Tag Archives: crime

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; 08 June – 09 June. French troops killed, France to begin pullout. U.S. apologizes, again. 11 U.S./NATO troops killed in one day!

9 June 2012

In Kapisa Province, at least six French troops were killed, four wounded, when the NATO convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber.  This as French President, Francois Hollande, announced that French forces will begin leaving Afghanistan in July.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says at least five U.S. led occupation personnel were killed in eastern Afghanistan. Four were killed in an attack by Mujahideen.  One was killed by an explosion.

At least 188 U.S. led occupation personnel have been killed since the beginning of 2012.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of the Interior fired a provincial security boss, and a provincial prison boss.  The two men were in charge of operations in Sar-e-Pul Province.  This is because of a prison break that happened on the night of 7 June.

Another provincial security boss, in Tagab district, was fired for being AWOL.

Afghan officials also claim they killed 11 Mujahideen, capturing two, in battles in the provinces of Helmand, Zabul, Ghazni, Paktika, Herat and Farah.

8 June 2012

Yet again, USMC General John Allen apologized for U.S. forces killing innocent people.  The killings took place on 6 June, in Logar Province.  U.S. occupying forces called in a “precision strike” on a house, which they claim was a Mujahideen hideout.  Turns out the house was full of relatives who just celebrated a wedding that day.  At least 18 people were killed, including nine children.

Mujahideen claim responsibility for a prison break in Sar-e-Pul Province.  It happened on the night of 7 June, and the Mujahideen used explosives to get the prisoners out.  More than 30 people escaped, but Afghan officials claim they captured half of them.  At least 34 people were wounded in the prison break operation.

ISAF reports two U.S. occupation personnel killed by explosion in southern Afghanistan. They said it happened on 7 June.   ISAF also said “An International Security Assistance Force service member died as a result of a non-battle related injury in southern Afghanistan today.”

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Idaho suicide rate 4th highest in United States! Christian/Protestant Work Ethic to Blame! Government cutbacks to blame!!! Idaho National Guard demands suicide hotline!!!

“Idaho consistently ranks in the top 10 states for our suicide rate, but the ranking of four is higher than we’ve experienced.”-Kathie Garrett, Idaho Council on Suicide Prevention

The Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN), says the U.S. state of Idaho has the 4th highest rate of suicide in the whole country, according to the most recent stats available (2009).

In a report published in March 2012, SPAN said there was a 15% increase in Idahoans killing themselves, between 2008 and 2010!

Suicide is the number two reason for death of Idahoans, aged 15 to 34!

Between 2006 and 2010, 81% of suicides in Idaho were by men!

In 2011, 15.4% of Idaho teenagers considered killing themselves!

SPAN did not list any reasoning for the increase in Idaho suicides.

According to the American Association of Suicidology, there are 19.7 suicides per 100,000 Idahoans.  The average for the whole U.S. is 12 per 100,000.

The top ten U.S. states for suicide are Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona and Utah.

Regional mental health workers say that the Pacific northwest, of the United States, has a strong stigma against people getting help, and people are looked down on if they are unemployed.  This is part of the Christian/Protestant Work Ethic described by Max Weber.

Also, this Christian/Protestant Work Ethic probably influenced Idaho law makers when they shut down the last suicide prevention hotline at the end of 2006.  By the way, note that suicides jumped when that happened!  In 2008 Idaho was ranked 6th in the country for suicide, then jumped to 4th just one year later!

A study by Idaho State University, here in Bannock County, said that if a suicide hotline was re-established it would get an average of 5,000 calls per year!

Even the Idaho National Guard has been demanding the return of a suicide hotline, after all citizen soldiers & airmen returning from the never ending War on Terror have a high rate of suicide.

Incompetent state law makers realized their mistake and agreed to bring back such a phone help line.  The problem is that the state doesn’t have the money to fully fund such a program, so it must be co-funded with donations!

The re-opening of a suicide call center came a step closer when it was revealed, in April/March, that enough funding had been raised to run a suicide prevention help line for 18 months.  Also, the hotline center will be based on the Idaho National Guard’s Gowen Field.

All that’s needed now is official national certification of the program, and the training of volunteers to take the calls.  Until then all calls will go to an Oregon center, the phone number is 1-800-273-TALK.

The Oregon call center says it’s getting at least 10 calls per day from Idaho.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Sign the West is going down: Huge jump in suicides, even the U.S. military sees 154 suicides in 155 days! Blame the War, blame the economy!

8 June 2012, numerous reports proving that things are not well in the Western world.  The biggest sign is the increase in suicides.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suicides by U.S. teenagers hit 7.8% in 2011. An increase from 2009’s 6.3%.

