Defense Base Act Compensation Blog

The Modern Day DBA Casualty

Archive for January, 2012

AIG Spending $153 million on Shariah just fine

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 31, 2012

“even the district court had to concede that after cash-strapped AIG received billions of dollars in taxpayer money … it provided two of its SCF [Shariah-compliant} subsidiaries with at least $153 million.”

WND January 30, 2012

The decision from a federal judge who suggested $153 million of U.S. taxpayer money spent supporting Islamic Shariah really isn’t anything really worth mentioning has been appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and oral arguments have been scheduled April 20 in Cincinnati.

The case was filed against Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and others and is over the nation’s bailout with taxpayer money of AIG insurance, which operates multiple companies promoting Shariah-complaint insurance products, the same Shariah that serves as Islamic religious law and calls for cutting hands off thieves and execution for leaving Islam.

The specific lawsuit was filed on behalf of taxpayer Kevin J. Murray over the bailout, which has involved billions of taxpayer dollars. It’s being handled by Robert Muise and David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center.

At the district court level, the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff, who ruled that the case needed yet to prove that “the diverted funds were not de minimus in relation to the total amount…”

Read “The Stoning of Soraya M.” – the true story that inspired the movie

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines de minimus as “so minor as to merit disregard,” but the plaintiffs attorneys noted in their appeal brief that “even the district court had to concede that after cash-strapped AIG received billions of dollars in taxpayer money … it provided two of its SCF [Shariah-compliant} subsidiaries with at least $153 million.”

The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. government’s takeover and financial bailout of AIG was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

According to the legal team, “Specifically, at the time of the government bailout (beginning in September 2008 and continuing to the present), AIG was (and still is) the world leader in promoting Shariah-compliant insurance products. Shariah is Islamic law, and it is the identical legal doctrine that demands capital punishment for apostasy and blasphemy and provides the legal and political mandates for global jihad followed religiously by the world’s Muslim terrorists.”

The legal team is arguing that, “By propping up AIG with taxpayer funds, the U.S. government is directly and indirectly promoting Islam and, more troubling, Shariah.”

See the original and read more here

Posted in AIG and CNA, Follow the Money, Political Watch | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

US-owned Chartis Insurance cancels private death and disability insurance policies of 3000 Australian soldiers

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 29, 2012

The Telegraph January 30, 2012

A FOREIGN insurer has left taxpayers with a $2.1 million bill after cancelling the private death and disability insurance policies of 3000 soldiers, including many serving in Afghanistan

US-owned company  ( AIG) Chartis Insurance received a discretionary grant of $2.1 million from Defence last year so that the policies could be honoured until August this year, documents show. The grant was based on deployed force numbers and the number of Chartis policyholders in the ADF

The company said that as a result of a smaller than expected insurance pool and high cancellation and payout rates it would have to cancel two of the three types of policies it offers with 60 days notice.

“Approximately 3000 ADF members held Chartis insurance products, with a strong probability that many of the existing policyholders were and are currently deployed,” Defence said.

“Chartis stated in September 2010 it could not continue to incur significant losses and advised Defence that it intended to cancel policies, giving 60 days notice, irrespective of the time the policy has been owned or if the member is currently deployed in an area of operations or within Australia.”

Defence signed a funding deed last May to ensure policies affected by the decision would be secure.

“The grant ensured that extant policies will be honoured by Chartis until August 2012 providing sufficient time for policy holders to make alternative arrangements in light of the commercial decision taken by Chartis,” Defence said.

Chartis Australia chief executive Noel Condon denied the company had cancelled policies but admitted that because of the high number of claims during 2010 it had reduced the maximum payout figure from $750,000 to $250,000.

