Christine Dobbyn – HOUSTON (KTRK) — A Houston woman is telling her story of survival for the first time on camera. She is a former KBR contractor who began working in Iraq in November of 2008.

Anna Mayo says what happened to her one morning in her sleeping quarters changed her life forever. While we don’t normally identify rape victims, the young woman says she wants her story heard.

In the fall of 2008, Anna Mayo left Austin to work as a KBR contractor in Iraq. Within a month, she was promoted to an operations specialist with project management.

“I loved it,” Mayo said. “I moved up really fast; I got a lot of responsibility.”

And then Mayo was moved to the night shift, so that meant sleeping during the day.

“I had a sign on my room that said daysleeper, please come back after 14:00,” she said.

On a November morning in 2009, there was a knock on her sleeping container door. She opened it to find a man she says was not an American.

“He told me that he needed to come in and check something in my bathroom,” Mayo said.

But he didn’t stay long.

“Ten seconds, it seemed like  it was in and out; and then he just walked out; it was just the weirdest thing,” Mayo said.

Mayo then called to report the strange incident but was referred to someone in maintenance.

“I blew it off; I mean they blew it off; they said that’s as far as it went and I said OK well, I guess he was checking something,” Mayo said.

But three days later as she slept, there was no knock this time, and when she opened her eyes that same man was in her room.

“It was just this fear, where I’m in danger,” Mayo said. ” I immediately knew that I was in danger.”

He attacked grabbing her hair and she fought back.

“He took his hands and dug them into my eyeballs as hard as he could, and it hurt so bad, and then I got weaker and then he put a rope around my neck,” Mayo said.

But Mayo could only fight for so long. She was face down, being raped.

“It was almost a relief because it didn’t hurt as bad as when he was ripping my face off,” Mayo said.

He had tied her arms behind her back and tried to smother her. She passed out again, and when she came to she could only crawl.

“I looked in the mirror and I saw a monster,” Mayo said. “I couldn’t recognize me.”

Her hair was falling out; her eyes hemorrhaging. It took all the strength she had left to get help.

“I screamed help and turned around, and I fainted again,” Mayo said.

Mayo was transferred to a military hospital in Germany.

“The military hospital was fantastic,” she said. “They treated me amazing, like one of their own troops, but the company I worked for, they had nothing to do with me; it was immediately like I was cut off.”

Now the former contractor is suing KBR, claiming there is a culture of sexual misconduct within the company.

“I want them to take responsibility or at least show some kind of accountability,” Mayo said.

KBR disputes parts of Mayo’s story and said in a statement, “Sexual misconduct is not tolerated. Ms Mayo’s allegations to the contrary are not correct.”

They go on to say Mayo did not follow up after her initial report of that strange maintenance check, adding, “Ms. Mayo made no further inquiries or report that she felt threatened by the incident.”

Mayo has recovered from most of the physical injuries.

“Sometimes when I get really hot or I take a shower, you can see a rug burn on my neck,” she said.

It’s the emotional ones that still haunt her.

A district court just ruled that Mayo’s case will not move forward until there is a decision in another pending case against a military contractor, though it involves truck drivers injured on the job.

Mayo’s lawsuit is the latest in a series against U.S. companies working military contracts in Iraq. On Wednesday, find out how Mayo is joining other women with similar claims. (Click HERE for original article)

You can find other articles on this horrific crime at this links below on MsSparky.com.

1. KBR employee brutally raped at Joint Base Balad in Iraq(Updated) (December 4, 2009)
2. KBR Employee (Anna Mayo) Says She Was Raped and Beaten By Fellow KBR Employee in Iraq (June 4, 2010)
3. Did KBR knowingly allow a rapist to go free in Iraq? (July 12, 2010)

Washington

Poll Closes: 11:00 pm ET

= Projected Winners   * = Incumbent

State Election Results

Senate

MURRAY* 3746 of 6000 Precincts Reporting County Results | Exit Poll 50% 50% ROSSI
Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
D	Patty Murray*	50%	722,396
R	Dino Rossi	50%	708,391

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House 1	County Results | 406 of 695 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
D	Jay Inslee*	56%	84,243
R	James Watkins	44%	66,804

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House 2	County Results | 451 of 709 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
R	John Koster	50%	87,687
D	Rick Larsen*	50%	86,258

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House 3	County Results | 543 of 707 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
R	Jaime Herrera	53%	108,847
D	Denny Heck	47%	96,828

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House 4	County Results | 336 of 569 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
R	Doc Hastings*	68%	98,533
D	Jay Clough	32%	45,721

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House 5	County Results | 318 of 661 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
R	Cathy McMorris Rodgers*	65%	88,161
D	Daryl Romeyn	35%	48,506

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House 6	County Results | 454 of 632 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
D	Norm Dicks*	57%	96,890
R	Doug Cloud	43%	72,728

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House 7	County Results | 343 of 697 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
D	Jim McDermott*	81%	104,451
ND	Bob Jeffers-Schroder	19%	24,591

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House 8	County Results | 460 of 743 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
R	Dave Reichert*	55%	91,797
D	Suzan Delbene	45%	76,319

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House 9	County Results | 391 of 586 Precincts Reporting

Party	Candidate	V%	Votes
D	Adam Smith*	53%	74,266
R	Dick Muri	47%	64,756

Check up to the minute results and other states HERE.

