“It is deeply disturbing that one in five veterans under the age of 25 is unemployed. The men and women who fought for our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan have to fight for a job when they return home — and the odds are stacked against them” Harkin said Thursday during a conference call with reporters.

“We have a solemn obligation to do right by the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk for our nation.”

Government officials estimate that roughly 240,000 veterans who served in the Middle East are currently unemployed. The bill approved by the Senate provides tax breaks of up to $9,600 to businesses that put them to work.

The tax breaks were included in the Obama administration’s American Jobs Act, a $447 billion package that was wholly refused by Republican lawmakers last month. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley says the initiative dates back to May 2010 and this past January, when he and U.S. Sen. Max Baucus introduced and reintroduced the Veterans Employment Transition Act, or the VETs Jobs bill.

“These men and women are extremely capable,” Grassley said. “They have a lot of skills to offer in the workplace. The legislation that Senator Baucus and I put together clears some bureaucratic hurdles and adds a financial incentive to encourage employers to seek out veterans.”

The legislation reinstates a tax credit that expired at the end of 2010, and makes it easier for veterans and small businesses to use. The credits will range from $2,400 to $9,600 in 2012, depending on the veteran hired. Tax exempt organizations are eligible for the credit.

• $9,600 for veterans with service-connected disabilities unemployed for 6 months or longer in the past year
• $5,600 for veterans unemployed for 6 months or longer in the past year
• $4,800 for service-disabled veterans hired within 1 year of being discharged
• $2,400 for veterans who do not fit any of the above categories and are unemployed for between 4 weeks and 6 months in the past year

Any veteran who has left active duty in the past five years who has discharge paperwork showing 180 days of qualified active duty would be eligible for the credit. This would include those men and women who were activated by their states as members of the National Guard. The bill also helps service members market themselves to prospective employers by requiring the military to educate service members about how the credit works.

The only senator to vote against the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 was South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint, who indicated the measure gave veterans an unfair advantage.

“I cannot support this tax credit because I do not believe the government should privilege one American over another when it comes to work,” DeMint said on the floor Thursday.

The U.S. House is expected to take up the measure next week, and U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack is optimistic that the bill will be quickly passed.

“Tomorrow, we set aside time to honor the men and women who have served our great country in uniform. As we pause to pay tribute to them, we must also remember that we have a moral obligation to serve our troops and veterans with the same dedication and honor with which they serve us. Yet our troops are returning home from the battlefield to face the same economic reality that families across our country are facing,” Loebsack said in a Thursday statement.

“The World War II generation returned home and became part of our nation’s economic recovery. Today, as we work to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, it is up to all of us as a grateful nation to ensure that those who have fought for us overseas do not have to fight for a job here at home. This generation of veterans can and will be part of our economic recovery, but we must give them the opportunity to do so. This bipartisan legislation demonstrates the progress we can make when both sides of the aisle work together.”

Two members of Iowa’s federal delegation are veterans. Harkin served as an active-duty jet pilot in the U.S. Navy from 1962 to 1967. U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell served 20 years in the U.S. Army, including two one-year tours of duty as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

According to a January 2011 report by Jennifer Rizzo of CNN, only 20 percent of the members of Congress have served in the military — 25 from the Senate and 90 from the House. It is the lowest level since World War II.

For three decades, the libertarian-leaning Texan has preached limited government, a smaller role not only domestically in the form of lower taxes but also abroad, with a less adventurous foreign policy.

“Right now your biggest threat comes from your own government,” Paul said.

More than 100 people turned out Saturday morning in Carroll to hear Paul speak at Santa Maria Winery. Paul delivered opening remarks and then turned the event into a town-hall-style meeting, fielding audience questions.

Paul finished third at 12 percent behind businessman Herman Cain (23 percent) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (22 percent) in a Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucus-goers released Sunday.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul reiterated his fiscal message in Carroll Saturday and made clear that he would only seek the White House a member of the GOP. (Photo: Douglas Burns) 

On Saturday, Paul, a former Libertarian Party White House candidate, said he’s in a strong position as a Republican in the 2012 field and dismissed any speculation of a third-party candidacy.

“I have no intentions of running in a third party,” Paul said.

In his remarks Paul said that government reaction to crisis should to be pull back, grow smaller and allow free will and the marketplace to work.

“With each crisis it seems like the government grows,” Paul said.

He added, “It just has led to all this debt and all these problems we’ve had.”

Paul called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan, noting that the United States has been involved in Afghanistan twice as long as the duration of World War II. The two wars are costing the United States $4 billion a month, he said.

