It has to be one of the most desperate and emotional experiences for tens of thousands of families every year.  Imagine how you would feel if a loved one — who is elderly, fragile and mentally impaired — has simply disappeared.  More than 5.1 million people have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and many have other forms of dementia or mental impairments.  They are inflictions of the mind, usually due to aging, that can lead to memory loss and even disorientation.  According to the Alzheimer’s Association, a staggering 60% of those with some form of dementia will wander from home at least once, sometimes putting themselves in danger and unable to find the way back home.

In 2004 that horrible fear became a reality for the family of Mattie Moore.  She was a 68 year old Alzheimer’s patient who wandered away from her Atlanta home.  Her disappearance sparked a massive citywide effort to find her.  Search teams, police and volunteers combed neighborhoods all over the city looking for her, to no avail.  Eight months later, her skeletal remains were found in a wooded area about a mile from where she disappeared.  Mattie’s story inspired a movement in Atlanta.  

Ten States Have Alert Systems When Memory Impaired People Wander, Five States Are Considering Them and Congress is Proposing a National System.

City officials and residents wanted to do all they could to prevent this from happening again.  They developed a warning system to alert the public when a disoriented person goes missing.  Much like Amber Alerts for children, this warning system triggered bulletins to media, law enforcement and displayed information on freeway information signs and billboards.  The city system was extended statewide and it was named “Mattie’s Call” after the woman who focused so much attention on the dangers of memory challenged patients wandering off and possibly never returning home.

“Time is of the essence, especially this time of year when the weather is colder that these elderly people are found and returned home,” says John Bankhead of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or GBI.  That agency is the central coordinator for the thousands of city, county and state law enforcement agencies that take 911 calls about missing people.  One call to a police department triggers a statewide alert from the GBI — posting information on freeway signs and broadcasts by the media.  “This type of alert system is very helpful,” says Bankhead.  “As far as I can tell it’s been very successful in getting the information out to the public to where these people could be found and returned home safely.”  Since it’s inception in 2006, 67 Mattie’s Calls have been issued in Georgia and all 67 of those missing were found alive and returned to their families.

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By Anita McNaught, Baghdad Bureau

We were ready from late morning.

I’m chained to the satellite dish at the Baghdad Bureau, ready to go live at any second, while my Iraqi colleagues are penned into the media area in Parliament, trying to stay afloat while strong political currents swirl around them.

One of them phones me, to describe the melee in the building… five different kinds of security forces.. too many journalists.. harried Parliamentarians.. and negotiations of the finest Machiavellian kind still going on.

The session is meant to start at 1pm.. the Big Vote is scheduled for 3.

An hour or so later, another colleague who’s been working the phones comes over to report:

- They’ve decided what law to use. They can’t pass the new International Treaties and Agreements Bill in time, so they are going to use one – oh the irony! - dating back to the Saddam era. It requires only a simple majority – 51% - to pass.

Well, that’ll please the Sadr-ists…

We find out why the building is bristling with paramilitaries. Both PM Maliki and President Talibani are due to arrive. To do some last minute arm-twisting? To deliver victory speeches? No-body knows.. because the deals are still being negotiated.

This is a game of political pass-the-parcel. No-one really wants to be left holding this Agreement when the music stops. Too few ordinary Iraqis understand what’s in it, what the implications are, and why so many lawmakers might be inclined to sign up.

It is, after all, the point at which the Americans are in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government. And the UN justification – such as it was – ceases to exist.

Then we hear about the Referendum Initiative. This is the amendment the so-far unco-operative Sunni Parties want added. Six months after Parliament passes the Agreement, it goes up for a yea or nay vote to… the Iraqi people.

So if it all goes horribly wrong, and Maliki thought he could share the blame with Parliament for agreeing to it… now Parliament can shift the responsibility off onto the Iraqi people. When the music stops.

From time to time, my Iraqi colleagues manage to catch lawmakers on the hoof and persuade them to share their views.

