shelaghc

Thanks to your continued support, the new GI Bill has made some amazing progress in Congress in the last 48 hours. The Bill now has over 50 co-sponsors in the Senate and 188 in the House of Representatives. We are working hard to get it passed this year so our troops can start getting the benefits they deserve as soon as possible.
Today, IAVA ran ads in newspapers across the country, targeting influential Congressmen- both Democrats and Republicans- who haven't yet signed on. We've also launched a new website that will make it even easier for you to get involved in supporting the new GI Bill, at www.GIBill2008.org

At www.GIBill2008.org, you can get the latest updates on the progress of the Bill, see if your representatives have signed on and visit the Action Center. With a single click, you can submit a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper, write your Senator or Congressman and tell your friends that you support the new GI Bill.

Forward this email on to your friends and let them know just how easy it is to support the new GI Bill. Be sure to check back at www.GIBill2008.org for updates.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Paul Rieckhoff
Iraq Veteran
Executive Director
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Dear VoteVets.org Supporters,

Today, we're delivering your petition signatures to Senator McCain's office, urging him to co-sponsor the new GI Bill, sponsored by Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel. With over 30,000 signatures, your message will be heard loud and clear. Now, let's take the next step.

WRITE YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS HERE, URGING THEM TO SUPPORT A NEW GI BILL

Take a moment today to use our website to write a letter to your own senators and representative, urging them to back a new GI Bill. We've drafted some text for you, so all you need to do is enter your name and information, and click.

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (S.22 & H.R.2702) will restore the promise of a cost-free education to those who serve in the military. The original GI Bill transformed American history, providing education for returning soldiers. The GI Bill not only recognized our nation's moral duty for the enormous sacrifices of our World War II veterans, but it helped create America's middle class and spurred decades of economic growth for our country.

Economists estimate that the original bill returned anywhere between $5 and $13 for every dollar we spent on it. But the original GI Bill has become woefully outdated, to the point where the average benefit doesn't even cover half the cost of an in-state student's education at a public college.

TELL CONGRESS TO RESTORE AMERICA'S PROMISE TO ITS TROOPS

It's time for Congress to really support those who served this nation, in uniform. It's time to pass a 21st Century GI Bill. Do your part, please, and write a letter to Congress now.

Thank you for all of your support.

Sincerely
Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets.org

Wes Clark co-authored an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times, calling on John McCain to co-sponsor a new GI Bill for our veterans.

The following is an excerpt from the Op-Ed:

Sen. John McCain served his nation with honor in Vietnam, and he is right to be proud of his service. But by hedging on whether he will support a "GI Bill for the 21st Century," he is casting doubt on his own commitment to the newest generation of American heroes.

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), will restore the promise of a cost-free education to those who serve in the military. The original GI Bill transformed American history, providing education for returning soldiers. The GI Bill not only recognized our nation's moral duty for the enormous sacrifices of our World War II veterans, but it helped create America's middle class and spurred decades of economic growth for our country. Economists estimate that the original bill returned anywhere between $5 and $13 for every dollar we spent on it. But the original GI Bill has become woefully outdated, to the point where the average benefit doesn't even cover half the cost of an in-state student's education at a public college.

The Post-9/11 Veterans Act, which has an estimated cost between $2.5 billion and $4 billion, is common-sense legislation. With 51 cosponsors, including nine Republicans, the three other Vietnam War veterans in the Senate and former Secretary of the Navy John Warner, the bill simply updates what the late historian Stephen Ambrose called "the best piece of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress." Yet, faced with unprecedented filibusters, it needs 60 cosponsors. As de facto leader of the party, McCain could signal to other Republicans to sign on to the bill and assure passage.

Instead, McCain has said he hasn't had time to read the bill and isn't sure if he could support it. It's hard to believe that neither he nor anyone on his staff has had time to read such an important bill, which has been around since before he started running for president. But, even if true, McCain must do the right thing now, when his leadership is needed.

