Ex-lobbyist Bobrick gets 5 months in prison
By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com
Published: November 27, 2007
Last Modified: November 27, 2007 at 02:37 PM
Bill Bobrick, a once-prominent lobbyist who cooperated with the FBI in its investigation of corruption in Alaska politics, will serve five months in federal prison followed by five months of house arrest for his conviction on a conspiracy charge.
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U.S. District Judge John Sedwick handed down the sentence this morning. It was the minimum that Bobrick, 52, could have received under federal guidelines, which are advisory.
And at the hearing today, surprising information came out about reported threats made by state Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, who is married to the man that Bobrick helped put away, former state Rep. Tom Anderson.
Doug Pope, Bobrick's lawyer, asked Sedwick to consider that Bobrick testified against Anderson despite the threats by McGuire.
Bobrick, who had a long list of clients who paid him to represent them before the municipality of Anchorage, was one of the main witnesses last summer at Anderson's trial. A jury convicted Anderson of seven felonies, including bribery and money laundering, and he was sentenced to five years. Anderson will report to federal prison in Oregon on Monday.
Anderson was indicted and arrested in December, and it was soon apparent that Bobrick would be a witness against him, Pope said.
Early in 2007, McGuire called both Bobrick and his wife, Jessica Bury, who was in medical school in Minnesota, Pope said. She said that she was hearing Bury might have a hard time being licensed to practice medicine in Alaska.
"Bobrick understood the call to be a threat that if he testified favorably for the government, Lesil McGuire would take steps to see that Jessica did not obtain her medical license," Pope told Sedwick in court.
Pope told reporters after the hearing that he considered the calls to be witness tampering.
McGuire did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutor Joe Bottini told Sedwick that the government took what happened seriously. He said McGuire called Bobrick on New Year's Day on his cell phone as he was walking on the Coastal Trail.
Bottini said he tracked down Anderson's lawyer, Paul Stockler, and warned him that such contacts would violate Anderson's conditions of release while he was awaiting trial. The calls stopped, he said.
"It was, I believe, a veiled threat to Mr. Bobrick and Mr. Bobrick's wife concerning her ability to practice medicine in this state after she graduated from medical school," Bottini told the judge.
McGuire's father is David McGuire, a prominent and influential orthopedic surgeon in Anchorage. He served on the Alaska Medical Board from 1992 to 1995 and was chairman much of that time.
He was in surgery Tuesday afternoon and couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
Leslie Gallant, executive administrator of the medical board, said David McGuire hasn't been involved in the board since he stepped down in 1995. The board can't willy-nilly bar someone from being a doctor in Alaska, she said.
"The board has to have solid grounds for denial that will stand up in a hearing," Gallant said.
Besides 10 months in custody, Bobrick will serve two years of probation. Sedwick also ordered him to perform 800 hours of community service and pay a $3,000 fine. Louis J Sheehan
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80108
Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. In 2007, Buy Nothing Day falls on November 23rd in North America and November 24th internationally.[1] It was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine.
The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 "as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption."[2] In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday. Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads.[3] Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.[4]
While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day,[5] Adbusters states that it "isn't just about changing your habits for one day" but "about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste." Louis J Sheehan
The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September of 1992 "as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption."[2] In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, which is one of the top 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside of North America, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated on the following Saturday. Despite controversies, Adbusters managed to advertise Buy Nothing Day on CNN, but many other major television networks declined to air their ads.[3] Soon, campaigns started appearing in United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.[4]
While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day,[5] Adbusters states that it "isn't just about changing your habits for one day" but "about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste." Louis J Sheehan
Louis J Sheehan 80103
November 25, 2007
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Where Mansions Go Begging
By KEITH SCHNEIDER
Grosse Pointe, Mich.
WHAT is striking about the mansions and tree-lined roads of this exclusive suburb of Detroit is not the elegance and wealth — it’s the real estate signs.
Almost 700 homes are currently on the market in the five Grosse Pointe communities, according to brokers, twice as many as in the same time in 2005. And since June, prices for the most expensive houses have dropped by around $100,000 a month.
Ever since the mid-19th century, when the first grand summer mansions were built along the shores of Lake St. Clair, just north of Detroit, the name Grosse Pointe has conveyed exclusivity and wealth. While nearby Detroit declined over the last five decades, this affluent suburb thrived, with some episodic downturns in the early 1980s and 1990s.
Its untouchable reputation held up so well that in 2001 the former WB Network aired “Grosse Pointe,” a prime-time drama about pampered teenagers. Now, six years later, Grosse Pointe is very much touched by market trends.
Home prices in the greater Detroit area have fallen by 20 percent, and in many instances more than that, in just a year. Homes that sold for $450,000 in 2006 have typically sold for $360,000 or less in 2007, real estate agents say.
The resulting market here in southeast Michigan has created a legion of frustrated sellers and plenty of opportunity for choosy buyers.
Mary Alice O’Toole, a sales representative, raised four children and spent 32 years in the Grosse Pointe Woods home that she and her husband, Joe, bought in 1975 for $85,000. (They spent $100,000 more for an addition in 1982.)
They are hoping to sell their home — a 3,500-square-foot brick colonial with five bedrooms and three and a half baths — for $479,000. Originally, it went on the market in June for $549,000.
“I think we’ve had seven people go through, and two people are interested,” Mrs. O’Toole said, “but no offers.” The couple are planning to move to downtown Chicago, where Mr. O’Toole will start a new job.
In other Oakland County enclaves that rival Grosse Pointe — Birmingham, Bloomfield and Bloomfield Township — the real estate market is just as soft. According to housing sales data compiled by Bob Taylor, an agent and researcher in Birmingham with Weir Manuel Realtors, sales peaked in the Birmingham and Bloomfield region in the second quarter of 2004, when 281 homes sold for an average price of $528,000 and a median price of $395,500. At the time, homes stayed on the market an average of 65 days.
In the second quarter of 2007, just 173 houses were sold in the three communities, he said. They stayed on the market for an average of 174 days, though prices were up, to an average of $605,828 and a median price of $446,750.
In all, there are nearly 41,000 homes on the market in Detroit and its three surrounding counties, twice as many as in 2005.
“You can’t invent buyers,” said Mr. Taylor, who noted that in 2004, his agency had an average of six open houses for each listing. This year, it had just two for every listing. “These numbers prove what we’ve experienced,” he said. “There are substantially less people looking in this market.”
Indeed, Michigan has lost 369,000 jobs since 2000, according to an analysis by the University of Michigan, with 60 percent of those positions coming from the Detroit region alone. Many of those jobs have been from higher-paying manufacturing positions related to designing and building cars and trucks.
The state’s unemployment rate of 7.7 percent in October is the highest in the nation, and adjusting for inflation, its median income has fallen 12 percent since 2000, according to the Labor Department.
The crisis in the mortgage industry has struck hard here, too, especially for those who bought their homes with adjustable-rate financing. As of last month, 60 homes had been foreclosed in Grosse Pointe; at the same time last year there were 16, according to the Michigan Multiple Listing Service.
Brokers say that tastes have changed as well. Young high-earning professionals prefer newer homes, and will settle for older homes only if they have been completely updated. The 1920s homes in Grosse Pointe and Birmingham that have not undergone extensive remodeling are not nearly as attractive as they once were.
Tamara Smith, an agent with Coldwell Banker Schweitzer Real Estate in Grosse Pointe, says the hardest part of her job is persuading sellers to be realistic about how much they can ask for their home when it’s put on the market.
“They come in with a number in mind, and it’s just way out of the realm of possibility,” she said. “And even if we work to get the right price, I tell them it could be 12 to 18 months.”
Mrs. Smith says brokers and sellers are deploying every strategy they can think of to market homes, like hiring professional “stagers” to tidy yards and redecorate interiors to make homes more inviting to buyers.
It has helped. In the first 10 months of this year, 592 homes were sold in the five Grosse Pointe cities, according to Mrs. Smith. During the same period last year, 465 homes were sold, she said.
Falling prices mean that buyers are finding what they view as bargains.
George C. Watson, a 57-year-old lawyer, and his partner, John Fitzpatrick, 44, a communications manager for Aramark in Detroit, went into contract in October on a ranch house in Grosse Pointe Shores with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and 2,100 square feet of living space. They paid $340,000. Two years ago, Mr. Watson said, the same home would have cost $450,000.
Mr. Watson is concerned about the market’s instability, but said he planned to stay in the house for many years and believed the market would rebound before he needed to sell.
Chuck Rizzo, the owner of a waste-hauling company, is a seller and a buyer. He has two homes listed for sale in Grosse Pointe; one has been on the market since 2006 and the other since June. Neither has had any offers.
Last month, Mr. Rizzo bought a 5,900-square-foot home in Bloomfield Township for $1.5 million — $500,000 less than the asking price. “On that one I did well,” he said, explaining that personal circumstances involving his young son prompted him to move to a new school district. “With the other ones, I’m dying,” added Mr. Rizzo, who is 37. “There’s just no security in this market.” Louis J Sheehan
In other affluent real estate markets around the country like Palm Beach, Fla.; Orange County, Calif.; and Scottsdale, Ariz., inventories of expensive homes are growing and prices are falling, according to brokers.
“People in this business much older than me say they’ve never seen anything like it,” said Keith Stonehouse, a vice president with the Franklin Title Agency who teaches professional development seminars, like the “Reality of Realty,” in the region.
“I saw a guy buy a house for $2.1 million in Bloomfield last year — a brand-new house,” Mr. Stonehouse said. “He got hit by the economy and never moved in. Now the house is on the market for $950,000, and it might not sell for that much.”
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Where Mansions Go Begging
By KEITH SCHNEIDER
Grosse Pointe, Mich.
WHAT is striking about the mansions and tree-lined roads of this exclusive suburb of Detroit is not the elegance and wealth — it’s the real estate signs.
Almost 700 homes are currently on the market in the five Grosse Pointe communities, according to brokers, twice as many as in the same time in 2005. And since June, prices for the most expensive houses have dropped by around $100,000 a month.
Ever since the mid-19th century, when the first grand summer mansions were built along the shores of Lake St. Clair, just north of Detroit, the name Grosse Pointe has conveyed exclusivity and wealth. While nearby Detroit declined over the last five decades, this affluent suburb thrived, with some episodic downturns in the early 1980s and 1990s.
Its untouchable reputation held up so well that in 2001 the former WB Network aired “Grosse Pointe,” a prime-time drama about pampered teenagers. Now, six years later, Grosse Pointe is very much touched by market trends.
Home prices in the greater Detroit area have fallen by 20 percent, and in many instances more than that, in just a year. Homes that sold for $450,000 in 2006 have typically sold for $360,000 or less in 2007, real estate agents say.
The resulting market here in southeast Michigan has created a legion of frustrated sellers and plenty of opportunity for choosy buyers.
Mary Alice O’Toole, a sales representative, raised four children and spent 32 years in the Grosse Pointe Woods home that she and her husband, Joe, bought in 1975 for $85,000. (They spent $100,000 more for an addition in 1982.)
They are hoping to sell their home — a 3,500-square-foot brick colonial with five bedrooms and three and a half baths — for $479,000. Originally, it went on the market in June for $549,000.
“I think we’ve had seven people go through, and two people are interested,” Mrs. O’Toole said, “but no offers.” The couple are planning to move to downtown Chicago, where Mr. O’Toole will start a new job.
In other Oakland County enclaves that rival Grosse Pointe — Birmingham, Bloomfield and Bloomfield Township — the real estate market is just as soft. According to housing sales data compiled by Bob Taylor, an agent and researcher in Birmingham with Weir Manuel Realtors, sales peaked in the Birmingham and Bloomfield region in the second quarter of 2004, when 281 homes sold for an average price of $528,000 and a median price of $395,500. At the time, homes stayed on the market an average of 65 days.
In the second quarter of 2007, just 173 houses were sold in the three communities, he said. They stayed on the market for an average of 174 days, though prices were up, to an average of $605,828 and a median price of $446,750.
In all, there are nearly 41,000 homes on the market in Detroit and its three surrounding counties, twice as many as in 2005.
“You can’t invent buyers,” said Mr. Taylor, who noted that in 2004, his agency had an average of six open houses for each listing. This year, it had just two for every listing. “These numbers prove what we’ve experienced,” he said. “There are substantially less people looking in this market.”
Indeed, Michigan has lost 369,000 jobs since 2000, according to an analysis by the University of Michigan, with 60 percent of those positions coming from the Detroit region alone. Many of those jobs have been from higher-paying manufacturing positions related to designing and building cars and trucks.
The state’s unemployment rate of 7.7 percent in October is the highest in the nation, and adjusting for inflation, its median income has fallen 12 percent since 2000, according to the Labor Department.
The crisis in the mortgage industry has struck hard here, too, especially for those who bought their homes with adjustable-rate financing. As of last month, 60 homes had been foreclosed in Grosse Pointe; at the same time last year there were 16, according to the Michigan Multiple Listing Service.
Brokers say that tastes have changed as well. Young high-earning professionals prefer newer homes, and will settle for older homes only if they have been completely updated. The 1920s homes in Grosse Pointe and Birmingham that have not undergone extensive remodeling are not nearly as attractive as they once were.
Tamara Smith, an agent with Coldwell Banker Schweitzer Real Estate in Grosse Pointe, says the hardest part of her job is persuading sellers to be realistic about how much they can ask for their home when it’s put on the market.
“They come in with a number in mind, and it’s just way out of the realm of possibility,” she said. “And even if we work to get the right price, I tell them it could be 12 to 18 months.”
Mrs. Smith says brokers and sellers are deploying every strategy they can think of to market homes, like hiring professional “stagers” to tidy yards and redecorate interiors to make homes more inviting to buyers.
It has helped. In the first 10 months of this year, 592 homes were sold in the five Grosse Pointe cities, according to Mrs. Smith. During the same period last year, 465 homes were sold, she said.
Falling prices mean that buyers are finding what they view as bargains.
George C. Watson, a 57-year-old lawyer, and his partner, John Fitzpatrick, 44, a communications manager for Aramark in Detroit, went into contract in October on a ranch house in Grosse Pointe Shores with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and 2,100 square feet of living space. They paid $340,000. Two years ago, Mr. Watson said, the same home would have cost $450,000.
Mr. Watson is concerned about the market’s instability, but said he planned to stay in the house for many years and believed the market would rebound before he needed to sell.
Chuck Rizzo, the owner of a waste-hauling company, is a seller and a buyer. He has two homes listed for sale in Grosse Pointe; one has been on the market since 2006 and the other since June. Neither has had any offers.
Last month, Mr. Rizzo bought a 5,900-square-foot home in Bloomfield Township for $1.5 million — $500,000 less than the asking price. “On that one I did well,” he said, explaining that personal circumstances involving his young son prompted him to move to a new school district. “With the other ones, I’m dying,” added Mr. Rizzo, who is 37. “There’s just no security in this market.” Louis J Sheehan
In other affluent real estate markets around the country like Palm Beach, Fla.; Orange County, Calif.; and Scottsdale, Ariz., inventories of expensive homes are growing and prices are falling, according to brokers.
“People in this business much older than me say they’ve never seen anything like it,” said Keith Stonehouse, a vice president with the Franklin Title Agency who teaches professional development seminars, like the “Reality of Realty,” in the region.
“I saw a guy buy a house for $2.1 million in Bloomfield last year — a brand-new house,” Mr. Stonehouse said. “He got hit by the economy and never moved in. Now the house is on the market for $950,000, and it might not sell for that much.”
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80098
At the awards ceremony, Bill Goodwyn, an executive at Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, Md., recognized the entire group for the insights they had gained during the week.
