Inspiration. Courage. Hope.

Support the Burn Pit Registry Act

We need your help! We have put together a let­ter that can be sent to your Con­gress­men or Sen­a­tor in sup­port of the Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011. You can down­load the let­ter here. For more infor­ma­tion please read this arti­cle. Thank you for your support!

Posts in category BurnPits360.Org

BurnPits360 Legislative Update

Nov16th
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Daniel Meyer

BurnPits360 Leg­isla­tive Update

We have received some impor­tant infor­ma­tion, mean­ing it’s time for a BurnPits360 leg­isla­tive update.

Sen­ate Update

A reli­able source has shared a tip regard­ing the sta­tus of the Open Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011 on the Sen­ate side. S. 1798 may be head­ing to the floor for a vote sooner than expected. This is great news for BurnPits360.Org. Espe­cially com­ing on the heels of last week’s storm­ing of Capi­tol Hill. The many hours spent walk­ing from office to office has proven fruit­ful in the push for leg­is­la­tion to pro­tect our vet­er­ans from toxic burn pits. It seems our elected offi­cials have taken notice to our cause.

Also, this past week, Sen Ron Wyden [OR] and Sen John D. Rock­e­feller IV [WV] signed on to co-sponsor the bill. That brings the total co-sponsors to 9 in the Sen­ate.

All of this is great, but fur­ther work is needed. To ensure the pas­sage of the bill, it is imper­a­tive we don’t get lack­adaisi­cal. The bill is cur­rently being intro­duced to two com­mit­tees; Armed Ser­vices Com­mit­tee and Vet­er­ans Affairs Com­mit­tee. This means the mem­bers of these com­mit­tees first and fore­most need to sup­port the bill. We have put together a list of Sen­a­tors who are on these com­mit­tees and not co-sponsoring the bill yet. Here they are:

Joseph Lieber­man (CT)
Jack Reed(RI)
Ben Nel­son (NE)
Joe Manchin III(WV)
Jeanne Sha­heen (NH)
Kirsten Gilli­brand (NY)
Richard Blu­men­thal (CT)
James Inhofe (OK)
Jeff Ses­sions (AL)
Saxby Cham­b­liss (GA)
Rob Port­man (OH)
Kelly Ayotte (NH)
Susan Collins (MN)
Lind­sey Gra­ham (SC)
John Cornyn (TX)
David Vit­ter (LA)
Sher­rod Brown (OH)
Jon Tester (MT)
Mark Begich (AK)
Johnny Isak­son (GA)
Roger Wicker (MS)
Mike Johanns (NE)
Scott Brown (MA)
Jerry Moran (KS)
John Booz­man (AR)

It is vital to gain the sup­port of these mem­bers of Sen­ate. They are on the com­mit­tees that will vote on the bill and if it doesn’t make it out of these com­mit­tees, it won’t make it to the floor. If you are a con­stituent of any of these Sen­a­tors, please down­load this let­ter and send it to their office. You can find a list of Con­gres­sional con­tacts here. If you aren’t sure who your Sen­a­tors are, you can use this great web­site to help.

If you’re not a con­stituent of any of these Sen­a­tors, please do us the favor of shar­ing this on any and all social media sites. At the bot­tom are links for shar­ing this post. The more peo­ple we reach, the more likely the bill will pass!

House of Representatives

We don’t have press­ing news on the House side of the bill. There are cur­rently 21 co-sponsors for H.R. 3337. Please con­tinue to con­tact your Rep­re­sen­ta­tives at their local dis­trict offices. We will release any news we get on the HoR side as soon as we get any.

Political    , , , , ,

Operation Contact Media

Nov12th
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Daniel Meyer
Oper­a­tion Con­tact Media

As I indi­cated yes­ter­day on my Face­book page, I need help with a project I’ve decided to call Oper­a­tion Con­tact Media. The goal is to con­tinue spread­ing the word about the Open Air Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011. The bill is known on Capi­tol Hill as H.R. 3337 and S. 1798. We need to con­tinue get­ting media cov­er­age for the bill to ensure it doesn’t fall out of view of our nation’s representatives.

