Saturday, April 17, 2010

It will effect the world (including the US)

March 7th, Iraq held Parlimentary elections. They voted for members of Parliament. Those results are known. (Though Nouri al-Maliki continues to dispute them.) This week, reporting from London, NPR could explain the process of how the UK elects members to Parliament and then the Parliament picks the prime minister. Somehow, all the kings horses and all the kings pawns were unable to do the same when it came to Iraq. It is little over a month since the election too place, the members of Parliament are, again, known. What is taking place currently is the attempts to build coalition-sharing agreements that will then allow the coalition that assembles 163 members of Parliament first to pick a nominee for prime minister -- which may or may not be agreed upon -- Nouri was not the first pick in 2006. Complaints and confusion about how 'long' it is taking may stem from confusion regarding the last go-round. Yes, in April 2006, Nouri became prime minister.

However, elections had not been held in March of 2006. They were held in December 2005. December 2009 is when elections were supposed to take place. Some news outlets are offering ahistorical timelines and stating the elections were originally supposed to take place in January. No, not "originally." January was the first push back from December. At the start of 2009, it was assumed that elections would be held in December 2009 as scheduled. As the year progressed, Nouri decided they needed to be postponed until January. Allowing that to happen? That's what created most of the mess. You stick to a timetable and when you allow Nouri to break it, you spit on it. It's part of the reason he's so out of control, he's never been expected to stick to any timeline. He signs agreements with various countries and then ignores them.

It took from December 2005 to April 2006 for a prime minister to be picked. By that standard -- the only one Iraq currently has -- things are not at a standstill. In the elections, Nouri's slate came in second to Ayad Allawi's (Nouri's slate received 89 and Allawi's received 91 seats). Ernesto Londono (Washington Post) reports that Nouri, at least in public, appears to be courting Allawi and insisting that Allawi's slate "should be a key player in the next government." Actually, Nouri's words Friday echo -- nearly word for word -- what the Iranian government put out last Saturday. Londono notes Nouri's interview on al-Hurra where Nouri denies that he would ever release Sadrists in an attempt to win Moqtada al-Sadr's support (and the 40 seats that make up the Sadr bloc). He would never do that?

He's already doing that. It's not even a secret. Not only does the US government know but Jasim Azawi confronted Chris Hill (US Ambassador to Iraq) with it -- with Nouri doing this -- two weeks ago on Inside Iraq.


Timothy Williams and Sa'ad Al-Izzi (New York Times) offer this analysis of a segment of Allawi's Sunni supporters:

Sunnis, who live primarily in an arc north and west of Baghdad, are seen as crucial to whether Iraq can avoid the sectarian and violence that consumed it after the 2005 parliamentary elections. A spate of explosions and other attacks since the voting on March 7, including bombs detonated outside the Iranian Embassy, have killed more than 100 people and wounded hundreds more. Many blame the political void created by the elections.
In Tikrit, elements of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party and Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia remain active, and thousands of unemployed men serve as a recruiting base. There are worries that the ranks of the disaffected men could increase, and so, too, violence, if Sunnis feel disenfranchised.
"The Sunnis are concerned about their own participation in the next government, not Allawi's, but they tied their fortunes to Allawi's," said Joost Hiltermann, deputy program director with the International Crisis Group, an independent, nonprofit organization. "They have seen these elections as a possible turning point, an important reason why they joined the surge in 2007," he added. "They were promised a chance to re-enter the new political order through these elections. If they fail in this quest, all bets are off concerning their future behavior."

And what this really reminds me of -- I'm not speaking of the Post or the Times -- is college. The rest of the media is playing like the student who will not study. As an undergraduate, I was that person so one of those fingers is pointed at me as well. But we go into class and think we've really done something and we've not done a damn thing. It was only in my last under graduate year that I learned the benefits of preparing for all classes (as opposed to just the ones I was interested in). It wasn't until grad school that I was able to notice others (I was too busy catching up) and see myself in them as the student who showed up, maybe offered some guesswork that was well received and thought then "I've really done something." When, reality, all I did as an undergraduate in classes I wasn't interested in (anything other than poli sci or sociology) was waste everyone's time. We were stuck doing remedials and catch ups because of people like me.

And that's what I'm hearing right now on NPR and Pacifica. It's what I've been criticizing for some time as Amy Goodman's efforts to Red Cross the news rushing from one disaster to another. Never getting to what matters and never dealing with any topics that aren't dominating the news cycle at that moment. It is the most remedial coverage in the world and it has little more value than her headlines at the top of the hour.

That said, I'll note she's done more on Iraq this month than Diane Rehm unless you consider attacking dead reporters to be something of value. If you do, Diane's your hard working gal. "That'll be the last word," she said two Fridays ago after deciding to read an e-mail from a right-winger who smeared two dead reporters as terrorists and embedded with terrorists. That shouldn't have been the last word. That was disgraceful and shameful.

When Diane Rehm dies in the not-so-distant future, you can be sure she will be eulogized all over the press. But she herself couldn't even mention the two dead reporters by name. She expects her death to be covered. But she can't two reporters by name, two reporters who died in Iraq while trying to cover the news. She can smear them, however.

But leaving that shameful moment aside, the elections took place March 7th. If there's a long delay in anything, it's in Diane -- who has ten hours a week to fill, two hours Monday through Friday -- refusing to devote one of those hours to Iraq. (For any wondering, Diane didn't even mention Iraq in her international hour yesterday.)

Relate that back to the college analogy I was referring to before. Diane's not preparing her listeners for a damn thing. When she finally seriously covers Iraq again, she'll have to play catch up. And that's the real problem with the US. Gore Vidal rightly speaks of our collective amnesia. There's no denying that aspect. But we're distracted by a media prone to distract. And when a problem emerges we're completely unprepared. The media distracts us daily.

Who becomes the next prime minister is the business of Iraq but you better believe that it will effect the MidEast -- short-term for sure, long-term possibly -- and that will effect the West.

We live in 'protected bubbles' that pop when world events force them to. And it's because our news media does such a sorry ass job. Whether it's Iraq (our focus here) or any other international country, we are never prepared by our media for any developments taking place and forever have to play catch up and listen to Diane expressing shock as she asks, "Now how did that happen?"

