Since this has been up here for going on nearly a day and a half now without response, I am going to comment and go slightly off topic.

First, my greatest respect for Kevin and the reporting he does. He has reported very important stories of social and community importance. He also has been a ground-breaker, for ex., I believe his Brewster story on the police and principal looking Hispanic students in a gym until they signed an anti-gang pledge while simultaneously ignoring a racist white gang was the first story reprinted with a Spanish-language translation in the S-R.

As to Kevin's reporting on the story, I would like to see him explore the impact on families and the community of the their family members participation in the SERE program, the CIA/Air Force program near Fairchild which has been coopted by the CIA and DIA to develop and conduct more effective Geneva-convention violating torture methods. My understanding is that participation in that program is highly stressful to families. I also believe that Kevin may find that some of the suicides -- whether related to SERE or not -- may be of men who found themselves involved in violating Iraqi and Afghan human rights. If that proves to be the case, it should be reported.

I would also like to suggest again that the S-R report on problems related to the immigrant community in Spokane including the continued failure of medical facilities in Spokane to use proper interpretation, if they use interpretation at all. There are hundreds upon hundreds of stories. I talked to a family recently whose bilingual teenage child had to interpret for the parents and tell them that the doctor had just diagnosed the child with cancer. They have continued to be without professional interpretation. And of course the case of the death of Rocio Rodriguez is still out there to be investigated by someone.

My commendations to Kevin Graman and best of luck with this urgent story.

I've have been treated by VA centers for depression in Portsmouth, San Diego, and Spokane. I had great success in Portsmouth and San Diego. However the Spokane facility did absolutely nothing for me. I am now seeing a civilian doctor and am paying out the nose for it, but it keeps me wanting to live life. I fear that if I had continued going to the Spokane VA center, I could have spiraled out of control as well.

The Daily Kos comment on Kevin Graman's story ...

Alright, you made me cry

During Donna Edwards' keynote address at Netroots Nation on Saturday evening, I had a phone call from my daughter. She'd just taken two bottles of pills and wanted to go to the hospital.

About two and a half years ago, she was wounded in her third deployment to the Gulf and has been out of the navy for two years now. She suffered a brain injury and life has been frustrating for her. She takes a class here at there at the community college and sometimes works a part-time job if she can. But more than that just probably isn't in the cards for her anymore.

I had to leave the address and get her hospitalized. This was her fourth serious attempt in the past two years, so it was a little easier for me to get it done long distance. My younger daughter met the paramedics at her sister's apartment and accompanied her to the hospital; a friend watched my granddaughter (who lives with me and was staying with my younger daughter while I was in Texas) for the eight hours it took to get my daughter admitted; a neighbor went over and cleaned up the mess at the apartment; a friend took in the dog; etc.

Medically, she is fairly well recovered from the overdose and has been transferred to a psychiatric care facility. We're working on setting up things with a county mental health case manager.

She deserved more, you know? She did. She served six years in the US military and should have received services the moment she was discharged. Six years of service. And four suicide attempts. And her family has become so adept at handling them that we can coordinate everything by phone via a hallway in a convention center a thousand miles away.

Justice begins when we say it does; savagery begins when we say nothing.

by MsSpentyouth on Tue Jul 22, 2008 at 11:43:39 AM PDT