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Yearly Archives: 2010
Combat Clips: A Selection of OEF/OIF Veteran Statistics, Feb/Mar 2010
Between 2002 and 2008, nearly 50,000 veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars received diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder. But fewer than 10 percent of those completed the recommended treatment of 10 to 12 weekly sessions within four months; the number only grew to fewer than 30 percent over a year, the study authors found.
Fake VA hospital sites appear in hunt for mesothelioma cases
Until about noon on Wednesday, dozens of websites were identifying themselves with a Red Cross-ish logo and names like "VA Medical Center Palo Alto," or "VA Hospital San Francisco," or "VA Medical Center Gainesville" though they had no affiliation with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. They were actually operated by plaintiffs law firms that were searching for clients with asbestos-related diseases.
Regional Veterans News 4/2/10
Regional stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and issues today from Dickinson, Murphysboro, Illinois,, North Dakota, Las Cruces, New Mexico, La Salle, Illinois, Painesville, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and Evanston, Illinois.
GORDON DUFF: TIME FOR THE US TO THROW KARZAI “UNDER A BUS”
KARZAI'S ATTEMPTS TO PLAY US, INDIA, PAKISTAN AND RUSSIA AGAINST EACH OTHER
A CHILDISH ATTEMPT AT REVIVAL OF "COLD WAR THINKING"
By Gordon Duff STAFF...
U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards
No. 256-10
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CONTRACTS: MISSLE DEFENSE AGENCY
Lockheed Martin Corporation of Sunnyvale, Calif. is being awarded a sole-source indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (#HQ0147-10-D-0001) with a ceiling...
Barney Frank Does the Right Thing
By James Kwak
The revolving door between business and government is something that Simon and I have criticized, most recently in a book you may...
Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country
Formerly homeless Veteran, Jeffery Anderson has stabilized home and family thanks to his new job at the Waco, Texas, VA Regional Office. In response to Secretary Shinseki’s charge to end homelessness among Veterans within five years, the Waco VA Regional Office began a Homeless Veterans Hiring Initiative.
Regional Veterans News 4/1/10
Regional stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and issues today from Coos Bay, Oregon, Albuquerque, New Mexico, St. Paul, Minnesota, Roseburg, Oregon, Palm Beach, Florida, Washington, DC, and Madison, Wisconsin.
Mortgage Scams On The Rise – If It’s Too Good To Be True, It...
The Office of Security and Law Enforcement passes on the following from the National White Collar crime Center in regards to a new mortgage...
Race is Dead in America, The Beige Century Begins!
Recently, there's been lots of news about the census and how's it's not meeting the needs of today's America. In fact, the questions regarding race are now becoming ridiculous. As more and more of America becomes a diverse America, what once divided us is now on the verge of becoming what unites us; that being that we are all Americans now and race is not an issue.
Foreign Policy Briefing 3/31/10
U.S. forces hope to control Kandahar and surrounding areas by late summer, the Washington Post reports. Officials have pressed local leaders to eject the Taliban or their areas will be the focus of expanding military operations. Among those specifically warned by U.S. military commanders is Ahmed Wali Karzai, the elected head of Kandahar's provincial council, the unquestioned power broker in the province and brother of President Hamid Karzai [and also President Karzai's representative in talks with Taliban leader Mullah Baradar weeks before Baradar's arrest, a fact curiously unmentioned by the Post or the very similar New York Times story - JFP.]
US Recants Claims on “High-Value” Detainee Abu Zubaydah
The Justice Department has quietly recanted nearly every major claim the Bush administration had made about "high-value" detainee Abu Zubaydah, a Guantanamo prisoner who at one time was said to have planned the 9/11 attacks and was the No. 2 and 3 person in al-Qaeda.
U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards
No. 251-10
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CONTRACTS: DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY
Cardinal Health, Inc., Dublin, Ohio, is being awarded a maximum $315,552,575 firm-fixed-price, prime vendor contract for pharmaceuticals. Other locations...
The old America is fading
It is spring glorious spring (da do ron ron ron da do ron ron) and our gallant president has rallied his fractious forces against wacko demagoguery, the crocuses are up, and birds are returning from the South, preferring to [WhiteHouseTulipsSalon] raise their children here in Minnesota where we pull our pants on one leg at a time and not all at once. Some people in Washington haven't managed to get their pants on in years.