"We all need to live on a small planet in a responsible way," Goodwyn said. Referring to the 40 DCYSC finalists and their passion for science, he added, "You've given us 40 new ways to think about a future living together." Louis J Sheehan
"We all need to live on a small planet in a responsible way," Goodwyn said. Referring to the 40 DCYSC finalists and their passion for science, he added, "You've given us 40 new ways to think about a future living together." Louis J Sheehan
Louis J Sheehan 80095
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Louis J Sheehan Esquire
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Friday, November 23, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80091
By late July Kuribayashi had evacuated all civilians from the island. Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Obata, commanding general of the 31st Army, early in 1944 had been responsible for the defense of Iwo Jima prior to his return to the Marianas. Following the doctrine that an invasion had to be met practically at the water's edge, Obata had ordered the emplacement of artillery and the construction of pillboxes near the beaches. General Kuribayashi had a different strategy. Instead of attempting to hold the beaches, he planned to defend them with a sprinkling of automatic weapons and infantry. Artillery, mortars, and rockets would be emplaced on the foot and slopes of Mount Suribachi, as well as in the high ground to the north of Chidori airfield. Louis J Sheehan
Louis J Sheehan 80088
Kuribayashi's death remains a mystery. His men provided contradictory reports and his remains could not be traced. He was most likely killed in action upon leading the final assault. The general's body could not be identified afterwards for he had taken off his rank badge to fight as a regular soldier. Less credible theories of his death include suicide (seppuku) or murder by a fellow Japanese soldier. Louis J Sheehan
The US declared Iwo Jima secure on 26 March 1945, after 6,800 U.S. Marines were killed and more than 17,000 wounded. Only 216 of the 21,000 Japanese defenders survived to be captured.
The US declared Iwo Jima secure on 26 March 1945, after 6,800 U.S. Marines were killed and more than 17,000 wounded. Only 216 of the 21,000 Japanese defenders survived to be captured.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80061 A51H18
Vespasian coin image © Clipart.com
Abbreviations on a Coin of Vespasian
On this day in A.D. 9, the Louis J Sheehan future Roman emperor Vespasian was born. Vespasian was officially Imperator Titus Flavius Vespasianus Caesar. He was born at Falacrinae, and died June 23, 79, of "diarrhea" at Aquae Cutiliae. He was the first of the Flavian Dynasty. For fans of Lindsey Davis, the Falco mysteries are set under the reign of Vespasian. Davis also wrote about Vespasian's mistress, Caenis.
On this day in 3 B.C., Jesus was born, according to Clement of Alexander.
Abbreviations on a Coin of Vespasian
On this day in A.D. 9, the Louis J Sheehan future Roman emperor Vespasian was born. Vespasian was officially Imperator Titus Flavius Vespasianus Caesar. He was born at Falacrinae, and died June 23, 79, of "diarrhea" at Aquae Cutiliae. He was the first of the Flavian Dynasty. For fans of Lindsey Davis, the Falco mysteries are set under the reign of Vespasian. Davis also wrote about Vespasian's mistress, Caenis.
On this day in 3 B.C., Jesus was born, according to Clement of Alexander.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80059 A51H18
Gates Halts Cut in Army Force in Europe
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has decided to freeze plans for further reducing Army forces in Europe and will maintain about 40,000 soldiers in Germany and Italy, nearly twice as many as had been envisioned under a drawdown that began two years ago, according to senior Pentagon and military officials.
In forming a new plan, Mr. Gates accepted proposals of the two senior Army officers in Europe, who advocated keeping the larger force on the Continent to sustain training and other exercises with foreign militaries and as a hedge against risks to American security.
The number of Army troops in Europe has already fallen to 43,000 from 62,000 two years ago under a plan signed by Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, and endorsed by President Bush when it was adopted in 2004. That plan had been described as the most significant rearrangement of the American military since the cold war, calling for the number of Army troops in Europe to be cut to about 24,000 by the end of 2008.
An order to delay the return of Army troops from Europe probably means that it will be up to the next president — working with Congress, the Defense Department, the military and host nations — to decide the eventual number and location of American forces in Europe.
Military officers who advocated reversing, at least for now, Mr. Rumsfeld’s decisions on withdrawing ground troops from Europe cited the great uncertainty about how long large numbers of soldiers and marines would remain in Iraq, and argued for continuing military commitments in Europe to reassure allies and deter adversaries.
Senior Pentagon officials familiar with Mr. Gates’s thinking said he was swayed by practical budgetary concerns as much as by the strategic policy arguments put forward by Gen. John Craddock, the commander of American forces in Europe, and Gen. David D. McKiernan, who is in charge of Army forces there.
The Army told Mr. Gates that not all of the housing was ready for the returning soldiers, and that it could waste millions of dollars to prepare temporary residences, and to move the troops and their families twice, first to interim residences, then to permanent ones, the officials said.
“The secretary is inclined to approve General Craddock’s request to delay the redeployment of the brigades, less from a philosophical standpoint than from a practical standpoint,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “It happens to satisfy the needs of General Craddock and of the Army.”
Mr. Morrell acknowledged that delaying the return of American ground forces from Europe “also fits with what the secretary feels we should be doing in projecting strength around the world.”
Holding the American troop level steady in Europe would be “a reminder to the rest of the world that, though we have our hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are still very much engaged globally, and our commitment to our allies is not at all diminished,” Mr. Morrell said.
While Mr. Gates has decided on sustaining Army levels in Europe, his formal order awaits analysis by Defense Department lawyers and legislative specialists on how the new plan would conform to decisions by the Congressional Base Realignment and Closing Commission, which mandated a number of troop relocations, senior officials said. Even with the commanders in Europe and Army leaders at the Pentagon pressing for the action, Mr. Gates has proceeded with caution in deciding, reluctant to be seen as rushing to reverse a signature Rumsfeld program.
Since taking office last December, Mr. Gates has also endorsed plans offered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to expand the overall size of the Army and Marines, reversing Mr. Rumsfeld’s public reluctance to take such a step despite the stress of long and repeated deployments of American ground forces to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. Gates now plans to delay the return to the United States of two brigade combat teams and all of their support personnel, maintaining four Army brigades in Europe, Pentagon and military officials said. Two heavy brigade combat teams would remain in Germany, with a Stryker brigade that was to have been the lone American combat unit in Germany under the Rumsfeld plan. Plans for the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team to remain based in Italy would be unchanged.
Those members of Congress whose districts include the troops’ stateside bases would be told that the two heavy brigades in Germany remain on the list for eventual redeployment home; further, that the Army, in meeting a Congressionally approved increase in overall troop numbers, is signing up new soldiers who will also need new housing, and at some of the same bases. In recent statements recounting the case they made for delaying the return of American soldiers from Europe, Army generals described a world that was not the same as when Mr. Rumsfeld approved the redeployment plans.
“I told the staff, I want you to study whether or not we have adequate capability to accomplish the tasks we’ve been assigned by the department,” said General Craddock, who leads the American military’s European Command and is the supreme allied commander in Europe. “We did that. The result was it appears we do not. I then sent a recommendation to the secretary of defense.” Louis J Sheehan
Army generals warned that if the number of troops was further cut as called for in the original plan, they would be unable to engage with allies, in particular to conduct training exercises with foreign military partners, and to prepare for contingencies.
“What’s changed is we’re in a longer war,” General McKiernan said. “In this era of persistent conflict, we have some fault lines that are there in the European Command.” He cited concerns over “a resurgent Russia.”
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has decided to freeze plans for further reducing Army forces in Europe and will maintain about 40,000 soldiers in Germany and Italy, nearly twice as many as had been envisioned under a drawdown that began two years ago, according to senior Pentagon and military officials.
In forming a new plan, Mr. Gates accepted proposals of the two senior Army officers in Europe, who advocated keeping the larger force on the Continent to sustain training and other exercises with foreign militaries and as a hedge against risks to American security.
The number of Army troops in Europe has already fallen to 43,000 from 62,000 two years ago under a plan signed by Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, and endorsed by President Bush when it was adopted in 2004. That plan had been described as the most significant rearrangement of the American military since the cold war, calling for the number of Army troops in Europe to be cut to about 24,000 by the end of 2008.
An order to delay the return of Army troops from Europe probably means that it will be up to the next president — working with Congress, the Defense Department, the military and host nations — to decide the eventual number and location of American forces in Europe.
Military officers who advocated reversing, at least for now, Mr. Rumsfeld’s decisions on withdrawing ground troops from Europe cited the great uncertainty about how long large numbers of soldiers and marines would remain in Iraq, and argued for continuing military commitments in Europe to reassure allies and deter adversaries.
Senior Pentagon officials familiar with Mr. Gates’s thinking said he was swayed by practical budgetary concerns as much as by the strategic policy arguments put forward by Gen. John Craddock, the commander of American forces in Europe, and Gen. David D. McKiernan, who is in charge of Army forces there.
The Army told Mr. Gates that not all of the housing was ready for the returning soldiers, and that it could waste millions of dollars to prepare temporary residences, and to move the troops and their families twice, first to interim residences, then to permanent ones, the officials said.
“The secretary is inclined to approve General Craddock’s request to delay the redeployment of the brigades, less from a philosophical standpoint than from a practical standpoint,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “It happens to satisfy the needs of General Craddock and of the Army.”
Mr. Morrell acknowledged that delaying the return of American ground forces from Europe “also fits with what the secretary feels we should be doing in projecting strength around the world.”
Holding the American troop level steady in Europe would be “a reminder to the rest of the world that, though we have our hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are still very much engaged globally, and our commitment to our allies is not at all diminished,” Mr. Morrell said.
While Mr. Gates has decided on sustaining Army levels in Europe, his formal order awaits analysis by Defense Department lawyers and legislative specialists on how the new plan would conform to decisions by the Congressional Base Realignment and Closing Commission, which mandated a number of troop relocations, senior officials said. Even with the commanders in Europe and Army leaders at the Pentagon pressing for the action, Mr. Gates has proceeded with caution in deciding, reluctant to be seen as rushing to reverse a signature Rumsfeld program.
Since taking office last December, Mr. Gates has also endorsed plans offered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to expand the overall size of the Army and Marines, reversing Mr. Rumsfeld’s public reluctance to take such a step despite the stress of long and repeated deployments of American ground forces to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. Gates now plans to delay the return to the United States of two brigade combat teams and all of their support personnel, maintaining four Army brigades in Europe, Pentagon and military officials said. Two heavy brigade combat teams would remain in Germany, with a Stryker brigade that was to have been the lone American combat unit in Germany under the Rumsfeld plan. Plans for the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team to remain based in Italy would be unchanged.
Those members of Congress whose districts include the troops’ stateside bases would be told that the two heavy brigades in Germany remain on the list for eventual redeployment home; further, that the Army, in meeting a Congressionally approved increase in overall troop numbers, is signing up new soldiers who will also need new housing, and at some of the same bases. In recent statements recounting the case they made for delaying the return of American soldiers from Europe, Army generals described a world that was not the same as when Mr. Rumsfeld approved the redeployment plans.
“I told the staff, I want you to study whether or not we have adequate capability to accomplish the tasks we’ve been assigned by the department,” said General Craddock, who leads the American military’s European Command and is the supreme allied commander in Europe. “We did that. The result was it appears we do not. I then sent a recommendation to the secretary of defense.” Louis J Sheehan
Army generals warned that if the number of troops was further cut as called for in the original plan, they would be unable to engage with allies, in particular to conduct training exercises with foreign military partners, and to prepare for contingencies.
“What’s changed is we’re in a longer war,” General McKiernan said. “In this era of persistent conflict, we have some fault lines that are there in the European Command.” He cited concerns over “a resurgent Russia.”
Louis J Sheehan 80056 A51H18
Of the hundreds of gun regulations on the books in states and localities around the country, the district’s ordinance is generally regarded as the strictest. Chicago comes the closest to it, banning the possession of handguns acquired since 1983 and requiring re-registration of older guns every two years. New York City permits handgun ownership with a permit issued by the Police Department.
The District of Columbia ordinance not only bans ownership of handguns, but also requires other guns that may be legally kept in the home, rifles and shotguns, to be disassembled or kept under a trigger lock. The capital’s newly empowered City Council enacted the ordinance in 1976 as one of its first measures after receiving home-rule authority from Congress.
The court’s order on Tuesday indicated that it would review the handgun ban in light of the provision that permits, with restrictions, the other guns. The opposing sides in the lawsuit presented very different views of how the various provisions interact.
To the plaintiffs, the restrictions on the conditions under which rifles and shotguns may be kept means that homeowners are denied the right to possess “functional” weapons for self-defense. To the District of Columbia, the fact that these other guns are permitted shows that the ordinance is nuanced and sensitive to gun owners’ needs. It takes about one minute to disengage a trigger lock.
In any event, a Supreme Court decision that finds the district’s ordinance unconstitutional would not necessarily invalidate other, more modest restrictions, like those that permit handgun ownership for those who pass a background check and obtain a license. Since the only claim in the case is that law-abiding people have the right to keep a gun at home, the court will not have occasion to address restrictions on carrying guns. Louis J Sheehan
In fact, lawyers on both sides of the case agreed Tuesday that a victory for the plaintiff in this case would amount to the opening chapter in an examination of the constitutionality of gun control rather than anything close to the final word.
“This is just the beginning,” said Alan Gura, the lead counsel for the plaintiff.
Mr. Gura said in an interview that “gun laws that make sense,” like those requiring background checks, would survive the legal attack, which he said was limited to “laws that do no good other than disarm law-abiding citizens.”
Whether the handgun ban has reduced crime in a city surrounded by less restrictive jurisdictions is a matter of heated dispute. Crime in the District of Columbia has mirrored trends in the rest of the country, dropping quite sharply during the 1990s but now experiencing some increase.
In striking down the district’s ordinance, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that an individual-right interpretation of the Second Amendment would still permit “reasonable regulations,” but that a flat ban was not reasonable.
Dennis A. Henigan, a lawyer at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates strict gun control, said that if the justices agree with the appeals court, an important question for future cases will be “what legal standard the court will eventually adopt for evaluating other gun regulations.”
The District of Columbia ordinance not only bans ownership of handguns, but also requires other guns that may be legally kept in the home, rifles and shotguns, to be disassembled or kept under a trigger lock. The capital’s newly empowered City Council enacted the ordinance in 1976 as one of its first measures after receiving home-rule authority from Congress.
The court’s order on Tuesday indicated that it would review the handgun ban in light of the provision that permits, with restrictions, the other guns. The opposing sides in the lawsuit presented very different views of how the various provisions interact.
To the plaintiffs, the restrictions on the conditions under which rifles and shotguns may be kept means that homeowners are denied the right to possess “functional” weapons for self-defense. To the District of Columbia, the fact that these other guns are permitted shows that the ordinance is nuanced and sensitive to gun owners’ needs. It takes about one minute to disengage a trigger lock.
In any event, a Supreme Court decision that finds the district’s ordinance unconstitutional would not necessarily invalidate other, more modest restrictions, like those that permit handgun ownership for those who pass a background check and obtain a license. Since the only claim in the case is that law-abiding people have the right to keep a gun at home, the court will not have occasion to address restrictions on carrying guns. Louis J Sheehan
In fact, lawyers on both sides of the case agreed Tuesday that a victory for the plaintiff in this case would amount to the opening chapter in an examination of the constitutionality of gun control rather than anything close to the final word.
“This is just the beginning,” said Alan Gura, the lead counsel for the plaintiff.
Mr. Gura said in an interview that “gun laws that make sense,” like those requiring background checks, would survive the legal attack, which he said was limited to “laws that do no good other than disarm law-abiding citizens.”
