Daily Kos: State of the Nation
Not since Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried has there been such a searing, unembellished and unforgettable look at war as David Finkel's The Good Soldiers, a journal-like account of 15 months spent with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, aka the 2-16, aka the "Rangers," in a little slice of vicious hell in Baghdad that everyone, even generals, avoids visiting if they can.
Finkel, a Pulitizer-Prize winning staff writer for the Washington Post, documents the ups and downs--mostly downs--of the Rangers as they become the front line in George W. Bush's infamous "surge," following the soldiers from their home base at Ft. Riley, Kansas, to the IED-mined roads of Baghdad. He follows them and he follows them and he follows them ... to their breakdowns, to their hospital bedsides and even, unfortunately, to their graves, in what has to be one of the most astounding, heartbreaking and beautifully written chronicles of men at war ever written.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Florida Mass March on Weapons Makers in Orlando
Here is an event in line with our recent pickets. Also on our calendar
“End the War Economy”
Healthcare, Not Warfare
12pm, Saturday, October 17th
ORLANDO – In mid-October peace activists will hold two days of protest against corporate war profiteers based at the Central Florida Research Park in Orlando .
On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, a 12pm rally will be held at the free assembly area in front of the Student Union Building on the University of Central Floridacampus. This will be a prelude to Saturday’s demonstration.
Starting at 12pm, Saturday, October 17th a rally will be held at the South East corner of Alafaya Blvd. (SR 434) and University Blvd , the main entrance to the University of Central Florida in Orlando . Following the rally participants will march 1/4 mile south along Alfaya Blvd. to the Central Florida Research Parkentrance to demand an end to the war economy.
Parking is available in strip mall lots on the west side of Alafaya Blvd. on both sides of University Blvd. (Beware of lots with parking restrictions and tow warnings.)
The October 17th march is being held in solidarity with anti-war groups around the nation who are participating in a day of protest and action on October 17. During the summer a call for a nationwide day of action was issued by the National Assembly Against the Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan .
The events are being organized by the Florida Peace Congress (FPC), a group which seeks to empower and unite peace/anti-war groups throughout the state of Florida . To date the Orlando action has been endorsed by more than 20 groups representing Miami , Tampa , St. Augustine , and Jacksonville . (List of endorsers below.)
HEALTHCARE, NOT WARFARE
While more than 18,000 Americans die annually for lack of healthcare services[1](USA Today, 5/22/02) the United States allots more than $600 billion dollars for military spending each year. In June 2009 the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that the U.S. accounted for 42-percent of the global arms spending in 2008. The U.S. military budget is more than 7 times that of China .
Orlando’s Research Park is home to four of the top 10 recipients of tax payer dollars via the United States ’ bloated military budget. These corporations and their respective rank and earnings among defense contractors are:
#2 Boeing - $32 billion (2007)
#4 Northrup Grumman - $24 billion (2007)
#5 General Dynamics – $21 billion (2007)
#6 Raytheon – $19 billion (2007)
In total, these four corporations received $96 billion dollars in tax payer dollars in 2007 via the military budget.
Protest participants will call on Florida elected representatives, weapons makers’ employees, and the Florida general public to denounce the U.S. wars in Iraq , Afghanistan , and Pakistan , and militarism in general.
In his April 4, 1967 speech, "Beyond Vietnam," Rev. Martin Luther King said: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Organizers contend that the U.S. has a moral obligation to prioritize the funding of human needs over war profiteering.
Organizers also call on President Barack Obama to take note of Rev. King’s realization that "the potential destructiveness of modern weapons of war totally rules out the possibilities of war ever serving again as a negative good."
For more information contact Jay D. Jurie at 407-323-5247 or fogsmokefl@aol.com
#######
“End the War Economy”
Healthcare, Not Warfare
12pm, Saturday, October 17th
ORLANDO – In mid-October peace activists will hold two days of protest against corporate war profiteers based at the Central Florida Research Park in Orlando .
On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, a 12pm rally will be held at the free assembly area in front of the Student Union Building on the University of Central Floridacampus. This will be a prelude to Saturday’s demonstration.
Starting at 12pm, Saturday, October 17th a rally will be held at the South East corner of Alafaya Blvd. (SR 434) and University Blvd , the main entrance to the University of Central Florida in Orlando . Following the rally participants will march 1/4 mile south along Alfaya Blvd. to the Central Florida Research Parkentrance to demand an end to the war economy.
