Posts Tagged ‘ attention ’

A Maryland man who vanished in January 2009 with thousands of dollars that he raised for a presidential inaugural ball for veterans that never happened — leaving sponsors, entertainers and ticketholders in the lurch — is back. Using a slightly different variation of his name, D. Dante Anthony Hayes is trying to raise money for a “Maryland Armed Forces” event, seeking to sign up military organizations to sponsor a combination benefit concert and fashion show that he claims will be held May 22 in a Baltimore park. Hayes, who uses multiple addresses in Maryland and the District of Columbia, is the director of a nonprofit group that he formed called the Congressional Education Foundation for Public Policy. His pitch this time is about the same as last time, asking military organizations to lend their names to his event in return for a promised 10 percent of the proceeds. He called himself simply Dante Hayes in late 2008 and early 2009 when he lined up several military and veterans groups, 34 beauty queens and some entertainers for an armed forces inaugural ball that never took place. He appears to do most of his business out of a residential home in Baltimore. This time, he is promising a star-studded benefit concert featuring performers Patti LaBelle, R Kelly, Morris Day and the Time and Cameo, although the list appears to vary depending on who is being pitched. The list he provided to veterans groups that he has tried to sign up is different than the list posted on the Web site through which he is selling tickets. Booking agents and tour schedules for the listed organizations do not show that any of the promised performers have agreed to appear. For example, Elyse Murray of Elyse Group 7, who represents the 70’s R&B group Cameo, said the group has no May 22 performance scheduled and she does not recall ever speaking to Hayes or anyone from his foundation. “We are not scheduled to play May 22 at all,” she said. The day-long event touted by Hayes also is supposed to feature a panel discussion about veterans issues, involving politicians, academics and veterans groups, and a fashion show with 50 models displaying casual and business clothing, “hats, purses and women’s shoes” for women of all sizes, according to ticketing information. Additionally, he promises a mechanical bull, water slide, climbing walls, obstacle course and outdoor children’s movie. The event, to begin at 9 a.m. and end at 9 p.m., would be free to service members, students and seniors but cost $10 to $55 for individuals and from $135 to $10,000 for corporate sponsors. In addition to receiving part of the proceeds, the groups signing on to the event supposedly would get the opportunity during the benefit concert to place their flags on the stage, said Grant Goods, treasurer of the Chesapeake Chapter of The Retired Officers Association, who met with Hayes. “He was very clear that he wanted a letter from us saying we were part of the benefit,” Goods said. The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Maryland’s state department of veterans’ affairs and unspecified funds for helping homeless veterans and the purchase of calling cards for deployed service members are also causes that Hayes said would get 10 percent of the proceeds. Hayes promised during the meeting and in a letter to veterans groups that 75,000 to 100,000 people would attend the event at Carroll Park in Baltimore, raising $1.5 million to $2 million for veterans causes. Hayes did not return multiple telephone calls and e-mails seeking more information about his event. The company he said would provide the fashion models could not be located. Booking agents for several of the entertainers listed on promotion material said they had never heard of Hayes. Some stars, like Patti LaBelle, specifically decline to appear at fundraising events, according to her agency. Carroll Park is a city-owned property that features a skateboard park, and is not suited to an event for 100,000 people, said Michele Speaks-March, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Recreation and Parks Department. “We don’t have any request for a permit from that man or from anyone for that day,” she said. Hayes lists Carroll Park as the site of another event on May 29, for a gospel choir-related all-day event. Speaks-March said no permit has been requested for that event, either. The Congressional Education Foundation for Public Policy does exist, according to the Internal Revenue Service. But the IRS lists the nonprofit as a private foundation for which full tax deductions are not permitted for making charitable contributions. Instead, deductions are limited to 30 percent, a sign that most of the money raised may not go to charities. The foundation Web site lists two other veterans-related fundraisers that Hayes is working on. He has tickets available for a June 4 gala for Maryland service members that he says will be held in the historic Fifth Regiment Armory and is also collecting donations to send veterans on a four-day Carribean cruise for New Years. For the cruise, he is seeking donations, in $35 increments, to sponsor veterans. Goods said Hayes “identified himself as a doctor, although a doctor of what wasn’t clear,” and that he was very interested in setting up accounts so that contributions from sponsors could be deposited in New York or Baltimore accounts. TREA did not sign up to sponsor the event, Goods said. “We are getting the word out to other veterans groups to be wary,” he said. Hayes came to the attention of the U.S. Secret Service after he raised money for a Veterans Inaugural Ball that was to be held in January 2009 but then disappeared, leaving a trail of disappointed charities, sponsors and performers. Beth Jannery, a Virginia-based public relations consultant and author who worked with Hayes on that event, was among those who said they were shocked when he vanished. “As far as I know, nothing has been resolved,” Jannery said. “Unfortunately, justice has not been served and no money has been returned, no apology has been made.”

