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Checkpoint: A Video Documentary

Cops Punching Dog Walker Caught on Video

Cops Punching Dog Walker Caught on Video

 



Freedom to Grow and Eat Your Own Food in Danger

Ron Paul: Neocons Hijacked the Tea Party Movement

McCain wants U.S. citizens imprisoned without trial

McCain wants U.S. citizens imprisoned without trial
McCain introduced a bill that will allow the federal government to detain any U.S. citizen they consider a hostile ‘enemy belligerent’, held indefinitely and without trial

Examiner
March 12, 2010

Last week, John McCain introduced a bill into the U.S. Senate which, if passed, would actually allow U.S. citizens to be arrested and detained indefinitely, all without Miranda rights or ever being charged with a crime.

The stated purpose of S. 3081 (The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act) reads: “To provide for the interrogation and detention of enemy belligerents who commit hostile acts against the United States, to establish certain limitations on the prosecution of such belligerents for such acts, and for
other purposes.”

The bill has nine co-sponsors including Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA).

Section 5 of S. 3081 states:

    “An individual, including a citizen of the United
    States, determined to be an unprivileged enemy belligerent
    under section 3(c)(2) in a manner which satisfies Article
    5 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of
    Prisoners of War may be detained without criminal
    charges and without trial for the duration of hostilities
    against the United States or its coalition partners in which
    the individual has engaged, or which the individual has
    purposely and materially supported, consistent with the
    law of war and any authorization for the use of military
    force provided by Congress pertaining to such hostilities.”

This bill, introduced by McCain, who despite overwhelming evidence, claims to be a “conservative,” would not only take away our right to a trial, but would also allow the federal government to arrest and imprison anyone the current administration deems hostile.

Of course, that would be the same administration whose Homeland Security Secretary has classified veterans, retired law enforcement, Ron Paul supporters, and conservatives as “terrorists.”

If it was not clear before, it should be now that John McCain has as little respect for the Constitution as he does for our borders.

 



Obama Is A CIA Creation

CIA blocking lawsuit over experiments on troops

CIA blocking lawsuit over experiments on troops

Raw Story
August 27, 2010

An advocacy group working on behalf of Vietnam veterans has asked a federal judge in California to sanction the CIA, saying the spy agency has been blocking efforts to uncover its role in alleged experiments on US soldiers from the 1950s to 1970s.

The Vietnam Veterans of America filed a lawsuit on behalf of six Vietnam War veterans in January, 2009, claiming that the CIA had used an estimated 7,800 US service members as “guinea pigs” in experiments involving “at least 250, but as many as 400 chemical and biological agents,” according to Courthouse News.

Among the chemicals the lawsuit alleges were used on the soldiers were LSD, sarin and phosgene nerve gases, cyanide, PCP and even THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

The lawsuit described it as a “vast program of human experimentation” that was “shrouded in secrecy” and carried out without the informed consent of the experiment subjects.

“In 1970, [the CIA] provided Congress with an alphabetical list showing that they had tested 145 drugs during Projects Bluebird, Artichoke, MKULTRA and MKDELTA,” the lawsuit stated, as quoted at Courthouse News.

As the defendant in the suit, the CIA is obliged, by judge’s orders, to hand over data relevant to the lawsuit. But the VVA has asked a judge to sanction the CIA, saying the agency has ignored or blocked its requests for information, and has released only a small portion of the relevant documents.

The VVA’s first attempts to obtain CIA data on the experiments “have been pending for over a year, during which time [the CIA] have attempted to sidestep their discovery obligations at every turn, withholding (or even refusing to search for) large volumes of relevant, responsive documents [and] refusing to provide … witnesses to testify about their document searches and certain substantive topics,” the motion (PDF), filed in a California federal court this week, states.

The VVA says the CIA had refused to use “a routine protective order” that would restrict any sensitive CIA data to within the courtroom, and instead blacked out large parts of relevant documents. The plaintiffs say the CIA refused to provide the names of the test subjects involved, allowing only the names of the six defendants who filed the lawsuit.

“Even more unbelievably, it appears that defendants have yet to search even the most obvious location for documents — Edgewood Arsenal itself,” the motion states, referring to the location northeast of Baltimore where the experiments are said to have been carried out.

