Virginia Pols - Fake Veterans Association - Law Passed

Increasingly Bizarre U.S. Navy Veterans Association Saga: Political Slush Fund

This story seems to have no end as States have started investigating since the St. Petersburg Times first broke it near the beginning of the year.

Navy Vets story gets even stranger

August 06, 2010 - We’re working on an editorial for next week discussing the latest turn in the increasingly bizarre U.S. Navy Veterans Association saga. Ohio authorities say that Bobby Thompson, the only one of 85 officers listed on the charity’s website that a Florida newspaper could actually locate, isn’t actually Bobby Thompson, but the perpetrator of an ID theft.

Snip

So a man who apparently stole his identity was able to secure a change to Virginia law that would make it easier to solicit money for a charity that, at this point, appears to be a complete scam.

This should not make anyone in Virginia feel good about the system. Continued

See This Scum Call Authorities Immediately!!!!

Ohio: Navy Vets charity leader stole ID

August 06, 2010 - The man is wanted by Ohio authorities on charges of identity fraud in a scam involving "millions of dollars."

Courtesy of Ohio Attorney General's Office: Photos of the man who represented himself as Bobby Thompson from a 2006 Florida identification card (left) and The Rancher Newsletter (2008).

Ohio authorities have issued a nationwide arrest warrant for the director of a suspect veterans charity organization that also is under investigation in Virginia, alleging that the man used a stolen identity to execute an apparent fundraising scam.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said Thursday that the man who represented himself as Bobby Thompson used a false identity to rent a UPS box that served as a collection point for donations to the state's chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. Authorities have charged him with identity fraud.

"Our investigators have determined that this individual stole the identity of someone else and used that as the centerpiece of an apparent scam that has continued for seven years and involved tens of millions of dollars," Cordray said in a news release. "The real Bobby Thompson, whose identity was stolen, including his Social Security number and date of birth, has absolutely no connection to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association."

Snip

The association this year successfully pushed for a law that would allow it to conduct telephone and mail fundraising in Virginia without having to register annually with state regulators. Bobby Thompson, identified as a national director for the group, gave $67,500 to Virginia politicians last year in advance of the lobbying effort.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services began an investigation of the association in May, shortly after The Roanoke Times published a story that detailed the group's efforts to get an exemption from annual registration requirements.

Most of the elected officials who received contributions from Thompson moved quickly to donate the funds to charity. Last week, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who received $55,500 from Thompson, announced he would follow suit. Thompson was the second-largest individual contributor to Cuccinelli's campaign. Continued

Now as to the Virginia politicians, the law passed and Especially the man the State of Virginia people elected to be their Attorney General, of all positions to more then fall for this long running political slush fund scam, here's a few links, from the Roanoke Times, as to that back story:

Fla. contributor to Va. campaigns raises questions

May 16, 2010 A man who lived in Florida and gave $67,500 to Virginia campaigns is under investigation.

The mysterious director of a Navy veterans fundraising group that's under investigation in three states contributed $67,500 to the 2009 campaigns of key state officials.

Starting July 1, that group can resume soliciting money in Virginia under a state law that Gov. Bob McDonnell signed April 12, despite an unusual last-minute plea from its sponsor, Sen. Patsy Ticer, that he veto it.

Her office requested a veto after Ticer, D-Alexandria, became suspicious of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and its former director Bobby Thompson.

Ticer had introduced the bill, SB 563, in January and it sailed through the Virginia House and Senate on unanimous votes.

That occurred after Thompson, a Florida-based director of the U.S. Navy Vets, personally contributed large sums to the 2009 campaigns of key Republican state officials, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks donations to state officeholders. Continued

Now as soon as this started hitting the news, directly after the St. Petersburg Times posted their investigative journalism reports, the politicians who received contributions in Virginia gave up those contributions, and so far other States or politicians haven't reported same taking place yet this guy supposedly raised millions over a number of years, one politician stood fast and didn't, the one common sense would say would have been the first as to the job elected to.

Cuccinelli sets aside vets group donations

The attorney general put $55,500 in a restricted account pending the outcome of a probe into the group.

June 18, 2010 - Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will freeze more than $55,000 in campaign contributions he received last year from the director of a nonprofit veterans organization that is under investigation in Virginia and at least four other states.

Cuccinelli's campaign committee will put the funds in a separate, restricted account pending the outcome of an investigation of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, according to a statement issued Thursday evening.

Now is his office Investigating as it is that offices job would be, one might think, the first to call for one.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services initiated a probe late last month. The attorney general's office could become involved if the investigation leads to legal action. Continued

Ah, but the good Attorney General of the State of Virginia finally relents, wonder if the restricted account was getting interest and if so if that also will be forfitted, hmmmm.

Cuccinelli to give away funds from Navy Veterans

The attorney general will donate $55,500 in contributions he received from the head of a veterans group that is being investigated in several states.

July 29, 2010 - Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has decided to give away $55,500 in campaign contributions he received last year from the director of an embattled veterans charity organization that is under investigation in Virginia and several other states.

