Hundreds of thousands of servicemen were exposed to asbestos over decades, especially during the period from 1940 to 1980. Asbestos was used in construction of naval vessels as well as shore facilities. All branches of the military used asbestos, which was also widely used in civilian applications. Asbestos can cause mesothelioma. Because this cancer has a particularly long latency period, many servicemen who were exposed years ago are now developing this disease.
- Mesothelioma Patient & Family Resources: Mesotheliomahelp is provided by Belluck & Fox, LLP as a comprehensive resource for mesothelioma victims and their families. The site provides up-to-date information on the latest news and treatment options as well as an easy to use search feature to find local mesothelioma doctors and health care clinics.
We fight for veterans harmed by asbestos: Veterans with mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer should know they have options: the opportunity to bring a suit against manufacturers and sellers of the asbestos that caused their illness. If you were harmed by asbestos exposure, for example, in ships or military housing, contact Weitz & Luxenberg to get a free case review.
Important Information for Veterans: Asbestos products were often used on military ships and within military housing, and Veterans may have been exposed. Previous exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a fatal cancer that has no cure and affects countless Veterans and loved ones. For more information regarding military asbestos exposure visit Mesothelioma.com
News: 44% of Congress are millionaires. Less than 1% of the population are millionaires. We have a problem.
In the Sphere blogsite today, writer David Knowles has a very informative piece. It seems that 44% of all sitting members of Congress are millionaires while less than 1% of the American population shares that status. The story is here.
Being in Congress is pretty much being available to the ultimate in insider information. Fortunes are made simply by knowing people and knowing facts that the rest of us can never garner since we do not have a Congressman's access.
This is not representative government. Let me ask you something. Did you serve in uniform, possibly in combat, so that this situation could masquerade as "representative government" for you and yours?
News: Fox News Suggests Mass Screening of American Muslims in Defense Jobs. Wow!
From the Salon web site on Friday of last week we learn that Fox News is playing to stereotype and openly calling for the screening of Muslims that have any position with America's defense, especially those in uniform. This of course follows the tragedy of last week at Fort Hood involving an American born officer who is a Muslim allegedly killing or wounding several dozens fellow soldiers on what appears to be a "religious conviction" motivation for his alleged behavior.
This is not helpful and although it is an appropriate question to explore, the news channel is being very "unhelpful" to say the least if this initially reasonable question soon turns into another Fox Channel crusade against "them". This stuff is not only getting old, it is dangerous. The story is here.
As I have previously pointed out, this kind of thing has happened before in the U.S. Armed Forces. I am getting tired of Fox News telling me who my enemies are. All the time. Non stop. I had no idea there were so many "thems" out there!
News: American Conservatives Gaining Traction Again
The Washington Post reports big victories for the GOP gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey and a win for the National Democratic Party's congressional candidate in New York State. The GOP is back in the race for the votes of Independents with a smooth and careful message to the American political middle and New York State had many races that were much closer than they would have been if a clear favorite had been running.
Once again, it is hard to tell what this means but clearly American conservatives are back in the saddle in two important states and they did this by aiming their message at Independent voters in the middle of American political viewpoints. This may or may not be a harbinger of things to come in elections in 2010 depending on one's view point. The story is here.
If you can't find any swine flu vaccine for your kids, it won't be for a lack of positive thinking. In fact, the whole flu snafu is being blamed on "undue optimism" on the part of both the Obama administration and Big Pharma.
Optimism is supposed to be good for our health. According to the academic "positive psychologists," as well as legions of unlicensed life coaches and inspirational speakers, optimism wards off common illnesses, contributes to recovery from cancer, and extends longevity. To its promoters, optimism is practically a miracle vaccine, so essential that we need to start inoculating Americans with it in the public schools -- in the form of "optimism training."
Opinion: Chomsky Says President Obama Continues Bush Policy To Control Middle East Oil
By Sherwood Ross /Staff Writer
Political activist Noam Chomsky says that although President Obama views the Iraq invasion merely as “a mistake” or “strategic blunder,” it is, in fact, a “major crime” designed to enable America to control the Middle East oil reserves.
“It’s (“strategic blunder”) probably what the German general staff was telling Hitler after Stalingrad,” Chomsky quipped, referring to the big Nazi defeat by the Soviet army in 1943.