Along with BurnPits360.Org, we have put together a let­ter which is avail­able for down­load at the top of this page or you can down­load the let­ter here. Please fill out the nec­es­sary items on the let­ter and then find your rep­re­sen­ta­tive on this site. The site is extremely help­ful and includes a list of Con­gres­sional fax num­bers and con­tact forms. After con­tact­ing your rep­re­sen­ta­tives in Con­gress, next is time to con­tact your local media.

This is where Oper­a­tion Con­tact Media comes to light. Every­one who sup­ports this piece of leg­is­la­tion and what it will do to help sup­port vet­er­ans affected by toxic burn pits needs to con­tact their local media. This entire oper­a­tion is to inform as many Amer­i­cans as pos­si­ble about this bill and what is hap­pen­ing to so many of our vet­er­ans. Here are a few options of how to imple­ment this plan:

  1. Down­load the afore­men­tioned let­ter and email it to your local media out­lets, ie. news­pa­per, tele­vi­sion, Internet.
  2. If you don’t feel com­fort­able talk­ing directly to your local media, please email them and ask them to con­tact Daniel Meyer and I will share the infor­ma­tion about the bill with them.
  3. If you have any friends, fam­ily, or acquain­tances who work for a media out­let, and would be will­ing to help out, please have them con­tact me and I will share the infor­ma­tion about the bill.

What mat­ters the most is that the infor­ma­tion about the Open Air Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011 is dis­sem­i­nated to the largest audi­ence pos­si­ble. We would love to have every Con­gress­men and Sen­a­tor on board when this bill goes up for a vote after the new year. If you have any ques­tions, please con­tact me and I will help in any way possible.

We can’t do this with­out the help of all Amer­i­cans, so please share this with as many peo­ple as pos­si­ble. Thank you for help­ing and remem­ber, this is what you’re supporting:

Burn Pit Video

Military, Personal, Political    , ,

BurnPits360 Storms Capitol Hill — Part 1

Nov9th
2011 2 Comments Written by Daniel Meyer

BurnPits360 Storms Capi­tol Hill — Part 1

Yes­ter­day, Novem­ber 8, 2011, BurnPits360 stormed capi­tol hill, kick­ing off a three day BurnPits360 Storms Capitol Hillcam­paign. The sec­ond week in a row being in our nations capi­tol, this event dis­plays the ded­i­ca­tion and tenac­ity this great orga­ni­za­tion exudes in sup­port of vet­er­ans who have been neg­a­tively affected by toxic burn pits. It also comes just a few short days after the intro­duc­tion of the Open Air Burn Pits Reg­istry Act of 2011 by Con­gress­man Todd Akin — R — Missouri.

BurnPits360, a vet­eran orga­ni­za­tion, is com­prised of a wide array of peo­ple. From vet­er­ans who are per­son­ally suf­fer­ing, to spouses who have lost their loved ones to ill­nesses caused by the burn pits. The most impor­tant thing to remem­ber is what the orga­ni­za­tion is fight­ing for: Responsibility

Respon­si­bil­ity is the key. The gov­ern­ment and it’s agen­cies need to show respon­si­bil­ity by sup­port­ing vet­er­ans who are suf­fer­ing from the effects of burn pits. Allow­ing toxic smoke to bil­low over highly pop­u­lated bases was a mis­take, we all know this. The dif­fer­ence will be how these agen­cies react to the prob­lem. They can either sweep it under the rug, pre­tend­ing it never hap­pened, or can accept the fact there were mis­cal­cu­la­tions in the process of dis­pos­ing of trash and chem­i­cals, and fully stand behind vet­er­ans who show signs of ill­ness from expo­sure to the fires.

