Corruption

Not just there as many on this planet, consumers and businesses, have moved to others after the past decade, some returned in the last few years but they're now watching the rhetoric here and you can bet they are paying attention!!

In Latin America, U.S. exports are losing market share

September 6, 2010 - Here's something that should be sounding alarm bells in Washington: Latin American countries — which have long been big buyers of U.S. goods — are increasingly making a larger chunk of their purchases from other parts of the world.

While U.S. exports to the region are growing, in some cases significantly, their percentage of Latin America's overall imports is shrinking. To put it in economists' jargon, U.S. exports are losing market share in Latin America.

September 05, 2010 - Where did all the yellow ribbons go?

Once, those symbols of support were everywhere as America sent its first troops to Iraq in 2003. Stuck on car bumpers, refrigerators and yes, even tied around that old oak tree. And flags, too, waving wherever they could be hoisted in a patriotic tsunami of red, white and blue.

 

When ever you hear Anyone speaking about Tax Cuts, especially that they create jobs but that's another issue, what they are saying is that they had no problem Rubber Stamping Everything for Their Wars of Choice and Now They Once Again Don't Want To Pony Up In Keeping The Promises Made To Those They Sent and Are Still Sending, DeJa-Vu all over again!!

The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond

September 5, 2010 - Writing in these pages in early 2008, we put the total cost to the United States of the Iraq war at $3 trillion. This price tag dwarfed previous estimates, including the Bush administration's 2003 projections of a $50 billion to $60 billion war.

Why is it the Brits, and others, are asking the questions we here in the U.S. should have been demanding answers of long ago as we led the Destructive Fiasco's of the past decade, Why??

04 Sep 2010 - Four men have been arrested after shoes and eggs were thrown at Tony Blair as he promoted his controversial memoir in Dublin on Saturday.

 

With the construction industry in the toilet across all aspects and across the country believe me I know what this country has been ignoring, we have a big problem with doing that on a whole host of issues {like sending military into invading then long occupations and not listening to them thus not caring for many when they return}, for decades should have been at least more than just started to be taken care of {some states and communities did use stimulus monies for just that but once no money preventive maintenance, or replacement, once again stops} as the collapsed economy started and those with the wealth {that's how most of theirs is made with breaks given on taxes enhanced development packages just to attract companies and much much more} should be main contributors to upgrading our Deteriorating Infrastructure, and it ain't just bridges and roads!!

3 September 2010 - The Department of Veterans Affairs published its final regulation Aug. 31 for compensating Vietnam veterans with ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease or B-cell leukemia, or their surviving spouses.

Veterans diagnosed with these diseases only will have to show they stepped foot in Vietnam sometime from Jan. 9, 1962 through May 7, 1975, to qualify for service-connected disability ratings and compensation.

September 3, 2010 - In an otherwise slack season at the movies, "The Tillman Story" emerges as the summer's first true must-see film, required viewing for everyone, but especially audiences in Washington. Because even though Pat Tillman's personal story began in California, took him to Arizona and tragically ended in Afghanistan in 2004, the Tillman story writ large has everything to do with this city, its obsession with power and perceptions. {read more}

While this points to blair the taking of responsibility the World waits to come from here, the United States, and the Accountability must come from the people of both, as the World watches and waits, but especially in the Destroyed Iraq!

This is not a debate, it's a bloody, blood-soaked disaster for which the former PM should take responsibility

I just listened to this interview and can now say what many, me included, have thought all along, not only about him but as to our own previous administration, he's certifiably crazy! I mean that in the so called World View, especially of righteousness, he just spoke. What's going on has Nothing to do with any religious ideology but does for those who want to use that as their excuse, boy do they got some splanin to do at the pearly gates. He seems to Not Understand that humans going into others countries and Destroying Them as that Kills and Maims Tens of Thousands plus and Millions of Refugees is Not going to create Rage and Hatred, not only in those countries but from others on the planet. He and like are beyond nuts, Way Beyond!!

Sorry there Tony but it was known headed towards much more then a 'nightmare' with the first beat of the drums of war of choice and you will be remembered, and judged, as a Main Participant beating those drums!! Even millions of Brits were telling you so and you choose, as your masters cheney and bush labeled, to ignore the 'focus groups' who were not proven wrong!!

29 August 2010 - A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children's hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets

As the U.S. draws down in Iraq, it is leaving behind hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects. More than $5 billion in American taxpayer funds has been wasted — more than 10 percent of the some $50 billion the U.S. has spent on reconstruction in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watchdog agency.