Posted in AIG and CNA, Chartis | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Defense Base Act Mileage Reimbursement Rates Effective January 1, 2012

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 26, 2012

GSA Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Mileage Reimbursement Rates

The GSA Reimbursement Rates apply to Defense Base Act Claimants.  Check the archives below to be certain you have not been underpaid by CNA

Modes of Transportation Effective/Applicability Date Rate per mile
Airplane* January 1, 2012 $1.29
Automobile
If use of privately-owned automobile is authorized or if no Government-owned automobile is available. January 1, 2012 $0.51
If Government Owned Automobile available January 1, 2012 $0.19
Motorcycle January 1, 2012 $0.48

* Airplane nautical miles (NMs) should be converted into statute miles (SMs) or regular miles when submitting a voucher using the formula (1 NM equals 1.15077945 SMs). You can also use the link to BoatSafe.com (a non-government website) to assist you in converting NMs to SMs or SMs to NMs.

For calculating the mileage difference between airports, please visit the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inter-Airport Distance web site.

Previous motorcycle rates
Effective Date Rate per mile
January 1, 2011 $0.48
January 1, 2010 $0.47
January 1, 2009 $0.52

The following are previous privately owned automobile rates:

Previous automobile rates
Effective Date Rate per mile
January 1, 2011 $0.51
January 1, 2010 $0.50
January 1, 2009 $0.55
August 1, 2008 $0.585
March 19, 2008 $0.505
February 1, 2007 $0.485
January 1, 2006 $0.445
September 1, 2005 $0.485
February 4, 2005 $0.405
January 1, 2004 $0.375
January 1, 2003 $0.360
January 21, 2002 $0.365
January 22, 2001 $0.345

Posted in ACE, AIG and CNA, Civilian Contractors, Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Insurance, Defense Base Act Law and Procedure, Department of Labor, Injured Contractors, LHWCA Longshore Harbor Workers Compesnation Act | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Defense Base Act Average Weekly Wage through 9-30-2012

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 26, 2012

National Average Weekly Wage

National Average Weekly Wages (NAWW), Minimum and Maximum
Compensation Rates, and Annual October Increases (Section 10(f))

These apply to Defense Base Act Claimants at the time of award. 

PERIOD NAWW MAX MIN

PERCENT INCREASE

10/01/2011 – 09/30/2012 $647.60 $1,295.20 $323.80 3.05%
10/01/2010 – 09/30/2011 $628.42 $1,256.84 $314.21 2.63%
10/01/2009 – 09/30/2010 $612.33 $1,224.66 $306.17 2.00%
10/01/2008 – 09/30/2009 $600.31 $1,200.62 $300.16 3.47%
10/01/2007 – 09/30/2008 $580.18 $1,160.36 $290.09 4.12%
10/01/2006 – 09/30/2007 $557.22 $1114.44 $278.61 3.80%
10/01/2005 – 09/30/2006 $536.82 $1073.64 $268.41 2.53%
10/01/2004 – 09/30/2005 $523.58 $1,047.16 $261.79 1.59%
10/01/2003 – 09/30/2004 $515.39 $1,030.78 $257.70 3.44%
10/01/2002 – 09/30/2003 $498.27 $996.54 $249.14 3.15%
10/01/2001 – 09/30/2002 $483.04 $966.08 $241.52 3.45%

Posted in Civilian Contractors, Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Insurance, Defense Base Act Law and Procedure, Department of Labor, Injured Contractors, LHWCA Longshore Harbor Workers Compesnation Act | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Hostages Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted Rescued from Somali Pirates by US Navy SEALS

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 25, 2012

U.S. Navy Seals free American and Dane hostages from pirates in Somalia after being kidnapped in October.

See Also Somali Pirates Demand 50m Kroner for Demining Workers

Malta Today January 25, 2012

An American and a Dane were rescued by U.S. helicopters after being held hostage by pirates in Somalia.

The two hostages were working for the Danish Demining Group (DDG), a refugee council, and were kidnapped in October in the semi-autonomous Galmudug region.

American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted were rescued in a rare raid into the Horn of African nation by the helicopters in an attempt to free foreign captives.

Nine pirates were killed and five captured during the rescue operation according to Galmadug’s president, Mohamed Ahmed Alim who added that he was negotiating to secure the release of an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

Alim said attacks on pirate bases were very rare and thanked the U.S. for their intervention because pirates were considered the mafia in the region.