Allow­ing this to become another Agent Orange type sit­u­a­tion would be a great travesty.

BurnPits360 & The Truth Has Changed

BurnPits360 has joined forces with The Truth Has Changed, a polit­i­cal orga­ni­za­tion “designed to high­light and uncover cor­rup­tive prac­tices among for­eign mil­i­tary con­trac­tors with a focus on per­sonal juris­dic­tion rights” (Quote from The Truth Has Changed Blog). The orga­ni­za­tion is work­ing to pass a bill enti­tled the LTC Dominic “Rocky” Barag­ona Jus­tice for Amer­i­can Heroes Harmed by Con­trac­tors Act (S.526). The bill, which focuses on hold­ing for­eign con­trac­tors account­able for neg­li­gence abroad, would greatly help the cause BurnPits360 is fight­ing for as well.

Work­ing together will only strengthen both orga­ni­za­tions, cre­at­ing a win-win sit­u­a­tion for BurnPits360 and The Truth Has Changed.

Sum­mary

This arti­cle, BurnPits360 Storms Capi­tol Hill — Part 1, is about BurnPits360’s role in this weeks cam­paign. Gain­ing sup­port for the Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011 takes a lot of work and BurnPits360 is in Wash­ing­ton D.C. doing just that: Work­ing hard. Hope­fully by the time they leave, more co-sponsors are added to the bill, bring­ing us all closer to the goal we are all seek­ing: Responsibility.

Please con­tinue to fol­low this story here on DanielMeyerBlog.Com, your source for up-to-date BurnPits360 news!

Military, Political    , , , , , ,

Burn Pit Registry Act of 2011 Update

Nov6th
2011 11 Comments Written by Daniel Meyer
Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011 Update

This is the DanielMeyerBlog.Com and BurnPits360.Org Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011 Update.

On Thurs­day, Novem­ber 3, 2011, Con­gress­man Todd Akin announced at a press con­fer­ence the intro­duc­tion of the Open Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011. The bill, which has bi-partisan sup­port, was also intro­duced to the Sen­ate by Sen­a­tor Tom Udall. The bill is quickly build­ing a cast of co-sponsors as well. In the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, these 18 rep­re­sen­ta­tives have signed on to co-sponsor the bill:

Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [R-MD-6]
Rep Bor­dallo, Madeleine Z. [D-GU]
Rep Car­son, Andre [D-IN-7]
Rep Cas­tor, Kathy [D-FL-11]
Rep Cony­ers, John, Jr. [D-MI-14]
Rep Franks, Trent [R-AZ-2]
Rep Gri­jalva, Raul M. [D-AZ-7]
Rep Hanna, Richard L. [R-NY-24]
Rep Hein­rich, Mar­tin [D-NM-1]
Rep Kissell, Larry [D-NC-8]
Rep Latham, Tom [R-IA-4]
Rep LoBiondo, Frank A. [R-NJ-2]
Rep Long, Billy [R-MO-7]
Rep Lujan, Ben Ray [D-NM-3]
Rep Owens, William L. [D-NY-23]
Rep Pearce, Ste­van [R-NM-2]
Rep Roe, David P. [R-TN-1]
Rep Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA-29]

The fol­low­ing vet­eran orga­ni­za­tions are fully sup­port­ing this impor­tant piece of leg­is­la­tion as well:

Vet­er­ans of For­eign Wars (VFW)
Amer­i­can Vet­er­ans (AMVETS)
Dis­abled Amer­i­can Vet­er­ans (DAV)
Amer­i­can Legion
The Retired Enlisted Asso­ci­a­tion (TREA)
National Mil­i­tary Fam­ily Asso­ci­a­tion (NMFA)
Burn Pits 360
Viet­nam Vet­er­ans of Amer­ica (VVA)
Air Force Asso­ci­a­tion (AFA)
Non-Commissioned Offi­cers Asso­ci­a­tion (NCOA)
Uni­formed Ser­vices Dis­abled Retirees (USDR)
Asso­ci­a­tion of the United States Navy (AUSN)