Remind the beckers and hockey puck herds, Today, what they want to go back to is the Total Incompetence of the previous administration and the repub congresses then and before which brought the Example of Katrina's Devastation, in this Country, to the people of the Gulf!!

That they were blaming everyone else as they Supported that Incompetence, not only as to that but the emptying of our treasury, two wars and occupations of choice, tearing apart the constitutional rights of this country, the destruction of the economy {though that was coming with the con of trickle down capitalism anyway, the affore mentioned just hastened it and made it worse} and Oh So Much More.........................................!!

On August 22, I was in Manhattan for the counter-protest to support the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero. My friend Elaine Brower gave an impassioned speech, talking about the “gentlemen’s" club by the site, and a huge Century 21 clothing store (shop, shop, shop), emphasizing the Constitutional right to freedom of religion and reminding the gathering that 15 of the hijackers who used planes as missiles on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia, that the US continues to conduct business with that country, that we buy oil from Saudi Arabia, and that bikers, who roared in, joining the bigots to protest the Islamic center, most probably, filled their tanks with gas from Saudi Arabia.

Karen Spears Zacharias is author of "After the Flag Has Been Folded" and "Will Jesus Buy Me a Doublewide?"

August 27, 2010 - In war, one family's story echoes the pain of another. I was reminded of that while watching Larry King interview Pat Tillman's parents last week.

Spc. Pat Tillman, who forfeited a multimillion-dollar football contract to serve his country, died in Afghanistan in 2004.

Michael Collins

Wikileaks offered its first release since the controversial distribution of documents related to the United States effort in Afghanistan.

The current leak was posted to their web site on August 25. It is titled CIA Red Cell Memorandum on United States "exporting terrorism", 2 Feb 2010.

The leak describes Red Cell as a CIA unit created by the Director to develop "out-of-the-box" analysis offering "alternative viewpoints" on key intelligence issues.

This document doesn't disappoint in being out-of-the-box.

CIA Perception Management - How the World Sees the United States

Timothy McVeigh, convicted of killing 168 people in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, was parented by Irish Catholics. He referred to himself as agnostic yet wrote to a friend, prior to his crime: “I have come to peace with myself, my God and my cause.” McVeigh didn’t explain his concept of God. He did, however, request a Mass and a Catholic chaplain as his execution neared.

Are you wondering where I’m going with this?

Straight to Ground Zero and the Cordoba Initiative’s proposed building of an Islamic center within a couple of blocks of the huge hole where the World Trade Center once towered. Straight to confront the firestorm of opposition to a plan that includes a prayer room, an athletic center, culinary school, and art studios.

What if members of the Catholic Church wanted to build a center within a few blocks of the Oklahoma City National Memorial? I doubt there’d be a problem.

But we are living a problemathon.

August 20, 2010 - After handing down its first verdict in July, the international war crimes tribunal in Cambodia will next year hear the second - and possibly final - case against a former senior Khmer Rouge leader. But some people are looking beyond all of this - to a time when the tribunal has left Cambodia - and a need for learning centres and other legacy projects. {read more}

Will this Country, the United States, wait, if ever, years to do what we should already be doing and the World Awaits same?

optimism from The Times

An editorial published the day the war started in 2003 expressed confidence that the superior U.S. and British forces would bring fighting to an end quickly.

August 20, 2010
After more than seven years and 4,000 lives, the final U.S. combat soldiers are on their way out of Iraq. Below is an editorial from March 20, 2003, the day the war started. In the piece, The Times' editorial board expressed some confidence that the war would end quickly and with few casualties.

The Beginnings of War
U.S. troops are better equipped and trained than their foes, and this should help them in combat.

Our symbolic transfer from combat during 'Nam was when we were sent over no longer as labeled 'combat' but as 'advisors' once again.

That started just before I left CI/SERE in early 1970 and headed into country, we were given military beanies, i.e. berets, with the operations patch on them and called 'advisors', never did meet my supposed 'counterpart' the whole year I was there.

GI benefits: Bottom line for bottom feeders

15 August 2010 - This weekend, the world marks the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. You'll never find a worse piece of timing than this:

According to Bloomberg and BusinessWeek, some big insurance companies have hit upon a way to make money off the benefits that should go to the families of U.S. troops who have been killed in combat.

The companies work with, or maybe just work, the Veterans Administration. They're not fly-by-night companies, either. MetLife and Prudential are among those under scrutiny by the state of New York and now by Congress.

Snip

Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs believe that more than 6000 veterans will commit suicide in 2010.