Sunday's Zaman provides an analysis of the post-election period which includes:


The State of Law Alliance, led by Nouri al-Maliki, was able to secure only 89 seats, compared to 108 as predicted by many, which was the first big surprise of the election. Al-Maliki was able to pick up only 27 percent of the vote despite the fact that as prime minister of Iraq he exerted control over all resources of the country during the last four years, and this should have considerably infuriated him. Al-Maliki did not refrain from openly praising the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) during the time he was ahead of his rivals, but when it became clear that he was beaten by Allawi by a margin of two seats, he started to accuse Allawi of “helping the Baathists he banished through the door enter through the window” and harshly criticize the council for failing to manage the election and prevent election fraud. In this regard, it is rare to see in this region a prime minister who directly appoints members of the election committees and benefits from advantages of being in power fall into despair when the election results are announced, accuse the election officials and institutions of fraud and declare that he will not accept the election results.
Indeed, al-Maliki made everyone see that his threats were not only for show when he rushed to petition the constitutional court, requesting it decide whether the winning party in the election or the party which is most likely to form the government should be awarded the right to form the government under Article 76 of the Iraqi Constitution. Chief Justice Medhat al-Mahmoud stated that the group which secured 217 seats, i.e., two-thirds of parliamentary seats, should be granted the right to form the government regardless of who won the election. Encouraged by this decision, al-Maliki started to hold busy talks or negotiations with other political parties which will control parliamentary seats.

Friday's snapshot covered a US House Armed Services Comitttee's subcommittee hearing. Ava reported on it last night in "Walter Jones discusses strain on the Guard," Kat in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and Wally in "Military Personnel Subcommittee."

Tom Doggett, Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio (Reuters) report that Rafael Ramirez, the Minister of Oil in Venequela, held a DC press conference yesterday where he termed the Iraq War "an aggression for oil."

Reuters notes today's violence includes a Baghdad sticky bombing which injured five people, 1 corpse discovered in Mosul, 1 suspect shot dead by Iraqi police in Baghdad and, dropping back to last night, a Basra home bombing which claimed the life of a wife of a Sahwa leader and injured their son.


The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.























Deaths and discharges

Jesse Charles Huff walked up to the VA Medical Center yesterday wearing Army fatigues and battling pain from his Iraq war wounds and a recent bout with depression.
The 27-year-old Dayton man had entered the center's emergency room about 1a.m. yesterday and requested some sort of treatment. But Huff did not get that treatment, police said, and about 5:45 a.m., he reappeared at the center's entrance, put a military-style rifle to his head and twice pulled the trigger.


The above is from Lucas Sullivan and Margo Rutledge Kissell's "Iraq vet kills self outside hospital" (Columbus Dispatch). WHIO TV reports that authorities on the scene were convinced that Jesse Huff's backpack must contain a bomb so they called in the bomb squad which sent in a robot that destroyed the backpack . . . filled with personal items and no bomb. They also note that the shooting took place at six a.m. Friday and, five hours prior, Jesse Huff was in the center's emergency room attempting to receive treatment. Oxycodone (prescribed) was discovered in his van.

Meanwhile CNN reports that Marc Hall entered into a plea agreement to avoid court-martial and has now been discharged with an "other than honorable discharge" and that Hall "will lose military and veterans benefits and be reduced to the lowest enlisted grade (E1) in the Army. "
Marc Hall is the soldier who served in Iraq and had finished his time with the military when he was stop lossed. His 'crime' was recording a song entitled "Stop Loss." Lara Jakes (AP) quotes his civilian attorney, Gespass, stating, "The song was a way for him to sort of vent. He was, I think, less and less happy about the idea even of having a weapon and using it."

Threat? Marc's plea agreement has him stating he threatened people and that the threats went beyond the song. Reality: If a member of the US military threatens to kill other soldiers and brass, the US military doesn't do a plea agreement. They toss your ass behind bars and they go overboard on it because they want to send a message. The fact that they allowed Marc to enter a plea agreement means they did not have proof of any threats.

There is an alternative to that? The alternative is that the military command needs a huge shake up because the brass is so inept that they just released a man who threatened multiple members of the military. Were that the case, a number of higher ups would need to be relieved of duty immediately. So take your pick.

The following community sites (plus Antiwar.com) updated last night:




The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.











thomas friedman is a great man






oh boy it never ends


















Friday, April 16, 2010

Iraq snapshot

Friday, April 16, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the census may take place this year (or not), the US Congress hears about issues effecting the Guard and the Reserve, Iraqi refugees continue to travel to Syria (and continue to be denied entry to the US), and more.
 
 
In Iraq, a census was supposed to have taken place in 2007.  It has not.  Nor in 2008, nor in 2009.  It's now supposed to take place in October of this year.  However, if it's delayed, it wouldn't be shocking and would, in fact, continue the pattern. Swathmore College's War News Radio featured a report last week on the Iraqi census that was taped in November of last year:
 
 
Gabriel Ramirez: Nuha Yousef is the executive director of the census in Iraq. She has been working on the Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology for 34 years and has helped conduct three censuses.
 
Nuha Yousef: In 1977, 1987 and 1997 -- in those three censuses, I was working in the Census Operation Room.
 
Gabriel Ramirez: Yousef says that Iraq has traditionally conducted a census every ten years. She took part in organizing the census for 2007 but things didn't go as planned.
 
Nuha Yousef: We started preparing for the 2007 census in 2006. But the security situation was the obstacle to holding a census in 2007 and it was postponed until 2009. So the security situation was the reason for canceling the 2007 census.
 
Gabriel Ramirez: In 2009, it seemed as if Iraq was ready to undergo a census.  But in August, only two months before the census was to take place, Ali Baban, the Minister of Planning, made an announcement.
 
Ali Baban: We are fully ready to conduct the census technically and we have completed all the requirements. But we have also listened to some of the fears and reservations expressed by Iraqi constituents, especially in the cities of Kirkuk and Nineveh due to political reasons and relations between the known ethnic groups. These objections and reservations might drive us to reconsider doing the census and postponing it to another time.
 
Gabriel Ramirez: Two weeks after the minister made this announcement, the Kurdistan Regional Government released an official statement. The statement criticized Baghdad for postponing the census based on politically motivated reasons related to the federal budget law and Kirkuk Province. Liam Anderson, a senior honorary research fellow at the Center for Ethno Political Research Studies at the University of Exner, tells us why some Arabs and Turkmen in the city are threatened by the census.
 