Cuccinelli's decision, announced Wednesday, comes after two months of controversy and unanswered questions about the activities of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and its mysterious director, Bobby Thompson.

Thompson, who most recently resided in Tampa, Fla., was the second-largest individual donor to the Republican attorney general's 2009 campaign. He also gave $12,500 to other Virginia elected officials last year, including $5,000 to Gov. Bob McDonnell's campaign. Continued

Would be really great if there are any other State Representatives, State or Federal, elsewhere, though it seems he was fixated on Virginia, to come forward with knowledge of contributions from this phony Navy Vet as well as Phony Political Slush Fund Veterans Association, as all that it appears to be outside of a Very Comfortable life for the perp. According to all these reports it raised millions of dollars over a number of years in the past decade, others somewhere must have been in the loop!

Actually to me it sounds like just what goes on as to Corporations, Laws and State or Federal Legislatures!

The Roanoke Times has a complete list of back stories on this along side of the upper report I have from them.

And the St. Petersburg Times has a page site with the originals as well as all these updated ongoing reports as this grows.

Except for a Beard


Photographs of U.S. Navy Veterans director Bobby C. Thompson, left, and Bobby no-middle-initial Thompson, a 67-year-old retired metalworker, right.

Mystery surrounding U.S. Navy Veterans director Bobby Thompson grows

Do these guys look alike?

Increasingly Bizarre U.S. Navy Veterans Association Saga

Political Slush Fund

Navy Vets story gets even stranger

August 06, 2010 - We’re working on an editorial for next week discussing the latest turn in the increasingly bizarre U.S. Navy Veterans Association saga. Ohio authorities say that Bobby Thompson, the only one of 85 officers listed on the charity’s website that a Florida newspaper could actually locate, isn’t actually Bobby Thompson, but the perpetrator of an ID theft.

Snip

So a man who apparently stole his identity was able to secure a change to Virginia law that would make it easier to solicit money for a charity that, at this point, appears to be a complete scam.

This should not make anyone in Virginia feel good about the system. Continued

See This Scum Call Authorities Immediately!!!!

Ohio: Navy Vets charity leader stole ID

August 06, 2010 - The man is wanted by Ohio authorities on charges of identity fraud in a scam involving "millions of dollars."

Courtesy of Ohio Attorney General's Office: Photos of the man who represented himself as Bobby Thompson from a 2006 Florida identification card (left) and The Rancher Newsletter (2008).

Ohio authorities have issued a nationwide arrest warrant for the director of a suspect veterans charity organization that also is under investigation in Virginia, alleging that the man used a stolen identity to execute an apparent fundraising scam.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said Thursday that the man who represented himself as Bobby Thompson used a false identity to rent a UPS box that served as a collection point for donations to the state's chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. Authorities have charged him with identity fraud.

"Our investigators have determined that this individual stole the identity of someone else and used that as the centerpiece of an apparent scam that has continued for seven years and involved tens of millions of dollars," Cordray said in a news release. "The real Bobby Thompson, whose identity was stolen, including his Social Security number and date of birth, has absolutely no connection to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association."

Snip

The association this year successfully pushed for a law that would allow it to conduct telephone and mail fundraising in Virginia without having to register annually with state regulators. Bobby Thompson, identified as a national director for the group, gave $67,500 to Virginia politicians last year in advance of the lobbying effort.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services began an investigation of the association in May, shortly after The Roanoke Times published a story that detailed the group's efforts to get an exemption from annual registration requirements.

Most of the elected officials who received contributions from Thompson moved quickly to donate the funds to charity. Last week, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who received $55,500 from Thompson, announced he would follow suit. Thompson was the second-largest individual contributor to Cuccinelli's campaign. Continued

TORTURE - TWO PERSPECTIVES

"Torture: Perspectives & Consequences for the Torturer" and "Torture: The Prisoner's Reality and International Law"

This will be a live presentation, 1:00pm EDT, Noon CDT, 11:00am MDT, & 10:00am PDT., in St. Louis, MO featuring the following panelists.

The event will be live streamed on the website on August 7th. Continued

Live Video streaming by Ustream

Our 'white-supremacist' On The Move

A 'white-supremacist' past and now present, held in Panama for killing five people and taking over their property, and admitting to same!

Alleged killer lived in their midst

6 August 2010 N.C. residents recall William Holbert, accused of multiple murders in Panama.

She'd seen their pictures in the news - an N.C. couple jailed in Panama on multiple murder charges.

They looked weary and considerably heavier than Donna Stephens remembered.

In 2005, they'd answered an ad to rent her house in northern Cleveland County.

Snip

One day Hoover got a call from a gym employee who said Holbert was exercising while wearing a tank top, exposing white-supremacist tattoos. When Hoover questioned Holbert, he explained the tattoos were from his younger days and that he no longer believed in the sentiments. Hoover made Holbert put his shirt on.

About eight weeks into Holbert's new job, Hoover became suspicious when bank statements began disappearing. When he investigated, Hoover said he learned Holbert had written nearly $25,000 worth of personal checks on the business. According to Hoover, some of the money went to furnish an apartment Holbert shared with Reese.

