Argghhh! The Home Of Two Of Jonah's Military Guys..: January 27, 2008

You must stop reading the headlines in UK right-wing blogs and newspapers. If only for the sake of your blood pressure.

The UK government has authorised a new Inspectorate (which will be routinely vetted by OFSTED - the Office of Standards in Education). This new Inspectorate will cover about 110 private schools (roughly 50 private CHRISTIAN and 60 private Muslim schools. Please note that it's going to cover CHRISTIAN schools as well as Muslim

The fact that it's still overseen by OFSTED is reassuring - 50% of private schools have an arrangement where they don't get vetted by the state.

As for the "British educators now actively discourage teaching of patriotism". This is another ... um... possible misinterpretation.

The UK government is about to introduce a new curriculum for British History which will promote patriotism via an examination of certain aspects of British history (including immigration, the Commomwealth, Empire, the extension of the vote and women's rights). One report - the one that generated this hysteria - has recommended against promoting UNQUESTIONING patriotism (repeat unquestioning)

Muslims represent only 2.8% of the UK population (1.5 million). We're not very worried about them taking over.

posted by Matt W on February 2, 2008 11:13 PM

I didn't say anything about them taking over, I was thinking in terms of a disintegration of common values and a love of country.

I'll go back and take a look to make sure I understood, but I read more than headlines. I clicked on the embedded links in the link I gave, and followed everything right back to original articles.

posted by FbL on February 2, 2008 11:29 PM

I just gotta ask...is Matt like the official British government agent for combating (mis)information on the internet?

posted by kat-missouri on February 3, 2008 2:08 AM

Heh. It occurred to me to wonder...

posted by FbL on February 3, 2008 2:20 AM

Matt - thank you for the input... I suspect that your advice works well applied both directions, too!

posted by John of Argghhh! on February 3, 2008 1:11 PM

Heh. Inserting comments from the email causes me to not see all the comments before I insert my own.

So, you two are wondering if Matt is InfoOp'ing us, eh?

Well, it seems a rather tedious and retail approach to take - unless Mike is like a rash over all the blogs that brought up the topic.

He's very good at it, if he *is* a gov't shill. Most of them sound like Public Affairs geeks.

I think he's doing here what I do on foreign blogs... provide context where there is none, or it's hard to get.

posted by John of Argghhh! on February 3, 2008 1:17 PM

by Denizens on Feb 02, 2008 | General Commentary

The SuperBowl

The Chief has a funny joke in the post below about an uberfan. However, some of the New England Patriot's biggest fans will not be on the sidelines tomorrow in Arizona.

As a matter of fact......the best of the best are in Camp (NewEngland) Patriot, Kuwait.

There is some awesome video over at DVIDS with shoutouts from Pat's fans and Giant's fans.

My favorite is here.

GO PAT'S..........Princess Crabby

by Denizens on Feb 02, 2008 | General Commentary

Countdown

Three more hours and I begin the trek to Ft. Benning, Jaja. And, while I'm TSIRTing my fingers to nubs on Sunday (and all the rest of the week, too, but this joke happens to refer to Sunday), you guys can watch The Game with your minds at ease, knowing I'm out there ~~cussing a blue streak~~ stoically preparing to defend your ~~sorry butts~~ right to nacho your LDL numbers into low Earth orbit.

Ummmm -- save me a couple of chili-dogs, John. Extra cheese.

A Patriots fan has 50-yard-line tickets for the Super Bowl. As he sits down, another Pats fan comes down and asks if anyone is sitting in the seat next to him.
"No," said the firstcomer, "the seat is empty."

"This is incredible!" said the second fan. "Who in his right mind would have a seat like this for the Super Bowl, the biggest sporting event in the world, and not use it ?"

Somberly, the first Pats fan says, "Well, the seat actually belongs to me. My wife usually accompanies me, but she passed away. This will be the first Super Bowl we haven’t been to together since we got married in 1967."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible. But couldn't you find someone else -- a friend or relative, or even a neighbor -- to take the seat?"

The man shakes his head, sadly, "No. They're all at the funeral…"

Heh. A present for Maggie from her neighbor, Baby-san.

What is this "Game" of which you are speaking, Chief? Is it the one during the watching of which, (according to Ms. Dworkin and her ilk) the men beat the hell out of the wimminz, and the normally weird people like me can enjoy mostly empty roads, free from the usual a-holes, said a-holes being at home, staring at TV sets depicting stupid ball games, with their mouths hanging open.

Hmm, having no emotional investment in this, maybe I could be a cold-blooded dispassionate bettor on the outcome!

It's late to start learning, though, I'd prolly bet like a sucker, and it ain't legal where I live, anyway.

Owhell.

posted by Justthisguy on February 2, 2008 3:04 AM

P.s. I've written about this before, but I'll say it again:

I remember reading the Tom Clancy novel, "The Sum of All Fears", I think it was, in which the Super Bowl got nuked. I thought, eww, what about the poor bandsmen?

I think that there are no bandsmen at the Stupor Bowel these days, so, uh, I don't think I'll complete my exposition here but y'all can catch my drift, and so froth, and forth.

In general, all of the places which the Feds define as prime terrist targets, such as feetball stadia, shopping malls, New York City, Miami, Boston, Atlanta, New Jersey, Chicago, large public gatherings of any type, etc. etc., are places which require considerable effort of will on my part, if not coercion by other people, for me to visit them.

posted by Justthisguy on February 2, 2008 3:33 AM

Wow,
I'm almost 66 years of age and this is a really old joke. Started, I believe, during some 50's World Series game.
Those were the years, only off-field booze, sex and bribery, none of the on-field steroids,amphetimines,cocaine and off field rape, dog torture,and, corrupting endorsements of today's worthless pro/collegiant "sports".
mike

posted by Mike Daley on February 2, 2008 7:38 PM

Sport is cool if that's all it is, just fun. American football at its best is both very cerebral and very physical.

That's why so many guys get a charge out of playing it. Sadly, it seems to have gotten all warped and distorted, lately, into something like the chariot-racing factions in the last days of Byzantium.

I believe both Jerry Pournelle and David Drake wrote stories which recycled a justifiable massacre done in Constantinople, against sports fans in a sports stadium.

posted by Justthisguy on February 3, 2008 5:36 AM

by CW4BillT on Feb 02, 2008 | I think it's funny!

February 1, 2008

Okay, this has been a pretty chewy week...

...with lots of meaty, portentous posts and comments - and not enough silliness.

So. Silliness! There is a photo below the fold in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry provided by Boquisucio. It's pretty much safe for most work environments, but... it's down there so no one is embarrassed when they go to a co-worker, "Hey! Lookit this cool website I found, that got lots of good military stuff on ...GAAAAAAAACK!"

Boq proposes a caption contest. I'll get you started, with a caption that will give you a clue, too.

"An Israeli General Staff officer, mistaking the movie "300" for a documentary, introduces proposed changes to the IDF combat uniform..."

That oughta do it. Whoa! Don't get between the Flash Traffic and Werekitty and Princess Crabby! Dangit. Now I'm going to have to replace the door!

by John on Feb 01, 2008 | I think it's funny!

Next time an anti-war protestor confronts you...

...and tells you they're only concerned for the troops.

Ask them where they were during the Clinton Administration?

• During the Clinton presidency total military deaths from all causes were 13,417 whereas during the Bush presidency total military deaths through 2006 from all causes were 9.016.

Emphasis mine - that includes combat deaths.

That disparity is as much a condemnation of the Service's leaders at all levels and their safety record and the off-duty discipline of the soldiers as it is an indictment of either President.

But it's instructive. Ask them, when the war winds down/ends, if they'll be anywhere near as interested in the dead soldiery then.

I'm guessing not. Just keep 'em honest.

Source? Congressional Research Service (link via FAS.org)... neither group are known as shills for the Administration.

Just curious, John, what is that number written in # of deaths per 1000 solders?

If I recall correctly, the military was significantly larger during at least the first years of the Clinton administration, so just reciting raw numbers could be a bit misleading.

posted by Jack on February 1, 2008 11:16 AM

Jack - only have numbers for the Army, but they are the biggest component.

1993, 572,000
1995, 513.000
1996, 493,000
1998, 479,000
1999, 468,000
2000, 472,000
2004, 492,000

And the numbers vary up and down, of course, and the wartime year numbers do *not* account for activated Guard and Reserve personnel, while their casualties while are included in the totals.

My point still stands, regarding the antis, and my point regarding the Services and their leadership (of whom I was one during the Clinton administration) still stands, given the level and intensity of combat operations during the Bush administration.

But it would be an interesting exercise, if you could get compatible data sets to run the numbers to answer your question. I don't have time to do it right now, though.

And Jack - back up and open a new comment window to see if your stuff posted - don't keep posting! 8^ D

posted by John of Argghhh! on February 1, 2008 11:32 AM

that's brilliant, John... thanks for linking it!

posted by AFSister on February 1, 2008 12:55 PM

Interesting that the numbers dropped each year under Clinton. I know that there was a big drawdown in 1995 as I was affected; I was assigned to 25th ID(L) in Hawaii that went from three to two brigades on island. Also, We lost a good number in Somalia, not too many in Haiti, so the op tempt probably kept the number of deaths down. I would have expected a spike at the time of the The Balkans, even if from accidents due to the strenuous nature of the operation, but we didn't lose anyone to enemy contact until 2001.

I think that most telling is that the number of self inflicted and homicides went down once we went to war. Soldiers don't do well with too little to do.
"Support the troops! Keep them busy!"

Great post, interesting numbers.

posted by Adam on February 1, 2008 12:58 PM

I'd like to see how they got that 13,417 number. The linked PDF contains the same data which may be found on this site, more specifically in this table titled U.S. Active Duty Military Deaths 1980 through 2006.

Then scan across to the column labled Total Deaths, and add up the years 1993-2000. You'll get 7,500. That's precisely the same number I get from the CRS document. So where did that 13k number come from?

Jack, the site in my first link contains all sorts of data, if you are of the mind to do some crunching. For example, the death rates PDF I linked includes service numbers by year.

There is a chart for death rates by 100,000 serving. Oddly enough, the chart doesn't include total per 100k numbers, but only by category. For example if one adds up the various numbers for 1993, you get 65.6 per 100k. Compare this to 110.7 for the year 1980, 49.5 for 2000, and 144.6 for 2005.

The three biggest factors are accidental deaths, deaths due to hostile action, and deaths due to illness. Deaths due to hostile action were essentially non-existent during Clinton's administration, which also enjoyed the lowest accident and illness rates. Lowest was 26/100k for 2000, compared to 2005's 38.7. Average accidental death rate for the Clinton administration was 30.1625/100k. Note that the first year of the Bush administration showed an accidental death rate of 28/100k, comparable to the late Clinton era.

According to the data -including preliminary data through 2006- there have been 9,747 active military deaths under the Bush administration.

Still, John's main point stands. 7,500 dead is not inconsiderable. Compare this to the mindlessly chanted "over three. thousand. dead!"

So where were the Professionally Concerned back then?

posted by Casey Tompkins on February 1, 2008 1:18 PM

My son went into the USMC in 2004. The SDI at his Boot Camp grad told us to keep an eye on the boys on leave. At that point, there was some pretty good fighting going on in Fallujah and elsewhere and the Corps STILL was loosing more young (1st enlistment) Marines to fatal traffic accidents than to the enemy.

posted by Karla (threadbndr) on February 1, 2008 3:39 PM

Carp, Casey - I got this from a trusted source, and now yer gonna make me go do the math.

posted by John of Argghhh! on February 1, 2008 4:43 PM

It's false.

posted by Antimedia on February 1, 2008 10:04 PM

It very opportune that if you add up the deaths for years 1993-2000 you get exactly 7,500.

It is not 7498 or 7501 it is 7500 on the dot.

When auditors see round numbers like that their eyes narrow and they dig deeper.

posted by Ledger on February 1, 2008 10:22 PM

Well, gee, Ledger, I'm so sorry that I took the actual, honest-to-gosh statistics from the Department of Defense, added them up, and got a round number. Too bad the result isn't a multiple of 666; you'd have a rock-solid argument, then!

Sorry, John, I know I'm skating close against Da Rulez here, but Ledger's argument is just plain silly. What's next, argument by numerology?

Ledger, if you can produce evidence that data provided by Department of Defense is suspect, knock yourself out. I got the numbers from the links provided, all of which are straight government-issue. You did follow the links, didn't you?

John: sorry if I cause some number-crunching down there; I guess you need something to do while waiting for local Ice Age to thaw. (ducking and running for cover) We are, BTW, currently experiencing some occasional flurries in southwest Ohio. :)

I didn't cross-check every single table, but the tables quoted in the CRS study seemed to match quite nicely with the tables I found with the above-linked site. I repeat: I would dearly love to see how they found 13,417 deaths from the provided data. I made a point of checking the Reagan administration numbers, and they come out to 17k and some change, so it shouldn't be a case of swapped "eras."

This seems to be spreading thru the blogosphere as I recently encountered what seemed to be the same meme over at Blackfive.

posted by Casey Tompkins on February 2, 2008 3:11 AM

John,

Sorry...but this dog don't hunt. To get to the 13714 one needs to include the Bush Sr years of 89 thru 92.

Somewhere in DOD they have a dyslexic doing the statistics. If one follows the weekly wounded numbers closely, the WIA and WIA-RTD numbers are frequently reversed. Which make comparing the weekly reports interesting...lets see ...this week we had 600 additional WIA, but but minus 550 WIA-RTD...

DOD isn't very good about posting "Last weeks report was wrong again...this is a corrected version".

I emailed Jack at OSD one time...a day later he e-mailed back "The Numbers look fine to me"...and sure enough...the online report had been corrected.

posted by Soldiers Dad on February 3, 2008 11:39 AM

Of course, any discussion like this about numbers like these is wrong anyway. I understand the original point (that people need to take a look at all the historical data, not just the data that makes G.W. Bush look bad), but comparatives miss the point. Some people died meaningless deaths, some didn't. Some died because a President made stupid decisions (Desert One-Carter) or because the President (or someone) didn't make the right decisions or was given bad advice (Vietnam-Kennedy/Johnson, Somalia-Clinton, Khobar Towers-Clinton), and some died because a tough job had to be done and they were the ones who were doing it (Afghanistan, Iraq-Bush) etc.

To me the question should not be "Which President?" but "Why?" The meaningless deaths of a few dozen soldiers that result from poor leadership is more "wrong" by orders of magnitude than the deaths of thousands who die doing what soldiers are supposed to do, for good, sound reasons. The people who died at Khobar Towers and in Somalia died because leadership did not pay enough attention to the warnings of subordinates or because leadership was doing dumb things for political reasons. The people who've died in war since 9/11 were doing what they volunteered to do, for reasons they felt strongly about. How can anyone compare the deaths under G.W. Bush to the deaths under Carter or Clinton!?!

As far as I'm concerned, both of those men (and Kennedy too for that matter), deserve far more tarring than Bush. Had either Carter or Clinton done their jobs properly, we would likely not today be dealing with either a terrorist nightmare or a nuclear Iran run by Muslim zealots.

Bush didn't start this war, he is just fighting it the way he deems best, and whether we agree with him or not doesn't mean squat. As far as I'm concerned, if people are going to compare military deaths attributed to Presidential decisions as an indication of character or worth, then Lincoln, Wilson, & Roosevelt would be near the top of the list. But I defy anyone to claim those men did anything wrong (in this, at least). More to the point, I wouldn't care if 50,000 American soldiers had died since 2001, nothing done by our current President to date will ever equal in my mind the wrongs of Carter, Clinton, and Kennedy. Who cares how many died when? The real question is why, and as I see it, Truman was the last Democrat who didn’t have anything to apologize for on that score!

And finally, I have to say that it just really puts me off that people make such a big deal about numbers as small as what we're talking about here. Yeah, yeah, I know: every life is important, and every death is painful to someone (I do know that, trust me), but some folks seem to have no sense of perspective. Tens of thousands of people have died in Bhopal India as a result of a leak at a Union Carbide plant in 1984. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers (North and South) died in the American Civil War; millions of people died in the battles between Germany and Russia, with over 1.5 million casualties at the Battle of Stalingrad alone; and over 6M people are estimated to have been killed or died of famine during the Chinese Civil war from 1945-1949.

All told, more then 72 million people are estimated to have been killed or died between 1939 and 1945 as a result of WWII and another 8M or so in post-war China and the Soviet Union; yet, we find people arguing today about which President was responsible for how many of the fewer than 10,000 American deaths in all the conflicts since Vietnam!

What happened to everyone's perspective? Is this really worth the argument?

V/R

posted by SangerM on February 3, 2008 8:19 PM

ummm... I didn't hit the button twice, it burped. Honest. Really.

really

posted by SangerM on February 3, 2008 8:25 PM

Ah, is there a Godwin's Law equivalent for Joe Stalin?

No?

Ok, then; "The death of one man is a tragedy; the death of a million men is a statistic."
-Joseph Stalin.
.

posted by Justthisguy on February 4, 2008 1:47 AM

by John on Feb 01, 2008 | ~~GWOT~~ Whatever it is...

The Fog of War: Doctrine at the Crux

[Kat]

First, I want to thank Cannoneer 4 for directing us to the blog by Jennifer Hlad who is blogging and reporting the "court of inquiry" into the incident on March 4 where Marines were attacked by a suicide vehicle bomb, believe that was followed up by small arms fire (SAF), returned fire and a number of Afghanis (19 killed, 34 wounded) were killed and injured, either by the blast, by small arms fire from Marines or insurgents and, even possibly, self inflicted wounds based on testimony from one Afghan physician.

According to Hlad, this is the first Marine "court of inquiry" since 1956 "after a drill instructor marched a platoon of recruits into Ribbon Creek". The hand out that Hlad received describes a court of inquiry as this:

According to the release from Gibson, “the convening authority wanted the facts and evidence available to be evaluated by a panel of senior officers with combat experience in order to get as complete an understanding as what occured and where responsibility may lay before making any further decisions.”

Basically, before they start laying charges, they want to know if there is anything that really needs charged and who. The original and subsequent investigation were hampered by time, space and security issues that precluded any real investigations as a civilian would perceive in a civilian situation. By the time that the first team to respond arrived at the scene (only 30 minutes after incident), most of the bodies of the wounded or killed had been removed. What remained were a few vehicles, some debris and some blood.

The PRT commander and an investigator noted that Afghan tradition was to bury the dead before sunset and that the attack took place on Rte 1 which was paved and led to a hospital in either direction. The investigator also noted three other frustrations in trying to ascertain the details:

1) They were not able to get to the site until well after the incident (thus, hard evidence and witnesses could be gone or tampered with)
2) They did not get to interview any Afghan witnesses until after "solatia payments" had been made ("solatia" as it sounds is "solace" payments for injured, dead and damage to property).
3) They were only allowed 60 minutes on the ground due to "security" issues in the area.

It's difficult to make any assumptions as yet as to what and who might be responsible, if anyone, outside of the persons attacking the Marines. However, within the testimony there are important issues that are reflected in the struggle to date by the Marine Commandant to get Marines into Afghanistan. It's all about doctrine and who rules the turf. Plus a little thrown in about the brand new Marine Special Operations Forces and whether they are supported or accepted among the many Army, Navy and even Air Force SOCs.

[continue in flash traffic]

The Marines are built to fight, according to the Commandant. You can ask any Marine what his primary mission is and get the same answer. The Marines believe that the fight in Iraq is about over and the fight in Afghanistan is heating up. They want to go where there is action. Of course, there is a lot of "Ooh-Rah" in that statement that misses the relationship building and training of indigenous forces in Al Anbar that, according to the latest intel summaries, has turned that area into Sunday morning in Maine. (H/T Michael Yon).

While the army is still struggling somewhat in the larger, more urban areas and in the north to quell AQI and various other "insurgents". Of course, each area presents its own problems from terrain to demographics, so comparisons on that scale are not applicable. Apples to Oranges, they say, and that is right. Yet, there is still pride in accomplishment and belief that what the Marines bring to the fight is the "lean and mean" of armed forces.

While the Army finally pushed out of large bases into COPs, PBs and smaller FOBs in order to accomplish COIN, the marines have been living in and eating dirt with their Iraqi counterparts for sometime. The conditions, Michael Totten once explained, that their grandfathers would have recognized on Iwo or in the Chosen. They are very quick and very deadly when necessary. As the saying goes, "best friend or worst enemy". The Marines believed in securing the territory and the people first, with force as necessary and that belief eventually won them the respect of the tribal leaders and sheiks. They believed the Marines when they said they wouldn't leave them to the mercy of Al Qaida. That trust translated into the development of the "Awakening" and the extension into other CLCs across Iraq.

Those are a few of the capabilities that the Marines believe they will bring to the fight in Afghanistan.

The Army, on the other hand, is not excited about the advent of the Marines on their turf. From their perspective, the Marines are the hammer in a field of operations that requires a scalpel and infinite patience. The PRTs (reconstruction teams), have divvied up Afghanistan into regions that they control along with their NATO counterparts. Their focus is largely on "reconstruction" and relationship building, leaving the "ops" to Army Spec Ops in those areas as much as possible along with very small patrol units.

Barring Helmand, of course, which remains largely in the hands of the Taliban with various treaties and agreements in place that keep down violence to a degree. Some of which the Afghan National Government is none too pleased about and ended with expelling a German and a British UN worker at the end of 2007. The Brits were forced to take Musa Qala back with force after the agreements fell through.

The Army sees themselves as the velvet glove, small foot print, light hand on the reins. In fact, the entire NATO force is appx 40,000 or 1/4th the force in Iraq covering an area slightly larger than Iraq with approximately the same population. Though, in Afghanistan, that population is spread out over a slightly wider area, there are still large urban populations as in Iraq. These urban areas, including Jalalabad, Kandahar and Kabul, have seen an up tick in attacks on NATO forces.

The army isn't interested in hammers unless they are building schools and hospitals. They see the Marines' penchant for "killing people and breaking things" as a disaster for their long term plans in Afghanistan. Those plans are to fight only if absolutely necessary, build the infrastructure and relationships to tie the Afghan people to the central government in hopes that they will eventually see that as a better alternative than supporting the Taliban and other extremists. At the same time, building enough strength into the central government and armed forces of Afghanistan that it can maintain some control.

The size and make up of the US and NATO forces presume the inability to fully secure the population. Several NATO countries have forces in country with a mandate to build and defend themselves only. They are not mandated for offensive operations. Those nations that are mandated for offensive ops, like Canada, the Dutch, Australia and England have very small contingents in place compared to the US forces, but have born the brunt of fighting along with US forces since 2001.

Even among NATO allies, doctrine has become a sticky subject. The recent dust up with Defense Secretary Gates and other NATO allies is just the latest permutation of a difference in strategy, tactics and expected outcomes. The advent of the Marines in Afghanistan is just the spice added to the pot.

And, while everyone argues about doctrine and attempts to protect their turf, in Afghanistan, there are whole populations still under control of the Taliban. More than half of the schools that are "opened" by the PRT are eventually closed by force, destroyed directly or students and teachers threatened until they don't go. The paved roads not only make it easier for legitimate commerce and security forces to traverse the country, but for the insurgents and opium traders as well.

The main complaint among tribal elders is not that the US or its allies are too aggressive, but that they come in to the area, make a bunch of promises and then leave. The Taliban arrives and the tribe is right back where it started or worse.

The whole issue of doctrine is present all over this court of inquiry. Coming into Afghanistan, the Marine Special Operations Forces look like the red-headed step child. On their way in, they discover they have little operations support. They have no radio technicians, no mechanics and lack various other support personnel and equipment. No one is willing to give any up and they are having to beg and borrow just to get by. Their commander reports this up the chain of command, but resolution does not seem to appear.

On arrival, they are greeted with a jaundiced eye. They actually have to explain to the AO commanders what they can do for them and why they are there. While they are already on the ground. After they sort that out, they are shown around the AO with apparent warnings that, while they could plan their own operations, they had to coordinate them, not just through the joint task force central command, but also with the PRT command as well and that the PRT command could veto those operations.

There is classified testimony that may be leaving out parts of the story, but there are overtones that suggest that the Marines did not follow this process. The PRT commander did not sound happy about it. On the day the Marines were attacked, the commander said he had no idea they were going on mission. The Marines said they coordinated with another unit and that they had submitted their operation plans to JTFC.

In the middle of all this, there are several situations described that highlight the difference in doctrine. While at Torkham Gate near the Pakistan border, the Marines witness an army unit going through their "fire response" tactics. The gunners are wrapped up in major armor in their turrets and they are practicing dropping down inside the humvee when they are attacked. One Marine points out that the Marines are not trained to do that. They are trained to fire back and push through the ambush. That's what they were doing in Iraq and that is what they did in Afghanistan.

During the drive to Torkham Gate, most cars get out of the way. Those that don't, the Marines throw rocks at their cars to make them move. In Iraq, they would have used flares, but the Marines say they don't have any in Afghanistan (part of their supply problem?) and the Spec Ops briefing said to use rocks so they don't have to fire at the cars. On the way back, the cars are not moving and attempt to weave in and out of the convoy, making the Marines more tense. Hand and arm signals aren't working and neither are the rocks. The Marines are contemplating firing warning shots. At this time, several cars drive towards them. The Marines throw a rock to make them move. The taxi swerves to the side, but a van packed with explosives does not. That's when the Marines were attacked.

Finally, on egressing the area, the Marines are much more aggressive about clearing traffic out of their way and use warning shots into car blocks to force cars back or away. They did as they were trained and left the area quickly to return to base "driving through the ambush". The PRT commander says this is not what the Army does. He said they would secure the area, check for civilian casualties to be evac'd and get basic information on the situation.

Is that last part always true? Or, is that the hoped for practice? Some reported instances from Afghanistan would seem to imply that securing the area and checking for civilian casualties directly after an incident instead of driving through the ambush or through to the next objective is not 100% true. In which case, you have to wonder why the PRT commander felt the need to expound on that.

In the end, the question of the Marines actions on March 4, 2007 seems to come down to doctrine and training. That question seems to be the sticking point for getting Marines back into Afghanistan this entire time. What are the Marines going to be doing in Afghanistan and where? The Army is interested in reconstruction and limited firefights. The Marines, as one notes, are trained to go into a "hot battle space" and "take control of it".

Last, though briefly touched on, the MARSOC might want to review the planned MSOFs and make sure that, when they go in, they are self sufficient or have a real support base to insure proper supplies, equipment and repairs.

There is a lot more to read and take away from the inquiry. Please read Jennifer Hlad's blog and subsequent updates at Court of Inquiry.

[On a separate note, re: rocks v. flares for warning vehicles away - its interesting to note how long it took the enemy to translate tactics from Iraq into Afghanistan, such as SVBIEDs, EFPs and the general make up of complex ambushes and then to see that our own ability to translate simple tactics and equipment into Afghanistan may be just as slow or worse]

Download House Veteran's Legislation Update

by Kat on Feb 01, 2008 | ~~GWOT~~ Whatever it is...

Veteran's Affairs Update, Part II.

This is the TOC for the remainder of the Veteran's Affairs Update from the post below:

== VA Performance [01] ------------------------ (Future Concerns)
== Tricare Lap-Band Surgery --------------------- (Now Available)
== Veteran Charities [06] -------------------- (Hearings Scheduled)
== Veteran Charities [07] --------- (Congressional Hearing Held)
== Oklahoma Vet Insurance Plan ----------------------- (Suggested)
== Gulf War Vet Advisory Committee ---- (Request to Establish)
== DOD Disability Evaluation System [09] ------- (Improvements)
== Tricare EOBs [03] ------------------------------- (On Line Access)
== Military Deaths ----------------------------------- (By Year)
== CA & Federal Disabled Benefits (100% SC) ------------- (List)
== CA & Federal Pension Benefits ----- (Non-service Connected)
== Veteran Legislation Status 30 JAN 08 ------ (Where We Stand)

Download Senate Veteran's Legislation Update

The details are in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry.

VA PERFORMANCE UPDATE 01: Few federal programs have seen the kind of turnaround experienced by the Veterans Affairs Department's health care system in the late 1990s. Formerly a poster child for substandard medical care and incompetent management, VA's health care system now is considered by
many to be the best in the country. Its ratings for quality of care and customer satisfaction have risen even as the patient load has increased. Major media outlets have credited the agency's use of electronic medical records, unprecedented even in the private sector, with improving medical care, and Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have held up VA's system as a model for nationwide health care reform. But the department's success is in jeopardy, according to Dr. Kenneth Kizer, undersecretary for health at Veterans Affairs from 1994 to 1999 and
the man many credit with leading the management reforms that ultimately fixed the broken health care system. Kizer now serves on the independent Commission on the Future of America's Veterans, which is examining demographic and budgetary trends, as well as changes in both warfare and health care, with an eye to providing the most effective programs and services to veterans. "We see a future that is not particularly bright for the VA," said Kizer, speaking at a forum in Washington sponsored by the New America Foundation, a nonprofit public policy institute. Rising medical costs, aging infrastructure and an increase in patients with serious, and expensive, medical needs all are
contributing to growing concern that medical care for veterans will deteriorate under the current system. "Economics are going to be driving some very difficult decision-making down the road," Kizer said. For that reason, the commission is planning to recommend later this year that Congress create a government-chartered entity, structured somewhat like the U.S. Postal Service, to manage
health care for veterans, he said. The entity's charter would detail its mission, funding, governance and assets, as well as requirements that senior managers hold specific skill sets and areas of expertise.

As a federal agency dependent on congressional appropriations, Veterans Affairs is increasingly ill-suited to manage health care for veterans, Kizer said. The annual appropriations process creates program instability and prevents strategic planning. In addition, the agency cannot exercise the kind of management judgment that corporations routinely exercise. For example, VA has found it extraordinarily difficult to close underused or outdated hospitals since no member of Congress wants to lose a medical facility in his or her district. As a result, the agency can't close hospitals in areas where they're not needed or build new ones in areas where they are needed. "The average age of VA hospitals is 50 years old," said William Diefenderfer, former deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and now a commissioner. We haven't built a new hospital in 20 years. A government-chartered entity "would have the authority to buy and sell assets and borrow money against them," Diefenderfer said. It also would be able to create new sources of revenue. For example, it could provide health care to all veterans and their families who have the ability to pay
- something the VA cannot do currently. Arthur Hamerschlag, former chief of staff at the Veterans Health Administration, the health care arm of Veterans Affairs, said he was not necessarily opposed to the creation of a government-chartered health system for veterans, but that a number of issues would first need to be resolved, including how the new entity would negotiate drug prices and whether or not it would accept Medicare - something VHA does not do now. Veterans Affairs has been able to hold down drug costs because federal law allows the agency to negotiate below-market prices from pharmaceutical companies, something private health care systems would likely protest if a
new quasi-private entity were created that could compete for patients, as the commission envisions. "I think VA will find itself in the medical marketplace in a way it does not now," said Hamerschlag. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it will require a different skill set." [Source: GOVExec.com Katherine McIntire Peters 16 Jan 08 ++

TRICARE LAP-BAND SURGERY: Tricare beneficiaries whose weight poses a serious health risk now have available a new surgical alternative. For those who medically qualify, Tricare now covers laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, also commonly called Lap-Band surgery. Although the TRICARE policy change has only recently been made, coverage is retroactive to 1 FEB 07. Maj. Gen. Elder
Granger, deputy director of the Tricare Management Activity said, “We at Tricare are careful to only cover procedures that have been proven safe and effective, and are accepted by the medical community. We’ve added this procedure because, for some beneficiaries, it may be the right course of
action to preserve their health.” Granger added that, like gastric bypass, gastric stapling or gastroplasty, Lap-Band surgery is only for those suffering morbid obesity. In medical terms, that means their body weight is 100 pounds over ideal weight for their height and bone structure, and their weight is associated with severe medical conditions known to have higher mortality rates. Body
weight that is more than twice the ideal weight for the person’s height and bone structure may also indicate morbid obesity. In addition, Tricare will cover the surgery if a patient has had an intestinal bypass or other surgery for obesity and, because of complications, requires a second surgery. Details of the coverage are available in the Tricare Policy Manual, which beneficiaries can view
online at http://manuals.tricare.osd.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=TMAManuals.DisplayManualSeriesInfo&ManualSeries=POLICY&TP02=67#TP02.
A search for "morbid obesity" goes directly to the correct section. [Source: TMA News Release 16 Jan 08 ++]

VETERAN CHARITIES UPDATE 06: With scores of U.S. soldiers returning home from Vietnam, California businessman and Army veteran Roger Chapin founded a charity in 1971 dedicated to those troops recuperating in hospitals. Over the next three decades, Help Hospitalized Veterans would distribute
millions of therapeutic craft kits to make moccasins, wooden wind chimes and other trinkets and would win accolades from presidents and Hollywood celebrities alike. Yet, as the nonprofit enterprise has ballooned into one of the country's largest veterans charities, reporting $71.3 million in donations during the past fiscal year, its spending practices have drawn sharp criticism from
charity watchdogs. Between 1997 and 2005, the charity paid $3.8 million in salary and benefits to Chapin and his wife and spent more than $200 million on fundraising and public education campaigns, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal tax filings. The public records also show that the charity awarded at least $19 million in contracts during that period to companies owned by Richard A. Viguerie, a prominent conservative political commentator and advertising consultant based in Virginia.

