Full-sized PSAs

Meghan from IAVA saw this in New York – go IAVA & thank you bus stop wallpaper guy!

via Twitpic – Share photos on Twitter.

TOP SECRET US. Soldiers in Iraq with superhuman abilities

Leave it to Joe!

Col. Gentile sees the Chimera of Victory

Listen to the Gentile:  ignore at your peril.  The colonel is sounding smarter and smarter.  I’ll follow him:

Contrary to much of what is written and said, victory is not near and the notion that the “surge” of troops was some great, decisive military action that set the stage for political reconciliation is a chimera.

It was a chimera for the French in Algeria that their bloody counterinsurgency there defeated Algerian nationalists.

via Op-Ed Contributor – Chimera of Victory – NYTimes.com.

Still in Bobo’s world – SC Republicans in the cemetery

I guess that, since he couldn’t make any more laws about how people should act in the bedroom, he had to do a little exploring on his own:

A South Carolina prosecutor has been dismissed after a traffic stop in which he was found with a gentlemen’s club employee in his car, officials said.

Roland Corning, a former state legislator working as an assistant state attorney general, was stopped Monday by a Columbia, S.C., police officer after Corning had pulled his sport utility vehicle into a secluded area where police had “received past complaints in ref. to illegal activity, i.e. sex acts and drug abuse,” The (S.C.) State reported Wednesday.

via S.C. official loses job after traffic stop – UPI.com.

MRFF Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

This combined with the President’s medal, should go over like an athame at airport security.  From Military.com:  via MRFF Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

A redacted version of the Nobel Peace Prize nominating letter that recommended Weinstein is posted online but provides little information on the writer and does not identify the country of origin. The author states he is “the only Christian in [his country’s] Senate,” and so represents “an entire population that is disenfranchised and right-less.” The author says his country once was at war with the United States but is now an ally and “learned from the United States how best to defend and protect people’s most basic rights.”

“American soldiers were and are inspiration to us,” the author states. “Those same soldiers who stand for America need the MRFF to stand for their rights when theirs are under attack at home as the average American’s rights are under attack in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and at the hands of Al-Queda [sic] and other terrorist organizations.”

The letter goes on to state that because of his efforts Weinstein and his family have had their lives threatened and their property defaced and damaged.

(now that just didn’t sound too christian at all to me)

@2morrowknight: 16 Amazing Twitterers

HuffPo is all over Paul and IAVA:

His favorite Twitter charity: @IAVA. Since 2004, IAVA has become one of the best and strongest advocates for our veterans and their families. It’s won legislative victories on the new G.I. Bill, mental health screenings for returning service members, Veterans Health Care Budget Reform, among other issues. In fact, it teamed with the AdCouncil to start CommunityofVeterans.org, a veterans-only, online community. Moreover, the incredible documentary Warrior Champions, which was produced by @IAVA, premiered at the Austin Film Festival on October 23.

via 2morrowknight: 16 Amazing Men on Twitter and the Awesome Charities They Support.

Save Vets’ spouses

This is similar to one of the issues that IAVA hit hard early on and was mostly fixed by  some rule and regulation twiddling.  It would seem that the same could be done now.  I don’t even think the problem is so wide as to require a revision of the whole immigration code – just grant an amnesty to those few spouses it applies to.  A little policy change and quick admin action should be able to save these people while safeguarding against fraud.  These Vets have paid this price.  They should not have to pay for a parent’s long ago transgressions:

Struggling Iraq vet may lose his anchor

His wife, brought here illegally at age 6, is about to be deported. ‘She’s my everything,’ her husband says.
By Teresa Watanabe  October 26 2009

The nightmares still plague him. The terrifying mortar attacks. The loss of an Albanian soldier and ally, mutilated by shrapnel. The Iraqi children, bloodied and battered, lined up for medical care at the U.S. base at Mosul.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immig-soldier26-2009oct26,0,144983.story

Austin: Halt or I will phlebotomize you!

From AABB:  This is a nice resolution but I don’t think it really has any “teeth” in the face of the state law. An article in the Statesman referenced one officer who did not want to draw blood but I can imagine that the one person we would NOT want to do it will probably turn out to be the one that does. I would never want to be held across the hood of a patrol car while an angry officer came at me with a needle!

Resolution cites “clear will” for police officers not to collect blood
City Council members in Austin, Texas, on Thursday passed a resolution citing their “clear will” that police officers not personally draw blood from drivers suspected to be intoxicated. The original version of the resolution, which called for directly prohibiting officers from drawing blood, has been toned down so that it would not run against a state law that mandates officers to employ “all lawful means” to implement the law. The approved resolution calls for the development of guidelines for the collection of blood samples.  Austin American-Statesman (Texas) (10/23)

24 Hours With Secretary of State

IAVA board member Leslie Gelb has a great article on Madame Secretary of State in the U.S.’ most widely read magazine.  As if the upbeat stories about her weren’t enough, he describes in detail how we are getting our money’s worth from this dedicated public servant.

“We’re going to work you to death,” Hillary Clinton promised me with a laugh. She was taking me—and PARADE’s readers—along on a typical day in the life of the U.S. Secretary of State

via 24 Hours With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton | Parade.com.

Texas Army National Guard on the road again

There they go again:

The 36th Infantry Division also has been called to duty in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia. Spurgin said he considers it an honor that the unit has been chosen for so many assignments in the often tumultuous Middle East.

“I think this just points out that the Texas Army National Guard is no longer a strategic reserve,” Spurgin said. “We are now what I would consider an operational force . . . and I think that just illustrates that the professionalism of our citizen soldiers and the relevance that the Texas Army National Guard has that we are being called on by the president and the Department of Defense to be deployed to combat theaters.”

via Texas Army National Guard 36th ID prepares for deployment in Iraq.