Photo: Kristopher Schoenleber (www.sharetheexperiece.org)
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Seeing the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain is a must do when...
Seeing the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain is a must do when visiting Acadia National Park in Maine.
Photo: Kristopher Schoenleber (www.sharetheexperiece.org)
Photo: Kristopher Schoenleber (www.sharetheexperiece.org)
U.S. Military Airstrikes Hit ISIL
From a U.S. Central Command News Release
TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 16, 2014 - U.S. military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq, employing attack and fighter aircraft to conduct two airstrikes Sept. 14 and yesterday in support of Iraqi Security Forces near Sinjar and southwest of Baghdad.
U.S. Central Command officials said the airstrike southwest of Baghdad was the first strike taken as part of the United States' expanded efforts, "beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense," as outlined in President Barack Obama's Sept. 10 speech.
In total, the strikes destroyed six ISIL vehicles near Sinjar and an ISIL fighting position southwest of Baghdad that was firing on Iraqi security force personnel. All aircraft exited the strike areas safely.
These strikes were conducted under authority to protect U.S. personnel and facilities, support humanitarian efforts, and help Iraqi forces on the offensive against ISIL terrorists.
U.S. Central Command has conducted a total of 162 airstrikes across Iraq.
DoD IG's Office Protects Whistleblowers
By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2014 - Military and civilian personnel who expose wrongdoing in the government should not become victims, said Nilgun Tolek, the director of whistleblower reprisal investigation at the DoD Inspector General's Office here.
The common understanding of a whistleblower "is somebody who brings wrongdoing to light in general," Tolek said during a recent interview.
Tolek is in charge of ensuring that people who disclose wrongdoing are not reprised against for their actions.
Whistleblower protections
"Under the Military Whistleblower Protection Law, a military member is protected -- across the board -- for any kind of communication with an inspector general or a Member of Congress, as long as it is a lawful communication," she said. Civilians -- including DoD appropriated and nonappropriated fund employees, as well as contractor and sub-contractor personnel -- are similarly protected.
Commanders and supervisors cannot retaliate against people who make these lawful communications, she said. If they do, it is reprisal.
Tolek steps in when those who have made protected communications or disclosures allege they were retaliated against. Her group of around 45 investigators looks at each case to determine if reprisal occurred. Reprisals generally take the form of adverse personnel actions -- demoting a person or reassigning them to a lesser job -- or by the complainant not getting a favorable personnel action -- denying a regular pay raise or promotion.
Investigator involvement
Obviously, investigators look at when a complainant made allegations and when adverse actions occurred. They also examine the case to see if the superior knew or suspected that the complainant was the one speaking to the IG or a Member of Congress.
"If there is any possible inference of the circumstances described to us by the complainant that one was a factor in the other, then we call that a prima facie allegation and that would cause us to investigate," Tolek said.
Her group received slightly less than 1,300 complaints in fiscal 2013 and that number is running a bit higher this year. For military personnel, investigations are to be completed within 180 days. However, investigations often take longer and Tolek must notify the office of the Secretary of Defense when that occurs.
Approval of conclusions
Some of the cases the office receives are referred to the service or agency IGs, once Tolek's investigators determine there is prima facie evidence. Once those offices complete their investigations, they send the conclusions to Tolek to approve their results.
"We do all contractor and sub-contractor and non-appropriated fund employees," she said. There have been recent changes to the law that include protections to sub-contractors.
Tolek emphasized that no one is required to exhaust their chain of command before making a whistleblower complaint.
"Even if there are internal channels you can go directly outside," she said. "The statute for military members has a provision [that] no one can restrict a military member from speaking to an IG or a Member of Congress."
If reprisal is proven, the IG recommends to the head of the agency "that the person be made whole and we actually specify what has to happen," she said. The office also recommends "appropriate corrective action against the person who took the action against the whistleblower."
President Awards Medals of Honor to 2 Vietnam Veterans
By David Vergun
Army News Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2014 - Retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins and Army Spc. 4 Donald P. Sloat were awarded Medals of Honor, the nation's highest award for military valor, for actions in Vietnam.
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President Barack Obama presented the medals yesterday during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Adkins was present to receive his medal and Sloat's was awarded posthumously. Dr. Bill Sloat, Donald's brother, accepted it on his behalf.
In early 1970, an American squad in Vietnam set out on patrol, Obama related. He narrated what happened that day : While marching down a trail past a rice paddy, shots rang out and splintered the bamboo above the squad's heads. The lead soldier had tripped a wire -- a booby trap. A grenade rolled toward the feet of a 20-year-old machine gunner.
