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“The Special Olympics announced Tuesday evening that members of the disabilities rights community will meet Wednesday afternoon with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, after the fiery Chicagoan admitted to having referred to some liberal activists as ‘f—ing retarded.’ Emanuel was quoted in the Wall Street Journal last week making the comment in an August meeting with some liberal activists who were threatening to run TV ads against conservative Democrats hesitant to embrace President Obama’s approach to health care reform.” (02/02/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj8dmhy | |
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“As President Obama prepares to unveil his $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins Oct. 1, the White House is projecting the current fiscal year will end with a $1.6 trillion deficit, congressional sources confirmed to Fox News. Next year’s budget will have a nearly $1.3 trillion debt, according to those sources, dropping to just over half that — $700 billion in fiscal year 2013 — before jumping back up to $1 trillion in 2020, the furthest out that budgeters will predict. A $1.6 trillion deficit would represent more than 10 percent of the gross domestic product, but the White House says over the next 10 years, the average deficit will represent only 4.5 percent of GDP annually.” (01/31/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yee7jdd | |
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“Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts said he opposes federal funding for abortions, but thinks women should have the right to choose whether to have one. Brown told ABC’s This Week that he disagrees with his party’s position that the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion should be overturned. Brown said the abortion question is one that’s best handled by a woman, her family and her doctor. He also said more effort needs to go into reducing the number of abortions in the U.S. Brown has said the GOP shouldn’t take his vote for granted on every issue. He said he’s fiscally conservative but more moderate on social issues.” (01/31/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydwkw87 | |
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“The nuclear industry, once an environmental pariah, is recasting itself as green as it attempts to extend the life of many power plants and build new ones. But a leak of radioactive water at Vermont Yankee, along with similar incidents at more than 20 other US nuclear plants in recent years, has kindled doubts about the reliability, durability and maintenance of the nation’s aging nuclear installations. Vermont health officials say the leak, while deeply worrisome, is not a threat to drinking water supplies or the Connecticut River, which flows beside the 38-year-old plant, nor is it endangering public health. But the controversy is threatening to derail the nuclear plant’s bid, now at a critical juncture, for state approvals to extend its operating life by 20 years when its license expires in two years.” (01/31/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykstka5 | |
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“What’s being billed as the Bay Area’s largest full service marijuana superstore opened in Oakland filled with the enthusiastic support of local politicians, reports CBS Station KPIX in San Francisco. But don’t expect to buy any pot there. The very first customers Thursday at the iGrow store on Hegenberger Road found a doctor ready to help with a medical marijuana prescription, even a massage therapist. The actual plant however was nowhere on site. ‘Basically we have everything you would need for medicinal marijuana except for the plants itself. So everything from the systems to the nutrients to the pest control,’ said operations manager Justin Jorgenson. In other words, it’s not a pot club. It’s a gardening supply store that sales sophisticated hydroponic systems to help you grow your own — whether that’s pot, tomatoes or roses. ‘We’re saying look, we’ll openly talk to people about marijuana if they have the correct documentation,’ Jorgenson said.” (01/28/10) Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/28/national/main6152605.shtml | |
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“Despite last year’s battle with state lawmakers over health insurance for legal immigrants, Governor Deval Patrick is calling for a 25 percent funding increase for the program, a total of $75 million, in his new budget proposal. Patrick, who has been a staunch advocate for the funding, said he is committed to the initiative for the group of 26,000 ‘hardworking, taxpaying’ residents. Massachusetts does not receive federal reimbursement for the immigrants’ coverage, as it does for other healthcare programs. ‘We worked out a pretty good solution’ with lawmakers last year, Patrick said, but he acknowledged that the compromise reached after months of prickly negotiations was ‘bare bones, to be sure.’” [editor’s note: “Bare bones” and “Taxachusetts” in the same sentence? Gimme a break! - SAT] (01/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydqp4tv | |
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“The California Senate approved creating a government-run healthcare system for the nation’s most populous state on Thursday, ignoring a veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Supporters said it is time for state legislatures to take up the debate as the Obama Administration’s national healthcare proposal falters in Congress. ‘If it’s not to be done at the national level, let us take the lead,’ said state Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego. The move in California comes after Massachusetts voters changed the calculus in Congress by electing a Republican to the Senate who opposes the pending plan.” [editor’s note: So now Congress may have THREE bad examples to emulate — TN, MA & CA - SAT] (01/28/10) Link: http://rawstory.com/2010/01/ca-senate-singlepayer-health/ | |
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“Some 70 nations raised $140 million Thursday as part of a focused, momentum-building effort to aid the government of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. But clear signals were also delivered that the US and its NATO allies are crafting a departure strategy and determined to transfer security responsibility to Kabul within five years. Mr. Karzai and top officials from the US-led NATO coalition in Afghanistan were gathered in London for a conference on the future of Afghanistan. The London Conference’s final communique made it clear that an eventual pullout was on almost everyone’s mind.” (01/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yan7j9s | |