If you are in a “mail in ballot” only state, you have time to get those ballots dropped off. If you are in a state that requires you to physically go in an vote start making those arrangements if you haven’t already.

Don’t think for one minute that your vote doesn’t matter…it does.

March 18, 2010 by Denise Nichols – Veterans Today

Gulf War Veterans need to be made aware of the following articles.  Alert for all female veterans you know the drill!  Self Breast Checks often and Mammograms.  VA does provide this, so make use of that service!
Male Veterans yes you too can get breast cancer.  Again our females will have to teach you the principles of breast self exams.  Basically you work in a clockwise pattern and outward and inner in direction from the clock face.  If you palpate any lumps or bumps under the skin GET IN TO A DOCTOR for further Assessment!

Also checks should also extend to lymph nodes in the arm pits.

I already know quite a few female gulf war veterans that have had breast cancers.  I would also recommend that all print this out and provide to health care providers, fellow veterans, etc.  Also I would recommend sharing on facebook pages personal and veteran groups facebook pages and specific gulf war veteran unit facebook pages.  I would also reccommend we use all social networks ie Twitter information.

We need mass communications.  Also try to get your local media and newspapers to cover the issues.  Email media contacts in your area.  I also recommend you get in touch with your US Representatives and Senators and get their staffer’s email and keep them in the flow of information.  VSO’s should also get this information for their post newsletters and magazines.  Each Veteran can do their part!  Each citizen should be helping!

Here are the stories about Breast Cancer in Iraq from the American Association for Cancer Research

Breast cancer continues to rise in Iraq, and scientists have established the Iraqi National Cancer Research Program to better understand the underlying molecular and environmental causes in an effort to curb the incidence of cancer.

“Breast cancer is the most common type of malignancy recorded in the cancer registries of almost all countries within the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In Iraq, the continuous rise in the incidence rate is associated with an obvious trend to affect pre-menopausal women,” said Nada A.S. Alwan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Breast Cancer Research Unit at Baghdad University Medical College and the executive director of the newly established Iraqi National Cancer Research Program.

Alwan presented early data at the second AACR Dead Sea International Conference on Advances in Cancer Research: From the Laboratory to the Clinic, held March 7-10, 2010.

The Iraqi National Cancer Research Program was organized by the Iraqi minister of higher education and scientific research in 2009 in collaboration with the common secretariat for the Council of Ministers and the Iraqi Parliament.

“This project includes within its objectives comprehensive epidemiologic studies on risk factors of the main encountered cancers in Iraq, with a focus on the characteristics and behaviors of cancer in patients inhabiting different geographic areas,” said Alwan.

The current study focused on 721 of 5,044 women who complained of breast lumps later diagnosed as cancer. Approximately one-third of the diagnosed patients were between 40 and 49 years old; 71.9 percent came from urban areas and 75 percent were married.

History of lactation was reported in 63.1 percent of the women and 29 percent had taken hormone therapy. A family history of breast cancer was reported in 16.2 percent of cases.

Although 90.6 percent of women detected a lump on self-examination, only 32 percent sought medical advice within the first month. Because of this, 47 percent of them presented with advanced stage breast cancer, either stage III or IV cancer. The main histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma of grade 2 in 56.6 percent and grade 3 in 39.9 percent. Estrogen-receptor positive tumors were noted in 65.1 percent of the cases and progesterone-receptor positive tumors were noted in 45.1 percent of the cases.

“We are currently planning to use this information to compare the demographic characteristics, clinicopathological presentations and management outcomes of breast cancer patients within selected countries in the Middle East,” said Alwan. (click HERE for the original article)

For more information about Breast Cancer and Self Breast Exams (SBE) go to BreastCancer.org and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Go to this link for more information on Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC).

I just can’t harp enough that all women should be performing SBE’s every month and should have a mammogram at least every year after age 50 for sure and after age 30 if your insurance will pay for it. It takes five minutes and yes it is a little uncomfortable but not nearly as uncomfortable as a mastectomy and chemotherapy.

JUST DO IT!!

This article is also posted HERE.

The beta agonist ractopamine, a repartitioning agent that increases protein synthesis, was recruited for livestock use when researchers found the drug, used in asthma, made mice more muscular.

Ractopamine is started as the animal nears slaughter.

How does a drug marked, “Not for use in humans. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask” become “safe” in human food? With no washout period?

The drug is banned in Europe, Taiwan and China, and more than 1,700 people have been “poisoned” from eating pigs fed the drug since 1998, but ractopamine is used in 45 percent of U.S. pigs and 30 percent of ration-fed cattle.