In 1966, on the other side of Vietnam, deep in the jungle, the commander in chief related of Sloat, a small group of Americans were crouched on top of a small hill. And it was dark and they were exhausted; the enemy had been pursuing them for days. And now they were surrounded, and the enemy was closing in on all sides, he said.
Sloat stood above that grenade, and Adkins, who fought through a ferocious battle, found himself on that jungle hill.
"Normally, the Medal of Honor must be awarded within a few years of the action. But sometimes even the most extraordinary stories can get lost in the fog of war or the passage of time," the president said. "Yet, when new evidence comes to light, certain actions can be reconsidered for this honor, and it is entirely right and proper that we have done so."
The president then detailed each of their acts of heroism.
Spc. 4 Sloat
Sloat grew up Coweta, Oklahoma. "And, he grew big -- to over 6-foot-4," the president said. Sloat loved football, and played for a year at a junior college. Then he decided to join the Army. But when he went to enlist, he didn't pass his physical because of high blood pressure. "So he tried again, and again, and again. In all, he took the physical maybe seven times until he passed -- because Don Sloat was determined to serve his country," Obama related.
In Vietnam, Sloat became known as one of the most liked and reliable soldiers in his company. "Twice in his first months, his patrol was ambushed," the president said. "Both times, Don responded with punishing fire from his machine gun, leaving himself completely vulnerable to the enemy. Both times, he was recognized for his bravery. Or as Don put it in a letter home, 'I guess they think [that] I'm really gung-ho or something.'"
One morning, Sloat and his squad set out on patrol, "past that rice paddy, down that trail, when those shots rang out. When the lead soldier's foot tripped that wire and set off the booby trap, the grenade rolled right to Don's feet. And at that moment, he could have run. At that moment, he could have ducked for cover. But Don did something truly extraordinary," Obama said.
"He reached down and he picked that grenade up," he continued. "And he turned to throw it, but there were Americans in front of him and behind him -- inside the kill zone. So Don held on to that grenade, and he pulled it close to his body. And he bent over it. And then, as one of the men said, 'all of a sudden there was a boom.'"
The blast threw the lead soldier up against a boulder, the president said. Men were riddled with shrapnel. Four were medevaced out, but everyone else survived.
"Don had absorbed the brunt of the explosion with his body," the president said. "He saved the lives of those next to him. And today, we're joined by two men who were with him on that patrol: Sgt. William Hacker and Spc. Michael Mulheim.
"For decades, Don's family only knew that he was killed in action," Obama continued. "They'd heard that he had stepped on a landmine. All those years, this Gold Star family honored the memory of their son and brother, whose name is etched forever on that granite wall not far from here. Late in her life, Don's mother, Evelyn, finally learned the full story of her son's sacrifice. And she made it her mission to have Don's actions properly recognized.
"Sadly, nearly three years ago, Evelyn passed away. But she always believed -- she knew -- that this day would come," Obama concluded.
Command Sgt. Maj. Adkins
Adkins makes his home in Opelika, Alabama, where he tends a garden or sails his pontoon boat out on the lake, the president began. "He's been married to Mary for 58 years and is a proud father of five, grandfather of six. At 80, he's still going strong," Obama said of Adkins.
In the spring of 1966, Bennie was just 32 years old and a sergeant first class, on his second tour in Vietnam. He and his fellow Green Berets were at an isolated camp along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A huge North Vietnamese force attacked, bombarding Bennie and his comrades with mortars and white phosphorus, Obama related.
"At a time, it was nearly impossible to move without being wounded or killed. But Bennie ran into enemy fire again and again to retrieve supplies and ammo," the president narrated "To carry the wounded to safety. To man the mortar pit -- holding off wave after wave of enemy assaults. Three times, explosions blasted him out of that mortar pit and three times, he returned." narrated.
"I have to be honest. In a battle and daring escape that lasted four days, Bennie performed so many acts of bravery we actually don't have time to talk about all of them," Obama said.
On the first day, Bennie was helping load a wounded American onto a helicopter. An enemy soldier jumped in the helicopter and aimed his weapon directly at the wounded soldier, preparing to shoot. "Bennie stepped in, shielded his comrade, placing himself directly in the line of fire, helping to save his wounded comrade," the president said.
At another point in the battle, Adkins and a few other soldiers were trapped in a mortar pit, "covered in shrapnel and smoking debris," Obama said. Their only exit was blocked by enemy machine gun fire. "So, Bennie thought fast," the president said. "He dug a hole out of the pit and snuck out the other side. As another American escaped through that hole, he was shot in the leg. An enemy soldier charged him, hoping to capture a live POW and Bennie fired, taking out that enemy and pulling his fellow American to safety."