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“The leaders of one of the largest Pashtun tribes in a Taliban stronghold agreed to support the American-backed government, battle insurgents, and burn down the home of any Afghan who harbors Taliban guerrillas, leaders of the tribe said yesterday. Elders from the Shinwari tribe, which represents about 400,000 people in southeastern Afghanistan, also pledged to send at least one military-age male in each family to the Afghan Army or the police in the event of a Taliban attack. In exchange for their support, American commanders agreed to channel $1 million in development projects directly to the tribal leaders and bypass the local Afghan government, which is widely seen as corrupt.” (01/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb4dgwk | |
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Link: http://rawstory.com/2010/01/howard-zinn-dead-87/ | |
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“The City Council gave final approval yesterday to a much-anticipated ordinance that will close most marijuana dispensaries and curb the ‘Green Rush’ that has swept through much of California in recent years. The ordinance, which passed 9 to 3, caps the number of dispensaries at 70 and provides guidelines that will push the clinics out of neighborhoods and into industrial areas. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa must approve the ordinance for it to take effect. City officials believe it will be at least 45 days before they can enforce it. Enforcement could be a major effort for the city. No one is sure how many marijuana clinics there are in Los Angeles (the best estimate is between 800 and 1,000), and getting owners to comply with the ordinance will probably meet resistance.” (01/27/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yeytzfj | |
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“An animal rights group wants organizers of Pennsylvania’s Groundhog Day festival to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a robotic stand-in. … People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it’s unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each year in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. PETA is suggesting the use of an animatronic model. But William Deeley, president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, says the animal is ‘being treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania.’ The groundhog is kept in a climate-controlled environment and is inspected annually by the state Department of Agriculture.” (01/27/10) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584109,00.html | |
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“The federal government yesterday banned texting for commercial bus and truck drivers as part of an effort to combat traffic deaths stemming from distracted motorists. Violators may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of as much as $2,750, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in Washington. LaHood has made the issue a priority after more than 5,800 people died in 2008 in accidents in which driver distraction was cited in the crash report. Last fall, President Obama banned the nation’s almost 3 million federal employees from texting while driving on the job.” [editor’s note: The ultimate inanity of this is that ANY law had to be passed to outlaw such utter stupidity! TEXTING is far too distracting an activity to be engaged in while driving a vehicle! - SAT] [additional editor’s note: A law didn’t “have” to be passed. Stupid people will still text while driving even with a law and non-stupid people wouldn’t text while driving even absent a law. The purposes of the law are revenue enhancement and promotion of the image of government as “in control of things” - TLK] (01/27/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ye6354w | |
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“Contacts with China’s military would likely be the first to suffer if Beijing moves to retaliate over upcoming U.S. arms sales to Taiwan— the latest in a flurry of disputes elevating tensions between Washington and Beijing. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu warned Tuesday that the Obama administration risked damaging bilateral ties with China if it proceeds with the arms package deal, which is likely to include Black Hawk helicopters and Patriot missiles.” (01/26/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ygu34xb | |
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“The number of new recruits who hold bachelor’s degrees jumped by nearly 17 percent last year, from about 5,400 in 2008 to more than 6,400 for the armed services, Pentagon statistics show. The number of enlistees with associate’s degrees from community colleges also increased, though more modestly, from roughly 2,380 to just over 2,570. The number of recruits with four- and two-year degrees represents 5.2 percent of the total 2009 military recruitment of 168,000. They are part of a strong recruitment year fueled by high unemployment, particularly when compared with two years ago, when the Pentagon struggled to fill its ranks despite offering five-figure enlistment bonuses and granting waivers to recruits who failed to meet its standards.” [editor’s note: Cause/effect in bold relief — attack foreign lands without true provocation; throw billions (trillions?) into that effort; destroy economy at home; leave no options but enlistment - SAT] (01/26/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8bfnzl | |
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“Little girls may learn to fear math from the women who are their earliest teachers. Despite gains in recent years, women still trail men in some areas of math achievement, and the question of why has provoked controversy. Now, a study of first- and second-graders suggests what may be part of the answer: Female elementary-school teachers who are concerned about their own math skills could be passing that along to the little girls they teach. … Ninety percent of U.S. elementary-school teachers are women, as were all of those in this study. Student math ability was not related to teacher math anxiety at the start of the school year, the researchers report in today’s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But by the end of the year, the more anxious teachers were about their own math skills, the more likely their female students (but not the boys) were to agree that ‘boys are good at math and girls are good at reading.’” (01/26/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8lh5xd | |
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“A national coalition of women’s groups called on CBS on Monday to scrap its plan to broadcast an ad during the Super Bowl featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, which critics say is likely to convey an anti-abortion message. The New York-based Women’s Media Center is coordinating the protest with backing from the National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority and other groups. CBS said it has approved the script for the 30-second ad and has not said whether the protest will have an impact. The ad, paid for by the Christian group Focus on the Family, is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow’s pregnancy in 1987. After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to a future Heisman Trophy winner.” (01/26/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y8mgw8a | |
