It is believed that the dead included troops making their final arrangements for deployment to Iraq.
The largest US military base in the world stayed closed yesterday after an army psychiatrist trained to help personnel deal with post-combat stress shot dead 13 soldiers about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan: here.
The US Army says seven people were killed and 20 wounded in two shootings at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas this morning.
An Army spokesman at the Pentagon says the shootings began about 1.30pm Thursday (6.30am Melbourne time) at a personnel and medical processing centre at Fort Hood.
The spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Banks, says two shooters were apparently involved. There is no word yet on who they were, nor on identities of the dead.
Lieutenant Colonel Banks says the second incident took place at a theatre on the sprawling base.
He says it is too soon to tell whether there is any link to battle stress or repeated deployments. The army is suffering a record high suicide rate and other signs of stress from fighting two wars.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) warned Tuesday that global growth in workers’ real wages, which fell sharply in 2008, will decline even more in 2009, despite what is being touted by governments around the world as an economic recovery: here.
Workers in the US are increasingly giving up on the idea of retiring at 65, or even 67, while top CEOs are planning to quit their positions and live like royalty: here.
Petrino DiLeo reports that executive bonuses on Wall Street are back to their pre-crisis levels–courtesy of the federal government: here.
A Michigan woman died from a severe dental infection after adult dental Medicaid benefits were cut in the state: here.
The higher education sector in Scotland is facing hundreds of job cuts, as universities declare they are facing a funding crisis: here.
England: Tube workers have besieged London Underground’s HQ in protest at an “obscene” 10-to-one difference between workers’ and bosses’ pay: here.
Left MPs have condemned a cynical Whitehall plot to quietly continue letting Britain’s biggest Rolls-Royce scroungers dodge billions in taxes through offshore banking: here.
Horrifying situation for Georgian political prisoners
October 30, 2009 by georgiamedia
To mark ‘Political Prisoners Day’ which is commemorated on 30th October, two leading human rights NGOs in Georgia will hold a vigil outside Gldani prison, Tbilisi under the banner “Freedom for political prisoners, Truth for society”.
According to the Human Rights Centre, one of the NGOS taking part, families of the detainees, along with their legal representatives and politicians will take part in the protest to call for the release of political prisoners in Georgia.
The conditions in the notorious Gldani prison are said to be horrific. Filthy conditions in cells, poor nutrition, and inadequate medical treatement has resulted in terrible health problems for the prisoners, including the spread of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDs and Hepatitis C.
Today, tuberculosis and pneumonia are some of the most common diseases in Georgian prisons. Despite the fact that both are very treatable they are the primary reason for the high levels of prisoner mortality.
Being imprisoned in Georgia is a virtual death sentence. According to statistics, nearly 4 out of every 10 inmates die but mortality is highest among young prisoners – those from the age from 21 to 31. “Infections spread because of poor hygiene in the cells and poor nutrition,” said medical expert Levan Labauri.
Despite the denials of the Saakashvili regime, the International Federation of Human Rights has confirmed there are political prisoners in Georgia, based on a study of a number of cases.
But Saakashvili’s government did not allow the Federation fact-finding mission to meet with several alleged political prisoners despite their formal request.
Picture: A prison cell in Tbilisi, (source Interpressnews)
Many ordinary Georgians feel their personal economic situarion has got worse, not better, despite the strong economic growth of the early years of Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidency: here.
One consequence of the Georgian state’s direction of the national broadcasters and the political complicity of the judicial system is that day after day they report the guilt of the arrested and suspected before any trial: here.
In the second of his occassional columns for the Georgian International Media Centre, leading Georgian writer, former editor in chief of “Peace Times” magazine and Peace Studies Professor at Cornell University, Irakli Kakabadze examines the real reasons why Mikheil Saakashvili and his allies have fallen out with the Catholicos Patriarch, Ilia II: here.
When it comes to Americans without health insurance, many of them are children. But in a surprising twist, many of those uninsured children are from families where at least one parent does have health insurance.
Lack of health insurance may have caused or directly contributed to the deaths of nearly 17,000 children in the United States over the past two decades, a new study has found: here.
