Monthly Archives: August 2010

By Glenn Greewald in Salon The predominant attribute of American elites is a refusal to take responsibility for any failures.  The favored tactic for accomplishing...

He became an aircraft maintenance guy. He said the belly pans of the C-130 planes were full of dried Agent Orange for years. The airframe techs would have to hose it out of the planes before they could work on them. The fucking shit was everywhere. Guys on the Aircraft Carriers said they had to hose it off the aircraft that had flown through the area just sprayed with it.

VIETNAM ALL OVER AGAIN....A SONG BY BARRY DAVID BUTLER Posted by Gordon Duff Senior Editor VT Our thanks to Barry David Butler for telling it like...

- Paul Sullivan, executive director for the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense, said it would be unreasonable for veterans to have to prove on...

News on Treatment Potential For XMRV,  Will It Help Ill Gulf War Veterans? News by means of a new abstract on treatment potentials for XMRV...

More than 40 years ago Herschel Ryan of Monroe was piloting a helicopter on a combat assault mission in Vietnam when he lost his left hand and left eye during an ambush. But unlike many fellow Vietnam veterans, Ryan returned to Monroe to a hero's welcome. He was wounded and medically retired in 1968, several years before a mood of protest against the Vietnam War swept the country. "Every Vietnam veteran's story is going to be different because we all had different jobs and served at different times," Ryan said. "When I came back to Monroe, I was treated like a hero and learned to make the best out of the situation. But many Vietnam veterans got a bad rap from the press and several individuals.

As the hour for President Obama's speech to the nation on Iraq approaches, VT has been getting input from across the political spectrum from...

By Paul Krugman in Truthout Were Americans misled into the Iraq war? Yes. But Karl Rove, who served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff...

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (www.reaganlibrary.com) is joining forces with MilitaryConnection.com (www.militaryconnection.com) to bring to our city the fifth annual Simi Valley Freedom Walk...

By Markos Moulitsas Conservatives say a lot of ridiculous things. But few were more ridiculous than the repeated claims that liberals were in league with...

As your constituent and a member of Veterans-For-Change, an advocacy group for Veterans rights, benefits, and treatment, my co-members and I would like to bring to your attention the ever-increasing problems affecting veterans and their families every day. President Obama has clearly stated, “Whether you left the service in 2009 or 1949, we will fulfill our responsibility to deliver the benefits and care that you earned. That's why I've pledged to build nothing less than a 21st-century VA”.

No. 785-10 August 31, 2010 ------------------------------- CONTRACTS NAVY                 Walsh Construction Co., Chicago, Ill., is being awarded a $131,103,000 firm-fixed price contract for construction of the National Oceanic and...

(DAUPHIN ISLAND,  AL) - Riki Ott, PhD, Marine toxicologist, sends open letter to EPA, criticizing the unabated dispersant spraying inland and near the shore waters of the...

- But Beck is really attacking the idea that anyone can be godly who doesn't believe God's Will on this Earth happens to coincide...

NAZI TACTICS AND BOLSHEVIK ORGANIZATIONS, THE ROOTS OF GLOBAL TERRORISM   By Gordon Duff Senior Editor/STAFF WRITER History is subjective, though it was never meant to be. ...

By F. William Engdahl One thing Microsoft founder Bill Gates can’t be accused of is sloth. He was already programming at 14, founded Microsoft at...

- 4,416 U.S. military fatalities - 31,911 wounded (official); Over 100,000 (unofficial) - 320,000 veterans' brain injuries - 100,000s veterans suffering from PTSD -  1,457 contractor Employee Deaths -  338...

"Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it. Truth is...

It's not war that is costly, about which lawmakers have no reservations about spending. No, it's those damn veterans who should go away or at least die.

via mal In a victory  for VA Secretary Shinseki, President Obama and veterans’ advocates, and Agent Orange victims, the new Agent Orange Illnesses’ Final Rules were published today in the Federal...

From the VA: Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News 1.      More Vietnam Vets Getting Benefits For Diabetes Than Any Other Malady. The AP (8/31, Baker) reports,...

By Ed O'Keefe in the Federal Eye (Post) More than 150,000 Vietnam War veterans may apply for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs in...

German Wines Basics, Yes, This is German Wines 101 By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor GERMANY’S WINE REGIONS AHR The river Ahr is a tributary of...

- Army pressured Soldiers to attend Christian concert, Anti-Discrimination Officials Pressured Soldiers Not to File Discrimination Complaints, the soilders did what they wanted and many supporters...

No. 778-10 August 30, 2010  ------------------------------ CONTRACTS MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY                The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is pleased to announce the competitive award of five indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for...

Update:  See also Prudential defends armed service members payout practices. Via the AP and Raw Story Dead soldiers' parents sue insurer Prudential over interest paid on...

By Robert Reich The economy is slouching backward because consumers can’t and won’t spend enough to revive it. Congress is about to recess for the...

Update: See Diseases Associated with Exposure to Certain Herbicide Agents,   . - The final regulation follows Shinseki’s determination to expand the list of conditions for...

Steve Benen has an excellent piece in the Washington Monthly on the Tea Party's incoherence and blind emotion. If we take the Tea Party seriously about...

Via 91 Outcomes All About MS – a reportedly common diagnosis among some Gulf War veterans IMAGE:  Multiple sclerosis is a central nervous system disorder marked...

By Hal Bernton at the Seattle Times Last December, Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs began joking with other soldiers about how easy it would be to...

By Charlie Savage in the NYT WASHINGTON — After working for a year to redeem the international reputation of military commissions, Obama administration officials are...

From the VA Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News 1.      Concussions, Combat Stress Taking Toll On Vets, US Government. AFP (8/30, De Luce) reports, "Even as...

In its pursuit to denuclearize and secularize Pakistan , the US in concert with Israel , India and Britain worked out several contingency plans which ranged from coercion combined with inducement to destabilization, balkanization and fragmentation. Gen Musharraf was successfully coerced to ditch friendly Mullah Omar led Taliban regime in Kabul, to help US in militarily occupying Afghanistan, and to become a frontline state to fight US war on terror. Pakistan had to accept anti-Pakistan and pro-India Northern Alliance regime under Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

Did the Israeli Defense Force lead Jews to be gassed like the Sonderkommandoes of WWII, or, just like their Bosses, the Nazis?

- With blazing brilliance, this half-comedian, half-social critic continues his run at being America's anecdote to the utter vacuity permeating our political culture - By Brendan Patrick Keane at The...

Editor's note:  The B-52 Stratofortress, one of the most robust aircraft ever built disintegrated, killing her crew, when tested at the same speed and...

- The advent of electronic communication has made it easier to catch personal indiscretions, the Navy says, and modern social norms mean there are...

- If a to-be-named, new head of the VBA is a hard-core veteran's advocate, it will go a long way toward proving that  President Obama and VA Sec...

"COWBOY JESUS" REVIVAL OR ZIONIST COLLABORATOR PICNIC? By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor There is a certain absurdity for a group only remotely related to Christianity...

By Wayne Madsen in OpinionMaker Lebanese counter-intelligence continues to round up a number of alleged Mossad agents embedded inside the Lebanese political structure and telecommunications...

By Raja Mujtaba in OpinionMaker I received an email from a friend Hamid Rajput; a keen surfer who always digs out something interesting and useful....