Who Owns John Boehner?

We only discuss politics as it pertains to our battle with the insurance companies and the Department of Labor so that you can make up your own mind about who is or is not looking out for our cause.  Only a very very few truly are.

Today we bring you John Boehner  from The Center for Responsive Politics

Over the years, Boehner has received many millions of dollars from industry. For the next campaign, Boehner has already raised almost $8 million dollars from industry and their PACs. The average Congressman has picked up less than a million.

The top  industries that purchased shares of Boehner during the last campaign cycle (2009-2010 campaign season) are:

• Insurance $609,290
• Securities & Investment $509,520
• Retired $394,649
• Electric Utilities $363,372
• Lobbyists $353,814
• Health Professionals $332,865
• Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $329,350
• Real Estate $285,400
• Lawyers/Law Firms $264,050

Also according to The Center For Responsive Politics , Johnny’s top twenty individual shareholders during the 2009-2010 campaign year were:

• AT&T Inc $87,300
• American Financial Group $81,400  (Insurance Companies)

Some of this was taken from an article by Jillian Barclay at OpEd News

Defense Base Act Insurance Company CNA may owe US Government as much as $58.5 million

An alarming story of greed, negligence, and a lack of government oversight.

July 28, 2011

SIGAR Audit-11-15 Contract Performance and Oversight / Defense Base Act Insurance

SIGAR audited a pilot program in which CNA was contracted to provide DBA Insurance for US Army Corps of Engineers contracts.

So this $58.5 million was overcharged in a very small portion of the DBA business that CNA carries.

Basically CNA overcharged, didn’t reimburse USACE and contractors for labor charges that turned out not to be justified,  did not have proper paperwork in place and accounting procedures to allow DCAA to be able to look at their books and determine who was owed what.

CNA also commingled funds meant to be segregated for different contracts, lumping them all into one account.

The workers’ compensation program is so riddled with problems as a result of using a third-party insurer that the inspector general’s office suggests it may be worthwhile to dump the insurer altogether, the audit reads.

See Also

Problems abound in US government insurance program

Audit finds numerous problems in workers’ comp program for US contractors in Afghanistan

Army Corps Overpaid CNA $10 Million on War Insurance: Audit

Propublica coverage of CNA’s  treatment of Contractors

How CNA treats Foreign Claimants

DU – You Don’t Have To Inhale Or Ingest It For It To Make You Sick

A must read for all war zone workers and veterans

Concentrated “Depleted” Uranium Munitions Emit: Alpha + Beta + Gamma rays + Neutrons + X-rays, Can Wreak Havoc in the Human Body While Waiting to be Used in Battle!

From Multiple Horses’ Mouths: More, Much More on Ignored and Suppressed US Government and Military Data that Show the Threat of Harmful Effects of “Consolidated Quantities” of Concentrated “Depleted” Uranium (DU) Munitions

by Elaine A Hunter at Veterans Today

I am quaking in my genes knowing the mayhem men manufacture

Heads up people concerned about the harmful effects of concentrated “depleted” uranium munitions, this is very important. This article is not an easy read. If you or anyone you know and love has been around “consolidated quantities” of concentrated “depleted” uranium (DU) munitions please read it anyway. They are a threat to the health of workers, military and civilian, national and international while they are in fabrication, transit or just sitting around waiting to be used in battle. The concentrated DU in munitions is not inert; it does not suddenly become radioactive only when it is fired in battle.

When I plugged in to what is broadcast on the internet, I was mystified that all the concern was about DU inhaled, ingested or embedded as fragments. Those aspects ARE important, without a doubt, and the most obvious. Yet unless the rest of the story is made known, the rest of the causes of illnesses and deaths of those exposed to concentrated DU will continue to be ignored. The rest of the story is this: it is not necessary for the munitions to be used in combat for them to make a person sick, even sick unto death.

From what I knew from first-hand experiences with uranium as a physics lab assistant, I knew from the get-go (2003 for me) that this would be a hard sell to the anti-DU activists who have been at it for years and anybody else affected by this radioactive quagmire. Yet I knew in my heart and mind that the beta radiation, gamma rays, x-rays and neutrons factors were essential to get the rest of the story. Thus I searched and waited, searched and waited for conclusive evidence from a source far more authoritative than myself. Research is to search and search and search and search again, sometimes for years.

