'Imagine' A World Of..... Peace,Understanding,Tolerance

Seeking Redemption in Vietnam

2015-12-25T07:23:00.002-05:00

In Search of Their Fathers: Seeking Redemption in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — DEC. 24, 2015 - For nearly half a century, Margot Carlson Delogne had grieved over her father’s death. She battled alcoholism, wore a missing-in-action bracelet and deeply resented the Vietnamese who shot down his plane in 1966.
Now she stood at the end of a long table in a conference room here, facing six Vietnamese men and women who had lost parents in the same war, fighting for the other side. It was her fourth such meeting in eight days, and the emotional toll was catching up with her.
“We wondered if our coming together would open old wounds, or if any of us would be angry or sad all over again,” she started. Then she began to cry. “We have been sad,” she said, “but we have found no anger.”
The encounter here last week was part of an odyssey of hope and redemption for Ms. Carlson Delogne, 51, who was born on a military base in Texas and now lives in Walpole, Mass.
She had traveled to Vietnam with five other grown children of American fathers who died or disappeared during the war. Their mission was to find the places where their fathers fought and died, and to speak with the children of fallen North Vietnamese and Viet Cong veterans. read more>>>

A Photo That Defines the Civilian Trauma's of Wars

2015-10-25T10:56:00.002-04:00

There are so many, but one, from not that long ago, will stand forever in time, place and civilian lives and victims of War!

The girl in the picture

October 25, 2015 - Anyone who who lived through the Vietnam War period remembers the girl in the picture. The picture captures a terrible moment, while also raising a poignant question -- a question Jane Pauley sets out to answer in our Cover Story:
A little girl screaming in pain, trying to outrun the napalm burning her body.
It's an image seared into our consciousness still -- the horrors of war visited upon an innocent child.
Did you ever wonder, what happened to that little girl?
Kim Phuc is now 52. It was 43 years ago that she got burned. It was the day that defined the rest of her life.
Twenty-one-year-old Nick Ut was there that day, a Vietnamese photographer on assignment for the Associated Press.
"I look in my camera viewfinder, I saw the girl naked running," he told Pauley.
He took the picture that would win the Pulitzer Prize.
"When she passed by my camera, I saw her body burned so badly. I said, '"My God, I need to help her,'" said Ut. read more>>>

"If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too — not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013

New Images of Bush Admin. On 9/11 Surface, Real Thoughts As That Day Unfolded

2015-07-25T10:37:00.003-04:00

New photographs show George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice reacting to 9/11 Powerful images of the Bush administration in the hours following the September 11 attacks have been released

Public Testimony from early days of Brit Iraq War Inquiry>>>: George Bush tried to make a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida in a conversation with Tony Blair three days after the 9/11 attacks, according to Blair's foreign policy adviser of the time.

Public Testimony from early days of Brit Iraq War Inquiry>>>: Came out in Testimony same as this CBS link; Bush Sought 'Way' To Invade Iraq? - O'Neill Tells '60 Minutes' Iraq Was 'Topic A' 8 Months Before 9-11

Public Testimony from early days of Brit Iraq War Inquiry>>>: But there was a 'sea change' in attitude after the atrocities, with former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice targeting Iraq on the very day of the outrage

Long Forgotten Condoleezza Rice Article Called For ‘Regime Change’ in Iraq in 2000

More photo's with video of same can be found here, as well as other media outlets.

Public testimony, and much more, in the still unreleased final Chilcot Brit Iraq War Inquiry archived at Inquiry site

Iraq War Inquiry Final Public Release Making Progress??

"It's a shame Brian Williams will be the only person ever punished for lying about Iraq"

And now Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl after the Whole Country Abandoned the Missions and those sent to Accomplish, and still haven't paid for either nor the long term results from and that includes the VA their responsibility, so extremely quickly after 9/11!!

Australians Understand What American Led Iraq War Policies Created

* * * CIA Torture: Read the Senate Intelligence Committee report * * *

In a Democracy: 'Citizens must know what is done in their name'

Pres. Bush: “Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated”

Blackwater Security Guards Handed Lengthy Sentences For Iraqi Killings

Human rights groups call for special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture

22 December 2014 - The ACLU and Human Rights Watch say the offences amount to ‘a vast criminal conspiracy’ and are ‘shocking and corrosive’ to US democracy and credibility read more>>>

* * * Seeds of ISIL Planted By Bush/Cheney and Conservative Congresses * * *

* * * The British Iraq War Inquiry * * * Released will carry private communications between GWBush and TBlair, like this already released: TB said there was a danger the Tories would see this as their chance to get rid of him … Bush said they would make it clear to the Tories that if they moved to get rid of TB "we will get rid of them".

* * * Iraq War Promoted Terrorism Rather Than Reducing It * * * 24 April 2014 - Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War promoted terrorism rather than reducing it and was a “strategic failure”, according to a major new report which estimated the cost of all UK conflicts since the end of the Cold War.
The Royal United Services Institute said the UK could face a bill of nearly £65bn, once the cost of long-term care for injured veterans was factored in, with most of the money was spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The study, called Wars in Peace, said both conflicts were largely “strategic failures” for the UK, The Guardian reported."

Facts: Matthew Hoh {former Marine and foreign service officer in Afghanistan}: "We spend a trillion dollars a year on national security in this country."
"And when you add up to the Department of Defense, Department of State, CIA, Veterans Affairs, interest on debt, the number that strikes me the most about how much we're committed financially to these wars and to our current policies is we have spent $250 billion already just on interest payments on the debt we've incurred for the Iraq and Afghan wars." 26 September 2014

Bob Herbert "Losing Our Way" : "And then the staggering costs of these wars, which are borne by the taxpayers. I mean, one of the things that was insane was that, as we're at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration cut taxes. This has never been done in American history. The idea of cutting taxes while you're going to war is just crazy. I mean, it's madness." Bill 'Moyers and Company': Restoring an America That Has Lost its Way 10 Oct. 2014

$14 Million An Hour: War Costs Top $1.6 Trillion Since 9/11, Say Congressional Researchers

December 22 2014 - American taxpayers have shelled out roughly $1.6 trillion on war spending since 9/11, according to a new report from Congress’ nonpartisan research arm. That’s roughly $337 million a day -- or nearly a quarter million dollars a minute -- every single day for 13 years. read more>>>

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

Chris Hayes MSNBC: "If you can run a deficit to go to war, you can run a deficit to take care of the people who fought it" In response to Republican opposition to expanding Veterans' benefits on fiscal grounds

Neither of these recent wars have yet been paid for, let alone the results from, including the long ignored or outright denied existence of, till this Administrations Cabinet and Gen Shinseki, only Government branch consistent for the past six years, issues! As well as under deficits most of the, grossly under funded, VA budget is still borrowed thus added, problem creating, costs that shouldn't exist!

Trump 'swiftboats' McCain, Entire Republican, 'swiftboaters', Party Attacks Their Creation

2015-07-19T10:42:00.003-04:00

As Sen. Sanders said very recently: 'Very easy to raise the flag,' hard to support veterans benefits' That, to me and many vets, describes the flag waving symbols and words used, poser, patriots served and their representatives, especially the political reps hungry for the eager media hyped coverage and through VA 'scandals' they've all created!!

Really, I Mean Really:

Sean Spicer, the communications director for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that McCain "is an American hero because he served his country and sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period."
"There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honorably," Spicer added.

And then the extremely quick and growing flood of similar statements, most coming from 'chickenhawks' who never even attempted to serve, especially in these recent times and two more wars, after fully supporting Abandoning the Missions and Those Sent to Accomplish so Extremely Quickly after 9/11, I mean REALLY!!

What is the fellow conservative, many of same veterans as well, 'chickenhawk' saying that's any different then the hundreds of thousands of times Us Veterans, me included, if pro peace and activist as same especially, have had same directed at us, with the never ending Nixon and present decades FOX speak parrots verbal spitting!! That's your 'heritage', like a certain popular flag, in conservative rovian revisionist history spin, since the sixties especially!!