Parking is available in strip mall lots on the west side of Alafaya Blvd. on both sides of University Blvd. (Beware of lots with parking restrictions and tow warnings.)
The October 17th march is being held in solidarity with anti-war groups around the nation who are participating in a day of protest and action on October 17. During the summer a call for a nationwide day of action was issued by the National Assembly Against the Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan .
The events are being organized by the Florida Peace Congress (FPC), a group which seeks to empower and unite peace/anti-war groups throughout the state of Florida . To date the Orlando action has been endorsed by more than 20 groups representing Miami , Tampa , St. Augustine , and Jacksonville . (List of endorsers below.)
HEALTHCARE, NOT WARFARE
While more than 18,000 Americans die annually for lack of healthcare services[1](USA Today, 5/22/02) the United States allots more than $600 billion dollars for military spending each year. In June 2009 the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that the U.S. accounted for 42-percent of the global arms spending in 2008. The U.S. military budget is more than 7 times that of China .
Orlando’s Research Park is home to four of the top 10 recipients of tax payer dollars via the United States ’ bloated military budget. These corporations and their respective rank and earnings among defense contractors are:
#2 Boeing - $32 billion (2007)
#4 Northrup Grumman - $24 billion (2007)
#5 General Dynamics – $21 billion (2007)
#6 Raytheon – $19 billion (2007)
In total, these four corporations received $96 billion dollars in tax payer dollars in 2007 via the military budget.
Protest participants will call on Florida elected representatives, weapons makers’ employees, and the Florida general public to denounce the U.S. wars in Iraq , Afghanistan , and Pakistan , and militarism in general.
In his April 4, 1967 speech, "Beyond Vietnam," Rev. Martin Luther King said: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Organizers contend that the U.S. has a moral obligation to prioritize the funding of human needs over war profiteering.
Organizers also call on President Barack Obama to take note of Rev. King’s realization that "the potential destructiveness of modern weapons of war totally rules out the possibilities of war ever serving again as a negative good."
For more information contact Jay D. Jurie at 407-323-5247 or fogsmokefl@aol.com
#######
Sunday, September 6, 2009
A Few Good Kids? | Mother Jones
A Few Good Kids? | Mother Jones:
One interesting item here that is new to me is that the US has signed an international treaty that does not allow recruiting under the age of 18 without parental consent. and yet many of the ads and video games and other recruitment tools being used here are actually indoctrinating kids under 18. My Scholastic Science World magazines have full page recruiting ads and are being used by my 11 year old 6th graders. I have called Scholastic and complained and we have stopped ordering that magazine but it is read all over the country by literally millions of young kids.
"John Travers was striding purposefully into the Westfield mall in Wheaton, Maryland, for some back-to-school shopping before starting his junior year at Bowling Green State University. When I asked him whether he'd ever talked to a military recruiter, Travers, a 19-year-old African American with a buzz cut, a crisp white T-shirt, and a diamond stud in his left ear, smiled wryly. 'To get to lunch in my high school, you had to pass recruiters,' he said. 'It was overwhelming.' Then he added, 'I thought the recruiters had too much information about me. They called me, but I never gave them my phone number.'
Nor did he give the recruiters his email address, Social Security number, or details about his ethnicity, shopping habits, or college plans. Yet they probably knew all that, too. In the past few years, the military has mounted a virtual invasion into the lives of young Americans. Using data mining, stealth websites, career tests, and sophisticated marketing software, the Pentagon is harvesting and analyzing information on everything from high school students' GPAs and SAT scores to which video games they play. Before an Army recruiter even picks up the phone to call a prospect like Travers, the soldier may know more about the kid's habits than do his own parents."
"NCLB is just the tip of the data iceberg. In 2005, privacy advocates discovered that the Pentagon had spent the past two years quietly amassing records from Selective Service, state DMVs, and data brokers to create a database of tens of millions of young adults and teens, some as young as 15. The massive data-mining project is overseen by the Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies program, whose website has described the database, which now holds 34 million names, as "arguably the largest repository of 16-25-year-old youth data in the country." The JAMRS database is in turn run by Equifax, the credit reporting giant."
If you liked this, you might also like...
*
Fast Times at Recruitment High
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan invited the Pentagon into Chicago's schools. Will he promote military schools nationwide?
*
No Child Unrecruited
Should the military be given the names of every high school student in America?
*
War Games: The Army's Teen Arsenal
"America's Army" and more government shooter game lures.
