May, 2004, Week 2
|
May, 2004, Week 2
|
Sunday May 9 , 2004 MOTHERS DAY Babies don't need fathers, but mothers do. Someone who is taking care of a baby needs to be taken care of. Amy Heckerling: We took the kids (all but Mike) to Riverside for Mother's Day, we had a good day, The kids were well behaved and the food was plentiful, My father-in-law and brother-in-law watched basketball and baseball... I am not particularly interested in either, but the Angels game was good, they were playing some fellas from Tampa Bay, Manta Rays - Sting Rays or something. The moral me is always amazed... at how easy it is for my fellow man to rationalize the most despicable acts into something that seems almost heroic... the cynical me is only reinforced... More comments from my fellow Americans:
It amazes me that otherwise sane human beings can rationalize this nightmare, I got an e-mail that asserted that the treatment of prisoners was nothing more than the equivalent of a Fraternity Hazing... (Obviously a Limbaugh Ditto-Brain). It defies they were beaten, (at least three were beaten to death), they were urinated on, had broomsticks and florescent light's shoved up their asses, they were forced to masturbate, young boys were raped... it was videotaped!!! the same for an Iraqi woman... the Marine helicopter pilots shot wounded unarmed soldiers and civilians, and it played on the National News... that is a War Crime folks and our soldiers bragged about it on CNN, It is against the law to declare a document Top Secret in order to hide evidence of a crime... but the Pentagon did it and even got indignant when the report came out in the New Yorker. We are living in Orwellian times when lies are preferable to the truth, when exposing torture and perversion in the military is unpatriotic, when Hoaxes are believed because they support the belief of the masses... and the truth is relegated to the dustbin because if it wasn't then Republican ideologues would have to reexamine their rhetoric. I will vote for Kerry and keep my fingers crossed... I received link to a PowerPoint presentation that lied about Kerry's record and there is nothing I can do about it except send an e-mail back to the fella that originated it...
Monday May 10 , 2004 If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual. Frank Herbert "B" came home "sick"... must have been PE today... "B" has no credibility when it comes to deeming himself indisposed...
Mike came home finally, he hasn't been here since Friday morning... he brought Mom flowers... nice touch. The notion that the Army will protect their own is pretty much out the window now isn't it. The Army set those kids up... The people who turned those young soldiers loose on helpless prisoners didn't care what happened to them when they get home, they are as disposable and insignificant to the Bush Administration and the Pentagon as the prisoners they tortured. The wolves are at the gate salivating... Those kids are profoundly damaged now, there will be [probably have been] suicides and heavy duty therapy. How can anyone step away from actions like that, look back and be proud of what they have done. As disgusted as I am by the realization that those soldiers were acting as my representatives, I feel sorry for them, I feel sorry for their families and friends, they may not realize it yet but they are victims too. The Army set them up and now they will scapegoat them to take the heat off... Digression, I looked up the definition of Scapegoat... Literally Escape Goat:
I just read some more Limbaugh comments... from his own personal site... what a despicable human being he is, he has no conscience, or, maybe he does and that's why he keeps himself drugged... Limbaugh will say anything as long as it feeds the preconceptions, bias and prejudice of his slavering horde of self proclaimed Ditto-heads... I will never understand why anyone would be proud of the fact they are letting that disgusting bigot do their thinking for them. Tuesday May 11 , 2004 My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image to be servants of their human interests. George Santayana, 1863-1952 I rode down to the West Valley Cycle Sales, Inc again... I figured they would have clutch & throttle cables, hand guards, and gas tank filler necks......they had a clutch cable, that's it. Eric Margolis's column is pretty harsh this week, but I think he got it right ...mostly. He was just a little over the top about the kids who were the perpetrators of the atrocities. Most were just unprepared for the prison dynamic and they all thought they were doing a good job, they thought they were following orders. Did you listen to Bush praising Rumsfeld yesterday? Did it ring true to you? It sounded like something I would say if someone had a gun to my head, or if someone had told me; "I know where the bodies were buried so you better make this sound good." I am listening to the Generals, using phrases like "Abuse of a sexual nature." to describe forced sodomy, rape, humiliation. "Use of unnecessary force." to