Snip

In early 2005, Forest City police Lt. Chris Lovelace met the owner of a controversial new store on Main Street.

Linked to a group called the Southern National Patriots, the shop sold, among other things, Confederate flags, patches, bandanas and T-shirts with swastikas and white-supremacist designs.

The store upset some residents. When Lovelace shared those concerns with the owner, William Dathan Holbert listened but said nothing.

"He was friendly the whole time," Lovelace said. "He was always friendly towards law enforcement."

A video shot by WLOS-TV in Asheville shows Holbert talking to a group at the store about preserving Southern culture and starting a new government.

"They're taxing us to death," he said to a room covered with rebel flags. "They're removing our jobs. That's what they're doing. They're killing us.... You should be masters of your house. You should be masters of your own government." Continued

Never-Seen Photo's: Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Nagasaki After the Bomb: A Waste Land

One scene shared by all of the 20th century's bloodiest wars might have been lifted straight from The Road Warrior: a spectral landscape; buildings obliterated; blasted trees; a lifeless wasteland. The picture above, for instance -- a photograph never published, until now-- while mirroring every bleak, war-battered panorama from Verdun to Iwo Jima to Pork Chop Hill, was in fact made by LIFE's Bernard Hoffman in September, 1945, in Nagasaki, Japan. But far from chronicling the aftermath of sustained, slogging armed conflict, Hoffman's picture -- along with others seen here for the first time -- depicts devastation produced in a few, unspeakably violent seconds. On the 65th anniversary of American planes dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9) -- killing 120,000 people outright, and tens of thousands more through injury and radiation sickness -- LIFE.com presents never-before-seen pictures from both cities taken in the weeks and months following the bombings. Included, as well, are excerpts from issues of LIFE published after the war that convey the powerful, discordant reactions -- relief, horror, pride, fear -- that the bombings, and the long-sought victory over Japan, unleashed. Continue for the Other Photo's

Ailing OIF and OEF Veterans Bringing Lawsuits

The 'Agent Orange' of these occupations, that's literally as some of these soldiers are suffering from exactly the same extreme physical ailments of the same chemicals, and more, of the defoliants only this time they were sucking in smoke and air from these burn pits, as are the citizens occupied and especially downwind and the ground contamination left from the burns!

Ailing vets sue over smoke from trash fires in Iraq, Afghanistan

'You'd cough up black stuff, and you couldn't seem to catch your breath'

U.S. Army soldiers from the 23rd Infantry Regiment burn garbage at K-wal combat outpost in the village of Shakarat, in Diyala province, in this Dec. 24, 2007.

6 August 2010 Some 241 military personnel and contractors who became ill after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are suing a Houston-based firm, claiming they were poisoned by smoke from trash fires, the Washington Post reported Friday.

The claimants, who are from 42 states, are suffering from a range of conditions including cancer and severe breathing problems, which they blame on the thick, black smoke. The symptoms were reportedly nicknamed "Iraqi crud" by troops.

They are taking legal action against Kellogg Brown & Root, which operated more than two dozen burn-pits in the two countries, the Post reported. It used to be a subsidiary of Halliburton, which is a also a defendant in the case.

These were used to get rid of garbage including plastic water bottles, Styrofoam food containers, mangled bits of metal, paint, solvent, medical waste and dead animals by dousing it in fuel and setting fire to it, the newspaper said.

The paper said six people had died from blood-cancer leukemia and five others had the disease, while more than 12 had to use machines to help them breathe or monitor their breathing.

Snip

Not 'a scratch' from enemy
"It's tragic when soldiers come back and didn't get a scratch on them from the enemy but have some possibly life-altering problems because of burn pits," Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) said, according to the Post. Continued

The following was from November of 2008, I grabbed the video report as well as some of the information hitting the press at the time.

Iraq & Afghanistan: Burn Pits

November, 2008 - Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns Tue, Oct 28, 2008 An open-air at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic a

Senator wants answers on dangers of burn pits Sun, Nov 9, 2008 Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has written to Gen. David Petraeus, the new chief of U.S. Central Command, demanding to be informed about any pending investigations into health problems for troops expo

Burn pit fallout Sat, Nov 15, 2008 Disabled American Veterans has issued a call to all service members and veterans who think they may have illnesses related to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq: Contact DAV so they can collect data

The following here was from April of this year 2010, also grabbing the video as well as some comment and reports about.

