NewsTrust - All Rated Stories

Mental health of troops comes under scrutiny

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Molly Hennessy-Fiske - Nov. 11 (News Report) - Sgt. Justin "Jon" Garza joined the Army eight years ago at 20. When he arrived at Ft. Hood in June, the communications specialist had deployed six times to Europe and the Middle East, including two bloody stints in Iraq, and was due to return in September. He had broken up with his girlfriend, developed a drinking problem and gone AWOL.

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Healing our troubled vets

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - Nov. 11 (Editorial) - The public is kinder to its veterans today than it was during the Vietnam War, when soldiers risked their lives overseas only to face scorn from antiwar activists when they got home. Yet veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may be having a harder time readjusting to civilian life than previous generations of warriors.

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Ft. Hood shooting suspect endured work pressure and ethnic taunts, his uncle says

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Richard Bourdeaux - Nov. 07 (News Report) - When Rafik Ismail Hamad last traveled from the West Bank to visit relatives in America, he was struck by the pressures one of his nephews was facing. The younger man, an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, spoke to his uncle of ethnic taunts by Army colleagues. He was haunted by the wartime disabilities of soldiers he treated as an Army psychiatrist, Hamad recalled, and was overwhelmed by a growing caseload he felt unable to manage.

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Afghanistan: Now what?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - Nov. 03 (Editorial) - In the first round of balloting, Afghan President Hamid Karzai received 1 million "ghost votes" from people who simply didn't exist. When those were eliminated, he lacked the requisite plurality and was pressed by his Western backers into agreeing to a runoff -- only to see his challenger drop out in anticipation of further fraud. Faced with a one-man race, the Independent Election Commission on Monday canceled the second round and returned Karzai to power for a second five-year term.

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Healthcare provision seeks to embrace prayer treatments -

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Tom Hamburger, Kim Geiger - Nov. 03 (News) - A little-noticed measure would put Christian Science healing sessions on the same footing as clinical medicine. Critics say it violates the separation of church and state.

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Switzerland's example of universal healthcare

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Doyle McManus - Oct. 18 (Opinion) - At least one country already has a healthcare plan roughly similar to the one President Obama and the Democrats have proposed, with universal coverage, a mandate that everyone buy insurance and a major role for private insurance companies: Switzerland.

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Pakistan launches risky offensive into Taliban-Al Qaeda stronghold

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Alex Rodriguez - Oct. 18 (News Report) - The military will face unforgiving terrain along the Afghan border that has long been viewed as a possible hide-out for Osama bin Laden, as well as a battle-hardened enemy likely to respond by stepping up bloody attacks across the country. The government believes that more than 80% of the terrorism inflicted on Pakistan originates in the region.

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Woman, 97, has a front seat to homelessness

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Bob Pool - Oct. 16 (Special Report) - She's 97 years old and homeless. Bessie Mae Berger has her two boys, and that's about all. She and sons Larry Wilkerson, 60, and Charlie Wilkerson, 62, live in a 1973 Chevrolet Suburban they park each night on a busy Venice street.

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Senate Finance Committee approves healthcare overhaul bill

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By James Oliphant - Oct. 13 (Breaking News) - Legislation that would transform the nation's healthcare system cleared a significant hurdle today as the Senate Finance Committee voted (14-9) for a sweeping overhaul.

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Study finds disconnect between healthcare needs and support for reform

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Kim Geiger - Oct. 11 (News Report) - A new study points to a political paradox in the long, wrenching debate over revamping the healthcare system: Some members of Congress whose constituents stand to gain the most are nonetheless opposing the bill, while others whose constituents will likely pay more for little reward are some of its most ardent supporters. The study by the Urban Institute identified 20 congressional districts where more than 30% of residents have no health coverage. Eighteen of those districts are in California, Texas or Florida. In California, the districts with the highest concentrations of uninsured were in Los Angeles and Orange counties, areas heavily populated by immigrants and other low-income groups. Most of those areas are represented by Democrats who support the healthcare proposals, which promise significant new benefits to their constituents.

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All eyes are on Olympia Snowe on healthcare debate

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Mark Z. Barabak - Oct. 09 (Special Report) - Olympia J. Snowe may be, for the moment, the most powerful woman in Washington. As the lone congressional Republican working to support President Obama's healthcare overhaul, no one will be more closely watched when the Senate Finance Committee votes next week on a bill aimed at curbing costs, improving coverage and making insurance more attainable for those without.