News: Half of US kids will get food stamps, study says
The Associated Press as reported in the Washington Post is running a story today that tells it like it is. The story is here.
Nearly half of all American kids will be on food stamps during their childhood and 90% of African American children will be in that group. If there was ever a reason to end our war based economy, bring our troops home and cut the defense budget in half, this clear indication of growing economic disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots" is it.
When 50% of all American kids will be on food stamps during childhood, a major course change is in order. Immediately.
The first anniversary of Barack Obama's historic election finds many of his supporters already grousing. Fair enough: Obama has been more vigorous in some areas than others. But one essential question goes unasked: How much can any president accomplish against the wishes of recalcitrant power centers within his own government?
If you're depressed by the way the national debate about health care has been playing out, just wait until the rubber hits the road on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Israel. If you're enraged by the way Wall Street's rescue has made us hostages to their recklessness, get ready for how the oil and coal industries are going to game the energy and climate change decisions ahead. If you're scared by the way the media can trivialize and polarize and make entertainment out of any topic in its crosshairs, imagine its toxic impact when we get around to dealing with education, immigration and trade.
Special Report: Israeli Columnist's Indictment of Israel
I have always had romantic notions about Israel. A hardy people fighting for survival after the Holocaust, Munich, Entebbe, repulsive anti-Semitism encountered in small-town Wisconsin. Later did I learn about the plight of Arabs, Gaza, human rights violations. Glenn Greenwald has a piece on the latest Haaretz column by Gideon Levy.
Humanism must trump romanticism. The United States must stand for the only politically viable circumstance, a two-state solution that offers Palestinians the same security that Israel demands for itself.
Special Report: Obama resuming GW Bush's "Extraordinary Renditions"
By Sherwood Ross Staff Writer
Even though Barack Obama, the candidate, pledged to end “the practice of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries,” his FBI has been rendering kidnap victims to the U.S. The practice is still kidnapping, however; and it’s still illegal.
Unlucky victim No. 1 was Raymond Azar, 45, flown from Afghanistan to Alexandria, Va., not to a foreign country. The construction manager for Sima International, a Lebanese outfit that did work for the U.S. military, Azar said he was tortured by his abductors. He might just as well have been flown to Egypt under the Bushies.
News: Abdullah Abdullah will not face Karzai in runoff election - Why not? Why not?
Today's New York Times is as usual a real check on our daily national hearbeat and there is always a beat or two that skips the regular and expected pattern. First up is this story concerning the fact that Abdullah Abdullah has decided to sit out the runoff election against the incumbent President Karzai in Afghanistan, effectively handing him a victory. He claims that he is doing this because the election cannot be a fair one and he will not take part in a charade for the benefit of Karzai and his party.
Our soldiers and marines fought and died for this? The story is here.
Today's New York Times is chilling in some respects. It shows the emergence of a potential candidate for the title of American Taliban. It seems that in upstate New York, the Republican National Committee (RNC) supported candidate for an open Congressional seat, Dede Scozzafava, was forced to pull out of the race because the ultra right wing of the GOP refused to support her because of her liberal views on abortion rights and gay rights. She was deemed too liberal to be a GOP candidate.
So, the RNC changed its support to the Conservative Party's candidate and Ms. Scozzafava was forced by lack of funding to retire from the congressional race. She is out and the Republican National Committee is supporting a hard right Conservative Party candidate. The story is here.
Special Report: Israeli Militarists' Sick Union with End-Times Dominionists and Anti-Semites
Militarists Defame J-Street Reformist-Peacemakers and Civil Libertarians
Few are shocked by the deprivations committed by militarists. The dehumanization necessary to wage war is an evil lie exceeded only by the defamation cast against those speaking truth to military power. Veterans are the most eloquent expositors of this fact.
But facts and history have a devestating effect of the machinations of militarists and so history must be changed for the security of right-thinking citizens against the enemies within who must be demorlized, and the dangers from without which must be destroyed, lest they perceive our weakness as a paper tiger disinclined to kill.
News: Former President of France Chirac to Face Embezzlement Charges
In today's Washington Post we read that Former President of France, Jacques Chirac has been charged with embezzlement of public funds and will go on trial soon. Many high powered politicos in France have already stood trial and been sentenced.
If only it would happen here.
Oh la la! The wonderful things we can still learn from our republic's initial mentors, first allies and military and naval protectors, the French! Could it happen here? Mon Dieux! Would that not be beautiful and ever so satisfying? Here is the story.
