This Veterans Day, tributes continue for the 13 soldiers killed last week at Ford Hood, gunned down by one of their own. It was a shocking and terrible event, which warranted the outpouring of sorrow it inspired. Yet every single day, on average, more current and past members of the U.S. armed services die by their own hands than were killed on November 5 at Fort Hood.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ own calculations (which it tried to conceal from a CBS News probe, and from the public), there are “about 18 suicides per day among America’s 25 million veterans.” That’s well over 6,000 a year. In addition, the VA admits that “suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities.” Rates are highest among young men in their twenties, veterans of our current wars. And these numbers do not include suicides by active duty members of the military. In 2008, these numbered nearly 250 (Army 128, Navy 41, Marines 41, Air Force 38)–five every week.

There are no public outpourings of grief for these servicemen and women, whose deaths must often have followed prolonged suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury, depression, or plain old despair. There are no weeks of nonstop media coverage, no tributes at Veterans Day parades, and no memorial services with eulogies by the president. In fact, it has been a longstanding policy that the families of soldiers who commit suicide do not even recieve a letter of condolence from the president.

At best, there are sporadic news reports noting the high rates of suicide, and the occassional Congressional hearing. And while increasing lip service has been paid to improving mental health care for veterans, in reality, the VA has set up multiple obstacles to such care.  As The Nation reported last year, the VA has delayed or denied disability and medical benefits to thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans because they couldn’t “prove” that their conditions were “service-related.” In addition, ”a recent Inspector General report found that 70 percent of VA facilities don’t have a system to track suicidal veterans. Only a handful of VA hospitals have rehab programs that include families. And soldiers injured today face a benefits waiting list more than 650,000 veterans long.” One doctor in the VA’s leadership who publicly criticized these shortcomings was summarily fired.

Even the true statistics on veteran suicides would never have come out were it not for a class action lawsuit by Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and Veterans United for Truth, who sued the VA in federal court. According to the veterans’ groups:

Many veterans who have fought in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, as well as those who served in earlier conflicts, are not being given the disability compensation, medical services and care they need. A much higher percentage of these veterans suffer with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”) than veterans of any previous war, due to the multiple tours many are serving, the unrelenting vigilance required by the circumstances, the greater prevalence of brain injuries caused by the types of weaponry in use, among other reasons. Despite this, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (“DVA”) is failing to provide adequate and timely benefits and medical care.

The judge who heard the case in federal district court in San Francisco–himself an 86-year-old veteran of World War II–said he was sympathetic to the plaintiffs’ cause, but he found against them. According to VCS, “In his decision, Judge Conti held that although it is clear to the Court that the VA may need ‘a complete overhaul’ the the power to remedy this crisis lies with the other branches of government.” In other words, if the VA can’t or won’t fix itself, it’s time for Congress and the White House to step up and do something about this travesty.

INVITATION à participer au forum “Citoyen durable”

http://citoyen-durable.forumactif.com

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
★★★ / ★★★★

Amy Adams stars in “Sunshine Cleaning,” a story about a woman who was in desperate financial situations so she took up a job, along with her sister played by Emily Blunt, cleaning up after crime scenes and suicides. I expected this movie to be more on the comedic side than the dramatic side but it was a nice surprise because it ended up to be a good balance of both. I really got a sense of Adams’ strong female character who, despite her flaws, was willing to go on when life throws an unsuspecting blow to her upward momentum. It was really easy for me to root for her because she was fighting various elements: her rocky relationship with her sister, her son (Jason Spevack) who kept getting into trouble in school because of his strange behaviors, her fling with her high school boyfriend (Steve Zahn) who happened to be married, and her insecurities concerning her thoughts about peaking in high school as her classmates went on to get married and live in nice houses. The only negative I can think of concerning the film was I thought it could have had more scenes to strengthen the two daughters’ relationship with their father (Alan Arkin). Although he was a nice guy, I didn’t feel as though I knew him as well, which was not a good thing because the film’s crux was the way the family as a unit helped each other out when circumstances got difficult. In a way, “Sunshine Cleaning” somewhat worked as a slice-of-life picture where the audiences are transported into the family’s lives and left things in a not-so-perfect way. There were many bittersweet scenes involving the death of their mother and darkly comic scenes when they had to clean up blood and guts off the walls. Directed by Christine Jeffs and written by Megan Holley, “Sunshine Cleaning” wears its indie feel on its sleeve but it was strong enough to go beyond the quirks and damaged characters. In a strange way, it was quite empowering.