Killer it is….    Please read the entire story at Veterans Today

Fluor employee victim of brutal rape at FOB Shank in Afghanistan in Critical Condition in Germany

Update:  Fluor states that the rape victim did not die but is in critical condition in Germany.

This post has been edited to correct errors in the original that reported the victim had died in Germany of her injuries.-Yes, sometimes I get it wrong too. Ms Sparky-July 26, 2011

Cross Posted from MsSparky  July 25, 2011

I’ve just learned there’s been a brutal rape  at FOB Shank in Afghanistan. The victim was reportedly a female Fluor employee from the Macedonia region.

I’m not certain of the date, but the attack occurred between July 17-22. She was reportedly found unconscious and was medi-vac’d to Bagram Air Field (BAF) and then to Germany where it has been reported, she died of her injuries.

This crime has apparently got the entire FOB locked down. Hopefully, they’ll find the person(s) who committed this heinous crime and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.

This is but another on the long list of tragic rapes and murders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As soon as I get more information on this sad tragedy I will update the post.

My most heartfelt condolences to the friends, family and co-workers of this victim.

Ms Sparky

RIP Dennis Nalick

With heavy hearts we must announce the passing of

Defense Base Act Attorney Dennis Nalick this morning.

Dennis was a friend to many and one of only a few DBA Attorneys who devoted the time and effort necessary to secure a fair outcome for his clients.

Dennis was responsible for the Zimmerman case which set the precedent for proper AWW rates under the Defense Base Act.

One of Dennis’ last and most important DBA battles was winning the Dill KBR/AIG PTSD Suicide Claim.

Rest in Peace our troubled friend

Funeral Arrangements

Iraq veteran is cancer ‘timebomb’

Published on Thursday 21 July 2011 10:30 at Chad UK

AN Iraq War veteran from Skegby has spoken of his fear he may develop cancer as a result of the deadly chemicals he was exposed to while serving in Basra.

Cpl Jon Caunt (35) undertook five tours of Iraq between 2003 and 2007 when he and other members of the RAF Regiment were exposed to a distinctive orange powder at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant.

British troops, who were working alongside US forces and staff from private contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), did not know the orange powder was in fact Sodium Dichromate, which contains a cancer-causing compound.

It is banned in many countries and had been used to stop pipes rusting.

The soldiers were responsible for restoring the plant so Iraqi people could resume oil production in a bid to rebuild their economy after the war – but they had no protection from the chemical and would often sleep on the ground surrounded by it.

Cpl Caunt said: “You have got to understand that we were breathing it in, we were firing in it and it was blown up by the wind – this stuff was everywhere.”

It was only when he was later contacted by Sgt Andy Tosh and underwent a medical examination in April this year that he became aware of the serious threat the exposure had to his health.

He said: “Until I went for the medical, I did not realise how serious it was. When I got the results back, I did not want to look at them.”

Cpl Caunt’s medical revealed he already had the symptoms of several diseases, including respiratory, stomach and skin diseases.

“I have had skin complaints for a while, but I just dismissed it and never really thought anything of it until this came up,” he said.

“I am still fit because I am still serving but I lose my breath a lot more than I used to. There are quite a few of the RAF Regiment lads who are ill and it’s down to the exposure.”

Cpl Caunt fears he could be a ‘cancer time bomb’.

“It could be next year or it could be in 10 years – let’s hope it never happens,” he said. “But it’s a worry I have got to live with I’m afraid

Please read the entire article at Chad UK

Dementia Risk Linked to Combat Head Injury, Study Says

Defense Base Act Insurance Companies CNA and AIG  have been extremely negligent in denying Contractors injured in bomb blasts diagnoses and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Diagnoses and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury delayed and denied results in irretrievable life long damage.

Bloomberg  July 18, 2011

Head injuries may more than double the risk of dementia in military veterans, a study found.

