Today, on November 11, cities and towns all across the country will organize parades to "honor" the men and women who fought for America's freedom. In addition to the parades, Veterans will be given small perks at corporate chains, patriotic music and motivational themes will be played across television stations, and Americans will thank their veterans "for their service" as they have been instructed to do by their politicians and their television programming for the last several years.

Yet seldom do Americans ask what "service" they are thanking these veterans for since most Americans simply parrot the latest buzz terms without ever actually questioning them. Of course, there are some for whom no amount of war and slaughter will ever be enough to vicariously make them feel like bigger men or a great nation. Most, however, are simply ignorant.

The truth is that the service for which veterans are being thanked has nothing to do with the freedom of the American people. As the most decorated Marine in American history (at the time), General Smedley Butler, stated, "I served in all commissioned ranks from a Second Lieutenant to a Major General. And, during that time, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for Capitalism."

Butler discovered that he was a tool of the world oligarchy. Many others have since discovered the fact that they were nothing more than pawns, albeit of a much lower level, after their youth and health was spent in the process of slaughtering innocent people. Many soldiers from the world wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan have come to the same conclusion and, no doubt, a number of those who have participated in the attack on Libya, Iraq, and Syria will do the same.

There is also no doubt that many of these soldiers signed up because they perceived their country to be under attack and that those people across the world were vicious enemies who wanted to see the American people destroyed. While skewed and tragically ignorant, many joined the ranks of the military for noble reasons. Unfortunately, even the noblest of reasons does not make a lie the truth.

A Grand Rapids, Michigan Christian radio broadcaster was sentenced on Monday to at least 25 years in prison for the rape of an 11-year-old boy.

According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, 35-year-old John Balyo plead guilty to the sexual assault, which Balyo arranged with the help of another man, Ronald L. Moser, 42, of Battle Creek, who has admitted to procuring boys for Balyo to have sex with.

According to court documents, Moser brought the unnamed victim to a Fairfield Inn, where he and Balyo showered with the young boy, then photographed him before inducing him to perform oral sex on the Christian radio host as Moser watched.

Balyo issued an apology to the boy and his family in court.

"I just want to take this opportunity to say I am feeling very deep and constant remorse for my actions," he said in front of the judge on Monday. "And I want the family to know I am very sorry and wish I could do something to correct what has been done."

Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt sentenced Balyo to serve the mandatory minimum sentence for child sex assault - 25 years - with the possibility of serving up to 50 years behind bars. When Balyo does get out of prison, he will be ordered to register with a national sex offender database and submit to constant monitoring via an ankle bracelet or other tracking device.

Balyo faces additional sentencing in U.S. District Court in December on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography.

Both Balyo and Moser plead guilty in federal court. Moser will be sentenced this week and faces up to 40 years in prison on charges of possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child.

Inundated with foods and drinks that contain high-fructose corn syrup, the US food industry is largely at fault for driving up obesity rates, since the cheap sweetener inhibits the brain from regulating the body's appetite.

From soda to ketchup, many processed foods and beverages contain fructose, which affects the region of the brain that regulates appetite, according to a study by the Scientific American, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers measured the hypothalamus, which regulates hunger-related signals, of 20 healthy adult volunteers to study their responses to consuming sweetened beverages.

Upon receiving a 300-calorie drink sweetened with 75 grams of fructose, the volunteers had a more active hypothalamus and showed greater signs of hunger. When the volunteers received a similar drink that was instead sweetened using glucose, their hypothalamus was less active and the participants showed signs of fullness.

The boyfriend of the 40-year-old Ann Arbor woman who was shot and killed by police Sunday night said he doesn't understand why police had to use lethal force to take down the woman who had a knife in her hand as she confronted officers.

Victor Stephens, 54, is the homeowner at 2083 Winewood Ave., where his girlfriend was shot by police who were responding to a domestic disturbance call.

"Why would you kill her? He shot her in the head and in the chest," Stephens said. "It was a woman with a knife. It doesn't make any sense."

Stephens said the woman -- whose name is being withheld until police can reach the next of kin -- has three children, two sons and a daughter.

Police were called to the home at 11:45 p.m. Sunday night.

"Me and her, we had an argument. Glass was being broke, so I called the police to escort her out," Stephens said.

When officers arrived, Stephens said he was in a separate hallway in the house away from where the woman was with the knife. Stephens said the woman had a fish knife in her hand when police announced their arrival.

"The police said 'police,' so I stopped. She walked towards them," Stephens said. "They said 'freeze' and the next thing I know I heard (gunshots)."

Two regular guys from Southern Illinois, Kirk Allen and John Kraft, became folk heroes after lawfully "citizen arresting" their park district board. Now, their fight against corruption threatens to shake the political establishment.

