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Thursday 17 May 2012

On the News With Thom Hartmann: Judge Rules NDAA “Indefinite Detention” Provision Unconstitutional, and More
In today’s On the News segment: College graduates see high unemployment, nuclear contamination fears in Japan increase, a Washington lawmaker is barring women from an abortion bill hearing, JPMorgan Chase reports an additional $1 billion loss, and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Mobilizing Military Moms Against NATO
Sarah Lazare, Truthout: “The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are marked by widespread mental health problems among US service members, with nearly one in five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans reporting symptoms of PTSD or severe depression. The Army’s own studies show an alarming spike in Army suicides which have soared past civilian rates These grim statistics continue to climb: 2011 saw the highest number of Army suicides in military history, with 164 soldiers reported to have taken their lives. This coincides with a 2011 spike in violent sexual assaults perpetrated by active duty soldiers, mostly targeting young active duty female soldiers.”
Read the Article

Truthout Contributor Richard Wolff on Challenging Capitalism in His New Book, “Occupy the Economy”
Matt Renner, Truthout: “Can we challenge capitalism and prevail, considering that the top 1 percent control 50 percent of the available capital and the top 5 percent some 70 percent of the nation’s private funds? Richard Wolff is a closely followed Truthout contributor on economics. Currently, you can obtain his just-released ‘Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism’ directly from Truthout.”
Read the Article

Occupy the Farm Dug In, Dug Up
Susie Cagle, Truthout: “The crowd cheered as the chains on the gates were cut open and hundreds flooded onto the Gill Tract, several acres of University of California (UC) property that have been contested for more than a decade. They brought tools, straw, chickens in portable coops and 15,000 starter plants that had been growing in green houses around Northern California for the past several months before finding their home in this Class I soil in the sleepy bedroom community of Albany, just north of Berkeley. Three weeks later, police in riot gear raided the property, arresting nine activists, including Dayaneni.”
Read the Article

Activists Win Preliminary Injunction Blocking Enforcement of NDAA’s Military Detention Provision
Jason Leopold, Truthout: “Seven journalists and activists who sued President Barack Obama earlier this year over the controversial indefinite detention provision in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) were handed a surprise victory Wednesday by a federal court judge who issued a preliminary injunction blocking its enforcement. Congress may go a step further. An amendment to the 2013 NDAA introduced by Reps. Adam Smith (D-Washington) and Justin Amash (R-Michigan) would eliminate the provision in the bill that authorizes indefinite military detention without trial for those captured in the US.”
Read the Article

GOP Super PAC Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama
Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny, The New York Times News Service: “A group of high-profile Republican strategists is working with a conservative billionaire on a proposal to mount one of the most provocative campaigns of the ‘super PAC’ era and attack President Obama in ways that Republicans have so far shied away from. Timed to upend the Democratic National Convention in September, the plan would ‘do exactly what John McCain would not let us do,’ the strategists wrote.”
Read the Article

Occupy Chicago Takes on the War at Home
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: “In a week of action before the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) summit hits Chicago, activists are connecting the war abroad waged by NATO and its associates with the war at home, waged by some of the 1 percent that are welcoming and profiting from bringing the summit to Chicago. ‘What we have is a war in our communities and that war is done by the global 1 percent,’ said Brian Bean, an activist with Occupy Chicago. ‘The same people that will be meeting in McCormick Place [for the summit] in a couple of days drop bomb in Afghanistan and destroy our homes here in America. That is why we are here to fight back. Today we take back our homes, tomorrow we take back our world.’”
Read the Article

Court Ruling May Force Advocacy Groups to Disclose Secret Donors
Matea Gold, The Los Angeles Times: “Election law lawyers expect most groups will now try to find alternative methods of communicating rather than reveal the sources of their funding. But just the possibility that the curtain will be pulled back to reveal who has been driving campaign-related ads has buoyed reform advocates. ‘It’s the first major breakthrough in overcoming the massive amounts of secret contributions that are flowing into federal elections,’ said Fred Wertheimer, president of the reform group Democracy 21. ‘It certainly gives us momentum.’”
Read the Article

Kucinich: NDAA Authorizes War Against Iran
Congressman Dennis Kucinich, The Office of Dennis Kucinich: “This week, Congress is considering two pieces of legislation relating to Iran. The first undermines a diplomatic solution with Iran and lowers the bar for war. The former Chief of Staff of Secretary of State Colin Powell has stated that this resolution ‘reads like the same sheet of music that got us into the Iraq war.’ The second authorizes a war of choice against Iran and begins military preparations for it. A plain reading of these provisions in H.R. 4310 taken together with H.R. 568 makes it clear: Congress is setting the stage for war with Iran.”
Watch the Video and Read the Article

