***UPDATE 3*** Help Debbie Shank (the disabled woman sued by Walmart)

RECAPPING MY POSTS FROM THE LAST SEVERAL DAYS (like Keith Olbermann, I'm not letting this one go):

I had been following THIS TRAGIC STORY about Debbie Shank over the last day or so and it just broke my heart. When I finally read the most recent update - that her son had been killed in Iraq just days after they lost their appeal of the Walmart judgment against them, I cried while I was reading the article.

I got this overwhelming urge to try and contact her husband to find out what we can all do to help. Amazingly enough, I was successful!

Jim Shank is one of the sweetest men you will ever talk to. He was so kind to this crazy woman calling from Alaska even as I fumbled around for the right things to say...including rather ineptly expressing my sorrow at the loss of his son. I was finally able to form the right question - did they have a bank account set up for people to deposit donations?

I was VERY happy to find out that the answer was "Yes."

Jim Shank said that all anyone needs to do is walk into any "Bank of America" and say that they want to donate to "The Debbie Shank Fund." If your particular branch doesn't know about it, tell them they need to contact the branches in Jackson, Missouri to get the information (573.339.6500).

**********UPDATE (27 March)*********

Alaska KUDO 1080's Shannyn Moore interviewed Jim Shank this afternoon. I spoke to Mr. Shank and he gave me an address to send donations since many of us don't have access to a Bank of America.

You can send checks or money orders to:

Bank of America
320 W. Main
Jackson, MO 63755
c/o "The Debbie Shank Fund"
Phone: 573.339.6500

I spoke to the people at the Jackson Branch of Bank of America so it's all good.

I would like to request that folks email, blog, send this information everywhere in whatever way they can.

By the way...

This situation is not an enigma...it's a portent of what's to come. It turns out many states have Worker's Comp insurance with the same clause. *UPDATE (29 March)* Watch the video and the lawyer-type in there says the same thing - this may be the wave of the future.

The Bush Administration has been responsible for the most corporate and insurance-friendly regulations ever established as well as stacking the courts with judges friendly to big business. Under the guise of "limiting fraud and abuse," it is now possible that many injured Americans to be forced to live in poverty in spite of successful lawsuits.

**************UPDATE 2 (28 March)***************

CONTACT INFO FOR WALMART:

Investor Relations 1-800-438-6278
Media Relations 1-800-331-0085
Wal-Mart Ethics 1-800-WMEthic (963-8442)

I have several friends who are interested in helping with an Alaskan version of a boycott and a number of folks from Daily Kos rumbling about the same thing. I decided to put my energy into getting Jim Shank and his family some direct help, but would be happy to pass on information and participate in some sort of organized demonstration (as our family already boycotts).

My email address is celticdivaak@yahoo.com - if anyone is planning on taking them on, let me know. I will pass on your info to people up here who will join you.

************UPDATE 3 (29 March)******************

I got an email with my Dad who is a very experienced, retired insurance man and a Fox News Republican. Of course I'll respect his wishes when he asked me not to quote him (translation: Don't post my email on your blog!!!!!). However, I thought my response kicked butt so I'm going to post that...and tell you that the title of his email was: "Walmart is not Evil"

My response to Dad:

Dad - I've been talking directly to Jim Shank, Debbie Shank's husband, both on the phone and through email. His lawyer is not arguing Walmart's "entitlement" to reimbursement. However: 1) there were other parties involved in the lawsuit (another passenger in the car) who also got some of the award, 2) They didn't get what they asked for because the company's liability insurance only went up to $1 million. The award was based on percentages...i.e. a percentage of her past medical care was reimbursed. The rest of the money was designated as a percentage of her future care.

The lawyer's argument is that Walmart should be fair by taking the percentage that was designated as covering her past medical care rather than taking everything including her future care.

And you and I both know that the clause in the insurance policy was not binding ON WALMART. They didn't HAVE to go for the money and, as a matter of fact, waited three years before they did so. They even gave the lawyer the impression in the beginning that they had no intention of doing so which made sense to him because he's NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE. NO ONE does this, Dad, not in a case this severe.

Because Walmart waited those three years, Jim put the money in a trust to protect it (like one is supposed to do) but that allowed Walmart to TARGET THAT MONEY AND GET IT ALL. If he had just put it in their general bank account, Walmart never would have been able to get it.