Lastly, here are the offi­cial bill num­bers for the HoR and Senate:

2. H.R.3337 : To direct the Sec­re­tary of Vet­er­ans Affairs to estab­lish an open burn pit reg­istry to ensure that mem­bers of the Armed Forces who may have been exposed to toxic chem­i­cals and fumes caused by open burn pits while deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq receive infor­ma­tion regard­ing such expo­sure, and for other pur­poses.
Spon­sor: Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] (intro­duced 11/3/2011)      Cospon­sors (18)
Com­mit­tees: House Vet­er­ans’ Affairs
Lat­est Major Action: 11/3/2011 Referred to House com­mit­tee. Sta­tus: Referred to the House Com­mit­tee on Vet­er­ans’ Affairs.
3. S.1798 : A bill to direct the Sec­re­tary of Vet­er­ans Affairs to estab­lish an open burn pit reg­istry to ensure that mem­bers of the Armed Forces who may have been exposed to toxic chem­i­cals and fumes caused by open burn pits while deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq receive infor­ma­tion regard­ing such expo­sure, and for other pur­poses.
Spon­sor: Sen Udall, Tom [NM] (intro­duced 11/3/2011)      Cospon­sors (7)
Com­mit­tees: Sen­ate Vet­er­ans’ Affairs
Lat­est Major Action: 11/3/2011 Referred to Sen­ate com­mit­tee. Sta­tus: Read twice and referred to the Com­mit­tee on Vet­er­ans’ Affairs.

 

What’s Next?

The bill is unof­fi­cially sched­uled to be voted on some time after the New Year. The goal for DanielMeyerBlog.Com and BurnPits360.Org is to con­tinue urg­ing con­stituents to con­tact their rep­re­sen­ta­tives. We need as many co-sponsors as pos­si­ble before the bill is offi­cially brought in front of Con­gress for a vote.

Here’s how you can help. We have put together a let­ter that you can use to send to your rep­re­sen­ta­tive. You can down­load the let­ter here. If you need help find­ing out who your rep­re­sen­ta­tive is, you can use this great web­site.

Now it’s time to send your com­pleted let­ter to your rep­re­sen­ta­tive. This web­site has fax num­bers and links to con­tact forms for all our representatives.

For myself, and all the vet­er­ans who are suf­fer­ing from expo­sure to toxic burn pits, please make sure your Con­gress­man or Sen­a­tor is sup­port­ing this bill. All of you can make a dif­fer­ence and your help is greatly appreciated!

Military, Political    , , , , , ,

Burn Pit Video

Nov5th
2011 2 Comments Written by Daniel Meyer
Burn Pit Video

DanielMeyerBlog.Com in asso­ci­a­tion with BurnPits360.Org has com­pleted the first burn pit video. The pur­pose of this video is to inform, not lay blame on any­one. The Amer­i­can pub­lic need to know what mem­bers of our Armed Forces are fac­ing. Open air burn pits are caus­ing major ill­nesses and dis­eases in vet­er­ans who were exposed to them.

Here is the video now avail­able to the public:

 

Please share this video with every­one and any­one please. Thank you!

 

Blog, Military, Personal    ,

BurnPits360.Org Stands Strong

Nov3rd
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Daniel Meyer

BurnPits360.Org Stands Strong

BurnPits360.Org stands strong in light of a con­tro­ver­sial arti­cle released on Octo­ber 31, BurnPits360.Org Stands Strong2011. The arti­cle, which was released by the IOM (Insti­tute of Med­i­cine), is enti­tled Long-Term Health Con­se­quences of Expo­sure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan (You can find the arti­cle in it’s entirety here). This arti­cle only strength­ens BurnPits360 posi­tion in regards to burn pits caus­ing seri­ous health issues.