Trump slams McCain for being ‘captured’ in Vietnam; other Republicans quickly condemn him

What's so different with, again 'chickenhawk', trumps ignorance, not the first person or group to be attacked by him but the others were apparently A 'OK with all conservatives and so called republicans, the norm, almost pure silence till this!!

July 18 2015 - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump slammed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran, on Saturday by saying McCain was not a war hero because he was captured by the North Vietnamese.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. Sarcastically, Trump quipped, “He’s a war hero because he was captured.” Then, he added, “I like people that weren’t captured.”
Trump’s comments came during his appearance at the Family Leadership Summit, a day-long gathering of about 3,000 social conservative activists that is drawing nine other Republican presidential candidates.
A celebrity businessman and reality television star, Trump has surged to the top of polls in the GOP race, in part because of his inflammatory comments about undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
Republican leaders and other candidates have been careful in how they respond to his immigration remarks, but his condemnation of McCain opened the floodgates, drawing swift and sharp criticism from other Republicans. read more>>>

As us Vietnam vets, pro-peace and activists, have been verbally attacked for decades now, myself included, to present day Afghan and Iraq veterans!!

But he's right about McCain, conservative seeking to privatize for corporate profit and investor returns, same as our wars, on peoples responsibility the VA government agency, as to us Veterans. But he's not the only peoples representative, long term or freshmen! And the people served like it that way, then to uphold that responsibility and their promises, easier to follow their lines of attack on VA personal, not the already privatized and little regulated sections of, with the eager to give a hand to same media! Cheaper in the short term for them but extremely more expensive as the created problems from surface!! Those 'scandals' created by lack of the peoples representatives working with the VA from the many previous Congressional hearings on same, especially related to our wars!!

In the modern era of advancing technologies: “Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013. The VA being running by mostly conservative executive administrations and obstructed when under liberal executive administrations.

Trump also released a non-apologetic statement attacking McCain for not doing enough to help vets

But None of the conservatives, especially, have, including the long time Conservative led National Vet Organizations, leading to a few of the present day Vets Orgs.. Done anything but obstruct while the flag wavin poser patriotic public likes it that way!!

But hold on there Donald, neither have you, nor have the other uber wealthy especially, building that wealth with those huge tax cuts and two more long wars, anything you might say you've done is like the rest of the flag wavin poser patriots just publicity grabbing hollow gestures, not to mention adding those defense industry investments to that hoard of billions!! Why in your run to be CiC you can use them hoarded multi millions from those two huge conservative tax cuts, for those in your bracket, as well as the returns on those defense industry investments to fund your campaign, as others do same with theirs in funding the many opponents running alongside you!

DeJa-Vu: “With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11", All Over Again!!

Free wars, let a couple of generations down the road pay for them and resulting costs of the policies, if ever. With vets out of site out of mind, unless of course that 'patriotism' needs to be hyped, as they ignore or out right deny the issues, especially from our wars, and their responsibility the VA, never built as promised, never maintained as promised, mostly unfunded poser patriotic legislation from their representatives thus costing more in borrowed funding to the grossly under funded budgets!!

Sen. Bernie Sanders also told Conservatives: “If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, than don’t go war. These people are bearing the brunt of what war is about, We have a moral obligation to support them.” February, 26th, 2014 as to just one of the decades of obstructing Veterans Affairs budget and people served responsibility!

Hey Sean, and the rest, where was this: "There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honorably," when it wasn't your own 'swiftboating', your creation, another of your own?

Just to name but a few, oh so many of us, the nixon verbal spit on, how about brother Max Cleland when he ran for office after serving, again, Honorable as VA Sec. under Clinton, and conservative congress obstructed. How about Gen Shinseki, target placed on after speaking Military truth in Congressional hearing on Iraq War want, target finally accomplished with another conservative created VA 'scandal', never mentioning All the problems in the cash rich private sector similar area's and issues. The list is so long. But lets add a few groups like Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), and especially the Winter Soldier public investigation and later Congressional hearing, formed during Vietnam and spreading to bases in this country as well as around the world including in-country Vietnam. Or how about Veterans For Peace (VFP) formed after Vietnam and still active on many issues. Closer to present day how about Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and their own Winter Soldier testimonies, both on the atrocities in war theaters. Just so many the targets of the long lasting Nixon verbal spitting on those that don't walk in lock step to conservative ideologies and wants!

Then there's where 'swiftboating' became part of the, conservative especially popular use of, English language by a handful of conservative veterans who were around for decades and especially in relation to brother John Kerry, spitting on him and the Purple Heart, and his two tours serving in Vietnam. As a Jr. Officer on a ship supplying and maintaining Swiftboat's and PBR's a part of the Vietnam War 'Brown Water Navy' in country Vietnam. Coming back to the states and volunteering for training on small craft to then go back and Command a Swiftboat. Gave rise as to his testimony as the spokesperson veteran for the first 'Winter Soldiers' and ramped up verbal attacks with conservative support after he won election to Congress. Then hit the always to help eager Media hype as they went after John full bore in his Presidential run, fully financed and supported by Conservatives and Republicans far and wide across the, flag waving poser patriotic, land!!

And how about those leading in the constant 'swiftboating' of Veterans who don't wear that 'brownshirt' and 'walk in lockstep' under their leads. Again their are many, but lets take just one very popular, very wealthy from, for a long time. The oh so 'poser, civilian combat vet, patriot' Bill O'Reilly of the FOX stables. Who, along with the rest of those in Murdocks stables, as well as most of their guests on FOX, not the, news and writers etc. in the rest of the Murdock, propaganda, empire, constantly attack and verbally spit on Veterans, think the homeless and anti-war as only a few, as they rake in that advertising and wealthy funding needs cash, also you can be sure, investing in the defense industries war machine and Congressional funding legislation!!

Chris Hayes : "If you can run a deficit to go to war, you can run a deficit to take care of the people who fought it" In response to Republican, long ago lost as the party of Lincoln and not just as to us Veterans, opposition to expanding Veterans' benefits on fiscal grounds

CiC's - People Served - War - Veterans Of - Vietnam to Iran Nuclear Deplomacy

2015-07-16T07:36:00.003-04:00

DeJa-Vu: “With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11", All Over Again!!

“Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013

Historic nuclear deal puts US, Iran on path to peace

7/14/15 - Joe Cirincione, president of The Ploughshares Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about the chances for success of the newly announced nuclear deal with Iran and how diplomacy could take the US and Iran out of a war posture for the first time in a generation.

Chris Hayes: "If you can run a deficit to go to war, you can run a deficit to take care of the people who fought it" In response to Republican, long ago lost as the party of Lincoln and not just as to us Veterans, opposition to expanding Veterans' benefits on fiscal grounds

Sen. Bernie Sanders told Conservatives: “If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, than don’t go war. These people are bearing the brunt of what war is about, We have a moral obligation to support them.” February, 26th, 2014

Neither of these recent very long war theaters, OEF and OIF, have yet been paid for, nor the continued blowback from the spread and growth from the policies implemented!
Neither the long term results from, including the long ignored or outright denied existence of, till this Administrations Cabinet and Gen Shinseki, only Government branch consistent for the past six years, Veterans issues from!
As well as under deficits most of the, grossly under funded for decades and the wars from now, VA budget is still borrowed, with interest, thus added problem creating costs, with representative who control the purse strings blaming the mostly dedicated VA personal within, that shouldn't exist!

Dixie Chicks 20th Anniversary Tour, Perfect Timing{?} Perhaps!!

2015-06-14T07:56:00.000-04:00

The, once not long ago, true American Spirit, not Poser Patriotism, speaking out righteously as to policies, by those hired by us to represent, made 'In Our Names'! And this all started for them with just a very few honest words then the FOX speak propaganda hate machine, quickly adding in the country music radio and, poser patriot, flag wavin fan parroting, took over!!

