Author's posts
Oct 24 2009
When Seymour Talks… You Should Listen
Seymour Hersh has launched another bombshell into the public spotlight — that the Pentagon is working to undermine President Obama.
The military is “in a war against the White House — and they feel they have Obama boxed in,”
In case you don’t know, Seymour Hersh is the reporter that broke the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam, the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, and told us that Dick Cheney had a secret assassination team.
So, when Seymour speaks, we should be listening…
Oct 22 2009
The Worst of the Worst
A staggering case is still unfolding in Britain. It is the case of Binyam Mohamed, a UK citizen, that was “picked up” in Pakistan, called a terrorist, renditioned, and tortured by the CIA. The details of the case are found here in an excellent article by Andy Worthington and Truthout.org.
In their ruling last August, the judges made it clear that they were appalled by the global torture program in which they had found themselves unexpectedly immersed. In one of the most extraordinary stories in the “war on terror,” Mohamed, a British resident picked up in Pakistan in April 2002, had been rendered by CIA agents to Morocco in July 2002, where he had spent 18 months being tortured, had then been rendered to Afghanistan, to the “Dark Prison” outside Kabul, a secret prison run by the CIA, where he had spent another four months and had then been flown to Guantánamo, where he remained while the judges grappled with the largely classified evidence of a global web of kidnapping and torture.
Binyam Mohamed was one of those called “the worst of the worst”. Unfortunately, the facts of the case show, like in many other cases, that there really was no case, nor evidence, against Binyam Mohamed.
The case of Binyam Mohamed is the case central to the continued pressure by Obama administration to keep secret the evidence of U.S. torture…
Oct 22 2009
Blue Cross Already Raising Premiums
My wife’s company is one that still has health benefits. They don’t provide health care plans for free, but, they do pay 50% of the premiums. This year, her company spent $16 million dollars in their share of premium costs. Next year, that will figure will double, as will our premium rates under Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
If you read my reply to Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson, you know that he is one of the GOP politicians against health care reform that helps Americans. I received a reply to that email. It was blank. Utterly and totally blank.
If you can, go to this link at Firedoglake and help Jane Hamsher by signing her petition.
Now… what is going on with my health care premium…
Oct 21 2009
gotterdammerung… here’s a hint
I’m new to this fine site…
I joined just a little over a week ago, and ever since I’ve wracked my brains on what to post as my first essay. There are so many good writers here and so many issues covered it’s tough for a noob to come up with something new.
In an effort to get my feet wet and to find out the ins and outs of publishing an essay, I photshopped together a somewhat inane pictorial (I won’t even call it an essay, because it wasn’t really) attempt to make people at least smile a little, and it poked fun at the “Balloon Boy” incident, although I turned it around to be about President Obama. After I published it I thought to myself, “That’s kinda dumb, maybe I shouldn’t have done it” but I left it up anyway, not even thinking it could offend anyone.
The next day I read your essay and you opened my eyes to a point of view that I hadn’t even considered. You see, I agree with you. Although I have never been involved with any of the fields of service that you discussed, my wife has. She has been an EMT and a police dispatcher in the past and I have to agree that your point of view is valid. After reading your post and also the link you supplied, I immediately deleted my essay and I ask that you excuse my noobistic enthusiasm. Thanks…
by: gotterdammerung @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 09:48:55 PDT
1) speak to your background
I’m ex-military, ex-bomb technician, ex-law enforcement, and a veteran. So, I have a few different areas of which I can speak knowledgeably. Think of all you’ve done, seen, and experienced. Then, apply those to the news articles you read.
2) speak with the passion you have
News “reports”. We rant, rave, and do the things journalists shouldn’t.
Let me illustrate for you…
Oct 21 2009
To: Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson
Rep. Wilson responded to me about the fate of veterans. He states:
I recently joined my colleagues in the House of Representatives in supporting a resolution designating September 16, 2009 as “American Legion Day.” A similar resolution had previously passed the Senate.
The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as an organization dedicated to assisting veterans and furthering their goals. The Preamble to the American Legion Constitution reads as follows:
FOR GOD AND COUNTRY WE ASSOCIATE OURSELVES TOGETHER FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES:
To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars; to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation; to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and goodwill on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.
These words written in 1919 ring just as true today. I thank you for your service to our nation, and pledge my continuing support for our servicemen, servicewomen and their families.
It is an honor to represent the people of the Second Congressional District of South Carolina, and I value your input.
If I may be of further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Why, I do believe you CAN be of further assistance to me, Rep. Wilson….
Oct 20 2009
This is for those who are clueless
As many of you have read, I created quite a stir on John Cole’s Balloon-Juice Blog.
While people thought the whole “balloon boy” situation funny, I, on the other hand, did not. Reasoned arguments failed and as the comments went on, it got confrontational. I ended up sending my copies of my credentials to John Cole and Dougj.
In addition, Balloon-Juice decided to take a poke at me about html formatting. If your biggest bitch is format, you are in trouble.
And this leads me to get indepth on exactly why this entire situation isn’t funny…
Oct 18 2009
What really pisses me off
You know, after spending time in law enforcement, dealing with irate people in intense situations, you might think that I could handle anything. I can’t. There is one thing that really pisses me off — when people think to question my word, my integrity, or my credentials.
Yeah, I get it, on the internet everyone can be anybody. All the guys are single, rich hunks. All the women single models. Unfortunately, that is the way it is — for many.
Not for me.
So, you’ll forgive this rant…
Oct 16 2009
Some Conservatives Ask Questions
With my rant against Cal Thomas out of the way, I was going to write on something else this evening. Then, something happened. I was asked by the Director of the Disability Vocational Rehabilitation center a question.
He asked me, “you were in Iraq… what the hell happened? And, how did we get it so wrong?”
And with that, let me go on…
(cross-posted at Daily Kos)
Oct 16 2009
Cal Thomas Edition
Cal Thomas, the conservative pundit, steps into something that he shouldn’t have; opining on DADT.
As you know, I’m a veteran. I’ve been in the foxhole during wartime. I saw war in Iraq in 1991 while in the military, and, then I saw war in Iraq in 2006 when I went back doing ordnance work as a contractor.
I also have a stake in gay issues due to family. I’ll leave that to speak for itself other than to say, when someone in your family comes out as being gay, you simply have to decide whether they are family or whether you will succumb to bigotry. Well, family to me is family regardless of anything else.
So, when Cal Thomas decided to give his opinion on DADT, these are two issues I know something about…
Oct 15 2009
Arianna Huffington calls for Biden to resign?
Oct 14 2009
Health Care is ONE Reason
Why is Sen. Olympia Snowe pushing for a trigger option? Because the Democratic Party has 60 votes now, whereas years down the line, when a trigger could prompt the government to act, they won’t. That means no real reform. But, does Sen. Snowe really have any power at all? Not if Sen. Harry Reid puts the public option into the Senate bill.
This is why health care reform is but one reason the Democratic Party is bleeding support…
(crossposted at Daily Kos)
Oct 13 2009
Flouting International Law
One of the blogs I read is written by Prof. Jonathan Turley, a regular legal commentator on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown. One of his latest entries is about how Israel has vowed to block war crimes investigations, or prosecutions, regarding their action in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow any Israelis to stand trial for war crimes even if demanded by the United Nations or world court.
(I wrote about the International Criminal Court here where I document just why it is unable to prosecute George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for their war crime of torturing prisoners.)
This action by Netanyahu mirrors the United State’s response to Italy’s prosecution of CIA agents when the U.S. government refused extradition of those agents.
So, what is on the horizon for the civilized world? War and more war…