Times of Crisis

The Year of Global Change

In-depth multimedia charting the year of global upheaval following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. See how lives everywhere have changed as a divergent world embarks on a new era of historic uncertainty.

Introduction


More at site link.

Leveling Appalachia: Yale Environment 360

The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining

During the last two decades, mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia has destroyed or severely damaged more than a million acres of forest and buried nearly 2,000 miles of streams. Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining, a video report produced by Yale Environment 360 in collaboration with MediaStorm, focuses on the environmental and social impacts of this practice and examines the long-term effects on the region’s forests and waterways.

At a time when the Obama administration is reviewing mining permit applications throughout West Virginia and three other states, this video offers a first-hand look at mountaintop removal and what is at stake for Appalachia’s environment and its people.

Much more at site link.

And these are but only a couple of the issues of the now growing negative legacies we're leaving to those who follow. Responsible adults exist no longer, irresponsibility and incompetence in the human species is now our norm!

More on Failed and Criminal Government {UpDated w/video's}

More of the cheney/bush/republican congress incompetent criminality coming to light, especially out of the VA, while Two Occupations were still ongoing and troops were returning for the care needed, as their brothers and sisters were returning in Flag Draped Coffins!!

IG reports detail abuses in hiring, travel, bonuses at VA technology office

Former high-ranking information technology officials at the Veterans Affairs Department gave preferential treatment to certain contractors, engaged in nepotism in hiring and, in one case, took advantage of a relationship with a supervisor for personal gain, according to a new report from the department's inspector general...............Rest Here

First Report-PDF

Second Report-PDF

As vets await checks, VA workers get $24M bonuses

The inspector general accused one recently retired VA official of acting "as if she was given a blank checkbook" as awards and bonuses were distributed to employees of the Office of Information and Technology in 2007 and 2008. In some cases the justification for the bonuses was inadequate or questionable, the IG said.

The official, Jennifer S. Duncan, also engaged in nepotism and got $60,000 in bonuses herself, the IG said. In addition, managers improperly authorized college tuition payments for VA employees, some of whom were Duncan's family members and friends. That cost taxpayers nearly $140,000................

These weren't the rank and file VA workers, who do what they can and is needed for the Veterans, these are the political appointee's and hired contractors, padding their pockets while denying what is Owed To Those Who Serve!!

And then we have this, though known or suspected strongly at the time, book review by the author that's hitting all over, just before the weekend political shows, of which the country will just yawn at but will enhance sales, may even drive it to number one on the best sellers lists, under Not Fiction!!

"National Security"

Ex-DHS chief links politics to terror alerts

TREASON IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE

Advancing Political Agenda at dangerous expense of the public good is a criminal act

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge claims in a new book "The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again" that he was pressured by other members of President George W. Bush's Cabinet to raise the nation's terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election.

Presssured? Is this a bad joke?

Ridge says he objected to raising the security level despite the urgings of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, according to a publicity release from Ridge's publisher. He said the episode convinced him to follow through with his plans to leave the administration; he resigned on Nov. 30, 2004.

While these Machevellian acts are NOT unexpected by this terror group, what is unexpected is watching the American public continue to be hypnotized into thinking this is just some news story that is quaint to be read in a book. It's not. This is freakin scary!.........The Rest Here

The Nexus of Politics and Terror

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Did bush Deceptions Break the Law

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

When is this Country going to Wake Up and realize we are looked at as "Crap" on the World Stage, an Arrogant and Apathetic society sinking faster in it's own waste!!

I just hope, and that's slim, that the present Justice Department, and Justice Departments to come, even with the politically embedded incompetent lawyers from the previous, are taking these reports seriously. As an older adult, trying to be what we all should be 'responsible' and trying to leave a 'better world' behind, like our folks did for us till it all collapsed through no fault of theirs, I would really like to see some Accountability for the many many crimes committed, in the name of ideologies instead of as a nation trying, are brought under the Laws we have, and should be respected and followed. Or we can do what some would really like, tear up our Constitution and Flush this Nation into the History Books as Failed!!

Unopened claims letters hidden at VA offices

A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.
VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.
“Veterans have lost trust in VA,” Michael Walcoff, VA’s under secretary for benefits, said at a hearing Tuesday. “That loss of trust is understandable, and winning back that trust will not be easy.”

Kathryn Witt of Gold Star Wives of America said survivors trying to receive VA benefits have long complained about problems getting accurate information and missing claims. “When they call to check on the status of the claim, they are often told that the VA has no record of their claim and that they should resubmit their paperwork,” she said.
In one case, a woman claimed she had to submit paperwork to VA three times to prove she was married and had three children, Witt said.
And having to resubmit the same claim, she added, does nothing to reduce the backlog that already forces survivors to wait six to nine months for simple claims to be approved.

Rest Here

They are Still finding hidden or mislaid unopened claims letters in VA offices, this continues the incompetency of the previous administration and the initial reports that came out late last year

The Congressional Hearing Yesterday {Brings up Video Feed}

Corrupt Government - Totally Corrupt!!