By the third day of battle, Adkins and a few others had managed to escape into the jungle. "He had cuts and wounds all over his body, but he refused to be evacuated," Obama related. "When a rescue helicopter arrived, Bennie insisted that others go instead. And so, on the third night, Bennie, wounded and bleeding, found himself with his men up on that jungle hill, exhausted and surrounded, with the enemy closing in. And after all they had been through, as if it weren't enough, there was something more -- you can't make this up -- there in the jungle, they heard the growls of a tiger.
"It turns out that tiger might have been the best thing that happened to Bennie," the president continued. "[Bennie] says, 'The North Vietnamese were more scared of that tiger than they were of us.'"
Obama added, "So the enemy fled. Bennie and his squad made their escape. And they were rescued, finally, the next morning."
In Adkin's life, the president said, "We see the enduring service of our men and women in uniform. He went on to serve a third tour in Vietnam, a total of more than two decades in uniform. After he retired, he earned his master's degree --- actually not one, but two -- opened up an accounting firm, taught adult education classes, [and] became national commander of the Legion of Valor veterans organization.
"Bennie will tell you that he owes everything to the men he served with in Vietnam, especially the five who gave their lives in that battle," the president continued. "Every member of his unit was killed or wounded."
Obama added, "We're joined by some of the men who served with Bennie, including Maj. John Bradford, the soldier that Bennie shielded in that helicopter, and Maj. Wayne Murray, the soldier Bennie saved from being captured."
Census Bureau News: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013
Census Bureau News: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013 |
The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2013, the poverty rate declined from the previous year for the first time since 2006, while there was no statistically significant change in either the number of people living in poverty or real median household income. In addition, the poverty rate for children under 18 declined from the previous year for the first time since 2000. The following results for the nation were compiled from information collected in the 2014 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement. The nation’s official poverty rate in 2013 was 14.5 percent, down from 15.0 percent in 2012. The 45.3 million people living at or below the poverty line in 2013, for the third consecutive year, did not represent a statistically significant change from the previous year’s estimate. Median household income in the United States in 2013 was $51,939; the change in real terms from the 2012 median of $51,759 was not statistically significant. This is the second consecutive year that the annual change was not statistically significant, following two consecutive annual declines. The percentage of people without health insurance coverage for the entire 2013 calendar year was 13.4 percent; this amounted to 42.0 million people. These findings are contained in two reports: Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013. The Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement was conducted between February and April 2014 and collected information about income and health insurance coverage during the 2013 calendar year. The Current Population Survey, sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is conducted every month and is the primary source of labor force statistics for the U.S. population; it is used to calculate the monthly unemployment rate estimates. Supplements are added in most months; the Annual Social and Economic Supplement questionnaire is designed to give annual, calendar-year, national estimates of income, poverty and health insurance numbers and rates. Traditionally, the Census Bureau releases detailed comparisons of year-to-year changes in health insurance from this survey. However, because of the redesign of the Current Population Survey’s health insurance section of the questionnaire, its estimates of health insurance coverage are not directly comparable to estimates from prior years. Research suggested the Current Population Survey estimates needed improvement, as the estimates were not in line with other sources. The redesigned survey is based on over a decade of research, including two national field tests as well as cognitive testing. The survey improvements this year will better measure health insurance coverage for the prior calendar year, thus providing a strong 2013 baseline to measure future changes in health insurance coverage caused by the Affordable Care Act. The health insurance report contains Current Population Survey statistics only for 2013. However, limited statistics on year-to-year changes based on the American Community Survey are available in the report. The report also includes state-level American Community Survey health insurance coverage statistics. According to the American Community Survey, the percent of people without health insurance coverage declined 0.2 percent between 2012 and 2013. The American Community Survey has collected data on health insurance coverage since 2008. Additional sources of health insurance coverage data not included in this report are the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates and National Health Interview Survey. The Current Population Survey-based income and poverty report includes comparisons with one year earlier. State and local income and poverty results, as well as state and local health insurance coverage results, will be available Thursday, Sept. 18, from the American Community Survey. Income · Real median incomes in 2013 for family households ($65,587) and nonfamily households ($31,178) did not experience a statistically significant change from the levels in 2012. · A comparison of real median household income over the past six years shows that income is 8.0 percent lower than in 2007, the year before the nation entered an economic recession. Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to people reporting a single race only; Hispanics can be of any race) · The real median income of Hispanic households increased by 3.5 percent between 2012 and 2013. Changes were not statistically significant for any of the race groups, however. (See Table A.) Regions · Changes in real median household income were not statistically significant for any of the four regions between 2012 and 2013. (See Table A.) Earnings · The changes in the real median earnings of men and women who worked full time, year- round between 2012 and 2013 were not statistically significant. In 2013, the median earnings of women who worked full time, year-round ($39,157) was 78 percent of that for men working full time, year-round ($50,033) ─ not statistically different from the 2012 ratio. The female-to-male earnings ratio has not experienced a statistically significant annual increase since 2007. · The number of men and women working full time, year-round with earnings increased by 1.8 million and 1.0 million, respectively, between 2012 and 2013. (The difference between the two increases was not statistically significant.) Since 2010, the year following the most recent recession, the total number of year-round, full-time workers has increased by 6.4 million. Income Inequality · The Gini index was 0.476 in 2013; the change from 2012 was not statistically significant. Since 1993, the earliest year available for comparable measures of income inequality, the Gini index has increased 4.9 percent. (Developed more than a century ago, the Gini index is the most common measure of household income inequality used by economists, with zero representing total income equality and one equivalent to total inequality.) · Changes in income inequality between 2012 and 2013 were not statistically significant as measured by the shares of aggregate household income by quintiles. Poverty · The poverty rate for families fell from 11.8 percent in 2012 to 11.2 percent in 2013. The number of families in poverty declined from 9.5 million to 9.1 million over the same period. · In 2013, 5.8 percent of married-couple families, 30.6 percent of families with a female householder and 15.9 percent of families with a male householder lived in poverty. For married-couple families, both the poverty rate and the number in poverty decreased. Neither the poverty rates nor the estimates of the number of families in poverty showed any statistically significant change between 2012 and 2013 for other types of families. Thresholds · As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the consumer price index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2013 was $23,834. (See <http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/index.html> for the complete set of dollar value thresholds that vary by family size and composition.) Sex · Between 2012 and 2013, poverty rates fell for both males and females. In 2013, 13.1 percent of males and 15.8 percent of females were in poverty, down from 13.6 percent and 16.3 percent in 2012. Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to people reporting a single race only; Hispanics can be of any race) · Hispanics were the only group among the major race and ethnic groups to experience a statistically significant change in their poverty rate and the number of people in poverty (both the rate and number declined). Table B details 2013 poverty rates and numbers in poverty, as well as changes since 2012 in these measures, for race groups and Hispanics. Age · In 2013, 13.6 percent of people 18 to 64 (26.4 million) were in poverty compared with 9.5 percent of people 65 and older (4.2 million). Neither of these poverty rates experienced a statistically significant change from their 2012 estimates. · The poverty rate for children under 18 declined from 21.8 percent in 2012 to 19.9 percent in 2013. The number of children in poverty also declined over the period, from 16.1 million to 14.7 million. This was the first time since 2000 that the child poverty rate declined. Regions · None of the four regions experienced a significant change in the poverty rate or the number in poverty between 2012 and 2013. (See Table B.) Shared Households Shared households are defined as households that include at least one “additional” adult: a person 18 or older who is not enrolled in school and is not the householder, spouse or cohabiting partner of the householder. The information on shared households covers adults living in the household at the time of the survey. · In spring 2007, prior to the recession, there were 19.7 million shared households, representing 17.0 percent of all households. By spring 2014, the number had increased to 23.5 million and represented 19.1 percent of all households. Between 2013 and 2014, the change in the number and percentage of shared households was not statistically significant. · In spring 2014, 6.1 million young adults age 25 to 34 (14.4 percent) lived with their parents. Neither the number nor percentage experienced a statistically significant change from 2013. · It is difficult to precisely assess the impact of household sharing on overall poverty rates. In 2014, young adults age 25 to 34, living with their parents, had an official poverty rate of 9.3 percent, but if their poverty status were determined using only their own income, 43.7 percent had an income below the poverty threshold for a single person under age 65. Health Insurance Coverage · The Current Population Survey shows that the percentage of people with health insurance for all or part of 2013 was 86.6 percent, and 13.4 percent did not have health insurance for the entire year. · Full-time, year-round workers were more likely to be covered by health insurance (86.1 percent) than those who worked less than full-time, year round (76.0 percent) or non-workers (77.6 percent). · Among adults age 18 to 64 with a disability, 39.3 percent had private health insurance, compared with 70.7 percent of their counterparts with no disability in 2013. More than half (56.6 percent) of people with a disability had government-provided health insurance. The percentage of working-age adults with a disability who had any type of health insurance coverage was higher than the comparable population with no disability (86.2 percent, compared with 81.1 percent.) · In 2013, the majority of individuals (64.2 percent) were covered by private health