and Japan.



When word of these programs leaked out in the mid-1970s, the CIA Director, Admiral

Stansfield Turner, promised Congress that they would notify and provide medical treatment to the affected veterans. See Final Report of the Senate Select Committee (Church) on Intelligence Activities, 94th Cong. (1976), Book I: XVII (“Foreign and Military Intelligence: Testing and Use of Chemical and Biological Agents by the Intelligence Communities”), at

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0197a.htm. See also Project MKULTRA, The CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification: Joint Hearing. Before the Senate Select Committees on Intelligence and Human Resources, 95th Cong. (1977), Testimony of CIA Director Admiral Stansfield Turner at

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/Hearing03.htm.

However, that promise was more observed in the breach, as the process of notifying and

treating the victims of human experimentation has barely scratched the surface of their acts of treachery. And now we learn that the DOD will not even compile an initial roster of affected veterans until 2012. Unlike Britain, which long-ago compensated its veteran participants in a parallel group of tests at Porton Down, America is waiting patiently for these veterans to die, and it is one of the greatest injustices of our time.



Yet, despite the long passage of time, the agents responsible for this program continue to

offer rationalizations to justify their own acts or those of their predecessors. They cite the fears engendered by the Cold War, real or imagined, and raise the chance that our enemies might beat us to the punch. You hear a lot of denial or outright lies, and the trail of documents suddenly disappeared in a document purging ordered by the CIA Director, Richard Helms. And they speak of sacrifices for the common good (not their own, but of those men exposed). The doctors

among them don't like to talk about the Hippocratic Oath or basic principles of morality. Rather, they talk a lot about science, advances in learning, and the thrills of discovery. They forget that “Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession” (Julia Ward Howe). And you hear nothing or very little about the long-term health effects of their programs, and their failure to notify, monitor or treat the victims, who have experienced a panoply of adverse health effects such as PTSD, breathing and lung problems, problems with internal organs, and countless others.



Walter Lippman once said that a man has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct

though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so. The perpetrators of these

programs have stained their honor. In a time of admitted polarization and confrontation, they

sacrificed their scruples, and victimized their fellow man. Their honor will never be restored

unless they candidly admit their complicity and fault, and do everything in their power to help

restore the health and well-being of their victims. With each death, their debt swells, and the

possibilities of redemption become more distant and unlikely. And a miasma of shame, as toxic as the clouds created by biological weapons, continues to hang over this great nation.

And when the last man standing succumbs, a pall of infamy and shame will become

indelible, and choke the last glimmer of redemption, and history will justly record another

chapter in the annals of infamy.



The views expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the

views of any institution or person to whom he is affiliated. Gordon P. Erspamer is the lead

counsel in the class action compliant which is pending in San Francisco Federal District Court,

Vietnam Veterans of America, et al. v. Central Intelligence Agency, et al., Case No. 09-0037 CW

(ND Cal. 2009). More information regarding this lawsuit can be found at

www.edgewoodtestvets.org. See the following links for the complaint in this action and its

exhibits. VVA, et al. v. CIA, et al. First Amended Complaint, First Amended Complaint Exhibit

A, First Amended Complaint Exhibit B, First Amended Complaint Exhibit C

sf-2742291



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http://www.leighday.co.uk/News/2008/January-2008/Porton-Down-test-veterans-settle-claim-for-3m
 

31 January 2008



Today, 31st January, the lawyers representing 359 of the Porton Down Test Veterans and the Ministry of Defence announced that a settlement had been reached for the claims of the Veterans for the sum of £3m to be split between the veterans.



Further, an apology has today been given by Derek Twigg Under Secretary of State for Defence and Veterans Minister in the House of Commons. The wording of the apology is:



‘The Government has in the past made clear the debt owed by the nation to those who took part in the trials at Porton Down designed to ensure that the United Kingdom had the defensive and deterrent capabilities to counter the very real and horrific threat that chemical weapons would be used against our Armed Forces or civilian population as they had against others; the security of the country rested on the contribution of those people who took part in these trials.



The trials which were carried out in the period of the Cold War were in many cases undertaken under considerable pressures of time as new threats emerged. The Government accepts that there were aspects of the trials where there may have been short-comings and where, in particular, the life or health of participants may have been put at risk. The Government would wish sincerely to apologise to those affected.’



Then there was the settlement by the Canadian Government for the similar tests that were being done at the same time as Porton Downs and Edgewood Arsenal. These were compensations outside of the normal VA compensation,  the Canadian and British soldiers still receive  disability compensation and medical care, none of the soldiers or veterans or their dependents were made "wealthy" by the settlements, it was just more of an apology and a small financial stipend.  In other words an apology with meaning.

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THE CHOICE IN THIS ELECTION

THE CHOICE IN THIS ELECTION


This election offers the American people a chance to break the stalemate between two fundamentally different visions of how to

grow the economy, create middle-class jobs, and pay down the debt.