Obama Administration Announces Comprehensive Strategy for Energy Security
As part of the Administration’s comprehensive energy strategy President Barack Obama and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced more details of the Obama Administration’s efforts to strengthen our energy security. President Obama and Secretary Salazar announced that the Administration will expand oil and gas development and exploration on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to enhance our nation’s energy independence while protecting fisheries, tourism, and places off U.S. coasts that are not appropriate for development.
Time to Send “Hanoi John” McCain Packing
Why did you have your service record and POW debriefing classified FOREVER?
Did you provide military secrets to North Vietnam as stated by Colonel Earl Hopper of Army Intelligence?
Did you narrate 32 propaganda broadcasts for the North Vietnamese and give interviews to communist papers as is stated at www.mccainbetrayspows.com?
Why have you kept your Presidential Pardon secret? Did you know that you are the only person serving in Congress with a Presidential pardon?
Sean Hannity and Ollie North accused of scamming Veterans
In line with our article on those non-profit organizations that do provide a service to our Veterans and 'Support Our Troops' as was covered...
Secretary Shinseki Releases Draft Gulf War Task Force Report
Today, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced that the Department’s Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses Task Force has completed the final draft of a comprehensive report that will redefine how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) addresses the concerns of Veterans who deployed during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991.
GORDON DUFF: VET GROUPS FILE COMPLAINTS AGAINST HANNITY/NORTH CHARITY FOR VIOLATIONS
CHARGED WITH: "engaged in deceptive and illegal marketing practices by suggesting that all concert ticket sale revenue goes directly to scholarships for children of...
A Marine Home From War And Battling Boredom
The Marines known as "America's Battalion" were sent to Afghanistan last year as part of a contingent of 21,000 additional forces President Obama deployed in the administration's strategy to counter the Taliban insurgency. NPR followed the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment over the months of their deployment. They have since returned home and are settling into post-combat life.
Way Forward for U.S.-Israel: ‘You know that $30 billion in military assistance … ‘
Brilliant analysis by Phyllis Bennis.
by Phyllis Bennis
So far the requests have gone like this:
Obama: Please freeze settlements.
Netanyahu: No.
Obama: Please freeze settlements.
Netanyahu: No.
Obama: Please freeze...
An Urgent Letter to President Obama on Vimeo
t has been over three years since the American people issued their mandate. By electing Democrats to Congress, we demanded very clearly that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan end and that our tax dollars get allocated more reasonably.
It has been almost nine years since our foreign and domestic policies have been hijacked by the Bush administration, that our rule of law, our constitution, and our moral and ethical principles have been overturned and ignored.
Socialism for the Tea Parties
The Tea Party movement has a long, if perhaps not so distinguished pedigree, as fear of socialism has been a tool by powerful economic forces in the US for more than a century used to oppose any policies which might help poor and working people.
Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country
The VA Regional Office in Boise, Idaho, was recently recognized by an independent group for reducing its environmental impact. The U.S. Green Building Council recently awarded its “gold” rating for the construction design of the 25,000 square-foot facility. Three other VA facilities have been cited by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for their programs. The Reno Regional Office in Nevada received a LEED “silver” rating. The Fort Harrison Regional Office in Montana and the Oakland Mental Health Clinic in California each received a LEED-certified rating. LEED is a leading, independent rating system based on environmental assessments of buildings
Regional Veterans News 3/31/10
Regional stories on veterans' health, education and other benefits and issues today from Gaylord, Michigan, Austin, Texas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Williston, North Dakota, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Hartford, Connecticut, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Cleburne, Texas, and Mecklenburg, North Carolina.
Support Marine Dad’s Legal Fund in Fight Against ‘Thank God For Dead Soldiers’ Group
VT says support the Marine Dad, Al Snyder Legal Fund against idiots who disrupt Marine and U.S. troop funerals in an outrageous show of disrespect for killed-in-action servicemen and women.