insurance. The largest single type of health insurance in 2013 was employment-based health insurance, which covered 53.9 percent of the population. · In 2013, 34.3 percent of the population was covered by government health insurance. The percentage of people covered by Medicaid in 2013 was 17.3 percent and the percentage covered by Medicare was 15.6 percent. · The percentage of uninsured children younger than 19 was 7.6 percent in 2013. · In 2013, the uninsured rate for children younger than 19 in poverty (9.8 percent) was higher than the uninsured rate for children not in poverty (7.0 percent). · In 2013, 9.8 percent of non-Hispanic whites were uninsured, compared with 15.9 percent of blacks and 24.3 percent of Hispanics. Supplemental Poverty Measure The poverty statistics released today compare the official poverty thresholds to money income before taxes, not including the value of non-cash benefits. The Census Bureau’s statistical experts, with assistance from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and in consultation with other federal agencies and researchers from both within and outside of academia, have developed a supplemental poverty measure to serve as an additional indicator of economic well-being by incorporating additional items such as tax payments and work expenses in its family resource estimates. It does not replace the official poverty measure and will not be used to determine eligibility for government programs. See Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013 for more information. The Census Bureau published preliminary poverty estimates using this supplemental measure in November 2011, 2012 and 2013. Supplemental poverty estimates for 2013 will be published in October 2014. State and Local Estimates from the American Community Survey On Thursday, Sept. 18, the Census Bureau will release single-year estimates of median household income, poverty and health insurance for all states, counties, places and other geographic units with populations of 65,000 or more from the 2013 American Community Survey. These statistics will include numerous social, economic and housing characteristics, such as language, education, commuting, employment, mortgage status and rent. Later today, subscribers will be able to access these estimates on an embargoed basis. Reports on income, poverty and health insurance using American Community Survey data will also be released Thursday. The American Community Survey provides a wide range of important statistics about people and housing for every community (i.e., census tracts, or neighborhoods) across the nation. The results are used by everyone from town and city planners to retailers and homebuilders. The survey is the only source of local estimates for most of the 40 topics it covers for even the smallest communities. Redesigned Questions The 2014 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement included redesigned questions for income and health insurance coverage. All of the approximately 98,000 addresses included in the survey were eligible to receive the redesigned health insurance coverage questions. The redesigned income questions were implemented to a subsample of those 98,000 addresses using a probability split panel design. Approximately 68,000 addresses were eligible to receive income questions similar to those used in the 2013 survey and the remaining 30,000 addresses were eligible to receive the redesigned income questions. The source of data in both reports, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013, is the portion of the Current Population Survey Social and Economic Supplement sample (68,000 addresses) that received the set of income questions consistent with those in the 2013 survey. A probability split panel design means the Census Bureau assigned each address in the sample to either the traditional questionnaire or the alternate redesigned questionnaire based on a random number. The Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement is subject to sampling and nonsampling errors. All comparisons made in the report have been tested and found to be statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level, unless otherwise noted. |
Rainbow aurora
Auroras occur when particle radiation from the Sun hits Earth’s upper atmosphere, making it glow in a greenish blue light. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst has one of our planet’s best views of this phenomenon, circling 400 km up on the Station.
Here, the last remnants of sunlight can be seen as a blue streak on the left side. Above it is the yellow hue of our atmosphere reflecting the sunlight. This thin band is all that protects us from solar radiation.
In the foreground, the Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm is stowed, waiting to receive the next supply spacecraft to visit the microgravity laboratory.
Alexander worked as a geophysicist and volcanologist before he was chosen as an ESA astronaut in 2009. His Blue Dot mission includes an extensive programme of experiments in physical science, biology and human physiology as well as radiation research and technology demonstrations. All of the research makes use of the out-of-this-world laboratory to improve life on Earth or prepare for further human exploration of our Solar System.
Obama to Announce Africom Joint Force Command HQ in Liberia
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2014 - U.S. Africa Command will set up a Joint Force Command Headquarters in Liberia to support U.S. military activities and help coordinate expanded U.S. and international relief efforts to fight the West Africa Ebola outbreak, senior administration officials said on a call previewing President Barack Obama's visit today to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
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At CDC, the officials said, the president will speak with and hear from the team of experts who have been working hard on the U.S. government's response to the Ebola outbreak and epidemic in West Africa to date.
"The president has said that the United States considers the Ebola outbreak and epidemic in West Africa to be a national security priority and he has directed a response commensurate with that priority," the officials added.
