"Inside Job" the Movie!!

Inside Job Trailer

From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson (“No End In Sight”), comes INSIDE JOB, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, INSIDE JOB traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

Narrated by Academy Award® winner Matt Damon, INSIDE JOB was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China. {Movie Site}

And Still No F**king Accountability

North Wales MP's - U.S. Veterans Courts - PTSD - Justice

An important report on a Europeans review of Veterans, U.S. Veterans Courts, PTSD and Justice and Help for!

This is the type of lead the rest of the World used to look to the U.S. for, we were never perfected but working that way, and many here were once so good at it. Sadly this issue is another that comes out of our recent failed policies of destruction and terror waged on others, DeJa-Vu all over again. But shows that those who deplored our actions recently, and have been turning their backs to us in many area's including economic, are finding some of the old America and it's once Leadership Role in the World Community as we try to rebuild what we've lost and move back in the right direction!!

North Wales MP's experiences of treatment of ex-servicemen and women in USA

Oct 5 2010 - RECENTLY I travelled to the United States as part of a delegation sponsored by the Howard League for Penal Reform.

We are currently researching the issue of why so many ex-servicemen and women end up in prison. We were asking what can be done to lessen the trend and what can be initiated to assist those already in the prison system.

I was intrigued to read that on our itinerary we were to visit a Veterans’ Court.

Instinctively I was perplexed and not persuaded of the merits of setting up a criminal court supposing to cater for the needs of any class of society because, after all, equality before the law is a cherished an vital component of the legal system in England and Wales.

Having visited the Veterans Court in Buffalo, New York State, the reality was quite different.

Snip

They were all ex-servicemen back from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were also some ex-Vietnam veterans.

Each was assigned an ex-service person who volunteered to act as a mentor.

These mentors were also to speak the same language as the offender and bonds formed fairly quickly.

The offender is taken to the Court and reports produced about him – he or she moved then appear every three weeks or so to appear before the Judge to give and update on his/her progress back towards full integration into the community.

Snip

On the second day we had several valuable briefings at the Department of Veteran Affairs in Washington.

Every serviceperson is tested for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury on discharge and there are a range of generous benefits available to veterans. There is help with housing, finding work, free health cover etc.

Roughly 9% of veterans end up in the prison system – around the same number that the National Association of Probation Officers believes to be the case in England and Wales. In the United States however, the Veterans Affairs Department asses that between 30 and 35% of ex-servicemen and women return suffering from PTSD and TBI.

This is dismissed out of hand in the UK where military and government authorities believe the figure to be minimal.

I believe that the UK authorities could be in PTSD denial and time will tell.

Snip

I chaired a meeting and found that many of the things they were saying were similar to the evidence taken from ex-service people who got involved with crime in England and Wales.

Typically, leaving a highly structured military environment and having little or no support outside. They have no help to find work, no help to find housing, no help with debt management or substance abused etc.

One person spoke eloquently – he was an ex-Vietnam veteran who had served 30 years without huge bitterness.

During his time in prison he had studied law and he put the case for them with clarity and precision.

Returning home on the fourth day I was tired but also excited at what I had experienced. {read rest}

Boy will it take a long time to just get back to where we were once, if we ever can!

"No Torture" Week

"No Torture" Week Brings Top Experts to Berkeley To Denounce Torture

photo: redstarphoto.net
Statue honoring Berkeley’s history of protest and rebellion, on the pedestrian overpass on I-80 at University Avenue, Berkeley

October 5th, 2010 - Berkeley's grassroots campaign is drawing national attention to the upcoming week of public educational events, art events and political protests to take place. Now declared the official “Berkeley Says No to Torture” Week by the Berkeley City Council, the week-long series of panels, debates, and cultural events will bring together in one program for the first time: {read rest}

Warren Sees Transparency

NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW AIR DATE: Oct. 5, 2010

Consumer Czar Warren Sees Transparency in Banking as Top Priority

SUMMARY
Elizabeth Warren, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, talks to Jeffrey Brown about the goals of her new agency and how she plans to empower Americans to make better financial choices.