Liam Anderson: What they claim is that all of these Kurds that have come back in are not legitimately former residents of Kirkuk and so, if you hold a census, and you come up with a figure of 500,000 Kurds for the Kurds in Kirkuk, Turkmen and Arabs would say that's a false figure. So from that point of view, if you count the actual number of Kurds right now and you end up with something like a majority, then that sort of legitimizes Kurds and the Arab and the Turkmen don't want that fact established.
 
Gabriel Ramirez:  Youssef, the executive director of the census, notes that Kirkuk is a contentious issue. But she says that there's more to the story. She points out that the problem comes from an overlap of authority.
 
Nuha Yousef: Currently, there are overlapping local governments between the provinces -- mainly between the Kurdish provinces and other provinces -- like Nineveh Salah ad-Din and Diyala Province. There is interference between the local governments. So it is not acceptable for a local government to be counted as part of a Kurdish province and again be counted as part of other non-Kurdish provinces. There are areas under dispute between the provinces.
 
Gabriel Ramirez:  Regardless of the political controversies, the census is a necessary administrative tool for the Iraqi government. Youssef explains.
 
Nuha Yousef: The census provides a massive data base concerning population and housing. That includes all the social, economic, educational and immigration issues. In addition to housing and utilities -- such as water, electricity, telephones and other services including the environment in addition to religion and nationality.
 
Gabriel Ramirez: She also adds that the upcoming 2010 census is especially important because it will be the first post-war census conducted in Iraq
 
Nuha Yousef: There has been a big dramatic change in the Iraqi social structure. Only the census can tell us the size of the change in this social structure and the changing demographics. During the former regime there was a campaign of forced migration in both southern and northern provinces.  The population movement has now changed and the people have returned to their home provinces so this has changed things socially. The census will provide us with a new database in regard to the changes in the social structure.
 
Gabriel Ramirez: Although the census has already been postponed twice, Youssef is optimistic about the 2010 census.
 
Nuha Yousef: The census is now due to be held in October of 2010. We were fully prepared to do the census this year [2009] but I think any postponement will be in the interest of doing a good census. What I am most interested in is covering every part of the country without repetition or excluding any administrative unit. So I think the postponement will be for the interest of the work.  
 
Gabriel Ramirez: Youssef realizes that the census can and has been used for political purposes. But for her, conducting the census is a civil service.  For War News Radio, I'm Gabriel Ramirez.
 
A census focused only within the Iraqi borders will not take into account the huge number of external refugees.  War News Radio this week reports, among other things, on Iraqi refugees in the US.  The bulk of the refugees remain in Iraq's neighboring countries -- such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.   Carolien Roelants (NRC Handelsblad) reports on Iraqi refugees in Syria such as Burud who lost one foot and one hand in a Baghdad bombing and, as soon as she recovered, she went to Syria and became "one of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who have been living in Syria for years. Most of them do not live in refugee camps but have found a place amongst the Syrians. About 163,000 refugees are currently registered with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, but it is estimated that an additional 400,000 to 800,000 have not."  Violence has not vanished in Iraq but the height of the violence is thought to have been 2006 and 2007 and Roelants reports that those who fled to Syria during that do not plan to return and, in addition, Syria is still getting Iraqi refugees on a daily basis, "Ever day, some 20 to 30 families, 150 a week, still check in here [UNHCR].  Approximately 60 percent are fresh from Iraq."  At the start of the week, Catholic News Service reported Iraqi women in Damascus made a point to speak with North American Catholic leaders who were in Syria to tour the Melkite Catholic Church  The women wanted to know, "What can be done for Christians who are being uprooted from Iraq?" Monsignor Robert Stern replied, "I think the most important thing we can do, first of all, is to be here and to see you and to let you know that you are in our hearts. We are not politicians. Even though we live in Western countries, we cannot control the policies of the countries or the United Nations."  Later in the conversation, New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan stated, "But many people in America don't even know there are Christians in Iraq or Syria. We bishops know that, and we try our best to help. But what we must do after having our hearts touched by you is remind our people that they have brother and sister Christians in Iraq and Syria."
 
Very few of the refugees have made it to the US.  James Denselow (Guardian) notes, "During his election campaign he promised $2bn to expand services available to Iraqi refugees and in last August he appointed Samantha Power (who during the election campaign famously described Hilary Clinton as a monster) as senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights, responsible for 'co-ordinating the efforts of the many parts of the US government on Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)'. However, delivering on this has been delayed somewhat, especially now that the American administration has postponed 'until further notice' the appointment of Robert Ford as ambassador to Damascus, following recent information about trucks bearing advanced weaponry that passed from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon."  Meribah Knight (Chicago News Cooperative for the New York Times) observes, "Iraqi refugees, according to the United States Office of Refugee Resettlement, went from zero to 1,298 from 2006 to 2009, making Chicago home to the second-largest Iraqi population in the country after Detroit."  The refugee population is composed of the targeted.  For example, Christians are a small minority in Iraq; however, they make up a significant number of the refugee population.  Religious minorities are in the refugee population. Women are targeted, they also figure highly in the refugee population.  And Iraq's gay community is targeted leading many men and women to attempt to be granted refugee status.  David Taffet (Dallas Voice) offers an update on two gay males who did make it to the US:
 
The story of Yousif Ali and Nawfal Muhamed first appeared in Dallas Voice when they were here for the Creating Change conference.             
Since the article appeared, the Houston GLBT Community Center and a gay Muslim support group have been helping them navigate the U.S. system and get services normally provided to refugees. The problem has been Catholic Charities, the organization that provides many of the federally funded refugee services, that has been unresponsive to the two gay men.                     
Now, the Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church has taken them under their wing to make sure they have enough money for food and other necessities. They have set up a fund to help them. Mark and Becky Edmiston-Lange, the church's ministers, have kicked the fund off with a donation from their discretionary fund.               
 
Any who would like to donate can send checks or money orders to Emerson UU Church, 1900 Bering Dr., Houston, Texas 77057.
 
