The Army tacked a five-month extension on Sgt. Ryan Christian Major's term of military service in 2006, and that November, just five days after his original discharge date, Ryan was critically injured when an underground bomb exploded during a foot patrol in Ramadi, Iraq.
Ryan was evacuated from Iraq and brought to a hospital in Germany, where he underwent extensive surgery. His pelvis had been broken, and doctors amputated both of his legs above the knees. He suffered from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and would go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For two months after the explosion, Ryan's family was unsure of he would survive. He did.
Broken Promises: Thousands of Veterans Denied Crucial Care
Israel's 'loyalty oath' sets a vile precedent
It’s one of those head-in-hands, stomach churning moments, akin to when a lover finally shuts the door. You’re left in shock, beliefs awry. Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition of the extremes is about to pass into law an unprecedented loyalty oath - aimed at non-Jews only. New, non-Jewish citizens will have to swear allegiance to the “Jewish and democratic” state of Israel.
This is wrong on so many levels. Just for starters, the Jews of Europe were hounded through history and their loyalty questioned because they could not, in good faith, swear allegiance to Christian monarchies and states. Next, it corrupts all the principles of liberal democracy, tolerance and minority rights.
In Gitmo Opinion, Two Versions of Reality
When Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. ordered the release of a Guantánamo Bay detainee last spring, the case appeared to be a routine setback for an Obama administration that has lost a string of such cases.
But there turns out to be nothing ordinary about the habeas case brought by Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman [2], a Yemeni held without charges for nearly eight years. Uthman, accused by two U.S. administrations of being an al-Qaida fighter and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, is among 48 detainees [3] the Obama administration has deemed too dangerous to release but "not feasible for prosecution."
BofA Extends Freeze on Foreclosures to All 50 States
Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, extended a freeze on foreclosures to all 50 states as concern spread among federal and local officials that homes are being seized based on false data.
“We will stop foreclosure sales until our assessment has been satisfactorily completed,” the Charlotte, North Carolina- based company said today in a statement. “Our ongoing assessment shows the basis for foreclosure decisions is accurate.”
US to fund sale of F-35 jets to Israel
Tel Aviv's Defense Ministry Director General Udi Shani signed the agreement, worth nearly $3 billion, during a ceremony in New York on Thursday, Israeli daily Haaretz reports, noting that "the entire deal will be funded by the American military."
According to the deal, Israel will receive the attack aircrafts between 2015 and 2017, at a price of $96 million per plane, together with simulators and spare parts, with a total price tag of $2.75 billion. The deal also grants the Israeli regime the option of ordering 75 more jets.
Film studio MGM bankruptcy plan announced
Hollywood film studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer has begun plans to file for bankruptcy protection in an effort to rid itself of $4bn (£2.5bn) of debts. The studio is asking more than 100 of its creditors to approve a plan that will see it enter chapter 11 bankruptcy while it restructures.
Creditors will get a 95% stake in the company as part of the deal. MGM said it would continue to operate as normal during the bankruptcy procedures.
Lou Dobbs’ five undocumented workers
He may no longer be on CNN, but that doesn’t mean folks have forgotten media personality Lou Dobbs‘ years-long campaign against “illegal
The radio host is the subject of a just-released major investigation by Isabel Macdonald, whose online bio describes her as “a freelance journalist and former communications director of the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting,” published in The Nation. From her story:
Israel is now punishing Palestinians shamelessly
Behind a modest desk with a view of Beit Jala sits a nameless Shin Bet security service officer who is very pleased with himself. He has just saved the Jewish people in Israel from yet another grave security risk by preventing a 47-year-old woman, for five weeks now, from going abroad for urgent medical tests.
Or perhaps this isn't a story about just one officer, but rather about a committee of three. What matters is that Khalida Jarrar, a resident of Al-Bireh, has not gone to Amman for diagnostic brain tests that cannot be done in the West Bank due to lack of the necessary medical equipment.
Possible Cause of Bee Die-Off Is Found
It has been one of the great murder mysteries of the garden: what is killing off the honeybees? Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.
Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two. A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One.
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