The motion states the CIA “served no responses or objections whatsoever” to the VVA’s second and third requests for information.

The motion asks that the judge, in addition to sanctioning the CIA, also order the CIA to pay the VVA’s costs associated with its attempts to obtain CIA information.

Judge James Larson of the US District Court in northern California will begin hearing arguments in the case on Sept. 29.

The VVA describes itself as “the only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.”

A 2003 report (PDF) from the Department of Veterans Affairs states that “between 1950 and 1975, about 6,720 soldiers took part in experiments involving exposures to 254 different chemicals, conducted at US Army Laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, MD. Congressional hearings into these experiments in 1974 and 1975 resulted in disclosures, notification of subjects as to the nature of their chemical exposures, and ultimately to compensation for a few families of subjects who had died during the experiments.”

 



Fidel Castro Says Osama is a CIA Asset

Fidel Castro Says Wikileak Documents Prove Osama is a CIA Asset

Chris McGreal
London Guardian
August 28, 2010

Fidel Castro has more reason than most to believe conspiracy theories involving dark forces in Washington. After all, the CIA tried to blow his head off with an exploding cigar.

But the ageing Cuban revolutionary may have gone too far for all but the most ardent believer in the reach and competence of America’s intelligence agency. He has claimed that Osama bin Laden is in the pay of the CIA and that President George Bush summoned up the al-Qaida leader whenever he needed to increase the fear quotient. The former Cuban president said he knows it because he has read WikiLeaks.

Castro told a visiting Lithuanian writer, who is known as a font of intriguing conspiracy theories about plots for world domination, that Bin Laden was working for the White House.

“Bush never lacked for Bin Laden’s support. He was a subordinate,” Castro said, according to the Communist party daily, Granma. “Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, Bin Laden would appear, threatening people with a story about what he was going to do.”

He said that thousands of pages of American classified documents made public by WikiLeaks pointed to who the al-Qaida leader is really working for.

“Who showed that he [Bin Laden] is indeed a CIA agent was WikiLeaks. It proved it with documents,” he said, but did not explain exactly how.

Read Full Article Here

 



Man Arrested For Holding “Impeach Obama” Sign

Man Arrested For Holding “Impeach Obama” Sign
Sydney Hill, a disabled Obama protester screams “It’s Over!” while being assaulted and inevitably arrested by Alaska State Fair Security and Alaska Police. The man was jailed and charged with assault and trespassing, the assault charge was dropped.

 



Brutal LAPD Chase Caught on Video

County Official Shuts Down Girl’s Lemonade Stand

County Official Shuts Down Girl’s Lemonade Stand

Oregonlive.com
August 4, 2010

UPDATE: Multnomah County chairman tells inspectors to stand down and apologizes to Julie and her family.

It’s hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red.

So when Multnomah County shut down an enterprise last week for operating without a license, you might just sigh and say, there they go again.

Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license.

Turns out that kids’ lemonade stands — those constants of summertime — are supposed to get a permit in Oregon, particularly at big events that happen to be patrolled regularly by county health inspectors.

“I understand the reason behind what they’re doing and it’s a neighborhood event, and they’re trying to generate revenue,” said Jon Kawaguchi, environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. “But we still need to put the public’s health first.”

Julie had become enamored of the idea of having a stand after watching an episode of cartoon pig Olivia running one, said her mother, Maria Fife. The two live in Oregon City, but Fife knew her daughter would get few customers if she set up her stand at home.

Plus, Fife had just attended Last Thursday along Portland’s Northeast Alberta Street for the first time and loved the friendly feel and the diversity of the grass-roots event. She put the two things together and promised to take her daughter in July.

The girl worked on a sign, coloring in the letters and decorating it with a drawing of a person saying “Yummy.” She made a list of supplies.

Then, with gallons of bottled water and packets of Kool-Aid, they drove up last Thursday with a friend and her daughter. They loaded a wheelbarrow that Julie steered to the corner of Northeast 26th and Alberta and settled into a space between a painter and a couple who sold handmade bags and kids’ clothing.