describe brutalizing prisoners with pipes, dogs and beatings that caused death. It also disgusts me that I can determine the politics of the Senators by the comments they make and questions they ask. Democrats want to demonize and Republicans want diminish the severity of the events and to hang somebody and move on. They are supposed to be non partisan seekers of truth when in reality they are self serving party hacks towing the party line... I will be amazed if anything comes of this. The Iraqis cut off a young man's head with a knife today. His name is Nicholas Berg, Tit for tat, eye for an eye, no one will back down, no one will admit they were wrong, no one will admit defeat... and the innocents pay the price for pride... Sleep tight Bush, you son of a bitch... tomorrow is another day of your Holy War... another day... another atrocity. Never forget, Mr. Bush... this is your war, it's on your head. None of the soldiers and none of the civilians would be dead if it wasn't for you and your handlers... and neither would Nicholas Berg. Thousands dead to satisfy your lust for power, oil and vengeance... Wednesday May 12 , 2004 Conscience is thoroughly well-bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it. Samuel Butler, writer (1835-1902) I worked on the bike to get it ready for the trip... tedious stuff. Removed the charcoal filter because I heard that it could get clogged and cause the bike to 'vapor-lock', I also removed the filler neck and drilled some holes in it to let air escape when I fill it, This tiny modifications allows a bout 3/4 of a gallon more fuel into the tank. The consensus on the internet is that this was a bit of German Over-engineering... it's a standard modification that most BMW riders make. I took Christy to Olive Garden for her Pre-Birthday, she is teaching tomorrow. "B" got in trouble... the teacher wanted him to read in front of the class, he can't read worth a damn and he has a speech impediment that causes him to mispronounce and slur the words... He can't handle that sort of pressure and derision. Thursday May 13 , 2004 Christy's Birthday
"B" got into trouble again... he really needs to be out of that school and into some place where he can Friday May 14 , 2004 I should have received the relay for my bike, ordered April 29th, two days ago... From: Pete Daggett [mailto:padagge@potc.net]Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 10:30 PM To: 'info@accessoryinternational.com' Subject: I ordered a turn signal canceling relay 4-29-2004:
Please note that there is no tracking number and the line called 'Date Received' had better mean the date you received my order because I still don't have my Model SM-5 I didn't know you had a tracking program on your website so I waited patiently for the 5 working days plus one and called on May 6th, a nice fella told me that it had been back ordered but that it went out on the 5th and I should have it in 5 (more) working days (last Wednesday)... I called today and the same nice fella couldn't tell me what happened to it, he said he would go down to [somewhere], do a trace, and call me, I asked him to send me an e-mail because I would be out, when I got back an hour later there was no e-mail so I called again, I talked to the same nice fella who didn't seem to have a clue what I was talking about until we went through the whole rigmarole again, he said he would get back to me by e-mail... he didn't. I originally called with 16 days lead time before I was to depart for Charleston, SC... I leave on Sunday... You are closed, UPS doesn't deliver on Saturdays. I am very disappointed... You have my money, I don't have the damn relay and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it but send you an e-mail... what a pisser. Have a nice day
Pete Daggett
Saturday May 15 , 2004 I will be gone for the next 9 - 11 days on a Bike trip to Charleston South Carolina for the USS Cogswell DD 651 Reunion. I am doing this during the school year so I will be taking as little time as possible... I need to be back by the 28th so I will be riding all tucked in with the radar detector on. I rode the bike over to Joe's because he called and said John, Jim and Lois were visiting. I had all the gear aboard so it was a test. I got down to the freeway and the bike really handled awful, it felt like a flat but I figured it was just the suspension being overloaded with all the stuff in the bags... I got over to Joe's and sure enough... I had a flat tire... bummer, I plugged it, it seems to be holding so I guess I will take off as scheduled... I may be buying a tire though... My e-mail is dead... I have been trying to get it working through Radix Global all day... John said he sent messages to me but they got booted which bothers me, that means the Server can't find my login... I called George [the owner] and got him on his cell phone, he was going over Loveland Pass in Colorado on his way to Denver... he was helping his kid move... doesn't help me... I wonder what I will find when I get back home in 11 days...