Read the original here: Vets fundraiser who vanished re-emerges

The nation’s largest organization of combat veterans is demanding changes in the $15 billion jobs bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday because veterans were left out of a package of tax credits and highway projects aimed at increasing employment. “Despite having more than 1.1 million unemployed veterans, the 60-page package failed to mention ‘veteran’ or ‘veterans’ even once,” said Justin Brown, a legislative associate with the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Brown was referring to HR 2847, the Hiring Incentive to Restore Employment Act, or HIRE Act, that passed the Senate on Wednesday by a 70-28 vote and is pending before the House. Speaking before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s economic opportunity panel, which is considering legislation that would expand vocational training for veterans, Brown said the VFW “finds it unconscionable that American’s veterans, who have left their families, risked their lives and limbs and left civilian career pursuits behind to answer the nation’s call, do not have the attention of Congress for this important matter.” The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans is almost 15.8 percent, higher than the average 10.6 percent overall unemployment rate, as well as the 11.8 percent rate for foreign-born U.S. citizens — a sore point among veterans groups such as the VFW. “Unemployment impacts all Americans, but America’s newest veterans face multiple disadvantages in returning to employment after their service,” Brown said. “They are returning to an economy that offers few employment prospects while also potentially dealing with physical and mental disabilities, a lack of experience with interviews and resume writing, and a law of local networks and contacts that so many civilians enjoy.” Tax credits There are things Congress could do as part of the jobs bill, Brown said. For example, an existing tax credit for employers is worth $2,400 for hiring a veteran and $4,800 for hiring a disabled veteran. That credit could be doubled and expanded to include more veterans, Brown said. The tax credit now applies only to veterans unemployed for four weeks or longer who were separated from the military after Feb. 25, 2008. At a minimum, eligibility should be extended to anyone separated from the military since Sept. 11, 2001, Brown said, and the number of weeks spent unemployed should not be considered. Brown also suggested an overhaul of the veterans rehabilitation and employment program to widen eligibility and to make it more accommodating by providing things such as child care services for veterans who are receiving training. Expanding grants and loans to veterans who own a small business or want to start one also could be included in the bill, he said. House changes There is an opportunity to make changes in the HIRE Act when the House takes up the measure, but House passage is not a sure thing. There are objections to many of the provisions, such as which states would get the job-creating highway projects and proposed payroll tax relief for businesses that hire new workers over the next 10 years. House leaders hope for a quick agreement on a compromise, with a vote on the bill coming as early as next week — which might not be enough time for consideration of veterans-specific provisions. Brown’s comments came during a hearing to consider a variety of changes in veterans programs, including several aimed at expanding veterans education benefits. One includes a grant program in which an employer could receive up to $20,000 to offset the salary of a veteran in an apprenticeship program that would lead to a job in an energy-related field. The chief sponsor of that bill, Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., said he was trying to find a way to get veterans well-paying and lasting jobs in fields such as construction of energy-efficient buildings, renewable electric power, bio-fuels, oil and gas production and nuclear power. The concept has bipartisan support. Rep. John Boozman of Arkansas, the subcommittee’s top Republican, said he wanted to work with Teague to provide grants to employers. “Let’s put veterans to work,” Boozman said.