Another targeted population is the press.  Bram Vermeulen (NRC Handelsblad) reports on the editor-in-chief of Alhurra TV, Fallah al-Dahabi:
 
He has decorated the walls with pictures of his TV appearances, he purchased a microwave and a fitness machine, he has a barbecue on the balcony and a flat-screen television no other guest at the hotel has. But it is still a hotel room, a refuge with room service. Home is somewhere else.            
This chief editor and his station were supposed to become the face of freedom and democracy in the Arab world after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Alhurra, 'the Free One', had to become a station where everything could be said, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without commercial interruptions. The US government set it up in 2004 and has since invested 500 million dollars of taxpayers' money. It hoped to create the Arab equivalent of Radio Free Europe, the anti-communist station that broadcast information across the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. But Alhurra has proved no match for giants like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. Less than 2 percent of viewers watch it occasionally. Most deem it too pro-Western, too biased and unreliable. In Iraq, the channel and its chief editor have become targets for blind hatred.                 
  
 Monday, Human Rights Watch released the following on press freedoms (or the lack of them ) in Iraq:                        

The Iraqi government should suspend media regulations that impose tight restrictions on the country's broadcast media and revise them to comply with international standards, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today to the official Communication and Media Commission (CMC).         

The Commission began enforcing the regulations ahead of the March 7, 2010, parliamentary elections ostensibly to silence broadcasters who encourage sectarian violence, but the regulations are vague and susceptible to abuse. The regulations should be revised to define in detail all restrictions on and give meaningful guidance to broadcasters by clearly delineating their responsibilities, Human Rights Watch said. While the government can prohibit and punish speech that constitutes direct incitement of violence, the broad and vague wording of the regulations, such as prohibiting "incitement of sectarianism," falls short of international norms governing freedom of expression. "These broadcast regulations are a real setback for media freedom in Iraq," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "These restrictions open the door to politically motivated discrimination in the regulation and licensing of broadcasters." Over the months leading to the parliamentary elections, the government restricted freedom of expression in a number of ways. It clamped down on scrutiny of public officials, denied media accreditation to journalists, and sued media outlets that criticized government officials. In addition, police and security forces have harassed, arrested, and assaulted numerous journalists.

The regulations appear to give the CMC unfettered power to halt broadcast transmissions, close offices, seize equipment, revoke licenses, and levy fines on broadcasters. The rules empower the agency to cancel licenses even after the first minor violation of the licensing terms. In its letter, Human Rights Watch asked the agency to ensure that punishments are proportionate to the offense, increasing only in step with the severity and repetition of offenses. The rules should also give license applicants a clear and expeditious path to appeal denied applications.

Human Rights Watch also urged the agency to stop requiring broadcasters to provide it with a list of employees, as this poses an unacceptable security threat to media workers. Iraqi journalists already operate in an extraordinarily unsafe environment. Since 2003, at least 141 journalists have died in Iraq, some in politically motivated murders. Muaid al-Lami, head of the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate, has been the subject of two assassination attempts, including one last month. Journalists in Iraq who wish to stay anonymous should be able to do so, Human Rights Watch said.            

"Not only do the regulations give this agency enormous power to shut down broadcasters for minor and first-time transgressions, but they place the lives of Iraqi journalists at greater risk," Stork said. "The Media Commission should suspend the regulations until it fixes them."             

 
 While the press is curtailed, attempts at the tag sale on Iraq's assets continue unfettered. Dow Jones reports the country's Ministry of Oil is no longer looking for "recoverable five-year soft loans" but instead "signature bonuses." Hey, maybe like a certain actor who priced himself out of any worthy part, they could start demanding $500,000 just to consider an offer? Ahmed Rasheed, Michael Christie and Keiron Henderson (Reuters) note that the signature bonuses are being cut and provide the example of how $300 million was supposed to be the fees paid by "Italy's Eni and its partners Occidental Petroleum Corp and South Korea's KOGAS" has been dropped to $100 million. AP notes that the Ministry of Oil plans to allow bidding on three natural gas fields. The fields have not yet been identified but they are expected to be later this year. Tamsin Carlisle (UAE's National Newspaper) adds, "Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) are favoured bidders, said Sabah Abdul Kadhim, the head of the oil ministry's petroleum contracts and licensing directorate." Along with the favored, the Ministry Oil plans to pick the remaining bidders (for a total of 15) "from the 44 that qualified to bid in Iraq's first two post-war auctions of oil and gas licences last year." And Russel Gold (Wall St. Journal) notes that Paris-based Schlumberg Ltd is currently beefing up its staff with the intent of stationing 300 employees in Iraq by this summer and twice that amount by December 2010. War is big business which is why countries wage it -- even over the objections of its citizens.
 
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
 
Bombings?
 
Reuters notes a Baghdad sticky bombing which injured one person and a Tuz Khurmato sticky bombing which left six people injured.
 
Shootings?
 
Reuters notes 1 person shot dead in Baghdad and 1 'suspect' killed in Mosul by Iraqi forces.
 
Corpses?
 
Reuters notes 2 corpses discovered in Baaj.
 
"The attacks on September 11, 2001 set in motion the sustained increased use and heavier reliance on the reserves with over 761,000 reservists and guardsman mobilized to date, one third of whom have been activated two times or more,"  declared US House Rep Susan David yesterday. "The Department of Defense and the services have begun a transformation of the Guard and Reserve to an operational force with greater strategic capability and depth. This includes an equipping strategy to ensure the reserve components have the same equipment as their respective active component and an effective force management strategy to ensure the reserves are not over utilized. In response to the continued reliance on the reserves, Congress took some key steps to address the concerns that emerged. First it established the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves to provide a comprehensive independent assessment of the Guard and Reserves and its potential future roles.  Secondly, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008, Congress: (1) elevated the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to the grade of 4-star general, (2) made the National Gurad Bureau a joint organization and (3) required specific actions with regards to equipping the Guard and Reserves. Congress also mandated the establishment of the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program to assist Guard and Reserve members and their families' transition back to their communities after deployment."  
 
She was speaking at the opening of a the Military Personnel Subcommittee hearing.  Davis chairs the Subcommittee and, as they explored issues of interest to the Guard and Reserve, they received testimony from Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Dennis McCarthy, Lt Gen Jack Stultz (Chief of Army Reserve), Vice Adm Dick Debbink  (Chief of Naval Reserve), Lt Gen John Kelly (Commander, Marine Force Reserve), Lt Gen Charles Stenner (Chief of Air Force Reserve), Lt Gen Harry Wyatt (Director Air National Guard) and Maj Gen Raymond Carpenter (Acting Director Army National Guard).  We'll note this exchange between Ranking Member Joe Wilson and Dennis McCarthy.
 
