HELL COMES HOME
By Robert C. Koehler | Tribune Media Services

it certainly reflects the ignorance and arrogance of militarism, which perpetually organizes itself around an “enemy” somewhere out there stalking us. Those trapped in this mindset can imagine security only in relation to their power over this enemy, which leads them, and everyone else, into a vicious spiral of armed preparation, violence and counter-violence. What we fail to notice in our rage and fear is that violence — not the violence we endure but the violence we perpetrate — dehumanizes us. Killing is the ultimate traumatic experience. “In the military, you’re trained to shoot at a target, but sometimes the humanity of that target intrudes, and people come to question what they’ve done,” said Dr. Shira Maguen (putting it, I would say, mildly).

There’s no armor, it turns out, for conscience.

So our men and women are coming home from the killing fields wounded in their heads, used up, greeted only by the military’s own meat grinder of inadequate health care and intolerance for “weakness.”

“Frankly, in my more than 25 years of clinical practice, I’ve never seen such immense emotional suffering and psychological brokenness.” This is what whistleblower psychiatrist Kernan Manion wrote recently to President Obama about his experience counseling Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, as reported by Salon.

In September, Manion, having been told to “cease and desist all further correspondence with the government,” was fired by the Navy for his urgent, outspoken communiqués about the mental-health minefield the military has on its hands.

UPDATE: Women released from jail! Jump to the Update on CIGNA protest arrestees.
Below the update Bill Crosier of the Progressive Action Alliance provided some single payer links.

From Houston Code Pink regarding two women arrested Wednesday at Cigna offices while protesting. Below this action call is an eyewitness report from Bill Crosier of the Progressive Action Alliance.

Subject: Help us get Cigna protest arrestees out of jail

Here's what I've learned, and what we need you to do TODAY, about the two women, our friends, who were arrested in front of CIGNA's Houston headquarters because they would not leave before getting to speak with CIGNA executives:

Action:

Call the Houston mayor's office, your city council person, and the police chief's office TODAY (phone numbers below) and:
1. Say you are calling about the two women arrested outside the CIGNA office building on Tuesday.
2. Tell them they were improperly arrested by the police department on a bogus trespassing charge during a peaceful, non-violent demonstration.
3. The women are declining to give their names, so don't say their names if you know them. Please respect their right to remain anonymous. They should not have to give the police or a judge their names so they can tell the CIGNA execs their concerns. They are being held as "Jane Doe" and "Janet Doe."
4. The women went before a judge this morning, who increased their bail to $50,000 each (!) and transferred them to the Harris Co jail. I don't think they had an attorney with them then.
5. MOST IMPORTANT -- Ask that these two women be released immediately. They were not doing anything illegal, they were not blocking the building entrance, there were no signs posted prohibiting trespassing. All they were doing was sitting outside the building with signs, waiting to talk with CIGNA execs about their concerns.

Projections of savings from health IT are baseless, Harvard researchers say
National survey of U.S. hospitals shows information technology has yielded neither administrative efficiencies nor cost savings
By Press | Progressives United

Although the researchers found that U.S. hospitals increased their computerization between 2003 and 2007, they found no indication that health IT lowered costs or streamlined administration, even in the "most wired" institutions. While U.S. hospital administrative costs increased slightly, from 24.4 percent in 2003 to 24.9 percent in 2007, hospitals that computerized most rapidly actually had the largest increases in administrative costs. (By way of comparison, older studies have estimated administrative costs in Canadian hospitals at 12.9 percent).

The increased computerization in U.S. hospitals hasn't made them cheaper or more efficient, Harvard researchers say, although it may have modestly improved the quality of care for heart attacks.

The findings, published in today's [Friday's] online edition of The American Journal of Medicine, contradict claims by President Obama and many lawmakers that health information technology (health IT), including electronic medical records, will save billions and help make reform affordable.

"Our study finds that hospital computerization hasn't saved a dime, nor has it improved administrative efficiency," said lead author Dr. David Himmelstein, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and former director of clinical computing at Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts. "Claims that health IT will slash costs and help pay for the reforms being debated in Congress are wishful thinking."

The study uses data from the most extensive survey ever undertaken of hospital computerization. Data from approximately 4,000 hospitals for the years 2003 to 2007, including those on a list of the "100 Most Wired," were analyzed for evidence of increased quality, cost savings or improvements in administrative efficiency. Read more.

