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Yearly Archives: 2010
Study Suggests Discussion of Killing to Help Veterans Cope
The act of killing is as fundamental to war as oxygen is to fire. Yet it is also the one thing many combat veterans avoid discussing when they return home, whether out of shame, guilt or a deep fear of being misunderstood.
But a new study of Iraq war veterans by researchers in San Francisco suggests that more discussion of killing may help veterans cope with an array of mental health problems stemming from war.
Talking Ourselves Out of Afghanistan
It’s becoming apparent to the foreign policy wonks in the Obama administration that the goose in Afghanistan is cooked. Now it’s only a matter of talking themselves into sticking a fork in it. The “great dilemma of this war,” as the New York Times calls it, is “whether to reconcile with the men who sheltered Osama bin Laden and who still have close ties to al-Qaeda.” That option is considered to be “rife with political risk at home” which means the neocons and their pals in the right-wing hate chorus will flay Obama alive if he takes it.
Editor’s Picks: News and Opinion Around the Web 2/14/10
Dick Cheney and Joe Biden square off on the various Sunday talk shows, a preview from Raw Story. The mere fact that one is accused by the government is not reason to "believe" or have "faith" in the guilt of people held without benefit of evidence, an essay by Glen Greenwald at Salon. The Utah House of Reps decides to stand firmly behind junk science and flat Earth theory at Firedog Lake and some great cartoons from McClatchy in today's picks.
Elite – even among the few and the proud
Marines to honor author of classic
'When Hell Was in Session'
By Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton
The Marines know a true member of the warrior class when...
‘Ride the Thunder’: A Vietnam War Story of Honor and Triumph
Inspiring true Vietnam story honored by military website
By Richard Botkin
Everything Americans know about the end of the Vietnam War is wrong, contends Richard Botkin,...
Regional Veterans’ News 2/14/10
Regional Stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and issues today from: South Bristol, New York, Pocatello, Idaho, Carmel, California, Port St Lucie, Florida, Bishop, Texas, Chillicothe, Ohio
AMERICA’S “NOT SO CHRISTIAN” FOUNDING FATHERS
The Faith Of America's Founders On Trial
By Christian J. Pinto
Award-winning filmmaker of the documentary series,
Secret Mysteries of America’s Beginnings
Many Christians are repeatedly told by...
Film Review: Severe Clear: a Marines’ uncensored view on the liberation of Iraq
When promoters of the film Severe Clear sent a screener copy to VT for review and comment, I volunteered to take this film review...
The Faith Of America’s Founders On Trial
Many Christians are repeatedly told by their pastors, teachers, and church leaders that America was founded as a Christian nation. This assertion would not be so bad if it were confined to the arrival of the Puritans at Plymouth and the early development of the new world. If that were the case, it would be an accurate statement, in this writer’s opinion.
USA Hockey Olympics Schedules
2010 Olympic Winter Games U.S. Men's/Women's Schedules
GORDON DUFF: DEBRA MEDINA, CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF TEXAS TAKES ON THE...
GLENN BECK, A MORMON FOR ZIONISM, HIMSELF AND NOT SUCH MUCH FOR AMERICA
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
This week, Debra Medina, candidate for governor...
Revisionaries: How a group of Texas conservatives is rewriting your kids’ textbooks.
This bled into a rant about American history. "The secular humanists may argue that we are a secular nation," McLeroy said, jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis. "But we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan -- he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes."
Law Prof Reed on Why VA Is a Failure
Tom Reed, Director Widener University School of Law Veterans Law Clinic, has a law review article detailing what veterans and advocates know well. "Parallel...
Battle for Marjeh – the Taliban Strong-hold
Taliban are well-versed in this game of fighting in the desert regions of South and the rugged mountains, for the last thirty years. They are the die-hard freedom fighters, motivated, self-assured and confident of victory against the occupation forces. Time is on their side. Their strategy for the battle of Marjeh therefore can be easily envisaged: They would rather hold Marjeh lightly, with a maximum of 2-3000 die-hard fighters, who would fight to the last man, killing as many of coalition forces, as possible.....General Beg
Changed America
Dingbats like Sarah Palin screech U.S.A., but do not think the sentiment ought include the American working class.