 
Ranking Member Joe Wilson: [. . .] With that, another fact, Secretary McCarthy, is that it's so difficult to distinguish between Guard, Reserve, Active Duty except on the issue of retirement. And so I certainly hope that we can make some changes.  In particular, current law allows a mobilized Reserve component member to earn three months credit toward retirement for every 90 days of aggregate service on active duty. Congress intended for those to be counted as active duty regardless of whether the active duty period occurred across fiscal years. But the Department has somehow implemented this that if it is across the fiscal years that it doesn't count at all. What is DoD going to do to fix this or what should we do to clarify? But there's no question that we certainly meant to disregard fiscal year.
 
Dennis M. McCarthy: Congressman Wilson, I'm well aware of that anomaly. I think everyone understands that it's not what either the Congress intended and it's not what -- uh -- is -- uh -- it's not the right thing to do. So it is going to take a fix. I'm not sure whether it will be a legislative or a directive fix. I suspect it will be the latter.  I'm sorry -- I suspect it will be the former and that we will have to come to Congress on that. But I know that it's on the agenda to be -- to be resolved.
 
Ranking Member Joe Wilson: And I hope it will be resolved as quickly as possible. Additionally, we have a circumstance where we have mobilized Reserve component members who can earn retirement as Reservists or Guard members wounded or injured if they're placed in a Wounded Warrior Unit under the orders of the Wounded Warrior. Again, they don't receive credit for the period of time recovering from the wounds and, again, I just know my colleagues and I did not mean for that to be. So I hope that's corrected or please give us advice how we can correct it.
 
Dennis McCarthy: The change of a Wounded Warrior's status --  when they're mobilized, wounded and then have their status changed -- is purely a directive issue. It's something that was done a couple of years ago and I think that the result that you've described was an unintended consequence. But it's got to be fixed and I know that the people in Personnel and Readiness have that for action.
 
Ranking Member Joe Wilson: And I appreciate the effort because, uhm, we-we know that these troops are so dedicated, they want to be operational, they want to serve, but it's also very important for their families that there be proper protection. 
 
We'll also note this exchange between US House Rep Joe Wilson and Carpenter:
 
US House Rep Walter Jones: I have -- this has been kind of an ongoing issue with a father of a National Guardsman in eastern North Carolina who was deployed on active duty, fought in Iraq and this father has met with me two or three times wanting to know why that a Guardsman who has fought for this country, active duty, called upon, that they do not qualify as an active duty Soldier or Marine with the GI Bill for educational benefits. Is this an issue that you hear quite a bit about? I think that Senator [Jim] Webb was at one time trying to put legislation in on the Senate side that would deal with this.  And does this ring a bell with you?
 
Maj Gen Raymond Carpenter: Sir, I'm not aware of the specific case that you cite. But I do know that one of the things we hear from National Guardsmen and from states out there is the GI Bill -- what we call the new GI Bill -- applies to soldiers who deploy but does not necessarily apply to soldiers who are in a [. . .]  Title 32 status.  And a lot of the soldiers that I talk to see that as an inequity and so they raise that issue with us. I am not sure about the specific instance you talk about where somebody who was mobilized and deployed to the theater was not eligible for the GI Bill but if you'll give me the details, I'll certainly look into it.
 
The hearing addressed many other issues.  Ava will continue the Walter Jones coverage at Trina's site tonight, Kat will cover a portion of Don't Ask, Don't Tell at her site and Wally's grabbing an aspect of the hearing (possibly an overview but it may be a specific testimony) at Ann's site tonight.
 
 
As noted yesterday, Binghamton, New York is getting a counter at City Hall which will count the financial costs to US tax payers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Post-Standard's editorial board explains:

Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan made a startling discovery a while back: By this September, Binghamton residents will have contributed $138.6 million to help pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- or rather, that's their share of the debt piled up by these military engagements. And that's not counting any supplemental billions requested by President Barack Obama and approved by Congress later this year.

And they explain that people can check the costs to their own communities by visiting Cost Of War. George Basler (Press & Sun-Bulletin) reports:

The counter is being funded entirely by private contributions from the Broome County Cost of War Project, a local grassroots organization.
At Wednesday's event, Ryan said, he believes he has the authority as mayor to hang the sign.
Legal questions surrounding the sign could soon be moot. Councilman Sean Massey, D-5th District, plans to introduce a resolution at Monday's council work session to have the council support the sign. He thinks a majority of the seven-member council - all Democrats, like the mayor - will support it.
But, Massey said, he doesn't think the council has to approve the sign. He said Ryan, as mayor, has control over the physical site of city hall.

WBNG News quotes the mayor stating, "That's where all the money comes from and we need up paying all the unfunded mandates. We end up not having the money to and that's where the national priorities come in they have to change."
 
Turning to peace news.  Last Friday's snapshot noted 12-year-old Frankie Hughes who peacefully protested the Iraq War in Senator Tom Harkin's office and was arrested for protesting.  On top of that, her mother, Renee Espeland, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.  Matthew Rothschild (The Progressive) reported on it Saturday and updated it mid-week to note that the charge against Frankie's mother was dropped with Polk County Attorney John Sarcone telling Rothschild, "Looking at all the circumstances, what happened didn't need to be addressed with a criminal charge. It was never an appropriate thing to begin with. They were just wrong-spirited." Yesterday, mother and daughter appeared on Democracy Now! (link has text, audio and video):
 
FRANKIE HUGHES: Well, I went to -- I went to, I think -- OK, so I went to Tom Harkin's office to protest how he is funding the war. I think it was a Wednesday. And it's just -- it's not OK what he's doing. And he has a way to make -- he has a way to be a hero and just not fund it. Yet he needs a push.
 
AMY GOODMAN: So when you went into the office -- and I know you have to turn up and down your computer as I'm talking and then turn it off when I'm not -- as you went into the office, tell us what you did.
 
FRANKIE HUGHES: I just walked in the office, and then I started -- I sat down. Chris Gaunt was on the floor. After like a minute, I went up and I talked to the man that was sitting at the desk. I told him to tell Tom Harkin a couple of things, like how I want to know the real reason why we're in there, and not the fake one, and how I want to know, like --and then I asked him why he thought we were there. And he said, "Well, my opinion doesn't matter." And I said, "Well, it matters to me." And then he said, "My opinion doesn't matter," repeatedly. And I just couldn't believe that somebody would think their opinion just didn't matter.
 