Help Hospitalized Veterans is one of several military-oriented charities whose spending practices are the subject of a congressional investigation. Chapin evaded U.S. marshals trying to serve him with a subpoena last month, said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Chapin, who has since been served, is expected to testify
today before the committee. Chapin, who has founded more than 20 nonprofit organizations over three decades, also is president and founder of the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, a smaller charity that provides emergency financial assistance to veterans and their families. That group is also under investigation by Congress, according to committee staff members, and is expected to be a subject of the hearing. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a committee member, said in an interview the committee wants to find a way to distinguish between charities that truly serve veterans and those "committing fraud against the public."

Chapin, reached at his San Diego home last month, said watchdogs and members of Congress are misrepresenting his charities. No laws at the federal or state level regulate the amount of money charities spend on overhead, fundraising or charitable causes. The American Institute of Philanthropy, a leading charity watchdog, issued a report last month suggesting that Help Hospitalized Veterans and 19 other veterans’ charities manage their resources poorly, paying high overhead costs and direct-mail fundraising fees. Help Hospitalized Veterans spends 31% of its funds on charitable causes according to Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy. The
institute recommends that charities spend at least 60% of their funds on charitable programs. Critics have not contended that all veterans’ charities manage their funds poorly. Some charities, including the Fisher House Foundation and the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust,
consistently have received high marks from watchdogs.

High overhead costs can be expected for start-up charities, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-VA) said in an interview. But he said it is important to determine whether some veteran’s charities have been "a serial swindler in terms of taking people's money and not spending it." Help Hospitalized Veterans paid Chapin $426,434 in salary and benefits in the past fiscal year, The Post's review
of a tax filing showed. His wife, Elizabeth, received $113,623 in salary and benefits as "newsletter editor," the filing shows. In the filing, the charity reports that the Chapins each worked 40 hours per week. In a separate tax filing, the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes reported that Roger Chapin worked another 40 hours per week for his job there but did not collect pay. Mike Lynch,
executive director of Help Hospitalized Veterans, said the charity's board considers Chapin's wages "proper compensation." Help Hospitalized Veterans has spent some of its donations in the real estate market. The charity purchased a condominium unit in Fairfax County in May 2006 for $444,600, according to property records reviewed by The Post. Chapin said the charity purchased the Falls Church apartment because of his frequent travel to Washington. The charity also purchased at least nine properties in the past decade in California, where the group has its headquarters, records reviewed by The Post show. The charity has long had ties to Viguerie. Richard Viguerie has been dubbed the "funding father" of modern conservative strategy, having pioneered important tactics in computerized direct mail strategy in the 1970s and 1980s. He is considered the direct mail titan of the right. In the past fiscal year, Viguerie's companies received $3.9 million from the charity, according to its filings with the Internal Revenue Service. Viguerie has been asked to testify at the hearing. Reached at his office in Manassas this week, an assistant said Viguerie would not
answer questions from a Post reporter, citing a policy against commenting on clients. [Source: Washington Post Philip Rucker article17 Jan 08 ++]

VETERAN CHARITIES UPDATE 07: A congressional investigation 16 JAN uncovered new allegations of questionable spending practices at two veterans charities, including one that paid retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks $100,000 to appear in its solicitation letters using money the nonprofit raised to
help soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. At a raucous three-hour hearing House members questioned California entrepreneur Roger Chapin about his management of two charities. One charity, Help Hospitalized Veterans, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations that were to help
wounded soldiers on personal expenses for Chapin, executive director Mike Lynch and Richard A. Viguerie, to whom the charity has awarded millions of dollars in fundraising-consulting contracts, the hearing found. The expenses included at least $340,000 in meals, hotels and entertainment; a $135,000 loan to Lynch for a divorce settlement with his former wife; a $17,000 country club
membership; three airplane tickets to Hawaii; and a $1 million loan to Viguerie for a start-up initiative at his firm, several members of the committee said. Chapin said he later repaid the charity for the flights and said the golf club membership was a “perk” for board members. The second charity, the Coalition to Support America ‘s Heroes, used Franks in its solicitation letters, the House
Committee on Government Oversight and Reform found.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) chairman of the committee said Help Hospitalized Veterans raised more than $168 million from 2004 to 2006. The charity spent a quarter of those donations on the veterans, with the rest going to direct-mail fundraising, salaries and other expenses. Republicans and Democrats voiced outrage over what Waxman called an intolerable fraud. “Most of the millions they receive never reach veterans or their families,” Waxman said. “Instead, the groups waste those contributions on bloated overhead costs and self-enrichment.” There are no laws that regulate how much charities spend on fundraising and overhead costs. There also are no requirements that nonprofit groups disclose such breakdowns in their solicitations. Several lawmakers signaled yesterday that they may introduce legislation aimed at helping donors better understand the finances of nonprofit groups. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT.) asked Chapin what would happen if his charities told donors how their donations were spent. “If we disclose, which I’m more than happy to do, we’d all be out of business,” Chapin said. “Nobody would donate. It would dry up.”

A spokesman for Franks said the retired general made several speeches for the charity in 2004 and 2005, as well as allowing his name to appear on direct mailings for about a year. He ended his support “when he learned that the percentage of money raised that was going to the troops was less than 85%, a figure which was then and remains today, his criteria for supporting charitable
organizations,” said retired Col. Michael Hayes, Frank ’s chief of staff. Lynch told The Post this week that Help Hospitalized Veterans meets the Better Business Bureau’s standards, but bureau President H. Art Taylor said yesterday that both Chapin charities do not. A committee member, Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT), expressed anger over his colleagues’ harsh scrutiny of Chapin’s charities. “I
am deeply concerned that we’re whacking on groups that are supporting the military,” Cannon said. Chapin’s nonprofit groups are two of several veterans’ charities under scrutiny for their spending practices. The American Institute of Philanthropy, a leading watchdog group, has suggested that Chapin’s groups are among 19 military-oriented charities that manage their resources poorly. Some other veteran’s charities consistently received high marks from the institute and other watchdog groups... [Source: Washington Post Philip Rucker article 18 Jan 08 ++]

OKLAHOMA VET INSURANCE PLAN: Saying one out of eight veterans is uninsured, Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma city) proposed 15 JAN creating an Oklahoma Veterans Health Insurance program. He said many people think all veterans qualify for free health care through the U.S. Veterans affairs Department. "Sadly, that's not true, and when the Legislature sets our priorities at the beginning of this session, Oklahoma's military veterans deserve to be at or near the top,” said Rice. The proposed insurance program would not be free. Veterans would be required to pay premiums and co-payments based on their household income. According to the latest census information, Oklahoma has 340,000 veterans. Under his proposal, the veterans' health insurance program would be administered by the Oklahoma Veterans Affairs Department. [Source: NewsOK.com 16 Jan 08 ++]

GULF WAR VETERAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE: A U.S. congressman is asking the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a committee that would give Persian Gulf War veterans a better and simpler way to access VA resources. In a 3 JAN letter to VA Secretary James Peake, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards
(D-TX) requested the formation of a Gulf War Veteran Advisory Committee, writing that the current setup does not adequately address the range of issues facing those who fought in that 1991 war. Edwards also chairs the U.S. House Military Appropriations Subcommittee. Currently, the VA’s Research Advisory Committee (RAC) is the only “Gulf War-focused entity” within the department, Edwards writes, and that committee’s charter is focused on medical research recommendations. Kirt Love, a Gulf War veteran who served with the 1st Armored Division, asked for Edwards’ help in an effort to better communicate the needs of veterans from his war, which he feels are neglected. Love said in
an e-mail that he became “deathly ill” after the war and has struggled for answers. “Currently VA pretends that Gulf War veterans do not exist and is non-responsive to any request made of them,” Love wrote in an e-mail. “Things are worse than ever before and VA doesn’t seem to care about that
fact. So veterans like myself struggle with inferior care and minimal benefits, forgotten by the country we served faithfully in 1991.” VA representatives have not yet responded to requests for comment. But Josh Taylor, an Edwards spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that “In general, Chairman Edwards
felt this was an important issue to bring to the attention of the Secretary.” And as the legislative session gets under way, there will be opportunities to discuss the committee further, Taylor said.

Excerpts from the letter include, “As you know, many of these veterans have felt neglected by the government — both the VA and the Defense Department — and while there are a wide range of issues they would like to raise, there is no common venue within the VA for them to raise their concerns…While these issues are brought to the RAC, simply because its charter deals with Gulf War
Illness, the RAC is not equipped or authorized to address them. A committee focusing on Gulf War veterans would help identify and prioritize unmet needs while consolidating improvements to care and services for those veterans… In May the VA established the Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF Veterans
and Families, which provides support for veterans of those wars. A similar entity should be available for Gulf War veterans …Including veterans of the conflict in the committee would be “critical. I would hope the committee would have some autonomy, its own staff, and some members of the committee from outside the government. I believe this would help the committee build trust with Gulf War veterans and therefore improve the committee’s ability to succeed from the outset.” [Source: Stars and Stripes George Ziezulewicz article 15 Jan 08 ++]

DOD DISABILITY EVALUATION SYSTEM UPDATE 09: The Army’s new Warrior Transition Unit led by Lt. Col. Chip Pierce is a brigade designed specifically to address the administrative needs of injured soldiers. In February, Army Times reported that soldiers languished for months — even years — in
the medical hold system, facing bureaucratic tangles as they worked their way toward the physical evaluation board to determine their disability rating for retirement pay. The stories, as well as reports from the Pentagon Inspector’s General and Government Accountability Office and testimony of injured soldiers before Congress, brought about a series of investigations and planned changes. And the new Warrior Transition Unit meant officials could immediately put some of those changes into effect. Since then, the Army has added staff, improved training for counselors and lawyers, and ensured every soldier has someone overseeing his or her progress through the system. And Building
18, Walter Reed’s dilapidated symbol of the breakdown in the system, no longer houses wounded soldiers.

While the number of soldiers medically retired — meaning they received a disability rating of 30% or higher or had at least 18 years of service when they went through the disability process — declined from 2005 to 2006, it increased by several hundred in 2007, according to figures provide by Col. Carlton Buchanan, deputy commander of the Army’s Physical Disability Agency. Moreover,
Buchanan said, while 270 fewer soldiers were medically retired in 2006 than in 2005, the percentage of those completing the evaluation process that were medically retired went up over that time, and has continued to rise in 2007:
• In 2005, 13,048 soldiers went through the process and 2,232 were medically retired, about 17.1%.
• In 2006, 10,460 soldiers went through the process and 1,956 were medically retired, about 18.7%.
• In 2007, 10,400 soldiers went through the process and 2,397 were medically retired — about 23%.
The 8,003 soldiers who weren’t medically retired in 2007 either were found fit and remained in the
Army, were awarded a lump-sum severance payment based on rank and years of service, or were separated without benefits if their condition was found to be pre-existing and they hadn’t been in the military for at least seven years. About 8,900 soldiers remain in the Warrior Transition Unit waiting for their final disability evaluation board.

Things still aren’t perfect; Pierce said it’s hard to judge how soldiers feel about the improvements because they weren’t in the system a year ago. And there are still cases taking longer than they should to go through the process. But now, rather than justifying a months-long quagmire, as had been done by other officials in the past, Pierce said his office tracks, by name, every soldier whose transition takes longer than 60 days. Prior to the 60-day mark, soldiers’ squad leaders in the Warrior Transition Units are responsible for making sure soldiers move through as quickly as possible. The Marine Corps also stood up a Wounded Warriors regiment last spring to keep track of Marines and sailors going through the disability retirement system. Though the Navy and the
Marine Corps have a better track record for getting service members through the process, there have been worries about the equity of their ratings system. An Army Times investigation last spring found that enlisted Marines lag far behind enlisted sailors and airmen in the size of the average disability payments they are awarded. The 2006 data released by the Defense Department’s Office of the
Actuary show Marines and soldiers continue to lag, even though they have higher injury rates and could be expected to have a greater proportion of serious injuries because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than do sailors or airmen. Their ranks and times in service were also comparable. The
average monthly disability payments for all enlisted members receiving disability pay from the military in 2006:
• Enlisted: • Air Force: $963 • Navy: $845 • Army: $792 • Marine Corps: $774.
• Officers: • Air Force: $2,668 • Navy: $2,392 • Marine Corps: $2,336 • Army: $2,067.

According to the Office of the Actuary, the number of Marines medically retired in 2006 went up by about 200 compared with the previous year — far more than any other service. The Air Force and Navy also saw increases in permanent disability retirements from 2005 to 2006 of 125 airmen and
36 sailors. Buchanan said part of the reason for the Army’s increase of more than 400 disability retirements in 2007 was that combat-related injuries rose to 18% from about 15% the year before. Among soldiers going through the military disability evaluation process, more than half of those with combat-related injuries are retired, Buchanan said. Another reason for the increase, he said,
is “increased training of physicians and adjudicators, coupled with greater precision in describing injuries, such as scars, muscle and nerve injuries, as well as mental disorders. That gives medical boards better information to determine proper disability percentages”. [Source: ArmyTimes
Kelly Kennedy article 15 Jan 0 ++]

TRICARE EOBS UPDATE 03: The Defense Department is limiting the amount of Tricare paper it sends to military retirees age 65 and older and their families by sending explanations of benefits forms only once a month. Others covered under Tricare, including active-duty families, will continue to have the choice of receiving a paper copy of their explanation of benefits (EOB) mailed each time
a claim is processed, even if there are multiple claims in a month. An explanation of benefits provides details of what action Tricare has taken on claims by doctors and other health care providers seeking payment for services to a patient. Officials said the monthly statement will allow easier comparison with the quarterly Medicare Summary Notice. There are exceptions to the monthly policy for these retirees and their family members; statements will be sent if the EOB includes a check to the patient, or if a claim is denied and the patient has appeal rights for those services. As in the past, patients can view an EOB online any time a claim is processed. Those who are not already registered for this service can do so at https://www.tricare4u.com/apps-portal/tricareapps-app/unauth/tricarehome.jsp. Beginning 14 FEB
patients will have the option of receiving an e-mail notification when a claim is processed. They can then log on to the website to view and print their EOBs. Once patients sign up for this option, however, they will not receive a mailed monthly summary of explanations of benefits. Patients will be able to view the EOBs for any claim processed within the last 27 months. Beneficiaries with
questions about the registration process can call (866) 773-0404. [Source: MRGRG Karen Jowers article 15 Jan 08 ++]

MILITARY DEATHS: CRS Report for Congress (Order code: RL32492) American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf is written in response to numerous requests for war casualty statistics and lists of war dead. It provides
tables, compiled by sources at the Department of Defense (DOD), indicating the number of fatalities and numbers of wounded among American military personnel serving in principal wars and combat actions from the Revolutionary War to the current Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring
Freedom (OEF) (operations in Afghanistan and related conflicts). A review of the composite data reveals the following.

• During the period between the Revolutionary War and the Persian Gulf War, it was the Civil War that produced the most American fatalities, when Union statistics and Confederate estimates are taken into account.
• World War II was the first war in which there were more battle deaths than deaths from other causes such as accidents, disease, and infections.
• With a total of 382 in-theater deaths, 147 of which were battle deaths, the Persian Gulf War was the least costly in terms of fatalities.
• The ongoing Operation Iraqi Freedom to date has produced more than nine times the number of in-theater deaths than the Persian Gulf War (which lasted seven months).
• During the Clinton presidency total military deaths from all causes were 13,417 whereas during the Bush presidency total military deaths through 2006 from all causes were 9.016.

• The latest census, of Americans, shows the following distribution of American citizens, by Race:

>>European descent (White) ....... 69.12%
>>Hispanic ................................ 12.5%
>>Black...................................... 12.3%
>>Asian ...................................... 3.7%
>>Native American ...................... 1.0%
>>Other ...................................... 2.6%

• Fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom are:
>>European descent (white) ..... 74.31%
>>Hispanic ............................. 10.74%
>>Black ................................... 9.67%
>>Asian ................................. . 1.81%
>>Native American .................... 1.09%
>>Other .................................... . 33%

• The casualty statistics for wars long ended are updated periodically, sometimes yearly. This almost always reflects the identification of remains of persons previously listed as missing in action and those persons’ reclassification as dead. Other reasons, much rarer, include the discovery of errors in casualty records for individuals or categories of people. [Source: Honolulu-Eagles Military statistics msg 14 Jan 08 ++]

CALIFORNIA & FEDERAL DISABLED BENEFITS (100% SC): Veterans who are residents of California who are rated 100% totally disabled by the VA as a result of a service connected (SC) determination are entitled to the following state and federal benefits. This list was last updated OCT 06. For residents of other states the federal benefits are the same but the state benefits will be in accordance with that state’s laws. To determine what they are check the VA website associated with the state in question:
1. Eligibility for additional allowance for dependents—spouse, children, dependent parent(s).
2. Eligibility for additional aid and attendance allowance for disabled spouse.
3. Enrollment in VA Healthcare Priority Group 1 (no co-payments required).
4. VA fee basis outpatient medical card (all conditions requiring treatment, whether SC or not).
5. Eligibility for all necessary dental care.
6. Eligibility for sensorineural aids—hearing aids, eyeglasses, contact lenses—without regard to whether the condition producing need for such is service-connected.
7. Eligibility for long-term VA Nursing Home care for any condition.
8. Eligibility for health care coverage under CHAMPVA for spouse and children (unless they are also eligible for TRICARE).
9. Eligibility for Service-Disabled Veterans’ Insurance (RH), including up to $20,000 supplemental insurance beyond regular amount.
10. Waiver of VA life insurance premiums, if under age 65 (but not on additional amounts).
11. Possible eligibility for special monthly compensation for loss or loss of use of a creative organ; loss of a female breast; loss or loss of use of one hand, one foot, or one eye; loss of use of both buttocks; complete deafness in both ears; or, complete organic aphonia (loss of ability to communicate by speech).
12. Possible eligibility for special monthly compensation for loss or loss of use of both eyes, both hands, or both feet, or one hand and one foot. Includes paired extremities or organs (one SC, the other NSC, 38 CFR § 3.383) and combinations of losses.
13. Possible eligibility for special monthly compensation because of being permanently housebound or having one disability rated 100% plus other conditions independently ratable at 60% or more.
14. Possible eligibility for special monthly compensation because of being so helpless as to require the regular aid and attendance of another person.
15. Possible eligibility for payment of annual clothing allowance for specified SC disorders resulting in need for prosthetic appliance or use of a wheelchair, or for certain skin conditions.
16. Possible eligibility for one-time assistance in purchase of specially-adapted automobile.
17. Possible eligibility for Automobile Adaptive Equipment Allowance.
18. Eligibility for education or training under VA Vocational Rehabilitation.
19. Possible eligibility for Special Adapted Housing Assistance.
20. Possible eligibility for Special Home Adaptation Grant.
21. Possible eligibility for Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance (VMLI).
22. CAL-VET Home Loan Disability Insurance.
23. Eligibility for property tax exemption on principle residence.
24. Home loan guaranty funding fee exemption.
25. Possible eligibility for Home Improvement and Structural Alteration (HISA) home modification grant.
26. Golden Access Passport for U.S. National Parks.
27. California State Park pass (requires SC wartime-incurred disability) ($3.50 one-time fee).
28. Reduced fee for hunting license.
29. Reduced fee for basic sport fishing license.
30. Eligibility for 10-point preference for Federal Civil Service employment. Under certain circumstances, may be employed on a noncompetitive basis. The 10-point preference is also applicable for the spouse and/or natural mother of a permanently totally service-disabled veteran.
31. Eligibility for 15-point preference for State of California employment. The spouse of a 100% disabled veteran is eligible for 10-point preference.
32. Eligibility for Survivors’ and Dependents’ Education Assistance for spouse and/or children under 38 U.S.C., Chapter 35.
33. Eligibility for CAL-VET College Tuition and Fee Waiver for spouse and children (Plan A). Requires wartime service. May not e authorized concurrently with VA education assistance under Chapter 35.
34. Eligibility for CAL-VET College Tuition and Fee Waiver for children (Plan B). May be authorized concurrently with VA education assistance under Chapter 35.
35. Eligibility for son(s) and/or daughter(s) to compete for admission to military academies.
36. Eligibility for military identification card.
37. Possible eligibility for DMV Disabled Veteran license plates.
38. Eligibility for exemption from vehicle license fees.
39. If a 20-year military retiree, possible eligibility for CDRP or CRSC.
40. Withdrawal from SBP program participation (military retirees) after having been rated SC, totally disabled for 10 continuous years, or, if out of service less than 10 years, having been rated SC, totally disabled for at least 5 continuous years from date of last active duty.
41. Possible eligibility for the California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) and the Federal Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOB) programs. [Source: CA Dept of VA website Nov 07 ++]

CALIFORNIA & FEDERAL PENSION BENEFITS: Veterans who are residents of California who are disabled as a result of non-service connected (NSC) determinations by the VA are entitled to a number of state and federal benefits. Following is a checklist that can be used to assist in obtaining these benefits. This checklist was last updated OCT 06:

A. Claim Requirements:
1. Minimum of 90 consecutive days of active service or was discharged because of SC disability. If veteran entered service after 1980, the service requirement is 24 continuous months or the full period for which called to active duty, whichever is less, unless discharged sooner because of hardship, reduction-in-force, or SC disability. In any event, at least one day of service must have been during a wartime period.
2. If veteran is under age 65, evidence that veteran is in receipt of any disability benefit administered by the Social Security Administration (either SSA or SSI); or, is a long-term patient in a nursing home because of disability; or, medical evidence showing the veteran is unable to work because of disability.
3. Medical evidence to show that veteran is in need of regular aid and attendance or is housebound (if applicable).
4. Report projected family income—include income from all sources, including farm and/or business. Also list deductions/exclusions—unreimbursed medical expenses, children’s wages, etc.
5. Report net worth.
6. Dependency documents—marriage certificate, birth certificate(s), death certificate(s), divorce decree(s), VA Form(s) 21-674(as applicable). If an adult child is claimed as disabled (helpless), submit appropriate medical evidence in support.

B. Benefits:
1. Possible additional pension payable if housebound or if so helpless as to require the regular aid and attendance of another person (includes nursing home patients).
2. Additional pension payable if veteran served during World War I.
3. VA outpatient medical card if entitled to aid and attendance or housebound benefits, or if a World War I veteran.
4. Enrollment in VA Healthcare Priority Group 4 (no co-payments required) if entitled to aid and attendance or housebound benefits.
Enrollment in Priority Group 5 (no co-payments required) if entitled to basic pension. Enrollment in Priority Group 6 (no co-payments required) if a World War I veteran.
5. Eligibility for sensorineural aids—hearing aids, eyeglasses, contact lenses—if housebound or in need of regular aid and attendance.
6. Waiver of VA insurance premiums, if under age 65 (but not on any supplemental RH insurance).
7. CAL-VET Home Loan Disability Insurance.
8. Golden Access Passport for U.S. National Parks.
9. Possible eligibility for DMV Disabled Person Parking Placard.
10. Eligibility for 10-point preference for Federal Civil Service employment.
[Source: CA Dept of VA website Nov 07 ++]

VETERAN LEGISLATION STATUS 30 JAN 08: The House of Representatives returned to work on JAN 15th and the Senate on January 22nd.for the second session of the 110th Congress. Up for election/re-election in 2008 are 35 Senators and 435 Representatives. All of these will be more receptive to their veteran constituent’s inputs in hope of obtaining their vote so this is the year we should be pushing for the legislation that will benefit us most. Those seeking to remain in the Senate or be elected to it are:

Lamar Alexander, R-TN
Tom Allen, D-ME (1st District); running for Senate
John Barasso, R-WY
Max Baucus, D-MT
Joseph Biden, D-DE
Saxby Chambliss, R-GA (Armed Services)
Thad Cochran, R-MS (Ranking Minority Member-Appropriations, Defense Appropriations)
Norm Coleman, R-MN
Susan Collins, R-ME (Armed Services)
John Cornyn, R-TX (Armed Services)
Elizabeth Dole, R-NC (Armed Services)
Richard Durbin, D-IL (Defense Appropriations, Senate Majority Whip)
Michael Enzi, R-WY
Lindsey Graham, R-SC (Armed Services, Veterans Affairs)
Tom Harkin, D-IA (Defense Appropriations)
Duncan Hunter, R-CA (52nd District); running for President (Ranking Minority Member-Armed
James Inhofe, R-OK (Armed Services)
Tim Johnson, D-SD (Chairman-Military Construction Appropriations)
John Kerry, D-MA
Mary Landrieu, D-LA (Military Construction Appropriations)
Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ
Carl Levin, D-MI (Chairman-Armed Services)
Mitch McConnell, R-KY (Defense Appropriations, Senate Minority Leader)
Steve Pearce, R-NM (2nd District); running for Senate
Mark Pryor, D-AR (Armed Services)
Jack Reed, D-RI (Armed Services, Military Construction Appropriations)
Pat Roberts, R-KS
John Rockefeller, D-WV (Veterans Affairs)
Jeff Sessions, R-AL (Armed Services)
Gordon Smith, R-OR
Ted Stevens, R-AK (Ranking Minority Member-Defense Appropriations)
John Sununu, R-NH
Tom Tancredo, R-CO (6th District); running for President
Mark Udall, D-CO (2nd District); running for Senate (Armed Services)
Tom Udall, D-NM (3rd District); running for Senate
Roger Wicker, R-MS
Heather A. Wilson, R-NM (1st District); running for Senate

For a listing of Congressional bills of interest to the veteran community that have been introduced in the 110th Congress refer to the Bulletin’s House & Senate attachments. By clicking on the bill number indicated you can access the actual legislative language of the bill and see if your representative has signed on as a cosponsor. Support of these bills through cosponsorship by other legislators is critical if they are ever going to move through the legislative process for a floor
vote to become law. A good indication on that likelihood is the number of cosponsors who have signed onto the bill. A cosponsor is a member of Congress who has joined one or more other members in his/her chamber (i.e. House or Senate) to sponsor a bill or amendment. The member who introduces the bill is considered the sponsor. Members subsequently signing on are called cosponsors. Any number of members may cosponsor a bill in the House or Senate. At http://thomas.loc.gov you can also review a copy of each bill’s content, determine its current status, the committee it has been assigned to, and if your legislator is a sponsor or cosponsor of it. To determine what bills,
amendments your representative has sponsored, cosponsored, or dropped sponsorship on refer to http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d110/sponlst.html. The key to increasing cosponsorship on veteran related bills and subsequent passage into law is letting our representatives know of veteran’s feelings on issues. At the end of some listed bills is a web link that can be used to do that. Otherwise,
you can locate on http://thomas.loc.gov who your representative is and his/her phone number, mailing address, or email/website to communicate with a message or letter of your own making. [Source: RAO Bulletin Attachment 13 Jan 08 ++]

Lt. James “EMO” Tichacek, USN (Ret)
Director, Retiree Assistance Office, U.S. Embassy Warden & IRS VITA Baguio City RP PSC 517 Box RCB, FPO AP 96517
Tel: (951) 238-1246 when in U.S. & Cell: 0915-361-3503 when in Philippines.
Email: raoemo@sbcglobal.net Web: http://post_119_gulfport_ms.tripod.com/rao1.html
AL/AMVETS/DAV/FRA/NAUS/NCOA/MOAA/USDR/VFW/VVA/CG33/DD890/AD37 member
BULLETIN SUBSCRIPTION NOTES:
== To subscribe first add the above RAO email addees to your address book and/or white list and then provide your full name plus either the post/branch/chapter number of the fraternal military/government organization you are currently affiliated with (if any) “AND/OR” the city and
state/country you reside in so your addee can be properly positioned in the directory for future recovery. Subscription is open to all veterans, dependents, and military/veteran support organizations. This Bulletin sent to 63,292 subscribers.

by John on Feb 01, 2008 | Veteran's Issues

Veteran's Affairs Update, Part 1, a Castle Publick Service.

Periodic updates on items and issues of interest to veterans, future veterans and their families. This is actually a subscribable newsletter put out by James Tichacek, that I have permission to post full-up as a public service. If you'd like to subscribe, the instructions are at the bottom of the post. I will post the table of contents in the main post, and all the detail will be in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry. You may steal this content for newsletters, emails, your own websites - I only ask that you credit James, and if you're getting it from me - The Castle! Hey, it's all about the linkage, right? Wrong - it's about making this info available to as wide an audience as we can.