RNC Joke 2. Talk radio: The education of a liberal' 3. Perhaps We Haven't Seen Enough of War 4. How the U.S. Treats our Military Men and Women
Got this from a friend up north.
Copyright: Eric S. Margolis, 2004
. 'Talk radio: The education of a liberal' By Dennis Jones, CounterBias"Know yourself. Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful." -Ann Landers What terrific advice that is. There is no better place to test your political beliefs than in the arena that is talk radio. Carefully crafted arguments based on facts and not personalities and innuendo have allowed the warriors of the right to put my pitiful existence in much more perspective. Without talk radio I wouldn't have come to know the sick, power-hungry, anti-religious and dangerous individual that I really am. I like to consider myself a liberal and progressive person. I thought that my beliefs were solidly based on principles but talk radio quickly disabused me of that notion. Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, those great patriots Ollie North and Gordon Liddy and hundred of their brethren are tirelessly pointing out that radical lefties have no principles or core values. We just want power! Respectfully, I would have to disagree. I have listened carefully over the last ten years and I've been told repeatedly that our (the radical socialists, bleeding hearts, feminazis, tree-huggers, etc.) goal is to socialize the great American society and to flush all of our constitutional rights down the drain. Now just a minute! I could be wrong, but that sounds like a principle to me. That principle is deeply grounded in the idea of secularism (please read with a nasty sneer like O'Reilly does). I know for a fact that the first amendment was written to keep the government out of church, not the other way around. I know this because talk radio told me this and they got their information from Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Case proved. End of conversation. I learned that we have dangerously engaged in class warfare in our attempts at income redistribution. We want cradle to grave entitlements for lazy welfare cheats and people who haven't been successful because they're stupid. We want those entitlements to be paid for by the wealthiest among us who have worked their fingers to the bone. Job creators or entrepreneurs, the real heroes in America, have succeeded in spite of us. Wow! It sounds to me like we have a pretty well ordered agenda which is based on a very fundamental idea - the total destruction of all decent society, religion, liberty and capitalism. And we know exactly how we are going to do this. We're going to take over the government, confiscate all of their money and force government programs and regulations on them until they scream! Whatever else happens, we don't want any good to come of all of this except an increase in our level of power. Sean Hannity has said that we are contemptuous, disgusting and reckless. O'Reilly believes that we are insane morons (as opposed to sane morons). Rush Limbaugh argues that we have caused moral decay. Ollie North intones that we are loony and embarrassing. I cannot print the words that G. Gordon Liddy uses to describe us. Curiosity got the best of me. I checked and Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary says that 'liberal' is "favorable to progress or reform, as in religious or political affairs; of or pertaining to representative forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies; favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties; favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression; free from prejudice or bigotry: tolerant; open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values", etcetera. Well, yeah! Now we're talking! There is more, but modesty prevents me from proceeding further. While I was at it I checked out the definition of 'conservative'. Webster says "disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc. and to agree with gradual rather than abrupt change; cautiously moderate; traditional in style or manner; avoiding showiness." Not too much excitement here, eh? Would it be too much to say that it was liberal thinking that resulted in the end of slavery and the more conservative of us wanted to slowly phase it out? Maybe they could start with a work release program where slaves would be entitled to eventually purchase their freedom! That would also have the benefit of contributing to the gross national product. Let's talk about the environment. Can we say that it was? progressive to advocate the idea that the environment belongs to all of us and that conserving it for future generations would be a good thing? Others believe that despoiling our land and waterways in the name of profit should not be hindered by governmental regulation. Jobs will be our reward. Besides, I heard once that trees cause most pollution anyway and that is why cutting them all down is a good idea (thank you St. Reagan!). And let us never forget