Edwards Unveils Plan To Deal With PTSD

Democratic Candidate Wants $400M To Help Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

(AP)  Presidential contender John Edwards introduced a $400 million plan Monday to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, including those recently returned from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under Edwards' plan, veterans could seek counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder outside the Veterans Health Administration system; the number of counselors would increase; and family members would be employed to identify cases of PTSD.

"When they come home, they're basically left on their own. They didn't leave us on our own, and we should not be leaving them on their own," said Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina.

Edwards said that despite his opposition to how the war has been waged, the enlisted men and women deserve the nation's support when they complete their service.

"This is a place where America needs to honor its responsibility, again, like generations before of us have honored those who have served this country patriotically," he said, invoking how the United States treated its World War II veterans.

A recent study of Veterans Affairs records showed that the number veterans with PTSD increased by almost 20,000 during the last fiscal year — an almost 70 percent jump.

"They don't have lobbyists in Washington. They don't have somebody in there pushing what needs to be done for them. It seems to me like we have a sacred responsibility to men and women who are coming back to America who have met their responsibility and are counting America meeting its responsibility," Edwards said during a speech at New Hampshire's Plymouth State University.

Edwards said the Bush administration's extension of tours to 15 months has only exacerbated the situation, and he promised to increase the time given to service members between deployment.

"We've had this incredible tempo of deployments, which means in many cases that men and women with post-traumatic stress disorder get redeployed when they actually have it," he said.

A Defense Department study earlier this year showed that inadequate time stateside led to higher rates of PTSD or aggravated mental stress from service in the field.

Edwards' campaign said there are too few trained counselors in the networks available to veterans. As such, they avoid seeking care because of the wait or the stigma. Instead, Edwards said he would increase counseling and training for counselors and allow veterans to seek treatment outside of the existing system.

The VA currently has a backlog of as many as 600,000 claims, increasing delays for initial treatment by up to six months.

"Half a million, that's what the backlog is right now. Half a million. This cannot continue," Edwards said.

Edwards pledged the entire backlog would be eliminated by Memorial Day 2009 — four months after he might take office — and would cut the processing time by half.

"We have a responsibility to the men and women who have served this country in Iraq," Edwards said.

Edwards' plan also would provide a comprehensive medical examination, which would be part of a "Homefront Redeployment Plan" provided to every veteran. Edwards said veterans don't receive their first examinations for months or years after leaving the service, making it more difficult to determine whether an injury is service related or not.

"We have veterans who are falling through the cracks," Edwards said. "One out of every four veterans are homeless. That is inexcusable. There is no excuse. ... We have a responsibility to make sure they have a place to live."

The Edwards campaign said the government could pay for the program through closing tax loopholes and more efficient tax collection.

[nextprophet]

RON PAUL IS THE NEW WAY
What we need is a President who will show us the way. Not the old way. Not the same way, but a NEW way. Think about this for a minute. What if we pulled all of our troops out of South Korea? They''ve been there for 50+ years. What if we quit worrying about Iran, but instead, realized that its having a nuclear weapon will not mean the end of the world? What if we pulled all of our troops out of the Middle-East, and brought them all home? What if we realistically addressed the National Debt, and paid attention to REALLY DOING SOMETHING about stopping illegal immigration? These are the ideas of Presidential candidate, Ron Paul. He''s a ten term Congressman and a physician who has delivered over 4,000 babies. He''s an intellectual who''s published four books, three of which are devoted entirely to sound economics and one to foreign policy. He was raised on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania as a pious Lutheran, but now he attends a Baptist church. Paul is given to mulling things over morally. Whenever he recollects the helicopter pilots he treated as an Air Force Flight Surgeon (Captain) during the Vietnam War, a war which he now says was "totally unnecessary and illegal," he laments, "They were gung-ho. I''ve often thought about how many of those people never came back." Candidates with the high level of personal integrity and proven track record of adherence to The Constitution, Congressman Paul has always demonstrated only come around once in a lifetime, if we''re lucky.

