Patriotism Under Fire as Defense Contractors Escape U.S. Taxman
Defense Industry Tax Havens Shelter Greedy Busniessmen from the U.S. Taxpayer Lawmakers want these companies to pay Medicare, Social Security taxes
When the Pentagon announced an obscure California company had won a lucrative military contract, no one mentioned any plans for a Caribbean outpost — a tropical shell the company quickly created that allowed it to duck millions in taxes and deflect U.S. lawsuits.
It's legal, at least for now. Contractors large and small have been heading offshore to shield piles of taxpayer dollars, according to an Associated Press investigation, but irate lawmakers are thundering that they'll put an end to it.
Almost a decade ago, a few months after winning the deal that has totaled more than $2 billion, Combat Support Associates established its subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, a British territory and tax haven. Read Full Story
Video of the Week: Homeless Veterans Growing in Numbers!
The numbers of homeless veterans are reaching record highs, and some are concerned that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars might bring these numbers higher.
Features: VA Changes Agent Orange Claims, Benefits Veterans
Veteran Affair's Change to Agent Orange Claims May Aid Veterans by Chris Roberts, El Paso Times
Veterans Affairs has started taking claims for hypertension related to Agent Orange exposure, but it will determine at a later date whether the claims will be honored as being military "service-related," according to service organizations that received notices from VA.
A letter from the Texas Veterans Commission to its county service officers indicates that the claims are expected to be approved. The claims won't be actively "worked" until the VA makes its decision.
Requests for comment made to area VA agencies were referred to Washington, D.C. However, after two days, the public affairs office in Washington still had no comment.
If the claims are approved, it could mean as much as $300 a month for Bob Snow, a retired soldier who worked as a forward observer directing artillery fire in the Vietnamese jungles. Snow -- who worked with special forces soldiers and Montagnards, a French name for the indigenous people of Vietnam's central highlands -- operated in areas sprayed with Agent Orange, a defoliant that knocked down vegetation used as cover by the enemy...
News: VA Retreats on Voter Registration Efforts for Wounded Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will help war veterans to register and vote, yet it won't allow registration drives on VA facilities. By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
The Department of Veterans Affairs has retreated on a recently announced policy to allow voter registration drives at its facilities where veterans' groups and others would assist wounded former soldiers to participate in the 2008 presidential election.
"It is VHA (Veterans Health Administration) policy to assist patients who seek to exercise their right to register and vote; however, due to Hatch Act (Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 7321-7326) requirements and to avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted," the new policy directive by Michael J. Kussman, Under Secretary for Health said.
The Hatch Act restricts political activities by federal employees.
The VA directive rolls back a new policy announced in late April where the agency agreed, after mounting public and political pressure, to assist wounded veterans with registering to vote and voting for federal elections. While the VA still says it will help former soldiers on an as-requested basis with registration and voting, curtailing voter registration drives brought swift condemnation from Capitol Hill and advocacy groups...
Features: Benedictine University Offers Free Education to Military Veterans
Benedictine University to begin offering Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Free Education
Lisle, Illinois ~ They fight insurgents and build schools in Iraq and Afghanistan, but today’s veterans face an even greater battle at home – affording a decent college education.
The original G.I. Bill – the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944 – covered full tuition at public or private schools, books, fees and a living stipend. But while college costs skyrocketed, the G.I. Bill did not keep pace. Today, it provides only limited assistance for veterans seeking to pursue a college education.
Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who sign up for the G.I. Bill are eligible for $1,101 per month – or $39,636 over four years – in educational benefits. However, the College Board reports that the average four-year public college costs more than $65,000 while a private university costs more than $130,000.
Features: U.S. Deploys More Than 43,000 Troops Unfit For Combat
More than 43,000 medically unfit soldiers were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan by Gregg Zoroya, USA Today
WASHINGTON — More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.
This reliance on troops found medically "non-deployable" is another sign of stress placed on a military that has sent 1.6 million servicemembers to the war zones, soldier advocacy groups say.
"It is a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops," said Bobby Muller, president of Veterans For America. "They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying."
The numbers of non-deployable soldiers are based on health assessment forms filled out by medical personnel at each military installation before a servicemember's deployment...
News: Jobs for U.S. Military Veterans at Texas Oil Refinery
World Class Leading Oil Refinery in Texas Reaches Out Hire U.S. Veterans
Major Texas Employer Searching for Qualified Military Veterans to Help Run world class Refinery
by Gordon G. Gates
BP Texas City is the world’s most complex refinery. As BP’s largest refinery in the world and the third-largest refinery in the US, BP Texas City is capable of processing approximately 460,000 barrels of crude oil each day. This oil is refined into about 11 million gallons of gasoline. Located just south of Houston, the plant includes 29 oil-refining units and four chemical units on a 1,200-acre site. BP Texas City has the capacity to satisfy 3% of the gasoline demand in the U.S.— enough to fully fuel seven cars every second.