"They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone - the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment." - Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis, (the "People's Attorney" pictured at left) dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States (1928)
News: Congressmen being investigated by House Ethics Committee for Kickback Fraud - W.P.
It is all coming together now. We just passed the largest defense bill in terms of real dollars in the history of the world. We are not engaged in a declared war against a national enemy. This should not have happened. Now we can see why it happened. Is it fraud and kickback money to Congressmen?
There is a stunning article in the Washington Post this morning explaining what just happened.
Seven congressional members of the House Appropriations SubCommittee on Defense that controls defense spending have been the subject of investigation by the House Ethics Committee. They have been suspected of steering federal defense funds toward PMA Group, a defense lobbying firm. That firm is under investigation by the FBI for fraud. The story is here. Now it is all becoming clearer. We are screwed!
News: How Not To Stick To Your Guns - Defense Budget Overload
In today's Washington Post Dana Milbank has written an article on the largest defense budget that has ever been passed in real dollar terms in the history of the world. $680 billion dollars under President Obama is the price tag for the 2010 defense budget. He said he would not do that. He did it.
We are stealing our childrens' and grand childrens' future. We are making war industry captains so rich it boggles the mind. We are committing unrelenting evil and calling it patriotism and good economics. We are going to get what we deserve and that will be civil war. Mark my words. The story is here.
Opinion: India is on the verge of implosion from within
By Brig Asif Haroon Raja
Soon after the independence on 15 August 1947, Brahman ruled India started gobbling princely states. 365 states were made part of Indian Union many among them wanting to stay independent or become part of Pakistan. Later on, India broke Pakistan into two and guzzled Goa and Sikkim. It also got caught up in insurgencies.
Nagas followed by Mizos were among the first to demand separation in 1950s. Indian security forces have spent over 50 years combating left wing extremists, separatists and religious forces in large number of states of India where dozens of insurgencies/separatist movements are raging but have been unable to quash any. India is home to 19 insurgent movements waged by left wing extremist groups within its borders and there are hundreds of terrorist groups.
The brave men and women in our nation's military share a passion and commitment for service. Not only do they risk their lives fighting to defend our freedoms across the globe, but many of these brave professionals move on to work in government, philanthropy or become leaders in their local communities once their tours of duty are complete.
The state of Ohio has hundreds of hard-working employees who have served or continue to serve in the United States Armed Forces, Army Reserves or the Ohio National Guard. These people demonstrate the same dedication working for the people of Ohio as they did serving our country in the military. However, it was recently brought to my attention that some of these workers are not receiving the same benefits as their fellow veterans.
Franklin D. Roosevelt made a very profound statement in 1938. He said: “You cannot organize civilization around the core of militarism and at the same time expect reason to control human destiny.” This wisdom is lost on the Americans and there lies the reason why the world is turned into an arena of violence, terror and conflicts, as if God had ordained this planet called Earth to be an abode of the humans, to perpetually engage themselves in antagonistic struggle against each other and transform the planet into a killing field.
Anthropologists have differed that violence is an integral aspect of human existence. Freud, however, had propounded that human beings were endowed with two opposite instinctual predispositions – life instinct (Eros) and death instinct (Thanatos).
Opinion: Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Great Superpower Meltdown
Think of us as just having passed through the failed era of "must" in Washington. For almost eight years, George W. Bush made speeches and appearances in which he hectored this or that country, or enemy, or people about what they "must" do. Never, I suspect, has an American president lectured more people out there on their responsibilities to us. Looking back, what's surprising is how few paid much attention. The Iraqis didn't listen, nor did the Afghans, nor the Iranians, nor, it seems, the Pakistanis, nor the Russians, nor the Chinese... and so on. It's been a remarkably ignominious lesson in bluster and bust -- and a reasonable measure of the actual power of a country that, not so many years ago, Washington pundits were happily (and favorably) comparing to the Roman and British empires in its reach and ambition.
Special Report: U.S. Forcibly Deported Islanders And Gassed Their Dogs To Make Way For Diego Garcia Military Base
By Sherwood Ross /Staff Writer Veterans Today
In order to convert the sleepy, Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia into a dominating military base, the U.S. forcibly transported its 2,000 Chagossian inhabitants into exile and gassed their dogs.