Whether the handgun ban has reduced crime in a city surrounded by less restrictive jurisdictions is a matter of heated dispute. Crime in the District of Columbia has mirrored trends in the rest of the country, dropping quite sharply during the 1990s but now experiencing some increase.
In striking down the district’s ordinance, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that an individual-right interpretation of the Second Amendment would still permit “reasonable regulations,” but that a flat ban was not reasonable.
Dennis A. Henigan, a lawyer at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates strict gun control, said that if the justices agree with the appeals court, an important question for future cases will be “what legal standard the court will eventually adopt for evaluating other gun regulations.”
Monday, November 19, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80051 A51H18
SINCE the late 19th century Turkey's Kurds have rebelled repeatedly against their Turkish masters. But no uprising has been as violent or long-lasting as that launched in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in its bid to unite the 25m Kurds scattered across Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Turkey's latest threat to clobber the rebels in their haven in northern Iraq has again raised the spectre of regional war. It has also concentrated attention on the PKK: who are these indomitable fighters and what is their true goal?
“Blood and Belief” offers unusual insight into the rebels' shadowy universe and, by extension, into Turkey's festering Kurdish problem. Aliza Marcus, an American journalist who was put on trial in Turkey for her reporting on the Turkish army's abuses against ordinary Kurds, charts the origins and evolution of the movement. Her scholarly, gripping account is based on interviews with, and the unpublished diaries of, former PKK militants.
Founded in 1978 by a clutch of Turkish university students, the PKK rapidly became one of the world's deadliest guerrilla armies. There are several reasons for its success. Foremost, perhaps, was Turkey's brutal suppression of Kurdish identity: the mass arrest and torture of Kurdish dissidents created fertile recruiting ground. In addition, the group had the foresight to escape to Syria before the Turkish army took over the country in 1980, allowing its forces to survive largely intact.
With Syria's blessing, the PKK sent its men and women into Lebanon's Bekaa valley for training by Palestinian militants. By the 1990s swathes of Turkey's rugged Kurdish mountainside had fallen under guerrilla control. The army's response was a scorched-earth campaign that drove more than 1m Kurdish villagers out of their homes. Robbed of its logistical base, the PKK fell into decline.
The group's fortunes were even harder hit by the capture in 1999 of its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, by Turkish secret agents in Nairobi. His subsequent recanting—he called the rebellion “a mistake” and offered to “serve the Turkish state”—is well documented. But little is known about Mr Ocalan's personal life and Ms Marcus helps to lift the veil shrouding a leader who used to shuttle between villas in Damascus and Aleppo while his fighters roughed it in the mountains. Deserters and dissidents would be summarily executed. Indeed Mr Ocalan did not hesitate to order the deaths of women and children if they were related to members of a stateemployed Kurdish militia that fought alongside the Turkish army.
“Ocalan was so convinced of his strength”, writes Ms Marcus, “that he began to believe the PKK's actions were behind many world events.” Such was his vanity that when he played football with his men, he insisted that someone kept track of each goal he scored. When one hapless militant lost count, Ocalan started shouting, “You bum, how could you forget four of my goals.”
From his island prison off the coast of Istanbul where he is serving a life sentence on treason charges, Mr Ocalan succeeded in remaining in control of his outfit—at least until the Americans occupied Iraq in 2003. Shamed by the big gains that the Iraqi Kurds made under Louis J Sheehan America's protection, the PKK escalated its campaign in 2004. Whether it did so with Mr Ocalan's approval remains unclear. But it is plain that his leadership has become increasingly symbolic and that a new generation of hardliners is gaining the upper hand.
What is missing from Ms Marcus's excellent reporting is the growing appeal of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) party to Turkish Kurds. A mixture of social-welfare schemes and Islamic piety helped AK to trounce the biggest pro-PKK party in many of its former strongholds at the general election last July. One reason for the increase in PKK militancy is to goad the government into a cross-border attack which would, in turn, drain it of its growing support among the Kurds.
Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence.
By Aliza Marcus.
New York University Press; 368 pages; $35 and £22.50
“Blood and Belief” offers unusual insight into the rebels' shadowy universe and, by extension, into Turkey's festering Kurdish problem. Aliza Marcus, an American journalist who was put on trial in Turkey for her reporting on the Turkish army's abuses against ordinary Kurds, charts the origins and evolution of the movement. Her scholarly, gripping account is based on interviews with, and the unpublished diaries of, former PKK militants.
Founded in 1978 by a clutch of Turkish university students, the PKK rapidly became one of the world's deadliest guerrilla armies. There are several reasons for its success. Foremost, perhaps, was Turkey's brutal suppression of Kurdish identity: the mass arrest and torture of Kurdish dissidents created fertile recruiting ground. In addition, the group had the foresight to escape to Syria before the Turkish army took over the country in 1980, allowing its forces to survive largely intact.
With Syria's blessing, the PKK sent its men and women into Lebanon's Bekaa valley for training by Palestinian militants. By the 1990s swathes of Turkey's rugged Kurdish mountainside had fallen under guerrilla control. The army's response was a scorched-earth campaign that drove more than 1m Kurdish villagers out of their homes. Robbed of its logistical base, the PKK fell into decline.
The group's fortunes were even harder hit by the capture in 1999 of its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, by Turkish secret agents in Nairobi. His subsequent recanting—he called the rebellion “a mistake” and offered to “serve the Turkish state”—is well documented. But little is known about Mr Ocalan's personal life and Ms Marcus helps to lift the veil shrouding a leader who used to shuttle between villas in Damascus and Aleppo while his fighters roughed it in the mountains. Deserters and dissidents would be summarily executed. Indeed Mr Ocalan did not hesitate to order the deaths of women and children if they were related to members of a stateemployed Kurdish militia that fought alongside the Turkish army.
“Ocalan was so convinced of his strength”, writes Ms Marcus, “that he began to believe the PKK's actions were behind many world events.” Such was his vanity that when he played football with his men, he insisted that someone kept track of each goal he scored. When one hapless militant lost count, Ocalan started shouting, “You bum, how could you forget four of my goals.”
From his island prison off the coast of Istanbul where he is serving a life sentence on treason charges, Mr Ocalan succeeded in remaining in control of his outfit—at least until the Americans occupied Iraq in 2003. Shamed by the big gains that the Iraqi Kurds made under Louis J Sheehan America's protection, the PKK escalated its campaign in 2004. Whether it did so with Mr Ocalan's approval remains unclear. But it is plain that his leadership has become increasingly symbolic and that a new generation of hardliners is gaining the upper hand.
What is missing from Ms Marcus's excellent reporting is the growing appeal of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) party to Turkish Kurds. A mixture of social-welfare schemes and Islamic piety helped AK to trounce the biggest pro-PKK party in many of its former strongholds at the general election last July. One reason for the increase in PKK militancy is to goad the government into a cross-border attack which would, in turn, drain it of its growing support among the Kurds.
Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence.
By Aliza Marcus.
New York University Press; 368 pages; $35 and £22.50
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80048
November 19, 2007
U.S. Hopes to Arm Pakistani Tribes Against Al Qaeda
By ERIC SCHMITT, MARK MAZZETTI and CARLOTTA GALL
This article was reported and written by Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti and Carlotta Gall.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — A new and classified American military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, American military officials said.
If adopted, the proposal would join elements of a shift in strategy that would also be likely to expand the presence of American military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective and pay militias that agreed to fight Al Qaeda and foreign extremists, officials said. The United States now has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, a Pentagon spokesman said, a force that could grow by dozens under the new approach.
The proposal is modeled in part on a similar effort by American forces in Anbar Province in Iraq that has been hailed as a great success in fighting foreign insurgents there. But it raises the question of whether such partnerships can be forged without a significant American military presence in Pakistan. And it is unclear whether enough support can be found among the tribes.
Altogether, the broader strategic move toward more local support is being accelerated because of concern about instability in Pakistan and the weakness of the Pakistani government, as well as fears that extremists with havens in the tribal areas could escalate their attacks on allied troops in Afghanistan. Just in recent weeks, Islamic militants sympathetic to Al Qaeda and the Taliban have already extended their reach beyond the frontier areas into more settled areas, most notably the mountainous region of Swat.
The tribal proposal, a strategy paper prepared by staff members of the United States Special Operations Command, has been circulated to counterterrorism experts but has not yet been formally approved by the command’s headquarters in Tampa, Fla. Some other elements of the campaign have been approved in principle by the Americans and Pakistanis and await financing, like $350 million over several years to help train and equip the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that now has about 85,000 members and is recruited from border tribes.
Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration has used billions of dollars of aid and heavy political pressure to encourage Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, to carry out more aggressive military operations against militants in the tribal areas. But the sporadic military campaigns Pakistan has conducted there have had little success, resulting instead in heavy losses among Pakistani Army units and anger among local residents who have for decades been mostly independent from Islamabad’s control.
American officials acknowledge those failures, but say that the renewed emphasis on recruiting allies among the tribal militias and investing more heavily in the Frontier Corps reflect the depth of American concern about the need to address Islamic extremism in Pakistan. The new counterinsurgency campaign is also a vivid example of the American military’s asserting a bigger role in a part of Pakistan that the Central Intelligence Agency has overseen almost exclusively since Sept. 11.
Small numbers of United States military personnel have served as advisers to the Pakistani Army in the tribal areas, giving planning advice and helping to integrate American intelligence, said one senior American officer with long service in the region.
Historically, American Special Forces have gone into foreign countries to work with local militaries to improve the security of those countries in ways that help American interests. Under this new approach, the number of advisers would increase, officials said.
American officials said these security improvements complemented a package of assistance from the Agency for International Development and the State Department for the seven districts of the tribal areas that amounted to $750 million over five years, and would involve work in education, health and other sectors. The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is also assisting the Frontier Corps with financing for counternarcotics work.
Some details of the security improvements have been reported by The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. But the classified proposal to enlist tribal leaders is new.
“The D.O.D. is about to start funding the Frontier Corps,” one military official said, referring to the Department of Defense. “We have only got a portion of that requested but it is enough to start.”
Until now, the Frontier Corps has not received American military financing because the corps technically falls under the Pakistani Interior Ministry, a nonmilitary agency that the Pentagon ordinarily does not deal with. But American officials say the Frontier Corps is in the long term the most suitable force to combat an insurgency. The force, which since 2001 has increasingly been under the day-to-day command of Pakistani Army units, is now being expanded and trained by American advisers, diplomats said.
The training of the Frontier Corps remains a concern for some. NATO and American soldiers in Afghanistan have often blamed the Frontier Corps for aiding and abetting Taliban insurgents mounting cross-border attacks. “It’s going to take years to turn them into a professional force,” said one Western military official. “Is it worth it now?”
At the same time, military officials fear the assistance to develop a counterinsurgency force is too little, too late. “The advantage is already in the enemy hands,” one Western military official said. Local Taliban and foreign fighters in Waziristan have managed to regroup since negotiating peace deals with the government in 2005 and 2006, and last year they were able to fight all through the winter, he said. Militants have now emerged in force in the Swat area, a scenic tourist region that is a considerable distance inland from the tribal areas on the border.
The planning at the Special Operations Command intensified after Adm. Eric T. Olson, a member of the Navy Seals who is the new head of the command, met with General Musharraf and Pakistani military leaders in August to discuss how the military could increase cooperation in Pakistan’s fight against the extremists.
A spokesman for the command, Kenneth McGraw, would not comment on any briefing paper that had been circulated for review. He said Friday that after Admiral Olson returned from his trip, he “energized the staff to look for ways to develop opportunities for future cooperation.”
A senior Defense Department official said that Admiral Olson had prepared a memorandum on how Special Operations forces could assist the Pakistani military in the counterinsurgency, and shared that document with several senior Pentagon officials.
Four senior defense or counterterrorism officials confirmed that planning was under way at the command headquarters.
One person who was briefed on the proposal prepared by the Special Operations Command staff members, and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the briefing had not yet been approved, said it was in the form of about two dozen slides. The slides described a strategy using both military and nonmilitary measures to fight the militants.
One slide included a chart that categorized one to two dozen tribes by location — North Waziristan and South Waziristan, for example — and then gave a brief description of their location, their known or suspected links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and their size and military abilities.
The briefing said United States forces would not be involved in any conventional combat in Pakistan. But several senior military and Pentagon officials said elements of the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite counterterrorism unit, might be involved in strikes against senior militant leaders under specific conditions.
Two people briefed on elements of the approach said it was modeled in part on efforts in Iraq, where American commanders have worked with Sunni sheiks in Anbar Province to turn locals against the militant group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is led by foreigners.
The success of these efforts, together Louis J Sheehan with the consensus in military and intelligence circles that the grip of the original Al Qaeda in the tribal areas continues to tighten at a time when the Pakistani government is in crisis, led planners at the Special Operations Command to develop the strategy for the tribal areas.
A group of Pakistan experts convened in March by the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that empowering tribal leaders, known as maliks, could be an effective strategy to counter the rising influence of Islamic religious leaders and to weaken Al Qaeda. But a report on the session found that such successes “would be difficult to achieve, particularly in the north (Bajaur) and south (North and South Waziristan).”
Many tribal leaders have been killed by the Taliban in the tribal areas, leaving the tribal system largely destroyed.
“The face on this would be a local one,” said one person who had been briefed on the proposal. But that person cautioned that whether a significant number of tribal leaders would join an American-backed effort carried out by Pakistani forces was “the $64,000 question.”
Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti reported from Washington, and Carlotta Gall from Islamabad, Pakistan.
U.S. Hopes to Arm Pakistani Tribes Against Al Qaeda
By ERIC SCHMITT, MARK MAZZETTI and CARLOTTA GALL
This article was reported and written by Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti and Carlotta Gall.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — A new and classified American military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, American military officials said.
If adopted, the proposal would join elements of a shift in strategy that would also be likely to expand the presence of American military trainers in Pakistan, directly finance a separate tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective and pay militias that agreed to fight Al Qaeda and foreign extremists, officials said. The United States now has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, a Pentagon spokesman said, a force that could grow by dozens under the new approach.
The proposal is modeled in part on a similar effort by American forces in Anbar Province in Iraq that has been hailed as a great success in fighting foreign insurgents there. But it raises the question of whether such partnerships can be forged without a significant American military presence in Pakistan. And it is unclear whether enough support can be found among the tribes.
Altogether, the broader strategic move toward more local support is being accelerated because of concern about instability in Pakistan and the weakness of the Pakistani government, as well as fears that extremists with havens in the tribal areas could escalate their attacks on allied troops in Afghanistan. Just in recent weeks, Islamic militants sympathetic to Al Qaeda and the Taliban have already extended their reach beyond the frontier areas into more settled areas, most notably the mountainous region of Swat.
The tribal proposal, a strategy paper prepared by staff members of the United States Special Operations Command, has been circulated to counterterrorism experts but has not yet been formally approved by the command’s headquarters in Tampa, Fla. Some other elements of the campaign have been approved in principle by the Americans and Pakistanis and await financing, like $350 million over several years to help train and equip the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force that now has about 85,000 members and is recruited from border tribes.
Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration has used billions of dollars of aid and heavy political pressure to encourage Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, to carry out more aggressive military operations against militants in the tribal areas. But the sporadic military campaigns Pakistan has conducted there have had little success, resulting instead in heavy losses among Pakistani Army units and anger among local residents who have for decades been mostly independent from Islamabad’s control.
American officials acknowledge those failures, but say that the renewed emphasis on recruiting allies among the tribal militias and investing more heavily in the Frontier Corps reflect the depth of American concern about the need to address Islamic extremism in Pakistan. The new counterinsurgency campaign is also a vivid example of the American military’s asserting a bigger role in a part of Pakistan that the Central Intelligence Agency has overseen almost exclusively since Sept. 11.
