Monday, January 23, 2012

Desperate Housewives

Last night, Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "State of the Union" went up.

state of the union

I do love that one.

Each Sunday, "Desperate Housewives" airs on ABC.  Last week, I missed two things.  I didn't realize it until watching the new episode.  The Australian who's about to lose everything?  Mike saw him with a suitcase of cash.  I have no idea what happened there because it was just a snippet in the recap but Mike (Susan's husband) also told him that Renee got $12 million in her divorce.

With that in mind, let's do what happened last night.

Let me start with Lynette because I do so loathe her.  She realizes it's over with Tom (she's 'realized' that before).  So she asks Gabby and Renee to fix her up.  They explain she's not an easy fix up.  And try to do it nicely but, as Renee says to Gabby, "Oh, we're not sugar coating anymore?" 

Lynette goes to Renee's salon with her where Renee makes sure that her appointment for the next day is booked.  Lynette sees Renee's hair dresser and thinks he'd be perfect for her. Renee fixes her up.

The man explains on their date that he divorced his wife because she always made him feel bad about himself.  Yeah, that does sound like Lynette.  The guy just wants to cut hair, he's happy with that.  But it's not good enough for Lynette who writes a 5-year-plan on napkin for him and insults him like crazy.

Renee shows up to get her hair done the next day.  The hair dresser tells her he owes her for the date.  She's so happy it went well.

She shows up at Lynette with basically a fro.  She says he made her look like Foxy Brown (Pam Grier character in the 70s).  She tells Lynette he was the only man in the whole town who knew how to style Black hair and now she can't go to him because of what Lynette did.

Lynette's got a ton of excuses as usual.  Renee doesn't have the time.

Renee gets proposed to by the Australian.

She says that this is so fast and he tells her she can take her time on answering him.

She tells him yes.  That no one's made her feel so safe and so wanted and, after her divorce, she was afraid she'd never be able to trust a man again but, yes, yes!

He then says he can't do this.  He tells her that he only proposed because his business is in trouble and he needs money.

Renee can't believe it.  She storms out of his place -- smashing something in the process.

Later she'll tell Lynette they aren't seeing one another anymore but won't explain.  The Australian will borrow money from the mob (I think Mike set that up last week but I'm guessing because I missed that scene).  The guy will warn him of danger if he doesn't pay back in time and then bring up that they won't have to worry about that because he's seeing Renee and she's a millionaire.  The Australian tells him to leave her out of it.

Susan.

As the woman who was married to Gabby's step-father basically says when Susan asks how she was found, 'You gave me a personal check with your address on it!'

Last season concluded with the death of Gabby's step-father.  He molested her when she was 15. He shows up and threatens her and Carlos walks in on this and pulls him away from Gabby and ends up accidentally killing him.  Gabby, Susan, Lynette and Bree agree to keep quiet and cover it up.

Last week, Susan went to Oklahoma to find the step-father's current wife.  She discovered a 15-year-old step-daughter as well.  Susan bought some crap that she pretended was worth money to help the family out.  (The personal check.)  She spoke to the girl and found out the girl was being molested as well.  She told the girl that the step-father would never hurt her again and wasn't coming back.

She repeated the not coming back part to her mother.

They show up at Susan's door.

She's convinced Susan's sleeping with her husband. 

She then puts fliers all over the neighborhood with her husband's picture.

Susan's pulling them down when Gabby sees them and wants to know how this happened.  Susan fills her in (the visit to Oklahoma, the check) and Gabby is furious.  They were finally in the clear, she insists.

Why, Gabby wants to know, did Susan tell the mother the husband wouldn't be coming back?

Susan explains she told the daughter, the 15-year-old daughter.

Gabby asks if she was being molested too and Susan says yes.

Gabby's no longer mad at Susan.  She tells Susan to call the woman and tell her Gabby wants to meet her.

So Susan takes her over to Gabby's and the daughter stays in the car.  Gabby's got Renee and Lynette redecorating so people are hauling things out and rolling up carpet and they ask about a red stain (the step-father's blood) on the back of the carpet and Gabby says it's red wine.

