BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

By DAVID CRARY Joseph Rocha reported being cruelly hazed by Navy colleagues. Katherine Miller resigned from West Point halfway through, weary of concealing her sexual orientation. David Hall was outed by a fellow Air Force cadet and booted from the career he loved. The exits from military service were wrenching consequences of "don't ask, don't tell," the policy prohibiting gay and lesbian personnel from being open about their sexuality. Yet Hall, Rocha and Miller savored military duty and now — with "don't ask, don't tell" heading toward oblivion — they want to return. Rocha, 24, was in Washington on Wednesday, watching euphorically as President Barack Obama signed the bill clearing the way for repeal of the 17-year-old policy. Obama encouraged those who were discharged to re-enlist, and Rocha said he hopes to do just that by enrolling in the Marine Corps' Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va. "I had a rough childhood, and th...

At the height of the Iraq war, the Army routinely fired hundreds of soldiers for having a personality disorder when they were more likely suffering from the traumatic stresses of war, discharge data suggest. Under pressure from Congress and the public, the Army later acknowledged the problem and drastically cut the number of soldiers given the designation. But advocates for veterans say an unknown number of troops still unfairly bear the stigma of a personality disorder, making them ineligible for military health care and other benefits. "We really have an obligation to go back and make sure troops weren't misdiagnosed," said Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, a clinical psychologist whose non-profit "Give an Hour" connects troops with volunteer mental health professionals. The Army denies that any soldier was misdiagnosed before 2008, when it drastically cut the number of discharges due to personality disorders and diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorders skyro...

I'm sick of it. The 'friends' who say they aren't "anti-Israel" but keep calling for the U.S. to condemn Israel. Now they won't admit THEY GOT IT WRONG. That "humanitarian" flotilla? WAS A TROJAN HORSE FOR WEAPONS & TERRORISTS. As one journalist said "Israel is the only country in the world NOT allowed to defend itself." Enough's enough you 'Social Justice' activitists. There is no such thing as Palestine. So -- Shut up and sit down! Look what Israel didn't do wrong By John Podhoretz No matter whom you ask right now, it seems Israel did wrong. Ask someone unfavorably disposed toward Israel, and you'll hear that Israel did wrong because its assassins opened fire without provocation on a humanitarian flotilla intended to relieve the suffering people of Gaza. Ask a friend of Israel, and you'll hear that Israel did wrong because it sent its commandos in the dark into a hostile crowd that did ...

If there was ever a good reason to get a plan together to get the U.S. out of Iraq in due time, the assault & rape of our women in uniform is a very good one. I am all for equality. I was born with a couple genetic problems that would have precluded me from joining the military. But my father, of blessed memory, was in the Army. My uncle, of blessed memory, was a Navy War Hero who was on a ship sunk by the Germans and spent some time in a military hospital after rescuing a number of men. My father in law, also of blessed memory, was in the Canadian Army and served in the U.K. during World War II, having done hand to hand combat with German soldier. There's a graveyard in Oxford, Mass. with gravestones with my last name on them - many of them fought as infantry and naval men during the Revolutionary War. I believe that while war is profane, defense is compulsory. And if you're an able bodied woman, who wants to serve their country via the military - I say - go for...

When I believe they're right - I am happy to give these opinions more bandwith on my blog: TERROR IN TEXAS The nation today ponders the irony of the slaughter of US soldiers, not on a battlefield in some dusty and distant land -- but on an Army base deep in the heart of Texas. But there is no irony. In the terrorists' war on America, every square inch of the nation is a potential battlefield, including Ft. Hood, Texas. The point of terrorism is to terrorize. It matters not at all whether the victims are soldiers on a military base, or office workers in downtown Manhattan, as long as the results are so shockingly bloody that they sap the will of Americans to stand up for their way of life. But is the alleged gunman -- Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- really a terrorist? Well, with no warning and less provocation, Hasan on Thursday suddenly shouted "Allahu Akbar!" (Allah is great!) and opened fire on soldiers and civilians at a Ft. Hood deployment center. Thi...