religion. Isn't it a liberal notion to? believe that your religion is your own private concern and that you are entitled to believe anything that you want? But in the government? We have tried having religion rule the country before and the results were not good. Some governments even went so far as to burn people at the stake. Of course that's effective population control and it doesn't really harm the environment. Forest fires cause much more harm. Those damn trees again! I guess that talk radio would say that I am probably mostly liberal according to Webster with just a touch of conservativism thrown in once in a while to temper my thoughts. I want to take all of the conservative's money, but I want to keep the IRS to total it up. I want to completely eliminate every reference to the Deity in every day life, but I want to have churches to keep our people busy on Sundays. I want to take all of our freedoms away, but I don't want to change the Constitution to include any new ones. But then I started thinking about all of this and I finally came to one conclusion - bullshit! These pundits of the airwaves may be talking about you other guys, but I'm not like that at all. How could they possibly know what is in my heart or what my motives are? Who are these people to lump me in with a bunch of crazies and weirdos? Just because someone who may happen to be a liberal utters a stupid remark, does that mean that I am stupid too? I think what we need here is a national "Do Not Classify" list. You could sign up if you don't want to be lumped together under one banner because some talk show host wanted to demonize you. Those who unfairly lump all liberals (or conservatives for that matter) into one group and then tie them to some issue which they view unfavorably would be punished. They would be required to utter a profound apology to everyone on the "Do Not Classify" list on the air, and then they would have to assure all of their listeners that it would be impossible to have the slightest idea about what our motives are. There would be no time for any more bombast. This, of course, would probably result in the death of talk radio (please refrain from applause). In the future I promise to try to stop classifying conservatives based on my perceptions of their motives. I believe strongly in allowing them to utter their backward ideas, and I won't attribute those ideas to an understanding of their minds which I cannot possess. Sometimes they may even be right. Probably not, but their abject failure will be enough for me. I could go on and on but I have to wind this up for now. The evening news will be on in another couple of hours and I have to get in touch with Dan Rather to make sure that the right slant makes it on tonight's airwaves. ? 2004 CounterBias.com Reprinted from CounterBias: http://www.counterbias.com/026.html Perhaps We Haven't Seen Enough of War Patt Morrison; May 11, 2004 It wasn't you, of course, and I'm sure it wasn't me, no sir, but somebody -- an awful lot of American somebodies -- saw those photos of Iraqis posed in some sicko game of naked Muslim Twister, humiliated with hoods and leashes, and for one exultant instant felt: Right on! Murdering thugs. Those creeps have it coming -- after what they did to our guys. Maybe, in the next instant, the somebodies felt bad about feeling so good. But for just that flash, those weren't Iraqis they saw in the photos -- not men with faces and families. They were all just The Iraqi. The bad guy. The eternal "other." The enemy. That's what war does to us. It's a difference of degree, not of kind, between those blood-slaked Iraqis mugging merrily for the camera in the foreground as the charred and mutilated bodies of Americans swung from a bridge in Fallouja, and the uniformed American soldiers mugging happily for the camera behind their handiwork, the posed piles of naked Iraqis -- and then to the Stateside Americans who thought, Yeah, give it to 'em. One such American's comments were posted on a self-described conservative website: "Most of these prisoners are murdering scum who would sell their children into slavery for the right price, and we're getting our didies twisted because we imagine there's a risk some of them might be (oh, no!) humiliated?" Maybe you took no delight at all in those pictures. Not many people did. They are at least as degrading to the soldiers who posed for them as to the prisoners shown in them. But back in 1993, didn't you feel a little "You go, girl" oomph for Ellie Nesler, who walked into court in the Gold Country town of Jamestown and sent five .22 slugs into the man on trial for sodomizing her little boy at church camp? Maybe you even bought one of the bumper stickers, "Nice Shooting, Ellie." And in 1988, didn't you want to hurl the remote control across the room in disgust when Mike Dukakis was asked in a presidential debate if he'd still oppose the death penalty if his wife were raped and murdered? His bloodless, heartless answer was that, Why, yes he would, and