Lynne Stewart: Heroic Human Rights Lawyer Jailed
By Stephen Lendman

On November 20, New York Times writer Colin Moynihan broke the news headlining:

"Radical Lawyer Convicted of Aiding Terrorist Is Jailed," then saying:

"Defiant to the end as she embraced supporters outside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Lynne F. Stewart, the radical lawyer known for defending unpopular clients, surrendered on Thursday to begin serving her 28-month sentence for assisting terrorism."

Fact check:

Stewart did what all attorneys should, but few, in fact, do - observe the American Bar Association's Model Rules saying all lawyers are obligated to:

"devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel."

Also to practice law ethically, morally and responsibly to assure everyone is afforded due process and judicial fairness in American courts. Sadly and disturbingly, Stewart was denied what she did for others heroically, unselfishly, and proudly. More on that below.

Stewart (prison number 53504-054) is now jailed at:

Joy First writes:

Below is a brief filed with the Federal Court in Madison, WI by our good friend Brian Terrell. Brian was arrested with a group of activists at an action at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin on August 10, 2008. We went to court, were found guilty, and ordered to pay a fine. Brian has not paid the fine and so the prosecutor filed a motion with the court asking for 30 days in jail for Brian and others who did not pay the fine. This brief is Brian’s response to the court.

We returned to Fort McCoy this past August 2009 and were arrested again. Following this arrest, four of us were illegally transported by military personnel to the Dane County jail in Madison and held overnight. We are pursuing this as a violation of Posse Comitatus. We have not been arraigned or heard anything from the court regarding our arrest in August 2009.

The statement from Brian is powerful and moving and inspires me to continue my work for peace and justice. Please share this with others.

Peace,

Joy

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.
Case No. 08-po-1008-slc

BRIAN TERRELL

Defendant

_________________________________________________________________________________

OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR RE-SENTENCING

On November 5, 2008, the United States of America, through Acting United States Attorney Stephen P. Sinnott, moved the court for an order re-sentencing me to a 30-day term of imprisonment, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3614. The grounds offered by the United States in support of its motion are clearly insufficient and the court is requested to deny the motion. My response to each of the grounds as listed by the United States, are as follows:

The Afghan Speech Obama Should Give (But Won't)
By Tom Engelhardt | Tom Dispatch.com

Sure, the quote in the over-title is only my fantasy. No one in Washington -- no less President Obama -- ever said, "This administration ended, rather than extended, two wars," and right now, it looks as if no one in an official capacity is likely to do so any time soon. It's common knowledge that a president -- but above all a Democratic president -- who tried to de-escalate a war like the one now expanding in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, and withdraw American troops, would be so much domestic political dead meat.

This everyday bit of engrained Washington wisdom is, in fact, based on not a shred of evidence in the historical record. We do, however, know something about what could happen to a president who escalated a counterinsurgency war: Lyndon Johnson comes to mind for expanding his inherited war in Vietnam out of fear that he would be labeled the president who "lost" that country to the communists (as Harry Truman had supposedly "lost" China). And then there was Vice President Hubert Humphrey who -- incapable of rejecting Johnson's war policy -- lost the 1968 election to Richard Nixon, a candidate pushing a fraudulent "peace with honor" formula for downsizing the war.

Still, we have no evidence about how American voters would deal with a president who didn't take the Johnson approach to a losing war. The only example might be John F. Kennedy, who reputedly pushed back against escalatory advice over Vietnam, and certainly did so against his military high command during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In both cases, however, he acted in private, offering quite a different face to the world.

We know that there would be those on the right, and quite a few war-fightin' liberals as well, who would go nuclear over any presidential minus option in Afghanistan. Many of them will, in fact, do so over anything less than the McChrystal plan anyway. And we know that a media storm would certainly follow. But when it comes to how voters would react, especially at a moment when unhappiness with the Afghan War (as well as the president's handling of it) is on the rise, there is no historical evidence.

Sometime in the reasonably near future, President Obama will undoubtedly address the American people on whatever decision he makes about the war in Afghanistan. Every sign indicates that he will hew to Washington's political wisdom about what a war president can do in this country.