Removal of troops would not only correct an entry into the conflicts on what Paul called “false pretense,” but also spur the American economy.

America’s largest defense concern now should be the nation’s economy, the Texan said.

“If we’re in the wrong places at the wrong time, it doesn’t serve our defense,” Paul said.

Paul also calls for cuts in military spending.

“How many weapons do we need?” he said. “Who is going to invade us?”

Paul said his foreign policy positioning should not be interpreted as isolationism. He would use diplomacy, not force, to advance U.S. interests.

“Using force doesn’t work and it’s very costly,” Paul said.

And Paul said he would be consistent.

“We were on the side of bin Laden,” he said. “We were on the side of Saddam Hussein.”

One audience member questioned Paul about farm subsidies. Paul noted that he has represented farming areas of Texas but opposes subsidies.

“I’ve not supported farm subsidies,” Paul said. “I think it distorts the marketplace.”

He added, “Subsidies tend to make people soft.”

Paul said Americans demonstrating now, either in the tea party movements or Occupy Wall Street groups, appear to break into two categories: people who are scared they won’t get their government handouts and those who are tired of paying for big government.

Paul said he is firmly in the latter category.

“To me, liberty is one clear package,” Paul said.

“A small group of us had met a few times regarding the Marriage amendment once it was pushed onto the ballot,” Sallie VanHouten, a member of the group, told the Minnesota Independent. “We all had loved ones past and present who were LGBT. My precious sister had died last November at the age of 52 very tragically and, with the pain of that still tugging at my heart, the amendment was even harder to bear.”

She said all the group members “desperately” want the 2012 vote on the marriage amendment to fail.

“We wondered what a small group of straight people could do to honor our loved ones and make the future a little brighter for those young ones who feel hopeless or marginalized by this amendment,” she said.

The group’s mission is to change Minnesotans’ minds on LGBT equality: “Our main goal is to encourage thoughtful conversation on this issue.”

One of the ART’s first events will feature Randy Roberts Potts, the grandson of famed televangelist Oral Roberts. The group is bringing him to speaking engagements in Minneapolis, Rosemount and Winona over the next week.

“A friend of mine who is retired was watching Joy Behar during the day saw Randy on there and researched him and found his sermon at All Souls,” said VanHouten. “He sent it to me and I forwarded it to the group.”

In July, Potts gave a sermon at All Souls Church in Tulsa, Okla., about his experiences growing up gay at the evangelical compound created by his grandfather. Here’s that sermon:

She added, “We were all so moved by Randy we wondered could we get him here. Since it seemed to be the churches who were organizing on the other side of this we decided maybe Randy could offer a more welcoming side of this issue. His perspective being raised evangelical is unique and very heartfelt.”

VanHouten said what drives her, and the 9 other members of ART, is equality for the LGBT community.

“Andrew Wilfarht and my sister Nancy are gone how many more will be gone before full equality is a reality for LGBT persons,” she said.

Andrew Wilfahrt

Andrew’s Roundtable is named for Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in February. His parents, Jeff and Lori, have been sharing their stories of his life at speaking engagements around the country. At the Outserve conference in Las Vegas last weekend, Lori spoke about Andrew and the fight for equality:

“Andrew died protecting rights that he himself could not enjoy, especially the right to marry the person he loved,” Lori Wilfarht told Outserve.

Of the push to amend Minnesota’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage, she said, “The constitution our son died for was intended to protect rights, not deny them.”

The tycoon and the candidate talked about the Occupy Wall Street protests, fiscal issues and petroleum policy. But Bachmann made sure that callers knew that Trump was not endorsing her.

“He is not on the call this evening because he is endorsing my campaign for Presidency, he’s on the call this evening because he’s admired, he’s respected,” she said.

One caller wanted to know, “Where is the Republican leadership in regards to what appears to be a Marxist group down there on Wall Street?”

Bachmann dissed the Occupy Wall Street protesters before agreeing with part of their message.

“I think people are looking at this and try to figure out, is this a George Soros inspired protest down there? Are there legitimate grievances?” she said. “I think people look at Wall Street and they see a $700 billion blank check. I voted against that $700 billion blank check.”

Trump admitted that some protesters might have valid reasons to be scornful of Wall Street, but questioned the movement.

“I was in New York recently where you had—I wouldn’t call it a riot, but it got—you had thousands of people marching down Wall Street,” Trump said. “This is a group of in many cases very well-dressed, and I look at it and I say something has got to be done to break it up.”