Small numbers of United States military personnel have served as advisers to the Pakistani Army in the tribal areas, giving planning advice and helping to integrate American intelligence, said one senior American officer with long service in the region.
Historically, American Special Forces have gone into foreign countries to work with local militaries to improve the security of those countries in ways that help American interests. Under this new approach, the number of advisers would increase, officials said.
American officials said these security improvements complemented a package of assistance from the Agency for International Development and the State Department for the seven districts of the tribal areas that amounted to $750 million over five years, and would involve work in education, health and other sectors. The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is also assisting the Frontier Corps with financing for counternarcotics work.
Some details of the security improvements have been reported by The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. But the classified proposal to enlist tribal leaders is new.
“The D.O.D. is about to start funding the Frontier Corps,” one military official said, referring to the Department of Defense. “We have only got a portion of that requested but it is enough to start.”
Until now, the Frontier Corps has not received American military financing because the corps technically falls under the Pakistani Interior Ministry, a nonmilitary agency that the Pentagon ordinarily does not deal with. But American officials say the Frontier Corps is in the long term the most suitable force to combat an insurgency. The force, which since 2001 has increasingly been under the day-to-day command of Pakistani Army units, is now being expanded and trained by American advisers, diplomats said.
The training of the Frontier Corps remains a concern for some. NATO and American soldiers in Afghanistan have often blamed the Frontier Corps for aiding and abetting Taliban insurgents mounting cross-border attacks. “It’s going to take years to turn them into a professional force,” said one Western military official. “Is it worth it now?”
At the same time, military officials fear the assistance to develop a counterinsurgency force is too little, too late. “The advantage is already in the enemy hands,” one Western military official said. Local Taliban and foreign fighters in Waziristan have managed to regroup since negotiating peace deals with the government in 2005 and 2006, and last year they were able to fight all through the winter, he said. Militants have now emerged in force in the Swat area, a scenic tourist region that is a considerable distance inland from the tribal areas on the border.
The planning at the Special Operations Command intensified after Adm. Eric T. Olson, a member of the Navy Seals who is the new head of the command, met with General Musharraf and Pakistani military leaders in August to discuss how the military could increase cooperation in Pakistan’s fight against the extremists.
A spokesman for the command, Kenneth McGraw, would not comment on any briefing paper that had been circulated for review. He said Friday that after Admiral Olson returned from his trip, he “energized the staff to look for ways to develop opportunities for future cooperation.”
A senior Defense Department official said that Admiral Olson had prepared a memorandum on how Special Operations forces could assist the Pakistani military in the counterinsurgency, and shared that document with several senior Pentagon officials.
Four senior defense or counterterrorism officials confirmed that planning was under way at the command headquarters.
One person who was briefed on the proposal prepared by the Special Operations Command staff members, and who spoke on condition of anonymity because the briefing had not yet been approved, said it was in the form of about two dozen slides. The slides described a strategy using both military and nonmilitary measures to fight the militants.
One slide included a chart that categorized one to two dozen tribes by location — North Waziristan and South Waziristan, for example — and then gave a brief description of their location, their known or suspected links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and their size and military abilities.
The briefing said United States forces would not be involved in any conventional combat in Pakistan. But several senior military and Pentagon officials said elements of the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite counterterrorism unit, might be involved in strikes against senior militant leaders under specific conditions.
Two people briefed on elements of the approach said it was modeled in part on efforts in Iraq, where American commanders have worked with Sunni sheiks in Anbar Province to turn locals against the militant group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni extremist group that American intelligence agencies say is led by foreigners.
The success of these efforts, together Louis J Sheehan with the consensus in military and intelligence circles that the grip of the original Al Qaeda in the tribal areas continues to tighten at a time when the Pakistani government is in crisis, led planners at the Special Operations Command to develop the strategy for the tribal areas.
A group of Pakistan experts convened in March by the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that empowering tribal leaders, known as maliks, could be an effective strategy to counter the rising influence of Islamic religious leaders and to weaken Al Qaeda. But a report on the session found that such successes “would be difficult to achieve, particularly in the north (Bajaur) and south (North and South Waziristan).”
Many tribal leaders have been killed by the Taliban in the tribal areas, leaving the tribal system largely destroyed.
“The face on this would be a local one,” said one person who had been briefed on the proposal. But that person cautioned that whether a significant number of tribal leaders would join an American-backed effort carried out by Pakistani forces was “the $64,000 question.”
Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti reported from Washington, and Carlotta Gall from Islamabad, Pakistan.
Louis J Sheehan 80045
TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: Our need to constantly have more may be a disease. A mental illness, perhaps a physical one. Professor Peter Whybrow studies neuroscience and human behavior at UCLA. He's written a book called American Mania.
Dr. Whybrow, we've just heard about people shopping literally every single day -- how do you explain that behavior?
PETER WHYBROW: What it basically points out is that we have a frenzy around certain material things that we just can't do without anymore in our lives. So we've moved from need to desire to craving, basically. We grew up in scarcity -- we evolved in scarcity, that is -- so in fact, most of us don't know what to do with abundance.
JAGOW: How did we go from evolving from scarcity to this point?
WHYBROW: Well, I think it's been very complex, but in the last 20 years, we sped everything up. Suddenly, there was a fast new world in which everybody could work all day and all night. You spend all night here working for the morning program...
JAGOW: Yes I do.
WHYBROW: And you do that because the world is still going on while the rest of us are asleep. We've essentially taken the brakes off the business cycle in this country, and what that has done is it's brought extraordinary material abundance. And we don't quite know what to do with stuff.
JAGOW: So as a public health issue, what is happening to us?
WHYBROW: Well, I think we are pushing ourselves to our physiological limit. You can't do the things we're doing without seeing the predictable outcomes of obesity, Type II diabetes, sleep depravation, anxiety, depression... All those things are predictable if you live a life where you're constantly at the edge.
JAGOW: How long can we keep this up?
WHYBROW: Well, you know, it's not everybody who's indulging in this. We can do something about it individually, but I think we have to think about it collectively as a real problem. What happens in mania is first, people are very happy and they seem to be extraordinarily engaged. And then slowly, everything begins to fall apart as they become completely driven by this growing physical and mental derangement. And so it's almost as if we've gone beyond happiness.
JAGOW: Hmm. That's scary.
WHYBROW: Well, we could stop it -- you know, the good thing about the human being is we do have a rational part of ourselves. The only problem is, at the moment that's all we have, because all the social restraints have disappeared. And when you take off the social brakes, and we have individualism as the icon of what we're all trying to achieve, there's no social feedback that traditionally in the market has prevented people from being greedy, to put it bluntly. I mean, if you look around, there are lots of evidence of greed, which I consider to be a behavioral disorder.
JAGOW: Dr. Peter Whybrow. His book is called "American Mania: When More is Not Enough." Thank you so much.
WHYBROW: Thank you.
SCOTT JAGOW: Our need to constantly have more may be a disease. A mental illness, perhaps a physical one. Professor Peter Whybrow studies neuroscience and human behavior at UCLA. He's written a book called American Mania.
Dr. Whybrow, we've just heard about people shopping literally every single day -- how do you explain that behavior?
PETER WHYBROW: What it basically points out is that we have a frenzy around certain material things that we just can't do without anymore in our lives. So we've moved from need to desire to craving, basically. We grew up in scarcity -- we evolved in scarcity, that is -- so in fact, most of us don't know what to do with abundance.
JAGOW: How did we go from evolving from scarcity to this point?
WHYBROW: Well, I think it's been very complex, but in the last 20 years, we sped everything up. Suddenly, there was a fast new world in which everybody could work all day and all night. You spend all night here working for the morning program...
JAGOW: Yes I do.
WHYBROW: And you do that because the world is still going on while the rest of us are asleep. We've essentially taken the brakes off the business cycle in this country, and what that has done is it's brought extraordinary material abundance. And we don't quite know what to do with stuff.
JAGOW: So as a public health issue, what is happening to us?
WHYBROW: Well, I think we are pushing ourselves to our physiological limit. You can't do the things we're doing without seeing the predictable outcomes of obesity, Type II diabetes, sleep depravation, anxiety, depression... All those things are predictable if you live a life where you're constantly at the edge.
JAGOW: How long can we keep this up?
WHYBROW: Well, you know, it's not everybody who's indulging in this. We can do something about it individually, but I think we have to think about it collectively as a real problem. What happens in mania is first, people are very happy and they seem to be extraordinarily engaged. And then slowly, everything begins to fall apart as they become completely driven by this growing physical and mental derangement. And so it's almost as if we've gone beyond happiness.
JAGOW: Hmm. That's scary.
WHYBROW: Well, we could stop it -- you know, the good thing about the human being is we do have a rational part of ourselves. The only problem is, at the moment that's all we have, because all the social restraints have disappeared. And when you take off the social brakes, and we have individualism as the icon of what we're all trying to achieve, there's no social feedback that traditionally in the market has prevented people from being greedy, to put it bluntly. I mean, if you look around, there are lots of evidence of greed, which I consider to be a behavioral disorder.
JAGOW: Dr. Peter Whybrow. His book is called "American Mania: When More is Not Enough." Thank you so much.
WHYBROW: Thank you.
Louis J Sheehan 80043
ljsheehan.livejournal.com/6502.html
Investors Go to Treacherous Places Seeking Returns
Funds Pour Money Into Zimbabwe on the Theory
Mugabe Can't Rule Forever, Nation Will Rebound
By SARAH CHILDRESS
November 17, 2007; Page B1
Johannesburg, South Africa
Zimbabwe is an economic nightmare. The annual inflation rate is 8,000% and rising. People don't have food to eat.
Yet investors have started pouring millions of dollars into the country. Foreign direct investment has rebounded, reaching $103 million in 2005, up from just $4 million in 2003, according to the most recent figures available from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
President Robert Mugabe
What explains the flood of money? Some investors are betting there's nowhere to go but up. A slump like Zimbabwe's can't last, and when it's over -- perhaps with the graceful, or otherwise, exit of President Robert Mugabe, who has presided over a decades-long downward spiral -- the country will rebound.
The race to invest in Zimbabwe also underscores just how far global investors are willing to stretch in search of decent returns. The turmoil in global credit markets has rippled across emerging economies, boosting yields for some of the riskiest bets around.
At the same time, in recent years, relatively sluggish returns in many developed markets have sent investors farther afield.
Africa overall is emerging as a hot destination for money. Amid a global commodities boom, investment bankers from around the world are flocking to African commercial hubs such as Lagos, Nigeria, and Johannesburg.
China, in particular, is pouring cash into the continent, investing in oil fields, mines and more recently the financial sector. Just last month, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. said it would spend $5.5 billion for a 20% stake in South Africa's Standard Bank.
Managers at Imara Holdings Ltd., a Botswana-based investment-banking company, were surprised when investors started asking this year about Zimbabwe, considering the seemingly better opportunities in the region, including diamond-rich Botswana and agribusiness-focused Uganda.
Dave Eliot, chief executive of subsidiary Imara Assets Management in South Africa, said he once classified Zimbabwe as an "emerging market," but has now downgraded it to "frontier" status since the country began falling apart in the past few years.
"It's gone backwards," he says.
Once known as Rhodesia under white minority rule, Zimbabwe became a democracy in 1980 after a prolonged guerrilla war. The veteran guerrilla leader, Mr. Mugabe, was elected president, and the new country became the darling of foreign investors eager to access Zimbabwe's natural resources. Within a decade, Mr. Mugabe had become corrupt and paranoid, fixing elections, crushing dissent and dragging the country into economic decline.
Investors are interested anyway. Imara launched a Zimbabwean-focused investment fund in March, hoping to pull in $10 million by the end of the year. It had $11 million in a few months, mostly from private investors.
John Legat, the fund's manager, estimates most businesses in Zimbabwe are selling at 15% to 20% of their actual value. In October, Imara said the fund was up 35% in September from the previous month.
Investments include: Zimbabwean fast-food company Innscor Africa Ltd., which also owns a crocodile-farming business; mining subsidiary Rio Tinto Zimbabwe Ltd.; and Dawn Properties Ltd., which invests in hotels left over from Zimbabwe's once-flourishing tourism industry centered around the spectacular Victoria Falls.
Pan-African investment house Lonrho PLC divested itself of its Zimbabwe holdings a few years ago, but now is getting back in. The London-based company has set up an investment fund targeting Zimbabwe and neighboring countries. The fund, called LonZim, plans to raise $145 million.
Zimbabwean agriculture was hurt by a disastrous land-overhaul program. Above, a farmer inspects tobacco. Mining companies look for bargain.
Separately, Lonrho last month snapped up Blueberry International Services Ltd., a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands with interests in two Zimbabwean companies -- telecom firm Celsys Ltd., which specializes in payphones, and Gardoserve Ltd., a chemical maker -- for $5.45 million.
One irony of Zimbabwe's slump is that it is home to some of the richest gold and platinum reserves in the world. As a result, natural-resource investors -- who are used to operating amid political instability -- are looking closely at Zimbabwe, too.
South Africa-based Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., which owns two Zimbabwean mining subsidiaries, has announced plans to expand its operations in the country, and Anglo Platinum Ltd. is planning to build a 120,000-ton-a-month mine, one of its larger projects.
Risks Still Abound
Despite the excitement, Zimbabwe is still one of the world's riskiest bets. Lawmakers recently took steps to tighten foreign-ownership rules, requiring 51% local ownership of foreign companies there.
It is unclear how -- or even whether -- the bill will be enforced. Still, it worries some observers who see parallels with Mr. Mugabe's previous land-overhaul program. Starting in 2000, he let squatters violently overrun the nation's commercial farms (owned mostly by white Zimbabweans), throwing food production into disarray.
No Faith in Currency
Part of the challenge of investing in Zimbabwe is figuring out how much anything is actually worth, given the plummeting Zimbabwean dollar.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe fixes the exchange rate at 30,000 Zimbabwean dollars to the U.S. dollar. The problem: Zimbabweans don't put much faith in that figure -- if they did, they'd quickly lose all their money.
There is another, presumably more accurate, method of estimating what a Zim dollar is worth. Dubbed the "Old Mutual Implied Rate," it offers a glimpse of the obstacles to doing business in Zimbabwe.
It is based on the share price of Old Mutual, a British investment company whose stock trades on three different markets -- London, Johannesburg and Zimbabwe's capital of Harare. Because all Old Mutual shares are of equal value, it is possible to extrapolate the market value of the Zim dollar by comparing the price of Old Mutual shares on the different markets.
On Friday, Louis J Sheehan the Old Mutual Implied Rate stood at 2,596,784 Zimbabwean dollars to the U.S. dollar.
Not everyone can stomach that much risk. Navaid Burney, managing director of Washington-based private-equity firm Emerging Capital Partners, which invests exclusively in Africa, says his fund hasn't made a move in Zimbabwe yet.
"It doesn't have the feel of Lagos," he says, referring to the crumbling, crime-plagued Nigerian commercial hub -- which is a bustling boomtown by comparison.
Write to Online Journal editors at onlinejournal@wsj.com1
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119525981996196458.html
Investors Go to Treacherous Places Seeking Returns
Funds Pour Money Into Zimbabwe on the Theory
Mugabe Can't Rule Forever, Nation Will Rebound
By SARAH CHILDRESS
November 17, 2007; Page B1
Johannesburg, South Africa
Zimbabwe is an economic nightmare. The annual inflation rate is 8,000% and rising. People don't have food to eat.