Deadlift 3RM

10 – 8 – 6 – 4 – 2
Handstand Pushups
1 Suicide

It’s been pretty quiet around here the last few days….  Hopefully everyone is over there illnesses and will be here Thursday.  Brad is still out of town but I’m sure he’s doing something

Madoff friend Jeffry Picower found dead in pool

By Pascal Fletcher MIAMI (Reuters) -

Palm Beach billionaire and philanthropist Jeffry Picower, described as the biggest beneficiary of Bernard Madoff’s fraud, died on Sunday after he was found lying at the bottom of the pool at his home, police said. Police were investigating the death of the 67-year-old investor as a drowning, local media reported. Picower was pulled unconscious from the pool of his multimillion-dollar oceanside home, called Casa del Sud, by his wife and a housekeeper. He was later pronounced dead, the Palm Beach Post reported quoting police and Fire Rescue officials. Picower and his wife, Barbara, were friends of Wall Street financier Madoff, who is serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty to running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. The trustee handling the Madoff fraud case, Irving Picard, said in court documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York late last month that Picower, newly listed as one of the 400 wealthiest Americans by Forbes magazine, was complicit in the fraud. Part of Picard’s filing said: “Based upon the trustee’s investigation to date, Picower was the biggest beneficiary of Madoff’s scheme, having withdrawn either directly or through the entities he controlled more than $7.2 billion of other investors’ money.” Picower was being sued for the $7.2 billion, $2 billion more than the trustee in the case demanded in May. The Palm Beach Post reported he was not breathing when he was pulled from the pool and paramedics worked unsuccessfully for 20 minutes at the scene to try to revive him. Local WPTV quoted the Palm Beach fire chief as saying he was told by Picower’s wife and housekeeper that the elderly investor had gone swimming in the pool of his house and that 15 minutes later they found him lying at the bottom. Marcia Horowitz, a spokeswoman for the Picowers’ attorney William Zabel, said the family was devastated by the loss. “Mr Picower did have health issues. He suffered from Parkinsons disease and did have heart-related medical issues,” she said.

MADOFF FRAUD DEVASTATED WEALTHY COMMUNITY

Madoff found many investors for his multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme in the wealthy Palm Beach community where he also had a home, since seized along with other assets. The collapse of the scheme last December devastated families and charitable foundations in the sunny beachside playground, one of America’s richest towns. The scandal led to a number of suicides among participating investors. In December, Frenchman Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, co-founder of money manager Access International, was found dead with his wrists slashed, reportedly distraught over losing up to $1.4 billion in client money to Madoff’s fraud. In February, a former British soldier, William Foxton, 65, killed himself after losing his life savings in the scheme. Picower was listed 371st and worth $1 billion on the latest published Forbes list. He started out as an accountant and lawyer and then made money investing in the medical sector. He and his wife headed a philanthropy, the Picower Foundation. The foundation closed when the Madoff fraud unraveled last December. A spokeswoman for Zabel, the Picowers’ attorney, has rejected Picard’s accusations against Picower as “false and outrageous claims … based on a misreading of the purported ‘facts’.” She said the Picowers initiated discussions to reach a settlement with the trustee, who is winding down Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Picard, who is leading a global search under the Securities Investor Protection Act to recover money for thousands of defrauded investors, has collected about $1.5 billion, but has sued for some $15 billion. The case is Irving H. Picard, trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC v. Jeffry M. Picower 09-01197 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

 (Reporting by Pascal Fletcher and Grant McCool, editing by Chris Wilson)

The Dark Press :- You figure he was a Bryan Jones copycat ?

Knock yourselves out !

“Une salariée de l’entreprise Thalès de Châteaubourg, près de Rennes, s’est suicidée vendredi. Le syndicat CFTC établit un lien direct entre le décès de la salariée et les conditions de travail dans l’entreprise. La femme, âgée de 45 ans, “a été fragilisée par son expérience professionnelle, c’est clair”, estime Stéphane Loquet, secrétaire du comité d’entreprise de Thalès Châteaubourg.”Article complet journal Le Monde.

Une personne de ma clientèle est membre de Thalès, et je connais les méthodes employées par l’environnement Thalès. Cette personne est actuellement en grande détresse et au bord du suicide.