This could be called 'perfect timing' as to the reports of this possible 20th anniversary tour {more on that below}!!!

Kerns: Dixie Chicks may embark on 20th anniversary tour

Recording hiatus, side projects find Dixie Chicks raising their nine children
June 14, 2015 - Emily Erwin Robison, Martie Erwin Maguire and Natalie Maines Pasdar — better known as the Dixie Chicks — last released a studio album of new songs in 2006.
That’s our loss.
With Maines not yet ready to come back, sisters Robison and Maguire, wanting to perform, recorded two CDs as the Court Yard Hounds, the first self-titled in 2010, followed by “Amelita” in 2013.
Maines stepped away from country and released solo recording “Mother” in May 2013.
Individual talent, while undeniable, lacked the magic of music created together after the sisters hired Maines in 1995 to (1) replace departing lead singer Laura Lynch and (2) help the band complete a transformation from bluegrass to alternative country.

snip
It is early; no official announcements have been made. Kent Meredith, director of Lubbock’s United Supermarkets Arena, e-mailed, “I have not heard anything about this tour.” He is not alone.
Yet it appears that the Dixie Chicks likely will perform a 20th anniversary tour later this year and in 2016. (The bluegrass Dixie Chicks debuted in 1989, but Maines completed the new-look country Chicks in 1995.)
Internet sites specializing in concert ticket sales state that the trio will at least perform in Canada and the United States.
Good luck finding firm dates or details. Yet ticket broker Ticketwood.com believes the Chicks will tour stadiums in 2016 with the Eagles headlining and Keith Urban opening. Ticketwood has no firm dates, only probable venues. read more>>>

This late-blooming Dixie Chicks fan misses them

June 13, 2015 - I recently discovered Kacey Musgraves. I'm a little late to the party, as always, because her first studio album came out in 2013.
I've put her song "Biscuits" on repeat for the past couple of days. I realize it's overly cute, but I love her mind-your-own business lyrics. I believe Ms. Musgraves that life indeed would be gravy if we all minded our own biscuits.
Her sweet voice is a fun contrast to some of her lyrics, which aren't fully embraced by the most conservative portion of the country establishment. She's cool with the gay community. She doesn't like judgmental hypocrites, according to her songs "Biscuits" and "Follow Your Arrow."
I like that, and I like that she shows that country music can have a lot of diversity.
But Kacey also makes me sad, because she reminds me of whom I really want to see, too: the Dixie Chicks. In many ways, Kacey, with her sweet-sounding tunes grounded in old-school country influences, is spiritually their little sister.
Chicks, if you're listening ... read more>>>

Natalie Maines Is Still Not Ready to Make Nice

Singer Tweets on the Anniversary of Her Infamous War Comment
3/11/2015 - Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks may have opened up some old wounds. Take a look below.
Twelve years ago Tuesday (March 10), Maines made her infamous comments about the Iraq war and president George W. Bush onstage in a London theater.

“Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
The resulting backlash led to radio stations all over the nation refusing to play the band’s music — even though they were hugely popular leading up to the controversy — basically ending their mainstream country career for good.
Response songs were written, piles of CDs were steamrolled and a public standoff with Toby Keith ensued. read more>>>

Now that the British elections are over they've run out of excuses to withhold the 'Chilcot Brit Iraq War Inquiry' final public release, I'm sure some are busy trying to find more excuses, politics ya know. We in the, no longer, united states don't do accountability especially on the World stage that affects same, as we demand 'God Bless Us'!

With enough very public and very damning testimony givin at time and archived still online and the release adding plenty more of behind closed doors testimony and government intelligence reports, and more like the conversations between bush and blair, wrapped up in the final report, probably heavily redacted I'm sure!!

The country music community still carries the shame as few have ever apologized for the comments and actions taken against these young ladies and fantastic musicians that came together and wrote their own legacy of Real American Country ideology, using only a few words to set off the storm against them, that many knew then and we all know now, if you're truthful, were right to speak out about!!!

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

Welcome Back Chicks, Welcome Back!!!

The Growing Monetary Costs Resulting From the OEF, abandoned, OIF Policies

2015-06-12T10:05:00.001-04:00

These costs are adds, results of the policies of extremely quickly abandoning, with 70%plus public and media support, the missions and those sent to accomplish after 9/11, to the still Unpaid for long Wars/Occupations of OEF/OIF, initiating the growth and spread of the blowback from! Added to the, DeJa-Vu, lack of Sacrifice by those served, previous decades and ignored or out right denied issues of those wars and continuing with these conflicts, as to their Responsibility the Veterans Administration! Grossly underfunded and never built as promised thus causing costly conservative media hyped 'scandals' meaning more borrowing, with interest, of the grossly under funded budgets approved by the peoples congresses!!

Pentagon breaks down price tag of war against ISIS

June 11, 2015 - The U.S. has spent more than $2.7 billion on the war against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants since bombings began last August, and the average daily cost is now more than $9 million, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Releasing a detailed breakdown of the costs for the first time, the Defense Department showed that the Air Force has borne two-thirds of the total spending, or more than $1.8 billion. The daily combat, reconnaissance and other flights eat up more than $5 million a day.
The data also provided a rare look into the often secret special operations costs, which totaled more than $200 million since August.
The release of the spending totals came as Congress debated and rejected legislation Thursday that would have banned spending on the combat operations until lawmakers passed a new war powers resolution. read more>>>

Meanwhile: While the cheney/bush war, off the books and all borrowed, and with no-bid corporate contracts, conservative congressional rubber stampers, and FOX speak parrots, continue attacking CiC/Military policies as to ISIL: House Rejects Democrats' Efforts To Authorize War Against Islamic State!!

We also get a reality check to the, rovian revisionist, Rumsfeld rewrite of history: Building the Spin Ahead of the Brit 'Iraq War Inquiry' Public Release with this: Rumsfeld: 'Unrealistic' for Bush to try to build democracy in Iraq

06/09/15 - "Rumsfeld served as Bush’s first Defense secretary, heading the Pentagon during the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of his main responsibilities was developing the wars' plans and publicly touting the strategies.
“This was the man stoking the fires for going into Iraq on the day of 9/11,” veteran journalist Bob Woodward said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“He was the chief spokesman and agitator that we don’t just do Afghanistan, where bin Laden was, but we are going to do Iraq. He was pushing it and kind of sandpapered the whole war plan down.” read more>>>

Jon Stewart Gives Up Hope On Fighting 'Motherf**kers' Like Rumsfeld (VIDEO)

* * * Operation Inherent Resolve: Targeted Operations Against ISIL Terrorists * * *

"It's a shame Brian Williams will be the only person ever punished for lying about Iraq"

Australians Understand What American Led Iraq War Policies Created

* * * CIA Torture: Read the Senate Intelligence Committee report * * *

In a Democracy: 'Citizens must know what is done in their name'

Pres. Bush: “Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated”

Blackwater Security Guards Handed Lengthy Sentences For Iraqi Killings

Human rights groups call for special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture

22 December 2014 - The ACLU and Human Rights Watch say the offences amount to ‘a vast criminal conspiracy’ and are ‘shocking and corrosive’ to US democracy and credibility read more>>>

* * * Seeds of ISIL Planted By Bush/Cheney and Conservative Congresses * * *

$14 Million An Hour: War Costs Top $1.6 Trillion Since 9/11, Say Congressional Researchers

December 22 2014 - American taxpayers have shelled out roughly $1.6 trillion on war spending since 9/11, according to a new report from Congress’ nonpartisan research arm. That’s roughly $337 million a day -- or nearly a quarter million dollars a minute -- every single day for 13 years. read more>>>

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

President Obama To Honor WWI Harlem Hellfighter

2015-06-02T17:50:00.002-04:00

Severely wounded at age 21, Johnson was denied even a Purple Heart and refused any disability benefits when he mustered out. He died at 32, a destitute alcoholic.