She leads the woman into the kitchen and the woman's rude and mad.

And how does Gabby know her husband?

Because, before he changed his name, he was her step-father.  And he sexually molested her.

The woman goes off on Gabby calling her a liar and worse.

But Susan and the girl walk in and the girl says something like, 'if you won't believe her, believe me.'

And then the mother's horrified and shocked by what the step-father did to her daughter.

Later, they drop back at Gabby's.  The girl hugs Gabby and the mother tells Gabby thank you.  She nods to the rolled up carpet with the 'red wine' stain exposed and tells her she should be sure to get rid of that.


That's everybody but Bree.  Renee and Bree owned the episode.  Susan wasn't on enough and Gabby needed a scene that the writers left out.  She needed to tell the girl that the event won't define her, that she'll go on to have a good life.  The little girl was so upset that they really needed that scene.

So Bree's still going to the "dive" Renee took her too.  And picking up men.

A variety we learn in the montage that there's a voice over on top of at the start.

Bree's exploring and finding out who she is.

Who she is one lucky lady because she ends up with Cameron something.  I was not a huge "All My Children" fan but Cameron played Ryan and he hit hard on Erica when he was first on the show including stripping in front of her at the office.  What a body.

So she's taken him home and they're in bed together and she looks over at the clock.  4:00 am!  He's got to go.  The old woman (that Renee always razzes) lives next door to Bree and, Bree says, she starts her coffee at 5:00 am and if Cam is still there it will be all over the neighborhood.

So she hauls him out of bed.  He's going down the stairs in his underwear and she pulls his pants off the banister and hands them to her.

Can they see each other again? No, Bree says.  She won't even give him her name.  He leaves you with the impression that there will be more.  (And you don't bring Cameron on for just one scene.)

So Bree continues picking up men.  She wakes up and it's like ten or something and a man's in bed with her.  Didn't the alarm go off!!!!  Yes, but he turned it off.  She tells him he's got to get out.  And there's a knock at her door.

She hurries downstairs.  It's nosy neighbor.  At the church bake sell, she always does lemon squares but now another woman says she's going to do them and blah, blah, blah.  While that's going on, right behind the woman is the half-naked man getting dressed. 

Bree tells her she'll tell the woman to make something else and that takes care of everything.  Nosy says something like, yeah, except why there's a naked man behind me.

Bree lies that he's an old friend.  As he walks past her, she says, "Bye, Don."  He corrects her with "Dan."  Nosy feels vindicated.  Bree owns up to it. Nosy looks around and sees an open bottle of wine and two glasses.

Bree is back at the dive with a young man and they're flirting.  He's flexing his biceps and she's stroking them.  And then her Reverend comes up.  Nosy told him Bree was drinking and sleeping around.

Bree agrees to leave but he's lecturing her and telling her that he knows her and she stops in her foot tracks and asks how he can known her when she doesn't even know who she is?

She decides to stay at the dive.  He tells her she can't be the head of the church's women auxillary.  She refuses to be intimidated.  He tells her she can't run the bake sell.  She says she's ran it for 8 years.

The next morning, she makes some great looking dish and has multiple glasses of wine while she does. Now I can understand the drinking. Bree's an alcoholic.  What I can't understand is her driving drunk and clearly she drove to the church on her own.

Yes, alcoholics drive drunk but are we forgetting that Bree's son killed Carlos' mother by running her over while he was drunk?

Anyway, Bree goes into the church for the bake sale.  Nosy and the Reverend exchange looks.  The reverend tells her she needs to leave, she refuses to.  He tells her she's obviously been drinking and will embarrass herself.  And she blows him off.

Her dish is very popular.

And guess who shows up for a slice?

Cameron.

And Bree asks if they should just go back to her place.

That's when Cameron's wife shows up. Bree didn't know he was married.

The woman attacks Bree and calls her a "whore" while everyone's looking.