One, from the Iraqi National List – the ‘Allawi Party’ associated with former PM Iyad Allawi – secular-ish and pragmatic – says that personally he is against the Agreement because it will create more problems between Iraqis.. but he thinks his bloc might be prepared to sign up to it. He wants that referndum.

Then – to his evident delight – my Iraqi colleague manages to buttonhole Sadr Party book-banger-desk-smasher Ahmed Al-Massoudi. “We will use all means, political and legal, to fight this Bill,” he declares. Al Massoudi mentions taking the issue to the Federal Court.

But would the Sadr Party take up arms again – would they ask JAM to fight?

“No,” Al Massoudi says, “… I don’t think so”.

Now we hear the session has been delayed till 5pm, with the vote perhaps at 6pm.

My colleagues in Parliament have had no food for hours. There’s a kiosk selling tea and coffee – but they need sustenance, not stimulants. They’ve had enough of those already.

A spokesman for the UIA, the governing Shi’a coalition declares that they have the numbers. It’s a “comfortable margin’ – “a landslide” even.

A Turkoman MP from their same group gives a speech declaring this “an historic moment in Iraqi history”..

But we hear the Sunni Parties are still negotiating hard with the Iraqi President. Neither he, nor PM Maliki have yet showed. The words ‘chickens’ and ‘count’ come to mind..

An update. The vote is at 5pm. A show of hands. Covered live on TV.

At 20 minutes to 5, they adjourn Parliament for the day.

No Vote. No deals closed today.

We reckon they’ve got around three working weeks left to sort this.

My American colleagues are now beside themselves. The Vote is scheduled for tomorrow? On Thanksgiving? Are they nuts?

Click here to read more of Anita’s ‘On the Scene’ blogs!

By Anita McNaught, Baghdad Bureau

The Iraqi Parliament held another session today…Unwisely, here at the FOX News Baghdad Bureau, we thought we knew the agenda.

It’s simple. Lawmakers have to pass the ‘International Treaties and Agreements Law’. Without this law, they cannot vote on the US-Iraq Withdrawal and Cooperation Agreement. (That’s the one that gives the deadline for US troops to leave in 2011).

Parliament has, of course, had nine months - while the US and Iraqi negotiating teams drove each other up the wall  - to pass this Treaties Law. But they didn’t. They started debating it last week.

So today, they voted it in, right?

Wrong.

Today they passed resolutions condemning violence against women and new laws on returning refugees and immigrants.

In fact, since Saturday’s unprecedented open-access debate on the US-Iraq Withdrawal and Coooperation Agreement, they haven’t discussed  the single most important issue on the Iraqi political agenda at all.

Which is not to say they haven’t been talking. Across Baghdad and beyond, there are some furious meetings going on. Wrangling, horsetrading and political brinkmanship. The Maliki government wants a ‘yes’ vote from lawmakers – it’s a fine time to make a deal.

Very few of these meetings are, quite understandably, seeing the light of day… TV cameras were allowed into a meeting the Prime Minister had with the Shi’a Coalition the UIA (United Iraqi Alliance) that put him in power in 2005.. But these MPs aren’t the problem – they were always going to vote as their leader asked.

Also on the weekend, our long-suffering Speaker Mahmoud Al Mashhedani popped up in Amman. Caught on the front pages of the Jordan newspapers, shaking King Abdullah’s hand. Perhaps he needed a break from the stresses of keeping Parliament on the rails.. More likely, he was brokering deals as well.

Meanwhile, the Prime Ministerial bluster level is rising. At the end of the UIA meeting, he warned that America might throw in the towel if Parliament said  “no” , pulling all troops out forthwith and plunging Iraq into terrible chaos.

Well, what he said was: “It would not be in Iraq’s best interests at the moment”. But everyone knows what he means.

But according to my colleagues

And tomorrow, the Vote is meant to happen. Sometime after 1pm Iraq-time.

Does the PM have the numbers? That’s the question tonight.

Many Parliamentarians have already gone overseas.. some to Mecca. On Saturday they didn’t even manage to achieve a quorum (138 members present out of 275) to hold a parliamentary session.