Military Ignored Warnings About 'Burn Pits

April, 2010 - Keep in mind this was going on heavily during the previous administration and republican controlled congress, who weren't questioning anything even as members were visiting both theaters. It's like we never fought in wars of choice, as this wasn't the only extremely troubling issue. And while some actions have apparently taken place at in country bases apparently the practice continues. Danger To Troops, Whistleblower Testimony And Documents Show

American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from new ailments that have nothing to do with bullets or bombs or battlefield stress. It was, they believe, something in the air. As you might imagine, an army produces a lot of garbage. And the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan has burned tons of that trash since the beginning of the war. But these are not your average country trash fires. They are called burn pits and they are enormous, one was the size of several football fields. What's burned? Everything. Plastic to foam to batteries, computers and paint, even human body parts — you name it — it was stacked in these burn pits and set ablaze. Many times jet fuel was used as the igniter. Snip Now doctors studying these cases tell us they believe we could see thousands more become ill from the burn pits. The military finally closed the pit at Balad last fall, but soldiers and former employees of Houston-based KBR tell us the same practices are still in place at a number of burn pits in both war zones. Snip We're wrapping up an investigation into the burn pits and will have much more next Tuesday night May 4th at 8pm EDT on HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports." -->-->-->

Also keep in mind, the soldiers aren't the only ones coming back and suffering from the physical repercussions, this is just one more huge issue, aside from the terror lived through, the innocents of the countries occupied will have as long term results of these invasions and occupations, along with so much more!

The Country not only needs to get behind these Veterans it Must get behind and Fully Support them as this moves forward!

It ignored our brother Vietnam Vets, it's been ignoring the Veterans of Gulf War I and the Gulf War Syndrome/Illnesses, another this Country has to Finally come to terms with and help the Veterans of that conflict that are surviving, many have passed on quietly as the Country waged two more long running occupations and ignored the voices of these Gulf War I Veterans and these Present Veterans are once again being Ignored!

Nixon's 'Spitting' on Vietnam U.S. Military Personal

Thank You Rachel for bringing this to more faces. More of what went on during our failed policy occupation of Vietnam and during the nixon administration, where the Real 'Spitting' on soldiers was orchestrated by that administration and their supporters and was Verbal and Political to mask the failures of those leaders, in and out of Government!!

Nixon troubled by scapegoating general

Aug. 5, 2010: Following President Obama's petition to restore the good name of General John Levelle, Rachel Maddow consults the Nixon tapes to look back at the remorse President Nixon felt for scapegoating General Levelle.

United States Fallen Heroes Foundation??

Another Political Slush Fund Using Soldiers and Veterans as The Front, i.e. U.S. Navy Veterans Association or Just Another Scum Grifter!!

Texas attorney general investigates Fallen Heroes Foundation, organizer resigns

August 5, 2010 “I think it’s sick that someone would essentially try to fraudulently raise money in the name of men and women who have given their lives for their country,” said State Rep. Chris Turner (D-Kennedale). Continued,

But it's essentially this report sans the video:

Attorney general investigating Fallen Heroes Foundation

July 29, 2010 Just two days after a News 8 investigation was broadcast, the organizer of the United States Fallen Heroes Foundation has resigned.

The foundation has no idea how much money may be missing, but it still hopes to build a monument in Kennedale to servicemen and women who have died in combat since 9/11.

Walter Coleman said the United States Fallen Heroes Foundation was a non-profit agency — but it wasn't.

Coleman used two names, and he represented himself as a veteran when he is not. Continued

The Drug Stupor of a Nation

AIR DATE: Aug. 4, 2010

Heroin-Related Crimes Surge in Wisconsin

SUMMARY
As part of NewsHour Connect, which showcases the best of public broadcasting from around the country, Frederica Freyberg of Wisconsin Public Television reports on the surge of heroin-related crimes there. Continued: Transcript

White Supremacists Revealed

Our 'whitie' heroes, gonna save all us whities from the scourge of a tolerant world, though we gotta make sure they have enough meth to get the high needed to be the saviors of our freedoms, and all that there stuff! The domestic criminal terrorist that are setting up to take us to the promise land in the name of jeeeeeesus, wanting us all to be just like them!

The Violent World of White Supremacist Gangs

Armen Keteyian's Exclusive Investigation into a Heavily Armed, Violent Gang

Jason "Skin" Hawthorne (center, in color) and his crew were arrested after a two and a half year undercover investigation the ATF. (CBS)

Aug. 4, 2010 According to the Justice Department, 27,000 gangs with 788,000 members operate in this country. Chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian gives us a look at a heavily armed, and very dangerous white supremacist gang.

Posing as a gun-runner an undercover ATF agent opened a door into the rarely-seen world of white supremacists. They're ultra-violent, sophisticated, and less interested in a pure white race, than the color of money.

"Their criminal activity was first, robberies, burglaries, drug sales, firearms, arms trafficking, and then I think their white rhetoric and passing along their message for recruiting was second," the undercover agent said. Continued

The War on Terror:

Beyond the Military By Lt. Col. Barry Wingard
Aug 3rd, 2010

The U.S. government routinely uses the term “War on Terror” to describe its military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But how do we really define this “War on Terror”? After all, terrorism dates back to at least the 14th century, and individuals, groups and even nations have employed it ever since.

It’s hard to argue that the deployment of a bigger gun or faster tank can actually alter the outcome of either the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, let alone defeat terrorism. The U.S. armed forces have undeniably defeated the organized militaries in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the question now is whether the military can obliterate the ideas and policies that drive the growing use of terrorism.