Here's the Table of Contents - use it to guide you through the details, contained in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry:

RAO Bulletin Update
1 February 2008

THIS BULLETIN CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES

== NDAA 2008 [14] ------------------------------ (President Signs)
== Proposals to Aid Vets ----------------- (Democrats Take Issue)
== VDBC [24] ---------------------- (Disability Benefits Contract)
== VA Claim Backlog [14] ----------- (29 JAN HVAC Summary)
== VA Mileage Reimbursement [03] ----------- (28.5 cents/mile)
== Vet Benefit Expiration Dates ---- (MGIB/VEAP/Rehab/SGLI)
== SBP Lawsuit -------------------------------------------- (Full DIC)
== VA Voluntary Service (VAVS)] -------- (How to Participate)
== NDAA 2009 -------------------------------- (CR/SBP Inequities)
== Veteran Grave Vandals ---------------- (Private Property Law)
== Mobilized Reserve 30 JAN 08 ------------ (Net Increase 1808)
== Texas Veteran Tuition -------------------------------- (Overview)
== MTU Tuition Break ------------------- (Starting Summer 2008)
== Diabetes [04] ---------------------------- (Obesity Surgery Cure)
== Shingles [05] -------------------------------- (TFL Vaccine Cost)
== VA Estate Debt Collection ------------------------- (Bill to Stop)
== Cyberspace Command ------------ (Keesler AFB a Contender)
== Medicare News ------------------------------------------ (Various)
== Arizona Taxes ---------------------------------- (New Tax Credit)
== Vet Cemetery Virginia -------------------------- (Study Results)
== Tax Audits ---------------------------------- (Number to Increase)
== Tax Filing Obligations Overseas ----------- (Reporting Rqmts)
== Tax Changes 2007 ---------------------- (Increases / Decreases)
== Fluoridation --------------------------- (Southern CA Completed)
== Veteran Employment [02] ------------------ (2008 Top 25 Jobs)
== VA Burial Program Survey ----------- (3 JAN thru 28 FEB 08)
== GI Bill [17] ----------------------------------- (2008 Goals)
== VA Budget 2008 [12] -------- (Emergency Funding Approved)
== WEP/GPO ----------------------------- (Congressional Hearing)

NDAA 2008 UPDATE 14: The Senate passed a $696 billion 2008 Defense Authorization Bill H.R. 4986 22 JAN and President Bush signed it into law on 28 JAN. The fiscal 2008 defense budget has been laden with challenges, from Congress' inclusion of non-defense-related earmarks to its insertion of controversial language regarding Iraq. Bush announced 28 DEC that he wouldn't sign the bill until it was revised. Instead, the president signed an executive order authorizing a 3% military pay raise. The amount was 0.5 % lower than the 3.5% rate provided for in the authorization act, but took effect 1 JAN 08. All pays and incentives included in the authorization act will be retroactive to 1 JAN, a defense official said. The bill became law just a week before the next budget cycle begins as Bush sends his fiscal 2009 request to Capitol Hill. That budget proposal, along with a requested $70 billion in emergency war spending, is expected to be delivered to Congress 4 FEB.

The NDAA contains provisions improving the transition from active duty to veterans’ status and improving VA health care for returning service members, especially those with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Among the key provisions to improve care for veterans and their families, the NDAA:

• Provides an additional three years of access to free VA health care for returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Improves and expands VA’s ability to care for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with TBI, including research, screening, care coordination, and working with non-VA providers to provide the care needed by our veterans;
• Requires a comprehensive policy to address mental health conditions, including PTSD;
• Requires DOD and VA to streamline the records transmission process, including moving forward with fully interoperable medical records;
• Provides for a more seamless transition between active duty and veterans’ status, including a single physical exam for DOD and VA benefits;
• Creates Wounded Warrior Resource Center to serve as a single point of contact for service members, their families, and primary caregivers to report issues with facilities, obtain health care, and receive benefits information;
• Requires VA to provide age-appropriate nursing home care for our veterans;
• Allows members of the National Guard and Reserves that are eligible for Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP) to use their education benefits for ten years after separation;
• Requires a study on the feasibility of streamlining statutory provisions addressing GI Bill benefits for active duty and guard and reserves.
[Source: AFPS Donna Miles article 28 Jan 08 ++]

PRESIDENTIAL PROPOSALS TO AID VETS: Democratic lawmakers reacted with skepticism 29 JAN to President Bush's new proposals to aid the families of military personnel and veterans, noting that his administration has repeatedly underfunded the Veterans Affairs Department (VA). In his State of the Union address 28 JAN, Bush proposed a series of measures intended to help military families, including the creation of hiring preferences for the spouses of military personnel and legislation to allow servicemembers to pass on unused GI Bill educational benefits to their spouses and children. “They endure sleepless nights and the daily struggle of providing for children while a loved one is serving far from home,” Bush said of military families. “We have a responsibility to provide for them.” The president also called for expanding military families' access to child care. Democrats and some veterans' advocates sharply criticized the proposals, which they said came after years of lean administration budget requests for the VA and military personnel. “The difficulty . . . that we've had on this issue is that the budgets for Iraq have sucked out all the air,” said Susan A. Davis (D-CA) chairwoman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee. “Families have not been nearly as high a priority as they should be. Maybe that'll change. I doubt it.”

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the GI
Bill proposal would come as “a slap in the face” to newly returning veterans if it is not accompanied by broader improvements, which have proved difficult to advance in Congress because of administration opposition and tight budgets. Bush asserted that VA funding had increased by more than 95% since he had taken office -- another suggestion met with barbs from Democrats. “He didn't tell them that his budget proposals have repeatedly cut funding for veterans, and that the only reason spending on veterans' programs has increased is because Congress raised the level of spending,” said Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. Bush is set to unveil his 2009 budget proposal 4 FEB Lawmakers already have begun to push for funding of their priorities. Akaka and Bernard Sanders, (I-VA), sent a letter on 25 JAN asking new VA Secretary James B. Peake for increased funding for the VA's National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, which they said had to cut staff in recent years because of insufficient resources. Bush also will have to include funding to enact proposed recommendations of a presidential commission on “wounded warriors” led by former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) (1969-96), and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. In his address, Bush called on Congress to pass the remaining recommendations of
the commission, including a major overhaul of the veterans' disability benefits system. [Source: GQ Today Patrick Yoest article 29 Jan 08 ++]

VDBC UPDATE 24: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a $3.2 million contract to Economic Systems Inc. of Falls Church, Va., to develop information relating to possible changes in the composition of disability payments to disabled veterans. The contact is based upon recommendations of the Dole-Shalala Commission, which issued its final report in July 2007, and the OCT 07 final report of the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission. The contractor will provide its findings in AUG 08. Economic Systems Inc. will address three basic research questions in two studies.
• 188,000 Chapter 61 medical disability retirees with less than 20 years denied CRDP.
• Examine the nature and feasibility of making “long-term transition payments” to service members separated from the military due to disability while those veterans undergo rehabilitation.
• Provide information on the appropriate levels of compensation necessary to compensate for any loss in earnings capacity caused by service-incurred or service-aggravated conditions.
• Provide information on potential “quality of life” payments called for by both studies.
[Source: VA News Release 30 Jan 08 ++]

VA CLAIM BACKLOG UPDATE 14: Advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence could help the Veterans Affairs Department reduce a backlog of disability claims that has spiked past 1 million, according to computer experts and veterans advocates. The Veterans Benefits Administration, which processes the claims, has a backlog of 650,000 pending claims and another 147,000 that are under appeal and working their way through a process that "is paper intensive, complex to understand, difficult to manage and takes years to learn," Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability and Memorial Affairs Rep. John Hall (D-NY) said at a 29 JAN hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Training an employee to rate VBA claims can take two to three years and many leave within five years, Hall said. Experienced raters can adjudicate only about three claims a day, spending two to three hours on each claim. He said the VA should consider the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as automated decision-support tools that can determine disability payments, which would speed up claims processing.

Computer experts who testified at the hearing said technology exists today that can automate the claims process and eliminate the backlog. Tom Mitchell, chairman of the Machine Learning Department at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh said the VBA needs to emulate health insurers such as Highmark Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company that uses computers to process 90% of its claims. Mitchell said the computer system automatically determines payments because it contains a large collection of rules, each one specifying the payment to be made in some very specific case, defined by the details of the patient's policy, treatment and history. The complex policy for determining what payment is due under which condition is encoded in these rules inside the computer." While the type of claims processed by Highmark are not identical to the kinds of claims processed by the VBA, Mitchell said they are similar enough to "conclude online processing will be of considerable value to the VA." Mitchell said other AI techniques that could work for VBA include case-based reasoning systems, which tap into a database of historical data to
compare past cases with a current case, and machine learning and data-mining, which could discover patterns in a current claim that indicate more information is needed to process the claim.

The VBA could automate its processes by developing a document naming system for paper documents, which are then electronically scanned into a database to make it easier to retrieve, said Ronald Miller, professor of biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University. VBA repeatedly loses paper records submitted by claimants. Robin Cleveland, wife of retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Tai Cleveland, told the hearing that since November 2005, she has submitted multiple copies of Tai's medical record and was told that the VBA could not find the records and she needed to resubmit them. She said her husband, a paraplegic after injuries incurred in AUG 03 during a hand-to-hand training exercise in Kuwait, only started to receive benefit payments this month after Congress intervened. Dr. Marjie Shahani, senior vice president of operations at QTC Medical Services, which conducts medical examinations on veterans and active duty personnel seeking VBA compensation, said her company has developed an application called the Evidence Organizer, which creates an electronic file for a claim, which can include multiple medical conditions and is accessible at the click of a mouse. Shahani said the organizer cuts the time to rate an individual claim from 3.5 hours to 2.2 hours. The time savings should allow a VBA ratings specialist to review 711 claims compared with the 533 a specialist processes today, he said.

Kim Graves, director of business process integration for the VBA said the VBA already has bbegun to develop technologies to increase the number of claims that specialists can process. The agency has a comprehensive strategy to develop the Paperless Delivery of Veterans Benefits initiative, which will employ a variety of enhanced technologies to support end-to-end claims processing, Graves said. In addition to imaging and computable data, it will also incorporate enhanced electronic workflow capabilities, enterprise content and correspondence management services. Graves said VBA also is considering the use of business-rules-engine software for workflow management, which could improve processors' decision-making. Stephen Warren, principal deputy assistant secretary for the VA Office of Information and Technology, said the department is preparing a statement of work to engage the services of a lead systems integrator to develop strategy and business requirements for Paperless Delivery of Veterans Benefits, though he did not provide a timeline. Gary Christopherson, who served as chief information officer for the Veterans Health Administration in 2000 and principal deputy assistant secretary for Health Affairs in the Defense Department, said "using artificial intelligence or electronic decision support tools is nothing new." Government and corporations routinely use those tools, and VBA claims processing is no more difficult than any other application of AI. He also called for a radical policy change in how VBA provides benefits. He said that it should presume that a veteran has a valid claim and is entitled to benefits for a period of a year until it completes the processing of that claim, with payment starting in 30 days of the date the claim is filed. [Source: GOVExec.com Bob Berwin article 30 Jan 08++]

VA MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT UPDATE 03: In the FY2008 Omnibus Appropriations $125 million was allocated to pay for an increase in the travel reimbursement rate for disabled veterans to go to VA hospitals for care. The present 11 cents a mile was set in 1977. The increase is 17.5 cents per mile. However, it could not go into effect until VA Secretary Peake announced the change and directed the VA to put it into effect. In JAN 12 bi-partisan rural Senators wrote the Secretary asking him to put the change in effect as soon as possible. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has now made the decision to increase VA’s beneficiary travel mileage reimbursement rate effective 1 FEB 08, to 28.5 cents per mile for travel related to health care per VHA Dir 2008-006 . This would include travel for recalls due to a deficient lab, electrocardiogram (EKG), and x-ray in relation to a Compensation and Pension (C&P) examination (convenience of the Government). Mileage reimbursement claims for travel prior to 1 FEB 08, may still be submitted. Such claims will be processed using the previous rates and deductibles.

Title 38 U.S.C. § 111(c)(5) requires VA to adjust proportionately the beneficiary travel mileage reimbursement rate deductibles for travel in relation to examination, treatment or care (currently $3 one way; $6 round trip; with a maximum of $18 per calendar month) effective on he date of a beneficiary travel mileage reimbursement rate change. Therefore, based on the increase of the beneficiary travel mileage reimbursement rate, the deductible is adjusted proportionately to $7.77 per one way trip; $15.54 for a round trip; with a maximum deductible of $46.62 per calendar month. These deductibles may be waived in accordance with Title 38 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §17.144(b) when their imposition would cause severe financial hardship. Mileage reimbursement claims for travel prior to February 1, 2008, may still be received. Such claims will be processed using the previous rates and deductibles. [Source: TREA Washington Update 25 JAN 08 ++]

VET BENEFIT EXPIRATION DATES: Many of your benefits have an expiration date. Below are a few important ones to remember so you don't lose out.

• Montgomery GI Bill for Active-Duty (MGIB): 10 years from date of last discharge or release from active duty.
• Veterans Education Assistance Program (VEAP): 10 years from date of last discharge or release from active duty.
• Montgomery GI Bill for Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR): 14 years from the date of eligibility for the program, or until released from the Selected Reserve or National Guard. Some extensions available if activated.
• Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VocRehab): Generally, 12 years of separation from service or within 12 years of being awarded service-connected VA disability compensation.
• Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI): Coverage ends 120 days after separation or can be extended up to 1 year for totally disabled veterans.
[Source: Military.com http://www.military.com/benefits/veteran-benefits/veterans-benefit-expiration-dates 28 Jan 08 ++]

SBP LAWSUIT: On 30 JAN 08 a group of military widows will get their day in federal court,
pressing their case that a DEC 04 law change should have awarded them full payment of military SBP annuities in addition to the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) they receive from the VA because military service caused their husbands' deaths. At the time, the House Veterans Affairs Committee believed its language would not only restore DIC benefits to previously eligible survivors who remarried after age 57, but would also end the deduction of DIC from SBP annuities. Subsequent government legal review indicated the 2004 law didn't, in fact, make the latter change, but the difference of opinion hasn't entirely gone away. And now three widows are taking the government to court. When the case was filed in SEP 07, the Department of Defense responded with a motion to dismiss the case. The widows' lawyers filed a rebuttal, and now there will be a hearing before the US Court of Federal Claims, 717 Madison Street, NW in Washington, DC so the judge can make a decision on the DoD motion to dismiss. The oral arguments in the case will be open to the public at 9:30am. A specific court room won't be assigned until the morning of the 30th. Past efforts to sue the government in this way have rarely been fruitful, but one never knows how the courts might rule when legislative language is murky. [Source: MOAA Leg UP 25 Jan 08 ++]

VA VOLUNTARY SERVICE (VAVS): VAVS was founded in 1946 to provide for our nation's veterans while they are cared for by VA health care facilities. It is a volunteer organization run by the VA which helps veterans in VA facilities throughout the country. Volunteers assist in routine administrative functions to help free VA employees to concentrate more on health care. There are also several VA cemeteries that have VAVS volunteers assisting in maintenance chores. It is one of the largest centralized volunteer programs in the Federal government. Over 350 organizations support it and volunteers have provided over 676 million hours of service since its conception. As a community service volunteers assist veteran patients by augmenting staff with end of life care programs, foster care, community-based volunteer programs, hospital wards, nursing homes, and veteran outreach centers. The program receives annual contributions of over $50 million in gifts and donations. There are two convenient ways to sign up to be a VAVS volunteer:

1) Contact the Department of Veterans Affairs facility nearest you, ask for Voluntary Service, and tell their staff of your interest in becoming a VAVS Volunteer. The staff will take care of everything else including your interview, orientation, and assignment! To locate the VA facility is
nearest you refer to http://www1.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp?isFlash=12) Volunteer now by filling out and submitting the form located at http://www1.va.gov/volunteer/volnowDB.cfm. Someone from your local VAVS office will contact you with additional information.
[Source: NAUS Weekly Update 25 JAN 08 ++]

NDAA 2009: The previous National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) of 2006, 2007, 2008, did not address or correct the following issues --
• 188,000 Chapter 61 medical disability retirees with less than 20 years denied CRDP.
• 375,000 military retirees with less than 50% disability denied CRDP (Concurrent Retirement Disability Pay, 10 US Code 1414)
• 327,000 military retirees age 70 and 30 have paid up to an excess of 6 years' premiums for the Survivor's Benefits Program (SBP).
• 61,000 widows denied full relief from SBP/DIC

The 2008 NDAA did extend CRSC (Combat Related Special Compensation) to a yet to be determined number of Chapter 61 retirees (possibly as many as 40,000) with less than 20 years of service. It also did authorize $50/month "special allowance" to be incremented $10/year for 5 years. This is not much help to restore an offset that approximates $900-$1000/month. Further, it is a shallow gesture as it is valid from 1 OCT 08, and expires 1 MAR 16.

HR 333 would extend the benefits of CRDP to some 375,000 retired career veterans who are
rated less than 50% disabled by the VA and repeal the 10 year phase in of CRDP for those 180,000 retired career veterans who are rated 50 to 90% disabled. While other relevant bills in the Senate and House would correct either deficiency, none of those bills would correct both deficiencies.
Veterans who would like to see this bill enacted and correct the above inequities are urged to contact their legislators to request cosponsorship and inclusion of relevant portions of HR 333 in the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act. USDR has provided sample messages at
http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=10871981&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id] and
http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=10869241&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id] for your use to facilitate doing this. [Source: USDR Action Alert 27 Jan 08 ++]

VETERAN GRAVE VANDALS: A Texas lawmaker has introduced a bill that would make vandalizing the grave of a service member or veteran a federal crime, even if the grave is on private property. The bill sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe R-TX) comes after the grave of a Marine killed in Iraq was vandalized just two days after his burial in Liberty, Texas. “The person responsible has since been arrested and charged with a state felony, but no federal provision exists,” Poe said. Federal laws making it a crime to damage or destroy a memorial, headstone or gravesite apply only to public land, not to gravesites in private cemeteries. This is not the first time the federal government has had to stand by when a veterans’ grave was damaged. Last year, American flags were replaced with Nazi flags on Memorial Day weekend at the gravesites of veterans in Orcas Island WA, but the federal government could do nothing because the graves were in a private cemetery. Poe’s bill, HR 4973, was referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. If enacted into law, it would apply the same penalty for the destruction of graves on public lands — a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years imprisonment — to graves on private property. [Source: MarineTimes Rick Maze article 25
Jan 08 ++]

MOBILIZED RESERVE 30 JAN 08: .The Army, Air Force and Marine Corps announced the current number of reservists on active duty as of 2 JAN 08 in support of the partial mobilization. The net collective result is 1808 more reservists mobilized than last reported in the Bulletin for 9 JAN 08. At any given time, services may mobilize some units and individuals while demobilizing others, making it possible for these figures to either increase or decrease. The total number currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 73,197; Navy Reserve, 5,024; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 7,231; Marine Corps Reserve, 8,695; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 334. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been mobilized to 94,481, including both units and individual augmentees. A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel, who are currently mobilized, can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2008/d20080130ngr.pdf. [Source: DoD News Release 30 Jan 08 ++]

TEXAS VETERAN TUITION: Tuition waivers are available to Veterans honorably discharged who served at least 180 days of active duty military service, were Bonafide Texas resident at time of entry into service, and who have exhausted all Federal educational benefits. Veterans will receive exemption for payment of tuition and some fees at public colleges and universities. Exemptions from charges for continuing education courses are optional on the part of the institution. Application should be made to the financial aid officer of the state-supported institution of choice. The Texas State Attorney General has ruled that Texas veterans who are legal residents but not U.S. citizens are entitled to free college tuition at Texas public colleges. This ruling reverses an earlier policy that had prompted a federal lawsuit. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund sued the State of Texas in 2007 on behalf of six Hispanic veterans who were legal permanent residents when they entered the military. They had applied for benefits under the Hazlewood Act, which waives tuition at Texas public colleges for honorably discharged veterans who served on active-duty. Texas also offers the following education benefits to:

• Dependent children of MIA / POWs: Dependent children of Texas military personnel, MIA, or POW. Exemption for payment of tuition and some fees at public colleges and universities. Exemptions from charges for continuing education courses are optional on the part of the institution. Application should be made to the financial aid officer of the state-supported institution of choice.
• Children of Deceased Veterans: Children of veterans killed or died as a result of service in WWI, WWII, and Korea or since 2/1/55. Exemption for payment of tuition and some fees at public colleges and universities. Exemptions from charges for continuing education courses are optional on the part of the institution. Application should be made to the High school guidance counselor, or financial aid officer of the state-supported institution of choice.
• Orphans of National Guard and Texas Air National Guard: Exemption of certain orphans of National Guard and Texas Air National Guard. Exemption for payment of tuition and some fees at public colleges and universities. Exemptions from charges for continuing education courses are optional on the part of the institution. Application should be made to the financial aid officer of the state-supported institution of choice
[Source: Military.com Benefits 28 Jan 08 ++]

MTU TUITION BREAK: Starting with the first summer term of 2008, Michigan Technological
University will offer in-state tuition to out-of-state students who are the offspring or spouse of a person on active U.S. military duty. Students will be eligible for a Military Family Education Award if a parent or spouse is on active military duty or has been on full-time duty with the National Guard for more than a year. If a parent or spouse goes on active-duty after a student is admitted, the student will be eligible for a Military Service Award at the beginning of the next semester. Once a student receives the award, he or she will continue to receive it until graduation. To learn more call the MTU Admissions office at 888-688-1888. [Source: Military.com 28 Jan 08 ++]

DIABETES UPDATE 04: A new study gives the strongest evidence yet that obesity surgery can cure diabetes. Patients who had surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs were five times more likely to see their diabetes disappear over the next two years than were patients who had standard diabetes care, according to Australian researchers. Most of the surgery patients were able to stop taking diabetes drugs and achieve normal blood tests. The patients had stomach band surgery, a procedure more common in Australia than in the United States, where gastric bypass surgery, or stomach stapling, predominates.Gastric bypass is even more effective against diabetes, achieving remission in a matter of days or a month, said Dr. David Cummings, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal but was not involved in the study. "We have traditionally considered diabetes to be a chronic, progressive disease," said Cummings of the University of Washington in Seattle. "But these operations really do
represent a realistic hope for curing most patients."

Diabetes experts who read the study said surgery should be considered for some obese
patients, but more research is needed to see how long results last and which patients benefit most. Surgery risks should be weighed against diabetes drug side effects and the long-term risks of diabetes itself, they said. Experts generally agree that weight-loss surgery would never be appropriate for diabetics who are not obese, and current federal guidelines restrict the surgery to obese people. The diabetes benefits of weight-loss surgery were known, but the Australian study in the JAN Journal of the American Medical Association is the first of its kind to compare diabetes in patients randomly assigned to surgery or standard care. Scientists consider randomized studies to yield the highest-quality evidence. The study involved 55 patients, so experts will be looking for results of larger experiments under way. "Few studies really qualify as being a landmark study. This one is," said Dr. Philip Schauer, who was not involved in the Australian research but leads a Cleveland Clinic study that is recruiting 150 obese people with diabetes to compare two types of surgery and standard medical care. "This opens an entirely new way of thinking about diabetes."

Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes, and researchers are furiously pursuing reasons
for the link as rates for both climb. What's known is that excess fat can cause the body's normal response to insulin to go haywire. Researchers are investigating insulin-regulating hormones released by fat and the role of fatty acids in the blood. In the Australian study, all the patients were obese and had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the past two years. Their average age was 47. Half the patients underwent a type of surgery called laparoscopic gastric banding, where an adjustable silicone cuff is installed around the upper stomach, limiting how much a person can eat. Both groups lost weight over two years; the surgery patients lost 46 pounds on average, while the standard-care patients lost an average of 3 pounds. Blood tests showed diabetes remission in 22 of the 29 surgery patients after two years. In the standard-care group, only four of the 26 patients achieved that goal. The patients who lost the most weight were the most likely to eliminate their diabetes.

The death rate for stomach band surgery, which can cost $17,000 to $20,000, is about 1 in
1,000. There were only minor complications in the study. Stomach stapling has a 2% death rate and costs $20,000 to $30,000. In the United States, surgeons perform more than 100,000 obesity surgeries each year. The American Diabetes Association is interested in the findings. The group revises its recommendations each fall, taking new research into account. Sixty million Americans are unaware they have diabetes or are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Your risk for type 2 diabetes increases as your get older, gain too much weight, or if you do not stay active. Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include:
- Having high blood pressure (at or above 130/80)
- Having a family history of diabetes.
- Having diabetes during pregnancy or having a baby weighing more than nine pounds at birth. [Source: Associated Press Carla K. Johnson article 23 Jan 08 ++]

VA ESTATE DEBT COLLECTION: A bill that would block the Department of Veterans Affairs from trying to collect money from the estates of service members who die in combat was introduced Tuesday by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX). Her bill, S 2536, applies only to debts to the VA, and not to money owed to private-sector creditors or other federal agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service. Hutchison is asking Senate leaders for quick passage of the bill, hoping to bypass the normal process in which new bills are sent to committee for consideration. She could get high-level support. VA Secretary Dr. James Peake is expected to write a letter to the Senate endorsing her call for expedited passage of the bill, according to Senate sources. VA officials said they supported the bill but did not confirm that Peake would write a letter. Waiving normal procedures would require the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, on which Hutchison serves, to allow the bill to proceed without its involvement. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) the veterans’ affairs committee chairman, would have to approve the move. Akaka aides said the committee staff would study the measure first.
Few people die owing VA money, but Hutchison aides found that VA has collected more than
$56,000 from the families of 22 deceased soldiers, mostly National Guard and reserve members called to active duty who received overpayments of GI Bill education benefits. Her bill would be retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001, allowing families or estates that paid a debt to VA to receive a refund of any payment made since that date. Hutchison spokesman Matt Mackowiak said few people may be affected, but Hutchison considers it improper for any family of a service member who dies in combat to be contacted with a demand for money. Current law requires contacting a family or estate if there is any outstanding debt to VA at the time of death. A family has 180 days to file a grievance, with the VA secretary permitted to waive the debts. Three of the 22 cases involved constituents of Hutchinson in Texas. One was an Army soldier killed by a sniper while on his third tour to Iraq whose family repaid the government for a $389 overpayment of GI Bill benefits. The family of another Army soldier was billed for $2,282 in outstanding loans after the sergeant, who was married with four children, was killed in an explosion on his second tour in Iraq. Another case involved a Marine Reservist killed by an explosion in Iraq who owed VA $845. Hutchison aides said their review found similar cases in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin. [Source: NavyTimes
Rick Maze article 23 Jan 08 ++]

SHINGLES UPDATE 05: Some people are still having problems understanding Tricare overage for the shingles immunization. The problems are occurring primarily in the area of getting reimbursed for the expensive vaccine (Zostavax.). Basic rules published by Tricare for reimbursement eligibility are:

• Tricare cannot pay for any immunization received before it became a Tricare benefit on 19 OCT 07.
• The beneficiary must be at least 60 years old for Tricare to cover the immunization.
• The shot must be given in the provider’s office.
• The vaccine is not a Tricare Pharmacy Program benefit.

The beneficiary cannot buy the vaccine and be reimbursed by filing a pharmacy claim. The doctor should provide the shingles vaccine as he would any other. To be reimbursed by Tricare, he must include its price on the bill for the office visit. Tricare advises all beneficiaries who plan to get the shingles immunization to call their Tricare Service Center first so they can be fully
informed. Some beneficiaries and doctors have complained that claims processor Wisconsin Physician Service was unable to tell them how much it would allow for the vaccine. Tricare indicated on 28 DEC that this problem had been resolved. Beneficiaries and providers can call WPS to confirm the amount allowable for the vaccine.

According to the Tricare the Red Book (a national pharmacy price guide), the average
wholesale price for Zostavax is $196. WPS will allow 95%of that amount, or $186.20. You or the provider should file a claim for the shingles vaccination exactly as you would any other Tricare claim (or Medicare claim, for Tricare for Life beneficiaries). The provider should bill for an office visit, but he must include the price of the vaccine as an item on the bill. The vaccine will be reimbursed as a medical supply item on the provider’s bill. It cannot be covered as a prescription drug through the Tricare Pharmacy Program. That’s the standard operating procedure for vaccines. Providers should know all this. Most who balked did so because they were unable to figure out how much Tricare would allow for the cost of the vaccine. Now they can get that information, officially, by calling WPS. If the above rules are followed, Tricare claims for the shingles shot will be processed and paid in the usual way for beneficiaries who don’t have Tricare for Life.

There is some not-so-good news for Tricare for Life members since federal law requires Medicare and Tricare to process their claims separately. When your original Medicare provider files a claim for the office visit, which includes the price for Zostavax, Medicare will pay its share for the visit only. Medicare will deny payment for the vaccine because, by federal law, it is not a
covered service under Medicare. As usual for TFL beneficiaries, Medicare will pay the provider its share for a covered office visit and automatically forward the claim to Tricare. As usual, Tricare Standard will pay the balance on the Medicare claim for the office visit. You should have no out-of-pocket expense for the visit but there’s still the cost of the Zostavax. Because Medicare paid nothing for the vaccine, Tricare is your only insurance for that part of the claim. All Tricare claims processing rules will apply to that part of the claim. You would file a Tricare claim, which would be subject to a deductible and cost share for which you would have to pay out-of-pocket. Tricare will allow $186.20 for the vaccine. Thus, after your $150 deductible and 25% cost share, Tricare will pay the provider only $27.15. So out-of-pocket costs for the shingles immunization for Tricare for Life members are likely to be $159.05. Questions about any of this should be directed to your Tricare Service Center. (Note: If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Plan or a Medicare Part D Pharmacy Plan, the aforementioned may apply differently or not at all to you. Call your plan’s carrier for more details). [Source: NavyTimes James E. Hamby article 21 Jan 08 ++]

CYBERSPACE COMMAND: Keesler Air Force Base is one of 16 finalists to become the nation's headquarters in the fight against cyberterrorism. The first national command to fight in cyberspace, its location there would be a major coup for Biloxi and Mississippi - "as big as any Nissan plant, Toyota plant, or large casino project”, said Ret. Air Force Lt. Gen. Clark Griffith. He presented the proposal to the Biloxi City Council on 22 JAN and said the Cyberspace Command Headquarters would bring up to 10,000 jobs to the city. That includes several generals, about 500 high-salary, high-ranking Air Force personnel and thousands of civilian employees. The average command comprises about 12,000 people, Griffith said, and contractors, industry and possibly a Mississippi State University engineering-technology center would follow the Cyberspace Command to the Coast. Every 18 seconds the nation's computers, cell phones, radios and other electronics are being hacked. And increasingly, the attacks are coming from China and Islamic extremists, said Griffith. These cyberterrorists have forced shutdowns of computers at the CIA, FBI and other top federal agencies and they have
stolen classified information. The command would protect military cyberspace and homeland
security. The field of candidates narrowed from 56 to 16 and Griffith considers Keesler among the top five contenders.

Biloxi's chief competition is Langley Air Force Base in Virginia; Offutt in Nebraska; Colorado Springs, Col.; and Barksdale in Shreveport, La. All the others except the Shreveport base already have major commands. “Keesler is already the electronics-training headquarters for the Air Force and the home to the second-largest medical facility in the Air Force," said Mayor A.J. Holloway, who is working with Griffith to bring the command to Biloxi. If Biloxi is chosen as the site of the Cyberspace Command, "this will solidify Keesler plus Keesler Medical Center as a major base forever because the Air Force has never closed a major command headquarters.", he said. A meeting should take place at the Pentagon or Sen. Thad Cochran's office in Washington on 13 or 14 FEB. The decision on where to locate the Cyberspace Command is expected by early March; by fall, work should begin to establish the headquarters. Wherever the new Cyberspace Headquarters is located, Keesler will get a piece of the pie. Air Force personnel who staff the center will be trained at Keesler.
[Source: SunHerald Mary Perez article 23 Jan 08 ++]

MEDICARE NEWS:
1. Emergency Room Waiting Times: The average wait time for heart attack patients at American emergency rooms rose 150%, from 8 to 20 minutes, between 1997 and 2004, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs. Researchers attributed the increase to an overall rise in emergency room visits, emergency room closures and barriers to routine or outpatient care.

