Fear-mongering as patriotism

From Joe Conason:

The loudest voices on the right never tire of telling us that they are the truest patriots. They claim to be the deepest believers in our system, the strongest defenders of our Constitution, the most upbeat, bold and courageous Americans anywhere. But now that the government is finally prepared to put the perpetrators of the 9/11 terror attacks on trial, these same patriots are the first to spread doubt, instigate anxiety and abandon constitutional principles. When did fearmongering in time of war become an act of patriotism?

Without fear, the GOP would not exist. Their back-up is hate.

Obama Is Close to Afghan War Decision

What is President Obama signaling from China? That we will stay in Afghanistan or we will go? Unclear.

From Helene Cooper:

BEIJING — President Obama said Wednesday he is 'very close to a decision' on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan, and will make his case to the American people for his Afghan strategy in the next 'several weeks.'

'I am very confident that when I announce the decision, the American people will have a lot of clarity about what we’re doing, how we’re going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost,' Mr. Obama told CNN in an interview at his hotel in Beijing. Most important, he said, is that he is asking 'what’s the end game on this thing, which I think is something that unless you impose that kind of discipline, could end up leading to a multi-year occupation that won’t serve the interests of the United States.'

Onward Christian Athletes Scores

Growing up in Wisconsin during the Bart Starr-coached years (1975-1983), I used to grimace as Bart announced that a new draft pick is a "good Christian."

'Chriiiiist Bart, who cares? Just get some players.'

But like everyone else I felt Bart is Bart, a winner from the glory years.

Over the last 15 years roughly as right wing Christians have taken aim at America's military, an authoritarian and evangelical strain of Christianity has taken aim at professional sports, in its own exclusionary and often wacky dogmatic way.

Muslim? They're spiritually dead. Jewish? Dead. Free-thinking agnostics? Dead. Oakland Raiders who played during the 1970s-80s? Beyond dead and not even Christ can save those guys.

Today, sportsfans notice say Notre Dame's receiver Golden Tate [looks like a future NFL Hall of Famer] often pointing to the sky and acclaiming that Christ is number one (though ND opponents Southern Cal and Pittsburgh don't respect this metaphysical ranking apparently) but the question arises why are players in sports evangelizing so much?

Tom Krattenmaker's new Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers (Rowman & Littlefield, October 2009) is a brilliant and much-needed investigative analysis for those viewing post-game, on-field prayer meetings as foolish displays of exclusionary, only-through-Christ silliness.

There's much more behind these displays and it's not divine intervention. The religious right is behind it and Christian athletes are eating it up [about 20 percent of them] as Krattenmaker demonstrates in his exhaustive exposé that should be sitting atop the Times nonfiction best seller list.

Writes Krattenmaker about the religious-political "Justice Sunday":

Seated around [former NFL player Herbert] Lusk at the altar of his packed Church, having already spoken or waiting to take their turn at the microphone, were some of the biggest names in Christan conservative politics—Rick Santorum, the junior U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania; Jerry Falwell, the founder of the Moral majority; James Dobson, the founder and leader of Focus on the Family; and Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. The latter was the chief organizer of this, the third rendition of Justice Sunday, an event billed as a stand of resistance by people of faith agings the supposed tyranny of a liberal judiciary bent on leading America from its Christian heritage. ... On that given Sunday in north Philadelphia in 2006, pro sports, Evangelical religion , and conservative politics cam together in a particularly stark framing of a powerful current in American public life.

The religious right is organized and often with professional teams' administrative support are pounding away to create a Christian America only for the saved, and the Republican Party.

Krattenmaker is sympathetic to the religious right in a sense and is not mean-spirited in his tone. But there is no doubt after reading his analysis that Krattenmaker prefers a pluralistic and tolerant America where people are free to choose their way to happiness and fulfillment.

This is a book that many Americans, and many sportsfans, have been waiting for and Krattenmaker has performed a public service in his rigorous and often funny investigation of something everyone sees in sports and then lets go by like a Miller Lite commercial.

It's about holiday season, so grab a few copies of Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers. You will not be disappointed. Thank you Tom Krattenmaker!

Democratic Strategist Blows It

James Vega has a piece in the Democratic Strategist arguing in essence: If there is an escalation in Afghanistan—progressives, peace-minded folk and those just plain not wanting to see our troops kill and be killed should all be happy because President Obama has performed as though we do not live in a military junta. "Obama’s strategic review this fall may be seen by historians as the moment when America first began to 'step on the breaks' to slow the 'Long War' and Progressive and anti-war Democrats should keep this clearly in mind as they express their understandable disappointment and frustration," writes Vega.

What a tortured piece of reasoning. Is that what we can expect from Democrats defending the indefensible?