Transcript

JIM LEHRER: Now: setting up a new federal agency to protect consumers. Jeffrey Brown has our newsmaker interview.

JEFFREY BROWN: Perhaps the most contentious among government responses to the financial crisis of the last few years was the creation of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. And perhaps the most polarizing figure in that debate is the woman whose idea it was and who was recently appointed to get it going, Elizabeth Warren.

A professor at the Harvard Law School, Ms. Warren served as head of a congressional panel that kept an eye on government bailout funds. And she joins me now. Welcome to you. {read rest}

NSARCHIVE: THE IRAQ WAR -- PART III

Shaping the Debate

U.S. and British Documents Show Transatlantic Propaganda Cooperation

Joint Drafting & Editing of White Papers “Fixed the Facts”

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 330

Posted - October 4, 2010

Washington, D.C., October 4, 2010 - For nearly a year before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British government of Prime Minister Tony Blair collaborated closely with the George W. Bush administration to produce a far starker picture of the threat from Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) than was justified by intelligence at the time, according to British and American government documents posted today by the National Security Archive.

With the aim of strengthening the political case for going to war, both governments regularly coordinated their assessments, the records show, occasionally downplaying and even eliminating points of disagreement over the available intelligence. The new materials, acquired largely through the U.K. Freedom of Information Act and often featuring less redacted versions of previously released records, also reveal that the Blair administration, far earlier than has been appreciated until now, utilized public relations specialists to help craft the formal intelligence “white papers” about Iraq’s WMD program.

At one point, even though intelligence officials were skeptical, the British went so far as to incorporate in their white paper allegations about Saddam’s nuclear ambitions because they had been made publicly by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

The documents also show that: {read rest with backlinks to Docs}

THE IRAQ WAR -- PART I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001

THE IRAQ WAR -- PART II: Was There Even a Decision?

Hoodwinked: The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War

"an example of third world poverty in this country"

Blackmon Road: A Place For Hope?

October 1, 2010 - Blackmon Road is an African American community just two miles south of downtown Rock Hill next to the old city dump. If you grew up there, chances are you've been called "trash pile kid" and you know what it's like to live without running water. Much to the chagrin of residents there, Blackmon Road has served as an example of third world poverty in this country.

WFAE's Lisa Miller has more on a community trying to get the basics, but contending with a lot of obstacles including themselves. {read rest}

Live Stream: One Nation

LIVE: One Nation, Working Together with Free Speech TV!

Watch live streaming video from freespeechtv at livestream.com

Laura, Thom Hartmann, and others from Free Speech TV will be hosting live coverage of the One Nation, Working Together rally in Washington, DC all day today, October 2, 2010.

The Real News Network One Nation March to Pressure Obama Admin

October 2, 2010 - Progressive Democrats say people should take to streets to demand real change

NSARCHIVE: THE IRAQ WAR -- PART II

Was There Even a Decision?

U.S. and British Documents Give No Indication Alternatives Were Seriously Considered

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 328

Edited by John Prados and Christopher Ames

Posted - October 1, 2010

Washington, D.C., October 1, 2010 – Contrary to statements by President George W. Bush or Prime Minister Tony Blair, declassified records from both governments posted on the Web today reflect an early and focused push to prepare war plans and enlist allies regardless of conflicting intelligence about Iraq’s threat and the evident difficulties in garnering global support.

Perhaps most revealing about today’s posting on the National Security Archive’s Web site is what is missing—any indication whatsoever from the declassified record to date that top Bush administration officials seriously considered an alternative to war. In contrast there is an extensive record of efforts to energize military planning, revise existing contingency plans, and create a new, streamlined war plan.

This electronic briefing book is the second of three to be posted by the National Security Archive that re-examine several aspects of the run-up to the war. The previous EBB covered the development of President Bush’s thinking during the first year of his presidency. This posting focuses on U.S. planning and preparations for action, and British deliberations over how to respond to the Bush administration, during 2002. It is accompanied by a separate analysis by Archive Senior Fellow John Prados and journalist Christopher Ames that reframes this critical period. The third part of this set will address a parallel effort to create political conditions conducive to carrying out an invasion of Iraq.