One interesting item here that is new to me is that the US has signed an international treaty that does not allow recruiting under the age of 18 without parental consent. and yet many of the ads and video games and other recruitment tools being used here are actually indoctrinating kids under 18. My Scholastic Science World magazines have full page recruiting ads and are being used by my 11 year old 6th graders. I have called Scholastic and complained and we have stopped ordering that magazine but it is read all over the country by literally millions of young kids.
"John Travers was striding purposefully into the Westfield mall in Wheaton, Maryland, for some back-to-school shopping before starting his junior year at Bowling Green State University. When I asked him whether he'd ever talked to a military recruiter, Travers, a 19-year-old African American with a buzz cut, a crisp white T-shirt, and a diamond stud in his left ear, smiled wryly. 'To get to lunch in my high school, you had to pass recruiters,' he said. 'It was overwhelming.' Then he added, 'I thought the recruiters had too much information about me. They called me, but I never gave them my phone number.'
Nor did he give the recruiters his email address, Social Security number, or details about his ethnicity, shopping habits, or college plans. Yet they probably knew all that, too. In the past few years, the military has mounted a virtual invasion into the lives of young Americans. Using data mining, stealth websites, career tests, and sophisticated marketing software, the Pentagon is harvesting and analyzing information on everything from high school students' GPAs and SAT scores to which video games they play. Before an Army recruiter even picks up the phone to call a prospect like Travers, the soldier may know more about the kid's habits than do his own parents."
"NCLB is just the tip of the data iceberg. In 2005, privacy advocates discovered that the Pentagon had spent the past two years quietly amassing records from Selective Service, state DMVs, and data brokers to create a database of tens of millions of young adults and teens, some as young as 15. The massive data-mining project is overseen by the Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies program, whose website has described the database, which now holds 34 million names, as "arguably the largest repository of 16-25-year-old youth data in the country." The JAMRS database is in turn run by Equifax, the credit reporting giant."
If you liked this, you might also like...
*
Fast Times at Recruitment High
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan invited the Pentagon into Chicago's schools. Will he promote military schools nationwide?
*
No Child Unrecruited
Should the military be given the names of every high school student in America?
*
War Games: The Army's Teen Arsenal
"America's Army" and more government shooter game lures.
Service Dogs Help Traumatized Veterans Heal - US News and World Report
Service Dogs Help Traumatized Veterans Heal - US News and World Report
THURSDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Iraq war veteran Jennifer Pacanowski was unaware that she was racing dangerously down the freeway at 85 miles an hour when she felt a wet nose nudge her elbow.
She immediately slowed down.
The wet nose belonged to Boo, Pacanowski's 110-pound Bull Mastiff, warning her that her anxiety levels were rising, a dangerous state given that Pacanowski has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her experiences as a medic in the war.
Boo, who turned 1 in August, has been with Pacanowski, helping her deal with the world since last December.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
School of Americas comes to Florida?
Eagle training center price tag: $425 million
Questions are being raised about this development in the Everglades wilderness of South Florida by environmental organizations who fear the effects of live bullets in a 2000 acre free fire zone and air traffic associated with a 6000 foot runway both planned by Eagle enterprises of South Florida as a private military training facility. The area is home to endangered Black Bear, Florida Panther and Swallowtail Kites.
Critical Meeting Dates:
The Highland County PLANNING AND ZONING Board voted August 11, 2009 to suggest approval of the Eagle Training Center..
Their suggestion will be voted on by the County Commission at a public meeting, Sept 15, 9am.
The Highlands County Board of County Commissioners' (HCBCC) Land Use Change hearing was scheduled for August 18, and people were encouraged to attend. It was canceled when people from many local civic and environmental organizations showed up with questions. This Eagle Land Use agenda item may be moved to the October 6 meeting, both meetings are important to attend both to show the HCBCC that there is growing opposition.
Good links for updates on these meetings are:
Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition
Save Our Creeks
More info from Highlands Today article from August 27th:
"On a dozen sections of land in the southeast corner of Highlands County, Eagle is proposing to build a training center for what he calls first responders - police, fire and EMS personnel - plus corporate security personnel and soldiers.
"It's going to be a state-of-the-art security training center," Eagle said. "Everyone needs continuing education."
Opponents are upset because they think it will be a School of the Americas to train foreign and domestic mercenaries, like Blackwater.
"It's not going to be Blackwater, or anything like that. It's not going to be a shoot 'em up situation," Eagle said. "There will be no mercenaries.""