Yet investors have started pouring millions of dollars into the country. Foreign direct investment has rebounded, reaching $103 million in 2005, up from just $4 million in 2003, according to the most recent figures available from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
President Robert Mugabe
What explains the flood of money? Some investors are betting there's nowhere to go but up. A slump like Zimbabwe's can't last, and when it's over -- perhaps with the graceful, or otherwise, exit of President Robert Mugabe, who has presided over a decades-long downward spiral -- the country will rebound.
The race to invest in Zimbabwe also underscores just how far global investors are willing to stretch in search of decent returns. The turmoil in global credit markets has rippled across emerging economies, boosting yields for some of the riskiest bets around.
At the same time, in recent years, relatively sluggish returns in many developed markets have sent investors farther afield.
Africa overall is emerging as a hot destination for money. Amid a global commodities boom, investment bankers from around the world are flocking to African commercial hubs such as Lagos, Nigeria, and Johannesburg.
China, in particular, is pouring cash into the continent, investing in oil fields, mines and more recently the financial sector. Just last month, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. said it would spend $5.5 billion for a 20% stake in South Africa's Standard Bank.
Managers at Imara Holdings Ltd., a Botswana-based investment-banking company, were surprised when investors started asking this year about Zimbabwe, considering the seemingly better opportunities in the region, including diamond-rich Botswana and agribusiness-focused Uganda.
Dave Eliot, chief executive of subsidiary Imara Assets Management in South Africa, said he once classified Zimbabwe as an "emerging market," but has now downgraded it to "frontier" status since the country began falling apart in the past few years.
"It's gone backwards," he says.
Once known as Rhodesia under white minority rule, Zimbabwe became a democracy in 1980 after a prolonged guerrilla war. The veteran guerrilla leader, Mr. Mugabe, was elected president, and the new country became the darling of foreign investors eager to access Zimbabwe's natural resources. Within a decade, Mr. Mugabe had become corrupt and paranoid, fixing elections, crushing dissent and dragging the country into economic decline.
Investors are interested anyway. Imara launched a Zimbabwean-focused investment fund in March, hoping to pull in $10 million by the end of the year. It had $11 million in a few months, mostly from private investors.
John Legat, the fund's manager, estimates most businesses in Zimbabwe are selling at 15% to 20% of their actual value. In October, Imara said the fund was up 35% in September from the previous month.
Investments include: Zimbabwean fast-food company Innscor Africa Ltd., which also owns a crocodile-farming business; mining subsidiary Rio Tinto Zimbabwe Ltd.; and Dawn Properties Ltd., which invests in hotels left over from Zimbabwe's once-flourishing tourism industry centered around the spectacular Victoria Falls.
Pan-African investment house Lonrho PLC divested itself of its Zimbabwe holdings a few years ago, but now is getting back in. The London-based company has set up an investment fund targeting Zimbabwe and neighboring countries. The fund, called LonZim, plans to raise $145 million.
Zimbabwean agriculture was hurt by a disastrous land-overhaul program. Above, a farmer inspects tobacco. Mining companies look for bargain.
Separately, Lonrho last month snapped up Blueberry International Services Ltd., a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands with interests in two Zimbabwean companies -- telecom firm Celsys Ltd., which specializes in payphones, and Gardoserve Ltd., a chemical maker -- for $5.45 million.
One irony of Zimbabwe's slump is that it is home to some of the richest gold and platinum reserves in the world. As a result, natural-resource investors -- who are used to operating amid political instability -- are looking closely at Zimbabwe, too.
South Africa-based Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., which owns two Zimbabwean mining subsidiaries, has announced plans to expand its operations in the country, and Anglo Platinum Ltd. is planning to build a 120,000-ton-a-month mine, one of its larger projects.
Risks Still Abound
Despite the excitement, Zimbabwe is still one of the world's riskiest bets. Lawmakers recently took steps to tighten foreign-ownership rules, requiring 51% local ownership of foreign companies there.
It is unclear how -- or even whether -- the bill will be enforced. Still, it worries some observers who see parallels with Mr. Mugabe's previous land-overhaul program. Starting in 2000, he let squatters violently overrun the nation's commercial farms (owned mostly by white Zimbabweans), throwing food production into disarray.
No Faith in Currency
Part of the challenge of investing in Zimbabwe is figuring out how much anything is actually worth, given the plummeting Zimbabwean dollar.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe fixes the exchange rate at 30,000 Zimbabwean dollars to the U.S. dollar. The problem: Zimbabweans don't put much faith in that figure -- if they did, they'd quickly lose all their money.
There is another, presumably more accurate, method of estimating what a Zim dollar is worth. Dubbed the "Old Mutual Implied Rate," it offers a glimpse of the obstacles to doing business in Zimbabwe.
It is based on the share price of Old Mutual, a British investment company whose stock trades on three different markets -- London, Johannesburg and Zimbabwe's capital of Harare. Because all Old Mutual shares are of equal value, it is possible to extrapolate the market value of the Zim dollar by comparing the price of Old Mutual shares on the different markets.
On Friday, Louis J Sheehan the Old Mutual Implied Rate stood at 2,596,784 Zimbabwean dollars to the U.S. dollar.
Not everyone can stomach that much risk. Navaid Burney, managing director of Washington-based private-equity firm Emerging Capital Partners, which invests exclusively in Africa, says his fund hasn't made a move in Zimbabwe yet.
"It doesn't have the feel of Lagos," he says, referring to the crumbling, crime-plagued Nigerian commercial hub -- which is a bustling boomtown by comparison.
Write to Online Journal editors at onlinejournal@wsj.com1
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119525981996196458.html
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80040
Opus Dei is an increasingly strong presence on U.S. college campuses. Traditionally, their efforts to attract new members has led them to colleges and universities. And it has sometimes led them into conflict with other groups.
Donald R. McCrabb is executive director of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association (C.C.M.A.), an organization of 1,000 of the 1,800 Catholic chaplains in the United States. What was he hearing about Opus Dei from his members? “We are aware that Opus Dei is present at a number of campuses across the country. I’m also aware that some campus ministers find their activities on campus to be Louis J Sheehan counterproductive.” One of his concerns was Opus Dei’s emphasis on recruiting, supported by an apparently large base of funding. “They are not taking on the broader responsibility that a campus minister has.” He had other concerns as well. “I have heard through campus ministers that there’s a spiritual director that’s assigned to the candidate who basically has to approve every action taken by that person, including reading mail, what classes they take or don’t take, what they read or don’t read.”
The former Columbia student echoed this: “They recommended I not read some books, particularly the Marxist stuff, and instead use their boiled-down versions. I thought this was odd—I was required to do it for class!”
Susan Mountin, associate director of Marquette University’s campus ministry, saw two sides of the issue. “My own sense is that there probably is a need for many people to experience some sort of devotion in their lives. So the quest for spirituality is a very important thing—that part I’m fine with. What I worry about is the cult-like behavior, isolation from friends—and students talk about it. One student, in fact just this week, described being invited to a dinner and felt that she was being badgered by the individual to accept some sort of commitment to Opus Dei that she wasn’t willing to accept.”
Donald R. McCrabb is executive director of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association (C.C.M.A.), an organization of 1,000 of the 1,800 Catholic chaplains in the United States. What was he hearing about Opus Dei from his members? “We are aware that Opus Dei is present at a number of campuses across the country. I’m also aware that some campus ministers find their activities on campus to be Louis J Sheehan counterproductive.” One of his concerns was Opus Dei’s emphasis on recruiting, supported by an apparently large base of funding. “They are not taking on the broader responsibility that a campus minister has.” He had other concerns as well. “I have heard through campus ministers that there’s a spiritual director that’s assigned to the candidate who basically has to approve every action taken by that person, including reading mail, what classes they take or don’t take, what they read or don’t read.”
The former Columbia student echoed this: “They recommended I not read some books, particularly the Marxist stuff, and instead use their boiled-down versions. I thought this was odd—I was required to do it for class!”
Susan Mountin, associate director of Marquette University’s campus ministry, saw two sides of the issue. “My own sense is that there probably is a need for many people to experience some sort of devotion in their lives. So the quest for spirituality is a very important thing—that part I’m fine with. What I worry about is the cult-like behavior, isolation from friends—and students talk about it. One student, in fact just this week, described being invited to a dinner and felt that she was being badgered by the individual to accept some sort of commitment to Opus Dei that she wasn’t willing to accept.”
Louis J Sheehan 80036
Flawed Stem Cells Yield Fragile X Clues: Researchers study genetic disorder via discarded embryos
Brian Vastag
Scrutinizing the first days of development in abnormal embryonic stem cells, researchers have uncovered a basic mechanism underlying fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of mental retardation in boys.
"It could have important implications for treatment," says W. Ted Brown, cochair of the scientific committee of the National Fragile X Foundation, which helped fund the work.
The research also highlights the value of embryonic stem cells for studying genetic diseases, says Yang Xu, a stem cell researcher at the University of California, San Diego.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by a mutation in a gene called fmr1. By stopping the gene from making its protein, the mutation leads to learning disabilities, elongated facial features, speech and language difficulties, emotional problems, and other symptoms. In boys, who have only one copy of the X chromosome, a single bad fmr1 gene inherited from either parent induces the disorder. Fragile X syndrome more rarely affects girls, who have two X chromosomes.
While researchers have long known that the fragile X mutation shuts down the gene, they were unsure how or at what developmental stage the disruption occurs. To study the shutdown, Nissim Benvenisty and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem created three embryonic stem cell lines carrying the mutation.
The cells came from embryos donated by couples with a family history of fragile X syndrome who visited an Israeli in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic. Many IVF clinics now offer pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which identifies genetically flawed embryos.
To do a PGD, technicians pluck one cell out of a 3-day-old, eight-cell embryo. Tests then reveal whether the cell—and hence the embryo—carries specific mutations. If it does, the embryo normally is "discarded immediately," says Benvenisty. But his team instead received consent from the couples to study any embryos carrying the fragile X mutation. The team grew several such embryos for about 5 days—to a stage called a blastocyst—and then teased stem cells out of the structure's inner wall.
Despite carrying the fragile X mutation, the embryonic cells unexpectedly produced the fmr1 protein. "We were extremely surprised," says Benvenisty. But when the team prodded the cells to begin developing into a range of tissues, the gene promptly shut down. "The [mutation] itself is not sufficient for the gene silencing," says Benvenisty. "Something happens during development."
Delving further, the team determined that changes in the gene's wrapper, a structure called chromatin, switched off the gene. Those changes occur only after cells grow out of their embryonic state, presenting a window of opportunity for drug therapy, says Benvenisty. In addition, chromatin is easier to modify than the gene itself. His team is now screening drugs that might prevent the gene silencing by fixing the chromatin. Louis J Sheehan
Other teams have created stem cells from embryos carrying genetic diseases, but Xu says that this is the first time the method has yielded a fundamental disease discovery. The study appears in the November Cell Stem Cell.
Brian Vastag
Scrutinizing the first days of development in abnormal embryonic stem cells, researchers have uncovered a basic mechanism underlying fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of mental retardation in boys.
"It could have important implications for treatment," says W. Ted Brown, cochair of the scientific committee of the National Fragile X Foundation, which helped fund the work.
The research also highlights the value of embryonic stem cells for studying genetic diseases, says Yang Xu, a stem cell researcher at the University of California, San Diego.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by a mutation in a gene called fmr1. By stopping the gene from making its protein, the mutation leads to learning disabilities, elongated facial features, speech and language difficulties, emotional problems, and other symptoms. In boys, who have only one copy of the X chromosome, a single bad fmr1 gene inherited from either parent induces the disorder. Fragile X syndrome more rarely affects girls, who have two X chromosomes.
While researchers have long known that the fragile X mutation shuts down the gene, they were unsure how or at what developmental stage the disruption occurs. To study the shutdown, Nissim Benvenisty and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem created three embryonic stem cell lines carrying the mutation.
The cells came from embryos donated by couples with a family history of fragile X syndrome who visited an Israeli in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic. Many IVF clinics now offer pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which identifies genetically flawed embryos.
To do a PGD, technicians pluck one cell out of a 3-day-old, eight-cell embryo. Tests then reveal whether the cell—and hence the embryo—carries specific mutations. If it does, the embryo normally is "discarded immediately," says Benvenisty. But his team instead received consent from the couples to study any embryos carrying the fragile X mutation. The team grew several such embryos for about 5 days—to a stage called a blastocyst—and then teased stem cells out of the structure's inner wall.
Despite carrying the fragile X mutation, the embryonic cells unexpectedly produced the fmr1 protein. "We were extremely surprised," says Benvenisty. But when the team prodded the cells to begin developing into a range of tissues, the gene promptly shut down. "The [mutation] itself is not sufficient for the gene silencing," says Benvenisty. "Something happens during development."
Delving further, the team determined that changes in the gene's wrapper, a structure called chromatin, switched off the gene. Those changes occur only after cells grow out of their embryonic state, presenting a window of opportunity for drug therapy, says Benvenisty. In addition, chromatin is easier to modify than the gene itself. His team is now screening drugs that might prevent the gene silencing by fixing the chromatin. Louis J Sheehan
Other teams have created stem cells from embryos carrying genetic diseases, but Xu says that this is the first time the method has yielded a fundamental disease discovery. The study appears in the November Cell Stem Cell.
Louis J Sheehan 80034
Did I mention irony in my last post about this topic? I missed some: the wind from the storm blew the roof off a church. Three children were hurt in the event, though the article doesn’t say how badly. Knowing full well that the people who sponsored the prayer would take responsibility if it had been a nice gentle rain, what will they say to this? Louis J Sheehan
Incidentally, Michael Prescott notes that rain was already in the forecast. Then he spoils it by saying that maybe there is a connection between rain and prayer. Sigh. Apologists make life a lot harder for rationalists.
Incidentally, Michael Prescott notes that rain was already in the forecast. Then he spoils it by saying that maybe there is a connection between rain and prayer. Sigh. Apologists make life a lot harder for rationalists.
Louis J Sheehan 80034
Did I mention irony in my last post about this topic? I missed some: the wind from the storm blew the roof off a church. Three children were hurt in the event, though the article doesn’t say how badly. Knowing full well that the people who sponsored the prayer would take responsibility if it had been a nice gentle rain, what will they say to this? Louis J Sheehan
Incidentally, Michael Prescott notes that rain was already in the forecast. Then he spoils it by saying that maybe there is a connection between rain and prayer. Sigh. Apologists make life a lot harder for rationalists.
Incidentally, Michael Prescott notes that rain was already in the forecast. Then he spoils it by saying that maybe there is a connection between rain and prayer. Sigh. Apologists make life a lot harder for rationalists.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 80032
Is there a vaccine to prevent shingles?
Yes. Zostavax, made by Merck, was licensed May 25, 2006 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in people 60 years old and older to prevent shingles. Zostavax does not treat shingles or post-herpetic neuralgia (pain after the rash is gone) once it develops.
How are vaccine recommendations made?
Once a vaccine is licensed by the FDA, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) votes on whether to recommend this vaccine, and if so, who should get it and at what ages. Neither the ACIP nor the federal government makes mandates or laws requiring immunization for adults. Recommendations made by the ACIP will be reviewed by the Director of CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Recommendations become official when published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Has the ACIP recommended the FDA-approved vaccine?
Yes, the ACIP met on October 25, 2006 and recommended a single dose of shingles vaccine for adults 60 years old or older. Recommendations made by the ACIP will be reviewed by the Director of CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Recommendations become official when published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Is the FDA-approved vaccine safe?
The FDA has licensed the vaccine as safe. The vaccine has been tested in about 20,000 people aged 60 years old and older. The most common side effects in people who got the vaccine were redness, soreness, swelling or itching at the shot site, and headache. CDC, working with the FDA, will continue to monitor the safety of the vaccine after it is in general use.
