Happening Now in the Forum
July 8, 2008 at 02:03 PM
by BlogMaster
A sample of what's being talked about today in the
VFW WebCOM Membership Forum:
These discussions and more are going on right now in the
VFW WebCOM Membership Forum.
And don't forget, you can stay on top of all the latest news and forum discussions by downloading your
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Commander-In-Chief Independence Day Message
July 4, 2008 at 08:04 AM
by BlogMaster
As we celebrate the 232nd anniversary of our nation's independence, let us pause to remember the victories in battle and the blood that was shed to preserve our freedoms. Let us give thanks to our forefathers for their vision of liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness. Most importantly, let us pay tribute to our nation's greatest assets: our servicemen and servicewomen in uniform who so proudly serve our nation in peace and defend our freedoms in war. We salute you for your dedication to duty and service to country. Thank you from the 2.4 million members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and its Auxiliaries.
God bless America.
George Lisicki
VFW Commander-in-Chief
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President Signs New GI Bill Into Law
July 1, 2008 at 02:07 PM
by BlogMaster
KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 30, 2008 – President Bush’s signature today on a new GI Bill for the 21st Century is being hailed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. as a tremendous victory for a new generation of military servicemen and women who have been at war for almost seven years.
"This is a tremendous victory for America's veterans, military and their families," exclaimed VFW national commander George Lisicki, a Vietnam combat veteran from Carteret, N.J.
"I salute Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) for his determination to get this bill passed, the president for his strong support of our military, and the entire VFW membership for their untiring effort to get their congressional delegations to cosponsor S. 22 or its companion bill in the House, H.R. 5740.”
The new 21st Century GI Bill will pay the highest in-state public tuition rate, and provide for books, fees, and a living stipend. It eliminates the $1,200 enrollment fee, extends the use-or-lose benefit requirement from 10 to 15 years, and greatly enhances the amount paid to Guard and Reserve members. The new GI Bill automatically adjusts itself as tuitions increase, and provides a dollar-for-dollar tuition match for private colleges and universities who choose to participate in the program. A new provision added to the bill also allows reenlisting servicemembers to transfer their educational benefit to their spouse and/or children.
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VFW Says 'Thank You!' for New GI Bill
June 26, 2008 at 01:39 PM
by BlogMaster
WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is saluting Congress for the overwhelming passage of a new GI Bill for the 21st Century. The bill, S. 22, the "Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act," was attached to the war funding supplemental that the House passed June 19 and the Senate is predicted to approve this evening. President Bush is expected to quickly sign it into law.
"This is a tremendous victory for America's veterans, military, and their families," exclaimed VFW national commander George Lisicki, a Vietnam combat veteran from Carteret, N.J., "and we have Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia to thank for his rock-steady determination to get this bill passed."
S. 22 captured the VFW's immediate attention when Webb introduced it on his first day in office, Jan. 4, 2007. His bill – which increases college assistance for veterans – was overshadowed last year by increased calls to end the war in Iraq and the administration's sudden announcement to surge 30,000 additional troops into Iraq. But Webb, the former Secretary of the Navy under the Reagan Administration and a Marine Corps infantry officer who received the Navy Cross for heroism during the Vietnam War, pressed on, fortified by the challenge to get his bill heard.
He worked for more than a year to build a coalition of allies, not only within his own Democratic Party, but from across the aisle and within the House. These allies include 57 other Senate cosponsors, to include five fellow GI Bill beneficiaries: Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel (R-NE), World War II and Korean War veteran John Warner (R-VA), and World War II veterans Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI).
S. 22's companion bill in the House, H.R. 5740, was introduced by Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), and it garnered 302 bipartisan cosponsors, to include Korean War veteran Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Sam Johnson (R-TX), a veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, who was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for nearly seven years.
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VFW Demands Accountability Over Chantix Issue
June 19, 2008 at 04:33 PM
by BlogMaster
WASHINGTON (June 19, 2008) - "Enough is enough," said George J. Lisicki, the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., in response to today's Washington Times article that provides additional information about the potential lethal effect a prescribed drug is having on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-diagnosed veterans who volunteered for a Department of Veterans Affairs smoking cessation program.
"Those in the VA who failed to properly serve America's veterans must resign their positions," said Lisicki, a Vietnam veteran from Carteret, N.J. "If not, then the VA secretary must take decisive action to terminate them."
The smoking cessation research program uses the drug Chantix, which Food and Drug Administration officials say helps people to stop smoking, but according to a Washington Times/ABC News investigative report on Tuesday, Chantix has also been linked to almost 40 suicides and more than 400 incidents of suicidal behavior. The drug's manufacturer and the FDA have recently cautioned healthcare providers about adverse side effects that could produce changes in behavior ranging from anxiety and depression to suicide.
All 940 veterans enrolled in the VA's smoking cessation program have PTSD. A test group of 143 of them were prescribed Chantix, which is also known as Varenicline.
Lisicki questions why VA clinicians who knew of Chantix's hazardous side effects would allow veterans suffering from PTSD to continue taking it, because "professional ethics and common sense just dictates that clinicians would stop their patients from taking the drug just to err on the side of safety for the veterans and their families," he said. As of May 21, the Federal Aviation Administration banned the use of Chantix by airline pilots and air traffic controllers.
The VFW national commander also questions the leadership ability of those who oversee these types of medical research programs, asks why it took the VA two more days before revealing additional details of those in the study; and wonders what other information has yet to be uncovered. Aside from Chantix, other drugs that are were reported to currently being used to treat veterans with PTSD are the anticonvulsant Divalproex, and the antidepressants Paroxetine, Mirtazapine and Citalopram, all of which carry warnings of potential suicidal side effects.