Obama To Honor Harlem Hellfighter With Medal Of Honor

June 02, 2015 - President Obama will award the Medal of Honor posthumously to Henry Johnson, an African-American soldier whose combat bravery occurred during World War I, but whose actions were ignored for decades.

BOWMAN: That day didn't last. The Army did turn to Johnson to help sell war bonds and recruit black troops, but African-American soldiers were not seen as equals. Johnson received no veterans' benefits, even though he was almost totally disabled by his wounds. When he complained publicly about how African-American veterans were being treated, that was too much for the Army. One memo from military intelligence said Johnson was suffering from a, quote, "case of a swelled head" and concluded Sgt. Johnson's right to wear the uniform should be immediately revoked. With no job, estranged from his family and drinking heavily, Johnson died at age 32 in Washington. His death certificate listed his occupation - ex-soldier.
CAROLINE WEKSELBAUM: It's horrible what happened to him later on in his life. It's disgusting. read more>>>

Theodore Roosevelt, “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.” 1903

Henry Johnson’s honor: WWI hero set for long-overdue presidential medal

May 14, 2015 - It was exactly 97 years ago, May 15, 1918, in a front-line World War I outpost near the Tourbe and Aisne Rivers in northeast France, that an American infantryman from Albany, Pvt. Henry Johnson, repelled a German attack.
It wasn’t any ordinary hand-to-hand combat. The Germans struck in the predawn darkness, at least a dozen of them, shooting and throwing grenades and surprising Johnson and fellow doughboy Needham Roberts, wounding them both. As the Germans started dragging Roberts away, Johnson fought back with his gun.
When his bullets were gone, he used his rifle as a club. Then he used a bolo knife, killing Germans left and right and saving Roberts.

snip
It was racism that forced New York to establish a separate, all-black volunteer force. It was racism that forced the 369th to fight under French instead of U.S. command. And it was racism that forced Johnson’s heroics to be forgotten. read more>>>

World War I veterans, one black and one Jewish, awarded Medal of Honor Sgt. William Shemin, left, Private Henry Johnson, right

“We are dealing with veterans, not procedures—with their problems, not ours.” —General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration

Portraits Of Wounded Vets That Are Meant To Be Stared At

2015-06-01T15:12:00.002-04:00

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

It's Not Rude: These Portraits Of Wounded Vets Are Meant To Be Stared At

May 25, 2015 - It's impolite to stare. But when it comes to severely injured soldiers, maybe we don't look enough; or maybe we'd rather not see wounded veterans at all.
That's the message you get from photographer David Jay's Unknown Soldier series. Jay spent three years taking portraits of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but before that — for nearly 20 years — he was a fashion photographer. His stylish, artful images appeared in magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan.
"The fashion stuff is beautiful and sexy — and completely untrue," he says.
Truth became the focus of Jay's work for the first time about 10 years ago, when he started The SCAR Project, a series of portraits of women, naked from the waist up, with mastectomy scars. Around the time he was taking those photos, he was also trying to comprehend the news coming from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We hear about 'this number of men were killed' and 'this many were injured,'" Jay says, "and we think of them — maybe they got shot — or we don't really picture what these injured men look like." read more>>>

Neither of these recent wars have yet been paid for, nor the continued blowback from the spread and growth from the policies implemented!
Neither the long term results from, including the long ignored or outright denied existence of, till this Administrations Cabinet and Gen Shinseki, only Government branch consistent for the past six years, Veterans issues from!
As well as under deficits most of the, grossly under funded for decades and the wars from now, VA budget is still borrowed, with interest, thus added problem creating costs, with representative who control the purse strings blaming the mostly dedicated VA personal within, that shouldn't exist!

Memorial Day - 'The Homefront' Premieres Monday on PBS

2015-05-22T18:13:00.002-04:00

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11" - And Still None nor Demand There Should Be, Just Attacks on VA Personal, Conservative media hyped 'scandals' nothing done from previous hearings!!

Theodore Roosevelt, “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.” 1903

“The strength of the armed forces of the United States is as much about its families as it is about its combat capability.” – General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

This Memorial Day, PBS will be premiering The Homefront at 9pm/8c.

This revealing two hour special explores the important role that Military families play in the lives of today's Service Members.
More than two million men and women serve in America’s all-volunteer military force, and another three million are their husbands, wives, sons and daughters. Yet over the course of two long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the stories — and the service — of these military families have often been overlooked.
In a revealing two-hour documentary special presented by Bob Woodruff, The Homefront will bring the true stories of these military families to a PBS audience.
Watch videos and read more about the film below. read more>>>

Neither of these recent wars have yet been paid for, nor the continued blowback from the spread and growth from the policies implemented!

Neither the long term results from, including the long ignored or outright denied existence of, till this Administrations Cabinet and Gen Shinseki, only Government branch consistent for the past six years, Veterans issues from!

As well as under deficits most of the, grossly under funded for decades and the wars from now, VA budget is still borrowed, with interest, thus added problem creating costs, with representative who control the purse strings blaming the mostly dedicated VA personal within, that shouldn't exist!

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln

"To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan" - President Lincoln

What Veterans Get in Privatizing the Veterans Administration

2015-05-07T09:10:00.002-04:00

Push For VA Privatization, for Corporate Profit, Back on Table

When you partner up with companies like, Poser Patriots, Patient Care America, a compounding pharmacy in Florida that makes the creams and supplements, it gives the abilities to back up what is done in Congressional Hearings, and led in by Conservatives, in attacking Government agency personal, giving a wink and nod to those private government contractors they really work for, instead of doing the jobs charged with in working to actually investigate problems and or corruption, thus the, oft repeated from previous Hearings with nothing done to alleviate but cut funding to make sure they continue and grow while causing other problems, 'media hyped scandals' arise. One big help for these private Government contractors is to have, in this case doctors, a stable of professionals, doesn't even need to be that large but the more the better, who like them are concerned with building their bottom lines to the max they can get away with for how ever long and if caught pay out, campaign contributions and more including high paying jobs and titles for after they leave the government and law making, what's needed to soften the blow, get it out of the press and develop new ways to continue the con, all with help from those hired to represent the people but not making it easier to carry out the corrupt scams!!

Civilian, TRICARE-authorized providers who have signed a contract to join the network.

{Poser Patriot} Deanna Dutting with her website 'Healing 4 Heroes':

During the meeting Dutting shared the pitch she makes to service members and veterans.
"Here's these amazing creams, they're completely free. All you got to do is type in your TRICARE number online and submit it," explained Dutting.
Dutting said a doctor then calls the patient and writes a prescription. A one month supply of scar and pain creams, plus a dietary supplement costs taxpayers around $25,000.
"If you want to feel bad or do your own research, you can do just like the rest of us did, but we got over it real quick once we started making our money, you know what I mean?" said Dutting.

Another big help is those same, conservatives especially, either stripping away regulations already on the books, made as law makers to protect the people they're supposed to represent, offering no new regulations to combat the practices of business, corporations and individuals, or just plain ignore regulations that they as hired representatives are charged to do oversite on, not just the agencies but the private sector government contractors practices under the laws they make or are supposed to make!!

