The Administration Fiddles While the Climate Burns

During the Presidential campaign season, Obama promised

swift and comprehensive action to combat global climate change

Yet to this day the administration remains aloof offering only big goals without any real action or details to the plan.

Administration officials consistently say they would much prefer that Congress write new legislation to pre-empt the E.P.A. regulatory power, but they are clearly holding it in reserve as a prod to reluctant lawmakers and recalcitrant industries and as evidence of good faith to other nations.

Still, the agency’s regulations would take months to write and years to become fully effective. Meanwhile, Congress is already starting work on energy and climate legislation, though without significant guidance from the White House, at least in public.

At the recent international climate conference in Germany Obama failed to offer real leadership on the issue. Business lobbyists of course are happy to move slowly as there will be real costs to protecting the environment. But what will be the cost to humankind if we fail to take action soon?

The administration’s caution leaves many environmental advocates frustrated, although most are reluctant to speak on the record for fear of alienating their allies inside government.

This is one more realm in which we, the American public, and the peoples of the world need rapid and decisive action. We must not continue to fiddle while the climate burns. We must insure our future to the benefit of all humankind.

Peace.

The Tragedy of Afghanistan Increases Day by Day

Reports of military activity continue to be corrected as the truth comes out. Once again we have news of civilian deaths first said to be resistance fighters killed.

The US military has admitted that its troops killed five civilians in Afghanistan, including a child, not fighters as was earlier reported.

A 13-year-old boy who survived the night-time raid on his home told Al Jazeera that his mother, brother, uncle and another female family member were killed.

A woman who was nine-months' pregnant was wounded and lost her baby.

Despite American expressions of regret and sympathy for the deaths, these people will not be coming back another day. The families and friends are likely to find reason to resist the American presence.

When will we learn our lessons and start a new course? Military occupation and the use of force influences people but does not begin to win friends.

Peace.

Hedging on Iraq

Will we ever get of Iraq? The answer seems to be "No" as bad news continues to arrive. Today General Ray Odierno talks to the news media. Under the Obama plan combat troops are to be withdrawn from all Iraq cities by the end of June, 2009. Odierno says that may not happen.

The two areas I am concerned with are Mosul and then Baqubah and [other] parts of Diyala province. We will conduct assessments and provide our assessments when the time is right.

In the usual interpretations that means we will not withdraw unless the political winds in our country turn to a new direction.

The voters expressed strong support for Obama and his "end the war" policies. Now we hear disappointing news about a different course. This must not be allowed to stand. Tell the President. Tell your Congress critters. Our voices must be heard. The time for full withdrawal is far behind in our history. We as a nation cannot afford on many levels a continued occupation of Iraq.

Peace.

Update, April 10:

The U.S. military says five American soldiers were among seven people killed in a suicide truck bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Military Spending a Jobs Program?

Given the current levels of military spending in our nation (about 50% or more of the annual budget goes to the military) who is surprised to find military spending is a jobs program when the economy is failing today? In Georgia today many are arguing for ongoing support for the F-22 fighter jet, the the world's first fifth-generation jet fighter. In this time of massive layoffs across the nation this program supports the families of many workers in Georgia and across the nation.

That these workers need their jobs is obvious. That the nation needs a new fighter jet of this caliber is more difficult to support. We as a nation need to find new and more peaceful ways to support our economy. The continued massive military expenditures cannot be either justified or sustained if we are to survive as a nation. We can be safe without spending as much money on our military as the remainder of the world spends in total.

Peace.

Obama DOJ Preserves and Extends Bush Secrecy

In a filing (.pdf) late last Friday afternoon (missing the press as was usual under Bush) the Obama administration is claiming even more rights to wiretapping than were claimed under the Bush administration. On of my favorite legal analysts, Glen Greenwald, has the story and analysis. In reply to a lawsuit filed last year by the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the administration replied after more than three months of consideration.