The info is found in the CDC’s 2011 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.  That survey also found the percentage of teenagers who seriously considered suicide up as well; 15.8% in 2011. 

In Japan (considered part of the Western world, it is part of the Trilateral Commission), the National Police Agency reported on 8 June 2012, that 622 people aged 19 or younger committed suicide, up 70 from 2011. The number of suicides of people in their 20s rose by 64 to 3,304.

The Japanese government says suicide by people younger than 30 years has increased every year since 2009, they blame the bad economy and the increasing lack of jobs!

Reuters reporting that suicides in the economic crisis stricken country of Greece are up; a 40% increase between 2010 & 2011!

In the United Kingdom, the latest data shows a 10% increase in suicides between 2007 & 2009.

At the end of May 2012, France saw a wave of suicide by railway: “We’ve never seen so many suicides in such a short period of time.”-Michel Pronost, Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français/National Corporation of French Railways

  In four days 12 people killed themselves by jumping in front of a train, including one man who took his 19 month old baby with him.  The causes were blamed on everything from bad relationships to the bad economy.

In India (a Western country due to it being a former British colony, and still under some influence by the British & U.S. Empire, and operating a Western style economy), a too big to fail bank (Central Bank of India) is downplaying suicides, saying “Farmers’ suicide numbers is just media hype.”  The statement was made after hundreds of farmers killed themselves when their credit was cut off by the bank (they were de-leveraged, a policy that has been pushed by the U.S. controlled World Bank and IMF)!

The amazing thing is that India’s economy is booming (they are part of the BRICS)!

South Africa (a Western country as it was established by the British Empire, and uses Western style economy) reports a “shocking” increase in suicide, especially among people who were about to lose their jobs.

Another surprise was that the sudden increase in suicides is among white males: “A lot of them have wives who have been raising kids. She has no skills, he has no job and is freaking out. People feel retrenchment [job loss] is a black mark against them, and they worry that they will be perceived as having done something wrong.”-Janine Shamos, South African Depression and Anxiety Group

About one in ten deaths in South Africa are due to suicide. The amazing thing is that South Africa’s economy is supposed to be good (they are part of the BRICS)!

For every person who killed themselves, there were 20 people who tried to do the same thing. A British sociologist says government cuts to social programs only makes things worse: “Austerity can turn a crisis into an epidemic. Job loss can lead to an accumulation of risks that can tip people into depression and severe mental illness which can be difficult to reverse, especially if people are not getting appropriate care.”-David Stuckler, Cambridge University

A psychologist says such bad economic conditions actually speeds up the process of depression that leads to suicide: “Instead of seeing a slow increase in the epidemiology of mental illness, what we’re seeing is what we predicted, that these economic impacts have rapid significance for our way of thinking about the world.”-Peter Kinderman, University of Liverpool

Back in the United States, Time.com and the Associated Press are reporting that suicides among active duty military personnel have hit almost one per day!

Pentagon data shows 154 suicides during the first 155 days of 2012, 50% more than those U.S. personnel killed in Afghanistan!

In 2008 suicide among U.S. military personnel exceeded the civilian cases: “…historically, the suicide rate has been significantly lower in the military than among the U.S. civilian population.”-U.S. Army statement, 2010

Military mental health officials blame the repeated deployments in the never ending War on Terror!

 

 

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: Japanese government incompetence; still no official nuclear disaster emergency regulations!

8 June 2012, NHK (nippon housou kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) reporting that more than one year after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi began, the federal government of Japan still has no new official policy regarding nuclear disasters!

Last year most local governments, and individuals, learned of government evacuation instructions through media, not federal government channels.  Also, it’s now known that some people actually evacuated the wrong way, into radiation plumes, and many of the emergency centers did not perform as expected.

The federal government scrapped their old policies, as they proved totally useless, and were supposed to come up with new ones by now!

About the only thing the federal government of Japan has agreed on is to expand danger zones around nuclear plants from 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to 30 km (18.6 miles).

More than 130 municipal governments are supposed to create their own nuke disaster regulations, but, they’re supposed to be based on the, so far, non-existent federal regulations.

A new federal nuclear regulatory body was supposed to be up and running in April 2012, but it never happened.

Fukushima

One Year Later: GE designed Fukushima Daiichi Reactors still leaking cooling water! No decommissioning until it stops!

8 June 2012, Tokyo Electric (TEPCo) said that employees inspected the basements of Reactors 2 & 3, for the first time since the March 2011 nuclear disaster began!

Now, more than a year later, TEPCo officials say it is clear that the reactor vessels are damaged and still leaking! Really, after all this time?

