As the number of American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with injuries that require VA evaluation and treatment, their family are experiencing hardship. The steain on families having to travel large distances to visit loved ones in VA hospital has proved too disruptive for many families and soldiers who gave their time, energy, and effort to support American military endeavors come home to watch their families fall apart. There is an organization who has come up with a novel approach to helping our Vets.
Operation Homefront, in the past helped the families of active duty service personnel to keep their head above water while the military member was away from home. They organization helped with repairs, moving expenses and even with creditors in some instances. Now Operation Homefront is trying to help wounded Veterans and decrease the excess inventory of houses on the market. Operation Homefront tries to convince home-builders to discount homes near medical facilities, mortgage lenders to look at pre-deployment credit records, and will assist Vets with points and closing costs.
In Cibolo, Texas, near San Antonio, Army Spc. Austin Johnson and his wife Lisa, moved into their new home that Operation Homefront helped them get. Spc. Johnson has a brain injury for which he receives treatment atBrooke Army Medical Center. In October Lisa and their three children were involved in an acccident driving from El Paso to visit Spc Johnson. All three children died in the accident. If Operation Homefront is successful, families of Veterans would have assistance in moving closer to medical treatment facilities giving these families a better chance at surviving post deployment.
Read about Operation Homefront’s work with Spc. Austin and Lisa Johnson
More about Operation Homefront
New Jersey legislators are debating whether to apologize for slavery. Funny thing about an apology, the longer it takes to give, the harder it is to give. New Jersey had one of the most severe slave codes in the north and it sanctioned the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed for the capture and return of slaves to owners. Now there is a resolution to acknowledge that New Jersey’s complicity in the slave trade was something for which it is sorry, even though none today were directly involved. Is an apology appropriate? One look at the price have some paid answers that question with a definite ”Yes”.
That these events happened so long ago is not disputed, until the lack of a formal apology is considered. The executive orders commonly known as the Emancipation Proclamation were signed in September 1862 and January 1863. That it should take more 145 years after the signing of these documents to even begin talking about an apology tells a sad story.
Whether the apology will ever become a reality is still up in the air. The legislature must pass the resolution and then Governor Corzine must sign it. It is a symbolic gesture but one that is probably needed. Rather than debate this no-brainer, the legislature should vote it and send it on to the Governor. Afterwards they can get back to problems of skyrocketing property taxes and insurance costs.
Does your television set use free programming for your news and entertainment? If so in early 2009 those rabbit ears will die and so will your television watching. Well sort of. On February 17, 2009 broadcast television as we know it now will die. Television sets that use antennas to capture analog broadcasts will no longer have a signal because the stations are required by law to convert to digital programming. Before you start to mourn the loss of you free entertainment, the government is offering a way to jumpstart those rabbit ears. With stations fully converted to digital signal, households that use airwave signals will need to purchase a converter box that will change the digital signal to analog so that the television can continue to work.
Television sets purchased before 1998 are analog sets. These sets will require a converter box. Some projection televisions purchased between 1998-2004 maybe digital but owners should check their manual to be sure. All others will probably need a converter box. These converter boxes must be purchased. There is a government program to help with the cost of the converter box for people who use free programming.
Cable television and satellite television users must call that service providers to find out how their televisions will be supported after February 17, 2009. Use the table provided to help you decide what action you need to take to continue your television viewing uninterrupted.
The government program that helps Americans with the cost of the converter box requires consumers to call or apply for the assistance. There is a $40 coupon available that consumers can apply to the cost of the converter. Only two converters coupons are allowed per household. Either click the image above or click here to go to the government website to learn more or here to apply online for a coupon. There is also a toll-free number 1-888-DTV-2009.
Remember don’t throw away those rabbit ears the converter will still need them.