Bree holds her head up high, tells everyone to go ahead and talk about her and prances out.

"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):

Monday, January 23, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, we explore the silence on the political crisis and the connection to the silence on Iraqi women, and more.
 
Actions do have consequences and the decision by the White House to back Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister in 2010 has had very serious consequences for Iraq and that becomes more obvious each day.  Along with the ongoing political crisis, now there's a new report with observations on Iraq was issued.  The Associated Press quoted Human Rights Watch's Sarah Leah Whitson stating, 'Iraq is quickly slipping back into authoritarianism. Despite U.S. government assurances that it helped create a stable democracy (in Iraq), the reality is that it left behind a budding police state'." She was referring to what Human Rights Watch found and documented in their [PDF format warning] World Report: 2012.  We'll emphasize the focus on Baghdad protests:
 
 
On February 21, Iraqi police stood by as dozens of assailants, some wielding knives and clubs, stabbed and beat at least 20 protesters intending to camp in Tahrir Square in Baghdad, the capital.  During nationwide demonstrations on February 25, security forces killed at least 12 protesters across the country and injured more than 100.  Baghdad security forces beat unarmed journalists and protesters that day, smashing cameras and confiscating memory cards.
[. . .]
On June 10 in Baghdad government-backed thugs armed with wooden planks, knives, iron pipes, and other weapons beat and stabbed peaceful protesters and sexually molested female demonstrators as security forces stood by and watched, sometimes laughing at the victims.
Authorities also used legal means to curtail protests.  On April 13, Iraqi officials issued a new regulations barring street protests and allowing them only at three soccer (football) stadiums, although they have not enforced the regulations. In May the Council of Ministers approved a "Law on the Freedom of Expression of Opinion, Assembly, and Peaceful Demonstrations" that authorizes officials to restrict freedom of assembly to protect "the public interest" and in the interest of "general order or public morals." At this writing the law still awaited parliamentary approval.
[. . .]
On September 8 an unknown assailant shot to death Hadi al-Mahdi, a popular radio journalist often critical of government corruption and social inequality, at his Baghdad home.  The Ministry of Interior said it would investigate his death, but at this writing no one has been charged.  Immediately prior to his death al-Mahdi received several phone and text message threats not to return to Tahrir Square.  Earlier, after attending the February 25 "Day of Anger" mass demonstration in Baghdad, security forces arrested, blindfolded, and severely beat him along with three other journalists during their subsequent interrogation.
 
In January 2012, Human Rights Watch observed that Iraqi authorities had successfully curtailed the Tahrir Square anti-government demonstrations by flooding the weekly protests with pro-government supporters and undercover security agents. Dissenting activists and independent journalists for the most part said that they no longer felt safe attending the demonstrations.
"After more than six years of democratic rule, Iraqis who publicly express their views still do so at great peril," Whitson said. "Al-Mahdi's killing highlights what a deadly profession journalism remains in Iraq."


Dan Morse (Washington Post) reports on the report and also carries a response from Nouri al-Maliki's spokesperson including this statement, "Their number [Baghdad protesters] is gradually decreasing and they do not reflect strong opposition to the government."  The denial might be more convincing were there not so many reports which already demonstrate Nouri's thugs are shutting down protest and attempting to intimidate free speech.  Yesterday  Jane Arraf (Al Jazeera -- link is video) reported on the ever-closing society in Iraq.

Jane Arraf: These days at Baghdad's Liberation Square, there are more soldiers and police than protesters. Not just these but dozens of riot police waiting just under the grid. But they won't have any trouble from these demonstrators. With the killings and arrests of anti-government protesters, these young men chanting support for Nouri al-Maliki have taken over the square. A few won't give up.

Iraqi female protester: I can talk freely, right? This is Tahrir Square. And it's about freedom.

Jane Arraf: But it's not. These men drown her out when she starts criticizing Maliki. They won't give their names. Here at Radio al Mahaba, an independent women's radio station, the staff used to see all their friends at the Friday protests. That's until Hadi al-Mahdi, a controversial radio host, was arrested and badly beaten and then killed at home. And before the first set in the station's cafeteria last fall.