Even before her daughter had finished making the first batch of lemonade, a man walked up to buy a 50-cent cup.

“They wanted to support a little 7-year-old to earn a little extra summer loot,” she said. “People know what’s going on.”

Even so, Julie was careful about making the lemonade, cleaning her hands with hand sanitizer, using a scoop for the bagged ice and keeping everything covered when it wasn’t in use, Fife said.

After 20 minutes, a “lady with a clipboard” came over and asked for their license. When Fife explained they didn’t have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.

Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.

That’s when business really picked up — and two inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. “It was a very big scene,” Fife said.

Technically, any lemonade stand — even one on your front lawn — must be licensed under state law, said Eric Pippert, the food-borne illness prevention program manager for the state’s public health division. But county inspectors are unlikely to go after kids selling lemonade on their front lawn unless, he conceded, their front lawn happens to be on Alberta Street during Last Thursday.

“When you go to a public event and set up shop, you’re suddenly engaging in commerce,” he said. “The fact that you’re small-scale I don’t think is relevant.”

Kawaguchi, who oversees the two county inspectors involved, said they must be fair and consistent in their monitoring, no matter the age of the person. “Our role is to protect the public,” he said.

The county’s shutdown of the lemonade stand was publicized by Michael Franklin, the man at the booth next to Fife and her daughter. Franklin contributes to the Bottom Up Radio Network, an online anarchist site, and interviewed Fife for his show.

Franklin is also organizing a “Lemonade Revolt” for Last Thursday in August. He’s calling on anarchists, neighbors and others to come early for the event and grab space for lemonade stands on Alberta between Northeast 25th and Northeast 26th.

As for Julie, the 7-year-old still tells her mother “it was a bad day.” When she complains about the health inspector, Fife reminds her that the woman was just doing her job. She also promised to help her try again — at an upcoming neighborhood garage sale.

While Fife said she does see the need for some food safety regulation, she thinks the county went too far in trying to control events as unstructured as Last Thursday.

“As far as Last Thursday is concerned, people know when they are coming there that it’s more or less a free-for-all,” she said. “It’s gotten to the point where they need to be in all of our decisions. They don’t trust us to make good choices on our own.”

 



BP Ecocide: Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Ashore

BP Ecocide: Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Ashore

Dead Fish in Biloxi Mississippi, August 3, 2010

 



Government Propaganda: 74% of Gulf Oil Gone

Government Propaganda: 74% of Gulf Oil Gone

 

Satellite Photos Show Oil Covering 12,000 Square Miles of the Gulf

BP Gulf Oil Spill Satellite Image July 28th, 2010

 



Ahmadinejad: Enemy Hyped Assassination Attempt

Ahmadinejad: Enemy Hyped Assassination Attempt

Press TV
August 5, 2010

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects reports about an assassination attempt on his life in Hamadan Province as a plot hatched by the enemies.

“Yesterday, during the cabinet’s trip to Hamadan Province, someone threw a firecracker in front of the government motorcade out of joy and excitement,” IRNA quoted the president as saying on Thursday.

“This was not [a] newsworthy [incident], but the enemies spread reports that Ahmadinejad has been transferred to an undisclosed location after surviving an assassination attempt.”

“This is while immediately afterwards I delivered a speech in Hamadan Stadium and in front of thousands of people.”

The Iranian president went on to add that the purpose of such enemy plots is to prevent his words from reaching the people of the world.

Amid an intensifying US-led campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, Ahmadinejad went to stress that Iranian nation is prepared to face the enemy resolutely.

Tehran rejects Washington’s claims that it is pursuing a military nuclear program, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it has the right to civilian technology.

 



US lawmaker calls for sanctions on China, Russia

US lawmaker calls for sanctions on China, Russia

AFP
August 3, 2010


Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida)

The United States should immediately impose sanctions on Russia and China under a US law that punishes major investments in Iran’s energy sector, a senior US lawmaker said Monday.

“It’s time to implement our sanctions laws and demonstrate to Russia and China that there are consequences for abetting Tehran and flouting US sanctions,” Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.

Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said firms run by the Russian and Chinese governments had invested “huge sums” in Iran’s energy sector, “effectively bankrolling” Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons program and its backing of Islamist groups.

She did not offer details, but US officials have noted that Chinese firms have been stepping in to fill the void left by companies leaving Iran because of UN and US sanctions.

“Russia and China appear determined to continue to facilitate Iran’s dangerous policies. This must not be allowed to continue without serious repercussions,” she said.

Her comments came as a top US State Department official, Robert Einhorn, was on a trip to Asia set to include a stop in Beijing to press China to fully enforce sanctions on Iran.

China has invested around 40 billion dollars in the Islamic republic’s oil and gas sector, but Chinese imports of Iranian oil fell in the first half of 2010, a senior Iranian official told Mehr news agency on Saturday.

In 2009, China became Iran’s premier trading partner, with bilateral trade worth 21.2 billion dollars against 14.4 billion dollars three years earlier.

 



39 Afghan women and children died in NATO attack

39 Afghan women and children died in NATO attack

 



Man Faces 16 Years in Prison For Filming Cop

Man Faces 16 Years in Prison For Filming Cop

Time Magazine
August 5, 2010

Anthony Graber, a Maryland Air National Guard staff sergeant, faces up to 16 years in prison. His crime? He videotaped his March encounter with a state trooper who pulled him over for speeding on a motorcycle. Then Graber put the video — which could put the officer in a bad light — up on YouTube.

It doesn’t sound like much. But Graber is not the only person being slapped down by the long arm of the law for the simple act of videotaping the police in a public place. Prosecutors across the U.S. claim the videotaping violates wiretap laws — a stretch, to put it mildly.

These days, it’s not hard to see why police are wary of being filmed. In 1991, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) beating of Rodney King was captured on video by a private citizen. It was shown repeatedly on television and caused a national uproar. As a result, four LAPD officers were put on trial, and when they were not convicted, riots broke out, leaving more than 50 people dead and thousands injured (two officers were later convicted on federal civil rights charges).

 



All U.S. Presidents Are Related

All U.S. Presidents Are Related

British Royal Family Incest: Prince William Dates his Cousin

Gather.com
August 3, 2010

Prince William and Kate Middleton are cousins! If that’s not shocking enough, the two have been in a relationship for a while. However, even though William and Kate may be cousins, they are distant cousins. So, does that really make a difference?

Adding to the revealation that they are cousins is how they are linked. apparently, their ancestry is a bit of a shocker too. Here’s what the dailymail claimed:

“the common ancestor who links the two lovers is a murderous despot whose bloody deeds have been deliberately forgotten by history.

The man who links William and Kate as kith and kin is Sir Thomas Leighton, an Elizabethan soldier, diplomat and, for 40 years, the cut-throat Governor of Guernsey. He is William’s 12th generation great-grandparent, and Kate’s 11th, making them 12th cousins, once removed.”

Despite these stunning revealations, Prince William and Kate Middleton are said to be planning a wedding that will surely be the biggest in the world with an astounding price tag of $40 million!

Moreover, a report estimated that more than 3 billion fans will be able to tune in to the event. That’s more than a third of the population in the world!

Interestingly, a palace insider claimed, “William and Kate would love a low-key event with friends and family.” Looks like that is probably not going to happen!

 



BP Drilled TWO Oil Wells, One Capped One Leaking

MUST SEE!
BP Drilled TWO Oil Wells, Media Shows Well ‘A’ Capped While Well ‘B’ is Leaking

BP Planned to Abandon Both Wells From The Start!

Well MC252_A has been spewing oil into the Gulf since February 13 and has recently been capped, Well MC252_B is the well that blew up the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, is it still leaking!? What the hell going on here?!

 



Oil oozing out from beach sand in Louisiana

Oil oozing out from beach sand in Louisiana

 



Studies Link Aspartame to Cancer

Lunch meat may cause bladder cancer

Lunch meat may cause bladder cancer

Natural News
August 4, 2010

A recent study published in the journal Cancer links nitrate-containing cold cut meats to bladder cancer. According to the study, people who eat red meat cold cuts that contain nitrates or nitrites have a nearly 30 percent increased risk of developing bladder cancer.

“Nitrate and nitrite are precursors to N-nitroso compounds (NOCs), which induce tumors in many organs, including the bladder, in multiple animal species,” explains the study.

Nitrates are added to meats as a preservative and as a color-protector. They make the meat appear fresher for a longer period of time. But these additives are highly toxic and dangerous to health.

“[S]odium nitrite, when consumed by the human body, forms some of the most highly carcinogenic chemical compounds ever recorded in the world of foods and nutrition. They’re call nitrosamines, and these nitrosamines directly promote cancers throughout the body, most notably colorectal cancer,” explains Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, in his book Spam Filters for Your Brain.

Roughly 300,000 men and women from eight U.S. states participated in the study. Researchers followed participants for up to eight years and found that people whose diets were high in nitrites — no matter where the additives came from — had an increased risk of developing bladder cancer.

They also discovered that participants who ate a lot of nitrite-containing foods tended to eat less fruits, vegetables and other nutrient-rich foods.

According to the research, non-Hispanic Caucasians who smoke and have a higher body-mass index (BMI) represent the biggest consumers of processed red meats.

Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933…
http://www.naturalpedia.com/sodium_…

 



Federal Police Officer Kills Dog in Park

Federal Police Officer Kills Dog in Park

Baltimore Sun
August 3, 2010

Stunned dog owners and residents of a Severn neighborhood are shocked that authorities won’t be charging a federal police officer who shot and killed a Siberian husky Monday night at a community dog park.

Bear-Bear, a brown and white husky that was about 3 years old, was playing in the Quail Run dog park at about 6:30 p.m., running off leash inside the fenced-in area, when the officer and his wife arrived with a German shepherd, who was kept on a leash. When the dogs began to play roughly, the federal officer asked Bear-Bear’s guardian, his owner’s brother, to call off the dog. But before he could do anything, the officer pulled out a gun and shot Bear-Bear, according to the husky’s owner.

Bear-Bear, who belongs to Rachel Rettaliata, died of his injuries a few hours later. County police did not name the federal officer.

“I’ve been bawling my eyes out since 7 p.m. last night,” Rettaliata said. “It’s grief mixed with anger. We’re so angry this guy was able to take our animal for what we feel was no reason at all.

“We still don’t believe that he’s gone. We just want so badly to be diligent about this. [The officer] has to pay some sort of consequence for his foolishness.”

A spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said no charges will be filed and investigators found no evidence of criminal activity.

Read Full Article Here

 



Intel Experts Warn Obama Israel May Bomb Iran This Month

Intel Experts Warn Obama Israel May Bomb Iran This Month

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
August 4, 2010

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group of former intelligence and military officials, warns President Obama in a memo that Israel is preparing to attack Iran this month, and that Obama needs to publicly denounce such an attack in order to prevent a wider war and the ultimate destruction of Israel.

“We write to alert you to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month. This would likely lead to a wider war,” states the VIPS memo, which is addressed to the President.

The letter is signed by Phil Giraldi, former CIA (20 years), Larry Johnson, former CIA; DoS, (24 years), W. Patrick Lang, Col., USA, Special Forces (ret.); Director of HUMINT Collection, Defense Intelligence Agency (30 years), Ray McGovern, US Army Intelligence Officer, CIA (30 years), Coleen Rowley, FBI (24 years), and Ann Wright, Col., US Army Reserve (ret.), (29 years); Foreign Service Officer, Department of State (16 years).

The intelligence experts explain that Israel’s tactic is to launch the war suddenly and then make it politically untenable for Obama to do anything other than offer the United States’ full military support for the campaign.

Pointing out that Israel has habitually employed surprise and deception in furthering its geopolitical aims, VIPS warns Obama that misplaced trust in Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s assurances that Israel would not launch a surprise attack would be foolhardy.

The memo highlights Netanyahu’s attitude to how pliable he believes the American government is to satisfying Israel’s demands, making reference to comments he made nine years ago on Israeli television.

“America is something that can be easily moved. Moved in the right direction. … They won’t get in our way … Eighty percent of the Americans support us. It’s absurd,” said Netanyahu.

“As we hope your advisers have told you, regime change, not Iranian nuclear weapons, is Israel’s primary concern,” states the memo, adding, “A strong public statement by you, personally warning Israel not to attack Iran would most probably head off such an Israeli move.”