The basement of Reactor 2 has 5.33 meters (17.3 feet) of contaminated water, and Reactor 3 has 5.43 meters (17.7 feet)!

Rather than dump sand, lead, boric acid and concrete on the thing (as the Soviets did with Chernobyl), the Japanese government, and TEPCo, have decided to shut down the GE designed disaster reactors, as if they were functioning normally!

The problem is that it requires the cooling down of the reactors, and the removal of melted fuel rods.  And that can only be accomplished by stopping any leaks and removing all contaminated water.  Here’s the thing, more than one year later, TEPCo still does not know where the water is leaking from!!!

Idaho, International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; 04 June – 07 June. U.S. kills dozens of civilians, again! U.S. finally admits Mujahideen are more agressive this year! Idaho Guardsman shot. NATO signs exit deal.

7 June 2012

“There’s been an increase in the attacks.”-Leon Panetta, U.S. Secretary of Defense

After threatening Pakistan, U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, arrived in Kabul to discuss the increased violence in Afghanistan (proving that recent reports that violence was down are wrong).  If you’ve been following my posts, it’s obvious the violence has increased.

Panetta admitted, in a round-a-bout way, that the U.S. is clueless in Afghanistan, by saying his impromptu visit to Afghanistan was “…to get a sense of just exactly what are the Taliban doing.”

In classic U.S. trickery, Panetta said that while attacks were up, they were still down, compared to other years of occupation!  Some regional news sources point out that the U.S. is also behind the increase in violence as more civilians have been killed by occupying forces.

Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, is condemning yet another U.S. led occupying force attack, that left at least 18 civilians dead.  Karzai was on a trip to China, but cut the trip short to return to Afghanistan.

The airstrike, possibly by UAV, took place in Logar Province on the morning of 6 June 2012.

In Maidan Wardak Province, a member of the Afghan Parliament was attacked.  Local reports say his convoy was ambushed as he headed to Kabul.  At least four of his body guards were wounded.

6 June 2012

Idaho National Guard reporting that one of their citizen soldiers was wounded while riding in a Black Hawk helicopter.  He was shot (on 3 June) by Mujahideen on the ground.  Sergeant Albert Vieth was flown to Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State for further treatment.

Idaho Army National Guard’s 1-168 General Support Aviation Battalion was sent to Afghanistan on 19 May.

Another U.S. led occupying forces helicopter has gone down.  International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed: “Two International Security Assistance Force service members died following a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan today.”

In Logar Province, a U.S. occupying forces airstrike killed at least 18 civilians.  Afghan government officials, and occupying forces claim 25 Mujahideen killed, however, local security officials claim most of those killed were civilians.  A house belonging to a tribal elder was blown up by the airstrike.

It  was possibly a drone strike, as ISAF refers to it as a “precision airstrike”.

In Kandahar Province, a massive suicide bombing left as many as 23 people killed, and 50 wounded. The target of the bomber was the U.S. controlled Kandahar air port.  Some regional reports say occupying troops make up some of the dead.

In Faryab Province, another suicide bombing left as many as eight people dead.  It was reported by the Afghan government’s 303 Pamir Security Command.

In Kapisa Province, at least six cops were killed, and two wounded after Mujahideen attacked a checkpoint.

ISAF reports yet another “facilitator” captured, in Takhar Province.  Another “leader” captured in Kandahar Province.

5 June 2012

In Ghazni Province, two civilians were wounded, one killed after they drove over a mine.

In Nuristan Province, Afghan border police claim to have killed 12 Mujahideen in an ambush.

ISAF claims two “leaders” killed by a “precision airstrike” (drone strike?), in Ghazni Province.

NATO signs exit deal with Central Asian countries.  Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have agreed to allow NATO forces to get the hell out of Afghanistan through their territory: “These agreements will give us a range of new options and the robust and flexible transport network we need.”

4 June 2012

In Ghor Province, the local development council chief was assassinated. No one knows who did it.

In Parwan Province, a U.S./NATO occupying fuel convoy was ambushed and burned.

British Ministry of Defence says one of their soldiers was shot and killed in Helmand Province.  They say he was shot on 3 June, while on patrol.  MoD also confirmed that another Red Coat was killed in the same area on 1 June.

Afghan Interior Ministry claims 20 Mujahideen killed, six wounded and 13 captured, in battles in Nangarhar, Helmand and Maidan Wardak provinces.

In Paktiya Province, ISAF claims three Mujahideen killed by airstrike. Also, two students were killed by a mine (roadside bomb).

Afghan Defense Ministry says one of their soldiers was killed and 14 wounded in battles in Maidan Wardak, Logar, Paktia and Zabul provinces.