Kamal Jabar (showing the remains of the bombing): This was an in door.

Jane Arraf: One of the founders of the station who was beaten up after a protest last year says they've had enough.

Kamal Jabar: And we got the message. We are moving out of here. I don't feel secure. I don't want to be responsible for any death or injury or harm to any of the staff.

Jane Arraf: There were high hopes for the democracy meant to take root in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled. But in between the fall of Saddam and an increasingly authoritarian government, the freedom to say what you want has been shrinking. Hundreds of activists have either left the country or gone underground. While some of the radio staff have quit, Ahlam al-Daraji wants to continue her show at a new, safer location.

Ahlam al-Daraji: Life is meaningless if you remain afraid and worried all the time. And if I say, "I can't say this because someone might object"? If that's the case, why are we living? Maybe I should leave Iraq?

Jane Arraf: They're staying for now. With fewer voices left, they believe they need to speak up for the rest. Jane Arraf, Al Jazeera, Baghdad.

January 10th, Jomana Karadsheh (CNN -- link is video) reported:
Jomana Karadsheh: Last month, Oday al-Zaidy and a small group of people gathered in a Baghdad square to celebrate the US media withdrawal planning to burn the US flag. But more than 200 security forces swarmed around them, banned us from filming and stopped the protests because they said the group had not obtained a permit. But they still managed to burn the flag. Oday and others were beaten up and detained for a day. Security officials say, they assaulted policemen, something the group denies. "Democracy in Iraq is an illusion," Oday says. "An American illusion and an American lie. Whoever wants to see that for themselves, should come and see what's been happening in Iraq since February 25th." That's when thousands of Iraqis -- partly influenced by the Arab Spring -- took to the streets of cities across the country protesting against corruption and a lack of basic services. [Gun shots are heard and security forces move in.] But from the start, they were met by a fierce crackdown. The government denies an orchestrated effort to put down protests, saying there were just minor violations committed by to put down protests by individual security officers. Activists groups disagree. Human Rights Watch says the violations have been systematic and ongoing documenting dozens of cases where protesters were beaten up, detained and, in some cases, even tortured.
 
 
Human Rights Watch's Samer Muscati: People are afraid to go to demonstrations, are afraid of being rounded up, of being assaulted, of being beat up, of being followed to their own homes.

 
And we can drop back to December 30th when Jomana Karadsheh captured a Friday Baghdad protest in a series of Tweets:
 
 
JomanaCNN jomana karadsheh
demo organized by brother of Bush shoe thrower to celebrate #US withdrawal. 12 people turned up & more than 200 security forces. #Iraq

 
JomanaCNN jomana karadsheh
demo organized by brother of Bush shoe thrower to celebrate #US withdrawal. 12 people turned up & more than 200 security forces. #Iraq
 
JomanaCNN jomana karadsheh
Police Gen. there said gathering was "unauthorized" &kept asking them 2 leave. Hrs later, protesters set #US flag on fire &were beaten up
 
 
JomanaCNN jomana karadsheh
Protesters down to 8 ppl at the end kept asking us not leave, saying our presence stops security forces from detaining them. #Iraq
 
JomanaCNN jomana karadsheh
Camera of 1 Iraqi channel confiscated, our cameraman prevented from filming& my cell phone almost confiscated after taking one still. #Iraq
 
JomanaCNN jomana karadsheh
protesters surrounded as we left, 1 telling me now 3 were detained after being beaten up. cant reach them 2 confirm, their phones off. #IRAQ

 
We can go back further and further. What Nouri's spokesperson wants to deny is in the public record, has been in the public record for some time.  Iraqi's suffer and they suffer because of an illegal war and occupation and because of decisions imposed upon the Iraqi people by the US government.  In March 2010, Iraqis voted. At great risk to themselves. Candidates ran for office -- at great risk if they were Iraqiya because Iraqiya candidates were banned, they were arrested, they were assassinated in the lead up to the March elections.  Nouri and his thugs insisted that Iraqiya was "Ba'athist" and "terrorist" and would destroy Iraq. State of Law, his political slate, was supposedly going to destroy all the other choices. But that didn't happen, Iraqiya came in first.
 