AMY GOODMAN: Renee, were you there?
 
RENEE ESPELAND: Yes.
 
AMY GOODMAN: And were you participating in this action, as well?
 
RENEE ESPELAND: Well, we've been spending, either on a Wednesday or a Thursday --we have a Thursday vigil that we do in sort of downtown Des Moines, and then we go up to the federal building. And both Senator Grassley and Harkin's offices are all -- both on the seventh floor. So we've been making visits once a week since October. And so, this was just a day -- this was an extra day that we had gone, because Chris was going to be there. And yeah, we were just trying to go and kind of keep also some relationship building with the staff in the office, so that it's not, you know, just an intermittent thing, that they actually expect us and they know us and we can learn names, that kind of thing.
 
AMY GOODMAN: Explain who Chris is.
 
RENEE ESPELAND: Chris Gaunt has been just -- she has just been a champ, as far as making a really heartfelt, quiet, prayerful, oftentimes silent presence repeatedly and then staying. And so when Frankie said she was on the floor, she has been doing -- like at 4:00, she's been laying on the floor and kind of turning it from a sit-in into a die-in. And, for instance, about a month ago, they decided not to just give her a federal citation, but also state charges, and they took her to jail. But our state is broke, and so we have all these furlough days. So then the next day was a furlough day, so she had to stay in jail an extra day before she could see the judge. And in Pope County, where we live, they charge jail rent. And so, they most certainly -- I mean, they charged her the jail rent on the furlough day, which was interesting. But she was there doing a die-in, and then Frankie joined her.

TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Peter Baker (NYT), Gloria Borger (CNN), John Dickerson (CBS News and Slate), and David Wessel (Wall St. Journal). And Gwen's column this week is "Debating the Debate" which is worth reading (I'm recommending it). Remember that the show podcasts in video and audio format -- and a number of people sign up for each (audio is thought to be so popular due to the fact that it downloads so much quicker). If you podcast the show, remember there is the Web Extra where Gwen and the guests weigh in on topics viewers e-mail about. And also remember that usually by Monday afternoon you can go to the show's website and stream it there (including Web Extra) as well as read the transcripts and more. Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Debra Carnahan, Avis Jones-DeWeever, Sabrina Schaeffer, Tara Setmayer and Jessica Vaughan on the latest broadcast of PBS' To The Contrary to discuss the week's events. And at the website each week, there's an extra just for the web from the previous week's show and this week's it's on the announced retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens. For the broadcast program, check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:

21st Century Snake Oil
"60 Minutes" hidden cameras expose medical conmen who prey on dying victims by using pitches that capitalize on the promise of stem cells to cure almost any disease. Scott Pelley reports. (This is a double-length segment.)


Pacino
In a rare sit-down interview, Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino talks to Katie Couric about his films and how he prepares for them, including his upcoming movie in which he stars as Dr. Jack Kevorkian.


60 Minutes, Sunday, April 18, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. 

 

Iraq's continued war on the press

A steel door opened on one of the 18 floors of the Palestine Hotel. Behind it was another. Then a guard with a friendly smile and a machine gun. He welcomed the guest to his boss' room. This is where Fallah al-Dahabi, the Iraqi editor-in-chief of Alhurra TV, has been holed up for the past three years.
He has decorated the walls with pictures of his TV appearances, he purchased a microwave and a fitness machine, he has a barbecue on the balcony and a flat-screen television no other guest at the hotel has. But it is still a hotel room, a refuge with room service. Home is somewhere else.
This chief editor and his station were supposed to become the face of freedom and democracy in the Arab world after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Alhurra, 'the Free One', had to become a station where everything could be said, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without commercial interruptions. The US government set it up in 2004 and has since invested 500 million dollars of taxpayers' money. It hoped to create the Arab equivalent of Radio Free Europe, the anti-communist station that broadcast information across the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. But Alhurra has proved no match for giants like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. Less than 2 percent of viewers watch it occasionally. Most deem it too pro-Western, too biased and unreliable. In Iraq, the channel and its chief editor have become targets for blind hatred.

The above is from Bram Vermeulen's "Free speech behind armoured doors in Iraq" (NRC Handelsblad) and the US-created 'democratic' Iraq has no been conducive to a free press. Which may explain why so many Western faux reporters flourished so early on in Iraq. Monday, Human Rights Watch released the following on press freedoms (or the lack of them ) in Iraq:

The Iraqi government should suspend media regulations that impose tight restrictions on the country's broadcast media and revise them to comply with international standards, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today to the official Communication and Media Commission (CMC).

The Commission began enforcing the regulations ahead of the March 7, 2010, parliamentary elections ostensibly to silence broadcasters who encourage sectarian violence, but the regulations are vague and susceptible to abuse. The regulations should be revised to define in detail all restrictions on and give meaningful guidance to broadcasters by clearly delineating their responsibilities, Human Rights Watch said. While the government can prohibit and punish speech that constitutes direct incitement of violence, the broad and vague wording of the regulations, such as prohibiting "incitement of sectarianism," falls short of international norms governing freedom of expression. "These broadcast regulations are a real setback for media freedom in Iraq," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "These restrictions open the door to politically motivated discrimination in the regulation and licensing of broadcasters." Over the months leading to the parliamentary elections, the government restricted freedom of expression in a number of ways. It clamped down on scrutiny of public officials, denied media accreditation to journalists, and sued media outlets that criticized government officials. In addition, police and security forces have harassed, arrested, and assaulted numerous journalists.

The regulations appear to give the CMC unfettered power to halt broadcast transmissions, close offices, seize equipment, revoke licenses, and levy fines on broadcasters. The rules empower the agency to cancel licenses even after the first minor violation of the licensing terms. In its letter, Human Rights Watch asked the agency to ensure that punishments are proportionate to the offense, increasing only in step with the severity and repetition of offenses. The rules should also give license applicants a clear and expeditious path to appeal denied applications.

Human Rights Watch also urged the agency to stop requiring broadcasters to provide it with a list of employees, as this poses an unacceptable security threat to media workers. Iraqi journalists already operate in an extraordinarily unsafe environment. Since 2003, at least 141 journalists have died in Iraq, some in politically motivated murders. Muaid al-Lami, head of the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate, has been the subject of two assassination attempts, including one last month. Journalists in Iraq who wish to stay anonymous should be able to do so, Human Rights Watch said.