2. Complaints: New York state residents with Medicare filed only 343 complaints with the state’s Medicare Quality Improvement Organization between 2005 and 2007, a statewide response rate of .01% for the state’s three million people with Medicare, according to a 18 DEC report by IPRO, which contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to resolve quality-of-care complaints. While the .01% complaint rate is the second highest in the nation, the response rate is viewed as inadequate by state officials. By comparison, the New York State Department of Health had received 4,856 general complaints about hospitals and 21,481 about nursing homes during the same period. The IPRO complaint process differs from that of the Department of Health. Although people with Medicare can use either organization to report substandard care, complaints to IPRO must be submitted in writing and do not result in financial penalties. Instead, if IPRO determines a provider or institution provided a substandard quality of care, it will develop and monitor a quality improvement plan.

3. Health Insurance Impact on Deaths: Recent studies by a government advisory group underestimated the number of Americans who die because they lack health insurance, according to a recent report by the Urban Institute. According to their recently released study, Uninsured and Dying Because of It, estimates by the Institute of Medicine that 18,000 Americans died in 2001 due to a lack of health care coverage may be off by as much as 20%. The Urban Institute instead estimates that 21,000 people died in 2001 because they lacked health insurance, amounting to one death every 24 minutes. Between 2000 and 2006, the Urban Institute believes that 165,000 people died because they were uninsured. Researchers at both the Institute of Medicine and the Urban Institute say Americans face an average 25% increase in the likelihood of death when uninsured. Uninsured Americans are at greater risk of death because they do not receive diagnoses, chronic disease checkups or essential medications as quickly or as often as those with coverage, according to the Urban Institute. With life-threatening diagnoses like cancer, stroke or hypertension, the lack of frequent or timely
treatment can lead to premature death. The Institute came up with higher mortality rates because it estimated that older Americans without insurance face higher mortality rates than their younger counterparts.

4. Physician Access: New research suggests the percentage of doctors accepting new Medicare patients has remained stable since 2004. Researchers for Congress’ Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recently presented data showing that 80%of office-based doctors surveyed accepted new Medicare patients in 2006. Data for 2006 also shows that 93% of doctors who depend on Medicare for 10% or more of their revenue accepted new Medicare patients, a figure that has remained unchanged since 2004. Patient surveys yielded similar findings. A survey of 2,036 people with Medicare and 2,025 commercially insured Americans between 50 and 64 found that people with Medicare often have an easier time finding providers for specialty care. Eighty-five percent of respondents with Medicare reported no trouble locating a specialist in 2007, compared to 79% of privately insured Americans. Data on the search for a primary care provider was less encouraging, but has remained relatively constant since 2005. Seventy percent of Medicare patients surveyed had no problem finding a new primary care physician, a drop from 75% in 2005. In contrast, 82% of privately insured patients had no problem finding a new primary care physician, an increase of 7% since 2005. In addition to locating providers, survey data shows stable rates in accessing and receiving care. Three-fourths of respondents with Medicare who have a primary or routine care provider had never experienced care delays. In contrast, only 67 percent of privately insured Americans gave a similar response. [Source: Medicare Watch www.medicarerights. org 22 Jan 08 ++]

ARIZONA TAXES: Arizonans interested in providing financial help to military families now can reap a state tax break in the process. Starting JAN 08, donations made to a new fund that assists the families of Arizonans injured or killed in the line of duty can qualify for a state tax credit worth up to $200 for singles and $400 for married couples filing joint income-tax returns. Credits are dollar-for-dollar reductions in a person's tax bill and thus are more valuable than deductions, which reduce taxable income. The new state tax break, which is applicable for the 2008 through 2012 tax years, is designed to encourage donations to the Military Family Relief Fund. Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the legislation in December. The fund has started to receive donations and will begin to provide assistance in coming months. The fund will help meet costs incurred by relatives in the event of the death or injury of a member of the armed forces. Arizonans who give more than the $200/$400 credit limits can receive federal and state deductions for excess amounts, as would normally apply on itemized charity donations. However, taxpayers won't have to itemize to receive the credit on their state tax forms. As it stands now, credits for the program will be capped at $1 million, raising the possibility that the tax break might not last the full five years if a lot of people take advantage of it. The Arizona Department of Revenue doesn't yet have forms for the new credit and won't have them until it prepares 2008 tax-filing documents later this year, said Dan Zemke, an agency spokesman. The credits won't be refundable, he added, meaning they can be used only to whittle down a person's tax liability to the state. Robert Hockensmith, a Phoenix certified public accountant, certified financial planner and colonel in the Arizona National Guard, called the credit an "amazing" benefit that complements other efforts by the state to ease the tax burden on military families. Specifically, he referred to a new Arizona policy under which the state no longer taxes military pay received by Arizonans, including members of the National Guard and reservists. That began in 2007 and builds on a tax-free military-pay rule that has applied for active-duty personnel since 2006. [Source: The Arizona Republic Russ Wilues article 20 Jan 08 ++]

VET CEMETERY VIRGINIA: A University of Virginia study says a new veterans cemetery in Nelson County may be needed to serve the tens of thousands of veterans living in the area. The study, commissioned by the state Department of Veterans Services, said the cemetery would serve the area including Lynchburg, Buena Vista, Lexington, Waynesboro and Charlottesville. "The most important finding is the location and need of another cemetery," said Terance Rephann, an economist with University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, who conducted the study. The study also found that veterans cemeteries should have a 50-mile service-area boundary to properly serve the veteran population, though the current service area is 75 miles. "Veterans have a strong preference for the burial site to be close to their family," Rephann said. The Nelson cemetery would be mandatory if the state adopts a 50-mile service area as the study recommends, especially if the veterans cemetery in Culpeper Virginia closes as expected in about 15 years. There are three national cemeteries in Arlington County, Quantico and Culpeper County, and two state veterans’ cemeteries in Amelia County and Suffolk. An additional state veteran’s cemetery will be built in Dublin in Pulaski County within a few years. The study also found that many veterans are not aware of their cemetery veteran benefits and recommended that the department improve its outreach. [Source: AP article 19 Jan 08 ++]

TAX AUDITS: The Internal Revenue Service is increasing its audit presence. A new Act has been passed that penalizes preparers who take unacceptable positions on tax returns. IRS is turning its attention to auditing Form 2555 - Foreign Earned Income Exclusion - and Form 1116 - Foreign Tax Credit. And the national debt, funded by income taxes, has exceeded $9 trillion. So with the taxman increasing his presence in the lives of American taxpayers, both at home and abroad, tax compliance this year will have to be more carefully orchestrated to avoid problems with the IRS. Approximately 6.6 million Americans live outside the United States excluding military. Beginning in 2008, the Internal Revenue Service in its Form 1040 National Research Program will increase audits of American expatriate tax returns claiming the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit. The Service will also be improving its use of Forms 1042-S information documents as well as information provided by US treaty partners via the Exchange of Information provisions. Audits will be conducted for the purpose of assessing penalties for understated tax liabilities, particularly where the Foreign Tax Credit applies when the taxpayer's tax rate is below 30%. [Source: Tax Barron Report Jan 08 ++]

TAX FILING OBLIGATIONS OVERSEAS: Residents of foreign countries generally have to report and pay taxes on their world-wide income to the tax authority of the country wherein they reside. But US citizens or deemed US residents are also obliged to report world-wide income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). And without due diligence in how to go about reporting that income, they could in certain circumstances end up paying taxes stateside in spite of double taxation treaties. Understanding whether there is a filing requirement is therefore essential - since anyone receiving earnings below a threshold is not obliged to file. This threshold is merely the combination of two categories: exemption(s) and standard deduction (or itemized deductions). Anyone receiving income below the following combined category amounts need not file:

- Single: $8,750 / Over 65 $10,050
- Head of Household: 11,250 / Over 65 12,550
- Qualifying widow(er): 14,100 / Over 65 15,150
- Married filing jointly: 17,500 / 1 spouse over 65 18,550 / both spouses over 65 19,600
- Married filing separately: 3,400

So any taxpayer whose earnings exceed an applicable threshold amount must file a tax return. Foreign earned income (wages, salaries, self- employment) must also be included in the calculation of total income even if excluded by the foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE). To reduce the chances of double taxation, IRS allows that FEIE be applied against foreign earnings; $87,500 in 2007. Foreign earnings above this $87,500 excludable amount are taxable stateside, but the US tax may be offset by a foreign tax credit (FTC) applied against taxes paid to the foreign country of residence. In fact, the FTC is available on any income taxes paid abroad. A problem is that the FTC does not always fully offset US taxes.

Certain penalties apply for failing to comply with US tax laws. IRS assesses penalties at 5% a month against any unpaid taxes up to 25%. In cases where fraud is deemed to have been committed - for instance, in failing to report foreign earned income - IRS can assess 75% while denying the taxpayer the foreign earned income exclusion. It may also seek criminal penalties for not reporting foreign earnings, in which case the taxpayer could face jail time. Americans are also obliged to file information returns on investments in foreign corporations, foreign partnerships and foreign accounts, or risk very severe penalties. The due date for filing tax and certain information returns is 16 JUN 08 (15 OCT by filing Form 4868). However any taxes due for 2007 must be paid by 15 APR along with first quarter 2008 estimated taxes. Any US citizen or deemed resident living abroad who has not filed a tax return for some years should promptly do so as an offensive position is always better than a defensive one. IRS is actively increasing its powers of audit in order to catch non-compliers. Generally the revenue service will only require the last three years tax returns be filed. [Source: Tax Barron Report www.taxbarron.com Jan 08 ++]

TAX CHANGES 2007: The following changes are applicable to your 2007 Federal tax:

• Standard Deduction: MFJ $10,700
• Head of Household: $7,850 / Single $5,350 / MFS $5,350. The additional deduction for the aged is $1,050 if married or $1,300 if Single or Head of Household.
• Tax Rates Single: $0 - $7,825, 10%; $7,826 - $31,850, 15%; $31,851 - $77,100, 25%; $77,101 - $160,850, 28%; $160,851 - $349,700, 33%; $349,700, 35%.
• Tax Rates MFJ: $0 - $15,650, 10%; $15,651 - $63,700, 15%; $63,701 - $128,500, 25%; $128,501 - $195,850, 28%; $195,851 - $349,700, 33%; $349,700, 35%.
• Tax Rates MFS: $0 - $7,825, 10%; $7,826 - $31,850, 15%; $31,851 - $64,250, 25%; $64,251 - $97,925, 28%; $97,926 - $174,850, 33%; $174,850, 35%.
• HH: $0 - $11,200, 10%; $11,201 - $42,650, 15%; $42,651 - $110,100, 25%; $110,101 - $178,350, 28%; $178,351 - $349,700, 33%; $349,700, 35%.
• The Capital Gains Tax Rates are 5% for taxpayers in the 10% and 15% tax brackets and 15% if they are in the upper 25% - 35% brackets.

On 17 DEC 07 Representative Gregory Meeks introduced the Working American Competitiveness Act. The proposed legislation stipulates: At the election of a qualified individual, there shall be excluded from the gross income of such individual, and exempt from taxation under this subtitle, for any taxable year, the foreign earned income of such individual. The bill has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. If this legislation passes both houses of Congress, the foreign earned income exclusion will be unlimited. [Source: Tax Barron Report Jan 08 ++]

FLUORIDATION: California’s largest water agency, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California, has completed its efforts to fluoridate the water that reaches some 18 million residents in Southern California. The MWD serves 26 cities and water systems in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Ventura counties. The California Dental Association Foundation subsidized the effort with $5.5 million to design and construct fluoridation facilities at MWD’s five treatment facilities. Since 1995, California state law has required fluoridation of any public water supply with at least 10,000 customers, provided funding is available. Los Angeles and Santa Monica proceeded without outside funding. Long Beach, Beverly Hills, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach had fluoridated water prior to passage of the law. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 67% of Americans who receive water from a public water supply now drink water with optimal fluoride levels for preventing decay. [Source: Consumer Health Digest 15 Jan 08 ++]

VETERAN EMPLOYMENT UPDATE 02: This New Year brings new job opportunities for transitioning servicemembers and veterans interested in careers in health care, technology and consulting. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that these industries will have the largest employment, salary and wage growth into 2016. If clicking on the below items does not open a website for further details refer to http://www.military.com/NL_MR/1,14852,5391,00.html. Here are the top jobs for 2008:

1) Network systems and data communications analyst
2) Personal and home care aides
3) Home health aides
4) Computer software engineers, applications
5) Veterinary technologists and technicians
6) Personal financial advisors
7) Medical assistants
8) Veterinarians
9) Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors
10) Financial analysts
11) Social and human service assistants
12) Gaming surveillance officers and gaming investigators
13) Physical therapist assistants
14) Forensic science technicians
15) Dental hygienists
16) Mental health counselors
17) Mental health and substance abuse social workers
18) Dental assistants
19) Computer systems analysts
20) Database administrators
21) Computer software engineers, systems software
22) Gaming and Sports book writers and runners
23)- Environmental science and protection technicians, including health
24) Physical therapists
25) Physician assistants
[Source: Military.com article 14 Jan 08 ++

VA BURIAL PROGRAM SURVEY: The VA is conducting a program evaluation of the Burial Benefits program. VA will use information gathered from the evaluation to ascertain how well it has reached its goals and the impact of its burial program on the lives of veterans and their families. This information will enable VA to evaluate current and potential burial benefits, consider new policies and set priorities for the future. As part of the evaluation, a national survey on burial preferences will be conducted with veterans. Focus groups with veteran next of kin and funeral directors will also be conducted. Data collection from the survey and focus groups will take place from 3 JAN thru 28 FEB 08. Approximately 38,000 veterans and 1,000 next of kin and funeral directors have already been randomly selected from VA administrative databases to participate in the evaluation. A notification letter was mailed to these participants on 3 JAN, informing them of their selection to participate in either the survey or a focus group. Sites selected for focus groups include Springfield VA; Tampa FL; Minneapolis MN; Denver CO; and Los Angeles CA. Participation of veterans, veteran next of kin, and funeral directors in this evaluation is voluntary. Respondents will be assured that their answers will be kept confidential under the Privacy Act, will be used for research purposes only, and will be reported at the group-level only. If you have questions about the survey or focus groups, call an ICF International Caliber representative at 1(888) 556-6355 09-1700 EST. [Source: NAUS Weekly update 18 Jan 08 ++]

GI BILL UPDATE 17: At a hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on 17 JAN the MOAA and others presented their recommendations for upgrading the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB). Vic Snyder (D-AR), a member of the Subcommittee and former Chairman of the Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, was thanked by the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) representative COL Bob Norton, USA (Ret) for his pivotal role in winning a 10-year post-service readjustment benefit for reservists who earn MGIB benefits for service on active duty. That change will take effect when the FY2008 National Defense Authorization Act is signed into law. MOAA endorsed the seven legislative proposals under consideration at the hearing, especially bills such as H.R. 2702 that would raise MGIB reimbursement rates. The bill also would allow 15 years (vice 10) of post-service use eligibility and extend eligibility to all entering recruits, without the current $1,200 fee. MOAA believes strongly that
• GI Bill benefits should be raised to cover the average cost of a four-year public college or university. They now cover about 75% of that amount.
• Reservists should be entitled to full active-duty MGIB benefits if they complete a cumulative 36 months on active duty. At present, that only earns them 80% of the full benefit.

Rep. John Hall (D-NY), whose district includes West Point, asked about educational incentives to retain military academy graduates. Norton noted that the Army already has lost more than half of the West Point class of 2002 and has growing shortages of mid-grade officers. He urged making service academy graduates and ROTC scholarship recipients (who are excluded on the rationale that the military funded their undergraduate degrees) eligible for the MGIB if they agree to extend their initial service commitment. [Source: MOAA Leg Up 18 Jan 08 ++]

VA BUDGET 2008 UPDATE 12: In a White House conference call on 17 JAN the President announced he had approved the $3.7 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations passed by Congress in the waning days of 2007. VA needs the additional $3.7 billion in emergency funding to help reduce the unacceptable claims backlog and hire PTSD counselors and claims adjudicators to work with returning OEF/OIF veterans. Under the strange rules of appropriations, Congress authorized the extra money, over and above the President's budget request. But because it exceeded the budget authority, Congress designated it as "emergency" supplemental spending. Under the budget rules, the President has the discretion to decide whether or not to spend that extra money. In this particular case, the extra $3.7 billion to meet VA health care and other needs would only be available if the President sent a special budget notice to Congress by 18 JAN. [Source: MOAA Leg Up 18 Jan 08 ++]

WEP/GPO: On 16 JAN the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security conducted a hearing on the impact of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), taking testimony from Social Security and Congressional Research Service officials as well as a diverse group of advocates for state government employees and teachers. Social Security covers approximately 96% of U.S. workers. But 25% of public sector employees (federal, state, and municipal) have unique retirement systems that aren't covered by Social Security. Federal civilian employees who were hired before 1984 also fall under an independent retirement system. In all, about 6.5 million federal, state and local workers aren’t covered by Social Security. If people in this category also held at least one job during their working lives that was covered by Social Security, they find in retirement that they suffer a statutory penalty called the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). This entails a complicated formula that reduces their Social Security benefit by up to $340 per month.

They may also suffer a penalty if they themselves held Social Security-exempt jobs that provide an independent retirement annuity, but are married to someone who spent a working career under Social Security. If the Social Security-covered spouse dies and the remaining spouse draws a Social Security benefit as a survivor, the spouse runs into a separate penalty called the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The GPO reduces the survivor's Social Security benefit by an amount equal to two-thirds of the survivor's federal civilian/state/teacher's retirement pension. According to the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), the GPO affects 400,000 people, and causes the vast majority to lose their entire Social Security benefit. When WEP and GPO offsets were enacted decades ago, their intent was to mitigate the progressive nature of Social Security benefits, which were seen as providing disproportional rewards for people who spent a relatively small part of their careers paying into Social Security.

MOAA and NARFE believe the WEP and GPO impose disproportional penalties, and actively discourage public service just when there's a crying need for more teachers and experienced personnel in state and municipal governments. Also that GPO and WEP significantly undermine important programs like Troops to Teachers. But changing the law will be a major challenge, to say the least. Repeal would cost $80 billion over ten years, and more modest reforms would still carry daunting price tags for Congress at a time when long-term financing of Social Security is already a major national issue. Those who believe that something needs to be done to ease the current inequity can support this effort by asking your legislators to cosponsor H.R.82 and S.206. An easy way to accomplish this is to enter your ZIP code in the indicated box at http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/?bill=9286191 for H.R.82 &
http://capwiz.com/moaa/issues/bills/?bill=9287906 for S.206 to send them a MOAA-suggested message.
[Source: MOAA Leg Up 18 Jan 08 ++]

This data is too long for this software! The rest will be in a separate post.

by John on Feb 01, 2008 | Veteran's Issues

The Greening of the Castle...

...reducing our carbon bootprint by recycling old jokes.

Although, since some of you weren't paying attention when it first appeared, it'll be a *new* joke to you.

Two Arab terrorists are in the locker room taking a shower (well -- this *is* a joke) after their bomb making class, when one notices the other has a huge cork stuck betwixt his nether cheeks.
“If I do not offend your tender sensibilities," says the observer, "that cork looks very uncomfortable. Why do you not remove it?"

“I regret that I cannot," laments the observed. "It is permanently emplaced within my sphincter."

"I do not understand," says the observer. "How came it to be there?"

The observed replies, "I shall endeavor to explain. I was walking along the riverbank and I tripped over a lamp of curious and ancient design. There was a puff of smoke and then a huge old man garbed in raiment of the flag of the Amriki with a white beard and top hat came boiling out. He said, "I am Uncle Sam, the Genie. I can grant you one wish."

I said, "No sh*t?"

Dedicated to the AQI-types hunkered down in Mosul.

P.S. Go take a nice stroll along the riverbank to settle your nerves...

Have any questions for the 3rd ID's senior enlisted man?

by CW4BillT on Feb 01, 2008 | I think it's funny!

January 31, 2008

H&I Fires* 31 Jan 2008

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

**********************************

Something disturbs me today. There are two things that shouldn't be left unattended in a Babe's Romper Room.

Firstly, LOADED REVOLVERS. Because we all have great respect for firearms, and their power contained therein.

Secondly, FULLY HOODED - HISSING COBRAS. Call me culturally insensitive, but these just shouldn't mix.

BOQ
**********************************

After the brief on opium trade and food in Afghanistan yesterday, here's a little good news: Afghanistan's economy is growing by leaps and bounds.

And Kyrgyz select Afghanistan as a labor migration location.. A barber made $1000 as a contractor with the South Korean contingent. He socked away a lot of money by Kyrgyz standards. As an added benefit, imagine that all this association with free, democratic nation's people is an excellent way to transplant ideas.

US Navy to test fire electromagnetic rail gun today. A sci-fi weapon come to life.

Bill Roggio on the Mosul Offensive (that's Iraq for new visitors) With a report from the AP interviewing commanders: the long road in Mosul. Mosul was previously pacified, but remained a post along the AQI supply route. AQI kept their heads down there in order to keep the supply train going, but now its coming to a head. The Iraqi commanders are claiming it to be AQI's last stand in Iraq. US Commanders are more cautious. Whichever it is, it's going to be tough and its going to be rough on the AQIs.

The Real 1984: East German Stasi

The War Against Jihadism (H/T somebody)

On a similar vein, Belmont Club posts "Unspoken" (read the comments, too) and follow up commentary by a soldier in Iraq: Spoken
-Kat
**********************************

Report: Military Unready for Large Scale Attacks on Home Land. I think there is a lot to be said about this and, having reviewed some of the local programs and their very low key attempts to get citizens interested in becoming volunteers, I would say its not just the military that has a problem. More on that later. [-Kat?]

**********************************

The trickle of reporting on good news from Iraq is developing into a steady stream. Today, it's Life in a Sunni-Shia neighborhood. However, there are still worrisome trends under the surface in Iraq.

There is also what may be encouraging news on Iraq veterans' health, though the media spin is confusing. The Associated Press reports that doctors are concluding that what has been diagnosed as (semi-)permanent psychiatric changes due to TBI may actually be manifestations of PTSD and depression, which are highly treatable. Reuters takes a different tack on the study, under the headline, "Stress syndrome seen adding risk after head injury." - FbL

**********************************

The Third Annual Milblogger Conference Rumor-Mongering... TINS! Here's the gouge: a nameless source who works for MIlitary.com informs me that the Milblogger Conference this year will indeed be held in September, and will *NOT* be held in DC. Rather, it will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in conjunction with the Blogworld Expo. If so, thats probably a net good - Vegas is pretty cheap to get to from about anywhere in the country, you can stay there reasonably cheaply if you don't feel compelled to stay on the Strip, and you'll get to hit the Blogworld Expo, too - which was well worth it this year! No word yet on whether or not the Tailhook Hotel will be the venue for parties... -the Armorer

********************************

Another one takes a dirt nap. One al-Qaida's top commanders in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi was killed in Afghanistan, a Web site used by militant groups said Thursday. Read more at Breitbart. -the Armorer

*******************************

Re: Hooded Cobra....

Hey, Boq, at least we know who the "parent of the year" award goes to. That's ridiculous.

posted by sandman6actual on January 31, 2008 11:38 AM

Of even better news... the Blogworld Expo is being held on Sept 19-20... and my ex has the boys that weekend, AND it's not a drill weekend!

WOOT!!!

Here comes trouble!

posted by AFSister on January 31, 2008 1:33 PM

ask the good CSM why his bio says he has been awarded the Order of Saint Barber. (maybe Saint George needed a haircut?)

posted by MajMike on January 31, 2008 2:13 PM

Heh. When I interviewed fellow Lieutenant now BG Jim Boozer - his bio was hosed, too. I told him to kill his aide.

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 31, 2008 2:14 PM

Speaking of someone folks should know...John, did that email make it through? It went to all three addresses I've got for you.

BTW-the 'someone' is COL Gordon Roberts. Look him up in the Vietnam section of the MOH page at CMH.

COL Roberts is currently a student here at AWC.

posted by Heartless Libertarian on January 31, 2008 3:49 PM

John, DARPA and TACOM developed a railgun back about in the late 70's early 80's if memory serves. they were able to shoot a 1 pound chunk of plastic through a NATO standard armor plate (1 inch or so.)Saw this at one at Ft Knox. Of course they were looking to mount this on a armored vehicle. Up side:ammo easy to handle and wont go boom if something bad happens. down side: power supply the size of a 54 foot tractor trailer.

posted by Eric on January 31, 2008 4:27 PM

Re Hooded Cobra:

Let me put this as gently and as respectively and as culturally sensitively as possible . . . . . ARE THOSE ADULTS OUT OF THEIR BLEEDING MINDS!!!!!

Where is the mongoose when you need one, and an adult to raise the child?

posted by Andrew on January 31, 2008 4:40 PM

Kat,
Ready for attack?
Story should have been posted on the Onion or Iowahawk.
Wait!
Canadian forces massing to the North, Federales massing to the South, Russian amphibious fleet headed for Oregon, supported by Iranian RG's youtube videos!
The only thing stupider than the Federal Government would be all the wannabe Patton's at the state level.

posted by Mike Daley on January 31, 2008 6:34 PM

Mm...I think they were talking about non-state actor, terrorist attacks with bio or chemical, but maybe you'd like to elaborate Mike and talk about the problem with our preparations?

posted by kat-missouri on January 31, 2008 11:23 PM

Navy's been playing with a rail gun at a Test Facility With the Same Name as a Naval Gun since the mid-eighties -- it fired a 1"x1"x6" plastic block. We used to circle north of the area whenever we saw the target float out on the river on the off chance we'd get to observe a test shot before we ran out of fuel.

Took 'em forever to take the shot and it wasn't all that impressive -- until you noticed that the couple-of-thousand-pound armor plate with the new hole in it was *vibrating* after the hit...

posted by BillT on February 1, 2008 12:58 AM

The US Navy will astound the world tomorrow by test-firing a radical new weapon system at an unprecedented power level. The new piece of war-tech on trial is that old sci-fi favourite, an electromagnetic railgun.

Ah yes, the geek shall inherit the earth!

posted by NevadaDailySteve on February 1, 2008 10:36 AM

Not to be a cloud cooling the outrage, but 1), that Cobra didn't use its fangs (yes they have them), and 2) it wasn't spitting and never even opened it's mouth to reveal the spitting fangs. I suspect that Cobra was a lot safer to be around than was clear, either because it had been drained/defanged or because it was tame. It was clearly annoyed, but it didn't look like it ever opened its mouth, which would lead me to beleive it was reacting the way a pet dog does when the baby keeps grabbing at it's whiskers (my youngest sister has a permanent scar on her face from doing that). As for the video, maybe the child is the progeny of a snake charmer, in which ase, this is not nearly as cruel as one would think. You know, 'Here, Sssssssseth, play with the baby for a bit while I make dinner, ok? Good Sssssssseth."

Of course, even knowing all of that doesn't get rid of the heebeejeebees I got from watching that.

posted by SangerM on February 2, 2008 2:17 AM

by Denizens on Jan 31, 2008 | General Commentary

Private First Class Ray Jacobs - someone you should know.

"...Marines on the ground, still engaged in combat, raised a spontaneous yell when they saw the flag. Screaming and cheering so loud and prolonged that we could hear it quite clearly on top of Suribachi..."

The first flagraising atop Mount Suribachi, February 23, 1945. Hank Hansen (without helmet), Boots Thomas (seated), John Bradley (behind Thomas) Phil Ward (hand visible grasping pole), Jim Michaels (with carbine) and Chuck Lindberg (behind Michaels). <br />
Photo by Lou Lowery. 10AM, Feb. 23, 1945

The first flagraising atop Mount Suribachi, February 23, 1945. Hank Hansen (without helmet), Boots Thomas (seated), John Bradley (behind Thomas) Phil Ward (hand visible grasping pole), Jim Michaels (with carbine) and Chuck Lindberg (behind Michaels). Photo by Lou Lowery. 10AM, Feb. 23, 1945

Remember the *1st* Iwo Jima flag raising? The one Joe Rosenthal *didn't* get a picture of? Nothing bad against Joe - he got the best one that day, no argument!

Private First Class Ray Jacobs was one of those flag-raisers. He didn't make it into the pictures. They were kind of busy, taking the island and all. They had other things on their mind, I'm guessing.

He died today.

The media hasn't noticed, yet. But we'll make sure they do.

PFC Ray Jacobs, one of the raises of the first flag raised on Iwo Jima.

So make a hole down there in Fiddler's Green! War hero, genuine, 1ea, Inbound

Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance, In Memoriam.

by John on Jan 31, 2008 | Something for the Soul

Fog of War: Friends and Enemies

[Kat]

Marine expert says Marine vehicle was fired on in Afghanistan Back story reminder:

Mero was the first defense witness to corroborate the version of events from Marines in Fox Company, who said they were fired upon March 4 after a suicide bomber detonated a white van packed with explosives.

Some witnesses have said they didn't see anyone shooting at the six-vehicle convoy.

As many as 19 civilians were killed, according to an Army investigation, but attorneys for two Marine officers involved in the incident say the death toll was lower.

The Marine Company was subsequently ordered out of the country after protests from the government and from the local populace. There is a question about how many casualties there were besides if they were fired on by small arms fire.

Typical insurgent tactic picked up from Iraq is to explode an IED or, in this case, suicide VBIED (vehicle borne improvised explosive device) and follow on with an ambush using small arms, RPGs and mortars depending on the terrain and number of insurgents. The Marines contend that this was exactly the kind of typical attack that occurred and that they were using appropriate force to defend themselves.

The question of casualties among civilians is also important. Aside from Afghanistan's notoriously bad government control and collation of information, particularly casualties from any event, there is the problem of enemy propaganda which typically tries to claim all deaths as "civilians", ramp that number up and then insist that they have had no casualties themselves. This is part of a typical propaganda campaign that tries to paint civilians as victims of US aggression, the enemy as "protectors" of the people as well as untouchable ghosts that can come and go as they please.

It happened again recently when 9 "Afghan police" were allegedly killed in an air strike. That air strike was called in by a unit on patrol that came under heavy fire. It could be that the real Afghan police were not informed of the unit in their area and thought they were Taliban. It could be that there was no communication available to call the police off and they did as they were supposed to and drove towards the sound of guns. Or, it could be, that the "Afghan police" were actually members of the Taliban as such groups can and are infiltrated. They may have purposefully fired on the unit. In either case, the "police" never broke off contact and the unit called in an air strike.

That's the "fog of war".

by Denizens on Jan 31, 2008 | Global War on Terror (GWOT)

For those contemplating retirement, some useful info...

While there no perfect place, there is something for everyone.... I can validate the Midwest portion. You can meet famous people, but you have to go somewhere else to do it. Of course, you can also buy an expansive demesne nearly the size of Central Park for what half a duplex will cost you in California.

Where to Live After Retirement
You can live in Phoenix, Arizona where.....
1. You are willing to park 3 blocks away because you found shade.
2. You've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot wa ter in the toilet bowl.
3. You can drive for 4 hours in one direction and never leave town.
4. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
5. You know that "dry heat" is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door.
6. The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!

You can Live in California where...
1. You make over $250,000 and you still can't afford to buy a house.
2. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
3. You know how to eat an artichoke.
4. You drive your rented Mercedes to your neighborhood block party.
5. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.
6. The 4 seasons are: Fire, Flood, Mud, and Drought .

You can Live in New York City where...
1. You say "the city" and expect everyone to know you mean Manhattan.
2. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.
3.You think Central Park is "nature,"
4. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.
5. You've worn out a car horn.
6. You think eye contact is an act of aggression.