Ever since late September when someone leaked Afghan War commander General Stanley McChrystal's report to the president on the disastrous situation in Afghanistan and the counterinsurgency war he wants to wage there, we've been all but living inside Obama's endless comprehensive review of war strategy. After all, we get daily reports from "the front," largely in the form of a flood of leaks to the media, on just what's being considered -- from General McChrystal's estimated troop escalation numbers, to Ambassador Karl Eikenberry's private cables to the president suggesting no more troops be sent, to recent outbursts by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the president decrying all the leaks and rumors. Read more.

Last week: US Iraq casualties rise to 75,168
Compiled by Michael Munk | MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 14 combat casualties in the week ending November 17, 2009 as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 75,168. The total includes 35,047 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 40,121 (as of October 31, 2009) dead and medically evacuated from "non-hostile" causes.*

The actual total is over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, ICC names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq and are not counted by the Pentagon.***

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,365 as of Nov.17), but rarely mentioning the 31,571 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they cover for the Pentagon by ignoring the 39,232 (as of Oct 31, 2009)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,362 reported deaths include 889 (up three) who died from those same causes, including at least 18 from faulty electrical work by KBR and 196 suicides through Oct. 31.***

Key:

* The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesday).
** New York Times, Jan 26, 2009
*** http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf

Proclamation

Atlanta City Council

In Honor of Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright

Whereas, Colonel (Ret.) Ann Wright served in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves for 26 years, was a diplomat for 15 years, and deputy chief of mission in U.S. Embassies in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan, and Mongolia. She also held assignments in Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada and Nicaragua and participated in civil reconstruction projects after military operations in Grenada, Panama and Somalia; and,

Whereas, She received the State Department’s Award for Heroism as Charge d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy, Freetown, Sierra Leone, during the evacuation of Sierra Leone in 1997; and,

Roger Leisner sent us this report on Chomsky and Zinn speaking in Boston, activities sponsored by the Coalition for Social Justice:

In a way, I'm lucky. I get to record and listen to speakers that make me think and question. And that was definitely the case when I hopped on a bus to record Chomsky and Zinn in Boston last week.

Tuesday-November 10
Took the MBTA to Kenmore Square, grabbed a bowl of soup, stopped next to an empty MIT cop car to grab a bowl of Maine green, walked past the Stata Center (Chomsky's office is now located in this maintenance nightmare building) and strolled into the Compton Labs building where Noam Chomsky was scheduled to speak about Human Rights in Iran. Besides myself, C Way from Boston and O Field from Corinna, Maine, were videotaping. David Barsamian of Alternative Radio arrived with Chomsky. Speaking to 400 people in a room that could hold 600 plus, Chomsky's talk was only 30 minutes and to the point, sort of like an alternative State Department briefing. All four alternative media agreed that it was an excellent talk, because Chomsky makes you think and question. The only bummer was the failure of my fairly new Canon Digital Rebel still camera. Since then, I have learned that the camera will be replaced.

I have always been in need of places to stay when I'm recording, and as such, many fine people have come through over the past two decades of Radio Free Maine. This time, I stayed at the collective home of Susan McLucas, just off of Davis Square in Somerville. Ms. McLucas is the "Bicycle Lady of Boston", in that she runs a bicycle riding school for children and adults. Plus, she is director of Healthy Tomorrow-Sini Sanuman which is dedicated to stopping female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as excision, in Mali and world-wide. Ms. McLucas will be speaking on this subject at an International Conference in the Hague next week. I'm so lucky to have friends who not only do good deeds, but know how to party.

Veteran Fasting Outside White House | Press Release

Thomas E. Mahany, a Vietnam War veteran (101st Airborne Division), now a stonemason and artist from Michigan, has been fasting in front of the White House since Veterans Day. He sent Obama the following letter the day after Veterans Day:

Dear Mr. President,

In May of 1970 I spent 29 days in Lafayette Square fasting for Peace in Viet Nam. I now feel that [it] is time to act once again. Accordingly, as of 0600 Hours, Nov 11, Veterans Day 2009, I have taken my last material sustenance other than water until specific action is taken by your Administration and our Military to stem the tragic and ever-increasing rise in the incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which is rapidly approaching epidemic proportions among our Fighting Men and Women.

