Born in 1963 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Rebecca Schneider grew up in rural western Pennsylvania in a middle class neighborhood.  Rebecca graduated from Mars High School in 1982 and Slippery Rock University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.  During the course of attending College and working two, sometimes three jobs to pay her way, she set the course of her career when she began working in the library and currently works as a Library Supervisor for Arizona State University.

To honor those who served
- and died in the line of duty.

Georgia 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Bill Gillespie and State Party Chair Jane Kidd were in Savannah on Monday fighting for vet benefit increases and challenging Republican John McCain's lack of support on veteran issues. Way to go Jane and Bill, our troops need all the help we they can get. Its time to start taking care of our veterans when they come back and provide them the educational opportunites and medical care they deserve.

The Pentagon is slated to release a suspected toxicant in Crystal City, Virginia this week, ostensibly to test air sensors.

The operation is just the latest example of the Defense Department’s long history of using service members and civilians as human test subjects, often without their consent or awareness.

Gas chambers in Maryland

Wray C. Forrest learned about the US military’s human-testing program the hard way. In 1973, the Army sent then 23-year-old Forrest to its Edgewood Arsenal chemical-research center in Maryland, promising patriotic service and a four-day work week.

Instead, he became one of roughly 6,720 soldiers used as Edgewood Arsenal test subjects between 1950-1975.

Our veterans are being cheated out of the very things they fought for: their rights. Have you ever wondered why most veterans couldn't get care from the VA, couldn't get their educational benefits, couldn't get jobs with the government, etc., etc., etc.

Well, the truth of the matter is that there has been a systematic denial of benefits starting with the veterans of the Vietnam War. Your government has betrayed you! For instance, are you aware that there are codes written on your Honorable Discharge that make it anything BUT honorable? No, you won't find the codes on YOUR copy--they're on the copy scanned into government databases: the copy that government agencies use to deny you your earned benefits! Don't believe me? Then watch this video, and then comment.

"The Iraq Veterans Memorial is an online war memorial that honors the members of the U.S. armed forces who have lost their lives serving in the Iraq War. The Memorial is a collection of video memories from family, friends, military colleagues, and co-workers of those that have fallen."

More beans, another sampling of how we're all gonna go broke under Bush's multi-trillion dollar tab... Amy Goodman interviews Linda Bilmes, Havard professor whose study caused the VA and Pentagon to "re-calculate" how wounded US service personnel are counted.

Hidden Costs of War: Long-Term Price of Providing Veterans Medical Care Could Reach $660 Billion - Over 200,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated at Veterans Affairs medical facilities thus far, with 900,000 still deployed on active duty. A new study from Harvard University predicts that the cost of medical care and compensation benefits for returning veterans will skyrocket once those troops return home... (more)

I reported on Wednesday about Jonathan Schulze, the 25-year-old Iraq war Veteran from Minnesota, who committed suicide after being denied immediate treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at two Veterans Administration medical facilities.

Fortunately, Democrats are now in charge of the Congress and action is already being taken.

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), the Chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, is looking into the incident and sent a letter this week to VA Acting Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Michael Kussman. In the letter, Akaka asked for an expedited analysis of the events preceding Schulze's death, as well as a description of what actions the VA is taking to ensure that delays for vital mental health care do not occur in the future.

Update: Iraq Coalition Casualties is reporting eleven more US military fatalities in the past two days, death total now 3097... meanwhile the "Pentagon alters how wounded are calculated"...

Oops, the truth seeped out on a VA website. If anyone's keeping count, Iraq Coalition Casualties is reporting 50,743 total casualties. That's 3,086 dead plus 47,657 non-mortal casualties (injured, crippled for life, diseased, or mentally infirm).

Agency Says Higher Casualty Total Was Posted in Error - By DENISE GRADY, NYT
For the last few months, anyone who consulted the Veterans Affairs Department’s Web site to learn how many American troops had been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan would have found this number: 50,508. But on Jan. 10, without explanation, the figure plummeted to 21,649... (more)

The Iraq Veterans Memorial

Gold Star Families Speak Out · Military Families Speak Out · Iraq Veterans Against the War · North Texas Vets · Veterans for Peace · Soldiers of Today and Yesterday · GI Special · United for Peace and Justice · Brave New Foundation

Inspired by the AIDS Quilt, the Vietnam memorial, and the New York Times biographies of the 9/11 victims, Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation, in partnership with numerous Iraq veterans groups, are creating a living online memorial to U.S. soldiers killed during the Iraq war. The Iraq Veterans Memorial will bear witness with the video testimonies of family, friends, co-workers, and military colleagues of those lost.....