Captain Eric H. May Deserves Congressional Medal Of Honor
There is a movement started by Michael Starcke on Facebook to encourage the awarding of the Congressional Medal of Honor to Captain Eric H. May, who has extended his term of military duty to the United States in cyberspace, by founding and commanding of Ghost Troop cyber militia.
Capt. May, who also serves as intelligence editor for The Lone Star Iconoclast, has done so while at the same time battling Lou Gehrig’s disease. He is now 100 percent disabled from ALS, but this has not rattled his mind, which is as clear and sharp as ever. He studies the military, politics, and the media incessantly and reports that which the mainstream media continually ignores due to potential harm for their owners’ corporate profits. Paralyzed, May’s voice is heard through his computer terminal, which relays his reports to websites and publications willing to advance the truth. He also spreads his messages via radio interviews. As a former intelligence officer who knows how propaganda works in high places, he has often warned the public of false flag possibilities, and has been proved to be on target. He understands the codes used by the power elite to secretly exchange information, and has revealed them to the American people, whom he has served above and beyond the call of duty. His measurable actions have saved this Republic many times.
Retired Army Intelligence professional, Sergeant First Class, Donald Buswell, in his endorsement of the initiative, carried on his page this Facebook entry about May:
“He served for over two decades in the U.S. Army, Army Reserves and the National Guard. As a military intelligence officer, he was a Russian-fluent expert on the Soviet military. He was also qualified as a WMD expert and public affairs officer. He spent his last five years of service with Houston’s 75th Exercise Division as an Opposing Forces (OPFOR) specialist, later serving on the division’s general staff. Afterwards he began a career as a ghost writer for NBC News, PBS and VIP clients. His essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Houston Chronicle and Military Intelligence Magazine. Since becoming a 9/11 truth activist, he has been widely published and interviewed by both mainstream and alternative media.”
The entry continues with a quote from Capt. May:
“Although I had been a lifelong Republican before the invasion of Iraq, White House coverups of major military events radicalized me. On Dec. 21, 2003, I published a website declaring myself to be on a mission of conscience against what I had determined was a criminal presidency. A couple of months later I met an honorable Marine Corps officer who had witnessed 9/11 and its cover-up in New York City. Captain Jeff Cross caused me to re-examine my previous belief in the official conspiracy theory that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were the 9/11 perpetrators. I became a dedicated student of false flag terror and soon realized that 9/11 had certainly been carried out by the Bush administration to establish a domestic Homeland State and a foreign Global War, both of which were to be perpetuated, if need be, by a repeat false flag terror attack even worse than 9/11.”
The Iconoclast joins others on the Internet and in circles of power who know by experience that Captain May has an uncanny ability to correctly interpret what is really going on and to accurately predict what will happen next. Because of his incredible dedication to truth and to our country, we wholeheartedly endorse his being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and encourage the public to go live in supporting such a demand by contacting Congress and firmly asking for its consideration.
— W. Leon Smith
For more about Captain May, here are four links of interest:
Columns by Capt. May:
<http://iconocla.w02.winhost.com/opinion/captainmay.htm>
Editorial by W. Leon Smith, “Time To Investigate Houston Is Now” —
<http://iconocla.w02.winhost.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=2525&z=8>
Editorial by W. Leon Smith, “Lone Star Lone Ranger” —
<http://iconocla.w02.winhost.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=2606&z=8>
Feature written by Major William B. Fox, “Captain Courageous and the Shockingly Awful Quicksand War” —
<http://iconocla.w02.winhost.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=2615&z=20>
Iraq Plans To Sue U.S. Over Depleted Uranium Bombs
According to Iraq’s Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, the ministry intends to file a lawsuit against the United States and Great Britain for their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. According to Salim, the lawsuit will be launched based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment that during the first year of the invasion, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing depleted uranium — a deadly substance that doctors there say have greatly increased birth defects in babies born in Iraq.BAGHDAD, Iraq — According to Iraq’s Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, the ministry intends to file a lawsuit against the United States and Great Britain for their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
According to Salim, the lawsuit will be launched based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment that during the first year of the invasion, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing depleted uranium — a deadly substance that doctors there say have greatly increased birth defects in babies born in Iraq.