Two teams of U.S. Navy Seals landed by helicopter after a gun fight with the kidnappers and took the freed hostages to an undisclosed location

Please see the original here

Posted in Civilian Contractors, Contracotrs Detained, Contractors Kidnapped | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

James Scott Ozier Killed in AAR Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 25, 2012

A North Fayette Township man was killed last week in a helicopter accident in Afghanistan

See 3 Americans killed in Afghanistan Helicopter Crash

James Scott Ozier, 30, was one of three employees of Palm Bay, Fla.-based AAR Airlift Group who died on Jan. 16 while conducting operations for the U.S. Department of Defense in Helmand Province.

Officials for AAR, which provides airlift services for military and humanitarian operations, said Tuesday they would not comment on Ozier or the circumstances of the accident, but they issued a statement saying the company is cooperating with authorities investigating the incident

The company took out a full-page advertisement in today’s Times to commemorate Ozier, who they identified as the crew chief on the mission.

In the company’s statement, it said all three killed on Jan. 16 were crew members. An unrelated helicopter crash in the same province killed six people on Jan. 19.

Ozier, formerly of Tuscaloosa, Ala., was buried Tuesday in Sylvania Hills Memorial Park in Daugherty Township

Posted in Afghanistan, Civilian Contractors, Contractor Casualties and Missing, Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Insurance | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A Military Cutback We Can’t Afford: Fighting Tropical Diseases

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 21, 2012

Leishmaniasis at The Iraq Infections

“In the coming years leishmaniasis may become the most important condition you have never heard of among veterans”

Barbara Herwaldt, CDC, on Leishmaniasis

Contractors will be even less likely to be diagnosed and/or treated timely or effectively despite the possibility you can transmit this to your family

Peter Hotez & James Kazura at The Atlantic

In recent months, many politicians and presidential hopefuls have called for budget reductions, and many have specifically targeted military spending for cutbacks. Unfortunately, even programs proven to be cost effective are vulnerable to cuts. Medical research for our troops is no exception to this rule — programs such as the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) often find themselves low on the priority list despite their crucial role in saving the lives of our troops on the battlefield and here at home.

One important area of research is tropical medicine. During World War II and the Vietnam War, more than one million service members acquired tropical infections such as malaria, dengue fever, hookworm, and typhus, and many of these diseases continued to plague our veterans after they returned home. Today, American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan still face formidable tropical disease threats, especially from a disease transmitted by the bite of sand flies known as leishmaniasis, which can cause a disfiguring ulcer in one form, and a serious systemic condition that clinically resembles leukemia in another. In the coming years leishmaniasis may become the most important condition you have never heard of among veterans.

WRAIR’s leishmaniasis diagnostic laboratory is the only one of its kind in the world, so each time funding is slashed our military loses considerable expertise and capabilities in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this devastating disease. For example, in the years prior to the Gulf War, the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was officially decommissioned and all research was halted. Only after cases of leishmaniasis among U.S. forces exposed to sand-fly bites in the Iraqi desert were the remaining leishmaniasis experts at WRAIR quickly assembled and tasked with making up for lost time. In 2002, the WRAIR leishmaniasis program was again dissolved only to be urgently activated once more with the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The interruptions to the WRAIR leishmaniasis program are part of much larger budget cuts across all of WRAIR’s tropical infectious disease research programs. There is no end to the irony of such cutbacks given that they coincide with the activation in 2008 of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), charged with fighting the war on terror across the African continent. Today, sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of cases of tropical diseases anywhere in the world. Many of these tropical infections, such as river blindness and African sleeping sickness, have been shown to destabilize communities and may actually promote conflict in the region.

Please see the original and read more here

Posted in ACE, Afghanistan, AIG and CNA, Civilian Contractors, Contractor Casualties and Missing, Defense Base Act, Injured Contractors, Iraq, Leishmaniasis, LHWCA Longshore Harbor Workers Compesnation Act, Toxic Exposures, Veterans | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Ron Paul only Presidential Candidate not influenced by Insurance Company Money

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 19, 2012

from the Health Care Renewal blog

Addressing threats to health care’s core values, especially those stemming from concentration and abuse of power. Advocating for accountability, integrity, transparency, honesty and ethics in leadership and governance of health care.