Sure, there is an escalation (if that happens), but Obama acted as though he had a choice. Most reassuring Mr. Vega.

Bush VA Appointees: 'Believe in God, You Won't Have PTSD'

Tara McKelvey has an important piece in the Boston Review on the Bush administration's hostility to treating PTSD.

These political appointees ultimately went after Wisconsin Navy veteran Keith Roberts and railroaded the man.

Here's an excerpt:

[Paul] Sullivan was working as an analyst at the Veterans Benefits Administration in Washington in early 2005 when he was called to a meeting with a top political appointee at the VA, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Michael McLendon. McLendon, an intensely focused man in a neatly pressed suit, kept a Bible on his desk at the office. Sullivan explained to McLendon and the other attendees that the rise in benefits claims the VA was noticing was caused partly by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were suffering from PTSD. 'That’s too many,' McLendon said, then hit his hand on the table. 'They are too young' to be filing claims, and they are doing it 'too soon.' He hit the table again. The claims, he said, are 'costing us too much money,' and if the veterans 'believed in God and country . . . they would not come home with PTSD.' At that point, he slammed his palm against the table a final time, making a loud smack. Everyone in the room fell silent.

'I was a little bit surprised,' Sullivan said, recalling the incident. 'In that one comment, he appeared to be a religious fundamentalist.' For Sullivan, McLendon’s remarks reflected the views of many political appointees in the VA and revealed what was behind their efforts to reduce costs by restricting claims. The backlog of claims was immense, and veterans, often suffering extreme psychological stress, had to wait an average of five months for decisions on their requests.

Another Proven Innocent

Madison man, who has served more than six years in prison, is ordered released
by Dee J. Hall

A Madison man who served more than six years in prison for a sexual assault he said he didn't commit was ordered released Friday after a Dane County Circuit judge overturned his conviction.

Oshkosh Corp Awarded $400-Million Contract

From the DoD:

CONTRACTS: ARMY
Oshkosh Corp., Oshkosh, Wis., was awarded on Nov. 10, 2009, a $438,440,000 firm-fixed-price contract for 1,000 of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs) and associated basic items of issue (BII) with an option for 400 M-ATVs and BII. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, Wis., with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2012. Five bids were solicited with five bids received. U.S. Army TACOM Contracting Center AMSTA-TAC-ATBC, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0111).

Lou Dobbs Is a Joke, He'd Be Perfect for Fox

The news that Lou Dobbs was forced out at CNN shows that even CNN had enough of the guy's bigotry. But its Dobbs' ideological ass-kissing that have gotten him fired.

Dobbs' biggest joke is a 2002 interview with Henry Kissinger where he actually saves Kissinger on-air from admitting Kissinger was going to go for bat for Bush-Cheney in the 911 Commission, interrupting Kissinger in mid-sentence after Kissinger said, "... this was an event [911 attack] that was totally unexpected to the American public; that it came from a direction that nobody had ever thought of. And that it was the first attack on the continental United States ... ."

Wisconsin Facing Fiscal Peril, Says Report

"While California's economic problems take the spotlight, at least nine other states are toiling with hardships nearly as daunting."

So reads a report by the Pew Center on the States. Download the report on Wisconsin.

Wisconsin: To most, Wisconsin does not seem to have the same problems managing its money as California, its dairy rival. But the recession has hit Wisconsin harder than most state governments, especially when it comes to lost tax revenues and the size of the hole in its budget. On top of that, unemployment is climbing as the state’s largest sector—manufacturing—sputters. Wisconsin’s history of budget shortfalls and pattern of borrowing frequently to cover operating expenses, among other measures, made it poorly positioned to weather the most recent severe economic downturn. Download the report on Wisconsin.

Advocating for Veterans

Update: "Do we call Afghanistan a war? It is more like Detroit," says a Marine veteran.

A few years ago I was contacted by a veteran's wife who told me her imprisoned Vietnam-era Navy veteran husband was being persecuted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the U.S. Department of Justice. Thousands of man-hours of research later, I say there is no question that she's right about her husband and not just him.

I work as a veteran's advocate and staff writer for Veterans Today, and I'm honoring Veterans Day. It's personal for me, not because my father's a veteran or my girlfriend's father is a veteran, it's because I'm proud that a piss-load of work for veterans made me a better person.

I was more PR consultant and writer than I was veterans' advocate when I began, still am. But honoring veterans is something I understand a hell of a lot clearer than say five years ago. The truth is I think this jailed, innocent Navy veteran will likely end up killing himself, and I have a good seat to this slow-burn sick show of betrayal this country committed against Keith Roberts. The fact that he has lots of company doesn't mitigate matters.