Read the rest here: Vets deserve a piece of jobs bill, VFW says

The Army Reserve has too many young, new soldiers and not enough sergeants and staff sergeants; too many lieutenants and colonels, but not enough captains and majors. The Reserve is authorized 25 or 30 chaplain assistants, but it has 125.In all, the Reserve has 207,000 soldiers in its ranks — the most it has had since 2004.“But it’s not the right 207,000,” said Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve. “It’s not the right rank, it’s not the right [military occupational specialty], it’s not the right geographic location.”“We’ve got to take that 207,000 and get them in the right place, get them in the right MOS and get them in the right rank,” Stultz said.Getting the right mix, he said, is expected to take two or three years, and it follows one of the most dramatic and thorough transformations of the Army Reserve.For the last three to four years, the Reserve has taken down what Stultz calls “legacy structure” and turned it into operational, deployable units. That included taking down some of the Reserve’s regional readiness commands and transforming them into deployable sustainment brigades. It also has created about 16,000 spaces in such high-demand MOSs as transportation, military police, civil affairs and engineers.The next challenge of reshaping the human side of the Army Reserve will be no easier, Stultz said.“Unlike the active Army, [which] has the luxury of [moving] people around to rebalance, we have civilian jobs,” he said.So leaders are focusing their attention on the recruiting effort.“We’re going to have to be very precise with Recruiting Command and say we’re under-strength in certain MOSs and certain areas, we’re over-strength in certain MOSs and certain areas,” Stultz said.That could come down to being as specific as telling recruiters in a particular city — Orlando, Fla., for example — to stop recruiting unit supply specialists but bring in more truck drivers.Some of the MOSs most sought after by Reserve recruiters include construction equipment operator, human intelligence collector, psychological operations specialist, civil affairs specialist, petroleum supply specialist and preventive medicine specialist.Stultz also wants to target active Army soldiers who are preparing to leave active duty, in an effort to fill his NCO and midlevel officer ranks.Stultz believes that he has a secret weapon to bring in more former active-duty soldiers — the Employer Partnership Initiative, in which the Reserve partners with civilian employers to recruit people interested in serving in the military and working for a particular company.More than 800 employers have signed on to the program, Stultz said.“Now I can talk to a soldier leaving active duty at Fort Hood not just about coming into a Reserve unit but about a civilian job,” he said. “It’s a win-win for me.”Another area Stultz believes he needs to work on is moving people out of the Reserve.“We’re going to have to do qualitative and selective retention,” he said. “We’ll take a look at some of these guys and say, ‘Do we want to keep these people in the force?’ or is it time for them to move out, thank them for their service, but we’ve got some younger soldiers that need a place to move up.“If I’ve got 150 percent at the E-3 and E-4 level, these guys are looking at each other and saying, ‘We’re not getting promoted because there’s nowhere to go.’ ”The entire process will be deliberate, it could be painful for some and it will take time, Stultz said.“I’m not trying to run out to a unit and say, ‘OK, you’re at 150 percent strength, you standing over here leave, you over here stay,’ ” he said. “We’ve got to work it deliberately.”

Read the original here: Reserve struggles to find right mix of soldiers

TORONTO — The commander of Canada’s largest air force base, who once flew dignitaries around the country, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two women.Ontario Provincial Police Detective Inspector Chris Nicholas said Monday that Col. Russell Williams, 46, was arrested Sunday in Ottawa. He was also charged in the sexual assaults of two other women.Williams was appointed as the base commander of Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Trenton, Ontario, in July. Trenton is Canada’s busiest air force base and is providing logistical support for Canada’s missions in Haiti and Afghanistan.Williams is charged with the murder of Jessica Lloyd, 27, of a Belleville, Ontario, resident whose body was found earlier Monday; and Marie Comeau, a 38-year-old corporal found dead in her Brighton, Ontario, home in November.Authorities said Williams came to the attention of police during a roadside canvas Feb. 4, six days after Lloyd was deemed missing.Williams is also charged with forcible confinement, breaking and entering, and sexual assault after two women were sexually assaulted during separate home invasions in September near Tweed, Ontario.Dan Dugas, a spokesman for Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, called the charges serious but said MacKay will not comment.Lt. Gen. Andre Deschamps, Canadian Air Force chief, said in a statement that it will review what action to take against Williams and said that an interim Trenton commander will be named.“This situation affects us all and I wish to extend my deepest sympathies to the families of those affected by these tragic events,” Deschamps said.Deschamps said the Canadian Air Force is fully supporting civilian police. He called it a difficult period but said officials would support the personnel at Trenton.Between December 2005 and June 2006, Williams was the commanding officer for Camp Mirage, the secretive Canadian Forces forward logistics base that is not officially acknowledged by the government or military but has been widely reported to be near Dubai.“We are certainly tracking the movements of where this man has been over the past several years and we’re continuing with our investigation,” Nicholas said.Williams’ Defense Department biography said he is married.Williams walked into a courthouse Monday in Belleville, Ontario, in hand and leg shackles, wearing a blue prison-issue jumpsuit. The judge imposed a publication ban on other details.He was held in custody and will appear in court by video on Feb. 18.

