Free Talk Live

OWS: tactics overshadowing message?

An account from a soldier returning from Afghanistan...
As the soldier is going through the security line, with the other 200+ soldiers, ALL carrying rifles, pistols, guns, etc (without bullets, of course), a TSA agent confiscates his nail clippers because they could be used "to take over the plane".

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan yesterday ruled in favor of a group of writers and activists who sued President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Defense Department, claiming a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law Dec. 31, puts them in fear that they could be arrested and held by U.S. armed forces.

Thirty-two soldiers took their own lives last month, the most Army suicides in a single month since the Vietnam era. Eleven of the soldiers were not on active duty. Of the 21 who were, seven were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Department of Defense said.

Army officials say they don't have any answers to why more and more soldiers are resorting to suicide.

Last year, a record-breaking 245 soldiers committed suicide. The Army seems on track to surpass that number this year, as 145 soldiers have taken their lives in the first half of 2010.

The U.S. has lost records of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, making it very difficult for anyone to know exactly what was going on over there - also blocking soldiers who have given their all from receiving disability benefits. This is what happens when no one is held accountable, this terrible and tremendous inefficiency.

Recently, there has been a victory and a defeat regarding the indefinite detention provision of the Fiscal Year (FY)2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges filed a lawsuit against President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta claiming the provision, as applied, violates the 1st and 5th Amendments. U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest not only gave Hedges standing to challenge the law, she also issued an injunction to halt the legalized kidnappings!

So for the terrible crime of drinking, a group of Australian soldiers (nicknamed diggers) are sent back to Afghanistan. In true Obama latest national defense bill style, the men 'misbehaved' in one country, and are then called to another country to defend themselves.

Two International Security Assistance Force troops were killed in one of two helicopter crashes Monday in eastern Afghanistan, officials said. Separately, three police and four tribal elders were killed in a roadside bombing, police said. The first helicopter crash, during a routine operation, did not result in any fatalities, said ISAF spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff. Two died in the second crash, ISAF said.

Short blog talking about US tax dollars going to support the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan. One "positive" take away from this story? The "Representative" US gubmint is now a little more representative.