"The VA is known for quality healthcare that is delivered by highly trained and educated medical professionals and staff, but in recent weeks, the American public has read stories accusing the department of not properly taking care of veterans with mental health problems, to include veterans attempting suicide under VA care. These stories, to include the well-documented veterans' claims backlog, are having a negative cumulative effect on the overall image of the VA," said Lisicki.
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New I.R.S. Organizational Income Filing Requirement
June 2, 2008 at 11:15 AM
by BlogMaster
The U S Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) now requires, under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, that
all tax-exempt organizations file income statements each year .
Here is how we will do it in the VFW Department of North Carolina.
1- If your post earns over $25,000 in gross income during your fiscal year, you must file an IRS Form 990 (which you should already have been doing, anyway!). Keep the same fiscal year you have been using in the past, be it the calendar year, the VFW accounting year (1 July-30 June) or the Department's fiscal year (1 June-31 May).
2 - If your post earns $25,000 or less each year, and you have access to the Internet, go to www.epostcard.form990.org/default.asp where you will find instructions on how to login and file your own post Form 990N Electronic Postcard. You may use whatever fiscal year you want, but for simplicity purposes, we suggest 1 July-31 June, because 1 July is the date that you transfer your Post Dues Reserve each year to the Post General Fund, and that will remind you to file. The IRS Internet site will not let you file the Form 990N until after the end of your fiscal year.
3 - If your post earns $25,000 or less each year and you do not have access to the Internet, we will file your Form 990N Electronic Postcard for you. There is no paper form that you can file with the IRS. If you do not file a Form 990 or 990N each year, your post will lose its tax-exempt status!!
Our address is P.O. Box 25337, Raleigh, NC 27611.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Form 990N Declaration
Post ______does not have access to the Internet for Form 990N purposes.
Please file our Form 990N for us!
___________________________________
Signature and Position
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VFW Commander Discusses Veterans' Issues with President
May 22, 2008 at 10:42 AM
by BlogMaster
WASHINGTON,May 21, 2008 – The national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. met with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office this morning to discuss issues important to America’s veterans, servicemembers and their families.
George Lisicki thanked the president for his strong support of the troops and their families, and for personally hosting the VFW's Voice of Democracy winners during his tenure, but the Vietnam veteran from Carteret, N.J., also used the opportunity to voice the VFW's strong support of the new GI Bill for the 21st century that has been proposed by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.).
"Creating a new GI Bill has been a long-standing national goal for the VFW," said Lisicki, who discounts criticism by some in the administration who say an enhanced education package would result in a mass exodus of first-term enlistees.
"People are leaving after their first enlistment because they are tired of being shot at, and their families are tired of the frequent deployments," he said. "Whether they stay in four years or 20, we owe this newest Greatest Generation the gift of education, and that's why the VFW is solidly behind Webb's bill."
The VFW national commander also addressed military quality of life issues, and concern for the proper care of returning wounded to the nation's military and Veterans Affairs medical facilities, as well as compensation and disability benefits.
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VFW WebCOM Membership Forum: 1000+ Members Strong and Growing
April 8, 2008 at 04:09 PM
by BlogMaster
Late last evening, our 1,000th member joined the VFW WebCOM Membership forum!!!
We'd like to take a moment to thank you all for visiting the forum over the past year and taking the time to register to become part of the VFW WebCOM Community.
If you haven't visited the forum lately, we'd like to take this opportunity to invite you back to see what you've been missing. We now have over 7,400 entries in nearly 2,000 different topics. The forum has become a wealth of information about all sorts of topics relating to the VFW organization, the VFW community and veterans issues.
We'd also like to issue a special thank you to our top posters in the forum. These are the folks who stop by the forum on a regular basis and keep the information moving. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are today:
We'd also like to remind you that you can stay on top of all the latest entries to the forum, get updates on all the information moving thru the VFW WebCOM Network and support your department by downloading and installing the VFW WebCOM Departmental toolbar at
http://toolbars.vfwwebcom.org
And finally, if you'd like to claim the weblog for your VFW Post or District, you can contact your state Blogmaster or IJK3770 in the forum for assistance in getting your Post or District site up and running. We hope you've enjoyed your visit(s) to the forum and welcome your feedback in building a bigger and better community as we reach for our next 1,000 members.
Regards, The VFW WebCOM Membership Forum Team.
http://www.vfwwebcom.org/forum
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Telephone Help for Military, Veterans Expands to "Around-the-Clock" Service
April 3, 2008 at 04:28 AM
by BlogMaster
North Carolina's telephone referral service for counseling and support has expanded its hours to around-the-clock service in response to the needs of veterans and their families.
The CARE-LINE service, operated by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to connect people with counseling and other services provided by government agencies and nonprofits. In each of the past two years, it has received more than 200,000 calls, state officials say.
Its expanded service was in part a response to the needs of returning military personnel, veterans and their families, state officials say. In addition to being home to large numbers of veterans, North Carolina is home to more than 125,000 active-duty, reserve and National Guard personnel, about half of whom have served in Afghanistan and Iraq or on related missions.
Reach CARE-LINE 24 hours a day, seven days a week at (800) 662-7030 (English or Spanish) or (877) 452-2514 (TTY). Additional information is online at http://www.nccarelink.gov.
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Post Information
February 12, 2008 at 09:15 PM
by BlogMaster
Mailing Address: (Commander) 6304 W. Friendly Ave, Greensboro, NC 27410
Post Location: Meets at Spring Garden Friends Church
Meetings: 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM
Canteen: No
Commander: Arvil Evans, 336-299-3194
QM: Jerry Cecil, 336-674-9711
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