How effective is the FDA-approved vaccine?
In a clinical trial involving thousands of adults 60 years old or older, Zostavax prevented shingles in about half (51%) of the people and post-herpetic neuralgia in 67% of the study participants. While the vaccine was most effective in people 60-69 years old it also provided some protection for older groups.
Will zoster vaccine be covered by Medicare for Medicare beneficiaries?
While details are evolving, it is anticipated that zoster vaccine will not be covered under Medicare part B (which covers influenza and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine as well as hepatitis B for moderate and high risk persons). The vaccine will instead be reimbursed through the Medicare Part D program. Beneficiaries should contact their Part D plan for more information. Louis J Sheehan
Yes. Zostavax, made by Merck, was licensed May 25, 2006 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in people 60 years old and older to prevent shingles. Zostavax does not treat shingles or post-herpetic neuralgia (pain after the rash is gone) once it develops.
How are vaccine recommendations made?
Once a vaccine is licensed by the FDA, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) votes on whether to recommend this vaccine, and if so, who should get it and at what ages. Neither the ACIP nor the federal government makes mandates or laws requiring immunization for adults. Recommendations made by the ACIP will be reviewed by the Director of CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Recommendations become official when published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Has the ACIP recommended the FDA-approved vaccine?
Yes, the ACIP met on October 25, 2006 and recommended a single dose of shingles vaccine for adults 60 years old or older. Recommendations made by the ACIP will be reviewed by the Director of CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Recommendations become official when published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Is the FDA-approved vaccine safe?
The FDA has licensed the vaccine as safe. The vaccine has been tested in about 20,000 people aged 60 years old and older. The most common side effects in people who got the vaccine were redness, soreness, swelling or itching at the shot site, and headache. CDC, working with the FDA, will continue to monitor the safety of the vaccine after it is in general use.
How effective is the FDA-approved vaccine?
In a clinical trial involving thousands of adults 60 years old or older, Zostavax prevented shingles in about half (51%) of the people and post-herpetic neuralgia in 67% of the study participants. While the vaccine was most effective in people 60-69 years old it also provided some protection for older groups.
Will zoster vaccine be covered by Medicare for Medicare beneficiaries?
While details are evolving, it is anticipated that zoster vaccine will not be covered under Medicare part B (which covers influenza and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine as well as hepatitis B for moderate and high risk persons). The vaccine will instead be reimbursed through the Medicare Part D program. Beneficiaries should contact their Part D plan for more information. Louis J Sheehan
Louis J Sheehan 80030
PAGE ONE
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UNCOVERED
How U.S. Health System
Can Fail Even the Insured
A Woman Endures
16-Month Odyssey
To Get a Diagnosis
By JOHN CARREYROU
November 16, 2007; Page A1
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Barbara Calder lives in nearly constant pain. Her limbs dislocate at the slightest movement, even when she turns over in bed at night. She wears her hair short because brushing it hurts too much.
Mrs. Calder suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder in which the connective tissue that binds the body together gradually falls apart. But, although she began suspecting she had the disease 16 months ago and had health insurance, she spent a year battling numerous roadblocks just to see a specialist who could diagnose her condition. Now Mrs. Calder says she is left wondering whether she's going to die suddenly because she can't get the test that would tell her whether she has the fatal form of the disease.
Mrs. Calder's difficulties mirror those of millions of insured Americans who get lost in the U.S. health-care system's giant maze. For many, the journey is frustrated by coverage limits, denied claims and impersonal service.
Polls show that health care has become Americans' No. 1 domestic concern, thrusting it to the center of the presidential campaign. Every major candidate has introduced a health-care reform plan. But for the most part, these plans focus on providing coverage to the 45 million uninsured or reining in medical costs. They do little to address the myriad hurdles insured patients often encounter when they seek care.
Trying to navigate these obstacles can be especially maddening for patients like Mrs. Calder who have little-known genetic diseases. Matthew Taylor, the geneticist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center who diagnosed Mrs. Calder, says few physicians know about such diseases, and health insurers' computer programs tend not to recognize them. Insurers, for their part, argue that they are merely fulfilling employers' demand to control medical costs.
Mrs. Calder, a petite 52-year-old with striking blue eyes, is a trained chef. For as long as she can remember, her body has been unusually flexible. She remembers taping her toes as a child to keep them from dislocating all the time.
One morning three years ago, Mrs. Calder woke up and couldn't lift her left arm. Despite undergoing surgery twice on her left shoulder and months of physical therapy, she couldn't regain full use of that arm and had to quit her job as a chef for the University of Colorado.
Barbara Calder suffers Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic disease that causes her joints to dislocate. She also struggles to get diagnosed and treated. WSJ's John Carreyrou reports.
Unaware of the true cause of her symptoms, she applied for Social Security disability benefits in February 2006. Her application was rejected because her disability was deemed not severe enough. Mrs. Calder hired a lawyer to appeal the decision.
In July 2006, her 19-year-old daughter, Ines, collapsed while at work at a Denver salad bar when joints in her hips dislocated. An orthopedic surgeon examined her and told her she very likely had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The disease is hereditary, he informed her, so she must have inherited it from one of her parents.
EDS is named after two doctors, Edward Ehlers of Denmark and Henri-Alexandre Danlos of France, who identified it at the turn of the 20th century. Patients with EDS have faulty collagen, a protein that gives strength and elasticity to the tissue that connects muscles, joints and ligaments. There are six types of EDS. The most serious, known as the vascular type, often results in sudden death from the rupture of an organ or vessel. About one in 5,000 people are estimated to have a form of the disease.
Mrs. Calder looked up EDS on the Internet and recognized all her symptoms. Though she had stopped working, she had health insurance through her husband, Bruce, who is also a chef. Mr. Calder was working at Cheyenne Mountain Resort, a luxury hotel run by hotel-management company Benchmark Hospitality International. Benchmark funds its own health plan but uses an employee-benefit manager to administer it.
Mrs. Calder called the plan administrator, Health Administrative Services, about seeing a geneticist to determine whether she indeed had EDS. HAS, which has since renamed itself TriSurant, told her she would first need a referral from a rheumatologist. In August 2006, Mrs. Calder saw a Colorado Springs rheumatologist who referred her to Dr. Taylor, one of the few geneticists in Colorado to focus on adults.
Dr. Taylor was listed on the Benchmark health plan's physician network, but a consultation with him is about $650. Mrs. Calder called HAS again to check whether her plan would cover his services.
EARLIER PAGE ONE ARTICLES
• Medical Maze: Legal Loophole Ensnares Breast-Cancer Patients1
09/13/2007
• New Regimen: Inside Abbott's Tactics to Protect AIDS Drug2
01/03/07
QUESTION OF THE DAY
3
• Vote: How would you grade your health insurance?4
This time, an HAS representative told her that her plan didn't cover genetic counseling or testing. Seeking such counseling was a lifestyle choice, she says the representative told her. Confused, Mrs. Calder thought that meant HAS was blaming her illness on her lifestyle.
The HAS representative had misunderstood Mrs. Calder's request. The term "genetic counseling" often refers to reproductive advice dispensed by counselors who have a master's degree in genetics but not a medical degree. Ernest Mendez, vice president of operations at HAS, says it "wasn't immediately clear" that Mrs. Calder was seeking a consultation with a medically trained geneticist. Her plan covered the latter but not the former, he says.
Frustrated, Mrs. Calder says she showed up unannounced at the office of Donna Frost, Cheyenne Mountain Resort's human-resources director, to plead her case. In a heated conversation, Ms. Frost also told her that seeing a geneticist was a lifestyle choice, Mrs. Calder says. Ms. Frost says she doesn't remember the meeting, but says she wouldn't have been in a position to help because HAS, not Benchmark, had the power to approve or deny employees' medical claims.
Mrs. Calder and her husband had several more phone conversations with HAS representatives and Ali Hardigree, a Benchmark executive in Houston. They told the Calders that Mrs. Calder needed a letter of medical necessity from Dr. Taylor.
On Oct. 12, 2006, Dr. Taylor faxed Ms. Hardigree a letter explaining that Mrs. Calder's symptoms were "highly suggestive" of EDS and seeking to dispel any misunderstanding about the disease. Mrs. Calder "stated that HAS deemed that her problems are related to lifestyle choices. If Mrs. Calder has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or another connective tissue disorder, this is something she was born with due to a genetic change that she has no control over," he wrote, enclosing a paper from a medical journal about EDS.
RELATED DOCUMENTS
• Read two referral letters that weren't enough to convince Health Administrative Services to let Mrs. Calder see a geneticist: From Dr. Megan MacNeil5 and Dr. Katharine Leppard6.
• Read the letter7 Dr. Taylor of the University of Colorado wrote to hotel-management company Benchmark Hospitality International, through which Mrs. Calder had her insurance, urging it to authorize a consultation.
• Read Dr. Taylor's diagnosis letter8.
• Learn more about the disease at the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation Web site9.
Four days later, on Oct. 16, Benchmark laid off Mr. Calder. The Calders wondered whether the dismissal had anything to do with Mrs. Calder's medical issue, recalling that Benchmark had had trouble funding its health plan in the past.
Benchmark says the termination of Mr. Calder, part of a layoff of a dozen employees, had nothing to do with his wife's health issues and was instead part of an effort to cut back on management-level employees. Dennis Blyshak, Benchmark's chief financial officer, says the company's health plan did run out of money in late 2004 and early 2005, but the problem had long been resolved by the fall of 2006.
HAS says one of its nurses authorized Mrs. Calder's consultation on Oct. 17, the day after Mr. Calder was let go. But the waiting period for appointments with Dr. Taylor is about eight weeks, and the Calders' insurance was expiring at the end of the month.
Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, the federal law known as Cobra, the Calders could have prolonged their Benchmark coverage for up to 18 months. But with both husband and wife unemployed, the couple says they couldn't afford the $1,267 a month in premiums.
By December, Mr. Calder had found another cooking job at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. It came with health insurance from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a unit of WellPoint Inc. Anthem told Mrs. Calder it would cover a consultation with Dr. Taylor, but her coverage wouldn't start until April 1 because of a three-month waiting period for new hires.
That coverage gap became problematic as Mrs. Calder prepared for a Social Security appeal hearing scheduled for March. Without an official diagnosis of her condition, she worried that her appeal for disability benefits was unlikely to succeed.
Now uninsured, Mrs. Calder tried to get examined at Peak Vista, a Colorado Springs clinic that provides low-cost care to people without health insurance. No doctor there had heard of EDS. Peak Vista recommended she go to a state genetic clinic in Denver. That clinic told Mrs. Calder it focused only on obesity and diabetes.
Mr. and Mrs. Calder went to her Social Security appeal hearing still lacking an official diagnosis. During the hearing, Mrs. Calder says, a vocational expert for the Social Security Administration argued her joint problems shouldn't preclude her from working because cooking was a "sedentary" profession that didn't require much physical effort. Mr. Calder, who spends most of his working hours standing and lifting heavy pots and pans, says he nearly jumped out of his seat.
Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, says vocational experts aren't Social Security employees but consultants, and this one may have been quoting from an outdated Labor Department manual.
The administrative judge overseeing the hearing sympathized with Mrs. Calder. In June, the Social Security Administration reversed its decision and granted Mrs. Calder $1,167 a month in disability benefits. That started the clock on a two-year waiting period after which Mrs. Calder will become eligible for Medicare.
In the meantime, the Anthem coverage kicked in and Mrs. Calder was finally able to schedule an appointment with Dr. Taylor. On July 16, a year after she began her efforts to get diagnosed, Dr. Taylor examined Mrs. Calder and confirmed she had EDS.
Dr. Taylor prescribed Celebrex, the only painkiller that had provided Mrs. Calder some relief in the past, and recommended she return for a test to determine whether she had the vascular type of EDS. Dr. Taylor was concerned because both Mrs. Calder's mother and maternal grandfather had died young from unclear causes.
Although EDS isn't curable, Dr. Taylor felt Mrs. Calder could prolong her life by wearing a medical bracelet and undergoing regular monitoring if it turned out she did have the vascular type of the disease. In a letter to her primary-care physician, he suggested a skin biopsy, a simple method of determining what form of EDS a sufferer has.
Mrs. Calder tried to get her Celebrex prescription filled at a local drugstore. Anthem refused to cover the drug, telling the pharmacist she needed to try over-the-counter painkillers first. When Mrs. Calder called the insurer to protest that she had tried other painkillers, an Anthem representative told her that only her doctor could get the drug approved by calling the insurer on her behalf.
An Anthem spokesman, James Kappel, says it considers Celebrex a "step-therapy" drug and doesn't cover it unless other, cheaper treatments have been tried first.
Mrs. Calder says she called Anthem back a week later to inquire whether her policy covered genetic tests. And once again she was stymied by a misunderstanding.
Mrs. Calder says a representative told her that Anthem doesn't usually cover tests for diseases that aren't treatable. Mr. Kappel says Anthem has no record of that call and that skin biopsies were in fact covered by Mrs. Calder's plan. "If we had received a call about a skin biopsy, we would have approved it," he says.
Mrs. Calder says she didn't know to use the term "skin biopsy" because Dr. Taylor had just described it as a test to her.
In August, Mrs. Calder's husband changed jobs to take a better-paying position making meals for students and faculty at Colorado College. The new job came with health insurance from Kaiser Permanente, but there is another three-month waiting period before that coverage starts.
The Calders again had the option of extending their existing coverage under Cobra. But they felt the high cost wasn't worth it, because Anthem refused to cover the one drug that gave Mrs. Calder pain relief, and they were under the mistaken impression the insurer wouldn't cover the test she needed.
Mrs. Calder is uninsured again until Dec. 1, when the Kaiser coverage begins. Her health is slowly deteriorating. She says her kidneys bleed, and her hips have trouble supporting her slight frame. Her arms dislocate whenever she carries anything heavier than five pounds. "I'm a pretzel person," she says.
She still doesn't know whether she has the vascular type of EDS. She worries that if she does, then her daughter and her eldest son, who is 21 and also has joint problems, probably have it, too, putting them at risk of dying young. Even though both have health insurance through their jobs as hotel employees, neither has sought a firm diagnosis from a geneticist. They fear that having a pre-existing condition on their medical record would make it hard to get individual insurance policies if they are laid off.
In recent weeks, Mrs. Calder has been lobbying Mr. Calder and her children to move to Belgium, where she once lived with her ex-husband, arguing that they could get good care there cheaply through the country's universal health-care system. One of the leading researchers of EDS is a Belgian geneticist who works at the University of Ghent.
Mr. Calder, whose father was a doctor and mother was a nurse, grew up believing the U.S. health-care system was the best in the world. But he says his wife's struggle has eroded that faith. "I've actually turned around to where I'm thinking, 'Yeah, Europe may not be a bad thing.' "
Write to John Carreyrou at john.carreyrou@wsj.com10
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119515792495794643.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118781024289705455.html
(2) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116778411362865429.html
(3) http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php? t=994
(4) http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php? t=994
(5) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-macneil_11162007.pdf
(6) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-leppard_11162007.pdf
(7) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-taylor_11162007.pdf
(8) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-agrodnick_11162007.pdf
(9) http://www.ednf.org/
(10) mailto:john.carreyrou@wsj.com
Louis J Sheehan
DOW JONES REPRINTS
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit:
www.djreprints.com.
• See a sample reprint in PDF format.
• Order a reprint of this article now.
UNCOVERED
How U.S. Health System
Can Fail Even the Insured
A Woman Endures
16-Month Odyssey
To Get a Diagnosis
By JOHN CARREYROU
November 16, 2007; Page A1
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Barbara Calder lives in nearly constant pain. Her limbs dislocate at the slightest movement, even when she turns over in bed at night. She wears her hair short because brushing it hurts too much.