DoD support of interagency partners
In Africa, in terms of the Defense Department's role, by the end of the week a general officer will be in place in Monrovia, Liberia, leading the regional effort known as Operation United Assistance, the officials said, describing the second of three new lines of effort DoD is adding to ongoing efforts.
"The department is part of the whole-of-government approach to help affected countries deal with one of the world's worst public health crises and the most devastating Ebola outbreak in history," one official said.
"The Department of Defense is committed to supporting our interagency partners, specifically [the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID] and the Centers for Disease Control, as we collectively -- working together every day -- respond to the outbreak in West Africa," the official added.
As a third line of effort, U.S. Africa Command will establish a regional intermediate staging base to facilitate DoD support for operations of USAID and other counterparts. Africom will also provide engineers to build more Ebola treatment units and establish a training site to train up to 500 health care providers a week to directly care for Ebola patients, the senior administration official said.
Ebola outbreak
According to the World Health Organization, the total number of probable, confirmed and suspected cases in the current outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, was 4,366, with 2,218 deaths, as of Sept. 7. Countries affected are Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Of these countries, Liberia has the greatest number of total probable, confirmed and suspected cases, at 2,081, with 1,137 deaths, or 55 percent of total cases.
December 30, 2013, was epidemiological week 1 for the outbreak. Sept. 7 was epidemiological week 36.
One official said the president will detail a significant expansion of the Ebola fight that "represents a set of areas where the U.S. military will bring a unique capability we believe will improve the effectiveness of the entire global response."
Expanding Ebola treatment capability
The official described such capabilities as those that would help expand access in Ebola treatment units throughout the region, improve first responders' capacity to identify and diagnose cases and trace contacts, and improve the ability to conduct well-supplied community care campaigns that reach every primary health care center throughout Liberia and eventually the region to reduce the risk of transmission.
"We believe these efforts taken in total along with significant efforts made to expand the international investment ... as part of the comprehensive response will turn the tide from the high-transmission epidemic that continues to grow every single day to one where ... we start to see over many months a significant reduction in cases and deaths," a senior administration official said.
At DoD, to date the department has deployed operational planners and contributed more than 10,000 sets of personal protective equipment and more than 10,000 diagnostic assay kits, which are blood-test kits for the Ebola virus.
DoD brings skill sets
The department also has one mobile laboratory on the ground and has two more on the way to West Africa, and it's preparing to deploy a 25-bed hospital that will be used to treat health care providers, the highest-risk group of people in the region.
"DoD is going to remain focused on all these efforts but we're also going to ... focus on contributing command and control, logistics support, training and engineering support," one of the senior administration officials said.
"We're bringing those skill sets that are unique to DoD in direct support of our interagency partners," the official added, "to address the ongoing Ebola crisis in western Africa."
The Origins and Implications of the Scottish Referendum Read more: The Origins and Implications of the Scottish Referendum
The idea of Scottish independence has moved from the implausible to the very possible. Whether or not it actually happens, the idea that the union of England and Scotland, which has existed for more than 300 years, could be dissolved has enormous implications in its own right, and significant implications for Europe and even for global stability.
The United Kingdom was the center of gravity of the international system from the end of the Napoleonic Wars until World War II. It crafted an imperial structure that shaped not only the international system but also the internal political order of countries as diverse as the United States and India. The United Kingdom devised and drove the Industrial Revolution. In many ways, this union was a pivot of world history. To realize it might be dissolved is startling and reveals important things about the direction of the world.
Scotland and England are historical enemies. Their sense of competing nationhoods stretches back centuries, and their occupation of the same island has caused them to fight many wars. Historically they have distrusted each other, and each has given the other good reason for the distrust. The national question was intertwined with dynastic struggles and attempts at union imposed either through conquest or dynastic intrigue. The British were deeply concerned that foreign powers, particularly France, would use Scotland as a base for attacking England. The Scots were afraid that the English desire to prevent this would result in the exploitation of Scotland by England, and perhaps the extinction of the Scottish nation.
The Union of 1707 was the result of acts of parliaments on both sides and led to the creation of the Parliament of Great Britain. England's motive was its old geopolitical fears. Scotland was driven more by financial problems it was unable to solve by itself. What was created was a united island, acting as a single nation. From an outsider's perspective, Scotland and England were charming variations on a single national theme -- the British -- and it was not necessary to consider them as two nations. If there was ever a national distinction that one would have expected to be extinguished in other than cultural terms, it was this one. Now we learn that it is intact. We need a deeper intellectual framework for understanding why Scottish nationalism has persisted.