Here’s a somewhat surprising result from the new Fox News poll. Asked which president is “more responsible for the current state of the economy,” only 18 percent say President Obama. Fifty-eight percent say former President George W. Bush. Nine percent blame both of them. Republicans are the only subgroup of voters who blame Obama, and only by a six-point margin of 35 percent to 29 percent: here.
All of the parties represented in the new German coalition government are agreed that the burden of the economic crisis and the ballooning state debt is to be placed upon the backs of the general population: here.
America’s roads, bridges, and sewerage are in advanced state of decay, according to a 2009 report by an association of civil engineers: here.
More than 200 people came to the budget hearing of the Seattle City Council to oppose Mayor Greg Nickels’ proposal to cut $72 million from spending: here.
This video says about itself:
The Bush administration, which favored the rich and the financial crisis are to blame for the large number of homeless kids in the U.S., says Jeremy Rosen from the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.
The US economy continues to shed jobs, wreaking havoc on countless lives, even as government officials prepare to announce the official end of the recession that began in December 2007: here.
Towana S. Gooch, a single mother, was on the verge of losing her townhouse in Upper Marlboro, MD, after her mortgage lender kicked her out of a government loan modification program because of a seven-cent error. The most important proposal for unmarried women is the creation of a federal Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would aim to prevent predatory lending and the targeting of vulnerable borrowers: here.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2009) — Homeless and marginally housed people have much higher mortality and shorter life expectancy than could be expected on the basis of low income alone, concludes a study from Canada published on bmj.com: here.
Translated Sunday 25 October 2009, by Henry Crapo and reviewed by Henry Crapo
After five years in power, the left coalition of La Frente Amplio [The Broad Front] has marked up a positive social record. Former guerilla and great favorite in Sunday’s presidential election, their candidate, Pepe Mujica, hopes to continue the policies of the present government.
Montevideo, Uruguay, by correspondance
The Frente Amplio, which gathered a crowd of 300,000 to 400,000 persons in Montevideo on Wednesday, is betting on continuity at the head of state on the eve of Sunday’s elections. Pepe Mujica, former guerilla and candidate of the coalition of the Left, now in power, in Sunday’s presidential election, emphasizes the advances in social policy made by the present government, and counts on being able to continue.
Many Uruguayans have escaped from poverty
Social measures and aid plans have been put in place these last four years. Le Panes, a social emergency plan, has permitted many Uruguayans to emerge from poverty. Between 2005 and 2007, more than 80,000 households received 46 euros a month as “citizen’s income”, according to the minister of social development. In the same period, hundreds of jobs were created thanks to the program “Work for Uruguay”. Among the beneficiaries, 10137 persons received dental care — for free.
Because to get care in Uruguay, it is expensive. Between 2000 and 3000 dollars for a cataract operation. In June 2008 the government inaugurated an “eye hospital” in the San Jose department. It is in that hospital that, henceforth, persons with income less than 580 euros a month can benefit from that operation without spending a cent.
Another objective of “Pepe” Mujica, started by the present government, consists of redistributing the wealth. A modification of the fiscal regime has already brought about an increase in income for the most modest households.
Another Priority of the Former Guerillas: Education
The average income per household has increased from 15,871 pesos (517€) per month in the beginning of the year 2006 to 23,296 pesos (760€), end of the year 2008. Another priority for the former guerillas, education. The candidate of the Frente Amplio, well ahead in the final polls (40% of intentions to vote) has no small pride in the plan Ceibal, which he describes as a “small miracle”. All the students in primary school have received a portable computer equipped with internet connection. Almost 175,000 have been distributed in all. A first, worldwide!
The referendum asking for the annulment of the law of amnesty did not obtain the required majority. Can the Frente Amplio, having a majority in both houses, correct this affront? Here.
Canadian and British soldiers in Afghanistan. Canadian forces in Shah Wali Kot district are seen firing artillery at distant Afghans ’suspected’ of spying; firing warning shots at motorcyclists and vehicles, which causes a bus to crash. British troops mentoring Afghan National Army call in close air support against insurgents; captured Taliban suspect will be ‘abused’ by ANA, says British officer.
OTTAWA–The NATO military alliance is a decomposing corpse that should be disbanded if it cannot find a winning strategy for the Afghan war, says former chief of defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier.