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Obama quietly tries to shore up Senate support for public option

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Noam N. Levey, Janet Hook - Oct. 05 (Special Report) - The president has backed off from vocally supporting the idea of government-run healthcare, but he's quietly building a coalition of supporters. The challenge: Find a version that can pass.

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U.S., Iranian officials meet one-on-one during nuclear talks

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Paul Richter, Michael Muskal - Oct. 01 (News Report) - U.S. and Iranian officials held a rare one-on-one meeting today as major powers convened near Geneva to try to negotiate an end to Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

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G-20 leaders to pledge to end subsidies for fossil fuels

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Jim Tankersley - Sep. 26 (News Report) - World leaders at the Group of 20 summit pledged to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels in the "medium term" Friday, a nebulous goal that the leaders nevertheless said could make a noticeable dent in global warming.

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Obama addresses U.N. climate summit, warns of 'irreversible catastrophe'

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Christi Parsons - Sep. 22 (News Report) - President Obama this morning issued an appeal to world leaders to help avert "an irreversible catastrophe" in the Earth's climate, accepting a portion of blame for global warming on behalf of the United States but also urging the world's biggest polluters to change their ways.

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What's with all the public outbursts?

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Robin Abcarian - Sep. 16 (Special Report) - Some say it reflects a general collapse of manners, rooted in the anti-authoritarian strains of the late 1960s. Some offer a psychological explanation: that such outbursts reveal the person beneath the mask of a public persona. Some see an element of racial animus at work.

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Obama is fast losing white voters' support

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Peter Wallsten - Sep. 09 (News Report) - After a summer of healthcare battles and sliding approval ratings for President Obama, the White House is facing a troubling new trend: The voters losing faith in the president are the ones he had worked hardest to attract.

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CIA's black sites, illuminated

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Greg Miller - Aug. 31 (News Report) - They were stripped, shaved and shoved against walls the moment they arrived. What came next was an escalating menu of interrogation options, culminating in a method used in the Inquisition -- waterboarding -- to make them think they would drown.

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For Obama, interrogation fight won't be welcome

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Christi Parsons, Julian E. Barnes - Aug. 25 (News Analysis) - The White House had hoped to avoid a polarizing dispute over the CIA's tactics in questioning terrorists. It's likely to be a prolonged distraction from healthcare and other domestic priorities.

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America the delusional --

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Tim Rutten - Aug. 20 (Opinion) - you can't make this stuff up--but lots of people are, and they're being encouraged to do so by those in the republican party who think that defeat of the ...initiative at any cost is the gop's only hope of substantial recovery in the midterms.

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Violence appears to keep some Afghans from voting

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Laura King - Aug. 20 (News Report) - The presidential vote is regarded as pivotal by U.S. and other Western officials, who hope it will bolster the legitimacy of Afghanistan's central government as it confronts a virulent insurgency -- together with a host of other problems including corruption, poverty and a booming narcotics trade.

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Yearning to soar

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Carolyn Cole, Bryan Chan - Aug. 17 (Special Report) - Audio slide show: For Afghan women, life is immeasurably better than under the Taliban. But the constraints of age-old traditions remain, reinforced by poverty, illiteracy and rising insecurity.

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Afghanistan's president faces a tough reelection

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Laura King - Aug. 17 (News Analysis) - The dilapidated soccer stadium, a onetime Taliban execution ground, rang today with excited shouts of "Karzai! Kar-ZAI!" The chants weren't a signal of support for Afghanistan's beleaguered president. Far from it. They were the raucous response to a shouted question -- "Who's the one who failed at governing?" -- from a speaker warming up the crowd for Hamid Karzai's principal rival, Abdullah Abdullah.

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Healthcare debate: point of view from the hot seat

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By P.J. Huffstutter - Aug. 16 (Special Report) - The twin tugs on Donnelly showed what it's like to sit in one of the hottest hot seats of American politics. Donnelly, a sophomore congressman in a politically split stretch of northern Indiana, is part of that vulnerable group of Democrats who have yet to decide how they will vote on healthcare reform.

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As rumors swirl, seniors demanding answers on health reform

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Judith Graham, Janet Hook - Aug. 13 (News Report) - Far from the hue and cry over health reform erupting in town hall meetings across the U.S., many older citizens are quietly confused about what a health care overhaul might mean to them.

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