[nextprophet]

DR RON PAUL UNDERSTANDS HEALTH CARE
Dr. Ron Paul., an OB/GYN physician, has been the national leader in preserving our Health Freedom. He feels that Americans are justifiably concerned over the government''s escalating intervention into their freedom to choose what they eat and how they take care of their health. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in order to comply with standards dictated by supra-national organizations such as the UN''s World Food Code (CODEX), NAFTA, and CAFTA, has been assuming greater control over nutrients, vitamins and natural health care providers to restrict your right to choose the manner in which you manage your health and nutritional needs. He introduced the Health Freedom Protection Act, HR 2117, to ensure Americans can receive truthful health information about supplements and natural remedies. He supports the Access to Medical Treatment Act, H.R. 2717, which expands the ability of Americans to use alternative medicine and new treatments. He opposes legislation that increases the FDA''s legal powers. The FDA has consistently failed to protect the public from dangerous drugs, genetically modified foods, dangerous pesticides and other chemicals in the food supply. Meanwhile, they waste public funds attacking safe, healthy foods and dietary supplements. He also opposed the Homeland Security Bill, which, in section 304, authorizes the forced vaccination of American citizens. The government should never have that kind of power. Vote YES for Dr. No.

[nextprophet]

RON PAUL: A GUN OWNER''S BEST FRIEND
Like Ron Paul, I share our Founders'' belief that in a free society each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms. They ratified the Second Amendment knowing that this right is the guardian of every other right, and they all would be horrified by the proliferation of unconstitutional legislation that prevents Law-abiding Americans from exercising this right. Congressman, Paul has always supported the Second Amendment and these are some of the Bills he introduced in the current Congress to help restore respect for it: H.R. 1096 includes provisions repealing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Federal Firearms License Reform Act, two invasive and unconstitutional Bills. H.R. 1897 would end the ban on carrying a firearm in the National Park System, restoring Americans'' ability to protect themselves in potentially hazardous situations. H.R. 3305 would allow pilots and specially assigned personnel to carry firearms in order to protect airline passengers, possibly preventing future 9/11-style attacks. H.R. 1146 would end our membership in the United Nations, protecting us from their attempts to tax our guns or disarm us entirely. In the past, he introduced legislation to repeal the so-called assault weapons ban before its 2004 sunset, and he has opposed all attempts to reinstate it. Congessman, Paul also recently opposed H.R. 2640, which would allow government-appointed psychiatrists to ban veterans experiencing any form of PTSD.

[prinzowhales]

Notice, Big Pharma''s friend John Edwards, wants the money for "PTSD"--not for DU-poisoning...not for any real physical complaints. PTSD is a diagnostic category that gets everything from real PTSD patients to those with complaints that cannot be pigeon-holed in any other category...this way, they will load the Vets up with SSRIs and other psychotropics.

To ''ell with John Edwards.

[drinuk]

NEXTPROPHET. YOU JUST LOST THOUSAND OF VOTES FOR RON PAUL !!! YOU ARE A COMPLETE "D I C K H E A D"

[nextprophet]

PUT UP OR SHUT UP
I challenge you to present your candidate''s competing ideas, or does your candidate even have any ideas? You probably don''t even know where your candidate stands on the most important issues facing our country. That''s understandable, because your sold-out candidate probably doesn''t want you to know. Sadly, modern elections have become little more than beauty contests rather than contests of ideas, which is what they should be. To those of you who don''t like my posts, and refer to them as "spam": If you are turned-off by free speech and the communication of political ideas during a presidential election season, I''m totally glad you are. You''re probably the same sort of fascist pig who trys to define waterboarding as an "enhanced interrogation technique," rather than the inhumane sort of torture that it most surely is. You can define my political free speech as "spam," and you can define torture as an "inhanced interrogation technique," but that does not make it so. Finally, rather than flip-flopping as the winds of the moment blow, or not fully disclosing where he stands on the issues, as your favorite candidate probably does, Ron Paul makes his positions very clear, and he never deviates from those positions, ever. His 800 published articles, five books and 20 year congressional voting record is proof of that fact. This is one of the many reasons so many people like myself support him. He, unlike your candidate, is a man of real substance and real integrity.

[liberalme]

Nextprophet--Sheeh with a SN like yours why aren''t you running for Jesus or something? Jerk

[nextprophet]

WHO''S RON PAUL?
Ron Paul''s campaign has become a clearinghouse for voters like me who feel unrepresented by the Fascisct (globalist Republicans) and their Socialist comrades in crime (globalist Democrats). They''re actually one and the same. It''s all a phony, poorly staged left-right paradigm. Most people, though, are too distracted, dumbed-down, or outright brainwashed by mainstream media, which endlessly regurgitates scientifically-crafted streams of information aimed at keeping their eyes closed to the realities of the world, that they fail to recognize this. Those currently in power, and those being groomed to take [major] political power, are preselected by a "global elite," and whomever is eventually elected, will ultimately, serve their agenda, and not ours. People on the right and those on the left have many differences. Maybe irreconcilable ones. But they have a lot of common beliefs too, and our numbers and anger are of a considerable magnitude. No matter what happens in 2008, I personally believe Ron Paul will influence the national conversation about how much power our government should have over our lives; how much liberty we should give up for security; and whether we should continue moving along our current path towards an all powerful one world government. These are issues that, frankly, no one else is talking about as seriously and sincerely as Ron Paul. What''s for sure is that his growing army of supporters like me will be a force to be reckoned with in 2008.