President Obama believes the economy grows not from the top down, but from the middle class out. His economic plan does

that by investing in education, energy, innovation and infrastructure, and by reforming the tax code—each of which will create

American jobs—and paying down our debt in a balanced way that ensures everyone pays their fair share.

Governor Romney and his allies in Congress believe that if you take away protections for consumers and workers and cut taxes

even more for the wealthiest Americans, the market will solve all our problems on its own. Their refusal to ask the wealthiest

Americans to pay even a nickel more in taxes is the biggest source of gridlock in Washington, and the reason we haven’t reached

a grand bargain to bring down our deficit and Congress hasn’t passed a jobs plan that would put a million people back to work.

President Obama’s Vision to Create an Eco nomy Built to Last

To create jobs, reduce our deficit, and build a stronger economy from the middle class out,

President Obama believes we need to:

• Invest in education to make sure we have the best-educated, best-trained workers in the world

• Control our energy future by ending taxpayer subsidies to oil companies and use the savings to become the global

leader in clean energy technology, including wind, solar, biofuels, clean coal, nuclear, and natural gas

• Invest in our most promising scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs so the greatest innovations of this century

are made in America

• Rebuild our infrastructure to attract businesses to America and move our goods and information all over the world

• Reform our tax code to create jobs in America, pay down our deficit in a balanced way, and ensure everyone from

Wall Street to Main Street plays by the same rules and does their fair share

Mitt Romney Would Return to Failed Policies that

Crashed our Eco nomy and Hurt the Middle Class

Governor Romney and his allies in Congress believe that the best way to grow the economy is from the top down—the same

approach that benefited a few but crashed the economy and hurt the middle class.

According to independent economists, Romney’s economic plan would increase the deficit, fail to create new jobs in the

short term, and even make our economy worse. His plan would:

• Roll back financial reform and let Wall Street write its own rules again

• Repeal health reform, costing tens of millions of Americans their health coverage and allowing insurance companies

to discriminate based on preexisting conditions

• Provide a $5 trillion tax cut weighted to millionaires and billionaires, blowing a hole in the deficit

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VA Announces Aggressive National Recruitment Effort to Hire Mental Health Professionals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE




June 11, 2012







VA Announces Aggressive National Recruitment Effort to Hire Mental Health Professionals







WASHINGTON (June 11, 2012)- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki recently announced the department would add approximately 1,600 mental health clinicians as well as nearly 300 support staff to its existing workforce to help meet the increased demand for mental health services. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has developed an aggressive national recruitment program to implement the hiring process quickly and efficiently.







“The mental health and well-being of our brave men and women who have served the Nation is the highest priority for this department,” said Secretary Shinseki. “We must ensure that all Veterans seeking mental health care have access to timely, responsive and high-quality care.”







VA has developed an aggressive national mental health hiring initiative to improve recruitment and hiring, marketing, education and training programs, and retention efforts for mental health professionals, to include targeted recruitment in rural and highly-rural markets. This will help VA to meet existing and future demands of mental health care services in an integrated collaborative team environment and continue to position VA as an exemplary workplace for mental health care professionals.







It is critical for VA to proactively engage psychiatrists and other mental health care providers about the vital mission to deliver high-quality mental health services, especially for returning combat Veterans.







“The VA mental health community is aggressively transforming the way mental health care services are provided to the Veteran population. As the mental health care workforce continues to increase, VA is committed to improving Veterans’ access to services, especially for at-risk Veterans,” said VA’s Under Secretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel.







The national recruitment program provides VHA with an in-house team of highly skilled professional recruiters employing private sector best practices to fill the agency’s most mission critical clinical and executive positions. The recruitment team consists of 21 national, dedicated health care recruiters targeting physician and specialty health care occupations. These recruiters also understand the needs of Veterans because each member is a Veteran.







VHA has also established a hiring and tracking task force to provide oversight for this initiative to move the process forward expeditiously in a focused manner to ensure challenges, issues, or concerns are addressed and resolved. This task force is accountable for reporting progress in hiring of mental health professionals in these occupations: psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, social workers, mental health technicians, marriage and family therapists and licensed professional counselors.







VHA anticipates the majority of hires will be selected within approximately six months and the most “hard-to-fill” positions filled by the end of the second quarter of FY 2013. VA has an existing workforce of 20,590 mental health staff that includes nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers.







Interested mental health care providers can find additional information about VA careers and apply for jobs online at www.vacareers.va.gov. To locate the nearest VA facility or Vet Center for enrollment and to get scheduled for care, Veterans can visit VA’s website at www.va.gov. Immediate help is available at www.VeteransCrisisLine.net or by calling the Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 (push 1) or texting 838255.