Are JPMorgan’s Losses a Canary in a Coal Mine?
Bill Moyers, Moyers & Co.: “That sound of shattered glass you’ve been hearing is the iconic portrait of Jamie Dimon splintering as it hits the floor of JPMorgan Chase. As the Good Book says, ‘Pride goeth before a fall,’ and the sleek silver-haired, too-smart-for-his-own-good CEO of America’s largest bank has been turning every television show within reach into a confessional booth. Barack Obama’s favorite banker faces losses of $2 billion and possibly more – all because of the complex, now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t trading in exotic financial instruments that he has so ardently lobbied Congress not to regulate.”
Read the Article

Preying on the Poor: How Government and Corporations Use the Poor as Piggy Banks
Barbara Ehrenreich, TomDispatch: “It’s not just the private sector that’s preying on the poor. Local governments are discovering that they can partially make up for declining tax revenues through fines, fees, and other costs imposed on indigent defendants, often for crimes no more dastardly than driving with a suspended license. And if that seems like an inefficient way to make money, given the high cost of locking people up, a growing number of jurisdictions have taken to charging defendants for their court costs and even the price of occupying a jail cell.”
Read the Article

Pilots as Lab Rats: The Reprehensible Risk-Taking on the F-22 Raptor
Dina Rasor, Truthout: “But the Air Force hates to admit that their highly classified stealth – their major justification for every new airplane they have bought for the last thirty years – could poison and condemn their workers, mechanics and pilots to cancer. Instead, they circled the wagons around the ‘hypoxia’ theory, then ordered the pilots back into the air without knowing or fixing the root cause. Asked about the danger to pilots’ lives, the generals declared the risks acceptable, citing the need to keep flying to collect data in the hopes of getting to the bottom of their problem. In other words, they were comfortable with using their highly F-22 trained pilots as lab rats.”
Read the Article

News

News

Mladic trial postponed over ‘errors’

• Europe

• Read More

• In court with Ratko Mladic

• Will trial deliver justice?

• Mothers recall Srebrenica

• Explainer: Yugoslavia tribunal

• Mladic ejected from court

• Profile: Ratko Mladic

• Chasing Mladic

France will not ratify current EU fiscal pact

New finance minister Pierre Moscovici says eurozone pact must be renegotiated to promote growth rather than austerity.

Last Modified: 17 May 2012 11:44 GMT

Libyan women hope for gains in elections

D. Parvaz 17 May 2012 15:16 GMT

Next month’s elections to the national assembly present women with a rare chance to step out of the shadows.

Lawmakers in Florida say Marissa Alexander’s case is precisely the kind where the controversial defense should apply. Photograph: CNN

Stand-your-ground law put to test

Woman says she was defending herself, but a jury – and the prosecutor now on George Zimmerman’s case – disagreed

France eager to avoid Nato clash over Afghanistan troop withdrawal

President Hollande to adopt conciliatory tone despite earlier pledge to pull out all French combat troops by end of the year

•   A sceptic’s guide to the Nato summit

•   Nato summit in Chicago and G8 at Camp David – live build-up

•   US veterans protest Nato’s occupation of Chicago

Mladic trial shown Srebrenica footage

Bosnian Serb wartime commander accused of ordering the execution of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in July 1995

• Ratko Mladic’s trial opens with a cut-throat gesture

• Justice is needed – even if it takes 100 more years

• Charles Taylor accuses Hague of targeting African leaders

• German citizen ‘abducted tortured and dumped’

Ford, GM and BMW linked to illegal logging and slave labour in Brazil

17 May 2012: Car makers source iron from Brazil that contributes to Amazon deforestation, says Greenpeace ahead of Rio+20

•   US car industry drives deforestation in Brazil – in pictures

.
To President Obama,

For God’s sake stop it!
Bring our troops home now! And not in caskets. But into the arms of their wives, husbands, partners, mates, children, parents and ours

Other Occupation News

U.S. Afghanistan Occupation Casualties

Pictures: Deaths in Afghanistan: A look at the faces of American lives lost

This list includes fatal U.S. government casualties military and civilian in the Occupation Of Afghanistan. Its totals will usually be slightly less than those in media reports because they are based on Defense Department reports of each casualty’s name and other personal details, which are not released until next of kin are notified. The information is cross-checked with reports by the Associated Press and local news media and periodic updates by the Defense Department.