Ces méthodes se rapprochent d’autres, qui me sont rapportées au travers de témoignages et de sos. J’ai aussi une employée de France Telecom.

Exemple :

Je tente actuellement de soutenir et protéger une personne travaillant en tant que responsable dans un secteur dont les données sont classées confidentielles. Elle a été mise sur ce poste comme fusible, car il y a des fuites d’informations sensibles pour son employeur. Dernièrement, son ordinateur, contenant des fichiers classés, a été volé dans son bureau. Ce vol se situe dans un contexte de pressions très lourdes, dans lequel elle se trouve focalisée, et risque des poursuites pénales lourdes. Elle n’arrive pas à se faire entendre, nulle part,  semble enfermée sous une chape de plomb.  Elle est désespérée, acculée. Elle risque de mettre fin à ses jours d’un moment à l’autre. Je recense et place en lieu sûr les détails des témoignages, les démarches entreprises, auprès de qui, à quelle date, sous quelle forme, pour éviter que ce type d’affaires soient étouffées ou passées sous silence.

Je voudrais aussi qu’on n’oublie pas ceux qui sont pris sous une chappe de plomb dont ils ne peuvent sortir seuls, ceux qui appartiennent à des structures militaires ou administratives imperméables à toute diffusion d’information à l’extérieur, sous peine de radiation, sanctions ou mutations disciplinaires, limogeage, incitations appuyées à la démission. Le taux de burn out, dépressions et suicides dans ces structures est très élevé à tous niveaux de la hiérarchie et de l’éxécutif.

Par ailleurs, j’ai remarqué parmi ces personnels, souvent très peu ou pas du tout représentés syndicalement, par nature de la structure, un comportement proche du syndrôme des femmes battues, qui les empêche de réagir. C’est un processus quasiment identique.

Appelez 08 92 23 03 22 code 68704. To B Com association. Isabelle Voidey.

Dans le registre des violences de toutes natures, je vous rappelle le clip vidéo de l’association, sur chanson et musique,

“délinquance conjugale“:

D’ailleurs, aujourd’hui j’ai reçu un appel d ‘une femme française de parents étrangers, enceinte de 7 mois, qui a été frappée la semaine dernière. Elle a perdu le bouchon muqueux, contractions, et risque un accouchement prématuré imminent. Par ailleurs, une blessure qui l’avait laissée invalide, suite à violences avec arme,  a travaillé, et un résidu non extrait se trouve à 1 mm de la môelle épinière.

Et ces jours-ci, très violentes attaques extrémistes sur une de mes actions de protection des femmes, il y avait déjà eu récemment le piratage d’un site relais médical par des hackers se revendiquant de langue et culture arabes. Je n’avais pas reconnu la photo qui était utilisée en accompagnement : je lai vu hier aux infos, c’est l’avocate marocaine de défense des femmes, qui a mal finit.

J’ai beau être dure, je suis malade. Cette fois j’ai dégueulé. Dur week-end. Je vais prendre 1 ou 2 jours de repos.

Ah, une bonne nouvelle : mon chef d’entreprise au bord de la faillite depuis 2 ans,  isolée, abandonnée par ses connaissances et sa famille, que je soutiens depuis 18 mois, qui a failli mettre fin à ses jours au téléphone il y a quelques semaines, va mieux et commence à redémarrer. Espoir et combativité retrouvée, et des actions qui commencent à porter des fruits.

The suicide spiral inside France Telecom grows. The number of  the company’s employees that have taken their lives in the past 18 months has risen to 25 after a 48 year old woman working in Research and Development committed suicide in October the 15th. Labour unions also claim 13 attempted suicides since the beginning of 2008.

France Telecom, operating as Orange in the rest of Europe, states that the number of deaths is statisticaly normal over a total of 100000 employees. The suicide rate among France Telecom’s 102,000 domestic employees is 15.3 per year, compared with an average of 14.7 suicides per 100,000 in the French population as a whole.

The labour unions blame chronic restructuring and work pressure at France Telecom for the wave of suicides, saying that some staffers are being left behind in the firm’s transformation from a staid government agency to a private company with profit targets and intense competition.

fonts: Reuters, Timesonline

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Well, the fall TV shows are premiering left and right. In fact, I saw the fall TV premier of House MD – “Broken,” much to my chagrin. In the segment, House finally was medically withdrawn from the addicting pain medication he has been taking for his leg pain,. You know, the kind of medication that is only available by prescription. What an individual goes through to get off such prescribed pain medications, often at their own expense, is horrid.

