CALL TO ARTISTS: Military Veteran Cremation Urn Contest - All Perspectives

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

x
CONTACT: Di Wood, Epic Urns, jas@epicurns.com

x

VETERANS OF WAR & PEACE

2010 EpicUrns.com
Juried Urn Art Competition

x
Call to Artists for highly creative, artist-made cremation urns to honor America’s military veterans. All perspectives, concepts and high quality materials invited. Anything goes.

x
This entry-free urn art competition is now in progress and culminates in a Veterans’ Urn Art Show at Epic Urns, 2402 University Ave. W., St. Paul, MN 55114, Ground Floor Gallery, in June 1010.

x
Artists have until May 1st to enter new, original one-of-a-kind, veteran-centered urn creations of any size or material to honor military veterans in any branch of the service. First level judging will be photographic.

Photographs of each piece and an entry form are due by May 1st for a May 15th judging. Level 1 winners will be invited to continue on to Level 2 where the urns will be judged in person by military veteran/master urn artist James Harvieux (Stillwater); military veteran, musician and leather artist Russell Scheidler (Saint Paul); performance artist and peace activist Mina Leierwood (Minneapolis); and master urn artist Linda Crouch.

x
For entry forms and additional information, please email:

jas@epicurns.com.

Website: www.EpicUrns.com.

x
www.VetSpeak.org

School Of Americas Vigil Atlanta Convoy - Saturday, November 21, 2009

For the Convenience of Members and Friends of

American Friends Service Committee ~ Atlanta Veterans Alliance ~ Code Pink
~ Courage to Resist ~ Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition ~ Georgia Veterans
Alliance ~ Grandmothers For Peace ~ International Action Center ~ Iraq
Afghanistan Veterans of America ~ Iraq Veterans Against the War ~ Peace
Network at UUCA ~ Physicians for Social Responsibility ~ Radio Free
Georgia WRFG 89.3 ~ Student Career Alternatives Program ~ Unitarian
Universalist Veterans Alliance ~ Veterans For Peace ~ Veterans For Truth
in Military Recruiting ~ Veterans Heart Georgia ~ Vietnam Veterans Against
the War ~ Vietnam Veterans of America ~ War Resisters League ~
Women's Action for New Directions (WAND) ~

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009

Fourteenth Annual
"PEACE CARAVAN TO SOA"

CARPOOL CARAVANS TO DEPART ATLANTA
at 0800, 0900 and 1000 from UUCA to the
gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, where through peaceful actions we will
petition
the President of the United States to
close down SOA!
~
SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS
SOA:  School of Assassins, Atrocities, Avarice

In Latin America, clergy, peasants, nuns, educators, women and children
are indiscriminately murdered
and disappeared by terrorists trained at SOA.  This
institution was first started by the CIA and Special Forces in the jungles
of Panama, but has long since
been moved to this state, where assassins, rapists and torturers are
trained for their vile mission.  SOA can only be stopped here at home
where it begins at Ft Benning, Georgia.  More information available:

www.soaw.org

SPECIAL SATURDAY EVENING EVENT 7PM
We're all invited to join AFSC, GPJC and other local sponsors at Country
Inn & Suites in Columbus for
a SOA Georgia peace advocates program. For further information about this
evening event contact AFSC
Peace Building Program Director Tim Franzen at tfranzen@afsc.org

Should you miss all three UUCA caravan departures from UUCA you'll still
be able to join our delegation in Columbus by calling 678-517-6790after
you get to the Fort Benning/Columbus area.  Saturday only!

- DIRECTIONS TO UUCA -
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta (UUCA) is located along
the northbound I-85 access road between N. Druid Hills Road andClairmont
Road across from I-85 underpass 1/2 mile from NDH.

BRING POSTERS, BANNERS, BUTTONS & FRIENDS!

Don't forget food, water, camera and foul weather gear as SOA Watch has
not been cancelled for whatever reason since its inception in 1996.
AND WON'T BE UNTIL IT'S CLOSED!

Projected 2009 attendance 25,000.

www.VetSpeak.org

Veterans Day Musings: Something to think about as you watch the parades and fly-overs to honor Veterans......

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*


Harvard Healthcare Study Results
x

Nov. 10, 2009

x
Contact:
Mark Almberg, Physicians for a National Health Program, (312) 782-6006, cell:  (312) 622-0996, mark@pnhp.org

The Study

*Over 2,200 veterans died in 2008 due to lack of health insurance*

*Harvard researchers say 1.46 million working-age vets lacked health coverage last year, increasing their death rate*

A research team at Harvard Medical School estimates 2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care. That figure is more than 14 times the number of deaths (155) suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, and more than twice as many as have died (911 as of Oct. 31) since the war began in 2001.

The researchers, who released their analysis today, pointedly say the health reform legislation pending in the House and Senate will not significantly affect this grim picture.

The Harvard group analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2000 Current Population Survey, which surveyed Americans about their insurance coverage and veteran status, and found that 1,461,615 veterans between the ages of 18 and 64 were uninsured in 2008. Veterans were only classified as uninsured if they neither had health insurance nor received ongoing care at Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals or clinics.

Using their recently published findings in the American Journal of Public Health (tinyurl.com/l7cy8u) that show being uninsured raises an individual’s odds of dying by 40 percent (causing 44,798 deaths in the United States annually among those aged 17 to 64), they arrived at their estimate of 2,266 preventable deaths of non-elderly veterans in 2008.
(See table below.)

“Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people – too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who testified before Congress about uninsured veterans in 2007 (tinyurl.com/yej6rnq) and carried out the analysis released today. “As a result, veterans go without the care they need every day in the U.S., and thousands die each year.  It’s a disgrace.”

Dr. David Himmelstein, the co-author of the analysis and associate professor of medicine at Harvard, commented, “On this Veterans Day we should not only honor the nearly 500 soldiers who have died this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the more than 2,200 veterans who were killed by our broken health insurance system. That’s six preventable deaths a day.”
x
He continued: “These unnecessary deaths will continue under the legislation now before the House and Senate. Those bills would do virtually nothing for the uninsured until 2013, and leave at least 17 million uninsured over the long run. We need a solution that works for all veterans – and for all Americans – single-payer national health insurance.”

While many Americans believe that all veterans can get care from the VA, even combat veterans may not be able to obtain VA care, Woolhandler said. As a rule, VA facilities provide care for any veteran who is
disabled by a condition connected to his or her military service and care for specific medical conditions acquired during military service.

Woolhandler said veterans who pass a means test are eligible for care in VA facilities, but have lower priority status (Priority 5 or 7, depending upon income level). Veterans with higher incomes are classified in the lowest priority group and are not eligible for VA enrollment.

*************************************************************

The table showing the excess deaths of veterans due to lack of insurance can be found by scrolling down to the bottom of this document:
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/november/over_2200_veterans_.php

A December 2007 paper in the American Journal of Public Health estimating the number of uninsured veterans from 1987 through 2004 can be found here:  
tinyurl.com/yk8ous5

*************************************************************

Note:  If you are an uninsured veteran having difficulty getting health care and would like to tell your story to the media, write a short note to Mark Almberg at mark@pnhp.org.

Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org) is an organization of 17,000 doctors who support single-payer national health insurance, often called an improved Medicare for All. To speak with a physician/spokesperson in your area, visit www.pnhp.org/stateactions or call (312) 782-6006.

Physicians for a National Health Program
29 E. Madison St., Suite 602
Chicago IL 60602
(312) 782-6006
info@pnhp.org
www.pnhp.org
x
www.VetSpeak.org

_______________________________________________