With their FOCUS ON THE FUTURE program, BP Texas City is investing in a bright future. They have put more than $1 billion in the Texas City refinery and seek to hire high quality military veterans to manage, operate, and work their world class facility by working with HireVeterans.com to reach out to hire U.S. Veterans.
Their Focus on the Future program represents more than 28 major initiatives over the next five to seven years and includes the areas of leadership and technical training, information technology, refining, HSSE technology and safety upgrades.
The Pentagon vs. the U.S.: How Americans Have Become Targets of Their Own Military By Scott Ritter, Truthdig
I recently heard from an anti-war student I met while I was speaking at a college in northern Vermont. The e-mail included the following query:
"I told you about how I wanted to build a career around social activism and making a difference. You told me that one of the most important things was to make myself reputable and give people a reason to listen to you. I think this is some of the best advice I've received. My issue however is that you mentioned joining the military as a way to do this and mentioned how that is how you fell into it. ... We talked extensively about all of our criticisms of the military currently and our foreign policy. ... What I don't understand is, how can you [advise] someone who wants to make a difference with the flawed system, to join that flawed system?"
The question is a valid one. Throughout my travels in the United States, where I interact with people from progressive anti-war groups, I am often confronted with the seeming contradiction of my position. I rail against the war in Iraq (and the potential of war with Iran) and yet embrace, at times enthusiastically, the notion of military service. It gets even more difficult to absorb, at least on the surface, when I simultaneously advocate counter-recruitment as well as support for those who seek to join the armed services...
Yesterday, we held our eighth Sunday Rally to "Save Our Veterans Land" at the Los Angeles National Veteran's Home. Francisco Juarez's raising the long string of American Flags across the front of the fence was very patriotic, symbolic and inspiring. However, It pains me deeply that while those Flags flew freely and proudly outside of the fence, we have fellow Veterans inside the fence who pledged theirs lives to defend our Flag and the U.S. Constitution, but are now being held against their will and denied their First Amendment Right to Assemble with us and Protest the land giveaway at this great National Home.
Make no mistake, the violation of the Deed of 1888 against our historic land is bad enough, but the violation of our U.S. Constitution against our fellow Veterans has now become the paramount issue. The seriousness of this egregious violation against any American Citizen is simply outrageous. But to inflict this upon an American Military Veteran is a heinous act of the lowest level. We have gone to war to stop this kind of oppression against any human being. In fact, Sadam Hussein's dictatorship was toppled and he was hung, because among other things, he prevented the citizens of Iraq from protesting against him.
News: VA Covering Up Soldier Suicides: US Lawmakers
US lawmakers have accused the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of being out of control and of covering up the high suicide rate among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. by Karin Zeitvogel
WASHINGTON (AFP) - "The VA healthcare system has been pushed to the edge in dealing with the mental health care needs of our veterans," Bob Filner, chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee of Veterans' Affairs, told a packed congressional hearing about the issue of suicides among veterans.
The hearing came five months after a first round of testimonials on the same topic, and weeks after a series of internal VA emails about suicides among veterans were brought to light by a documentary on US network television.
In one of the emails, sent in February, Dr Ira Katz, deputy chief patient care services officer for mental health at the VA, wrote: "Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see."
He added: "Is this something we should address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" (Continued...)
Features: "Lioness" Shows U.S. Women on Frontline in Iraq
Female soldiers in Iraq are on the Frontlines in Iraq by Claudia Parsons
Left, Shannon Morgan, a female soldier in an engineering unit featured in the film 'Lioness,' is seen here on the porch of her family's Mena, Arkansas home in this undated handout photo.(Steve Maning/Handout/Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Women are officially barred from frontline combat in the U.S. military, but a new documentary shows that in Iraq, some are "out there playing GI Joe with the guys," as one female soldier puts it.
"Lioness," which premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival in April, is the story of female soldiers in an engineering unit who went on raids and house searches with infantry soldiers after their commanders realized it was culturally insensitive to have male soldiers search women.
In the film, one of the women, Shannon Morgan, describes how she felt when she first had to kill an enemy fighter. It also shows her struggling with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on her return home to Arkansas...
Defense Industry Tax Havens Shelter Greedy Busniessmen from the U.S. Taxpayer
Veteran Affair's Change to Agent Orange Claims May Aid Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will help war veterans to register and vote, yet it won't allow registration drives on VA facilities.
Benedictine University to begin offering Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Free Education 
More than 43,000 medically unfit soldiers were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan
The Pentagon vs. the U.S.: How Americans Have Become Targets of Their Own Military
Veterans Civil Rights are Being Violated!
US lawmakers have accused the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of being out of control and of covering up the high suicide rate among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. 
Female soldiers in Iraq are on the Frontlines in Iraq
Wounded War Veteran Gives Back to Soldiers Transitioning Back Home