The bulk of the conversation involved oil, both tapping U.S. oil and being smarter with OPEC. And both Trump and Bachmann thought it would be a good idea to demand the Iraqis, Afghanis and Libyans give oil to the U.S. for free for “liberating” them.

“Constantly it’s the United States that are the chumps,” Bachmann said. “We constantly clean up everybody else’s mess. Look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, we should be getting paid back from these countries we have liberated.”

Trump agreed with Bachmann.

“In Libya, the rebels—that’s a very glamorous term, the rebels—they probably come from Iran,” he said of those opposing the Gaddafi regime. ”We are spending billions and billions of dollars. If six months ago, if they came to us and said we need help. if we would have said, ‘You know what? We are going to give you help but for the next 20 years, we get the 50 percent of your oil,’ you know what they would have said? ‘Absolutely! We will give you 75 percent.’”

Trump accused anti-Gaddafi fighters of opposing the United States in the Iraq War.

“They come from Iran in many cases and here we are spending billions of dollars and what do we get out of nothing,” Trump said. “In Iraq with the second largest oil fields in the world, we fight, we spent a trillion and a half, lost thousand of lives, great, great young people, what do we get?

Trump added that when the U.S. leaves Iraq at the end of the year, Iran will take the oil that should belong to the U.S.

“Now Iran, when we leave and you know we are not getting along with the government, Iran will come in and take over those oil reserves they are just waiting, waiting to take over the oil reserves because our leaders are just stupid. We are not smart people we have very pathetic leadership.

He concluded, “I have suggested we should have kept a percentage of the oil but also pay back the families who lost lives. In the old days to the victor go the spoils. Well, we don’t do that anymore. We spend a trillion and a half dollars and they are practically throwing us out of Iraq.

Bachmann added that it wasn’t fair for Iraqis to ask American forces to leave without giving the United States its oil. “We have just been kicked on this deal. We were trying to train their people. Iraq they spit at us and said we are not going to give immunity to the 5,000 Americans who were going to stay in Iraq and now all the money we have poured into Iraq, the lives we have poured into Iraq.”

She added, “This is a complete travesty, this is a complete disrespect for the United States.”

A stage was set up at the D.C. park with a large-scaled reprint of “We The People” — the first words of the U.S. Constitution — hanging in the background. If that appears vague, the entertainment did little to showcase a cohesive narrative.

David Rovics, a progressive folk musician popular on the protest circuit performed, singing a song that included the lyrics, “This world was made for all us and we’re gonna change the scene.”

Slam poets and hip-hop acts inveighed against police brutality and corporate greed, with one shouting on stage, “America loves to kill…[you] cannot get away from the kill in America.” A chorus of older women calling themselves the Raging Grannies were also on hand.

In the audience, however, were hundreds of protestors with specific bones to pick, and their animus was aimed at institutions beyond Wall Street.

Sheri Morgan, a nurse from Greencastle, P.A., held up a sign calling for higher taxes on the wealthy. She said she came to demand a single-payer healthcare system and more progressive taxation. “Small and large corporations need to pay their fair share,” Morgan said. “Tax attorneys are working hard to keep these people from paying the taxes they owe.”

Labor groups the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters joined the rally. Leslie Miller, a communications coordinator for the Teamsters, said the need for change is simple math and that corporations are not paying their fair share. “Social programs get cut because tax revenues dip, and then workers lose their jobs,” she said.

“Corporations are not creating jobs. They’re sitting on profits,” Miller added. She listed a slew of grievances, from the median wage in 2009 to firms forcing workers to forfeit collective bargaining right and pensions. “This is sadly becoming more and more typical,” Miller said.

Patrick McGann, a member of the Selected Marine Corps Reserve who was activated in Afghanistan in 2009-10, came out because he objects to the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. “We don’t need to spend trillions of dollars on foreign wars,” he said. “Past empires fell because they expanded too far and failed to address their domestic problems.”

McGann added his unhappiness with the amount of time that passed before the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” “Someone’s gay? I don’t care,” he said. “They bleed the same color I do, and I’m in the infantry.”

Critics of the event were also present. At a nearby Starbucks, a Republican lobbyist said: “I don’t even know what they’re protesting over there. Government regulation just encourages corporations to pass the extra costs onto the consumer. I’m not going to pay $10 for tube socks to protest how WalMart does its business.”