The fact is, terrorism originates from dark and damp alleys of apathy, poverty, disenfranchisement and misunderstanding. It is a tactic that can support any set of ideals, especially for groups that lack sufficient power to rebel openly. As a result, terrorism in its many forms likely will never be defeated.

More to the point, we certainly cannot expect to defeat terrorism when the “War on Terror” itself creates indifference and fosters misunderstanding among our own citizens. In America, we now accept secrecy in this “War on Terror” as common, acceptable and subject only to the amount of scrutiny that shadowy operatives in the government deem appropriate for disclosure. Continued

The Blatant Damaging Hypocrisy of the Neo-Con {Any War Hawk} Ideology

Neocons are hypocrites on WikiLeaks

3 August 2010 Blaming WikiLeaks for destabilising Afghanistan shows the twisted neocon approach to domestic and foreign affairs

As soon as the WikiLeaks Afghanistan exposé came to light, it was obvious the usual suspects would start attacking the messenger than discussing the message. David Aaronovitch was quick off the mark, with others following soon enough – implying WikiLeaks was seriously damaging the war effort in Afghanistan.

The rhetoric has now reached absurd levels. The US defence secretary said the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, had "blood on his hands"; people on Fox News have called it "a terrorist organisation"; and one of the Washington Post's columnists called it a "criminal enterprise". The former Bush speechwriter also said he wanted it shut down and Assange to "be brought to justice" by any means necessary, and has previously justified waterboarding. It has been reported that one WikiLeaks editor has already been harassed by US border police.

If any of this comes as a surprise, then you don't know the twisted and hypocritical minds of neoconservatives well enough. But I'll come back to that. Continued

Testvets: Use of wounded US troops in drug trial questioned

Testvets {Mike (Beetle) Bailey's Blog}! A never ending, and usually unknown by those soldiers being tested, fact of the Military as they have extremely easy to use subjects where results can be turned over to the private sector for profit {especially in these times of private contractors and what's already surfaced as to}, in the many cases over the years this has taken place on many issues, some still unknown and even denied happened.

Pentagon questions drug study on troops

Misconduct is alleged in tests using wounded

August 3, 2010 The Department of Defense is investigating whether 80 wounded American service members in Iraq were improperly used as subjects in a test of a possible treatment for brain injuries, according to the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General.

The study, sponsored by the United States Naval Medical Center in San Diego, was designed to test whether a drug made to treat Tylenol overdoses, among other uses, could also reduce the harmful effects of traumatic brain injury, such as balance loss and brain function problems, in service members who had been hit by explosions.

The investigation, triggered by an allegation made last year to a Department of Defense hotline, is reviewing the study for possible research misconduct on human subjects. The Pentagon has not said whether anyone was hurt as a result of the administration of the drug.

Snip

Medical tests on human subjects must follow strict rules in their design and execution to protect the safety of patients, said Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Test subjects must be competent and able to understand the test and its implications, participation must be voluntary without any pressure, and all test subjects must be fully informed of the potential risks before they consent to take part, he said.

The Pentagon investigation has delayed the normal rounds of medical peer review required for any study that suggests a potential new treatment, said Commander Cappy Surette, a Navy Medicine spokesman. Continued

While this can help, and often do, in greater understanding and possible help for patients, even outside of the military, there's a right way and the military way of doing things {in modern times probably a drug company way as well}. Hopefully the study will find that the military was on the right side with full knowledge, depending on the military personal tested, of them and or their families. Not only what might be expected but we all known the long list of side affects that are attached, and known or suspected about, of almost every drug on the market.

These are already patients with a damaged brain from the trauma they've gone through, not lab rabbits or mice!

The Skin Tone Advisory System:

U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton delivered a clear and legally compelling decision last week to block several measures of Arizona's new immigration law from going into effect.

Afghan War Logs: what did we learn?

The subject title is the one from a Guardian report one of the participants in the Wikileaks document dump and explanations of.

In this first blockquote, and if in the U.S., think of all that you've read or especially heard since the three outlets, the Guardian where this comes from being one, helped bring out what the online Wikileaks had obtained and posted simultaneously.

One disappointed paper deliberately provided the Taliban with a to-do list: it drew their attention to specific Wikileaks documents they might inspect in order to take reprisals. The low point was perhaps reached by Channel 4 News, which respectfully quoted a "spokesman" for the bearded murderers, as he uttered promises of revenge on alleged informants. It felt like PR for the Taliban.

Now to the cut and suggestion you click the link for more.

The Afghan War Logs were unique collaboration between newspapers and a 'stateless' website. What did we learn from them?

2 August 2010 The Afghan war logs story has proved to be a global journalistic phenomenon. The Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel last week made history by simultaneously releasing stories about this huge classified US military archive.

The logs hold 92,000 field reports, many of them ugly and grim. The three papers mined revelations about the cruel toll on civilians in the nine-year conflict, and about futile firefights which have cost the lives of so many western soldiers.

The media trio did this work while WikiLeaks, a hitherto little-known organisation, simultaneously posted virtually the entire raw archive online, holding back only a small number of files which it thought might endanger local informants.