You can Live in Maine where...
1. You only have four spices: salt, pepper, ketchup, and Tabasco.
2. Halloween costumes fit over parkas.
3. You have more than one recipe for moose.
4. Sexy lingerie is anything flannel with less than eight buttons.
5. The four seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction.

You can Live in the Deep South where...
1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2. "y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.
3. "He needed killin'" is a valid defense.
4. Everyone has 2 first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Mary Sue, Betty Jean, MARY BETH, etc.

You can live in Colorado where...
1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home and he stops at the day care center.
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.

You can live in the Midwest where...
1. You've never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.
4. You end sentences with a preposition: "Where's my coat at?"
5. When asked how your trip was to any exotic place, you say, "It was different!"

OR, You can live in Florida where..
1. You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2.. All purchases include a coupon of some kind -- even houses and cars.
3. Everyone can recommend an excellent dermatologist.
4. Road construction never ends anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you are often driven by headless people.

H/t, Dad.

In Phoenix, instead of an umbrella for rain, you have to carry a pot holder to open your door.

Instead of running your car for 15 minutes with the heater on to warm it up, you have to run it for 15 minutes with the A/C running just so you can sit int he seat, touch the belt buckle or steering wheel.

and, don't touch the windows or lean against the car because you can get 2nd degree burns. (personal experience)

posted by kat-missouri on January 31, 2008 9:49 AM

sheesh.
I am totally Mid-West....

posted by AFSister on January 31, 2008 10:38 AM

Or you can live in Southeast Alaska where:
1. Summer high temperatures above about 70 degrees absolutely require A/C.
2. Eleven straight days of half to an inch of rain daily is just eleven days.
3. You measure distances by ferry hours or Alaska Air mileage plans.
4. You don't mind sharing the streets of your small town (pop. 14,000) with 870,000 visitors off of cruise ships.
5. You can live in a real community,with real people, with all the problems, and still feel good about it.

posted by Hunter on January 31, 2008 12:53 PM

The heading for Phoenix can also be used for Las Vegas. The description of California is sadly largely true. California also has earthquakes but at lest we do not have tornadoes

posted by Andrew on January 31, 2008 4:47 PM

Y'all is never singular.

posted by Grim on January 31, 2008 11:55 PM

Then there is the weather shifts.
70 degrees one day, then a blizzard, then back to 70s.
I celebrated a white christmas in Denver while on leave after my first deployment. My leave started 15 May, yet I had 72 degrees for my birthday on the 21st...

(25 Dec was on Gonzo Station, so I postponed it.)

posted by DJ Elliott on February 1, 2008 4:13 AM

In the neck of the woods my Arkansas relatives live in, Grim, "y'all" is multi-purpose, singular and plural, and "all y'all" is only plural.

posted by John of Argghhh! on February 1, 2008 9:08 AM

Where I grew up in Texas, y'all is always plural, never singular. "All y'all" is bad grammar...

posted by MAJ Arkay on February 1, 2008 3:16 PM

Well, John, that's because, despite being populated with rednecks, Arkansas is not deep-south. :-)

Heck, West Tennessee doesn't count in my book. When you order Tea and they don't just assume you mean Sweet Tea, you can no longer claim that you are a part of the South.

posted by Yu-Ain Gonnano on February 1, 2008 6:50 PM

Now that was funny y'all. I've lived north-central, midwest, south, Florida, Texas, CA, and I was raised in Philly and on the Jersey Coast. There is just so much truth there that its amazing...

But I would like to point out to Idon Wannano that to me, everywhere below Wilmington, DE is the South, and the 'deep' south is everything in a box roughly cornered by Kansas City, Beaumont, Jacksonville, and Alexandria. Everything left of Kansas City and North of D/FW is "The Blank Spot States" until one gets to "Out West," which starts at New Mexico and Ends at the CA Border (all of it). And of course, I live in what I consider the Texico Plains (San Antonio)....

P.S. One could also live on Oahu (done that, hated it),where your county is all the land there is and where if you drive more than 20 miles in a straight line, you need scuba gear (but they have THREE interstate highways and a loop!!); where directionsare often given in terms of wind-direction; where flowered shirts, shorts, and the good flip-flops are semi-formal wear; where everyone is a brudda, even us haolis; where everything is imported, but there are NO snakes, just mongooses (it's an odd story); and where people eat this stuff called poi that makes first grade craft paste seem downright tasty by comparison.

:-)

posted by SangerM on February 2, 2008 2:01 AM

by John on Jan 31, 2008 | I think it's funny!

January 30, 2008

"Death Blow" for AQI?

That's what Michael Yon suspects it is. In recent weeks we've heard of the terror being perpetrated on the people of Mosul and others north of Baghdad. That area has been described as the last "uncleared" area. Not anymore:

Major operations against al Qaeda have begun in northern Iraq. Al Qaeda is in serious trouble. These are not ad hoc operations, but are deliberate, systematic, well-planned and working. I’ve been watching this unfold for months but have not reported due to sensitivity, but the real shooting has started and Maliki has announced it. There is every indication that this series of operations could be the death blow for al Qaeda in Iraq. AQI can continue to murder people here and elsewhere for years to come, but their grip on Iraq is weakening faster than I can track. The Iraqis and Americans have seized the initiative. Al Qaeda is on the run. Due to these operations, I anticipate an increase in US casualties, but the operations are working.

Most you may recall... Yon was among the first to sound the warning when things went downhill in 2005/2006 (for which he received a lot of flack), so he's no shill for the Bush administration. For those of us watching from the sidelines, hope is not a strategy, but it's all we've got.

Here's to hoping Yon is right... and thoughts and prayers for the "good guys" of all stripes as this unfolds.

[I thought this deserved more attention than a blurb in H&I Fires -- FbL]

by Denizens on Jan 30, 2008 | Global War on Terror (GWOT)

Saving Afghanistan From Itself: Food and Opium

[Kat]

Several reports have been issued of late regarding the status of Afghanistan and the fears that the country might still be lost to the Taliban. Karzai recently stated his fear that extremists could still take over Afghanistan, though he blamed it largely on the rise of the Taliban and other extremists in Pakistan. The United States will be sending more Marines, but Nato allies have all rejected sending additional troops and many refuse to allow their troops into combat. Australia, one of the United States' staunchest allies, recently rejected the same call for more troops stating that their troop mix might change, but numbers wouldn't.

In Canada, there is strong debate about whether they would continue the Afghan mission at all if NATO does not send more troops. Canada is one of the few countries whose forces have been in constant contact with insurgents. At the same time, the population still debates and refers to the mission as "peace keeping". Yet, Canadian forces continue to sacrifice along with American service men.

The struggle in Afghanistan cannot be simply broken down into a struggle against the Taliban and Al Qaida. The problems inside Afghanistan often have much to do with the people, the geography, warlords, internal and external politics, ethnic tensions and many more issues that do not equate to fighting a war, force on force. But, they do equate to continuing instability that allows various insurgent groups, criminal gangs and opportunistic warlords to take advantage of the people and consolidate their power over them.

One such problem continues to be a sore point between multiple agencies and allies. That problem is the existence of poppies and the Opium trade. Since the fall of the Taliban, poppy growing and the Opium trade could be considered Afghanistan's number one agricultural crop and export to other nations. As it has in the past, the money from this crop has been used to eke out a subsistence by the farmers and fund weapons and insurgents for the various factions.

(continue reading in flash traffic)

Debate continues about how to address this problem. While some advocate spraying the fields for eradication, others insist that will simply drive the price up and drive the farmers into the arms of insurgency, directly fighting NATO forces as the only way they can be paid and support their families. In the meantime, international drug enforcement agencies are overwhelmed and unable to make any headway against actual criminals. Many are protected by tribal leaders, warlords and even politicians within the Afghan government.

At the same time, the growth of the poppy as the number one agricultural crop has other consequences that is likely to undermine NATO efforts there and keep Afghanistan a failed state for decades to come. As poppy fields grow, other crops disappear even as multiple international aid agencies try to assist Afghanis with planting new or hardier strains of vegetables, grains and other exportable crops like cotton.

These crops can't compete with the money farmers can make from growing poppies. As staple crops disappear, the price of food rises exponentially and so does the risk for thousands and possibly millions of starving Afghanis. The UN recently called for assistance in delivering 89,000 tonnes of food to Afghanis. The UN reports that over 2.6 million Afghanis will be in "crisis" this winter without the assistance. According to the report, wheat prices have risen almost 60% in most areas of Afghanistan and up to 80% in others.

The report blames the rising prices on "world food markets" that have seen a rise in price as the cost of fuel to transport food to markets rise as well as demand from growing markets and the use of certain food crops for ethanol production. Another issue has been a drought suffered throughout 2007. However, Afghanistan is not simply swayed by external forces on food markets.

According to the Killid Group, an independent NGO, poppy growth is a serious factor on the decrease of wheat and other staples grown for internal markets.

This year, output of the staple wheat dropped from 4.4 to 3.7 million tonnes. At a recent press conference, the Minister of Agriculture blamed the ongoing drought for the sharp fall. Wheat is the most important crop, and the main source of food for the majority of Afghans.

But experts and the public contest the government's claim. They argue that drought is not the only factor to blame for the current wheat crisis in the country. There are other more important reasons, they insist.

A key determinant in the equation is poppy cultivation by Afghan farmers. Farmers stand to gain far more from cultivating poppy, and as a result few farmers are willing to grow wheat. This, according to experts, is causing wheat shortages in the market.

Another issue is cheap imported wheat from neighboring countries. The report indicates that farmers are unable to find markets for their surplus wheat and sale it at a competitive price. This leads many of them to return to poppy cultivation to survive. At the same time, reduced internal competition for the wheat market as well as Afghanistan's notoriously bad infrastructure for transporting goods, raw materials and food and the potential for insurgent or criminal attacks makes wheat a scarce commodity and lends to ever increasing prices.

Afghan farmers deserve greater government protection which can be made possible through passing of new legislation and adopting procedural measures to regulate cheap wheat imports from neighbouring countries.
According to news reports, farmers complain that the government is slow to deal with their problems. There are difficulties in accessing information on pricing of agricultural commodities and markets within and outside the country. Neither are financial or material credit, improved seeds, fertilisers and pesticides available.

Afghan farmers insist that these unresolved problems are the reason for the food shortfall. Because of falling prices farmers find it not worth their while to reap the harvest and market it.

This problem has been occurring for several years. The drought may have simply made it an imperative. The same issue was reported by USAID and the WFP through the Famine Early Warnings System Networks. According to this report, there are major problems with Afghanistan's agricultural infrastructure and subsidized wheat imported from Pakistan makes the wheat market unprofitable. It also indicates that those farmers in Afghanistan that do grow wheat, typically consume most of their wheat "on farm" leaving less than 10% for the market. Bread from wheat flour constitutes over 50% of the caloric intake of average Afghanis.

Other issues include the lack of credit, as noted by the Killid Group, and the lack of storage for grains. In short, every transaction must be concluded in the here and now when cash is available and the wheat can be quickly consumed before it is damaged by damp, cold, rodents or other pests. There is little room for building reserves in the market that would maintain a steady flow of wheat and flour for consumption and keep prices stable.

ICARDA also indicates that Afghanistan's problems may be geographical:

it may be that most Afghan wheat-growing areas are smaller and more compartmentalized topographically than in Pakistan; thus, "breakdown in variety resistance" may be less of an issue in the wheat-growing valleys and plains of Afghanistan.

US Wheat Traders says that the drought has continued for nearly five years and the Great Herat River has run dry. This is not only a problem for irrigating crops, but for milling the wheat into flour. More than 60% of all of Afghanistan's wheat is milled through water and wind driven mills with diesel engine driven mills being relatively new to the industry.

In April 2007, Robert I Rotberg, writing in the Boston Globe recommended:

Many Afghan officials have urged farmers to grow saffron or almonds instead of poppies. But the only viable substitute crop is wheat, an Afghan staple. Sometimes it is in short supply, too. If the West would guarantee above-market prices for wheat over 10 years, and establish a transparent method to buy unlimited quantities of wheat from Afghan farmers through an official marketing system, it is likely that Afghan farmers would gradually switch from poppies to wheat. And they could eat any wheat that becomes surplus. Furthermore, guaranteeing a high price for wheat would probably cost less than the billions devoted to eradication. It would also put more money than from poppies directly into the pockets of farmers and, simultaneously, cut out middlemen and traffickers.

The government would also have to improve or assist with methods of transporting wheat to mills and markets. Some transportation programs are already under development including a regional railroad tied to several Asian nations and an Afghan Railroad built by China as part of a deal for copper rights. However, both of these projects are years in the making and Afghanistan's problem is right now.

What is certain is, that until a viable substitute for poppy growing is found and implanted in Afghanistan, the trifecta of continuing war from opium profits, food shortages and general crime will continue to inflict instability on an already damaged population. That instability translates to long term commitments to both money and troops by NATO, the United States and various allies.

Until Afghanis can feel secure financially with legal activities and crops, drugs, war and crime will continue to pay. It may be that, until Afghanis are forced to concentrate on surviving on their own merits, they will continue to grow poppies, Afghanis will continue to grow hungry and the WFP will be forced to continue subsidizing Afghan's demise.

by Kat on Jan 30, 2008 | ~~GWOT~~ Whatever it is...

January 29, 2008

H&I Fires* 29 Jan 2008

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

**********************************

7:30PM, Dole Institute of Politics, KU Campus, Lawrence, KS - be there or be square. Since they're giving me a free dinner - I have chosen not to wear MU colors...

Politics - (Not related to the Dole bit above). I survey the political landscape and I wonder whothehelk am I going to support, much less vote for. As I've stated earlier, I'm leery of people as President whose only executive experience is their legislative office. A President has to make decisions in a manner that overall is a synthesis of personal leadership, communal deliberation (the legislative process) and the antithesis of that deliberation: "I gotta choose this minute, on minimal data, what to do." The latter really doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it's usually a critical choice. More often, that choice is "I have to decide quickly, and still on inadequate information." And Presidents bear the responsibility for those decisions without the "group liability" escape that being a legislator offers. Heh. They get blamed for the results of bad policy-making thrust on them by those legislators, in ways that legislators never do - and they can't duck it, even if the legislation was imposed over a veto. No one in the current environment really speaks to me - but I admit, this bit from last month by Theo Caldwell in the Canadian National Post struck a nerve:

An obvious choice can be unnerving. When the apparent perfection of one option or the unspeakable awfulness of another makes a decision seem too easy, it is human nature to become suspicious.

This instinct intensifies as the stakes of the given choice are raised. American voters know no greater responsibility to their country and to the world than to select their president wisely. While we do not yet know who the Democrat and Republican nominees will be, any combination of the leading candidates from either party will make for the most obvious choice put to American voters in a generation. To wit, none of the Democrats has any business being president.

This pronouncement has less to do with any apparent perfection among the Republican candidates than with the intellectual and experiential paucity evinced by the Democratic field. "Not ready for prime time," goes the vernacular, but this does not suffice to describe how bad things are. Alongside Hillary Clinton, add Barack Obama's kindergarten essays to an already confused conversation about Dennis Kucinich's UFO sightings, dueling celebrity endorsements and who can be quickest to retreat from America's global conflict and raise taxes on the American people, and it becomes clear that these are profoundly unserious individuals.

It's an op-ed, so of course it reads with a touch of bombast, but... it touches a nerve.

Because who we pick does matter, a lot, and not just to us. Ask the Iraqis and Afghans, Serbs and Kosovars, and the entire world economy... Sigh. H/t, Mike L. -the Armorer

*********************************

Gunner would like a word with you guys...

Gunner sez

Hiya! Hiya! Hiya! I just wanna let ya know that I really am fine after my big ~~acting job~~ adventure where I made ~~the Big Hairy Tribble~~ the Big Lump in the Lounger flounder through the snow and rescue me from that ~~prop~~ mean ol' trap! But thanks for caring! Really! Honest! Honest! Honest! Ooo - izzat a squirrel? Gotta run! Gotta run! Gotta run! - Gunner

Heh. Boys. -Kiki

********************************

Frequent commenter and fellow gun-blogger Rivrdog has been having some trouble sleeping, which has been causing him to ruminate on the 2nd Amendment, resulting in this post on the topic. Discuss. -the Armorer

*********************************

American Thinker has a toothsome chewy bit on how the glut of information provided by the Internet (and sites like this one... and American Thinker) can actually drown out truth and fact. Good stuff to exercise your brain with. H/t, Cannoneer #4, who's becoming a provider of that stuff, too... One thought about trying to compete with Wikipedia, which does have credibility issues, especially on "hot topics" (and it's from all sides of the spectrum) is how do more conventional encyclopedia producers compete on the 'net with free info? And who fact-checks them? Good stuff to noodle on. -the Amorer

**********************************

Great 2nd Amendment writing there. glad I'm not the only one pushing the "gun nut" envelope. LOL

I do keep trying to write something about the 2nd Amendment and defending the nation, but it keeps ending up sounding like a pulpit pounding sermon demanding "revolution today".

And, I have to agree with Riverdog, whenever someone starts talking about the 2nd Amendment guarding our rights and our nation, people do start thinking "nutter revolutionary, separatist militia member".

The problem being, very few of any citizens who are not directly interested in guns, thinks that they are ever going to have to defend the nation either from invasion or internal unrest.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 11:49 AM

7:30PM, Dole Institute of Politics, KU Campus, Lawrence, KS - be there or be square. Since they're giving me a free dinner - I have chosen not to wear MU colors...

Is there a pub crawl? posted by Maggie on January 29, 2008 11:56 AM

Well, if you get here quick enough, there *could* be...

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 12:02 PM

Now I have to see about the weather cooperating for a drive out.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 12:48 PM

Heh. *I* have to worry about that!

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 12:58 PM

Yeah, you do....LOL

On another note, I found AT's treatise on the loss created by internet to be interestingly ironic.

Not the least of why is that I was reading that on...wait for it..the internet. But, more interesting is the idea that the internet has some how changed how people have received information, for the worse. when, regardless of books or philosophical salons, there has always been those who are interested in reading, learning and thinking and those who are not.

The internet is a tool of empowerment if you use it as such or it is a tool of entertainment and mind numbing. I think it is more about the people that use it than the effect of the tool itself.

Reminds me of the laments about music being the devil's tool to drive young people from their morals when music simply expressed the morals of the people.

To that effect, if you want to learn, obtain information and be a "thinker" the internet can be a powerful tool. I have personally read more classics via e-books, more history, more historical documents and books in the past three years than I did in the preceding decades. And, I was a prolific reader.

It's just the search of information and what information that we want. I would hazard that those who historically gossiped and spoke of trivialities are the same as today. The quantity only relative to the growth of population, the percentage likely the same, though no study has been done to my knowledge to support any claim or disclaim.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 1:14 PM

The internet is the new samizdat. It is disliked by the same kind of people who didn't like the old samizdat.

posted by Fred on January 29, 2008 2:08 PM

Fred - that's a pretty succinct wrap-up.

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 2:27 PM

YAY!
I'm glad Gunner is ok!!! Nice to see him up and running after lil' critters again.

posted by AFSister on January 29, 2008 2:49 PM

7:30PM, Dole Institute of Politics, KU Campus, Lawrence, KS - be there or be square. Since they're giving me a free dinner - I have chosen not to wear MU colors...

Is there a pub crawl? by Maggie on January 29, 2008 11:56 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, if you get here quick enough, there *could* be...

by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 12:02 PM
**********************

Nah........nevermind, I can't risk getting spanked again so soon.....LOL!

posted by Maggie on January 29, 2008 3:17 PM

Thank you, Kat-MO, if you were speaking about my post on Rivrdog blog. You might be interested to know that I studied at Mizzou, but way-back, in '61 and '62, and didn't finish up there but out here on the Weft Coast.

It is interesting that the Second is the de-facto "enforcement" Amendment of the Bill of Rights, but these days, anyone daring to speak about it in that vein is labeled as a bomb-thrower.

If these idjits who lack the most basic historical perspective ever get enough of a roll on, I and those who think like me will get a chance to demonstrate our dedication to our Constitution.

The problem is, as I see that force taking the field, it will have an average age of over 50, and that does not bode well for the harsh conditions of combat, as the owner of this blog can more properly attest to.

We need some young blood in the ranks of those who would protect the Constitution. It remains to be seen if Iraq war vets will take up our cudgels, but if they do, I'm going to say that our Constitution will be safe for one more generation.

posted by Rivrdog on January 29, 2008 4:46 PM

Hey! Armorer-guy! Check your bloody email!

I sent you a picture I'm sure you'll find interesting.

posted by Heartless Libertarian on January 29, 2008 7:09 PM

Good show at the Dole tonight. You guys all representred yourselves well. I especially like the emphasis on setting the record straight.

posted by Mike Porter on January 29, 2008 9:27 PM

Thanks for the Gunner update. Not so sure I needed that tribble image though; time to bleach my brain!

posted by Flea on February 1, 2008 8:00 AM

by Denizens on Jan 29, 2008 | General Commentary

Yes, Viriginia, I really am a gun-blogger, too.

I realized that I haven't quite played fully to type for our new visitors regarding gun-blogging. So, I'll correct that by reprising a post that covers the topic pretty thoroughly - and note, that if you are appalled and horrified, and *just sure* that this couldn't be legal here in Kansas, please read the Standard Disclaimers (also linked at the bottom of this post).

One of the reasons I started blogging was to point out that there are many more relatively normal people who collect firearms than you realize. And that they might live next door to you, and yet you've never once been threatened, nor felt threatened. It morphed from a presentation on gun collectors and collecting that I gave my Rotary Club - entitled, "Nuts in your Neighborhood" to this blog.

Hosting provided by FotoTime

If you can't read it - the guy on the *right* is Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

On to some gunbloggin'...

CDR Salamander has been watching Brit TV, and claims he found out what I *really* do for a living.

Heh. If I told you what I really do for a living, I'd have to cut your head off and put it in classified storage. You wouldn't like that. It's dark in the safe, and smells funny because of the stuff they put in there to keep the mold down.

Nah, Salamander... if I was in that bidniz, it would go more like this...

*Ahem, koff, koff*

[smarmy announcer/telemarketer/car salesguy voice]

Taking down a small country? Annoying neighbors? Revenooers snooping around the still? The Arsenal At Argghhhh! has all your pest-control needs in one stop!*

Aside from the usual selection of Small Arms, we also have a nice selection of Crew Served Weapons to choose from!

We have an extensive selection of spare parts! We service what we sell!

Need to recon that target, without getting your head shot off - we can help!

Gotta get through some wire to get to the bad guy? We've got your stuff. Worried about pursuit after dirty deeds done cheap? We can help! We've got stuff to get you in, stuff to knock 'em on the head quietly, and stuff to slow up the pursuit! All in one neat package!

Got people snooping by whatever it is you'd rather they not find? Got a defensive position you need a little coverage in the dead space for? Concerned about detectability? We have a whole selection of anti-personnel mines to choose from. Anti-armor mines by appointment only, please.

Need to be able to reach out and touch someone? Especially people who hide behind stuff so you can't just shoot them straight up? We have a wide selection of medium and light mortars to choose from, with a wide range of ammo choices!

Need help with data computation? We've got you covered there, too!

So, bit off a bit more than you can chew? Need some help with bunkers and armored vehicles? We've got a large selection of recoiless rifles and rocket launchers, and RPG systems that can meet your every need!

And don't let us forget our extensive grenade selection!

Need some extra reinforcement for that basement bunker? We got it. Have a mess of troops to mess? We got it!

And for you, CDR Salamander, today only - a special deal for the Naval Infantry! Straight from MoD stocks - the staple of Brit boarding parties for many years - the Lanchester!

Hosting provided by FotoTime

With bayonets!

So, call me. We'll do lunch.

[/smarmy announcer/telemarketer/car salesguy voice]

Oh, and, as usual. The Standard Disclaimers apply - in short, meaning that nothing in those photos is illegal in Kansas, a fact which may not be true in all states. And all those really scary looking things are legally inoperative, whereas most of them, in shootable condition, would be legal for private ownership in Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and with some caveats, Missouri. I also couldn't afford them if they were all functional weapons. Last time I saw a price for a shootable Vickers machinegun, it was in the $45,000.00 range. Ergo, mine don't shoot, and can't shoot, and are legal in this state. Things that look like artillery, are all demilled to the spec required when imported or surplused - meaning they have bars blocking the bores, no firing pins, bore-sized holes cut in the barrels (some artfully concealed) and no way to return them to serviceable state without doing more damage to them than has already been done. And the explosive devices - are inert, no explosives present. Hey, people, I *live* there. I don't even maintain large stocks of powder for reloading or shooting the black powder weapons. Stuff's dangerous, I only have on hand what I can use. And yes, the ones that do shoot, save a pistol or two in the upstairs in our child-free home, are behind a locked door.

by John on Jan 29, 2008 | Gun Rights

Live from Iraq (Part II)

This is Part II of an interview "FbL" conducted with the 3ID Chief of Staff, Colonel Mark McKnight. See Part I for background and topics such as Iraqi security, Concerned Local Citizens groups, and the enemy tactics 3ID is encountering.

The big softball question I pitched to COL McKnight was whether there was something the major media wasn't covering that he wished they would. His two-part answer to was a bit unexpected, as it didn't revolve around the activities of American soldiers.

In pointing out what he says has been a continuing deficiency in major media reporting, COL McKnight referenced his last deployment (according to his bio, COL McKnight's was Commanding Officer of 3ID's 1st Brigade Combat Team when it was deployed to Iraq in 2005). "Bombing always gets traction," gets play in the media. Thus in 2005, they "only wanted to report on death and destruction." So the story of the Iraqis' response, beginning "almost from the moment of attack," was never told; there wan't media coverage "when Iraqis showed up the next day to sign up, to rebuild." Iraqi civilians would return to the site of the bombing, clean up, and then line up again to join the police or army. He sees this pattern continuing in his current deployment, as the resiliency and determination of Iraqis in the face of terror and hardship is not being covered.

Colonel McKnight continued, describing his admiration for what he called "Iraqis' constant bravery and courage to work their way through... adversity." When one has "lived amongst them and served with them," COL McKnight said, "you appreciate their courage." He added that Iraqis want what is best for their families and their country, and are "pursuing that with great bravery and courage," a story he says isn't heard.

American civilians in Iraq a another group of people who are not getting the attention COL McKnight believes they deserve. Everyone focuses on the work American soldiers are doing, but he pointed out others he described as integral to success in Iraq--contractors working in HQ and the embassy, State Department personnel going out in Provincial Reconstruction Teams, businessmen assisting in rebuilding and guiding economic development, law enforcement advisers providing security and training--civilians of all ages and backgrounds working side-by-side with soldiers throughout the AO. He also expressed frustration that other coalition members do not get a lot of attention for their work, and mentioned a new Georgian brigade that is about to relieve their redeploying countrymen, whom he praised for their professionalism and contributions.

I asked COL McKnight what had been 3IDs biggest success so far, and what would be his biggest concern if they were to leave tomorrow. He reported that reducing overall violence in Baghdad (by reducing flow of fighters and weapons into the city) has been 3ID's biggest achievement because it has given average Iraqis "a period of respite... an opportunity to get government and services functioning." He added that 3ID has also been successful in helping to support reconciliation between what he called "central government factions," and that his biggest concern would be not having enough time to "get more police and Iraqi Army personnel involved... both training and positioning [deployment]."

When talking to Colonel McKnight, it becomes obvious that senior leadership is feeling good about the positive security developments in 3ID's AO. He reports that the most pressing need is for people to assist in the development of Iraq's economy, to get services functioning so that jobs and production can grow. "We are very good at security operations," he says, "but other enablers can help us with the economy." He speaks of the need for "private investment and expertise that can stand up the economic system," and the help needed to build the necessary public and private infrastructure. However, he expects to see more of that "soon, as things continue to calm down."

Overall in this interview, COL McKnight answered questions with a "from the ground, up" perspective, rather that with an overly-administrative focus that some in his position can demonstrate. He constantly focused on the needs of and gave credit to the people on the ground in his responses, whether discussing Iraqi Security forces, coalition soldiers, American civilians or average Iraqis. As I understand it, this "ground, up" perspective is a key component of effective COIN strategy/philosophy, and so has likely played a significant role in 3ID's success in their AO.

I appreciate COL McKnight taking the time to answer my questions and expect to have the opportunity to speak with him again in the near future. If you have questions or would like clarification on anything addressed here, please leave a comment below and I will bring it up in my follow-up with the Colonel. Next interview: Division Command Sergeant Major Jesse Andrews, Jr.

by Denizens on Jan 29, 2008 | Global War on Terror (GWOT)

Milblogging: Francis Lieber and the Loyal Publication Society

[Kat]

In the spirit of the Military Blogging Symposium that the owner of the this blog will attend on January 29, those who may read and those who are simply interested in the subject of the historical relations of blogging with the legacy of the citizens' press and communications from the front, I thought I would post on a little history. One could say, the real heritage of "milblogging".

While some bloggers liken blogging to the Pamphleteers of the Revolution, that comparison must be made with all humility. Blogging certainly compares in some degree to the free citizen presses of the day. It is a free wheeling environment where ideas and stories are written by any citizen with the desire and access to a computer. Blogging may be the culmination of the original "free market of ideas". Trustworthy sources get linked and passed around while liars and scammers are debunked. We definitely take advantage of the inheritance left to us by those original pamphleteers under the first amendment: freedom of expression.

We are fortunate that, at least here in the United States, we have very few of the worries that our forefathers did regarding arrest, imprisonment or death for anything we might say. In other countries, not so much. Those who have been persecuted as well as various attempts to silence bloggers through legal maneuvering or the contempt expressed by established media, simply reminds us to jealously guard this freedom against all encroachments.

For milbloggers though, it may be that our heritage is most closely associated with a more recent historical event. At least, "recent" if you count a century and a half.

Continue reading Francis Lieber and the Loyal Publication Society in Flash Traffic

In 1863, the Civil War was at a bloody stand still. Neither the South nor the North seemed to make enough progress to create the conditions for victory. There seemed to be little possibility for one decisive battle to end the war though each army had made several attempts to destroy the other. News from the front was scarce. Letters from friends and family were passed around or read out loud at gatherings. Reports in established newspapers touted a never ending list of casualties, destruction and pending defeat of the Union cause. Good news was far and few between.

In congress, many proclaimed the war could not be won. They advocated ceasing military action and making a political agreement with the Confederate States. The first rush had turned into depression in the North as the realization set in that this was not going to be a short war.

Enter Francis Lieber and the Loyal Publications Society. Francis Lieber is best known as the father of modern day laws of warfare. At the request of the Union government, he wrote an extensive essay regarding the practices of war, the treatment of prisoners, civilians and property. This eventually became known as the "Lieber Code" and was disseminated as General Order #100 to the Union Army.

This code of conduct was adopted by militaries around the world as well as the International Red Cross, andthe Hague Conventions. The Hague Conventions led to the adoption of the Laws of Warfare. Lieber's Code also influenced the Geneva Conventions.

At the height of the Civil War, Lieber was keeping a correspondence with Gen. Halleck. Among their correspondence, Lieber often complained of the lack of good news and reports of decisive actions coming from the front. The Lincoln administration had not developed any official information programs or put forth much effort beyond Lincoln's occasional speeches and letters to various editors or public officers that were then published for general edification.

