Monthly Archives: January 2010

By Ronald Dworkin—Against the opposition of their four colleagues, five right-wing Supreme Court justices have now guaranteed that big corporations can spend unlimited funds...

Areas in and near Iraq's largest towns and cities, including Najaf, Basra and ­Falluja, account for around 25% of the contaminated sites, which appear to coincide with communities that have seen increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years. The joint study by the environment, health and science ministries found that scrap metal yards in and around Baghdad and Basra contain high levels of ionising radiation, which is thought to be a legacy of depleted uranium used in munitions during the first Gulf war and since the 2003 invasion.

VETERANS' AFFAIRS COMMITTEE APPROVES BILLS AIMED AT MILITARY EXPOSURES, HOMELESSNESS AND HEALTH CARE Camp Lejeune and Atsugi troops, veterans and families to receive care; Panel also approves VA Assistant Secretary nomine

Looks like US Representative Buyer is being looked at in the media. Maybe our C141 pilots from Charleston AFB should get involved. ...

R B Stuart returns with coverage of veterans with cancer in The Huffington Post. Ms Stuart we have missed your writings. The...

Repya turns to fight for IP endorsement in gubernatorial race Veteran of three wars pledges he'd be one-term leader By Bill Salisbury [email protected] Updated: 01/20/2010 03:37:50 PM...

America has got to learn two things: First, if you keep slapping your neighbor and picking his flowers, eventually he's going to hit you back. And secondly, if you break into your neighbor's home and wipe out his family, then you get caught with a pocketful of his valuables, trying to plead self-defense won't fly. Any court in the world will convict you of being a murderer and a thief.

Troops deserve more assistance in the transition back to civilian life by Irene Messina As burning Kuwait oil fields spewed smoke during the 1990-1991 Gulf...

In today's Time Magazine online we find an article entitled London Afghanistan Summit Glosses Over the Cracks .  Essentially the West has decided to...

FEW AMERICANS KNEW OF ZINN, FEW KNOW WHAT WE HAVE LOST AND THE DOOM WE FACE By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Silly obituaries of Howard...

VERMONT to be APPLAUDED MOST STATES CHARGE AN ADDITIONAL FEE FOR SPECIFIC AUTO TAGS Vt. to offer 6 new license plates for veterans 11 a.m. The...

CARL RAY GULF WAR VETERAN 90-91 Runs for 18th Congressional District in Illinois. Democrats take campaigns into neighborhoods across 18th District in...

No. 073-10 CONTRACTS

Matt Taibbi takes David Brooks to the Woodshed, The Nation looks at the State of the Union in a unique way, "Foreclosure" a national tragedy ignored in last night's address, Byron Dorgan discusses the Dems rescue of the economy and Jim Hightower throws some rocks at a glass building, in today's picks.

These larger groups are partially divided as Northern Pashtun, Southern Pashtun, Northern Tajik, Western Tajik, Southwestern Tajik, etc., etc, and the list goes on. Further, the many mini-tribes each have their own, independent tribal leaders, tribal laws to fit their local conditions, and a fierce determination to protect their real or imagined boundaries and their real or imagined ability to traverse wherever they wish, whenever they wish.

I’m proud to say that Anand Gopal, who has been reporting for the Wall Street Journal from Kabul, produces here the single most extensive report so far on American night raids in Afghanistan and the military holding areas that are the“black sites” of this moment. (His investigation, a shared project of TomDispatch.com and the Nation magazine, appears in print in the latest issue of the Nation.

 Find out What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans Committee To Mark Up Legislation, Vote On Nomination.  Efforts To Fight Veteran Homelessness Praised.  VA Under "Intense Pressure"...

He said the swift victory in the war was an “incredible rehabilitation” for the Army. The malaise that hung around the military following the Vietnam War and the stagnation of the Cold War made the Persian Gulf War an opportunity to show the world what the U.S. military could do, he said.

This in from a Research medical meeting, CNS2010 in Canada:Pre-frontal Cortex Dysfunction in Gulf War IllnessG. Andrew J. Hillis1, Traci I. Sandoval1, Michael A....