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“Four U.S. Senators are pursuing legislation they believe would fix the ‘mistake’ President Obama made with the man who allegedly failed to blow up a Christmas Day flight into Detroit. That ‘mistake’ was treating him like a serious criminal, tossing him in jail and planning a trial. Nevertheless, Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Robert Bennett (R-UT) and John Ensign (R-NV) are pushing legislation that would require civilian authorities to consult with intelligence leaders when taking an accused terrorist into custody. … Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, fired back: ‘It is extremely disturbing that members of the U.S. Congress are essentially calling for Obama administration officials to discard the Constitution when a terrorist suspect is apprehended — as if the Constitution should be applied on a case by case basis.’” (01/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yalpp87 | |
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“In Wisconsin, conservative and pro-business groups said Friday that they were considering a lawsuit to block a proposed law that would ban corporate spending during political campaigns. In Kentucky and Colorado, lawmakers looked for provisions in their state constitutions that may need to be rewritten. And in Texas, lawyers for Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, said the pending state campaign finance case against him should be thrown out. A day after the United States Supreme Court ruled that the federal government may not ban political spending by corporations or unions in candidate elections, officials across the country were rushing to cope with the fallout, as laws in 24 states were directly or indirectly called into question by the ruling.” (01/22/10) Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/us/politics/23states.html | |
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“This week’s landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that allows unlimited corporate spending in political campaigns is sure to alter the political landscape for candidates running in federal elections. But what impact the court’s 5-4 decision might have on state and local races remains an open question. Rep. Glen Casada, the chairman of the House Republican Caucus, said Friday that he is preparing a request for a ruling on the matter from the Tennessee attorney general. Anticipating the Supreme Court ruling, Casada had already filed a broadly written bill that would allow corporations to contribute to political campaigns in Tennessee.” (01/23/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yg37ej5 | |
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“The state Senate yesterday passed a civil unions bill with enough votes to override a potential veto, sending a strong message of support to the state House and Gov. Linda Lingle. The 18-7 vote came after many senators, conscious that they may be making history, described civil unions as part of the same long path toward equality as voting rights were for women and civil rights were for blacks. The bill would give both same-sex and heterosexual couples the ability to enter into civil unions and have the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as marriage under state law. Senate Democrats met the veto-proof cushion that state House leaders said they wanted to see after watching the Senate fumble with civil unions last year.” (01/23/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ygtl4k6 | |
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“A high school student found to have marijuana in the classroom would seem to be a prime candidate for a little ‘talk’ with the vice principal — and maybe a trip to the police station. But around the country today, hundreds — perhaps thousands — of high schoolers are bringing pot to school, and they’re doing it legally. Not to get stoned, but as part of prescribed medical treatment. And they don’t have to tell school authorities about it. This is putting teachers and principals in a new and challenging position. In many counties and school districts, there are no clear guidelines — for school officials, students or parents.” [since in some schools having nasal spray is “zero tolerance” grounds for suspension, this only clouds the horizon a bit more - SAT] (01/23/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yc26y8w | |
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“The California Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers were wrong to change provisions of the voter-approved Proposition 215. The 1996 measure allowed for patients with a doctor’s recommendation to possess an unspecified amount of marijuana. The Legislature, seeking to give law enforcement guidance on when to make marijuana possession arrests, mandated in 2003 that each patient could have a maximum of 8 ounces of dried marijuana. The high court says only voters can change amendments that they’ve added to California’s constitution through the initiative process.” (01/21/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb3nt7k | |
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“A U.S. District Court judge has declared a portion of an Arizona program that gives candidates public money for their campaigns unconstitutional — and she has given the system’s defenders 10 days to convince a higher court otherwise. Judge Roslyn Silver ruled Wednesday that a portion of the state’s 12-year-old Clean Elections system should be shut down. But her 10-day delay in implementing the ruling gives the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission time to appeal. Unless the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issues a delay of its own, the ruling could throw races now under way for 2010 elections into chaos. Silver said a portion of the Clean Elections system that gives participating candidates extra public funds to match funds raised by their competitors violates the First Amendment, because it causes other candidates to limit their own campaigning, fundraising and the spending of their own money.” (01/21/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydmmpwb | |
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“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will call tomorrow for an uncensored global Internet where individuals and companies can operate without fear of repression or computer attacks such as those Google Inc. says emanated from China. Clinton will sketch out the Obama administration’s vision of promoting Internet freedom and security, highlighting how the U.S. is supporting organizations around the world to develop tools to circumvent firewalls and promote democracy and economic growth, officials said.” (01/20/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ybopofq | |