28 Nations Helped US to Detain Suspects
Twenty-eight nations have cooperated with the U.S. to detain in their prisons, and sometimes to interrogate and torture, suspects arrested as part of the U.S. “War on Terror.”
The complicit countries have kept suspects in prisons ranging from public interior ministry buildings to “safe house” villas in downtown urban areas to obscure prisons in forests to “black” sites to which the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) has been denied access.
MRFF Demands Swift Action on ‘Jesus Rifles’
Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is demanding prompt removing of the Bible codes on rifle scopes used by the American armed forces...
GORDON DUFF: THE HUTEREE HOAX, GOP IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING
CHRISTIAN ZIONIST "FANATIC" GROUP ARRESTED IN MICHIGAN PART OF MAINSTREAM MILITIA
"STAR OF DAVID" REMOVED FROM SITE AFTER ARREST
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
“In the...
Mother of All Oil War Weapons Finally End Afghanistan and Iraq Wars
Nissan announced Tuesday that its Leaf electric car will come with a sticker price of $32,780. But after a federal tax credit of $7,500, the car will only set you back about $25,280.
JOHN HUMINS: Undoing a Myth: Corporations are People and have Constitutional Rights in...
Undoing a Myth: Corporations are People and have Constitutional Rights in Elections:
By John Humins STAFF WRITER
Americans are led to believe that corporations have legal...
Journalist Allan Nairn Facing Arrest in Indonesia: Reported U.S.-Backed Forces Assassinated Civilians
There is simply no better journalist in the world over the last 30 years than Allan Nairn.
EXCLUSIVE from Demcoracy Now
Journalist Allan Nairn Facing Possible...
Can Anyone Pacify the World’s Number One Narco-State?
After a year of cautious debate and costly deployments, President Obama finally launched his new Afghan war strategy at 2:40 am on February 13, 2010, in a remote market town called Marja in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province. As a wave of helicopters descended on Marja's outskirts spitting up clouds of dust, hundreds of U.S. Marines dashed through fields sprouting opium poppies toward the town's mud-walled compounds.
U.S. Department of Defense Announces Latest Contract Awards
No. 247-10
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CONTRACTS: NAVY
PAE Government Services, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., is being awarded an $83,868,260 cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) modification under a previously awarded cost reimbursement...
Large Hadron Collider Works, Seeks Answers to Mysteries of the Universe
Wow. The world can celebrate.
By Dennis Overbye
PASADENA, Calif. — After 16 years and $10 billion — and a long morning of electrical groaning and...
Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent
By JOHN SCHWARTZ and ANDREW POLLACK in the NYT
A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian...
Questions Persist at Camp Lejeune on Cancer-Causing Agents
By William R. Levesque, St. Petersburg Times Staff Writer
The Marine Corps insists that documents detailing water contamination at Camp Lejeune have been available to...
VA Getting Better on Gulf War Illnesses
Reading this piece on Gulf War Illnesses, there is reason to hope.
VCS Advocacy in the News: VA May Designate 9 Infectious Diseases as Related...
GORDON DUFF: CAUGHT IN THE ACT, TORTURE, MURDER AND RAPE AUTHORIZED BY BUSH...
RAPE, TORTURE AND MURDER, BUSH POLICIES TO MAKE AMERICA "SAFE"
AN INDICTMENT OF DR. AAFIA'S ABUSERS
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
There were things Americans didn't...
ISI: The Invisible Warriors
The misdeeds of anti-ISI agencies are known to every one. In that respect, Ramzi Yousaf who was well-aware of the activities of the American and Israeli secret agencies had stated in the US court in 1997, "You are butchers, liars, and hypocrites. You keep on talking about terrorism to the media, but behind closed doors you support terrorism".
The Most Ironic Signs Of All Time (PHOTOS)
If you're putting up a sign, most likely you've got a message and people need to be alerted. Unless you're the makers of these signs. In that case, you most likely thrive on contradicting yourself and confusing anyone in sight. While the perplexed sign readers may disagree, we applaud you. Keep 'em coming.
Pope May Be Forced Out by World Outrage and Decency
Update: Dissident Catholic Bishop Calls for Pope to Resign over Sex Abuse Scandal
There are some 1.1 billion Catholics in the world.
Their actions may well determine...