Videographer needs financial help/Military Widow confronts Donald Rumsfeld at Tacoma Book Signing About Husband's Suicide

Friends: I got some good news earlier from a patron who challenged me to increase the # of backers supporting my current project - TAKING FREEDOM PLAZA (even if those people only back the project at ONE DOLLAR) and then she will make up the difference before the pledge drive ends (midnight ET Wednesday). Right now there are 187 backers who have pledged over $21,000. My challenge is to reach 400 "backers" - even if those 400 backers only yield another $400. Can I ask you to help? Can you get 10 people to chip in at least ONE DOLLAR for this project in the next 24hrs? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/736352510/taking-freedom-plaza Why only one dollar? Again - I have a patron who has challenged me to reach a plateau of 400 "backers" – yes- even if they only pledge one dollar- and if I can demonstrate that kind of widespread support, that she will make up the difference. So, this project will get fully funded- with your help. Do you have the power of persuasion over 10 people to convince them to take a few moments and pledge A SINGLE DOLLAR? I think you do. And I thank you in advance for your support. Dennis Trainor   Find me on twitter facebook & on YouTube   Steering Committee October2011.org Take the pledge @ www.October2011.org Military Widow confronts Donald Rumsfeld at Tacoma Book Signing About Husband's Suicide By Lefty Coaster, DailyKos Posted on August 29, 2011, Printed on August 30, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/657458/military_widow_confronts_donald_rumsfeld_at_tacoma_book_signing_about_husband%5C%27s_suicide  This was such a poignant story in the local news here in Western Washington I need to share this Military Widow's tragic story here. Ashley Joppa-Hagemann's husband  Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann an Army Ranger, who as HIS NINTH DEPLOYMENT approached, committed suicide rather go back. Ashley with a companion confronted Donald Rumsfeld at a book signing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just south of Tacoma. Army Ranger's widow expelled from Rumsfeld book signing Ashley Joppa-Hagemann said on Saturday that security officers for the former secretary of defense escorted her out by the arm. She and the executive director of a Lakewood-based anti-war group confronted Rumsfeld as he promoted his memoir, "Known and Unknown." She had introduced herself to Rumsfeld by handing a copy of her husband's funeral program to the former defense secretary. She told him her husband had joined the military because he believed the lies told by Rumsfeld during his tenure with the Bush administration, then later killed himself because he didn't want to be deployed for the ninth time. "My husband joined the military, and it was his (Rumsfeld's) lies that cost my husband his life," Joppa-Hagemann said in a later interview. "And as soon as I mentioned my husband, he said, 'Oh, I heard about that.'" That a War Criminal like Rumsfeld is free to travel the country on a book tour peddling his self serving attempt to revise and sanitize his role in a dark chapter in our nation's recent history is obscene. Rumsfeld had heard about Ashley's story before the confrontation so he had to know that she had been through numerous wrenching separations before finally losing her husband so tragically. I only hope his blood ran cold when he heard Ashley's words and saw her husband's funeral program. Joppa-Hagemann and Gonzales say the military doesn't do enough to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This has been a long festering problem that continues to claim the lives of our service members who are being asked to endure repeated deployments to our interminable wars including one that is dragging on in its 10th year with no end in sight. Widow: After 8 deployments, Army Ranger takes own life "It was just horrible. And he would just cry," says Ashley Hagemann. Ashley says her husband Jared tried to come to grips with what he'd seen and done on his eight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. "And there's no way that any God would forgive him - that he was going to hell," says Ashley. "He couldn't live with that any more." Ashley says her Army Ranger husband wanted out of the military. "He just wanted to know what it felt like to be normal again," she says. It's time to care for our all of our service members at risk. It's time to bring all the troops home.   © 2011 All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews//

By Lefty Coaster, DailyKos Posted on August 29, 2011, Printed on August 30, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/657458/military_widow_confronts_donald_rumsfeld_at_tacoma_book_signing_about_husband%5C%27s_suicide  This was such a poignant story in the local news here in Western Washington I need to share this Military Widow's tragic story here. Ashley Joppa-Hagemann's husband  Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann an Army Ranger, who as HIS NINTH DEPLOYMENT approached, committed suicide rather go back. Ashley with a companion confronted Donald Rumsfeld at a book signing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just south of Tacoma. Army Ranger's widow expelled from Rumsfeld book signing Ashley Joppa-Hagemann said on Saturday that security officers for the former secretary of defense escorted her out by the arm. She and the executive director of a Lakewood-based anti-war group confronted Rumsfeld as he promoted his memoir, "Known and Unknown." She had introduced herself to Rumsfeld by handing a copy of her husband's funeral program to the former defense secretary. She told him her husband had joined the military because he believed the lies told by Rumsfeld during his tenure with the Bush administration, then later killed himself because he didn't want to be deployed for the ninth time. "My husband joined the military, and it was his (Rumsfeld's) lies that cost my husband his life," Joppa-Hagemann said in a later interview. "And as soon as I mentioned my husband, he said, 'Oh, I heard about that.'" That a War Criminal like Rumsfeld is free to travel the country on a book tour peddling his self serving attempt to revise and sanitize his role in a dark chapter in our nation's recent history is obscene. Rumsfeld had heard about Ashley's story before the confrontation so he had to know that she had been through numerous wrenching separations before finally losing her husband so tragically. I only hope his blood ran cold when he heard Ashley's words and saw her husband's funeral program. Joppa-Hagemann and Gonzales say the military doesn't do enough to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This has been a long festering problem that continues to claim the lives of our service members who are being asked to endure repeated deployments to our interminable wars including one that is dragging on in its 10th year with no end in sight. Widow: After 8 deployments, Army Ranger takes own life "It was just horrible. And he would just cry," says Ashley Hagemann. Ashley says her husband Jared tried to come to grips with what he'd seen and done on his eight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. "And there's no way that any God would forgive him - that he was going to hell," says Ashley. "He couldn't live with that any more." Ashley says her Army Ranger husband wanted out of the military. "He just wanted to know what it felt like to be normal again," she says. It's time to care for our all of our service members at risk. It's time to bring all the troops home. © 2011 All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews//

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"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs