Return Your Enlistment Bonus With the Hand You Have Left

Does this make anyone else want to puke?

What happened to the America I was told about in school as I was growing up? I remember it distinctly as the class after Greek Mythology. I don't remember the name of the class, but I am beginning to think it was American Mythology. In what America is it OK to give G.I.s enlistment bonuses to "protect the homeland", send them into battle in a country that never attacked us, bring them home missing limbs, eyes, faces, etc., and then demand portions of the enlistment bonuses back?

Read an MSNBC article here:
View the video here.

Is this thing on? (*tap*tap*tap)

Does anyone still think allowing recruiters into our schools is OK? Remember, the No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to provide military recruiters with numbers and addresses of children (so none are left behind). Of course, you can opt out by submitting a written request, although you are not notified of the government's invasion into your child's life or your rights regarding that intrusion. This is not No Child Left Behind, it is No Child Left Unrecruited!!!

Update: After news aired about the thousands of wounded service personnel being asked to give back bonuses due to their inability (serious injuries) to serve out their commitments, the Pentagon sent a Brigadeer General to correct our misperception of the situation. He graciously acknowledged the situation, said it was not their policy, promised it would not happen again and said troops who've already paid the money back should be reimbursed. The way Paul Kiel of TPM put it:

Tucker said that army policy “is that soldiers who are wounded in combat or have line of duty investigation injuries… we will not go after a recoupment of any bonuses they receive.” Recouping bonuses, he said, “doesn’t pass the common sense test.”

But notice that phrasing. While that policy, if implemented, would prevent injured soldiers from having to pay back bonuses they’d already received, they might still not receive their full enlistment bonus. That’s because the Army could still withhold parts of the bonus on the basis that the soldiers didn’t complete their full tour due to the injury.

I think it is an interesting way of looking at what Tucker was saying.

I'm glad that the outcry was great as this story began to unfold and that the government is being forced to move quickly to not further punish those who have served so faithfully and suffered so greatly.

Feeding the Hungry is Illegal in Orlando!

"Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed."
-Mark Twain

Making certain that needy people have enough food to eat can be illegal in Orlando. The city has a ban on feeding more than 25 homeless people at a time and it's first legal victim, Eric Montanez of Food Not Bombs has just been found innocent.

Feeding poor people is a crime?!? In what right-wing fascist run world is this OK?

After pointing out that feeding the homeless and hungry is a crime in Orlando Jeff Deal of Orlando's Channel 9 Eyewitness News reported: (click here for video)

"And, of course, all of this all started because city leaders felt there were too many homeless people gathering in one location. They felt this was a public safety issue that the public could be in danger with all of those people."

Can't you just smell the objective reporting? I bet he just packed his face with corporate franchise food and had a $7.00 coffee just before his report.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
~Emma Lazarus, 1883

Good Riddance Karl Rove

Karl Rove, one of George Bush's closest advisers, has just announced he will be stepping down. It's all about timing. He's scheduled to resign August 31, 2007. Why now and what's next? Are there criminal proceedings around the corner? Keep your eye on where heads next.

Mr. Rove, I won't miss you and neither will the throngs of Americans who find your actions morally reprehensible. May our country find better role models.

Here he is again, greeting throngs of his admirers on the American University campus during his visit to talk to College Republicans. Now there's a role model:

Way to go, Mika Brzezinski!

MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski should be a role model to other talking heads. Watch as Mika refuses to talk about Paris Hilton as the lead story on the Morning Joe show. I've said it over and over...I don't think that celebrity news is news. That's what "E" is for.



Who cares what spoiled brat is in rehab or has slept with a farm animal? Give me real news!

Whitehouse e-mail Scandal Expands in Scope

David Shuster talks about a preliminary House Oversight Committee report on possible violations of the Presidential Records Act by White House officials during an interview with Keith Olberman on MSNBC's "Countdown". The report shows hundreds of thousands of these e-mails have likely been illegally destroyed.

The House Oversight Committee report shows that Karl Rove, Andrew Card, Ken Mehlman, and Alberto Gonzales were all involved. The report also indicates that there are at least 88 other White House officials involved! Susan Ralston was also involved and gave testimony you can read here. It's worth a read. I put it there for a reason...READ IT!!!

(Another video, courtesy of C&L)

Blackout on U.N. Inspector Barred from Hutto Detention Facility

UN Human Rights Inspector Barred from Hutto Detention center in Taylor, TX!!!

&

CCA has been granted an exemption from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services!!!

(Hutto Detention Facility)

The UN human rights office in Geneva has stated that, Dr. Jorge Bustamante, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, was scheduled to tour the Hutto facility on Monday as part of an official fact-finding mission. But according to news reports, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has denied U.N. Inspectors access to the facility.

They knew the inspection was coming and made a conscious decision to bar them.

Wake Up America!!!

(picture courtesy of Mother Jones.com)

From the Eye On Williamson blog:

Last week, from documents (Linked here - part 1 and part 2 [.PDF]) sent to us from Dave Maass of the San Antonio Current, EOW has learned that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) applied for and was granted an exemption from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). It’s interesting that CCA would want to keep DFPS out of its facility.

An article from December of 2006 from the Texas Civil Rights Review:
Citizens denounce Hutto jail before county commissioners.


I will follow this article up with more details as time and leads allow.