"The guns are quiet now," is the first line in John Huston's 1946 short film, "Let There Be Light," which focuses on World War II veterans dealing with what we'd today call post-traumatic stress disorder...
Huston, himself a veteran and director of such films as "The Maltese Falcon" and "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," filmed soldiers being treated at Long Island's Mason General Hospital for what at the time was called shellshock.
A fully restored version of Huston's original film is available for free online viewing for three months on the National Film Preservation Foundation's website. And in a time when modern veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are dealing with similiar issues, many believe that the 65-year-old footage can still be relevant.
"If you listen to the dialogue, it could have been recorded yesterday," Melville told msnbc.com. She hopes that younger veterans will find something to relate to in the film, and says that that interested viewers can not only watch it online, but download the entire film and add it to their own websites, as the footage is in the public domain.
As one diplomatic effort after another fails to end more than a year of brutal violence in Syria, the Obama administration is preparing a plan that would essentially give U.S. nods of approval to arms transfers from Arab nations to some Syrian opposition fighters.
The effort, U.S. officials told The Associated Press, would vet members of the Free Syrian Army and other groups to determine whether they are suitable recipients of munitions to fight the Assad government and to ensure that weapons don't wind up in the hands of al-Qaida-linked terrorists or other extremist groups such as Hezbollah that could target Israel.
The plan, which has not yet been finalized, reflects U.S. frustration that none of the previous efforts — including diplomatic rhetoric from the United Nations and the multinational Friends of Syria group, and special envoy Kofi Annan's plan for a cease-fire — has even begun to nudge President Bashar al-Assad from power. The vetting would be the first tiny step the U.S. has made toward ensuring that the Syrian opposition uses the weapons to fight Assad and not to turn it into a full sectarian conflict.
The fighters' attempts to bring in heavier arms that could change the course of the 15-month-old uprising so far have been stymied at every turn, even by countries sympathetic to the revolt. All are wary of being drawn into the fight
The rebels have cast a wide net, contacting weapons dealers in Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Without some type of U.S. vetting as to who should receive such shipments, the Obama administration and some of its European allies fear that weapons might be used against Western interests.
Let's hope those hacks at Breitbart aren't involved in the vetting process.
Sarah Palin weighed in on the Utah Senate race during an interview Tuesday night and took a side. But instead of rallying around the Republican tea party challenger, as she has in other primary campaigns, the former Alaska governor endorsed longtime senator Orrin Hatch.
"I want him to win," Palin told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, saying she joined with other conservatives "who would like to see Mr. Balanced Budget return to Washington."
"I'm deeply honored by Governor Palin's endorsement," Hatch said in a statement early Wednesday morning. "There are few as committed to the cause of liberty and the ideals that have made this nation great as Sarah Palin."
Did I read that right? Geez, the non-wingnuts will do anything to get elected as a Republican.
The House Armed Services Committee voted Wednesday to protect service members, especially chaplains, from persecution for opposing the presence of gays in the military.
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said the amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill protects religious freedom of military chaplains and the conscience and moral principals of service members who are opposed to homosexuality but feel pressured since the 2011 repeal of the military's gay ban to hide their beliefs out of fear of recrimination.
It passed by a 36-25 vote.
'This is trying to protect the ability of people to have their own opinion,' Akin said. He said that he has heard from many chaplains who feel their expression of opposition to homosexuals has or could lead to recriminations or harm to their careers by denying assignments, promotions, training or education.
Huh? Servicemembers can now have an open and free opinion about military regulations and policy? Wow, this will work out well when the Armed Forces have enough discipline problems in the ranks as it is.
On a 37-24 vote, the committee also passed a second amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages or a 'marriage-like ceremony' that involves a same-sex couples from being held at any military installation or on any property owned, rented or under the control of the Defense Department.
Whether either provision becomes law is unclear. Akin was an opponent of lifting the gay ban. In 2010, just before the military's policy changed, he convinced the House Armed Services Committee to pass an amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages from occurring on military bases only to have the provision stricken from the final bill during negotiations with the White House and Senate. This is the same prohibition that Palazzo is now sponsoring.
Opponents of the Akin legislation worry it 'opens the door to allow harassment and discrimination without penalties,' said a statement from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. They claim the bill could be seen as a 'license to bully' gay men and lesbians.
I'd be afraid of bullying by chaplains more than any physical or verbal abuse. Hitchens was right, religion does posion everything.
Michele Bachmann R-Lausanne R-MN, issued this statement today
Today I sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship, which was conferred upon me by operation of Swiss law when I married my husband in 1978. I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen. I am, and always have been, 100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America. As the daughter of an Air Force veteran, stepdaughter of an Army veteran and sister of a Navy veteran, I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known.
Exit question: Why does Michele Bachmann hate Switzerland so much?
Moving to protect the Pentagon, Republicans controlling the House are pressing cuts to food stamps, health care and pensions for federal workers as an alternative to an automatic 10 percent cut to the military come January.
The automatic spending cuts, totaling $98 billion next year in a new estimate, are punishment for the failure of last year's deficit-reduction "supercommittee" to strike a deal. Lawmakers in both parties want to avoid the automatic cuts, but Democrats are strongly opposed to the GOP approach, which slices more than $300 billion from domestic programs over the coming decade while preventing the Pentagon from absorbing a $55 billion blow to its budget next year.
The butter for guns swap faces a veto threat from the White House and rejection by the Democratic Senate, which say the GOP measure unfairly hits the middle-class and the poor. Democrats are making it plain they expect any effort to turn off the automatic spending cuts to include additional taxes. The resulting deadlock is highly unlikely to be resolved before Election Day.
The measure contains cuts supplied by six different House committees and includes changes to the food stamp program that would remove almost 2 million recipients through tighter enforcement of eligibility rules and would cut back a 2009 benefit increase, costing a family of four $57 a month. Federal workers would have to contribute 5 percentage points more of their pay toward pension plans that are more generous than most private sector workers receive.
Failed presidential candidate. Minnesota congresswoman. Tea Party darling. And now, Swiss citizen.
Michele Bachmann has been granted dual citizenship in Switzerland, which makes her eligible to seek political office in the small European country, her spokesman Becky Rogness confirmed Wednesday.
Bachmann qualified for citizenship because of her marriage to her husband, who is of Swiss descent.
Exit question: Why does Michele Bachmann hate America so much?
Rep. Akin has submitted this amendment to the defense budget :
The Armed Forces shall accommodate the conscience and sincerely held moral principles and religious beliefs of the members of the Armed Forces concerning the appropriate and inappropriate expression of human sexuality and may not use such conscience, principles, or beliefs as the basis of any adverse personnel action, discrimination, or denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment. [...]
No member of the Armed Forces may (A) direct, order, or require a chaplain to perform any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service, or function that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain, or contrary to the moral principles and religious beliefs of the endorsing faith group of the chaplain; or (B) discriminate or take any adverse personnel action against a chaplain, including denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment, on the basis of the refusal by the chaplain to comply with a direction, order, or requirement prohibited by sub-paragraph (A).
Does the GOP fear homosexuals so much that they would seriously propose an amendment to the defense budget that would allow service members to openly violate UCMJ? Would they rather see the Armed Forces of this country destory itself rather than permit homosexuals to service the country they are citizens of?
This is new level of crazy that is bordering on reckless.
This should be interesting. Jump to around the 1:14 minute mark for Richard Mourdock's brilliant remark.
'I have a mindset that says bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view"
Fascism is fun. And this must be a new GOP talking point, Mourdock used the same phrase on Fox according to this Politico article.