These were serious issues and some people treated them as such in real time.  But most outlets either looked the other way or resorted to cretins as 'trusted voices.'  It was a cabal of men, men who didn't like women, promoted by other men and by women who backstab other women because that's what Queen Bees do (Amy Goodman is but one good example).
 
Recently, video surfaced of US service members urinating on corpses.  While disrespectful, it's not the end of the world for the corpses.  The end of the world for them was how they were killed.  Yet Diane Rehm, to name other example of a Queen Bee, will waste forever on the urination and then take calls on the urination and the shock and the dismay.  Maybe the shock should be that Afghans in their own country were killed by foreigners?
 
Now if you're confused -- and much of the American media is -- urination and killing?  Most people if givien the choice would say, "Piss on me."  But if it's too much to grasp, let's bring up a War Crime that resulted in actual convictions as well as some US soldiers agreeing to admit guilt.  Felicity Arbuthnot (Global Research) noted the incident earlier this month:
 
Nuri Al Maliki made his groveling subservience to Washington clear, when on the 12th December he requested to go to the city's Arlington Military Cemetery and jointly lay a wreath with President Obama, at the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier, to pay his respects to US service personnel who lost their lives, decimating the country of which he is -- for now -- Prime Minister.
Thanking the murderous, marauding, illegal, infanticide-addicted, raping and pillaging invader, must be a historic first.
An extensive search has found no record of Maliki visiting Iraq's lost and bereaved -- from Falluja to Basra, Mosul to Mahmudiyah -- the latter, where fourteen year old Abeer al Janabi was multiply raped by US troops, then murdered and set fire to, with all her family. Presumably, they were also Obama's "unbroken line of heroes", to which he referred, in another defeat ceremony at Fort Bragg.
 
Diane Rehm devoted how many shows to Abeer al-Janabi?  Zero.  Democracy Now! devoted how many shows to Abeer?  Zero.
 
The 14-year-old caught the eye of Steven D. Green.  He and other soldiers decided to invade her home and gang-rape her.  They'd also decided that everyone residing in the home would die, so that there would be no witnesses and the crimes could be blamed on Iraqi insurgents.
 
So they left base, forced their way into the home, started the gang-rape of Abeer with Green leading Abeer's parents and her five-year-old sister into another room where he shot them dead.  And Abeer heard it as she was gang raped.  She heard her parents murdered, she heard her little sister murdered.  And the guys in the room took turns until Green joined them and he went last.  At which point, he then shot Abeer dead.
 
To destroy evidence, they attempted to set her body on fire.
 
These were disgusting War Crimes.  And the media remained silent.  Even when soldiers were standing up in open court and admitting what they did, the media really wasn't interested.  I slag on Arianna Huffington for a number of things but, to her credit, when Green went on trial, she made sure her site (The Huffington Post) covered it.  Arianna took the trial more seriously than did any US outlet with the exception of the Associated Press.
 
Diane Rehm wanted to grand stand on the horror of dead people being pissed on but chose to ignore the gang-rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl by US soldiers. 
 
Again, what took place with the urination was disrespectful.  It does not, however, rise to the level of War Crimes.  (Though the continued US occupation of Afghanistan may rise to the level of War Crimes.)
 
CBS News' Lara Logan was sexually assaulted while reporting from Egypt.  For those who've forgotten, trashy Nir Rosen elected to mock her, to say she deserved it, to turn around and wish it on Anderson Cooper and much worse.  (See Ava and my "The Damned Don't Apologize" if you've forgotten what he did or if you're new to the topic.)  People who don't respect women don't usually respect people.  That's why Nir could attack Lara and then, when called on it, think he could expand it beyond women by attacking Anderson.
 