One would think that the place one would go to be medically withdrawn from such medications would be to a hospital. Not so. The problem with the show was the depiction of the mental health system being there to help to make a person’s life better. That part of “Broken” falls into the category of, “If it sounds like it is too good to be true, it probably is.”

Many people know someone personally, see people out in the community or have friends that know someone that is part of the mental health system. Old towns, skid row and around McDonalds or Burger King, public transportation, is where we find folks that are in the mental health system. They repulse, fascinate, frighten and entertain us with their weird facial expressions and gestures. They are the brunt of many a comedian. Hollywood occasionally has a fascination with the mentally ill and soon hoards of paying customers flock to the movies to see the entertaining version of private hells. We know mentally ill when we see it. We also recognize the psychiatric system when we see it. In the “Broken” segment, sure enough, there were the locked doors, the restraints, the goon squads, the cruelty, the ignorance, the acting out and the outrage. Also present later in the show were the medications, the ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy), and the invalidation of a person’s ability to handle life without the psychiatric system. In House’s case, he had to take psychiatric medications and participate in psychiatric therapy to get his license back.

Individuals are not equipped, as the story went. Staff are not well trained in many facilities and their own prejudices guide them to act in cruel ways. Staff can become isolated, some come from families that have been torn apart by mental illness and the psychiatric and social services fields, or some are borderline mentally ill themselves. They know the system is “Broken.” They just think it is all they have. [Pan in on sad faced staff shaking their heads and sighing].

The worst part about the show was the marketing promotion for the pharmaceutical industry. The show did not show the suicides and aggression and life altering effects. Psychiatric medications do give such “side effects,” as they are so deceptively called. They give memory loss and nerve damage. They tether the individual to the very system that suppresses them. As was shown in the program, patients can be held hostage. They are told either cooperate with the psychiatric program and take the psychiatric pills or they don’t get their jobs back., they don’t get their lives back. That’s not a choice, that’s oppression and has nothing to do with health. Perhaps this airing is a bid to win voters over into approving funding of mandatory mental health measures lurking in the current national health bill pending on the Hill. Did you realize that I said “mandatory?”

You are probably wondering when I will be getting on with the mental health screening aspect of this article. I will simply challenge you to apply your own screening to the daily entertainment and information you receive – “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Now get out there and:

Demand that the government only fund health care that works.
Demand accountability and justice.
Demand transparency.
Demand programs that put the zeal for life and one another back into us.
Demand that the government cut the funds of “Broken” programs.

Certaines femmes ne seront décidément jamais heureuses. Des milliers de manifestantes ont défilé ce week-end, sous la pluie (bien fait), afin de combattre pour une vraie égalité entre hommes et femmes.

Aujourd’hui les femmes ont accès au travail rémunéré, elles posent nues dans les calendriers, elles votent, elles peuvent avoir recours à l’IVG. Putain, elles jouent même au foot! Qu’est-ce qu’elles veulent de plus? Les enfants qui meurent de faim en Afrique, ça elles n’en ont rien à carrer par contre…

Car il y a des sujets plus inquiétants. En ce début de millénaire, je trouve assez symptomatique l’attitude par trop attentiste de mes concitoyens. Les injustices criantes se succèdent mais au lieu de se rebeller, les Français préfèrent manifester pour des sujets sans intérêt. (cf plus haut) Pleins d’exemples nous permettent pourtant de dire que la situation va très mal mais au lieu de profiter de ce climat propice à une vraie révolution, les moutons que nous sommes cherchent à revenir coûte que coûte à leur petit confort.

Autant dire que dans Matrix, on aurait pris la pillule bleue.

Et ça aurait fait un drôle de film sans intérêt.

Le krach financier a montré du doigt les dérives dans les pratiques professionnelles des traders. Pire encore, les profits récents réalisés par certaines banques illustrent à quel point les spéculateurs sont des enfants qui n’ont rien compris après s’être pourtant pris une grosse claque dans la tronche. Si ça continue ils vont finir dans leur chambre sans bonus. Mais ils auront réussi à foutre le feu à la maison.

Les restaurateurs ont demandé une baisse de la TVA pour pouvoir s’aligner sur leurs voisins européens mais surtout mieux se la mettre dans la poche.