By James Dao Born and reared in Virginia, the son of immigrant parents from a small Palestinian town near Jerusalem, he joined the Army right out of high school, against his parents’ wishes. The Army, in turn, put him through college and then medical school, where he trained to be a psychiatrist. But Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the 39-year-old man accused of Thursday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood, Tex., started having second thoughts about his military career a few years ago after other soldiers harassed him for being a Muslim , he told relatives in Virginia. He had also more recently expressed deep concerns about being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. Having counseled scores of returning soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, first at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and more recently at Fort Hood, he knew all too well the terrifying realities of war, said a cousin, Nader Hasan. “He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,” Mr. Hasan said. “He had people telling him o...

by David Rothkopf Throughout the political campaign Barack Obama argued that he was a staunch friend of Israel. In Cairo, in his ground-breaking speech to the Islamic world, he asserted America was committed to the security of Israel. Wherever he goes he says he is committed to upholding America's long history of supporting the Jewish state. So how come a Jerusalem Post poll conducted late last month says only six percent of Israelis think the Obama administration is pro-Israel, down from almost five times that in the early weeks of the administration? This is such a low number that it clearly cuts across all parties, demographic and social groups within Israel. It effectively says that something that Obama has done in his first six months in office has convinced virtually all the Israeli people (at least to the extent the poll is truly representative of the people of Israel) that he's not what he said he was. Could it be that they believe the Obama Administration is likely to ...

In the 7 or so months Obambi's been in office he seems to show how naive, inexperienced and full of cr*p he is at every turn. He flip flops, backpedals and/ or basically steps in it every day. Granted I have stepped in it numerous times in my life - I am human. That happens. But this guy's the POTUS. He's got advisors all around him. Where are these people? To my gay friends, I believe your day is well past due. And don't look to Obama for help anymore. Not that he got your vote, you're being dumped like a one-night-stand. MAKE THE ASK The NEW REPUBLIC has made no secret of its high regard for Barack Obama. Which makes it all the more distressing for us to observe the approach that his administration is taking on gay rights. During the campaign, Obama said all the right things (well, almost all--like most national politicians, he wouldn't endorse same-sex marriage). He invoked the importance of winning "equality" and "dignity" and ...

From the always great DEADENDERS This mother is none to happy with the Obama administration. ( If you are on an aggregator - click here to see the above video. ) I can’t blame her. The senior military judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay has dropped charges against a suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing. The legal move by the Hon. Susan J. Crawford upholds President Obama’s Guantanamo order to halt court proceedings at the Navy detention center in Cuba. The military charges against suspected Al Qaeda bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active war crimes case at Guantanamo Bay. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Crawford dismissed the charges against al-Nashiri without prejudice. You commit a crime you should do the time. You kill our service men and women go to hell.

Come on! We had to wait until NObama the clown was the Democratic presumptive nominee to see the differences between he & Hillary? The ObamaPalooza Tour of the Middle East & Europe is going on now and seems to be photo ops and sound bytes for the obviously CLUELESS Obamessiah. Am I the only one who sees this? Are we ready to put this empty suit/ talking head in the White House!? No readers, I'm not fixated -- I'm FRIGHTENED! CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO CLIP IF YOU'RE ON AN AGGREGATOR So Barack Obama is finally making his highly touted trip abroad. What does he do when he is on his way to Afghanistan, the country about which he could not be bothered to actually hold a meeting as Chair of the Senate’s Subcommittee on European Affairs (and NATO)? He plays basketball. Hoops. Roundball. We are currently fighting a war in Afghanistan, and he spends part of his less than two whole days there playing a game. Wow. Have we not had enough of almost eight years of an adole...

by Noah Shachtman A study, written for U.S. Special Operations Command, suggested "clandestinely recruiting or hiring prominent bloggers." Since the start of the Iraq war, there's been a raucous debate in military circles over how to handle blogs -- and the servicemembers who want to keep them. One faction sees blogs as security risks, and a collective waste of troops' time. The other (which includes top officers, like Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. William Caldwell) considers blogs to be a valuable source of information, and a way for ordinary troops to shape opinions, both at home and abroad. This 2006 report for the Joint Special Operations University, "Blogs and Military Information Strategy," offers a third approach -- co-opting bloggers, or even putting them on the payroll. "Hiring a block of bloggers to verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message may be worth considering," write the report's co-authors, James Kinni...

The American Justice systems works... sometimes. But in cases like these its failed MISERABLY. Boilerplate adds to contracts have removed all RESPONSIBILITY from some corporations for actions of their employees. In this case, its a MILITARY CONTRACTOR who's getting away with rape; effectively screwing the victim twice. Tort reform my derriere. This is corporate America shafting the public and in this case, a MEMBER OF OUR MILITARY, once again. This is how we honor our men and WOMEN in uniform? Making them rape victims then pissing all over them when they say "ouch!"?? Just disgusting. Thanks to tort reform, closed-door arbitration instead of courtroom hearings are becoming more common. By Peggy Garrity Events in a federal district court in Texas last month should have provoked outrage across the country -- legal, judicial and moral outrage. A young American woman already denied the right to criminal justice in Iraq was insulted for a second time when a judge denied ...