But the Obama DOJ demanded dismissal of the entire lawsuit based on (1) its Bush-mimicking claim that the "state secrets" privilege bars any lawsuits against the Bush administration for illegal spying, and (2) a brand new "sovereign immunity" claim of breathtaking scope -- never before advanced even by the Bush administration -- that the Patriot Act bars any lawsuits of any kind for illegal government surveillance unless there is "willful disclosure" of the illegally intercepted communications.

the Obama DOJ has now invented a brand new claim of government immunity, one which literally asserts that the U.S. Government is free to intercept all of your communications (calls, emails and the like) and -- even if what they're doing is blatantly illegal and they know it's illegal -- you are barred from suing them unless they "willfully disclose" to the public what they have learned.

Greenwald's full analysis is a worthy read as is the filing document (.pdf).

There are so many issues on the plate for Obama these days, but were promised openness in our government during the campaign. Now we see that was an empty promise with hollow words in the style of too many politicians. The time has come to hold the administration accountable. We have lost too many of our freedoms in recent years. We cannot afford to lose any more.

Freedom in this nation means the right to communicate without worry that the government is intercepting our correspondence without proper court authorization. The apparent extension of illegal wiretapping represented by this Obama DOJ filing is beyond any measure of acceptable. The fight is on.

Peace.

Uninsured in Delaware

A recent report (.PDF) issued by Families USA offers some terrible statistics about the state of health insurance in our fair state of Delaware. The numbers speak for themselves.

More than one out of four people (28.3 percent) in Delaware under the age of 65 went without health insurance for all or part of the two-year period 2007-2008. Of the 213,000 uninsured Delawareans, nearly three-quarters (70.9 percent) went without health coverage for six months or longer
during this period.

60.8 percent of Hispanics/Latinos, 31.2 percent of African Americans, and 31.9 percent of “other” ethnic minorities were uninsured, compared to 23.1 percent of whites.

Most uninsured Delawareans (79.2 percent) are members of working families.

And there are more statistics of equal import in the full report (.PDF).

We can only assume with the current state of the economy the numbers are even worse today. This state of affairs in a civilized nation is far beyond unacceptable. The time has come to remedy this. The time for a national healthcare program including every person in the nation is here. We need a single-payer system such as HR676 (.PDF) provides and we need that system in place immediately if not sooner.

Peace.

ICRC Torture Report

The 2007 report of the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) was posted a few days ago by the New York Times. The 43-page report is a worthy read as the treatment of 14 "high value" detainees is described in detail. The cooperation of various medical personnel in the mistreatment is also described. The horrors of the various tales are difficult to read and more difficult to accept as the actions of the U.S. government.

Actions taken by U.S. personnel under the Bush administration include

* Suffocation by water poured over a cloth placed over the nose and mouth...
* Prolonged stress standing position, naked, held with the arms extended and chained above the head...
* Beatings by use of a collar held around the detainees' neck and used to forcefully bang the head and body against the wall...
* Beating and kicking, including slapping, punching, kicking to the body and face...
* Confinement in a box to severely restrict movement...
* Prolonged nudity...this enforced nudity lasted for periods ranging from several weeks to several months...
* Sleep deprivation...through use of forced stress positions (standing or sitting), cold water and use of repetitive loud noises or music...
* Exposure to cold temperature...especially via cold cells and interrogation rooms, and...use of cold water poured over the body or...held around the body by means of a plastic sheet to create an immersion bath with just the head out of water.
* Prolonged shackling of hands and/or feet...
* Threats of ill-treatment, to the detainee and/or his family...
* Forced shaving of the head and beard...
* Deprivation/restricted provision of solid food from 3 days to 1 month after arrest...

These procedures were applied in combination or in succession to the detainees described in the ICRC report.

President Obama has taken steps to end the mistreatment of detainees, yet many remain held at Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Air Base, and other as yet unidentified sites around the world. Still the mistreatment has its supporters led by Dick Cheney with his claims of attacks prevented by information obtained by duress. The political winds are tough to turn in the face of such claims. Yet all the information from various researchers and psychologists says torture does not obtain reliable information.

If we as a nation are ever to recover from the stigma of being a torturing nation we must begin to open the files and let the sun shine in. We must open our detention centers to outside observers. We must let the courts decide these cases. The detainees must be charged and convicted or let to return to their homes. We as a nation cannot serve as leaders of the future so long as we hold to our misdeeds of the past.