According to an article in Foreign Policy, an average of one soldier a day committed suicide in June.

When Barack Obama spoke to Disabled Veterans of America (DVA) in Georgia on August 2, he addressed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), calling it “a pain like no other” and said: "… the hopelessness that has led too many of our troops and veterans to take their own lives. Today, I want to say to anyone who is struggling—do not suffer in silence. It’s not a sign of weakness to reach out for support—it’s a sign of strength. Your country needs you."

“Your country needs you.” Yes, the United States of American needs you.

Your country needs you for imperialist wars and occupations.

Your country needs you to secure the resources of other countries.

Iraq war winds down, but costs soar

August 15, 2010 - President Obama announced recently with much fanfare that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq will be down to 50,000 by the end of August. All troops will withdraw by December next year. Clearly it is good news that the United States is finally extricating itself from what has been a long, bloody and unnecessary conflict. But drawing down the number of troops doesn't mean the end of spending money. Many of the biggest costs are still to be paid.

With two wars of choice and long occupations of, this was out and out greed by these insurance companies. They knew soldiers would get killed so they set it up for pure profit to themselves. Nothing to loose, it wasn't their monies in the first police they were the care takers, unless a family demanded the full payment after the death of their soldier, where they couldn't touch their higher cut of interest, but they knew there would be more, Pure War Profiteering!!

Prudential under pressure to explain payments to military families

August 13, 2010 - After initial outrage over how Prudential handles life insurance policies of deceased soldiers and veterans, the insurance company is working hard to change the perception it has misled military families.

By Dave Lindorff

NBC/Wall St Journal Poll: 40% say country worse off since Obama, 31% say better
Federal Reserve Board: US economy is stalling again
NY TImes: “White House Memo: First Wave of Weary Aides Heads for the Exits”
Labor Dept.: New jobless claims hit record not seen since February 20

It’s a grim sign for the Obama administration that droves of staffers are pulling up stakes and looking for jobs elsewhere, not even waiting until the mid-term elections are over. Gone is Christina Romer, chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, going is White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, gone is communications spokeswoman Linda Douglass, gone is Budget Director Peter Orszag, gone is White House Counsel Gregory Craig. Even the president’s senior political adviser, David Axelrod, widely credited with having engineered his primary and election victories, is said to be ready to leave.

Still trying to control the meme and locking out the crime of the propaganda by the civilian and military leadership!

'The Tillman Story' loses an appeal to overturn its 'R' rating: Did the MPAA make a mistake?

Aug 12 2010 - What do you think? Did the MPAA dishonor Tillman’s memory — and the freedoms he fought for — by worrying more about f-bombs than about getting his story out to the widest possible audience? Should the ratings board evaluate movies that handle historically important subjects by a different set of standards? Or would that only open an even bigger can of worms? Continued

TO SAVE DAN MITRIONE NIXON ADMINISTRATION URGED DEATH THREATS FOR URUGUAYAN PRISONERS

Posted – August 11, 2010 - In Response Uruguayan Security Forces Launched Death Squads to Hunt and Kill Insurgents

Washington, D.C., August 11, 2010 - Documents posted by the National Security Archive on the 40th anniversary of the death of U.S. advisor Dan Mitrione in Uruguay show the Nixon administration recommended a “threat to kill [detained insurgent] Sendic and other key [leftist insurgent] MLN prisoners if Mitrione is killed.” The secret cable from U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers, made public here for the first time, instructed U.S. Ambassador Charles Adair: “If this has not been considered, you should raise it with the Government of Uruguay at once.”

EDITORIAL: A lesson about legislating: Bizarre U.S. Navy Vets story should give Virginians pause.

Aug. 10 2010 -- The latest turn in the increasingly bizarre U.S. Navy Veterans Association saga should make no one feel good about Virginia's legislative process.

When a Florida newspaper began investigating the group last year, it could find only one of 85 officers listed on the charity's website -- Bobby Thompson. Ohio authorities now say that Bobby Thompson isn't actually Bobby Thompson, but the perpetrator of an identity theft.

Exclusive: Caught in America's legal black hole

AP A row of sleeping tents in Camp Justice

9 August 2010 Have a nice flight with Country Airlines," said the smiling stewardess, "and enjoy your trip." Standing on the gangway of the Sun Country 737, she could have been welcoming us aboard a jet bound for any one of America's favourite holiday destinations.

But the US military-chartered aircraft taking off from the Andrews Air Force Base in Washington this weekend was heading for somewhere not altogether known for its leisure facilities.