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By Margo Rutledge Kissell
| Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 04:58 PM
My colleague, Dave Larsen, filed this report:
Legendary television talk show host Phil Donahue will present his award-winning documentary, “Body of War,” on May 30 at the Neon theater in Dayton.
Donahue, who launched “The Phil Donahue Show” in Dayton, is the executive producer and co-director of “Body of War.”
The feature documentary follows Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran paralyzed from a bullet to the spine, on a physical and emotional journey as he adapts to his new body and begins to question the decision to go to war in Iraq.
Donahue will attend the film’s local opening on May 30 at the Neon. He will answer audience questions after the 7:15 p.m. screening and introduce the 9:30 p.m. screening.
“Body of War” was named Best Documentary by the National Board of Review. It won the Audience Award at the 2007 Hamptons International Film Festival.
Donahue, a Cleveland native, has won 11 Daytime Emmy Awards, including a Special Recognition Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
“The Phil Donahue Show,” also known as “Donahue,” was the first tabloid talk show. The show had a 26-year run in national syndication, preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton.
Donahue launched “The Phil Donahue Show” in 1967 on Dayton’s WLWD-TV, which is now WDTN-TV. The show ended its run in 1996.
Donahue also hosted a talk show on MSNBC from 2002-2003. He is married to actress Marlo Thomas.
Tickets for the 7:15 and 9:30 p.m. screenings on May 30 of “Body of War” will go on sale at noon on Saturday, May 17. Tickets are $8 and must be purchased in person at the Neon, 130 E. Fifth St.
For more information, call (937) 222-7469 or visit www.neonmovies.com.
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By Margo Rutledge Kissell
| Thursday, May 1, 2008, 02:30 PM
Five years ago today, President Bush stood aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”
U.S. Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, spoke at the Center for American Progress Action Fund Thursday on the five-year anniversary of Bush declaring “mission accomplished.”
Murtha said, “1,827 days later, the U.S. occupation of Iraq continues, and our ‘mission’ remains undefined and open-ended.”
“Even today, five years later, this Administration refuses to provide us with reasonable answers to very reasonable questions. First, what are we trying to accomplish in Iraq? And second, what is the United States’ mission there?”
Tell us: What do you want the U.S. to accomplish in Iraq?
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By Margo Rutledge Kissell
| Thursday, April 24, 2008, 10:42 AM
Two Democratic senators are calling for the chief mental health official of the Veterans Affairs Department to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides.
The Associated Press reports: A number of Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Dr. Ira Katz, mental health director, and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco starts with “Shh!” and claims 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while under department treatment.
“Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” the e-mail asks.
A bill introduced this week would require the VA to report to Congress within 180 days the number of veterans who have died by suicide since Jan. 1, 1997, and continue reports annually, the AP reported. Statistics provided earlier this year by the VA showed that 790 veterans under VA care attempted suicide in 2007. That figure is contradicted by the e-mail revealed this week.
Tell us what you think about all of this.
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By Margo Rutledge Kissell
| Monday, April 21, 2008, 01:55 PM
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are “stuck in old ways of doing business,” the Associated Press is reporting.
Gates said in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been “like pulling teeth.”
Gates, who served in the Air Force in the 1960s as a young officer, also urged the officers in his audience to dedicate themselves to thinking creatively.
According to the AP story, he said the Air Force and the other branches of the military need to protect those in their ranks who are maverick thinkers, who defy convention and push for creative solutions to hard problems.
“Dissent is a sign of health in an organization, and particularly if it’s done in the right way,” Gates said.
What do you think about Gates’ remarks?
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By Margo Rutledge Kissell
| Friday, April 18, 2008, 10:18 AM
By Margo Rutledge Kissell
Staff Writer
Thursday, April 17, 2008
DAYTON — The Dayton VA Medical Center and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base signed an agreement Thursday, April 17, to create a new Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Transition Center that officials believe will streamline the process of military personnel moving from one health care system to the other.
It will be located inside the Wright-Patterson Medical Center in a space that will be renovated using $250,000 to $300,000, said Guy Richardson, director of the VA Medical Center.
The agreement was signed at the VA Medical Center by Richardson and Air Force Col. Andrew Monteiro, who is commander of the 88th Medical Group and oversees the base’s medical center.
The transition center, slated to open Oct. 1, will be staffed primarily by VA personnel and will be open to anyone separating or retiring from the military.
“This transition center will also benefit the thousands of guard and reserve members who are transitioning to the VA every single year,” Monteiro said.
The new transition center will eliminate “much of the duplication of efforts and prevent the members from having to go between two different facilities on opposite sides of this city,” he added.
Richardson noted that while the transition center will make it more convenient for those stationed at the base, the Dayton VA Medical Center at 4100 W. Third St. will continue to assist any transitioning military personnel as well.
The transition center will house four exam rooms, a conference center and private offices for counseling. Services will include veteran benefits counseling and classes, enrollment and counseling for VA health care services, case management and consultation for veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, and assistance for service members pending physical evalution boards.
Eventually, it also will include Compensation and Pension examinations for those injured during their service and a single physical “separation examination” for DoD and VA disability evaluation — something the Dole/Shalala Wounded Warrior Commission recommended.
Tell us: What do you think about this planned transition center?
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By Margo Rutledge Kissell
| Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 09:46 AM
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wants to meet Friday with Hamas supreme leader Khaled Mashaal — a move that has drawn criticism from the United States and Israel, who consider Hamas a terror group.
Carter, who brokered the historic 1979 peace accord between Israel and Egypt, believes isolating Hamas is counterproductive, according to an Associated Press article.
Some top leaders in Israel are boycotting Carter during his Middle East visit, in part because of his planned meeting with Mashaal.
What do YOU think: Should Carter be free to meet with the Hamas leader or do you think he is meddling where he doesn’t belong?
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By Margo Rutledge Kissell
| Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 10:38 AM
We ran a story in today’s paper headlined, Iraq’s free budget ride may be nearing end.
The AP story tells of how both Republicans and Democrats are looking at Iraq’s surging oil income and belief that “Baghdad should start picking up the tab, particularly for rebuilding hospitals, roads, power lines and the rest of the shattered country.”
Since 2003, the U.S. has appropriated about $47.5 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction.
Meanwhile, in 2006 and 2007, Iraq spent only $2.9 billion of $16.3 billion designated for its capital budget, used mostly for construction, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
Tell us what you think about this bipartisan push to use Iraq’s oil revenues to cover more of the rebuilding costs.
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Wars based upon lies are not just wars. The war in Iraq is based upon lies. No WMD’s and No