Peace.

Afghan Women Oppose U.S. Surge

In a posting last week, the Afghan women's group, Madre, offered their list of seven reasons why the U.S. should not increase military presence in their nation.

To achieve a more rational and peaceful outcome, we need to exert a counter-pressure. MADRE calls on the Obama administration to chart a whole new course in US-Afghan relations, based on the understanding that the US needs to engage with the rest of the world, not just occupy it.

1. More troops will mean more civilian casualties.
2. More troops will not resolve the crisis.
3. A troop surge has already been tried—and it failed.
4. Rampant abuses of Afghan women’s rights cannot be eliminated by force.
5. US troops are backing an unpopular, corrupt government
6. US Troops are Undermining Humanitarian Operations
7. Most Afghans Want the US Out

Instead the organization suggests the following measures:

1. Set a timetable for the withdrawal of US and NATO troops.
2. End US missile strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
3. Demilitarize aid operations and fund reconstruction efforts that benefit Afghans, not US corporations.
4. Promote peace talks between all parties involved in the conflict. Negotiations should include women’s organizations and other progressive forces and uphold the principle that human rights, including women’s human rights, are non-negotiable.
5. Compensate families and communities hurt by US military operations and pay war reparations.
6. Support local models of governance, such as the Loya Jirga, not a charade of procedural democracy that empowers war criminals.
7. Support demands of the Afghan women’s movement to end violence against women, ensure women’s access to critical services such as healthcare, education, food and water, and give real meaning to hard-won legal reforms meant to protect women’s rights.
8. Create a fund to meet Afghans’ urgent humanitarian needs. After 30 years of intervention and war, the US owes Afghanistan nothing less.
9. Support Afghan civil society, particularly women’s organizations, which are a crucial counter-force to warlordism, terrorism and government corruption and a key to rebuilding Afghan society.
10. Recognize that ultimately, decisions about what happens in Afghanistan should be made in Afghanistan, not Washington.

Agreed on all counts.

Peace.

Fugitive Safe Surrender Coming to Wilmington

The Fugitive Safe Surrender Program run by the U.S. Marshal's Service is coming to Wilmington, April 29, 30, May 1 and 2.

Fugitive Safe Surrender is a unique, creative, and highly successful, initiative that encourages persons wanted for non-violent felony or misdemeanor crimes to voluntarily surrender to the law in a faith-based or other neutral setting.

In Wilmington the program will operate at the New Destiny Fellowship Church, 906 E. 16th St. This is not an amnesty program but is an effort by law enforcement officials to give fugitives a safe harbor for surrender and processing. Officers and court officials from all four levels of the law (County, City, State, and Federal) will be in place for the four days. In addition there will be representatives of various social services available to aid in restoring people to the community.

Fugitives may find their cases settled in the course of a few hours on any one of the days. Only a small percentage (about 3% overall) have been incarcerated in other cities where the program has been very effective. Most people held for further processing expected their outcome due to the nature of the warrant against them.

The program will need volunteers for a variety of clerical and other chores. In addition there will be a need for people to go along with fugitives to help them find their way through the system. Many people may need simple aid such as filling out forms or getting to the right place for the help they need. Volunteers are an integral part of the success of this program.

Stay tuned for more news and contact information. Tell your friends and neighbors. The more the word is spread around the county and the state the more likely the program is to be successful.

This is an opportunity for many people to find real change in their lives. For us who are not fugitives there is an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of people on the run. For those hiding from the law there is a chance to move to a new life without constant fear of arrest. The entire community stands to benefit by supporting this program to the fullest extent.

Peace.

European Restraint in Afghanistan

In spite of Obama's request for troops and the administration's confidence in finding worldwide support for expansion of military presence in Afghanistan, the European response was lukewarm at best.

As expected, European allies agreed to provide up to 5,000 new troops for Afghanistan, the White House said Saturday. But 3,000 of them are to be deployed only temporarily to provide security for the August elections in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile the U.S. plan to increase our presence from 38,000 to abut 68,000 continues unababated. Too bad our administration cannot find the same measures of restraint our European allies have discovered.