Background
In documents submitted to the Highlands County Planning Department, Eagle National Security Training Center proposed to build 100,000 square feet of classrooms and administrative buildings, 40,000 square feet of military-style shoot-houses and three five-story training buildings, 1,000 dorms, 25 single-family homes, 100 multi-family apartments, and two 250-feet tall training towers - a total of 950,000 square feet of buildings.
Eagle would have its own central water and sewer facilities, 1,000 square feet of security gatehouses, a welcome center, and food and beverage facilities. Eagle's document describes the property as 7,696 acres, or 12 square miles in the southwest corner of Highlands County. The property borders Glades, DeSoto and Charlotte counties.
For comparison purposes, Avon Park Wal-Mart is 190,819 square feet; Lakeshore Mall takes up 650,000 square feet. Twelve square miles is bigger than the city of Sebring, which takes up 11.1 square miles.
"It is anticipated that the training center will create approximately 250 jobs with a student body of 1,000," Eagle's document says. U.S. military and civilians will be the initial focus, the document said, but "the international market ... will be accepted for training, education and exercises."
The Players include:
Greg "Eagle is a Vietnam-era veteran, but didn't want to talk about that. He is involved with his brothers in Eagle Realty of Southwest Florida. He has built a Wal-Mart, hospitals, shopping centers and residential subdivisions, but nothing people outside his area would know.
His son, Dane Eagle, is the finance director on Gov. Charlie Crist's staff.
The Miami Herald, in a 2008 story, reported Eagle gave $500,000 to a 527, Floridians for a Better and Brighter Future, that would help Crist and oppose Tom Gallagher. The St. Pete Times said he later contributed another $250,000.
However, Eagle said the Crist Administration will not help him, or play any part in Eagle National Security Training Center."
The project also involves Two Army lieutenant generals Paul Cerjan and Jerry Boykin, and Marine Gen. Dobie MacArthur. Boykin is widely known for his extreme anti-muslim views and the promotion of right wing fundamentalist Christianity in the military.
Eagle was also involved in the "Grove Tactical Training and Homeland Security Center - proposed three years ago in Charlotte County - will be nothing like the Eagle Center in Highlands County. He didn't want to talk about that project."
Reading the comments from residents you can see that many many good questions about safety, cost of the development to local government and environmental concerns like how the water quality of the watersheds of the the Peace River and Fish Eating Creek will be monitored along with concerns for wild life have gone unanswered. And the August 18th meeting was canceled when people showed up with questions. Go to these meetings if you can! Florida does not need another environmental disaster or a School of Americas type training site in her borders. She has enough problems already!
Questions are being raised about this development in the Everglades wilderness of South Florida by environmental organizations who fear the effects of live bullets in a 2000 acre free fire zone and air traffic associated with a 6000 foot runway both planned by Eagle enterprises of South Florida as a private military training facility. The area is home to endangered Black Bear, Florida Panther and Swallowtail Kites.
Critical Meeting Dates:
The Highland County PLANNING AND ZONING Board voted August 11, 2009 to suggest approval of the Eagle Training Center..
Their suggestion will be voted on by the County Commission at a public meeting, Sept 15, 9am.
The Highlands County Board of County Commissioners' (HCBCC) Land Use Change hearing was scheduled for August 18, and people were encouraged to attend. It was canceled when people from many local civic and environmental organizations showed up with questions. This Eagle Land Use agenda item may be moved to the October 6 meeting, both meetings are important to attend both to show the HCBCC that there is growing opposition.
Good links for updates on these meetings are:
Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition
Save Our Creeks
More info from Highlands Today article from August 27th:
"On a dozen sections of land in the southeast corner of Highlands County, Eagle is proposing to build a training center for what he calls first responders - police, fire and EMS personnel - plus corporate security personnel and soldiers.
"It's going to be a state-of-the-art security training center," Eagle said. "Everyone needs continuing education."
Opponents are upset because they think it will be a School of the Americas to train foreign and domestic mercenaries, like Blackwater.
"It's not going to be Blackwater, or anything like that. It's not going to be a shoot 'em up situation," Eagle said. "There will be no mercenaries.""
Background
In documents submitted to the Highlands County Planning Department, Eagle National Security Training Center proposed to build 100,000 square feet of classrooms and administrative buildings, 40,000 square feet of military-style shoot-houses and three five-story training buildings, 1,000 dorms, 25 single-family homes, 100 multi-family apartments, and two 250-feet tall training towers - a total of 950,000 square feet of buildings.