Illinois' number one manufactured product is corruption. More than 95 percent of the Illinois legislature is safe in gerrymandered districts. The incumbent governor has three current federal investigations of his administration, but the Attorney General/state's attorney class can't find public vice anywhere.

So what can the law abiding citizen do? The answer is coming from some regular guys in southern Illinois who decided to hold public officials accountable. They call themselves the "Watchdogs."

Kirk Allen and John Kraft live in Edgar County which may be the most corrupt county in the country. For a couple of watchdogs, it's a target rich environment.

In 1985, New York prosecutor Rudy Giuliani indicted the local pizza owner during the mob "Pizza Connection" prosecutions. For twenty years, State trooper Michale Callahan staked his career on reversing the false double-murder convictions of Randy Steidl and Herb Whitlock and became a local legend. In a county of only 18,000 residents, just four units of government have amassed $79 million of bonded debt.

During the summer, the Watchdogs used a little known provision of law to "citizen arrest" an entire unit of government. The story was featured on Chicago broadcast news and garnered the front page in most downstate daily newspapers.

You've probably had more than one sigh of relief at the gas pumps lately here in America. Gas is averaging under $3 a gallon across the nation. In some places, it's under $2.50. Gas prices haven't been this low in nearly half a decade.

"It's stunning what's happening here," says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. "I'm a little bit shocked."

The national average price of gasoline fell 33 cents to end October at $3 a gallon and dipped Saturday to $2.995, according to AAA. That marks the first time in four years that gas has been cheaper than $3 a gallon.

When the national average crossed above $3 a gallon in December of 2010, drivers weren't sure they'd ever see $2.99 again. Global demand for oil and gasoline was rising as people in developing countries bought cars by the tens of millions and turmoil was brewing in the oil-rich Middle East.

Now demand isn't rising as fast as expected, drillers have learned to tap vast new sources of oil, particularly in the U.S., and crude continues to flow out of the Middle East. (source)

The price has only continued to drop. Buying a gallon of gas is now officially cheaper than buying a gallon of milk.

So is that a good thing or a bad thing?

A 26-year-old Colorado man who professed to be insane when he poisoned his mother to death and drove around with her dismembered remains in his car was found guilty on Monday of first-degree murder, prosecutors said.

Ari Liggett was accused of killing his 56-year-old mother, Beverly Liggett, in 2012 by giving her potassium cyanide, then cutting up her body in the Denver-area home they shared.

On Monday, jurors rejected Liggett's insanity defense and convicted him of murder, said Michelle Yi, spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office.

Liggett and his mother were reported missing by family members in October 2012, police said at the time. Investigators searching for the pair traced credit card receipts from purchases made by the son to western Colorado.

Days later, a police officer spotted the missing vehicle in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village. When an officer tried to stop the car, Liggett sped away and ultimately crashed the automobile into a concrete wall.

In America there is no greater recruiting ground for the U.S. military than professional and college sports. Pro sports and the NCAA promote U.S. military men and women as "heroes" of honor to be admired and practically worshiped for their supposed valor, bravery, and courage. Sporting arenas throughout America this week will remind their audiences of millions of viewers that our "courageous" military men and women deserve to be honored for their service to America, but is all of this just a mass propaganda campaign to set the stage for recruiters throughout America to convince teenagers to join the military? I believe it absolutely is and here's why.

As I mentioned, in America we have an ongoing political advertising campaign that portrays the U.S. military as an opportunity, a proving ground that builds character, an entity that only selects the best men and women who supposedly believe in America and are willing to defend America and the values it stands for (notice the word 'freedom' is hardly ever used any more). The U.S. military is portrayed as a stage for those with honor, integrity, initiative, leadership and (as I mentioned before) courage. A close look at this list of virtues however proves that nothing could be further from the truth.

On a chilly night in Beijing, Vladimir Putin offers his coat to Peng Liyuan, the wife of the Chinese president, but his act of chivalry is quickly censored

Beijing has launched a major campaign to improve manners in the Chinese capital, called "Be a Splendid Beijinger".

And as world leaders gathered outside on a chilly night for the opening ceremony of the APEC summit, Vladimir Putin was on hand to show the locals how to be polite.

Noticing that Peng Liyuan, the wife of the Chinese president Xi Jinping, was shivering in just a silk qipao dress, Mr Putin stood up and draped a camel-coloured overcoat over her shoulders.

In turn, she demurely paused a moment before slipping off the coat, handing it to an assistant and putting on a cardigan.

Her husband, sitting on her other side, seemed oblivious throughout as he chatted with Barack Obama.

To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From: Tomas Young

I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.

I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all - the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.