The project appeared to take the Pentagon by surprise. As the revelations swamped the world's headlines, calls grew for investigations into the civilian killings. There were diplomatic storms over allegations of Pakistan backing for the Taliban. Damage control efforts by the White House did not improve until the weekend. We then saw the spectacle of generals, with gallons of innocent civilian blood on their hands, orating that WikiLeaks had potentially failed to do enough to protect local Afghans.

Some media organisations, who had not got the story themselves, then joined in. One disappointed paper deliberately provided the Taliban with a to-do list: it drew their attention to specific Wikileaks documents they might inspect in order to take reprisals. The low point was perhaps reached by Channel 4 News, which respectfully quoted a "spokesman" for the bearded murderers, as he uttered promises of revenge on alleged informants. It felt like PR for the Taliban. Continued

Now to the journalism aspect, as shown in that first cut, we find this from the Jakarta Post online: {my bolding]

Personal Technology: A pale white man shows us what journalism is

08/02/2010 Is the Internet replacing journalism?

It’s a question that popped up as I gazed at the blurred, distorted web-stream of a press conference from London by the founder of WikiLeaks, a website designed to “protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public”.

On the podium there’s Julian Assange. You can’t make a guy like this up. White haired, articulate and defensive, aloof and grungy, specific and then sweepingly angry. Fascinating. In a world of people obsessed by the shininess of their iPhones, Assange is either a throwback to the past or a gulf of fresh air.

WikiLeaks, which has been around for a few years but has, with the release of mounds of classified data about the Afghan War, come center stage.

Assange doesn’t mince his words. He shrugs off questions he doesn’t like by pointing his face elsewhere and saying “I don’t find that question interesting.” He berates journalists for not doing their job — never something to endear an interviewee to the writer.

But in some ways he’s right. We haven’t been doing our job. We’ve not chased down enough stories, put enough bad guys behind bars (celebrities don’t really count.) His broadsides may be more blunderbuss than surgical strike, but he does have a point. Journalism is a funny game. And it’s changing.

Asked why he chose to work with three major news outlets to release the Afghan data, he said it was the only way to get heard. He pointed out that he’d put out masses of interesting leaks on spending on the Afghan war previously and hardly a single journalist had picked it up. Continued

Here in the States the talking heads and most of the print didn't talk much about what the contents were they were squarely focused on the so called leaking and informing, as that first cut shows, just what the Taliban, remember now the soldiers are no longer fighting the main purpose of the occupation, al Qaeda, and haven't been since the focuss went on invading Iraq raising the hatred levels in that whole region, might want or need to know.

What was learned, didn't teach me anything I already didn't know, a Country will cheer on Invasions and Wars of Choice, then constantly condemn those occupied as well as others similar to, not as the small groups but the whole, the fear has taken hold and they must All be condemned, in words and actions looking very similar to what these smaller groups of do and say. It also, already known, showed how the concerns of sending others into War and then ignoring the Sacrifice owed as they return, isn't and never is on the minds of those who don't serve nor do they want to be bothered with the realities of those Wars, especially many so called journalist!!

Just who's malingering?

And that 'VA' are the People of this Country who continue to refuse to fund that agency, but have no problem with ever bloated defense budgets nor caring where that bloat goes, in their own Sacrifice for the Wars and Occupations they send others into!!

PTSD and the VA: Just who's malingering?

August 1, 2010 In 1944 when an uninjured private, Charles H. Kuhl, said he "couldn't take it anymore," Gen. George S. Patton called him a "yellow coward," slapped him, and threw him out of the hospital tent. The U.S. military has always had difficulty discriminating between members disabled by mental health issues like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and malingering.

Many in the Department of Veterans Affairs would have us believe that PTSD is unique to military personnel, but that is not true. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, even missionaries and relief workers in Haiti can suffer. So can many victims of rape, abuse or other violent crime. Anyone witnessing death or dismemberment is a potential candidate. The critical difference is whether they get the opportunity to talk about it and work through it. That's where the military culture becomes a barrier.

In the modern military mindset, only the lowest of the low would let his buddies down, fail to do the job or abandon the mission. As a result, it is often only after family lives are destroyed by night terrors, panic attacks, violent outbursts, emotional numbness and substance abuse that many combat veterans seek help. Today, the VA feels like an adversary to many veterans.

Until recently, to get help they had to prove they weren't malingering. They were required to document the very experiences that were ruining their lives, including getting statements from corroborating witnesses. Continued

Wrong On So Many Levels!

This is Not the way to treat soldiers who've already been in theater, and in these occupations of choice, more then once and more then just one theater, and already showing the suffering from the trauma's and stresses of war, seeing, doing and knowing about which brings on the nightmares of PTS from those extreme trauma's of 24/7 war and occupation!

Military keeping traumatized soldiers in combat zones

8/1/2010 Army says it's better to treat soldiers 'in theater,' others say it only helps stretched military

Sgt. Thomas Riordan was sent back to Afghanistan after nearly killing himself when he was on home leave. He'd just fought through a battle that killed eight soldiers and told his psychologist he wanted to remain in the U.S. Instead, he was sent back to combat.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE BOSTICK, Afghanistan — Sgt. Thomas Riordan didn't want to return to Afghanistan after home leave. He had just fought through a battle that killed eight soldiers, and when he arrived home his wife said she was leaving. He almost killed himself that night.