A report generated by Iraqi military experts estimates that nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs were exploded during the Bush years of the Iraq war, with atomic radiation vastly increasing the number of babies born with birth defects in the southern provinces of Iraq. Doctors there say they have been struggling to cope with the rise in the number of cancer cases — especially in areas where heavy U.S./British bombardment occurred.
They say that the high rate of birth defects and cancer cases will move as years go by to the central and northern provinces of Iraq since the radiation may penetrate the soil and water by air.
The ministry says it will seek compensation for the victims of these bombs, whose radiation travels in the air. A London scientist has provided evidence that radiation has already traveled from Iraq to London during “Shock and Awe.” The Iconoclast published a report on this entitled “Have DU Will Travel — Depleted Uranium Radiation From Iraq Blows Into UK” in March 2006 in which members of the science community, military insiders, and victims were interviewed. Here is that link to a pdf file (might take a few minutes to download):
http://www.iconoclastnews.com/online/2006/09iconoclast.pdf
Gov. Perry’s Pet Jobs Program Suffers A Recession
Many projects receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies through Governor Rick Perry’s high-profile Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) failed to meet their contractual job-creation targets as the recession took hold in 2008, according to a new analysis by Texans for Public Justice.
AUSTIN — Many projects receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies through Governor Rick Perry’s high-profile Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) failed to meet their contractual job-creation targets as the recession took hold in 2008, according to a new analysis by Texans for Public Justice.
The new report analyzes 45 TEF projects in which several large corporations received a total of $363 million in taxpayer subsidies and filed job-related compliance reports with the Governor’s Office in early 2009. The report finds that a growing number of TEF recipients defaulted on their job-creation pledges in 2008, with even more defaults expected to be reported this month as the Governor’s Office receives compliance reports for 2009.
Key findings of TPJ’s analysis reveal:
* The Governor’s Office has awarded $363 million to 45 TEF recipients to create or maintain 47,735 jobs. These projects claimed 31,319 jobs in compliance reports covering 2008.
* Just 13 of the 45 job-related projects reviewed were performing well. Twelve deals were non-performing, with two of these canceled outright. Nine deals were troubled, casting doubt on their future job targets. The Governor’s Office signed amendments that weaken the jobs targets in eight development deals. And the jobs provisions in three other deals were fundamentally weak the day that they were signed.
* As of October 2009 the Governor has penalized 11 TEF grantees for defaulting on their job creation commitments. These penalties, totaling $647,100, amount to just 1 percent of the $64.1 million in TEF funding that they received.
* The Governor has imposed the “death penalty” on just two TEF projects (Hewlett-Packard and Maxim Integrated Products), despite the fact that many other TEF recipients have qualified for termination under the terms of their contracts.
* In February 2009, Governor Perry declared that the TEF program had created 54,000 jobs since 2003. More than one-third of these jobs are job pledges that have yet to materialize.
Texas Employers Reduce Jobs — Unemployment Rate 8.3 Percent
The Texas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent in December, up from 8.0 percent a month ago, but continued to trend well below the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December of 10.0 percent. Total nonagricultural employment in Texas decreased by 23,900 jobs in December.
AUSTIN — The Texas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent in December, up from 8.0 percent a month ago, but continued to trend well below the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December of 10.0 percent. Total nonagricultural employment in Texas decreased by 23,900 jobs in December.
“Texas continues to feel the effects of this serious national recession with unemployment in our state now at 8.3 percent,” said Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chairman Tom Pauken.
Education and Health Services employment increased by 4,800 positions in December, representing the addition of 60,400 jobs in the past 12 months. Mining and Logging employment posted a modest gain of 300 jobs in December.
“December job losses offset some of the gains from the last couple of months,” said TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Ronny Congleton. “TWC and the 28 workforce boards are committed to assisting Texas job seekers and connecting them with available jobs.”
Trade, Transportation and Utilities represented the bulk of December’s job losses at 7,400 jobs. Leisure and Hospitality employment was down 6,500 jobs in December, and Professional and Business Services recorded a loss of 5,300 jobs.
Baylor University Joins Small Town In Uncovering Black History
When Paula Gerstenblatt married Thomas Davis in 1980, she heard countless tales of his youth in Mart, Texas. So Gerstenblatt, a visual artist, was excited when they traveled from their home in the San Francisco Bay area to attend a family reunion in Mart in 2003. A weed-covered lot was all that remained of the Davis family’s home, destroyed by fire in 1969. “At family reunions, we would just shoot a photo in front of the overgrown lot,” said Gerstenblatt, a doctoral student in social work at the University of Texas in Austin. And when she and her nieces viewed 15 display cases at Mart’s library, they found no trace of the city’s African-American heritage.