"Not only do the regulations give this agency enormous power to shut down broadcasters for minor and first-time transgressions, but they place the lives of Iraqi journalists at greater risk," Stork said. "The Media Commission should suspend the regulations until it fixes them."

While the press is curtailed, attempts at the tag sale on Iraq's assets continue unfettered. Dow Jones reports the country's Ministry of Oil is no longer looking for "recoverable five-year soft loans" but instead "signature bonuses." Hey, maybe like a certain actor who priced himself out of any worthy part, they could start demanding $500,000 just to consider an offer? Ahmed Rasheed, Michael Christie and Keiron Henderson (Reuters) note that the signature bonuses are being cut and provide the example of how $300 million was supposed to be the fees paid by "Italy's Eni and its partners Occidental Petroleum Corp and South Korea's KOGAS" has been dropped to $100 million. AP notes that the Ministry of Oil plans to allow bidding on three natural gas fields. The fields have not yet been identified but they are expected to be later this year. Tamsin Carlisle (UAE's National Newspaper) adds, "Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) are favoured bidders, said Sabah Abdul Kadhim, the head of the oil ministry’s petroleum contracts and licensing directorate." Along with the favored, the Ministry Oil plans to pick the remaining bidders (for a total of 15) "from the 44 that qualified to bid in Iraq's first two post-war auctions of oil and gas licences last year." And Russel Gold (Wall St. Journal) notes that Paris-based Schlumberg Ltd is currently beefing up its staff with the intent of stationing 300 employees in Iraq by this summer and twice that amount by December 2010. War is big business which is why countries wage it -- even over the objections of its citizens.

As noted yesterday, Binghamton, New York is getting a counter at City Hall which will count the financial costs to US tax payers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Post-Standard's editorial board explains:

Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan made a startling discovery a while back: By this September, Binghamton residents will have contributed $138.6 million to help pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- or rather, that’s their share of the debt piled up by these military engagements. And that’s not counting any supplemental billions requested by President Barack Obama and approved by Congress later this year.

And they explain that people can check the costs to their own communities by visiting Cost Of War. George Basler (Press & Sun-Bulletin) reports:

The counter is being funded entirely by private contributions from the Broome County Cost of War Project, a local grassroots organization.
At Wednesday's event, Ryan said, he believes he has the authority as mayor to hang the sign.
Legal questions surrounding the sign could soon be moot. Councilman Sean Massey, D-5th District, plans to introduce a resolution at Monday's council work session to have the council support the sign. He thinks a majority of the seven-member council - all Democrats, like the mayor - will support it.
But, Massey said, he doesn't think the council has to approve the sign. He said Ryan, as mayor, has control over the physical site of city hall.

WBNG News quotes the mayor stating, "That's where all the money comes from and we need up paying all the unfunded mandates. We end up not having the money to and that's where the national priorities come in they have to change."

March 7th, Iraq held elections. They've yet to form a government (leading to some huffing and puffing on the 'delay' but compared to 2006, no times has yet passed) and Nouri al-Maliki (whose political slate came in second, behind Ayad Allawi's) is huffing about foreign interference. Trend News reports:

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in an interview to Arabic television channel "Al-Arabiya" said that Saudi Arabia doesn't take any steps to intervene in forming the next Iraqi government. Talabani statements were voiced amid Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi's visit to Riyadh, who is also nominated in the elections held March 7. As a result of voting, the two largest political blocs, headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki got an equal number of seats in parliament. Allawi's Al Iraqiya Coalition won majority of votes. However, due to the fact that the party can not form a government alone, it is supposed that the next Iraqi leadership will be coalition.
The real competition in the held elections was actually between pro-Arab and pro-Iranian political forces, Ghassan Attiyah, the head of the Iraq foundation for development and democracy believes. "All the activities after the elections in Iraq should be considered in the context. The elections didn't determine any winner, so they have to form a coalition," - Attiyah told Trend. Iranians spent millions on these elections while Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have actively supported Iyad Allawi - a secular Shiite, because the prime-minister should be Shiite.
Allawi, who headed Iraq's transitional Government in 2004, belongs to the secular coalition and criticizes Iran, which tries to exert pressure through the rest of the religious Shiite parties on forming a new Iraqi government.


Francis A. Boyle is an international law expert and law professor. He and Nanjundiah Sadanand are guests on the latest TalkNationRadio. Click here for the episode or, if the embed code works, stream below. Boyle's segment is on his International Criminal Court complaint against Bully Boy Bush and assorted other War Criminals serving under Bush.





TV notes, Washington Week begins airing on many PBS stations tonight (and throughout the weekend, check local listings) and joining Gwen around the table this week are Peter Baker (NYT), Gloria Borger (CNN), John Dickerson (CBS News and Slate), and David Wessel (Wall St. Journal). And Gwen's column this week is "Debating the Debate" which is worth reading (I'm recommending it). Remember that the show podcasts in video and audio format -- and a number of people sign up for each (audio is thought to be so popular due to the fact that it downloads so much quicker). If you podcast the show, remember there is the Web Extra where Gwen and the guests weigh in on topics viewers e-mail about. And also remember that usually by Monday afternoon you can go to the show's website and stream it there (including Web Extra) as well as read the transcripts and more. Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Debra Carnahan, Avis Jones-DeWeever, Sabrina Schaeffer, Tara Setmayer and Jessica Vaughan on the latest broadcast of PBS' To The Contrary to discuss the week's events. And at the website each week, there's an extra just for the web from the previous week's show and this week's it's on the announced retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens. For the broadcast program, check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes:

21st Century Snake Oil
"60 Minutes" hidden cameras expose medical conmen who prey on dying victims by using pitches that capitalize on the promise of stem cells to cure almost any disease. Scott Pelley reports. (This is a double-length segment.)


Pacino
In a rare sit-down interview, Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino talks to Katie Couric about his films and how he prepares for them, including his upcoming movie in which he stars as Dr. Jack Kevorkian.