When his psychologist asked what he thought he should do, Riordan said: Stay in Colorado.

Instead, the military brought Riordan back to this base in the eastern Afghan mountains, where mortar rounds sound regularly and soldiers have to wear flack jackets if they step outside their barracks before 8 a.m., even to go to the bathroom.

Increasingly, the Army is trying to treat traumatized soldiers "in theater" — where they're stationed. The idea is that soldiers will heal best if kept with those who understand what they've been through, rather than being dumped into a treatment center back in the States where they'll be surrounded by unfamiliar people and untethered from their work and routine.

However, the policy may serve the military at least as much as the soldiers. Treating soldiers on site makes it easier to send them back into battle — key for a stretched military fighting two wars. It also brings up a host of challenges: Ensuring soldiers get the treatment they need in the middle of war, monitoring those on antidepressants and sleeping pills, and deciding who can be kept in a war zone and who might snap. Continued

All this practice does is increase the chances, greatly, for these soldiers to not only do grave harm to themselves but to all around them as well as greatly increase the triggers that might set them off and the suffering they're already going through. Especially if sending them back into with drugs that are supposedly to help but greatly increase the side effects All drugs carry!

Seeking help among brother and sister military personnel, while still in, and veterans after discharge has always been one of the best treatments since we Vietnam Veterans started doing so and the results of Wars, especially of choice, were Finally recognized for what they do mentally, PTS, to those sent to fight and serve in them and those who live in these theaters. It's also finally spread that knowledge into the civilian populations as to those who've experienced and lived through their own extreme traumatic life events and have suffered in total silence the rest of their lives without even professionals completely understanding what it was or why.

It does show that the long suspected recruitment numbers needed to fight these wars of choice, even with lowering the enlistment requirements and an extremely bad economy, haven't brought the 'hawks', kombat keyboarders of todays technology, into serving in wars they don't mind sending others into, over and over! As well as a Country still unwilling to Sacrifice for those results of the Wars they cheer on then quickly loose interest in, while still sending others into over and over and still thinking the results will read like some sports event or movie, instead of the damage created on many levels and enhancing that damage for decades to come!

On that last, sacrifice and recruitment, this reads the problems faced

Guardsmen deploy in historic numbers
August 2, 2010 Nearly 700 muster, are bound for Afghanistan

Over using the National Guard, well regulated and trained citizen militia, to supplement an extremely overstretched military, not on this soil in helping their communities and states and as a defensive force!

Cluster Bombs: Laos

As cluster bomb ban takes effect, the view from Laos

August 1, 2010 The cluster bomb ban – officially known as the Convention on Cluster Munitions – comes into force today. Countries that have ratified the treaty must stop making cluster munitions, dispose of stockpiles, and clear contaminated areas.

Vansoum Phim Mavong an employee of Mines Advistory Group, searches for unexploded munitions in a field in central Laos. The shells of 'bombies' a nickname for the tennis-ball-sized bomblets, litter fields all over Laos, the most-bombed country in the world per capita. A world-wide cluster bomb ban takes effect Sunday. Jared Feddie

Khangphaniena Village, Laos The young woman brushes her metal detector over coarse, dry grass in a field near a primary school. Against the sound of children playing, the machine beeps as she searches for unexploded bombs dropped by American aircraft four decades ago.

Most of those were cluster bombs – shells that open midair scattering tennis-ball-sized "bombies," as they are known all over Laos. About 30 percent of them failed to explode upon impact, and instead remained buried in the earth. On average, one person a day is injured or killed in some part of the country by unexploded ordnance.

Snip

Laos, the most bombed country in the world per capita, strongly backs the treaty. Between 1964 and 1973, the US dropped more than 2 million tons of ordnance in a campaign kept hidden from Congress and the public. Since then, about 20,000 civilians have been maimed or killed by unexploded bombs, according to Legacies of War, a Washington-based group that raises awareness about America's "secret war" in Laos.

Snip

Indeed, figures show a dramatic contrast between the amount the US spent bombing Laos and the amount spent clearing away their lethal legacy. The US currently contributes about $5 million per year to cleanup efforts. Every single day for nine years it spent about $17 million (in today's dollars) bombing Laos, according to Legacies of War. Continued

Hearing: Agent Orange Update

The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing to examine the reasons and evidence used to add these three conditions to the list of presumptive diseases related to Agent Orange exposure.

Jul-31-2010 The President signed the War Supplemental yesterday. In that bill is the $13.4 billion in funding for the three newly designated presumptive diseases related to Agent Orange exposure.

What does this mean for veterans who have already filed and those waiting to file on these conditions? The money is now in place and the authorization to spend it needs to be completed. The House overwhelmingly passed the VA/Military Construction Authorization bill earlier this week and now the Senate must do the same. The House version authorizes the money for these new conditions.