Part One: "Free" pain meds for veterans cost taxpayers big bucks

May 5, 2015 - A CBS News investigation has found American troops and veterans are being prescribed dubious drugs that cost taxpayers hundreds of millions dollars. The growing practice of selling the drugs has caused a big, expensive problem for Major General Richard Thomas, who oversees TRICARE, the military health benefit system.
In the last year, TRICARE spending on compounded prescriptions surged from $42 million a month to more than $300 million.
"We're on track this year to spend over $2 billion unless we get our hands around this," said Thomas. "It's just been astronomical, an explosion of the charges in a relatively short period of time."
Virtually all the spending is for products the DOD believes are of dubious clinical benefit, like pain and scar creams. The cost to taxpayers can be $15,000 for a month supply.
Major Thomas told us he hasn't been able to find anything in the creams that justify their expense. The creams are marketed directly to military personnel at "free lunch" events hosted outside the gates of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
"There's no free lunch here," said Thomas. "These individuals, their patriotism is directly tied to their paycheck. They're not helping these soldiers." read more>>>

While they've always been on the fringes in this new age of digital communication and more it's even easier to find numerous individuals extremely eager to make a buck or comfortable living by building websites, and especially showing their, Poser, patriotism by tying them to the Military and Veterans of. The constant using of for marketing purposes and that, flag waving Poser, patriotism of a few minutes of 'support them troops' memes and symbols. Build them big enough and millions can be brought in with the principles becoming millionaires rapidly and crumbs, if anything, passed on to the targeted groups of Military and us Veterans. While making sure everyone gets them tax cuts, especially the wealthy, so no Sacrifice needed by those served to the few who serve or have served them!!

Unlike, out of over 300million served, Thousands of people across America don’t just talk about honoring Veterans; they walk the walk. Dedicated Volunteers Serve Veterans for Decades

TRICARE is the health care program for almost 9.5 million beneficiaries worldwide—including active duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, retirees, their families, survivors, certain former spouses and others registered in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS).

Your health plan option determines the type of doctor or "providerAny doctor, team of doctors, nurse-practitioner, physician assistant, hospital, clinic, laboratory, ambulance company or supplier of medical equipment that delivers medical services or supplies to you." you'll see.

Do you want to invite your provider to join TRICARE? If unfamiliar with visit site and look around>>>

May 6, 2015 - A CBS News investigation revealed American troops and veterans in pain are being marketed questionable, custom-made prescription creams for pain and scars, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Jim Axelrod reports.

Part Two: Doctors seen as "complicit" in costly abuse of military health benefit system

May 6, 2015 - "They're getting providers, doctors or whomever to write scripts, fill in scripts without even seeing the patient," said Thomas.

snip
Dr. Bolger told us he's sent prescription requests like ours by a service that pays him to review patient files from states where he's licensed -- New York, the state of our request, is not one of them.
"I'm only supposed to be sent prescriptions from the states where I'm licensed. Unfortunately, in this case, one time I got a prescription from a state where I wasn't supposed to," said Dr. Bolger.
Dr. Bolger said that our prescription was the only one he's written for someone who lives in a state where he's not licensed. He said he had no idea the U.S. military was billed for prescriptions he writes, but that he does know he's not the only one writing them. read more>>>

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

Neither of these recent wars have yet been paid for, nor the continued blowback from the spread and growth from the policies implemented!

Decades after Vietnam, retired veterans reunite and seek help

2015-05-03T10:12:00.002-04:00

The Long Shadow of PTSD

May 2015 - After two tours as an infantryman in Vietnam, Dave Dillard came home to a country that he felt didn't understand where he'd been, or how the war had affected him. The Army discharged him with no advice about the lingering mental strains of combat. His family told him to get on with his life. Some of the World War II veterans he met at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post weren't much help, either. "Just forget it," they told him.
He couldn't forget, but he moved on. He studied theater arts in San Francisco and later taught elementary school. But he gradually withdrew from friends and family. He avoided crowds and standing in lines. While mowing the lawn one afternoon, a loud noise sent him diving under a bush. Sleep was tortured. He dreamed that he'd been sent back to Vietnam for a third tour, and always he saw the same North Vietnamese soldier, his face lit up in the darkness by a rifle's muzzle flash.

snip
"They came home, stayed quiet and tried to muddle on as best they could," says Steven Thorp, a San Diego psychologist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "They worked really hard as a distraction, 70, 80 hours a week, so PTSD didn't really hit them full force until they retired, or the kids left the house, or they're reminded of loss through the deaths of their friends."
"What they do know is that they're different," Thorp says. "But they don't know why it happened, and they don't know how to change it." read more>>>

Listen, here, to “We’ve Never Been The Same: A War Story”

And visit the Transom site of 'We’ve Never Been The Same: A War Story' to read, and listen also, about.

And the long ignoring, or out right denying not only this issue, by those served: Conservative Think, American Enterprise Institute, Tanks Own: Sally Satel Still Selling Care for PTSD Veterans is Waste of Money. Long Time, Vietnam, Veterans Nemesis and Denier! And why those served, through their representatives, especially conservative, find it so easy to Not Demand They Sacrifice, they're responsibility to the very few who serve them!

PBS American Experience - 'Last Days in Vietnam'

2015-05-02T08:52:00.002-04:00

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Last Days in Vietnam Extended Preview

04/01/2015 - Nominated for an Academy Award® for Documentary Feature. In April of 1975, the North Vietnamese Army was closing in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance was crumbling. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, 135,000 South Vietnamese managed to escape with help from a number of Americans who took matters into their own hands in a desperate effort to save as many people as possible. Watch the preview >>>

Vietnam, the National Guard - 40th anniversary of the end of that conflict

Vietnam, 'Operation Babylift' Forty Years Ago

40yrs. After: The Agent Orange Legacy

A War That {Never Really!} Ended in 1975, 40 years ago on April 30

40yrs. Later, Warm Welcome in Vietnam

Sir Patrick Stewart, His WWII Veteran Father, PTSD

Sir Patrick Stewart, His WWII Veteran Father, PTSD

2015-05-01T09:38:00.000-04:00

His father was an abuser. Now that Patrick Stewart knows PTSD was a factor, he has a message

Sir Patrick Stewart's father, Alfred, was a World War II hero. He fought valiantly in the Battle of Dunkirk, a tactically important conflict. But when he came home, he continued to fight.
Patrick Stewart has shared his story about his father's abuse with millions, but this is a new way of thinking about it — even for him.
Back then they called it "shell shock," "war neurosis," or "combat stress reaction," if they called it anything at all. It wasn't until 1980 that the American Psychological Association recognized PTSD as a specific, diagnosable disorder with specific symptoms — the same year Alfred Stewart died. Patrick Stewart didn't realize that his father suffered from PTSD until 2012. read more>>>

Conservative Think Tanks Own: Sally Satel Still Selling Care for PTSD Veterans is Waste of Money. Long Time, Vietnam, Veterans Nemesis and Denier

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

A War That {Never Really!} Ended in 1975, 40 years ago on April 30

2015-04-30T07:31:00.000-04:00

“We are dealing with veterans, not procedures—with their problems, not ours.” —General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration

"I had a theory that we could put all the names on the wall. This is based on the thought of Carl Jung, a student of Freud. [He] writes about collective psychological states, and how we're all sort of drawn together," he says. "Certain things hold us together. People who die in wars for a country, this is something we all agree on, you can't forget them."