The Principle of National Self-Determination
The French Enlightenment and subsequent revolution had elevated the nation to the moral center of the world. It was a rebellion against the transnational dynasties and fragments of nations that had governed much of Europe. The Enlightenment saw the nation, which it defined in terms of shared language, culture and history, as having an inherent right to self-determination and as the framework for the republican democracies it argued were the morally correct form of government.
After the French Revolution, some nations, such as Germany and Italy, united into nation-states. After World War I, when the Hapsburg, Hohenzollern, Romanov and Ottoman empires all collapsed, a wave of devolution took place in Europe. The empires devolved into their national components. Some were amalgamated into one larger nation, such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia, while others, such as Poland, were single nation-states. Some had republican democracies, others had variations on the theme, and others were dictatorships. A second major wave of devolution occurred in 1992, when the Soviet Union collapsed and its constituent republics became independent nation-states.
The doctrine of the right to national self-determination drove the first wave of revolts against European imperialism in the Western Hemisphere, creating republics in the Americas. The second wave of colonial rising and European withdrawal occurred after World War II. In some cases, nations became self-determining. In other cases, nation-states simply were invented without corresponding to any nation and actually dividing many. In other cases, there were nations, but republican democracy was never instituted except by pretense. A French thinker, Francois de La Rochefoucauld, said, "Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue." Even while betraying its principles, the entire world could not resist the compulsion to embrace the principles of national self-determination through republican democracy. This effectively was codified as the global gold standard of national morality in the charters of the League of Nations and then the United Nations.
The Imperfection of the Nation-State
The incredible power of the nation-state as a moral principle and right could be only imperfectly imposed. No nation was pure. Each had fragments and minorities of other nations. In many cases, they lived with each other. In other cases, the majority tried to expel or even destroy the minority nation. In yet other cases, the minority demanded independence and the right to form its own nation-state. These conflicts were not only internal; they also caused external conflict over the right of a particular nation to exist or over the precise borders separating the nations.
Europe in particular tore itself apart in wars between 1914 and 1945 over issues related to the rights of nation-states, with the idea of the nation-state being taken to its reductio ad absurdum -- by the Germans as a prime example. After the war, a principle emerged in Europe that the borders as they stood, however imperfect, were not to be challenged. The goal was to abolish one of the primary causes of war in Europe.
The doctrine was imperfectly applied. The collapse of the Soviet Union abolished one set of borders, turning internal frontiers into external borders. The Yugoslavian civil war turned into an international war once Yugoslavia ceased to exist, and into civil wars within nation-states such as Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia. At the same time, the borders in the Caucasus were redrawn when newly independent Armenia seized what had been part of Azerbaijan. And in an act that flew in the face of the principle, NATO countries divided Serbia into two parts: an Albanian part called Kosovo and the rest of Serbia.
The point of all this is to understand that the right to national self-determination comes from deep within European principles and that it has been pursued with an intensity and even viciousness that has torn Europe apart and redrawn its borders. One of the reasons that the European Union exists is to formally abolish these wars of national self-determination by attempting to create a framework that both protects and trivializes the nation-state.
Scotland's Case
The possibility of Scottish independence must be understood in this context. Nationalism, the remembrance and love of history and culture, is not a trivial thing. It has driven Europe and even the world for more than two centuries in ever-increasing waves. The upcoming Scottish election, whichever way it goes, demonstrates the enormous power of the desire for national self-determination. If it can corrode the British union, it can corrode anything.
There are those who argue that Scottish independence could lead to economic problems or complicate the management of national defense. These are not trivial questions, but they are not what is at stake here. From an economic point of view, it makes no sense for Scotland to undergo this sort of turmoil. At best, the economic benefits are uncertain. But this is why any theory of human behavior that assumes that the singular purpose of humans is to maximize economic benefits is wrong. Humans have other motivations that are incomprehensible to the economic model but can be empirically demonstrated to be powerful. If this referendum succeeds, it will still show that after more than 300 years, almost half of Scots prefer economic uncertainty to union with a foreign nation.
This is something that must be considered carefully in a continent that is prone to extreme conflicts and still full of borders that do not map to nations as they are understood historically. Catalonia, whose capital is Barcelona, the second-largest and most vibrant city in Spain, has a significant independence movement. The Treaty of Trianon divided Hungary so that some Hungarians live in Romania, while others live in Slovakia. Belgium consists of French and Dutch groups (Walloons and Fleming), and it is not too extreme to say they detest each other. The eastern half of Poland was seized by the Soviet Union and is now part of Ukraine and Belarus. Many Chechens and Dagestanis want to secede from Russia, as do Karelians, who see themselves as Finns. There is a movement in northern Italy to separate its wealthy cities from the rest of Italy. The war between Azerbaijan and Armenia is far from settled. Myriad other examples can be found in Europe alone.