[nextprophet]

RON PAUL KNOWS HOW TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. Ron Paul has a plan: (1.) Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals. (2.) Enforce Visa rules. Immigration officials must track Visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their Visa or otherwise violates U.S. Law. This is especially important when we recall that a number of 9/11 terrorists had expired Visas. (3.) No amnesty. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally. That''s a lot of people to reward for breaking our Laws. (4.) No welfare for illegal aliens. Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules, but taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services. (5.) End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong. (6.) Pass true immigration reform. The current system, and those proposed by ALL other candidates, is incoherent and unfair, and would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country.

[nextprophet]

RON PAUL IS THE TAXPAYER''S BEST FRIEND
If he is elected President, Ron Paul will work to abolish the Federal Reserve System as well as the IRS, returning our country to the Gold Standard. He believes, as I do, that our current Income Tax System is unconstitutional, because it is a direct tax that is not equally apportioned as The Constitution requires. Whenever taxes are raised by the federal government, it should be done as The Constitution does require--in an indirect way, which is equally apportioned. This system would benefit all of us, creating more individual wealth, and allowing us to make more decisions for ourselves about our lives. As President, Ron Paul will also work to abolish the Federal Reserve, a group of private banks, run by unelected officials, which loans our government unbacked money which they are allowed to essentially print out of thin air, making each dollar in your pocket worth less all the time, and increasing our national debt to these banks. Worse still. Most of our debt is owned by China (25%) and Saudi Arabia who finance our runaway military spending overseas. This is a threat to our nation. We need to bring our troops home from overseas, and use the trillions we would save thereby to reduce our debt, and to re-invigorate our currency. We can use this money to ensure that Social Security and other essential programs will still be solvent in the future. Vote for Ron Paul. He''s published three books on the topic of sound economics. ronpaullibrary.org

[nextprophet]

RON PAUL TAKES ON FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee Member, Congressman Ron Paul on November 8th, and had to face some tough criticism concerning the fact that the Fed has been increasing the money supply while at the same time refusing to raise the Prime Interest Rate in order to curb inflation and devaluation of the Dollar. Paul accused the Federal Reserve of "robbery," telling Bernanke, "There''s a dollar crisis out there and people''s money is being stolen," Paul said. "People who have saved, they''re being robbed. I mean, if you have a devaluation of the dollar at 10 percent, people have been robbed of 10 percent." Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke attempted to dispel that notion by explaining, "If somebody has their wealth in dollars and they''re going to buy consumer goods in dollars, then the only effect it has on their buying power is that it makes imported goods more expensive." Paul disagreed, reminding Bernanke, "Yeah, but not if you''re elderly and you have your wealth in CDs. Their cost of living is going-up no matter what your CPI says," adding finally, "Their cost of living is going up, and they''re hurting. And that''s why the people of this country are very upset."

[nextprophet]

DR RON PAUL UNDERSTANDS HEALTH CARE
Dr. Ron Paul., an OB/GYN physician, has been the national leader in preserving our Health Freedom. He feels that Americans are justifiably concerned over the government''s escalating intervention into their freedom to choose what they eat and how they take care of their health. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in order to comply with standards dictated by supra-national organizations such as the UN''s World Food Code (CODEX), NAFTA, and CAFTA, has been assuming greater control over nutrients, vitamins and natural health care providers to restrict your right to choose the manner in which you manage your health and nutritional needs. He introduced the Health Freedom Protection Act, HR 2117, to ensure Americans can receive truthful health information about supplements and natural remedies. He supports the Access to Medical Treatment Act, H.R. 2717, which expands the ability of Americans to use alternative medicine and new treatments. He opposes legislation that increases the FDA''s legal powers. The FDA has consistently failed to protect the public from dangerous drugs, genetically modified foods, dangerous pesticides and other chemicals in the food supply. Meanwhile, they waste public funds attacking safe, healthy foods and dietary supplements. He also opposed the Homeland Security Bill, which, in section 304, authorizes the forced vaccination of American citizens. The government should never have that kind of power. Vote YES for Dr. No.