People like Nir Rosen don't respect women and don't respect the people.  Nir was 'brave' we were told, Nir was 'wonderful.'  And when he finally got called out for his garbage, Amy Goodman and his other little friends avoided the issue.  Amy Goodman, who please remember, is one of the few female broadcasting personalities who has ever elected to appear in Hustler magazine.  They didn't call out their little buddy for the same reason that they didn't cover Abeer, they just don't care about women.  And people like Nir never cared about the Iraqi people.
 
While some people were sounding alarms about Nouri's attempt to remain prime minister, others were excusing Nouri.  In 2010, ahead of the elections, Nir was declaring that it really didn't matter and the Iraqi people didn't really care.  Let's check those keen observations:
 
 
The government is in Shiite hands and now it's a question of whether it will remain in the relatively good Shiite hands of Maliki, who provides security and doesn't bring down an iron fist on you unless you provoke him (sort of like Saddam), or the dirty corrupt and dangerous Shiite hands of Maliki's rivals -- Jaafari, Hakim, etc. I think these elections mean a lot more to Americans (as usual) and maybe to Iraqi elites than they do to Iraqis.
[. . .]
I hate to admit that I hope Maliki wins. He's the best of all the realistic alternatives. It's not like a more secular candidate is likely to win, so if it's not Maliki it will be Jaafari or Chalabi. Frankly this is a rare case where I hope Maliki violates the constitution, acts in some kind of authoritarian way to make sure he wins the elections, because the alternative is fragmentation, or a criminal, sectarian kleptocratic Shiite elite taking over, and then Iraq might unravel.
 
You may notice that the winner isn't even mentioned in Nir Rosen's crazy.  Ayad Allawi makes no appearance.  So much for the wisdom of Nir.  He was also wrong about the turnout.  But his beloved Nouri did stay on.  And has violated the Constitution.
 
You know it takes a real asshole to publicly declare that they hope someone violates a constitution.  But it takes a bigger asshole to provide Nir Rosen an outlet.
 
Who provided the outlet?  Thomas E. Ricks.  The same Thomas who could never even recognize Deborah Amos's book on Iraqis (Eclipse of the Sunnis) or the work of any women.  Excuse me, one woman got recognized.  She took off her top and posed for a picture and Thomas E. Ricks was more than happy to run that photo at Foreign Policy -- in violation of Foreign Policy's own guidelines.  And Thomas E. Ricks has written how many times about Iraq and avoided the plight of Iraqi women how many times in the process.
 
If you pay attention, not only do the creeps reveal themselves, but you also begin to see a pattern emerge, a profile in fact, of those who are never about We The People.
 
As Hillary Clinton rightly observed at the close of the 90s, women's rights are human rights. She and that speech were mocked by Laura Flanders in 2008.  Laura Flanders never managed to call out Nir Rosen for his Lara Logan remarks.  Lara Logan never managed to address the War Crimes against Abeer.  Are you seeing the pattern?  If they dispresect women, if they ridicule or ignore women, then they really aren't about the people.  You can't be willing to attack and/or ignore half the population and be about We The People.
 
When women are ignored, half the population is ignored.  When you're willing to do that, you're really not about "the people."  And the gas bags that Iraq's had to depend upon in the US have repeatedly ignored Iraqi women.  It's no surprise that when Nouri made his power-grab in 2010, when he demanded to remain prime minister in spite of the results, in spite of the will of the people, in spite of the Constitution, that these gas bags didn't sound the alarms.  They didn't care.  They identify with the ruler and dismiss the people, the same way (and for the same reasons) that they dismiss women.
 
While they remained silent, a message was sent by the White House when it elected to back Nouri -- after warnings from human rights group and, reportedly, warnings from the CIA.  If everything that was going on in Iraq right now was going on under Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, the US could say, "Well, that's who the Iraqis picked when they went to the polls." But everything's going on right now -- the political crisis, the increase in violence -- with Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister and he's only prime minister because he was the White House's choice, the Iraqi people chose someone else.