Quand les agriculteurs montent sur les Champs-Elysées, l’hymne de nos campagnes a une bonne odeur de purin.

Les suicidés de France Telecom montrent bien que la pression au travail peut parfois devenir intenable.

Après avoir placé ses amis aux postes stratégiques, Nicolas Sarkozy franchit la ligne en faisant de son fils Jean le nouveau patron de l’EPAD. ÇA VA MAL! Mais on ne fait rien.

Sur mon dernier point, Martine n’était pas d’accord.

Je proteste Morisset. Je discutais l’autre jour avec le jeune Arnaud Acévédo, tu sais, le fils de Jean.

_ Tu veux dire “Joao”? Celui qui est responsable des comptes pro au CIC?

_ En personne. Ben il me disait que s’il ne s’était pas appelé “Acévédo”, il n’aurait certainement jamais eu son boulot d’été au guichet du CIC.

_ C’est bizarre avec un nom pareil, on trouve plus facilement des boulots d’été sur les chantiers.

_ Tu peux bien faire le pitre Morisset, mais tout ça pour te dire que les temps changent.

_ Ben rien du tout au final, ça reste du piston ton histoire. Saleté de fils à papa.

_ Tu fais quoi toi pendant ce temps là? T’es là avec tes beaux discours mais tu fais quoi? Hein? Tu fais la révolution?

_ Tu sais que ce blog a une dimension politique hein. C’est pas que des blagues gratuites tout ça… T’es avec moi Martine? Je peux compter sur ton soutien?

_ Écoute Morisset… je pense que… tu as un domaine de compétences. Est-ce que c’est pertinent de te lancer en politique aujourd’hui? Est-ce que c’est le bon moment? 2012 approche.

Elle avait raison. Le film 2012 va sortir début novembre. Il me fallait être patient. Mais je finirais par l’avoir mon bon gros déluge pour nettoyer toutes ces saloperies, voilà ce dont la France avait besoin.

(ci dessous un moine bouddhiste savoyard à St Jean de Maurienne en train de donner l’alerte inondation)

Investigators say William Melchert-Dinke visited online suicide chat rooms and offered depressed people step-by-step instructions on how to kill themselves.

He is under investigation in at least two deaths and could face criminal charges. His nursing license was revoked in June.

Source:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113892522&ft=1&f=1001

On attend quoi pour le virer ce mec ?

Il a une vingtaine de suicides sur la conscience !

Une vidéo mise en ligne par Mediapart montre le PDG en train de mettre la pression sur ses équipes, notamment sur celles de province, pour qui “la pêche aux moules”, “c’est fini”.

Alors que France Télécom est secoué par une vague de suicides, une vidéo, révélée par Mediapart, tombe bien mal pour Didier Lombard, le PDG d’Orange. Les images, tournées le 20 janvier dernier, montrent ce dernier mettre la pression sur ses employés. “On ne sait pas bien ce qui va se passer. Il va falloir qu’on s’adapte à la réalité qui va se présenter vers nous avec une rapidité encore plus grande”, explique-t-il, avant de s’en prendre directement au rendement des salariés.

“Ceux qui pensent qu’ils vont pouvoir continuer à être sur leur sillon et pas s’en faire, tranquille, se trompent”, martèle ainsi le PDG. Il prévient également les salariés de province qu’ils devront mettre les bouchés doubles à l’avenir : les salariés qui “ne sont pas à Paris, qui pensent que la pêche aux moules, c’est merveilleux … Eh bien, c’est fini.” Une petite phrase qu’il explicite : “Même s’ils resteront aussi nombreux, il y aura autant de crédits, autant d’activités, il va falloir qu’on s’adapte aux sujets tels qu’ils sont sur la table aujourd’hui et pas ceux qu’on a rêvés il y a vingt ans.”

Un porte-parole de la direction d’Orange, contacté par Mediapart vendredi, a cherché à nuancer ces déclarations, tenues lors d’une réunion privée selon lui et dont les images n’étaient pas destinées à une diffusion publique : “C’est un homme qui s’adresse à des chercheurs du centre de recherche de Lannion, dont lui-même est issu”, a-t-il expliqué. Il s’agissait “d’une blague entre camarades de Polytechnique. La pêche aux moules est une allusion à la Bretagne, il ne s’agissait pas de stigmatiser les fonctionnaires.”

(Source Le Figaro.fr)