Staunch supporters of the agreement – the large Shi’a and Kurd blocks – should in theory combine to give the government a simple majority .. IF enough of them show up.

But even if they were to all be there tomorrow, a simple majority is not enough. The Great Arbiter Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani gave his qualified go-ahead on condition the Agreement had widespread support. A ‘yes’ vote so slim it lacks political legitimacy will just cause more trouble.

But the Sunni blocks are divided between those who believe the deal is so deeply flawed (though fundamentally a good idea) that the ‘benevolent and protective’ UN Chapter 7 mandate needs to be renewed for 3-6 months so a better deal can be hammered out with the US.. And those who can live with the deal, but aren’t going to vote ‘yes’ without some major favours from the Shi’a government.. Freeing thousands of Sunni prisoners in jail topping their list.

The government daren’t risk rejection. Or do they?

The UN are running around with the option of renewing the Chapter 7 Mandate.. like firemen with a blanket at the bottom of a burning building.

Face-saving compromises are very much the Iraqi Way, in these explosively delicate  times. Watch for UN Iraq Chief Staffan di Mistura to step elegantly into the fray in the coming days.

Click here to read more of Anita’s ‘On the Scene’ blogs!

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Every once in a while a story comes along that breaks the mold and in this case… literally! We first heard about this place a few months back and from what we can tell, it’s the only place like it in the country. Called ‘Sarah’s Smash Shack’, the idea is simple: you put on a a few protective items and then have at it. Right now I am sitting next to a wall full of breakable things. For example there are a variety of plates, glasses, vases, ash trays, even mirrors! Each item has a price and you can even attach a picture or write down a name with an ink pen. The whole idea is to get out the frustration safely. For those worried about the mindless trash that is left over, have no fear. All the broken pieces are given to local mosaic artists and even schools for art projects. Here is a behind the scenes look. A live shot will be posted on here also. Gotta break stuff first! OH… AND WHAT SHOULD WE WRITE ON THESE PLATES AND GLASSES. GIVE ME YOUR FRUSTRATIONS AND I WILL BREAK EM!!

Check out the video below!

done

This is the sign outside of ‘Sarah’s Smash Shack’ in San Diego and also a picture of our crew. That’s photographer Eric Barnes, Producer Jennifer Girdon and Technician Eric Graychock is in the truck! I am on the left, Jen is in the middle and Barnes on the right… if you couldn’t already figured it out.

Travelers rejoice! In a week where many of us will be stuck in the annual American holiday ritual known as “stand-in-airport-security-lines-trying-to-get-to-Grandma’s-house,” remind yourself of this: Someday, and someday soon, you’ll be able to zip through security… using your cell phone! For some, that day is now.

It’s called paperless boarding. Here’s how it works: Instead of printing out a boarding pass, you download one to your cell phone or PDA. On the boarding pass, there’s a two dimensional bar code that’s encrypted with your name and flight information. You walk up to security. Transportation Security Administration agents use a handheld device to scan the bar code on your phone. And you’re done. (You still have to show ID). Right now, it’s only for domestic passengers who are traveling solo.

The program began about a year ago, when the TSA partnered with Continental Airlines at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport. Since then, upwards of 300,000 Continental passengers have used paperless boarding. The pilot program was so successful Continental expanded it to a total of eight airports.

Now other airlines and airports are getting into the act. So far, five airlines are using paperless boarding at fourteen different airports:

Alaska Airlines

- Seattle

American Airlines

- Chicago O’Hare, LAX, Orange County.

Continental Airlines

- Houston George Bush Intercontinental, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Newark Liberty International, Boston, Austin, San Antonio, Cleveland, LaGuardia Airport.

Delta Airlines

- LaGuardia Airport, and coming soon, Atlanta.

Northwest Airlines
-  Indianapolis Int’l Airport and Detroit Metro Airport

The TSA expects the program to be everywhere by the end of next year. Eventually, paperless boarding will even be used to track wait times, which, fingers crossed, will shorter… getting you to Grandma’s house that much faster.

To find out more on this new way to board, click here!