At the same time, the South had put together a tremendous propaganda effort including writing, publishing and distributing books supporting their views on economics, politics, the constitution and slavery. These were widely distributed in the North and South. Regular editorials and prepared reports were sent to numerous papers across the country. Prepared materials were provided to politicians, organizations and individuals including foreign papers where they hoped to gain support for their cause. The Confederates had their own state run propaganda paper called The Index.

The Confederacy also sent numerous envoys to foreign nations presenting their cause as a case for liberty, rights and economy, astutely avoiding any mention of slavery that had already been outlawed by many nations. Lincoln barely put together an assembly of four "diplomats" of varying degrees of capability that attempted to combat the propaganda, dissuade support or interference by those nations and maintain existing treaties on such national interests as trade and sovereignty of the United States.

The blockading of the South not only effected Southern trade and economy, but also that of many European nations. As the Confederate book on "King Cotton" noted, over 5 million people in England relied on cotton from the South. For economic purposes alone the Confederates believed that England should support their efforts to remain economically and politically viable, even with the use of slave labor.

Lincoln could not totally ignore the impact of the blockade on other nations, but he also needed to insure that the United States remained whole, without interference and that, once the war was over, the United States could continue good relations with these nations. A war might be won, but survival of the nation would depend on continuing trade and developing economics to recover from the devastation of war.

The Lincoln Administration's lack of a coordinated information program left a huge hole in the Union's psyche that was quickly being filled up with ever depressing news and Confederate propaganda. This left the task of spurring and maintaining support for the Union and the war to largely private citizen organizations that created patriotic citizen groups in cities across states such as the Union League.

The Union League of Philadelphia was established in 1862 to organize and recruit Union supporters on behalf of the war effort and President Lincoln's policies. Other Union Leagues quickly sprang up across the north following the same practices. These organizations would present speakers to other groups and events, organize patriotic events, print literature supporting the Union and raise money to supply the troops and care for the wounded.

In New York, Francis Lieber, along with other well known Unionists and Abolitionists, formed the Loyal Publication Society. In the beginning, the society simply scanned existing newspapers and broadsheets for "good news" to be collated into one pamphlet and distributed among the troops and citizens. The organization would quickly contact the papers for the type setting before it was broken up and print it on their own paper.

Soon they expanded to printing original essays and speeches on broad subjects ranging from slavery, black men in the army, the Union cause, rebutting Confederate propaganda or political speeches as well as rebutting reports from various newspapers including the Chicago Times and the New York Tribune. The tracts would also reprint soldiers' letters and essays as "Voices from the Army".

One such publication rebutted the ever present dirge that it was only the poor who were fighting and dying for nothing more than the capitalist rich men in the north. The practice of accepting payment in lieu of drafting, wealthy and middle class men paying other men to take a draftees position along with anti-draft and nativist proclamations of discrimination had led to riots in New York and other cities.

In addressing these organizations and the cries of discrimination, the publication printed an essay describing the calls as such:

They have labored to spread the idea that every man who came to the United States and became a citizen, acquired ipso facto a right to lifelong ease, comfort and prosperity and that any action on the part of the Government, in defense of honor and existence, which curtailed the smallest of a working man's comfort, was a fraud and an imposition.

They rejected those claims and instead called all men to "take up" their "duty", insisting that there was no promise of leisure and only the ability to pursue their dreams.

"We guarantee him freedom of mind and body, and promise him wealth and honor in proportion to his merits. But, we warn him, when he comes here, it is not to roam over rich pastures and chew the cud, a fat ox among fat oxen. He comes to be a freeman in a free community, jealous of its honor, of its integrity and of its glory, prepared to make whatever sacrifices, down to the last drop of blood, to preserve every one of them without stain or blemish.

Democrats who had whole heartedly crossed the line to support the Union and made no claims of defeat were attacked verbally and in print by other party members. In rebuttal, a piece of an address given by the Union Democracy War Party of Indiana was reprinted under "Country, Not Party":

Reproachful names have no terrors while the broad banner of our republic, the emblem of civil liberty, is over us, and we hold up its standard. We stand by our government, seeking no favors from it and pledging no support for individuals in it and we will uphold it a the chosen type of our country and freedom during this attempt to destroy it. Our duty is to "our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country". If that country falls, we ask no shield from its fate.

In another tract, they printed rebuttals to articles in foreign papers as well as re-printing foreign articles that supported the Union. In this tract, was a short essay called "The Limits of Patriotic Criticism" on the difference between loyal criticism of the government and declamations of enemies within.

The criticism of one who is friendly to the Government, and who is anxious that it shall succeed and be preserved, and who points out its errors that they may be corrected, is wholly different from the denunciation which seeks to bring the Government into contempt and render it odious to the people, thereby withdrawing from it its life, when struggling in battle with a powerful enemy.

Many of these self organized citizens groups, publications and their topics would sound very familiar to milbloggers today. The tools of the free press and the names of the organizations may have changed, but the sentiments have remained the same: to support the country in a time of war, rebutting claims by opponents, refuting false claims of intended casualties or recruiting practices, addressing issues with the government and war strategy with "patriotic criticism". Even including discussions about religion in public life and the government.

The article, "Outside", Oct 1863, discusses a movement in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to have an amendment added to the Constitution acknowledging the United States as a Christian nation. The Loyal Publication Society replied:

We find the above in many of our exchanges, and the movement is regarded as one very worthy and proper. We would suggest that the best way for us, as a nation, to recognize and acknowledge God and his Sovereignty, would be in conforming our national action and character to those eternal principles of Justice, Freedom and Humanity. Until we do this, any outward and formal acknowledgment would be a pretense, and would not "clearly show that we are a Christian people."

Some people considered Francis Lieber to be a "fanatic" for his unwavering support of the Union and President Lincoln, even in the face of acts that continue to be challenged as unconstitutional. He wrote an essay that appeared in a Loyal Publications Society pamphlet on Presidential Powers During War Time that was rebutted by an opposition group that had formed to protest Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and various acts of arrest and court martial by military authorities.

The Loyal Publication Society continued throughout the war and sometime after. Several Union League organizations existed for several decades after the war, promoting civic duty and becoming active in politics. The Philadelphia Union League is one of the few that still exist today.

In times of war, it has not been unusual for citizens to band together, either through established government organizations or through volunteer citizen groups, in order to sustain morale among themselves, promote patriotism among other citizens and provide assistance to the soldiers. It has been true since time immemorial. It's been true in this country during every war. What seems to change is not the need or the desire, but simply the means by which communication and organization are reached.

The internet has allowed ad hoc groups and individual citizens to organize across thousands of miles, sharing ideas within light seconds and self publishing to hundreds and thousands of readers at such a reduced cost as to make citizen publishing what the founders of this nation could only dream about.

While many milbloggers and their supporters did not necessarily start out as "war-bloggers", the need to support fellow soldiers, family, friends and like minded citizens became an imperative. What started out as individuals seeking their own voices became a real effort to support the troops, support the war effort and support the country. Milbloggers stand on the shoulders of such men as Francis Lieber and the Loyal Publication Society who showed the power of citizen volunteers in information warfare and maintaining national morale in a long war.

Other documents of the Loyal Publication Society:

New York Times Ad for Purchase of Publication Pamphlets, 1864
New England Loyal Publication Society Broadsides, scanned images
McClellen or Lincoln? An appeal to German Americans to support Lincoln's re-election.
Loyal Publication Society, #28: Death of Slavery
Biography of Francis Lieber

A case could be made that the huge hole in the Union's psyche was caused less by the failure of Lincoln's strategic communications campaign and more by the realization that violently coercing previously sovereign States to remain in a Union that no longer enjoyed the consent of the governed pretty much upset the whole apple cart.

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 29, 2008 10:39 AM

I wondered who was going to be first with that slant... my money was on Jim C.

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 11:04 AM

you know, every time someone brings up that whole "states' rights" thing, they always fail to mention the word "slavery".

Next time some state wants to challenge a power of the federal government, you might want to make sure you have the right cause.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 11:28 AM

The actual ability of states to challenge the power of the Federal government was decided by force of arms. The vanquished still debate the righteousness of their conquerors. Now it no longer matters how right the state might be in any disagreement with the Federal Power.

Did any Abolitionist strategic communicators explain why they didn't just buy slaves and free them up north?

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 29, 2008 11:57 AM

Interesting point, there, #4, given that the government had forbidden the importation of new slaves at that point. Good premise for an alternative history piece.

Since I've not mentioned it of late, and we have new eyes visiting the Castle this week - I believe the correct side won the Civil War. But, that like all wars, for good purposes or ill, it took on a life of it's own, independent of the original cause, and there were a lot of unintended consequences, some good, many bad.

I also note, that absent the issue of slavery, the Federal government's stated policy on issues like this in the modern era would seem to indicate that the Federal government could not resort to arms to hold on to separatist areas.

Especially if there were to be an ethnic slant to things.

Something to keep in mind, when pondering the Aztlan and La Raza movements, and the predilection for the elites in society to currently promote ethnic balkanizing over cultural assimilation.

Which doesn't mean you have to become white, christian, and, oh, protestant - simply that you become *American* donating the good about where you came from to the general welfare, and leaving behind that bad - especially the bad that created the conditions that you strove to escape.

I would note that also applies to Northeasterners and Californians who come to heartland to escape the over-priced, over-regulated, and over-crowded Blue paradises to come wreck our property values by overpaying for land and housing... (though not so much of late, eh?) and then promptly agitating our legislators to introduce all those policies (the concept of which you find comforting, the reality of which you are fleeing) that created the conditions you fled here from...

Come here, be a Kansan, don't make this place into San Francisco... because if SF is so great... why'd ya leave?

And I say that as a guy who likes San Francisco as a concept, and a place to visit... but you (literally) couldn't pay me to live there.

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 12:17 PM

Well, you must have been confused on two subjects:

1) the Abolitionists in Congress had proposed a bill to give reparations for the "cost" of each slave freed, but that was blocked, both by the slavers and by those who were too frugal with government money in the face of a long, deadly and expensive war.

2) Don't you think its a little egregious to talk about having to "buy" slaves to set them free? We are talking about human beings here, not a horse or some inanimate piece of property. Not to mention, that would never have ended the institution of slavery, but simply supported it my another means while the slave holders found another way to expand or maintain that horrid device.

3) I'm always interested in those who lament the "use of arms" to settle states rights as if something else was going to happen after the rebels opened fire on Ft. Sumter. Not to mention that whole 10 years or so before that when the various citizen factions raided each other and killed each other. War was already here. The issue was already being contested by arms.

Like I said, though, you can't divorce the issue from slavery.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 12:23 PM

But, interesting, Cannoneer, I thought maybe you would find the history of a "citizens" organization combining to fight off enemy propaganda. I never thought we'd end up talking about states' rights and slavery over that subject.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 12:52 PM

*whew* I thought Kat was going to get into a "Bleeding Kansas" mode there for a moment...

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 12:59 PM

Some people were valuable property in 1860, kat. Some people still are. That's egregrious.

Judging people of 1860 by the standards of 2008 makes it difficult to attribute their unwillingness to surrender their property and impoverish themselves for the cause of freedom to anything other than selfishness, wickedness, or whatever meaness one wishes to accuse them of. They're dead, and whoever dares defend them is politically incorrect and vulnerable to charges of racism.

So, the essence of Lincoln's strategic communications campaign is that slavery was so egregregious as to justify everything he did to end it, and anybody who thinks otherwise is bad, and people with unwelcome questions should just shut up.

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 29, 2008 1:27 PM

kat, you ass u med that I considered the Confederacy the enemy.

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 29, 2008 1:36 PM

that was "enemy" in general, not regards to the confederacy. as in a people struggling in war and organizing to win it. just a thought and a lesson.

What you assume is that there is some other argument that was being made and you made it.

Let me quote some of Lincoln's debates with Douglas:

There is no place to talk about it as being a wrong, although you say yourself it is a wrong. But finally you will screw yourself up to the belief that if the people of the slave States should adopt a system of gradual emancipation on the slavery question, you would be in favor of it. You would be in favor of it. You say that is getting it in the right place, and you would be glad to see it succeed. But you are deceiving yourself. You all know that Frank Blair and Gratz Brown, down there in St. Louis, undertook to introduce that system in Missouri. They fought as valiantly as they could for the system of gradual emancipation which you pretend you would be glad to see succeed. Now I will bring you to the test. After a hard fight they were beaten, and when the news came over here you threw up your hats and hurraed for Democracy.

Sorry, but evil is evil and people on one side had every intent to end it and people on the other side had every intent on keeping it. But, again, people want to pretend that there was something more noble in defending states rights than the question of slavery. Pardon if I disagree.

continuing from Lincoln:

It is the eternal struggle between these two principles-right and wrong-throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 2:55 PM

That would be the seventh debate.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 3:04 PM

In 1845, Robert Matson brought five of his slaves, Jane Bryant and her four children, into Illinois--a free state--to plant and harvest crops. In 1847, he planned to take these slaves back to Kentucky, a slave state. The slaves, believing they were free because they were in a free state, sought refuge with Hiram Rutherford and Gideon Ashmore. But in Matson v. Bryant et al., they were declared runaways and carted off to the local jail, eventually to be sold to the highest bidder.

Ashmore sued to free Bryant and her children. Matson hired Lincoln, who argued in court that slave owners could use their slaves for labor in Illinois as long as the slaves were in transit.

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 29, 2008 3:31 PM

American political history since the founding has been divided into two great camps – the Hamiltonians (beginning with Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and on to Lincoln) who favor a highly centralized state; and the Jeffersonians (beginning with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, John Randolph, and Andrew Jackson) who espouse a limited, decentralized, constitutional government constrained by state sovereignty. One camp sought to have a Republic that respects and protects individual liberty and property; the other, to establish an Empire where the ends justify the means and the individual is subservient to the state. The American Civil War was a pivotal event for these opposing views of government. Abraham Lincoln prevailed and set the stage for the United States to become an American Empire. We, in 2002, are living with the results – -- Donald W. Miller, Jr.

I do not believe either of us is going to end up agreeing with the other on this, kat. There are 144-year old ruins along the path of Sherman's Bummers that speak to me as eloquently as Bleeding Kansas speaks to you.

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 29, 2008 4:04 PM

Hmm...am I supposed to suddenly believe that Lincoln's ruminations on slavery and its evils is now moot because he argued in reference to an existing law in the constitution that allowed the man to go back to Kentucky with this odious "property" while not institutionalize slavery as a permanent part of Illinois?

If anything, it proves that he had no original intent to use the government to force the issue and it was all an excuse by the rebels to secede, take power and spread their terrible economic practice of using slave labor.

Evil is as evil does. Couch it as "states' rights" all you want. Still evil.

posted by kat-missouri on January 29, 2008 4:28 PM

Folks, having had to live in Southern FL for about half of my life, and had my ears reamed by the corkscrews of the Michigan accents and my sensibilities offended by the arrogant attitudes of the Northeastern funny people,
I damn' betcha that all four of my great-grandfathers joined up to fight against the USA not for any love of slavery, nor from political theories, but as an opportunity to Kill Yankees!

My Dad's, the smarmy Methodist side, may have tried to believe some moral justification for it, but I betcha my Mom's side, the one with all the Marines, did it for the lulz! (at least, at first)

posted by Justthisguy on January 29, 2008 11:30 PM

P.s. This is why the presence of Irishmen in the world tends to make wars bloodier: Any real Irishman will at least entertain the idea of a fight being lulzy, so most significant fights for a long time have had significant Irish participation on both sides, e.g., the American War Between The States.

Now, as a _Scots_-Irish person, I think thats just crazy. Refrain from violence alla time, until it just drives you nuts, and it's hot lithium deuteride, baby!

posted by Justthisguy on January 30, 2008 12:40 AM

by Kat on Jan 29, 2008 | Historical Stuff

The State of the Union address

Provided here, in it's entirety, in case you missed it (like me, I just can't sit through these things, I'd rather read 'em). No editorializing, this is a service of Sycophants R' Us, where, like Fox News claims - "We post, you decide."

Well, that's pretty much what Kos and Co. say, if you simply post a document that most news outlets don't post complete versions of, and don't Fisk it. Heh. I'll just let you read it without the distractions. Note - it's as prepared for delivery, it might differ here and there from transcipts of the speech as delivered. I'll put the Democrat response up separately. Not that most of you are going to have the patience to scroll through either of them...

It's below the fold, in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY January 28, 2008

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

As Prepared for Delivery

Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Seven years have passed since I first stood before you at this rostrum. In that time, our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined. We have faced hard decisions about peace and war, rising competition in the world economy, and the health and welfare of our citizens. These issues call for vigorous debate, and I think it's fair to say we've answered that call. Yet history will record that amid our differences, we acted with purpose. And together, we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government.

All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people's business. That is the purpose of this body. It is the meaning of our oath. And it remains our charge to keep.

The actions of the 110th Congress will affect the security and prosperity of our Nation long after this session has ended. In this election year, let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them. And let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time.

From expanding opportunity to protecting our country, we have made good progress. Yet we have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done.

In the work ahead, we must be guided by the philosophy that made our Nation great. As Americans, we believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history. We believe that the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens. So in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions, and empower them to improve their lives and their futures.

To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy. As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty. America has added jobs for a record 52 straight months, but jobs are now growing at a slower pace. Wages are up, but so are prices for food and gas. Exports are rising, but the housing market has declined. And at kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future.

In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth. But in the short run, we can all see that growth is slowing. So last week, my Administration reached agreement with Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader Boehner on a robust growth package that includes tax relief for individuals and families and incentives for business investment. The temptation will be to load up the bill. That would delay it or derail it, and neither option is acceptable. This is a good agreement that will keep our economy growing and our people working. And this Congress must pass it as soon as possible.

We have other work to do on taxes. Unless the Congress acts, most of the tax relief we have delivered over the past 7 years will be taken away. Some in Washington argue that letting tax relief expire is not a tax increase. Try explaining that to 116 million American taxpayers who would see their taxes rise by an average of $1,800. Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes. I welcome their enthusiasm, and I am pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders.

Most Americans think their taxes are high enough. With all the other pressures on their finances, American families should not have to worry about the Federal Government taking a bigger

bite out of their paychecks. There is only one way to eliminate this uncertainty: make the tax relief permanent. And Members of Congress should know: If any bill raising taxes reaches my desk, I will veto it.

Just as we trust Americans with their own money, we need to earn their trust by spending their tax dollars wisely. Next week, I will send you a budget that terminates or substantially reduces 151 wasteful or bloated programs totaling more than $18 billion. And this budget will keep America on track for a surplus in 2012. American families have to balance their budgets, and so should their Government.

The people's trust in their Government is undermined by congressional earmarks -- special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate. Last year, I asked you to voluntarily cut the number and cost of earmarks in half. I also asked you to stop slipping earmarks into committee reports that never even come to a vote. Unfortunately, neither goal was met. So this time, if you send me an appropriations bill that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half, I will send it back to you with my veto. And tomorrow, I will issue an Executive Order that directs Federal agencies to ignore any future earmark that is not voted on by the Congress. If these items are truly worth funding, the Congress should debate them in the open and hold a public vote.

Our shared responsibilities extend beyond matters of taxes and spending.

On housing, we must trust Americans with the responsibility of homeownership and empower them to weather turbulent times in the housing market. My Administration brought together the HOPE NOW alliance, which is helping many struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure. The Congress can help even more. Tonight I ask

you to pass legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, modernize the Federal Housing Administration, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. These are difficult times for many American families, and by taking these steps, we can help more of them keep their homes.

To build a future of quality health care, we must trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions and empower them with better information and better options. We share a common goal: making health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. The best way to achieve that goal is by expanding consumer choice, not government control. So I have proposed ending the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer. This one reform would put private coverage within reach for millions, and I call on the Congress to pass it this year. The Congress must also expand health savings accounts, create Association Health Plans for small businesses, promote health information technology, and confront the epidemic of junk medical lawsuits. With all these steps, we will help ensure that decisions about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor's office -- not in the halls of Congress.

On education, we must trust students to learn if given the chance and empower parents to demand results from our schools. In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams -- and a decent education is their only hope of achieving them. Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and today no one can deny its results. Last year, fourth and eighth graders achieved the highest math scores on record. Reading scores are on the rise. And African-American and Hispanic students posted all-time highs. Now we must work

together to increase accountability, add flexibility for States and districts, reduce the number of high school dropouts, and provide extra help for struggling schools. Members of Congress: The No Child Left Behind Act is a bipartisan achievement. It is succeeding. And we owe it to America 's children, their parents, and their teachers to strengthen this good law.

We must also do more to help children when their schools do not measure up. Thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships you approved, more than 2,600 of the poorest children in our Nation's capital have found new hope at a faith-based or other non-public school. Sadly, these schools are disappearing at an alarming rate in many of America 's inner cities. So I will convene a White House summit aimed at strengthening these lifelines of learning. And to open the doors of these schools to more children, I ask you to support a new $300 million program called Pell Grants for Kids. We have seen how Pell Grants help low-income college students realize their full potential. Together, we have expanded the size and reach of these grants. Now let's apply that same spirit to help liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools.

On trade, we must trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world and empower them by opening up new markets overseas. Today, our economic growth increasingly depends on our ability to sell American goods, crops, and services all over the world. So we are working to break down barriers to trade and investment wherever we can. We are working for a successful Doha round of trade talks, and we must complete a good agreement this year. At the same time, we are pursuing opportunities to open up new markets by passing free trade agreements.

I thank the Congress for approving a good agreement with Peru . Now I ask you to approve agreements with Colombia , Panama ,

and South Korea . Many products from these nations now enter America duty-free, yet many of our products face steep tariffs in their markets. These agreements will level the playing field. They will give us better access to nearly 100 million customers. And they will support good jobs for the finest workers in the world: those whose products say "Made in the USA ."

These agreements also promote America 's strategic interests. The first agreement that will come before you is with Colombia , a friend of America that is confronting violence and terror and fighting drug traffickers. If we fail to pass this agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere. So we must come together, pass this agreement, and show our neighbors in the region that democracy leads to a better life.

Trade brings better jobs, better choices, and better prices. Yet for some Americans, trade can mean losing a job, and the Federal Government has a responsibility to help. I ask the Congress to reauthorize and reform trade adjustment assistance, so we can help these displaced workers learn new skills and find new jobs.

To build a future of energy security, we must trust in the creative genius of American researchers and entrepreneurs and empower them to pioneer a new generation of clean energy technology. Our security, our prosperity, and our environment all require reducing our dependence on oil. Last year, I asked you to pass legislation to reduce oil consumption over the next decade, and you responded. Together we should take the next steps: Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions. Let us increase the use of renewable power and emissions-free nuclear power. Let us continue investing in advanced battery technology and renewable fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future. Let us create a new

international clean technology fund, which will help developing nations like India and China make greater use of clean energy sources. And let us complete an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases. This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride. The United States is committed to strengthening our energy security and confronting global climate change. And the best way to meet these goals is for America to continue leading the way toward the development of cleaner and more efficient technology.

To keep America competitive into the future, we must trust in the skill of our scientists and engineers and empower them to pursue the breakthroughs of tomorrow. Last year, the Congress passed legislation supporting the American Competitiveness Initiative, but never followed through with the funding. This funding is essential to keeping our scientific edge. So I ask the Congress to double Federal support for critical basic research in the physical sciences and ensure America remains the most dynamic nation on earth.

On matters of science and life, we must trust in the innovative spirit of medical researchers and empower them to discover new treatments while respecting moral boundaries. In November, we witnessed a landmark achievement when scientists discovered a way to reprogram adult skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells. This breakthrough has the potential to move us beyond the divisive debates of the past by extending the frontiers of medicine without the destruction of human life. So we are expanding funding for this type of ethical medical research. And as we explore promising avenues of research, we must also ensure that all life is treated with the dignity it deserves. So I call on the Congress to pass legislation that bans unethical practices such as the buying, selling, patenting, or cloning of human life.

On matters of justice, we must trust in the wisdom of our Founders and empower judges who understand that the Constitution means what it says. I have submitted judicial nominees who will rule by the letter of the law, not the whim of the gavel. Many of these nominees are being unfairly delayed. They are worthy of confirmation, and the Senate should give each of them a prompt up-or-down vote.

In communities across our land, we must trust in the good heart of the American people and empower them to serve their neighbors in need. Over the past 7 years, more of our fellow citizens have discovered that the pursuit of happiness leads to the path of service. Americans have volunteered in record numbers. Charitable donations are higher than ever. Faith-based groups are bringing hope to pockets of despair, with newfound support from the Federal Government. And to help guarantee equal treatment for faith-based organizations when they compete for Federal funds, I ask you to permanently extend Charitable Choice.

Tonight the armies of compassion continue the march to a new day in the Gulf Coast . America honors the strength and resilience of the people of this region. We reaffirm our pledge to help them build stronger and better than before. And tonight I am pleased to announce that in April we will host this year's North American Summit of Canada, Mexico , and the United States in the great city of New Orleans .

There are two other pressing challenges that I have raised repeatedly before this body, and that this body has failed to address: entitlement spending and immigration.

Every Member in this chamber knows that spending on entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is growing faster than we can afford. And we all know the painful choices ahead if America stays on this path: massive tax increases, sudden and drastic cuts in benefits, or crippling deficits. I have laid out proposals to reform these programs. Now I ask Members of Congress to offer your proposals and come up with a bipartisan solution to save these vital programs for our children and grandchildren.

The other pressing challenge is immigration. America needs to secure our borders -- and with your help, my Administration is taking steps to do so. We are increasing worksite enforcement, we are deploying fences and advanced technologies to stop illegal crossings, we have effectively ended the policy of "catch and release" at the border, and by the end of this year, we will have doubled the number of border patrol agents. Yet we also need to acknowledge that we will never fully secure our border until we create a lawful way for foreign workers to come here and support our economy. This will take pressure off the border and allow law enforcement to concentrate on those who mean us harm. We must also find a sensible and humane way to deal with people here illegally. Illegal immigration is complicated, but it can be resolved. And it must be resolved in a way that upholds both our laws and our highest ideals.

This is the business of our Nation here at home. Yet building a prosperous future for our citizens also depends on confronting enemies abroad and advancing liberty in troubled regions of the world.

Our foreign policy is based on a clear premise: We trust that people, when given the chance, will choose a future of freedom and peace. In the last 7 years, we have witnessed

stirring moments in the history of liberty. We have seen citizens in Georgia and Ukraine stand up for their right to free and fair elections. We have seen people in Lebanon take to the streets to demand their independence. We have seen Afghans emerge from the tyranny of the Taliban to choose a new president and a new parliament. We have seen jubilant Iraqis holding up ink-stained fingers and celebrating their freedom. And these images of liberty have inspired us.

In the past 7 years, we have also seen images that have sobered us. We have watched throngs of mourners in Lebanon and Pakistan carrying the caskets of beloved leaders taken by the assassin's hand. We have seen wedding guests in blood-soaked finery staggering from a hotel in Jordan, Afghans and Iraqis blown up in mosques and markets, and trains in London and Madrid ripped apart by bombs. And on a clear September day, we saw thousands of our fellow citizens taken from us in an instant. These horrific images serve as a grim reminder: The advance of liberty is opposed by terrorists and extremists -- evil men who despise freedom, despise America , and aim to subject millions to their violent rule.

Since September 11, we have taken the fight to these terrorists and extremists. We will stay on the offense, we will keep up the pressure, and we will deliver justice to the enemies of America .

We are engaged in the defining ideological struggle of the 21st century. The terrorists oppose every principle of humanity and decency that we hold dear. Yet in this war on terror, there is one thing we and our enemies agree on: In the long run, men and women who are free to determine their own destinies will reject terror and refuse to live in tyranny. That is why the terrorists are fighting to deny this choice to people in Lebanon ,

Iraq, Afghanistan , Pakistan , and the Palestinian Territories . And that is why, for the security of America and the peace of the world, we are spreading the hope of freedom.

In Afghanistan , America , our 25 NATO allies, and 15 partner nations are helping the Afghan people defend their freedom and rebuild their country. Thanks to the courage of these military and civilian personnel, a nation that was once a safe haven for al Qaida is now a young democracy where boys and girls are going to school, new roads and hospitals are being built, and people are looking to the future with new hope. These successes must continue, so we are adding 3,200 Marines to our forces in Afghanistan , where they will fight the terrorists and train the Afghan Army and police. Defeating the Taliban and al Qaida is critical to our security, and I thank the Congress for supporting America 's vital mission in Afghanistan .

In Iraq , the terrorists and extremists are fighting to deny a proud people their liberty and to establish safe havens for attacks across the world. One year ago, our enemies were succeeding in their efforts to plunge Iraq into chaos. So we reviewed our strategy and changed course. We launched a surge of American forces into Iraq . And we gave our troops a new mission: Work with Iraqi forces to protect the Iraqi people, pursue the enemy in its strongholds, and deny the terrorists sanctuary anywhere in the country.

The Iraqi people quickly realized that something dramatic had happened. Those who had worried that America was preparing to abandon them instead saw tens of thousands of American forces flowing into their country. They saw our forces moving into neighborhoods, clearing out the terrorists, and staying behind to ensure the enemy did not return. And they saw our troops, along with Provincial Reconstruction Teams that include Foreign

Service Officers and other skilled public servants, coming in to ensure that improved security was followed by improvements in daily life. Our military and civilians in Iraq are performing with courage and distinction, and they have the gratitude of our whole Nation.

The Iraqis launched a surge of their own. In the fall of 2006, Sunni tribal leaders grew tired of al Qaida's brutality and started a popular uprising called "The Anbar Awakening." Over the past year, similar movements have spread across the country. And today, this grassroots surge includes more than 80,000 Iraqi citizens who are fighting the terrorists. The government in Baghdad has stepped forward as well -- adding more than 100,000 new Iraqi soldiers and police during the past year.

While the enemy is still dangerous and more work remains, the American and Iraqi surges have achieved results few of us could have imagined just 1 year ago:

When we met last year, many said containing the violence was impossible. A year later, high profile terrorist attacks are down, civilian deaths are down, and sectarian killings are down.

When we met last year, militia extremists -- some armed and trained by Iran -- were wreaking havoc in large areas of Iraq . A year later, Coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured hundreds of militia fighters. And Iraqis of all backgrounds increasingly realize that defeating these militia fighters is critical to the future of their country.

When we met last year, al Qaida had sanctuaries in many areas of Iraq , and their leaders had just offered American forces safe passage out of the country. Today, it is al Qaida that is searching for safe passage. They have been driven from many of the strongholds they once held, and over the past year, we have captured or killed thousands of extremists in Iraq , including

hundreds of key al Qaida leaders and operatives. Last month, Osama bin Laden released a tape in which he railed against Iraqi tribal leaders who have turned on al Qaida and admitted that Coalition forces are growing stronger in Iraq . Ladies and gentlemen, some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al Qaida is on the run in Iraq , and this enemy will be defeated.

When we met last year, our troop levels in Iraq were on the rise. Today, because of the progress just described, we are implementing a policy of "return on success," and the surge forces we sent to Iraq are beginning to come home.

This progress is a credit to the valor of our troops and the brilliance of their commanders. This evening, I want to speak directly to our men and women on the frontlines. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen: In the past year, you have done everything we have asked of you, and more. Our Nation is grateful for your courage. We are proud of your accomplishments. And tonight in this hallowed chamber, with the American people as our witness, we make you a solemn pledge: In the fight ahead, you will have all you need to protect our Nation. And I ask the Congress to meet its responsibilities to these brave men and women by fully funding our troops.