Nouri got the political crisis really going in December when, among other things, he declared Tareq al-Hashemi a terrorist and ordered his arrest.  al-Hashemi was already in the KRG and has remained there as a guest of President Jalal Talabani's. Yesterday was to have been a meet-up in Iraq among political blocs to plan a national conference to address the political crisis Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki started. Last month, President Jalal Talabani and Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi began calling for a national conference. Two Sundays ago, some political blocs met up to work on preliminary details of such a conference. The plan was to meet up again yesterday; however, Talabani had to leave the country instead. Aswat al-Iraq notes that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's Adel Murad states, "President Jalal Talabani shall return to Iraq within one week after his successful spinal surgery in Germany; he is feeling well now."
 
 
Dar Addustour reports Tareq al-Hashemi filed a formal request with Baghdad's Supreme Judicial Council to transfer the case to Kirkuk.  Saturday there were rumors that the KRG was sending a delegation to Baghdad to discuss the case.  Al Mada reported Sunday that the spokesperson for the Supreme Judicial Council of the KRG stated that no delegation was sent.  Hossam Acommok (Al Mada) adds that there are rumors that al-Hashemi will be tried in absentia and that the Parliament has formed a seven-member committee to review the charges and the investigation.
 
Reuters notes 1 soldier was shot dead in Mosul, 1 Sahwa was shot dead in Rashad (three other Sahwas were injured -- "Sahwa," "Awakening" and "Sons of Iraq" are all the same term for resistance fighters the US government put on the payroll to get them to stop attacking the US military; Nouri was supposed to have brought them into the system via government jobs but has not done so) and a Falluja roadside bombing which left two people injured.
 
 
Turning to the US, Senator Patty Murray is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  Her office notes:
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Murray Press Office
January 23, 2012 (202) 224-2834

GAO Report Shows VA's Shortcomings in Dealing with the Rising Number of Homeless Women Veterans

In new report requested by Senator Murray, data shows that the number of homeless women veterans MORE THAN DOUBLED from 1,380 in 2006 to 3,328 in 2010 but that more data is needed
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

(Washington, D.C.) – A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today showed that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has had difficulty in planning for and meeting the unique needs of a growing number of homeless women veterans. The study, which was requested by U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs' Committee, is one of the first of its kind to examine the troubling rise in homelessness among women who have served.

Among the key findings in the report the GAO found that:

· VA has limited data on the number and needs of homeless women veterans, and therefore has difficulty planning to meet their unique needs;

· Homeless women veterans are not always aware of the services available to them;

· VA is unevenly implementing its process to refer homeless veterans to emergency shelter until they are admitted into transitional or permanent housing programs;

· Facilities have difficulty providing for the children of homeless veterans, and

· VA lacks minimum standards for the privacy, safety, and security of women veterans in mixed-gender housing facilities.



"While we have seen a decrease in the overall number of homeless veterans, the number and needs of homeless women veterans across the country are growing and the VA is struggling to keep up," said Chairman Murray. "I've been sounding the alarm that these veterans, many of whom are also struggling to provide for their children, are going to need unique attention from the VA. But as this report shows, the VA has not properly planned for or met the unique needs of these veterans. I'm going to be working to ensure that the recommendations in this report, including increased collaboration between VA and HUD, are followed. I'll also be working to make sure that as more women return from Iraq and Afghanistan, the VA is keeping pace with the need to track and provide the services that they need."



Senator Murray has been a leader in calling for increased services for women veterans, including those who have become homeless. Last Congress, she enacted legislation to create an employment program for
homeless women veterans, including those with children. This year, she passed legislation, which extends VA's transitional housing programs for special populations, including women with children. She is also continuing to advocate for a legislative provision, included in S. 914, that authorizes VA to pay for the children of homeless veterans in the Grant and Per Diem program. Senator Murry intends to explore this issue, and others at a hearing on veteran homelessness shortly.



###
 
Meghan Roh
Deputy Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834