All of this is fine and shows progress, but the main roadblock now is the 60 day hold placed on spending any of the money by Sen. Webb (D-VA) who wishes to take a look at the science and reasons behind the decision to connect these three potentially very expensive, new conditions to service in Vietnam.

On September 23, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing to examine the reasons and evidence used by Secretary Shinseki to add these three conditions to the list of presumptive diseases related to Agent Orange exposure. Continued

"Deadly 'toys' " {WMD's}: Ban In Effect, Not By The U.S.

Will we hear mention of this on the U.S. Sunday Morning talking heads shows, crickets! We the U.S. media be reporting on this, chances are extremely little if at all and most certainly not a front page story!

Cluster bomb ban comes into effect

The treaty prohibits signatories from using,
producing and stockpiling the weapons [AFP]

1 August 2010

A global treaty banning cluster munitions has gone into force.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which became binding international law on Sunday, prohibits the use, production and stockpiling of the weapon, which is blamed for killing and maiming tens of thousands of civilians.

Thomas Nash, from the Cluster Munition Coalition, a network of 200 civil society organisations, hailed the ban.

"This is the most significant piece of international humanitarian law to enter into force since the land mine ban 10 years ago. From this moment on, countries have a legal obligation to assist the victims," the Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

The treaty requires signatories to destroy stockpiled cluster munitions within eight years, clear contaminated areas within 10 years and help affected communities and survivors.

The Convention on Cluster Bombs was first adopted in May 2008 and ratified by 37 states including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, which all have significant stocks.



Snip

The United States, the world's largest producer with the biggest stockpile of 800 million submunitions, has refused to sign the treaty so far, although it says it will ban the weapon from 2018. Continued

Cluster bomb ban treaty takes effect worldwide

Moldova’s Ministry of Defence destroys cluster munition stocks in a controlled explosion at Bulboaca training ground, 29 July 2010. Photo credit: Asle Huse/NPA

(London, 29 July 2010) – The Convention on Cluster Munitions takes effect on Sunday, 1 August 2010, when it becomes binding international law in countries around the world. In dozens of countries, campaigners from the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) will join UN agencies, governments and international organisations in events celebrating the swift entry into force of the most significant disarmament and humanitarian treaty in over a decade.

“Campaigners around the world are celebrating a triumph of humanitarian values over a cruel and unjust weapon,” said Thomas Nash, Coordinator of the CMC. “At a time when concern over civilian deaths in conflict is in the news, this treaty stands out as a clear example of what governments must do to protect civilians and redress the harm already caused by cluster bombs, by assisting victims and making land safe.”

Adopted in Dublin on 30 May 2008 and opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008, the Convention bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions and calls for the destruction of stockpiles within eight years, clearance of cluster munition-contaminated land within 10 years, and assistance to cluster munition survivors and affected communities. On 1 August, all of the Convention’s provisions become fully and legally binding for states that have joined. Continued

CNN Hero Aki Ra Disarms Land Mines In Cambodia He Placed Decades Earlier

Aki Ra, leader of the nonprofit Cambodian Self Help Demining team, works to make his country more safe by clearing land mines on a daily basis. He estimates that he and his team have cleared more than 50,000 land mines -- some of which he planted himself.

At around age ten, Aki Ra was selected by the Khmer Rouge to lay land mines in and around his village. Over the next three years Aki Ra must have planted some 4,000 to 5,000 land mines in a single month.

"I had [bad] feelings, because sometimes we were fighting against our friends and relatives," Aki Ra said. "I felt sad when I saw a lot of people were killed. A lot of people were suffering from landmines. [But] I did not know what to do, [because] we were under orders." Continued

Torture Memo: Eight Years On

All from a Country that is based on it's Laws and Constitution to hold it together, was and is the major architect of International Laws and Condemns those who fail to uphold Human Rights and those same International Laws, not to mention that torturing of others for so called intelligence doesn't work but those ordering and those doing get a perverse joy out of carrying out these acts!

Eight years after the torture memo, Obama should take a hard look back

August 1, 2010 Eight years ago today, two Justice Department lawyers -- John Yoo and Jay Bybee -- put the finishing touches on a secret memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales with the anodyne title "Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. § 2340-2340A." With this document, better known as the "torture memo," and a second memo issued the same day approving specific interrogation techniques, the United States officially authorized torture for the first time in its history -- including sleep deprivation for up to 11 days straight, confinement in cramped boxes, the use of painful stress positions for hours at a time and waterboarding.

Today, Jay Bybee is a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. John Yoo is a tenured law professor at the University of California at Berkeley. And no one responsible for authorizing these tactics has been held to account: not Yoo, not Bybee, not Daniel Levin and Stephen Bradbury, the Justice Department lawyers who succeeded them and continued to authorize brutal techniques until President Obama took office, and not former president George W. Bush and former vice president Dick Cheney, both of whom have, since leaving office, admitted in public statements to giving these tactics the green light. Continued

And then we wonder openly and in many voices, "Why do they hate us so?", as it's all done now openly In Our Names!