Minnesota's National Guardsmen Getting Benefit Review

From LGF:

Members of the Minnesota congressional delegation have been working with the Minnesota National Guard to correct what they consider an inequity.

The state’s U.S. senators, Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar, announced Monday they had received word from Army Secretary Pete Geren that he was attempting to fix the problem.

“Many of these soldiers have put their education on hold in order to serve our nation, and awarding these benefits is the least we can do for them when they return,” Coleman said.

Geren told the senators he was recommending that the Army Board of Corrections, which has the authority to award the benefits, expedite the review process so the soldiers could get their benefits in time to enroll for spring semester. Usually, each soldier would each have to file a personal appeal, but Geren requested the Army review them as one group.

Jails Going Sha'aria For Muslim Convicts

From BND:

It would seem that our nation's jails are succumbing to the onslaught of Muslim tyranny. Even Muslim convicts are demanding special rights including special meals while incarcerated. One inmate in Missouri is suing his jail for.. get this... bullying him into eating pork. No, not pork chops or bacon. Jelly!! Jelly from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Muslim inmate is suing a southwest Missouri jail, claiming the facility’s administrators violated his religious rights by feeding him sandwiches with a pork product concealed in them.

Odell M. Edwards, who as a Muslim is not allowed to eat pork, filed his lawsuit against the Greene County Justice Center this past week in U.S. District Court in Springfield. Jail officials maintain that the jelly is made with fruit pectin extracted from plants. Pectin is a natural substance that thickens jams and jellies.

The sandwiches in question were served to Edwards and other Muslim inmates during the holy month of Ramadan. Jail Director C.E. Wells said officials consulted with a Muslim spiritual adviser when planning the Ramadan menu, and the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were preapproved.

So, why is this piece of scum suing over jelly? He thinks that his jelly is made from pork? eh?

But Edwards said the jelly in the sandwiches contained gelatin, which is often extracted from pig tissue. He appears to be seeking $250,000 per day for the period in which he was served the jelly.

It would seem that he has this opinion because his jailers made some jokes to him that he had been eating pork despite his knowledge. Pretty good joke I would say.

Edwards, a federal prisoner, is awaiting trial in Springfield on drug charges. He’s been an inmate since April 2006. Edwards said in a court filing that jail guards told him on Sept. 12 that his meals contained pork and had for some time. Edwards filed a request for remedy with the jail, asking to see the jelly ingredients and demanding a cultured cook or a dietitian that handled Muslim and pork-free foods. “I would also like to be compensated for the foul act!” he wrote.

I would like to be compensated everytime McD's or some other restaurant gets my order wrong too. I think that every time my food has cheese on it when I ask for cheese-free that I should sue and get compensated for the foul act.

So, what is up with this guy? What is his real problem? It would seem that because he can't eat regular food, he can only eat the PB&Js and all that peanut butter is causing him to have an upset tummy. Now he is really gonna sue.

Wells sent a written response to Edwards telling the inmate that the jelly contained fruit pectin and not gelatin. Wells said Edwards didn’t just have a problem with the jelly. In his court filing, the inmate also complained that an overabundance of peanut butter in his diet had led to stomach pain and constipation, Wells said.

“It’s sad that your only answer to this problem is an unhealthy amount of peanut butter or don’t participate in Ramadan,” Edwards wrote. “Again it is my duty and right to share in Ramadan but not to be tricked and bullied by an unhealthy diet!”

Wells said Edwards knew what the special meals for Ramadan would include when he signed up for them.

He fully knew what he was getting when he signed up for the special meals. I demand special meals when I go to McD's.

Ramadan is from Sept. 13 to Oct. 13. During that time, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset each day. They break their fast each evening with a celebratory evening meal.

WHAT?!?!? These guys get a special evening meal just for them cause they refuse to eat during the day? He is suing because he is forced to eat non-pork products during a timeframe where most cooks are not working and expecting that the feds will now hire special cooks and dieticians just for him during the evening time!!
OH Hell No.

but then... the feds probably will do just that.

AFP Announces Judgement on Blackhawk - KILLERS

AFP has announced and judged that the private security firm, Blackhawk, are bloodthirsty killers who are trigger happy goons bent on total murder and mayhem of the innocent Iraqi people...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Aided by radio and video links, a little known enforcement arm of the US State Department is to stalk the guards of American private security firm Blackwater in Baghdad after their trigger happy ways anger Iraqis.

Agents from the diplomatic security bureau, whose current duties range from protecting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to running a reward program to catch terror mastermind Osama bin laden, are being sent to Baghdad to rein in Blackwater's armed guards, officials said.

Rice ordered the move Friday following a probe into a September 16 incident in which staff of Blackwater, tasked with guarding US diplomats and dignitaries in Baghdad, went on a shooting spree in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 10 innocent Iraqis.

The slaughter angered Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who wants all the 850-odd Blackwater staff out of the country, and infuriated US lawmakers concerned over the lack of oversight of the top US private military contractor.

Nothing like unabashed, unbiased, and quick-to-judge reporting? huh?

So, who are the people who have hired these murderous, inhuman and immoral thugs? The very government that is tasked with security of diplomats and members of the president's cabinet.

In the United States, it is in charge of protecting the Secretary of State, the US ambassador to the United Nations and foreign dignitaries below the head-of-state level who visit the United States.

It also assists US-based foreign embassies and consulates with security for their missions and personnel.

Overseas, the bureau protects personnel in US diplomatic missions, being the most widely represented US law enforcement group globally.