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“Republican Scott P. Brown pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Massachusetts political history last night, defeating Democrat Martha Coakley to become the state’s next US senator …. With 94 percent of precincts reporting, Brown had won 52.2 percent to Coakley’s 46.8 percent. [Libertarian] Joseph L. Kennedy received 1 percent.” (01/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yasx8b4 | |
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“Eight in 10 Americans — 81% overall — support allowing doctors to prescribe cannabis, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll. That’s up from just 69% in 1997, the last time the two firms asked that question, and from 75% in 2003, according to Gallup. The main divide among American voters today is how the medical community should be enabled to dole out the drug. The most recent state to allow medical marijuana — New Jersey — has the most strenuous controls found anywhere in the nation.” (01/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ya5l54w | |
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“Three Guantanamo Bay detainees whose deaths were ruled a suicide in 2006 apparently had been transported from their cells hours before their deaths to a secret site on the island, an article in Harper’s magazine says. The account released Monday raises serious questions about whether the three detainees actually died by hanging themselves in their cells and suggests the U.S. government is covering up details of what precisely happened before the deaths on the night of June 9, 2006. In response to the article, the Justice Department said that it had thoroughly reviewed the allegations and found no evidence of wrongdoing.” (01/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yb5hkau | |
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“All portions of a criminal trial must be open to the public, including selection of the jury, the US Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. In an unusual summary order, the high court ruled 7 to 2 in favor of a convicted cocaine trafficker who claimed that his right to a public trial was violated when a judge in Georgia barred members of the public from the courtroom during jury selection. At the time, there was only one observer in the courtroom — defendant Eric Presley’s uncle. Mr. Presley’s lawyer objected to excluding members of the public. But the judge said there wasn’t enough room in the courtroom for the 42 prospective jurors as well as public observers.” (01/19/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ydzhg4p | |
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Text of a press release concerning the complaint filed with the International Criminal Court by Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law versus George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales. The complaint specifies alleged crimes against humanity and claims that the although the US is not party to the treaty empowering the ICC, the ICC has jurisdiction since the alleged crimes involved member states. (01/19/10) Link: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/49394/ | |
Commentary
jump to News Section | jump to Events and Movement News Section
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“In Ukraine, presidential elections look to have brought the country full circle. Voters have apparently returned to support Viktor Yanukovich, the villain in the country’s democratic ‘Orange Revolution’ of 2004. It was after fraudulent elections just over five years ago, when Mr. Yanukovich was declared the presidential winner, that Ukrainians persistently protested the phony results and eventually saw them thrown out. Their peaceful demonstrations inspired other ‘color’ revolutions and rattled Ukraine’s eastern neighbor, Russia. Ukraine must now get its geometry right and move forward instead of chasing its tail. Yet since the revolution, its democratic leaders have been running in circles, fighting each other while doing little to advance needed political and economic reforms.” (02/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj4uuh4 | |
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“There’s a useful old carpenter’s adage — measure twice, cut once — that’s also pretty good advice for other projects, like crafting public policy. Knowing as precisely as possible how a society is ticking helps both to better understand problems and formulate solutions. Compared to woodworking, it’s harder to measure what is going on in a society — or even to know what to measure. And relying on the wrong measurements can mess up public policy, tilting decisions politically and ignoring a society’s shortcomings. The big emerging debate focuses on the single most influential economic statistic — the gross domestic product, or GDP, which is the market value of all the goods and services produced in a country over a year, including private household consumption, investment, government spending and exports (minus imports).” [editor’s note: as long as GDP includes the non-production of statist spending, it will never be an accurate measure of economic activity - SAT] (02/08/10) Link: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5456/gross_inaccuracies | |
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“Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, the old soldier who looked like and in so many ways was a member of the Democratic establishment of another time, broke with the leadership of his own party and the opposition Republicans at a critical point in 2005 and said it was time to bring the troops home from Iraq. Murtha was a gruff warrior, with too many ties to defense-industry lobbyists and Pentagon insiders to number. He was the consummate insider, a Democrat who was more a part of the military-industrial complex — for better and for worse — than any Republican. For much of his career, he was a Democrat who was more liked by Republicans than by progressives in his own party. Ultimately, that’s what made his dissent so meaningful.” (02/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yddbzd4 | |
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“What is the benefit to Wall Street in killing things or bringing the share price of companies to near worthless? Tails they win; heads you lose. Wall Street can and does make enormous profits on bets that share prices will decline (shorting), that companies will disappear (credit default swaps), that the economy will crater (interest rate swaps). And there’s a slogan on Wall Street: the trend is your friend. When it’s clear the bull is lying in the center of the ring (think Lehman’s death and the Merrill Lynch shotgun wedding on September 15, 2008), Wall Street moves its bets to the downside.” (02/08/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/martens03082010.html | |