The research artic­u­lated by the IOM shows that there is insuf­fi­cient data to prove that burn pits are not caus­ing long-term health prob­lems. Many peo­ple felt this was dam­ag­ing to BurnPits360’s cause, but in all actu­al­ity, it has the oppo­site effect. The major­ity of infor­ma­tion that has been released in pre­vi­ous years has sup­ported gov­ern­ment claims that expo­sure to burn pits could not pos­si­bly be caus­ing long-term health prob­lems. Now, the arti­cle by the IOM allows BurnPits360 to prove that  sci­en­tific evi­dence can’t even sup­port the government’s claims. Addi­tion­ally, mul­ti­ple vet­er­ans have been med­ically dis­charged on the grounds of expo­sure to burn pits, bol­ster­ing BurnPits360.Org’s case even further.

It seems the tide is turn­ing towards the truth being revealed.

Before my expo­sure to the burn pits, I was a com­pletely healthy, very phys­i­cally fit man in the Air Force. Now, after mul­ti­ple deploy­ments and being in close prox­im­ity to the fires, I suf­fer from a myr­iad of issues, includ­ing a lung dis­ease that is cat­e­go­rized as a ter­mi­nal ill­ness. I’ve never smoked or been exposed to any­thing else that would cause this ill­ness, so if it’s not the burn pits, what could it pos­si­bly be?

The burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan were sup­pose to be tem­po­rary solu­tions on how to dis­pose of trash, med­ical waste, chem­i­cals, plas­tics, and many other sub­stances. They also used JP-8 aka jet fuel to accel­er­ate the fires, which in itself is a hor­ri­ble idea. Instead of being tem­po­rary, the burn pits became “the norm” for many bases in the Mid­dle East and were ran by com­pa­nies, that for the most part, went com­pletely unchecked and reg­u­la­tions that were in place were not enforced. Nobody stopped to think of the poten­tial harm to mem­bers of our Armed Forces, includ­ing myself.

It’s time that the con­trac­tors who were oper­at­ing these burn pits step for­ward and apol­o­gize for the dam­age they have caused to so many vet­er­ans across our nation. Some­one needs to be held account­able for this tragedy and BurnPits360.Org is work­ing hard to make sure that becomes a reality.

Many people’s lives have been neg­a­tively affected by burn pits, includ­ing some whose loved ones have passed away from ill­nesses incurred from expo­sure to these toxic pits. This arti­cle by the IOM is finally a step in the right direc­tion towards some­one claim­ing respon­si­bil­ity in what BurnPits360 calls “the new agent orange.” The hard work and ded­i­ca­tion of those affil­i­ated with BurnPits360 is inspir­ing. I feel priv­i­leged to be able to work so closely with their organization.

Open Air Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011 Update

Today, Novem­ber 3, 2011, Con­gress­man Todd Akin intro­duced the Open Air Burn Pit Reg­istry Act of 2011 at a press con­fer­ence in Wash­ing­ton D.C. Rosie Tor­res and Aubrey Tap­ley from BurnPits360.Org were present at the press con­fer­ence. Major vet­er­ans orga­ni­za­tions, such as the Amer­i­can Legion, Vet­er­ans of For­eign Wars, and Dis­abled Amer­i­can Vet­er­ans, were also on hand.

The media was at the press con­fer­ence today as well. USA Today and Fox News were the two larger media out­lets present. Hope­fully, this expo­sure con­tin­ues to help with gain­ing co-sponsors for the bill before it goes up for a vote in the begin­ning of 2012. This gives us ample time to con­tinue spread­ing the word about the impor­tance of this bill and inform­ing peo­ple how they can con­tact their rep­re­sen­ta­tives. A let­ter will be avail­able for down­load from DanielMeyerBlog.Com that will make con­tact­ing your con­gress­man or sen­a­tor that much easier.

For more infor­ma­tion about this bill, please read this arti­cle which includes ways you can help!

Military, Political    , , , , , , , ,
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