Military

It is amazing that in this day and age anybody would think that you could create a neuro-toxic bomb that would turn soldiers gay and render them incompetent for war, but that's exactly what the Pentagon considered when they took a look at a proposed $7.5 million chemical weapon project.

CBS5.com reports :

Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS 5 that military leaders had considered, and then subsequently rejected, building the so-called "Gay Bomb."

Edward Hammond, of Berkeley's Sunshine Project, had used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the proposal from the Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.

As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.

"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistibly attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents.

"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soldiers would become gay," explained Hammond.

While the politicians are pandering and the spinbots are shouting and every monkey in a red-white-and-blue suit is screeching "I support the troops! We support the troops!"... the torn and tattered veterans of the neocons' illegal and immoral war for conquest in the Middle East are being warehoused in Washington in conditions that most Americans would never even dream of letting their house pets live in, let alone their wounded warriors.

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Student shoots self at Philadelphia high school | Top News | Reuters.com or why can't people understand that, to some kids, school = death.

Sixty killed in Baghdad suicide truck bombing - CNN.com, or why there is more reason to listen up when Muhammed Yunus says that poverty is a threat to world peace.

Award augurs well for United 93's Oscar hopes | News | Guardian Unlimited Film, or, OK, now I am going to have to see this movie.

A dangerously nice man | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited, or how Kofi Annan cautiously takes no shit from no WASP hill-billy wannabe, but in the process effed up the United Nations reputation as the leader in world politics.

Been blogging at Snook about school dress codes and the degree to which costumes constitute culture, connecting that to how best to prepare for all possible futures and for disasters of all types -- natural, manmade and fashion disasters!

Which no doubt connects somehow to Liza's "taxidermy fashion as politics" too, but to me the main power of story is (as always) educational. Visit the original blogpost if you can, to see other links, comments and connected ideas, including how military hero Colin Powell's dress code fits into cultural warfare, but here's a little tease:

It’s the Culture, Stupid. Change their culture, change their world, which put in current culturally relevant terms might evoke “save the cheerleader, save the world”– and saving her doesn’t mean fretting over her algebra grade, much less clucking at her cleavage and throwing an old shirt over it in the guidance office…

Kids and teens live in a very real culture even if it seems like a comic book, one that School does not control or define (much as it wants to believe otherwise) and marginalizes itself further by refusing to engage.

Oh no he didn't! :

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) has long advocated returning to the draft, but his efforts drew little attention during the 12 years that House Democrats were in the minority. Starting in January, however, he will chair the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Yesterday he said "you bet your life" he will renew his drive for a draft.

"I will be introducing that bill as soon as we start the new session," Rangel said on CBS's "Face the Nation." He portrayed the draft, suspended since 1973, as a means of spreading military obligations more equitably and prompting political leaders to think twice before starting wars.

"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way," said Rangel, a Korean War veteran. "If we're going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can't do that without a draft."

What do I think about Rangel's move? It takes balls.

Big.

HUGE.

GINORMOUS

COJONES,
to try to push this on Congress, needless to say, the American public.

I pass on the following call for papers:

Program Theme:
The Language of Violence: Critical Thinking about War and Peace

Saturday, November 18, 2006
SUNY Cortland, New York
Corey Union

Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Gail Presby, University of Detroit , Mercy

Over the last five years, the language of violence has entered public discourse more than ever before. Words like "war," "terrorism," even "peace" are being used in new ways. In this conference we want to ask questions about the use and meaning of language and the way language shapes public consciousness, ethical thinking and responses to violence (in the media, from government and military spokespeople, in entertainment, in the academy). We invite proposals from professors, activists, graduate and undergraduate students, across the disciplines, in areas relating to, but no restricted to, the rhetoric of violence. Paper presentations should be twenty minutes in length.

The deadline for proposals and abstracts is October 25, 2006.
Please send proposals for a panel, workshop, or roundtable discussion. Limit proposals to no more than 500 words. Also, send abstracts of articles (no more than 500 words) for consideration.

Hey there,

This is my friend who I met at the Spirituality Beyond Religions
conference in India in February. He's awesome, so if you have a chance
to go to any of his talks, I highly suggest it! If you go, please
introduce yourself and tell him Rae from the India conference says hi
and that I send my love.

Love,
Brittany/Rae

------------

From: Eliyahu McLean

Hello friends,

I am in the US, teaching a course on Judaism and peace-building and
will soon embark on a short speaking tour of the West Coast. Please
forward this invitation to anyone who may be interested in upcoming
West Coast events in Los Angeles, Ashland, Santa Cruz and Berkeley.

This is followed by an announcement for the multi-faith peace
prayer gathering taking place Thursday, July 27th in Gan Sacher,
Jerusalem, from 5:00-8:00 PM, Jerusalem time.

Shalom, Salaam,
Eliyahu McLean

Jerusalem Peacemakers, director
Abrahamic Reunion, coordinator

------------------------------------------------------------

Healing Abraham's Wounded Family: Reconciliation in the Holy Land in
a Time of Conflict

with Eliyahu McLean of the Jerusalem Peacemakers

Eliyahu will speak about the response of the Israeli and Palestinian

It's one of those quiet Sundays; the oppressive heat has broken, we have friends in town, now despatched to SoHomo for a glamour fix. So I have some free time to bang my head against the wall at the catatonic stupidity that is our policy in Iraq. Words are beginning to fail me at the extent of this colossal military and moral disaster; what is it? A quagmire? A morass? Mere turmoil at the bloody borders of the empire? Or a fetid sewer into which the nation has cast, in a season of madness, our blood, our treasure, our power and our honor?

Case in point: the Washington Post has a long article today titled simply "In Iraq, Military forgot lessons of Vietnam", well worth a read. It details in exquisitie detail how exactly we tumbled over this abyss, once the war had been won and this country, under leadership at once staggeringly inept and profoundly criminal, proceeded to lose the peace.

On the morning of Aug. 14, 2003, Capt. William Ponce, an officer in the "Human Intelligence Effects Coordination Cell" at the top U.S. military headquarters in Iraq, sent a memo to subordinate commands asking what interrogation techniques they would like to use."The gloves are coming off regarding these detainees," he told them. His e-mail, and the responses it provoked from members of the Army intelligence community across Iraq, are illustrative of the mind-set of the U.S. military during this period.

If the government is so tight fisted, why not have Haliburton pay for these people's displacement? They after all have been the #1 plunderers of this war.

[via Lebanon Situation Update - July 15, 2006 - US Embassy Beirut Lebanon]:

Frontpage Headline
Lebanon Situation Update - July 15, 2006
July 15, 2006

This information is current as of today, Sat Jul 15 12:20:12 2006.

A message to the American citizens in Lebanon:

The Department of State continues to work with the Department of Defense on a plan to help American citizens depart Lebanon. As of the morning of July 15, we are looking at how we might transport Americans to Cyprus. Once in Cyprus, Americans can then board commercial aircraft for onward travel. Commercial airlines provide the safest and most efficient repatriation options to final destinations.

The Department of State reminds American citizens that the U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation but does have the authority to provide repatriation loans to those in financial need. For the portion of your trip directly handled by the U.S. Government we will ask you to sign a promissory note and we will bill you at a later date. In a subsequent message, when we have specific details about the transporation arrangments, we will inform you about the costs you will incur. We will also work with commercial aircraft to ensure that they have adequate flights to help you depart Cyprus and connect to your final destination.

The Department of State continues to work around the clock and will continue to send updates as appropriate.

**A Thank You to JimStaro at My Left Wing for the alert to this video.