Our enemies in Iraq have been hit hard. They are not yet defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting ahead. Our objective in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made in 2007, while transitioning to the next phase of our strategy. American troops are shifting from leading operations, to partnering with Iraqi forces, and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission. As part of this transition, one Army brigade combat team and one Marine Expeditionary Unit have already come home and will not be replaced. In the coming months, four

additional brigades and two Marine battalions will follow suit. Taken together, this means more than 20,000 of our troops are coming home.

Any further drawdown of U.S. troops will be based on conditions in Iraq and the recommendations of our commanders. General Petraeus has warned that too fast a drawdown could result in the "disintegration of the Iraqi Security Forces, al Qaida-Iraq regaining lost ground, [and] a marked increase in violence." Members of Congress: Having come so far and achieved so much, we must not allow this to happen.

In the coming year, we will work with Iraqi leaders as they build on the progress they are making toward political reconciliation. At the local level, Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds are beginning to come together to reclaim their communities and rebuild their lives. Progress in the provinces must be matched by progress in Baghdad . And we are seeing some encouraging signs. The national government is sharing oil revenues with the provinces. The parliament recently passed both a pension law and de-Ba'athification reform. Now they are debating a provincial powers law. The Iraqis still have a distance to travel. But after decades of dictatorship and the pain of sectarian violence, reconciliation is taking place -- and the Iraqi people are taking control of their future.

The mission in Iraq has been difficult and trying for our Nation. But it is in the vital interest of the United States that we succeed. A free Iraq will deny al Qaida a safe haven. A free Iraq will show millions across the Middle East that a future of liberty is possible. And a free Iraq will be a friend of America , a partner in fighting terror, and a source of stability in a dangerous part of the world.

By contrast, a failed Iraq would embolden extremists, strengthen Iran , and give terrorists a base from which to launch new attacks on our friends, our allies, and our homeland. The enemy has made its intentions clear. At a time when the momentum seemed to favor them, al Qaida's top commander in Iraq declared that they will not rest until they have attacked us here in Washington . My fellow Americans: We will not rest either. We will not rest until this enemy has been defeated. We must do the difficult work today, so that years from now people will look back and say that this generation rose to the moment, prevailed in a tough fight, and left behind a more hopeful region and a safer America .

We are also standing against the forces of extremism in the Holy Land , where we have new cause for hope. Palestinians have elected a president who recognizes that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel . Israelis have leaders who recognize that a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state will be a source of lasting security. This month in Ramallah and Jerusalem , I assured leaders from both sides that America will do, and I will do, everything we can to help them achieve a peace agreement that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year. The time has come for a Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side-by-side in peace.

We are also standing against the forces of extremism embodied by the regime in Tehran . Iran 's rulers oppress a good and talented people. And wherever freedom advances in the Middle East , it seems the Iranian regime is there to oppose it. Iran is funding and training militia groups in Iraq , supporting Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon , and backing Hamas' efforts to undermine peace in the Holy Land . Tehran is also developing

ballistic missiles of increasing range and continues to develop its capability to enrich uranium, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon. Our message to the people of Iran is clear: We have no quarrel with you, we respect your traditions and your history, and we look forward to the day when you have your freedom. Our message to the leaders of Iran is also clear: Verifiably suspend your nuclear enrichment, so negotiations can begin. And to rejoin the community of nations, come clean about your nuclear intentions and past actions, stop your oppression at home, and cease your support for terror abroad. But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf .

On the homefront, we will continue to take every lawful and effective measure to protect our country. This is our most solemn duty. We are grateful that there has not been another attack on our soil since September 11. This is not for a lack of desire or effort on the part of the enemy. In the past 6 years, we have stopped numerous attacks, including a plot to fly a plane into the tallest building in Los Angeles and another to blow up passenger jets bound for America over the Atlantic . Dedicated men and women in our Government toil day and night to stop the terrorists from carrying out their plans. These good citizens are saving American lives, and everyone in this chamber owes them our thanks. And we owe them something more: We owe them the tools they need to keep our people safe.

One of the most important tools we can give them is the ability to monitor terrorist communications. To protect America , we need to know who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they are planning. Last year, the Congress passed legislation to help us do that. Unfortunately, the

Congress set the legislation to expire on February 1. This means that if you do not act by Friday, our ability to track terrorist threats would be weakened and our citizens will be in greater danger. The Congress must ensure the flow of vital intelligence is not disrupted. The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America . We have had ample time for debate. The time to act is now.

Protecting our Nation from the dangers of a new century requires more than good intelligence and a strong military. It also requires changing the conditions that breed resentment and allow extremists to prey on despair. So America is using its influence to build a freer, more hopeful, and more compassionate world. This is a reflection of our national interest and the calling of our conscience.

America is opposing genocide in Sudan and supporting freedom in countries from Cuba and Zimbabwe to Belarus and Burma .

America is leading the fight against global poverty, with strong education initiatives and humanitarian assistance. We have also changed the way we deliver aid by launching the Millennium Challenge Account. This program strengthens democracy, transparency, and the rule of law in developing nations, and I ask you to fully fund this important initiative.
America is leading the fight against global hunger. Today, more than half the world's food aid comes from the United States . And tonight, I ask the Congress to support an innovative proposal to provide food assistance by purchasing crops directly from farmers in the developing world, so we can build up local agriculture and help break the cycle of famine.

America is leading the fight against disease. With your help, we are working to cut by half the number of malaria-related

deaths in 15 African nations. And our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is treating 1.4 million people. We can bring healing and hope to many more. So I ask you to maintain the principles that have changed behavior and made this program a success. And I call on you to double our initial commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS by approving an additional $30 billion over the next 5 years.

America is a force for hope in the world because we are a compassionate people, and some of the most compassionate Americans are those who have stepped forward to protect us. We must keep faith with all who have risked life and limb so that we might live in freedom and peace. Over the past 7 years, we have increased funding for veterans by more than 95 percent. As we increase funding, we must also reform our veterans system to meet the needs of a new war and a new generation. I call on the Congress to enact the reforms recommended by Senator Bob Dole and Secretary Donna Shalala, so we can improve the system of care for our wounded warriors and help them build lives of hope, promise, and dignity.

Our military families also sacrifice for America . They endure sleepless nights and the daily struggle of providing for children while a loved one is serving far from home. We have a responsibility to provide for them. So I ask you to join me in expanding their access to childcare, creating new hiring preferences for military spouses across the Federal Government, and allowing our troops to transfer their unused education benefits to their spouses or children. Our military families serve our Nation, they inspire our Nation, and tonight our Nation honors them.

The secret of our strength, the miracle of America , is that our greatness lies not in our Government, but in the spirit and determination of our people. When the Federal Convention met in

Philadelphia in 1787, our Nation was bound by the Articles of Confederation, which began with the words, "We the undersigned delegates." When Gouverneur Morris was asked to draft the preamble to our new Constitution, he offered an important revision and opened with words that changed the course of our Nation and the history of the world: "We the people."

By trusting the people, our Founders wagered that a great and noble Nation could be built on the liberty that resides in the hearts of all men and women. By trusting the people, succeeding generations transformed our fragile young democracy into the most powerful Nation on earth and a beacon of hope for millions. And so long as we continue to trust the people, our Nation will prosper, our liberty will be secure, and the State of our Union will remain strong. So tonight, with confidence in freedom's power, and trust in the people, let us set forth to do their business.

From such a proud State where so much rugged beef and hard grains grow, how come you got to spawn such a Wet Noodle of a Governor?

posted by Boquisucio on January 29, 2008 2:44 PM

Snerk. Heh. In many ways I'd prefer her to Hillary - I at least have some real idea of: How well she can get along with a legislature that controlled by the opposition, and how well she can handle emergencies (it's been our year for natural disasters) - and, she has some idea of what might be right or wrong with DHS/FEMA in that regard.

Plus she's run state-level cabinet offices.

Which is more qualified for the position of President than Hillary is, IMNSHO.

She's more qualified than Obama, and arguably, McCain or Paul, for that matter.

That said, Governor Sebelius dreams of making this state Blue in many ways that would be amenable to the coastal elites, so I'm glad we had a hostile legislature to keep that in check, while at the same time, she kept some of the more aggressive Republican legislative designs in check, too.

I can live with that level of gridlock.

I don't mind politics, per se, that much, it's all the opprobrium and personal destruction that we practice it with (a malaise on both sides of the aisle) that leaves me tired of it.

And, thus far, I don't see a way around it, since television virtually mandates it, in that everything has to be in sound bites, and it's just easier to do platitudes or smears than it is to truly discuss policy...

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 3:09 PM

I for one much prefer my Si(e)belius on NPR.

posted by Boquisucio on January 29, 2008 3:26 PM

As I listened to both, I see some hope, but with it comes another split and this split comes on both sides of the aisle. This split will come along these lines, "DYNASTY vs ANTI-DYNASTY". Everybody talks about experience, how well does it work? Everybody talks about change. My question is this, "From what to what and how?"

The biggest thing we need to do is GET AWAY FROM THIS IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY BS. When this country was born, a founding cornerstone was the idea of getting away from a monarchy or kingdom, or in this case a sheikdom.

About the Govenor, just maybe she has the wisdom to NOT go where the footing is a little too thin to walk on and a little too thick to swim.

My point is we need to get back to actual checks and balances as described in Our Constitution. You do remember that document, which we swore an oath to protect and defend against all enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC. We took that freely and WITH NO INTENT TO EVADE. Yeah, that one.

Just maybe, this is the reason I am-

Grumpy

posted by Grumpy on January 29, 2008 5:20 PM

by John on Jan 29, 2008 | Politics

The Democrat's Response to the 2008 State of the Union Address.

Well, that's pretty much what Kos and Co. say, if you are a conservative and simply post a document that most news outlets don't post complete versions of, and don't Fisk it. Heh. I'll just let you read it without the distractions. I'll put the State of the Union address is in the post above this post. Not that most of you are going to have the patience to scroll through either of them...

It's below the fold, in the Flash Traffic/Extended Entry.

REID: I'm Harry Reid from Nevada, the new Democratic leader of the United States Senate.

PELOSI: I'm Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives.

REID: Now that you've heard from the president, I appreciate your taking a few minutes with us as we give our views on how we can live up to the American promise.

I was born and raised in the high desert of Nevada in a tiny town called Searchlight. My dad was a hard rock miner. My mom took in wash. I grew up around people of strong values, even if they rarely talked about them. They loved their country, worshiped God, never shunned hard work and never asked for special favors.

My life has been very different from what I imagined growing up, but no matter how far I've traveled, Searchlight is still the place I go back to and still the place I call home.

A few weeks ago, I joined some friends of mine for a bite to eat at the Nugget, Searchlight's only restaurant. We were sitting down in a booth when a young boy, about 10 years old, named Devon, walked up to us.

Carrying a skateboard under his arm, he said, "Senator Reid, when I grow up, I want to be just like you."

Well, the truth is Devon could probably do a lot better. But the point still holds, and it's this: No one ever had to tell young Devon to dream big dreams. No one ever had to teach him that America is a place of possibility. He knows those things because they're borne deep in all Americans.

In the coming year, I believe we can make sure America lives up to its legacy as a land of opportunity if the president is willing to join hands and build from the center.

It's important that we succeed. It's time that America's government lived up to the same values as America's families. It's time we invested in America's future and made sure our people have the skills to compete and thrive in a 21st-century economy.

That's what Democrats believe, and that's where we stand, and that's what we'll fight for.

Too many of the president's economic policies have left Americans and American companies struggling. And after we worked so hard to eliminate the deficit, his policies have added trillions to the debt -- in effect, a "birth tax" of $36,000 on every child that is born.

We Democrats have a different vision: spurring research and development in new technologies to help create the jobs of the future; rolling up our sleeves and fighting for today's jobs by ending the special tax breaks that encourage big corporations to ship jobs overseas; a trade policy that enforces the rules of the road so that we play to win in the global marketplace instead of sitting by and getting played for fools.

After World War II, through the Marshall Plan, we rebuilt Europe, and they went from poverty to an economic powerhouse. Today, we need to invest in our own nation's future with a Marshall Plan for America to build the infrastructure our economy needs to go -- and to grow.

President Eisenhower did that in the 1950s with interstate highways. National investment created the Internet in the 1970s. We need to build the next economy, and we need to start now.

The 21st-century economy holds great promise for our people. But unless we give all Americans the skills they need to succeed, countries like India and China will be taking our good-paying jobs that should be ours.

From early childhood education to better elementary and high schools to making college more affordable to training workers so they can get better jobs, Democrats believe every American should have a world-class education and the skills they need in a worldwide economy.

Health-care costs have shot up double digits year after year of the Bush administration, and that's costing us jobs, costing us our competitiveness and costing families their peace of mind.

We need to make health care and prescription drugs affordable so that our families and our small businesses will no longer have to shoulder this dead weight.

Good, new jobs, world-class education, affordable health care -- these things matter.

Unfortunately, much of what the president offered weren't real answers.

You know, today is Groundhog Day. And what we saw and heard tonight was a little like the movie "Groundhog Day" -- the same old ideology that we've heard before, over and over and over again. We can do better.

I want you to know that when we believe the president is on the right track, we won't let partisan interests get in the way of what's good for our country. We will be the first in line to work with him.

But when he gets off-track, we will be there to hold him accountable.

That's why we so strongly disagree with the president's plan to privatize Social Security.

Let me share with you why I believe the president's plan is so dangerous.

There's a lot we can do to improve Americans' retirement security, but it's wrong to replace the guaranteed benefit that Americans have earned with a guaranteed benefit cut of up to 40 percent.

Make no mistake, that's exactly what President Bush is proposing.

The Bush plan would take our already record-high $4.3 trillion debt and put us another $2 trillion in the red. That's an immoral burden to place on the backs of the next generation.

But maybe most of all, the Bush plan isn't really Social Security reform; it's more like Social Security roulette.

Democrats are all for giving Americans more of a say and more choices when it comes to their retirement savings, but that doesn't mean taking Social Security's guarantee and gambling with it. And that's coming from a senator who represents Las Vegas.

Sometimes important questions, like Social Security or the economy or education, get reduced to dollars and cents with the competing policies of political parties.

But really, these are questions about our old-fashioned moral values that don't get talked about much in Washington but matter so much to our country.

Are we willing to do right by our parents and take care of our children? Do we believe that big corporations with powerful lobbyists should get special favors and that the wealthiest should get special tax breaks? Or do we believe we are all God's children and that each of us should get a fair shot and a say in our future?

Will we be able to tell young people, like Devon back in Searchlight, that America is still the land of the open road and that you can travel that open road to the place of your choice?

Even after the president's speech, the American people are still asking these questions. You can be sure that Democrats will continue to offer real answers in the months ahead.

Now, I'd like to turn things over to my colleague, the great leader of the House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi.

PELOSI: Thank you, Senator Reid.

Throughout our nation's history, hope and optimism have defined the American spirit. With pride and determination, every generation has passed on a stronger America than the one it inherited. Our greatest responsibility is to leave our children a world that is a safer and more secure place.

As House Democratic leader, I want to speak with you this evening about an issue of grave concern: the national security of our country.

Any discussion of our national security must begin with recognition and respect for our men and women in uniform.

Whether they are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan or delivering humanitarian aid to the victims of the tsunami in Asia, our troops have the gratitude of every American for their courage, their patriotism and the sacrifice that they are willing to make for our country.

I have seen that sacrifice up close. I've met with our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I've visited our wounded in military hospitals here and overseas.

Our troops not only defend us, they inspire us. They remind us of our responsibility to build a future worthy of their sacrifice.
Because of the courage of our service men and women and the determination of the Iraqi people, Iraq's election on Sunday was a significant step toward Iraqis taking their future into their own hands. Now we must consider our future in Iraq.

We all know that the United States cannot stay in Iraq indefinitely and continue to be viewed as an occupying force, neither should we slip out the back door, falsely declaring victory but leaving chaos.

Despite the best efforts of our troops and their Iraqi counterparts, Iraq still faces a violent and persistent insurgency.

And the chairman of the National Intelligence Council said in January that Iraq has become a magnet for international terrorists.

We have never heard a clear plan from this administration for ending our presence in Iraq. And we did not hear one tonight.

Democrats believe a credible plan to bring our troops home and stabilizing Iraq must include three key elements:

First, responsibility for Iraqi security must be transferred to the Iraqis as soon as possible. This action is long overdue.

The top priority for the U.S. military should have been for a long time now training the Iraqi army.

We must not be lulled into a false sense of confidence by the administration's claim that a large number of security personnel have been trained. It simply hasn't happened. But it must.

Second, Iraq's economic development must be accelerated. Congress has provided billions of dollars for reconstruction, but little of that money has been spent effectively to put Iraqis to work rebuilding their country.

Infrastructure improvements in Iraq are more than just projects; they give Iraqis hope for a better future and a stake in achieving it, and they contribute to Iraqi stability.

Third, regional diplomacy must be intensified. Diplomacy can lessen the political problems in Iraq, take pressure off of our troops and deprive the insurgency of the fuel of anti-Americanism on which it thrives.

If these three steps are taken, the next elections in Iraq, scheduled for December, can be held in a more secure atmosphere, with broader participation and a much smaller American presence.

Just as we must transfer greater responsibility to the Iraqi people for their own security, we must embrace a renewed commitment to our security here at home.

It's been over three years since the attacks of September 11th. Our hopes and prayers will always be with the 9/11 families, who strengthen our resolve to win the war on terror. The pain and horror of that day will never be forgotten by any of us, yet the gaps in our security exposed by those attacks remain.

Despite the administration's rhetoric, airline cargo still goes uninspected, shipping containers go unscreened, and our railroads and power plants are not secure.

Police officers and firefighters across America have pleaded for the tools they need to prevent or respond to an attack, but the administration still hasn't delivered for our first responders.

The greatest threat to our homeland security are the tons of biological, chemical and even nuclear materials that are unaccounted for or unguarded.

The president says the right words about the threat, but he has failed to take action commensurate with it.

We can, and we must, keep the world's most gruesome weapons out of the world's most dangerous hands. Nothing is more important to our homeland security and, indeed, to the safety of the world.

For three years, the president has failed to put together a comprehensive plan to protect America from terrorism, and we did not hear one tonight.

As we strive to close the gaps in our security here at home, we must do more to show our great strength as well as our greatness.

We must extend the hand of friendship to our neighbors in Latin America. We must work to stop the genocide in Sudan. We must reinvigorate the Middle East peace process. And we must bring health and hope to people suffering from disease, devastation and the fury of despair.

We are called to do this and more by our faith and our common humanity, and also because these actions will enhance our national security.

Democrats are committed to a strong national security that keeps America safe, that wins the war on terror and that never again sends our troops into harm's way without the equipment they need.

In our New Partnership for America's Future, House Democrats have made a commitment to guarantee a military second to none, to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction, to build strong diplomatic alliances, to collect timely and reliable intelligence to keep us safe at home, and to honor our veterans and their families by making sure they have the health care and benefits they have earned.

For those returning from military service, our newest veterans, Democrats are calling for a G.I. bill of rights for the 21st century to guarantee access to education, health care and the opportunity for good jobs.

And we must protect and defend the American people, and we must also protect and defend our Constitution and the civil liberties contained therein. That is our oath of office.

A strong and secure America was our parents' gift to us. We owe our children and our grandchildren nothing less.

Thank you. Goodnight. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.

by John on Jan 29, 2008 | Politics

Money Quote

[Kat - insuring all "normal" citizens run screaming from the "redneck, gun nuts" once again]

Discussion with "other" brother re: traffic today.

Advisability of cutting in front of other cars:

Prius v. Chevy 2500 Pick Up: You be the judge.

Advisability of cutting in front of other cars in the state of Arizona that has open carry laws:

Do the odds. How many Prius owners do you think own a gun?

by Kat on Jan 29, 2008 | General Commentary

January 28, 2008

Money Quote...

The wife while watching Ted Kennedy endorse Obama:

"I haven't seen him this excited since he got out of the water..."

Heh. - Instapilot

by Dusty (AKA Attila of Argghhh!) on Jan 28, 2008 | I think it's funny!

Mike Holovak, PT Boat Skipper

We were blessed to know him
by Richard Justice
"He was a coal miner's son, the youngest of five born to Czechoslovakian immigrants. From those humble beginnings, Mike Holovak went on to live out a uniquely American story.

He skippered a PT boat, survived malaria and lost a brother in World War II. He once counted President Kennedy among his many friends.

He played for Frank Leahy and George Halas, drafted Hall of Famers Mike Munchak and Bruce Matthews and was the architect of Oilers teams that made seven consecutive playoff appearances.

He once played in a high school game in which Vince Lombardi was the opposing coach."

Read the rest here. And another article here.
Maggie

by Denizens on Jan 28, 2008 | Observations on things Military

A Gaelic Blessing.

Deep Peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the gentle night to you,
Moon and stars pour their healing light to you,
Deep peace of Christ the light of the world to you.
Deep peace of Christ to you.

Goodbye Aunt Elaine - cut a rug with Skeet and get that Grand Slam.

Love,

John

by John on Jan 28, 2008 | Something for the Soul

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

Since this week the Castle is getting an uptick in visits from the college crowd, I should post something that will play to the stereotype of a right-wing gun-nut, so we having to talk about in class... 8^ ) Not that Kat hasn't been doing her best of late to stir that pot.

And with this post, I can play to both the Right-Wing Fascist Myrmidon *and* Gun-nut stereotypes... though, for the record, I don't like Glocks all that much.

Jihadi portrait service.

To see what I mean - click here.

[You should read the comments to this post - that's where I make my point.]

Hey, some of us college kids come here for the comedy and commentary as well!

But we like the gun pr0n here in the engineering department, oh yes we do.

posted by GeoSTI on January 28, 2008 9:30 AM

yeah, besides, I don't think a gun blog has done its job unless someone runs screaming from it once day, "Gun Nut!!!!!" as well as at least once a week check up by the ATFE, FBI or some other organization responding to a complaint about possible militia, separatists, etc

And I get plenty of help from the rest of the crew around here. LOL

posted by kat-missouri on January 28, 2008 10:00 AM

Interesting that you post that photo.

It's been photoshopped you know.

The real deal states "Iraqi Photos"... Thats what happens when improperly led SPC's and junior SGTs get their hands on a Sharpie marker.

I bet Petraus would not be amused.

Regards.

posted by Dakota on January 28, 2008 11:04 PM

Dakota
The photo was taken some time before the General took over his current duties.

And some of us remember when it made its first trip down the intertubes.

Cheers

posted by J.M. Heinrichs on January 29, 2008 12:39 AM

And, in fact, I'm the one who photoshopped that version of it. And deliberately so that it was detectable - both to make it a touch more PC, in that it was referring to a legitimate target, and as an example of Info-Ops.

It was further useful in the discussion of Palestianian Fauxtography.

More recently, it's been useful in a discussion of gallows humor - where a reader was just terribly offended by this sort of humor on the part of the soldiery, where I then suggested if they were going to hate soldiers for dark humor like this - they better hate the police, ambulance crews, and firefighters - all of whom have their own, just as dark in form and target, versions of gallows humor. I will correct the record and add emergency room personnel, too.

One way you deal with facing human foible and it's aftermath is too make mock of it, as a way of coping. It's everyone in the group's responsibility to keep an eye on everyone else to make sure that it's a coping mechanism, and the people involved aren't shifting to more dangerous levels of stress.

And yes, to keep things like this from being quite so obvious. And to make sure people understand why making it too obvious can, and usually is, detrimental in a larger context.

Thanks for setting up my point!

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 29, 2008 7:59 AM

John,
You are correct in the "Dark humor" department. I have the honor of being a former EMT, Firefighter, police assistant (I play bad guy aggressor in tac squad practice drills, IT IS FUN), and proud veteran of the small group called the 82nd Airborne Division. AIRBORNE, ALL THE WAY! I also am a Top Team graduate of the old sniper school at Fort Bragg, NC. Humor is a psychological tool that keeps depression and mental illness at bay.
With all that experience behind me, I'm currently a RN charge nurse in an emergency room. Go figure...?
God bless you John, and I'll raise a beer to you tonight. Check six, and I've got your back.

Alan D. Briley, RN

posted by Alan Briley, RN on January 29, 2008 9:51 AM

by John on Jan 28, 2008 | I think it's funny!

JRTC combat patches?

JRTC Observer/Controllers in the attack... let's just say things are a little different these days (in a good way) than back in the late 80's/early 90's when I spent 3 years as an O/C at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California. I'd love to go out in the box at NTC to see the massive changes (among others - some of the old mines that were off-limits are now cave complexes... "off limits" *koff, koff* Heh. Ya can't give a senior Captain a HMMWV, all the diesel he can burn, and expect him to not nip into a cave or two...

080122-A-9185L-061 - Soldiers from the 203rd

080122-A-9185L-061 - Soldiers from the 203rd "Thunder" Corps of the Afghan National Army and members of the Afghan National Police conduct a joint planning exercise during a command post exercise at Forward Operating Base Thunder, Jan. 22. The CPX was controlled by Soldiers from the Joint Readiness Training Center out of Fort Polk, La. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matt Leary/4th BCT/82nd Abn. Div. PAO)

ANA 'Thunder' Corps trains with premier trainers

FORWARD OPERATING BASE Lightning, Afghanistan - The U.S. Army's premier trainers of the Joint Readiness Training Center have deployed outside of the United States from their home station of Fort Polk, La., for the first time to train another nation's forces.

Every U.S. Army unit that deploys to Afghanistan or Iraq goes through the same training and now Afghan National Army and Coalition commanders acknowledge that the ANA 203rd Corps is ready for this next level of training.

"This is a tremendous recognition of the present capabilities and the potential of a premier team within the Afghan National Security Force; this investment in their development is an investment towards long-term security for Afghanistan," said Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander, 4th Brigade Combat Team, and 82nd Airborne Division. "The 203rd Corps staff is in the lead here, planning and executing the last four major operations conducted in south eastern Afghanistan since late summer 2007. If they weren't ready for this next step in their
development, we wouldn't have asked for this."

The 203rd Corps completed an intensive five-day command post exercise with staff from the JRTC and their Coalition partners of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne in south eastern Afghanistan to train and develop the skills of their staff officers and senior
noncommissioned officers, Jan. 26. This exercise included the subordinate ANA staff throughout eastern Afghanistan allowing the JRTC trainers to observe and mentor ANA staff at all levels.

Although no ground troops were involved, the participants in the exercise used maps and computers to position units and soldiers in order to attack the enemy and respond to an unexpected natural disaster on a computer-simulated battlefield. While the exercise included planning and executing a full-scale operation and covered routine battle drills, the trainers threw in some surprises so the ANA staff had to quickly react and work through unexpected situations, the same as in an actual operation.

Major General Abdul Khaliq, 203rd Corps commander, ANA, was pleased with the exercise.
"This command post exercise training event, conducted with the United States Army Joint Readiness Training Center is the latest exercise to assess and improve the quality of the ANA corps staff and the ANP," he said. "In 2007, we executed independent operations, and we are currently planning independent operations for 2008. I am grateful for the progress and increasing capabilities of the security forces of Afghanistan. I appreciate all efforts in improving Afghanistan, and the ANA, [Afghan National Police], and Afghan nation appreciate the support of the U.S. forces."

All the participants in this training event recognized the value in sending the JRTC staff to Afghanistan.

"JRTC is designed to train and improve the Soldiers and leaders of the U.S. Army. Bringing our staff to Afghanistan provides another step forward towards improving the capabilities and self-sufficiency of the Afghan National Security Forces and developing the future leaders of the ANA," said Maj. Robert Phillips, Public Affairs officer, Joint Readiness Training Center.

by John on Jan 28, 2008 | ~~GWOT~~ Whatever it is...

Live from Iraq: Interview with 3iD CoS

[Posted by FbL. Update: Part II is up]

Last Friday I had the pleasure of spending about half an hour interviewing Colonel Mark McKnight, 3rd Infantry Division Chief of Staff, currently deployed to Iraq. Topics included security for Ashura, CLCs, the media, and challenges ahead. Unfortunately I didn't have the capacity to record our phone conversation, but I was able to quickly type many of his statements as I listened. Most of his answers weren't exactly terse, but he was rather succinct, so we were able to cover a lot of ground.

Soldiers of 3ID (Task Force Marne) have been in Iraq since early 2007. Their area of operations comprises a band along the southern part of Baghdad Province, running from the Najaf/Karbala region eastward to the Iranian border. COL McKnight described the northern edge of their AO as "the non-urban areas of Baghdad," and said that a significant part of their mission has been to "block accelerants [of violence] into Baghdad" so that the city can be cleaned up, though they do not operate in urban Baghdad itself.

Overarching COL McKnight's statements was something we are hearing from other military leaders in Iraq--that lots of very good things are happening, but we must not lose sight of how much is still to be done. When I asked him to identify the most important thing America needed to know about what is happening in Iraq today, this was the issue he raised. There is a great deal of progress in evidence "every day," he emphasized, but added very seriously, “There are long days ahead. There is an enemy over here that is determined to take the future away from the Iraqi people," that has not given up yet. Attacks are down, but there is “frankly, an evil still out there...that doesn’t hesitate to kill families, women and children. It's not over, over here.”

I asked about the recent conclusion of a safe and successful Ashura and what factors had made it so. COL McKnight told me there were no "significant incidents" throughout the entire AO of 3ID, nor any indications that major attacks were broken up. He credited the peaceful passage of Ashura to the efforts of the Iraqi Security Forces (police and army), pointing out that the two most important Shiite holy cities--Karbala and Najaf--were patrolled and protected entirely by Iraqis. He was happy to report that in general, the Iraqis took the lead in security preparations and activities throughout 3rd ID's AO.

But according to COL McKnight, the biggest factor in a successful Ashura was that the Iraqi people have "tired of violence, didn’t want to put up with it." He described an "increasing marginalization of extremist organizations” because the population will no longer tolerate the violence and bloodshed they have suffered. "The people stood up to put a stop to it."

Along with the greater numbers of soldiers available due to the surge, and the increasing capability of Iraqi Security Forces, COL McKnight gave a great deal of credit for the Ashura success to the existence of Concerned Local Citizens groups (CLCs). These neighborhood/tribe-level organizations provide security at checkpoints and significant locations or events. But more importantly, they “hinder extremists’ ability to move among the population.” He reiterated this several times, describing CLC activities as a kind of force-multiplier where there is "difficult terrain"--small villages, places without a strong coalition presence, etc.

The CLC groups are a "bottom-up evolution," CLC being a generic designation for what has been called Awakening and Sawha, among other titles. They are a result of Iraqis coming forward and asking for assistance in ridding their neighborhoods of violent extremists. Group members are paid by the coalition for services, but there are plans to wean them off that and into a formal relationship with the Iraqi government (McKnight called it "reconciling" them with the central government).

According to COL McKnight, the ultimate vision is to form CLCs into a kind of Civil Service Corps by training them for jobs in construction and other such trades. There is also an effort to shift selected CLC members into a provisional policeman status, or even into the Iraqi Army. COL McKnight reported that all of these plans are in their "infancy," but that there is movement in these directions.

I asked the colonel about reports that funding for CLC activities is becoming a problem, mentioning both the congressional budget battles in the U.S. and reports of changes in funding priorities at upper military leadership levels. He agreed that there had been "some restrictions given," but that it "hadn't had a large impact," and pointed again to the efforts to transfer CLCs to Iraqi administration. In general, he didn't seem to think it was a worrisome issue.

