Society's Child

Millions of U.S. veterans and soldiers suffering needlessly; suicides, mental illness, poverty

Bill Quigley
Commondreams.org
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 11:32 UTC

Despite the July 4 tributes, millions of US soldiers and veterans are in serious trouble.

Twenty two veterans kill themselves every day according to the Veterans Administration. A study by the Los Angeles Times found veterans are more than twice as likely as other civilians to commit suicide. Suicides among full-time soldiers, especially among male soldiers, are also well above the national civilian rate. USA Today reported a suicide rate of 19.9 per 100,000 for civilian men compared to rates of 31.8 per 100,000 for male soldiers and 34.2 per 100,000 for men in the National Guard.

Over 57,000 veterans are homeless on any given night according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Unemployment is much higher among post 911 veterans than the general population according to the Department of Labor.

More than 1.4 million veterans are living below the poverty line according to US Senate report, and another 1.4 million are just above the line. Of veterans between the ages of 18 and 34, 12.5 percent are living in poverty.

Distraction alert! N-bomb: NYC monthly under fire after calling Obama n****r in anti-racism piece

RT
Tue, 08 Jul 2014 09:56 UTC

A New York city newspaper sparked controversy by publishing a piece criticizing allegedly racism-driven anti-Obama bias among conservative voters headlined 'The n****r in the White House'. Without the asterisks.

The West Village News is hardly denying that they used the word, which would be considered highly offensive by many of its readers, for the shock value, but says it was needed in order to draw public attention to the issue.

"[The author] Jim Collier is a straight talking man so when a few months ago he wanted to use the word 'nigger' in an article to shock us into accepting that there still are people who believe and use this outrageous word, our editorial staff took collective objection and we did not print it," said a preface to the article by editor and publisher George Capsis.

"The editorial staff continues to object. In this article however Jim reminded me that the New York Times avoids using the word which convinced me that WestView should," he added.

Collier's piece focused on Republican congressional primary last month, in which David Brat defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. He argued that Brat's surprise victory stems from his campaign's wide use of Cantor's association with President Barack Obama, which undermined votes for the representative in Virginia's conservative constituency.

Comment: This topic along with the Pistorius trial serve as great distractions for the American public and fills the front pages. In that way the US warmongering around the world, support for fascists in Ukraine, support for cut-throat religious thugs (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria, the undeclared war on Russia, the stealing from the US common man, the end of the petrodollar and the collapse of the empire, the cosmic threat, the major earth changes and the coming ice age can all be kept off the radar.

Ponerized Society: Wealth breeds narcissism and psychopathic behavior

Anne Manne
The Guardian
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 07:49 UTC

As people get richer, they are more likely to feel entitled, to exploit others, and to cheat. That extends to politics too.

Call it the asshole effect. That is the term coined by US psychologist Paul Piff after he did some stunning new research into the effects of wealth and inequality on people's attitudes.

As we ponder Joe Hockey's budget and his division of the world into "leaners" and "lifters", as we learn from Oxfam that the richest 1% of Australians now own the same wealth as the bottom 60%, we would do well to consider the implications of Piff's studies. He found that as people grow wealthier, they are more likely to feel entitled, to become meaner and be more likely to exploit others, even to cheat.

Piff conducted a series of revealing experiments. One was remarkably simple. Researchers positioned themselves at crossroads. They watched out for aggressive, selfish behaviour among drivers, and recorded the make and model of the car. Piff found drivers of expensive, high-status vehicles behave worse than those sputtering along in battered Toyota Corollas.

They were four times more likely to cut off drivers with lower status vehicles. As a pedestrian looking carefully left and right before using a crossing, you should pay attention to the kind of car bearing down on you. Drivers of high-status vehicles were three times as likely to fail to yield at pedestrian crossings. In contrast, all the drivers of the least expensive type of car gave way to pedestrians.

Bypassing US control: Grand $40 billion project of Atlantic-Pacific Nicaragua Canal finally completed

ITAR-TASS
Tue, 08 Jul 2014 06:44 UTC

The final mega-project of the grand trans-oceanic waterway Nicaragua Canal, a new alternative to the Panama Canal, which will connect the Pacific coast of Nicaragua with the Caribbean Sea, has been successfully presented in the country's capital and estimated by the authorities at $40 billion.

The company HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment, which is financing the project, plans to start construction works in December this year, said the company's official representatives on Monday. According to several America's independent sources, Russia will also join China to help construct the canal.

However, Russia will provide not so much economic and organizational assistance as military and political support, for it will establish a base in Nicaragua to guard the construction site against possible acts of provocation. Moreover, Russian warships and aircrafts will be allowed to be present in the country's territorial waters and coastline.

Psycho Texas cop 'kills for Christ,' claims to be 'Christian Warrior'

Igor Derysh
Issue Hawk
Mon, 30 Jun 2014 17:44 UTC

A Texas police officer has self-published a controversial new book in which he justifies killing men in the line of duty by invoking his Christian beliefs.

SWAT Officer Charlie Eipper has self-published a book called Jesus Christ on Killing, in which he says Jesus would not only condone but support his use of deadly force.

The Wichita Falls Times Record News reports, "Eipper has considered himself a professional warrior in the service of his country for the past 23 years. He served three years as a helicopter pilot in the Army, then 16 years on the Wichita Falls Police Department SWAT team as a sniper and team leader of the gang unit."

Eipper says that when his career began, he was told that killing was wrong in the eyes of Christ. The Times Record News reports, however, "After studying the Bible with the help of Grace Church Pastor Tom Rodgers, today Eipper is confident that Jesus Christ supports warriors."