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“For most of last year, Republicans spent their time attacking Democratic plans for reform, rather than describing their own. But now they’ve put a plan on the table. Showcasing that plan — and comparing it to what the Democrats have proposed — might help clarify a few things. The Republican health care plan is part of the ‘Roadmap for America’s Future.’ Its chief architect is Paul Ryan, ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee and a rising star in the party. Republicans boast that the Roadmap is serious plan to get the federal budget under control, which turns out to be a fairly large exaggeration.” (02/08/10) Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/health-care/fairness-doctrine | |
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“Amy is an unwitting porn star. She is among the most-downloaded in the reviled genre of child smut. Photos of her sexual abuse at the age of 8 and 9 by her uncle have proliferated to the point that every day, sometimes several times a day, someone is caught with the more than decade-old images. Every time this happens, she’s notified by police and reminded that uncountable strangers have gotten off on the trauma she suffered — and, once again, she feels victimized. Her uncle is in jail, but what of these vicarious abusers? She’s hoping to make them pay, too. The 20-year-old is seeking restitution — to the tune of $3.4 million — from those caught in possession of these images.” (02/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yl6lvg9 | |
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“At the Memphis party on Saturday, someone in the audience asked her about the prospects for what he called the ‘two words that scare liberals — President Palin.’ Let’s be clear on why those words should terrify anyone with a thinking brain. Palin is someone who has clearly never seriously thought through any issue of national importance on her own. She’s excellent at reciting a raucous speech, but she can’t improvise a coherent sentence, which usually reflects an inability to form a coherent idea. … She is deluded enough to believe (or at least to say Sunday morning on Fox News) that her brief, aborted stint as Alaska’s governor gave her more executive experience than President Obama has even now. She believes that the country should elect leaders, including presumably herself, who seek solutions in ‘divine intervention.’” (02/08/10) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2244062/ | |
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“Counterinsurgency, or COIN, has been in vogue at the Pentagon since the success of the Iraq surge, and its dominance was cemented when President Obama chose General Stanley McChrystal, former head of special operations forces and a recent convert to counterinsurgency, as his commander in Afghanistan. Shortly afterward, Obama promulgated his new strategy ‘to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan.’ The primary tool would be COIN. Counterinsurgency theorists obsessively study ’small wars,’ such as the British war in Malaya, the French war in Algeria, and the wars in Vietnam. The emphasis is on using the least amount of violence against the enemy, familiarity with the local culture, and painstakingly removing popular support for the insurgents.” (01/10) Link: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/01/obama-afghanistan-stoner-cops | |
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“Atop Palinland’s Mount Rushmore are Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater. Palinland’s Bill of Rights has been edited and redacted, reordered and revised with red ink: in Palinland, the Fifth and Sixth Amendments that ensure due process and the rights of the accused are merely suggestive measures to be administered based on the emotional whim of a carefully-harnessed fear and a fervently-stoked anger. And in Palinland, the Tenth Amendment’s reservation of power for the individual states is paramount, a necessary protection for a people whose government is supposedly hell-bent on destroying them.” (02/07/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/527600/welcome_to_palinland | |
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“In advance of yesterday’s National Prayer Breakfast, President Barack Obama was under pressure to use the opportunity to condemn the anti-homosexuality bill pending in the Ugandan Parliament. The legislation, which would criminalize homosexuality and require the death penalty or life imprisonment for certain ‘offenses,’ has been described by human-rights activists as tantamount to instigating a genocide against sexual minorities, who are already persecuted in the African nation. Obama, speaking just before the first anniversary of the launch of his Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, once again fell into the religion-in-public-life trap: Faith is intended for good, and we must present it as such — regardless of its exploitation for ends that are less than pure, and regardless of one’s stated commitment to secular government.” (02/05/10) Link: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=in_bad_faith | |
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China is aiming at America’s soft underbelly: The Internet
Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: Nathan Gardels “No one knows more about China’s cyberwar capacities than Mike McConnell, who was director of National Intelligence, the authority over all US intelligence agencies, from February 2007 to January 2009, and director of the NSA from 1992 to 1996. After attacks last spring on the Pentagon and the New York Stock Exchange, I sat down with him to discuss China, the chief suspect then also, and to get the lay of the cyberwar battlefield.” (02/05/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yj7olt4 | |
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Why we can’t afford to let Obama give Bush’s war criminals a free pass
Source: AlterNet Author: Charlotte Dennet “Late last Friday, we learned that Obama’s Department of Justice plans to go easy on John Yoo and Jay Bybee — the two assistant attorney generals under Bush who penned the infamous torture memos. For those who have been working long and hard in the accountability movement to make sure no one — not even presidents or their top advisors — is above the law, this was a serious setback.” (02/06/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/y9tqfdc | |