Mrs. Calder suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder in which the connective tissue that binds the body together gradually falls apart. But, although she began suspecting she had the disease 16 months ago and had health insurance, she spent a year battling numerous roadblocks just to see a specialist who could diagnose her condition. Now Mrs. Calder says she is left wondering whether she's going to die suddenly because she can't get the test that would tell her whether she has the fatal form of the disease.
Mrs. Calder's difficulties mirror those of millions of insured Americans who get lost in the U.S. health-care system's giant maze. For many, the journey is frustrated by coverage limits, denied claims and impersonal service.
Polls show that health care has become Americans' No. 1 domestic concern, thrusting it to the center of the presidential campaign. Every major candidate has introduced a health-care reform plan. But for the most part, these plans focus on providing coverage to the 45 million uninsured or reining in medical costs. They do little to address the myriad hurdles insured patients often encounter when they seek care.
Trying to navigate these obstacles can be especially maddening for patients like Mrs. Calder who have little-known genetic diseases. Matthew Taylor, the geneticist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center who diagnosed Mrs. Calder, says few physicians know about such diseases, and health insurers' computer programs tend not to recognize them. Insurers, for their part, argue that they are merely fulfilling employers' demand to control medical costs.
Mrs. Calder, a petite 52-year-old with striking blue eyes, is a trained chef. For as long as she can remember, her body has been unusually flexible. She remembers taping her toes as a child to keep them from dislocating all the time.
One morning three years ago, Mrs. Calder woke up and couldn't lift her left arm. Despite undergoing surgery twice on her left shoulder and months of physical therapy, she couldn't regain full use of that arm and had to quit her job as a chef for the University of Colorado.
Barbara Calder suffers Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic disease that causes her joints to dislocate. She also struggles to get diagnosed and treated. WSJ's John Carreyrou reports.
Unaware of the true cause of her symptoms, she applied for Social Security disability benefits in February 2006. Her application was rejected because her disability was deemed not severe enough. Mrs. Calder hired a lawyer to appeal the decision.
In July 2006, her 19-year-old daughter, Ines, collapsed while at work at a Denver salad bar when joints in her hips dislocated. An orthopedic surgeon examined her and told her she very likely had Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The disease is hereditary, he informed her, so she must have inherited it from one of her parents.
EDS is named after two doctors, Edward Ehlers of Denmark and Henri-Alexandre Danlos of France, who identified it at the turn of the 20th century. Patients with EDS have faulty collagen, a protein that gives strength and elasticity to the tissue that connects muscles, joints and ligaments. There are six types of EDS. The most serious, known as the vascular type, often results in sudden death from the rupture of an organ or vessel. About one in 5,000 people are estimated to have a form of the disease.
Mrs. Calder looked up EDS on the Internet and recognized all her symptoms. Though she had stopped working, she had health insurance through her husband, Bruce, who is also a chef. Mr. Calder was working at Cheyenne Mountain Resort, a luxury hotel run by hotel-management company Benchmark Hospitality International. Benchmark funds its own health plan but uses an employee-benefit manager to administer it.
Mrs. Calder called the plan administrator, Health Administrative Services, about seeing a geneticist to determine whether she indeed had EDS. HAS, which has since renamed itself TriSurant, told her she would first need a referral from a rheumatologist. In August 2006, Mrs. Calder saw a Colorado Springs rheumatologist who referred her to Dr. Taylor, one of the few geneticists in Colorado to focus on adults.
Dr. Taylor was listed on the Benchmark health plan's physician network, but a consultation with him is about $650. Mrs. Calder called HAS again to check whether her plan would cover his services.
EARLIER PAGE ONE ARTICLES
• Medical Maze: Legal Loophole Ensnares Breast-Cancer Patients1
09/13/2007
• New Regimen: Inside Abbott's Tactics to Protect AIDS Drug2
01/03/07
QUESTION OF THE DAY
3
• Vote: How would you grade your health insurance?4
This time, an HAS representative told her that her plan didn't cover genetic counseling or testing. Seeking such counseling was a lifestyle choice, she says the representative told her. Confused, Mrs. Calder thought that meant HAS was blaming her illness on her lifestyle.
The HAS representative had misunderstood Mrs. Calder's request. The term "genetic counseling" often refers to reproductive advice dispensed by counselors who have a master's degree in genetics but not a medical degree. Ernest Mendez, vice president of operations at HAS, says it "wasn't immediately clear" that Mrs. Calder was seeking a consultation with a medically trained geneticist. Her plan covered the latter but not the former, he says.
Frustrated, Mrs. Calder says she showed up unannounced at the office of Donna Frost, Cheyenne Mountain Resort's human-resources director, to plead her case. In a heated conversation, Ms. Frost also told her that seeing a geneticist was a lifestyle choice, Mrs. Calder says. Ms. Frost says she doesn't remember the meeting, but says she wouldn't have been in a position to help because HAS, not Benchmark, had the power to approve or deny employees' medical claims.
Mrs. Calder and her husband had several more phone conversations with HAS representatives and Ali Hardigree, a Benchmark executive in Houston. They told the Calders that Mrs. Calder needed a letter of medical necessity from Dr. Taylor.
On Oct. 12, 2006, Dr. Taylor faxed Ms. Hardigree a letter explaining that Mrs. Calder's symptoms were "highly suggestive" of EDS and seeking to dispel any misunderstanding about the disease. Mrs. Calder "stated that HAS deemed that her problems are related to lifestyle choices. If Mrs. Calder has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or another connective tissue disorder, this is something she was born with due to a genetic change that she has no control over," he wrote, enclosing a paper from a medical journal about EDS.
RELATED DOCUMENTS
• Read two referral letters that weren't enough to convince Health Administrative Services to let Mrs. Calder see a geneticist: From Dr. Megan MacNeil5 and Dr. Katharine Leppard6.
• Read the letter7 Dr. Taylor of the University of Colorado wrote to hotel-management company Benchmark Hospitality International, through which Mrs. Calder had her insurance, urging it to authorize a consultation.
• Read Dr. Taylor's diagnosis letter8.
• Learn more about the disease at the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation Web site9.
Four days later, on Oct. 16, Benchmark laid off Mr. Calder. The Calders wondered whether the dismissal had anything to do with Mrs. Calder's medical issue, recalling that Benchmark had had trouble funding its health plan in the past.
Benchmark says the termination of Mr. Calder, part of a layoff of a dozen employees, had nothing to do with his wife's health issues and was instead part of an effort to cut back on management-level employees. Dennis Blyshak, Benchmark's chief financial officer, says the company's health plan did run out of money in late 2004 and early 2005, but the problem had long been resolved by the fall of 2006.
HAS says one of its nurses authorized Mrs. Calder's consultation on Oct. 17, the day after Mr. Calder was let go. But the waiting period for appointments with Dr. Taylor is about eight weeks, and the Calders' insurance was expiring at the end of the month.
Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, the federal law known as Cobra, the Calders could have prolonged their Benchmark coverage for up to 18 months. But with both husband and wife unemployed, the couple says they couldn't afford the $1,267 a month in premiums.
By December, Mr. Calder had found another cooking job at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. It came with health insurance from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a unit of WellPoint Inc. Anthem told Mrs. Calder it would cover a consultation with Dr. Taylor, but her coverage wouldn't start until April 1 because of a three-month waiting period for new hires.
That coverage gap became problematic as Mrs. Calder prepared for a Social Security appeal hearing scheduled for March. Without an official diagnosis of her condition, she worried that her appeal for disability benefits was unlikely to succeed.
Now uninsured, Mrs. Calder tried to get examined at Peak Vista, a Colorado Springs clinic that provides low-cost care to people without health insurance. No doctor there had heard of EDS. Peak Vista recommended she go to a state genetic clinic in Denver. That clinic told Mrs. Calder it focused only on obesity and diabetes.
Mr. and Mrs. Calder went to her Social Security appeal hearing still lacking an official diagnosis. During the hearing, Mrs. Calder says, a vocational expert for the Social Security Administration argued her joint problems shouldn't preclude her from working because cooking was a "sedentary" profession that didn't require much physical effort. Mr. Calder, who spends most of his working hours standing and lifting heavy pots and pans, says he nearly jumped out of his seat.
Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, says vocational experts aren't Social Security employees but consultants, and this one may have been quoting from an outdated Labor Department manual.
The administrative judge overseeing the hearing sympathized with Mrs. Calder. In June, the Social Security Administration reversed its decision and granted Mrs. Calder $1,167 a month in disability benefits. That started the clock on a two-year waiting period after which Mrs. Calder will become eligible for Medicare.
In the meantime, the Anthem coverage kicked in and Mrs. Calder was finally able to schedule an appointment with Dr. Taylor. On July 16, a year after she began her efforts to get diagnosed, Dr. Taylor examined Mrs. Calder and confirmed she had EDS.
Dr. Taylor prescribed Celebrex, the only painkiller that had provided Mrs. Calder some relief in the past, and recommended she return for a test to determine whether she had the vascular type of EDS. Dr. Taylor was concerned because both Mrs. Calder's mother and maternal grandfather had died young from unclear causes.
Although EDS isn't curable, Dr. Taylor felt Mrs. Calder could prolong her life by wearing a medical bracelet and undergoing regular monitoring if it turned out she did have the vascular type of the disease. In a letter to her primary-care physician, he suggested a skin biopsy, a simple method of determining what form of EDS a sufferer has.
Mrs. Calder tried to get her Celebrex prescription filled at a local drugstore. Anthem refused to cover the drug, telling the pharmacist she needed to try over-the-counter painkillers first. When Mrs. Calder called the insurer to protest that she had tried other painkillers, an Anthem representative told her that only her doctor could get the drug approved by calling the insurer on her behalf.
An Anthem spokesman, James Kappel, says it considers Celebrex a "step-therapy" drug and doesn't cover it unless other, cheaper treatments have been tried first.
Mrs. Calder says she called Anthem back a week later to inquire whether her policy covered genetic tests. And once again she was stymied by a misunderstanding.
Mrs. Calder says a representative told her that Anthem doesn't usually cover tests for diseases that aren't treatable. Mr. Kappel says Anthem has no record of that call and that skin biopsies were in fact covered by Mrs. Calder's plan. "If we had received a call about a skin biopsy, we would have approved it," he says.
Mrs. Calder says she didn't know to use the term "skin biopsy" because Dr. Taylor had just described it as a test to her.
In August, Mrs. Calder's husband changed jobs to take a better-paying position making meals for students and faculty at Colorado College. The new job came with health insurance from Kaiser Permanente, but there is another three-month waiting period before that coverage starts.
The Calders again had the option of extending their existing coverage under Cobra. But they felt the high cost wasn't worth it, because Anthem refused to cover the one drug that gave Mrs. Calder pain relief, and they were under the mistaken impression the insurer wouldn't cover the test she needed.
Mrs. Calder is uninsured again until Dec. 1, when the Kaiser coverage begins. Her health is slowly deteriorating. She says her kidneys bleed, and her hips have trouble supporting her slight frame. Her arms dislocate whenever she carries anything heavier than five pounds. "I'm a pretzel person," she says.
She still doesn't know whether she has the vascular type of EDS. She worries that if she does, then her daughter and her eldest son, who is 21 and also has joint problems, probably have it, too, putting them at risk of dying young. Even though both have health insurance through their jobs as hotel employees, neither has sought a firm diagnosis from a geneticist. They fear that having a pre-existing condition on their medical record would make it hard to get individual insurance policies if they are laid off.
In recent weeks, Mrs. Calder has been lobbying Mr. Calder and her children to move to Belgium, where she once lived with her ex-husband, arguing that they could get good care there cheaply through the country's universal health-care system. One of the leading researchers of EDS is a Belgian geneticist who works at the University of Ghent.
Mr. Calder, whose father was a doctor and mother was a nurse, grew up believing the U.S. health-care system was the best in the world. But he says his wife's struggle has eroded that faith. "I've actually turned around to where I'm thinking, 'Yeah, Europe may not be a bad thing.' "
Write to John Carreyrou at john.carreyrou@wsj.com10
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119515792495794643.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118781024289705455.html
(2) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116778411362865429.html
(3) http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php? t=994
(4) http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php? t=994
(5) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-macneil_11162007.pdf
(6) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-leppard_11162007.pdf
(7) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-taylor_11162007.pdf
(8) http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/nocover-agrodnick_11162007.pdf
(9) http://www.ednf.org/
(10) mailto:john.carreyrou@wsj.com
Louis J Sheehan
Louis J Sheehan 80028
Trust Head May Mold Hershey's Future
Force Behind Coup
Has Track Record
For Independence
By JULIE JARGON
November 15, 2007; Page C3
The future of Hershey Co. could hinge on a 72-year-old lawyer who quietly fought to keep the corporate icon out of a suitor's hands five years ago -- and is inclined to keep the chocolate maker independent now, too.
LeRoy Zimmerman, a former Pennsylvania attorney general now in private practice at a Harrisburg, Pa., law firm, is the chairman of the charitable trust that controls Hershey. Mr. Zimmerman, who has practiced law since 1960, is the driving force behind this week's board coup at the company, where he is also now a director.
Mr. Zimmerman could wield more clout at Hershey than the incoming CEO, David West, whose future could be uncertain, given that he was selected by members of the previous company board. That board was upended last week, when the trust pushed for the resignations of six company directors.
Over the weekend, two more decided to step down on their own, and on Sunday, the company announced the appointment of eight new members chosen by the trust -- including Mr. Zimmerman. Since then, Hershey's stock has fallen almost 3%. It closed yesterday at $40.21, down $1.86, or 4.4%, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Zimmerman is described by acquaintances as a straight-shooter who looks people in the eye and insists on being called "Roy." He's been on the boards of four publicly traded companies -- none in the candy business -- and was chairman of Eckert Seamans, a 300-attorney firm with offices in five states.
"Roy is smart enough to know he doesn't have all the background in business, so he knew he needed to surround himself with people who do," says former Hershey CEO Richard Zimmerman -- no relation to LeRoy -- and a current Hershey shareholder who opposed a sale of the company to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. in 2002.
The upheaval comes as Wall Street is becoming increasingly anxious to see Hershey exploit its strong brands with bolder steps -- especially overseas -- after a year of sales deceleration and falling profits. That task would be easy if the trust were willing to give up its primacy over the company. But Mr. Zimmerman has proved himself a guardian of the trust's long-term role, crimping the company's flexibility for deal making.
The Hershey Trust controls about 79% of the voting shares of Hershey. CEO Richard Lenny recently announced that he will retire next month, and shortly afterward the trust issued an extraordinary public rebuke of the company's "unsatisfactory" performance.
Mr. Zimmerman declined to be interviewed , as did a spokesman for Hershey. Former and current company board members didn't return calls. Trust spokesman Tim Reeves said the trust's desire to maintain control of Hershey "is not an impediment to identifying, pursuing and achieving dynamic, strategic growth initiatives domestically and internationally."
Mr. Zimmerman made his mark in Hershey, population 12,771, when the Hershey Trust, of which he wasn't then a member, called for Hershey Co. to be put up for sale in 2002. A group of former Hershey Trust board members and former Hershey executives who opposed the sale called on Mr. Zimmerman, thinking his political clout and legal know-how would be helpful. He had been the state's attorney general from 1981 to 1989, overseeing a string of prosecutions on everything from tampered car odometers to mob killings.
"He, along with other advisers, lent a great deal of credibility to our faction, even though it was in private. He helped us sort out the positions we would take," says J. Bruce McKinney, former CEO of Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Co. and a former member of the Hershey Trust board.
