Back in January Ilona Meagher, of PTSD Combat-Winning The War Within posted about a Justice Court being set up in Buffalo NY to help Veterans who get into legal trouble you can read her post Here

This Court came together with the help of the local Buffalo chapter membership of Vietnam Veterans of America:

Western New York Chapter 77 member Jack O’Connor has put together a program called Veterans Court in conjunction with the Buffalo Police Department, Buffalo City Court Judge Robert T. Russell, Jr., and the Buffalo VA Medical Center. The object of the Veterans Court program is to keep veterans who are arrested for low-level crimes out of jail. The program provides VA counselors to work with these veterans with the idea of getting them into appropriate treatment programs. If a veteran successfully completes the program, which Judge Russell monitors, charges may be dropped and the veteran will not have to serve jail time.

Since than not much has been reported about this needed endevor to help Veterans who go astray of the law, in most cases in their attempts to reintegrate back into society, a society that most haven’t experianced what these military personal have.

The Huge Majority of service men and women, even though reports have serviced, as the military trys to maintain it’s quota’s on enlistment, aren’t criminals, never have been of criminal mind, and most likely never would have broken laws. But when one goes into Wars of Choice, and especially with extended multiple tours, many change as they are caught in a never land of trying to adjust and living with the memories of their experiances unsure of where to seek help or who to talk to. Their actions can than lead to breaking the laws of the land they once served Honorably, loosing their way after that service.

On the 29th, of April, the Veterans Court came into the light, long over due, but well along since the start to report on it’s needed service.

NPR’s Morning Edition did a report on one returned Iraq Veteran it’s been helping, instead of locking up:

Nancy J. Parisi for NPR

Iraq veteran Gary Pettengill waits at the bus stop outside the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Buffalo. He is here most days, either to work or to go to drug rehab.

Court Aims to Help Vets with Legal Troubles

You Can Listen Now, brings up NPR Player.

Morning Edition, April 29, 2008 · As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan put renewed focus on the issue of veterans’ mental health, a judge in Buffalo, N.Y., has created a special court to assist veterans who wind up in the criminal justice system.

Gary Pettengill wanted to make a career out of the military, but the Army made him take a medical discharge in 2006 after he injured his back in Iraq. At the time, Pettengill was 23 and married, with a third child on the way.

To cope with what he says were empty days and nightmares caused by post-traumatic stress disorder, Pettengill says he started smoking marijuana. Then he began selling it to pay his bills. In February, he was arrested during a drug sweep and accused of being in possession of two pounds of marijuana.

Read Rest Here

Nancy J. Parisi for NPR

The VA provides Pettengill with bus tokens to get to and from the medical center. That helps him stay on track with the Buffalo veterans court.

Elizabeth Edwards Calls Racist GOP Wright Ad an “Assault Weapon”

Taking time off from her family vacation in Florida, Elizabeth Edwards commented on the GOP racist ad, “Extreme,” during an MSNBC interview, calling it an “assault weapon.” Elizabeth went on to support Obama’s decision to separate himself from Reverend Wright.

Watch the interview here:

As the North Carolina Primary heats up, the NC Republican party is igniting the race issue, employing Jesse Helms style tactics. McCain, having failed yet another leadership test, made a request for the ad not to air, but is being defied by the NC Republican Party who plans on airing this reprehensible ad:

It’s no surprise that Elizabeth Edwards has stepped up and denounced this racist ad. From confronting Ann Coulter for calling her husband a gay slur to telling the media to “do their job,” she’s known for speaking out.

A media frenzy and airing racist ads about Reverend Wright further distract from the issues that American voters want and deserve to hear about, threatening our democratic process.

Media Corporations should be held accountable for what political messages they sell on their stations.

As Elizabeth recently noted in her NYT Op-Ed Piece, “But as long as corporations to which news gathering is not the primary source of income or expertise get to decide what information about the candidates “sells,” we are not functioning as well as we could if we had the engaged, skeptical press we deserve.”

Bowling 1, Health Care 0 by Elizabeth Edwards

snip

News is different from other programming on television or other content in print. It is essential to an informed electorate. And an informed electorate is essential to freedom itself. But as long as corporations to which news gathering is not the primary source of income or expertise get to decide what information about the candidates “sells,” we are not functioning as well as we could if we had the engaged, skeptical press we deserve.

And the future of news is not bright. Indeed, we’ve heard that CBS may cut its news division, and media consolidation is leading to one-size-fits-all journalism. The state of political campaigning is no better: without a press to push them, candidates whose proposals are not workable avoid the tough questions. All of this leaves voters uncertain about what approach makes the most sense for them. Worse still, it gives us permission to ignore issues and concentrate on things that don’t matter. (Look, the press doesn’t even think there is a difference!)

I was lucky enough for a time to have a front-row seat in this campaign – to see all this, to get my information firsthand. But most Americans are not so lucky. As we move the contest to my home state, North Carolina, I want my neighbors to know as much as they possibly can about what these men and this woman would do as president.

If voters want a vibrant, vigorous press, apparently we will have to demand it. Not by screaming out our windows as in the movie “Network” but by talking calmly, repeatedly, constantly in the ears of those in whom we have entrusted this enormous responsibility. Do your job, so we can – as voters – do ours.

National and local state bloggers are not holding back either.  Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend, along with BlueNC bloggers, will be delivering a petition on Thursday,  to NC U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, demanding she put a stop to this ad:

Dole is up for re-election this year (and will be running against either Kay Hagen or Blue America candidate Jim Neal).  But where is she?  She’s never in the state, she lives at the Watergate in DC, she rarely makes public appearances in NC.  It seems she’s gone Washington  — because once again, she’s nowhere to be found when it comes to a North Carolina issue.

She can stop the racist attack ads against Obama, and we’re asking her to send this letter:

Dear Chairwoman Linda Daves,

I disapprove of the content of the North Carolina Republican Party’s recent advertisement “Extreme”. I feel that it resorts to a type of negative politicking that betrays the best interest of North Carolinians.

I call on you, as Chairwoman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to immediately stop airing this advertisement. Failure to do so will reflect negatively on all North Carolina Republicans, and would necessitate that I return the Party’s contributions to my campaign to disassociate myself from the vitriol which you appear to embrace.

Whether you are for Obama or Clinton, this ad is a prime example of gutter politics. It’s flat out wrong. The corporate MSM needs to step up and “do their job” by refusing to run this ad.  

Libby Dole needs to step up do her job by denouncing the ad.

Help put a stop to this despicable ad by signing the petition here: Stopping the Slime

Oh, and on that endorsement that some are demanding John and Elizabeth Edwards “must do” (as if they are obligated), Elizabeth had this to say:

If we thought that somehow there was a partial bloodletting that an endorsement would solve, that would be reason to do it. I don’t think Vice President Gore or my husband think their endorsement would change that dynamic.”