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“For months, much of the right-wing blogosphere has been fuming about Executive Order 12425, which Obama amended in mid-December. The one-paragraph document grants Interpol, the international law enforcement agency based in France, special privileges within the United States — mainly immunity from the Freedom of Information Act and from lawsuits over activity considered part of its official duties. It’s no secret police conspiracy. But thanks to Glenn Beck, the National Review, Newt Gingrich, and others, this obscure directive has fueled a firestorm of right-wing paranoia. Conservative activists warn that Obama intends to use Interpol as a ’secret police’ with the power to knock down doors and arrest law-abiding American citizens. No matter that Interpol agents don’t even carry guns and have no right to arrest people, or that its American office boasts all of five people. And the hysteria over the executive order is not confined to the Tea Party movement. It has also reached the highest levels of politics — that is, the US Congress.” (02/05/10) Link: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/obama-secret-police | |
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“In trying to explain why our political paralysis seems to have gotten so much worse over the past year, analysts have rounded up a plausible collection of reasons including: President Obama’s tactical missteps, the obstinacy of congressional Republicans, rising partisanship in Washington, the blustering idiocracy of the cable-news stations, and the Senate filibuster, which has devolved into a super-majority threshold for any important legislation. These are all large factors, to be sure, but that list neglects what may be the biggest culprit in our current predicament: the childishness, ignorance, and growing incoherence of the public at large.” (02/06/10) Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2243797/ | |
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“Is there any other nation in the world where a leading politician can appear in public — without controversy — wearing the flag of a foreign country? It was a huge scandal on the Right when immigration reform marchers waved Mexican (along with American) flags in order to display cultural solidarity with Mexican immigrants who were being demonized and living in wretched conditions, as non-persons, in the U.S.; isn’t it obviously more significant when someone who recently wanted to be Vice President and is now the leader of this Fox-News-sponsored political movement appears at events in the U.S. wearing an Israeli flag melded to an American flag, as though the two nations are joined as one entity? Why should an American political leader be wearing an Israeli flag? All of this underscores both (a) the total incoherence of the ‘tea party movement’ and (b) how it is, at bottom, nothing more than a cynical marketing attempt to re-brand the right wing of the Republican Party under the exact same policies and principles which defined it for the last couple of decades.” (02/07/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ykrqjln | |
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“Sarah Palin hit all the right notes for a keynote speech at a tea party convention: Barack Obama protects terrorists, the media hates you, Scott Brown is a warning sign, and Reagan is the man. But she hit a few discordant ones, too. After a weekend where people adamantly stated their suspicion of both parties and fear that the movement could be coopted by the Republicans, she reiterated her opinion that the GOP should ‘absorb’ the tea party movement. It highlighted the tough line Palin has to walk: attempting to retain establishment conservative support, while tapping into the groundswell of tea party types who could make or break her candidacy.” (02/05/10) Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/nashville-nation | |
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“Pretty much everyone agrees that China is the only nation with any chance of challenging American military superiority in the foreseeable future. So it’s awfully strange that the Department of Defense’s new Quadrennial Defense Review has little to say about the country.” (02/04/10) Link: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_real_chinese_threat | |
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Yemen doesn’t have to be the next failed terorrist state
Source: Christian Science Monitor Author: S. Rob Sobhani “The international conference about Yemen held in London last week reminded me of one of Saudi King Abdullah’s favorite quotes from the Koran: ‘Truly never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves.’ That statement sums up his approach to what we in the West call nation-building. As Yemen slides toward a failed state through a combination of bad governance, suspected Iranian support for Houthi separatists, unchecked Al Qaeda proselytizing and recruitment, a secessionist movement in the south, and 35 percent unemployment, the United States should consider asking King Abdullah to offer his vision of nation-building to save the Yemeni state. But in seeking to contain the security threat, Washington must not repeat the errors of the Bush administration in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the US focused excessively on solving immediate security problems without addressing the larger context of the terrorist threat.” (02/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yzha9tl | |
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“We should remember what it felt like one year ago, as the ability to recall it emotionally will pass and it is an emotional memory as much as anything else. It was a moment rare in a democracy’s history. The feeling was palpable — to supporters and opponents alike — that something important had happened. America had elected, the young candidate promised, a transformational president. And wrapped in a campaign that had produced the biggest influx of new voters and small-dollar contributions in a generation, the claim seemed credible, almost intoxicating, and just in time. Yet a year into the presidency of Barack Obama, it is already clear that this administration is an opportunity missed. Not because it is too conservative. Not because it is too liberal. But because it is too conventional.” (02/04/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100222/lessig | |
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“It is amazing how Henry Kissinger has been able to retain his aura of invincible genius in international relations, continuing to counsel presidents, foreign governments and major global businesses, while occasionally writing lofty Op Ed pieces advising the U.S. on what it should or should not be doing next. This mind you, despite Kissinger’s own history of monumental cynicism and duplicity when he was guiding foreign policy for President’s Nixon and Ford. Indeed, it’s a tribute to the ability of mainstream American media to forgive and forget. The latest example is an Op Ed piece Kissinger just wrote for the New York Times warning American leaders that they are no longer giving Iraq the attention it deserves.” (02/04/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/lando02042010.html | |