Recall, they thought several other "massacres" of so-called civilians were done by trigger happy soldiers as well. Those charges were later found to be fraudulent. One, anyone with a gun in a battle is not an innocent civilian. Two, you can't win a war if you tell your soldiers to NOT fire first.

Steal a Donut - Get 30 Years In Jail

From St. Louis:

FARMINGTON, MO. — Shoplifters at Country Mart tend to favor cold medicines and packaged meats. They used to steal cigarettes, too, until tobacco was moved behind the counter. But the doughnuts were never a target for thieves.

Country Mart's doughnuts — fried fresh daily in the store — sell for just 52 cents each. That is why the "shoplifters will be prosecuted" signs are displayed in aisle 4 with the pricey pain and allergy pills, and not in aisle 5 beside the glass doughnut case with its tiger tails, jelly-filleds and eclairs.

Then one man's sweet tooth got the better of him. He stole a doughnut. A single doughnut.

Authorities called it strong-arm robbery. The "doughnut man," as the suspect is now known, faces five to 15 years in prison for his crime. And Farmington, a town of 14,000 people about 70 miles south of St. Louis, has been buzzing about it ever since.

"That someone would take just a single doughnut, not something very expensive or extravagant, that's unique," supermarket assistant manager Gary Komar said, smiling.

Scott A. Masters, 41, is accused of shoplifting the pastry and pushing a store worker who tried to stop him. The worker was unhurt. But with that shove, his shoplifting turned into a strong-arm robbery. Masters, who appeared in court Friday, is stunned. The prosecutor shows no signs of backing down. In fact, because Masters has a prior record, he could get a sentence of 30 years to life.

A Reason For Troops' Denial Of Benefits?

Found this online :

It seems that those soldiers that have served the longest term thus far in Iraq, who recently returned home only to hear that they were denied benefits due to a red tape sucker punch were actually the ones that posed in this photo during one of Sen Kerry's most greatest and amazing remarks. Basically he stated that only dumb, illiterate and poor people join the military because they have no other choice. They were too stupid to know any better, basically.

Here is the photo from the squad that just might have sealed their fate:

Now Betraying Our Soldiers?!?!

From WCSH6.com:
It would seem that the pentagon in an attempt to save money has shortchanged our soldiers. A unit from Minnesota National Guard, returning home from THE LONGEST deployment of any unit, have now found out that they are being denied certain benefits that should be due them.

When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge.

1st Lt. Jon Anderson said he never expected to come home to this: A government refusing to pay education benefits he says he should have earned under the GI bill.

Because of a friendly-fire sneak-attack, our fighting men and women are being screwed at home.

Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days. Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.

"Which would be allowing the soldiers an extra $500 to $800 a month," Anderson said.

That money would help him pay for his master's degree in public administration. It would help Anderson's fellow platoon leader, John Hobot, pay for a degree in law enforcement. "I would assume, and I would hope, that when I get back from a deployment of 22 months, my senior leadership in Washington, the leadership that extended us in the first place, would take care of us once we got home," Hobot said.

How do the soldiers feel about it? Devastated to be sure...

Both Hobot and Anderson believe the Pentagon deliberately wrote orders for 729 days instead of 730. Now, six of Minnesota's members of the House of Representatives have asked the Secretary of the Army to look into it -- So have Senators Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman.

Klobuchar said the GI money "shouldn't be tied up in red tape," and Coleman said it's "simply irresponsible to deny education benefits to those soldiers who just completed the longest tour of duty of any unit in Iraq."

Anderson said the soldiers he oversaw in his platoon expected that money to be here when they come home. "I had 23 guys under my command," Anderson said. "I promised to take care of them. And I'm not going to end taking care of them when this deployment is over, and it's not over until this is solved."

Senators Klobuchar and Coleman released a joint statement saying the Army secretary, Pete Geren, is looking into this personally, and they say Geren asked a review board to expedite its review so the matter could be solved by next semester.

Minnesota National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Kevin Olson said the soldiers are "victims of a significant injustice."

So, what did the Army have to say about this travesty of justice? This slap in the face? This betrayal of our fighting forces? This backhanded way of screwing our military?

The Army did not respond questions Tuesday afternoon.

Our country should be doing everything it can for our military members. It is a disgrace that our veterans are receiving the worst care in the nation. Many have to wait 6-12 months to see a doctor. We need to double the size of the Veterans Administration in order to provide proper, adequate, and DUE CARE that is due to our soldiers for putting their lives on the line for us who would not or could not fight.

This is a betrayal of our soldiers to use red tape to deny earned benefits.

grrrrrrr

From a local news station in Reno Nevada,

The video shows a man retrieving an American flag after it was learned that the owner of the bar where it was flying had flown a Mexican flag ABOVE the USA flag. The man grabbed his Army knife and cut both flags down and retrieved the flag from them and took it away. It appeared that his intention was to "rescue" the flag from the owners.

But, what is even more interesting of a story is the final story of the video.

That story talked about how ICE agents were conducting raids of local Reno establishments. They were doing raids of McD's restaurants and were able to capture over 50 illegals. While this email is not about how a global company is stooping to hiring illegals and exploiting them and flaunting the laws of this land, it does speak to what the illegals did next.

The illegals, in protest to the recent ICE deportations, have decided to hold a 3 day boycott from work.

I say, Go Get Em. Heck, why not make it 30 days. While you are at it why not go on a vacation. I hear Mexico or Central and South America are nice this time of year. Maybe then when you decide to come back, you can do it the legal way. Hmm?