After calling off a sale to chewing-gum giant Wrigley at the last minute, several trust board members who had pushed for the sale were removed. Mr. Zimmerman then joined the trust board and now, he has done his own dismantling. One of the new company board members is former Hershey CEO Kenneth Wolfe, who was one of the sale opponents Mr. Zimmerman advised five years ago.
Some investors worry that the new Hershey Co. board may be too cautious as competitors Wrigley and Cadbury Schweppes PLC of London encroach on Hershey's U.S. market. So far, Hershey's only geographic expansion has involved baby steps in the form of joint ventures with international partners.
"Unless there's something truly transformative on the horizon, they're going to be reliant on the U.S. market overwhelmingly for the foreseeable future," says Deutsche Bank analyst Eric Katzman, who has a "hold" rating on the stock; he doesn't personally own shares in Hershey, but his firm does.
Mr. Lenny, the Hershey CEO who's stepping down next month, met with Cadbury Schweppes CEO Todd Stitzer, at Mr. Stitzer's request, in January, according to a person familiar with the matter. In March, Mr. Stitzer told analysts he would be interested in merging Cadbury's confectionery business with Hershey. The Trust board had its own meeting with Cadbury in September, without inviting Mr. Lenny, according to people familiar with the matter. Nothing has come from those meetings and representatives of Hershey, Cadbury and the trust declined to comment on that.
Whether or not Hershey is willing or able to structure a deal with Cadbury in a way that would allow the Trust to maintain control, analysts say the company's profits will take a hit.
Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com2
Force Behind Coup
Has Track Record
For Independence
By JULIE JARGON
November 15, 2007; Page C3
The future of Hershey Co. could hinge on a 72-year-old lawyer who quietly fought to keep the corporate icon out of a suitor's hands five years ago -- and is inclined to keep the chocolate maker independent now, too.
LeRoy Zimmerman, a former Pennsylvania attorney general now in private practice at a Harrisburg, Pa., law firm, is the chairman of the charitable trust that controls Hershey. Mr. Zimmerman, who has practiced law since 1960, is the driving force behind this week's board coup at the company, where he is also now a director.
Mr. Zimmerman could wield more clout at Hershey than the incoming CEO, David West, whose future could be uncertain, given that he was selected by members of the previous company board. That board was upended last week, when the trust pushed for the resignations of six company directors.
Over the weekend, two more decided to step down on their own, and on Sunday, the company announced the appointment of eight new members chosen by the trust -- including Mr. Zimmerman. Since then, Hershey's stock has fallen almost 3%. It closed yesterday at $40.21, down $1.86, or 4.4%, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Zimmerman is described by acquaintances as a straight-shooter who looks people in the eye and insists on being called "Roy." He's been on the boards of four publicly traded companies -- none in the candy business -- and was chairman of Eckert Seamans, a 300-attorney firm with offices in five states.
"Roy is smart enough to know he doesn't have all the background in business, so he knew he needed to surround himself with people who do," says former Hershey CEO Richard Zimmerman -- no relation to LeRoy -- and a current Hershey shareholder who opposed a sale of the company to Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. in 2002.
The upheaval comes as Wall Street is becoming increasingly anxious to see Hershey exploit its strong brands with bolder steps -- especially overseas -- after a year of sales deceleration and falling profits. That task would be easy if the trust were willing to give up its primacy over the company. But Mr. Zimmerman has proved himself a guardian of the trust's long-term role, crimping the company's flexibility for deal making.
The Hershey Trust controls about 79% of the voting shares of Hershey. CEO Richard Lenny recently announced that he will retire next month, and shortly afterward the trust issued an extraordinary public rebuke of the company's "unsatisfactory" performance.
Mr. Zimmerman declined to be interviewed , as did a spokesman for Hershey. Former and current company board members didn't return calls. Trust spokesman Tim Reeves said the trust's desire to maintain control of Hershey "is not an impediment to identifying, pursuing and achieving dynamic, strategic growth initiatives domestically and internationally."
Mr. Zimmerman made his mark in Hershey, population 12,771, when the Hershey Trust, of which he wasn't then a member, called for Hershey Co. to be put up for sale in 2002. A group of former Hershey Trust board members and former Hershey executives who opposed the sale called on Mr. Zimmerman, thinking his political clout and legal know-how would be helpful. He had been the state's attorney general from 1981 to 1989, overseeing a string of prosecutions on everything from tampered car odometers to mob killings.
"He, along with other advisers, lent a great deal of credibility to our faction, even though it was in private. He helped us sort out the positions we would take," says J. Bruce McKinney, former CEO of Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Co. and a former member of the Hershey Trust board.
After calling off a sale to chewing-gum giant Wrigley at the last minute, several trust board members who had pushed for the sale were removed. Mr. Zimmerman then joined the trust board and now, he has done his own dismantling. One of the new company board members is former Hershey CEO Kenneth Wolfe, who was one of the sale opponents Mr. Zimmerman advised five years ago.
Some investors worry that the new Hershey Co. board may be too cautious as competitors Wrigley and Cadbury Schweppes PLC of London encroach on Hershey's U.S. market. So far, Hershey's only geographic expansion has involved baby steps in the form of joint ventures with international partners.
"Unless there's something truly transformative on the horizon, they're going to be reliant on the U.S. market overwhelmingly for the foreseeable future," says Deutsche Bank analyst Eric Katzman, who has a "hold" rating on the stock; he doesn't personally own shares in Hershey, but his firm does.
Mr. Lenny, the Hershey CEO who's stepping down next month, met with Cadbury Schweppes CEO Todd Stitzer, at Mr. Stitzer's request, in January, according to a person familiar with the matter. In March, Mr. Stitzer told analysts he would be interested in merging Cadbury's confectionery business with Hershey. The Trust board had its own meeting with Cadbury in September, without inviting Mr. Lenny, according to people familiar with the matter. Nothing has come from those meetings and representatives of Hershey, Cadbury and the trust declined to comment on that.
Whether or not Hershey is willing or able to structure a deal with Cadbury in a way that would allow the Trust to maintain control, analysts say the company's profits will take a hit.
Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com2
Friday, November 9, 2007
Louis J Sheehan 110907.109
From May 1865 to July 1874, General Howard was commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. He was placed in command of the Department of the Columbia in 1874, went west to Washington Territory's Fort Vancouver, where he fought in the Indian Wars, particularly against the Nez Perce, with the resultant surrender of Chief Joseph. In Chief Joseph's famous 1879 Washington, D.C., speech, he claimed, "If General Howard had given me plenty of time to gather up my stock and treated Too-hool-hool-suit as a man should be treated, there would have been no war." Subsequently, Howard was superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1881–82. He retired from the United States Army in 1894 with the rank of major general.
[edit]Howard University
http://web.mac.com/lousheehan
http://myhappyblog.com/index.php?do=/public/user/name_Louis-J-Sheehan/
http://www.aeonity.com/livic
http://louis1j1sheehan.blog.ca/2007/10/26/louis_j_sheehan_102607~3200211
http://amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/ADL7G4A6Z0F0
http://www.amazon.com/Louis-J-Sheehan-Various/lm/R345SZ2TQ7J5Q4
General Howard is also remembered for playing a role in founding Howard University, which was incorporated by Congress in 1867. The school is nonsectarian and is open to both sexes without regard to race. As commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, Howard was known for promoting the welfare and education of former slaves, freedmen, and war refugees. On November 20, 1866, ten members, including Howard, of various socially concerned groups of the time met in Washington, D.C., to discuss plans for a theological seminary to train colored ministers. Interest was sufficient, however, in creating an educational institute for areas other than the ministry. The result was the Howard Normal and Theological Institute for the Education of Preachers and Teachers. On January 8, 1867, the Board of Trustees voted to change the name of the institution to Howard University. Howard served as president from 1869 to 1874. He also founded Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1895, for the education of the "mountain whites."
[edit]Death and memorialization
Oliver Howard died in Burlington, Vermont, and is buried there in Lake View Cemetery.
A bust of Howard designed by artist James E. Kelly is on display at Howard University. An impressive equestrian statue is on East Cemetery Hill on the Gettysburg Battlefield. A dormitory at Bowdoin College is named for Howard.
The Oliver O. Howard Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic provided funds to help destitute former Union soldiers and to support worthy public causes. It contributed money and the design for the State Flag of Utah in 1922
[edit]Howard University
http://web.mac.com/lousheehan
http://myhappyblog.com/index.php?do=/public/user/name_Louis-J-Sheehan/
http://www.aeonity.com/livic
http://louis1j1sheehan.blog.ca/2007/10/26/louis_j_sheehan_102607~3200211
http://amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/ADL7G4A6Z0F0
http://www.amazon.com/Louis-J-Sheehan-Various/lm/R345SZ2TQ7J5Q4
General Howard is also remembered for playing a role in founding Howard University, which was incorporated by Congress in 1867. The school is nonsectarian and is open to both sexes without regard to race. As commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, Howard was known for promoting the welfare and education of former slaves, freedmen, and war refugees. On November 20, 1866, ten members, including Howard, of various socially concerned groups of the time met in Washington, D.C., to discuss plans for a theological seminary to train colored ministers. Interest was sufficient, however, in creating an educational institute for areas other than the ministry. The result was the Howard Normal and Theological Institute for the Education of Preachers and Teachers. On January 8, 1867, the Board of Trustees voted to change the name of the institution to Howard University. Howard served as president from 1869 to 1874. He also founded Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1895, for the education of the "mountain whites."
[edit]Death and memorialization
Oliver Howard died in Burlington, Vermont, and is buried there in Lake View Cemetery.
A bust of Howard designed by artist James E. Kelly is on display at Howard University. An impressive equestrian statue is on East Cemetery Hill on the Gettysburg Battlefield. A dormitory at Bowdoin College is named for Howard.
The Oliver O. Howard Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic provided funds to help destitute former Union soldiers and to support worthy public causes. It contributed money and the design for the State Flag of Utah in 1922
Louis J Sheehan 110907.108
Howard was appointed colonel of the 3rd Maine Infantry regiment and temporarily commanded a brigade at the First Battle of Bull Run. He was promoted to brigadier general effective September 3, 1861, and given permanent command of his brigade. He then joined Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac for the Peninsula Campaign.
On June 1, 1862, while commanding a Union brigade in the Fair Oaks, Howard was wounded twice in his right arm, which was subsequently amputated. (He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1893 for his heroism at Fair Oaks.) Brig. Gen. Philip Kearny, who had lost his left arm, visited Howard and joked that they would be able to shop for gloves together. Howard recovered quickly enough to rejoin the army for the Battle of Antietam, in which he rose to division command in the II Corps. He was promoted to major general in November 1862 and assumed command of the XI Corps the following April. In that role, he replaced Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel. Since the corps was composed largely of German immigrants, many of whom spoke no English, the soldiers were resentful of their new leader and openly called for Sigel's reinstatement.
At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Howard suffered the first of two significant military setbacks. On May 2, 1863, his corps was on the right flank of the Union line, northwest of the crossroads of Chancellorsville. Robert E. Lee and Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson created an audacious plan in which Jackson's entire corps would march secretly around the Union flank and attack it. Howard was warned by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, now commanding the Army of the Potomac, that his flank was "in the air", not anchored by a natural obstacle, such as a river, and that Confederate forces might be on the move in his direction. Howard failed to heed the warning and Jackson struck before dark, routing the XI Corps and causing a serious disruption to the Union plan.
Monument to General Howard in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the XI Corps, still chastened by its humiliation in May, arrived on the field in the afternoon of July 1, 1863. Poor positioning of the defensive line by one of Howard's subordinate division commanders, Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow, was exploited by the Confederate Corps of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell and once again the XI Corps was routed, forcing it to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg, leaving many prisoners behind. On Cemetery Hill, south of town, Howard quarreled with Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock about who was in command of the defense. Hancock had been sent by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade with written orders to take command, but Howard insisted that he was the ranking general present. Eventually he relented. He started circulating the story that his corps' failure had actually been triggered by the collapse of Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday's I Corps to the west, but this excuse was never accepted at the time or by history—the reverse was actually true—and the reputation of the XI Corps was ruined. Howard should get some credit for the eventual success at Gettysburg because he wisely stationed one of his divisions (Maj. Gen. Adolph von Steinwehr) on Cemetery Hill as a reserve and critical backup defensive line. For the remainder of the three-day battle, the corps remained on the defensive around Cemetery Hill, withstanding assaults by Maj. Gen. Jubal Early on July 2 and participating at the margin of the defense against Pickett's Charge on July 3.
Howard and his corps were transferred to the Western Theater to become part of the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee. In the Battle of Chattanooga, the corps joined the impulsive assault that captured Missionary Ridge and forced the retreat of Gen. Braxton Bragg. In July 1864, following the death of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, Howard became commander of the Army of the Tennessee, fought in the Atlanta Campaign, and led the right wing of Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's famous March to the Sea, through Georgia and then the Carolinas.
On June 1, 1862, while commanding a Union brigade in the Fair Oaks, Howard was wounded twice in his right arm, which was subsequently amputated. (He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1893 for his heroism at Fair Oaks.) Brig. Gen. Philip Kearny, who had lost his left arm, visited Howard and joked that they would be able to shop for gloves together. Howard recovered quickly enough to rejoin the army for the Battle of Antietam, in which he rose to division command in the II Corps. He was promoted to major general in November 1862 and assumed command of the XI Corps the following April. In that role, he replaced Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel. Since the corps was composed largely of German immigrants, many of whom spoke no English, the soldiers were resentful of their new leader and openly called for Sigel's reinstatement.
At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Howard suffered the first of two significant military setbacks. On May 2, 1863, his corps was on the right flank of the Union line, northwest of the crossroads of Chancellorsville. Robert E. Lee and Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson created an audacious plan in which Jackson's entire corps would march secretly around the Union flank and attack it. Howard was warned by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, now commanding the Army of the Potomac, that his flank was "in the air", not anchored by a natural obstacle, such as a river, and that Confederate forces might be on the move in his direction. Howard failed to heed the warning and Jackson struck before dark, routing the XI Corps and causing a serious disruption to the Union plan.
Monument to General Howard in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
At the Battle of Gettysburg, the XI Corps, still chastened by its humiliation in May, arrived on the field in the afternoon of July 1, 1863. Poor positioning of the defensive line by one of Howard's subordinate division commanders, Brig. Gen. Francis C. Barlow, was exploited by the Confederate Corps of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell and once again the XI Corps was routed, forcing it to retreat through the streets of Gettysburg, leaving many prisoners behind. On Cemetery Hill, south of town, Howard quarreled with Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock about who was in command of the defense. Hancock had been sent by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade with written orders to take command, but Howard insisted that he was the ranking general present. Eventually he relented. He started circulating the story that his corps' failure had actually been triggered by the collapse of Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday's I Corps to the west, but this excuse was never accepted at the time or by history—the reverse was actually true—and the reputation of the XI Corps was ruined. Howard should get some credit for the eventual success at Gettysburg because he wisely stationed one of his divisions (Maj. Gen. Adolph von Steinwehr) on Cemetery Hill as a reserve and critical backup defensive line. For the remainder of the three-day battle, the corps remained on the defensive around Cemetery Hill, withstanding assaults by Maj. Gen. Jubal Early on July 2 and participating at the margin of the defense against Pickett's Charge on July 3.
Howard and his corps were transferred to the Western Theater to become part of the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee. In the Battle of Chattanooga, the corps joined the impulsive assault that captured Missionary Ridge and forced the retreat of Gen. Braxton Bragg. In July 1864, following the death of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, Howard became commander of the Army of the Tennessee, fought in the Atlanta Campaign, and led the right wing of Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's famous March to the Sea, through Georgia and then the Carolinas.
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