Among other findings from the documents, the posting’s editors conclude that the Bush administration sought to avoid the emergence of opposition to its actions by means of secrecy and deception, holding the war plan as a “compartmented concept,” restricting information even from allies like the United Kingdom, and pretending that no war plans were being reviewed by the president.

President Bush and his senior advisers were so intent on pursuing their project for war, the documents show, that they refused to be deterred by early and repeated refusals of cooperation from regional allies like Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt; or from traditional allies such as France and Germany.

Bush administration disdain for a diplomatic solution to the issue of Iraq’s potential for developing weapons of mass destruction is further evidenced, the editors conclude, in early resistance to a multilateral solution through the United Nations (UN), in a preference to substitute direct U.S. control for a UN monitoring regime, and in the difficulty encountered by both America’s closest ally, the United Kingdom, as well as the U.S. State Department, in inducing President Bush to agree to try a UN initiative. {To read rest with links to Docs etc.}

Hoodwinked: The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War

Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld

No Regard for Human Life

D.C. Court Rules That U.S. Officials Can Torture and Murder “Enemy Combatants,” Cover It Up, and Get Away With It

October 1st, 2010 - On September 30, Judge Ellen Huvelle affirmed the D.C. District Court’s decision to dismiss Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld, a civil lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel concerning three men who died in detention at Guantánamo in June 2006. Her decision came despite new evidence from four soldiers stationed at the base, which strongly suggests the three men were murdered at a secret site at Guantánamo and that the government worked hard to cover up the true cause and circumstances of the deaths. The government reported the three men committed suicide by hanging themselves in their cells.

The court acknowledged that the allegations were “disturbing,” but dismissed the case by citing national security considerations and possible “embarrassment” to the government. It also made the incredible assertion that even if every allegation of torture and homicide against U.S. officials is entirely true, the defendants’ conduct was within their permissible scope of employment. {read rest}

All one can say is this is more then disgusting and seals the coming decades as to what already was, the greater chance of international criminal terrorism, as we joined those we condemn in that same gutter!!

And are we willing to pay for it?

Does America Want to Know the Real Cost of War?

30 September 2010 - On Thursday, September 30, 2010, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) conducted a hearing on the true cost of war. Economists, veteran advocates, retired military leaders, and veterans and their families discussed the real life consequences of war, not just in financial terms but in the practical reality of day to day living. The hearing specifically focused on the rising estimates of the cost of veterans’ care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), how veterans and their families have coped with post-combat life, and how the government could prepare to keep the promises made to America’s fighting troops and veterans.

“Every vote that Congress has taken for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has failed to take into account the actual cost of these wars by ignoring what will be required to meet the needs of veterans,” said Chairman Filner. “The Congress that sends them into harm’s way assumes no responsibility for the long-term consequences of their deployment. Each war authorization and appropriation kicks the proverbial can down the road. Whether or not the needs of soldiers injured or wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan will be met is totally dependent on the budget politics of a future Congress which includes two sets of rules – one for going to war and one for providing for our veterans who fight in that war.” {read rest}

10-2-10 One Nation March

Can't make it, Watch the Live Stream, we know the fox won't cover, and from experience with the Rally's for Peace neither will the msm, so Stream It With Laura and Thom!

Catch Laura Flanders Covering the One Nation March on 10-2-10!

Be sure to visit Grit TV this weekend to catch live coverage of Laura Flanders and Thom Hartmann hosting Free Speech TV's coverage of the 10-2-10 One Nation March in Washington D.C.

On Saturday, October 2, 2010, hundreds of thousands of Americans from across the country will gather at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. to demonstrate a commitment to change.

The television broadcast will include main stage speeches, interviews with organizers and analysts, and reporting from the crowd. It will air nationally from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern Time on DISH Network channel 9415, DIRECTV channel 348 and numerous cable stations across the country, as well as on GRITtv.org.

The One Nation March will feature human and civil rights leaders,
labor leaders, environmental and peace activists, faith leaders,
celebrities and sports figures - all marching together to help Put
America Back to Work and to Pull America Back Together. And to help reorder our national priorities so that investments in people come first.