US Presidential Candidates’ Financial Relationships with Health Care Organizations

As the leadership of the large field of Republican candidates for the US Presidency shifts, different candidates come in for increased media scrutiny. Recently, reporting about former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum focused on his financial relationships with a health care organization. Senator Santorum, however, is only the candidate with ties to health care organizations to come into the spotlight most recently. We will review the report on Santorum, and then summarize the publicly known relationships of the other candidates.

Please go here to read about each candidates connections to the people who are bleeding you to death

 

Posted in Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Insurance, Follow the Money, Political Watch | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Todd Walker, Contractor, Pilot, killed in AAR Helicopter Crash Afghanistan

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 19, 2012

A Rice Lake couple says their son has been killed in a helicopter crash while working in Afghanistan.

Darrell and Jan Walker say their 48-year-old son, Todd, worked for AAR Airlift. He was conducting operations for the U.S. Department of Defense when the chopper crashed in Helmand Province Monday. All three crew members died. There were no other passengers.

The Walkers say Todd transported ammunition and dignitaries, moved troops from base to base and delivered mail to remote areas in Afghanistan. The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram (http://bit.ly/zCyjiR ) says he was a 1981 graduate of Rice Lake High School. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Rice Lake Native dies in Afghanistan helicopter crash

Todd Walker of Arkansas packed a lot of life into his 48 years.

The 1981 Rice Lake High School graduate fought forest fires, worked in emergency medical services out of Duluth, Minn., and scouted schools of tuna in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean – all from his perch as a helicopter pilot.

On Monday, however, Darrell and Jan Walker of Rice Lake received a phone call that their son had died in Afghanistan. The company Todd worked for, Wood Dale, Ill.-based AAR Airlift, reported that a helicopter carrying a crew of three employees, including Todd, was involved in an accident in Helmand Province at about 10:45 a.m. Monday.

The team was conducting operations for the U.S. Department of Defense, according to a news release. All three crew members died; there were no other passengers.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. The terrorist group Al-Qaida has claimed responsibility, Jan Walker said, but that has not been substantiated. Marjan Haqmal, police chief of Nad Ali district in Helmand Province, told The Associated Press the Russian-made aircraft probably went down because of a technical malfunction.

Todd transported ammunition and moved troops from base to base in Afghanistan. He also transported dignitaries, his mother said, and delivered mail to remote areas of the country,

“We’re very proud of him,” she said.

Todd also is survived by a wife and three kids, who were scheduled to arrive late Wednesday in Rice Lake. His body was slated to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware at about the same time, Jan Walker said. She said it will take a few days for him to arrive in Rice Lake. Services will be at Red Cedar Community Church will conduct services.

Jan said one of her son’s passions was arguing about politics.

“(But) mainly I’ll remember his love for hunting and love for the Packers,” she said.

Posted in Afghanistan, Civilian Contractors, Contractor Casualties and Missing, Defense Base Act | Tagged: , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Michael Clawson, Pilot, Contractor, killed in Afghan Helicopter Crash

Posted by defensebaseactcomp on January 18, 2012

Helicopter crash in Afghanistan claims life of area man

January 18, 2012

A Clay County helicopter pilot was killed this week in a crash in Afghanistan.

Michael Clawson, who worked for AAR Airlift of Chicago, was in Afghanistan doing work for the U.S. Defense Department.

Clawson leaves a wife and five children, said Father John Bamman, OFM Conv., of St. Joseph’s University Parish, where Clawson and his family attended worship services in Terre Haute.

The crash happened in southern Afghanistan on Monday morning. Two other people were killed, all employees of AAR Airlift, which is a unit of Wood Dale, Ill.-based AAR Corp.

NATO forces reportedly have secured the area of the crash and were attempting to determine what happened, according to news reports.

Funeral arrangements are pending this morning

Posted in Afghanistan, Civilian Contractors, Contractor Casualties and Missing, Defense Base Act, Defense Base Act Insurance, Department of Defense | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

 
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