Because Walmart waited those three years, Jim spent $150,000.00 of the initial award on making his home handicap accessible (putting wheelchair ramps, etc...). Unfortunately, Debbie worsened and had to be put in a home for 24-hour care. Then the lawsuit came up and six days after they lost their appeal, their son Jeremy was killed in Iraq. About six months later, Jim was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

While I don't believe that everyone that works for Walmart is evil, I do believe that it's awfully easy for people to do evil things under the umbrella of a corporation because they aren't held personally responsible...they don't even hold themselves responsible. I believe that Walmart purposely waited that long to go after the money because it would be unexpected which would work to their advantage. I suspect that no matter how hard folks try, it will be very difficult to pressure them into changing their minds and doing the right thing ETHICALLY, even if they are "legally entitled" to the money. I believe that they could care less how that family has suffered.

If that's not your definition of "evil," Dad, what is?

************NBC News does stories*************

The first one is at the top of the page, here is the second:



Under the title "How You Can Help" this is what they wrote:

Deborah Shank's supporters have set up the Debbie Shank Fund. The public can make donations at any Bank of America branch in the United States.

That's kinda sad when I have tons more information on it than NBC News.

***UPDATE*** Helping Debbie Shank (the disabled woman sued by Walmart)

To recap my post from yesterday:

I had been following THIS TRAGIC STORY about Debbie Shank over the last day or so and it just broke my heart. When I finally read the most recent update - that her son had been killed in Iraq just days after they lost their appeal of the Walmart judgment against them, I cried while I was reading the article.

Here's Keith Olbermann's story on it, ranking Walmart as Wednesday's Worst Person in the World."

I got this overwhelming urge to try and contact her husband to find out what we can all do to help. Amazingly enough, I was successful!

Jim Shank is one of the sweetest men you will ever talk to. He was so kind to this crazy woman calling from Alaska even as I fumbled around for the right things to say...including rather ineptly expressing my sorrow at the loss of his son. I was finally able to form the right question - did they have a bank account set up for people to deposit donations?

I was VERY happy to find out that the answer was "Yes."

Jim Shank said that all anyone needs to do is walk into any "Bank of America" and say that they want to donate to "The Debbie Shank Fund." If your particular branch doesn't know about it, tell them they need to contact the branches in Jackson, Missouri to get the information (573.339.6500).

**********UPDATE*********

I am listening right now to Alaska KUDO 1080 Shannyn Moore's interview with Jim Shank. I spoke to Mr. Shank earlier for an address to send donations since many of us don't have access to a Bank of America.

You can send checks or money orders to:

Bank of America
320 W. Main
Jackson, MO 63755
c/o "The Debbie Shank Fund"
Phone: 573.339.6500

It's all safe and legitimate - I spoke to the people at the Jackson Branch of Bank of America.

I would like to request that folks email, blog, send this information everywhere in whatever way they can.

Walmart's most despicable act to date - Debbie Shank

I had been following THIS TRAGIC STORY about Debbie Shank over the last day or so and it just broke my heart. When I finally read the most recent update - that her son had been killed in Iraq just days after Walmart won the lawsuit against them, I cried while I was reading the article.

JACKSON, Missouri (CNN) -- Debbie Shank breaks down in tears every time she's told that her 18-year-old son, Jeremy, was killed in Iraq.

The 52-year-old mother of three attended her son's funeral, but she continues to ask how he's doing. When her family reminds her that he's dead, she weeps as if hearing the news for the first time.

Shank suffered severe brain damage after a traffic accident nearly eight years ago that robbed her of much of her short-term memory and left her in a wheelchair and living in a nursing home.

It was the beginning of a series of battles -- both personal and legal -- that loomed for Shank and her family. One of their biggest was with Wal-Mart's health plan.

Here's Keith Olbermann's story on it, ranking Walmart as today's "Worst Person in the World."



I got this overwhelming urge to try and contact her husband to find out what we can all do to help. Amazingly enough, I was successful!

Jim Shank is one of the sweetest men you will ever talk to. He was so kind to this crazy woman calling from Alaska even as I fumbled around for the right things to say...including rather ineptly expressing my sorrow at the loss of his son. I was finally able to form the right question - did they have a bank account set up for people to deposit donations?

I was VERY happy to find out that the answer was "Yes."

Jim Shank said that all anyone needs to do is walk into any "Bank of America" and say that they want to donate to "The Debbie Shank Fund." If your particular branch doesn't know about it, tell them they need to contact one of the branches in Jackson, Missouri to get the information.