The imprisoned veteran's name is Keith Roberts who lost a friend who was crushed to death by the nose of a C-54 aircraft [at right] at an airbase in Naples, Italy in 1969, an act that pissed off Roberts and drove him to despair. [Some guy put a screwdriver where a pin should have been and Roberts lost a friend.] Roberts awaits a decision by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) on his 13-year-long benefits claim that could get his ludicrous criminal conviction overturned.

He is an innocent Vietnam-era, Navy veteran wrongfully jailed through a George W. Bush DOJ prosecution after he was targeted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) for “tenaciously pursuing a claim for benefits” and making whistle-blowing accusations that the VA was fraudulently altering his C-file.

Former VA General Counsel attorney and VA national Director of Compensation and Pension Services, Renee L. Szybala [ask veteran Mike Bailey about her], helped engineer the prosecution of Roberts by former U.S. Attorney Stephen Biskupic, Eastern District of Wisconsin in 2005-06.

But this is not a missing-blond story, it's not sexy to the sensationalist appetite; it's an innocent man who the Bush-led feds nailed so who cares; you won't be reading this in the New York Times or on CNN.

Was all this time put into this case worth it? Did it change policy and help Roberts and other veterans? These questions remain to be answered. I doubt Roberts would have been persecuted and prosecuted under the Obama DVA and DoJ.

But I know now the work honors veterans so, yes, it's worth it so I state this today:
Happy Veterans Day, 2009, and Keith Roberts, you are not forgotten.

Those wishing to send the guy a post card or letter can reach him at:

Keith Roberts, 07827-089
FCI Englewood, East-Upper
FCI9595 West Quincy Avenue
Littleton, CO 80123

Just tell the guy to hang in there.

From Aug 10, 2009, Veterans Court Orders VA Info in Jailed Vet Case

As Wisconsin Navy veteran Keith Roberts fights for his innocence in veterans’ court, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC), a development in the case may signal a heightened scrutiny on allegations that the Dept of Veterans Affairs (DVA) bypassed laws and regulations to target Roberts in a coordinated hostile act.

Last week [early August], the Court in Keith A. Roberts v. Eric K. Shinseki (05-2425) announced that it:

has determined that additional information from the [DVA] Secretary would be helpful to the Court's resolution of this appeal. The Secretary will describe the procedures, practices and polices used for severing service connection of protected ratings due to fraud in effect at the time of the August 2005 Board decision and the date those procedures, policies and practices were implemented. Additionally, the Secretary will provide the Court with any materials that support these procedures and any associated policies or practices, such as VA General Counsel Opinions, VA Manuals, Chairman of the Board Memoranda, VA Fast Letters, Directives, Circulars, or any training materials.

The en banc (full) hearing before CAVC, the national veterans court, will consider issues raised by Roberts including the imperative of the DVA to follow administrative rules and protect veterans' due process, and the mandate of the DVA to avoid a general adversarial posture toward veterans.

Roberts was convicted of wire fraud in 2007 after U.S. Atty Stephen Biskupic's office had convinced a jury that Roberts and a deceased Navy airman (Gary Holland)--who was crushed to death by a C-54 aircraft at an airbase in Naples, Italy--were not friends though the two men had parallel service histories.

Not being friends and exaggerating his efforts to rescue his fellow airman; this does not seem just cause for a prosecution.

Most any veteran would tell you when the airbase equivalent of a general quarters alarm sounds, any man or woman on line duty would not ignore the alarm as is the U.S. government's official position in this perhaps most asinine case in DVA history.

An affirmative decision by CAVC may affirm that the argument made by veterans in the class action law suit by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that the DVA must perform its Congressionally-mandated function to serve veterans.

Roberts has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by several private and public medical professionals, but again this documented medical condition is insufficient to establish his innocence of fraudulently receiving benefits, though this would change under newly proposed DVA rules.

Contra the government's case, writes Scott Horton in Harper's Magazine (Sept 7, 2007), "The prosecution smacks of retaliation and a plan to suppress veterans claims—Roberts was prosecuted for tenaciously pursuing a claim for benefits, which VA resisted and which is still in the benefits review process."

On appeal, Roberts' criminal conviction for wire fraud was upheld last year with the Court opinion reading in part: "The record might also have supported a jury determination that Mr. Roberts sincerely believed that his statements were true and that he had no intention to defraud the Government. It is beyond our authority to disturb such a finding on appeal."