Free Speech TV will have exclusive live coverage featuring GRITtv's own Laura Flanders. For more information visit Free Speech and One Nation Working.

Please contribute to keep this working coming. Your contributions make GRITtv and Free Speech TV possible.

RestoreTheGulf.gov

Statement from Admiral Allen on the Transfer of Oversight Responsibilities

October 1, 2010 - "Today the National Incident Command is disestablished and I have transferred oversight of the BP oil spill response to Rear Admiral Paul Zukunft, the Unified Area Commander, in New Orleans. Response operations will continue under transition plans that have developed with our state and local partners. Unity of effort must continue to be our common goal. Our commitment to this response and the people of the Gulf of Mexico remains and I am pleased that Rear Admiral Zukunft will continue his dedicated service. This response has been unprecedented in its scope and complexity and we cannot forget the 11 crew members that lost their lives. As I transition to a new phase of my professional life, I want to thank the thousands of individuals from all levels of government, local communities and organizations, and the private sector who worked tirelessly to contain the discharge, shut in the well, clean up the oil and mitigate the impacts of the spill. It has been my honor to have served with them."

From DoD: Stop Loss

It's now official, but only a temporary extension!

Pass this news on! And if you know a Stop Lossed Vet, or suspect the possibility of one of the present vets might be, Let Them Know!!!!

Deadline for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay Extended

The deadline for eligible service members, veterans and their beneficiaries to apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay (RSLSP) has been extended to Dec. 3, 2010, allowing personnel more time to apply for the benefits they’ve earned.

To apply, or for more information on RSLSP, including submission requirements and service-specific links, go to Stop Loss.

The deadline extension is included in the continuing resolution signed by President Obama yesterday, providing funding for federal government operations through Dec. 3.

“It’s important that all those eligible for this benefit take the opportunity to apply for what they’ve earned,” said Lernes Hebert, acting director, Officer and Enlisted Personnel Management. “We encourage those eligible to apply as soon as possible, to avoid the last minute rush, which can increase processing time.”

RSLSP was established to compensate military members whose service was involuntarily extended under Stop Loss between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009. Eligible members or their beneficiaries are required to submit a claim to their respective military service in order to receive the benefit of $500 for each full or partial month served in a Stop Loss status. The original deadline for claims was Oct. 21, 2010.

When RSLSP began on Oct. 21, 2009, the services estimated 145,000 service members, veterans and beneficiaries were eligible. Because the majority of those eligible had separated from the military, the services have engaged in extensive and persistent outreach efforts throughout the year. Efforts including direct mail, engaging military and veteran service organizations, social networks and media outlets, will continue throughout the period of eligibility.

Rep. Sutton managed to get this passed but she was trying to get a year extension, not just a few months. That means there's still work to do when Congress comes back after the elections to push her wishes for these Veterans to have that year, then we need to make sure we can reach All these Veterans as well as Spouses of the Fallen in that time!!

A lost war-crimes documentary

"Nuremberg": A lost war-crimes documentary lives again

Why Stuart Schulberg's film of the famous Nazi trial was destroyed -- and what it can tell us now

Justice Robert H. Jackson, chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg trial

Sep 30, 2010 - Maybe the title of the documentary "Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today" sounds a little pedantic and old-fashioned. That's because the "today" in question is not, like, today but 1948, when this film was completed by a United States military team and shown in occupied Germany. A compact and devastating record of the history-making trial -- held in the symbolic birthplace of the Nazi Party -- that held two dozen leading Nazi officials to account for the crimes of the Holocaust and other World War II atrocities, "Nuremberg" was never shown in U.S. theaters, and the master negative and soundtrack were destroyed, for reasons that remain mysterious. (But which can, I believe, be deduced from the evidence.)

Snip

For another, Nuremberg introduced an explosive and controversial principle into international law: the idea that political, military and business leaders could be held personally liable for waging aggressive warfare, for murdering civilians or captured enemies, and for the ambiguous category of "crimes against humanity." {read rest}