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln

Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Founder: Monument Almost Never Got Built

April 30, 2015 - On a perfect spring morning, Jan Scruggs walks along the site overlooking the wall of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, D.C. Contrasting the bright colors of blooming trees and flowers, is the black granite carved with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who served during the war.
Scruggs, a veteran himself, is credited with getting the memorial built. He's now preparing to retire. Morning Edition met Scruggs to learn the story of how the memorial was built, honoring the dead from a war that ended in 1975, 40 years ago on April 30.
"This is absolutely the perfect day to do this because you can see the even flow of human traffic here," he says. "What kinds of people? There are 14-year-old people, 15-year-old people."

snip
Scruggs says the design was really meant to help veterans manage post-traumatic stress while also helping the country move on without forgetting.
"Just as the individual military participants in the Vietnam War needed to be healed, so too did the entire nation," he says.
Scruggs says that when he first saw the design he knew it "was going to be difficult to explain." His Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund needed public relations crisis managers to help answer those persistent questions.
"'Why is it that every monument in Washington is white but this one's black," he recalls. "'Why is it that every monument in Washington is rising into the air and this one is buried beneath the ground?'"

snip
For such a busy spot, the scene was also very quiet. Scruggs explains why:
"You can have a bunch of noisy school kids," he says. "They're noisy around here but once they get down to the wall, it quiets them down because they feel like they're inside of a church or a religious institution. They feel like they're inside all of a sudden. And people have been noticing that for years."
It becomes apparent that Scruggs still feels it, even after all this time. read more & listen in>>>

"To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan" - President Lincoln

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

Sir No Sir - Trailer Sir No Sir (2005) Documentary

Vietnam, the National Guard - 40th anniversary of the end of that conflict

Vietnam, 'Operation Babylift' Forty Years Ago

40yrs. After: The Agent Orange Legacy

40yrs. After: The Agent Orange Legacy

2015-04-28T11:01:00.002-04:00

Not only did this country served totally ignore the damage it did to the Vietnamese people but here at home it, along with so many other issues, not only ignored those who served them but often out right denies the issues even exist, over the decades and wars from, so in their, poser, patriotic meme's and more they can justify their need not to Sacrifice as to the Responsibilities, the Veterans Administration, of the promises and duties to the few who served or are serving them!! finally, still grossly under funded and not built as promised, under Sec Shinseki, continuing under Sec McDonald, these issues were being addressed more intensely and with help from the Obama Executive Branch and it's Cabinet, even in Vietnam where monies were allocated, still not enough, to clean up many of the continued hot spots of Agent Orange in Vietnam, where the issues would blend with their charges and duties to the whole country!!

40 years after the war , Vietnam still battles Agent Orange legacy

Apr 28, 2015 - Tan Tri doesn't know a thing about Agent Orange. But doctors say he lives with its effects every day, when he crawls off his wooden bed and waits for someone to feed him. He is 25.
His mother Vo Thi Nham was exposed to Agent Orange when U.S. forces showered the chemical across swathes of Vietnam half a century ago to the destroy jungle cover of its wartime enemy.
Nham believes it's the reason her son was born physically and mentally disabled.
"Other people around here were affected by Agent Orange, too, but it was really bad for us," Nham said at her home in Danang, central Vietnam. "At least they can walk - he can't."
Tri, slumped on the concrete floor at her feet, chimed in.
"I can walk with my arms!", he said, correcting her.
The Vietnam War ended 40 years ago this week and its memory is fading among its young population.
But Agent Orange is the enduring legacy it cannot forget, with children of a second postwar generation still being born with deformities which their doctors believe are linked to the defoliant. read more>>>

Vietnam, 'Operation Babylift' Forty Years Ago

2015-04-26T13:16:00.003-04:00

'Operation Babylift' kids, soldiers reunite 40 years later

25 April 2015 - With the Viet Cong making their final push toward taking Saigon in April 1975, the fate of thousands of Vietnamese orphans was uncertain until President Gerald Ford ordered remaining forces to evacuate the children.
Forty years after the final flight of Operation Babylift left Vietnam, 20 evacuees and their adopted families gathered Saturday for a reunion along with some of the servicemen who took part in the rescue.
"Operation Babylift is one of the few great things to come from the Vietnam tragedy," said Lana Mae Noone, organizer of the event staged at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial. read more>>>

Vietnam orphans search for their roots

April 26, 2015 - Forty years ago this month a military C5-A transport left Saigon with orphans headed for new lives in America. But a cargo door blew out, and the plane crashed. It killed 138, including 78 children.
By the time South Vietnam fell, many more Vietnamese children had left their homeland. And now, Barry Petersen tells us, some of those children, long since grown up, are coming home:
At the memorial service, they came to remember that terrible day in that terrible war -- the crash that killed 138 people, 78 of whom were children.
But more orphans were evacuated in the frantic last days. During the Vietnam War, some 3,000 orphans came to the U.S. Orphans like Tobi Snyder, who was barely six pounds when she came to America.
"I have a real love for life," she said. "And I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but I am a survivor. I am a fighter."
And Stacy Meredith, given up by her mother when she was two. "As a child, you just don't understand how a parent could ever let you go," she told Petersen. read more>>>

Vietnam, the National Guard - 40th anniversary of the end of that conflict

Conservatives/Country Served, DeJa-Vu, Stiffing Veterans Again.....................

2015-04-26T12:33:00.002-04:00

The 'national security party' stiffs vets

Apr. 26, 2015 - Many congressional Republicans never met a foreign intervention they didn’t like. Some are flat-out warmongers. Sure, some Dems, too. Hillary included. She’s strangely hawkish.
But Republicans increase Pentagon funding even though — because Washington is still operating under the constraints of the sequester — that means they must cut funding to the Environmental Protection Agency, social welfare programs and everything else.
But veterans? Our young whom their policies send off to war? The wounded and the traumatized and the elderly in need of care? Those they stiffed this week.
The House Appropriations Committee hacked the proposed Veterans Affairs construction budget in half, a possibly fatal blow to the long-overdue VA clinic in French Camp.
Wounded old guys in the Mother Lode currently have to get up at 0-dark-hundred and drive all the way downhill and across the Valley to the Bay Area to get care. Ditto younger warriors. Some can visit private doctors, but that is a stop-gap program.

snip
'If, instead of this inane logic, Republican Sherlocks put 1/10th the sleuthing they put into the Benghazi hearings, the VA would be clean as a whistle.' read more>>>

And if the country served, through those they hired to represent, would Demand the Sacrifice they owe, instead of ignoring or out right denying, and that's just on PTS there's still so many more like 'Gulf War Syndrome, the many issues of Veterans, especially from our Wars the Veterans Administration would Finally be fully funded and built as promised!!! Which were Finally being addressed, still grossly under funded and adding two more long wars/occupations, with Sec. Shinseki, target on him after speaking Military truth as to these two wars, VA administration and with full help from the Obama Executive branch, only government branch, and it's Cabinet in trying to actually build what the country not only promised but is it's duty to those few who serve them!!!

Instead of empty hollow words and meme's, symbols and false flag waving, poser, patriotism!!!!

April 22, 2015 - DeJa-Vu, Conservatives/Country Served, Once Again, Seek VA Budget Cuts, $1.4 Billion

April 21, 2015 - VA chief calls House budget proposal ‘inadequate’

April 21, 2015 - How $1.4 billion in budget cuts will impact Veterans

Vietnam, the National Guard - 40th anniversary of the end of that conflict

2015-04-25T10:10:00.002-04:00

"It would publicize the war, it would make the war, economically, more difficult — two things that Johnson did not want to do," says Andrew Wiest, professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi. "This war was going to be quick — and quiet."

International Guard: How The Vietnam War Changed Guard Service

April 25, 2015 - The Vietnam War changed the National Guard.
During that conflict, joining the guard was seen as a way to avoid the draft; during America's recent wars, the guard and reserve made up nearly half the forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
You can trace the transformation of the guard back to the few units from it that did go and fight in Vietnam. And ahead of the 40th anniversary of the end of that conflict, several former guard members — who are also Vietnam vets — met up at the Veterans Of Foreign Wars Post in Carmel, Ind., just north of Indianapolis.
Around a table there, they remembered their paths to Vietnam.
'Find A Way Out' read more & listen in>>>

{note: "You can trace the transformation of the guard back to the few units from it that did go and fight in Vietnam." none being the champagne units set up for the wealthy and connected serving but with no more deferments}

The dangerous search for Vietnam's undetonated bombs

QUANG TRI PROVINCE, Vietnam - April 24, 2015 - Though the war in Vietnam ended nearly 40 years ago, dangerous relics of the conflict still remain. CBS News recently followed demolition experts from Project Renew as they searched -- and found -- leftover bombs.
America dropped three times as many bombs in Vietnam as it did in World War II. Some estimates suggest as many as 10 percent didn't explode -- and are still waiting to kill.
One of our guides, Duong Tam, showed us how dangerous it can be. During the search we came across a bomb that Tam said was armed.
"If anyone picks it up, it can set it off," Tam cautioned.
Chuck Searcy founded Project Renew in 2001 shortly after he came back to Vietnam to still the anger of an idealistic young soldier in Saigon who had volunteered for the Army, specialized in military intelligence, and then turned against the war.
"I feel a responsibility to try to deal with the consequences of war that we left here, that the Vietnamese are still facing today," said Searcy. read more>>>