On the tactical side, I asked about reports of increases in EFPs and suicide bombers. He responded that they have seen "no indication of Iranian involvement" in either training or supplying within their AO, and that there has been "an across-the-board reduction in attacks." In fact, Thursday's Operations Report was "zero attacks in the AO" for the day. Neither are they reporting attacks on schools, or suicide bombings by females, as seen in other locales.

This is the first of a two-part report of the interview. For more from Task Force Marne/3ID's leadership, check out an extensive video interview with Major General Lynch, and the transcript of the latest blogger's roundtable with Brigadier General Cardon (pdf file). BG Cardon's topics include Ashura (great anecdotes on pg 4), and CLCs (page 6, bottom).

Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, Kabul and CSTC-A would just as soon the citizens call 911.

Good work!

COL McKnight comment about EFPs: "no indication of Iranian involvement" within their AO.

Its good news but why the sudden reduction in Iranian involvement. Have the Iranians suddenly turned all peaceful?

posted by Ledger on January 28, 2008 1:05 AM

Thanks, Ledger. I probably should've followed up on that.

What I've understood from news reports it that there was a gradual reduction last fall and a sudden uptick the first two weeks of January (which has since fallen back off). News reports say the border with Iran is becoming less porous, so perhaps that is part of the drop.

This up-and-down aspect is why I asked about EFPs. I was thrown by the "nothing" response, which is probably why I didn't think to follow up with "Why?"

And I think it may be notable that I simply asked about incidences of EFPs, but he immediately came back with the statement of seeing no Iranian involvement of any kind in their AO. According to an interview of MG Lynch I heard, 3ID's AO includes part of the Iraq-Iran border, so perhaps he mentioned that because they've been working hard at shutting down the border to Iranian activity and they're feeling good about their success rate.

posted by FbL on January 28, 2008 1:21 AM

I imagine that, for all the hooping and hollering about possible escalation of war with Iran, the Iranians took us very seriously when some folks started beating the war drums. Odierno and others were very specific about Iranian involvement and the multiple captured IRGC agents in Iraq was actually grounds for war, if we'd wanted to.

Not to mention the very bad mistake of taking the Brit Sailors hostage. Their actions made them persona non gratas. Then there was that little visit by Putin that lots of folks thought was Putin showing support for Iran, but may have included the "hey, knock it off or I can't protect you in the UN" message.

Add to that that, with the Anbar Awakening and decrease in AQI capabilities, the Mahdi Army and Muqtada came back into our cross hairs. They didn't fair very well in Najaf in 2004 and their actions in Karbala late last year put them right on the edge of contempt even by the Shia. Sistani was getting tired of protecting him and many were pointing to his "Iranian" connections.

Keeping in mind the long Iraq-Iran war in the 80's, wherein many Shia actually fought the Iranians and considered other Shia who sided with them to be traitors, that had some bad connotations for ol' Mookie and the Mahdi. He didn't have any choice but to call certain parts of his organization "rogue" and allow us to take them out. He's much weaker now. He played his last card withdrawing from the government and maliki simply replaced him. He found out that Maliki was strong enough without his support and he only existed at our liesure.

All that makes running EFPs into Iraq and blowing up Americans, et al a very bad idea. Not that the Iranians aren't still trying to influence politics by providing material and monetary support to various political parties. Even those who are nominally "allies" of the Maliki government and the US.

Just that Ahmedinejad is under siege in Iran, they have some serious political and economic problems, plus the various demonstrations by dissidents and other dissatisfied Iranians. all things told, they really couldn't afford to keep messing around in Iraq like they were.

But, don't worry, somebody in Iran is still running EFPs into AFghanistan on a much smaller scale. They haven't given up being a pain in our buttocks yet.

posted by kat-missouri on January 28, 2008 3:46 AM

Morphing the CLC's into an Iraqi Service Corps along the lines of the Korean Service Corps sounds good, but they don't have the work ethic of Koreans. CLC's ought to make good Ruff Puffs, though.

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 28, 2008 8:05 AM

Dialing 100 in Jalalabad provides quick access to emergency responders 24 hours a day.

Sorry. Wrong number

posted by Cannoneer No. 4 on January 29, 2008 9:44 AM

by Denizens on Jan 28, 2008 | Global War on Terror (GWOT)

A Retired American Major...

...of Irish lineage was touring the Ancestral Isle and became ~~pathetically lost~~ somewhat misoriented. Chancing upon a pub in the center of a small village, he stopped in and asked the landlord, "What's the fastest way to Dublin?"

"That depends," he replied. "Are you walking or driving?"

"I'm driving," answered the Major (Ret).

"Ahhhh, very good -- that's the fastest way."

Heh.

Got my orders -- I'll be spending the first week in February in Cricket Country (the Benning School for Boys, aka, the Columbus Stockade). Last time I was there was June of 2001, doing a trainup for wintertime in the Balkans -- which struck me as akin to conducting ASW training in Denver.

Remind me to pick up some decent desert boots while I'm there -- Clothing Sales at Dix only had chick sizes in stock...

by CW4BillT on Jan 28, 2008 | Bill's Excellent Adventure | I think it's funny!

January 27, 2008

H&I Fires* 27 Jan 2008

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

**********************************
A WWII Veteran of a different sort -- hairy. Very hairy. Meet Voytek of the Polish Army. (via comments at Tim Blair's blog)
-Bad Cat Robot

by Denizens on Jan 27, 2008 | General Commentary

A pat on the back for Carhartt!

Email blast from Concrete Bob of the Gathering of Eagles:

Brothers and sisters, I have fantastic news.

Carhartt, the work/outdoor clothing giant; maker of the best work clothes in the known world, has done something amazing.

Through the gentle prodding of our good friend Tankerbabe, Carhartt will be sending the 2nd Battalion 503rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team "The Rock"
173rd Airborne Infantry Brigade (Sep) "Sky Soldiers" currently serving in the Kunar Province of western Afghanistan:

750 pairs of their extra thick ECWCS (Extreme Cold Weather Clothing System) thermal underwear AND AND!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

5,000 THATS FIVE THOUSAND pairs of wool socks.

Now go buy something with a Carhartt label and please, please, if you're so inclined, drop them a note.

Tell 'em THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

SWWBO and I have spent about $500 on Carhartt stuff for this winter on the farm. I didn't mind paying for their gear, it's good stuff, but I mind even less now.

by John on Jan 27, 2008 | Observations on things Military

A moment of Gunner Zen.

These Redlegs of the 10th Mountain are living the dream... Direct Fire!

U.S. soldiers from 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, fire a round from a howitzer during training at the Warrior Range in Kirkuk, Iraq, Jan.23, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Laura M. Buchta

U.S. soldiers from 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, fire a round from a howitzer during training at the Warrior Range in Kirkuk, Iraq, Jan.23, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Laura M. Buchta

A larger version of that photo can be had by clicking here.

For a small discussion on the return of direct fire - click here for Strategy Page.

http://www.eleven-bravo.co.uk/the-war/combat-forces/fsb-gold06.php

John, isn't there another artillery term for this type of engagement?

posted by Blackhawk on January 27, 2008 11:30 AM

Aside from "Action Front! Gunner, Save My Life!" I don't think so...

posted by John of Argghhh! on January 27, 2008 12:04 PM

"surface action starboard (or port as the case may be)." Or more commonly "S**T! There they are!"

posted by Old Fat Sailor on January 27, 2008 12:40 PM

Silly gun bunnies.. looks like someone got their azimuth and elevation bass-ackwards. :P

Could be worse, could be a pic of the 1st Armor Training Brigade doing indirect fire from Donnelly Range onto the water tower in Radcliff KY (again) :0

posted by OlafTheTanker on January 27, 2008 5:19 PM

Only way to break up a cavalry charge

posted by Chuck Simmins on January 27, 2008 8:33 PM

Direct fire rocks. I can't believe it had to return. I know the Marines never let it go.

I even remember one case where there being no flechette rounds for 175 and 8" the gun bunnies saved up nose plugs and tossed in a sack of them before persuading a herd of NVA to leave the area.
Some of them even left intact. Most left in a red mist and pieces.

posted by jim b on January 27, 2008 9:37 PM

Speaking of Direct Fire: I haven't had a chance to write the review yet, but if you want to read a very well-written book about the most amazing ship-to-ship action of WWII, you must read "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors," by James Hornfischer!!! 3 Destroyers, 3 Destroyer Escorts, 6 Escort Carrier's & Planes, holding off the Yamato and the largest fleet of Japanese big-gun ships assembled during the war, as that fleet moved to attack Leyte Gulf. Halsey had all but 'abandoned his post' to chase a bait fleet of Japanese carriers, so the northern defense fell to the screening force name Taffy 3!! As riveting and inspiring as anything I've ever read about Americans at war, and that's saying something. Could be the best book I've read this past year, and that's saying something too.

V/R

posted by SangerM on January 27, 2008 10:24 PM

Yup, Sanger, one of my most favorite inspiring and hackle-raising stories, which I may have mentioned to The Armorer often enough to annoy him. Gunner's mate Carr literally died with the actual last round in his arms, the Sammy B. having shot her after magazine empty. Herman Wouk had a good passage about it in "War and Remembrance", about how Americans fight when we don't have the material advantage.

M'self, I've not won many fights, but I think I've always given a good account of myself.

.
.

posted by Justthisguy on January 27, 2008 11:35 PM

One of the most awe-inspiring stories of "direct fire" that I can remember is that of 2/77 FA (commanded by then LTC John Vessey) and the Battle of Suoi Tre (or FSB Gold) during Vietnam:

http://www.flyarmy.org/panel/battle/67032120.HTM

http://www.vietnamtripledeuce.org/RecommendationOfPUC_FSB_Gold.pdf

posted by fdcol63 on January 28, 2008 7:15 AM

I took out one of them new fangled "gunpowder jobbies with a manganol launched HVFS round yesterday.

Had the archers running too but I did take an APFS round to the shoulder during the melee.

posted by Murray on January 28, 2008 6:59 PM

by John on Jan 27, 2008 | Artillery

Essential Liberties, Temporary Security: Citizen, Incriminate Thyself

[Kat]

I wrote Friday that I had an interesting conversation with my younger brother. He is quite on the other end of the political sphere from me. I won't elaborate beyond that, but it does tend towards some interesting "discussions".

Thursday night we were watching a program about new tools and technology used or possible to be used in law enforcement. Most were interesting such as the mini-EMF pulse that could disable a fleeing car. Not a knew concept exactly, but it's being improved. Another tool was a letter recognition system that would scan license plates, recognize letters and numbers and then compare it to an electronic list of license plates of interest (stolen cars). Sacramento police are already using this tool to great effect and now have a 93% recovery rate for stolen vehicles.

I have some thoughts on that technology, but I'll let it pass in order to move directly to the issue that raised the discussion. GPS capsules inserted into people previously convicted of a felony, particularly violent felony, after they are released from prison. We are not talking about people who are still on probation or paroled, though that presents a question that has already been answered to a degree by the use of GPS tracking ankle bracelets. I'll agree to stipulate that this is in lieu of actual incarceration to serve the time sentenced and is an option that offender can agree on to avoid imprisonment.

This question revolves around those convicted, sentenced and, having served their entire sentence, are released into public life again. Not paroled or on probation, but, essentially, free citizens once again. This would include people convicted of murder, manslaughter, assault and rape among other lesser or otherwise so called "white collar" crimes.

My brother believes that the answer is "yes" they should be implanted with GPS. His point revolves around the fact that there is high recidivism within our prisons of those previously convicted. He believes that this tracking device could act to prevent felons from committing additional crimes if they know that they can be placed at or in the vicinity of a crime. He also believes that, if a crime is committed, the information can be accessed to determine if any of the known felons were in the vicinity to assist in an arrest and conviction.

In fact, he premises that the presence of a GPS implanted felon at the site of a crime would imply guilt even in the absence of physical evidence such as a weapon, finger prints, DNA or other physical evidence or eye witnesses. At least, enough that charges could be brought and prosecution proceed to trial.

My answer to the GPS in felons question is not only "no", but emphatically "NO".

My rebuttal in flash traffic.

I have several problems with this idea. Let me begin by acknowledging that convicted felons, by law, already lose certain rights including the right to vote, the right to bear arms and access to various benefits provided by the government. In society, those convicted of a felony are not protected against discrimination. They can be denied a job, housing, private insurance, credit and various other basics most of us take for granted on the sole basis of their existing felony conviction. In some cases, such as known sex offenders, they are required to register on lists with local police departments that are open to the public and have been used by other citizens to monitor, and sometimes persecute, any living in the neighborhood.

Both legally and socially, society has already placed a severe post detention burden on felons. In some cases, it comes dangerously close to violating the clause in Article I of the Constitution prohibiting "bills of attainder". This is barely circumvented by not having the state or national government strip the felon of all his rights, but provides open information in background checks or "offender lists" that allows society itself to inflict "attainder" without judicial or legislative action that would violate the constitution.

One of the points of our justice system and of our nation was the idea that criminals would be tried with due process and, if convicted, sentenced to serve time or pay fines commensurate with the crime. Once that sentence was completed, the citizen was supposed to be considered to have "paid their debt to society". From my limited understanding, having recognized that a large portion of convicted criminals are repeat offenders, we are attempting to balance out the security of society and improving law enforcement efforts with staying within our constitutional limitations.

We have placed the burden on the private citizenry to guard themselves, their property, their employees and others. Employers who knowingly hire a convicted felon who later commits a crime against other employees, could be held liable and sued for not providing a safe work environment. Property insurance can be denied to the employer, can cost more and payments even denied for stolen or damaged property. These are but a few of the burdens we place on other citizens to avoid contact or in anyway enabling criminals.

It certainly seems that society has decided that crime is much more harmful than even mandatory sentencing implies. At the same time, we are loath to violate the principle of the 8th Amendment "cruel and unusual punishment" (that phrase in relation to certain punishments, such as the death penalty, remains in question as well as extremely long sentences for certain "lesser" crimes). We look for ways to balance those ideas. We see such technology as a way to accomplish this balance. The question must remain whether we stay true to the principles of liberty or whether we fall prey to the tendencies of long established and powerful governments that seek immediate relief to current problems with acts we once claimed as oppressive and tyrannical when it was turned against ordinary citizens for "crimes against the crown".

From this perspective, the insertion of a GPS tracker for released felons that have served their time, ordered by the state or national government, seems to directly violate the constitutional enjoinder against "bills of attainder", "tainting" the felon for life for a crime that supposedly has already been prosecuted and paid for. It may also violate the 5th Amendment which prohibits "double jeopardy" or second prosecution of the same crime. That is without even discussing the question of redemption, arguably a mid 19th century extension or invention of society, crime and punishment.

My second issue revolves around the invasion of privacy (amendment iv). Understanding that even convicted felons still have most of their rights when they are released, the idea that government can order the implantation of a device into a person's body, seems a direct violation. A woman has the right to privacy and to choose how to control her body, including abortions, which the government cannot outlaw (Roe v. Wade) on that premise, but convicted felons lose that right and protection against the state's invasion? Because they are ex-felons?

Then there is the question of whether the state should be tracking the day to day, minute by minute position, condition or activities of ANY citizen. Keeping in mind we're not talking about parolees or probationers, but free citizens who have completed their entire sentence. (9th, 10th and 14th Amendments)

Third issue revolves around the title of this post and the fifth amendment:

nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

At its very core, the idea that a free citizen would be implanted with a GPS tracker by order of the state that would know at any time where they were and record that information, seems to explicitly violate the fifth amendment prohibition against self incrimination. No one, ex-convict nor average Joe never been arrested citizen, can be forced to do so in any method other than their own informed decision or their own ignorance.

Further, due process of the law requires the state to PROVE guilt, not the charged to PROVE innocence. That is often forgotten in the rush to lend more capabilities to fighting off crime in society. It requires more than the mere presence of any person, even an ex-con, at the scene of a crime. It requires physical evidence and/or credible eye witnesses to give "testimony" against the accused with an equal right to confront the accuser and test the evidence.

While technology such as video from cameras, GPS signals from phones and many other items have been used to convict people of crimes, they are passive and often require a warrant to obtain information if they belong to the charged person, avoiding unwarranted "search and seizures". GPS implants can hardly be qualified as "passive" if it is constantly and actively being recorded and reviewed against known crimes. For the purpose of narrowing suspects when it may lead to wrongful prosecution of an innocent person and the ability of the guilty to go free. It would be extremely foolish to believe that this tool would not result in investigations that focus in the wrong direction or are purposefully misled. It occurs today, even without the advent of GPS trackers.

My final rejection is based on the admonishments of our founders and framers to be careful of giving powers to the state that diminishes the rights of a minority group based on the passions or demands of a majority. Even for our so called "security". Once that has occurred, the extension of that power over other individuals or groups will begin and can even extend to portions of "the majority". I cannot state often enough that, even in a representative democracy, the constitutional guarantees can be undermined by a majority. Its purposes subverted allegedly "for the good of society", its powers used for nefarious means by groups or individuals in power and its powers, once "discovered", extended as far as the government can, over the entire nation if possible, even against resistance of the citizens.

First we say that sex offenders must register on a list so the police and citizens know who they are. Then, in California, they propose making people convicted of DUIs buy a red (scarlet) license plate plainly stating DUI conviction even if they had already paid fines, lost privileges and spent time in jail. Now we discuss implanting GPS trackers in released felons. Just in case. In the name of security, how many people will we feel the need to encode or mark to feel secure? Everyone?

Does anyone actually read the Declaration, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers or even American Literature like The Scarlet Letter? There are very specific reasons why we reject persecution even on behalf of those who have violated the morals and legal tenets of society. That is to protect the rights of every citizen.

Let me repeat that: to protect the rights of EVERY citizen. When we talk about the extension of power by the government, it's not necessary that the government suddenly be taken over by an evil cabal bent on totalitarian rule. Nor any group to have "nefarious plans". In a Representative Democracy, rights are more likely to disappear through the slow incremental demands of society itself.

In the last 230 years, "we the people" have expected the government to do more and provide more for our citizens. To do so, we have expanded the scope and power of government. Almost always "for the good of society". Whether that is health care for the poor and elderly, assistance for the poor or for security against crime and even war. With each step, with each power, government intrusions and restrictions grow.

This does not always end with positive results. Often, we are required to work twice as hard, if not tirelessly, to beat back unnecessary violations of privacy and rights due to unintended consequences. Or, even the purposeful seeking of legal language to justify that extension of powers in order to perform the functions that the government and its agencies believe they have been mandated to do by "the people".

Its our responsibility to safe guard our freedom from both the unintended consequences as well as the purposeful extensions, whether for nefarious means or "the good of society". If we can protect freedom and rights for the least of us, for the worst of us, then we will be able to safe guard it for the best. To that end, we must consider every extension of power, every law cautiously and with the admonishment to safe guard our rights, our essential liberties, as paramount to our existence. Even to the point of giving liberty more weight in the balance of justice's scale.

Of course, we cannot abdicate our responsibilities to insure the safety of innocent citizens against the depredations of predators, real evil or the general vices of their fellow citizens. We must balance that safety out with the needs of justice, the protection of rights in a free nation, the demands of society for vengeance and our pocket books. Yes, because in this whole equation, we are not only talking about giving up rights for physical security, but because we want to inflict longer sentences and do not want to pay for it out of our pockets.

Equally, we should not forget that the most powerful tool that society has against crime and vice is society's rejection. When we accept crime and vice as the norm, when we provide crime and criminals excuses based on some other failing of society, out of some confused concept of compassion, out of fear or simply out of complacency, we give it legitimacy.

If we feel that a crime is so offensive, the criminal and the crime irredeemable, then we should sentence the offender accordingly and not play fast and loose with rights that belong to everyone. We should be prepared to pay for our security out of our pockets and leave our rights alone.

It's cheaper in the long run.

No - Although it's tempting on that "ends justifies the means" level.

Although we are talking about a very small portion of the criminal population - "This question revolves around those convicted, sentenced and, having served their entire sentence..." Who serves their *full* sentence anymore?

posted by Maggie on January 27, 2008 7:52 AM

Monitoring those who are on probation/parole/community supervision (the euphemism for parole in WA state) is one thing - they are still serving their sentence, and the monitoring can, and should, IMO, be part of the condition of their 'release.'

A good case can also be made for those criminals required to keep the state informed of their residence, place of work, etc, after release from incarceration, as part of their sentence, such as sex predators. This is especially true in states such as WA, which allow them to register as 'homeless.'

In all other cases, NO F*CKING WAY.

And I say that as someone who loathes criminals, advocates the return of corporal punishment (30 days in country might not bother the 'bangers, but I'd bet 100 lashes might), as well as "3 strikes and you're dead" (violent felonies only), and death sentences for forcible child rape.

posted by Heartless Libertarian on January 27, 2008 9:27 AM

Actually, I'm against sex offender lists, too, unless, again it is a stipulation of parole or probation to let the monitor know where they are.

I think that sexual assault and other crimes are pretty offensive and that these deserve longer sentences, if not life sentences for particular crimes and, most specifically, second offenses. I think their damage to society is enough to warrant such actions.

I believe that "lists" are a way to achieve a round about continuous punishment that violates amendments as I set forth in this discussion. If the crime is so horrendous and the criminal unredeemable, then we should sentence in that way.

I think the existence of government "lists" of any citizen has some terrible connotations. Why don't we just burn a scarlet "S" into their foreheads?

If you read the Bureau of Justice's reports, almost half of all re-offenders are actually in the middle of some other criminal indictment, parole or probation. Which must be why people suggested the GPS tracking system.

But, which is why I recommend longer sentences instead.

posted by kat-missouri on January 27, 2008 2:16 PM

Who serves their *full* sentence anymore?

Well, I noted the BoJ's statistics that half of the prison recidivism is in those who are most often still on probation or parole, there is the other half that does serve their full sentence or completes the conditions of their parole or probation and are never seen again in the criminal system (whether that's because they never re-offend or we never catch them again is a question).

The 50% issue nearly convinces to restrict parole and probation to a much narrower group. But, that gets back to our pocket books. We would have to pay for their longer or more often imprisonment. What I don't think we have a good handle on for comparison is the cost out of our pocket for prisons v. the cost, both real and human, of crime. If we have any inkling, then I suggest that society has decided it is either something we can bear or, because we think it is the "other" persons that bear that cost, we are willing to take that chance.

Redemption and rehabilitation becomes a victim of these equations, too. Meaning we stand a real chance of not giving that chance to others who ARE redeemable.

posted by kat-missouri on January 27, 2008 2:27 PM

Kat, in a perfect world, I would have no problem with your thoughts. But, we don't live in a perfect world. Our forefathers, when they wrote of freedom, were they talking of limitless freedom or responsible freedom? When we are given a choice of right and wrong, our choice includes benefits and consequences. Please, don't forget we had the freedom to choose.

If you have a chance to talk with a JAG, ask him about the "5th Ammendment and the Military Courts Martial." While you are talking with this JAG, you know the Military swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution even to the point of losing their own lives. Each individual Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Coast Guardmen and Airmen takes this same oath. Ask your JAG, how are the Military protected by that very same Constitution in a Courts Martial? I figure our politicians should be put under the same law as our Military. By the way, If our Congress write and pass a law, they should be the first ones to obey it, NO EXCEPTIONS AND NO EXCUSES, NONE! This is the mark of a Leader.

posted by Grumpy on January 27, 2008 3:39 PM

Well, our forefathers thought that hanging for stealing was perfectly acceptable. I don't necessarily subscribe to those ideas and recognize that society has grown "enlightened" to the causes, but may have become a little to reliant on blaming the causes instead of the people.

I fully believe in responsibility belonging to individuals who allegedly have the ability to reason and rationalize. Do the Crime, do the time.

I think that our tendency to make even criminals victims of something or someone other than themselves leads those contemplating criminal acts to rationalize away their responsibility. For instance, how frequently is the defense that someone has no other choice but to join a gang or commit a crime because of their location or social setting or some other supposed mitigating factor?

We have reduced morality to the expediency of a moment. In fact, made many acts amoral in our quest for "compassion".

Our forefathers had fairly definitive ideas on personal responsibility. I believe this was an imperative that kept social order in a fairly free wheeling society that had little constabulary.

On that same vein, I don't see their world as "perfect" nor expect ours to be, but we have tried a multitude of convoluted programs from policing to rehabilitation that seems to have little effect in reducing the quantity of crimes or the percentage of citizens committing them. Instead, they appear to grow incrementally.

I think there is a perfectly good case, both in dealing with crime on the social level as well as with punishment AND protecting liberties, for looking at those things that worked in each case for our founders.

Of course, keeping in mind that our population is 300 times theirs and our urban populations well above that. It just seems clear when society looks askance at crime and the reduction of freedom, we neither get security or protect our liberty.

posted by kat-missouri on January 27, 2008 4:08 PM

Kat, your reply to my comment at 3:39, you make some interesting points. But first, when I use the concepts of our forefathers, it is differnt in this way. Most people have this almost "velvet covered brick" concept. I see Our Constitution differently, it is more like a document, that does not change, but our understanding of it grows with time. You talk about the people being responsible for their actions, when they have the ability to reason or rationalize. Question, What do we do when people either can not or refuse to reason or rationalize? How do we determine the facts? Is this not what we are doing with our leaders? But as time goes on, this is an issue which we must face. Crime is not the only issue. It is one of many. GPS is not even contemplated to be brought into the same building as the table. An example, On this website "John, The Armorer" has done really neat thing. He took GWoT, drew a line through it and put in, "whatever." I really think it should be the Global War on Tyranny.

Grumpy

posted by Grumpy on January 27, 2008 6:50 PM

Grumpy

posted by Grumpy on January 27, 2008 6:51 PM

Pretty good, Ma'am, but I have one quibble: How can a sphere have an end?

One of Fritz Zwicky's favorite insults was to call someone a spherical bastard, as in "He's a bastard any way you look at him."

I have, in the past, applied the term "spherical bastard" to Monica Lewinski's ex-boyfriend who is the "husband" of somebody who is trying to bully everyone into electing her President.

posted by Justthisguy on January 27, 2008 9:56 PM

I've now RTWT, and concur on the corporal punishment. For something like simple larceny, restitution with interest and 30 licks on the courthouse steps at high noon should clean the slate. Putting people in jail is expensive and doesn't help anybody, except that it might keep the more crazy-dangerous folks whom we're not willing to execute, off of the streets.

Oh, and if nobody'll go for that, I'll say that all domestic-violence laws should be replaced with the one Delaware had, within my living memory.

Delaware was the last state to abolish the whipping post, and reserved it for wife-beaters.

My settled opinion, after many years, is that a taste of one's own medicine is always the best punishmen

posted by Justthisguy on January 27, 2008 10:37 PM

The foundations are already in place

Since 2005, the state of Florida has required those convicted of sex crimes (against children 11 and younger) to wear a GPS bracelet for life. Some other US states have similar legislation. I don't know if there are any statistics to show that this has done anything to reduce re-offending.

IMHO, a compulsory tracker might (emphasis on "might") be justifiable for a period of probation or court-ordered rehabilitation.

But... if the only justification for GPS tracking is that these individuals "might" re-offend, then it is not justifiable. You might as well track everybody

posted by Matt W on January 27, 2008 10:40 PM

posted by Justthisguy on January 27, 2008 10:41 PM

Matt, I recall reading an SF novel (one of Sterling's, maybe?) in which one of the characters captured somebody with one of those ankle bracelets, then smashed every bone in the guy's ankle and foot to get it off him, for plot purposes in the novel which I don't now remember.

Some thieves have already cut off somebody's finger, out in Malaya, maybe, to steal his Mercedes which had a fingerprint-recognizing door lock.

Oh, and how long does a ripped-out eyeball stay fresh enough to pass an iris scanner?

We're sowing the wind with this stuff, folk

posted by Justthisguy on January 27, 2008 10:52 PM

(in honor of the last-character truncation bug here)

posted by Justthisguy on January 27, 2008 10:57 PM

Yes. I will say that I told my brother, if this came to pass, what would happen would be an underground (criminal) enterprise for the detection and removal or destruction of these trackers.

As I said to him, people will simply figure out a way to go around it as they will with any technological attempts at "security". We're most secure when society puts a laser beam eye on crime and firmly rejects it without pandering to excuses.

I have taken to paying attention to judges who are using rather creative punishments for criminals. Such as the recent case where a judge sentenced a man to 24 hours on a park bench in the cold for stealing from a Salvation Army collection pot. Expressly for the purpose of letting him experience the "poor and homeless" that he stole from. Or the young women another judge sentenced to stand outside with placards proclaiming they were thieves.

I think judges are getting tired of seeing the same people in front of them and recognize that a little public pillorying for non-violent crimes just might do the trick. Humiliation has a way of driving the point home.

As far as sex offenders who have molested children, I think that deserves a life sentence since studies show a high percentage of re-offense. I don't think those people are ever "cured" and I think that the damage they do results in life time damage to the victims. I think the criminals should suffer the same as life time residence of our penal system.

By the way, JTG, where did I write "sphere"? I must be tired because I don't see it.

posted by kat-missouri on January 28, 2008 1:22 AM

You talk about the people being responsible for their actions, when they have the ability to reason or rationalize. Question, What do we do when people either can not or refuse to reason or rationalize? How do we determine the facts?

Obviously we have processes for identifying people who are incapable of reasoning. We demand proof of mense rea and those who are incompetent are dealt with in another manner such as institutionalization. Those who "refuse" to use reason are, in fact, reasoning and rationalizing. they are responsible for their crimes and should be punished as such.

I'm not sure where you were going with the "war on tyranny" though I think it would a post onto itself.

posted by kat-missouri on January 28, 2008 1:31 AM

Kat, you wrote it in the very first line of the post, "other end of the political sphere..."

'sokay, it gave me an opportunity. Bill really is a bastard in the official legal sense, and in the moral, and slangish senses of the word.

Bill Clinton is a spherical bastard, and Hillary is lighter than a duck. Burn her!

There, I've said it!

posted by Justthisguy on January 28, 2008 2:12 AM

hah...okay, you got me. I am tired. My brother is actually all over the board in terms of politics accept to say he hates republicans because he thinks they are only out for the rich and corporations. In fact, when I used to make a goodly amount of income (for a single woman), he would sneer "republican" as an epitaph whenever we happened to discuss politics or anything else I refused to agree with him about.

At the same time, he thinks the government is too intrusive, spends too much money and that criminals should have the book thrown at them while also believing that the government should help the poor, elderly and children more.

He's like some weird socialist libertarian. LOL

posted by kat-missouri on January 28, 2008 2:21 AM

P.s. I was, of course, speaking ironically and metaphorically and hyperbolically in what I wrote just above. I would not contemplate, nor encourage anyone else to contemplate, setting fire to someone who is running for the Presidency of the USA.

Now, as to throwing a bucket of water upon her...

posted by Justthisguy on January 28, 2008 2:26 AM

Kat, seems like the guy's heart is in the right place, he just needs to read more and think more.

posted by Justthisguy on January 28, 2008 2:38 AM

That'll be the day. He thinks he knows everything now and frequently tells me so.

My other brother is much more inclined towards libertarian/Republican. We tend to agree much more than we don't. I call him the "sane brother". LOL

posted by kat-missouri on January 28, 2008 2:49 AM