Afghan National Directorate for Security claim they killed a prominent Mujahideen “leader”, along with 25 Mujahideen, in Helmand Province.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Terror Drone update. Former CIA official says blowback coming for U.S., because drones kill mainly civilians!

“We have gone a long way down the road of creating a situation where we are creating more enemies than we are removing from the battlefield. We are already there with regards to Pakistan and Afghanistan.”-Robert Grenier, former CIA official

5 June 2012, Robert Grenier, head of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counter terrorism center from 2004 to 2006, and was a CIA station chief in Pakistan, is warning of blowback from the use of assassination drones (unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs).

This is because drone strikes kill more bystanders than actual terrorist targets!

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates as many as 830 civilians have been killed in Pakistan. 138 civilians in Yemen and 57 in Somalia. The problem, Grenier says, is that Obama’s drone policy is too vague; anyone, especially males, seen in an area suspected of having terrorists is considered a target: “It needs to be targeted much more finely. We have been seduced by them and the unintended consequences of our actions are going to outweigh the intended consequences.”

He says recent drone killings in Yemen will actually make that country the new safe haven for terrorists: “If you strike them indiscriminately you are running the risk of creating a terrific amount of popular anger. They have tribes and clans and large families. Now all of a sudden you have a big problem … I am very concerned about the creation of a larger terrorist safe haven in Yemen.”

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? British government cuts services, then charges British taxpayers for Queens Jubilee! Royal parasite family just lost the British economy $1.8 billion+!

5 June 2012, the government of United Kingdom has been slashing and burning social programs, yet charges the taxpayers for the Queen’s Jubilee!

While the people of Britain have been told that austerity measures are necessary, they were forced to pay at least $1.5 million USD so that the Queen could celebrate 60 years of rule!  The $1.5 million is the estimated amount coming from the Sovereign Grant Fund, as reported by The Guardian.

The Sovereign Grant Fund is what the British subjects (taxpayers) pay to the Royal parasite family. You could call the Royal parasite family the wealthiest welfare recipients in the world!

Queen Elizabeth II is not a figure head, and any public ceremony held for the Royal parasite family is paid for by taxpayers!

Private donations also pay for the Royal parasite family’s public parties.  According to estimates reported in The Guardian, donations paid for $16.2 million USD of the jubilee expenses.

Local governments forked over an average of  $700,000 USD to support the jubilee.

Then there’s the “extra costs” caused by the fact that most businesses were closed for the jubilee.  One estimation says the extra “bank holiday” could end up costing the British economy $1.8 billion USD!

Back in March, the Bank of England warned of economic doom because of continued support for the Royal elites.  So much for the Royal parasite family being of any benefit to the people of Britain!

 

U.S.

Christian “Ice Princess” Republican Senator convicted of ripping off taxpayers, could serve 10 years in prison!

“You stand convicted of crimes that demean the sanctity of all we do as lawyers…the sin is overborne by the deflection; the crime overshadowed by the cover up.”-Jeffrey A. Manning, Judge

On 4 June 2012, former Pennsylvania Republican Senator, Jane Clare Orie, was sentenced to as many as 10 years in state prison.  She was convicted in March of using taxpayer money to run election campaigns.

Orie, who claims to be Christian, used her own taxpayer paid staff to conduct campaigns.  She also introduced forged evidence at her first trial, which helped to get her the heavier sentence of up to ten years in prison.

Orie was convicted of 14 counts including theft of services, conflict of interest and forgery.  The judge is still deciding how much in fines she will have to pay.

Former Warren County Sheriff, Larry Kopko, called Orie “the meanest” prosecutor he ever saw.  She was called “The Ice Princess” by the Warren County press.

Orie still doesn’t think she did anything wrong, she admits that “Every staff was involved in campaigns…”, but stressed that it was not unusual for an elected official to use their taxpayer paid staff to help with elections.  She’s not remorseful: “I’ll never stop doing what I did.”

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. diplomats caught smuggling weapons in Pakistan! Trying to get into areas they were not cleared to go to!

4 June 2012, Pakistan’s Dunya News reporting that police stopped a car only to discover it was being used by U.S. diplomats, and they were carrying guns and ammo!

It happened at toll plaza on Peshawar Motorway.  The Pakistani driver of the car was arrested.  Dunya News had said the U.S. citizens were let go because they have “diplomatic immunity”, but another Pakistani news source, Dawn TV, said three U.S. citizens were being held for questioning.  The guns and ammo were seized.

The “diplomats” claim they were heading to Peshawar, however, Pakistani police said the diplomats were turned around because they did not have the proper security clearances to go to Peshawar!