Read more: Murder charges for Canadian AF commander

Two months of unexplained delay on four top Pentagon nominations is long enough, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman said Thursday.At issue are nominations to fill vacancies as the Pentagon’s top personnel official, someone to oversee defense acquisition reform, and two key Air Force posts — the service undersecretary and assistant secretary for installations.The armed services committee unanimously approved the Obama administration’s picks for the jobs Dec. 2, but final confirmation by the Senate has been postponed because an anonymous senator has put a hold on the nominations.“We have service members willing to risk their lives in defense of the nation,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the armed services committee chairman, said Thursday. “The least we can do as a Senate is to confirm nominees to the critical positions to lead the Defense Department. If anybody has a problem with these nominees, would they please come to the floor and tell us? We have heard nothing.”One senator — Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. — acknowledged in December that he was responsible for holding up the Air Force nominees while trying to get information about contracts involving aerial tankers. Sessions and Levin, however, have not talked about the hold, according to Levin.Placing a hold on nominations is an informal practice under which any senator can anonymously prevent a confirmation vote simply by notifying the staff in their respective party’s legislative office. No reason has to be given. A hold lasts for seven days at a time and can be renewed indefinitely without explanation.In the case of the Pentagon nominations pending since December, it is clear that the hold has been placed by a Republican senator or senators, because the objection to bringing the nominees to a vote is coming from Republican floor leaders.“We don’t know of any problem,” Levin said. “We know their qualifications and they are extraordinary in every one of their cases.”One nomination on hold is for retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Clifford Stanley to become undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, a post in which he would oversee military and civilian personnel policy — including possible repeal of the military’s gay ban.Stanley “was the first African-American regimental commander in the Marine Corps, and he served with honor and distinction,” Levin said. “We are lucky that we could get someone like Gen. Stanley to fill this position, to come back into public service. I think there is unanimous consensus that he is extraordinarily qualified. No one has brought any problem with this nomination to my attention.”Another nomination that Levin says shouldn’t face any question is for Erin Conaton, staff director of the House Armed Services Committee, to become Air Force undersecretary.“We all know her. Nobody has raised an issue about her,” Levin said.The other nominees frozen by the hold are Frank Kendall III, nominated to be principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, and Terry Yonkers, nominated to be assistant Air Force secretary for installations and environment.Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen both have made an appeal to the Senate to approve the nominations, Levin said.Complaints about holds are nothing new, but efforts by the Senate to eliminate the practice — or to at least require senators to make public what they are doing — have failed over the years.After Levin spoke on the Senate floor, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate’s assistant majority leader, said he was one of those who had used holds on nominees in the past. “I am not 100 percent pure,” he said. “But I always state my purpose.”Durbin said he had used holds in an attempt to get federal agencies to “do things they said they would have done long before,” and that he released the holds when agencies acted.“I think it if is done with transparency and in a timely way, we can live with it,” he said of the practice.Like Levin, though, Durbin said he didn’t see why Stanley’s nomination to be the Pentagon personnel chief was frozen, since “it is clear that he is qualified.’