To read the entire article, please click here. Once you've read the article, please be sure to forward the link to all of your friends and family. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Catherine Grunden
Executive Director
WesPAC -- Securing America's Future

Wes Clark is calling on John McCain to co-sponsor a new GI Bill. Join Wes Clark and tell John McCain to stand up for our veterans.

shelaghc

In the past week, we have learned of another rape. Another story of an American woman being raped with ties to KBR. This time, it is with a twist... This time it involves a soldier. In this Article from the Nation, she is Lisa Smith. It is a psuedonym. In this article, we read the following: "That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a U.S. soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: His gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand -- but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth." The article goes on to tell us more of the same type of cover-ups from KBR as I posted previously. A soldier did this to her.
[snip]
And STILL... as I posted back in February... NO ONE HAS BEEN CHARGED.
As of today, April 10th, There are NO criminal charges pending in ANY of these cases.
NO one is being charged in a criminal court for the RAPE and SODOMY of American women by American men. Is this what we are fighting for? Is this OK? Is this legal?

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I say no. But this Department of Justice has said nothing... they have turned a blind eye to the EEOC, VII...

[snip]

Has Rape become OK when a company sanctions it?
The silence from our government says yes. They decided FINALLY to send someone to this hearing, although I somehow find it suspect. Let me make this clear: Lisa smith was anally and orally raped by members of the US armed forces/and KBR. KBR told her to shut the f*ck up. The US armed forces have done nothing that we know of...

[snip]

No sexual assaults are acceptable to me, but 60% of those 2,688 cases were RAPE. In this war the message is being sent that woman are just a mere sacrifice for the good of the mission and the profit margin of the private corporations. With no one held accountable, it seems as though the message from KBR is "yes, rape is acceptable". As long as this administration does nothing, the silence from them makes then complicit in privatizing rape for American Women.

I say No.

OUR Vaginas belong to US.

shelaghc

A lawsuit filed Thursday in a federal court in New York by Latino immigrants seeks to force immigration authorities to complete hundreds of thousands of stalled naturalization petitions in time for the new citizens to vote in November.

The class-action suit was brought by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of legal Hispanic immigrants in the New York City area who are eager to vote and have been waiting for years for the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency to finish their applications. The suit demands that the agency meet a nationwide deadline of Sept. 22 to complete any naturalization petitions filed by March 26.

{snip}

Despite protests over the delays from lawmakers, Latino groups and immigrant advocates, the immigration agency is currently projecting wait times of 16 months to 18 months to process the petitions.

{snip}

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, asserts that the agency violated immigrants’ due process rights by routinely failing to finish their applications within a 180-day time period that Congress has set as a standard. It also asserts that the Bush administration did not follow regulatory procedures in November 2002 when it ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to deepen its background checks of citizenship applicants.

{snip}

Manuel Martinez, 35, a legal immigrant from Mexico who is a plaintiff in the suit, filed his petition in January 2006. It has been delayed because the F.B.I. has not completed the required background check, he said. He said he suspected the problem was that he has a common Hispanic name.

{snip}

A fee increase, raising naturalization costs 80 percent to $595, went into effect on July 30. Legal immigrants were also spurred to seek citizenship by worries about the divisive debate over immigration and by citizenship campaigns by Latino groups.

The Bush administration will announce an increase today in immigration application fees of more than 80 percent, federal officials said yesterday.

The cost of applying for naturalization, for example, would rise from $330 to $595, and a required fingerprint check would go from $70 to $80.

{snip}

Union, civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups called the changes discriminatory, warning that they will keep lower-income and less-educated people from becoming citizens.

{snip}

Critics also said the changes would create an incentive for the agency to drag out processing, thereby extracting more fees, or to expedite cases for people who can afford premium services.....

shelaghc

• Halliburton/KBR ... They force employees to give up their civil rights in order to be employed. That means you as a woman have the right to be raped by your fellow workers.
  
• A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.
  in another incident)
  
• In a separate letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Nelson asked why there has been no criminal prosecution in the case of the alleged Florida victim. The woman, reportedly now 41, has alleged she was raped in her living quarters. She has sued KBR and Halliburton in civil court, but the judge ordered the case into private arbitration.
  (in yet another incident)
  
• A mother of five who says she was sexually harassed and assaulted while working for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq is headed for a secretive arbitration process rather than being able to present her case in open court.
  A judge in Texas has ruled that Tracy Barker's case will be heard in arbitration, according to the terms of her initial employment contract.