DeJa-Vu, Conservatives/Country Served, Once Again, Seek VA Budget Cuts, $1.4 Billion

2015-04-22T10:18:00.003-04:00

Yuppers, DeJa-Vu all over again and for decades now and war, especially, from!! The quick to cut taxes with war, two after abandoning extremely quickly the missions and those sent to accomplish after 9/11, costs rubber stampers, off the books with no bid private corporation war theater contracts including with these two recent extremely long conflicts building a private merc army and enfolding that into the intelligence gathering community, funding for is top secret, they stay true to form and the countries total lack of Demanding Sacrifice in seeking to grossly under fund, the never fully funded thus never built to the promises of those served, Poser Patriots, the Veterans Administration!! Making sure they continue the ease in creating the media hyped 'scandals', high monetary grossing media and country served willingly going along with as Veterans are used as symbols and corporate marketing tools, as they seek to Privatize for Corporate bottom line Profit!! The only Government branch consistent, since the bushco left, in Supporting the Military personal and the Families as well as the Veterans, past and present, has been the Obama Executive Branch and it's Cabinet helping Sec Shinseki, targeted after speaking Military Truth in war hearings, and now Sec McDonald continue what was Finally started in actually Building what has always been Promised but never fulfilled, not controlling the Countries purse!!

$1.4 billion in cuts will cause veterans to suffer, says Veterans Affairs chief

April 21st, 2015 - A House subcommittee's plan to cut the budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs by more than $1.4 billion next year will "cause veterans to suffer," VA Secretary Robert McDonald said Tuesday.
Testifying at a Senate hearing, McDonald said a spending plan approved by a House Appropriations subcommittee on veterans affairs was "inadequate" to the growing needs of veterans.
The subcommittee's plan would cut veterans' medical care by $690 million, the equivalent of 70,000 fewer veterans receiving VA medical care than under President Barack Obama's budget proposal, McDonald said.
The House plan also would eliminate funding for four major construction projects, including a planned rehabilitation therapy building in St. Louis, and eliminate planned cemetery expansions in four states and Puerto Rico, McDonald said.
The GOP budget plan "will cause veterans to suffer," McDonald told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. "It means fewer veterans will get care." read more>>>

Efforts to Hold U.S. Officials Accountable for Torture and Other Abuses

2015-04-21T09:30:00.002-04:00

Open Letter to EU Genocide Network requesting special meeting on findings of US Senate CIA Torture Report

Ahead of the 18th meeting of the European Network of Contact Points to be hold in The Hague on 22-23 April 2015, FIDH, REDRESS, HRW, ECCHR and TRIAL are sending a letter calling for a special EU Network of Contact Points meeting to discuss ongoing and potential investigations and prosecutions following the release of the US Senate Intelligence Comittee "Study of the CIA Detention and Interrogation Program".
PDF - 231.8 kb

5. Reiterates its calls on Member States to investigate the allegations that there were secret prisons on their territory where people were held under the CIA programme, and to prosecute those involved in these operations, taking into account all the new evidence that has come to light; 6. Calls on Member States to investigate fully recent allegations that illegal rendition, detention and torture took place on their territory and to prosecute those responsible.
Dear National Contact Points, read more>>>

"It's a shame Brian Williams will be the only person ever punished for lying about Iraq"

Australians Understand What American Led Iraq War Policies Created

* * * CIA Torture: Read the Senate Intelligence Committee report * * *

In a Democracy: 'Citizens must know what is done in their name'

Pres. Bush: “Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated”

Blackwater Security Guards Handed Lengthy Sentences For Iraqi Killings

Human rights groups call for special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture

22 December 2014 - The ACLU and Human Rights Watch say the offences amount to ‘a vast criminal conspiracy’ and are ‘shocking and corrosive’ to US democracy and credibility read more>>>

* * * Seeds of ISIL Planted By Bush/Cheney and Conservative Congresses * * *

$14 Million An Hour: War Costs Top $1.6 Trillion Since 9/11, Say Congressional Researchers

December 22 2014 - American taxpayers have shelled out roughly $1.6 trillion on war spending since 9/11, according to a new report from Congress’ nonpartisan research arm. That’s roughly $337 million a day -- or nearly a quarter million dollars a minute -- every single day for 13 years. read more>>>

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"

Privatizing People's Served Responsibility, the VA, Again at Political Front & Center

2015-04-16T10:21:00.002-04:00

The Veterans Administration is Not Socialized Medical Care, or the other many charges of the agency!! It's the People Served Responsibility and more then the Promises Made to the Very Few who serve them, especially in the flag waving poser patriotic wars and policies of!! Young men and women who give up their early years, as their peers move into higher education or the labor markets, to serve the Country and especially, right or wrong, the policies made by those that represent the people. As those served Refuse to Sacrifice as they Demand those serving them do, the families of as well, as they either ignore or outright deny, and that's just about PTS, the many issues because of the service to and sacrifice of the few who take the oaths to country and constitution!

Chris Hayes: "If you can run a deficit to go to war, you can run a deficit to take care of the people who fought it" In response to Republican, long ago lost as the party of Lincoln and not just as to us Veterans, opposition to expanding Veterans' benefits on fiscal grounds.

As we abandoned so quickly the missions and those sent to accomplish after 9/11 and invaded Iraq, with troops in harms way and that administration and rubber stamping conservative congresses were doing almost nothing for not only the Veterans but Military Personal and their families. While the Senior Senator of North Carolina was Majority, then Minority leader, on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the VA was under Republican Executive Administration with two new wars started: Salisbury VA Medical Center Changes Still On the Table Despite Word of Delays:

December 15, 2008 - The VA announced yesterday that it would not implement any proposed changes to the Salisbury (Hefner) VA until 2013, leaving the facility as a fully operational medical center. While union officials applauded the work of Senator-elect Kay Hagan and Congressmen Mel Watt and Larry Kissell for fighting the proposed elimination of health care services at the hospital, they criticized the VA’s continued commitment to privatize the medical center.

And that wasn't the only, under financed under built under staffed under maintained, Veterans Facility in the Country looked at to privatize for Corporate bottom line profits and all the problems in the cash flush, at the top, private care industry! The Country gets much much more back, even when grossly under funded and would if built as promised, then they would Sacrifice to the few who've served them, from All that comes about through the Veterans Administration, as Sec McDonald briefly lays out in second video, always has been the case!! One reason why: Thousands of people across America don’t just talk about honoring Veterans; they walk the walk!!

That VA, W. G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center - Salisbury, NC, has a National Cemetery on it's grounds also. And instead of 'privatizing' the Facility has gone through many much needed upgrades as well as some expansions, same for the cemetery, during the Obama administration and the Shinseki Veterans Administration, still ongoing when VA capital budget expenditures can and continuing under Sec McDonald. As the clinic in Charlotte was upgraded and now a new expanded one is being built for the many Veterans' in this area and surrounding, including northern South Carolina, area's. Like many facilities around the Country, including new and upgraded National Cemeteries during the past six years. Hoping that continues but it needs the Country to finally step up and uphold it's side of the contracts to those some 1% that have Sacrificed for them!!

4/15/15 - VA threatened by conservative privatization push

Rachel Maddow shows how right wing groups have worked to create a political environment where the previously radical idea of privatizing veterans' health care can be presented as a viable alternative to the VA.

4/15/15 - VA chief cites improvements, vital role in US health care

Robert McDonald, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, talks with Rachel Maddow about the importance of the VA in the American health system, how the VA is improving after recent scandals, and political challenges from conservatives interested in privatization.