off he went on some clinical ramble about deterrence and drug wars -- when anybody with warm blood would have said, Hell, yes, I'd want to run him over with my snowblower and dump him in a wood-chipper while he was still breathing. Who wouldn't? But we're a nation of laws and not men, and we don't hand criminals over to victims, we hand them over to the courts, and that's what makes this country different. Different, implying better. The big difference between good guys and bad guys is that good guys play by the rules. Sure, it's hard for a person to meet that standard, much less a country. This country often gets to make the rules, too, and still, it isn't always good at meeting them (hello, Iran-Contra). But flying planes into buildings, barbecuing American civilians -- we believe that's what THEY do, not what WE do, hence all the ethical agonizing over these photos, as the back-and-forthing on that website shows:
Paul Fussell is a World War II infantryman, an intellectual contrarian and one of my favorite authors; he wrote, among other works, "Thank God for the Atom Bomb," which, if you're short on time, spares you the trouble of reading it -- you can get mad over the title alone. Fussell's hustling on a deadline on his book about Patton, so he couldn't talk to me about the Iraqi photos. But he's written about what happens when war is "systematically sanitized and Rockwellized, not to mention Disneyfied," for home-front consumption. And he was speaking of World War II, stripped of its horrors by propagandism that made "our" conduct -- like boiling the flesh off the heads of Japanese soldiers to send the skulls home for souvenirs -- acceptable, and "their" conduct -- like the famous photo of a World War II Australian flier, bound and blindfolded, kneeling in the dirt as a Japanese soldier swings a sword in the downstroke that will behead him -- the handiwork of savages. Gen. Robert E. Lee believed that it's a good thing war is so terrible, "or we should grow too fond of it." That's why I think we haven't seen too many photos out of Iraq -- we haven't seen enough. When you spray Lysol and spread flags across the landscape of war, when you Rockwellize and Disneyfy it, when you hide the coffins and the legless and the armless and the sightless soldiers to the point that some digital photos of naked prisoners are the most appalling images of war you've seen -- if you don't know how terrible war really is, then you might in fact grow fond of it, and find it all the easier to wage the next time. Just some facts: BRIEFING PAPER How the U.S. Treats our Military Men and Women February, 2004 While the reasons for attacking Iraq have shifted like the desert sands, one fact is indisputable: It is the government's responsibility to insure that our soldiers who put their lives, limbs, hearts and minds on the line in the service of their country are protected and honored in every way. President Bush, the Commander-In-Chief is ultimately responsible to do this job. The information presented here is not to dispute why our soldiers are in Iraq, Afghanistan and approximately 120 countries around the world, but to give facts that are not often presented by the media or are only available on various internet sites. Our leaders must keep their promises and be held accountable for their actions or, in some cases, inaction. While this information focuses primarily on soldiers in Iraq, we cannot ignore veterans from previous wars who also bravely served their country. While the 2005 budget for veterans has been presented to Congress, the facts given here are what is happening as of the printing of this document. 2/15/04. * The US military employs ammunition made of depleted uranium (DU). DU is an extremely hazardous by-product of nuclear energy production. It is radioactive and poisonous. Dust from DU settles in the lungs, liver, kidneys, muscles and testicles. (Antony Barnett, public affairs editor, The Observer, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2003) * Out of 453 members of congress, only 1 has a child in the military. * . . . Estimates on the number of US soldiers, sailors and Marines medically evacuated from Iraq by the end of 2003 because of battlefield wounds, illness or other reasons range from 11,000 to 22,000, a staggering figure by any standard. Thousands of these young men and women have been physically or psychologically damaged for life, in turn affecting the lives of tens of thousands of family members and others…The use of Kevlar body armor had also reduced deaths. The result, however, was that many of the wounded were left with debilitating injuries, particularly amputated limbs . . . By the end of November, Roger Roy in the Orlando Sentinel could place the number of those "killed, wounded, injured or...ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq" at approximately 10,000. Roy noted that such figures were hard to track, "leading critics to accuse the military of underreporting casualty numbers.". . . retired US Army Col. David Hackworth writes, "Even I...was staggered when a Pentagon source gave me a copy of a Nov. 30 dispatch showing that . . . our armed forces have taken 14,000 casualties in Iraq-about the number of warriors in a line tank division." The former colonel adds that the figure "means we've lost the equivalent of a fighting division since March. At least 10 percent of the total number" of available personnel-135,000-"has been evacuated back to the USA!". . . Hackworth concludes that "it's safe to say that, so far, somewhere between 14,000 and 22,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have been medically evacuated" from the war zone in Iraq. (By David Walsh 4 February 2004) * The Bush administration sought this year to cut $75 a month from the "imminent danger" pay added to soldiers' paychecks when in battle zones. The administration sought to cut by $150 a month the family separation allowance . . . VA spending today averages $2,800 less per patient than nine years ago. The administration also proposed levying a $250 annual charge on all Priority 8 veterans-those with "non-service-related illnesses"-who seek treatment at VA facilities, and seeks to close VA hospitals to Priority 8 veterans who earn more than $26,000 a year. Until protests led to a policy change, the Bush administration also was charging injured GIs from Iraq $8 a day for food when they arrived for medical treatment at the Fort Stewart, Georgia, base where most injured are treated. (internal VA information) * Most of the soldiers in Iraq were not issued high-tech body armor; they were instead given less-protective gear, such as Vietnam-era flak jackets. Only dismounted combat troops received the state-of-the-art Kevlar vests, which are reinforced with boron carbide ceramic plates front and back, and have reduced the number of serious torso wounds from which soldiers would die in the past before medics could get them to an aid station . . . Of the 130,000 U.S. troops, some 80,000 still don't have the boron carbide vest. (Sydney H. Schanberg, Village Voice, Dec. 12, 2003) * Reservists also charge that they are given second-rate equipment in the field, including inadequate body armor. Military convoys include the all-purpose Humvee, which lacks sufficient armor. Many feature no more than canvas roofs and doors. "We're kind of sitting ducks in the vehicles we have," one lieutenant colonel told Newsday. The Humvee program is underfunded. (http://www.objector.org/before-you-enlist/myths.html) * . . . Concurrent Receipt Benefits…Existing federal rules force disabled veterans to give up their military retirement pay in order to receive VA disability benefits. This means every VA disability dollar paid to a veteran is deducted from his retirement pay. . . (Statement by Ron Paul ®, Texas, 11/11/03) * The Bush Administration supports rescinding lifetime health benefits for World War II and Korean War veterans. More than 300,000 veterans are waiting for primary care appoints at VA facilities. (Boston Globe, December 22, 2002) * The Pentagon repeatedly warned contractor HALLIBURTON-KBR that the food it served to US troops in Iraq was "dirty," as were the kitchens it was served in, NBC reported on Friday (Dec. 12). Halliburton-Kellogg Brown and Root's promises to improve "have not been followed through," according to a Pentagon report . . . (Taipei Times, AFP, Washington, Sunday, December 14, 2003, page 7) * . . .The military is investigating the growing number of suicides by American forces in the Persian Gulf region. Since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq last spring, 18 soldiers and two Marines have committed suicide, most of them after major combat was declared over May 1, the military said. (Michael Martinez, Chicago Tribune Sunday 28 December 2003) * A federal judge cleared the way Wednesday for the Pentagon to resume vaccinating military personnel against anthrax after lifting his injunction against the mandatory inoculation program. Sullivan ruled December 22 that the vaccine must be considered experimental against inhaled anthrax, because it was initially developed and tested to protect against skin exposure. In response a week later, the Food and Drug Administration published a "final rule" that said, "the efficacy of the vaccine includes all cases of anthrax disease regardless of the route of exposure." (Jamie McIntyre CNN Washington Bureau, Wednesday, January 7, 2004 Posted: 4:56 PM EST (2156 GMT) * About 7,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan who were planning to retire or otherwise leave the service in the next few months are getting new marching orders: Stay put. The Army is expanding what it calls a "stop loss'' order to keep soldiers in uniform -- even those who have met their contractual service obligation or are scheduled to retire . . .The order affects all Army units scheduled to return from Iraq, Kuwait or Afghanistan in coming months. Soldiers will be required to remain with their unit until it gets to its home