Protesters’ criticism of the tax system channels previous exposés on what they call ‘corporate welfare.’ The Nation reported in March that two-thirds of U.S. corporations do not pay federal taxes, which excludes payroll, state, and other levies. In August, The Institute for Policy Studies released a report titled, “The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging.” While the New York Times ran with the report, Felix Salmon of Reuters took issue with the study’s research methodology.

Correction: This article previously stated Patrick McGann was an active duty Marine. Rather, McGann is a member of the Selected Marine Corps Reserve, not active duty. We regret the error.

Bennet also met with military leaders and Colorado service members in Afghanistan.

“The Coloradans serving in Afghanistan have done our state and our country proud,” Bennet said in a prepared statement. “Something must be done to stop the flow of materials used in roadside bombs from Pakistan to Afghanistan that continues to threaten the safety of our troops. I hope to continue working with the Pakistani government to end this ongoing threat.”

In Afghanistan, Bennet said he met with and thanked service members from Colorado at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province, a forward operating base in Kandahar province and the Regional Command East headquarters.

In Pakistan, Bennet said he met with the president, prime minister, Army chief of staff, legislators and other officials to press them to implement a plan to establish tight restrictions on ingredients found in bombs which kill and injure American troops in Afghanistan.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are the No. 1 killer of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and are also used to target civilians and security forces in Pakistan. In 2010, 268 U.S. service members were killed by IEDs in Afghanistan, and 125 more have been killed by IEDs since the beginning of 2011, Bennet’s office said.

Heinrich called on Obama to “follow through on the pledge we made to the American people to begin the drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan this summer.”

There are currently 100,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Heinrich cited the cost and length of the war in Afghanistan in his letter:

We have spent over $450 billion in Afghanistan since the start of this war. Our youngest soldiers were just eight years old when our nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. It is time we start bringing our troops home.

He also mentioned that he visited Kandahar City in May of 2010 and saw “firsthand that progress is being made.”

Obama said earlier this month that the drawdown this summer “will be significant” and “is not not just a token gesture.”

He said he would have to speak with Gen. David Petraeus before discussing any specific numbers.

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Obama administration had not yet decided how many troops will come home in July.

Letter to President Obama re Afghanistan 04 25 2011

The selection of two outsiders — Petraeus has no experience in the realm of pure intelligence work, while Panetta hasn’t had military experience, other than tangentially in his two years as CIA director, since his discharge from the Army in 1966 — to fill the posts may seem an odd choice. The two men’s backgrounds, however, may provide clues as to why each was chosen for the job.

Petraeus’s popularity, spanning both party lines and the civilian-military divide (at least among members of the public who know who he is), is sure to be an asset in the position, as it has been in his capacity as the head of military operations in Afghanistan. More pointedly, Wired’s Spencer Ackerman theorizes that Petraeus’s endorsement of unmanned drone strikes and special operations raids like those undertaken in Afghanistan and Pakistan hews closely to the Obama administration’s preferred methods of using the CIA in counterterror efforts, with drone strikes and shadow operations.

Panetta, meanwhile, got the CIA post to begin with in part because of his success steering President Bill Clinton’s Office of Management and Budget through the fat years of the mid-‘90s. Panetta later became Clinton’s chief of staff. His experience with budgets — he also headed up the House Budget Committee for years prior to leaving the world of elected office for Clintonian pastures — could be a sign that the administration is looking for a numbers man to justify bloated defense spending. Until the administration officially confirms its picks, however, it won’t be forthcoming with explanations for its choices.

The news hasn’t inspired a uniformly optimistic reaction from intelligence or defense insiders. Ackerman reports in Wired that Heather Hurlburt, executive director of the left-leaning National Security Network, contends that Panetta, at least, will be entering a no-win situation once he takes over the Defense Department:

“He’ll never live up to what building wants or has come to expect,” Hurlburt says of Panetta. “Gates tried to prepare them that this is coming, and cushion the building for what’s coming, but that’s not tenable. It’s an unenviable task.”

The response from the right has been similarly lukewarm:

[H]e’s generating cautious, first-blush optimism from defense watchers, even among the administration’s political opponents. “Safe choice,” says James Jay Carafano of the conservative Heritage Foundation, which has accused Gates and Obama of cutting defense too deeply. With both Petraeus and Panetta, “no one is going to question whether they are qualified.” Even Gates’ predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, no fan of Obama, tweeted that Panetta and Petraeus are “outstanding leaders.”