"The Scriptures are clear that God condones the use of deadly force in killing whenever we are threatened," Eipper said. "A woman who carries a handgun with a concealed carry license can be assured that she can defend herself with deadly force and still be in complete fellowship with her Savior."

But why write a book?

Breakdown of Eurotunnel train to France forces evacuations, strands people for hours

Sam Greenhill and Stephen Johns
Mail Online
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:24 UTC

Stranded: Hundreds of passengers were left stranded in the Channel Tunnel and forced to get off their train and walk along a service tunnel (pictured) after a massive power failure

Hundreds of passengers wait patiently to be rescued yesterday after being trapped in the Channel Tunnel.

Many took selfies and other photos of the scene as they were evacuated from a car shuttle train which hit fallen power cables eight miles in.

The incident blocked one of the tunnel's two tracks for most of the day, throwing the travel plans of thousands of holidaymakers and other passengers into chaos.

Massive queues built up at London St Pancras and Folkestone.

There were fears of a knock-on effect today but operator Eurotunnel said it hoped services would return to normal by this morning.

BBC newsreader Sophie Raworth was among those whose plans were hit.

Her Eurostar train took five hours to make the journey from London to Lille instead of the normal 90 minutes.

The incident began at about 7.30am when the Eurotunnel shuttle service from Folkestone to Calais ground to a halt about a quarter of the way into its journey.

World Cup not such a boon to Brazil: Disastrous decline in productivity while police continue violent repression of populace

Christopher Gaffney
Fusion Soccer
Sun, 06 Jul 2014 00:00 UTC

© Reuters/Felipe Costa
Demonstrators protest against the 2014 World Cup in front of a major bus terminal in Brasilia, May 15, 2014.

n a normal month of June, Rio de Janeiro hosts at least 16 first-division soccer matches. São Paulo will typically see the same number. Salvador usually has around 8; ditto Recife, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, and Curitiba. None of these cities will host more than seven during the World Cup.

Compared to this time last year, Brazilian airlines transported 15% more passengers per day than they are doing during the World Cup. The airports seem empty because they have fewer passengers. Planes are on time because they have fewer problems getting out of the gate. This is not to say that the Brazilians aren´t doing a good job with airline transport, but that the predicted problems have not emerged because Brazilians were so afraid of the problems that they aren´t traveling the way they normally do.

In a normal month of June, Brazil receives around 600,000 foreign visitors. That is the expected number of tourists that the country will receive for the World Cup. "Normal" tourists have been replaced by World Cup tourists, who are being bilked by hoteliers and tour operators.

In every host city, for every game, there is some kind of holiday. That's 64 local holidays throughout the tournament. Schools have been closing to keep kids and teachers at home. If kids are not getting to school, some parents are staying home, too.

All of this - the holidays, the fear of logistical headaches, and a general party atmosphere - has been disastrous for Brazilian productivity, which has declined by as much as 30% during the first round of the tournament. These costs are never factored into the general budget for the event.

US armed forces prey on kids through the militarization of public schools

Steve Filips and Don Barrett
World Socialist Website
Sat, 05 Jul 2014 17:22 UTC

This fall, Syracuse, New York will join the still small but growing list of public schools dedicated to the training of students for military service in the United States Armed Forces.

This past April, the Syracuse Central School District (SCSD) approved the closure of Fowler High School in the city's impoverished Westside section and its transformation into the Public Service Leadership Academy (PSLA), which will focus on training students for military service, to work in the Department of Homeland Security, or as police officers and firefighters.

There are 18 military academies as part of the public school system in the United States. Six are located in Chicago. All of these schools are associated with the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), whose goals include indoctrinating students with "patriotism," "responsiveness to all authority" and an increasing "respect for the role of the US Armed Forces in support of national objectives."

So much for government transparency: CIA forces out former agent after his quest to release information

Greg Miller
The Washington Post
Fri, 04 Jul 2014 00:00 UTC

His CIA career included assignments in Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq, but the most perilous posting for Jeffrey Scudder turned out to be a two-year stint in a sleepy office that looks after the agency's historical files.

It was there that Scudder discovered a stack of articles, hundreds of histories of long-dormant conflicts and operations that he concluded were still being stored in secret years after they should have been shared with the public.

To get them released, Scudder submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act - a step that any citizen can take, but one that is highly unusual for a CIA employee. Four years later, the CIA has released some of those articles and withheld others. It also has forced Scudder out.

His request set in motion a harrowing sequence. He was confronted by supervisors and accused of mishandling classified information while assembling his FOIA request. His house was raided by the FBI and his family's computers seized. Stripped of his job and his security clearance, Scudder said he agreed to retire last year after being told that if he refused, he risked losing much of his pension.

Brazilians Hold anti-World Cup Rally in Rio

Fars News
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:57 UTC

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Society's Child

Millions of U.S. veterans and soldiers suffering needlessly; suicides, mental illness, poverty

Distraction alert! N-bomb: NYC monthly under fire after calling Obama n****r in anti-racism piece

Ponerized Society: Wealth breeds narcissism and psychopathic behavior

Bypassing US control: Grand $40 billion project of Atlantic-Pacific Nicaragua Canal finally completed

Psycho Texas cop 'kills for Christ,' claims to be 'Christian Warrior'

Breakdown of Eurotunnel train to France forces evacuations, strands people for hours

World Cup not such a boon to Brazil: Disastrous decline in productivity while police continue violent repression of populace

US armed forces prey on kids through the militarization of public schools

So much for government transparency: CIA forces out former agent after his quest to release information

Brazilians Hold anti-World Cup Rally in Rio

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