By banning journalists from the area, the U.S. Navy was able to perpetrate this with virtually no press coverage, says David Vine, an assistant professor of anthropology at American University and author of “Island of Shame: the Secret History of the U.S. Military on Diego Garcia(Princeton University Press).”
The Pentagon has paid anti-war activist Noam Chomsky the highest honor any totalitarian entity can bestow upon an author: they’ve banned his book “Interventions” at Guantanamo Bay prison.
They won’t say precisely why they “honored” Chomsky, but Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Brook DeWalt told the Miami Herald that “Interventions” (City Lights Books) might negatively “impact on (Gitmo’s) good order and discipline.”
The Pentagon, of course, insists on “good order and discipline” running its prison camp. Chomsky likes order, too. What he objects to is the Pentagon spreading disorder globally.
News: Today's view of the world from New York and Washington D.C.
Today's news in the New York Times and the Washington Post is, as always, enlightening. It shows how far we have come from tribalism and how far we have not come. We will start with the Post in our daily jog through the information morass.
Lets open our dive into the waters of daily education with a little jog into the Czechoslavakia of Word War II. The wounds are still weeping and this is affecting European political union. The Czech president is proving difficult. Here is the story.
Special Report: TRICARE FOR LIFE UNDER ATTACK, MILITARY AND VETERANS NEED TO SPEAK LOUD TO ELECTED OFFICALS IN DC
MILITARY AND VETERANS AGAINST HEALTH CARE BILLS
PASS THIS TO ALL MILITARY RETIREES
To my fellow warriors as we are the younger retired Marines, this topic is hot. I want the best for our buck. PASS THIS TO ALL MILITARY RETIREES
This is true. It is on pages 77, 172, 218, and 434. You have to dig to see the charges. We (retirees) would lose the Medicare for life benefit and would have to pay.. We would lose TRICARE as a total care package. We would not be allowed to keep TRICARE so when Obama stands and says if you like what you have you can keep it, he lies.
A group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans working to create public awareness of the dangers of global warming were called traitors by a Pennsylvania state lawmaker who compared them to Benedict Arnold. He stopped short of calling the ozone layer a terrorist group.
Republican State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe sent out an e-mail harshly criticizing a group of veterans working under the name Operation Free. The coalition of soldiers is on a 21-state bus tour alerting the public about global warming, and the implications to United States national security.
Opinion: E.J. Dionne Jr. Asks Who's 'us' to the GOP?
We must have a lot of libertarians readers here. What do people think of the GOP's drift (followed by many lame Democrats) into a bunch of statist, dogmatic reactionaries?
Writes Dionne: "Is there room in the Republican Party for genuine moderates? Truth to tell, the GOP can't decide. More precisely, it's deeply divided over whether it should allow any divisions in the party at all."
Divisions? Dissent? That's what happens in a demoncracy, a classical-liberal, John Locke demoncracy, that is the United States of America.
News: Military 'In War Against The White House,' Says Sy Hersh
From Susie Madrak in Crooks and Liars comes word that famed journalist Sy Hersh reports top brass are actively working against President Obama.
The Pentagon works the president? Some in the military need to get their asses kicked by the Commander-in-Chief who runs the military in this democracy.
News: Division is easy, unity is difficult. What shall we choose?
Today's Washington Post is running a story concerning the deep partisan divide among Americans relative to continuing the Afghan War. Democrats basically want it to end, Republicans want it to continue. The story is here.
This is not a decision that the President can make in a bi-partisan manner, that much is now obvious. He is going to need to search his heart and decide what is in the best interests of the country and then execute his decision. Good luck Mr. President.
I have always had romantic notions about Israel. A hardy people fighting for survival after the Holocaust, Munich, Entebbe, repulsive anti-Semitism encountered in small-town Wisconsin. Later did I learn about the plight of Arabs, Gaza, human rights violations. 
Militarists Defame J-Street Reformist-Peacemakers and Civil Libertarians 
"They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone - the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment."
By Sherwood Ross / Staff Writer Veterans Today
By Ken Kupchik 
We must have a lot of libertarians readers here. What do people think of the GOP's drift (followed by many lame Democrats) into a bunch of statist, dogmatic reactionaries? 
From 
Today's Washington Post is running a story concerning the deep partisan divide among Americans relative to continuing the Afghan War. Democrats basically want it to end, Republicans want it to continue. The story is 