In his new autobiography, obtained by the Star, Hillier opines that unless somebody breathes air through NATO’s “rotten lips into those putrescent lungs” the alliance will be done.
He’s not optimistic that can happen, based on how the group of 28 Western armies have banded together in Afghanistan.
In an action that was as predictable—and as degrading—as a serf prostrating himself before his master, the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, bowed to relentless pressure from the Obama administration and agreed Tuesday to a runoff election: here.
The flood of heroin pouring out of occupied Afghanistan is killing tens of thousands in NATO member states and contributing to the spread of Aids, the UN warned on Wednesday: here.
A revised analysis of 2008 US census data shows that nearly 50 million Americans, 15.8 percent of the population, lived in poverty: here.
This video is called Poverty USA - Native Americans - 16 Nov 07.
Michigan Governor Jennnifer Granholm on Monday vetoed another $54 million from public school funding, targeting school districts in metropolitan Detroit, and signed into law a statewide funding cut of $165 per student: here.
Number of Unemployed Going Without Federal Benefits Hits Record 3 Million: here.
USA: “Cashing in the War Dividend”: As Healthcare Reform Limited by Deficit Concerns, Military Spending Continues to Grow: here.
Thousands of job cuts are being implemented at higher and further education institutions throughout the UK: here.
Britain: The number of people falling behind on fuel bill payments has soared by 50 per cent in the past six months, Citizens Advice has warned: here.
The City is preparing for a 50 per cent rise in annual bonuses to £6 billion as bank profits make a swift recovery, a research group has warned: here.
Public must learn to ‘tolerate the inequality’ of bonuses, says Goldman Sachs vice-chairman: here.
Tens of thousands of US soldiers are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. They say they’ve been abandoned by the Bush Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, claiming that government officials are actively trying to cover up the extent of America’s traumatised soldiers.
For many vets, this means not enough help is being offered and their lives are plagued by anxiety and mental health issues. But for some, the results are even more tragic. Dateline video journalist Nick Lazaredes meets the widow of an Afghanistan veteran who was severely depressed by his recall to fight in Iraq. He was killed in a police shootout on Christmas Day, his death dubbed ‘police-assisted suicide’. As Dateline reveals, his story is not an isolated one.
US soldier commits suicide in Indiana movie theater
20 October 2009
A National Guard soldier home on a 15-day leave from the war in Afghanistan committed suicide in a Muncie, Indiana, movie theater October 12. Jacob W. Sexton, a 21-year-old from rural Farmland, Indiana, shot himself in the head, approximately 20 minutes into the violent comedy Zombieland, with friends and siblings sitting around him. The suicide underscores once again the psychological damage done to soldiers charged with carrying out the brutal colonial occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sexton’s death came as a shock to his family and military cohorts, who told the Muncie Star Press they had not seen any symptoms of suicidal behavior or post-traumatic stress disorder. Yet the young man’s behavior before the film showing revealed that the war’s violence was on his mind. When asked by the theater manager for identification proving the group was of age to see the movie, Sexton reportedly snapped at him, “I shot 18 people and you want to see my identification?”
Sexton’s father, Jeffrey Sexton, told the Associated Press, “We just need to watch these boys and the girls coming back home. Something’s just not right. Too much is happening.”
Like many active-duty military members, Sexton had served multiple tours in both Middle East occupations.
U.S. Army had no mandatory policies for handling suicidal soldiers in Iraq: here.
U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Chancellor Keesling died in Iraq on June 19, 2009, from “a non-combat related incident,” according to the Pentagon. Keesling had killed himself. He was just one in what is turning out to be a record year for suicides in the U.S. military: here.
As with suicides, the rate of sexual assaults within the US military now exceeds that of the general population. A Pentagon report earlier this year found one in three female service members are sexually assaulted at least once during their enlistment. Sixty-three percent of nearly 3,000 cases reported last year were rapes or aggravated assaults. Rape in the Ranks: The Enemy Within is a documentary that focuses on the cases of three female service members victimized by rape and other forms of sexual assault. We air excerpts of the film and speak to filmmaker Pascale Bourgaux: here.
British soldiers’ families against the Afghanistan war: here.