I took down some contact info to pass on to one of our local radio talk show hosts and thanked him so much for talking to me. He thanked me repeatedly, telling me that the outpouring from people really helped him. Mr. Shank touched me so much with his gratitude that I started balling when I hung up, startling one of my daycare kids. The fact that a man who has been through so much can be so gracious to some unknown crazy lady calling him at night says a lot about his character.

I forgot to ask him for his email address. As soon as I get it (and if I get his permission), I'll pass it on so others can send him messages of hope.

HA!!!!!! I've been saying this for YEARS!!!!!!!

Spray more effective than guns against bears: study

Despite persistent doubts among hikers and campers venturing into bear country, you're better off with an eight-ounce can of bear spray than a gun, according to an analysis of 20 years of data.

Canadian and U.S. researchers announced Wednesday that they found the spray stopped aggressive bear behaviour in 92 per cent of the cases, whether that behaviour was an attack or merely rummaging for food. Guns were effective about 67 per cent of the time.

Brigham Young University bear biologist Thomas Smith, along with Stephen Herrero, bear expert and professor emeritus at the University of Calgary, and their research team report their findings in the April issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management. The researchers analyzed reported bear encounters in Alaska involving
175 people.

"Working in the bear safety arena, I even found a lot of resistance to bear spray among professionals," Smith said. "There was no good, clean data set that demonstrated definitively that it worked, so that's why we did this research."

Shooting accurately during the terrifying split seconds of a grizzly charge is a very hard thing to do, Smith pointed out, and his data suggests that it takes an average of four hits to stop a bear.

"Community Voices" Opinion piece #2 - Supporting our Veterans

My second piece for the Anchorage Daily News is very different from the first. I wrote about a Veterans organization that just blows me away by the work they do for their fellow Vets.

It will be in Thursday's paper.

With the passing of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq conflict and the tragic milestone of 4000 U.S. soldiers killed there, many people showed their support for our troops this week by holding vigils to "bring the troops home" or by organizing alternative memorials. All gatherings included participants who were Veterans as well as military family and friends.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Iraq policies, it's clear that a strong majority of Alaskans truly want the best for all of our troops past, present and future. This was demonstrated symbolically when some idiot dumped a can of paint on the Park Strip Veteran's Memorial last week and people of all political persuasions came to help clean it up.

Beyond symbolic support, most of us want to do more but are at a loss what to do. We hear news stories on the plight of our Veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan...especially those who are wounded and/or disabled. We hear how the backlog of the Iraq Veterans in the system has had a bottleneck effect on the services to those from the Vietnam-era and earlier. We've heard claims regarding funding and the performance of the Veterans Administration and other government entities tasked with caring for our Vets.

A friend recently told me about the “Veterans Aviation Outreach”. It is a non-profit organization of Vietnam-era veteran pilots who have dedicated their lives and their pocketbooks to helping their fellow vets. According to their website, the group’s “express purpose is to locate, inform and assist Veterans residing in rural and remote Alaska, to help them in obtaining health care and other earned benefits in which they are entitled to - even death benefits.

Many of these Veterans have no knowledge of these different programs or how to go about applying for them.”

That’s an amazing statement. It gives just an idea of the scope of the problem. Most of these vets are probably paying for their own services or just suffering in silence and must be contacted by someone who can give them the information – something the Federal and State governments are clearly not doing.

The VAO’s website has a map showing their area of service. Since they target the “underserved veterans” that means they basically fly everywhere in Alaska but Anchorage, the Mat Su Valley and Fairbanks. Using my trusty Google and my calculator, I added up the square miles for Anchorage, Mat Su and Fairbanks and got 34,582 sq mi. That left 551, 830 sq mi for the VAO to cover. The skyrocketing fuel prices alone are draining whatever resources they have.

When I talked to Maurice “Mo” Bailey about his organization, he told me about a Vietnam-era vet who was suffering from cancer and concerned about the operation he was facing. When Mo started to question him, it turned out that this man had come into regular contact with Agent Orange. His cancer should have been covered by the VA through disability. Within a short time, Mo helped him get set-up and taken care of through the appropriate agencies.

The VAO is organizing a big barbecue on April 26th to bring as many veterans, serving agencies and veteran supporters together as possible. They are hoping to get a few donations to offset the cost of their operations as well.

I’m helping in any way that I can, and I hope you’ll want to help too.