The VIPS members appeal to Obama that only he can now head off an attack on Iran that could take place as soon as this month. But the group’s call on Obama to denounce a planned military assault on Iran is likely to fall on deaf ears, because Washington has been almost as active as Israel in planning an attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

A report in Time Magazine last month confirmed that Israel had convinced Washington to put the idea of a military strike firmly at the forefront of strategic planning. The report stated that US Central Command had been finalizing a plan of targeted air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and that Israel had been brought into that process.

On Sunday August 1st during an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated that the military option remained on the table.

Any such attack would come from the air and would utilize B-2 bombers and cruise missiles as part of a knockout blow against Iran’s nuclear facilities. This would be followed by a velvet revolution in which opposition groups, which are largely controlled by the CIA and its allies, would overthrow the Ahmadinejad government.

Destabilization efforts in pursuit of this overthrow have been ongoing for years, the latest of which appears to be a claim that Ahmadinejad himself was the target of an assassination attempt today, a story the Iranian state media has strongly denied.

The U.S. government has been funding and training the Sunni terrorist group Jundullah, formerly headed by the accused mastermind of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to carry out bombings and other destabilization campaigns in Iran as part of a “campaign intended to destabilise, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs”.

As we have documented, political pressure is clearly being brought to bear on Obama in an effort to get the green light for the attack on Iran. Voices from both sides of the political spectrum are repeating the mantra that the only way to rescue Obama’s plummeting approval ratings is to rally the country behind another war in the Middle East.

Given this backdrop, it seems unlikely that the Obama administration would do anything other than vehemently support an Israeli-led attack on Iran. Perhaps the best way to try and stop such an outcome would be to appeal to current intelligence and military insiders who experienced the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction debacle at first hand and, as the November National Intelligence Estimate proved, are loathe to be hoodwinked into another staged war based on false pretenses.

 



Israel and Lebanon Battle Over a Tree

1,800 veterans exposed to AIDS during dental exam

1,800 veterans exposed to AIDS during dental exam

St. Louis American
July 30, 2010

The Veteran’s Administration today released the latest results of tests taken by dental patients at the John Cochran VA Hospital in St. Louis. As of July 28, the VA confirms two positive results for Hepatitis B and two positive results for Hepatitis C. The data was presented at a Congressional hearing this morning.

Late last month, the VA reported 1,812 patients may have been exposed to Hep B, Hep C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, due to improper sterilization methods at its Cochran dental clinic. An inspection revealed the procedure was in place for a little over a year at the facility.

The VA said it notified 1,769 veterans about the issue, and is working with homeless coordinators to reach Veterans with no known home address.

The VA said 1,598 responded to the disclosure by calling for an appointment for testing. Some vets opted to have their blood drawn by a private lab of their choosing at the VA’s expense. The VA reported 13 vets declined testing or an appointment.

The may or may not be related to dental equipment issues at the Cochran clinic. The VA said it is performing more extensive testing to determine the time period and possible source of the infections.

The VA said it will provide all related health care at no cost to the infected veterans.

 



Obama Breaks Pledge to Withdraw Troops from Iraq

Obama Breaks Pledge to Withdraw Troops from Iraq

IPS
August 3, 2010

Seventeen months after President Barack Obama pledged to withdraw all combat brigades from Iraq by Sep. 1, 2010, he quietly abandoned that pledge Monday, admitting implicitly that such combat brigades would remain until the end of 2011.

Obama declared in a speech to disabled U.S. veterans in Atlanta that “America’s combat mission in Iraq” would end by the end of August, to be replaced by a mission of “supporting and training Iraqi security forces”.

That statement was in line with the pledge he had made on Feb. 27, 2009, when he said, “Let me say this as plainly as I can: by Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”

In the sentence preceding that pledge, however, he had said, “I have chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months.” Obama said nothing in his speech Monday about withdrawing “combat brigades” or “combat troops” from Iraq until the end of 2011.

Even the concept of “ending the U.S. combat mission” may be highly misleading, much like the concept of “withdrawing U.S. combat brigades” was in 2009.

Read Full Article Here