What is this Country waiting for?

This is Our Government, those in Washington work for Us!

Little georgie likes to say "His Government", it ain't his, He Works For Us, as do everyone appointed and hired to federal jobs!

The Government we have isn't just Incompetent, It's Totally Corrupt!

And it isn't only those hired to Represent that have no Backbone, it's this Whole F**cking Country!

What's got my dandruff up, I just caught this: Ex-State officials allege corruption in Iraq

Something we've already known, And Done Absolutely Nothing About, only this gets abit deeper than the War Profitteers:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.

Coming from two civil servants who seem to understand who they are working for, one Arthur Brennan and James Mattil.

Brennan said that a congressional staffer visiting Baghdad couldn't talk with staffers because they were too busy.

What were they busy doing in Baghdad:

the staffers were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers. The staffers' workload had been cut dramatically because of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "evisceration" of Iraq's top anti-corruption office, he said.

And Condi is still around?

The State Department's policies "not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government," Brennan told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

Want to find out about the Office of Accountability and Transparency, there's a few sentences about this as well as Iraq's Joint Anti-Corruption Committee

"Since we have done so little (to undercut corruption), it's easy to see why the government of Iraq has not done more," said Mattil, who left the accountability office last October after having served for a year as its chief of staff. "We have demanded no better."

And how much has this cost our kids, hell the treasury was emptied way back, this comes to the tune of some 18 Billion, all on the credit card the Occupation is running on!

"One would have expected that our own government would have been doing everything it could to support" Iraq's anti-corruption efforts, said Dorgan, D-N.D.
But "that was simply not the case. On the contrary, our own government contributed to the culture of corruption," he added.

Hey everyone, just go shopping with the bailout monies, for retailers and credit card companies, you think is a tax rebate, that's on your kids dime as well, and don't forget to tune into your favorite reality show, after that stick head back up a**hole, where it's been since allowing your Country to Crash!!!!!

As those who Serve are Killed and Maimed, as the country We Destroyed suffers more Destruction, Death and Maiming, In Our Names!

They Served Their Country Honorably

Seven veterans under VA's care commit suicide

They served their country honorably but after risking their life in combat abroad, coping with coming home was too much. In the last three months seven servicemen being treated by Spokane's VA Hospital have committed suicide.

What does one say when they have watched others go through All This Before, and having beared witness through these many years!

Any who have read my attempts at putting the reality to words over these past 6 years, long before the carnage again started, or read and listened to others saying pretty much the same damn thing, you know how I feel!

"After returning home from his tour of duty in Iraq, Tim was given the following choice -- either commit to a two-year enlistment in the Washington National Guard and receive a stability from deployment for that amount of time or be stop-lossed and face certain redeployment within a year," Hergert wrote in a letter to Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Senate's Veterans Affairs committee. "Tim chose to enlist in the Washington National Guard unit and was assigned to Spokane, Washington."

Only back than, till now, my brothers and sisters, weren't forced into 'Stop Loss' nor 'Mutiple Extended Tours', back in the Debacle Occupation the Country said they'd Never Forget and Learn The lessons Of, one had to Volunteer for more than one tour, the few I know that did were KIA on their second or third, they couldn't cope in the Real World!

"Mom, I don't think I can go back to Iraq," Jacqueline Hergert recalls her son's words.
Last month, Juneman was found hanging in his Pullman apartment.
"My son hanged himself in his apartment on March 5, 2008. He was not discovered for 20 days, and then only because he didn't pay his rent for the month," Hergert continued in her letter to Sen. Murray. "He missed numerous scheduled medical appointments at the VA hospital. He missed his weekend duty with the National Guard unit. Yet, no one came to check on him, not even the doctors or counselors who were seeing him for his injuries and trauma."

These tragic incidents are Not The Fault of the Greater Majority who Work In The Veterans Administration System, most are extremely dedicated not only to their work but those They Serve!

This is Totally In The Lap of the Leadership, the Political Appointee's, and those in the Administration parts of the systems, especially if hired because of Political affiliation these past 7 years, not only VA but across the board in this failing Government, Total Incompetence, and an Apathedic Freightened Country that Refuses to Hold Accountibility on those as that Incompetence Continues, Unabated!!

"I have to live with the knowledge that he died alone and in despair and feeling without hope," Hergert said.

The lead to the tragic story above, and those I'm placing below, come from Veterans For Common Sense who are spearheading the Lawsuit, now in trial, against the VA. Visit their site and throw a few duckets of that Tax Rebate their way, they could use it as Veterans Fighting For Veterans, along with other organizations you might be inclined to Support.

One for those Not Serving and Suffering, as our Military Personal and Their Families Are, You're Way Overdue your Sacrifice! {Service Members and Families of Disregard previous sentence, You've Given This Country Way Too Much All Ready!!}

Two, it's the Best Way to put that money that should Already be Going to these returning Vets to a use that is extremely worthwhile, you certainly don't need to shop for more crap in your lives!