I served in Viet Nam and I also lost a brother-in law to suicide caused by PTSD. He had two young sons. I have seen firsthand what this can do to a family.

In taking my action, I hope to elicit for you, from the peace loving people of this nation, moral support sufficient to spiritually bolster you as you make your decision concerning our military presence in Afghanistan.

By Dave Lindorff

If you are sitting in class taking a test, and you’ve chosen to sit amongst your bone-headed, slacker friends, don’t turn to them for help when you can’t figure out of any of the answers. They may all tell you the same thing, but they’ll all be wrong.

That’s the situation President Obama finds himself in today in the White House. Having surrounded himself with the very Wall Street con men who set up the crooked game that led to the current financial crisis and economic collapse, and finding that the lousy advice they have been giving him since last January has left the country still mired in deepening economic decline, with the banks still not lending and unemployment still mounting, and with growing signs that instead of bottoming out and starting to recover, the economy is threatening to fall a second time, to new lows and higher unemployment, Obama has turned to the same rotten advisors for answers.

Media Disseminated Myths about Obamacare
By Stephen Lendman

Pro or con, major media spin distorts, exaggerates, and lies to avoid key truths on this critically important issue. After the House passed HR 3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act, a November 11 Nation magazine editorial (likely by editor, publisher, and part-owner Katrina vanden Heuvel) admitted the bill's faults, yet praised it saying:

"something remarkable happened on November 7 when the House voted 220-215 for legislation that the Congressional Budget Office says will extend insurance coverage to 36 million uncovered Americans....in the House bill there is certainly something to work with, and something to fight for."

Earlier on MSNBC's Morning Joe, she hailed the moment as "a historic day....a victory in Congress....this is the most important piece of legislation we've seen in decades."

CCR Files Opening Brief in First Supreme Court Case to Challenge Patriot Act | Press Release
Obama Administration Defending Law that Makes Speech Advocating Human Rights a Terrorist Crime

November 17 - Yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the first brief in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the first case to challenge a portion of the Patriot Act before the Supreme Court. The case, originally brought in 1998 on behalf of a human rights group, a retired federal administrative judge, a doctor, and several nonprofit groups, challenges the constitutionality of the law that makes it a crime to provide "material support" to groups the administration has designated as "terrorist." In particular, the plaintiffs charge that the law goes too far in making speech advocating lawful, nonviolent activity a crime. The lower courts have unanimously declared several provisions of the law - including one added by the Patriot Act - unconstitutionally vague because they encompass speech and force citizens to guess as to their meaning.

The case challenges those aspects of the "material support" statute that criminalize pure speech - specifically the prohibitions on providing "training," "personnel," "expert advice or assistance," and "service." Under the law, any speech that falls within these terms - no matter how peaceable and nonviolent - is a crime if communicated to, for, or with the collaboration of any organization placed on a list of "foreign terrorist organizations" maintained by the State Department. Convictions can result in sentences of fifteen years to life. According to the government, the statute requires no showing that the donor intended to further any act of terrorism or violence.

Said CCR Cooperating Attorney David Cole, "This statute is so sweeping that it treats human rights advocates as criminal terrorists, and threatens them with 15 years in prison for advocating nonviolent means to resolve disputes. In our view, the First Amendment does not permit the government to make advocating human rights or other lawful, peaceable activity a crime simply because it is done for the benefit of, or in conjunction with, a group the Secretary of State has blacklisted."

Nato chief promises Afghanistan will get 'substantially more forces'
By Julian Borger | Guardian.co.UK

Nato and its allies will order "substantially more forces" into battle in Afghanistan over the next few weeks, the alliance's secretary general said today.

Speaking in Edinburgh at a Nato parliamentary assembly meeting, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said: "In a few weeks, I expect we will decide, in Nato, on the approach, and troop levels needed, to take our mission forward."

Barack Obama is expected to make a long-awaited declaration on US troop levels and strategy in the next few days. But Rasmussen pre-empted the president by predicting the alliance as a whole would pursue a broad counter-insurgency approach, requiring many more soldiers, rather than the narrower focus on counter-terrorism – such as targeting suspected jihadist leaders – advocated by the US vice-president, Joe Biden.

"I'm confident it will be a counter-insurgency approach, with substantially more forces," Rasmussen said, and promised there would soon be "new momentum" behind Nato's beleaguered Afghan mission. Read more.