Read more: Levin urges end to hold on Pentagon nominees

DOVER, Del. — Beau Biden announced Monday that he will not seek election to the U.S. Senate seat long held by his father, Vice President Biden, putting another Democratic-held Senate seat in jeopardy and dealing another blow to President Obama’s flailing party.The Delaware attorney general told supporters in an e-mail that he will run for re-election to his state post instead of running against GOP Rep. Mike Castle for the seat Joe Biden held for 36 years. He cited a need to focus on prosecution of a high-profile child molestation case.“I have a duty to fulfill as attorney general, and the immediate need to focus on a case of great consequence. And that is what I must do,” Biden, 40, wrote. “Therefore I cannot and will not run for the United States Senate in 2010.”He left open the door of a candidacy in future years.Biden’s decision makes the Democratic-held seat vulnerable as the Democratic Party and its leader, Obama, are licking their wounds following Republican Scott Brown’s victory last week for the Senate seat in Massachusetts once held by Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy; the GOP upset ended the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.Two weeks before that, Sen. Byron Dorgan chose to retire in North Dakota rather than face re-election, putting a once-safe Democratic seat in serious trouble. No less than three Democratic senators were already vulnerable, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Michael Bennet of Colorado.The GOP also is making a play for the Illinois seat once held by Obama; Sen. Roland Burris, who was appointed to the seat, is not running. And Republicans are planning to fight for the Senate seat held by the retiring Christopher Dodd in Connecticut. Given a political environment tipping their way, the GOP also is keeping an eye on Sens. Barbara Boxer in California, Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania and Kirsten Gillibrand in New York.Biden’s decision was a surprise, given that his father’s confidant and former Senate chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, was appointed to the seat by Delaware’s governor essentially to keep it warm for the son until he was able to run.But then Castle, a former two-term governor and one of the most successful politicians in Delaware history, entered the race, dramatically increasing the likelihood of a competitive race.With Biden declining a run, Democrats in Washington said they were turning to New Castle County Chief Executive Chris Coons in hopes he would run. Coons was noncommittal last week when asked whether he would seek the nomination if Biden bows out, saying only that he looked forward to supporting Biden.While Obama didn’t call the younger Biden, White House officials said the president and vice president discussed the race regularly, as recently as last Friday. Obama had asked his No. 2 to tell Biden the president’s belief that he would win if he ran. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.Since returning home in September after a yearlong deployment to Iraq with his National Guard unit, Beau Biden, a captain in the Guard, had been focused on his family and his job as attorney general.In recent weeks, his agency has been enmeshed in the case of a Delaware pediatrician charged with sexually assaulting several of his patients. Prosecutors believe Dr. Earl Bradley of Lewes, who was arrested in December, may have molested more than 100 children over the past decade.“The reality is, it became increasingly clear over the last several weeks that it was impossible to mount a Senate campaign in the face of dealing with both the prosecution in Lewes as well as the things I need to do, our office needs to do, for victims,” Biden told The Associated Press.Biden vowed while campaigning for attorney general in 2006 that he would crack down on child predators, and he made the creation of a separate child predator unit within the state Justice Department his top priority after winning office. Had he turned his attention from the Bradley prosecution to running for Senate, he likely would have faced criticism from some voters, but Biden told AP he was not thinking in such terms.“I knew I had to be entirely focused on this case and the victims in it,” he said. “I sought this office and ran for this office to create a child predator unit. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to be attorney general.”Biden said he and his wife, Hallie, made the decision before informing family members, who he said were supportive of their decision.Castle, 70, announced in October that he would not seek a 10th term in the House but would run for this fall’s special election to fill the remaining four years of the Senate term Joe Biden won in 2008.Castle, a leader of GOP centrists who has demonstrated crossover appeal among Democrats as well as unaffiliated voters in Delaware, has a significant head start over the Democrats in fundraising. He has taken in more than $1 million since announcing his Senate bid in October, ending 2009 with about $1.7 million in his campaign chest.Beau Biden ended 2009 with slightly less than $100,000 in his attorney general campaign fund, having raised only about $6,500 in cash contributions during the year.———AP National Political Writer Liz Sidoti in Washington contributed to this report.

Originally posted here: Guardsman Beau Biden passes on Senate run

The alleged Christmas Day terrorist had been in one of the U.S. government’s many terror databases since November, which is when his father brought him to the attention of embassy officials in Nigeria

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Father of Detroit Terrorist Warned US

MERIDIAN, Miss. — A World War II veteran from Mississippi has received the National Order of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest military honor.Vernon Gibbs wiped away tears Monday as the medal was pinned on him during a ceremony in Meridian.The 84-year old Newton County resident said there were days as a young infantryman with the 45th Infantry Division he didn’t think he’d see the next sunrise.

The rest is here: WWII vet receives French Legion of Honor

WASHINGTON — The government intercepted at least 18 e-mails between the man accused of fatally killing 13 people at Fort Hood and a radical Muslim cleric.

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More e-mails between Hasan, cleric may exist

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months, though private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.A U.S. surveillance plane was monitoring the ship as it continued to its destination on the Kenyan coast, while a pirate said that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday with 28 North Korean crew members on board had died of wounds.Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama in April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack.Four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again on Wednesday around 6:30 a.m

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Maersk Alabama attacked again by pirates