Peace.

Escalation in Afghanistan is Neverending

After taking office President Obama committed an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan raising the total to near 60,000. Now comes word there may be another 10,000 added to bring the total to near 70,000.

How many times must we fail in our ongoing use of military might? When will our politicians and national leaders learn the lessons of the past? The Obama administration is making fine steps on so many fronts and failing so miserably in the military arena.

Peace.

HB17 Passes the DE House

In a step toward allowing felons the right to vote HB17 passed the DE House yesterday. Sponsored by Rep. Hazel Plant, the bill would grant felons the right to vote once their sentence is finished.

A felon now is eligible to vote five years after the expiration of his sentence or upon receiving a pardon from the governor.

The current lifetime prohibition from voting remains in effect for those convicted of murder or manslaughter (except vehicular homicide), sex-related felonies, and bribery or abuse of office.

This is a fine step toward ending the lengthy punishments too many in our society endure these days. Those having served their time and finished their probation period deserve the right to vote. They do not deserve further punishment beyond what is meted out by the court.

Now the bill goes to the Senate for consideration. This may be an interesting battle over there. We shall see.

Peace.

Reclaiming Patriotism

A worthy read (.PDF) from the ACLU is their call for an end to the Patriot Act.

More than seven years after its implementation, there is little evidence to demonstrate that the Patriot Act has made America more secure from terrorists. But there are many unfortunate examples that the government abused these authorities in ways that both violated the rights of innocent people and squandered precious security resources.

Many provisions of the Patriot Act are due to expire on December 31, 2009, but Congress may renew the law. We stand to lose more than we have lost already if we fail to send the Patriot Act to the dust bin this year.

The Patriot Act vastly – and unconstitutionally – expanded the government’s authority to pry into people’s private lives with little or no evidence of wrongdoing.

The time has come to rectify this mess and move into a future of Constitutional rights and privacy protection.

Peace.

Mike Castle is Still Supporting the Banking Giants

No surprise, but Congressman Castle continues to be the leading proponent of big banking interests in opposition to the administration.

U.S. Rep. Mike Castle (R., Del.), who represents Bank of America's and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Wilmington-based credit-card bankers, wants Congress to slow down.

Castle brought Federal Reserve consumer affairs chief Sandra Braunstein before reporters yesterday to warn that rushing restrictions on lenders "could end up further constricting credit."

When ever will the people of Delaware awaken and replace the man? We need real representation in Congress, not another toady of the corporate interests.

Peace.

Carper Against the People One More Time

Personal Collection

In an effort to get bills passed and further the agenda set in the campaign, President Obama is considering the process of reconciliation for the budget bill.

Reconciliation would only require a majority vote in the Senate rather than the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster (the Democrats control at least 58 seats).

Under Senate rules a filibuster is not allowed with this process.

Not only would the administration include tax and spending proposals in the legislation, but health care and possibly environmental measures as well.

But the naysayers rise to the fight. Our friend, Senator Carper is leading the opposition saying

warned that including health care in reconciliation would do "serious damage to our bipartisan effort.

Since when is health care not a major interest of the people of our nation? Since when does anything bipartisan (meaning in most instances Republican driven since they won't listen to many Democrat led ideas) benefit the majority of the people. Senator Carper is also opposed to increased taxation on incomes above $250,000.

We need real change in our politicians today. President Obama and his administration are far from perfect, but at least the proposals seem to aim at helping the majority of the people. Now we need a real Democratic Party to stand up and speak in support of these propositions. We have lived far too long under failed Republican policies and the Democratic supporters of those policies. We need and we deserve real change today, not tomorrow.

Peace.

Remembering Lefty Frizzell

On March 31, 1928, Lefty Frizzell was born. He died in 1975, but had he lived today would be his 81st birthday. Happy Birthday, Lefty, in memoriam.


zombophoto, Flickr, Creative Commons

Lefty is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame today. In his time he was a remarkable singer with an original sound all his own. His legacy lives on to this day in the sounds of country music around the world.

Peace.