[nextprophet]

BILDERBERGERS RULE
The Bilderberg Group is a secretive gathering of global power brokers, which includes Hillary Clinton, and a virtual who''s who of other folks whose names you will recognize (Search Wikipedia: "Bilderberg Attendees"), has inspired layers of ridicule. In recent times, the deeds laid at the group''s doorstep have included the creation of the EU, the Iraq war, and the group''s current efforts to create a North American Union, which will erase U.S. borders and sovereignty. Their agenda: economic and political domination; one world government; and world population reduction. After it was leaked that a speech by John Edwards at their meeting in Italy, was one reason for his selection as John Kerry''s vice-presidential running mate in 2000, people began to ask, "Are the Bilderbergers now shaping the worldwide political scene?" Over 130 of the world''s most powerful monarchs, politicians and business leaders attend the annual, invitation-only gatherings in order to to discuss and orchestrate public policy worldwide. The hotels involved are closed-off to other guests and reporters. Guards are placed around the perimeter, and attendees promise to keep quiet about what they hear and say. "They do not have to sign anything, but they understand that they do not talk," said Maja Banck-Polderman, the group''s Secretary. Tony Gosling, a British reporter who has followed the group says, "I think that a forum where so many rich and powerful people meet should be open to public scrutiny."

[liberalme]

Hmmmm must have asked a hard question.

[liberalme]

Ok I''ve read enough of what Dr No is against---what is he for?????

[valjeanne-2009]

Signof4 I am curious who you support for POTUS?
John Edwards continues to roll out thoughtful proposals for "we the people"
including our brave vets, how is this a bad thing?
Edwards 2008 The Peoples President
The champion we have been waiting for,
returning the government back to "We the people"

[nextprophet]

HOPE FOR AMERICA: PRESIDENT RON PAUL

-- No more meddling in other country''s political affairs
-- No more aggressive military actions overseas
-- No more torture prisons
-- No more pseudo-wars like the "War on Drugs"
-- No more IRS and unconstitutional income taxes
-- No more Federal Reserve (the group of private banks which owns our government)
-- No more erosion of Social Security to pay for militarization
-- No more U.N. (one world government) participation
-- No more NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO or GATT
-- No more North American Union
-- No more federal gun control laws
-- No more illegal aliens pouring-in over our country''s borders
-- No more illegal aliens allowed to roam freely in our streets
-- No more national ID cards (Real ID Act)
-- No more government invasion of your privacy
-- No more federal Laws which are not authorized by The Constitution
-- No more federal erosion of State sovereignty
-- No more unlimited federal government

They don''t call him "Dr. No" for no reason. The Doctor is in! Join us in this 21st Century political revolution at ronpaul2008.com

"Liberty, when it takes root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington

"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine

"Ron Paul doesn''t represent your Father''s school of political thought. He represents your Founding Fathers."
- Me

[liberalme]

Edwards can try, but there''s a bill on hitlers desk now, for vets PTSD, Homelessness, TBI and many other ways to help out vets, but guess what?

Hitler will, most likely, veto it.

You see, Bush loves the fetus, but hates the person, people, Americans and America.

He neither has done a thing for this country and the people in it, nor does he care.

He is the most vile representation of humanity ever.

[signof4]

This guy is now becoming a characature of HIMSELF!

[nextprophet]

RON PAUL: A GUN OWNER''S BEST FRIEND
Like Ron Paul, I share our Founders'' belief that in a free society each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms. They ratified the Second Amendment knowing that this right is the guardian of every other right, and they all would be horrified by the proliferation of unconstitutional legislation that prevents Law-abiding Americans from exercising this right. Congressman, Paul has always supported the Second Amendment and these are some of the Bills he introduced in the current Congress to help restore respect for it: H.R. 1096 includes provisions repealing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Federal Firearms License Reform Act, two invasive and unconstitutional Bills. H.R. 1897 would end the ban on carrying a firearm in the National Park System, restoring Americans'' ability to protect themselves in potentially hazardous situations. H.R. 3305 would allow pilots and specially assigned personnel to carry firearms in order to protect airline passengers, possibly preventing future 9/11-style attacks. H.R. 1146 would end our membership in the United Nations, protecting us from their attempts to tax our guns or disarm us entirely. In the past, he introduced legislation to repeal the so-called assault weapons ban before its 2004 sunset, and he has opposed all attempts to reinstate it. Congessman, Paul also recently opposed H.R. 2640, which would allow government-appointed psychiatrists to ban veterans experiencing any form of PTSD.