60 Minutes, Sunday, April 18, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.


Radio. Today on The Diane Rehm Show (airs on most NPR stations and streams live online beginning at 10:00 am EST), Diane is joined the first hour (domestic news roundup) E.J. Dionne (Washington Post), Linda Wertheimer (NPR), Byron York (Washington Examiner). For the second hour (international news roundup), Diane is joined by Elise Labott (CNN), Martin Walker (UPI) and David Wood (PolitcsDaily).

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.




















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Treating veterans and mistreating them

Sgt. Eric Layne's death was not pretty.
A few months after being prescribed a drug cocktail with the antidepressant Paxil, the mood stabilizer Klonopin and AstraZeneca's controversial antipsychotic drug, Seroquel, the Iraq war veteran was "suffering from incontinence, severe depression [and] continuous headaches," according to his widow, Janette Layne, at FDA hearings for new Seroquel approvals last year.
Soon he had tremors. " … [H]is breathing was labored [and] he had developed sleep apnea," said Janette Layne, who served in the National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom along with her husband. On the last day of his life, she testified, Eric stayed in the bathroom nearly all night battling acute urinary retention. He died while his family slept.
Sgt. Layne had just returned from a seven-week inpatient program at the VA Medical Center in Cincinnati where he was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A video shot during that time, played by his wife at the FDA hearings, shows a dangerously sedated figure barely able to talk.
Sgt. Layne was not the first healthy veteran to die after being prescribed medical cocktails, including Seroquel, for PTSD.
In the last two years, Pfc. Derek Johnson, 22, of Hurricane, West Virginia; Cpl. Andrew White, 23, of Cross Lanes, West Virginia; Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger, 21, of Roundrock, Texas; Cpl. Nicholas Endicott, 24, of Pecks Mill, West Virginia; and Spc. Ken Jacobs, 21, of Walworth, New York have all died suddenly while taking Seroquel cocktails.

The above is from Martha Rosenberg's "Are Veterans Being Given Deadly Cocktails to Treat PTSD?"(Dissident Voice). A lot of people make a lot of money off PTSD. It's really amazing to watch some of the 'new' 'treatments' emerge. For example, a quack was promoted by several regional newspapers this week for his 'new' treatment: Shock therapy. An illness garners headlines and 'new' treatments come rushing up. And all it takes it a diploma -- from a real school or a diploma mill -- and a number in the press will run with it. As a general rule, 'treatments' hailed as miracle workers only to be exposed as anything but as they are repeatedly utilized should not resurface because some quack needs some attention. Certainly, the ship sailed on shock therapy long, long ago. What's next in the 'new' developments? "Lobotomy cures PTSD!"?

At present, it appears -- despite the quack's claim this week (which four regional papers ran with) -- that PTSD is not something that will be "cured" but something that will be treated. New developments may emerge (not likely when the government keeps doing 'research' on whether or not there's a problem and finding the 'answer' is "Further study is needed") and a cure may be discovered. But for most suffering, PTSD is something that they will be managing because it won't go away. (As with any disease, for some the symptoms will just vanish for reasons unknown.)

A rule of thumb should be that 'treatments' which didn't work in the past for traumas aren't going to work today so just because you're a quack looking to make a quick buck doesn't mean the press should rush to 'report' on your 'new' 'discovery.' As a rule of thumb, over medicating those suffering from grief or suicidal ideations has not resulted in anything resembling or adjacent to "healthy" so the thought that you can over-medicate away PTSD should have been ruled out long, long ago.

(In many cases, over-medication isn't about health, it's about shutting up the patient and making your own life a little easier.)

Max Jacobson, were he treating people today as he did JFK, Eddie Fisher and countless others, would lose his license. (His 'vitamin shots' were laced with amphetamines.) And that shouldn't have been an issue that surprised the medical community. By the same token, those over-medicating patients today should result in peer outcry and professional reprimand. We know the dangers of over-medication and we knew them before PTSD began garnering press attention in the last few years.



Meanwhile Heather Crawford (KATV) reports on Sabrina Threet's efforst to have the ruling in her son's death changed. Iraq War veteran Bradley Ryan Hill supposedly chocked himself to death via an extension cord. Sabrina Threet does not believe her son took his own life due to a number of factors which appear to indicate foul play. Yesterday Judge Jay Moody of the Pulaski County Circuit refused to change the death certificate. Sabrina Threet explains to KATV, "Your son doesn't just die one night; go out and have a good time and all of a sudden he winds up dead and his car is stolen, his money is stolen and no explanation. 'Oh, he killed himself.' No. I don't buy it and I never will."

Jason Grott and Tim Jones (Chicago Tribune via Cleveland Plains Dealer) continue their examination of the realites facing the VA and note that costs are rising for a number of reasons including:


--By the end of 2009, more than 3 million veterans were receiving compensation, a 24 percent increase since 2003. The total costs, meanwhile, grew from $19.5 billion to more than $34 billion.

--The psychological toll of war now accounts for more than a third of the $24 billion spent last year compensating veterans from the Vietnam, Persian Gulf and "global war on terror" eras, more than any other category. Yet studies have shown that the current system is ill-equipped to handle claims related to post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions, adding to delays and forcing veterans into the even lengthier appeals process.

--The unpredictability of war has led to devastating illnesses that cost U.S. taxpayers billions every year. By the end of last year, more than 300,000 Vietnam-era veterans were receiving nearly $2 billion in disability payments for illnesses associated with Agent Orange and other dioxin-laden herbicides used to defoliate jungles and destroy enemy crops during the war. Those costs are expected to increase by billions of dollars as the VA expands the list of illnesses associated with the chemicals.

And the Chippewa Falls Herald reports that Sunday afternoon (two p.m. -- not open to the public), members of the Wisconsing National Guard's 724th Engineering Battalion deploying to Iraq will have a send-off ceremony.

The following community sites updated last night:





We were going to highlight something and, as I read over it, I thought, "Hmm. Might be a truest in this. I'll carry it over to Third as a nominee." But then I found the homophobia. We're not highlighting it. I understand why a visitor e-mailed it. But we don't link to anything that expresses homophobia. We're not the faux left, we're the real left. Rachel Maddow (who is called out in the piece -- deservedly so) and other trash that plays left may use homophobia, we don't. And it's really sad that someone had to destroy what was a good column by resorting to it. [For those late to the party, Tea Party activists are Tea Party activists. They are not a term related to same-sex sex. But using such a term to describe them does reveal the author/speaker's own homophobia.]


The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.















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oh boy it never ends