Total To Date:

Killed: 1974

Wounded: Can not find a reliable source.

Names of the Dead:

Recent Confirmations

Color denotes today’s confirmation

Staff Sgt. Israel P. Nuanes, 38, of Las Cruces, N.M., died May 12, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained during an enemy attack with an improvised explosive device. Nuanes was assigned to 741st Ordnance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas, part of the 84th Ordnance Battalion, 71st Ordnance Group.

Pfc. Richard L. McNulty III, 22, Rolla, Mo…assigned to the 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska…died May 13, in Bowri Tana, Afghanistan, when the enemy attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Sgt. Brian L. Walker, 25, of Lucerne Valley, Calif…assigned to the 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska…died May 13, in Bowri Tana, Afghanistan, when the enemy attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Spc. Alex Hernandez III, 21, of Round Rock, Texas, died May 12, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Hernandez was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii.

Sgt. Wade D. Wilson, 22, of Normangee, Texas, died May 11 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

1st Lt. Alejo R. Thompson, 30, of Yuma, Ariz., died May 11 in Bagram, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Petty Officer Second Class Jorge Luis Velasquez, 35, of Houston, died as a result of a non-combat related incident in Manama, Bahrain. Velasquez was assigned to Commander, Task Force (CTF) 56 in Bahrain, which conducts maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

Pfc. Dustin D. Gross, 19, of Jeffersonville, Ky…assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C…died May 7, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device.

Spc. Chase S. Marta, 24, of Chico, Calif…assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C…died May 7, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device.

Sgt. Jacob M. Schwallie, 22, of Clarksville, Tenn…assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C…died May 7, in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device.

Spc. Junot M. L. Cochilus, 34, of Charlotte, N.C…died May 2 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

2nd Lt. David E. Rylander, 23, of Stow, Ohio…died May 2 in Logar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

Staff Sgt. Thomas K. Fogarty, 30, of Alameda, Calif., died May 6, in Ahmad-Kheyl, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

Sgt. John P. Huling, 25, of West Chester, Ohio, died May 6 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. Huling’s death was originally reported by the International Security Assistance Force, which characterized it as the result of gunshot wounds inflicted by an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform. This incident is under investigation.

Master Sgt. Gregory L. Childs, 38, Warren, Ark., died May 4, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Childs is assigned to Defense Logistics Agency, Fort Belvoir, Va.

Staff Sgt. Zachary H. Hargrove, 32, of Wichita, Kan., died May 3 in Bagram, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 84th Explosive Ordnance Disposal, 1st Sustainment Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

Capt. Bruce K. Clark, 43, Spencerport, N.Y…Clark was assigned to A Company, Troop Command, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas.

Afghanistan Occupation Confirmed U.S Casualties – Since June 1, 2009

Below is an email from Mary Magnuson, a MoveOn member in Brookfield, Wisconsin, who created a petition on SignOn.org, the nonprofit site that allows anyone to start their own online petition. If you have concerns or feedback about this petition, click here.

Dear MoveOn member,

As a Wisconsin progressive working day and night for the recall of Scott Walker, I’m shocked: The Democratic National Committee still isn’t giving financial support to the recall fight in Wisconsin.

After more than a year of grassroots efforts, Wisconsin citizens have accomplished more than anyone thought possible. We now have a Democratic challenger to Scott Walker who is neck and neck in the polls, even though Tom Barrett is being outspent by Walker’s millions from out-of-state donations.

There is no more time for the Democratic National Committee to wait—if Walker wins, it would be a huge setback to Democrats in races across the country this year. We need the DNC’s support immediately!

That’s why I created a petition on SignOn.org to DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, which says:

Democratic National Committee and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, invest now in the crucial fight to remove Scott Walker from office in Wisconsin—the people have worked hard and it’s time to help.

Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:

http://www.signon.org/sign/democratic-national-committe?source=homepage

Thanks!

–Mary Magnuson

Source:

1. “EXCLUSIVE: Wisconsin Dems furious with DNC for refusing to invest big money in Walker recall,” The Washington Post, May 15, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=275547&id=41481-6842860-zM7O%3Drx&t=3

This petition was created on SignOn.org, the progressive, nonprofit petition site that will never sell your email address and will never promote a petition because someone paid us to. SignOn.org is sponsored by MoveOn Civic Action, which is not responsible for the contents of this or other petitions posted on the site.

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