The endless and infinite "war on terra" is bankrupting the planet. I don't mean moral bankruptcy; that goes without saying. I mean financial bankruptcy. And don't take my word for it. This is the argument made in a new book called "Terrorism and the Economy: How the War on Terror Is Bankrupting the World," by Loretta Napoleoni, a financial reporter for Internazionale, l'Unita, il Caffe, Mondo e Missione, El Pais, Vanity Fair Spain, and Vanity Fair Italy.

Perhaps Napoleoni is insufficiently subservient to Wall Street to write for U.S. newspapers -- unlike, say, the United States government: "Washington needs Wall Street's help to keep international investors funding the U.S. debt," the author explains, "which in turn provides the $1.6 billion needed each month to keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." Which explains the lack of criminal prosecutions and serious regulation of Wall Street.

In the gap between a boy’s passionate fantasies and the smell of dead bodies in a mass grave marches . . . America’s Army.
“He wonders if God is punishing him because before he joined the Army he thought of war as something fun and exciting.”

We couldn’t wage our current wars without the all-volunteer military whose recruitment goals get fed every year by idealistic young people, who continue, despite all counter-evidence bursting off the front pages, to buy into the romance and excitement of war and armed do-goodism that the recruiters, with the help of a vast “militainment” industry, peddle like so many Joe Camels.

The words quoted above are from a psychologist’s PTSD evaluation of a young soldier named Brad Gaskins, whom I wrote about several years ago; he was one of the soldiers in the first wave of our 2003 invasion of Iraq. He went AWOL after his second deployment.

In September 2010, the Ohio Highway Patrol finally released the photos [reproduced below] of Cindy Stankoski mentioned in the Ohio inspector general's report on Marc Dann's 16-month tenure as attorney general.

Dann had been forced to resign in May 2008 after an internal report supported the claims of Stankoski and Vanessa Stout that they were sexually harassed by Dann’s director of general services, Anthony Gutierrez.

When the internal investigators issued their report on May 2, 2008, they did not have the photos, which were found during the inspector general’s subsequent investigation. The public did not become aware of the photos’ existence until the inspector general issued his report on Dec. 22, 2008.

Without releasing the photos, the inspector general’s report described them this way: “During our investigation, we found several risqué photos of Cindy Stankoski on [coworker] Mariellen Aranda’s cell phone. In each, Stankoski flirtatiously sported Gutierrez’s Attorney General-issued badge at her bosom. Stankoski is now claiming that she was sexually harassed by Gutierrez.”

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Freed after seven years under house arrest, Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Sunday (November 14) she will investigate "many allegations of vote-rigging" in last week's election, but offered to talk with the ruling military junta and consider the effects of U.S.-led economic sanctions.

After years of monitoring her radio, Mrs. Suu Kyi said she now wants to "listen to human voices" to learn from Burma's masses about their woes and suggestions.

She also marveled at the ubiquitous use of mobile phones, revealing a sense of culture shock after her shuttered existence.

"I am for national reconciliation. I am for dialogue," soft-spoken Mrs. Suu Kyi (pronounced: "Sue Chee") said during a speech to 5,000 cheering people at the headquarters of her recently disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Hours later, she told the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) on Sunday: "I think we have to sort out our differences, across the table, talking to each other, agreeing to disagree, or finding out why we disagree and trying to remove the sources of our disagreement, if we possibly can."

Day: to be announced - we expect it may be soon
Where: Your local Federal Building or government office
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression urges everyone who is working for peace and justice to organize protests the workday after anti-war activists get the word to appear in front of the Grand Jury. The subpoenas are likely to be re-activated soon.

Activists are already holding organizing meetings this week--gathering to make signs, line up speakers, contact the press, and prepare to mobilize for the day after anti-war and international solidarity activists are called to appear in front of a Chicago-based Grand Jury. If the news of the call to appear is received on Friday, the protests will take place on Monday at Federal Buildings or government offices.