On Healthcare, Don't Follow the Money
WaPo's new rule of journalism?

The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray (11/17/09) wrote a profile of Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D.-Ark.) as one of the Democratic senators most likely to break with the rest of the party on healthcare reform. The article seemed to invert the advice Deep Throat once gave to the Post's Woodward and Bernstein into a new rule: Don't follow the money.

Headlined "A Centrist in Healthcare Debate, Lincoln Hears It From All Sides," the piece presented Lincoln's stance as something of a puzzle: "Hundreds of thousands of Lincoln's constituents are low-income and lack insurance, the very kind of voters expected to benefit under the Senate bill."

Murray described the senator as facing a dilemma:

The low-profile centrist is being pressed by both sides. Democratic activists are incensed that she has turned against the public option, an idea she once supported. Republicans are casting her cautious approach to the healthcare debate in starkly political terms, saying that she is unwilling to put local interests above those of a president who lost the state by a resounding 20 percentage points.

She even acknowledged the forces lining up against the politician:

In the process, Lincoln has riled liberal groups including MoveOn.org, which is targeting her with radio ads, direct mail and rallies outside two of her Arkansas offices. Perhaps more ominously, MoveOn--working with the liberal group Democracy for America--has amassed $3.5 million in pledges to fund primary challenges against any Democratic senator who sides with Republicans to block an up-or-down vote on a bill with a public option.

That would seem to raise another question: Who's keeping her IN power? The Center for Responsive Politics has some background on that from the second quarter of this year--information the Post apparently doesn't consider important:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has brought in the most from the health sector so far this year at $394,400, followed by Senate Finance Committee member Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), who collected $324,350, and former Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), who brought in $266,100. All three senators are up for re-election in 2010.

We're calling on activists around the globe to organize an action between December 27th through December 31st to send Obama, the US State Department and Congress a message to pressure the Israeli government to Lift the Siege on Gaza Now!

The timing here is crucial. On December 27, 2008, Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip called Operation Cast Lead in which over 1400 Palestinians were killed, including as many as 300 children. In remembrance of these innocent civilians and to mark the fact that it has been one year since the Israeli assault began, some 1,000 people from around the world will join with 50,000 Palestinians in a massive nonviolent Gaza Freedom March on New Year's Eve, December 31, in Gaza. The International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza is calling on us to coordinate local solidarity actions to raise awareness and media attention for the big March and the need to end the illegal blockade. Will you join us?

Actions are already being planned in Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC and other locations. You still have time to plan something in your community. It doesn't take a lot of people. Below are a few ideas, but whatever you do, make sure you write a press release and call the local media to encourage them to attend. The best way to spread the word is to get your event covered by the local press!

The important things:

• Do something public between the 27th through 31st.
• Register your event/action here.
• Tell the press about your action.
• Take a photo and upload it here beginning December 27th.

California Democratic Party to Obama: End the Occupation & Air War in Afghanistan | Press Release

At the California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting in San Diego last weekend, Party leaders passed a resolution co-authored by Marcy Winograd, 36th Congressional District candidate, calling on President Obama to set a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan while ceasing air strikes that cause heavy civilian casualties. The President is currently weighing whether to send another 35,000 troops to Afghanistan.

Former Marine and Afghanistan veteran Rick Reyes came to support the resolution, saying, "I've been to the war zone and I know from experience there is no military solution to this conflict." The resolution, which urges an increase in humanitarian aid, passed without dissension on the floor. It also received the support of the Party's Chair, John Burton.

Said Winograd, “On the heels of this resolution passing, we need every state Democratic Party to pass a similar resolution calling for an end to the U.S. occupation and air war in Afghanistan. Bring the veterans to the table, bring our young men and women into the room, and transform a foreign policy that only breeds more enemies. I am encouraged that this resolution passed without dissent. Our voices must not be ignored, for ours are the voices of reason and hope that elected Barack Obama to the White House."

Read the resolution below, also co-authored by Progressive Caucus Chair Karen Bernal and author Norman Solomon.

Part 1: President discusses economy; wants health care reform 'done as soon as possible'; explains difficulty of closing Gitmo

Part 2: Obama on importance of U.S. relationship with South Korea - Click "Read more."