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Shadow elite: How the world’s new power brokers are up-ending our democracy
Source: AlterNet Author: Janine Wedel “This new breed of players is the product of an unprecedented confluence of four transformational developments that arose in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries: the redesign of governing, spawned by the rising tide of government outsourcing and deregulation under a ‘neoliberal’ regime, and the rise of executive power; the end of the Cold War — of relations dominated by two competing alliances — which intensified the first development and created new, sparsely governed, arenas; the advent of evermore complex technologies, especially information and communication technologies; and the embrace of ‘truthiness,’ which allows people to play with how they present themselves to the world, regardless of fact or track record.” (02/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ylmayb7 | |
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“After [the CPS/NRG reactor project] debacle, one would think the government would be wary about underwriting projects with such dicey finances. Yet the Obama administration’s 2001 budget proposes tripling the loan guarantee program — from the $18.5 billion that Congress has already approved to $54.5 billion. The program’s expansion is just one of several signs that the Obama administration is throwing its muscle behind the nuclear industry’s push for a massive expansion.” (02/04/10) Link: http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/02/obamas-nuclear-giveaway | |
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“[T]he U.S. Government — like all governments — has a long history of viewing ‘free speech’ as a violent threat or even Terrorism. That’s why this is exactly the type of question that is typically — and is intended to be — resolved by courts, according the citizen due process, not by the President acting alone. That’s especially true if the death penalty is to be imposed. But Obama’s presidential assassination policy completely short-circuits that process. It literally makes Barack Obama the judge, jury and executioner even of American citizens.” (02/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yac6bzf | |
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“Here is a fact: Barack Obama has trouble generating enthusiasm among white working class voters. That’s not because they are white. He would have had trouble winning support among black working class voters if they had been unable to identify with him because he was black. He has trouble with working class voters because he appears to them as coming from a different world, a different realm of experience, a different class, if you like. And that’s because he does.” (02/04/10) Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/hes-yuppie | |
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“On Monday, the Obama administration released a pair of critical documents indicating the path it intends to take on military and defense issues. One of these documents was the budget for fiscal year 2011, which calls for an increase in defense spending as well as the restructuring of a couple of major weapons programs. The other document was the Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR. Every four years, the Department of Defense reports to Congress on its long-term strategic and procurement plans. The QDR gives the White House the opportunity to both lay the tracks of future equipment procurement and to make a statement about its strategic orientation.” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=an_end_to_the_long_war | |
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“Finally President Barack Obama has come to his senses on financial regulation. His endorsement of what he calls the ‘Volcker Rule’ for once puts him squarely on the side of ordinary Americans as opposed to the banking bandits who have so thoroughly fleeced the public. The proposal from former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker basically involves restoring the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1930s Glass-Steagall banking regulations to prevent another Great Depression. It means separating the activities of commercial banks, entrusted with the deposits of ordinary folks, from the antics of the financial high rollers who are presumably dealing with wealthier and more knowledgeable investors.” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100215/scheer | |
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“Is the financial crisis over? Is the recovery for real and, if not, what are Americans’ prospects? The short answer is that the financial crisis is not over, the recovery is not real, and the U.S. faces a far worse crisis than the financial one.” (02/03/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/roberts02032010.html | |
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“Is the Green Movement finished? That is what the Iranian government wants the world to believe. And it has recently been trumpeting a few pieces of evidence to make its case. First came a statement by Mir Hossein Mousavi on New Year’s Eve, which offered five conditions for ending the current impasse. But because it did not directly repeat Mousavi’s oft-quoted notion that the June elections were rigged, Kayhan and Rajanews — the two news outlets closest to Khamenei and Ahmadinejad — tried to claim the statement as a major victory for the regime.” (02/03/10) Link: http://www.tnr.com/article/world/green-energy | |
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“[W]hat does Michael O’Hanlon know about the military, and why is he — of all people — being held out as some sort of expert on these matters? He’s never been anywhere near the military. He specializes in establishing himself as a ‘testosterone-laden tough guy’ by cheerleading for wars and urging that we send other people off to fight them — all from the safety and comfort of his Brookings office. Several months ago, over 100 retired Generals and Admirals — people who, unlike O’Hanlon, actually understand the military first-hand — called for a repeal of DADT so that gay people can serve openly. Why would anyone believe that someone like Mike O’Hanlon, who relentlessly waves his pom-poms for war while ensuring he never fights them, has anything worthwhile to say on the topic of the military’s ability to successfully integrate openly gay service members?” (02/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yaorkbk | |
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“Obama and House GOPers held a riveting Q&A. A bipartisan group of bloggers, techies, and consultants is now demanding they do it again. And again.” (02/03/10) Link: http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/more-question-time-please | |