Mental Health

The War Within: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
James Sperry's nightmares always take him back to Fallujah.

Combat Vets Face Hurdles as Students
Colleges learning to deal with PTSD, lost limbs, brain injuries.

Many Troops Never Get Help for Mental Wounds
Army Cpl. Robb Rudd finished basic training within 48 hours of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Inner War Knows No Truce
The movie “Stop Loss” filled the silver screen with haunting images of bad dreams, alcoholism and family strife in the wake of a tour of duty in Iraq.

Bill Would Expand PTSD Benefits
House lawmakers have reworked a bill that would make it easier for veterans to get benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder by not requiring them to prove their exposure to a stressor.

Editorial Column: Half of Vets Suffering Brain and Mind Injuries Go Untreated, But Pentagon Pretends Nothing's Going on
Penny Coleman
An activist travels to the DoD's annual suicide prevention conference, only to find the military brass living in a parallel universe.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Mitchell to VA: 'My Patience is at an End'
Rep Harry Mitchell (D-5) has given Deparment of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake an option: Produce documents related to suicides among veterans by May 9, or he will pursue "other options."

Iraq War

Investigators: Millions in Iraq Contracts Never Finished
Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say.

Talk Doesn't Mean Action for Vets
Judging by sheer numbers alone, this is most definitely the Year of the Veteran at the state Capitol.

Department of Defense

Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?
The Department of Defense statistics are alarming — one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military.

Bring Them Home and Take Care Of Them When They Return, Now!!!

We've gone through all of this before, this time Learn From The Mistakes and Incompetence of those we Call Our Leaders, Never Again!!!

"We Cannot Recognize Our Country" and Neither Can Anyone Else!

Looking at America

December 31, 2007

There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.

It was not the first time in recent years we’ve felt this horror, this sorrowful sense of estrangement, not nearly. This sort of lawless behavior has become standard practice since Sept. 11, 2001.

The country and much of the world was rightly and profoundly frightened by the single-minded hatred and ingenuity displayed by this new enemy. But there is no excuse for how President Bush and his advisers panicked — how they forgot that it is their responsibility to protect American lives and American ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or their country when those ideals are sacrificed.

Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America’s position of moral and political leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America’s global image, and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our democracy through the most terrifying and challenging times. These policies have fed the world’s anger and alienation and have not made any of us safer.

In the years since 9/11, we have seen American soldiers abuse, sexually humiliate, torment and murder prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few have been punished, but their leaders have never been called to account. We have seen mercenaries gun down Iraqi civilians with no fear of prosecution. We have seen the president, sworn to defend the Constitution, turn his powers on his own citizens, authorizing the intelligence agencies to spy on Americans, wiretapping phones and intercepting international e-mail messages without a warrant.

We have read accounts of how the government’s top lawyers huddled in secret after the attacks in New York and Washington and plotted ways to circumvent the Geneva Conventions — and both American and international law — to hold anyone the president chose indefinitely without charges or judicial review.

Those same lawyers then twisted other laws beyond recognition to allow Mr. Bush to turn intelligence agents into torturers, to force doctors to abdicate their professional oaths and responsibilities to prepare prisoners for abuse, and then to monitor the torment to make sure it didn’t go just a bit too far and actually kill them.

The White House used the fear of terrorism and the sense of national unity to ram laws through Congress that gave law-enforcement agencies far more power than they truly needed to respond to the threat — and at the same time fulfilled the imperial fantasies of Vice President Dick Cheney and others determined to use the tragedy of 9/11 to arrogate as much power as they could.

Hundreds of men, swept up on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, were thrown into a prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, so that the White House could claim they were beyond the reach of American laws. Prisoners are held there with no hope of real justice, only the chance to face a kangaroo court where evidence and the names of their accusers are kept secret, and where they are not permitted to talk about the abuse they have suffered at the hands of American jailers.

In other foreign lands, the C.I.A. set up secret jails where “high-value detainees” were subjected to ever more barbaric acts, including simulated drowning. These crimes were videotaped, so that “experts” could watch them, and then the videotapes were destroyed, after consultation with the White House, in the hope that Americans would never know.

The C.I.A. contracted out its inhumanity to nations with no respect for life or law, sending prisoners — some of them innocents kidnapped on street corners and in airports — to be tortured into making false confessions, or until it was clear they had nothing to say and so were let go without any apology or hope of redress.
These are not the only shocking abuses of President Bush’s two terms in office, made in the name of fighting terrorism. There is much more — so much that the next president will have a full agenda simply discovering all the wrongs that have been done and then righting them.

We can only hope that this time, unlike 2004, American voters will have the wisdom to grant the awesome powers of the presidency to someone who has the integrity, principle and decency to use them honorably. Then when we look in the mirror as a nation, we will see, once again, the reflection of the United States of America.