The dementia risk was 15.3 percent among U.S. veterans who had sustained a traumatic brain injury, compared with 6.8 percent for those who didn’t suffer head trauma, over a seven-year period. The risk was significant for all forms of traumatic brain injury, or TBI, according to researchers, who reviewed medical records of 281,540 veterans ages 55 and older.

The findings, to be presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Paris today, highlight another potential hazard of war. Traumatic brain injury is a“signature wound” of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, accounting for 22 percent of casualties overall and 59 percent of blast-related injuries, said Kristine Yaffe, director of the Memory Disorders Program at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the research.

“This issue is important because TBI is very common,”Yaffe said in a statement. “The data suggest that TBI in older veterans may predispose them toward development of symptomatic dementia. And they raise concern about the potential long-term consequences of TBI in younger veterans.”

‘Pretty Conclusive’

“It’s pretty conclusive that there is an association between serious head injury and dementia,” Thies said in an interview. “What we can anticipate is that in all those soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, 20 years from now we are going to see a big increase in the amount of Alzheimer’s that’s going to develop.”

Please read the entire article at Bloomberg

Gov’t Watchdog Criticizes Pentagon Center for PTSD, Brain Injuries

By T Christian Miller and Joaquim Sapien at ProPublica  July 11, 2011

If you want more explanation about the military’s troubles in treating troops with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress, read no further than two recent but largely unnoticed reports from the Government Accountability Office.

It turns out the Pentagon’s solution to the problems is an organization plagued by weak leadership, uncertain priorities and a money trail so tangled that even the GAO’s investigators couldn’t sort it out. The GAO findings on the Pentagon’s Defense Centers of Excellence (DCOE) echo our own series [1] on the military’s difficulty in handling the so-called invisible wounds of war.

“We have an organization that exists, but we have considerable concern about what it is that it’s actually accomplishing,” said Denise Fantone, a GAO director who supervised research on one of the reports. She added: “I can’t say with any certainty that I know what DCOE does, and I think that’s a concern.”

First, some background. After the 2007 scandal over poor care delivered to soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Congress ordered the Pentagon to do a better job treating soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. The Pentagon’s answer was to create DCOE [2]. The new organization was supposed to be a clearinghouse to foster cutting-edge research in treatments.

DCOE was rushed into existence in late 2007. Since then, it has churned through three leaders, including one let go after alleged sexual harassment of subordinates [3]. It takes more than five months to hire each employee because of the federal government’s glacial process. As a result, private contractors make up much of the center’s staff.

“DCOE’s development has been challenged by a mission that lacks clarity and by time-consuming hiring processes,” according to the first report in the GAO series [4], focusing on “management weakness” at DCOE.

Just as concerning, the GAO says that it can’t quite figure out how much money DCOE has received or where it has all gone. DCOE has never submitted a budget document that fully conformed to typical federal standards, according to a GAO report released last month [5]. In one year, the center simply turned in a spreadsheet without detailed explanations

Please read the entire article at ProPublica

Retired State Trooper Paul Protzenko Killed In Afghanistan

Hartford Courant    July 10, 2011

A retired state trooper died Saturday in Afghanistan while working for a military contractor.

Trooper First Class Paul Protzenko, who retired in 2009, was killed in action, said a state police sergeant who used to be his supervisor.

“I don’t think you could find anyone in the state police who would say anything bad about him,” said Sgt. Lauren Rondinone of the Troop W barracks, where Protzenko used to work

Protzenko was in the Army before he spent some 20 years working for the state police, he said.

“He was a gentleman, a guy who dedicated his life to the service of his country and service to his state.”

Protzenko was employed by Military Professional Resources Inc., a firm that does extensive training and security work for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army, among many other clients.

Some of his duties with the military contractor involved training Afghanistan national police members in crime-scene work.

Please see the original at The Hartford Courant
Probable Incident   Two Americans Killed in Afghanistan

Blown up in Iraq Eight Years Ago Today, Still getting Screwed Over by CNA

DBA CNA Anniversary

July 7, 2003

At the risk of sounding repetitious:

Merlin Clark Blown up in Iraq Eight Years Ago Today

Still getting screwed over by CNA