Monthly Archives: May 2010

By Colonel Eugene Khrushchev, STAFF WRITER/Editor From plight to blight The US has launched a surreptitious germ warfare against the hard-working drug-farmers – or so claimed...

Survivors told a congressional panel last week that Massey Energy had flouted safety regulations and rendered the poorly ventilated coal mine into "a ticking time bomb." Upper Big Branch became a deadly monument to ineffectual enforcement by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. Massey Energy was essentially allowed to regulate itself.

National Veterans Golden Age Games Kick Off Vets from around the nation are in Des Moines, IA to compete in the 24th National Veterans Golden Age Games, the largest annual sports competition of its kind. On Tuesday, VA Chief of Staff John Gingrich (left) thanked sponsors and medical center staff.Learn more

Regional stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and issues today from Saratoga Springs, New York, Cleveland, Wisconsin, Des Moines, Iowa, Lansing, Michigan, Gainesville, Florida, Bristol, Virginia, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Anthony Hardie runs an important resource focusing exclusively on news for Hardie's fellow veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. The site is called 91Outcomes,...

By Scott Hiaasen and Curtis Morgan | Miami Herald MIAMI — Facing more than 100 lawsuits after its Gulf of Mexico oil spill killed 11...

By Ann Wright   By the time you read this, we will be on the high seas of the Mediterranean (we hope the seas will not...

Combat Leader to Corporate Leader: 20 Lessons to Advance Your Civilian Career describes how veterans can beat the challenges of unemployment, under employment, and capture the full value of their military experience in their careers.

Combat Leader to Corporate Leader: 20 Lessons to Advance Your Civilian Career describes how veterans can beat the challenges of unemployment, under employment, and...

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

From the Post: Stocks turned negative in the last 30 minutes of trading today, wiping out triple-digit gains from a day spent largely in positive...

From MoveOn: You'd think that a proposal to make mega-rich hedge fund managers pay at least as much in taxes as, say, teachers or police...

No. 434-10 ---------------------------------------- CONTRACTS: DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY                 Science Application International Corp., Fairfield, N.J., is being awarded a maximum $50,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for maintenance, repair and operations...

FLASHBACK: When the NY Times ignored gaping holes in candidate Bush's war record May 25, 2010 2:10 pm ET by Eric Boehlert  One of the striking talking points that...

Career servicemen and women might not make use of GI Bill benefits offered by the military but some of them can convert years of service into the gift of education for their spouses or children.

Pouring syrup all over creation! Stand up, ... your father's passing. Who doesn't have a favorite line, something we accept from Harper Lee's gift? We...

Memorial Day weekend is upon us. Look back here over the weekend for contributions honoring those who have fallen. - Army Times reports that thirty...

From the Baseline Scenario: By James Kwak Robert Reich discusses a theme that I think I’ve discussed before (and first heard expressed by Ezra Klein): “The most...

A challenge to the reader: You want to advocate against equal rights, have a damn good reason. By Rob Smith in Salon: For a gay soldier like...

From The Only Democracy: From Right to Enter: At this point, you could have quite the dinner party with the folks Israel leaves out! How do...

Reporting an Israeli attack against a human rights activist is to bring the news that the Sun rises: It happens everyday, with our acquiescence. From the...

Regional stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and issues today from Atascadero Lake, CaliforniaTampa, Florida, Brewton, Alabama, Deptford, New Jersey, Austin, Texas, Asheville, North Carolina, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Plainville, Connecticut, and San Diego, California.

Secretary Shinseki Addresses Veteran Homelessness On Thursday, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan appeared before the U.S. Senate to talk about Veteran homelessness. Secretary Shinseki also addressed the issue recently in this short video.

Our “special relationship” with this rogue state has placed the U.S. outside the same system of international law that we now seek to impose on others, including Iran. Our handling of the current crisis on the Korean peninsula could restore our tattered reputation.

THE ART OF KEEPING AMERICA AT RISK FOR FUN AND PROFIT By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER, Senior Editor This week, newspapers around the world received reports...

