Mysterious Disappearance - No Powers, No War Kids Relief

Sorry for the delay in any new posts for a little while. Work called (darn bosses).

I have so far posted on various aspects of War Kids Relief, and unfortunately the Powers campaign has not decided to respond to questions that would clear up any of the issues surrounding War Kids Relief.

I don't understand why they wouldn't do this. This would make a fair amount of sense, and would discredit www.powersplatoon.com fairly quickly I would think.

Anyways my little fact for today is that it appears Jon Powers started at Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation (VVAF) sometime in 2005. However, like a year and half later any references to Powers on VVAF or any references to War Kids Relief were removed from the site. (See this site: http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/)

I know other folks have touched on this, like Monroe Rising. Why wouldn't Powers just come out and say the reasons for the removals? I would think that Powers has a very plausible answer for this.

Don't believe me about the disappearance of references, follow these steps:

1) Go to www.archive.org
2) Type into the search bar: http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/
3) Click search

Up comes 11 pages referencing War Kids Relief and VVAF. The last one is dated October 08, 2006. That seems a bit odd since Powers claimed to have run this organization up until last year.

Anyone have any thoughts?

War Kids Relief - Jon Powers In His Own Word (Video)

I thought this was a pretty good summary of what Jon Powers was attempting to do with War Kids Relief.

I hope to do a transcript of this video so we can look specifically at some of his statements and what information is out there to support Jon's attempts at helping the kids.

Here's the video:

War Kids Relief - In Jon Powers' Words

So Jon Powers started running for Congress sometime in 2007. According to the Buffalo News, the first mention of him as a candidate is March 30, 2007 "Iraq War veteran eyes race against Reynolds".

In this article by Jerry Zremski, Powers is described as "A 28- year-old Iraq War veteran who later started a charity to help that nation's children ..." (The Buffalo News, 03/30/2007, Iraq War veteran eyes race against Reynolds).

So that is March, Powers officially announces in July. This time in The Buffalo News, Bob McCarthy writes, "He founded War Kids Relief, a nonprofit organization aimed at providing Iraqi children with the resources and education to keep them out of terrorism." (The Buffalo News, 07/01/2008, Powers gets a early start)

So two articles in The Buffalo News mentions that Powers started a charity to help kids in Iraq. I certainly took notice of this young man who certainly seemed to be about something larger than himself.

However, in an article in the Niagara Gazette on July 17, 2007, Powers says to Jill Terreri (and this is Powers' words, no the reporters) "War Kids has struggled to do much in Iraq on the ground itself..." (Niagara Gazette, 07/15/2007, Veteran talks about Iraq and running for Congress)

(Note: Powers first connection to helping Iraqi kids was noted in The Buffalo News previously in 2005 for similarly named group called "Orphans and Street Kids Project". Does anyone know if this is the same group as War Kids Relief?)

So I guess the question this raises is that clearly Powers has used his experience running War Kids Relief as an important start to his candidacy. But in his own words he admitted that War Kids Relief didn't accomplish much on the ground in Iraq. So what did it accomplish? I would think he would want to discuss and get all of his good accomplishments out there of War Kids Relief.

My e-mail is there: goodhuntingwill@gmail.com. I am certainly willing to listen to any and all sides on this. I just am looking for some answers.

Touching a Nerve

So as my welcome message stated I did not start this blog as an anti-Jon Powers site. I guess on the internet the presumption is guilty not innocent.

Again I reitierate that this blog is intended for an honest discussion of War Kids Relief and is open to both sides to have an honest discussion without innuendo, assumption or rumor starting.

It is simply a place where information that I have pulled together from the internet is put in one place so people can answer questions, ask questions or simply learn about War Kids Relief and make their own judgements.

Now again if I have incorrect information I hope someone will correct me.

Anyways, I again stress I have no link to the Jack Davis, Alice Kryzan, Chris Lee or Jon Powers campaign. I simply am a voter in Western New York trying to make an informed decision and this is the one area I am focusing on. If someone thinks I should concentrate on another issue as well please let me know.

Here is a summary of the places The Real War Kids Relief was referenced today (much to my surprise):

The Albany Project:
The REAL War Kids Relief... And The Real War Kids Relief

The Daily Gotham:
Jack Davis employs some really dumb people

Monroe Rising:
An Interesting Website! (I posted this in the comments section about powersplatoon.com)

Now the final thing I will say is if I were the Jack Davis campaign wouldn't I just post on the website that he started? I mean does it make a lot of sense to do a separate page if there were one already started.

Attack my information, answer my questions or don't, but don't attack me as stooge of Jack Davis or anyone! Anyways, my next posting will follow.

War Kids Relief - When did it actually start? And who started it?

The first question I see out there about War Kids Relief is who started it and when did it start?

It appears from my research I have done that War Kids Relief was first discussed sometime in 2005.

Here are two references. The first comes from Children's Culture Connection:

War Kids Relief was founded in 2005 by Capt. Jonathan Powers, former artillery platoon leader in the Army's 1st Armored Division, as a way to help Iraqi children deal with the adverse effects of the war.

The second comes from The Shape of Days: War Kids Relief, a blog interview done with Jon Powers, which says:

In November 2005, Jon launched War Kids Relief, a program of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. Not to support the war and not to impede it, but simply to help twelve million Iraqi kids grow up a little safer and with a little more hope.

But the question is what was the exact date that War Kids Relief started? Did Jon Powers start it or did someone at VVAF start it and Powers took credit?

Does anyone know?

Welcome!

I created this blog because I live in Western New York. More specifically I live in the 26th district which is the host of one of the most competitive Congressional races in the country. And there are a lot of questions surrounding the candidates.

Right now the race is centered on the Democratic primary, which takes place on September 9th. The primary is between Jack Davis, the three time professional Congressional candidate, cooky millionaire; Jon Powers, the substitute teacher, Iraqi war hero who returned from service to start a non-profit that has a lot of questions; and Alice Kryzan, the non-existent third wheel who is irrelevant.

The only Republican is Chris Lee, another rich guy candidate who I am not sure what he represents.

But the real purpose of this blog is to get to the bottom or the real story about War Kids Relief out there. This isn't a pro- or anti- Jon Powers website, it's the opportunity for both sides to get information out there to dispell any questions or rumors ongoing.

Well let the debate begin!