Student Detained at Airport Over Possession of Arabic Flashcards
Nicholas George, the 22-year-old senior attending Pomona College, said he was on his way back to school in August 2009 when he was stopped at an airport security screening point and told to empty his pockets by Transportation Security Authority (TSA) agents. He was carrying a set of English-Arabic flashcards that he used in his studies, which had English on one side and Arabic on the other.
Regional Veterans’ News 2/13/10
Regional stories on veterans health, education and other benefits and issues today from: Lorain, Ohio, Wichita Falls, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, Louisville,Kentucky, Charleston,South Carolina, Port St. Lucie, Florida, Joliet, Illinois, Johnston, Iowa, St Paul Minnesota, and Mason, Texas
Largest Push Against Taliban Since the 2001 Invasion
Thousands of American, Afghan and British troops attacked the watery Taliban fortress of Marja early Saturday, moving on foot, in trucks and through the air to destroy the insurgency’s largest haven and begin a campaign to reassert the dominance of the Afghan government in a large swath of southern Afghanistan.
GORDON DUFF: WHY IS ZIONISM NOT ABOUT JEWS
"HOMELAND IN PALESTINE" HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH ZIONISM
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
As an editor and writer for a military, veterans and foreign...
Top 10 Veterans News Around the Country 2/12/10
VA is known for its commitment to innovative quality and safety programs and for the transparency of results they achieve. In 2008, VA issued its first comprehensive facility-level report of quality and safety data, reporting on care provided in inpatient and outpatient settings, quality of care within specific patient populations, and patient satisfaction and outcomes. Improved and re-issued in 2009, the report is a comprehensive snapshot of the quality of care VA provides.
Regional Veterans’ News 2/12/10
Regional stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and services today from: Prescott, Arizona, Norman Oklahoma, Lufkin, Texas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Anchorage, Alaska, Oakland, California, Tomah, Wisconsin, Buffalo, New York, Sunderland, Massachusetts, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Buffalo, New York, and Wellesley, Massachusetts
Foreign Policy Briefing 2/12/10
Across southern Afghanistan, including the Marjah district where coalition forces are massing for a large offensive, the line between peaceful villager and enemy fighter is often blurred, the Wall Street Journal reports. The commander of the US unit responsible for Pashmul estimates that about 95% of the locals are Taliban or aid the militants.
Editor’s Picks: News and Opinion Around the Web 2/12/10
Happy birthday Charles Darwin, Steven Newton at Huff Post offers some reasons for the importance of Darwin's work. It's also Valentine's Day and AlterNet's Daniela Perdomo suggests that the way to celebrate it this year is to break up with your bank. The hired "experts" so often seen in the media are very often serving their own bank balances as a story from The Nation tells us and those stories and more in today's picks.
Editor’s Picks: News and Opinion Around the Web
Wonder why so many people are so seriously..overweight? Derrick Jackson at the Boston Globe writes that we might consider the 17 teaspoons of sugar in one 20 oz. soda. Cowboy iconoclast Jim Hightower casts light on Texas' Rick Perry's attempt to cover up state collusion with businesses cheating on tax abatement agreements and Dylan Ratigan patiently explains to Glen Beck "where snow comes from," those stories and more in today's picks.
HURRY UP AND WAIT — NOTHING LESS THAN A 21ST-CENTURY VA
Garden Grove/CA –-- February 11, 2010 -- As the Founder of Veterans-For-Change, an advocacy group for Veterans rights, benefits, and treatment, my co-members and...
GORDON DUFF: A “CHAIN EMAIL” FROM ISLAM
A VIEW INTO ISLAM FEW IN THE WEST EVER SEE
Introduction by Gordon Duff/ Senior Editor VT
We all get emails, spam, chain letters and worse...
Six in 10 Voters Disapprove of the Job Both Parties Are Doing in Congress...
In the Poll Watch section of Politics Daily we find out that this is without doubt going to be one hell of an election...
Outrageous Vintage Ads That Show How Far We’ve Come (PICs)
There was a time in this country when print advertisements were overtly racist, sexist and gave extremely unhealthy advice, almost as if everyday was an episode of "Mad Men." We still have many of these problems in advertising today, but at least babies aren't given 7-Up at birth and doctors don't recommend smoking. Have a laugh at our former ignorance, because there's no way our current ads could be as appalling as these are in the future...right?