As to those who serve and from our wars and not yet veterans of, think Walter Reed!!

Under the Bush not only did the present have to contend with “Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013 but along with lost or stolen laptops from those veterans administration employee's, remember all the reports of, with vital veterans information within, they had all this:

Army Times Oct. 16, 2008 - VA claims found in piles to be shredded

CNN iReport October 25, 2008 - House Vets' Committee To Probe VA Shredder Scandal

Tampa Bay Times Oct 27, 2008 - Hundreds of VA documents improperly shredded, review finds {Tampa Bay Times search page and series of articles}

CBS News February 11, 2009 - Veterans' Claims Found in Shredder Bins

And more disturbing in relation to even before and through the early years of the Afghanistan, quickly abandoned missions of, and Iraq occupations, this:

ProPublica and The Seattle Times Nov. 9, 2012 - Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans

"DeLara's case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War."

Part Two: A Son Lost in Iraq, but Where Is the Casualty Report?

Army Says War Records Gap Is Real, Launches Recovery Effort

3/27/15 - U.S. Nerve Gas Hit Our Own Troops in Iraq

"During and immediately after the first Gulf War, more than 200,000 of 700,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Kuwait in January 1991 were exposed to nerve gas and other chemical agents. Though aware of this, the Department of Defense and CIA launched a campaign of lies and concocted a cover-up that continues today."
"When Brown and others tried to obtain their medical records to prove their illnesses were service-related, they learned that the records had disappeared."

Desert Storm, Troops Exposed to Nerve Gas Other Chemical Agents, Our Own

2015-03-30T19:25:00.003-04:00

Country served ignored, as they have so many issues from our previous decades and wars of, or just plain denied issues, like PTS as well as Gulf War Syndrome, even existed!! it's all in those who served them heads, so no need to Sacrifice as is their Responsibility and Promises!!

ProPublica and The Seattle Times Nov. 9, 2012 - Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans
"DeLara's case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War."

U.S. Nerve Gas Hit Our Own Troops in Iraq

3/27/15 - During and immediately after the first Gulf War, more than 200,000 of 700,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Kuwait in January 1991 were exposed to nerve gas and other chemical agents. Though aware of this, the Department of Defense and CIA launched a campaign of lies and concocted a cover-up that continues today.
A quarter of a century later, the troops nearest the explosions are dying of brain cancer at two to three times the rate of those who were farther away. Others have lung cancer or debilitating chronic diseases, and pain.
More complications lie ahead.

snip
As Alan Friedman wrote in "The Spider Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq", the Reagan and Bush administrations, which backed Iraq in its 1980-1988 war with Iran, approved of U.S. companies selling chemical agents and equipment to Iraq, including “a huge petrochemicals complex called PC2. Western intelligence also knew that PC2 was capable of generating chemical compounds to make mustard and nerve gas.”
Donald Riegle, a Democratic U.S. Senator from Michigan, held hearings about the veterans illnesses in 1993 and 1994. He told me the decision by Reagan and Bush “to secretly help Saddam Hussein build his biological and chemical weapons was a monstrous strategic error that eventually led to the tragedy of Gulf War Syndrome, which killed and disabled so many unprotected American troops.”

snip
When Brown and others tried to obtain their medical records to prove their illnesses were service-related, they learned that the records had disappeared. In a 2007 letter, Dr. Gary Trogdon, chief of the Public Inquiries Section at the Army’s Historical Resources Branch, informed Brown that Army units were told to destroy the “after action” reports, since “there was no space to ship the paper back to the States.” But, Trogdon said, records were kept at the brigade level. When Brown asked Senator Mark Warner to help, he, too, came up empty-handed. read more>>>

The above ProPublica/Seattle report, what was done under both Bushes, continued:

Part Two: A Son Lost in Iraq, but Where Is the Casualty Report?

Army Says War Records Gap Is Real, Launches Recovery Effort

Neither of these recent wars have yet been paid for, nor the continued blowback from the spread and growth from the policies implemented!

DoD Special Report: TBI

2015-03-18T06:25:00.002-04:00

Special Report: Traumatic Brain Injury

03/17/2015 - Traumatic brain injury is one of the invisible wounds of war and one of the signature injuries of troops wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq. This Defense.gov special report highlights the Defense Department's efforts to care for wounded warriors suffering from this condition while promoting research to improve diagnosis and treatment.
New Tool Helps Intrepid Center Collect Electronic TBI Data
The National Intrepid Center of Excellence received special recognition from Government Computer News for successful innovation of a continuity management tool that enables clinicians to electronically collect thousands of data points per patient, electronically, and that also pulls additional sets of information to form a robust repository of TBI-related health data.
DARPA Developing Implants to Help With TBI Memory Loss
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working to develop wireless, implantable brain prostheses for service members and veterans who suffer memory loss from traumatic brain injury.
More Stories>>>

From the Past to OEF and OIF: Why ISIS Exists

2015-03-12T11:22:00.003-04:00

From the extremely bad policies of the past, then continued verbal and more attacks on the Countries not allied with in that region, trusting others that shouldn't have had so much trust. Then after 9/11, with many in that region as outraged as most in the World and more then willing to help contain and ferret out those guilty of, Americans decided to quickly buy into that Executive, and Congresses, Administration cheery picked and rewritten intelligence and Extremely Quickly Abandon the Missions and Those sent to Accomplish, while also not building on the want from many Nation States intelligence abilities and knowledge to isolate and destroy al Qaeda, to rid the World of a once very close friend and allie to those wanting him gone!!

In the U.S. war on Iraq, hundreds of thousands died the sort of deaths that, if broadcast in an ISIS video, would have inflamed international opinion

March 5, 2015 - The Middle East is suffering the blowback from rotten U.S. policies, disastrous wars, and cultural turmoil. ISIS and its ilk are one result.
ISIS — or the so-called “Islamic State” — is the latest and most horrifying iteration of the modern terror groups that have plagued the region in recent years. With 20,000 to 30,000 combatants and recruits streaming in from all over the globe, the group is unlikely to be significantly degraded by U.S. air strikes — not when political conditions in the Middle East continue to favor it.
The media often depicts ISIS recruits as lost souls in search of a cause or suffering from mental illness. That may be true in some cases. But these explanations are not sufficient to explain ISIS’s resilience and recruitment capabilities.
No organization, especially a terrorist one, can survive without support. That can range from passive acceptance to active assistance, and it comes from individuals who may view ISIS as either the lesser of many evils or else a righteous group waging a holy war. read more>>>

The Message Behind the Senate GOP’s Letter to Iran

March 11, 2015 - It's official: The Republican establishment in Washington has completely delegated its policy on Iran and Israel to its most hardline factions. read more>>>

Why America Lacks Credibility in the Middle East

March 10, 2015 - The problem isn’t a lack of "resolve." It's a lack of good outcomes and basic moral consistency. read more>>>

"It's a shame Brian Williams will be the only person ever punished for lying about Iraq"

Australians Understand What American Led Iraq War Policies Created

* * * CIA Torture: Read the Senate Intelligence Committee report * * *

In a Democracy: 'Citizens must know what is done in their name'

Pres. Bush: “Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated”

Human rights groups call for special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture

22 December 2014 - The ACLU and Human Rights Watch say the offences amount to ‘a vast criminal conspiracy’ and are ‘shocking and corrosive’ to US democracy and credibility read more>>>

* * * Seeds of ISIL Planted By Bush/Cheney and Conservative Congresses * * *

$14 Million An Hour: War Costs Top $1.6 Trillion Since 9/11, Say Congressional Researchers

December 22 2014 - American taxpayers have shelled out roughly $1.6 trillion on war spending since 9/11, according to a new report from Congress’ nonpartisan research arm. That’s roughly $337 million a day -- or nearly a quarter million dollars a minute -- every single day for 13 years. read more>>>

“With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11"