Eagle would have its own central water and sewer facilities, 1,000 square feet of security gatehouses, a welcome center, and food and beverage facilities. Eagle's document describes the property as 7,696 acres, or 12 square miles in the southwest corner of Highlands County. The property borders Glades, DeSoto and Charlotte counties.
For comparison purposes, Avon Park Wal-Mart is 190,819 square feet; Lakeshore Mall takes up 650,000 square feet. Twelve square miles is bigger than the city of Sebring, which takes up 11.1 square miles.
"It is anticipated that the training center will create approximately 250 jobs with a student body of 1,000," Eagle's document says. U.S. military and civilians will be the initial focus, the document said, but "the international market ... will be accepted for training, education and exercises."
The Players include:
Greg "Eagle is a Vietnam-era veteran, but didn't want to talk about that. He is involved with his brothers in Eagle Realty of Southwest Florida. He has built a Wal-Mart, hospitals, shopping centers and residential subdivisions, but nothing people outside his area would know.
His son, Dane Eagle, is the finance director on Gov. Charlie Crist's staff.
The Miami Herald, in a 2008 story, reported Eagle gave $500,000 to a 527, Floridians for a Better and Brighter Future, that would help Crist and oppose Tom Gallagher. The St. Pete Times said he later contributed another $250,000.
However, Eagle said the Crist Administration will not help him, or play any part in Eagle National Security Training Center."
The project also involves Two Army lieutenant generals Paul Cerjan and Jerry Boykin, and Marine Gen. Dobie MacArthur. Boykin is widely known for his extreme anti-muslim views and the promotion of right wing fundamentalist Christianity in the military.
Eagle was also involved in the "Grove Tactical Training and Homeland Security Center - proposed three years ago in Charlotte County - will be nothing like the Eagle Center in Highlands County. He didn't want to talk about that project."
Reading the comments from residents you can see that many many good questions about safety, cost of the development to local government and environmental concerns like how the water quality of the watersheds of the the Peace River and Fish Eating Creek will be monitored along with concerns for wild life have gone unanswered. And the August 18th meeting was canceled when people showed up with questions. Go to these meetings if you can! Florida does not need another environmental disaster or a School of Americas type training site in her borders. She has enough problems already!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Juan Cole on Escalation in Afghanistan
McChrystal Advises Escalation of Aghan War
Juan Cole responds (and its pretty grim):
"I have some basic questions about the "take, clear and hold" strategy that seems to be recommended in Afghanistan by Gen. Stan McChrystal, and which is modeled on the alleged lessons of Iraq.
The Sunni Arabs of Iraq, who produced most of the insurgency against the US presence and the rise of a new Shiite government, amount to less than 20 percent of Iraq's population of 27 million. In other words, they are about 5 million strong. The compact Sunni areas such as al-Anbar Province have been special challenges.
The Pashtuns of Afghanistan, in contrast, are probably 44% of the population of 34 million, or a little over 14 million.
In other words, pacifying the Pashtuns from whom the Taliban emerge is three times more difficult than monitoring and pacifying Iraq.
Moreover, the Sunni Arabs were ethnically cleansed from Baghdad by Shiite militias, making them more willing to listen to the US and to form Awakening Councils. The Pashtuns have not been defeated by anyone.
I doubt the US & NATO have the sheer resources to put down the guerrillas in Afghanistan."
Juan Cole responds (and its pretty grim):
"I have some basic questions about the "take, clear and hold" strategy that seems to be recommended in Afghanistan by Gen. Stan McChrystal, and which is modeled on the alleged lessons of Iraq.
The Sunni Arabs of Iraq, who produced most of the insurgency against the US presence and the rise of a new Shiite government, amount to less than 20 percent of Iraq's population of 27 million. In other words, they are about 5 million strong. The compact Sunni areas such as al-Anbar Province have been special challenges.
The Pashtuns of Afghanistan, in contrast, are probably 44% of the population of 34 million, or a little over 14 million.
In other words, pacifying the Pashtuns from whom the Taliban emerge is three times more difficult than monitoring and pacifying Iraq.
Moreover, the Sunni Arabs were ethnically cleansed from Baghdad by Shiite militias, making them more willing to listen to the US and to form Awakening Councils. The Pashtuns have not been defeated by anyone.
I doubt the US & NATO have the sheer resources to put down the guerrillas in Afghanistan."
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