The Battle for Marjah, Afghan Offensive Begins
By PATRICK COCKBURN-- American and Afghan forces are poised to attack the town of Marjah, the largest Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan, in the first...
Chicago Vietnam Veterans ‘Welcome Home’ 2011 Parade Planned
Much better than a collective 'forget you' that echoes today in the voice of the neocons---a 2011 Vietnam Veterans parade is years in the making.
Afghan Gov Begins Talks with Taliban-led Insurgent Leader
A report from Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers—KABUL, Afghanistan — Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of Afghanistan's most brutal Islamist warlords, is holding tentative peace talks...
Top 10 Veterans News From Around the Country
Vietnam Veterans Moving Wall Headed To Batavia VA This Summer. The Batavia (NY) Daily News (2/10, Baker, 13K) reports, "Those who served and are serving the nation will be honored in a special way this summer" at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Batavia. Plans are "'under way for bringing the Vietnam Veterans Moving Wall to the Batavia VA grounds June 24-28,' said Royce Calhoun, assistant medical center director, VA Western New York Healthcare System." The wall is a "half-sized replica of the actual Vietnam War Memorial Wall" in Washington, DC.
Eurozone leaders back Greek rescue plan
By Tony Barber and Ben Hall in Brussels
Leaders of countries in the eurozone on Thursday promised to help Greece if it slashed its budget...
Sarah Palin Draws Raves from David Broder
Just when you thought American politics could not possibly sink to lower depths of self parody, Sarah Palin's address to the Tea Party-whack set is...
High speed extremely low flyby
For some reason, somebody in the French Air Force decided that it was a good idea to stand on a runway and allow a...
Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms,’ Molecular Kill-Switch Included
Wired.com has an interesting article posted today on an odd Pentagon research project. They are attempting to produce bacteria that cannot die. Odd. Why? ...
US Says It Has Right To Kill American Terror Suspects Abroad Without Trial
Ben Wizner, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, said, ”It is alarming to hear that the Obama administration is asserting that the president can authorize the assassination of Americans abroad, even if they are far from any battlefield and may have never taken up arms against the U.S., but have only been deemed to constitute an unspecified 'threat.'”
Foreign Policy Briefing 2/11/10
Pakistan has told the US it wants a central role in resolving the Afghan war and has offered to mediate with Taliban factions, the New York Times reports. So far, the US has been more eager to push Pakistan to fight Taliban than to negotiate with them, and has not endorsed Pakistan's new approach. One strand of thinking within the Obama administration calls for allowing the Pakistanis to keep the Haqqanis as part of Pakistan's sphere of influence in southern Afghanistan, but only if Pakistan forces the Haqqanis to break with Al Qaeda and to push militants out of its areas, a US official said.
Editor’s Picks: News and Opinion Around the Web 2/11/10
Time to tax financial speculation? Way past time according to Institute for Policy Study's Sarah Anderson writing in Yes Magazine. Privatized health care? Ask rural Chinese how the switch from public to private is working for them, from the LA Times. Sarah Palin is smacking her jaws together over climate change using disinformation that she gets directly from big oil, from Think Progress and more in today's picks.
Regional Veterans’ News 2/11/10
Regional stories on veterans, health, education and other benefits and issues today from: Marksville, Louisiana, Forest Grove, Oregon, San Diego, California, Des Moines, Iowa, Salt Lake City, Utah, Cleveland, Ohio, Milpitas, California, and Austin, Texas
Questions on Rule of Law Raised by Iraqi Leader’s Use of Army – New...
A story entitled Questions on Rule of Law Raised by Iraqi Leader’s Use of Army in today's New York Times tells us that after...
JEFF GATES: Zionism Unmasked, Serving the Great Deceiver
While Zionism is clearly a nationalist ideology, that narrow framing does the term an injustice as it is so much more.
Zionism is more accurately described as a strategy for targeting thought and emotion as a means to influence behavior. Naïve Jews were its first victims when induced to identify with an enclave in the Middle East that President Harry Truman, a Christian Zionist, was induced to recognize as a “state.”
Zionism is first and foremost a mental state that manifests as a dispersed form of internalized nationalism—a Diaspora—that binds to an extremist enclave those who may never set foot there. After 1967, this “state” became the “Land of Israel” based on a more expansive area seized by Israel Defense Forces along with other occupied lands that Zionists claim a god gave them.