Ackerman does not mention, however, that Rumsfeld’s tweet on Panetta and Petraeus was qualified by a followup:

…5 DCIs 5 US ambs & 7 mil cdrs in Afg over 7 yrs: No matter how capable the individual, musical chairs makes it impossible to find footing

Rumsfeld’s un-self-conscious criticism of the U.S.’s handling of the war in Afghanistan comes despite his role as the U.S. Defense secretary during the initial invasion, as well as the invasion of Iraq.

“Now, President Bush got a lot of grief from a lot of different angles for the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War,” Paul said. “But you know what? In both instances, he came to Congress and Congress at least voted on it before we went.”

President Obama sets a terrible precedent with committing to military involvement in Libya, Paul said, and went on to assert the President cares more about the United Nations than Congress.

Even though Congress did vote on military action, many people remain critical of Bush for not asking for a formal Congressional declaration of war. One of the most critical voices of Bush’s handling of the wars in the Middle East has been Sen. Paul’s father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). In January, at the beginning of the current session of Congress, Congressman Paul entered evidence of alleged war crimes Bush was responsible for into Congressional Record via a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ron Paul’s supporters heckled Vice-President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference, calling them “war criminals.”

Bush had to defend himself against Congressman Paul’s consistent criticism of the Bush administration’s foreign policy, as Paul called for a non-interventionist approach. Paul was one of six Republicans to vote against the Iraq Resolution and consistently said both wars were illegal partly because Congress never declared war.

Sen. Paul was speaking at the Iowa GOP‘s “Night of the Rising Stars” event Saturday. The Senator said the most important vote Congress ever takes is whether or not to send armed forces to war, and pledged to fight against it in the coming weeks.

He also told a story about the former owner of his congressional desk, Henry Clay, who was known as the “Great Compromiser.” Paul said there were some deeply held beliefs Congressmen should never compromise on, such as slavery, on which Clay did broker compromises.

“Now some would say the issues we deal with today have no moral equivalency today as slavery,” Paul said. “But I would say that when we think about things, there are questions we should ask. Can a civilization long endure that doesn’t respect life? Will we be judged at some point in time on whether we stood up and said that the law and the land should respect the unborn?”

That remark earned Paul’s most extended round of applause of the night.

He said the country was facing fast approaching a “day of reckoning,” to reach the point when the U.S. can no longer pay its bills and destroy its currency as a result of the deficit and the debt owed to other countries.

Paul pledged deep cuts in the federal budget. He said while Congress debates cuts near $32 billion, people in his home district tell him cutting $500 billion would be “a good start.”

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced Paul and said he’d like to see spending levels back to 2008 numbers, although the federal deficit grew under Bush.

Paul also took a shot at U.S. Sen Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) as he opened his speech, describing a debate he had on the floor of the Senate with him.

He said he told Harkin there could be more investment in infrastructure and education if people didn’t have to pay “Chicago union scale wages” in Iowa or Kentucky, to which he said Harkin told him, “You can’t have any kind of quality products made unless they’re made by union workers.” The crowd groaned, and Paul said you would have to throw out 95 percent of the products you consume if Harkin’s statement was true.

Paul didn’t make any references to his own speculation of a White House run, but said Iowans needed to find the right Republican to run in 2012. Senator Paul will return in the summer for a Faith & Freedom Coalition event, alongside other potential 2012 candidates.

The Canadian Press:

The photos published by Der Spiegel were among several seized by Army investigators looking into the deaths of three unarmed Afghans last year. Five soldiers based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle, have been charged with murder and conspiracy in the case.

Officials involved in the courts-martial had issued a strict protective order, seeking to severely limit access to the photographs due to their sensitive nature. Some defence teams had been granted copies but were not allowed to disseminate them.

It was not immediately known how Der Spiegel obtained copies.

One of the published photographs shows a key figure in the investigation, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, grinning as he lifts the head of a corpse by the hair. Der Spiegel identified the body as that of Gul Mudin, whom Morlock was charged with killing on Jan. 15, 2010, in Kandahar Province.

[...]

“Today Der Spiegel published photographs depicting actions repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army,” the Army said in a statement released by Col. Thomas Collins. “We apologize for the distress these photos cause.”

And Der Spiegel reports the U.S. has known about the coming release of the photos for around 100 days:

NATO, under the leadership of the US Army, has been preparing for possible publication of the photos for close to 100 days. In dozens of high-level talks with their Afghan partners, military leaders have sought to pursue the same strategy used by the US diplomatic corps in the case of the sensitive diplomatic cables released late last year by WikiLeaks. They warned those most directly affected and made preparations for the photos’ appearance in the public sphere. This “strategic communication” was aimed at preventing a major public backlash.