President Obama last night affirmed his commitment to seek a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

As you know, President Obama delivering his second State of the Union address on Wednesday, January 27 , 2010. With the vast majority of Americans (the electorate) not having a loved one in the military thus not committed to the wars, it was no surprise that Obama's message focused on domestic priorities, and he only reiterated and defended his policy decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan, including the most recent surge of 30,000 troops in November, 2009.

"If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will...

Regional stories on Veterans health, education and other benefits from: San Jose, California, Carmi, Illinois, Columbia, South Carolina, Moffett Field, California, Des Moines, Iowa, Montpelier, Vermont, Huntsville, Alabama, and Springfield, Missouri

Jon Renaud, a retired Army Warrant Officer turned fiction writer, pledged to donate all of his royalties from the sale of his new novel, Dereliction of Duty, to the Wounded Warrior Project. A charitable organization committed to helping the wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today's Washington Post is posting an article entitled Feds Battle Different Kind of Terrorist: Eco Extremists which clearly shows all of us what citizens...

President Obama's first State of the Union address last night concluded with Obama noting the administration's "largest increase in investments for veterans in decades -- last year." Obama did not directly address the infamous 'culture of denial' our veterans endure at the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs, but he did commit to a specific policy in Iraq and Afghanistan "so ... our troops can begin to come home."

Black people are human. War is mostly lies. World War II veteran Howard Zinn believed so. On civil rights, economic rights, and peace, Howard Zinn was committed to the proposition that people and truth are more powerful than power and lies, if one only has the diligence and commitment to look at the facts.

No doubt, violence against the other communities has been used by Hindu fundamentalists as a normal practice since partition, but intensity of the anti-Muslim and anti-Christian bloodshed in the last decade coupled with the dissemination of Hindutva has displayed India’s ‘secular terrorism.’

Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer: Poor are Destroying America Breeding Like Rats

A great, honest and incredibly genuine American scholar died today.  A veteran of World War II where he served in combat as an Army Air...

What a news day!  First we have the Alaska State Legislature deeply embroiled in a fight to keep wayward Alaskans away from their family...

a "Watergate" type attack on the Federal Building in New Orleans was thwarted when 4 "black bag" operatives, one the son of US Attorney, William J. Flannigan, whose offices were in the same building, were arrested "in the act."

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Thus, the progressive movement is not so much a political ideology as it is a philosophical attitude towards human behavior. A true progressive, as oppose to an ideologue of any stripe, will always give truth, logical thought, and the interest of humanity priority over ideology. And regardless to how much he or she may admire any politician, he will always hold that politician accountable for truth, justice, and his fidelity to mankind.

Coal is the biggest single source of greenhouse gases. China and India are now huge consumers of coal, and their appetite is growing. "As long as economic development is a priority," says Morse, "I think climate takes a back seat, and in that situation, coal is going to win every time."

The link to this song was sent into VT by a friend of ours. He asked that it be included in our Stories of...

Climate and clean energy measures create jobs. Even without national climate and clean energy policies, green jobs have grown at more than twice the rate of overall jobs over the past decade, according to a June 2009 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. State-level studies show the same trend. For example, a December 2009 analysis by Collaborative Economics and Next 10 showed that California, which has some of the most forward-thinking climate policies in the country, has seen green job growth outpace overall job growth by a rate of almost 3-to-1 since 1995.

Just about a half hour ago AOL News released a stunning report entitled Key Waterboarding Defender Reverses Himself .  Old news?  Hardly.  This guy, John...

Camp Lejeune veterans and family members are automatically covered under the TRICARE program. Veterans and dependents of other bases must await the decision of an Advisory Board. No provision is made for civilian workers injured from exposure to environmental hazards.

Lets take a break from the never ending tensions between Democrats and Republicans in D.C.  Lets turn our attention to Alaska, a place where...

The Associated Press is reporting this morning that today the North and South Korean Navies exchanged gunfire in waters marking the western boundaries of...

American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan were more likely to be medically evacuated for health problems such as a bad back than for combat...