Linda Kellen Biegel lives in Midtown. Her email address is celticdivaak@yahoo.com. The Veterans Aviation Outreach website is http://www.vaoonline.org/.

Moqtada al-Sadr's "cease fire" in Iraq has come undone

Per The Christian Science Monitor and Americablog:

Baghdad - The Mahdi Army's seven-month-long cease-fire appears to have come undone.

Rockets fired from the capital's Shiite district of Sadr City slammed into the Green Zone Tuesday, the second time in three days, and firefights erupted around Baghdad pitting government and US forces against the militia allied to the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

At the same time, the oil-export city of Basra became a battleground Tuesday as Iraqi forces, backed by US air power, launched a major crackdown on the Mahdi Army elements. British and US forces were guarding the border with Iran to intercept incoming weapons or fighters, according to a senior security official in Basra.

The US blames the latest attacks on rogue Mahdi Army elements tied to Iran, but analysts say the spike in fighting with Shiite militants potentially opens a second front in the war when the American military is still doing battle with the Sunni extremists of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

"The cease-fire is over; we have been told to fight the Americans," said one Mahdi Army militiaman, who was reached by telephone in Sadr City. This same man, when interviewed in January, had stated that he was abiding by the cease-fire and that he was keeping busy running his cellular phone store.

When the Bush Administration has tried to give credit for the slow-down in hostilities to "the Surge" tactic, many experts have tried in vain to point out that al-Sadr's cease-fire played a large factor. Here is an MSNBC interview with Paul Reikoff, Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America:

Reikoff: "I don't think we can alone credit the surge with the reduction in violence. Moqtada al-Sadr is on a big pause right now. If he decides to take his finger off that pause button and reignite the violence, we're going to see a dramatic increase in what's happening inside of Iraq."

I guess now we'll get to see just how much difference "the Surge" has really made, especially in light of what al-Sadr "taking his finger off of the pause button" could mean.

On Monday evening, pickup trucks filled with chanting Mahdi militiamen, within sight of Iraqi forces, were forcing shopkeepers in many parts of Baghdad's west side to close in protest of US and Iraq Army raids.

On Tuesday, all shops in the Mahdi Army stronghold neighborhoods – Bayiaa, Iskan, Shuala, and Washash – were shuttered. Leaflets saying "No, no to America" were plastered on each storefront. Anti-American banners hung right next to Iraqi government checkpoints.

Several people interviewed in the Amel neighborhood said they were forced by militiamen to return home when they tried to go to work this morning. "This is anarchy," says Ali al-Yasseri.

Proof that racial understanding does not have to be partisan - Huckabee defends Obama and Reverend Wright

From Carpetbagger Report and a transcript of an interview on MSNBC:

HUCKABEE: And one other thing I think we’ve gotta remember. As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say “That’s a terrible statement!”…I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who’s gonna say something like this, but I’m just tellin’ you — we’ve gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told “you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus…” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

It's interesting to see the folks who "get it" and those who don't.

Monday news and open thread - Soldier mosaic/Hillary's fanciful memory of her trip to Bosnia/petulant PETA

- Here is an amazing mosaic from Nico Pitney. It's the faces of the 4000 Americans killed in Iraq made into a picture of the men responsible for their deaths. Click on the image to see the large version, where you can pick out each face.

- Cafferty on CNN (finally) talks about how Sinbad and Clinton seem to differ on what actually happened on the 1996 Bosnia trip. (Didn't I see this as news on Americablog about 2 weeks ago?) Sinbad responded to Clinton's claim of danger;"“What kind of president would say, ‘Hey man, I can’t go because I might get shot… but I’m gonna send my wife and daughter. Oh and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.’” The Washington Post has given her story "Four Pinnochios" because it's such a whopper.



JedReport on Daily Kos documents the Hillary spin machine rolling into action.

Do you think (hope? pray?) that this story is a campaign killer?

- "Environmentalists" have their panties in a bunch over the Iditarod again, per The New York Times:

Animal-rights groups denounce the race, which requires dogs to pull sleds weighing 250 pounds or more across mountain passes, frozen lakes and tundra in biting winds and temperatures that can dip below minus 50, a journey that can take 9 to 18 days.

“The death toll continues to mount,” Lisa Wathne, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said in a telephone interview. “This is a grueling event that is cruel and inappropriate to the dogs, who obviously don’t have a choice in the matter.”