Letters
Letters to the editor, Dec. 4
TBO.com
Published: December 4, 2011
Vietnam vets score a victoryPublished: December 4, 2011
In Chinese astrology it is the year of the dragon. In the current venue for veterans, it is the year of some of the most important criteria for purposes of compensation conceivable.
Vietnam veterans with boots on the ground are the big winners. On July 13, 2010, three new claims have been conceded for risk exposure to Agent Orange to include (1) Parkinson's disease (2) B-cell lymphoma and (3) Ischemic heart disease caused from coronary artery disease, the latter of which is based on a court ruling from Nehmer Report noting Vietnam veterans as a target group were active for Ischemic heart disease over the general population.
The rule allows a retroactive payment for Ischemic heart disease, back to a time at which the veteran had applied for any condition associated with Agent Orange. An examination verified by a cardiologist in a stress test that measures metabolic function based on choleric output determines the rating for compensation. Seven to 10 MET level awards 10 percent. Five to seven awards 30 percent. Three to five, 60 percent; and zero to three, 100 percent or $2,860 a month if a veteran is married.
Consider, too, that some 14 carcinogenic conditions are conceded as presumptive to risk exposure to Agent Orange, even if a person lands in Saigon for a period of time allowed for refueling and checking out the aircraft. Defoliating jungles with chemicals similar to the old DDT sprayed on corn and crops in the 1950s to prevent weeds growing between crop rows were sprayed all over Vietnam, along the DMZ in Korea in the mid 1960s, affecting some 16 military units and even in Panama for a short period of time.
Let's talk money. If specific cancers occur related to Agent Orange, a veteran is granted temporary 100 percent at some $2,680 a month if single for 13 months, $2,860 if married or for as long as the cancer is being treated. For several veterans I have assisted, I have seen retroactive lump-sum payments of $135,000 or $248,612 for Ischemic heart disease with assurances of $2,860 a month for the duration, these at the 100 percent MET levels.
Again, this is based on how far back the veteran first applied for any issue related with Agent Orange. I have been assisting with paperwork for veterans since 1992, some 20 years. Many of these veterans became eligible for these considerations but simply did not know, and this information needs to be shared. For many, many Vietnam veterans, their time has come.
Deron Mikal
Brooksville
Time for change
For those of you who do not follow the financial markets, here is the latest misery the Obama administration has caused.
This was a post I received from one of the many financial newsletters I get. I keep up with the goings on within the markets, primarily because I day trade the FOREX market. Much of the volatility we have been experiencing is due to this administration and the Fed's mishandling of the economy.
The following was posted by Ann Barnhardt on Nov. 17.
"Dear clients, industry colleagues and friends of Barnhardt Capital Management, everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let's not sugarcoat this or make this crime seem "complex" and "abstract" by drowning us in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon.
Jon Corzine stole the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts while the markets continued to trade, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable.
Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office and the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform.
So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy."
Barnhardt is no lightweight to the financial industry. She has been in top tier positions in government in both domestic and international markets and when she speaks, "people listen." Take heed of what is festering in America. Very few people trust anything that is coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and less for our justice department. A major change is in order and very soon.
Allan Walker
Weeki Wachee