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AN INTIMATE LOOK AT THE LIFE AND CAREER OF GEORGE H.W. BUSH, DEBUTS JUNE 14, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO

For Immediate Release April 26, 2012


41,

AN INTIMATE LOOK AT THE LIFE AND CAREER OF GEORGE H.W. BUSH,

DEBUTS JUNE 14, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO

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A Film By Jeffrey Roth;

Executive Produced By Jerry Weintraub

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The first documentary to tell George Herbert Walker Bush’s story in his own words, the exclusive HBO presentation 41 is a rare, intimate glimpse at the life and times of the 41st president of the United States. Featuring unprecedented access to Bush as he reflects on the highs and lows of his life from his beloved summer home in Kennebunkport, Me. and presidential library in Texas, 41 debuts THURSDAY, JUNE 14 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), commemorating the president’s 88th birthday on June 12.

Other HBO playdates: June 14 (3:50 a.m.), 17 (noon), 18 (9:00 a.m.), 20 (12:45 p.m. 12:30 a.m.), 23 (2:00 p.m.) and 29 (6:15 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: June 20 (9:15 p.m.), 25 (2:15 p.m., 11:15 p.m.) and 30 (noon)

One of the most experienced politicians ever to achieve the presidency, George H.W. Bush shares anecdotes from his childhood, family, service in World War II and political career, including his roles as U.S. envoy to China, director of the CIA and vice president of the United States in the Reagan administration, as well as his term as president.

Written and directed by Jeffrey Roth, 41 was filmed over a 17-month period, from Sept. 2009 to Feb. 2011. The film is executive produced by Jerry Weintraub, a long-time personal friend of the Bushes, and himself the focus of “His Way,” an acclaimed HBO documentary.

41 – 2

“I am so proud to be a friend of George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush,” comments Weintraub. “And so proud that our friendship includes this wonderful film about two wonderful people.”

41 captures the personal side of a very public figure who cherishes his family life, in particular wife Barbara, his spouse for 67 years, a record among presidential marriages. President from 1989 to 1993 and father of the 43rd president, George W. Bush, the elder Bush continues to make public appearances today and spends much of his time on his boat or with children and grandchildren. An avid fisherman, Bush last parachuted on his 85th birthday and swears he will do it again on his 90th, which he says proves that “old guys can still do fun things.”

Born June 12, 1924, George H.W. Bush spent much of his childhood at his family’s summer home, built by his grandfather in 1902, at Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport, Me. His close-knit family was fortunate to avoid the hard times of the Great Depression, with George attending boarding schools, where he excelled in sports, serving as captain of the soccer and baseball teams and playing basketball. At 17, he met 16-year-old Barbara Pierce at a Christmas dance. “We fell in love. Old fashioned, falling in love,” he recalls.

After Pearl Harbor was bombed, the 18-year-old Bush became a naval aviator. He describes the events of Sept. 2, 1944, when his plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire; he ejected and parachuted into the sea, and was rescued by a sub. Bush went home and married Barbara, and when the war ended a short time later, like many G.I.s, he entered college – at Yale – where they had a son, George Walker.

Following the advice of a family friend, he went to work in the oil fields of West Texas. Their family continued to grow with the birth of daughter Robin, who died of leukemia at age three. Robin’s death remains an emotional subject for Bush. Though they had three more sons and another daughter, he admits he couldn’t talk about losing her for years.

41 – 3

In Texas, despite the fact that the state at the time was overwhelmingly Democratic, Bush decided to run for Senate. He lost, but rebounded by running for the House of Representatives and won, becoming a rising star in Washington. President Nixon subsequently appointed Bush ambassador to the U.N. and later, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Then came Watergate. “I wanted to believe Nixon as long as I possibly could,” he notes, but with evidence mounting that the White House lied, he wrote a memo suggesting the president resign. In hindsight, Bush has mixed emotions about Nixon, reflecting, “On the one hand you can never get over the lie. On the other, in many ways, he was a very good president.”

After serving as U.S. envoy to China and director of the CIA, Bush ran for president unsuccessfully, but became Ronald Reagan’s vice president. Ascending to the presidency in 1989, his years in office were marked by numerous historic events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War and the protests in Tiananmen Square.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait, Bush says he knew America would have to act. He considered Iraq’s invasion an “overt, crystal-clear wrong,” and despite opposition, felt the war was just. Bush was heartened when Saddam Hussein was driven out of Kuwait.

After losing his bid for reelection to Bill Clinton, George returned with Barbara to a “normal” life in Houston and Kennebunkport. He calls his beloved summer home the “anchor” to his “windward.” It’s where the memories are, where his family comes to visit and where he’s been coming his whole life. “And where,” he says, “I will remain until my last days.”

The president, who to this day has not written a memoir telling his life story, agreed to participate in the documentary after meeting Roth and seeing his first film, “The Wonder of It All,” a documentary about the Apollo moon walkers. 41 is Roth’s second documentary film.

41 – 4

41 is produced and directed by Jeffrey Roth; executive produced by Jerry Weintraub and Stephen Beck; written by Stephen Beck and Jeffrey Roth; edited by Janice Hampton.

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