Writes James W. Ervin, stationed in Naples with Roberts, who supports Roberts' version of the circumstances in Italy that Roberts has for decades asserted was a Navy cover-up that resulted in a friend's death. Ervin wrote his comments after reading a piece on Roberts in Uppity Wisconsin:

I was stationed @ NAF Naoles, Italy at the time of this 'incident,' July 1968 thru Nov. 1969. I also remember the young sailor be trapped / crushed up inside the wheel well (nose) of the aircraft inside the hangar of NAF naples, Italy. I do remember someone wanting to drive a forklift into the side of the aircraft; but an officer or someone of authority would not let them do that. . . so what they did was have men climb up into the plane & go to the rear of the plane to put weight in the rear of the plane to let the nose come up to release the trapped sailor. Unfortunately that process was too slow to save the sailor from death. I also remember taking photographs of the 'Pin' that was in the nose gear at the time. I remember it as being a homemade looking pin without a locking clip to keep it from being removed without unlocking the device. As for the names of the people involved , I don't remember; but there definitely was someone there who wanted to use the fork lift to rescue the sailor from the collapsed nose wheel and was ordered NOT to use the fork lift.

But Ervin was not heard at trial so Roberts sits in prison.

Roberts was an early whistle blower in the shreddergate veterans scandal, accusing the Milwaukee VA Regional Office of destroying documents in his file and engaging in fraud as the VA was in the process of determining the date from which his retroactive disability pay was to become effective. Roberts, of Gillett, Wisconsin, sought a new retroactive date per the advice of his Shawano County (Wisconsin) Veteran’s Service Officer.

Anger and frustration with the VA drove Keith Roberts to phone the VA Inspector General’s regional office at Hines, Illinois, in November 2003 to complain. Roberts spoke with one VA Special Agent Raymond Vasil. When he accused the VA of outright fraud in November 2003, Vasil retaliated against this Vietnam-era who had reportedly become a pain to the VA regional office.

Several VA e-mails point to top officials in the VA engineering a criminal prosecution while gaming the veteran’s VA benefits adjudication, and subsequently putatively financially assaulting the veteran’s family.

Roberts is but one victim of a stacked-against-the-veteran benefits system that was the subject of a class-action lawsuit that found as fact benefits-hostile practices at the VA. Exercising an utter lack of prosecutorial discretion, the U.S. Atty after prodding from U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials began the bizarre prosecution that drew immediate fire from veterans’ groups, such as Colonel Daniel K. Cedusky’s, AUS, (Ret.) and the American Legion.

Adding insult to injury, the VA also began immediate collection actions against the veteran and his two young daughters who had received education benefits related to their father’s service in the Navy, though Roberts' claim is still pending to this day at CAVC.

What prompted the U.S. Atty’s office was a puzzle to many readers who have followed the case of Roberts who has been serving 48 months in a federal prison since 2007, as well as incurring associated costs of some $500,000.

But Keith Roberts was indisputably a major political and legal target of the VA that retaliated against this veteran for seeking retroactive PTSD-related disability benefits and calling out the VA on altering his C-file, a practice that was found to occur in 41 of the 57 VA field offices which have now adopted new procedures to preserve records such as what Roberts complained about in November 2003.

Revealing the Alice-in-Wonderland nature of the case is the fact that if Roberts claim is affirmed by CAVC, Roberts will have been found guilty of receiving benefits to which he was found to be entitled.

In August 2005, the DVA, taking its cue from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) had announced plans to review 72,000 PTSD cases with a 100 percent disability ratings like Roberts’.

But a torrent of criticism by veterans’ groups and Democrats forced the Bush administration to back down. On August 10, 2005 then Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) blasted the administration in a letter to then VA Secretary Nicholson: "In order to truly create fairness in the claims system, the VA should concentrate its efforts on reviewing denials of PTSD claims. Without assessing why some PTSD claims are denied, it will be impossible to fully understand how the VA’s PTSD rating system can be improved. The process of gathering evidence to prove PTSD disability is extremely time-consuming. It requires the compilation of medical records, military service records, and testimonies from other veterans who can attest to a person’s combat exposure. I cannot fathom why the VA would require veterans to go through this emotionally painful process a second time."

Roberts became a target. Now many veterans' advocates are optimistic that under President Obama a change will come in how the DVA treats its veterans in the face of a hostile and selfish entrenched bureaucracy. There is now a political will from the administration to respect veterans.

For now the DVA claims process can be so frustrating that many vets (especially those suffering from PTSD) are thrown into fits of rage directed at the DVA itself, with nothing less that a sordid history, including such scandals demeaning veterans for seeking help with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in this “culture of trauma.”

The Pentagon at one point even blamed veterans “personality disorders” and lack of faith in God for veterans suffering after service.

See also:
- VA Document Contradicts US Atty in Jailed Vet Case
- Weakening US Criminal Case, VA Turns Down Jailed Wisc Vet’s PTSD claim
- Jailed Wisconsin Veteran Sent to Solitary Confinement, Seeks Help
- DVA Attacks Veteran
- National DVA Director Pushed US Atty Biskupic to Indict Wisconsin ...