MART, Texas —When Paula Gerstenblatt married Thomas Davis in 1980, she heard countless tales of his youth in Mart, Texas.
So Gerstenblatt, a visual artist, was excited when they traveled from their home in the San Francisco Bay area to attend a family reunion in Mart in 2003.
A weed-covered lot was all that remained of the Davis family’s home, destroyed by fire in 1969.
“At family reunions, we would just shoot a photo in front of the overgrown lot,” said Gerstenblatt, a doctoral student in social work at the University of Texas in Austin. And when she and her nieces viewed 15 display cases at Mart’s library, they found no trace of the city’s African-American heritage.
Today, thanks to a partnership with Baylor University and a $4,000 grant from Humanities Texas, her dream of chronicling the city’s black history and turning the family’s land into a memory-themed art installation is becoming a reality.
Some accomplishments:
Faculty from Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History have trained Mart residents how to do interviews to collect stories from the days when Mart thrived along the railroad route as an agricultural and commercial community.
A Baylor faculty member, Baylor students and Mart volunteers cleaned up an overgrown historic black cemetery.
Mart’s library boasts a permanent black history collection, with two ceiling-high glass cases filled with items from yesteryear.
The Davis family used found objects to transform their land. Working with neighbors, they cleared brush, built a fence and archway and uncovered the home’s original brick walkway. They displayed family mementoes and added lawn chairs for visitors.
With the oral history project, “What’s neat is the opportunity to fill a silence,” said Dr. Stephen Sloan, an assistant professor of history at Baylor and director of Baylor’s Institute for Oral History.
“It’s not just a race issue but a class issue,” he said. “The poorest of the poor leave less of a historical footprint. Other people often controlled the narrative, and some groups were overlooked. Oral history isn’t a record of what we thought about people; it’s their own words and perception.”
With the grant from Humanities Texas — the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities — he trained eight Mart residents in interviewing and recording oral histories.
One of those history “sleuths” is Mart native Janet Bridgewater, Gerstenblatt’s niece-in-law.
“I learned to talk to the people before I turn the tape recorder on, give them a chance to get comfortable,” she said. “I make sure nobody else is in the room because if you have too many people, someone else might be butting into the conversation, and you just don’t get a good interview.
“My daddy was born in 1927, and the family was here before that, so I know a whole lot of stories from back in the day,” she said.
Hobos hopped on and off trains until the final train ran through Mart in 1967, and “some kind of way, they ended up in my grandmother’s house,” Bridgewater said. “She fed them and made them welcome. We were scared, but she said they were just regular people.”
While Sloan helps residents with oral history, Carol Macaulay — a Baylor lecturer in archeology, anthropology and forensic science — led the cleanup of Evergreen Cemetery, a historic black cemetery, in March 2009. Baylor students mapped it and made a videotape.
Residents donated keepsakes for the black history exhibition in Mart’s Nancy Nail Memorial Library, unveiled in June 2009.
Thomas Davis’ naval uniform, which he wore aboard the ship USS Dixie in the 1950s, is among the memorabilia; so is a photo of former Mart resident Frankie Lee, nicknamed “the Texas Son” and “Frank Sinatra of the Blues,” which ran in the Los Angeles Times.
The library cases also hold a1963 girls’ basketball trophy and a program from Anderson High School’s homecoming game in 1949. The school was segregated until fall of 1967.
On a somber note, newspaper clippings from 1921 tell of Ku Klux Klan threats posted around town. Black people who loitered outside stores after 8 p.m. were to “Heed the warning — or suffer at the hands of the Klan.”
Some Mart residents responded by posting notices of their own.
“We will not permit lawlessness in the name of the Ku Klux Klan,” one said. “We do not stand for the oppression of any individual or class, but we do stand for law and order, and this applies to both black and white.”
The history project isn’t over. Participants have obtained a second Humanities Texas grant — this one for $3,500 — to aid teachers in bringing cross-cultural, inter-generational projects into their classes, Sloan said.
“We’re recovering the pride,” Bridgewater said.