base and for a maximum of 90 days afterward, he said . . . (The Associated Press Monday 05 January 2003) * VA Claims are processed in as little as five days for VA Employees, while claims for regular veterans have been documented to take twenty to fifty-five years, to process. Fifty-five years! . . . Only 4% of Veterans . . . Claims are ever processed. The remaining Veteran is frustrated, hurt, dismayed and has given up, dies waiting for the VA to process the claim, or a very substantial number is actually driven to suicide by the very country s/he fought for… Across the country there are more then 300,000 Veterans waiting SIX MONTHS or MORE for their appointment with their primary care physician at the VA. Six months! (Expected to soon be up to a year!) (Vets for Justice.org) * On a local level, John Carr, Kane County /IL/ Veterans Affairs office director . . . said estimates are that of the about 3,000 homeless people in Kane County, 1,000 are veterans. That one-third ratio holds true nationally, Carr said. There are 26,480 veterans living in Kane County, he added, the seventh most in the state. Carr said in addition to homeless veterans, there are more who "are hanging by their fingernails." (By Steve Lord, The BeaconNews.com STAFF WRITER) * Female troops serving in the Iraq war are reporting an insidious enemy in their own camps: fellow American soldiers who sexually assault them. At least 37 female service members have sought sexual-trauma counseling and other assistance from civilian rape-crisis organizations after returning from war duty in Iraq, Kuwait and other overseas stations . . . The women . . . have reported poor medical treatment, lack of counseling and incomplete criminal investigations by military officials. Some say they were threatened with punishment after reporting assaults. (By MILES MOFFEIT and AMY HERDY The Denver Post) * The U.S. Army's top general, Pete Schoomaker, said Wednesday he is planning for the possibility that the Army may be required to keep tens of thousands of soldiers in Iraq through 2006. Of the approximately 105,000 troops going to Iraq this winter and spring to replace the 130,000 who have been there since the start of the war, about 80,000 are Army soldiers. The replacement force, which includes 25,000 Marines, is scheduled to spend a full year in Iraq . . .The General said the Army has used emergency authority to go beyond the limit set by Congress on the number of soldiers who can be in uniform. He said the Army now is about 11,000 soldiers above the 482,400 limit. (The Associated Press Updated: 8:40 p.m. ET Jan. 28, 2004)
Letter from John [another John] in England: A message from me for your page: British gravestones in Arabic Israel are being desecrated with pictures of American troops abusing prisoners stuck to them. The British are now getting tarred with the same damned brush. The US Administration appear to have decided that the Geneva Convention doesn't matter any more. They can do what the Hell they like in the name of oil profit ... sorry, 'freedom', wasn't it? Of course! I should have remembered. Morals don't matter. Principles don't matter. Nothing matters as long as the Lethal Clowns and their corporate cronies can rape that country - while their juniors rape the inhabitants - for everything they can extract/steal. Of course I'm sorry for the family of the guy who was beheaded, desperately so - I'm human and, I hope, humane. However, when you see the things which have been done in the name of the United States by these many sick individuals, it's hardly surprising if their opponents decide to match them. McCain has just called the beheading barbaric - it was, but what does he call the activities in Baghdad Jail? Strangely quiet about that, by comparison. Double standards everywhere. It's justified if "we" (not me, pal) do it, but barbaric if someone else does it. SHIT! Does it matter if a neck was broken by stamping on it or split with an axe? Double standards! In the UK we hear the rednecks spouting the same crap they have been churning out of their asses for the past 12 months. Iraq - 9/11 - Al Qaeda etc.. Iraq was nothing to do with 9/11 or Al Qaeda. There were no WMDs. Blix had already said so but, of course, it didn't fit in with the invasion plans, did it? Sodom was a tinpot dictator but no worse than many others - Chinese, North Korean, Zimbabwe etc. but has the Shrub attacked them? No way, Jose! The Chinese and Koreans have real teeth and would bite the coward back - and there is no oil in Zimbabwe. And before some redneck tries to deflect matters away from the real issues... No! I do not "support" the Iraqis. I dislike towel-heads in general and their religion in particular as I consider them to be barbaric by nature and incapable of living in harmony with the rest of the world. That is my opinion, but it doesn't mean I would descend into the sewers - like some - in order to steal their property or deliberately mistreat their inhabitants. I, at least, have some standards.
|