I asked the sheriff of St. Bernard Parish, Jack Stephens, if he was at all optimistic about BP stopping the gusher of oil that is fouling the Gulf of Mexico in time to prevent a long-term environmental catastrophe in the southern Louisiana wetlands.

No. 430-10 -------------------------------- CONTRACTS: ARMY                  Raytheon Co., Marlborough, Mass., was awarded on May 21 a $92,472,706 firm-fixed-price contract for AN/TSC-154A advanced extremely high frequency Secure Mobile...

I have watched in sadness and anger the coverage of the unnecessary destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil is now into the Gulf's "loop current" and will be in the Keys within ten days. Here's an update on the attempt to clean up this mess from the St Petersburg Times.

Senior Defense Department officials have stressed repeatedly in public they are doing everything they can to provide the best care possible to U.S. troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. But that might not be the case for the tens of thousands of troops who have experienced some form of brain injury.

Last week, MilitaryConnection.com, known as The Go To Site, reached another milestone on Twitter by achieving over 35,000 followers. Military Connection is one of the most comprehensive online directories for military, veterans and their family members. There is literally something for everyone, with thousands of pages of resources and information. Some of the areas of focus include employment and job resources, education and Post-9/11 GI Bill information, scholarships, benefits, pay charts, news and more.

Until the publication of Hervey Cleckley's landmark book The Mask of Sanity in 1941 (along with its subsequent editions), there wasn't much agreement on what exactly psychopathy is. The term had come to describe individuals whose emotional life and social behavior were abnormal, but whose intellectual capacities were undisturbed. In contrast to psychotics whose grip on reality is clearly disturbed, as in paranoid schizophrenia, psychopaths are completely sane. They have a firm grip on reality, can carry on a conversation, and often appear more normal than normal. But at the same time, while talking to you about the weather or the economy, they may be deciding the best way to con you out of your life savings or perhaps get you to a secluded location where they can rape or murder you.

The growing number of commentators calling for a reversal of American policy on Israel—holding Israel to international standards of decency and protecting the human...

From The VA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. ...

By James Kwak at the BaselineScenario: So the dust has settled on the Senate bill, and it remains studiously vague about capital requirements — no...

Of all the political-media celebs feeding off hate and ignorance, Glenn Beck stands out. Sara Robinson in AlterNet has an interview with Alexander Zaitchik, author of  Common Nonsense:...

Regional stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and issues today from Tehachapi, California, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Oak Lawn, Illinois, North Canton, Ohio, Knoxville, Tennessee, Rocky Hill, Connecticut, Winston Salem, North Carolina, Riverside, California, and Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Based on scientific advisory board's recommendations, S.3378 would  provide health care for those injured by environmental hazards in the military. .  Photo from Jim Fontella Courtesy: CNN (WASHINGTON D.C.) -...

Brazil says the US and other Western powers prodded Brazil to try to revive the U.N. fuel swap deal proposed last October. "We were encouraged directly or indirectly ... to implement the October proposal...and that's what we did," said Foreign Minister Amorim. In a letter to Brazilian President Lula two weeks ago, President Obama said an Iranian uranium shipment abroad would generate confidence. "From our point of view, a decision by Iran to send 1,200 kilograms of low-enriched uranium abroad, would generate confidence and reduce regional tensions by cutting Iran's stockpile," Obama said.

No. 426-10 ------------------------------------------------------ CONTRACTS: NAVY                 Lockheed Martin Corp., Eagan, Minn. (N00039-10-D-0002); Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif. (N00039-10-D-0003); and General Dynamics One Source, LLC, Fairfax,...

In 2005, I went from fighting in the streets of Fallujah to studying in the hallowed halls of Harvard Law School in a span of seven months. I arrived as an active-duty Marine Corps captain and transitioned from the infantry to the judge advocate general's corps. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only active-duty service member to have received a JD from Harvard during the deanship of Elena Kagan.

  Call for Elections to be Halted, Government Seized Publication Demands "Interim Military Dictatorship" for America, says Scaife publication By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor (UNEDITED TEXT BELOW) Newsmax...

This heart wrenching take on Soldiers, Veterans, and Suicide was sent into us by Brother Willie Hager and our friends at VetSpeak. Graphics added by...