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

Ractopamine, aka Paylean and Optaflexx, is banned in 160 countries, including Europe, Taiwan and China. If imported meat is found to contain traces of the drug, it is turned away, while fines and imprisonment result for its use in banned countries.

Yet, in the United States 45 percent of pigs, 30 percent of ration-fed cattle, and an unknown percentage of turkeys are pumped full of this drug in the days leading up to slaughter.

Why?

This drug, manufactured by Elanco Animal Health, increases protein synthesis. In other words, it makes animals more muscular … and this increases food growers’ bottom line.

Adding insult to injury, up to 20 percent of ractopamine remains in the meat you buy from the supermarket, according to veterinarian Michael W. Fox. Yet this drug is marked “Not for use in humans,” and is known to increase death and disability in livestock.

Why is Ractopamine Allowed in U.S. Meat?

While other drugs require a clearance period of around two weeks to help ensure the compounds are flushed from the meat prior to slaughter (and therefore reduce residues leftover for human consumption), there is no clearance period for ractopamine.

In fact, food growers intentionally use the drug in the last days before slaughter in order to increase its effectiveness.

“How does a drug marked, “Not for use in humans. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask” become “safe” in human food? With no washout period?” asks columnist Martha Rosenberg.

She answers:

“The same way Elanco’s other two blockbusters, Stilbosol (diethylstilbestrol or DES), now withdrawn, and Posilac or bovine growth hormone (rBST), bought from Monsanto in 2008, became part of the nation’s food supply: shameless corporate lobbying.

A third of meetings on the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s public calendar in January 2009 were with Elanco, a division of Eli Lilly — or about ractopamine.”

Massive Industry Lobbying Gets Agribusiness What it Wants … at Your Expense

Industrial agriculture lobbyists wield incredible power in Congress, and the fact that ractopamine is in U.S. meat is a shining testimony to this.

Time magazine put it quite well when they described current farm policy as “a welfare program for the megafarms that use the most fuel, water and pesticides; emit the most greenhouse gases; grow the most fattening crops; hire the most illegals; and depopulate rural America.”

There are too many conflicts of interest to name, but, for example, you may be surprised to learn that former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is now the Secretary of Agriculture, an appointment that took place despite massive public outcry.

What was needed for an effective Secretary of Agriculture was someone who would develop and implement a plan that promotes family-scale farming and a safe and nutritious food system with a sustainable and organic vision.

What we got was yet another politician who’s already made room in his bed for the industry lobby. Overall, Vilsack’s record is one of aiding and abetting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms (the ones that use chemicals like ractopamine) and promoting animal cloning.

Cozy Connections Allowed rbGH Hormones in Your Dairy Products, Too

Michael Taylor, a former vice president of public policy and chief lobbyist at Monsanto Company, is now the senior advisor for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Who is Michael Taylor?

He is the person who not only “oversaw the creation of GMO policy,” according to Jeffrey Smith, the leading spokesperson on the dangers of GM foods, but also oversaw the policy regarding Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH/rbST).

This growth hormone, which has been banned in Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand because of cancer risks and other health concerns, was approved in the United States while Taylor was in charge at the FDA. Smith writes:

“Taylor also determined that milk from injected cows did not require any special labeling. And as a gift to his future employer Monsanto, he wrote a white paper suggesting that if companies ever had the audacity to label their products as not using rbGH, they should also include a disclaimer stating that according to the FDA, there is no difference between milk from treated and untreated cows.”

Taylor’s white paper, which again was untrue as even FDA scientists acknowledged differences in the rbGH milk, allowed Monsanto to sue dairies that labeled their products rbGH-free!

In a similar vain, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine’s Office of Surveillance and Compliance sent a 14-page warning letter to Elanco regarding ractopamine three years after its approval for use in pigs. They accused the company of withholding information about “safety and effectiveness” and “adverse animal drug experiences.”

Nonetheless, the next year the FDA decided to approved ractopamine for use in cattle, too, and later for turkeys as well.

What Should You do if You Don’t Want Drugs and Chemicals in Your Food?

As the U.S. agriculture industry now stands, antibiotics, pesticides, GM ingredients, hormones and countless other drugs are fair game in your food. So if you purchase your food from a typical supermarket, you are taking your chances that your food is teeming with chemicals and drugs — even those that have been banned in other countries.

So please do your health a favor and support the small family farms in your area. You’ll receive nutritious food from a source that you can trust, and you’ll be supporting the honest work of a real family farm.

It all boils down to this: if you want to optimize your health, you must return to the basics of healthy food choices. Put your focus on WHOLE foods — foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state — food that has been grown or raised as nature intended, without the use of chemical additives, drugs, hormones, pesticides and fertilizers.

It’s as simple as that!

It is not nearly as daunting a task as it may seem to find a local farmer that can supply your family with healthy, humanely raised animal products and produce. At LocalHarvest.org, for instance, you can enter your zip code and find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, all with the click of a button.

Once you make the switch from supermarket to local farmer, the choice will seem natural, and you can have peace of mind that the food you’re feeding your family is safe. (click HERE for original article)