The right to national self-determination is not simply about the nation governing itself but also about the right of the nation to occupy its traditional geography. And since historical memories of geography vary, the possibility of conflict grows. Consider Ireland: After its fight for independence from England and then Britain, the right to Northern Ireland, whose national identity depended on whose memory was viewing it, resulted in bloody warfare for decades.
Scottish independence would transform British history. All of the attempts at minimizing its significance miss the point. It would mean that the British island would be divided into two nation-states, and however warm the feelings now, they were not warm in the past nor can we be sure that they will be warm in the future. England will be vulnerable in ways that it hasn't been for three centuries. And Scotland will have to determine its future. The tough part of national self-determination is the need to make decisions and live with them.
This is not an argument for or against Scottish nationhood. It is simply drawing attention to the enormous power of nationalism in Europe in particular, and in countries colonized by Europeans. Even Scotland remembers what it once was, and many -- perhaps a majority and perhaps a large minority -- long for its return. But the idea that Scotland recalls its past and wants to resurrect it is a stunning testimony less to Scottish history than to the Enlightenment's turning national rights into a moral imperative that cannot be suppressed.
More important, perhaps, is that although Yugoslavia and the Soviet collapse were not seen as precedents for the rest of Europe, Scotland would be seen that way. No one can deny that Britain is an entity of singular importance. If that can melt away, what is certain? At a time when the European Union's economic crisis is intense, challenging European institutions and principles, the dissolution of the British union would legitimize national claims that have been buried for decades.
But then we have to remember that Scotland was buried in Britain for centuries and has resurrected itself. This raises the question of how confident any of us can be that national claims buried for only decades are settled. I have no idea how the Scottish will vote. What strikes me as overwhelmingly important is that the future of Britain is now on the table, and there is a serious possibility that it will cease to be in the way it was. Nationalism has a tendency to move to its logical conclusion, so I put little stock in the moderate assurances of the Scottish nationalists. Nor do I find the arguments against secession based on tax receipts or banks' movements compelling. For centuries, nationalism has trumped economic issues. The model of economic man may be an ideal to some, but it is empirically false. People are interested in economic well-being, but not at the exclusion of all else. In this case, it does not clearly outweigh the right of the Scottish nation to national-self determination.
I think that however the vote goes, unless the nationalists are surprised by an overwhelming defeat, the genie is out of the bottle, and not merely in Britain. The referendum will re-legitimize questions that have caused much strife throughout the European continent for centuries, including the 31-year war of the 20th century that left 80 million dead."The Origins and Implications of the Scottish Referendum is republished with permission of Stratfor."
Monday, September 15, 2014
Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters Endorses Jeffrey Prang for Los Angeles County Assessor
Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters (LALCV) – which has supported pro-environment municipal candidates in Los Angeles County for more than three decades – today announced its endorsement of Jeffrey Prang for Los Angeles County Assessor in the November 2014 elections.
“Jeff Prang is uniquely qualified to restore public confidence in the Assessor’s office, by reforming and modernizing its functions and ensuring that taxpayers are getting the service they deserve," said LALCV President Tom Eisenhauer. “He's proven himself to be effective administrator and innovative leader, and he shares the values of L.A. County taxpayers."
Prang is an experienced public administrator, having served in the Assessor’s Office twice - first, in the 1990s under Assessor Kenneth P. Hahn, and currently in the reform administration - and in other senior roles in municipal agencies. On the West Hollywood City Council and as Mayor, Prang has established a strong record of fiscal responsibility and pro-environment leadership. For example, West Hollywood is one of the only cities in California with an AAA bond rating and a strong budget surplus. Also, Prang led the fight for water conservation, alternative-fuel vehicles, bike accommodation and bike lanes, and other environmental priorities.
About the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters
Founded in 1976, the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters (LALCV) is dedicated to electing municipal leadership in Los Angeles County to preserve, protect and enhance the environment. LALCV has helped elect more than 100 pro-environment officials throughout the county. LALCV endorsements are determined by its all-volunteer Board, which is composed of Los Angeles County residents committed to advancing environmental priorities. For more information on LALCV, its endorsements and its additional political activities, visit www.LALCV.org - and sign up for occasional email updates. And to get the latest LALCV news, please find us onFacebook and follow us on Twitter.
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