March 28, 1979

On this date in history, March 28, 1979, occurred the largest nuclear power plant accident in U.S. history. In Pennsylvania

Just 10 miles southeast of the state capital, Harrisburg, a reactor core partially melted at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, releasing a small amount of radioactivity.

And to this day our Senator Carper continues to support nuclear power saying

nuclear power is necessary to meet clean air and climate goals.

Yet he concedes in nearly the same paragraph

But broad support for the nuclear industry will vanish if another nuclear accident occurs.

How many more nuclear accidents must occur before we in this world see the light? Current nuclear technology is not safe at any cost. In addition the production of large quantities of radioactive spent fuel and other products will leave a problem for hundreds of centuries into the future.

If we are to solve our national energy problems we must pursue renewable energy resources in a new and much more aggressive way. We may continue to evaluate nuclear power in the hope that one day a safe and sustainable energy resource may be found in that arena, but for today nuclear power is far too risky and costly for consideration.

Just say "NO" to the building of more nuclear power plants in the U.S. or around the world.

Peace.

The Neverending War

With the recent announcement by President Obama of expansion of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan we face another long and difficult course. Did none of our leaders learn anything from Iraq, Vietnam or other past wars? Why do we have to continue to repeat our history these days? Where is the change we were promised in November '08?

Tom Engelhardt in a pointed posting yesterday hits hard at the new direction to a failing course.

After all, the U.S. seems to be in the process of trading in a limited war in a mountainous, poverty-stricken country of 27 million people for one in an advanced nation of 167 million, with a crumbling economy, rising extremism, advancing corruption, and a large military armed with nuclear weapons. Worse yet, the war in Pakistan seems to be expanding inexorably (and in tandem with American war planning) from the tribal borderlands ever closer to the heart of the country.

The economic consequences of continued militarism around the world are overwhelming and may not be well understood today.

Unlike with A.I.G., where the financial inputs of the U.S. government are at least announced, we don't even have a ballpark figure for how much is actually involved right now, but it's bound to be staggering. Just supporting those 17,000 new American troops already ordered into Afghanistan, many destined to be dispatched to still-to-be-built bases and outposts in the embattled southern and eastern parts of the country for which all materials must be trucked in, will certainly cost billions.

How long will we Americans continue to allow our government to pursue these failing wars in our names? We must find ways to resolve the world's problems without resorting to violence and military force in every instance. No part of the world can long sustain the current course without collapse in the end.

Peace.

Spanish Judge Accuses Six Top Bush Officials of Torture

At last a judge is taking real action toward the wrongs of the Bush administration.

Criminal proceedings have begun in Spain against six senior officials in the Bush administration for the use of torture against detainees in Guantánamo Bay.

Officials named in the lawsuit include

Alberto Gonzales, a former White House counsel and attorney general; David Addington, former vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff; Douglas Feith, who was under-secretary of defence; William Haynes, formerly the Pentagon's general counsel; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who were both senior justice department legal advisers.

If the judge allows arrest warrants President Obama

would have either to open proceedings against the accused or tackle an extradition request from Spain.

International court proceedings are the only measures being taken to date to investigate the criminal offenses of the Bush administration. The time has come for a full and open pursuit of the entire episode. We as a nation will not be able to lead on any substantive issue in the court of international opinion so long as the Bush cloud hangs over our heads.

Peace.

The Republican "Alternative" Budget Proposal

After having voiced large amounts of criticism in recent weeks about the Obama budget proposal, House Republicans released their suggestions today.

Republican lawmakers refused to offer details of how much their alternative budget proposal would cost or how much it would increase the deficit, saying they would release overall numbers next week. Instead, they provided a general outline of proposals that included cutting overall government spending except for defense, banning any additional spending for bailouts of financial companies and a huge income tax cut that would make the maximum tax rate 25% instead of 36% as under current law.

It is just like the party of "My way or the highway" to offer this sort of rebuttal. Nothing of substance is included. All is about a media ploy to attract attention and take people's eyes off the ball once more.

Let us hope Congress has more sense than to fall for this mess. We need a budget that reflects the needs of the nation. The failed Republican ideas of tax cut after tax cut must be opposed. We cannot afford to continue that course one more day.

Peace.