Archive - March 27, 2012

The Huffington Post has a piece on line today that Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) emailed  me about on how the military scrambled to limit the use of the notorious anti-malaria drug called mefloquine (you might have known it as  Lariam) after that soldier’s attack on innocent children. Are you at risk,  we might ask? Remember how we took that drug in Africa and elsewhere? Here’ is the Huff Post article written by Mark Benjamin, an investigative reporter in D. C.,  that points the finger at mefloquine as a possible cause of Bales’ tragic behavior. WASHINGTON — Nine days after a U.S. soldier allegedly massacred 17 civilians in Afghanistan, a top-level Pentagon health official ordered a widespread, emergency review of the military’s use of a notorious anti-malaria drug called mefloquine. Mefloquine, also called Lariam, has severe psychiatric side effects. Problems include psychotic behavior, paranoia and hallucinations. The drug has been implicated in numerous . . .

Board of Directors Elections 2012 The Governance Committee of the NPCA Board of Directors announces the 2012 elections for member-elected representatives to the NPCA Board of Directors. NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.  Voting will take place primarily online between March 30 and April 30, 2012. All eligible voters will receive an election flyer in the mail with instructions on how to vote. Each candidate was asked to state (in 100 words or less) “why you want to serve on the NPCA board and what you hope to accomplish as a board member.” Voting is open to current NPCA members only. To renew your membership and/or update your contact information, log into the NPCA membership database here.(Note the “forgotten your password” link under the login boxes, if needed.) The candidates up for election are as follows. Please click on the names below to read their biographies and nomination statements.  Note that you may also . . .

[This Op-Ed by Joe Nocera appeared in the NYTIMES this morning. Nocera writes about a man many of us remember fondly, Charlie Peters. A lawyer, WWII Veteran, Kennedy campaigner,  Master’s in English and former West Virginia Legislator, Charlie was chosen by Shriver to run the first evaluation unit in a federal agency at the Peace Corps. Peters did so with relish, hiring professional journalists and fanning them out overseas to independently evaluate the new Peace Corps programs, many times these reporters wrote evaluations that upset the people back in HQ who had created those programs. The RPCVs who were around in those early days remember him fondly. Well, Charlie is still at it, spinning out words of wisdom after all these years. And what Charlie has to say about government agencies, and the personnel in them, still rings true. The Peace Corps attempted to avoid stagnation with the unique policy of  “In, Up and Out.” The . . .