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“For many countries, the United Kingdom and Canada among them, eliminating discrimination in the military came from a hard fought court battle. One day, the issue was being argued in the European Court of Human Rights (for the U.K.), the next it was illegal. Overnight, the military had to change its policies, its practices and military personnel could, quite quickly, choose to out themselves as gay without facing retribution. This worked, not because Brits and Canadians were somehow (over a decade ago for both countries) more ready for the change than Americans, that they were more open to gay rights or more intrinsically able to accept difference in others. It worked because it had to. That’s the way the court system operates most of the time: we don’t give you time to get comfortable with the fact that you are breaking the law and have to change your actions. But the U.S. is approaching things differently. They are asking for more time. The problem is, I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what exactly they need a year to do.” (02/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ycgj8af | |
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“Who would know from all of the whining about budget deficits that military spending is the largest discretionary item in the federal government? Exempting all security-related expenditures from common sense cuts will have serious consequences for almost everything the government does - -from job creation, poverty reduction and alternative energy development, to aid for cash-strapped state and local governments. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute reports that non-security-related discretionary spending is already at near-historic lows as a share of GDP.” (02/02/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/525267/no_defense_for_this_budget | |
Events and Movement News
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“Legislative leaders unveiled the most sweeping ethics overhaul in decades yesterday, as they attempted to move past a series of high-profile scandals on Beacon Hill and reach an accord with Governor Deval Patrick on a sales tax increase. The ethics bill — which strengthens enforcement, levies higher penalties for violations and bans nearly all gifts to public officials — is the final piece of legislation requested by the governor before he said he would consider asking Massachusetts residents to pay more at the register.” (06/25/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mfhng9 | |
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“Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president. According to a report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president. The bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks.” (05/17/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/qhgu78 | |
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“Pressure from a dam, its reservoir’s heavy waters weighing on geologic fault lines, may have helped trigger China’s devastating earthquake last May, some scientists say, in a finding that suggests human activity played a role in the disaster. The magnitude-7.9 quake in Sichuan province was China’s worst in a generation, causing 70,000 deaths and leaving 5 million homeless. Just 550 yards from the fault line and 3.5 miles from the epicenter stands the 511-foot-high Zipingpu dam, the area’s largest. The quake cracked Zipingpu, forcing the reservoir to be drained. Fan Xiao, a chief engineer at the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau, said Wednesday that the immense weight of Zipingpu’s waters — 315 million tons — likely affected the timing and magnitude of the quake.” (02/04/09) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487967,00.html | |
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“The Albuquerque Police Department has turned to the want ads for snitches. An ad this week in the alternative newspaper The Alibi asks ‘people who hang out with crooks’ to do part-time work for the police. It reads in part: ‘Make some extra cash! Drug use and criminal record OK.’ Capt. Joe Hudson says police received more than 30 responses in two days. He says one tip was a ‘big one’ but wouldn’t elaborate. An informant whose tip helps officers arrest a drug dealer could earn $50. A tip about a murder suspect could bring up to $700.” (11/23/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456466,00.html | |
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“Bharati Chaturvedi, the director and cofounder of Chintan, a small Indian NGO that provides education to waste-pickers, claims that more than 1 percent of Delhi’s population sifts through garbage, recycling as much as 59 percent of the city’s waste. ‘These waste-pickers are providing a public service — for free,’ she says. That may soon change. A new waste incinerator that turns trash into electricity is slated to be built in Timarpur, a suburb of Delhi. Because it will reduce the amount of methane off-gassed by landfills, it will generate carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol. But the incinerator will also emit cancer-causing dioxins, mercury, heavy metals, and fly ash. Are the carbon credits available under Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism worth putting thousands of impoverished waste-pickers out of business?” (07/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/638ptj | |
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“A conservation group has sued the U.S. Coast Guard in an effort to protect whales from being struck by passing ships off the coast of California. The Center for Biological Diversity’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court here, seeks to force the Coast Guard to consult more closely with the National Marine Fisheries Service . The group wants the Coast Guard to adhere to Endangered Species Act rules and consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service on how best to protect endangered whales.” (06/18/08) Link: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9626820 | |
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“By declaring bankruptcy, Vallejo has thrust itself into the national spotlight as a test case for thousands of floundering cities desperate to unload their extravagant public employee contracts. ‘There’s a wave of this coming across the U.S.,’ said Sajan George, an adviser to struggling public entities who worked on restructuring Orange County after it declared bankruptcy in 1994. ‘What happens in Vallejo could definitely set a precedent.’ Battered by the plummeting housing market and skyrocketing public employee contracts, Vallejo made dubious history Tuesday night by becoming the largest California city to declare bankruptcy. The North Bay city of 117,000 was on track to start the fiscal year July 1 with a $16 million deficit and no money in reserve.” (05/11/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6bketo | |
